"There's one perfect fit and sugar this one is it. We both are so excited 'cuz we're reunited."

[alittletoolegal]

Who: alittletoolegal jewhawk and Benny Puckerman (aged 3 in this verse)
What: Six months of separation over, bitches!
Where: Heathrow Airport, London
When: Saturday morning
Rating: Wee ones present

Comments

[alittletoolegal]

Dani knew she was a mess. It was overwhelming relief to be back home and know that she was staying there forever. Well, at least, if she went anywhere in the future, she wanted it to be with her boys. Her dream to do Doctors Without Borders had been from when she was young and before she hooked back up with Puck or fell pregnant with Benny. That definitely changed the game plan, and Nick had warned her over and over again that it would be one of the hardest things she had to face in leaving for any length of time. In fact, Jeff was the reason Nick didn't even considering joining her on the program like they toyed with one upon a time. He couldn't bare being away from Jeff, and Dani more than respected that. It had been the hardest thing she went through, and she was glad it was over. Somewhere along the way, her previously ambitious game plan had changed to this, the domestic life where she was more than happy being a wife and a mommy.

She shook her head, her arms still wrapped around them both. "I won't," she promised, and meant it with her whole heart. She didn't want to miss anymore time of Benny growing up, and as she cuddled him here now she could feel just how much he had grown in her absence, even if he was just six months. That made her heart clench a little, and she was already swearing to herself she wasn't going to miss anymore of his life. Maybe even one day they could add to their family, especially if Benny got his way, and she wasn't talking about a puppy either.

"I could really use a Big Mac and fries and anything with too much grease and calories. It was third-world, babe. I wasn't exactly living on first class meals." It was mostly rationed and safe options that wouldn't be riddled with diseases. Just one of the many sacrifices she made doing the program, but she knew it had made her a better person for it. But now, it was family time.

[jewhawk]

It took Puck a minute or two just to remember how to breathe again. His whole world would be okay as long as he had his wife and little boy close by, and if one of their family unit wasn't there, it felt like a piece of him was missing. He was grateful that Dani had gotten to live her dream of traveling and doing good in the world with the knowledge she'd worked so hard for in med school, but he never wanted to go that long without touching her again.

As the three of them huddled close in a group hug, Puck didn't know how much time had passed. It could've been moments or hours, but it didn't matter. Having Dani in his arms again, and their son there with them felt like what life was supposed to be like. In these two people, Puck had found what it was to let go of the past and the heartache and the mistakes, and to find something new and wonderful, and love it and hold onto it with all his heart. "Good," he replied softly, laughing just a little as Benny peppered little boy kisses all over his mommy's face.

"On it like a boss," Puck replied, dropping another kiss to her lips before brushing her hair back out of her face so he could really and truly look at her. "Let's get you some food. God, you're so beautiful... How did I get so lucky, babe? Do you have any idea how much I love you? I'm so glad you're home."

[alittletoolegal]

Dani knew there was something in the way Benny had literally clamped his arms around her neck. When she subtly tried to relieve some of the pressure he just gripped on tighter and she knew he was suddenly anxious that she was going to leave him again. That was when she let a rush of guilty flood her stomach and then she wasn't as hungry as she thought she was. "Baby, mommy isn't going anywhere anymore," she told her little son, bringing a hand up to brush his dark hair out of his eyes so she could see his face better. "Cross my heart, darling. Mommy has helped all the sick people in the other country now and she's back here for good. And you know what? Tonight, you can pick any DVD you want and Mommy and Daddy will watch it with you, okay?"

Benny was usually an animated kid, but he was just gazing at her with those big brown eyes. He didn't believe her. According to Puck's emails and updates, Benny had coped fine with her absence, but maybe now was when they were going to run into problems. She looked at Puck, biting down on her lip. "You know what, I'm not really hungry. Let's just go straight home. We can find something to eat there. I think it's best if we just all go home... together."

[jewhawk]

Benny wasn't letting go of Dani, and Puck got the feeling that getting their little man to sleep in his own bed was going to be a no-go tonight. Puck was all but dying to make love to his wife. It had been too long, and there had been nights he'd been sure that if he didn't touch her, he was going to go crazy. But in the years since moving to London, and especially since Dani got pregnant, Puck had long since learned that his own personal wants and needs were not the be-all end-all of life. And what Benny needed always came first. At three years old, there was no way that the little boy could totally understand having his mommy gone for that long.

"Okay," Puck replied, kissing her again lightly before ruffling Benny's hair. "Mommy's coming home with us now, Little Man," he promised, kissing Benny on top of the head before he went over to the conveyor belt to grab Dani's bag. "Let's go home, Mrs. Puckerman," he said with a wink.

