I do not own Glee...oh the changes I would make if I did *dreamy sigh*.

Dancing Through Life

by-andthenIfound5dollars

A/N If you like this, come say hi on tumblr! constantlyinthecorner

Blaine walked through the door, his bags heavy as he dropped them on the floor with a satisfying thump. He'd been in Boston off and on the last month while his new show was in tech and previews, but this was it. He was done until after the baby was born.

He left his bags by the door and headed toward the smell of paint and the sound of music playing softly.

Blaine found his husband sitting cross-legged in the middle of the freshly painted room they had cleared out for the nursery.

"Finished painting, huh?" Blaine asked and Kurt started out of his reverie. He turned to face his husband with a sheepish grin.

"Yeah, I waited to do everything else though…sorry."

Blaine shrugged as he knelt down to sit on the floor and wrapped his arms around Kurt, kissing his neck.

"Mmmm, I missed you," Kurt breathed, leaning into his husband's arms. "I'm glad you're home."

"I missed you, too," Blaine murmured, leading Kurt's lips to his own. Kurt sighed into the kiss and turned slightly so the two were facing each other.

"How were the final pre-reviews?" Kurt asked as he kissed his way across Blaine's jaw and trailed his fingers up and down Blaine's back.

"About the same…" Blaine answered, leaning his head back to give Kurt better access to his neck. "The music and lyrics are still good, but the final act leaves something to be desired. Joe has a lead on a theater though, so…"

"Oh yeah?" Kurt asked pulling the back of Blaine's polo out of his pants to let his hands find warm skin to settle against.

"Mmhmm," Blaine mumbled as he shrugged and moved his hands onto the back of Kurt's neck and into his unstyled hair. "How about you, how was your lunch with Isabelle today?"

Kurt groaned, and not in the good way, as he settled his face against Blaine's neck.

"She's really doing it. She got a backer and way more support than she originally thought. She still wants me to come on, all but begged me today."

"Hey," Blaine said, kissing the side of Kurt's head. "Why is that a bad thing? You loved working with Isabelle, and this is an amazing opportunity for you and for her."

Kurt sighed and bit his lip, pulling his arms more firmly around Blaine in a silent plea for Blaine to hold him a little tighter.

"Kurt," Blaine started with a smile. "This is it. This could be the thing that changes and propels your career. An online magazine? A publication that you helped build and launch!? I can't even imagine the doors this could open for you," Blaine told him excitedly.

"I know," Kurt insisted with an almost dreamy smile. "But I also love designing…I don't want to lose that," he groaned, pulling away from his husband's neck. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes as Blaine moved his hands from Kurt's neck to his arms, rubbing up and down in a soothing manner.

"Plus, it won't be like now when I'm just on the creative team. I would have real responsibility and real input…" Kurt trailed off, not really knowing where he was going.

"So, you hire an assistant!" Blaine offered with a shrug, pulling Kurt in closer. "Hell, hire three! Make them do all the grunt work!"

"I don't think it works exactly like that." Kurt laughed softly as he sat back. "You know the old saying, 'No one gets to have it all'."

"Yeah well, I don't believe that," Blaine shrugged. "If you want something badly enough and you work hard enough, you can make it happen…it may not always happen exactly the way it's 'supposed' to, but that doesn't make it any less attainable," Blaine said using finger quotes to emphasize his point.

"You do realize," Kurt grinned. "That we are sitting in our child's room, the child who will be here in less than a month, and you are pushing me to take on another job and let go of the one I have now, with the really good pay and all that job security. It could be a while before I start making even close to what I'm making now, plus the risk of starting something new is always scary."

"Honey," Blaine started after pretending to gasp. "You were always going to have to leave Ralph Lauren at some point," he reminded Kurt gently. "Working for a major brand like that was never going to be enough for you. You know that...we know that. We've talked about it enough. Isabelle has been planning this for months, she's serious, and she wants you."

Kurt nodded again and rolled his neck. His eyes settled on his husband's as he took a deep breath. "It's still a risk, Blaine. A huge one...and it's not just us we are risking anymore."

Blaine nodded fiercely, "I know that, but we have a good amount of money saved. Enough for the three of us for a little while, for sure...and we have the rest of my trust fund to fall back on if necessary."

