I do not own Glee. I do, however, own some pretty hefty student loans.
Dancing Through Life
by-andthenIfound5dollars
A/N: Warning for birth scenes, though not explicit. I gave this chapter the title-And Away We Go! So you can probably guess what's about to happen.
November dawned cold and gray.
Mel was miserable. She was swollen and tired. She was crabby and sleep deprived. Nothing fit anymore, she basically lived in yoga pants and maternity t-shirts. She never did find a heavy coat that would button around her belly, so she didn't leave her loft much and certainly not at night. She was too big to sit at her drafting table, the chair hurt her back and the angle wasn't right. She worked mainly on her computer, but even sitting there too long would make her tailbone ache, and she would need to go lie down.
She ate all her dinners with Kurt and Blaine, and Blaine went out to buy her anything she needed, while Kurt cooked meal after meal to freeze for all three of them for after the baby was born. She loved those men, but she was ready for a break. They were constantly hovering around her, wanting to make sure she was eating and comfortable. They didn't understand that everything made her nauseous, and no position was comfortable. She would snap, then immediately feel bad. They were just trying to help, they just had no idea how to really help her...and she didn't know how to tell them.
The baby had literally run out of room to move around, but that didn't stop her from trying. Mel could sit down and watch the perfect imprint of a hand or a foot pressed against her skin.
It was cool, she had to admit, but it also hurt. It felt like her skin was being stretched to capacity. And nothing had prepared her for how she would feel when Blaine or Kurt would come over and sing to her belly, and the baby would quiet down, like they were singing her to sleep.
At her doctor's appointment two weeks before her due date, she was officially at 38 weeks pregnant and completely done with the whole thing. It was Kurt's last day at Ralph Lauren, so it was just Mel and Blaine.
She tried. She really tried to be enthusiastic and happy, but it was just too hard. She hadn't slept much the night before, and Blaine was asking all these questions. She just wanted to go home and sleep.
"You don't have anything to apologize for, Mel," Blaine assured her that afternoon as he tucked her into bed. "Try to get some sleep and I'll bring you some dinner later, okay?"
Mel nodded, already starting to doze off as Blaine walked out of the room.
xoxo
The next day was rainy and cold. Blaine had scheduled a few meetings with his publicist and vocal coach to keep his instrument tuned and had been gone all of Kurt's first full weekday at home. He had been holed up in their bedroom since Blaine had walked in the door a few hours earlier.
"Hey you," Blaine called, walking into their bedroom. Kurt was sitting cross legged on the bed, papers spread all around him as he typed away on his laptop. He looked up and smiled when Blaine came in.
"Hey," he answered, then looked back at his computer.
Blaine climbed up on the bed, Kurt hissing at him not to disturb the delicate balance he had created.
"Dinner's in the oven. We have about an hour before we eat."
"Mmm," Kurt responded, clacking away on his computer but leaning into the kiss that Blaine pressed against his shoulder.
They sat in silence for a few moments, ruffling of papers the only noise.
"Hey, I had a thought earlier."
"What?" Kurt asked, distracted by finally finding the order form he had been looking for.
Blaine chuckled. "What are you doing? I thought you were done at Ralph Lauren?"
Kurt looked up and sighed, offering Blaine a small smile.
"I am, I just promised I would finish this before I left, and time got away from me. I wanted to at least email Tessa the work I actually did finish."
Blaine nodded, looking down at the piles Kurt had made. "Missing our office right about now?"
Kurt leaned back against the mound of pillows on their bed and took off his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"No, I can just as easily work at the table. I didn't mean for this to get so in depth," he confessed. He gathered up the piles of paper he had started and slipped them all into a folder before closing his computer and pushing everything away.
"You were saying?" he smiled, pulling Blaine down on the bed next to him.
Blaine smiled as he leaned in.
"Oooo, I like where this conversation is going," Kurt mumbled against Blaine's lips.
"So," Blaine started as Kurt kissed his way across his jaw and down his neck. "In a few days our baby will be here."
"You're just now thinking that?" Kurt asked, laughing softly as he pulled the collar of Blaine's polo apart to suck a kiss into the dip in his collarbone.
"Haha, very funny," Blaine moaned, giving Kurt a playful tap on the arm. "May I continue?"
"Nope," Kurt answered, covering Blaine's mouth with his own.
