This chapter has been the bane of my life for the past ten days since my exams finished. It has been rewritten from scratch four times, and I'm still not happy with it. But, it's here, and I'll let you be the judges.

Warnings for distinct lack of Evie (sorry! I just couldn't write her into this one very well, surprisingly) and a hint of a budding romance for Kim :D

This plea is more important than the ones from any other chapter. Please please review. Please.

Disclaimer: Glee is not mine. Never has been, never will be.

Rachel Berry-Hudson, despite all her faults, is a remarkable woman. And surprisingly intimidating. Who knew such a big voice could come out of such a small person? But I digress. No, I found out how much of a remarkable woman she was when, on the 2nd of December, at 32 weeks pregnant, I entered the Orchid Room at The Dorchester Hotel to find it bedecked in pink and silver streamers, balloons and confetti, with fifty of Kurt and Blaine's closest friends and family members all holding party poppers (classy party poppers, as I was later told) and screaming 'SURPRISE!' at the two, admittedly very surprised, men behind me.

I knew there was going to be a baby shower for the guys. I had been informed a fortnight prior to the event by Rachel herself, and instructed to bring Kurt and Blaine along to the aforementioned location for 3pm. But I did not know how spectacular it was going to be. I shouldn't have been so surprised, really, I've seen the pictures of the Hummel-Anderson wedding and I knew that their family would never allow them to have any kind of substandard celebration, especially an occasion as important as a baby shower. But this was beautiful beyond compare. The sumptuous elegance of the room in which it took place was highlighted by floral arrangements of lilies and tulips, there were white silk tablecloths on every surface and the cake was quite simply a masterpiece in and of itself.

As I was mentally processing all of this finery, I heard two identically timed gasps. I turned to look at Kurt and Blaine, to find them both taking in their surroundings with huge grins and tears in their eyes. It didn't take long for Kurt's frantically moving gaze to settle on a well-built and bald middle aged man, looking distinctly uncomfortable in formal trousers and a shirt. As soon as Kurt's eyes met his, he pulled his hand from Blaine's and ran over to the man, knocking into him with force and causing a ripple of happy laughter through the crowd. The man wrapped his arms around Kurt, and let out a gruff laugh.

'Oh my god Dad, I'm so glad you're here. I've missed you so much!'

Kurt's father (Burt, as I recalled) pulled away from his son's hug to hand him a tissue.

'Of course I'm here, kiddo, of course I'm here. I'd never miss this for anything.'

I tore my eyes away from the men, only to find that I had been abandoned by my friends. Blaine had walked off and was talking to a man that I could only deduce was his brother Cooper (if the identical grins and hairstyles were anything to go by) and Evie had wondered over to the present table to drop off our gift.

I felt distinctly out of place, despite the fact that I was carrying the baby that was being celebrated, and stood awkwardly by the door until none other than Rachel herself bounded up to me, dragging a ridiculously tall man by the hand.

'Hi Kim! I'm Rachel Berry-Hudson, this is my husband Finn. '

Her wide smile faltered a little when Finn didn't say anything, and she 'subtly' elbowed him in the stomach.

'Oh hi, hi, I'm Finn, like she said…'

I shook his proffered hand before being pulled into a tight hug by his wife. After a few moments she let me go to scan her gaze across the busy room. I noticed that Kurt and Blaine had been well swept away into the crowd, and Evie was deep in conversation with a group of people over on the other side of the room. Just as my natural introvert panic was about to set in (there's a reason why it's only been me and Evie all these years), Rachel gently steered me toward an eclectic looking group of people standing near the chocolate fountain (yes, chocolate fountain. I know.).

'Hey guys! Everyone, this is Kim, Kurt and Blaine's surrogate. Kim, this is… Well, this is everybody.'

A mixture of warm smiles, acknowledging mumbles and one 'yo' (along with a whispered 'Noah!' from Rachel) followed her introduction.

'Okay, no, proper hello's please!'

Everyone seemed to roll their eyes in the same amused manner, before a beautiful black woman wearing a floral dress spoke up.

'Sorry about everyone, we're just used to Rachel over here being more than a little bossy…'

Rachel got out an affronted 'Hey!' before the woman carried on.

'Anyways, hun, I think you deserve some proper introductions. I'm Mercedes Evans'

She pointed to the blonde man beside her,

'And this is my husband Sam.'