Blaine paused again before he pulled Kurt back into his arms and spoke softly into his ear. "This is such an amazing opportunity, Kurt. She already said you could still take the six weeks off you were going to take with Ralph Lauren, and be able to make your own hours after that. Plus, you get to do all this while still working on your own brand."

Kurt nodded as Blaine sat back a little and kept going.

"I'm done, they have their lead and the music is finished. I'll still support the show in any way I can, but for the next few months my life will be you and our baby girl. And we'll figure out our next step when we get to it."

Kurt sighed out another small laugh but kept up the fond eye contact and bit his lip as Blaine continued.

"I'm just saying, you don't have to give up on something you want because of some idea of tradition or responsibility. Make your own rules, make your own timelines. You and Isabelle have been close for years, she wants you for your brain and fashion sense…use it and be amazing, but on your own terms."

Kurt looked as his husband in wonder.

"You always…" he stopped before shaking his head and swallowing the tears that were threatening to spill over. "You make me feel like I can do anything."

"It's because you can, you have always been my star," Blaine told him, wrapping his arms around Kurt and kissing his neck again.

"And you're mine." Kurt parroted back to him. "And you always will be."

Blaine smiled at the words that were familiar, but no less true for it and cupped his hands on Kurt's cheeks to bring their lips together.

The kiss was slow and sweet, stopping just short of dirty until Blaine plunged his tongue in further and tried to pull Kurt onto his lap. Kurt broke the kiss with a laugh.

"Oh no, no no no no no." Kurt murmured, giggling slightly as Blaine chased after his lips. "We cannot have sex in our child's room, Blaine!" He huffed out a breath as Blaine started to kiss up Kurt's neck and reached his hand down to palm him through his jeans.

"Why not?" Blaine asked, laughing as he nipped Kurt's bottom lip. "We've been together in here a dozen times before."

"Uh uh, that's when it was still the office," Kurt reminded him, pulling back and standing up as Blaine made grabby hands trying to pull him back in. "Come on, I waited for you to put everything together! And I finished washing all the bedding today!"

Blaine sighed as he stood up and followed his husband out to the living room, smacking his ass on the way just because he could.

xoxo

A few days later found them in an aisle of Babies R Us for almost an entire hour. The cart in front of them was filled with everything on their list of things they still needed, as they discussed the merits of Medela bottles vs the Avent brand.

"John told me he and Theresa went with Avent, the Medela brand didn't fit in the steam wash," Kurt told him, reading the back of the package.

"That's what Tina said too, it's just…the breast pump Mel choose was Medela. Don't you think we should get the same brand?"

"Not necessarily, but that's a good point," Kurt nodded.

"The only thing I've really read is that the Avent pacifiers are better for overall mouth health," Kurt mused. "I would think the bottles would be similar, but this is saying Medela won the award last year," he finished, pointing to the back of the package.

Blaine looked over and sighed as he nodded.

"Excuse me," a woman about their age interrupted them. She was pushing a stroller with a sleeping toddler and smiling warmly. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I couldn't help overhearing."

"Oh, that's okay. We could probably use a second opinion...or third I suppose," Kurt chuckled.

"I'm sorry if this is too personal, but do you have surrogate?" she asked, and Blaine nodded.

"Yeah, she's due in the next few weeks."

"And she's going to be nursing, or pumping? I wouldn't ask, I just overheard you talking about a pump."

"Yeah, some combination of both," Kurt agreed. "For a little while at least."

"I would go with Avent, then," she nodded. "It's the widest and easiest to clean. But if and when you switch to formula, I would also switch to the kind with the drop in liners. It's the best for eliminating the air that causes gas and fussiness."

"That is so kind, thank you for telling us." Blaine smiled, Kurt nodding along with him as he set the Medela bottles back and picked up the Avent gift set.

"No problem," she assured them. "I was able to breastfeed this little guy, but with my older one, something just didn't work out, and we had to switch to formula when he was about a month old. They may say 'breast is best'," she explained with air quotes. "But a sleeping baby is always best. So don't feel bad if you need to switch to formula."

