The first Monday of each month was insignificant for most people. But for Elizabeth Hummel, they were her favorite days to go to work. Waiting for five o'clock to roll around was never easy on those days. Sometimes she was even tempted to clock out on her lunch break, and spend her entire afternoon up in pediatrics, reading to the kids.

It had been her friend's idea, really. Elizabeth's coworker had a son that had to be admitted to the hospital after a complicated surgery, so the administration staff had taken turns going to visit him, so his mother could work and make sure he didn't get lonely at the same time. Even after he was discharged, Elizabeth loved spending time with the children, so once a month she and four of her coworkers stayed two hours after work to read and hang out with the kids whose parents weren't able to visit them all day.

Elizabeth loved the interaction, even if it was only for a couple of hours each month. Children were her passion, and she longed to have some of her own one day.

She and Burt had tried to get pregnant for over two years, until the doctor explained it was unable to happen, no matter what they tried. Naturally they were heartbroken, but Elizabeth didn't want to give up. She looked into adoption, even though her husband wasn't too fond of that idea. He claimed the process took too long, and wanted to raise a child that biologically belonged to them.

So they were in a rut. There weren't really any other options, but for the time being, spending two hours a month in the hospital with the little children helped her feel enough like a mother.

That was why she looked forward to it more than her coworkers, who all had at least one child of their own. By the time five o'clock hit, she was ready to go, and just had to wait on her friends. Elizabeth Hummel had never been very patient.

They took the elevator up the pediatrics floor, where the head nurse always assigned them a child who didn't have any visitors.

"Hummel, take room 311. Kurt Howard, five years old," the heavyset woman rattled off, pointing in the direction of the room. Elizabeth happily made her way down the corridor. The younger children were always her favorite.

She knocked on the door lightly before pushing it open, in case the child was asleep. She remembered the nurse had said Kurt was five, but Elizabeth was certain she was mistaken. Kurt couldn't be any older than three, maybe four. He was absolutely tiny, and the twin-size hospital bed made him look even smaller.

"Hi, Kurt," she said, looking around the room. There were no balloons, no flowers, nothing. It was like he had no family at all.

"Who're you?" Kurt asked, pulling his blanket up higher. The poor thing looked terrified, like she was about to hurt him. "Are you a doctor?"

Elizabeth pulled a chair up next to his bedside. He was tiny, but his blue eyes were as big as saucers, his little chin trembling.

"I'm not a doctor," she assured him. "My name is Elizabeth. I work downstairs, but I'm not a doctor. I take care of the hospital's money."

"Oh," he peeped, relaxing ever so slightly. Elizabeth couldn't help but notice the navy blue cast on his left arm, and the array of stitched up wounds he sported.

"I brought some books." Elizabeth changed the subject and laid out the small collection of picture books she brought with her every time came up to read. "Do you feel like reading? You can pick whichever one you want."

Kurt pulled his blanket up over his head. It appeared to be his only personal possession in the room.

"I don't wanna read," he said, his voice muffled. Elizabeth couldn't tell what was wrong with him, but something was bothering him, and it wasn't just his broken arm.

She gently tugged the blanket down, expecting Kurt to giggle or at least crack a smile. The child remained solemn, though, and his eyes welled up with tears.

Elizabeth instantly felt guilty. Normally the children loved whenever someone came to spend time with them, but Kurt didn't seem to want any part of it.

"What's the matter, honey?" she asked. Kurt held his blanket close and cried into it.

"I don't like it here," he confessed, staring down at the mattress. Elizabeth tried to rub his back, but Kurt twisted away, so she decided just to give him some space. She couldn't help but wonder where his parents were, and seeing him cry made her heart hurt. Kurt seemed miserable and lonely, and no one had even brought him any gifts to help his feelings.

"I'm sorry," Elizabeth soothed, taking his blanket and wrapping his around him. She brushed his tears away with her thumb and stroked his light brown hair- the same shade as her own- so it wouldn't be in his eyes. "Do you want me to stay here with you? I can stay so you're not all alone. Don't cry, Kurt."

Kurt hiccupped and instantly went silent, his eyes widening even more. Elizabeth wasn't sure what she said to make him behave like that, but the visit wasn't starting off very well.

"I'm sorry," he apologized quickly, looking up into Elizabeth's eyes.