She gestured to the Asian woman standing on her other side to continue the introductions

'Hi, I'm Tina Cohen-Chang and this is my husband Mike'

The tall Asian man next to her gave me a smile and a wave before the beautiful Latina woman to his left spoke up.

'I'm Santana Lopez-Pierce, and this is Britt… Britt?'

The blonde next to her seemed to jolt back into reality somewhat, before fixing me with a huge grin and hugging me.

'Hi I'm Brittany Lopez-Pierce. Wow, your bump is getting big. Can you still paint your toenails? Because I hated when I got so big I couldn't paint my toenails. But Nathan was worth it, obviously.'

Santana grinned at her wife, and kissed her lightly when she pulled back from the hug.

The introductions continued, and I met Artie Abrams and his wife Rebecca, Quinn Fabray and her husband Edward and Noah Puckerman ('Puck, though. Seriously, not Noah. Puck.') and his fiancée Lily.

'Right, so you've met us all now. We're Kurt and Blaine's friends from high school, you know from New Directions?'

Mercedes looked at me expectantly, and I nodded in acknowledgment. How I couldn't have heard of them all, after hearing the multitudes of stories about them from Kurt and Blaine.

'We'd introduce you to the kids, but maybe later, they're all rather enjoying the play area at the minute…'

She jerked her head towards the corner of the room where around 15 children of the party guests were playing with toys and some pilfered balloons. I chuckled as a little boy, quite obviously Finn and Rachel's son if the nose and height were any indication, squeezed a balloon a little too tight and let out an excited squeal as it burst in his arms.

Just as Rachel was about run over to see if he was okay, an ecstatic looking Kurt and Blaine walked over to us hand in hand.

'Hey guys! Oh my god, Kim, I hope they haven't scared you too much!'

Mercedes faked a stern look in Kurt's direction, to which he replied with a wink.

'Stop talking nonsense white boy, we wanted to meet the girl you've been raving about all these months.'

I coughed a little at the latter part of the sentence, and Blaine squeezed my hand.

'Well, she is pretty awesome, I think you'll all agree?'

Every one of the group nodded and came to hug me, before dispersing through the room to mingle with their other friends. Just as Rachel was about to leave to join Finn and her son, Kurt caught her hand.

'I know you did this Rachel Berry. If this were back in high school, I never would've believed that you could've produced something this beautiful, what with those atrocious animal sweaters you absolutely insisted on wearing…'

She mock punched him on the arm before he continued

'But now I know that you are the one of the most talented people I know. And thank you. This is perfect.'

Rachel stretched up to wrap her arms around Kurt's neck to bind him in a tight hug.

'It's Rachel Berry-Hudson now mister, and don't you forget it. And you're welcome. Now, if you'll excuse me, Finn and my son seem to be having an eating competition, and the last time Alex tried to eat as much as his father I almost had to take him to the emergency room.'

She kissed both Kurt and Blaine on the cheek and squeezed my shoulder before departing to join her family.

After a whirlwind of introductions to the various people in the room, including Burt and Carole, who were both amazingly nice and informed me that I'd be seeing them again at Christmas, and giving me orders to look after myself and let Kurt and Blaine do all the hard work (permeated with a mock outraged 'What?' from Kurt), I was finally whisked over to the last group of people.

'Warblers! Listen up!'

Blaine nudged me forward a tad before carrying on.

'This is Kim, our surrogate.'

All the men who had looked up at Blaine's initial exclamation nodded and waved in my direction. They seemed a lot less eccentric than the New Directions lot, but I knew from Blaine's high school stories that they were no less crazy. Tales of gavels and horror movie nights that went hilariously wrong sprung to the front of my mind as I was introduced to everyone individually.

'This is Trent, and Flint… That's Thad. Ah, this is Nick and Jeff!'

The couple in front of me grinned and the blonde man hugged me as soon as Blaine stepped slightly away from my side (I got an uncountable number of hugs that day).

'Oh my god I'm so glad we got to meet you! Kurt and Blaine have told us so much about you! I'm Jeff Sterling, this is my husband Nick Duval.'

Nick laughed at his husband when I replied.

'All good things I hope?'

Jeff leant back and chuckled.

'Of course! Is it true you're a doctor? David's a doctor too, you should talk.'

Before I could clarify that I wasn't a doctor kind of doctor, Jeff had dragged me over to where a handsome black man was standing with Kurt, Blaine, and a shorter Asian man talking about a gavel.

