Author's Note:

So I owe you guys a sweet and Serena and Daddy!Klaine filled chapter and I hope this delivers. It also ties in nicely to the epilogue.

The next chapter is 95% written, so I hope to post it in a week.

Happy Mother's Day to all who celebrate and to those who don't, Happy Sunday. I hope it's as beautiful outside where you are as it is where I am.

And of course, many thanks to my betas!

November 2019

"I don't know if I can do it anymore," Brittany said. She was lying in bed, rubbing Santana's swollen belly, drawing good luck charms all over it. She knew very well it wasn't what Santana had asked her to do and she hated to disobey but… "I mean, when we have sex, it's kinda like we're having sex with the baby too and so it's kinda like having sex with Blaine-"

"Which I don't recall you having too much of an objection to the last time," Santana pointed out, her brow raised in a mix of amusement and annoyance.

Brittany blushed, remembering that punishment. Santana was right. The one time she'd been allowed to be with Blaine was both excruciating and amazing. Excruciating because she knew how much it hurt him. But the truth was, for the moments she'd been able to put that out of her mind, she'd liked it even more than she'd expected to. "I think it's different though with his baby," Brittany said. She leaned up on her elbow and frowned at her Dom. "I'm sorry."

Santana leaned up to face her. "You will be sorry," she said. But right then the baby kicked and jammed her in the ribs and her belly contracted in Braxton-Hicks and she fell back down flat on the bed with a groan. "As soon as I can put you over my knee again Brittany, you are in so much trouble."

"Will you miss it?" Brittany wondered. "The baby? When she's gone?"

"She won't be gone Britt, she'll just be with her dads."

"She won't be inside you anymore. Will you miss it?" she asked again.

With a grunt Santana leaned up again. "I won't miss you not having sex with me and I won't miss not being able to put you over my knee. And I won't miss the pain and the weight and the swollen ankles." Santana reached a hand out and brushed Brittany's blonde locks tenderly over her ear. "But yes. I will miss her."

"Would you ever want us to have one of our own?" Brittany asked.

Santana smiled softly at her. She'd been thinking about it a long time now. "Maybe. Someday. Not for a while though. You and I have a lot to accomplish before we add a baby to the mix. And I wouldn't want it to be Blaine's. I would want it to be just ours. No one else's. I wouldn't want to have to share another person I love."

"I'm all yours," Brittany promised. "Always have been, always will be." She leaned in to kiss her Dom, softly at first, but Santana needed more. And as she let herself be pushed onto her back and let her Dom take whatever she wanted, Brittany knew that she would always be there to give it to her.

February 2021

"So I sent over the demo today and Mercedes said she'd give it to her people to see if she can debut it on tour."

"Blaine, that's great," Kurt said, maneuvering around the crowd on the busy street. A chill went through him, the winter air whistling as it struck. He stopped the stroller and checked to make sure Serena was completely bundled before continuing their walk. "Have you done any more work on Serena's song?"

Blaine laughed. Every day he and his baby girl would sit at the piano. She would pound out notes and he would record them. He had some sort of incredible grand plan of somehow turning it into a bankable piece of music, though he hadn't quite figured out how yet. "She and I had a very good session today," he said. "I think we're close to a breakthrough."

"Well that's good." Serena dropped her doll on the ground and Blaine absentmindedly picked it up and handed it back to her, just as he had twice before. "I had a good day at work," Kurt said grinning. "Remember Tony Russell?"

Blaine remembered Tony Russell. He remembered all too well the tall, blonde and handsome actor that Kurt came home swooning over one night. And then every night after that. "Mmhmm," Blaine said.

"Well guess who is in my new show?" Kurt looked at Blaine nearly giddy with excitement.

Blaine just rolled his eyes. Tony was a Dom and so Blaine should not have felt any sense of jealousy or worry. Except that Kurt wasn't a Dom. He wasn't a sub either though, and Blaine knew he didn't want to be one.

"Well I guess you won't be complaining about getting up to go to work in the morning for the next three weeks."

