A Family By Christmas

by teddyshoney

Blaine and Kurt are thinking about starting a family, so they decide to look into adoption. This is what happens in their two year adventure to finally start their family. This is a story I wrote for the Klaine Advent Challenge 2018.

"Mr. and Mr. Ander-Hummel, we are here today to finalize your adoption of these three wonderful children. So, I guess, it's time for the burning question," the judge spoke.

Kurt and Blaine looked at one another excitedly. This was the moment they'd been waiting for, nearly two years in the making.

"Do you take Joshua, Liza, and Jasper to be your children?"

The word tumbled out before either of them had time to think. "Yes!"

"And do you, Joshua, Liza, and Jasper, take Mr. and Mr. Ander-Hummel to be your parents?"

Joshua looked proudly at his two dads, then looked fondly at his younger siblings before answering. "Yeah. We do."

"Well, then I pronounce you all a family!" the judge said, throwing his arms out to his sides. "Now how about a picture?"

There was some enthusiastic cheering from the other families that were there to adopt their children that day as the whole Ander-Hummel family rose to go to the front. Jasper took off in front of everyone else, his usual hyper self.

"There goes the little athlete," Kurt whispered to Blaine, bending to scoop up Liza on their way to the front.

"OUR little athlete," Blaine replied sweetly, pecking Kurt on the cheek as he walked, trailing behind Joshua, who was trying not to look to excited.

When they were all positioned, the attending officer snapped their picture, and the five of them headed merrily out the door, on their way to Burt and Carole's house to celebrate the adoption finalization as well as Christmas, which was a mere two days away.

"Daddy?" Liza asked as Blaine buckled her into her car seat.

"Yeah, sweet cheeks?" he replied, pulling the straps over her shoulders tight.

"Wan' build a snowman!"

Blaine couldn't hold back a smile. "Where? At Nama and Grampa's?"

Liza nodded, covering a yawn.

"Okay, munchkin," he replied, giving her a peck on the forehead before closing the door and going around to get in the passenger seat.

"Everybody ready?" Kurt asked, looking into the rear-view mirror at their three new kids.

The twins didn't respond, but Joshua gave him a thumbs up. "Sure, Papa. How long 'til we get there?"

"Nine hours," Blaine replied as Kurt pulled out onto the road. "Got your book?"

"Yep. And my game."

"Good. I'll see you in nine hours, then," Blaine teased, turning to give their oldest a grin.

Joshua didn't reply, just stuck his nose in his book and began to read.

They weren't very far down the road before Blaine felt Kurt reaching for his hand. He'd been staring out the window, daydreaming, but was happy to give his husband his attention.

"Look," Kurt mouthed to him, jerking his head toward the back seat. His eyes glanced into the rear-view before training back on the road.

Blaine turned to look and couldn't help the happy little sigh at the sight. Both Jasper and Liza had fallen asleep in their car seats, their heads tilted to one side, bottom lips pooching out just a little, and dark hair falling onto their foreheads. Joshua had fallen asleep, too, his book resting peacefully in his lap, his head leaning against the side of Jasper's car seat.

"They had a long day," Kurt said when Blaine's attention returned to the front of the car.

"I know. And it's barely 11 o'clock."

"Well, I hope they sleep for a few hours. It will help the time pass faster for them."

Blaine nodded. Then, "Who knew this would be our life when we started this two years ago?" he asked, seemingly musing out loud. His thumb began to trace across the knuckles of Kurt's right hand.

"No one. This is way more perfect than we imagined."

************************************2 Years Earlier***********************************

Blaine flopped onto the bed beside Kurt, who was flipping through a magazine.

"Look at this cute snowman!" Kurt said enthusiastically, turning the page toward Blaine and indicating with his thumb.

"Cute," Blaine replied absently, looking down at his phone.

"You didn't even look at it," Kurt groused as he set the magazine down on his lap, still open. "What's up?"

"Um, well, I've been, uh, thinking."

"Yes. Go on."

"Well, I want to have a family." Blaine gulped. They'd briefly talked about this in the past and they'd both agreed that they weren't ready yet. But the last time they'd really talked about it was a few years ago, and things had changed quite a bit since then. Kurt had a good job; so did he. They were making plenty of money, so much so that they'd begun putting quite a bit away each month. They were calling it their nest egg, though what they were nesting for had ever really been clearly defined.

"So do I," Kurt replied, looking at his husband of almost three years curiously.

"So, I was thinking that maybe we could start looking into adoption?" He could see the hesitation flash across Kurt's face, so he hurried to add, "I've been reading about it recently. This is just a conversation I want to have. Please."

Kurt let out a breath, closing the magazine and setting it on his night side stand. He turned onto his side, adjusted the blanket over his legs, and brushed some hair out of his face. Then, he gave Blaine his full attention. "Okay. Let's talk about it. I want to know what you've read."

Blaine took a deep breath. "Okay. So, adoption is a long process. There are like ten steps that we have to go through between now and bringing a child home as our adopted child. I found this, this website," he said, turning his phone to show Kurt a brief glimpse of the screen. "You remember how we went to that movie a few weeks ago? The one with the family that adopts those kids?"

"Yeah. That was a really cute movie. But it also made this," Kurt gestured with his hand, "seem really hard. Like there were a lot of obstacles that they faced."

"I know. And I thought that, too. But ever since the movie, I haven't been able to get it out of my head. So I went to their website, and that's where I found this checklist." He indicated his phone again, not looking at Kurt's face, too focused on what he was finding as he tried to hide his nervousness.

Kurt reached across the bed and touched Blaine's face, drawing his eyes away from his phone screen and back to his own. "This is important. I want to talk about it with you."

Blaine mustered up a smile. "Okay. So, the checklist says that we should attend a class to see if adopting is the right choice for us."

"Where would we find a class to go to?"

"There's one at this church the end of this week. It's an hour and a half class, and they are going to have a lot of info packets and stuff to help get us started."

"Well, we should go then."

"Really?" Blaine asked, wanting to be excited, but surprised by the lack of conversation.

"Yes, really," Kurt assured, leaning across the bed to plant a kiss on Blaine's lips. "I have a secret to tell you." When Blaine just gazed into his eyes, waiting, he continued, "I've been thinking about that, too. The movie. I was just afraid to read about it. I didn't want to get myself excited for this if you weren't on board, too."

Blaine chuckled. "We're a little silly, aren't we?"

"Well, you're a little silly," Kurt smiled. "I'm perfect."

Instead of responding, Blaine attacked, grabbing at Kurt's sides, dissolving his husband into a puddle of laughter as he tickled him.

"Blaine!" Kurt kept shrieking, doing his best to wiggle away from the intruding fingers, but he couldn't seem to get away. Blaine had him too well pinned.

Finally, Blaine released him, and they lay on the bed, cuddled together, catching their breath. "Are we really doing this?" Blaine asked finally, voice very close to Kurt's ear.

"We're doing this," Kurt confirmed, rolling over to give Blaine a kiss.

Blaine quickly responded with a kiss of his own, hungrily chasing Kurt's lips as they tried to pull back from his own. The boys lay together, kissing for a long time, enjoying the feeling of being close to one another, basking in the warmth of making the decision to try to have their own family. Finally, though, they pulled away, and Blaine reached to click off the lamp, cuddling back into Kurt, head on his shoulder. "Night," he murmured.

"Good night," Kurt replied with a yawn.

*******************************2 Years Later*****************************************

They'd been in the car for nearly three hours when the kids began to stir in the back seat. Joshua woke up first, stretching his arms and legs and rolling his neck. Kurt smiled at him in the rear-view. For a seven-year-old, he sometimes seemed so much more mature. That had been one of the biggest struggles when they first brought all three of the kids home. Joshua had been a big help, but they'd relied on him too much; he hadn't gotten the opportunity to be a child. Things were different now, though.

"Where are we?" Joshua asked sleepily, a yawn breaking up the end of his question.

"Hey. Have a good nap?" Blaine asked, turning around in his seat to look at the children behind him. He kept his voice low, wanting to let the twins sleep as long as possible.

"Yeah," Joshua replied, smiling. "Getting hungry, though."

"We'll stop for some lunch when Liza and Jasper wake up," Kurt told him, switching lanes. "Want something to suck on? I threw some cinnamon discs into the glove box."

"Sure," Joshua said, taking the disc from Blaine. After popping it into his mouth, he asked again, "Where are we?"

"We've gone about three hours. We're just outside of.." Blaine glanced at the minivan's GPS. "We're still in Pennsylvania."

"There are a lot of places to stop, though," Kurt reassured, seeing the concerned look on their son's face. "We'll get you some food, even if they've tried to bury the restaurant somewhere in this never-ending state."

That got a laugh from Joshua, which woke Jasper. His little body stretched, arms going behind his head as he let out a giant yawn, his dark bangs falling just over his eyes. "Daddy?" he asked sleepily.

Blaine reached out and patted the three-year-old's knee. "I'm here, bud," he said gently, stealing a glance at Liza, who was beginning to stir.

"Hungry," Jasper mumbled, rubbing his eyes with his fists.

"Mmm," Liza mumbled as she awoke.

"Alright, kids," Kurt said, taking charge as he switched lanes again, heading for an exit that claimed to have a few fast food restaurants. "We're going to pull over for some food right now. Just hang on."

*************************************Earlier****************************************

"You ready for this?" Kurt asked a bit nervously as they walked up to the door of the church.

Blaine stopped, turning toward Kurt and squeezing his hand. "Come on, Kurt. Nothing is official. We are just finding out more."

"You're right. You're right. This just, just seems like a big step."

"I'm going to be with you the whole time. Promise."

Kurt smiled. "Okay. Let's go."

The boys hurried up the steps and into the church. It wasn't a place either of them were entirely comfortable in, neither ever having really been church types. Going through the exterior double doors, they found a single candle lighting the entry way, another set of double doors, and a sign directing them down the hall that lay before them. They could see a light in a room further down the hallway, so they walked that way, the sound of voices drawing them.

A sign next to the open, lighted room read, "AdoptUSKids Meeting. Come on in!"

"I guess this is it," Kurt whispered.

With another squeeze of his husband's hand, Blaine strode into the room, pulling Kurt behind him. They found a few empty seats toward the back and settled in, observing the other couples gathered in the room. There was a man and a woman standing over near the wall, whispering to one another. Each wore a lanyard and looked very official. "They don't look very happy, do they?" Blaine asked.

"Maybe they're stressed?" Kurt suggested, trying to tell himself that they shouldn't leave, that this was the right place to be.

"Maybe," Blaine agreed, shifting to look toward the door. "Do you want to-"

But before he could get the rest of his sentence out, the woman in the lanyard, who was tall, thin, and sandy haired, turned to the group. "Hello, everyone! We're going to get started now, so if you could take your seats." No one was standing, and the smile she flashed the room was slightly forced. "As you know," she continued, "we are here to talk about adoption. This is an informational meeting, trying to give you, as potential adoptive parents, the information you need to move forward and have a successful adoption. My name is Alice. This is my co-worker Derek."

Derek strode forward from where he'd been hiding behind Alice. "I'm Derek. It's nice to see all of you." Derek's smile was genuine. He looked like he genuinely wanted to be there. "You're probably going to wish you'd brought a camera," Derek went on. "Because I'm sure you'll want to remember this beautiful face!" He gestured to himself, eliciting some giggles from the crowd.

Kurt rolled his eyes "He's not as funny as he thinks he is," he whispered, nudging Blaine.

Blaine nodded absently, trying to listen. Alice had started to talk again.

"What Derek means is that you'll want to remember how you feel during this moment. Because this road that you are about to go down is hard. Not all of you are going to survive this journey. Some of you will give up. And those of you that don't give up are going to want to." Alice was droning on in a monotone voice, her face and body void of all emotion. The things that she was saying were starting to scare some of those gathered. The boys watched as couples started leaning toward one another, whispering. There were some glances at the door.

"Should we go?" Kurt asked, whispering in Blaine's ear. "This doesn't sound like something I really want to do. I mean, if-"

"Alice, we shouldn't paint the picture as completely doom and gloom!" Derek broke in, giving her a tight-lipped smile as he took over the presentation. "This is also one of the most fulfilling things that you can do. It is selfless work, to want to take care of someone else's children. It's not without its challenges. But, it is worth it." He paused to smile at the couples seated in the room. "Now, I'd like to go around the room and find out more about you, our prospective parents, before we move on. Do we have anyone who would like to start?"

A couple a few seats in front of them raised their hands. "We're the Johnson's, and we've tried for a few years to conceive. But nothing has taken yet, so we decided to try adoption, just like my sister," the man said.

"Thank you," Derek replied cheerily. "It's nice to meet you. Next?"

A few other couples introduced themselves, including the deputy sheriff who said he had been adopted himself and that he wanted to give another child the great experience of finding a family, just as he'd had.

Alice, as was seeming to be the tradition, was doom and gloom. "Not all adoptions are successful. Even if you and the child click really well, sometimes the parents come back to take custody. Or you don't click with the child and they choose that they'd like to go back to a foster home."

Derek did his best to make everything a bit more light-hearted, but Alice was making his job exceedingly difficult. She even caused one couple to get up and leave. Following them out the door, she called, "Don't worry if this is too difficult for you! It's better that you find that out now!" It was at that point that Derek pulled her aside, and apparently made a pact that she wouldn't speak for the rest of the presentation, because Derek took and held the floor.

