Lights Will Guide You Home, Ch. 23/?
Media: Fic
Title: Lights Will Guide You Home
Rating: R
Spoilers: nope
Warnings (if any): More squee!! Grandpa!Burt! Daddy!Klaine! Hooray!
Word Count: 4865
Summary: 13 years from now, Blaine and Kurt have made a fabulous life for themselves, but there's something missing...
A/N: Grandpa!Burt, Grandma!Carole, and Uncle!Finn come to visit! Also, because I'm a nerd, and I am in love with cute baby things, I'm putting links in here to all Lily's baby stuff. Look for outfits, and the baby sling. If this annoys you, I apologize, I just like visuals personally.
Lights Will Guide You Home
Chapter 23
Kurt was startled awake by a cry on the baby monitor. Groaning, he looked at the clock - it was 7:30. Blaine lifted his head off the pillow, mumbling something incoherent, and Kurt placed a hand on his arm.
“Go back to sleep, honey, I'll get her.” Blaine promptly rolled back over, his breathing slow, and Kurt rolled out of bed. He padded into the nursery to greet a very fussy Lily.
“Good mornin', good mornin', sunbeams will soon smile through, good mornin', good mornin' to you,” he sang softly as he walked over to her crib.
She looked up at him and quieted a bit, still whimpering, her hands tremoring slightly every now and then.
“I think somebody's almost ready for her medicine...” He picked her up, and she settled into his arms as he planted kisses on her cheeks. “Let's get you changed, and then we'll get your breakfast.”
He made his way over to her closet, flipping through her clothes. “What do you want to wear today, hmm? We need to pick something extra cute, so you'll impress your grandma and grandpa and uncle. How about … this (outfit found here),” he said, plucking a sweet, summery sundress from the racks of tiny clothes. “You can wear the new shoes (found here) that Daddy bought you yesterday, and you'll coordinate perfectly! That'll make him happy, don't you think?”
He carried her over to the changing table, cleaned her up and dressed her, and brushed her downy-fine hair, adding a thin brown headband with a single lavender rosebud on it.
“There. Perfect!”
He was in the kitchen, making Lily grin at him from her bouncer seat while mixing her formula, when Blaine walked in, clad only in cotton pajama pants, rubbing at his eyes. Kurt chuckled at his hair, which was fuzzy and flyaway from his night of slumber.
“Well look what the cat dragged in, Lily! Daddy woke up just in time for breakfast!”
Blaine latched onto Kurt, catching his lips in a sleepy kiss.
“Morning.”
“Hey you.”
“Coffee?”
“It's brewing now. Did you sleep well?”
“Mmmm hmm.” Blaine walked over and kissed Lily's forehead. “Love you,” he murmured to her. He looked up at Kurt. “Shoes. Cute.” It was about all he could manage in the early morning.
“Yeah, they really are. They look adorable with that sundress, too.”
Kurt finished mixing Lily's bottle, poured Blaine a cup of coffee with a dribble of cream just like he liked it, and grabbed the bottle of medication.
“Mmmmmmm,” Blaine sighed, drawing the hot liquid into his mouth. “Love coffee.”
“I know. We need to talk about the plan for today, but I'll let the caffeine take effect first. Here, Lily, take this,” he said, carefully pushing the medicine from the syringe into her cheek. She sucked it down, and he picked her up and replaced the syringe with a bottle.
Lily had been home with them for five full days, and the little family was beginning to settle into a routine. Kurt got up with her in the mornings, made breakfast, gave her morning dose of medicine and her first feeding. Blaine got up in time for playtime, where they would sing songs to her and put her on her tummy to improve her head control and get her to grasp onto things they would put in her hands. They spent the midday, afternoon, and evenings all together, doing feedings, more playtime, occasionally an outing or two, then it was bathtime and storytime. After Lily was in bed, Kurt and Blaine had some time together where they'd read or watch a movie, and then Kurt would go to bed, and Blaine would stay up for the late feeding. They were lucky - the nurses in the NICU had gotten Lily on a great schedule, and she liked to eat at eight o'clock, and then again at midnight, and then would usually sleep until around seven in the morning. They were much less sleep-deprived this time around than they were when they brought Violet home.
They were amazed at the ease and speed in which they fell into the role of parenting again. It happened almost automatically - one day, Kurt was worrying over every little detail of his wardrobe, and the next, he was wearing drool and spit-up like they were the next fashion accessory to hit the runways. Instead of Top 40's hits and 1950's crooner ballads, Blaine was singing lullabies and Disney medleys in the shower. Their dinner conversation turned from who was on the latest Vogue cover and what on earth their crazy neighbor was wearing that day, to the frequency of Lily's dirty diapers and how many times she'd smiled at them. They were smitten with their baby girl, through and through. Life had never been sweeter.
Kurt pondered all these things while he fed her, leaning back in their comfortable recliner and waiting for Blaine to wake up enough to have a comprehensible conversation. He was so thankful for everything they'd gone through, because it had all culminated into these glorious moments, moments which would continue on for the rest of their lives. He was thankful for the thirteen years he and Blaine had together prior to ever wanting a baby - the foundation of their relationship was built on those first early years, and only grew from there, and he knew that it was only from the strength and the solidity of that foundation that they were able to withstand the past two and a half very trying years. He was thankful for the eleven months they had to wait before finding Abby, months in which they realized how very badly they really did want to be parents, months in which they were able to talk about how they wanted to raise their child (children? maybe?), months to try to grow and strengthen their relationship before putting it into the rough waters of parenthood. He was growing more thankful for their time with Abby again, even though it still stung to think of her - she did give them their only experience with pregnancy, allowing them to share the joy of watching a baby grow in utero, make plans, experience those sweet first newborn days. And he was even thankful for the storms that they went through the summer prior, the pain and hurt and doubt only serving to bring himself and Blaine closer together in the end, with a better understanding of each other's strengths and weaknesses. And compared with all that, their two-month NICU adventure seemed like a walk in the park, just something else to be thankful for: that Lily's mother was selfless enough to make the best decision for her child, that circumstances worked in their favor and this time around, the adoption process couldn't have been easier, and that they were surrounded by skilled nurses who helped them get through the first difficult months of their baby's life. And now they were home, together, a family. Kurt sighed in contentment as he cuddled Lily to his chest.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
Blaine had finished his coffee, his brain cells revived by the caffeine, and his voice broke through Kurt's silent reminiscing.
