Headlights before me
So beautiful so clear
Reach out and take it
Cause I'm so tired of all this fear
-Headlights in the Dark – Snow Patrol –
Kurt practically flies out of bed to wake his dad, who needs to drive the to the airport.
Burt wakes pretty quickly, obviously expecting it and he's out of his bed sooner than he usually is, dressed within five minutes.
After Kurt's woken Burt he quietly wakes Liza and explains to her that daddy and papa need to go, and that Liza needs to stay with grandma and grandpa for a while.
They've explained it to her before, but he doesn't want her to wake up in the morning with her parents suddenly gone.
When he got back to his old bedroom he finds Blaine fully dressed and staring at his phone in disbelieve.
"What's going on?" he asks.
Blaine simply holds out the phone to him.
Fire break out at the airport. All flights cancelled for at least three days.
"I wanted to check when the first flight was," Blaine says, "but this is the first page of the airport's website."
Kurt sits down on the bed and heaves a deep, deep breath.
"We have to get there," he says, "we have to get there, we have to get there."
He keeps repeating it, while Blaine keeps pacing the room.
"We will get there, we will get there, we will get there."
" 's up wi' you kiz?" Burt asks from the door opening, tooth brush in his mouth.
"There are no flights, all flights have been cancelled."
"Right."
Burt disappears again as Carole arrives in the doorway.
"We'll figure something out," she says as she takes both their hands and leads them downstairs to the kitchen.
They sit in silence, nobody looks up as Burt joins them and neither Kurt nor Blaine protests as Liza trots down the stairs and climbs in Carole's lap.
She is silent for a good fifteen minutes, as are all of them, but in the end it's the three year old who speaks up first.
"Are you back already?"
Blaine looks at her confused.
"You said you had to go get the baby and then I went to sleep and I woke up and you're here. Are you back and where's the baby?"
"We haven't left yet," Kurt answers, looking utterly broken.
"We have to get there dad, it's my baby."
"I know kid."
"It's my baby, we have to see our baby."
"I know."
It falls silent again, and Carole gets up to put Liza to bed. Both Kurt and Blaine kiss her again, promising the next time they see her, her baby brother will be with them.
"It will be a few nights, honey, grandma and grandpa will take you back home and we are going to be there with the baby."
She nods, before she lets Carole take her to bed without so much as a sound of protest.
"What if she wakes up in the morning and we haven't figured anything out?"
Kurt looks at Blaine, still broken. They have to figure something out to get to their son. To get to Mason.
They look up trains, but everything is fully booked now the airport is shut down, even if everything was fine half a day ago. Everyone needs other ways of transport now, and they are just too late. They also don't get priority because they hadn't booked anything yet.
"Take my car."
It's Burt who speaks up.
"Take my car, it's in perfect state and you're both great drivers. You can take the car, it's not that long of a drive to Ann Arbor from here. You can take the car, you'll have transport back to New York. I know you both are reasonable enough to not drive non-stop. Mason will be asleep most of the time anyway, you can drive the car back to New York, we'll take Liza to New York somehow and drive back. It's okay, you'll be fine with my car."
Kurt smiles sadly.
"You need your car here, dad."
"No I don't, we'll be fine with just Carole's car for now."
Carole chuckles.
"You always say my hunk of tin is no excuse for a car."
"It moves, we'll be fine for now."
.
And so things were settled, they moved Liza's car seat to Carole's car, put both their suit cases and all the baby stuff in the backseat, set the GPS to guide them to the hospital in Ann Arbor and Kurt crept behind the wheel.
"Make sure you take a few pit stops, no driving straight."
"Yes, dad."
"Better yet, change every two hours. So you'll stop in two hours and let Blaine drive, okay?"
"You already suggested that, dad."
"Okay. And bring my grandson back in one piece, will you."
Kurt laughs as his dad slaps his shoulder.
"You bring my daughter back in one piece, will you," Blaine jokes from the passenger seat, before Burt closes the door on Kurt's side and Kurt pulls out of the driveway.
It's right before the end of the street as Kurt starts to laugh.
