Kurt and Sebastian stayed at the Field Day until about 1:00 when they left to do their bi-weekly shopping. As soon as they finished, they went to pick the girls up from Richard and Dotty's. When they got there, Dotty opened the door and ushered them in quickly.
"I'm certain that I saw her take a step on her own, but when we try standing her up and getting her to do it, she just sits down."
They followed her into the living room and found Richard holding both of Aliza's hands and letting her walk around the room. He managed to slip his finger free, leaving her just barely holding on, but just as Dotty said, when he slipped his other finger free, Aliza sat down immediately. He stood her back up and turned her around so that she could see her parents.
"Dada! Papa!" she squealed in delight. She had been away from them more in the past few days than she was accustomed to with the rehearsal, performance, and Field Day, so she was super excited to see them.
Richard slipped a finger free and she stayed standing and took a few steps towards Kurt, who had stepped closer. He slipped his other finger free and she remained standing. Sebastian pulled his phone out just in case. She looked at Kurt and then at Sebastian. She wobbled a bit, but she took a small step. No one said anything to keep from startling her. They all waited to see what she would do. She took another step towards Kurt. Sebastian caught it in a few photos and changed to taking a video for the next step.
This time Kurt quietly encouraged her. "You can do it, Aliza. Daddy's right here. You can make it."
A huge smile flashed across her face. "Dada!"
"Yes, honey." He held out his arms and she took another step.
A few seconds later, she took another step, and another, and one last step and she grabbed for Kurt's fingers.
He scooped her up and held her. He turned so that she was in between him and Sebastian, who leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek.
"You did it, Aliza!" Sebastian said cheerfully. "You walked all by yourself."
"Gammaw!" Rose belted out from the bedroom where the girls took their naps. "Gampaw!"
Richard laughed. "I'll be right back."
Kurt put Aliza back down on the floor. "Stand over there and let's get her to walk to you."
Sebastian crossed the room and called out for her. "Aliza? Can you walk to Papa?"
They waited while she balanced herself and she slowly made her way across the short distance to Sebastian. "Papa!" she squealed. She grabbed for him and he picked her up.
"You did it."
She leaned into his chest, still smiling. "Papa," she said in a much softer voice.
He snuggled her into his chest and held her close. Kurt moved closer and stood with his hands on Sebastian's waist, hugging them both.
Their hug was interrupted by the enthusiastic greeting they got from Rose. "Daddy! Papa!"
"Can we show Rose?" Sebastian asked Aliza. He knelt down, still holding her close and gave her the chance to decide.
She leaned forward and let Sebastian stand her up.
"Watch, Rose." Kurt told her as he backed up a few feet from Sebastian.
Aliza got her balance and walked to Kurt again.
Rose squealed. "Aliza. Wawk. Yay!" She turned to Richard. "Down."
He smiled and complied. He put her down and she walked over to Aliza and hugged her. Kurt helped her keep her footing and not be bowled over by Rose's enthusiasm. She let go a few seconds later.
"Yay!" Rose said again and clapped for Aliza. "Wawk."
"Well, this has been an exciting day," Dotty said. "You did it, Aliza. I knew you could. I know you two need to get going because Kurt's parents are coming to stay with the girls. We've had our fun. Now, they'll get to have theirs."
"And you two can finally enjoy a relaxing evening after the last two stressful ones," Richard said. "I'm glad that's all over with."
"Me too, Grandpa. We'll see you on Monday. I'm not sure who's going to be picking you up, but one or more of us will," Sebastian said. He scooped Aliza up.
Kurt picked Rose up and they got the girls fastened into their carriers. They grabbed the bases of the carriers and took them back out and installed them. They had left them behind so that no one would see evidence of the girls in their vehicle. Once they had them back in, Kurt went in to fetch each of the girls while Sebastian went back to the bedroom to collect up their stuff.
They waved as they pulled out of the driveway.
"Aliza can walk," Kurt said. "That will be exciting for my parents to see. We all figured it wouldn't be much longer as confident as she had gotten walking around with something to hold on to." As he pulled up to the stop sign at the end of the street, he leaned over and offered Sebastian a kiss, which he responded to quickly. Kurt turned left and headed towards the 270 loop. "I'm looking forward to tonight, but it's going to be weird sleeping without them nearby."
