Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 71st cycle. Now cycle 72!

"Step Seventy-One, Give a Way"
Kurt, Jude (OC), (Brittany, Santana, Harry)
Paper Heart series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

He could tell Brittany and Santana he didn't remember when he'd told Jude about this book, but the truth was he did know. He knew the day, he knew the time… He knew what he'd been wearing and what they'd been doing. He'd told Jude how he'd been looking for this book for years but that he had only ever found it in stores that asked for much too much money, and he wouldn't be able to excuse himself spending it, no matter what it would mean for him to have it.

And then he'd opened the present and, under the paper cushioning it into its box, there it was, clearly pre-owned but all things considered in excellent condition. He'd picked it up with near reverence. And then he'd opened to see the inside of the cover, finding in fine letters…

This book belongs to Julia Abernathy.

Below was a phone number, but he didn't need to dial it to know its owner. He hadn't known her first name, but he'd wager that was Jude's mother's book, before it was gifted on to him.

He didn't ask Jude about it too much. The first he'd heard of it was the 'family situation' forcing him to defer from college even though he had finished high school a year earlier. But with time, the pieces of the Abernathy family puzzle had started coming together. Kurt knew he was the eldest of four, his siblings all of them sisters. He knew his father's work would force him to be out of Ohio for weeks at a time. Of his mother he knew very little except that she existed, and Kurt figured something must have happened to her.

Now he had her book, and he didn't know whether to listen to his excitement for having it in hand, or to his guilt for having taken it away from her. Either way, he had to call Jude. He didn't tell Brittany or Santana about Mrs. Abernathy, and they were expecting him to call.

Jude had agreed to give his address, and so Kurt was off to meet him. As his car pulled up, he could see him standing outside, shovelling the driveway. His cheeks were bright red from the cold.

"Merry Christmas," he nodded, out of breath.

"Merry Christmas," Kurt repeated; he'd almost forgotten the day. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"You could never," Jude smirked.

"I, uh… I got your present, it's… Thank you," he had to say before anything else, and Jude went on smiling. "But I… It's your mother's, isn't it?"

"She wants you to have it," Jude revealed; he'd known this conflict would come.

"She does? But I've never met her…"

"When you told me about it, I knew I'd heard about it before, and I came home and found it in the attic bookcase, where I'd seen it every time I went up there. I'd never meant anything by it, but I sort of mentioned it to her one day and she said I should give it to you, that it would be appreciated and that was what books were supposed to be."

"Yeah," Kurt smiled. He'd brought the box with the book inside, and he could feel it when he reached into his bag, but it was another object he pulled from it, another present, still wrapped. "Well, I wasn't clever enough to find a way and get this to you, so you'll have to just… here," he held out the package, trying to make it look more special than his handing over any old object.

"I don't know, I'm liking the whole personal delivery method," Jude pointed out, taking the package. "Should I shake it and all that?"

"I doubt it'll help but you can try," Kurt played back. He hadn't been this excited for someone to open a present since the first year he'd bought one for his mother and father, with his own money, because it was going to make it special.

Jude had given the package a small shake, and he must have felt something moving inside, because he laughed, surprised. He undid the wrapping, opened the barely taped shut box, which Kurt had repurposed from an online delivery.

"The thing is, I thought you would look good in those colors, and we got into knitting a lot over the months so we had the yarn…" he explained, trying not to sound overly nervous, waiting to see how Jude would react.

"You made it?" the blond boy looked amazed. He picked the scarf out, and Kurt offered himself to take the box back, allowing Jude to wrap it around his neck. "How's that?" he asked, and with a smile like he had, there was no doubt to it whether he liked it or not.

"Well, it's…" Kurt hesitated before reaching over to adjust the scarf. "There," he let out a breath. Jude looked at himself, as best he could.

"It's warm, wow… Thank you, I still can't believe you made this, I mean I do believe it, you know what I mean," he laughed.

"I do," Kurt smiled and nodded.

For a beat they stood as they were, facing each other in the snow, happy for the presents they'd given as much as for the ones they'd gotten. When they'd snapped out of it, they'd needed a moment to think of what to say.

"Well, I… I should head back, I think," Kurt started. "They'll be waiting for me, and you have your family…"

"You want to come in for a bit?" Jude asked just as he did. "We have way too much food, you can bring some back. My grandmother's here, she'll sort of insist," he went on.

"Are you sure?" Kurt tried not to look like he really wanted to say yes. Jude had always been vague about his family, and he didn't want him to feel like his hand had been forced.

"Do you like shrimp? It's kind of a thing with us, seafood…"

"I like a good shrimp," Kurt replied, and he thought it sounded like the most ridiculous thing, but Jude turned and indicated for him to follow. They were just at the door when he stopped and looked at Kurt.

"Before we get in there, I should tell you, my mother… She had an accident at work, I was about to start college. My father couldn't just his job, so I had to stay back to take care of my sisters."

"How is she now?" Kurt asked, hating to think of what that would have been like, for all of them.

"She's got better days, some not so good. Days like this, she's stronger. If you should meet her, I'd like it to be this way," Jude smiled, sadly.

"I'd like to meet her, too. I should thank her for the book," he tapped his bag.

"And have shrimp," Jude bowed his head.

"Right, the shrimp," Kurt nodded back.

He would spend the better part of the afternoon with the Abernathy family, with Jude, and his parents, his little sisters, his grandmother, aunts and uncles, cousins… He hadn't expected to meet them all in one go, but he was glad he did. Nana Abernathy may have been his new favorite human being.

In all, he had come out of there feeling what he'd been feeling toward Jude had been more than even he realized. Between having Harry and the girls with him, and Jude and his family, it might well have been his favorite Christmas in a good long while.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!