“Oh, just thinking about … everything. The last three years, and the years before that, and how I'm just so thankful for all of it, because it's brought us here.”
Blaine came over and perched on the arm of the recliner next to Kurt.
“It's pretty amazing, isn't it?” he said, gazing down at Lily. “Some days I can't believe all that actually happened to us. And then I look down, and see that scar on my leg, and I realize that it really did.”
Kurt absentmindedly rubbed over the spot that Blaine was speaking of. “It really did,” he said softly. “But all that's over now. Now we just have … this.” He motioned to Lily, who was wide awake and looking at her daddies, making funny little baby faces at them. “It feels almost like a miracle.”
He and Blaine smiled at Lily, and she smiled back at them, her normal response. But then her little mouth opened into a wider grin, and she let out a happy sounding “Aaaahhhh!”
Blaine and Kurt froze momentarily, then burst into happy peals of laughter together. It was the first time they'd ever heard their baby coo.
“Blaine, my phone, grab my phone!” Kurt exclaimed, and Blaine reached over to the coffee table, fumbling with the screen until he found the video mode.
“Lily baby, will you do it again for us? Come on sweetie, do it again for Daddy, go aaahhh!” Nothing in the whole world could have wiped the grin off of his face at that moment. “Aaaahhh!” he repeated.
And Lily complied. “Aaaahhh!” She grinned again.
“Did you get it? Oh my God Lily, we are so proud of you - you're such a smart, sweet girl - oh, Blaine, I can't believe this...”
Their jubilance over something so seemingly simple was due to the worry they'd experienced a month prior while Lily was still in the NICU. Once Lily had reached four weeks of age, Blaine and Kurt had expected her to start making sounds. A week passed, and then another, and by the day she turned seven weeks old, they were beginning to worry a bit. When they'd asked why she wasn't cooing yet, Sarah Grace had gently explained to them that it was a combination of things - it was partly due to the drug withdrawal, which took up all her energy, and it was partly due to the fact that in spite of all the attention the nurses tried to pay the babies and the fact that Blaine and Kurt were there for several hours every day, the NICU was just not the best place for the social development of a term baby. She promised them that once Lily was home with them, on a good routine with playtime and lots of interaction, that she would pick up the pace in no time. She also assured them that a lot of babies didn't actually start cooing until two or three months, that Lily was not even close to being behind yet, and just to be patient.
“Well I guess that means we're doing something right,” Blaine said, still excited. Lily had cooed at them twice more since he'd recorded her, spurred on by their overwhelmingly positive reaction. They had clapped and praised and cooed right back to her, which apparently thrilled the baby girl. Thirty minutes later, they were still positively high with excitement.
Lily was just beginning to look sleepy when Kurt's phone buzzed. It was a text from Burt.
Boarding the plane now. Meet you at
baggage claim in about 2 hours?
“Oh my god … I got so excited about all this that I completely forgot about my family! We need to talk about what we're doing....”
“Right. I'll stay here with Lily, and you can go meet them at the airport. I just don't feel comfortable taking her out into such a public place like that yet,” Blaine said.
“I wholeheartedly agree. If anything happened to her, especially if we could have prevented it....”
“Yeah, let's not go there.”
“Okay, so I'll leave for the airport in … oh God, like half an hour - Blaine, I've got to go take a shower!” Kurt threw Lily into his partner's open arms and ran back toward the bedroom. Blaine chucked and settled back into the comfortable couch, nestling Lily onto his bare chest.
“You made Daddy the happiest man in the whole world today, cooing like that” he whispered to her. “I love you so much, Lily Elise. You are the best thing that ever happened to your dad and me.” She let out a tiny baby sigh, and shifted into him a bit, as if she was trying to reply that yes, she understood, because he and Dad were the best things that ever happened to her as well.
* * * * * * * *
Two and a half hours later, Lily was napping and Blaine was sitting cross-legged on the couch, his pen scratching away at the legal pad in his lap, when the door swung open and the Hummels poured into the condo. He hopped up off the couch and darted over to meet them.
“Hey kiddo,” Burt said with a huge smile on his face, pulling Blaine into a big bear hug. “How are you?”
“Better than I ever thought possible,” he answered honestly. Burt pulled back and clapped a hand on top of Blaine's shoulder.
“You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that - Carole and I have worried about you and Kurt more than I'd like to admit.”
“I know. I'm sorry. You don't need to worry … your heart … but we're fine now. Things are amazing, really.”
“Hey, don't apologize - it wasn't your fault. Now, where's my grandbaby?”
“She's napping right now, but she should be waking up to eat any minute now,” Blaine told him, stepping over to give Carole a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“It is so good to be here with you two,” she said, smiling as she hugged him back.
“Can we go see Lily?” Finn asked, excited to see his niece again.
“I'll just go get her,” Kurt said. “She needs to eat in a little bit anyway, and waking her up a little early just this once isn't going to hurt anything.”
He disappeared down the hall, and Blaine grabbed Kurt's phone from the counter.
“You guys have to see this - she cooed for the first time today!”