Kurt's heart filled with warmth for this stranger. "Thank you so much for saying that," he said, Blaine nodding enthusiastically beside him.

"My pleasure, good luck!" she called as she pushed the stroller down the aisle and waved.

xoxo

"This is the last load." Kurt groaned as he dropped the basket of blankets, cloth diapers and socks to add to the three other baskets filled with freshly clean clothes and bedding. "I wanna get everything folded, put away and hung before we leave for the movies with Sam and Rachel."

"How many sheet sets did we end up with?" Blaine asked folding what he was sure the thousandth fitted sheet…at least they were small.

"Um, three, I think…no four," Kurt answered screwing his face up like he always did when he was thinking. "The three blue, yellow, and white set that match the room, the pink and green sets Carole and Dad got us…and then I bought one more, you know just in case."

"I feel like we say that a lot; 'just in case'." Blaine mused.

"Blaine, we are having a baby…'just in case' is going to be a necessity in our lives from this point on."

Blaine chuckled a bit before nodding his agreement. He lifted the Burberry dress from the set they had found online and spent way too much money on. He brought the dress and diaper cover up to his face to breathe them in.

"I can't wait until she has a 'smell', ya know? Like a smell that's all hers?" He tossed the dress over to Kurt, keeping the diaper cover for the drawer it would eventually go into.

Kurt lifted the fabric to his face as well, and smiled.

"I know. Her detergent is fragrance free," Kurt told him, shrugging as he hooked a hanger on the dress and tossed it over the top of the chair. "Still, it's clean."

"I don't know why, but I never thought about babies needing to have their clothes washed in a special detergent," Blaine laughed as he started folding the newest basket Kurt had brought to him. "I mean, I guessed that we would need to wash everything…I don't know why I never thought about it," he finished as Kurt shrugged and sat down next to him to put hangers on the things he wanted hung in the closet.

"She's our daughter; of course she would be a Diva," Kurt mused, grinning as Blaine started singing under his breath.

"A diva is a female version of a Hustla, of a Hustla."

"I still haven't forgiven you guys for singing that song after Rachel and I left Glee Club," Kurt decided, and Blaine laughed.

"Aww, I'm sorry honey…if it makes you feel better, we never really performed it, just kinda sang it to each other," Blaine assured him, nuzzling his nose into Kurt's neck.

"Nope, still not forgiven," Kurt teased, moving his head away as Blaine tried to lean in to kiss him.

"Kuuurt!" Blaine whined as he moved to straddle Kurt's hips, putting his face right in front of his husband's "Kisssss!" he pouted until Kurt relented and moved in to kiss him.

"But you're still not forgiven," Kurt mumbled against Blaine's lips. Blaine cracked up as he moved in for another kiss and Kurt settled his hands on Blaine's waist, the laundry baskets forgotten for a few stolen moments.

xoxo

Mel stared down with a smile as she watched Kurt very carefully brush bright red nail polish on her toes, his tongue poking out of his mouth as he meticulously painted each nail.

Blaine had just called and was about twenty minutes away with her latest craving, pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw and potato salad. Leah had told her about an amazing BBQ place in Harlem and she hadn't been able to get the thought of spicy BBQ sauce off her brain since. Blaine had very generously offered to go pick it up for them and since she'd been having Braxton Hicks contractions on and off all day, Kurt offered to pamper her a little while they waited. He'd rubbed lotion into her feet and swollen ankles for a while before picking up a jar of Ruby Red nail polish from the coffee table and offered to paint her toes as well.

She'd laughed but nodded her thanks and they had both gotten very quiet while Kurt worked.

"You're very good at that," she finally told him, breaking the quiet of the room.

He looked up at her and smiled, shrugging as he dipped the brush in the bottle and skimmed off the excess. "I've always had steady hands...my girlfriends in high school always asked me to paint their nails for them. I even got Blaine to let me do his a few times as well, he looks very good with bright purple toes."

She smiled and rubbed her hand carefully down her suddenly tight belly where the baby was rebelling against the contraction and kicking her pretty hard. She blew out a small breath but continued to smile. "That'll come in handy one day."

Kurt looked up from blowing gently on the wet polish and grinned. "Yeah, I can't wait."