'David! David, this is Kim!'

Jeff shoved me lightly towards David, who laughed at Jeff and shook my hand.

'Hi, I'm David Thompson. Kim Miller right?'

'Uh, yes. Um…'

Jeff piped up from behind us.

'Kim is a doctor like you David!'

I shook my head fast.

'Um, no, I'm not a medical doctor, I have a PhD, it's just a title…'

David smiled widely at my answer.

'Oh wow, a PhD! What did you study?'

'Um, I have a bachelor's in Cell and Molecular Biology, my PhD is an extension of the microbiology side of that…'

'Wow, a lot of work then!'

I smiled at his honest enthusiasm.

'So, Jeff said you were a doctor?'

'Yeh, I'm a neurologist just down the road actually, at University College Hospital'...

Before we could get too much more involved in a conversation, Kurt came over to us.

'I'm so sorry to interrupt, but me and Blaine apparently have to make speeches now, and I think Kim should come with us.'

David looks momentarily disappointed, before shaking his head a little.

'Of course she should, go on, I just need to…'

Kurt looked confused, but then his eyes widened and he smiled hugely before leaving. David turned back to me, his hand scratching behind his ear in a nervous manner.

'Erm, I know this might be weird or something, but you seem really cool Kim. If I asked you on a date right now, what would you say?'

I tried to hold in the adolescent style squeal of excitement, but I couldn't contain it fully. Luckily, David just grinned at me instead of laughing.

'I would say yes, of course. Um, do you want my number?'

After exchanging numbers, I ran (read: waddled) off to where Kurt and Blaine were waiting for me at the front of the room, a huge smile on my face. What? A handsome doctor with a seemingly amazing personality and no extraneous nose hair to speak of had just asked me on a date. Of course I was happy!

Kurt read my excitement from a mile away and murmured in my ear before turning to the assembled crowd.

'You know Jeff set you two up right?'

I nodded my acknowledgment before replying.

'Remind me to thank him later'

Taking in my thrilled expression, Kurt pulled me into a hug and then began to speak to the room.

'Okay, so wow. Blaine and I would like to thank each and every one of you for being here today. This is the best surprise we could've asked for, and we're so thrilled that our friends and family could come and celebrate our joy at the new addition to our family with us today.

A few thanks are needed. One to Rachel Berry-Hudson, for putting this beautiful shower together and being my best friend, the best best friend I could've asked for. Three for my parents and my brother. Dad, you are the most incredible man I know, and I love you. Carole, over the past decade you have truly become my mother, and I couldn't have asked for a better one, and Finn, you are the best big brother I could've hope for. Another one for my mom, who I wish could be here, but I know that she'd be happy for me and that she'd be so excited right now. Thank you to my amazing husband Blaine, for just being you. Darling, you are my everything.

And last, but certainly not least in any way possible, the hugest thank you to Kimberley Miller. Without you, none of this would be happening. You are giving us the biggest gift anyone could give, and I will never stop thanking you for it. You have become one of our closest friends in such a short time, and you and Evie have made our lives here in London, away from our family, absolutely amazing. We both love you so much.'

I couldn't see through my tears by the end of Kurt's speech, so I simply threw my arms around him. The baby girl inside me was kicking wildly, and I took Kurt and Blaine's hand and placed them on my belly. Their beatific smiles were all the confirmation I ever needed to know that I would never regret what I was doing.

Blaine reluctantly pulled his hand away from his daughter's moving limbs, and held up his glass of non-alcoholic champagne to the room.

'To baby Hummel-Anderson!'

The entire room repeated the phrase and drank to toast the new baby. It resembled the night we found out about her so much that it took my breath away, but there was one big difference.

That night, I could feel her celebrating too. And in just eight short weeks, she'd be there, in person, being fawned over and loved by the two most amazing men in the world.

In just eight short weeks, I'd be in labour…

Oh joy.

So, there you have it. Now, you have a choice. Either next chapter we skip straight to Christmas, with Hudmel family fun and some papa Miller (and there's only two chapters left after the Christmas one) or we have a chapter with Kim's date, involving Klaine input and a lot more Evie (again, sorry she wasn't in this one). What'll it be, dear readers?

Also, I have so much headcanon for this verse. There won't be a sequel as such to this, but definitely a series of oneshots taking place after the end of this story.