Kurt's family let out a collective “Awwwww,” and they gathered around the phone to watch the video. Tears sprang to Carole's eyes as she watched it, amazed at the difference in Lily's demeanor after just a month.
“Oh Blaine,” she said, putting her hand on his back, “She looks amazing.”
He grinned. “Just wait till you see her in person!”
They didn't have to wait long, because a few seconds later, Kurt came walking back down the hall with a slightly sleepy Lily in his arms.
“Oh my gosh, look at you!!!!!” Carole squealed, scooping her out of Kurt's arms. The baby gave them a happy smile and stuck her fingers in her mouth. “Your little shoes - oh, guys, I can't get over her...”
“Blaine found those sandals for her yesterday,” Kurt said proudly.
Carole was continuing to coo and baby talk to Lily when Burt tapped her on the arm.
“Honey, you know I love you, but you're gonna have to share.”
She sighed and placed the baby into her husband's waiting arms.
“Hey there, little bit,” he said, smiling down at her. “Say hi to grandpa.”
She worked her mouth back into a smile, making little gurgly noises at him. Burt was surprised by the tears he felt springing to his eyes. He sat down with her in the recliner, holding her out in front of him in his lap. Still sucking on her fingers every now and then, she gurgled again, squirming on his legs.
He looked up. “Kurt...”
“I know Dad, I know.”
“She looks so much more comfortable than she did when we visited her in the hospital,” Finn said.
“Oh, she is,” Blaine said. “I mean, she has occasional fussy times, and sometimes her little legs still shake, but she's a really happy baby overall - Sarah Grace told us before she was discharged that we were really lucky, because a lot of drugs babies are still really irritable when they go home. But she's not.”
“Oh honey, that's so great,” Carole sighed. “I'm just so glad she's okay.”
Burt still hadn't said anything, staring down at his sweet granddaughter who was still looking up at him with her clear blue eyes.
“You okay, Dad?” Kurt asked, perching on the arm of the recliner next to him.
“I'm just so proud of you,” he said, choking back tears. “She looks so great, I know the two of you are doing so well with her... I just can't believe I'm a grandpa. You know, when you were younger, I just sort of gave up on the idea...”
“Dad, stop, you're going to make me cry.” Kurt leaned down and gave his dad an awkward side-hug-from-above.
“It's going to be so much better this time, I promise you.”
“I know. It already is.”
Blaine drifted wordlessly into the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with a prepared bottle and a bib.
“Burt, would you like to feed her?”
“I would love that.” He took the bottle and popped it into Lily's mouth, making silly faces at her. The family all sat in the living room catching up with each other while she ate.
“So what do you guys want to do today?” Blaine was asking.
Burt and Carole looked at each other. “Well,” Carole began, “we actually wanted to take you shopping for Lily. We felt bad, not having a baby shower this time, and I wanted to get some things before we came, but we didn't know what you still needed. Would you be up for that today? And can Lily be out around people?”
“Yeah, we've gone on walks a couple of evenings this week already. But please, don't feel like you have to buy things for us - we have a lot of stuff still left from before, because Kurt had the presence of mind to put all the major things in storage. And we were able to get some stuff while she was in the NICU,” he told her
“Well what do you need?”
He leaned his head on Kurt's shoulder, thinking.
“Well … we don't have a play mat for her, and she's starting to need some tummy time, so that would be good...” Kurt said.
“And we'd really like to make our own baby food when she starts eating solids, so maybe a baby food maker? I can't really think of anything else...”
“Well why don't we just go this afternoon, and we'll see if there's anything else, okay?”
“If you insist...”
“We do,” Burt said pointedly. “This is my first granddaughter, and I intend to have her spoiled rotten by the time she's a year old.”
“Oh, fabulous. You and your diabolical plans to make our lives even harder,” Kurt deadpanned. They all chuckled.
“Well if we're going out today, we might as well make a whole day of it - we have no food in this house, so maybe we can grab some lunch somewhere, and then hit up the market so Kurt and I can make dinner for you guys,” Blaine said.
“Yes. Yes. I like that plan.” Finn perked up at the thought of Kurt and Blaine cooking - he and Kurt had only lived together for about a year and a half total, but the last year of that, he got to be on the receiving end of the couple's culinary adventures, most of which turned out excellently.
“Do you want to go out and see the city, baby girl?” Kurt cooed at Lily. “Of course you do!” He turned to look at Blaine. “I can't wait to take her to her first Broadway show.”
“Yeah, Kurt, we talked about that - let's at least wait until she's three or four...”
Kurt looked up at his family. “Obviously Blaine does not care about the cultural education of our child.”
“Oh, obviously,” Blaine answered him with a grin. “I'm totally stilting Lily's development, here.” Kurt rolled his eyes.
“Soooooo, are we ready to go? It's getting close to lunchtime, I'm getting hungry, and we've still got to get there,” Carole said, interrupting their playful banter.
“Sure. Let's just take the sling today, Blaine,” Kurt said. “I don't feel like lugging the stroller all over creation.”
“Okay, but I want to wear her.”
“Didn't you wear her last time?”
“No, you did, when we went out to get ice cream two days ago, remember?” Blaine prodded.
“Oh yeah. Well … I guess you can wear her, but since we're going to be gone for so long today, I think that counts twice, so I get her the next two times, okay?”
“Wait. I'm confused. What are you talking about - wearing Lily?” Finn asked, his eyebrows scrunched together.
“I'll show you,” Blaine said, retrieving the Sakura Bloom sling (found here) that Carole had gotten them the year before from their coat rack in the entryway. He slung it over his shoulder, adjusted the big rings to fit him, and straightened out the fabric. “Burt, did she burp for you? I don't want her to puke all down my chest while she's in this thing.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, she burped a couple times.”