As the contraction subsided, Mel's tummy let out a loud gurgling groaning sound and she laughed nervously. "Sorry about that."

"Honey, are you that hungry?" he asked, moving her feet slightly from his lap. "I can make you something to tide you over 'till Blaine get's here."

She shook her head and moved to grab his shoulder so he wouldn't get up. "No, it's okay...I don't think my intestines, much like your baby girl and I, are all that fond of the contractions; I think that was just gas moving around." She laughed nervously again and blushed at the admission.

Kurt leaned back with a nod and reached over to her swollen belly to rub his hand up and down, talking softly to the baby to try and soothe her a little.

Mel smiled at the gesture, but decided to bring up something that had been on her mind for a while. "Can I ask you something?"

Kurt looked up and nodded, securing the lid on the jar of nail polish before tossing it carefully on the coffee table in front of them. "Shoot."

She shook her head and grinned. "You and Blaine...you don't seem all that freaked out by any of this." She motioned to her body and winked. "I would think two gay men would get a little...grossed out by all the crap going on here. I mean, you do know that this," she motioned to her belly. "Will be coming out of that," she motioned to her crotch and laughed again.

"Yes, Melissa...I did take basic biology. I understand where a baby comes from, and out of."

She punched him lightly on the shoulder for the snarky comeback as he ducked and laughed before shrugging. "I dunno..." he sighed as he pulled her legs closer on his lap. "I mean, the puking part at the beginning wasn't the most fun thing to witness."

"Yeah...it wasn't the most fun thing to be doing, either!" She tried to kick him but was laughing too hard, and he still had ahold of her legs.

"But," he started after they had stopped laughing. "I mean, you kind of just answered your own question. It's not happening to us. It's all happening to you...and what kind of friends would we be, what kind of parents would we be, if we didn't stick by your side through as much as you wanted us to?"

Her heart warmed as she leaned her head against the back of the couch and smiled at her friend. She reached over and took his hand, squeezing quickly before letting go as he smiled. "Plus, gay as we may be..." he paused to give her a look and she laughed. "It's not like we are totally in the dark about this kind of stuff."

Mel nodded and grinned again as Kurt kept talking. "I mean, I've been best friends with girls my entire life. I've known about periods, cramps, bloating, and weird hair growth since I was thirteen. I'm no stranger to the female body. And we've both been in theater for years...and theater people have like zero boundaries. We've both shared locker rooms and bathrooms and hotel rooms with our female friends. Changed in front of them, helped them with costumes, gotten drunk and had really inappropriate conversations that led to even more inappropriate activities..." he trailed off and started laughing. "I've actually seen a lot of naked women for a person who identifies as a gay man."

"Well, seeing someone change is a little different than watching a human push another human from their body...and I doubt any of the boobs you saw had babies attached to them."

Kurt shook his head and shrugged. "True...but," he stopped as they heard Blaine open the door and call down the hallway. "We've read about it, talked about it...we know it's not going to be-"

"Talked about what?" Blaine asked as he set two bags of delicious smelling food on the counter and started unbuttoning his coat.

"When the baby comes," Kurt told him as Blaine walked over and sat across from them on the coffee table. "Mel's worried we'll be a little grossed out, not be able to handle it."

"I never said I didn't think you could handle it," she exclaimed as Blaine grinned at her. "I was just voicing concern that we all are in for a surprise when the shit starts hitting the fan."

Kurt laughed as he picked up her hand again and squeezed it. "I think we are all as prepared as we can be at this point," he said, smiling when Mel sighed and nodded. "We've read the books, we've been to the classes...at this point, as corny as it sounds, it's just something we'll have to get through together."

Blaine covered their joined hands with his own and smiled at both of them. "But we also know, that you'll be doing most of it...so we'll just be there for you, whatever you need."

She smiled and nodded again, sighing as Blaine stood up and offered her his hand to stand up. "Now come on, that food smells amazing and I know you're hungry."

xoxo

Pieces of the swing littered the floor as Kurt walked over with two glasses of red wine later that night. He handed a glass to Blaine before he sat down on the floor next to him.