"Four," Kurt corrected. "Four weeks." Kurt turned and looked at Blaine's lowered eyes and downturned lips and he stopped and turned to his husband. "He's eye candy Blaine, that's all. He makes going to work fun. He's bi and he's a player, and the girls and I have fun betting on who he's going to hit on next. But at the end of the day, I can't wait to come home to you."

Blaine relaxed and smiled. "I can't wait for you to come home either."

Serena giggled in her stroller and dropped her doll back on the ground. Blaine sighed and bent to pick it up again. He thought it was funny the first few times. It had since stopped being funny.

"Just take it away from her Blaine," Kurt insisted, but when Blaine tried Serena cried and he couldn't stand seeing her cry.

He came around to kneel in front of his beautiful daughter sporting a wicked look on her face. He knew that look. He was the master of that look, challenging until he got what he wanted. But every part of Blaine believed Serena was a Dom and so the irrational part of him thought maybe she was just trying to get him in trouble like her mother always had. "Listen you," he said as sternly as he could. "Daddy's gonna take this from you if you drop it again-"

"Blaine!" Kurt complained, but Blaine didn't stop.

"So you better hold onto it or it's going to be bye bye doll."

Blaine handed it back and stood up. Kurt continued walking, pushing the stroller, Blaine beside him. "Why do you have to make me the bad guy?" Kurt frowned.

"Because you are the bad guy," Blaine said automatically, then he stopped, slapping his hand over his mouth. "Oh shit. Kurt. I just… I did what we said we wouldn't." Kurt had no desire to be the only disciplinarian just because Blaine was a sub. "I'm sorry."

"Well now's your chance to make it right," Kurt said nodding his head to the doll back on the ground.

Blaine sighed with frustration, pursed his lips and came back around to look at his daughter with his hands on his hips. "That's it," he said, picking up the doll. "No more dolly for today. Dolly is Papa's dolly now."

Serena started crying and Blaine almost gave in, but with a quick shake of Kurt's head, he gathered his strength and put the doll in the diaper bag beneath the carriage. She let out a high pitched squeal but Kurt just started walking again.

"How do you do that?" Blaine asked. He'd been reading the book Santana's father had given him and they all said how hard it was for subs to discipline. "How do you stay strong when she's crying? When I'm crying?"

"Practice," Kurt said. "With you it's easier than with her. I have your consent and you're pretty when you cry," he teased. "She's just a monster and I know I don't have her consent."

"But it's different with kids," Blaine said. "The book says that kids, even Dom kids, need rules and structure and consequences when they do things wrong just like subs do-"

"Blaine, I know how you were raised, but we're gonna parent the way my Dad did with me. With love and not force," Kurt said. And though it was a discussion and not an order, it sure sounded like one to Blaine's ears. "Now we can't just walk around New York City all day, what do you want to do?"

Kurt was changing the subject but Blaine would let him. Now was not the time or the place to argue parenting. "Let's go to Bryant Park," Blaine suggested. "We could go ice skating."

Kurt laughed. "I think Serena's a little young for ice skating."

"What? She's been walking for like 5 months Kurt, gosh, don't you have any faith in her?" Blaine kidded. Kurt shook his head at his ridiculous husband. "Well fine, the stores are all closed anyway. We can just go to the park and go get some hot chocolate. Do you want me to text the girls and see if they can come meet us?"

Kurt shrugged noncommittally so Blaine sent a text asking what they were doing. They walked quietly toward Central Park until it chimed back. "Nope. Brittany's at rehearsal and Santana's with Elliot and Rachel for a Dom's Day Out," he said.

Kurt looked over at him, but he didn't say anything. Kurt's opinion was that Santana and Rachel spent way too much time with Elliott, but no one ever asked him. And he could never decide if he was jealous or relieved that he was never invited to Dom's Day Out. He suspected that the three of them knew what they were doing not including him and they were probably right. Even if there weren't the tension between him and Elliott that there always was, he still didn't see the world like they did. But even so, he still couldn't help but feel excluded, especially since he wasn't invited to Sub's Day Out either.

Someday he'd need to find a little circle of Gray friends.