"I know." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm pretty tired from not sleeping all that well last night." He reached out and put his hand on Kurt's thigh.
"Me too. Maybe we could take a little nap when we get to the hotel."
"Sure. It's our mini vacation. If we want to nap, we can nap."
"I've been looking forward to our mini vacation. I know I just said that I wanted a nap, but I actually think I'd like to go swimming first."
"Sure."
"Are you just going to go along with whatever I say?"
"Probably. I don't have an agenda. I just want to be with you, so if you want to swim, we'll swim. If you want to take a nap, I'll snuggle up to you and nap or just relax if I don't fall asleep. We can eat when we get hungry. We live with our lives dictated by the two most beautiful girls, but this time away is just for us."
"I'll do what you want too. You know that, right?"
"Of course. Tomorrow afternoon during their nap, I thought we could start actually planning our itinerary for Paris."
"That's a great idea. Let's stop by a bookstore on the way home from the hotel. We can pick up a book or two. I know you lived there, but Paris is huge."
"I did go to some of the biggest tourist attractions, but you're right. My living there was more like an extension of us living there when I was younger. It's like going to Westerville and staying with my grandparents there, and like going to Dalton. I never did a lot of exploring of Westerville. I'm sure there are lots of small shops and restaurants there that I've never heard of. I couldn't drive when I lived there, so I couldn't just drive outside the city and explore. We can't rent a car, but my aunt and uncle will let us use theirs if we want. This time going to Paris, it will be more fun because I'll have you with me."
"You're sappy today."
"I get you all to myself for the 18 hours." He reached out and put his hand on Kurt's upper thigh and drew a heart.
A few minutes after they got home, Burt and Carole pulled up in the driveway. Kurt stopped taking groceries inside and installed the bases to the girls' cars seats in Carole's car instead in case they needed to be able to leave the house quickly. Once he finished that, he put the garage door down and went inside to help Sebastian put the groceries away.
Burt and Carole came back carrying the girls in fresh diapers. They stood on the other side of the island watching until the everything was put away.
"We have something to show you," Kurt said. He held his hands out for Aliza and she leaned out to him from Carole's hip. He took her and went in the living room.
Everyone followed them.
He put Aliza down and let her hold on to his fingers, but then slipped his fingers free and she stayed standing. Sebastian knelt down a few feet away and held his arms out. A huge smile lit her face up and she took a step, then another, and walked over to him.
"Papa!" she squealed when she grabbed his hands.
"Oh, my goodness!" Carole exclaimed. "She can walk."
"She just did it before we left my grandparents," Sebastian said.
"Can we see if she'll walk to me?" she asked.
"Of course." He turned her around while Carole trade places with Kurt. She knelt down and got Aliza's attention. "Aliza, honey. Come over to Mimi."
Aliza giggled and got her balance and slowly walked over to Carole. "Mimi, Mimi, Mimi!" she squealed.
Carole picked her up and hugged her. "You did it, honey."
"I'm going to go grab our stuff," Kurt said.
Sebastian stood up. "Come on back in the kitchen and I'll show you what we've left for them."
After he finished, he went back to their room to get Kurt.
"You're wearing a suit."
"I've changed my mind again."
"Okay," Sebastian said confidently. He started to change into the suit that Kurt had laid out for him.
"You're so easy."
He reached out and grabbed Kurt by the waist and kissed along his jaw up towards his ear. "Only for you."
Kurt turned his head and kissed him. "I should hope so," he sassed with a smile on his face. He stepped back, giving Sebastian room to change. "We get dinner tonight and this place has a dance floor. Let's go eat and go dancing first. Then we can go for a swim, go back up to our room, shower together, and get in bed."
Sebastian tucked his shirt in. "Now, that's a plan. You and me in bed naked."
"Mmm hmm. I see where your priorities lie."
"Here." he kissed Kurt's neck. "And here." he kissed along his jaw again. "And here." He kissed him on the lips. "I love you." He put his belt on and sat down to put shoes on. He stood up. "Let's go eat a fancy dinner and go dancing."
Kurt stepped closer again. "I love you too." He already had their overnight bag in his hand. Sebastian opened their bedroom door and followed Kurt out.
