Burt Hummel walked down the hall towards the nursery, stretching his legs a little bit after sitting in the waiting room. He and Carole had come up to surprise Kurt and Rachel before her due date with their gifts, but once they had landed and called Kurt, they found out Rachel had been in labor for 12 or 13 hours and they were about to head to the hospital. Carole had managed to get Kurt calmed down enough to get the name of the place and the fact that Rachel's fingernails were going to leave permanent scars on his hands and elbows as they dug in during her contractions.
At least he could save on travel expenses by making two trips in one. He chuckled to himself at the thought, remembering how panicked Kurt had sounded on the phone before he had handed it off to Carole. Burt couldn't blame him. When Kurt was being born, he had been so clueless and scared at seeing Elizabeth in pain. But she of all things had kept calm and helped guide him in what he needed to be doing. How she could handle the contractions and pushing so well, he could never understand. He wondered how everything was going with the delivery. It had been a few hours and Kurt hadn't called or texted him or Carole.
When he got to the nursery area, the sound of little baby cries and noises filled his ears and made him smile. It wouldn't be long and one of those would be his grand baby. He was a bit surprised to see someone leaning into the glass, his hand practically frozen against it.
Especially considering it was his own son.
"Hey," he said softly, getting Kurt's attention. "Everything alright?"
"Dad," said Kurt, looking over at him in momentarily surprise at the appearance of his father. "No no, everything's fine. I just… I needed a moment."
"Rachel…"
"She's good," said Kurt with a half smile. "Sore and exhausted and calling me every name in the book. The nurse I think took pity on me and said I could follow Ana down to the nursery while they do their tests."
"Ana?" said Burt, breathless. "I have a grand daughter?"
"Anastasia Barbra Elizabeth Hummel," said Kurt. "Rachel decided she had to have her middle name first since she had carried her the longest."
"Believe me kid, it won't be the only time she pulls that," chuckled Burt. "Where…"
Kurt pointed to where a nurse was gently putting a yellow cap on a baby's head. Burt could barely make her out, but she seemed to have her little reddened face scrunched up and crying.
"Testing out her lungs," chuckled Burt.
"She's done that plenty," said Kurt, with a soft smile. "I don't think she's stopped crying yet."
"Have you gotten to hold her?" asked Burt.
"We both have," Kurt answered. "Rachel got to hold her right after she was born and they let me give her a bath. The nurse wouldn't let me put her in our packed clothes though. Said she had to stay in the hospital things for a while."
"The sequins might blind the other babies," teased Burt. Kurt rolled his eyes.
"Very funny Dad."
"So why are you out here and not in there?" asked Burt, gesturing to the nurse holding Ana at the moment.
"I…" said Kurt, hesitating. He looked conflicted. "They're bringing her back to Rachel in just a few minutes after they get her changed between rooms. I'm supposed to go there, but…"
"You didn't want to leave her," said Burt, putting his hands in his pockets.
"I made it out the door?" said Kurt. Burt laughed softly at Kurt's attempt at a joke.
"You're thinking like a dad," said Burt. "You don't want to leave her behind. Once those nurses put that tiny little human in your arms and they tell you it's yours it's like something switches in your brain and all the sudden you're no longer an expecting parent, you're actually a parent. For this… little red wrinkly thing that cries a lot. And poops. And makes messes all across your living room floor with said poop."
Kurt wrinkled his nose at the thought and turned back towards the glass.
"How do you let go?"
"You don't," said Burt. He could see Kurt was on the verge of having tears in his eyes. Burt looked towards the glass where the nurse had moved towards the window with the baby and was gesturing for Kurt to come back in.
"Go get my new grand daughter," said Burt, putting a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "So I can hold her. Hiram and Leroy are just going to have to wait in line."
Kurt laughed at that and went back inside the nursery to get his newborn daughter.