“Okay. So you make a pouch with this fabric here,” he said, pulling the sling a couple different directions, “And then...” He took Lily from Burt, held her up to his shoulder, and slid her down into the pouch, her legs to the sides. He adjusted the skirt on her dress, then pulled the fabric through the rings tightly. “Voila,” he said, holding his hands out. “Baby-wearing at its finest.”
“Dude, that's awesome.”
“It really is, we love it. We wear her all the time. That sling is fantastic, Carole, thank you again,” Kurt said.
“Oh you're welcome, sweetie.”
And with Blaine wearing Lily on his stomach, they headed out of the condo and up the sidewalk. After stopping for a quick lunch at a local cafe, they headed down to Buy Buy Baby. Blaine and Kurt purposefully steered themselves away from the clothes, instead going down the aisle with baby food makers.
“This is what you need, right?” Carole asked them as they looked over each type of food processor. They nodded. “Okay, you pick whichever one you want, and we'll get it. And I know you said no clothes, but I'm just going to look, okay?” And she trotted happily over to the dresses.
Blaine looked down at their baby, asleep against him. “They weren't kidding when they said they were going to spoil you rotten, were they Lily?”
Finn had wandered into the toy section with Burt, and they'd returned with a shopping cart full of not only a play mat, but also several rattles, a mirror to put in her crib, three stuffed animals, and a huge stack of storybooks. Carole met them halfway with her own cart, which housed stacks of onesies and sleepers, as well as multiple dresses and a few blankets.
Blaine and Kurt were still trying to decide on a baby food maker when they saw the Hummels congregating in the middle of the store.
“Oh no … I think we need to stage an intervention before they start toward the cashier....” Kurt said.
They rushed toward the two full shopping carts. “No. Absolutely not. It's too much,” Blaine said immediately.
“Blaine honey, what are you talking about? Here, let us just show you what we've got...” Carole explained. “These clothes range in sizes up to a year so Lily will always have something to wear, even when she starts growing like a little weed. I've got onesies and sleepers and I couldn't resist at least a few dresses … And I figured you'd need some blankets, since she was born in the springtime and you probably haven't had a need for lots of warm, fuzzy things.”
“And this is just the play mat, like you wanted, plus some other stuff...” Finn said.
“We know you both love to read to her, so don't give me crap about the books. And they say that those rattle things help with development or something, and one of the ladies who works here said that babies Lily's age love to see themselves in a mirror, so we picked up one of those too. I told you, we are spoiling this baby, and I'm not taking no for an answer,” Burt said.
They sighed. “Fine. We admit defeat. But seriously Dad … thank you.”
Burt pulled him into a hug. “Don't even worry about it, kiddo. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Okay boys, just go pick out your baby food maker, and we'll be on our way!”
“Um, guys? How are we going to get all this stuff back to the condo?” Finn made a very valid point.
Kurt groaned with the realization. “Finn, we're going to have to carry it.”
“Oh, man... Somehow living in New York is losing its appeal for me.”
Blaine raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't ask questions. “I guess we'll just have to go to the market after we take all this stuff home first.”
“We probably need to get Lily home and out of the heat anyway...” Kurt said. So they checked out and lugged all of their purchases down the sidewalk, onto the subway, and all the way home.
* * * * * * * *
“Just so you guys know, your kitchen smells amazing!” Finn called from the living room that night.
He, Carole, and Burt had taken over Lily duty that evening so Kurt and Blaine could cook in peace. They were making a zucchini and ricotta cheese galette served with homemade tomato soup, and the smells wafting from the oven were no less than divine. While the couple clattered away, chopping zucchini and pureeing tomatoes, Lily's grandparents and uncle had opened her play mat, and were enthralled at how much she moved. She loved to hit her hands up against the little figures hanging down above her head, and every time she caught a glimpse of herself in that mirror, she grinned. She wasn't making much noise, but every now and then she'd let out a little grunt or coo.
Finn was on the ground with her, dangling things in front of her hands, and Burt and Carole were sitting on the couch, watching them, his arm around her.
“How did we get so lucky, to have the best kids in the world?” Burt said softly into her ear.
“I don't know, but I think I'll keep them,” she answered.
“I'm just so proud of them, Carole, I've never met anybody so brave. Or maybe just stubborn, in Kurt's case...”
She laughed softly. “He is pretty stubborn - he gets that from his old man, I think.”
“Nothing wrong with sticking to what you believe,” he muttered.
“No, dear, of course there's not. It's how you - both of you - have survived all this. But I think it's supposed to get easier from here on out, this whole grandparent thing. Spend time with them, have fun with them, then send them back when they get too rowdy. Isn't that how it's supposed to go?”
“That's how it's going to go, whether it's supposed to or not,” Burt answered her with a smile.
“Um, Mom? Burt? I think Lily has a dirty diaper,” Finn said from the floor, wrinkling his nose a bit.
“Well then go change it, honey,” Carole told him. He just stared at her, and she laughed. “Oh, don't be such a big baby. Here, come on, I'll help you.” Finn carefully picked Lily up off the floor, following his mom back to the baby's nursery to get her changed (hopefully without too large of a disaster.)
Burt, now alone in the living room, sank back against the couch. Years ago, when Kurt was a newborn and his sweet first wife had still been alive, this was not even remotely what he was picturing his future life to look like. If you'd told him that he'd been sitting in a well-decorated condo in New York City with his amazing son and his amazing son's almost-as-amazing partner, their baby, his second wife, and her amazing son, he'd never have believed it. But this … this felt like what normal was supposed to feel like. And Burt Hummel figured that “normal” didn't matter so much as happy, or whole, or loved. And he was all of those things. And lucky. Boy, was he lucky.