"Um, who haven't we met yet? You two, in the back," he called, pointing to Blaine and Kurt.

Blaine cleared his throat, reaching up to subconsciously adjust his bow tie. "Um, we're the Ander-Hummels. And, we've been married for almost three years."

"Nice to meet you," Derek said kindly. "Why do you want to adopt?"

Blaine looked at Kurt, unsure of what to say. He gave a tiny jerk of his head, hoping that Kurt would jump in.

To his relief, his husband took pity on him, answering Derek's question, despite sounding as nervous as Blaine felt. "W-we, well, we would l-like to start a family, and th-this seemed like a good option for us. We-we're really trying to jus-just get some more information." Kurt gave a nervous laugh at that, leaning closer to Blaine for support.

"Good idea," Derek commended. It's a great idea to gather all your information before jumping in.

Alice nodded from behind, silent.

"And in an effort to help you all gather as much information as you can, we have some information packets to give you. These talk in detail about the home study you'll have to go through, the average costs of adoption and how you can get financial help to pay for the adoption, as well as where you can look up and meet adoptable kids." He picked up a stack of paper, handing a packet of several stapled pages to each couple. "We'll give you a few minutes to look over the packet and answer any questions that you may have."

Blaine and Kurt silently read over the things in the pamphlet, skimming over most of the information to get the most important pieces. When they had finished, they sat cuddled against one another, thinking about what they had read, waiting. This was normally something they'd talk over, but neither one of them were comfortable having a private conversation in the middle of the meeting.

After a few minutes, Derek asked, "Does anyone have any questions?"

No one raised their hands. Both the boys felt like they definitely had questions, but they were both too afraid to ask them. They didn't want to look stupid.

As if he could read their minds, Derek went on. "There are no stupid questions. I don't want to exclude anyone from getting the help they need. So, please, could everyone come up with at least one question?"

The Johnson's raised their hands, asking a question about financial help. Others around the room had financial questions as well. A few others asked about the home visit and what kinds of things to expect.

When it came to Kurt and Blaine, Derek looked at them expectantly. Kurt didn't know what to say, so he looked at Blaine, hoping for an answer. Or rather a question.

Blaine took a deep breath and asked, "How long does this process normally take?"

Derek grinned and said, "That's a pretty simple question, actually. Adoptions can take quite a while, and the range in time is pretty large. It could take as little as a year, but it could take as long as three years or more. The average, however, is two. So, if you all are lucky, you'll have your adoptions finalized in time for Christmas two years from now. 2018."

Blaine nodded, satisfied.

The meeting ended quickly after that. Derek and Alice passed out one more paper, a list of dates for meet-and-greet days over the next three months. "You'll need to be working on completing your home visit before you can attend one of these, but don't worry. If you don't make it to one of the dates listed on the sheet, there are more dates for later months posted on our website, which is also listed on this sheet."

With that, Derek dismissed the meeting, and Kurt and Blaine walked out of the church hand in hand. "Well, that was kind of awkward," Kurt commented as they got into the car.

"I didn't expect to have to talk that much, but it was very informative," Blaine winked as he started up the car.

"You should get a blue ribbon for that question, by the way. I had no idea what to ask."

"And you should get one for saving me during the introductions. That's why we're perfect together," Blaine said with a smile and a tiny kiss to Kurt's cheek before he pulled out of their parking space.

The two rode together in silence for a few minutes before Blaine broke the silence. "Do you still want to do this?"

Kurt nodded. "Yeah. I mean, we knew this was going to be hard, right? Listening to someone describe how hard it's going to be is scary, but doesn't really change my mind. Do you still want to?"

Blaine nodded. "Yeah. We're in this together. We're a team."

Kurt took his husband's hand and squeezed it. "Good. Now, hurry up and get us home because I'd like to rip that shirt and bow tie off of you right about now." He bit his lip just a bit as he gazed longingly at his husband's chest.

"Yes, sir," Blaine said with a mock salute then stepped on the gas just a little bit harder.

***************************************Later***************************************

After a quick lunch, the whole family piled back in the car and prepared to drive all the way to Lima, another six hours left. The kids were full of questions, but Joshua especially. He remembered what Christmases were like with his mom, but this was the first time he'd be spending Christmas with "Nama and Grampa" as he and the twins affectionately called Carol and Burt. Kurt and Blaine had figured out early on that Joshua had some anxiety problems that presented themselves in certain situations, especially unfamiliar ones. They were trying their best to work on it, to help Joshua feel more comfortable, and answering his questions honestly seemed to be working, at least for now.

When they finally pulled into Burt and Carol's driveway, everyone was relieved. Joshua slipped off his seat belt and bolted out the door, which surprised Kurt, who had barely put the car in park yet.

"Nama!" Joshua called, running up the sidewalk toward the front door. "Grampa!"

The front door flew open, and Carol came rushing onto the front porch, arms open for a hug. "Joshie!" she called as the boy flew toward her. "Joshie, it's so good to see you!"

Burt was right behind, sweeping Joshua from Carol's arms into his own. "How's my boy?" he asked, giving him a tight squeeze.

Joshua giggled, wriggling to get back down. "Hi!"

"Hi yourself," Burt greeted, giving Joshua a squeeze as he ushered him back down the porch steps and the sidewalk toward the car, Carol right on their heels. "How was your drive?" Burt called to Kurt who was unbuckling Jasper from his car seat.

"Fine," Kurt replied, handing Jasper off to Burt. "We stopped to feed the herd about six hours ago, so I'm sure we're all starved now, but otherwise, good." He flashed a smile at Blaine who was coming around the front of the car, Liza tucked securely in his arms.

Carol grabbed Liza from Blaine. "Well, good thing because I already have dinner cooking right now. After we eat, I thought we should take the kids to the Festival of Lights downtown. Santa's going to be there," she said, giving Liza's belly a bit of a tickle.

The little girl giggled, and Kurt smiled at her. "Sounds good. Blaine and I will grab our bags and then we'll be in to get washed up before dinner. Josh, will you help Daddy and I please?" Kurt asked, turning to the older boy and giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"Help your parents, kid," Burt told him at the reluctant look he flashed Kurt. "We won't do anything fun without you, promise. Now, lets get you in the house, mister," he told Jasper, jostling him around just a moment.

Blaine ruffled Joshua's hair as they headed to the trunk of the van. "Do you think you can carry in Nama and Grampa's Christmas gifts?" he asked.

"Uh huh!" Josh trumpeted, eagerly taking the gifts from Blaine's outstretched hands.

"Hey, be careful with those!" Kurt called as Joshua ran toward the house with gifts in hand.

He chuckled at the sight of Blaine's pouty face. "I was going to make him carry his backpack, too," Blaine complained, holding up the Spiderman backpack.

"Well, he's excited," Kurt sympathized, rubbing a hand across Blaine's shoulder. "We have to be patient. At least he helped with the gifts."

The two men finished grabbing all the bags and made their way into the house, grinning when they found all the kids in the living room surrounding Burt as he told them a story. He was being quite animated, and the kids were watching with round eyes as he told them a story about Santa Claus.

The boys stood in the doorway, watching lovingly for a few minutes until they felt a pair of arms wrap around their shoulders. Carol gave them a squeeze and a cheek kiss to each of them. "Aren't they cute?" she asked, smiling at the happy looks on Blaine and Kurt's faces. "They're all he's been able to talk about for the better part of a week. He really loves those kids."

A happy tear slid down Kurt's cheek, and Blaine brushed it away, kissing where the tear had been. "It's been a big day for us," he said apologetically. "Now that those kids are finally ours..." he trailed off, gazing fondly at the children in the other room. "Well, it was worth it," he said, squeezing Kurt's shoulders.

Kurt for his part could only nod and smile tearfully at his husband.

Carole squeezed them both again. "The bedroom upstairs is for the two of you. We've set up the living room for the kids. Why don't you go ahead and get your stuff situated? We should be ready to eat in about twenty minutes, and Burt and I can handle the kids."

Kurt smiled gratefully at Carol. "Thanks. I'm just going to leave the kids' bags here," he said, gesturing toward the small pile of backpacks next to the living room entrance. "Blaine and I will go up and wash up. We'll be back down shortly." With that, he grabbed Blaine by the arm, and the two headed up the stairs.

**************************************Earlier***************************************

Getting the home study going was a gradual process. It seemed to be an endless cycle of paperwork, questions, more paperwork, and more questions. It took nearly four months for their caseworker to complete their family statement and make them eligible to adopt or foster.

So, when they were finally able to pick a date for a meet-and-greet, the boys had almost forgotten how nervous they were about the day. The meet-and-greet was almost like a big birthday party at a local park. The kids were out running around, playing, and potential adoptive parents were allowed to wonder around the park, talking to kids to see if they could find a child they might like to know more about.

The day of the meet-and-greet, Kurt and Blaine pulled up to the park. It was a nice day, a light breeze blowing the trees in the park around. The sun was shining and before they even climbed out of the car, they could hear birds twittering.

"At least it's a nice day," Kurt pointed out as they exited the car, looking around the park.

For a park in New York, there really didn't seem to be that many people there, which the boys were thankful for. Too many people would make it hard to meet the kids.

Blaine came up beside Kurt and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "You ready to go find a kid?" he asked, smiling at Kurt's less than enthusiastic look.

"That doesn't sound right. But, yeah, let's go."

The boys strolled into the park, waving at Derek who greeted them happily from a shelter. "Hey, guys! Glad you could make it!"

"Thanks. We're not really sure what to do," Blaine said, gesturing to the park filled with kids and other adults.

"Just walk around," Derek said, glancing out at the park. "If you see someone you'd like to talk to, just chat. Maybe play for a little while. Get to know them as best as you can. If there's someone you'd like to get to know better, let us know. We'll see what we can do." Derek shrugged. "It's not really a big deal. If you don't find a kid today, there are other meet-and-greets. And," he added, looking at them fiercely. "Don't feel badly if you don't connect with the first child you talk to. Not all children and adoptive parents are compatible."

Blaine nodded. "Thanks, Derek."

"Have fun, guys!" he said with a wave before going back into the shelter.

Kurt and Blaine began walking around the park, observing several different children but not really interacting with them. Many of them were already with other prospective parents swinging or playing in the sandbox. One little boy ran up to them with a football as they circled around a group of trees.

"Hey! Wanna play catch?" he asked enthusiastically, shoving the ball at Kurt.

Kurt chuckled. "Um, sure. I'm not really the football guy, though. You'd have better luck with Blaine," he said, jerking his thumb in the direction of his husband.

"I'll play catch with you," Blaine said, opening his hands for the kid to throw him the ball.

"Okay!" replied the little boy, throwing the ball haphazardly at Blaine before running a little ways away.

"Here it comes!" Blaine called before tossing the football to the little boy.

The boy stretched up to catch the ball, but it grazed his fingertips, landing in the grass behind him a few paces. Turning, he hurried to grab the ball from the ground, and Blaine thought he was going to turn around and throw it back to him. Instead, the boy picked up the ball and raced off through the trees, shouting something that neither Kurt or Blaine could understand.

"Well, that was...odd..." Kurt said as Blaine walked back over to him.

Blaine shrugged. "Yeah. Not really sure what that was about."

"Let's keep walking," Kurt suggested, grabbing his husband's hand and starting to stroll again. The two had a few more interactions with other children, but the interactions were short and rather unproductive. One little girl was even taken away from them by another prospective family who had apparently already talked to the girl and fallen in love.

The boys felt a little like giving up. They'd wandered around the park for nearly two hours and hadn't had any fantastic interactions with any of the kids.

"We'll just walk over this way," Blaine said pointing to a large group of rocks that hid a small waterfall. "If we don't meet any kids over here, we'll just go home. Like Derek said, there will be other meet-and-greets. We can try again."

"I know," Kurt said as they started to walk. "I was just really hoping to find 'the one,' you know? I wanted that magical moment with someone. And then we'd just know."

"I know. I wanted that, too," Blaine reassured. "But, when it's supposed to happen, it will happen." He leaned in to kiss Kurt's cheek lovingly.

And that's when they saw him. A little boy standing at the edge of the stream. The boy could be no more than about five, they guessed, and he was dropping pebbles into the stream. As Kurt and Blaine got closer, they could hear him singing. But it wasn't just any song. It was a show tune.

"Do-do you hear that?" Kurt asked, clutching Blaine's arm as he turned to him with wide eyes.

"He's singing..." Blaine trailed off to listen just a little bit more. "He's singing I Dreamed a Dream from Les Mis!"

"I'm not sure this could be any more perfect," Kurt whispered, not wanting to take the chance of the boy overhearing them and also not wanting him to quit singing.

Blaine didn't respond, too entranced to focus on anything else.

Slowly, they walked up to the boy. He continued to sing, impervious to their advances. When he'd sung his final note, Blaine cleared his throat, and the boy whirled around to look at them, confusion on his face.

"Hello," Kurt said, squatting down to the boy's level. "I'm Kurt, and this is Blaine," he said, gesturing in the direction of his husband.

"You're going to adopt?" the boy asked seriously.

"Well, we're hoping to adopt someone, yes," Kurt replied, a little surprised at the boy's reaction.

"You're gay," he pointed out. It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes," Kurt said, again unsure of where to go with that statement.