"What?" Blaine asks.
"My dad told us to change drivers every two hours, it's only a two and a half hour drive to Ann Arbor."
"So?"
"So, I don't understand why we wanted to fly in the first place. I mean, would there have been flights at all in that distance? I think we would've lost a lot of time, driving to Columbus, flying to an airport there and driving all the way to Ann Arbor."
Blaine smiles.
"I think we didn't really think this through."
"We'll be fine now, though."
Because they will be fine, they are on their way to pick up their son. Kurt briefly thinks that maybe it's good idea to head back to his parents and drop off the car somewhere next week, but quickly realizes this is the best way. They will have the liberty to stay as long as they want to, they won't be bothering other passengers on the train with a crying baby and they can do it all on their own terms.
This will be so freaking perfect.
They mostly drive to Ann Arbor in silence, but do share the occasional glance of utter disbelieve, still somewhat astounded of their own stupidity and fixation on flights. This is so much better, just the two of them in a car, heading out to meet their son.
It's not until they drive into Ann Arbor and Blaine sees a sign for the hospital that he lets a tear escape from his eye.
.
In the hospital things go fairly quickly. As they arrive at Jayleigh's bedside, four hours have passed since she's called them and they had expected to have some more time.
With Debbie and Liza it took a total of 21 hours before they could hold their baby in their arms, but with Jayleigh things seem to be a lot quicker.
They each take a hand as a heavy contractions screws her up in pain.
"You had better take care of this baby," she purses through her lips, "cause this is hell."
"I'm sorry," Kurt says as Blaine takes a wet cloth and softly pats her hair with it.
"It's just now, you'll be able to hold your baby soon," he tells her.
"Not mine," she hisses, "yours."
"Jayleigh, it's your baby too. We've told you, you can see him as much as you want."
She smiles, though she looks extremely tired and actually very pissed off.
"I didn't choose you because of that. I chose you because you live far away and I don't have to be confronted with him."
Blaine wants to say something, but she starts screaming, obviously in pain from another contraction.
They're really not far apart now and Kurt seems to be in some sort of physical pain, too, as he watches Jayleigh.
"I'm going to get a doctor," he says, "you need to get an epidural."
Jayleigh shakes her head heavily.
"No needles coming near me."
"Yeah, you need to, you're in too much pain."
"No. Needles."
Blaine laughs.
"You learned not to mess with a woman in labor the last time around, Kurt," he says.
"Right," Kurt retorts as he strokes the fingers Debbie broke three years ago, when he wanted to leave her bedside to get her some water.
It's another five minutes when a doctor arrives in the room, examines a few things before she sits down.
"Okay, Jayleigh, with your next contraction I need you to push. Can you do that for me?"
Jayleigh nods.
It's another fifteen minutes later that Kurt is crying outright and Blaine's mouth is hanging wide open, as they finally see their son.
Mason starts crying immediately, the doctor hands him carefully to one of the assistants, who examines him and wraps him up tightly in a blanket.
"Do you want to see him, Jayleigh?"
She turns away.
"No."
"Jayleigh, please, you've just given birth to a beautiful baby boy," Blaine begs, "I think he wants to meet his mom before he sees his dads."
"Please take him away, I don't want to hear or see him."
The assistant looks at them confused.
"It's just, I'll take him," Blaine says and takes the baby from the assistant's hand.
His baby. His baby son, his beautiful, perfect little baby boy.
"Hi Mason," he coots, "hello little boy. I'm your daddy. Daddy Blaine."
He feels Kurt standing half behind him, half next to him.
"I'm your daddy and this is your papa. Papa Kurt and Daddy Blaine, we're going to take care of you from now on."
"He's perfect," Kurt whispers.
"Perfect," Blaine repeats.
"Please leave," Jayleigh's voice sounds through the room like a sharp knife.
They're not sure how to handle the girl, if she wants to see them at all anymore, since she doesn't want to see the baby, but after ten seconds of contemplating they both leave the room, attached at the hip, eyeing nothing but their perfect, beautiful son.