Blaine giggled into the kiss, pulling away only to peck small kisses against Kurt's lips.
"I was thinking, that since our baby is due any day now..."
"Better."
"And we won't be having sex for some time after she's born..."
"True."
Blaine laughed as he pulled away again. "Would you stop interrupting me? I'm trying to propose something sweet and sexy, and you are making a mockery out of me."
"I'm agreeing with you!" Kurt insisted, falling against the pillows again, his hands held up in mock surrender.
Blaine eyed him playfully, before throwing his leg over to straddle Kurt's hips.
"But if this is going where I think it's going, I agree," Kurt promised him. "Wholeheartedly."
Blaine winked, but just as he was leaning down to meet their lips again, Kurt's phone beeped with a text message.
It complete sync, they both turned their heads toward where his phone was sitting on the bedside table. Blaine sat up and reached over for it, handing it down to Kurt.
Mel-
I think you guys may need to come downstairs, water is breaking. Everywhere.
xoxo
"Do you need help?" Blaine asked, rounding the back of the car as Kurt pulled their bags out of the trunk.
"Nope, I'm a million months pregnant…but I can get out of the car by myself," Mel snapped and rolled her eyes.
Blaine stepped back automatically but held the door open for her.
He wanted to offer Mel his arm, but also didn't particularly feel like getting his head bitten off. So he resolved to walk close to her in case she needed something.
It wasn't long. A contraction hit and she grabbed Blaine's arm as she bit her lip and stopped walking. Blaine realized what was going on a second later and turned to face her.
"Okay, sweetie…it's alright, just breathe," Blaine coached, softly rubbing Mel's arm. Kurt hurried to the front door, saying he would get a nurse with a wheelchair.
"You breathe," Mel bit back at him under her breath. Blaine hid a smile as he rubbed his friend's back and watched as Kurt hurried up with a nurse pushing a wheelchair.
"I hear we have someone in labor out here," the nurse called. He helped Mel sit down, her hand holding tight to Kurt's. "Let's get you upstairs to the Birth Center and get you checked out."
"Her contractions are about six minutes apart, but her water broke thirty minutes ago," Kurt rambled as the nurse led them into the hospital and toward an elevator nodding.
"Sounds like you're on your way," the nurse answered as the elevator doors dinged shut. "Have you already called your doctor?"
Kurt nodded as Blaine launched into a diatribe about forms filled out and Mel being dilated at two centimeters at their doctor's appointment yesterday.
Mel sat quietly with her eyes closed, one hand holding tightly to Kurt's, the other rubbing soft circles over her swollen belly.
As the elevator doors opened, Mel opened her eyes and squeezed Kurt's hand.
"Here we go," she whispered.
xoxo
"I'm sorry if I scared you earlier."
Kurt looked up, shaking his head as he took Mel's hand.
"You don't have anything to apologize for," he assured her.
Mel rolled her eyes and blew out a long breath.
"I had this whole plan," she moaned. "Be very calm and collected, do most of this part at home, then come to the hospital later. Then my water broke, and I just panicked," she admitted.
"I can't imagine any of us being very calm and collected at this point. You didn't scare me at all," he promised her as Blaine walked back in the room.
"Okay, all parents and immediate friends have been notified," he announced, dropping his phone back into his and Kurt's bag. "Mel, I promised to keep your dad updated. My mom is gonna call Cooper for me, and have him call my dad. Kurt, your Dad and Carole are already looking up when they can fly in."
"Sounds about right." Kurt laughed before stopping short as Mel started to groan. He sat up and held her hand tightly attempting to coach her through another contraction.
xoxo
"I am so fucking hungry," Mel announced. She was crouched over the side of her hospital bed, rolling her hips back and forth to ease some of the pressure she was feeling in her lower back between each contraction.
Blaine nodded as he continued to knead his fist into her lower back.
"I don't blame you in the least, they said something about giving you some broth if you wanted it."
Mel just shook her head and groaned, her head falling down to her fists on the bed in front of her. "I'd probably just throw it up anyway. Stupid contractions, will anything in this pregnancy not make me throw up?"
xoxo
"You have a bruise on your head."
Kurt looked up, shaken from the quiet he and Mel had both settled into. It was just after 6 a.m. and they were waiting for someone to come to check Mel's dilation so that she could get an epidural. He brought his hand up to his forehead and gave Mel a shy smile.