Chapter 24
Title: Lights Will Guide You Home
Rating: R
Spoilers: nope
Warnings (if any): More squee!! Grandpa!Burt! Daddy!Klaine! Hooray!
Word Count: 4865
Summary: 13 years from now, Blaine and Kurt have made a fabulous life for themselves, but there's something missing...
A/N: Grandpa!Burt, Grandma!Carole, and Uncle!Finn come to visit! Also, because I'm a nerd, and I am in love with cute baby things, I'm putting links in here to all Lily's baby stuff. Look for outfits, and the baby sling. If this annoys you, I apologize, I just like visuals personally.
Lights Will Guide You Home
Chapter 23
Kurt was startled awake by a cry on the baby monitor. Groaning, he looked at the clock - it was 7:30. Blaine lifted his head off the pillow, mumbling something incoherent, and Kurt placed a hand on his arm.
“Go back to sleep, honey, I'll get her.” Blaine promptly rolled back over, his breathing slow, and Kurt rolled out of bed. He padded into the nursery to greet a very fussy Lily.
“Good mornin', good mornin', sunbeams will soon smile through, good mornin', good mornin' to you,” he sang softly as he walked over to her crib.
She looked up at him and quieted a bit, still whimpering, her hands tremoring slightly every now and then.
“I think somebody's almost ready for her medicine...” He picked her up, and she settled into his arms as he planted kisses on her cheeks. “Let's get you changed, and then we'll get your breakfast.”
He made his way over to her closet, flipping through her clothes. “What do you want to wear today, hmm? We need to pick something extra cute, so you'll impress your grandma and grandpa and uncle. How about … this (outfit found here),” he said, plucking a sweet, summery sundress from the racks of tiny clothes. “You can wear the new shoes (found here) that Daddy bought you yesterday, and you'll coordinate perfectly! That'll make him happy, don't you think?”
He carried her over to the changing table, cleaned her up and dressed her, and brushed her downy-fine hair, adding a thin brown headband with a single lavender rosebud on it.
“There. Perfect!”
He was in the kitchen, making Lily grin at him from her bouncer seat while mixing her formula, when Blaine walked in, clad only in cotton pajama pants, rubbing at his eyes. Kurt chuckled at his hair, which was fuzzy and flyaway from his night of slumber.
“Well look what the cat dragged in, Lily! Daddy woke up just in time for breakfast!”
Blaine latched onto Kurt, catching his lips in a sleepy kiss.
“Morning.”
“Hey you.”
“Coffee?”
“It's brewing now. Did you sleep well?”
“Mmmm hmm.” Blaine walked over and kissed Lily's forehead. “Love you,” he murmured to her. He looked up at Kurt. “Shoes. Cute.” It was about all he could manage in the early morning.
“Yeah, they really are. They look adorable with that sundress, too.”
Kurt finished mixing Lily's bottle, poured Blaine a cup of coffee with a dribble of cream just like he liked it, and grabbed the bottle of medication.
“Mmmmmmm,” Blaine sighed, drawing the hot liquid into his mouth. “Love coffee.”
“I know. We need to talk about the plan for today, but I'll let the caffeine take effect first. Here, Lily, take this,” he said, carefully pushing the medicine from the syringe into her cheek. She sucked it down, and he picked her up and replaced the syringe with a bottle.
Lily had been home with them for five full days, and the little family was beginning to settle into a routine. Kurt got up with her in the mornings, made breakfast, gave her morning dose of medicine and her first feeding. Blaine got up in time for playtime, where they would sing songs to her and put her on her tummy to improve her head control and get her to grasp onto things they would put in her hands. They spent the midday, afternoon, and evenings all together, doing feedings, more playtime, occasionally an outing or two, then it was bathtime and storytime. After Lily was in bed, Kurt and Blaine had some time together where they'd read or watch a movie, and then Kurt would go to bed, and Blaine would stay up for the late feeding. They were lucky - the nurses in the NICU had gotten Lily on a great schedule, and she liked to eat at eight o'clock, and then again at midnight, and then would usually sleep until around seven in the morning. They were much less sleep-deprived this time around than they were when they brought Violet home.
They were amazed at the ease and speed in which they fell into the role of parenting again. It happened almost automatically - one day, Kurt was worrying over every little detail of his wardrobe, and the next, he was wearing drool and spit-up like they were the next fashion accessory to hit the runways. Instead of Top 40's hits and 1950's crooner ballads, Blaine was singing lullabies and Disney medleys in the shower. Their dinner conversation turned from who was on the latest Vogue cover and what on earth their crazy neighbor was wearing that day, to the frequency of Lily's dirty diapers and how many times she'd smiled at them. They were smitten with their baby girl, through and through. Life had never been sweeter.
Kurt pondered all these things while he fed her, leaning back in their comfortable recliner and waiting for Blaine to wake up enough to have a comprehensible conversation. He was so thankful for everything they'd gone through, because it had all culminated into these glorious moments, moments which would continue on for the rest of their lives. He was thankful for the thirteen years he and Blaine had together prior to ever wanting a baby - the foundation of their relationship was built on those first early years, and only grew from there, and he knew that it was only from the strength and the solidity of that foundation that they were able to withstand the past two and a half very trying years. He was thankful for the eleven months they had to wait before finding Abby, months in which they realized how very badly they really did want to be parents, months in which they were able to talk about how they wanted to raise their child (children? maybe?), months to try to grow and strengthen their relationship before putting it into the rough waters of parenthood. He was growing more thankful for their time with Abby again, even though it still stung to think of her - she did give them their only experience with pregnancy, allowing them to share the joy of watching a baby grow in utero, make plans, experience those sweet first newborn days. And he was even thankful for the storms that they went through the summer prior, the pain and hurt and doubt only serving to bring himself and Blaine closer together in the end, with a better understanding of each other's strengths and weaknesses. And compared with all that, their two-month NICU adventure seemed like a walk in the park, just something else to be thankful for: that Lily's mother was selfless enough to make the best decision for her child, that circumstances worked in their favor and this time around, the adoption process couldn't have been easier, and that they were surrounded by skilled nurses who helped them get through the first difficult months of their baby's life. And now they were home, together, a family. Kurt sighed in contentment as he cuddled Lily to his chest.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
Blaine had finished his coffee, his brain cells revived by the caffeine, and his voice broke through Kurt's silent reminiscing.