"What're you sorry for?" she asked, slightly confused. "You haven't done anything wrong."

Kurt shrunk back like he was embarrassed. "Mommy gets mad when I cry. You're not mad?"

Elizabeth could tell right then that Kurt's family situation certainly wasn't typical. "I'm not mad at you at all," she assured him. "It's okay to cry, I promise."

Kurt seemed to relax now that he knew he wasn't in trouble. Elizabeth tried to rearrange his pillows behind him to make him comfortable, but the little boy still seemed to be in some pain.

"Can you stay here?" Kurt asked sheepishly, allowing Elizabeth to tend to him. "You're nice."

Elizabeth smiled at him and agreed to stay. Kurt was awfully sweet, even though his home life sounded a little rough.

"Me and my mommy and daddy were driving home, and my daddy was driving bad and yelling at Mommy, and she told him to stop and let her drive, but him wouldn't stop, a-and I was crying, and then crash and then the doctor said I was in the hospital," Kurt explained dramatically, even though Elizabeth hadn't asked for an explanation.

His story however did clear up some assumptions she had about his parents. His dad sounded like an alcoholic, and something definitely wasn't right if Kurt got in trouble for crying.

"Mrs. Walden said my mommy and daddy can't come back," Kurt went on, as if it didn't even phase him. "But she said she's gonna find me a home to live in, with new parents and a new house and new toys. Our 'partment was yucky."

"Who is Mrs. Walden?" Elizabeth asked. Kurt was certainly a very vocal child. She had a feeling he was never allowed to talk so much before.

"She's my social worker," Kurt said, having to sound out the last two words. "She was here today."

Elizabeth nodded along with his little story, and was glad to see him not as upset.

"She'll be able to find you a wonderful home," Elizabeth told him. She didn't like the idea of someone as young and as precious as Kurt being placed in a foster home, but there didn't seem to be any other places for him to go. He deserved solid and supportive parents, something Kurt had obviously never had before. And while Kurt just accepted it, Elizabeth longed for some way to help him.

"The nurses hurt me a lot with needles," Kurt complained. "That's why I don't like it here."

Elizabeth noticed the large IV tube coming from his right hand, and he had most likely been given shots when he received his numerous stitches.

"I know those hurt," she agreed. "But they're doing that so they can help you. The needle in your hand is so nothing hurts. If you didn't have that, your arm would probably hurt a lot more than it does right now."

"I breaked my arm," Kurt said matter-of-factly. He almost sounded like he was proud of it. And I got stitches and th'urgery on my tummy, but the doctor thinks I have affection."

It took Elizabeth a minute to figure out what he meant by that. His cute little lisp and terrible grammar didn't stop him from talking a mile a minute. She was just glad that Kurt was comfortable around her. It was obvious that he trusted her.

"Affection? I think you mean an infection," she correction, laughing a little at how purely innocent he was.

"Oh." Kurt thought about that for a few seconds. "Well, I got one of them. The doctor gave me antibiotics." He sounded out each syllable to the word carefully.

"Those will help," Elizabeth said. Kurt was too sweet, and she wished she could stay with him longer. Visiting hours would end soon, but she found herself already attached to the little boy.

"Yeah," he shrugged, sticking his thumb in his mouth. Elizabeth took note of how pale he seemed, and hoped the infection he mentioned wasn't serious. Kurt seemed tired, though, so Elizabeth tried to wind him down.

"Would you like to read now?" she asked him. "I'll read you a book, or if you're too tired then I can just sit here with you."

Kurt pointed to the books still on the bed, and he made his bed sit up so he could see the pictures easier. Elizabeth read him two and a half books before his eyelids began to droop, and she quietly closed the book got up to go, even though she wished she could stay with Kurt all night long. Thinking of leaving him all by himself was heartbreaking, but only family members were allowed to stay overnight with patients.

"Don't leave yet," Kurt whined, barely awake. He had taken his thumb out of his mouth and reached up his good arm for her. Elizabeth smiled and turned back around. She sat by his side and set her books up on his bedside table.

"I'll leave my books here for you to look at later," she told him. "You need to go to sleep, Kurt. It's almost eight o'clock."

He yawned and rubbed at his eyes, and he let Elizabeth rub his back.