When they came out into the dining room, Carole was in the kitchen. "Ooh, don't you two look nice."
"Thank you," Kurt said. "We'll see you tomorrow. Don't forget to set the alarm when we leave."
"I won't. Enjoy yourselves."
"We will."
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up to the hotel. They waited for the valet to come over.
"It feels weird leaving them home with my parents," Kurt said. "I'm not concerned about them being taken care of or anything. It's just weird."
"For me too. There are other adults staying at our house. Not that Sam, Trina, and Amaline aren't adults. I mean parent-type adults. Never mind. Amaline is parent age." He took a deep breath.
"I get it. There are no real words to explain why it feels weird. It just does."
Kurt gave the valet their key. Sebastian grabbed their overnight bag and they headed inside. They checked in quickly and took their bag up to their room. Kurt pushed the door closed behind them. Sebastian put their bag in the open closet area and turned to face him.
"Do you think anyone will hassle us?" Kurt asked.
"At a place like this, unlikely. No one will want to cause a scene and get tossed out. Plus, we're amazing dancers. They'll all be jealous." He wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist.
"Jealous that their men can't dance like we can?"
"Exactly. Let's go show them how it's done." He pecked Kurt on the lips and stepped around him to open the door. "After you." He pulled the door closed and took Kurt's hand.
Kurt was a little startled when a teen about 15 started talking to him in the restroom.
"Um, sorry, but I, um, saw you dancing with your boyfriend and I just wanted to say that it's the first time I've ever seen two guys dance together. That was super cool."
Kurt turned to him and smiled. "My husband, actually."
"That's even way cooler. How are you married?"
"We went to New York where it's legal."
"I didn't know it was legal anywhere. I can't really use the computer at home to look things up and all of our searches at school are traced to our login IDs."
"See if you can get your parents to let you go to the public library. Instead of logging in using your actual library card, take one of the slips and log in that way. You can do maybe 5-10 minutes of research every time you're there. Open two browser windows. One on whatever you're supposed to be researching and one on whatever you actually want to research. Go to scarlateen. There is a ton of good information on there."
"Thank you. I have to go before my dad comes looking for me. They don't know I'm gay. They were making quiet rude remarks about you and your husband."
Kurt shrugged. "Quiet and rude beats what I've been through. If it's not safe for you to come out, then don't. If you want to come out before you go to college, start doing everything in your power to be ready to move out after you graduate. If they're likely to refuse to pay for college after you come out, make plans to move someplace with a decent community college so you can work and pay your own way."
He nodded. He turned and washed his hands.
Sebastian came in. "Hey. Is everything okay? You've been gone for a while." He saw the teen drying his hands. Sebastian held the door as he scurried past.
Once the door closed, Kurt said, "He's gay and closeted in a homophobic family. He followed me because he had never seen a gay couple in public. He didn't even know that gay couples could get married anywhere. I gave him a bit of quick advice and he ran off before his dad came to look for him." He kissed Sebastian gently. "Let's go dance and enlighten more people – and tick off some homophobes." Kurt winked at him.
Sebastian chuckled. "Sounds good to me."
They headed down to the pool for the adult only hours that started at 8pm. They were the only ones in the small indoor pool since the hotel had an rooftop pool as well, which was quite large and had a bar as well. They swam alongside each other and talked for a while. They opted to go up to their room to get in the jacuzzi instead of getting into the hot tub.
They rinsed the chlorine off and took the edge off in the shower while the jacuzzi filled with water. They moved from the shower into the jacuzzi and sat back to relax with the jets going.
"Dinner was delicious." Kurt said.
"It was. We might have to come back here once every three months or something, just for a night. I really like dancing with you. And I like the atmosphere here better than any of the clubs I've been to around here."
"I've not been anywhere besides Scandals in Ohio. I went to a few places I hated and a few places I liked when I was in New York."
"What was the difference?"
"Mostly being touched. I don't mind whatever other people want to do on the dance floor, but I don't like being randomly touched. I don't mean bumped into or brushed against in a crowded area. I mean people were intentionally trying to touch me in places and in ways that I wasn't interested in."
"I get that. I've been in both kinds of places too. There's one place I'd like us to go at some point. If people get handsy, we'll just leave."