They sit down in the hallway for a while, just enjoying the sight of their perfect little baby, Kurt takes him over from Blaine after ten minutes when a doctor joins them.
"Do I have it correct you will be the parents of this baby?"
They nod.
"Okay, first of all congratulations. He seems to be a perfectly healthy child."
"Thank you," they say in unison.
"However," the doctor continues, "we would like for him to stay here overnight and during the day tomorrow. Jayleigh found out she was pregnant rather late. She kept drinking and smoking throughout the most of her pregnancy, so it could be he has some difficulties breathing and we want to do a fuller check-up than usual, cardiogram and all that. I expect him to be fine, or we would've noticed something already, but it's just to be sure."
"Of course," Blaine says, "of course."
The doctor smiles.
"As for Jayleigh, she seems to not want to see, hear or feel the baby. You are aware of the fact she still has a while to change her mind about the adoption?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Please be careful around her, she is in a rather emotional state right now and most of the time where the mother doesn't want to have anything to do with the baby is because she is having second thought. Now I am not a counselor and I do not know what would be best, but I advise you to be guarded around her."
"Thank you," Blaine says, reading the message the doctor is trying to send but not allowed to say.
As the doctor gets up, Kurt follows after him with Mason and Blaine returns to the room where he finds Jayleigh softly crying.
Her mom is at the foot of the bed, making a phone call, so he takes the seat next to her and strokes her hair softly.
"Are you alright?" he asks.
She sniffles.
"You were very brave, doing all of this without an epidural."
"I hate needles."
"That's okay."
Jayleigh opens her eyes and Blaine has to hold in a sigh. This girl looks so much older than the sixteen years she is in this moment.
"Could you please take him away as soon as possible? I know I still have three weeks but it's too hard. I have all these stupid feelings and my boobs hurt like crazy and I know that when I see him it will get worse."
"Jayleigh," he begins, but she interrupts him.
"No, as soon as the baby is allowed to leave the hospital you have to take him with you. Take him away from me and to your home. It's his home, he doesn't belong with me so he shouldn't be with me. "
Blaine nods, it makes sense.
"You know you can contact us anytime you want, okay?"
She nods.
"For now I want to sleep."
"Okay. We'll come and say goodbye before we leave."
"Thank you."
.
The next day they wait patiently, yet anxiously for the test results, though they had nothing to fear. They are allowed to take home a beautiful, perfect, strong little baby.
"Are you sure he'll be okay in the car for so long, doctor?" Kurt asks, "even if he is only a day old?"
"I trust you guys," he says, "he'll be asleep for most of it anyway. Just make sure he's not in the same position for too long. Take him out of the seat every two hours."
Kurt smiles.
"We will."
"And let him have a good night's rest, do you have a travel bed with you?"
"We'll find a hotel that has cribs to put in their rooms."
They stop by Jayleigh's room, Blaine going in first, telling her again that she is extremely brave for making this decision and kisses her cheek, thanking her for choosing them.
Kurt walks in, feeling a little awkward because everything is so different than with Debbie. With Debbie everything was so much more personal, more easy going. They had arranged everything and talked about everything with Debbie the months before, but with Jayleigh everything had happened in a time span of three weeks.
He thanks her for choosing them, tells her she did great and reassures her once more that she is always welcome in their house, that she can always ask how Mason is doing and he asks her if she has any special wishes at all for how they call him, or how they raise him.
She shakes her head.
"Just have him tested for allergies, we have lots of allergies running in the family.
.
As they start their drive towards New York, Kurt behind the wheel, Blaine calls Burt and Carole.
"It's perfect, healthy, lovely little boy," he says in he hears Kurt softly humming Wicked under his breath.
"Congratulations kid, I'm happy. When will you be leaving to New York?"
"Actually, we're already on our way."
"Good, good. We'll leave as soon as we can. I think we'll only be a few hours behind you."
"What about the airport? Isn't it still shut down?"
"Yeah, Finn offered us his car to drive there, and then we'll take separate cars on the drive back."
"Are you sure? That's on awful long drive to do alone."
"We'll be fine," Burt answers.
