Kurt gripped Blaine's hand tighter as he looked up at the huge building before them. It reached higher than stars had even dared to try before, and looked more petrifying and scary than David Karofsky. Kurt continued to just ogle.

"Okay," Blaine said, squeezing Kurt's hand. "You ready to do this?"

Kurt gulped, trying to picture his own little baby in his head. Blaine's dark hair… maybe Kurt's blue eyes. The thought calmed him a bit. "Yeah, I'm ready."

Blaine kissed his fiancé's cheek, and the entered together.

The lobby of the Orson & Guntford Surrogate Office was bigger and more open than Kurt could have pictured. The walls were painted a gray-silver and blue, making it look as though they were in the Ravenclaw common room at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Blaine tugged him over to the front desk. The lady sitting there looked cheery and helpful. Her bleach blonde hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail, and her half-rims were perched on the very tip of her nose, clearly expressing her dark grey eyes.

"Hello there," she said brightly, looking between the two boys. "Welcome to the Orson & Guntford Surrogacy Agency, placing babies into the hands of good people like yourselves since 1975. I'm Katrina. How may I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Blaine Anderson, and this is my fiancé, Kurt," said the dark-haired boy, acknowledging Kurt with a loving smile. "We've made an appointment with Mrs. Orson for 2:00."

"Let me check that for you, Mr. Anderson." Katrina typed on the computer for a minute, and then smiled and nodded as she found Blaine's name on the list. "Yes, I have you right here. Mrs. Orson is running a bit behind, so she'll be a few minutes, but you're welcome to wait over there." She waved her hand in the direction of a grouping a chairs, some already occupied by other people. As they walked away, Katrina called behind them "Oh, and congratulations on your engagement!"

Kurt turned. "Thank you!" he said. They sat on a small couch together, nodding to the people around them. There were two girls sitting together on one side, one girl's head on the other's shoulder. Kurt guessed they were a lesbian couple. Another was a man and woman together. The man looked much older than the woman, maybe 38 to her 24. That kind of coupling creeped Kurt out. He picked a magazine from the rack and opened it.

He was in the middle of the quiz called "Are You Sure He's the One?" (and had so far been given the happy result of "You two are perfect!") when Katrina called "Blaine Anderson and Kurt Hummel? Mrs. Orson will see you now."

Kurt and Blaine stood, Kurt taking his hand again. They walked slowly, Blaine feeling like he was in a movie and he was walking slowly through the rows of prison cells or something. All he could feel was Kurt's soft hand, suddenly slick with sweat. He looked over, and saw Kurt's face as he had never seen it before.

Kurt was looking dead ahead, almost like a zombie. He had a serious yet scared glint in his eyes that made Blaine sad. Kurt looked like he was going to identify his father's dead body.

Soon, they were left by Katrina to stare at the dark mahogany door of Mrs. Orson's office.

"You ready?" Blaine asked, slightly shaken himself.

"Yeah, I have to be." Kurt tried to smile, but he looked so frightened.

"What is it?" Blaine asked, turning to Kurt, holding both his hands.

"It's just… what if this doesn't work out, Blaine? What will we do?"

Blaine rolled his eyes. "We'll adopt. Although, I get the serious feeling that we're gonna be fine. So just, take a deep breath, hold onto my hand, and we'll get through this together. Okay?"

Kurt took a breath like Blaine told him, grabbed his hand, and smiled with relief. "Okay."

With that, Blaine pushed the door open.

Mrs. Orson was a smiling woman in her mid-40's. Her light brown hair was streaked with gray, and she had laugh lines surrounding her dark green eyes. When Kurt and Blaine walked in, she immediately stood and went to shake their hands.

"Hello there, I'm Mrs. Lydia Orson. Now which one of you is Blaine?"

"That would be me," Blaine said, slowly raising a hand.

"Hmm, you would be the father. I can sense this."

Blaine blushed. "Uh, this is my fiancé, Kurt."

Mrs. Orson looked at Kurt, and smiled brightly. It made Kurt relax a little.

"You nervous?" she asked, raising a eyebrow.