"I'd be okay with that," the boy decided, going back to dropping pebbles into the water. "My name is Joshua."

"Hi, Joshua. It's nice to meet you," Kurt said with a smile.

"We heard you singing," Blaine said. "How do you know that song?"

The little boy—Joshua—shrugged. "I like music. I heard that song the other day." He didn't look at them as he spoke, now engrossed in building a castle with the pebbles.

"That's one of our favorite musicals. Have you ever seen it?" Kurt asked.

Joshua shook his head. "No." Then, "I want to be a movie star when I grow up."

"Really?" Blaine asked. "That would be a really cool job! What made you want to become that?"

"Movie stars have lots of money." He shrugged again. "Money can buy music, and I like music."

Blaine and Kurt tried to ask Joshua some more questions, but the more they chatted with him, the more withdrawn he became. Finally, they realized that it was likely time to go. So, they bid good-bye to Joshua, asking him if he would mind if they saw him again sometime soon.

"That's okay," Joshua finally said after a long pause. "But, maybe we could listen to some music?"

"Sure," Blaine said with a smile, grabbing Kurt's arm as they walked back toward the shelter where they'd seen Derek. They had to talk to him about Joshua right away. They were both convinced that there could never be another child so perfect.

***************************************Later***************************************

Kurt flopped onto the bed in their upstairs room and sighed loudly.

"Happy to be home?" Blaine asked, settling onto the bed next to him.

"Just happy to have a moment to relax," he replied, fidgeting to rest his head on Blaine's shoulder. "I love those kids so much, and I'm so glad they're finally ours, but today was a lot of stress. I just need a moment to myself."

Blaine put his hands up. "I'll just leave you alone, then," he said, a huge smile on his face. He made to leave.

"No. No. No," Kurt insisted, grabbing at his husband's shirt. "I meant a moment alone with you." He kissed Blaine chastely.

"I know. I know," Blaine chuckled, settling back onto the bed and pulling Kurt close. "Who knew that a few moments alone in your childhood house would be this relaxing?"

"Mmm," Kurt responded, eyes already closing.

"Hey, don't fall asleep," Blaine murmured, nuzzling his cheek. "I brought you a gift."

"You did?" Kurt asked, cracking open one eye. "What is it?"

Blaine laughed. "Come on. Get up. Open it." He handed Kurt a small golden box that was roughly the size of a necklace box.

Kurt quirked an eyebrow, studying the box for a moment. Then he began pulling at the ribbon, looking at his husband out of the corner of his eye. "What is it?" he asked again. He paused before pulling the top off the box, clearly waiting on a response.

His husband just shook his head again, gesturing toward the box without a word.

Kurt pulled the top off the box, and his hand immediately flew to his mouth. "Blaine, how did you...?" he trailed off, just looking at the gift.

After a moment, Blaine asked, "Well, do you like it?"

"Like it? I love it! But, how did you...?"

"Well," Blaine said, pulling the gift out of the box so he could show Kurt, "The kids and I all decided that we wanted to give you something special. Really, it was Josh's idea, but Liz and Jasper agreed. So, I asked them what they wanted it to say, and Joshua wrote it all down." Blaine traced his thumb over the words scribbled at the bottom of the picture frame. "Then, a few weeks ago, when you went out to the store, I snapped the picture." He gestured to the photo of the three kids sitting beneath their Christmas tree, giant smiles on their faces. "They helped me put it together and wrap it up for you last night." He shrugged. "It's not much, but I knew you'd like it."

"It's so sweet," Kurt said, a little teary as he stared at the picture, traced the words "Best Papa Ever" on the bottom of the frame.

Blaine gave him a hug and a peck on the cheek. "I'm so glad you like it."

The two sat together in silence for a few moments, admiring the photograph and enjoying each others company, Blaine's head resting lovingly on Kurt's shoulder.

Suddenly, the silence was interrupted by two sets of small feet pounding up the stairs, little voices calling, "Daddy! Papa!"

"In here!" Kurt called, and set the picture frame back into its box, setting it on his nightstand where it would be safe. "Thank you," he whispered to Blaine.

Then, they were attacked. Liza and Jasper came running into the room and launched themselves at the two men, still yelling their names. "Nama says eat!"

"Does she?" Blaine asked, tickling Jasper. "Did she really say that?"

"Yes! Daddy! Stop! Daddy!" he shrieked, wriggling until he could get down. "Come on!" he called as he raced toward the door. "Eat!"

"We're coming, little man," Papa replied, hoisting Liza onto his shoulders. "Coming Daddy?" he asked, holding out his hand.

"I guess so. I am a little hungry," he replied with a smile, taking Papa's hand and walking out the door behind their excited son.

***************************************Earlier**************************************

The boys were so excited about their meeting with Joshua that they couldn't contain themselves. For weeks after the meet-and-greet, he took up a large part of their conversations as they dreamed about what life would be like when they were able to adopt him and how much fun they would have introducing him to some of their favorite musicals. So, they couldn't be more excited when they got a call from their case worker asking them to come in for an informational meeting about Joshua.

"Come in! Come in!" Marsha called, when the boys walked into her office building. She was a robust African American woman with eyes that sparkled when she talked and a fantastic, upbeat personality. Both Kurt and Blaine really liked her; she had made their adopting process so far, though still drawn out, much easier to handle. "Have a seat!" she urged, pulling out some files and other various papers. "How have you been?" she asked.

"Really excited!" Kurt said with a little clap. "Joshua seems absolutely perfect!"

"Well, I'm glad to hear you're excited," Marsha beamed. "And, since you're here in my office, I'm sure you've realized that you've been approved to move forward with the process with Joshua. But," she paused, "there are some...things that you should know. We don't want an...incident to occur in any further meetings with Joshua should you be interested in setting one up.

The boys immediately felt the confidence drain from their faces. What was this big secret that they were about to find out? Had Joshua done something terrible? Had he had a horribly abusive past?

Blaine swallowed a lump in his throat. "So, what's the news?" he asked nervously.

Marsha cleared her throat, "Joshua has siblings. Two younger siblings. Twins."

"Um, how, how much younger?" Kurt wanted to know.

"The twins are a year old. They just turned one not that long ago." She paused, glancing down at her paperwork before looking back at the Kurt and Blaine. "Now, normally, this wouldn't be a big deal. A child as young as five with siblings as young as one typically has very few problems permanently separating from them. However, Josh is very aware that he has siblings. The twins were a month old when they and Joshua were taken from their mother. And he asks about them, whenever being adopted is brought up. He wants to go with his siblings."

Marsha opened the file she had in front of her and pulled out two pictures. "These are the twins," she told them, handing over the photos.

Each Kurt and Blaine took one, looking at the sweet faces of the two children.

"One is a girl and one is a boy. Liza and Jasper."

Kurt looked at Blaine. "Well this changes things a bit," he murmured.

Blaine nodded mutely, looking more than a little sad.

"Right now, Joshua and the twins are in separate foster homes as the original intention was for them to be adopted separately. We have since found out that that is not going to be an option, for Joshua's sake, but we haven't been able to find a foster home that can take all three of them."

Blaine nodded. "I think we're going to have to talk about this before we decide if we want to move forward. That's more than we were bargaining for."

Marsha nodded. "I understand that. Just one more thing that I need to tell you. Joshua and the twins were taken from his mother when she went to jail. There has never been any mention of a father, so that won't be an issue. But the mother won't be either. She was sentenced to twenty three years for vehicular manslaughter and child neglect."

"Wow. That's...that's a lot to take in," Kurt said softly, more to Blaine than to Marsha.

"Go home and talk about it," Marsha urged. "When you've made your decision, you can let me know."

"Thank you," Blaine replied. "We'll be in touch."

The boys walked out of Marsha's office decidedly less excited than when they walked in. They had a lot to think about, and all this new information was certainly throwing a wrench in the perfect plans they'd been dreaming up for almost a month.

***************************************Later***************************************

Jasper ushered Daddy and Papa urgently into the kitchen where they found Nama, Grampa, and Joshua already seated at the table.

"We're here now," Kurt announced, setting Liza down, who ran to Nama's lap. "The little ones told us that you said 'eat,'" he said, grinning. A delicious smell tickled his nostrils, and he asked, "What's for dinner?"

"Lots of keys!" Liza proclaimed, smiling at Daddy and Papa, who both looked confused.

"Lots of keys?" Blaine asked. "I'm suddenly not hungry anymore."

"No!" Burt said, standing up and walking toward the oven. "Lot-keys. You know, those potato pancake things that are common for Hanukkah?"

Oh! You mean latke!" Kurt laughed. "It's pronounced lot-kuh, Dad," he said, turning to Blaine and gesturing for him to come with him. "It smells amazing, Carol. Come on, Blaine. Let's get some for the kids so we can have some!"

The boys quickly filled up plates for the kids before getting their own, sitting down, and digging in. Blaine sat next to Joshua, and after a few bites, turned to him. "Did you help Nama make dinner? Because it's delicious!"

"I didn't make dinner. But I helped set the table!"

"Good job!" Blaine praised. "I'm proud of you!"

"You're boy's a good helper," Burt chimed in, still shoving latke into his mouth. "He volunteered to help without any prodding."

"Good job, Josh!" Kurt said around a mouthful of food.

"Job, Josh!" Jasper chorused, and Kurt flashed his son a smile.

"Forgive me, but what's the plan after this?" Blaine asked Carol who had been relatively quiet through most of the meal. She had Liza's high chair next to her chair, and she had cut the little girl's food up, quietly encouraging her to eat.

"We're going to the Festival of Lights," Carol said. "I thought the kids would really like seeing them light up the park. Then, I thought we could drive through town, look at a few more Christmas lights."
"Sounds good. And this dinner is amazing," he added. "Thank you so much!" He wiped his face on his napkin and looked around. "So, do we need coats?"

Joshua giggled. "That's a funny joke, Daddy! Of course you need a coat! We're goin' outside!"

"We are?" Blaine asked, faking dumb. "How do you know?" He ruffled Joshua's shaggy brown hair. "Are you some kind of genius?"

Joshua giggled again, hiding his face just a little as he took another bite of food. He didn't say anything, but the grin he wore was enough for Blaine. They'd been working with him on taking compliments and jokes, and he was getting better.

"Well, I'm going to go put my coat on," Blaine announced, putting his plate and fork in the sink. "Anyone want to join me?"

"Wan' Daddy!" Liza said, making grabby hands at Blaine.

"What do you think, Nama? Has she had enough to eat?"

"Oh, I think so. If not, there's always snacks later!" Nama said with a smile, unhooking Liza's tray.

"Great! Come here, my sweet girl!" Blaine crooned, picking her up and snuggling her against him. "Let's go get our coats on so we can be the first ones to the Festival of Lights."

"And, now it's a race," Kurt said fondly, finishing his dinner. "Come on, boys, we don't want Daddy to beat us!"

"I'm going to get in on this!" Burt said, shoving his chair back and putting his plate in the sink before rushing off toward the coat closet. "Come on, Nama!" he called back over his shoulder. "Help me beat the boys!"

"I'll just be a minute," Carol told Kurt as she rose and went to the sink. "I'm just going to throw the dishes in the dishwasher, and then I'll help get coats on."

"Thanks!" he said said appreciatively as he unbuckled Jasper from his high chair. "Come on, boys," he said, holding out a hand to Joshua. "Let's get coats and hats and gloves on!"

"Yeah!" Joshua cheered, zooming off into the living room to find Daddy and his coat.

Jasper let go of Papa's hand and tore off after his brother. "Wait me, Josh! Wait me!"

***************************************Earlier**************************************

It didn't take them long to start talking about it. "I don't know, Blaine. That's like, that's way more kids than I was thinking about. I mean, three at once? I'm not sure we can do that!"

"I know. But, I'm torn. Because I really like Joshua. He's a really sweet kid, and he's like, exactly the kind of kid we would make if we could have biological kids."

There was silence for a few minutes. Then, "What do you think we should do, Blaine?" There were tears in his eyes and his voice was a little shaky.

"I don't know, Kurt. I just don't know." Reaching across the console, he took Kurt's hand in his own, squeezing it. "I guess we could try, but three at once is a lot to take on."

"So, maybe we should try again? Go to another meet-and-greet? Meet some more kids?"

"Maybe. It's worth a shot, I guess." There was a long stretch of silence as Blaine navigated onto their street and parked their car in the parking garage closest to their building. Then, "I do feel kinda sorry for him, though. I mean, most people that want an older child don't want twin one-year-olds. And most people that want one-year-olds don't want an older child."

"I know," Kurt agreed as they walked into their building. "I feel bad, too. I mean, we're not saying no. We just want to make sure that's the challenge we want to take on, right? I mean, we don't want to feel like this child has been allowed to kidnap our hearts without us making sure we've exhausted all our options."

Blaine nodded. "I guess so." He pulled his keys from his pocket and unlocked their front door. "When is the next meet-and-greet?" he asked as he kicked off his shoes.

"I don't know. I'll have to look it up online," Kurt answered, walking into the kitchen to get a glass of water. "Looks like there's one tomorrow," he called a moment later. "Same park as last time. Wanna go?" he asked, poking his head out of the kitchen.

"Uh, I guess so," Blaine replied, and that was that.