They walked to the playground in Central Park, much of it too big for their toddling little girl, but Blaine loved playing with her anyway. He made sure her hat was on tight and her gloves were attached to her sleeves and then he took her out of the stroller.

"Up," she said, her hands straight in the air.

But Blaine just leaned down to her, hands on his knees. "You have to catch me first!"

He ran in slow motion and Serena laughed, running behind him. Kurt sat down on the bench watching them. Years ago he'd imagined moments like these and now he couldn't believe how scared he had been. Because seeing Serena and Blaine together made him just about as happy as he thought he ever could be.

"You caught me!" Blaine yelled when Serena grabbed his knee. He tumbled to the ground and she climbed on top of him and he let her wrestle him until he was laughing too hard to breathe. Then he picked her up and carried her to the play structure. "You want to swing or slide?" he asked.

"Swing!" she said.

Kurt was amazed at how smart Serena was. Her language had blossomed after her first birthday and the pediatrician had said she was ahead of the curve. Blaine attributed it to her always being in the room while he was songwriting, including her in the conversation in his head long before she could answer. Kurt said it was because he loved reading to her at night, sharing with her the wonder of books that would open up imaginary worlds. Santana said it was just her natural intelligence, and Brittany said it was all three of them. Brittany said that everything about Serena was because of all three of them.

Sometimes Brittany was smarter than all of them.

"Daddy look at me!" Blaine yelled at Kurt and Kurt broke out of his reverie to watch Serena on the swing, laughing and squealing while Blaine pushed behind her. "Come play with me too Daddy," he called.

Kurt left the stroller by the bench, bringing the diaper bag with him and he walked in front of them, stopping the swing. "Who wants to go on the slide now?" Kurt asked and Serena lifted her arms.

"Out. Out."

Kurt unstrapped her and wiggled her out of the baby swing, handing the bag over to Blaine. When Blaine scowled at him, Kurt just grinned. "You were the one who wanted me to come play with her."

Blaine took the heavy bag with a sigh and walked over with them to the little slide. He dropped the bag between his feet, leaned up against the structure while Kurt helped her up the four stairs, and smiled. "Does she still scare the crap out of you?" he teased.

Kurt kept his hand in hers, walking her over to the slide. "Sit down on your bum," he said, patting the metal and turned to Blaine. "Sometimes." He looked back at their daughter. "Is she everything you imagined her to be?"

"More." Blaine walked over and wrapped his arms around his husband. Serena shrieked as she slid down the slide and landed in the sand on her butt despite Kurt's steady hold. "You are both so much more than I could have ever imagined you to be."

"What do we want for lunch?" Kurt asked, late Monday morning. "Duck confit? Coquille St. Jacques? Steak Pommes Frites?"

"Chicken Nuggets!" Serena yelled.

Blaine smirked at his husband from across the room while he typed away on his computer. "I'm with the kid on this one," Blaine said.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Right now David Burtka is preparing ceviche and poached shrimp for his husband and kids and you two are screaming chicken nuggets. What am I doing wrong?"

"I think the question is what is he doing wrong?" Blaine pointed out. "Those kids are not normal. Gorgeous, but not normal."

"When we are rich and famous I don't want any complaints that they are better than us at everything Blaine," Kurt said, aiming the wooden spoon at him. Blaine swallowed and adjusted. It was never anything but a tease, but Kurt loved to watch Blaine squirm.

Well Blaine could make Kurt squirm too. "They are definitely better than us at using that spoon I'm sure," he mused. "I bet they-"

Kurt's phone rang. Blaine groaned, Kurt muttered, "Oh thank god," under his breath and answered it. "Hello?"

Blaine set his work aside. He picked up Serena, pulling her onto his lap, and sang. "I love you. A bushel and a peck. A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck…"

Serena laughed as he sang and started singing with him as best as she could. "A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap. A barrel and a heap and I'm talking in my sleep about you." Blaine glanced over to Kurt as Kurt nervously ran his hand over his face. Blaine's voice faded out and he bit his lip.

"Ok," Kurt said seriously and he grabbed a notepad to write down instructions or notes or something. "Okay, we'll see you then. Thanks."