“Oh, just thinking about … everything. The last three years, and the years before that, and how I'm just so thankful for all of it, because it's brought us here.”
Blaine came over and perched on the arm of the recliner next to Kurt.
“It's pretty amazing, isn't it?” he said, gazing down at Lily. “Some days I can't believe all that actually happened to us. And then I look down, and see that scar on my leg, and I realize that it really did.”
Kurt absentmindedly rubbed over the spot that Blaine was speaking of. “It really did,” he said softly. “But all that's over now. Now we just have … this.” He motioned to Lily, who was wide awake and looking at her daddies, making funny little baby faces at them. “It feels almost like a miracle.”
He and Blaine smiled at Lily, and she smiled back at them, her normal response. But then her little mouth opened into a wider grin, and she let out a happy sounding “Aaaahhhh!”
Blaine and Kurt froze momentarily, then burst into happy peals of laughter together. It was the first time they'd ever heard their baby coo.
“Blaine, my phone, grab my phone!” Kurt exclaimed, and Blaine reached over to the coffee table, fumbling with the screen until he found the video mode.
“Lily baby, will you do it again for us? Come on sweetie, do it again for Daddy, go aaahhh!” Nothing in the whole world could have wiped the grin off of his face at that moment. “Aaaahhh!” he repeated.
And Lily complied. “Aaaahhh!” She grinned again.
“Did you get it? Oh my God Lily, we are so proud of you - you're such a smart, sweet girl - oh, Blaine, I can't believe this...”
Their jubilance over something so seemingly simple was due to the worry they'd experienced a month prior while Lily was still in the NICU. Once Lily had reached four weeks of age, Blaine and Kurt had expected her to start making sounds. A week passed, and then another, and by the day she turned seven weeks old, they were beginning to worry a bit. When they'd asked why she wasn't cooing yet, Sarah Grace had gently explained to them that it was a combination of things - it was partly due to the drug withdrawal, which took up all her energy, and it was partly due to the fact that in spite of all the attention the nurses tried to pay the babies and the fact that Blaine and Kurt were there for several hours every day, the NICU was just not the best place for the social development of a term baby. She promised them that once Lily was home with them, on a good routine with playtime and lots of interaction, that she would pick up the pace in no time. She also assured them that a lot of babies didn't actually start cooing until two or three months, that Lily was not even close to being behind yet, and just to be patient.
“Well I guess that means we're doing something right,” Blaine said, still excited. Lily had cooed at them twice more since he'd recorded her, spurred on by their overwhelmingly positive reaction. They had clapped and praised and cooed right back to her, which apparently thrilled the baby girl. Thirty minutes later, they were still positively high with excitement.
Lily was just beginning to look sleepy when Kurt's phone buzzed. It was a text from Burt.
Boarding the plane now. Meet you at
baggage claim in about 2 hours?
“Oh my god … I got so excited about all this that I completely forgot about my family! We need to talk about what we're doing....”
“Right. I'll stay here with Lily, and you can go meet them at the airport. I just don't feel comfortable taking her out into such a public place like that yet,” Blaine said.
“I wholeheartedly agree. If anything happened to her, especially if we could have prevented it....”
“Yeah, let's not go there.”
“Okay, so I'll leave for the airport in … oh God, like half an hour - Blaine, I've got to go take a shower!” Kurt threw Lily into his partner's open arms and ran back toward the bedroom. Blaine chucked and settled back into the comfortable couch, nestling Lily onto his bare chest.
“You made Daddy the happiest man in the whole world today, cooing like that” he whispered to her. “I love you so much, Lily Elise. You are the best thing that ever happened to your dad and me.” She let out a tiny baby sigh, and shifted into him a bit, as if she was trying to reply that yes, she understood, because he and Dad were the best things that ever happened to her as well.
* * * * * * * *
Two and a half hours later, Lily was napping and Blaine was sitting cross-legged on the couch, his pen scratching away at the legal pad in his lap, when the door swung open and the Hummels poured into the condo. He hopped up off the couch and darted over to meet them.
“Hey kiddo,” Burt said with a huge smile on his face, pulling Blaine into a big bear hug. “How are you?”
“Better than I ever thought possible,” he answered honestly. Burt pulled back and clapped a hand on top of Blaine's shoulder.
“You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that - Carole and I have worried about you and Kurt more than I'd like to admit.”
“I know. I'm sorry. You don't need to worry … your heart … but we're fine now. Things are amazing, really.”
“Hey, don't apologize - it wasn't your fault. Now, where's my grandbaby?”
“She's napping right now, but she should be waking up to eat any minute now,” Blaine told him, stepping over to give Carole a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“It is so good to be here with you two,” she said, smiling as she hugged him back.
“Can we go see Lily?” Finn asked, excited to see his niece again.
“I'll just go get her,” Kurt said. “She needs to eat in a little bit anyway, and waking her up a little early just this once isn't going to hurt anything.”
He disappeared down the hall, and Blaine grabbed Kurt's phone from the counter.
“You guys have to see this - she cooed for the first time today!”
