"Okay, sweetheart, you have to promise to be really quiet," Blaine says after knocking gently on the door. "Even if she's awake, everybody's gonna be super sleepy, okay?" He looks at Maddie, who's balanced on Kurt's hip, clinging to Kurt's scarf and nodding. She looks up at Kurt, who holds a finger up to her lips and she does the same to him.
"We promise, Daddy. Right, baby?"
She nods again.
"Shh!"
Blaine grins.
"Good girl."
The door opens, revealing Santana and Brittany, beaming despite the bags under their eyes.
"Hey, guys!" Santana whispers. The adults all take turns hugging and kissing each other, telling Brittany she has no right to look this amazing after two days, and Britt and Santana take a moment to coo over Maddie. "Hey, cutie!"
"I love the flower in your hair!"
Maddie grins but says nothing. Santana glances at Kurt, eyebrow raised. She's never this quiet.
"Check this out," he says, "hey Mads." Maddies looks at him. He holds a finger to his lips and she does the same. He pretends to zip his mouth closed and she copies him.
"Aha. You're an excellent trainer."
Kurt does a little bow, and Maddie claps her hand hand over her mouth when a giggle escapes. Kurt grins and kisses her cheek.
"Okay, okay, enough stalling. Do you want to meet her?"
Maddie nods and claps and bats at Kurt's chest.
"I think that's a yes," Blaine says with a grin, he and Kurt just as excited as their daughter. "Let's go!"
They walk down the hall to the baby's room, Maddie's fist crushing Blaine's finger as she tries to restrain herself. He lets himself be led forwards, proud of her for trying so hard to do as she was asked. The room smells like baby, and all they can hear is the occasional shuffle and snuffle and yawn. Kurt puts Maddie down so she can hold Blaine's hand properly, and she immediately gets up on tiptoe to try and see inside the crib. She looks up to see her aunts holding each other, Brittany gazing dreamily into the crib and Santana gazing at Brittany in the same way.
She keeps staring up at the adults, and it makes her lose her balance for a second. She grabs onto Blaine's leg to stop herself from toppling over, and he puts a steady hand on her back and smiles down at her. She tugs on his trouser leg, pointing at the crib. He nods and bends down to scoop her up, leaning forward so she can look at the baby.
She's okay. She's pink and wrinkly and she doesn't have much hair, definitely not enough for braids, and it doesn't look like she can talk or anything, but there's something special about her. Like a little doll. Even her squashed up nose is kind of cute. She doesn't even realise that her arms are tightening their grip around Blaine's neck, but when she feels him kiss her cheek she turns to look at him.
She's never seen her daddy cry before.
She turns to see her other daddy doing the same. They're just staring into the crib at the tiny pink bundle, smiling, eyes shining. She prods at Blaine's shoulder, then his neck, and when she taps him on the cheek he finally responds.
"Yeah, honey?"
She beckons to him and he puts his ear next to her mouth. She cups her hand around her lips and whispers to him.
"Am I allowed to say hi to her? Really quietly?"
Blaine smiles again, like he'll never ever stop, and he nods at her.
"Of course you can, honey. Come here."
He takes her hand and lowers it into the crib so she can stroke the baby's hair.
"Hi, baby," Maddie whispers, suddenly not even wanting to be loud, not now that she's touching a real live baby. She takes her hand gently and strokes the palm with her thumb. "Daddy, she's so little. She's all soft. Am I doing it right?"
Blaine nods.
"Yep. I think she likes you, right?"
The others all nod.
"Definitely," Santana says. "I mean, you are her big, grown up cousin. She thinks you're the coolest kid ever."
Maddie's eyes go wide and her mouth falls open in sheer amazement.
"Really? Me?"
"You bet," Brittany adds with a smile.
"Wow," Maddie breathes, "I like her too, Daddy."
Blaine just squeezes her and snuggles as close as he can, and Kurt wraps an arm around both of them.
"… And they all lived happily ever after. The end." Kurt closes the book in his hands, gazing at the half-asleep little girl lying next to him. He pulls the covers up over her and she nuzzles into her pillow. "Goodnight, angel."
"Daddy?" she asks, eyes closed.
He cocks his head.
"Yeah?"
"I wish we could have brought the baby home. I think I like babies. Actually, I think I love them. I wish she was my little sister instead of my cousin."
Kurt opens his mouth to answer, but she's gone limp, fast asleep.
"Mmm. Babies are pretty great."
He leans forward to kiss her hair, stroking her hand where it clings to her stuffed bunny. He hears a throat clear in the doorway, and turns to see Blaine. He presses one more kiss to Maddie's cheek and walks over to his husband, casually sliding his hands over Blaine's waist as Blaine does the same to Kurt's arms. A smile creeps onto Blaine's lips.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Kurt nods earnestly.
"Yes please. Now."
"It usually takes a little longer than that. Sometimes a lot longer," he nods at Maddie, "remember?"
Kurt nods again.
"I know. But it's worth it. She'd be a great big sister, wouldn't she?"