The next day, the couple went to the meet-and-greet again where met with nearly identical results to their first meet-and-greet adventure. They saw a lot of kids, played with a few, and ultimately came away feeling more discouraged than before they went. They talked with Marsha about a little girl, Tiffany, that they met at the second meet-and-greet.

Tiffany was a sweet girl. She was swinging, and invited Blaine over to swing with her. She was older than Joshua, about 8 or 9 with blonde pigtails and a cute smile. They felt like they may have made a connection with her, chatting briefly about her love of dance and cooking.

But when Marsha called them back just a few days later, they knew that it probably wasn't going to be good news. Nothing in this system was fast unless it was bad news.

"Hi, Kurt!" she greeted cheerily, nonetheless. "I'm just calling about Tiffany, the little girl you met last week."

"Yeah," Kurt said, trying to sound as optimistic as he could. "What did you find out about her?" He gestured to Blaine who was sitting on the couch, streaming a new show he'd found on Netflix.

"Well, I have some bad news. Tiffany has been approved for you to move forward with her if you'd like, but she has been in the same foster home for nearly two years. Her foster parents have moved to adopt her, and as long as all goes well for them, they will have the best shot at this." She paused to see if they had anything to say. When the line was blank, she continued. "We can go ahead and put in an adoption request for her. Basically, you'll be put on a waiting list."

"Oh. Well, that is sad news," Kurt said quietly into the phone. "I guess Blaine and I will talk. There's no rush, I guess."

"Not really. I'm sorry, guys. I really do want you to find your family. I know this means a lot to you."

"Thanks for your help, Marsha. We'll be in touch." And with that, Kurt hung up the phone. Tiredly, he looked at Blaine. "Now what?"

***************************************Later***************************************

The Festival of Lights was beautiful. All the kids loved it, oohing and aahing at all the lights and each house they saw on their drive with Nama and Grampa. Joshua proclaimed that it was "the best thing he'd ever seen!" and both the twins chattered on and on about how pretty lights were.

Kurt and Blaine were excited that the kids loved it, and all the adults spent a large part of the night taking pictures of the kids. This was something that all three of them were used to by this point. Daddy and Papa didn't really take them anywhere without a camera, and they were constantly asking them to pose for pictures. At first, they didn't really care for this practice, but now it was normal, almost fun.

By the time they pulled back into Burt and Carol's driveway that evening at almost 10pm, they were all exhausted, however. The twins had fallen asleep in their car seats, and Joshua was lazily staring out the car window, fighting sleep.

"Time for bed, bud," Daddy said, helping him out of the car. "Let's go inside and take your coat off, then we'll get your jammies on and brush your teeth."

"Kay, Daddy," Joshua said, not even complaining. Tiredly, he dragged himself inside.

Burt and Papa carried in the sleeping twins, settling them carefully on the couch while beds were made up on the floor for them.

"I'm going to get the eggnog ready," Carol whispered, whisking away into the kitchen while Blaine followed Joshua into the bathroom to supervise teeth brushing.

"Daddy?" he asked as he squeezed paste onto this toothbrush.

"Yeah, buddy?"

"I'm a lil' nervous." He hesitated, brush ready to run beneath the water.

"About what?" Daddy asked, brow wrinkling in confusion as he took a few steps closer to his son.

"Sleeping at Nama and Grampa's house tonight."

"And why is that?"

"'Cuz I don't really like the dark."

"Papa and I brought a nightlight for you, bud."

"And their house is different. Makes it hard to sleep."

"Well can I tell you a secret?" Blaine asked, taking the brush out of Joshua's hand and setting it on the sink before turning the boy to face him.

"Uh huh"

"I have a hard time sleeping here, too, sometimes."

Joshua looked confused. "You do? Why?"

"Well, because you're right. Their house is different from ours. And different places can make it hard to sleep because you aren't as comfortable there. That happens to adults, too."

"Oh." Joshua seemed to think about that for a moment. Then he asked, "Does Papa feel that way, too?"

"Well, Papa grew up here. So, I bet sleeping here is easier for him. But, do you remember that hotel we slept in once, after we went to that big zoo?"

"Uh huh"

"Well, Papa told me that he had problems sleeping there, because he wasn't comfortable. So, I know he does feel like that sometimes. Does that help?"

"Yeah." There was a pause while he got his toothbrush wet. Then, "Thanks, Daddy."

"You're welcome, little man. Now, finish up those teeth so we can go say goodnight to Grampa and Nama and have a bedtime story."

"Di' you bwing Spidama?" Joshua asked as he brushed.

Blaine couldn't help chuckling at that. "We did."

"Yeah!" he shouted, toothpaste dripping down his chin.

"Finish up, so we can go read."

It didn't take long before Blaine and Joshua were settled on a kitchen chair, the Spiderman book opened before them. "One story tonight," Papa said as he walked by with a glass of eggnog. "It's been a long day, and you need to get some rest, mister. Okay?"

"Uh huh, Papa. Just one."

"Ready?" Blaine asked, jostling the boy just a bit.

"Uh huh!"

The story took a mere five minutes, and Blaine walked into the den just a few minutes after he'd finished reading. He grabbed a glass of eggnog as well, then sat down next to his husband on the couch, a loud sigh escaping his lips.

"Joshua go down okay?"

"Yeah. I plugged in the nightlight and told him where we'd be if he needed us. He was nervous about it. He told me while he was brushing his teeth."

"Well that's a good sign! He normally doesn't talk about that kind of thing until later."

"Is he getting better?" Carol asked. "I know his anxiety was causing a few issues there for a while."

"Yeah," Kurt replied, taking a sip of his eggnog. "We talked with our case worker about it, and she suggested he see a therapist once a week. That's been really good for him."

"Good."

"I hate to break up the party, but I'm honestly ready to hit the hay. It's been a long day," Blaine said, stifling a yawn.

"I agree. It's been a long day. We'll see you in the morning, okay guys?"

"Good night, boys. Get a good night's rest," Burt said as he flipped on the TV. "I'm going to watch the news."

"Okay. Good night, Dad. Good night, Carol."

"Good night, Carol. Burt."

"Good night, boys."

****************************************Earlier*************************************

Almost a month after Marsha's phone call about Tiffany, Kurt came running into their second bedroom that they'd converted into an office area. Blaine was there, working on a project and enjoying a late morning cup of coffee.

"I want to do it," Kurt announced as he hurried into the room, flopping into a wing-back chair they'd strategically placed at the end of the desk.

"You want to do what?" Blaine asked, looking up from his laptop, slightly irritated.

"I want to move forward with adopting Joshua and his siblings. I'm tired of waiting around. I'm tired of starving children in Africa making me sad when I see ads on TV. I'm tired of moping around, wandering what to do." He paused, seeing Blaine's unsure face. "Come on, Blaine. Isn't that part of the reason why we said we were going to do this? Take a risk, have an adventure?"

"That wasn't really part of our conversations," Blaine said casually. "Besides, you're using loaded language right now. You're riled up. Why?"

"I told you!" Kurt exclaimed, talking with his hands now. "I'm tired of waiting. I want to do this!"

"How do we even know that this is still an option? It's been like six weeks since we talked to Marsha about him. Somebody else could have made a move."

"Nope. They haven't."

"How do you know that?" Blaine insisted, turning fully in his chair to look at his husband. "Have you already talked to Marsha?"

"No. I just, it's a feeling I have. We're meant to have them in our family, so they're still there."

Blaine couldn't really think of a good argument against that. Kurt had said that type of thing before and been right. So, instead, he asked, "What made you change your mind? I thought you were leaning toward no."

"I wasn't thinking that."

"You told me shortly after we found out about Tiffany that maybe this wasn't the right time for us to adopt and maybe we should just give up."

Kurt leaned back in his chair, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. "Look, Blaine. I can't really explain what changed, not completely. I've just been thinking about him recently. More than normal. And the more I think about him, the more I realize that I want to try to take on that challenge."

"Kurt, that's a lot, though. I mean, three kids is way more than we bargained for at once."

"I know." Kurt got out of his chair, going to stand next to Blaine so he could put his hand on his shoulder soothingly. "I know it will be hard, but it's worth it, right?"

"How?"

"We get to start a family, a beautiful, musically talented family together. And I want nothing more than to have a family with you. I know you'll be a great dad, and I know that, despite all the struggles, someday we'll just be a big happy family."

"I don't know." Blaine looked down, finding his fingernails suddenly interesting.

"Hey," Kurt said, tilting his husband's chin up until their eyes met. "Talk to me, please. Tell me how you feel."

"I just don't want to get in over our heads. Once we commit to these kids, I'm going to feel like we're stuck, like it or not. I just don't want to regret this someday when we're so stressed out because of the kids that our marriage is a wreck, and I don't know my husband anymore." Blaine looked deep into this husband's eyes. "You are more important than anything else, Kurt. I want kids and a family, too, but even if we couldn't, I'd always be happy with you. I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Blaine. And I promise, if at any point you feel like we're slipping, we'll do something right then to get our marriage back on track." He placed a gentle kiss on his husband's lips. "Our marriage is important to me, too. You are important to me."

Blaine kissed him back, not letting his lips go at first, edging Kurt's lips apart slowly with his tongue until he gained entry. Slowly, he explored his husband's delicious mouth, letting their lips connect over and over. Finally, he pulled away with one last, wet peck. "Then, I guess we can try it," he whispered, mouth just brushing Kurt's.

Kurt giggled and pulled him in for a firm smooch. "I'll call Marsha," he said, and flounced out of the room.

****************************************Later**************************************

The next morning, the kids were up bright and early, in Kurt and Blaine's room hopping on their bed before the sun had barely peeked over the window ledge.

"It's Christmas Eve!" Joshua sang out, bouncing excitedly at the edge of the bed. "Which means that Santa comes tonight! He comes down the chimney!"

"Santa!" the twins chorused. "Santa!"

"Santa doesn't come to little children that wake up their papas," Kurt groused.

Joshua immediately began to pout. "But, you said," he whined sadly.

"Papa's teasing," Daddy reassured, elbowing his husband. "He'll still come. Papa's just a bit grumpy in the mornings when we wake him up, remember?"

Joshua nodded, looking sad. "Sorry, Papa," he murmured.

"It's okay, bud," Papa said reassuringly. "I'm not mad."

"Kids, let's go see if Nama has breakfast made. I'm starving! We'll let Papa sleep a bit more, okay?"

"Thanks," Kurt said, pulling his head out from beneath his pillow long enough to give his husband a quick kiss before covering his head with the pillow again. He listened to his husband talking animatedly to the kids as they walked down the stairs to find Carol and sighed with relief. It wasn't that he couldn't get up and be a morning person. He had gotten up with the kids several times since they'd come to live with them. It was just that he really wasn't ready to get out of bed before 11am, so he was liable to be a bit grumpy. That was all. Luckily, he had a husband who loved him. He smiled as he rolled over onto his right side, snuggling into the pillow and pulling the blankets to his chin. He was just going to relax for a little longer until he got up the momentum to leave the arms of his warm, loving bed.

Blaine sniffed appreciatively as he walked into the kitchen. The sweet cinnamon-y smell of French toast tickled his nostrils. "Mmm. Smell that, Jasp?" he asked, picking up the little boy. "Nama made French toast!"

The little boy squealed with excitement. He loved French toast for some reason, way more than the other two, and the promise of his favorite breakfast always made him really excited.

"Let's get you all strapped into your chair so you can eat!" he said, whisking the little boy over to a high chair at the table. "Maybe Nama has a washcloth I can use to wipe your hands," he mused out loud.

"Sure do," Carol said, appearing with a warm washcloth. "And I have a piece of toast ready as soon as he is," she added, smooching the little boy on the cheek, making him smile.

"Yay!" Blaine cheered, wiping the boys hands. He grabbed a child size fork from the drawer and grabbed the plate with the finished toasts on it. He picked a smaller one and put it on the tray in front of Jasper. He quickly sliced up the bread and dribbled just a bit of maple syrup on the pieces before handing Jasper the fork. "Here, bud. Eat up!" He grinned at the little boy, who excitedly took the fork and began eating with gusto.

"And what would my princess like for breakfast?" asked Grampa, scooping Liza up and giving her a tight squeeze.

"I'll just take a cup of coffee. Thanks," Kurt said from the doorway. He'd just come downstairs and was happy to see that everyone was in a good mood that morning.

"Not you, Papa!" Liza said, giggling.

"I'm not a princess?" Papa asked, faking shock.

"No! Me!" she squealed.

"Sorry, son. Looks like you've been replaced," Burt said, sitting down at the table with Liza. "Wanna share some of Grampa's oatmeal?" he asked her.

"Wan' Fren' toast!" she said, clapping her hands.

"Oh, alright. I'll get you some. Wait here," he told her, sliding her off his lap and onto the chair as he rose to make her a plate.

"Thanks, Dad," Kurt said as he filled his coffee cup.

"Yeah. No problem. Anything for my princess," he grinned, ruffling Kurt's hair as he walked back to the table with a slice of French toast.

"Joshua, what would you like?" Nama asked, seeing Blaine eye the coffee pot woefully.

Joshua crinkled his nose. "I don't really like French toast." He thought for a moment. "Maybe some cereal?"

"What kind of cereal," she asked, opening the pantry to reveal a shelf full of cereal boxes.

Josh's eyes went wide. "Woah, Nama! You and Grampa have a lot of cereal!"