Kurt hung up the phone and put it down, a bit dazed as he braced himself on the counter. Blaine put Serena down and immediately went over to him.

"What's the matter?" he asked, quietly enough for Serena not to hear.

"That was the pediatrician," Kurt said, looking up at Blaine. "Her bloodwork from her follow-up came back and her anemia hasn't gotten better even with the iron supplements. They want to run some more tests."

Blaine's brows furrowed in confusion. "So what does that mean?"

"Well, they need more blood to check her red blood cells and hemoglobin further. And they want to do some genetic testing."

"Genetic testing?" Blaine asked. "So they think that Santana or I could have something to do with it? I don't ever remember being anemic."

"Maybe Santana has?" Kurt said. "The doctors want us to ask, and we should check with your parents too. We have an appointment in two weeks for them to take the blood. They said until then to keep her on the iron drops, but they don't think her anemia actually has anything to do with an iron-deficiency. Blaine, what if it's something serious?"

Blaine took Kurt's hand across the counter and forced a smile. "Let's not panic over this, okay? The doctors don't seem overly concerned, right? They want to know what it is so they can treat it, but they aren't sounding like it's something serious, right?" Kurt shrugged. "If it was they wouldn't be waiting two weeks. She's fine Kurt."

"Okay," Kurt said and he turned to her. She was on the floor, stacking blocks and laughing as they came tumbling down. She had always looked happy and perfectly healthy to him, but maybe he missed something he should have seen long ago. The way she still took long naps in the afternoons or went to be earlier than most other kids, both things he'd had no desire to get rid of because they let him and Blaine work when they needed to. The oven beeped and Kurt opened the door to put the chicken nuggets in. Serena started to fuss and he picked her up, giving her a tight squeeze before setting her free.

Blaine leaned over and kissed Kurt's head. "I know what you're thinking and you didn't miss anything. You're a great dad. You're not a doctor."

"I'm just-"

"I know Kurt, me too. But look at her." She grabbed her piano and started swatting away at the keys.

Kurt raised a brow. "She could use a little work."

"She's better on the baby grand," Blaine said, his pride on the line. "Those plastic pianos are meant to sound terrible."

"I know," Kurt said, kissing his cheek. "But just to make sure, why don't you two show me just how good she is."

Blaine smiled, turned and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Serena, daddy wants us to play for him on the real piano."

"I pay!" she screamed as she came running.

Blaine scooped her up and onto his lap as he sat on the bench. He leaned over to her level and placed her left hand on the keys. "Okay, remember what I taught you? These two notes," he said, spreading her fingers putting both her index fingers on the keys to touch A and C. "Back and forth and back and forth, don't stop. That's the most important part, and I'll do the rest."

"K!"

Kurt leaned against the wall and watched with a smile as his husband and his baby girl dueted on the piano. Serena's role was simple but she performed the baseline with expertise and Blaine's right hand flew with the melody.

This is what it would always be like between them. Kurt would forever watch Blaine and Serena together and wonder what he had ever done to deserve the two greatest people in the entire world.

And a little part of his brain would always worry about losing them both.

Santana didn't know where the emotion was coming from. She'd kept it from Kurt and Blaine when they'd told her about Serena. She'd held it in while she called her parents to learn that she had always come up as mildly anemic as a child but they hadn't figured out a way to change it, and it didn't seem to really impact her in any way. She didn't tell them about Serena. She couldn't say the words out loud. Not yet. Not until they knew exactly what it meant.

Kurt and Blaine hadn't blamed her, they'd hugged her and told her everything would be fine, but now, in the silence, she blamed herself. She couldn't seem to forget that there was this thing inside of her that she couldn't control.

She turned and saw Brittany and Brittany saw the look in Santana's eyes. Maybe she couldn't control those alpha and beta globin genes inside her that threatened the daughter she'd given to Kurt and Blaine. But her dominant gene? That she could control. And Brittany. She could control her too, with just a single glance.

Her eyes darkened and Brittany fell to her knees.

The minute Serena was tucked in for a nap, was the minute Kurt stopped being able to hold it in. Alone in the silence, he took his phone into the bedroom, his tears already falling as he tried not to completely lose it. He called his Dad.