Blaine's little smile turns into an enormous grin.
"Amazing. So- are we? For real?"
Kurt takes a slow breath and nods once more.
"We can start making calls tomorrow. Oh my God. Blaine, are we- are we going to have another baby? Blaine, we're having another baby. Blaine-"
Blaine claps a hand over Kurt's mouth and pulls him out of Maddie's room and closes her door.
"Shh, you just got her to sleep. And we can't do anything until tomorrow. But I can think of something to keep us busy tonight." Blaine's eyes sparkle and Kurt throws his arms around his neck, kissing him. When he pulls away, then both steal a glance at the office – the completely half-assed attempt at an office that they'd always known would be the second baby room eventually. Kurt bites his lip and turns to look at Blaine again.
"I love you, you know that, right? Just- so much. I can't even- I can't explain it, how happy this makes me, you make me, I'm just-" Blaine cuts him off by kissing him again.
"You don't have to explain. I know."
Kurt sighs and lets out a contented hum, his eyes falling closed. He pulls Blaine close and buries his face in his neck, breathing in that familiar smell, feeling the slight scratch of stubble on his neck, delving his fingers into his husband's curls, his husband, his soul-mate, his family, his everything.
"Come on, honey. We should celebrate."
Before Blaine can even blink, Kurt's linked their hands and tugged him into another kiss and they stumble, eyes closed but not putting a foot wrong, into their bedroom.
"God, Blaine, I- I just-"
Kurt grinds slowly up and down on top of Blaine, cock glistening and smearing over Blaine's stomach, little crescent nail marks dug into Blaine's shoulders, breath coming short and fast. His eyes dart around the room, flickering closed as he takes Blaine's face in both hands. Blaine slides his own hands around from Kurt's waist to the small of his back, pressing flat and solid and grounding him.
"Tell me. I've got you, Kurt, tell me what you want," he pants.
Kurt forces himself to slow down, sinking over Blaine's cock and going still, taking a moment to appreciate the fullness, the closeness, the connection. He swallows as he opens his eyes, his breathing shaky as he strains to focus on Blaine, to look straight at him.
"You. Always you, Blaine. You and her and the next one and ten more. Whatever happens, just this. Forever, Blaine."
Blaine nods and swallows and gasps a little. His hold tightens on Kurt's back, pulling him as close as possible.
"Forever. I promise."
Kurt leans in and kisses him, groaning when his cock gets trapped between them, and he starts to move again, lips still locked with Blaine.
"And Blaine-"
"Yeah?"
"Fuck me."
Blaine grins into Kurt's mouth, a hand moving back to grip onto Kurt's knee as their hips speed up together.
Carole and Burt are both trying to mask how hard their hands are shaking. They both stare into Blaine's arms, nervous and excited.
"Do you wanna hold him?" Kurt asks, looking up at Carole. Obviously they've been through this before with Maddie, but somehow it's different this time. It's been a long time since Carole held a little boy.
"I already held him, Grandma, it's really easy. You can do it."
Carole smiles and kisses Maddie's cheek.
"Okay, honey. You promise to look out in case he starts missing you?"
Maddie nods eagerly.
"Okay, little man," Kurt says softly, scooping the baby out of Blaine's arms, "time to go see your grandma Carole." He passes him over to Carole, whose hands stop trembling as soon as she's holding him. Her eyes fill with tears instantly, and Burt wraps an arm around her and kisses her hair.
"Oh, Kurt, he- he's beautiful. Aren't you, honey? You precious little thing!"
Her voice cracks a little, and Burt gives her a squeeze.
"Congratulations, both of you. He's perfect."
Kurt and Blaine smile at each other. They know he is.
"Actually, Burt- well, Carole…" Blaine starts, looking to Kurt for confirmation, "We wanted to ask you something."
Carole glances from one to the other, a slight frown creasing her brow.
"Oh?"
Kurt takes Blaine's hand.
"Yes. We were wondering, if it's okay with you – we'd like to call him Finn."
Carole's mouth falls open a little, and her eyes sparkle as she looks down at the little boy. She knows he's too young to focus yet, but she could swear he's looking right at her.
"Of course, if it's too weird or if it makes you at all uncomfortable we won't do it-"
"We just thought it might be a nice-"
"But there are other names-"
She reaches out to take the two hands that are tangled together on Blaine's knee. She swallows the lump in her throat and sniffs a little.
"That would be wonderful. Thank you- thank you so much."
Burt smiles proudly at his son, then at his son-in-law, his granddaughter and his brand new grandson.
"Little baby Finn. It suits him. Come on you, quit hogging him. Grandpa's turn."
Maddie pats Carole's knee when she passes the baby to Burt.
"Are you okay, Grandma? Do you need a hug?"
"Oh sweetie, I always need a hug from you," she sighs, and pulls the little girl onto her lap. She snuggles her close and smiles at Kurt, and tells Maddie all about her brave Uncle Finn. Maddie smiles, knowing from all the stories and the pictures of the tall boy with the big, goofy smile, that she would've liked him.