[alittletoolegal]

Dani knew Puck was probably hoping they could leave Benny with a super-trusted sitter for a few hours soon, but it was hitting Dani right now that even if he had coped like a little trooper during her absence, Benny now had a game plan that he wasn't going to let her go in case she escaped on him all over again. This was the aftermath of separation anxiety and she really, really hoped she hadn't scarred her poor baby for life. Maybe she should have waited until he was older and understood better? But they had such a tight-knit group of family and friends around, and her parents had come to stay in London for the duration of her stint in Africa. She thought he would have been okay.

On the same token, she didn't want to put a whole lot of emphasis on his behaviour right now. If they did, it could make him clamp down on her even more because he might think it was an issue. They just had to work to get the three of them into as much of a family routine as they could manage right now... which meant, sex might need to take a backburner until Benny could be separated from her without thinking she wouldn't come back. Biting on the inside of her lip, she met Puck's gaze, wondering how he would take her analysis of the whole thing. Maybe they could get a sitter to come watch Benny at home while they 'reunited'? That could be awkward, though.

"So, how have everyone been? I've hardly been able to keep in touch with a lot of them. Catch me up on the gossip!" she said enthusiastically, determined to push some positive energy into their son ASAP. Even if she could feel his little hand playing with her ponytail at the back of her neck, and it made her want to cry all over again with how much she had missed him.

[jewhawk]

Once Dani's things were gathered, Puck led them through the airport to the exit, keeping a watchful eye on Benny for any sign that he might panic. He had always been a loving and affectionate little boy, but this was beyond that. This was driven by the fear that one of his parents was going to leave again, and Puck's heart ached for his little man. All they could do now was assure him that things were going to be okay and Dani wasn't leaving again.

Pausing at the door, Puck turned back to Dani and Benny, letting his grip go on her suitcase so he could wrap his arms tightly around his family again. It was as if he couldn't hold them enough to know that they were still really there, and that was when it hit him the hardest what level that same feeling must be for Benny, who really and truly didn't understand. These two people were Puck's whole world. He loved both of them with all he was worth, and would've died for either of them without so much as a second thought.

"Everybody's great," Puck gushed, catching on quickly to Dani's intentions, and matching her enthusiastic tone. "Uncle Nick and Uncle Jeff came over to play with Benny yesterday, right, buddy?" Puck asked, grinning at his son as he ruffled his hair before grabbing the suitcase again. "And Kurt and Blaine are super excited about the baby... Even if Kurt nearly hung me up by my j-u-n-k for getting Blaine d-r-u-n-k before they went away for the weekend."

[alittletoolegal]

Dani stroked her fingers through Benny's thick, dark hair to try and soothe him. "It's exciting, isn't it, squirt? Uncle Kurt and Uncle Blaine are going to have a baby. Are you going to be a big boy and look after them at school when they grow up?" she asked with a smile but she raised an eyebrow when all she got was a scowl in return. Wow, if looks could kill.

"I hate babies," was the grumpy response, complete with a well-honed pouty lip.

Uh oh. We're they about to get a re-run on the Terrible Twos? Was there even such thing as the Terrible Threes, or was he just going to act out for a bit now while he got used to having both parents back in the mix? Normally, this could have been hilarious. Benny far from hated babies. He loved other kids, always had. He should have been excited about the prospect of Baby Hummel-Anderson on the way because he absolutely adored his adopted uncles. This was just being a brat because he was mad at her for going away. Damn, she was seriously going to need to Google when she got home to figure out how best to treat this behaviour. Even though he was grumpy with her, he was still clinging to her for dear life, so she kept a hold on him, mussing his hair a little more and kissing his head. She looked over at Puck. "It would have served you right if he did do that, you know. How's the whole pregnancy thing going?"

[jewhawk]

Puck noted the look on his son's face, and shook his head. This was going to be fucking fun. In that whole, "not really" kind of way. "Hey, little man," Puck said, kissing the top of Benny's head, then his mom's in turn. "Where'd that smile go? Are you gonna show mommy what Uncle Nick and Uncle Jeff brought you when we get home?"

But Benny simply huffed and buried his face in Dani's shoulder. Maybe he was mad at her, but he sure as hell wasn't letting her go anywhere.

In protective daddy and husband mode, Puck paused to hold the door open for Dani. "Yeah, I know it would've. But B's had... Well, the pregnancy thing's been rough. Kurt's got sympathetic pregnancy symptoms like no other, and he went from like... Doing his thing with Blaine a million times a day to telling him he'd rather have ice cream than... Um... That. So, yeah. B's riding a yo-yo, but it's kind of funny at the same time."

