A/N: Sorry for the two-week delay. I hope you all remember what was going on. By the way, this is the 38th chapter and 38 is my favorite number, which I mention just because.

Blaine ran most of the way to Brittany's room—he felt just horrible for leaving Sam by himself for so long. Well, not by himself exactly, but... He couldn't believe he'd slept so long, or that even after he woke up it took him so long to get there. And now Sam had had to go through seeing Tom and Tommy without him there.

He found Sam in the hall outside the room talking to his mom. He was holding the baby, who looked like she was asleep. Blaine hugged him—sort of; it was hard to give him a proper hug without crushing the baby—and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Sam said, though he didn't look totally okay. He brightened a little when he noticed what Blaine had set down on the floor. "Is that where you were? Out buying a car seat?"

For a split second Blaine considered taking credit for buying the car seat. But he didn't; he told Sam about seeing Tom and Tommy outside and that it was from them.

"Those guys are great," Sam said. "They were so nice and understanding about everything."

"Really? They weren't...mad?"

"Mad? No, not at all."

Blaine tried not to let on how surprised he was to hear that. He wondered whether Tom was a really good actor or Sam was really oblivious.

"They were very gracious," Sam's mother agreed, "especially once they were convinced that Sam wasn't just...acting on a whim."

"Oh. Well, good."

Mrs. Evans gave her son a look that Blaine couldn't quite read before announcing, "I'm going to see if they have any of those banana muffins left in the cafeteria. Would you boys like anything?" They didn't, and she kissed the sleeping baby's forehead before walking toward the elevator.

Sam shifted her to his other side, watching carefully to make sure he didn't wake her up. "Did I freak you out this morning?" he asked, still looking at the baby instead of at Blaine. "With what I asked you?"

"I wouldn't say freaked out..." Blaine said. "Surprised maybe."

Sam nodded. "I thought maybe that was why you didn't come. I mean, until now."

"Oh! No, I just...overslept and..."

"Well, and I mean, I guess I get why you might wanna be alone to think about it."

"Yeah...I mean, no...I can think about it and be here with you at the same time."

"Okay. Just checking...Do you wanna hold her?"

"Uh...isn't she asleep?"

"It won't wake her."

Blaine cradled his arms the way Sam showed him to, and Sam placed the baby in them. She made a little noise and Blaine froze, terrified she'd wake up and start to cry. But she didn't, she just sort of scrunched up her face a little.

It was so weird, so utterly bizarre if you thought about it, that this tiny little thing was a living human. She only weighed six pounds and some ounces—Blaine was pretty sure his mom had bought bags of onions that weighed more. And yet somehow she felt incredibly heavy. Like not literally heavy maybe, but...

Maybe it was her warmth. Maybe it was her movement. Not that she was moving a lot, she wasn't really even squirming or anything, but Blaine could feel her breathing. He wasn't sure why the word heavy seemed right, but somehow it did.

She was just so vulnerable. So helpless and totally dependent on...on Sam mainly, but on everyone, on society at large, really, to protect her and take care of her. She was dependent on Blaine right now not to drop her, not to...to accidentally smother her or something. Not to hurl her out a window. Oh Jesus, why did that thought even pop into his head, even for a second?

Sam stood behind him, chin on his shoulder and arms around his waist. "Isn't she beautiful?"

"Yeah," Blaine said automatically. He wasn't sure if he really thought so. She looked very...raw or something. He added the other thing people always say: "She looks just like you."

"That's what Brittany and her mom keep saying, but I dunno. She's so pretty...I think she looks more like Britt."

"You don't think you're pretty, Sam?" Blaine asked, and Sam rolled his eyes and kissed him on the cheek.

"She likes you," Sam said.

Blaine doubted a one-day-old baby was capable of liking or disliking anyone or anything, but he said, "I like her too."

Brittany walked out of the room. She was wearing a long flannel nightgown that looked way too hot for summer, but was probably pretty comfortable for the air-conditioned hospital. "Hey, you guys!" she protested. "You get to take the baby home tomorrow, no fair hogging her until then!"

Blaine let Brittany take her, and he asked Sam, "Tomorrow?"

"Yep. They're releasing her and Britt around noon probably, they said."

XOXOXO

Blaine slept with Sam again that night. Again it was really just sleeping. Well, no sex anyway. He spent more time lying awake thinking than he did actually sleeping. He had to give Sam an answer in the morning, after all.

He did fall asleep at some point, which he realized when he found himself waking up to Sam kissing the back of his neck. It was so sweet, and it felt so good that he almost considered changing his mind. But he couldn't. He knew his decision was the right one. He sort of didn't want to tell Sam right away, but he felt like he was accepting his kisses under false pretences, so he turned onto his other side to face him.