"A little. I never would have figured that I would have been doing this."

"Well, there's nothing to worry about. We haven't had one problem in this business yet. Mr. Guntford and I are highly trained, and we'll match you up with the best surrogate we can. Now, would you two please take a seat?"

Mrs. Orson went back to her chair behind her desk, and Kurt and Blaine took the two comfortable chairs across from her. She cleared her throat, then looked them both in the eyes.

"Okay, boys. You both know what you're up against, right?"

Kurt and Blaine nodded. They'd spent the whole night discussing it. They knew they'd have to prepare, especially in the mental stage. Being a parent wasn't easy, they knew that. They'd seen their parents deal with them, but they seemed to harbor a harder job: be the parent of a gay child. They had to admit, they didn't make it easy on them. But, they knew that they were ready to take care of a child of their own.

"You also know that you have a ton of paperwork to fill out and money to pay, right?"

"Oh, we have money prepared, definitely," Blaine said.

Mrs. Orson eyed them speculatively. "Now, one final serious question. You're positive you want to go through with a surrogate? Because remember, the woman will not only be a surrogate, she will also be the mother to your child, and a part of your lives for the next nine months. She's not just a woman you make pregnant and leave. You have responsibilities in the surrogate/parent relationship. Are we completely clear?"

Kurt and Blaine looked at each other, trying to see the feeling in the other's eyes. They nodded in silent agreement, and Kurt turned and said, "We're clear."

Mrs. Orson smiled again. Well, then let's go through our book of surrogates, and we'll match you up with just the right one. Now, would your prefer picking them today, or having a few home interviews?"

"Home interviews," Blaine said immediately. "We want to know that the woman we pick is trustworthy with our child. We don't want some crazy person carrying our baby."

"Smart choice. I mean, although our surrogates are thoroughly interviewed, and we conduct very severe background checks, it's best you get to know the woman having your baby, because you'll want to get along with them."

"True," Kurt said, and a large binder came out onto the desk. Mrs. Orson turned it towards them, and opened it.

"Here you go. This is a list of all our surrogates, their pictures, background information… everything. Now, I'm going to go get coffee. Would you like some?"

"Yes, please. Kurt?" Blaine turned to Kurt.

"No thanks."

"Alright, I'll be right back. Have fun."

Kurt and Blaine began to flip through pages for about the next hour or more. When they left, they had a list of every one of the surrogates they had picked. There were five total.

"Alright, our first interview is with Sylvia Planks Wednesday at 1 pm." Blaine then folded the list and slipped it in his pocket.

Kurt fell, collapsing in tears on a bench not too far off. Blaine ran to him

"Kurt? No, no, no, you can't be crying! What is it, what's wrong?"

"It's just," Kurt said, wiping a few tears away, "I don't know about this. I barely knew my mom before she died, and I feel like if we have a surrogate… when the baby's born… is she going to even involve herself in it's life? It's just… this is such a sick cycle. I'm on the same constant carousel, and I don't want to have my own child experience that."

"Kurt, I won't let that happen," Blaine said. He knew that Kurt's mother was a very sensitive topic for him. He'd never known her, but he knew she was supposed to be pretty wonderful. And Kurt was right. His life just seemed to be going in the same bad direction for the past couple of years. And Blaine refused to have him hurt when he was near. "And if it does, well… That's something we'll solve later on. For now, please don't worry. We still need to tell our parents about the engagement, and I can't have you crying over the phone unless their tears of joy."

Blaine sat on the bench next to his blubbering boyfriend, and wrapped his arms completely around him until he was engulfed in him. The whole while they sat there, Blaine started to sing "Sick Cycle Carousel" by Lifehouse.

"Cause I try to climb your steps, I try to chase you down, I try to see how low I can get down to the ground. And I try to earn my way, I try to change this mind, You better believe that I'm trying to beat this…"

Author's Notes - I know this chapter might have been slightly confusing. It was for me, but sometimes I lose sight of the story and words just fall out.

Song Title - Sick Cycle Carousel by Lifehouse (My mom's favorite band. Love you, Mommy!)