[alittletoolegal]

With Benny's face adequately buried and Dani out of his line of sight, she scrunched her face up wryly and stifled a sigh. It was probably too good to be true to expect he wouldn't act out at all. Big shuffles in a kid's environment would have an impact on their behaviour. They just had to deal the best they could. At the end of the day, there were way, way worse kids in the world than Benny. Dani had encountered some right little shits in her training as a doctor, to the point the parents should never have been allowed to procreate to begin with. Little brats were just a sign of bad parenting and lack of attention, as far as she was concerned. If you shoved a kid in front of a TV with McDonalds for dinner night after night rather than reading to them or spending time with them and feeding them healthily, of course they were going to be pains in the butt.

She laughed at this, though. "I heard about that. I actually can't wait to see it in the flesh. Couvade's Syndrome is a very real thing, but I've never seen it before. Just read about it. And... things in pregnancy can be a yo-yo anyway. Next month, he might go back to the marathon events again. But pregnancy symptoms suck. It's like everything is battling against each other, but Blaine has to be dealing with it like a pro, right? Or is he offloading to you at every turn? It's got to be exhausting."

[jewhawk]

Dani's glance was returned as the Oh, shit factor hit Puck even harder. His little man's whole world had been turned upside down, and neither he nor Dani had realized just how big of a difference it was going to make. All they could do now was hang on, and reassure Benny constantly that Dani wasn't going anywhere anymore. Puck's hand came to rest on the back of Benny's head, cupped lightly against the crown of his head in the gesture he almost always used when comforting him.

Puck smirked at Dani, trying to work with her on the keeping up a happy tone of voice for Benny's sake. "I didn't realize how real it was until Blaine was sitting at the pub with me, and working very very hard at getting me in trouble with his husband.via a few too many. The poor guy. But yeah, you'll definitely see it live and in person with Kurt. Yeah... Their... Um... special time is severely cut down on. I remember it being like that when you were pregnant, but I just never expected it with Kurt and Blaine. B's doing the best he can, poor guy, but he's definitely having his moments. Hence the extra curricular beverage activities that nearly landed us both in the doghouse. Between Kurt and Quinn, I think he honestly doesn't know which way's up. Both of them going through hormonal stuff and jumping on his case... It's been tough on him."

[alittletoolegal]

Dani's decision to do Doctors Without Borders now rather than down the track was 100% bearing on Benny's age. She thought the older he got, the harder it would be to understand, and the older he was, the more he would need his mom around once he hit big school and things like that. She did feel guilty now she could see how he was responding, but at the same time, she could promise him wholeheartedly that she wouldn't be going away again. That was it, it was done. She got it out of her system. It was very rewarding for her, but also extremely hard and rough on the system. She didn't want to do it again. She wanted to just go to her normal doctor job in London, and come home to her family ever day. She had now fulfilled her ambitious urges and this is all she wanted now.

She did, however, have a trump card up her sleeve, and pulled out of her flight bag a toy doctor's kit complete with a teddy bear patient, giving the present to Benny with a smile. "Now you can be just like mommy, baby. Teddy's forgotten his name, so he needs a knew one, and he needs Dr Benny to take really, really good care of him." Okay, at this point, their son could throw a giant tantrum and reject the gift, but she almost sighed in relief when he didn't. In fact, his eyes lit up a little at getting the present and he took the box under one arm, hugging it, so he could open it up in the car.

She dropped a kiss to his forehead and ruffled his hair again. She had to be careful or she would burst into tears again just from sheer relief of being back home. She raised her eyebrows at Puck then. "Wow. Never thought that pair would have a reduction in their special time. I lost count of times I went over there and they were ruffled and flushed. Blaine will try and stretch himself, though. He'll want to be what everyone needs and that's got to confuse the hell out of him. The surrogacy thing has to be hard too. They're all close and it works, but there is still those niggling anxieties that have to be there."

[jewhawk]

Dani had been a part of his life for so long, that, even after 6 months apart, Puck was very much attuned to her feelings and emotions. Sure, as a teenager, he'd fucked every vagina that would let him, and treated the women he was with like shit, but that was seemingly a million years ago. Moving to London had been the biggest game changer for him since meeting Blaine, and then having been cheated on by the last girl before Dani? Well, if there'd been any question that Puck would learn his lesson, that had been the nail in the coffin. In fact, when Puck and Dani had reconnected through Nick, it had been as friends, and Puck had never planned on hooking up with anyone again. He hadn't been the manslut he'd been in school, but he'd gotten back into the groove of casual sex, though far less often, and the the being cheated on thing had made him gun-shy. But what had started as a good friendship between the two developed into more, and here they were, years later, with their gorgeous son, facing something they hadn't quite expected. Puck could sense his wife's love and concern for the little boy.