He stroked his boyfriend's hair and said, "I love you, Sam. So much."

"I love you too." Sam studied his face. "But something tells me I'm not going to love what you're about to say next."

"I'm sorry." Blaine looked down at the sheet. "I do love you. I just...I'm not ready to give up my whole life to—"

"I'm not asking you to give up your life. It's not like I want to sacrifice you to the gods or something."

"Right. Not literally my life. But...college..."

"You can still go to college...in New York, even, if you want. I'll go wherever you want. The three of us will."

Blaine shook his head, knowing what he was about to say was going to make him sound like a giant asshole. And maybe he was a giant asshole. "I'm not ready to be a dad, okay? I want a normal college experience. If there's a party or something I want to be able to go and not worry about finding a babysitter. If I don't get any sleep at night I want it to be because I was cramming or partying or just talking to my friends, not because the baby was crying."

"And you think I don't wish I could have that?"

"You chose to give it up."

"Because some things are more important, Blaine."

"Yeah, more important to you. I didn't impregnate someone through carelessness, you did. Why should I have to pay for that?"

Sam sat up and turned away from Blaine. "You should probably go home," he said after a minute.

Blaine sat up too, looking at Sam and hoping he'd turn around. "Sam, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like it sounded."

"Yeah, I get it. I just have to shower and stuff..."

"You know you still don't have to go through with this, right? Tom and Tommy—I bet they're still in Lima just in case you change your mind. You can still have that normal college experience. Lark will be fine."

"I know I don't have to go through with this. I want to. She's more important to me than anything."

"Clearly," Blaine said. He turned around now too, so they were back-to-back.

"I didn't mean more important than you."

"You meant exactly that." Blaine stood and pulled his pants on, then his shirt. "You're right, I should go home." He slipped on his loafers and walked to the door.

"Blaine?" Sam asked, voice wavering.

"Yeah?"

"Can I see you again before you leave town? Please?" He turned and Blaine saw his eyes were teary. "I don't want it to end like this."

Blaine didn't want it to end like this either. He didn't really want it to end at all, but... "Okay. Call me tonight and I'll come over. Any time."

Sam had to force himself, after Blaine left, to shower and dress. What he really wanted to do was curl up under the blankets and cry, but he totally didn't have time to do that. Well, he did cry some, but it was while he was in the shower so it was like multitasking.

His mom and Carole were drinking coffee in the kitchen when he got down there. He thought he had pulled himself together pretty well, but his mom immediately asked what was wrong.

"Blaine broke up with me." Before anyone could say of course or what did you expect he added, "I don't wanna talk about it." He poured himself a bowl of cereal and sat at the table with it.

Carole excused herself, saying she had to finish getting ready for work. Sam's mom stood behind his chair and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Are you sure, honey? Are you really sure you're ready for the responsibility of raising a child on your own?"

"Yes. I mean, not really, but I'm sure I'm going to do it anyway. I wish people would stop asking me."

"You'll probably hear it more than once today, but not any more times from me." She grabbed a notepad and a pen from the counter. "I'm going to be too busy helping you get ready to bring that little girl home. Now. What are you going to need from the store right away? I'm not talking about teddy bears or Christening dresses—"

"What's wrong with getting her a teddy bear?"

"Babies can't have them if they have eyes or other things that can come off: they're a choking hazard. Besides, she wouldn't know what it is anyway. I'm talking about things you're going to need in the next, let's say forty-eight hours."

They made a shopping list together, and a to-do list. It took way longer than Sam would have liked, even with his mother taking care of the actual shopping and some of the to-do list items for him. It was nearly ten when he got to the hospital.

He arrived very stressed about getting there so late, but he soon discovered there wasn't really anything he could do there anyway. Brittany was dressed and sitting on the bed with Santana, while Brittany's mom was rocking and feeding the baby. "There's your daddy," she told the baby when Sam walked in. "Ask him if it's okay for grandma to hold you a little while longer."

Sam really wanted to hold her, but he did realize he was going to have a lot more opportunities to do so than Mrs. Pierce was. He said that of course it was okay and he sat in a chair that had been dragged in from the lounge.

Santana scooted over to the edge of the bed closest to his chair and sat facing him. "So listen, Trouty. I know I've been kind of a bitch, but I don't actually hate you. And I really do mean this for your own good, when I ask: Are you really, really sure—"

"Yes."

"You didn't let me finish."

"Unless you were about to ask me if I was really, really sure that the tennis shoes I'm wearing look good with this outfit, then I don't need to."

"You know I'm going to be useless as a mother," Brittany said.