"Well, I had to make sure I had enough for you," she said, patting his back. "You're growing so much; I didn't want to run out!"

"Um, can I have Cocoa Puffs?" he asked.

"Sure thing."

"Not too much," Kurt cautioned as he nursed his coffee cup. "Too much sugar too early in the morning isn't good."

"Oh, he'll be fine," Nama reassured. "He just wants to fill up his tummy so he can make an ornament with me after breakfast." Turning to the little boy, she asked, "Does that sound like fun?"

"Uh huh! What can we make?" Joshua asked, clutching his box of cereal.

"Get a bowl," Blaine directed him, taking the box of cereal from him and indicating the step stool that stood near the counter.

"I have salt dough and cookie cutters," Nama explained as she flipped some more French toast on the skillet. "So, you can cut out whatever shapes you want. Then, after we bake the shapes, you can paint them!"

"Sounds like a fun morning!" Kurt exclaimed, pouring a second cup. "Can I join you?"

"I thought maybe you and Blaine would like to do some shopping," Burt said. "We'll watch the kids for you."

"That would be nice. There are a few things we need to pick up before tomorrow." Kurt winked at his husband. "Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Blaine chuckled. "As long as you're properly caffeinated." Noticing that Kurt was about to take off for the door, he added, "And you have to eat something."

"Fine," Kurt pouted as he headed for the cabinet. "I'll have some toast. Then we'll go. There was these super cute things I saw in the catalog, though, and I really want to get some for L-I-Z-A, so we should really go soon!"

"I can spell, Papa," Joshua chimed in, spoonful of cereal halfway to his mouth.

Kurt chuckled. "I know. It was just so you-know-who wouldn't hear me say her name."

After a quick breakfast, the boys got themselves ready to go. It had been a while since they'd been out without the kids, so they spent some extra time getting themselves ready to go. When they were finally ready, they said a quick good-bye to the kids, who had already started on their ornaments with Nama.

"Be good for Nama and Grampa," Kurt instructed as he pulled on his coat.

"We will!" Joshua promised. "Cross my heart."

"Good boy," Blaine said, giving him a kiss to the forehead. "Love you."

"Love you, too, Daddy. Love you, Papa."

"Love you, too, buddy. Liza. Jasper. You'll be good?" Papa asked.

The twins both nodded, too involved in their project.

Daddy kissed both of them on their little round cheeks, telling them that he loved them, and then he and Papa were out the door.

Kurt stopped him as they walked down the sidewalk, planting a kiss firmly on his lips. "Ready to go shopping?" he asked, smiling.

"As long as I'm with you," Blaine replied, kissing him back before they both climbed into the car.

****************************************Earlier*************************************

"Joshua and his siblings were removed from their mom due to negligence, right? How long ago was that? Are they going to be malnourished?" Kurt stood in front of their full length mirror getting ready to go. They were going to meet Joshua and the twins for the first time today giving them a chance to really interact with them.

"Take a deep breath," Blaine instructed, coming into the room and going to stand behind Kurt, resting his hands on his shoulders. "Everything is going to be fine. Their mother is in jail for vehicular manslaughter, remember?"

"Right," Kurt said, taking a deep breath as his husband had suggested. "I'm sorry." He turned toward Blaine, wrapping his arms around his waist. "I'm just really nervous."

"I can tell," Blaine joked, kissing Kurt's cheek. "It'll be okay. We're just going to meet with the kids. Like a play date."

"Right. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes. Are you?"

"Um, I think so." Kurt looked back at his reflection in the mirror, checking his mental checklist of things he needed to do before he could leave the house. "Do we have any mints?"

"Uh, I think there's a broken candy cane or two in the cabinet from Christmas."

Kurt wrinkled his nose. "That's like, six months ago!"

"Well, that's all we have. Now, let's go."

"Fine," Kurt huffed. "Let's go." After a brief detour to the kitchen to grab a candy cane, they were able to get into the car and head back to the park for the third time. Since Joshua lived in a different foster home from the twins, Marsha had helped them set up a play date at the park, a neutral place for both foster families and a place that the kids would be comfortable enough in that they would interact with their new potential parents.

"What do you think the twins will be like?" Kurt asked as they drove.

"Sweet," Blaine replied. "How else are almost two-year-olds?"

"I've just never really been around kids that little before. What if I don't know what to do with them?"

Blaine looked over at Kurt before taking his hand and squeezing it. "You need to stop worrying. The kids are going to love you, and we're going to have a good time today meeting our future kids for the first time. You'll know what to do. It's instinct. And if you don't, I'll help you." He paused to make sure Kurt was listening before adding, "Little kids are pretty easy. It's Joshua I'm more worried about."

"Why?" Kurt looked at his husband, concerned. "He'll be the easiest. He likes music. We know a lot about music. We start there and see where that takes us."

"Older kids are more perceptive. What if he perceives something that we do wrong and doesn't want to be with us?"

"Now who needs to quit worrying," Kurt teased. "It's going to be fine." After a pause, he said, "How about if you take on the twins, and I'll interact with Joshua? That way we're both comfortable."

"I love you," Blaine replied, and that was that.

When they pulled up to the park, they could see Joshua on the swings, pumping his legs in a valiant effort to get the swing higher off the ground. An adult stood nearby, looking at their cell phone. The twins were in a nearby patch of grass playing with something that Kurt and Blaine couldn't see. Two adults sat on the ground with them, encouraging them to play.

The two slowly climbed out of their car, both feeling a bit nervous. As they walked closer to where the kids were playing, the adults noticed their approach and waved. "You must be the Ander-Hummels," said the woman standing near Joshua's swing.

"Hi. I'm Blaine, and this is my husband, Kurt," he said, extending a hand to the woman.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Cynthia Hiatt, Joshua's current foster mom."

"Good to meet you," the boys replied, each shaking her hand.

"The twins are over there with their foster parents if you want to say hello," Cynthia said, gesturing with her head to where the two littlest children were crawling on the grass, babbling and laughing.

"I'll go over there first," Blaine said, rubbing Kurt's shoulder.

Kurt nodded his affirmation and watched as his husband went over to the twins, seating himself on the ground near where they were playing as he talked to the foster parents. Then, he cleared his throat and turned toward the little boy who was still swinging high. "Hey," Kurt called as he took a swing next to the boy. "That looks like fun. Mind if I join you?"

****************************************Later**************************************

The boys spent a productive morning and early afternoon shopping for a few last minute Christmas gifts for their kids as well as Kurt's parents. It was a nice, relaxed shopping trip, and they were able to go to Breadstix for lunch, which was a nice treat. They sat in their old booth for a while, reminiscing about their dating days and Glee club. All in all, it was a good morning, and they were ready for a nice afternoon and evening with their family.

When they got back to Burt and Carol's, however, they were greeted with a not-so-pleasant hello. They found Carol in the living room desperately trying to get Jasper to stop crying. Joshua was sitting in a chair facing the wall, and Burt and Liza were no where to be seen.

Kurt, who had been carrying most of the bags since Blaine was grabbing the wrapping paper and closing the trunk, dropped his bags just inside the door and rushed to Carol. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Well, I guess there was a bit of a tussle between the two boys. I'm not really sure what was going on, but Joshua hit Jasper."

"What happened?" Blaine asked, coming in and seeing the scene before him.

"Joshua hit Jasper," Kurt explained, taking the sobbing boy from Carol's arms. "Do you want to talk to Joshua?" he asked his husband. "Where's Dad and Liza?"

"They're upstairs reading a story before nap time."

Kurt nodded, thinking. "On second thought, Blaine, will you take Jasper upstairs? Read him a story so he and Liza can nap together? I'll chat with Joshua."

"Sure. Come here, buddy," he crooned at the sniffling little boy. "Tell Papa and Nama night-night. We're gonna go take a nap."

"Night, Papa," Jasper whispered, leaning his head against Daddy's shoulder. He brought one fist up to his eye and rubbed. "Night, Nama."
"Good night, sweet boy," Nama told him with a gentle pat to his back.

Then, Daddy and Jasper left the room, going upstairs to find Grampa and Liza. The further they walked, the louder the sound of Grampa's voice got. Daddy poked his head into the play room to find Grampa seated in the rocking chair, Liza in his lap, leaning against his shoulder, little thumb in her mouth.

"Hey," Blaine said softly. "Can we join you?"

Grampa looked up, giving the two boys a soft smile. "Sure. Come on in. We were just reading about Little Bear."

Daddy nodded, settling himself on the floor with Jasper where they had a good view of the story.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Kurt asked Carol, "How long has he been in timeout for?"

Carol glanced at her watch. "Um, almost five minutes, I think."

Kurt nodded, settling on the couch to wait the last two minutes of Joshua's timeout.

"I think I'll go to the kitchen, check on the salt dough ornaments. They look really cute," she said, excited, before heading out of the room.

Once the minute was over, Kurt said quietly, "Joshua. Will you come here, please?"

Sullenly, Joshua got out of his seat, shuffling over to Papa.

"Have a seat," Papa told him, patting the cushion next to him. After Joshua sat, he asked, "Can you tell me what happened?"

"We were painting our ornaments that we made with Nama. I was painting my stocking red like ours at home. Jasper was painting with orange and got it all over his hands. So, when Nama took the ornaments into the kitchen to let them dry, Jasper wiped orange paint on my arm." He indicated a long orange streak that stretched from his elbow to his wrist. "So, I told him that wasn't nice, and he should say sorry but he wouldn't. So, I...I hit him." Joshua looked down at the couch cushion sadly, picking at a loose thread.

"Thank you for telling me the truth," Papa praised. "I know that can be hard, sometimes, especially when you've done something wrong. Do you understand why it was wrong to hit Jasper?" He wrapped an arm around Joshua, pulling him closer.

"Yeah. Jasper's little. I'm bigger. I should be a good example."

"That's right. You could have really hurt Jasper when you hit him. Do you know what would have been a better way to handle that?"

Joshua shook his head no, still not looking at Papa.

Papa hooked a finger beneath his son's chin, waiting until he looked up at him. "You should have told Nama what happened. Then, she could have taken care of the situation instead of you getting in trouble. Does that make sense?"

Joshua didn't reply, instead just sniffling as he dropped his eyes back to the couch.

"Joshua, I'm not mad at you. I'm sad that you made a bad choice, but I don't get mad at you. Neither Daddy or I ever get mad at you, do we?"

"No," he said, softly.

"No. We don't. We don't always like your choices, but we always love you, and we never get mad. Right?"

Joshua nodded.

"Good boy. Now, since you made a bad choice, there has to be a consequence, right?"

Joshua nodded again, glumly. Daddy and Papa were nice and didn't yell or get mad like his mom used to, but there were always consequences. His mom would yell, but then it was over. With Daddy and Papa, there was always something that came later.

"Okay. So, you don't get any dessert after dinner tonight, okay?"

"But I already had a time out, Papa," Joshua protested. No dessert at Christmas wasn't really fair.

"What is time out for?" Papa asked.

"Thinking about what you did," Joshua answered gloomily.

"That's right. I'm sorry if you don't think it's fair, but you'll just have to fill up on turkey and sides tonight. Next time you want to hit your brother, maybe you'll think about what happened this time, right?"

Joshua nodded.

"Come here, bud," Papa said, pulling him into a hug. "I love you. Always. Understand?"

"Yeah. I love you, too, Papa," he said, enjoying the feeling of being in Papa's strong arms.

"Good! Now, let's go to the kitchen. I want to see those ornaments you painted today!" And off they hurried to the kitchen, Joshua pulling Daddy along by his hand, excitement of showing him what he'd made with Nama that day overpowering his upset at loosing his dessert that evening.

Upstairs, Grampa went on reading, growing quieter and quieter as Liza's eyes began to drift shut.

Daddy rocked Jasper as they sat on the floor, one hand rubbing his back soothingly. Soon, the room was filled with tiny snores as the twins settled into a deep slumber. "Where were you going to lay her down?" Daddy asked when Grampa closed the book.

"On your bed would be okay, I think. It's nice and quiet up here. The living room would be kind of noisy."

Daddy nodded. "Sounds good," he whispered. Laboriously, he stood from his spot on the floor, being sure to support Jasper's head, then headed toward his husband's childhood bedroom. Gently, he laid Jasper down on the right side of the bed, covering him with the comforter, and pushing some of his long, wayward bangs out of his face.

Grampa laid Liza on the left side of the bed next to Jasper, covering her up and giving her a peck on the forehead before smiling at Blaine.

The two men exited the bedroom, pulling the door shut until it was just cracked. Burt asked, "Everything okay downstairs?"

"Yeah, I think so. Joshua and Jasper got into it a little bit, but Kurt is talking to Joshua. I'm sure he's got everything worked out."

"You guys are good with the kids," Burt commented as they walked down the stairs, making Blaine blush. "Really. You're so calm about it when they do something wrong. Kurt must have learned that from you, because I don't think I was that way when he was growing up."

"My parents weren't around much, either," Blaine confessed, pausing at the bottom of the stairs. "I actually learned that from one of my grade school teachers. Whenever one of us did something she didn't like, she'd just pull us aside and talk to us matter-of-factually about it. It was far less embarrassing, and we listened a lot better, I think."

"Well, good for you. I think that's a great philosophy. Sounds like they're all in the kitchen," Burt noted.