Turning back to look at Dani and Benny as mother gave son his present, Puck couldn't help the relieved smile on his face when Benny accepted the gift. In the early days of their relationship, they'd established that they didn't really want marriage, because they could get what they needed from their relationship without the law saying it was real, or kids, at least for a long time, because they both had serious ambitions, Dani in the medical field, and Puck with hoping to own a pub one day. They didn't know that they'd be able to provide what kids needed, and then Benny had happened, and since then, there'd been no going back, and neither of them would've wanted to. And as he watched his wife and son together, Benny hugging his present close to his chest, Puck thanked JewGod and whoever else was listening that his family was his, and that his wife was such a brilliant mother to their son.

"I know," he replied, still a little stunned by the news himself. "They're like... Kings of special time. It threw me for a loop when B told me that wasn't how it was going down lately. And yeah... He's trying so hard, and getting chewed out every way he turns. I feel bad for him. They're all such good friends, but he'll do okay, I think. They just gotta get through and find their feet. And they always do."

[alittletoolegal]

Dani's flight had landed pretty early, and she did suspect that maybe their little boy was tired on top of everything else. And fuck, she was jetlagged and it would hit her with a vengeance very soon. Sleep sounded absolutely amazing and she latched onto Puck's arm with a squeeze, basically in apology that sex wasn't going to happen any time in the immediate future. Maybe they could all crawl into bed together and just snuggle. Holy hell, had she missed that, and just the thought had her tearing up again, causing her to turn her head away a little so Benny didn't see while she blinked them back. She had been away too long. Never, ever again.

"It's going to be a special thing to watch them when the penny drops just how amazing having a little one is. It seems like such a huge deal, but so much comes naturally when they're you're own. Special time takes a different meaning. They've never really needed to share their special time with anyone, but they will want to, and they will balance it out with that, uh, other sort of special time. It's probably confusing as all hell right now, and they'll be scrambling to get it right, probably thinking they're lacking in something because they're two males, but no way. It takes heart, not what's in your pants," she said knowingly. If her husband could all-but be a single dad for six months without a serious hitch, anyone could do it.

[jewhawk]

Puck felt Dani's grip on his arm, and he nodded just a little. He knew what she was getting at, but it was just the way that things were right now. It was what they needed to do for Benny's sake, and that would always come before anything else. Holding his gift, still, Benny's head had come to rest on Dani's shoulder and the little family made their way to the car, Puck turned to look at his other half and their son with a grin, trying to continue to keep the positive energy going. "Hey, buddy, we gotta put you in your car seat now so we can go home with Mommy, okay?"

"Definitely," he agreed. "I never could've imagined how awesome being a dad was until it was really happening in my life. They're gonna rock it, and they'll figure everything out. They're amazing guys, and they have so much love to give a little one. It's gonna be awesome to see. I can't wait."

[alittletoolegal]

Benny clamped down on her even tighter at this, but when she just cuddled him back for a little bit, standing there while she pressed kisses to his temple and forehead, he eventually relented and let Puck take him to put him in the car. The poor little thing was tired and she predicted he would probably be out like a light before they even made it to Heathrow's exit. It was a little bit of a drive back into the city, so maybe it would calm him down a little. If it all went smoothly, maybe they could transfer him back to his bed for a little while when they got home. He was only four years old, it wasn't like he had the stamina to deal with an early morning and an emotional upheaval like this all at once.

"I don't think it ever really quite hits you how massive it is until you hold them and see little parts of you in them. I know the boys. Neither of them will have a distinct issue that the baby is only one of theirs biologically. They will be over the moon the child has one of their genes and characteristics. But even then, the baby will learn from both of them. It's only physical traits that come with biology anyway. That's such a small portion. The rest is in how you raise them and what you teach them. I mean, even in Benny, I see bits of Nick in him As daunting as it is, I think they will hit the parenting ground running and they won't look back," she said with a knowing smile.

[jewhawk]

Puck buckled Benny securely into his car seat, pressing a kiss to the little boy's hair when his son gave him an unexpected hug, too. It was like now he had both parents home, and there was no way either of them was going to leave him, even if, clearly, the most attention had been paid to Dani since she was the formerly missing parent in question. Before he crossed back to the driver's side, he opened Dani's door for her with a small smile, unable to resist the urge to pull her into a tight embrace and plant a long kiss on her lips. He knew that nothing more was coming for a while with Benny being so thrown off by the whole thing, but just for a moment, he needed to just hug her without their son clinging in between, love those family group hugs though he did.

"Definitely," Puck agreed. "I remember just looking down at this tiny person in my arms and realizing he existed because we love each other." He rounded the car to his side, climbed in and fired up the engine, looking over his shoulder carefully as they backed out of the parking space. "And yeah, it didn't happen the same way for them, but that part doesn't change... Their baby exists because they love each other, too..." He grinned, glancing in the rear view mirror at Benny in the back seat... The little guy was fighting hard to stay awake. "I know what you mean... I see little pieces of all the people we're closest to in him, and that's kind of amazing in and of itself... Speaking of the bits of Nick in him? We have to watch him very closely with crayons."