Kurt's family let out a collective “Awwwww,” and they gathered around the phone to watch the video. Tears sprang to Carole's eyes as she watched it, amazed at the difference in Lily's demeanor after just a month.
“Oh Blaine,” she said, putting her hand on his back, “She looks amazing.”
He grinned. “Just wait till you see her in person!”
They didn't have to wait long, because a few seconds later, Kurt came walking back down the hall with a slightly sleepy Lily in his arms.
“Oh my gosh, look at you!!!!!” Carole squealed, scooping her out of Kurt's arms. The baby gave them a happy smile and stuck her fingers in her mouth. “Your little shoes - oh, guys, I can't get over her...”
“Blaine found those sandals for her yesterday,” Kurt said proudly.
Carole was continuing to coo and baby talk to Lily when Burt tapped her on the arm.
“Honey, you know I love you, but you're gonna have to share.”
She sighed and placed the baby into her husband's waiting arms.
“Hey there, little bit,” he said, smiling down at her. “Say hi to grandpa.”
She worked her mouth back into a smile, making little gurgly noises at him. Burt was surprised by the tears he felt springing to his eyes. He sat down with her in the recliner, holding her out in front of him in his lap. Still sucking on her fingers every now and then, she gurgled again, squirming on his legs.
He looked up. “Kurt...”
“I know Dad, I know.”
“She looks so much more comfortable than she did when we visited her in the hospital,” Finn said.
“Oh, she is,” Blaine said. “I mean, she has occasional fussy times, and sometimes her little legs still shake, but she's a really happy baby overall - Sarah Grace told us before she was discharged that we were really lucky, because a lot of drugs babies are still really irritable when they go home. But she's not.”
“Oh honey, that's so great,” Carole sighed. “I'm just so glad she's okay.”
Burt still hadn't said anything, staring down at his sweet granddaughter who was still looking up at him with her clear blue eyes.
“You okay, Dad?” Kurt asked, perching on the arm of the recliner next to him.
“I'm just so proud of you,” he said, choking back tears. “She looks so great, I know the two of you are doing so well with her... I just can't believe I'm a grandpa. You know, when you were younger, I just sort of gave up on the idea...”
“Dad, stop, you're going to make me cry.” Kurt leaned down and gave his dad an awkward side-hug-from-above.
“It's going to be so much better this time, I promise you.”
“I know. It already is.”
Blaine drifted wordlessly into the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with a prepared bottle and a bib.
“Burt, would you like to feed her?”
“I would love that.” He took the bottle and popped it into Lily's mouth, making silly faces at her. The family all sat in the living room catching up with each other while she ate.
“So what do you guys want to do today?” Blaine was asking.
Burt and Carole looked at each other. “Well,” Carole began, “we actually wanted to take you shopping for Lily. We felt bad, not having a baby shower this time, and I wanted to get some things before we came, but we didn't know what you still needed. Would you be up for that today? And can Lily be out around people?”
“Yeah, we've gone on walks a couple of evenings this week already. But please, don't feel like you have to buy things for us - we have a lot of stuff still left from before, because Kurt had the presence of mind to put all the major things in storage. And we were able to get some stuff while she was in the NICU,” he told her
“Well what do you need?”
He leaned his head on Kurt's shoulder, thinking.
“Well … we don't have a play mat for her, and she's starting to need some tummy time, so that would be good...” Kurt said.
“And we'd really like to make our own baby food when she starts eating solids, so maybe a baby food maker? I can't really think of anything else...”
“Well why don't we just go this afternoon, and we'll see if there's anything else, okay?”
“If you insist...”
“We do,” Burt said pointedly. “This is my first granddaughter, and I intend to have her spoiled rotten by the time she's a year old.”
“Oh, fabulous. You and your diabolical plans to make our lives even harder,” Kurt deadpanned. They all chuckled.
“Well if we're going out today, we might as well make a whole day of it - we have no food in this house, so maybe we can grab some lunch somewhere, and then hit up the market so Kurt and I can make dinner for you guys,” Blaine said.
“Yes. Yes. I like that plan.” Finn perked up at the thought of Kurt and Blaine cooking - he and Kurt had only lived together for about a year and a half total, but the last year of that, he got to be on the receiving end of the couple's culinary adventures, most of which turned out excellently.
“Do you want to go out and see the city, baby girl?” Kurt cooed at Lily. “Of course you do!” He turned to look at Blaine. “I can't wait to take her to her first Broadway show.”
“Yeah, Kurt, we talked about that - let's at least wait until she's three or four...”
Kurt looked up at his family. “Obviously Blaine does not care about the cultural education of our child.”
“Oh, obviously,” Blaine answered him with a grin. “I'm totally stilting Lily's development, here.” Kurt rolled his eyes.
“Soooooo, are we ready to go? It's getting close to lunchtime, I'm getting hungry, and we've still got to get there,” Carole said, interrupting their playful banter.
“Sure. Let's just take the sling today, Blaine,” Kurt said. “I don't feel like lugging the stroller all over creation.”
“Okay, but I want to wear her.”
“Didn't you wear her last time?”
“No, you did, when we went out to get ice cream two days ago, remember?” Blaine prodded.
“Oh yeah. Well … I guess you can wear her, but since we're going to be gone for so long today, I think that counts twice, so I get her the next two times, okay?”
“Wait. I'm confused. What are you talking about - wearing Lily?” Finn asked, his eyebrows scrunched together.
“I'll show you,” Blaine said, retrieving the Sakura Bloom sling (found here) that Carole had gotten them the year before from their coat rack in the entryway. He slung it over his shoulder, adjusted the big rings to fit him, and straightened out the fabric. “Burt, did she burp for you? I don't want her to puke all down my chest while she's in this thing.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, she burped a couple times.”