"Sure. Maybe we can go the next time we leave the girls with my parents. We can see if Nick and Jeff, Wes and David, and Sam and Trina want to go."
"Let's go there once ourselves and make sure it's still a good place to go first."
"Okay." Kurt took Sebastian's hand and began to massage it, which caused him to moan a bit.
"Did you pack some lotion?"
"I did. Massages are on the agenda, so I also packed the massage oil you like."
"Thank you."
Kurt kissed him. "You're welcome."
On Monday, which was Memorial Day, Burt and Carole arrived right after the girls went down for their nap. Kurt and Sebastian left to go pick Dotty and Richard up to bring them back for a cookout.
When Sebastian pulled out on the the road, Kurt said, "I think we might need to reconsider our diaper bag after looking through those books we got yesterday. I'm going to look online and see what I can find that's small that has a lot of pockets. I don't want to risk getting to places and being told that our bag is too large to bring in. I think we'll need one for each of us to be able to take everything we'll need."
"That's true. I think we're going to have to try a few of those long fabric wrap carriers as well. I've been thinking about getting on and off the Metro, and having them on our backs doesn't sit too well with me. It leaves them accessible to other people."
"I hadn't thought about that. I think we're too tall for most of them, but we could go to Once Upon a Child and try some on and see what style we like and then I can make us each a custom one out of a durable fabric. Maybe I can sew a few pockets in them where we can stash a couple of diapers and wipes, which would make carrying smaller bags easier."
"That's a really good idea. I think we need to figure out some small, lightweight, non-refrigerated snacks too."
"True. We've got two and a half weeks to figure it all out."
Sebastian pulled up onto 270. Kurt started so music and began to search online for some potential travel bags.
The Sunday before Aliza's birthday, they had Damion, Marguerite, and Lily over for lunch like they did for Rose's birthday. They also invited Jordan, Kellie, and Bradley, whom they had met through girls' Kindermusik class. After lunch, they served mini muffins like they had for Rose's birthday.
"Moh." Rose demanded after she had licked the frosting off her cupcake.
"Eat the cupcake first," Kurt reminded her. "Then you can have more."
She scrunched her forehead and looked like she was going to argue, but then she took a bite of the cupcake. "Mmm. Nana."
"Yes, they're banana cupcakes. You like them."
"Mmm," Aliza imitated. "Nana. Nana. Nana."
Sebastian chuckled. "We know bananas are you favorite, honey."
Kurt said, "I see that you went and got Lily a pair of the shoes like the girls have."
"I did," Marguerite said. "I thought the fox ones were just too adorable to pass up. and she doesn't try to take them off, which is a bonus."
Sebastian smiled. "The slip on design is easy for us to get on and off, but not them. Definitely an ingenious design."
"And they were so much more reasonable at $12 a pair than the ones we had seen online for like $40. I wait until the shoes I like go on sale for less than $40," Damion said.
"Can you tell us where you got them?" Kellie asked. "I thought they were cute too and I looked up leather baby shoes online and must have found the same ones that Marguerite did."
"Sure," Kurt said. He pulled his phone out and texted Kellie the name of the store.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
"Bradley's not quite gotten the hang of walking alone, but if there's anything at all he can put one hand on, he cruises around," Jordan said.
Sebastian nodded. "Aliza was in that stage for a long time. She saw Rose up walking around and she started pulling up on stuff, but she kept ahold of something for about a month before she let go and took off on her own. That was three weeks ago. Now, she's confident and just follows Rose around a lot."
"Rose is so cute about it though. She's so used to her shadow that if Aliza doesn't follow her somewhere, she turns back and goes to look for her. Even when she could walk and Aliza couldn't."
"Are you going to enroll in the next Kindermusik session?" Marguerite asked.
"We aren't," Sebastian answered. "We have other plans for the rest of the summer, but we'll be back in the fall. We'll move up to the walkers class then."
"Does anyone want anything else?" Kurt asked. He waited for a few seconds and got up to clear the table.
Sebastian got up and grabbed a rag to wipe down the table and the high chair trays. Kurt put the leftovers away and cleared the plates and loaded the dishwasher.
"Do you want to take them into the playroom or out back?" Kurt asked.