"Yeah, we were...well, there was a small scuffle after we got your text message earlier," he told her as she looked over at him blankly.
"What do you mean 'scuffle'?" she asked as she pushed herself up on the hospital bed to ease her aching back. "You were fighting?"
Kurt barked out a laugh and shook his head. "No, not fighting..."
Realization dawned on Mel's face as she cracked a smile and rubbed a hand across her exposed belly.
"Little scamp. Already interrupting your sex life, huh?"
xoxo
"Man, epidurals are like the shit of all the shits," Mel droned on. "Like, I just had a contraction, and I didn't even feel it! How awesome is that?"
Kurt nodded. Blaine let out the tiniest of snores from his napping spot on the couch behind them.
"You should rest, Mel. It may still be a while yet. You need to reserve some of your energy," he whispered, petting her hair back from her forehead.
"I'll sleep if you sleep?" she offered, her eyelids already dropping.
Kurt laughed, still petting her hair. "And I'll sleep if you sleep."
xoxo
Kurt took a deep breath as he paced outside of Mel's hospital room. Blaine had sent him to get a cup of coffee and take a small break. Someone needed to keep their family and close friends informed and Mel had been in pretty hard labor for a while.
They were getting closer to the end, and as excited as he was...the stress of the day was starting to catch up to him. She was in so much pain and there was nothing either of them could do for her.
He finished up sending out a mass text message informing everyone of Mel's progress and leaned up against the wall of the hallway. He took several deep breaths to calm himself. This was it. In no time at all he would be a father. Panic began to seep into his stomach.
How was he going to do this? He couldn't do this. He would never be as good of a dad as his own dad was to him. He was too self-centered. He thought about himself too much. His dad thought of no one but his kid. How would he ever live up to the man who had given him everything?
Suddenly he heard a loud moan and Blaine's head poke out of the door.
"Kurt!" he called. "Get the nurse, she's saying she needs to push."
Everything fell away as he ran down the hall to the nurses' station.
xoxo
"Okay Mel, this is it," Dr Robbins called. "On your next contraction you can start pushing again, as hard as you can this time."
Mel groaned as she flung her head back against Kurt's shoulder.
"Alright, here we go. Ready?"
Mel sat back up and nodded. "Ready."
xoxo
The whole world fell away as her tiny screams filled the room.
The nurses and doctors were probably saying words...but Blaine heard nothing else.
Her tiny, disgusting body was thrust on Mel's chest with much less care than he would have given her. His brain screamed at them to be careful. That was his baby, you don't just throw around a tiny little baby!
Suddenly someone pushed a pair of scissors into his hands and showed him where to cut her umbilical cord. He looked up to Kurt nodding at him through his tears.
Mel was sobbing with relief as she held the tiny baby close to her chest and tried to look down at her.
Suddenly, Kurt was at his side and a nurse was pulling their tiny baby girl off of Mel and walking her over to a lighted bassinet.
"Careful!" Blaine couldn't help but cry, he felt Kurt reach down and take his hand as they walked over to her again.
The nurse laughed good naturedly and nodded. "I know, daddy. We do this everyday," she assured him.
Blaine nodded again and continued to stare in complete awe. That was his baby. He was a father.
xoxo
Kurt and Blaine stood awkwardly around the crib where a nurse was wrapping a white and blue blanket around their screaming baby.
"Okay, who gets her first?" the nurse asked, fitting a tiny knitted cap over the baby's head and lifting her from the crib.
Blaine wiped his eyes, nudging Kurt forward with his shoulder.
Kurt nodded as their nurse, Julie, gently placed the tiny bunch of stiff blankets and beautiful baby girl into his arms.
"Oh my god," Kurt whispered. His arms molding around her tiny form. Her warm, wonderful weight strange, but comfortable in his arms. "Hello my sweet baby girl."
His heart felt like it could explode at any moment. Love for this tiny creature oozing out of every single part of his body, while the fear of the whole day melted away as he continued to stare into her wide eyes, blinking in the harshness of the fluorescent lights.
Blaine sniffed as he stood right behind his husband, kissing the back of his shoulder as they both looked down into her beautiful little face.
"Welcome to the world, little one," Blaine whispered. "We're your daddies, and we love you so much."