"Kurt, what's wrong?" Burt could hear it in his voice immediately.

"It's Serena," he said, failing to keep his voice steady. "The pediatrician says her anemia isn't responding to the iron drops. Dad, what if…" His voice hitched, caught in his fear.

"Kurt, buddy," Burt said calmly. "Take a deep breath."

~B~

"He's been keeping himself together for my sake and Serena's, but I know him," Blaine said. He was sitting with Sam, Brittany and Jesse; a Sub Day Out turned therapy session. Though most of them ended up that way. "He's letting this really get to him and I don't know why and I don't know what to do about it."

The waitress came by to refill their drinks and take their order. Sam gathered the menus and handed them back.

"Look Blaine, Santana's taking it hard too and she hasn't even been through everything Kurt has," Brittany said. "After losing his Mom and Finn. And really close calls with his Dad and Karofsky…"

"Oh my god," Blaine said, filling suddenly with panic. "Why didn't I realize?"

"Because you never know what's gonna trigger them," Jesse said. "There can be days with Rachel where I think everything is perfectly fine and then suddenly something reminds her of Finn and I'm the one who has to take control."

"Fuck," Blaine said, dropping his face in his hands.

Sam grabbed his hand. "You both can't freak out at once. And this time, I think it's Kurt's turn."

~K~

"Kurt, there was a lot more going on with your mom than just the anemia," Burt said. "Don't go jumping ahead of yourself."

"But that was the first sign of the leukemia, right?" Kurt said quickly. "I don't know when I remember hearing it, but I know that anemia was the first sign there was something wrong. What if…"

"What if's don't help anything Kurt. Yes, the anemia was the first sign," Burt conceded. "But that doesn't have anything to do with Serena. Your mom's other bloodwork had issues and I hate to remind you, but Serena wouldn't have inherited anything from your mom even if it was something that could have been inherited."

"No, she just inherited from Santana," Kurt said, and there was bitterness in his voice.

"Stop it," Burt said, his Dom voice powerful enough to have Kurt shrinking on his bed. "Santana didn't do this and neither did Blaine. Even if it is something genetic, Serena inherited it just as she did Blaine's curls and Santana's eyes. You can't put the blame on them son, sometimes these things just happen."

"So what do I do then?"

~B~

"So what do I do now?" Blaine asked, and he found his gaze landing on Jesse. Because if anyone knew Kurt and if anyone knew how to deal with this fear, Jesse did.

"You listen," Jesse said. "You go to every appointment and you do everything you have to do and everything he asks of you to make him feel that she's okay and being cared for. And you care for him. You help him forget whenever you can. Even if it's just for a little while."

~K~

"You let the doctors do their job and let them do the worrying," Burt said. "And you let Blaine take care of you and give you what you need, whatever that might be. That's what he's going to want to do Kurt. He's going to want to make sure that you and Serena are loved and cared for. That's his way of coping and he's not going to want anything to get in the way of that, especially you. And if the doctors tell you that everything is going to be fine, then you believe them. Because not believing them isn't worth the time the worry takes out of loving them."

"I just…I can't lose her Dad. Not her too."

"She's going to be fine," Burt said. "She's a healthy little girl who is developing perfectly. You'll see. You are all going to be fine."

"Where are we going Blaine?" Kurt asked, laughter on the edge of his words.

"Not telling," Blaine said. Instead he grabbed Serena, twirled her around and let the room fill up with the sound of her giggles. "Best. Baby. Ever."

"She's not really a baby anymore," Kurt said, but the idea of that tore at his heart. Especially now, with her arm wrapped in pink tape where her blood had been drawn. "Put her down Blaine, she could be lightheaded or puke on you."

"Daddy's no fun," Blaine teased Serena, and the smiles that replaced the tears of only a few minutes ago made everything worth it.

"Daddy's gonna send Papa to the corner if he's not good," Kurt warned, eyeing Blaine.

Blaine just pouted at him while his eyes continued to sparkle. "If Papa goes to the corner then you'll never find out the surprise. You wouldn't want Serena to never find out her surprise, would you?"