"Let's go out back. It's nice out," Jordan said. "Bradley loves the swing set. But before we do, we brought Aliza something. Let me go out and get it. I hid it in their room when we came in."
"Sure." Kurt turned to Marguerite. "We've been using the car seat sun-blocking cover since it turned warm. It's been great."
"What's a sun-blocking cover?" Kellie asked.
"Oh, my mom makes them and sells them." She pulled her phone out and showed Kellie.
"Ooh, that's looks great. I've been using a regular blanket, but when Bradley gets hot he kicks it off."
Kellie laughed. "Yeah, these velcro on so they can't kick them off."
"I need to get one."
"I have a few with me, if you want to pick one of them. Or you can pick a fabric off the website and pay for it online and I'll just bring it to class next week."
"I'm sure one you have will be fine."
Jordan brought in a box and sat it down.
"That is adorable," Sebastian said. "A bubble-blowing lawnmower. Let's take it out back and put it together."
"I'll go get the covers I have with me and you can pick," Marguerite said.
The four dads gathered up the four babies and Kellie picked up the lawnmower box and they went out in the backyard.
Once the lawnmower was together, Aliza began to push it around and the other three chased after the bubbles. They took turns on the swing until the girls needed to get ready for their nap.
While the girls were asleep, Burt, Carole, Sam, and Trina assembled Aliza's presents, which were really for both girls, just like what Rose had gotten for her birthday. Kurt and Sebastian prepped everything for the cookout they were having once everyone arrived for dinner. Carole and Dotty took the girls into their playroom after they woke up.
Daniel and Lia went to Westerville to bring Sebastian's grandparents back. Nick and Jeff arrived not long before Wes and David. Once everyone was finally there, they took the girls outside.
Kurt and Sebastian were more surprised than the girls.
"Look, Aliza, a pink dino slide." He looked around. "Whichever one of you picked this out, it's adorable."
Sebastian sat Rose at the top of it and held on to her and let her slide down.
She squealed. When she got to the bottom and stopped sliding, she said, "Again! Again! Again!" She stood up and grabbed for Sebastian. "Papa, encoh!"
Sebastian picked her up. "We need to give Aliza a turn before you go again."
"Awiyah! Wee! Go!"
Kurt put Aliza at the top and held onto her a little more than Sebastian had with Rose, in case she didn't like it. She started to squeal in delight.
"Well, we have a hit."
Sebastian put Rose at the top and they let them take turns several times.
Sebastian repeated the word "slide" for Rose several times.
"Fwide again!" she demanded.
After one more turn, they moved on to the water table. They stood both of the girls up next to it and they instantaneously splashed their hands into the water. Trina came over and showed them the cups and the water wheel. Sam picked up the bucket and filed it with water and poured it in the upper section.
Rose squealed when water began to drip through like it was raining.
Aliza took one of the cups and started filling it and pouring it out, watching the water as it fell into the water in the bottom layer.
Sebastian said, "This is really fun. They're going to love this, and it's so much better than the sandbox we were looking at. I think a sandbox will be good in two summers – after they turn three and they're out of diapers."
Carole chuckled. "Yeah, diapers full of sand sound awful."
Kurt nodded. He turned and looked up onto their porch. "I'm pretty sure that oversized porch swing isn't really a birthday gift for Aliza."
"It's not," Carole said. "It's a much-belated wedding gift for the two of you. It's virtually indestructible and can hold 800 pounds, so you can all enjoy sitting on it forever. It's from everyone. Sam got a card from a guy who custom-makes them. That's why it took a while."
Sebastian sat down on it. "It's perfect. Really." He looked up and winked at Kurt as he patted the seat next to him.
Kurt went over and sat next to him. Sebastian put his arm around Kurt's shoulders, allowing Kurt to scoot closer. Sebastian kissed him on the temple.
"It's really comfortable," Kurt said. "Thank you. All of you. You didn't need to get us anything, but this is really amazing."
Sam said, "It's from the same guy that I got the picnic table from. It's weatherproof just like the picnic table, so you don't have to try to put it in the garage during the winter. You can just pile on some layers and come sit outside for a break once in a while."
Kurt nodded.
Burt said, "Let's get this cookout going. I'm hungry."
He and Richard took over the grilling. Sam went inside with Kurt to work on a few last minute things.
"Thank you," Kurt said.
