Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, or any of the characters that appear on the show. This is just me playing around with them for our mutual entertainment.
A/n: This chapter seemed to take me longer than it really should have for some reason. Probably because I kept getting distracted by homework (how backwards does that sound?).
"So, Rachel, what are you planning on doing when the show closes? I know you finish right before Christmas. Do you have any idea what you might be doing next?" Carole asked. Kurt smiled as he glanced over at his sister-in-law, who was smiling widely.
"I'm going to take some time off from Broadway. Finn and I are expecting…" Kurt turned to look at Carole as the last few words came out of Rachel's mouth, wondering how his stepmother was going to react to that news. It seemed as though it took a moment for the woman to comprehend what had just been said.
"You're… as in you're having a baby?" Carole asked, jumping up and running over to give Finn and Rachel hugs.
"I'm due at the end of July… but the doctor said it could be August, because first pregnancies tend to go a little longer. I'll probably be getting back to work just in time for the holidays next year… which reminds me that we were kind of hoping to have Christmas at our place this year. I don't want to travel too much while I'm expecting, and I know Kurt probably isn't going to be able to leave the city for very long since his opening night is next week."
"Sounds like a plan. I'm sure we'll be coming to the city a lot starting in the next few months," Burt replied. "After all, we're going to be grandparents. We're going to want to spend as much time as possible in the city with all of you. And hopefully having the grandkids coming over to see us during the summers." Kurt smiled as his father clapped Rian on the shoulder.
"If Rian's still with us, I'm sure we can make some kind of arrangement for him to come visit over the summer," Blaine replied.
"You don't think they would take him away, do you? I'm sure that you're good parents," Caroled commented.
"Nadia wouldn't move him without a problem, but if his case gets transferred to another social worker anything could happen… there's no guarantee that Rian will stay with us long-term unless we can adopt him. And we won't know for sure if that's a possibility until after his father's trial." Kurt watched Rian as he spoke, not sure how the boy felt about the fact that they were telling Kurt's parents all of this information.
"They can't terminate my dad's rights if they can't prove that he's unfit to be a father," the boy piped up. "But I want to stay, if I can." Kurt smiled and reached over to squeeze the boy's shoulder.
"We want you to stay, too. Which is why we start the adoption process as soon as the trial is over."
The rest of the meal was fairly uneventful, with the conversation centering mostly on plans for the next day and whether or not they would be shopping the sales. In the end it seemed as though only Carole, Kurt, and Rachel were planning on going out. By the end of dinner, however, Kurt's focus was pulled to Rian, who was starting to look pale again. Kurt wasn't all that surprised when the boy started to go into the kitchen to help with the dishes, but Kurt stopped him.
"Why don't you go get some rest? You look kind of pale, and I don't want you to make yourself sick."
"But the dishes…"
"You can be excused from your chores if you don't feel well. And your chores only really apply at home… it's nice of you to volunteer, but you need to take care of yourself," Kurt replied, gently guiding the boy away from the kitchen and towards the living room. "You can go chill on the couch to watch football if you want, or go upstairs and lay down. Just take it easy this afternoon so that you don't make yourself sick." Kurt watched as the boy nodded in response to Kurt's instructions and started off towards the living room. Kurt wandered back into the kitchen, where Blaine and Rachel were already helping Carole put everything away.
"You know that you kids don't have to help me… I made this mess, I can certainly clean it up on my own," Carole commented as Kurt started to put away the potatoes.
"You shouldn't have to do everything on your own… and this way we get to spend some more time hanging out with you," Kurt replied. With all four of them working on cleaning up the kitchen, it only took about twenty minutes to get everything put away and all of the dishes in the dishwasher. Kurt sighed, leaning in to kiss his husband quickly. "I need to go check on Rian… he was looking really pale earlier, and I'm kind of worried about him."
"Maybe we should have called the doctor's answering service to see if he could get him a different prescription before we left…" Blaine began.
"When were we supposed to have time for that?" Kurt asked with a sigh. He shook his head. "I'm going to make sure he's okay."
It took Kurt a little while to track the boy down; he'd left the living room and wandered upstairs, into Kurt and Blaine's room where he'd curled up in the bed and fallen asleep, apparently after having gotten sick in the bathroom. Kurt sighed, sitting down on the side of the bed and brushing the boy's curls out of his face. He smiled as Rian stirred a little and looked up at him.
"Hey… you feeling okay?"
"My stomach's still upset." Kurt nodded, walking over to the suitcase and pulling out the bottles of medication they'd had to bring for Rian, checking to see when he needed to take them again.
"Do you want me to see if I can find some pretzels or something for you, to try and settle your stomach?" Kurt asked. "I know you need some water… do you think you could try to eat something, too?" Kurt watched as the boy shrugged, closing his eyes again.
"I just want to sleep…" Rian muttered.
"I know. I'm just going to run get you some water from the kitchen and see if I can find anything that might help your stomach." Kurt hurried downstairs, making a glass of ice water and rummaging through the cabinets to look for some crackers or something that might make Rian feel better.
"Everything okay?" Rachel asked, wandering into the kitchen from where she and Carole had been looking through old boxes of stuff to find some of Finn's baby clothes.
"Rian's not feeling all that well… the antibiotics he's on make him sick to his stomach, and I guess Thanksgiving dinner didn't agree with him," Kurt replied with a sigh. "I hate seeing him like this, feeling so sick. I wish there was some way to make all of it go away, so that he wouldn't have to deal with all of this." Kurt put the glass down on the counter, shaking his head. "I wish that I could make the next month or so go by faster, so that the trial would be over and we could be working on the adoption process… I don't want to be worrying about whether or not they're going to take Rian away, because I want to keep him. I want him to be our son."
"And he will be," Rachel replied. "He practically is already, Kurt. He's so comfortable with the two of you… and from what you've told us about his past, that's a surprise. You and Blaine are clearly doing something right." Kurt smiled at Rachel's praise of them. "Now, go be a dad. I need you and Blaine to get good at that, so that you can give Finn some pointers when this little one comes along."