Blaine nodded, and the two of them walked into the kitchen where Joshua was busy showing Kurt all of his ornaments that he'd made that day and explaining why he'd painted them the way he had. Carol stood off to the side with a mug of hot tea, sipping and listening to her grandson babble on excitedly.

"Hey bud!" Blaine greeted, interrupting Joshua's story about the blue Christmas tree.

"Daddy!" he squealed, turning to look over his shoulder at the sound of Blaine's voice. "Come see what I made with Nama today!"

"Oooh, those look nice," Blaine praised, coming over and grabbing the boy up in a squeeze. "Were you good today?" he asked despite knowing the answer.

"I hit Jasper," Joshua whispered, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

"I see. And did you talk about it with Papa?"

"Uh huh No dessert tonight," he said with a bit of a pout.

"Good boy. Now, I think you were telling me about why you painted this Christmas tree blue?"

*****************************************Earlier************************************

Blaine sat down on the grass with the twins and the foster parents. "Hi. I'm Blaine Ander-Hummel. My husband, Kurt, is talking to Joshua," he said, gesturing toward the swing set with his head.

"Hi," the woman greeted, holding out a hand. "I'm Helen and this is my husband, Jeff. We've had the twins here for a few months. They are real lovers!" She smiled at the two as they crawled slowly between the parents. "They're starting to walk, pull themselves up on things you know. They haven't taken any unsupported steps yet that I know of."

Blaine smiled, not really sure what to say. His mind raced, trying to come up with something. "It's Jasper and Liza, right?" he questioned, indicating the twins. "I'm sorry to ask. The last time we talked to our case worker, she told us, but I just can't remember."

"You have a better memory than you think," Jeff said. "It's Jasper and Liza."

"Great. So, what do you know about their personalities?" he asked.

"Like I said, they're both lovers," Helen responded. "They both want to snuggle and often. Jasper is a bit more jealous of the two. If he sees Liza get something, he thinks he needs to have it, too. He's more of a follower while she's more of a leader. They both love music." Helen trailed off, just watching.

Raising two fingers, Blaine joked, "I pledge to always make everything equal." He chuckled as both the babies looked at him curiously for a moment. "Are they talking yet?" he asked. "Saying any words at all?"

"I would swear to you that I heard Liza say 'mama' last week, but Helen says she was just babbling," Jeff chuckled. "They haven't tried to say much beyond the normal baby sounds. We were trying to teach them sign language, but it's so much harder with two of them!"

Blaine gulped. That statement didn't really make him feel any more at ease about taking on three kids at once. "I see. Do you have a difficult time figuring out what they need when they're upset? I assume they're eating solid foods."

"No. Honestly, for being one, these guys are pretty easy. They're some of the happiest little things I've ever met," Helen said, reaching out to take a stick from Liza's hands. "They really don't get too upset unless they want something, and now that they've started in with the grabby hands, it's easier to tell if it's something they can see or if they need a change or to be fed."

"That's good. Do they seem to be hitting their milestones?"

"Wow. You're really prepared," Helen commented, making Blaine smile and blush just a bit. "Yeah. They had a doctor's appointment a few weeks back. They seem to be doing well. They're in the 90th percentile for weight and height, so they might be really tall. Look out!" she joked. "They're doing well, developmentally, too. Doc says they're just where they should be."

"That's awesome!"

Finally warming up to his presence, Jasper crawled over to Blaine, settling himself on his tummy where he could grab Blaine's pant leg. Then, he began pounding with a phone toy that he held tightly in his fist.

Blaine chuckled. "Hey, little guy. What are you doing?" he asked.

"You can hold him if you want," Helen said, reaching into a diaper bag she had stashed near her. "He doesn't really have stranger anxiety at this point." She produced a package of fruit snacks, offering it to Blaine before grabbing out another. "They're probably getting a little hungry. You can feed him that. Only put out one at a time, though. He'll try to cram them all in his mouth at once if you let him!"

While Blaine fed Jasper, Kurt kept up his banter with Joshua.

"So, you told us last time you like music," he said as he pushed his swing higher and higher. "What do you like to listen to?"

Joshua shrugged. "I like everything, really. Except country. That stuff's weird."

Kurt chuckled. "Yeah. Country is weird. Blaine and I don't like that either."

"You got other kids?" Joshua asked, taking control of the conversation.

"No. It would just be you and your little brother and sister."

"Lotsa people think that three kids is too much."

Kurt wasn't really sure how to respond to that. Finally he asked, "Is this the first time you've had a play date with new people?"

Joshua nodded, beginning to slow his swing. "I like you."

"Well, I like you, too. And so does Blaine. We think you're pretty special, and that's why we wanted to meet with you and your siblings."

"Do you want to take us home?"

Kurt bit his lip. This was tricky territory. They'd been specifically told not to talk about taking the kids home with them because they had to have five more meetings before they could try that. "After we have some more play dates, yes."

Joshua seemed happy with that answer, moving on to the next thing that was on his mind as he dragged his feet against the ground, stopping his swing. "I like Christmas. It's my favorite holiday."

"That's my favorite holiday, too," Kurt told him as his swing slowly came to a stop. "I like to see all the lights and decorations that people put up. But I also like to decorate!"

"I like the lights, too. But I really like mistletoe."

"Mistletoe?" Kurt asked, a little confused. "Why mistletoe?"

"It makes people happy when they stand under it. And I like when people are happy."

"Well, so do I."

"What's your favorite color?"

"Red. What's yours?"

"I like blue. Wanna go down the slide?" Joshua asked, sliding off his swing and walking in the direction of the playground.

"Um, sure," Kurt said, following the little boy to the twisty slide.

Kurt and Blaine spent nearly four hours at the park with Joshua and twins, playing and learning about them. By the time five o'clock rolled around, no one could really believe how quickly the time had gone.

"So, will you be setting up another play date?" Helen asked as she packed up the twin's toys.

Blaine glanced over at his husband, seeing him laugh as he chatted with Cynthia for a moment. "I think so," he said confidently. "Thank you for being willing to meet us here. We really appreciate it."

"Oh, it's no problem," Jeff told him, clapping him on the shoulder. "We just really want to see these kids go to great homes. You and your husband seem like you'd be a good fit. We're always happy to help that."

A little bit sadly, each of the boys bid the children and their foster families good-bye and climbed back into the car. They'd barely made it out of the park's parking lot before Kurt gushed, "Oh my goodness! I didn't know it was possible to love somebody's kid that much, but Joshua is just so perfect!"

"I had a great time with the twins, too," Blaine said, grabbing Kurt's hand. "They were so cute crawling around over there, playing with everything in sight. Helen had to keep them from putting sticks and grass in their mouths so many times!"

"Oh my gosh, Blaine, are we doing this? Are we going to schedule another play date?"

"I really want to. As soon as we can, really! I want to interact with Joshua some more, and I know you will love the twins. They're so cute!"

"Well, that's that then. I'll call Marsha tomorrow and have her schedule us another plate date as soon as she can. I can't believe this is happening!"

"Me neither." Blaine held Kurt's hand tightly as they drove. "You know I love you, right?"

"Of course. And I love you, too."

**************************************Later****************************************

The twins slept for nearly two hours, so it was almost 4:30pm before Kurt and Blaine were able to go upstairs to wrap the gifts they'd purchased at the mall that morning.

"Honestly, I was surprised at the quantity of cute Christmas pajamas they had in the kids' sizes," Kurt said as he pulled out three pairs of matching pajamas. They were blue and had little snowmen on them. "I can't wait to see Joshua open these. He loves blue, so these will be a big hit."

"He'll love them," Blaine agreed as he folded the gift boxes they'd bought to put the pajamas in. "They're opening the pajamas and one other thing tonight, right?"

"The book of bedtime stories," Kurt said, pulling it from another bag. "Then tomorrow, they'll have the Santa gifts to open, a few more things from us and Dad and Carol I'm sure, and their stockings." He grinned as he opened the little suitcase he'd packed the stockings in. "Joshua doesn't know that we packed these."

"He was so sad that they had to stay at home," Blaine said. "Where's the tissue paper?"

Kurt produced the tissue paper from yet another bag, passing it over to Blaine. He began to fold the pajamas up nicely, laying each one out on the bed so that Blaine could put them into the gift boxes. Then, he wrote labels for each of the boxes. "From Daddy and Papa," he said proudly.

"There. Pajamas are wrapped. Should I put the book in one of the boxes, too?"

Together, Kurt and Blaine made short work of wrapping the gifts, returning to the main floor with arms heaping with gifts to put under the tree. The kids all saw them and jumped them, asking what was in the packages and if they could open one right then, but they just waved them aside.

"You'll have to wait until after dinner," Blaine said, laying the gifts down under the tree. "That's when we'll do some presents."

"But that's so far away!" Joshua whined.

"Oh, it's not that long," Nama said from the living room doorway. "Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes. And I could use some help setting the table."

"Helping Nama will make the time until dinner go faster," Kurt encouraged.

"Okay," Joshua agreed, taking off after Nama.

"Come here, Liza," Kurt said, scooping her up and giving her a few tickles. "How's my favorite little girl?"

"Papa, no!" she shrieked, shoving at his hands. "No tickle!"

"Fine, fine. Did you make some fun ornaments with Nama?"

"Uh huh! Maked a stocking!"

"You did? What color is it?"

"Uh, purple?"

"A purple stocking? That's really cool!" Kurt bounced her on his knee just a little bit as he sat on the couch in the living room, looking at all of Carol's Christmas decorations. He sighed a happy sigh. Everything finally seemed right in his world. He had a fabulous husband and three wonderful kids. Not to mention loving parents that would welcome them with open arms at any time. He was pulled out of his reverie by movement on his lap. "Hey, where are you going?" he asked his daughter as she squirmed from his lap.

"Jasper has toys!" she said, pointing to the floor in front of the tree.

Following her finger, Kurt saw that his son and his husband were sprawled out on the floor, a tub of Legos spread out before them. Blaine was putting together a tower, usually a master of realism when building. Jasper, however, had a few different creations spread out around him.

Kurt lowered himself to the floor as Liza made her way over, grabbing some blocks and beginning to build immediately. "Hey," her murmured, scooting beside Blaine, who was sprawled on his stomach. He leaned over and kissed the top of his head. "What are you building?"

"A tower. Jasper wanted to make a castle."

"Very nice. Can I build," he asked, reaching for a block.

"Do you think one of us should go help Carol and Josh? The other one can stay here and build with the kids. I'm sure it won't be too long until dinner."

Kurt's stomach picked that moment to growl loudly. Chuckling, he said, "You can stay. I'm going to go make sure dinner is ready."

"Okay," Blaine smiled at him, readily accepting the kiss that Kurt gave him before turning back to the Legos.

Kurt pushed himself up from the floor and headed to the kitchen. He could hear the sounds of his father, step-mother, and son in the kitchen, loud voices exclaiming as dinner preparations were made. "Ooh! I'm starving!" he exclaimed, sniffing the air as he walked into the kitchen. "What's for dinner?"

"Nama made soup!" Joshua told him, bounding toward the table with a stack of bowls in his hands.

"Careful!" Kurt exclaimed, hurrying to his side to support the stack of precariously teetering bowls. "Set those down slowly so they don't break."

"We gotta set the place-mats out first!" Joshua said. "Nama says to use the ones with the wreath and the holly. They're for Christmas!"

"Do you remember where I told you they were?" Nama asked from the stove where she was stirring a large pot of soup.

"Yep!" Joshua sang, going to get them from the drawer in the China cabinet. Grabbing the stack that Nama had helpfully laid on top, he began putting one in front of each chair while Papa distributed the bowls. Grampa, who had been whispering back and forth with Nama grabbed spoons from the drawer and came to help, setting one in each bowl.

When they were done, Grampa instructed, "Why don't you go get Daddy, Jasper, and Liza from the living room, Josh? Dinner is ready, and after dinner, we get to open presents!"

"Yeah!" Joshua hollered, already running out the door.

**************************************Earlier***************************************

Kurt and Blaine had five more play dates with the twins and Joshua spread out over the next four months. The dates were not nearly as frequent as they wanted them to be, but it was the best that Marsha could do when trying to correlate with two families. So it was that the first week of November, nearly a year after they had started the process, the boys were able to bring the kids home to live with them. They were to be the acting foster parents until the adoption could be approved, and they were beyond excited.

For nearly a week before, they were preparing as much as they could, baby-proofing their home, buying toys and being excited. Kurt's plan, ever since finding out that Joshua loved Christmas, had been to take him Christmas shopping. "What better time to do it then when we bring the kids home?" he asked Blaine as they were setting up beds for the twins in one of the spare bedrooms in their apartment.

"I don't know, Kurt. Don't you think they might just want to come home, relax, get used to being here?"

"They can do that when we get back! I don't want to shop all day. Just pick up a few decorations and then come back."

"Fine. We can shop for like an hour. But then we need to come home."

"Yay!" Kurt clapped his hands with excitement. "Only two more days!"

Two days later, after stopping at each foster house to collect the kids and their things, Blaine and Kurt pulled their newly acquired minivan into a parking space outside a Target not too far from their apartment. "I thought we'd pick up a few Christmas decorations, Joshua," Kurt explained, turning around in his seat. "I know you love Christmas, and I thought it might be fun to pick out a few things together."

