October fourth, 1995
"Mother Jolie?" Kate Grenwhich looked up from her paperwork, smiling at the other nun passing by. "Did you get those two last babies to sleep."
"Yes, I did, Mother Kate."
"Were they sick? Babies usually do not cry like that."
"No, Mother Jolie. Actually, they stopped crying immediately, after I put them in the same crib. Just as yesterday." Jolie frowned slightly as she spoke. It was an odd thing, the babies weren't related in any way. In fact, the girl was put in the hospital a year before the boy, and he hadn't cried when he was all alone for that time. It was only when the female was put in the crib beside him that this problem had started happening, just a day ago.
"Odd." Kate matched the other's confused frown. "Well, we could use extra cribs. So I guess we take advantage of this sleeping arrangement as long as they can still tolerate each other."
"Right, then. Goodnight, Mother Kate."
"Goodnight Mother Jolie."
A few rooms down, two babies slept peacefully, their legs intertwined, the smaller baby's head on the bigger's chest.
January twelfth, 1999
"Kurtie! Kurtie, shhh." Rachel pet her friend's hair, trying to cease the thrashing and crying in his sleep.
It wasn't an unusual occurrence. Kurt had had nightmares almost every single week, ever since he had come to the orphanage. Rachel would always pet his hair, talking him awake. Her nightmares had disappeared around age three.
The five year old woke with a start, bawling the second he woke up. His friend simply cuddled him close and shushed him again.
"It's okay Kurtie. They're not here. They're dead." She whispered. Kurt eventually calmed to short sniffles and whines.
"One day, we'll be out of here. And we'll have a mommy and a daddy, and then we'll grow up and you'll have the prettiest princess, and I'll have the handsomest prince."
Kurt buried his face in Rachel's chest and hiccuped. "C-Can I have a prince too?"
"Of course. The handsomest."
June eighteenth, 2005
"Kurtie! Kurtie Kurtie Kurtie!" Rachel sobbed, running over to her friend. She was clutching her finger in her small fist, holding it out to him. "Brady stepped on it again!"
Kurt made a face and kissed the brunette's finger, giving her a tight hug. "'s okay, Rach. He's just a bully." He reassured, patting her back as she sniffed. Brady usually picked on Kurt, but the boy had gotten good at hiding, so whenever Kurt wasn't around, Rachel was the next best thing.
"D'you want me to help you climb the tree?"
Rachel nodded somberly, her big pink lip still sticking out. Kurt took her hand and led her to the big, twisted willow, guiding her feet to the right foot holes before climbing up easily himself. They fit themselves into the biggest, curved branch of the tree, wider than both their bodies side by side, and shading from the sun and mean children.
"Do you wanna sing?" Rachel asked quietly, and Kurt nodded. They began one of the many bible songs that they had learned from the nuns, holding each other's hands and eventually smiling and laughing.
December 25, 2008
Two men strolled into Moses's Home for Orphaned Children, their fingers intertwined, their faces excited.
"Names?" The nun at the desk asked, smiling at the two.
"Hiram and LeRoy Berry." The darker of the two responded, squeezing his partner's hand.
"Adopting, visiting, volunteering?"
"Adopting, hopefully."
"Wonderful!" The nun stood quickly and shook both their hands. "My name is Mother Greta. We don't get many adopters around here, so we'll be very excited to help you." She spoke happily. These were the days when her job truly payed off. "Right this way, Mr. and Mr. Berry."
She led them outside, where children were running and playing, chattering excitedly with one another, pushing each other down. Their eyes both widened slightly. There were quite a few.
"Are you two married?"
A small, high voice sounded from somewhere above. Hiram looked up and saw a skinny, pale boy, sitting tucked in between the branches of an old willow. He smiled up at him.
"Why, yes."
"What state did you get married in?"
"Minnesota." LeRory squeezed his partner's hand once more. "What's your name then?"
"Kurt." Kurt sat up a bit, slipping his book into his bag. "Kurt Hummel."
"Well, Kurt Hummel, what're you doing up there?"
"Reading. People leave me alone when I'm up here. No one but me and Rachel can climb it."
"Rachel?"
"She's in the piano room, probably." Kurt just shrugged. "Did you have a normal wedding? Was it normal like a boy's and a girl's?"
"Well, first off, there's nothing that isn't normal about a man and a man's wedding." Hiram didn't miss Kurt's eyes light up at that. "And yes, it was lovely."
"Do people know that you guys are married?"
"All of our friends and families."
"Oh."
"Why the interest?" The two men both knew why, but it'd be rude to ask a less-vague question. The small boy shrugged again.
"Kurt, would you like to come eat lunch with us?"
"Okay, but I told Rachel that I would eat with her, so she has to come too."
"That's alright."
Ten minutes later
"You were on Broadway?!" Rachel's eyes widened, staring at the two men in amazement. They both chuckled, completely taken by the two children in front of them. Though, they were older than they had initially wanted (Kurt twelve and Rachel thirteen), Hiram and LeRoy both knew within ten minutes of lunch that these were their children.
"What play?" Kurt matched Rachel's excitement, though kept a distance between him and the adults, unlike Rachel, who immediately cuddled up beside them and talked the minutes away.
"I was a citizen of emerald city in Wicked." LeRoy responded, grinning at them. They both gasped.
"That's the poster we have in our room, Kurtie!" Rachel shook her friend's arm, who nodded, giggling.
"I know, Rachel, you're gonna pull my arm off."
Half an hour later
"Mother Greta? We know who we'd like." Hiram said to the nun at the desk, who grinned widely.
"Oh? Who would that be?"
"Kurt Hummel and his friend, Rachel."
"Two children? You do realize they're both almost teenagers, surely."
"Of course."
"Alright then. Let me get the paperwork."
And a week later, Kurt and Rachel were saved.