“Okay. So you make a pouch with this fabric here,” he said, pulling the sling a couple different directions, “And then...” He took Lily from Burt, held her up to his shoulder, and slid her down into the pouch, her legs to the sides. He adjusted the skirt on her dress, then pulled the fabric through the rings tightly. “Voila,” he said, holding his hands out. “Baby-wearing at its finest.”
“Dude, that's awesome.”
“It really is, we love it. We wear her all the time. That sling is fantastic, Carole, thank you again,” Kurt said.
“Oh you're welcome, sweetie.”
And with Blaine wearing Lily on his stomach, they headed out of the condo and up the sidewalk. After stopping for a quick lunch at a local cafe, they headed down to Buy Buy Baby. Blaine and Kurt purposefully steered themselves away from the clothes, instead going down the aisle with baby food makers.
“This is what you need, right?” Carole asked them as they looked over each type of food processor. They nodded. “Okay, you pick whichever one you want, and we'll get it. And I know you said no clothes, but I'm just going to look, okay?” And she trotted happily over to the dresses.
Blaine looked down at their baby, asleep against him. “They weren't kidding when they said they were going to spoil you rotten, were they Lily?”
Finn had wandered into the toy section with Burt, and they'd returned with a shopping cart full of not only a play mat, but also several rattles, a mirror to put in her crib, three stuffed animals, and a huge stack of storybooks. Carole met them halfway with her own cart, which housed stacks of onesies and sleepers, as well as multiple dresses and a few blankets.
Blaine and Kurt were still trying to decide on a baby food maker when they saw the Hummels congregating in the middle of the store.
“Oh no … I think we need to stage an intervention before they start toward the cashier....” Kurt said.
They rushed toward the two full shopping carts. “No. Absolutely not. It's too much,” Blaine said immediately.
“Blaine honey, what are you talking about? Here, let us just show you what we've got...” Carole explained. “These clothes range in sizes up to a year so Lily will always have something to wear, even when she starts growing like a little weed. I've got onesies and sleepers and I couldn't resist at least a few dresses … And I figured you'd need some blankets, since she was born in the springtime and you probably haven't had a need for lots of warm, fuzzy things.”
“And this is just the play mat, like you wanted, plus some other stuff...” Finn said.
“We know you both love to read to her, so don't give me crap about the books. And they say that those rattle things help with development or something, and one of the ladies who works here said that babies Lily's age love to see themselves in a mirror, so we picked up one of those too. I told you, we are spoiling this baby, and I'm not taking no for an answer,” Burt said.
They sighed. “Fine. We admit defeat. But seriously Dad … thank you.”
Burt pulled him into a hug. “Don't even worry about it, kiddo. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Okay boys, just go pick out your baby food maker, and we'll be on our way!”
“Um, guys? How are we going to get all this stuff back to the condo?” Finn made a very valid point.
Kurt groaned with the realization. “Finn, we're going to have to carry it.”
“Oh, man... Somehow living in New York is losing its appeal for me.”
Blaine raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't ask questions. “I guess we'll just have to go to the market after we take all this stuff home first.”
“We probably need to get Lily home and out of the heat anyway...” Kurt said. So they checked out and lugged all of their purchases down the sidewalk, onto the subway, and all the way home.
* * * * * * * *
“Just so you guys know, your kitchen smells amazing!” Finn called from the living room that night.
He, Carole, and Burt had taken over Lily duty that evening so Kurt and Blaine could cook in peace. They were making a zucchini and ricotta cheese galette served with homemade tomato soup, and the smells wafting from the oven were no less than divine. While the couple clattered away, chopping zucchini and pureeing tomatoes, Lily's grandparents and uncle had opened her play mat, and were enthralled at how much she moved. She loved to hit her hands up against the little figures hanging down above her head, and every time she caught a glimpse of herself in that mirror, she grinned. She wasn't making much noise, but every now and then she'd let out a little grunt or coo.
Finn was on the ground with her, dangling things in front of her hands, and Burt and Carole were sitting on the couch, watching them, his arm around her.
“How did we get so lucky, to have the best kids in the world?” Burt said softly into her ear.
“I don't know, but I think I'll keep them,” she answered.
“I'm just so proud of them, Carole, I've never met anybody so brave. Or maybe just stubborn, in Kurt's case...”
She laughed softly. “He is pretty stubborn - he gets that from his old man, I think.”
“Nothing wrong with sticking to what you believe,” he muttered.
“No, dear, of course there's not. It's how you - both of you - have survived all this. But I think it's supposed to get easier from here on out, this whole grandparent thing. Spend time with them, have fun with them, then send them back when they get too rowdy. Isn't that how it's supposed to go?”
“That's how it's going to go, whether it's supposed to or not,” Burt answered her with a smile.
“Um, Mom? Burt? I think Lily has a dirty diaper,” Finn said from the floor, wrinkling his nose a bit.
“Well then go change it, honey,” Carole told him. He just stared at her, and she laughed. “Oh, don't be such a big baby. Here, come on, I'll help you.” Finn carefully picked Lily up off the floor, following his mom back to the baby's nursery to get her changed (hopefully without too large of a disaster.)
Burt, now alone in the living room, sank back against the couch. Years ago, when Kurt was a newborn and his sweet first wife had still been alive, this was not even remotely what he was picturing his future life to look like. If you'd told him that he'd been sitting in a well-decorated condo in New York City with his amazing son and his amazing son's almost-as-amazing partner, their baby, his second wife, and her amazing son, he'd never have believed it. But this … this felt like what normal was supposed to feel like. And Burt Hummel figured that “normal” didn't matter so much as happy, or whole, or loved. And he was all of those things. And lucky. Boy, was he lucky.
Chapter 24