"Who would send a new parent instructions to something they are going to put their child in, in French? Who!?" Blaine cried, throwing the paper on the floor as Kurt laid his head on his shoulder.

"I can't believe I took three years of French and I still couldn't make anything out," Kurt continued, shaking his head.

"I'm pretty sure it's like, French/gibberish…I can't even make out what the pictures are trying to tell us…except that this guy really wants this pole to connect to this part and we don't have that pole!'

"I don't know," Kurt sighed, closing his eyes. "I'll look up the English instructions online tomorrow. We are too fried to do it tonight."

Blaine nodded as he took a sip from his glass, and then turned his head to press his lips against Kurt's forehead.

They were quiet for a few moments, the sounds of the city filling their apartment until Blaine broke the reverie with a sigh.

"Do you think we can do this?" he asked quietly, closing his eyes.

Kurt was still for several long moments before taking a deep breath.

"I dunno," Kurt answered honestly, pausing for a moment and continuing softly. "I know she's coming, whether we are ready or not."

Blaine huffed out a laugh and took another sip as he nodded. Kurt turned his head to rest his chin on Blaine's shoulder and opened his eyes.

"I know that I love you," Kurt promised.

Blaine closed his eyes and moaned a little noise in the back of his throat.

"I love you, too," he promised, softly laying his lips against Kurt's. They kissed soft and slow for a few moments.

"As long as we hang onto that, we can figure out the rest."

Blaine nodded as he put his glass down so he could wrap his arms around Kurt completely.

xoxo

Two weeks before Mel's due date, the nursery was almost done.

Blaine had finished the birdhouse and branch wall decal. The four frames hanging from sparkly blue ribbon were empty, waiting to be filled with all the photos they would take of her beautiful little face.

The bookcase was filled with all of her books, baskets of toys, and picture frames of her dads through the years. The chair was painted and covered, sitting next to a table that held the white bird lamp the two had found one weekend when Kurt was visiting Blaine in Boston.

The three prints were hung in succession above her crib. Her crib was decked out with the bird themed bedding. The blanket draped across the side of the crib, just waiting for her to come home.

Her dresser and closet were both packed to the brim with anything a New York socialite baby could ever want or need.

Everything was almost perfect, until Kurt answered the door one cold afternoon in late October.

"Rachel!" he cried, standing aside to let her in. "Hi, what's going on?"

"I was in the neighborhood, thought I would stop by," Rachel smiled.

"With a big box wrapped in a blue bow."

Rachel lifted one shoulder in a sly shrug. "You know what they say, never go anywhere without a gift...or something."

Kurt laughed as he ushered her down the hall.

"We finished the nursery last night, wanna see?"

Rachel nodded her head excitedly and followed her friend into the former office.

"Oh my goodness, look at this little princess' room!" she cooed after Kurt had opened the door. "It's so beautiful in here."

Kurt beamed with pride as he showed his friend all of the pieces he and Blaine had spent hours placing just so, wanting everything to be perfect for their baby girl.

"So, Sam and I were at the SoHo market last weekend," Rachel started, finally handing over the shallow white box with a sly grin.

Kurt, terrified that she had bought some sort of atrocious frilly dress he had seen her coo over at least a hundred times when they shopped together, took the package very carefully and gave her his best weary glare.

Rachel just laughed as he opened the box and gasped. "I saw it and I couldn't resist."

"Rach," he breathed, pulling the mobile out by the ribbon and laughing as it hung to full length. "It's beautiful."

The circular mobile was decorated around the top with different blue and gray ribbon with star cutouts of the same colors hanging from clear line.

"They had so many...I almost couldn't choose which one I like the best," Rachel laughed as she reached out to rub her finger over one of the blue stars. "But when I saw this one, I knew it was hers."

Kurt nodded as he looked up to make sure the ceiling was low enough for it to hang above the crib.

"I know it won't do much in the way of cognitive development..." Rachel trailed off before Kurt interrupted her.

"Are you kidding? Looking up at the stars all night? I can't wait."

Rachel laughed as Kurt pulled her into a hug and squeezed her tight.

"I can't wait either," she told him, laughing when he kissed her cheek before pulling out his phone to snap a picture to send to Blaine.