"For what?" Sam looked confused.
"For being you."
"Well, that's easy enough to do."
"Not really for most people. But I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you being there for me and–" He shrugged and pulled Sam into a hug. "You're just the greatest best friend. And I'm really glad that you moved back to Ohio." He stepped back.
"Well, I am too. I'm going to miss you when you're in Paris all summer."
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I know you'll want to say 'no', but hear me out, okay?"
"Okay."
"I want to pay for a ticket for you to come to Paris for a while this summer. You can apply for a Passport. It won't take that long. Trina can come with you, if you want. She can pay for her own ticket."
"I can't let you do that."
"You can. You just don't want to. And I get that. I've been where you are – exactly where you are. Sebastian had wanted us to go to Paris before I found out about inheriting any money. I didn't have any way to get the money for a ticket and he was going to pay for me."
Sam sighed.
"You know I struggled in New York and I was too stubborn to ask my dad for money. And I know that you feel like you've been on the short end of being able to be the one to give in our relationship, but it's completely not true. You know that your friendship meant more than money ever could to me. You were the first guy who ever saw me as a person, not my sexual orientation. That was something no amount of money could ever buy. Please think about it. You could come at the end of the summer when the camp ends. You have three weeks between when the camp ends and when classes at OSU start. I'd just need to know when to buy the ticket." He let it drop and went to the fridge to start to put all of the food out on the counters. "You can put the glasses, ice, and drinks out on the island."
"Okay, sure." He was quiet while he got everything out.
Kurt went outside to let everyone know that everything was ready.
After everyone had gone home, they did their traditional after-dinner dancing, followed by a bath for the girls, and reading books together. They put the girls down for the night and took a quick shower together.
"Let's go sit out back and watch the fireflies. It should have cooled off by now," Kurt said when they were drying off.
"Sure. We have a comfortable place to do it now."
"That was a really nice gift."
"It was." He hung his towel up and followed Kurt over to the dresser where they kept their pajama pants. "I'm going to miss everyone when we leave next week. I've gotten used to Wes, David, Nick, and Jeff being around since they've been here since school got out."
"Me too." Kurt waited for Sebastian to grab his before he closed the drawer and opened a different one to get out a singlet.
Sebastian grabbed an undershirt and pushed the drawer closed. He saw a look on Kurt's face that he couldn't read. He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Kurt. "You're not having second thoughts are you?"
"No, definitely not. I'm really excited to go." He tipped his head up and kissed Sebastian. "I asked Sam to come and stay for a while. He's thinking about it." Kurt picked up the baby monitor as he walked past the bathroom.
Sebastian followed him out into the hallway and down to the hallway that lead out back. "You figured that he'd just flat out refuse, so thinking about it better than you had expected." He set turned the alarm off on their way out.
"It is. It's just sometimes I think money is so stupid. I know. I know." He sighed. He sat down on their new swing. "I know that i was the one turning you down. Not having money isn't a moral failing, but somehow we all end up believing that people who have it are more worthy of good things and enjoying life."
Sebastian sat down beside him and wrapped his arm around Kurt's shoulder, letting him scoot closer. He sat quietly and listened to Kurt talk.
"Those of us who've grown up sometimes not having enough money feel like it ended up that way because we didn't work hard enough, but I saw my dad work really hard. People at school always thought I had money because I altered things and made unusual, trendy outfits, but it was a façade. We didn't live in a big, fancy house until after my dad married Carole. Their combined incomes gave them enough money to be able to afford it. And in reality, it wasn't big and fancy. It was just a lot nicer than our previous house." He took a deep breath. "Anyway, now I'm getting what it's like to be on the side with the greener grass. I'm sorry I didn't just accept your offer when you first made it."
Sebastian squeezed his shoulder gently. "It's okay. I've never been on the other side, so I had never really thought about it until you moved in. I learned a lot about how regular people live. You made me consider my budget, and I actually spent time figuring things out. That's not to say that I know what it feels like to do a careful budget and not be able to pay everything because I don't. I'm just saying that you being so careful taught me that I needed to give money management more thought. I wasn't much of a spender because my parents provided what I needed. And they still are even though they're not around."
"You still want to go to the cemetery on Tuesday, right?"