"No Dada No," Serena yelled.

Kurt rolled his eyes and sighed. "Give her to me," he said and he wasted no time putting her in her stroller. He reached into the diaper bag and pulled out her bottle of juice and some snacks for her tray. "Now where are we going?"

"The happiest place on earth," Blaine said.

"We are not going to Disneyland," Kurt told him.

Blaine stopped for a minute and thought. "The happiest place in New York?"

"She's a little young for Broadway," Kurt said.

Blaine shook his head and took hold of Serena's stroller, heading out of the hospital and onto the street. "The happiest place in New York for a little girl."

Kurt gave up and just followed Blaine down Broadway to the subway at Washington Heights. They squeezed on, heading back exactly the way they'd come, back toward home.

"Ok Serena," Blaine whispered, just loud enough for Kurt to hear. "You ready to play our subway game? Let's see…" Blaine looked around the train at the people within Serena's line of sight, and he found the perfect targets. Two girls, about fifteen years old, one with curly black hair, sides done beautifully in cornrows while the rest flowed past her shoulders. The other had blonde hair dyed with purple that made Blaine smile. "You see those two girls over there?" They held hands and talked quietly, an obvious seriousness to their conversation until one couldn't help but laugh. "Those two girls are totally in love. The blonde's the Dom, you can tell because her hand is tight around the other's hand, but her sub is really the one in charge."

"Projecting much?" Kurt smirked.

Blaine gave a quick smile and went back to Serena. "You can see in the Dom's eyes there's something bothering her. Something she's afraid of. And her sub knows it and wants to make it better but she knows she can't push. She just has to wait until her Dom is ready. So instead she makes her laugh. Until her Dom is ready to share her tears."

Blaine's gaze slid carefully to Kurt. Kurt looked back at him, his heart full. "I love you," Kurt mouthed. Blaine smiled softly, reached his hand across the stroller and took Kurt's in his.

They stayed that way, Serena kicking her little feet against her stroller to keep from being bored. After about 20 minutes they arrived at Penn Station and Kurt let Blaine lead the way.

"This better be good," he said.

"It's better than good," Blaine beamed.

They headed southeast on West 33rd and then Blaine turned right onto Avenue of the Americas and Kurt knew exactly where they were headed.

"Blaine, we cannot spoil her," Kurt said as the giant Toys R' Us came into view.

"I'm not spoiling her," Blaine said. "I'm spoiling you."

That was debatable though when they opened the door, wheeled her in and her mouth gaped. Arms flew in the air, her tiny little fists opened and closed furiously and she yelled, "Out, out, out!"

Kurt didn't blame her. Aside from the colors and the massive displays of toys and dolls and candy and electronics, there was a giant Ferris Wheel in the middle of the floor.

There were also a thousand people in the store, so Kurt lifted her out of the stroller but kept her in his arms. She struggled to get out though when she saw a giant pink dollhouse that she could run around in. "Down, down, down," she yelled, nearly flinging herself to the floor and Kurt had to grip her hard to keep her from falling.

"We'll go to the dollhouse Princess, but you have to stop wiggling until we get there," Kurt told her. "I'm not going to risk you getting lost in here."

When they finally maneuvered through the crowds and waited their turn until the house had room for her, they let Serena down. She ran inside and started playing.

Watching her inside, Kurt felt a crown being placed on his head. "There." Blaine grinned. "Perfect."

Kurt smirked over at him. "Perfect for what?" he asked with a raise of his brow.

Blaine grabbed Kurt's right hip and then his left and pulled him in close. "Anything you want Sir," he whispered.

"Dada!"

The both turned to see her with her own crown atop a head of blond curls. Kurt cringed at whose head may have been in that wig before her and if she got lice he would blame it entirely on Blaine. But he had to admit she looked adorable.

"Bitny!"

Kurt looked confused but Blaine laughed. "Yes, you do look just like Auntie Brittany," he said, mostly for Kurt's benefit, and he ducked inside the house and sat on the floor with her. "You look beautiful, darling. Can you dance like Brittany?"