"Cool," Joshua said, trying to sound like he wasn't too excited. He was nervous and didn't want to seem to eager. Then things with his new family might not work out.

Blaine and Kurt worked at getting the twins out of the car. Car seats were not something they were used to fiddling with yet, and it took them longer than it should have.

Joshua stood outside the car, shifting from foot to foot and sighing.

"I'm sorry, bud," Blaine told him as he eased Liza out of the car. "We'll get better at the car seats. I promise."

"Ready?" Kurt called, already buckling Jasper into the cart.

"Let's go!" Joshua called, taking off.

"Josh! Wait!" Blaine called, hurrying to catch up to him and grabbing his upper arm. "You have to stay with us, bud. There are a lot of cars moving in the parking lot, and we don't want you to get run over."

"Okay. Sorry," Joshua said, hanging his head. He was already in trouble, and he'd only been with his family for an hour.

"It's okay. We're not mad," Kurt explained, coming up behind the three of them. "Why don't you hold onto the cart until we get into the store, okay? Blaine, you can put Liza in here. She'll be okay."

When everyone was situated in the cart, Kurt and Blaine guided their family inside and back to the Christmas decorations. Since it was early November, the aisles were fairly empty. Very few people were thinking about Christmas decorations yet with Thanksgiving just around the corner.

"You can pick three things that you like," Kurt told him as they walked the aisles. "That will get us started on decorating. Then, after you see what we already have at home, maybe we can come back and pick out a few more things."

"Cool," Joshua replied, looking around with wide eyes at all the Christmas décor in the store. No one had ever taken him shopping for Christmas stuff before, and the fact that he could pick out what he wanted was a little overwhelming.

"Oh, Kurt, look at these," Blaine exclaimed from the end of the aisle. "Look at the little nutcracker!" he said, holding one up. "These have names on them. Maybe they have one with each of the kids' names. We should totally get those."

Kurt couldn't help but chuckle at his excited husband. Blaine tried to pretend that he wasn't as into Christmas as Kurt was, but when they went shopping for decorations or looked at Christmas lights, he was as excited as a kid in a candy store.

"They have one. We're getting them," Blaine announced, walking back over to the cart. "See Joshua? Here's yours," he said proudly, holding one out to their oldest son.

"That's awesome!" Joshua said, unable to hide his excitement. "Can we go over here?" he asked, looking around the corner at another aisle of Christmas stuff.

"Sure," Kurt said, pushing the cart in that direction.

They ended up spending a little more than Blaine's allotted hour in the store, but everyone was having a good time. By the time they made their way to the front of the store with their transaction, their cart was fuller than they'd intended. But, they got a lot of stuff, and Joshua was excited to go home and begin decorating. He'd even talked Blaine into getting the tree out, something that he usually refused to do until after Thanksgiving.

"Thanks!" Joshua exclaimed on their way out to the car. "Thanks for buying all those decorations. They're awesome!"

"Well, you have good taste," Kurt told him, stopping the cart at the back of their already stuffed minivan. "Where are we going to put these bags," he mused aloud.

"I'll hold them for you!" Joshua volunteered. "They can sit at my feet!"

"Okay. Well, go get buckled in," Blaine urged as he opened one of the side doors to begin buckling Liza into her seat. "Once you're in, we can see if we can fit the bags."

Joshua rushed to do as he was told, happy he could help out.

Kurt followed with Jasper, buckling him back into his car seat as well. Then, he handed bags in to Joshua, watching as the boy carefully placed them by his feet. "We'll be home soon, bud," Kurt promised. "You won't have to sit with them like that for long."

"Then we can decorate!" Joshua proclaimed, a delighted grin lighting up his round face.

"Then we can decorate," Blaine agreed, climbing into the front seat. "Are you ready?"

"Ready," Joshua confirmed.

"Okay, then. Let's go home."

****************************************Later**************************************

The kids were excited that evening during dinner. They talked continually, even the twins who still didn't have a huge vocabulary, trying to guess what Daddy and Papa had bought them for Christmas and whether or not Nama and Grampa would get anything from Santa Claus. The adults all smiled, listening to the children going on and on, but soon they began to quietly have little conversations of their own.

"I feel tired already," Carol announced as she pushed her soup bowl away from her. "I hate these evenings where it gets dark so fast."

"Well, I for one am glad that the solstice is over," Kurt replied. "I feel like I get nothing done on that day because it's dark when I get up and dark well before it should be. This year it was cloudy, too," he pouted.

"I kind of like the solstice," Blaine said, eyeing his husband who gave him a glare. "I don't like that it gets darker earlier or that it's the shortest day of the year, but it's a good reminder that Christmas is right around the corner." When Kurt continued to glare at him, Blaine added, "Oh, don't even pretend that doesn't make you excited. You love Christmas."

"You're right, of course," Kurt acquiesced. "I still don't like the solstice though."

"Never really thought about it that much," Burt chimed in. "I just go to work down at the shop like I do every day. I don't really care when it gets dark. Doesn't change anything for me."

"Okay, Dad," Kurt said, smiling fondly. "No need to rub it in our faces."

"Full!" Liza announced loudly, causing everyone's heads to turn and look at her.

"You're full? No more soup?" Carol asked, taking a washcloth she'd set on the table and wiping at Liza's little pink cheeks, dirty with soup.

"Full!" Liza announced again. "Open presents now!" She began wiggling to try to get out of her high chair.

Blaine laughed. "Slow down there, little lady," he said. "We all have to eat, too!"

"Full!" Jasper announced, shoving at his bowl.

"Me, too!" Joshua said, pushing his bowl aside and standing up. "We can open presents now!"

"You need to wash your hands and face first. Then, you can go sit by the tree. Don't touch anything until Daddy and I get there," Kurt commanded, putting on his best Papa face.

"Okay," Joshua replied, subdued. He hurried off to the bathroom to wash up then went to the living room to sit by the tree. He sat just close enough he could see the gift tags on the boxes, stating which gifts went to who. Then, he waited patiently for Daddy and Papa to arrive.

"I guess we should get cleaned up and get out there," Blaine said, standing and collecting the bowls of those nearest him. "He won't last long out there before he comes back to ask us if we're coming."

"It's good for him to wait," Burt said, standing and carrying his bowl to the sink where Blaine was already rinsing them to put in the dishwasher. "Builds character."

"Don't you remember being a kid, Dad?" Kurt asked from the table where he was washing Jasper's hands and face before letting him out of his chair. "I know that I could hardly wait for presents when I was his age."

"I had self control," Burt trumpeted proudly. "I remember several times where you got in trouble because you couldn't wait to open your gifts so you didn't."

Kurt blushed just a little. "I'm sure Joshua will be fine. We won't make him wait too long." Setting Jasper down on the floor, he told him, "Go find your brother. I think he's in the living room."

Jasper ran out of the kitchen calling, "Josh-a? Josh-a?"

Carol sent Liza off after Jasper. "I'll let the soup sit out, cool off more before I put it in the fridge." She turned to look at the counter, expecting to see a pile of bowls and spoons waiting to be put in the dishwasher. Instead, Blaine was just closing the door to the dishwasher. "Oh, Blaine. Thank you for putting all the dishes in the dishwasher!"

"You're welcome. I figured the more help you got, the quicker we could go and open presents with the kids."

"Well, I think we're all set then. Let's go get those presents open before the kids have to rush off to bed."

Everyone was excited about all the gifts they received that evening. Joshua gushed over the blue pajamas saying that they were really cool and could they please wear them to bed that night. Liza and Jasper didn't care much about the pajamas, excited instead about the things they'd gotten from Nama and Grampa. Liza oohed and aahed over her new doll, and Jasper was very excited about the set of giant cars he'd gotten. Joshua got a set of books that he'd been dying to read, and he immediately tore the plastic off and pulled out the first book, settling back against the couch to start it.

Kurt and Blaine had purchased a few new shirts for Burt as well as an antique lighted sign for him to put up in his shop. For Carol, they got a cookbook from a new, break-out chef and a set of snowmen she'd been eyeing in a catalog.

Carol and Burt purchased a joint gift for Kurt and Blaine, a Victrola that had a turntable, CD port, a tape player, and Bluetooth and AUX capabilities as well as some old vinyls of their favorite musicals. "Thank you, Dad and Carol," Kurt said, grinning as Blaine read over some of the tracks on one of the vinyls.

"Thank you, too, kids," Burt said. "Now, how about a movie?"

***************************************Earlier**************************************

Everything was pretty harmonious for the first few weeks after they brought the kids home. Everyone was adjusting to their new roles, and, for the most part, enjoying them. That's not to say that there were not a few fights amongst the kids, or a few evenings when Kurt and Blaine went to bed exhausted for dealing with the children.

It was just nearing Christmas when the problems began. Really, they were mostly problems with Joshua. The twins were too young to get into much mischief, although Liza was a biter, and they had to deal with that. But, Joshua began to get really sassy and defiant, unusually rude to the twins, and oddly emotional.

Thinking that the changes were possibly due to the chaos of the holidays or the change in routine due to school being out, Kurt and Blaine tried to be patient with the boy. When he would get into trouble, they would sit and talk with him in an attempt to understand what was going on. Nothing really seemed to work, however, and the problems were getting worse and more frustrating.

They decided that, due to the issues they were having, it wouldn't be a good idea for Burt and Carol to come out for the holidays, so Kurt had to call and cancel. His parents were upset, but realized that they were just trying to do what was best for the kids. They would come out for Valentine's Day or something when things had calmed down a little bit. Kurt told them that would be great and hung up the phone, renewing his vow that he was going to figure out what the problem was.

Christmas Day was bitterly cold that year, and he and Blaine wanted nothing more than to stay in their pajamas, cuddled up under blankets and watch the kids play with their toys. They each got steaming mugs of hot coffee and watched as the twins toddled around, chasing balls that Santa had brought them. Joshua sat off to the side, building his new Lego set without really talking to anyone. Kurt and Blaine tried to coax some conversation out of him, but the best he could do was one word answers before concentrating again.

"I wonder what's up," Kurt whispered to Blaine. "I feel badly that he seems to be upset all the time, but I don't know how to make it better."

"I know," Blaine said soothingly, rubbing his husband's back. "Maybe we need to take him to see a counselor; maybe he's having trouble around the holidays because of his mom or something."

Kurt shrugged. "Maybe. I feel like it's something going on here, though. He was just fine when we first brought them home. Has something changed?"

"I don't think so," Blaine said, suddenly reaching out to catch Liza who was about to face-plant after having tripped over her own feet. He gently helped her stand up then patted her bottom, expecting her to run off to play again.

Instead, she squealed and hugged his leg. "Daddy," she said, looking at Blaine. Then she turned around and kicked her ball, taking off after it.

"Did she just-" Kurt asked, turning to look at his husband, shocked. "I think she just-"

There was a loud crash, and both men turned to look in the direction of the sound, catching the last glimpse of Joshua running to his room.

*************************************Later*****************************************

The vote was almost unanimously for Mickey's Christmas Carol, and as Burt was putting the DVD in, Joshua asked, "Papa? What's a carol?"

"A carol is a type of song," Papa replied, sitting on the couch next to Joshua. "Have you ever heard of caroling?"

Joshua shook his head.

"When people go caroling, they go door to door singing Christmas songs to people. Daddy and I did that a few times when we were in high school."

"Is it fun?" Joshua wanted to know as the opening song began to play.

"We had a good time," Daddy chimed in, walking in with a bowl of popcorn Carol had just made. "We could do that some Christmas, maybe when Jasper and Liza are a little older."

"That sounds awesome!" Joshua said, snuggling down into the couch and leaning his head against Papa's side. He gladly accepted a bowl of popcorn from Daddy, munching happily as he watched.

The twins sat Carol and Burt's laps, eating popcorn from their bowls and watching the screen with wide eyes. It wasn't until recently that they had taken an interest in watching movies at all. Blaine and Kurt were in hopes that they would be able to watch the whole thing. This was one of their favorite animated Christmas shows.

Kurt paid very little attention to the movie, enjoying the fact that both his oldest son and his husband were cuddled up to him. It didn't happen often enough that Joshua wanted to cuddle, so he always enjoyed those moments when he let himself be young enough to enjoy it. And, since the twins still required so much attention, unless they were sleeping, Blaine and Kurt barely got to cuddle anymore, something they'd done frequently before the kids came. It felt nice to be able to relax into his husband's embrace, to comb his fingers through his son's hair, and to just enjoy the moment.

By the end of the movie, Burt was dozing in his chair, the twins were all but ready to fall asleep, and Joshua had laid down, putting his head in Papa's lap.

Blaine grinned as he looked around at their little family. "I think there are a few kids who might be ready for bed," he whispered to Kurt, who had closed his eyes, too. "And a few adults." He planted a gentle kiss to the tip of Kurt's nose.

Kurt smiled up at him. "No one can go to bed yet," he whispered back. "There's one more tradition that we need to do still."

**************************************Earlier***************************************

Both Blaine and Kurt followed Joshua to his room. Upon finding the door locked, Kurt knocked. "Joshua, can we come in? We just want to talk."

There was no response, so he turned the door knob, opening the door just a crack. Peering in, he could see Joshua laying on his bed, facing the wall. The covers were pulled up to his chin, and he could hear small, pitiful sobs coming from the small boy's form.