"I know that." Sam caught a disapproving glance from Brittany's mom and said, "I mean, not that you're useless...And I mean, I'd love it if you want to visit and spend time with her. But I don't expect anything from you." Shit, that sounded bad too. "I mean..."

"It's okay, Sam, we know what you mean," Mrs. Pierce said. "You can call us for help, though...Mark and I, I mean. Babysitting or...money..."

"Oh, no, I couldn't take money from you!"

"It wouldn't be for you, it would be for her. We're her grandparents."

"Yeah, but still..." Sam and his family had accepted lots of help from lots of people over the years, and it wasn't that he wasn't grateful. Just taking money, though, seemed to cross some sort of line he didn't want to cross.

More people started showing up around eleven.

Brittany's dad and sister were first. Ashley had a teddy bear for the baby, and Sam saw right away what his mom meant: the bear's little plastic eyes looked like they could pop right off any second. He'd have to put the bear in a closet or something for...he didn't even know how long it took until you could trust kids not to choke on teddy bear eyes. He didn't tell Ashley about the eyes, though, of course. He said, "Thank you! I'm gonna name her Ashley."

Ashley gasped. "You're naming the baby after me!?"

"No, no, I meant the bear." Ashley looked super disappointed, but it wasn't like Sam was going to change his daughter's name just to humor her aunt who she was probably hardly ever even going to see. "Sorry."

Mr. Pierce had a whole box full of stuff. Sam peered inside. It was full of diapers, formula, bottles...that sort of thing. "Oh, thanks, you guys," he said, "but my mom is already at the store buying this stuff, so..."

"You'll run out quicker than you think," Mr. Pierce said.

Quinn came by with a cute little pink dress and another teddy bear—without pop-off-able eyes. She asked whether Sam was sure about what he was doing and for the millionth time that day he said he was.

Puck came by without a teddy bear, but with a tiny little KISS t-shirt. He asked Sam if they could go talk out in the hall. Sam stepped out of the room with him and said, "Look, man, if you're gonna ask me if I'm sure—"

"I'm not," Puck said. "If anything I'm questioning whether I should have done the same thing with Beth, but..."

"Hey, come on. You and Quinn did the right thing. I mean...just ask everyone who's trying to talk me out of keeping mine," Sam said. "Besides, it's not the same. You guys were still in high school."

"Yeah."

"And Shelby's great."

"Yeah," Puck agreed. "I mean, aside from all that underhanded shit she made Vocal Adrenaline do to us."

"And sleeping with a high school student at the school she was a teacher at."

"Hey, you can't blame her for that. No woman can resist Puckzilla."

"Obviously," Sam said. "So, uh...what did you wanna talk to me about out here?"

"I dunno. I just felt like we should have some kind of heart-to-heart bro talk."

"Oh. Okay."

"So." Puck ran his hand over his head stubble. "I'm not really great with babies or anything, but, you know, if there's ever anything I can do..."

"Cool. Thanks, bro."

"Bro hug?" Puck asked, opening his arms.

"Totally," Sam agreed before stepping into the bro embrace.

Puck let him go after a masculinely brief amount of time. "Hey, where's Anderson?" he asked as they headed back into the room.

Sam froze and looked at the floor. The tears welled up immediately, and he knew he wouldn't be able to answer without embarrassing himself, so he just shook his head.

"Shit, man." Puck pulled him into another bro hug, a slightly tighter and much longer one.

Sam took some deep breaths and managed not to break into sobs. He didn't even really cry at all, if you didn't count the slight dampness on Puck's t-shirt. And Puck was nice enough not to mention it, so...

By the time his mother and Carrie got off the elevator together, he was pretty well composed again. Puck said he was going to take off since it was getting crowded, and Quinn left soon too. Everyone else hung around the room, passing the baby around and waiting for the hospital person whose job it was to come around with the paperwork to come around with the paperwork.

When she finally arrived she tried to kick everyone out but Sam and Brittany. Sam's mom insisted on staying, though, and so did Brittany's parents, and Sam begged Carrie not to leave, so the only people who actually got shooed out into the hall were Santana and Ashley.

The first form was the birth certificate. It was mostly filled out already—the birth date, weight, parents' names, etc.—but they hadn't filled in a name yet.

"You're not really going to name her Lark, are you?" Brittany's dad asked.

Sam loved the name Lark. But Lark was the baby in all his unrealistic fantasies, the baby he and Blaine would raise together. Brittany was right the time she said there was no Lark. "No," he said. "I'm going to name her after the people she owes her existence to."

"Bram!" Brittany exclaimed.

"Not Bram," Sam said. "Maya."