Serena proceeded to give them a show and Blaine thought again about how he needed to get her into dance classes as soon as possible. But then she stopped and she grabbed his hand, pulling him out and pointing up to the Ferris Wheel. "Go," she said.

Blaine looked over to Kurt who looked like he did not in any way trust the mechanics of an indoor Ferris Wheel, but Blaine didn't care. He picked Serena up, wrapped an arm around Kurt's waist and they made their way to the ticket stand.

Serena was screeching with excitement as they piled onto the ride. Serena sat next to Kurt, buckled in tight. Blaine sat across from them. And then the ride jolted to a start. Serena could do nothing but stare outside at a kids' heaven on earth. Kurt watched her, the nerves and sadness he'd forgotten seeping back into his face. Blaine couldn't take his eyes off of Kurt.

"She's gonna be fine," Blaine said quietly.

"You can't promise that," Kurt said, tearing his gaze from her to look at him. "Don't promise that. I've heard those promises before and they don't mean anything."

"Kurt." Blaine leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and he reached out for his husband. Kurt placed his hands gently in Blaine's and blinked tears back. "You can't change the future. But you also can't live in the past. Look at her now." Blaine's voice was like an order and it took Kurt by surprise before he turned to obey. "She is fine. Right now. And in five minutes, she is going to be fine. And we will go home and give her a bath and tuck her into bed and she will be fine. Please don't worry about what tomorrow will bring, because today is everything the three of us could ever want."

"Want candy!" Serena yelled and it took only a second before both Kurt and Blaine devolved into laughter.

"Today and candy is everything the three of us could ever want," Blaine corrected with a grin. They reached the bottom of the circle and the ride came to a stop, letting them off. They picked up the stroller and lifted Serena back into it, buckling her seat belt. "Let's fill our bags full and then dump them all in a basket at home. We each eat one a day, and there is no worrying until all the candy is gone." Blaine looked up hopefully at Kurt. "Deal?"

Kurt smiled and nodded his head. "Deal."

The results came back long before al the candy was gone. It was as the doctors had thought. Serena had Thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder in which red blood cells don't contain enough hemoglobin, causing anemia.

"So what does that mean exactly as far as treatment?" Kurt asked nervously in the doctor's office. He looked over to their daughter, sitting happily on Blaine's lap. Kurt was grateful for the warmth of the rooms of the children's hospital. He couldn't imagine receiving the news in the hospitals he remembered.

"Serena's Thalassemia is non-transfusion dependent," the doctor said. "Kids who are transfusion dependent typically need transfusions and chelation therapy on a regular basis, sometimes monthly. For Serena, she may never need transfusions, or she may need them once in a while, especially if she's very sick. Her mother was just a carrier so it wouldn't have impacted her, but when Serena's older she might need them during pregnancy. And it is possible her anemia will be moderate enough that she needs transfusions once or twice a year, but we can't know that now. We'll just have to watch it closely to find out."

"So she's going to be just fine," Blaine said with a sigh of relief. He could see Kurt still worked up though and he grabbed his husband's hand.

The doctor smiled. "She's going to be fine. We'll test her blood every 3 months for the first year, then if she's stable we'll switch to every 6 months. If it gets bad enough, we'll do a transfusion and start again with the every 3. Sound like a plan?"

"How do we know for sure there's nothing else wrong?" Kurt asked. He couldn't shake the thought Serena would suffer just like his mom.

"The rest of her blood work is all good and the genetic testing is pretty clear," the doctor said. "She shows no signs of anything other than her beta globin genes not working properly. Try not to worry Kurt," she said. "Serena will live a perfectly normal, long and healthy life."

Blaine looked over at his husband. "So can we eat more than one candy a day now?" he asked. "Because I swear that basket just stares at me and says eat me."

"Candy!" Serena yelled.

Despite everything, Kurt couldn't help but laugh. "Tonight we can celebrate with all the candy we want."

Author's Note:

I hope you enjoyed this little reprieve of sweetness. Next week we return to angst. And to Elliott. I am happy to answer any and all questions by PM and on my tumblr, alexofthegarden.

Love you guys!