Sebastian nodded. "I do and I don't, but I'm going to. I haven't gone back since the day of the burial."
"I'm sorry. That's not the direction I meant for the conversation to go."
"It's fine. I don't feel like it's something I have to avoid anymore." He pointed. "I saw one."
"There's a couple over there too." Kurt pointed in the other direction.
They sat in silence as it finally got dark enough to see the fireflies. Kurt scooted impossibly closer. He put his hand on Sebastian's thigh and traced a heart with his index finger.
After a few minutes of watching them, Kurt said, "I'm glad finals are over. We finally get to start our summer vacation tomorrow."
"Tonight actually."
"You have something in mind?"
"We watched The Desolation of Smaug with Sam, Nick, and Jeff last night. You could pick a movie."
"Could I pick something else?"
"Sure."
"We've had a long week with finals and prepping for two birthday parties. I'd like to dance a little, and then turn the music down low and just lie in bed with you and be close."
"That sounds perfect, actually."
"Let's go catch one before we go inside." Kurt stood up and reached out for Sebastian. "We've been studious and parental all week. This is our time. I love it when we just let all of those things slip away for a just bit and be 20 year olds."
Sebastian grabbed Kurt's hand and pulled him close once he was standing. He kissed Kurt quickly and took off into the yard. "Last one to catch one makes breakfast tomorrow."
Kurt took off after him.
They spent Monday going through the house and determining what all they were going to pack to take to Paris. They did all of the laundry to make sure that anything they would need to pack would be clean.
Tuesday morning was tough. They left the girls home with Trina and went to the cemetery in Westerville. They picked up Dotty and Richard on their way. It was a hard goodbye when they dropped them back off knowing that they wouldn't see them for two months.
Wednesday was Aliza's birthday, but other than making her favorite foods for each meal, they didn't do anything different than usual since they had two parties for her on Sunday. They packed everything while the girls napped in the morning and afternoon. They had everything sitting by the side door when they went to bed.
Thursday morning, they got up early and Sam came over and rode with them to the airport and took Kurt's SUV back to the house afterwards.
They planned their flight times with take-off being an hour before the girls' morning nap, in hopes that with giving them bottles that they'd sleep for a total of four out of the seven hours of the flight. They were hoping that people would be less inclined to get upset with them if the girls got fussy during a daytime flight when fewer people would be trying to sleep.
Kurt was glad that he had come up with the idea of taking photos of all of the pages of Aliza's favorite books when she decided to forego an hour of her last nap. Kurt held his iPad where she could see the pictures and read every story to her twice, but she kept quiet and didn't fuss, which he was really glad about. She fell back asleep once they were pushing the strollers through Charles de Gaulle airport.
When Kurt stepped out the door, he said, "We're here."
"We are."
Sebastian's Aunt Marie approached the two of them. She hugged Sebastian as soon as she was close enough.
"Aunt Marie, it's so good to see you. I've missed you." A few tears streamed down his cheeks, which he quickly wiped away.
After she finished hugging Sebastian, she stepped closer to Kurt. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Kurt."
"You too."
Marie turned to the girls. Aliza was still asleep, but she was starting to stir.
Rose looked up at her for a few seconds. "Tahnt Mawee?"
"Oui, Rose. C'est moi, Aunt Marie. Je suis heureuse de te voir."
"Tuh vwah!" she repeated excitedly. She turned to Sebastian. "Papa! J'ai fah."
Marie reached into her front seat and pulled out a banana. "Tu veux une banane?"
She reached out for it. Marie partially peeled it and gave it to her.
"Mewsee."
Marie smiled at her and said, "De rien."
She walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk. Since the car was pretty small, she slipped into the middle of the backseat before they fastened the girls in. After Sebastian fastened Aliza's carseat in, she woke up completely. Marie peeled the other banana that she had and gave it to her. Kurt and Sebastian loaded the trunk quickly. Sebastian drove them back to Marie's place. He and Marie told Kurt things about the different areas they drove through. Kurt listened intently and looked out the windows carefully to look at what they were describing, which made the trip seem shorter than 45 minutes.
"Oh, Sebastian," Marie said. "You'll be happy to know that the Zoo reopened the middle of April, and it's amazing. That's where I've planned for all of us to go tomorrow."