"Are you gonna come back?" Kurt asked, his voice light and sleepy.

Elizabeth paused for a second. She was certainly willing to come up and see him as often as she could. Besides, who else was going to visit him?

"I can come back tomorrow," she told him. "I can't stay here tonight, but I'll be back tomorrow. Would you like that?"

Kurt nodded, and Elizabeth tucked him in with the sheet and his blanket up by his face.

"Thank you," he mumbled. Elizabeth turned off the lamp and left him to rest, just hoping he would sleep peacefully.

She left for good and walked out to the parking garage alone, thankful it was still light outside. It was early June, and the weather was wonderful.

But even on the drive home, Elizabeth still couldn't get Kurt off her mind. He truly had no family, nowhere to go. That was horrible to think that he was only five and had already lost both of his parents, even though they sounded horrible, Kurt was probably more scared than he had seemed.

She just couldn't wait to see him again the next day. Elizabeth made a mental note to stop by the hospital gift shop and buy him some balloons to cheer him up. She could be his mom, at least until he left the hospital and went into someone else's care.

Burt was already at home by the time she arrived. She squeezed her small Toyota sedan into the garage next to her husband's truck and walked inside the house. She set her purse down and found Burt in the living room, watching a baseball game with the dog on his lap.

"I'm home!" she called. She was just feet away, but could tell her husband was thoroughly engrossed in the game. Surprisingly, he paused the TV and stood up to greet her.

"You're home late," he said, his tone slightly worried. Elizabeth appreciated his concern, but her mind was elsewhere. "I thought you left at seven?"

"I was supposed to," she sighed. "Let's eat dinner at the table tonight. I'll tell you about it."

Burt followed her into the dining room. They rarely ate in there, unless it was a holiday and they had company over, or they were discussing something serious. Kurt was important enough to her to be discussed over the dining room table.

It turned out that her husband had picked up some takeout food on his way home, since Elizabeth wasn't around to cook that evening. They ate together, and she began to tell him about Kurt.

"He's five, but if you looked at him you'd think he was much younger. He looks like he could be our child. He's got my hair and eyes, but he's just as stubborn as you. Anyway, he was in a car wreck and his parents died. He's got some rough injuries and is going to be in the hospital for awhile, I think."

"Mmm," Burt murmured. Elizabeth could tell he knew where she was going with their conversation, but she continued anyways.

"He's got a social worker trying to put him in a foster home when he leaves the hospital. But, Burt, he's too young to just be thrown into the system. He needs a permanent home and family, especially after what he's been through. His dad was an alcoholic and his mother abused him."

"Did he tell you all this?" her husband asked skeptically.

"Well, no, but you could tell. He started to cry and thought I was mad at him, and he said his mother got mad whenever he cried. His dad was the cause of their car wreck. I think he was abused and neglected."

Burt looked at her doubtfully, but Elizabeth stood by what Kurt had told her. She knew it was risky to assume those kinds of things, but something about his childhood was definitely not normal.

"I'm just saying, he would benefit from a permanent family," Elizabeth concluded. She knew trying to talk her husband into adoption was a hopeless endeavor. And, there was the fact that she had only known Kurt for a day.

"I don't think you should rush into this," Burt warned. He didn't seem nearly as enthusiastic as Elizabeth was, but she was confident she could win him over.

"I won't," she promised. "But you need to be open to this, okay? Please? Kurt has no other family, and I'm certain I'm the only one that's visited him in the hospital. He just needs some company right now. But will you just consider thinking about going for it? Adopting is really our only option if we want to be parents, whether you like it or not."

She had tried not to be too harsh, but couldn't tell by his expression if her husband was upset or just thinking.

"I'll think about it," he agreed. "Just get to know him a little better, first. It sounds like you already love him, and there's nothing I can do about that."

Elizabeth Hummel was truly already head over heels for Kurt, but was even more ecstatic that Burt had agreed to consider what their options were with him. She wasn't about to just let Kurt fall into foster care and never hear a word about him again. Not if she could help it. Kurt Howard could just possibly be exactly what their little family needed.

Author's Notes:

I've had this story in the works for about a year, but I haven't really had the time to get around to finishing it until now! It's looking like it will be thirteen chapters, and of that I've finished eleven. Let me know what you think!