"Okay. Good. Just let me know when you leave, we'll keep in touch."
"Okay. Drive safe guys."
Blaine doesn't ask to speak to his daughter, he knows she's asleep at this time of the day, so he assures Burt they'll switch every two hours, and after he hangs up the phone he turns up the volume of the radio, humming along contently.
He has to remind Kurt about every 20 seconds not the check the rearview mirror if Mason is still asleep.
"When you drive, I'll watch him, when I drive you'll watch him."
Though when he is driving he notices it's not that easy to keep his eyes away from the rearview mirror.
Mason is the perfect child, waking up every time they themselves think it's time for a pit stop, they feed him bottles, drink coffee or tea for themselves, eat some sandwiches and are on the way again.
Until they Kurt is driving at 10pm, and Blaine searches for a respectable hotel with facilities for young families on his phone.
It's 11.30 when they finally get into a room, Mason still fast asleep, cradled against Kurt's chest as Blaine holds the door open for them.
It's a perfect room, with a separate room for Mason, including a perfect crib for their one day old son.
Mason seems to be content for a while, so they move across the room to the bathroom. Kurt turns on the hot water of the shower without contemplating Blaine. He knows this is what Blaine wants, what he wants. What they both want.
They take of their clothes without a rush at all and step under the hot water, moving close together and holding each other as if their lives depend on it.
"Our baby," Kurt smiles into Blaine's shoulder.
"Our baby."
.
Of course Mason did not sleep through the night, no new born baby does. Still, he only wakes up two times and they already take turns in getting out of bed to feed and comfort their perfectly bundled up son.
The moment they are on the road again, Mason falls asleep and it's like he knows when he can wake up and when it's better for him to sleep.
Both Kurt and Blaine are getting better at not checking the rearview mirror. Or at least, only checking it for the traffic behind them instead of checking on their son.
They arrive in New York late at night, right after Kurt received a text from Burt, telling them they checked in to a hotel for the night.
Liza had apparently been kind of fussy, not amused by the long drive and the having to sit still.
So they have another night alone with their new child, though it is not nearly as perfect as the night before.
They are home now. Home and they put Mason in his crib at home, which he seems awfully comfortable in.
He makes a few soft noises before he drifts off to sleep again, and it's almost perfect except Liza is missing.
They know they need Liza in this house to make it feel complete. It's a weird feeling, knowing that the two of them will never be the two of them anymore. It was already the three of them, but now it is the four of them.
Because even if they only knew about the chance they might get a new baby five weeks ago, he is here now and their family is complete.
The four of them. Kurt, Blaine, Liza and Mason. It just sounds right to both their ears.
Kurt makes a mental note he has to change the name tag at the front door, having to add Mason to the list.
Mason Hummel.
His perfect little boy.
.
The following morning Carole and Burt have some trouble with Liza. She is obviously aware they are on their way home, so she is also aware she is about to meet her new brother.
She is nervous, giddy, and all that is really, utterly not very useful during a long car ride. They don't have very long to go, probably a little over an hour, but the loud screaming and crying from the backseat still distract Carole from driving.
That's when she notices Liza is fumbling with her seatbelt.
"Honey, don't touch that, it needs to be where it is."
"Stupid." She says.
"Honey, I need you to be quiet and leave that seatbelt on, okay?"
"NO!"
She pushes and pulls until she notices the button and presses both her tiny hands on it, Carole and Burt both wonder how the tiny girl managed to do that as they hear the click.
"Burt, please, I can't stop anywhere here. There are no exits for a few miles."
Burt unbuttons his own seatbelt and it takes him a lot of trouble to turn around in his seat to be able to reach behind and take Liza's seatbelt.
"You have to leave this on, kid, it's for your safety."
Liza crosses her arm and sticks her tongue out to Burt, but lets him fumble with the seatbelt.
That's when Carole screams.
And Burt turns around.
A set of headlights comes towards them.
"AVOID IT." Burt yells, but it's too late.
And there were cars driving on either side of her anyway.
So they crash full force into the ghost-driver and everything goes black.
.
A/N: dun dun dunnnnn
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