Quietly, he pushed the door open further and entered the room, going to sit on the bed beside the crying boy. Blaine followed, making sure to leave the door open so the twins would be able to find them, and they could hear if anything went awry.

"Hey, bud," Kurt was murmuring as he rubbed the boy's shoulder. "What's the matter?"

Joshua didn't reply, just pulled the covers over his head.

Kurt looked at Blaine, making eye contact. "Should we go?" he mouthed.

Blaine shook his head. "Joshua, I know you're upset right now, but Kurt and I really want to help. We can't help if you don't tell us what the matter is."

Something in what Blaine said must have hit a nerve, because the blankets flew off of Joshua's head, and he sat bolt upright on his bed, fixing the two men with a watery glare. "You don't like me!" he accused loudly, crossing his arms angrily over his chest.

"Why would you think that?" Kurt asked.

"You only love the twins because they're littler and need more attention!"

"Joshua, that's not true," Blaine said. "If we've made you feel that way, then I'm very sorry. But we like you, too! A lot!"

"See? You love the twins but you only like me!"

"We love you," Kurt said. "We love you very, very much. And we love Jasper very, very much. And we love Liza very, very much. We love you all equally."

There was a long pause. Joshua looked like he was going to say something. He kept opening his mouth, but no words came out. Finally, in a very tiny voice, he told Blaine, "Liza called you 'Daddy.'"

Blaine wasn't sure what to make of this, but he decided to go with honesty. "Yes. She did. But Liza is little. You don't have to call me that. You can call me 'Blaine' just like you have been."

"But I want to," came his tiny reply.

"You want to call me 'Daddy?'" Blaine asked, just to make sure he'd hear correctly.

Joshua didn't say anything, just looked down at the blanket, embarrassed.

Kurt let the silence stretch on for a minute, then put a hand on Joshua's arm. "Honey, you can call us what you're comfortable with. If you want to call Blaine 'Daddy,' then you can do that." He paused, trying to judge how Josh was feeling about that. Then he added, "That would make us very happy if that's what you wanted. But if you don't want that, we'll be happy with 'Kurt' and 'Blaine,' too."

"We will love you, no matter what," Blaine added.

It was then that Kurt realized something. "Joshua, is this why you've been getting into so much trouble lately?"

Joshua nodded, not looking up. "I wanted to see if you loved me. If I was too bad, then you'd take me back because you didn't love me."

"Joshua, you aren't bad," Blaine told him. "Sometimes you make bad choices, but that doesn't mean that you're bad."

"My mom said that I was bad. That I made her fight with my dad and that's why he left."

"Well, your mom was wrong. She was confused about grown-up things and that made her say things she didn't mean."

He didn't say anything for a while, then, "Aunt Rachel is a vegetarian."

Kurt and Blaine looked at one another, completely confused. "Yes," Blaine said slowly.

"Would you love me more if I was a vegetarian?" Joshua asked, completely serious.

Kurt had to bite back a laugh. "Buddy, no. It doesn't matter to us if you're a vegetarian or if you like to eat meat. We love no matter what."

"We loved you before you ever came to live here, you know," Blaine piped up. "That first day that we met you in the park. Do you remember that?"

"Uh huh"

"Well, we didn't realize it then, but we already loved you after just meeting you," Blaine told him. "We were so excited that you could come and live with us that that was all we could talk about for a long time."

Joshua looked at him curiously. "So, I don't have to be a vegetarian like Aunt Rachel?"

Kurt pulled him into a hug. "No. You don't have to be a vegetarian like Aunt Rachel. We already love you."

"Now," Blaine said, already sliding off the bed, "Why don't we go out and finish building your Lego set? We need to make sure that Liza and Jasper haven't tried to run off with any of the pieces."

Joshua held on to Kurt's hand as they got off the bed, ready to return to the living room. Joshua stopped him before they could leave his bedroom, though, turning big eyes towards Kurt. "If he's Daddy," he said, pointing to Blaine's retreating form, "then what do I call you?"

"Hmm," Kurt said, thinking. It wasn't something he'd really considered before.

"Papa?" Joshua questioned, looking down at the floor.

"Papa is perfect. I love it." Kurt replied, pulling Joshua tight against him. "Do you think we should go see what Daddy is doing? He might be trying to build your Legos."

Joshua took off, leaving Kurt standing in the doorway of his bedroom, smiling. The smile only grew bigger when he heard Joshua yell, "Daddy! Wait for me!"

**************************************Later****************************************

After waking everyone up, Kurt and Blaine hustled the children upstairs to change them into their new Christmas pajamas and brush their teeth. Then, they all trouped back down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"What are we doing, Papa," Joshua asked.

"Well," Kurt said, "Who is supposed to come tonight?"

"Santa!" the children all hollered together.

"That's right. And what do you think he might like to have when he comes to deliver presents?"

"Cookies!" Joshua exclaimed, clapping his hands in excitement. "I want to pick them out!"

"You each get to pick out one cookie to leave for Santa," Blaine explained as he walked toward the fridge. "And you get to pick three carrots each to leave out for the reindeer."

"Yay!" the kids shouted, rushing Kurt as he opened the cookie container.

"I want the gingerbread man!" Joshua announced, reaching into the container and grabbing out his chosen cookie.

"I wan' a snowman," Jasper said, pointing to a robust snowman lying just underneath a reindeer cookie.

"I wan' snowman, too," Liza insisted, climbing down from the little step stool she'd climbed on to look into the cookie container.

"Alright. Go see Daddy to pick out your carrots for the reindeer," Kurt instructed, carefully plating the requested cookies.

The kids were less picky about their carrots, reaching into the bowl of sliced carrots Carol had prepared that day and grabbing out three to be taken back to Kurt.

Carol and Burt leaned in the doorway, watching the festivities happily. Burt whispered to his wife, "It's so nice to see Kurt carrying on some of the traditions that I started with him when he was little."

Once Blaine had the carrots put back away, he instructed, "Okay. Tell Nama and Grampa good night, and then it's time for bed. Santa won't come to little boys and girls unless they're asleep."

"Night, Grampa. Night, Nama," each of the children told them in turn, giving each grandparent a hug before running to the den. Their beds had been moved in there for the night so that Santa could come to visit.

"Why can't I sleep by the tree?" Joshua whined as he climbed into his sleeping bag.

"Because Santa might wake you up when he delivers his presents if you're sleeping out there. And we wouldn't want Santa to wake you up. That would ruin the surprise," Blaine replied, tucking Liza and Jasper into their bed. The twins were already exhausted, their little eyes fluttering closed already. Blaine leaned down and kissed each one on a chubby cheek before moving over to Joshua's bed.

"But, I like sleeping by the tree," Joshua complained, settling down in his bed and allowing Blaine to pull the covers up to his chin.

"And you can sleep in there again tomorrow night," Kurt replied, coming in to tell their children good night. He kissed each of the twins then came over to Joshua's bed. "But, for tonight, you're sleeping in here so Santa can visit. Okay?"

"Okay, Papa," Joshua acquiesced, allowing each of the men to give him a kiss. Then, he grabbed each of them in a hug around the neck. "Night, Papa. Night, Daddy. Love you."

"Night, Josh," Kurt replied. "Now go to sleep."

"Yes, Papa," Joshua said, rolling onto his side and letting out a few fake snores.

Blaine chuckled, ruffling the boy's hair before standing up to leave. "Night, Joshua. Sleep well."

With that, the two men left the den, shutting off the light. They walked down the hallway toward the living room where Burt and Carol were seated on the couch. They'd turned It's a Wonderful Life on, the volume down low so as not to disturb the children.

"They go to bed okay?" Burt asked, looking up as Kurt and Blaine entered.

"Yeah," Blaine said softly. "Joshua really wanted to sleep in here, but we told him Santa wouldn't come if he slept in here."

Burt smiled. "Well, enjoy getting to use that excuse while you can. For Joshua, it probably won't last a lot longer.

The boys smiled, settling in to watch the movie as well. They got up to check on the kids a few times throughout the show, glad to see that they had fallen asleep easily. By the time the movie was over, it was late. Kurt and Blaine, with a little help from Burt, ate the cookies and carrots, and sprinkled a little bit of red glitter around the plate and the tree. Then, they placed a few more presents under the tree and hung the kids stockings before heading off to bed for the night.

As they snuggled in the bed together, Blaine whispered, "This has really been a great Christmas."

"It has," Kurt replied, turning over to face his husband. "And, it's not every night that I get to go to bed with a sexy Santa."

"I could say the same," Blaine giggled, pulling Kurt into a kiss.

The two made out for just a few moments before Kurt pulled away, snuggling into Blaine's shoulder. "I love my sexy Santa kisses," he whispered, "but I'm tired. And you know the kids will have us up really early in the morning."

"I know you need your beauty sleep," Blaine joked, earning himself a half-hearted smack. "I love you."

"Love you, too. Good night."

"Night."

***************************************Earlier**************************************

After their breakthrough with Joshua on their first Christmas morning together, everything in the Ander-Hummel household seemed a lot calmer. Blaine and Kurt no longer felt that they were walking a tightrope, desperately trying to balance their life and their son's emotional state. Joshua was more open with them, talking about what he needed and how he was feeling. It was like they had finally earned his trust.

Marsha had assured them that they would be able to go to court for the final adoption hearing by the end of May. When it came down the wire that they would have to put the hearing off due to issues with the children's mother, both Blaine and Kurt were furious.

"Why is this happening," Kurt moaned. "Marsha said that their mother wouldn't be a problem since she'd been sentenced to twenty five years!"

"I don't know," Blaine spat. "Why're you asking me? It's not like I have any more answers than you do!"

The news put them on edge and made them angrier at one another, but they were able to keep it under wraps from the children. And the longer they waited, the more accepting of the circumstances they became.

"I'm sorry I was short with you," Blaine apologized a few days after they got the news. "I know it's not your fault."

"I forgive you. And I'm sorry about all the complaining I've done about it. Waiting doesn't really change anything for us now."

So, they waited and waited as the court dealt with the mother, who was now trying to bring a father figure into the picture. Marsha explained that it was a last ditch effort to keep her children, and that she wouldn't sign the papers required to give up her rights until the courts looked into the validity of her claim about a father.

Eventually, though, when no contact could be made with the alleged father, the courts dropped the investigation. The mother eventually signed the release of rights, and they were back on their way to making the adoption final.

As Kurt and Blaine were out shopping the day after Thanksgiving, Kurt's cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. "It's Marsha," he said happily, swiping to answer. "Hello?"

Blaine couldn't hear what they were talking about, but he could tell from the expression on Kurt's face that it must be good news.

"Really? That's fantastic! Yes, whenever we can do it would be great! Oh, Marsha, that's fantastic! Thank you so much!"

"Well, everything went through?" Blaine asked, grabbing Kurt's arm.

"Yes! Marsha said it was like trying to yoke cats, but the mother finally signed away her rights! We can officially adopt!" He squealed, bouncing up and down.

Blaine joined him, just for a second, before pulling him into a tight squeeze. "This is fantastic! When is the court date?"

"Right before Christmas. December 23rd."

Blaine didn't say anything, instead kissed Kurt, long and deep. "Well," he said. "Best Christmas ever!"

*************************************Later*****************************************

Kurt was right. By seven o'clock the next morning, the kids had been in to wake Daddy and Papa up three separate times. "Alright, alright. We'll get up," Kurt moaned, rolling toward Blaine and covering his face with his pillow. "Daddy will get up. I'll come down in a minute."

"Uhh," Blaine moaned, throwing the covers off of himself and stumbling out of bed. He pulled on his slippers and managed to make it down the stairs and to the living room without falling.

"You look like a zombie, Daddy," Joshua giggled, plopping down on the couch next to him. "Can we open our presents from Santa now?"

"Uh, not yet," Blaine said, yawning. "We have to wait for Papa. Are Nama and Grampa up yet?"

"We're awake," Burt said, coming into the living room with steaming cups of coffee. "The kids woke us up first. Here's some coffee," he said, offering a mug to Blaine, "and here's a cup for Kurt when he comes down."

"Thanks," Blaine said, waking up a bit as he breathed in the coffee fumes. "Kurt will be down pretty soon."

Kurt appeared in the living room about five minutes later, looking more like a zombie than Blaine had.

"Here," Blaine said, indicating the other cup of coffee on the table. "Your dad brought this for you."

"Mmm. Thanks."

Nama appeared in the living room a few moments later, a bowl of fruit in her hands. "If you're hungry," she said, setting the bowl down on the table. "Okay. You guys can open your presents now."

The kids didn't need to be told twice, jumping up and tearing into the packages under the tree. Soon, the living room was covered in toys, bits of wrapping paper, and packaging from toys as they were exclaimed over and pulled out of their boxes to be played with immediately. Even the adults had gifts from Santa and from one another, and by the time all the unwrapping was finished, everyone was feel much more awake and very happy.

Blaine and Kurt were still sitting on the couch together, watching the chaos unfold, delighted that their kids were having so much fun. As they watched, Joshua came over to sit beside them, snuggling against Blaine's side with a remote control truck he'd gotten from Santa sitting next to him.

"Did you have a good Christmas, Josh?" Blaine asked, pulling him into a hug.

"Yeah. I got the best gift ever."

"And what would that be?"

"You and Papa," Joshua said, climbing over Blaine's lap to wrap both of his parents in a hug. "Best Christmas ever," he whispered.