Hello hello hello! Two weeks between updates isn't too bad for me, I think :P Anyway, this is the 'Christmas' chapter. It turned out a lot more serious than I ever expected, but I promised that I'd never leave you with angst, and I haven't, just some heavy conversations is all.

Also, if you've never heard of the use of 'old girl' as a term of endearment, which I have been informed some people haven't, just letting you know that it's all good. My granddad used to call me it and I imagine Kim's dad as being very similar to him.

Please please please please review. Seriously. Please.

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

I bloody love Christmas. It's always been my favourite time of the year. There's something about the twinkly lights and the smell of cinnamon and chestnuts that makes my soul fizz with contentment. Living with Evie has never been difficult around the festive season because she loves it just as much as I do, and thank god that Kurt and Blaine did too, because I really needed some Christmas cheer that year.

'Blaine, you know I love you, but seriously? That sweater is the most atrocious thing I've ever seen.'

Kurt and I were baking sugar cookies for my father's imminent visit when Blaine walked into the kitchen. He was dressed fairly normally in dark designer jeans with his curls loose around his ears, but you'd never notice that the jeans were Hugo Boss when his upper body was covered with a bright red jumper with a snowman on it, a la Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones' Diary.

'What? Christmas is in five days, I'm allowed to wear this.'

Kurt raised an eyebrow at his husband's defensive tone and stared into his eyes. I could see Blaine's resistance crumbling slightly, but he stood strong (stronger than I ever have under Kurt's powerful glares, but he does have way more practice).

'No! No, you can't wear me down this time. No. I'm wearing the sweater. It's festive.'

Kurt held his gaze for a few more seconds before sighing and turning back to the mixing bowl.

'Fine, wear it. But no sex until after Boxing Day if you do…'

It took a mere couple of nanoseconds before Blaine was simultaneously tugging the jumper off and running to their bedroom, stumbling over Ernie (wearing a lovely Kurt-approved Christmas jumper of his own) in his haste to change.

Kurt laughed at his husband's antics before reaching down to put a tray of biscuits into the oven.

'He's bought a new Christmas sweater every year that we've been together. I never let him wear them, but I think he just likes my initial look of shock when he comes out with various knitted winter-themed pictures emblazoned across his chest. This year's snowman is relatively tame compared to last year's nativity scene. Looked like two of the wise men were a lot more than travel companions…'

Blaine returned to the room wearing a plain dark green shirt and wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist from behind before tutting loudly.

'Honestly Kurt, that sweater was knitted by my half-blind great-aunt, it was a miracle that the baby Jesus was even present in the scene and not replaced by a farm animal.'

Kurt laughed and Blaine grinned like a fool before leaning over his shoulder to kiss Kurt on the cheek. I smiled at them before hitting Blaine on the back of the hand with a wooden spoon.

'Okay, enough with the sickening coupley-ness, Evie is going to be here with my dad in like, ten minutes, and it's going to take me that long to waddle to the living room.'

I was only joking a little bit. My pregnant lady waddle was in full force and I couldn't believe how much the bump had grown in the space of a few weeks. My centre of gravity was completely off and I spent most of my days sitting or lying down somewhere in the flat, save for dates with David (of which you'll be happy to learn that there had been a few, and that yes, we had kissed, and yes Kurt, it was wonderful and lovely and romantic aside from the fact that his pager went off and he had to rush into work) and outings to the shops to keep me from going completely insane.

So Kurt unravelled himself from Blaine's embrace to ice the latest batch of cookies whilst Blaine helped me to the living room.

As soon as I flopped down onto the sofa, the reality of the situation hit me. I hadn't seen the man who raised me since the woman who was supposed to be my mother had called me a whore and walked out of my life for no good reason. That had been four months ago, when the autumn leaves still crunched under your feet everywhere you went and I could still see my toes. Of course I'd talked to him since, on the phone and on skype, and he assured me that he loved me and that he'd tried to bring my mother around, but it'd been four months and I'd heard no word from her. It was a long time, and a big thing to deal with when you're a hormonal emotional wreck.

I took a deep breath and tried to stave off the tears that were threatening to break free, before warm arms wrapped around my shoulders and a strong but gentle hand started stroking my hair comfortingly.

'It's okay Kim, it's okay. I know, I know it's hard, but it'll be alright, I promise.'

I looked up into sympathy filled hazel eyes, before shuddering with the effort of not crying and dropping my head onto Blaine's shoulder.

'I don't know what to do Blaine' I mumbled into his shirt, 'What if she never wants me back? I'm her daughter. She's meant to love me unconditionally and she threw me away over this?'

'For willingly sabotaging her relationship with you, she is the stupidest woman in the world Kim. I promise you that. She doesn't deserve an amazing daughter like you. I can only hope that our daughter is like you, because I don't think I could ever be prouder of her if she were. I'm proud of you Kim, both me and Kurt, and Evie and David and especially your dad. He sees that you're perfect. If your mom doesn't then she isn't worth your energy or your tears.'

He nudged my head up to face him and wiped my eyes with a tissue.

'I promise you that it'll be okay Kim. I know it's hard but you have so many people who love you. You'll be fine, okay?'

He tapped the end of my nose before walking back to the kitchen to join Kurt, where I heard unintelligible murmuring in low voices. Before I had time to dwell on the expression that'd been on Blaine's face during our conversation (a mixture of determination, hurt and anger), I heard Ernie barking at the noise from outside the front door, before Evie burst in, pulling my dad by the arm and proclaiming 'I'm hoooooooOOOOOOOME!'

I didn't bother to try and get off the couch, but I heard Kurt and Blaine greeting my father formally out in the hallway with many 'It's so nice you could come Mr Miller' and 'No Mr Miller, let me take your coat, you can put the presents under the tree in the sitting room' style hello's. After a few seconds, the door to the living room opened and my dad walked in behind Kurt, Blaine and Evie.

He didn't notice me at first, being rather too astounded at Kurt's spectacular Christmas decorations (including pinecone garlands and fairy lights everywhere, as well as the stupendous 7ft tall pine tree in the corner of the room, glistening with beautiful red and gold ornaments), but as soon as he'd taken inventory of all the splendour his eyes fell on me and a huge beaming grin came across his face.

'Oh Kim…'

He strode across the room and hauled me up in a display of very un-Greg Miller-esque strength to wrap me in one of those hugs that only dads can give that make you feel completely safe down to the core. I inhaled the scent of his cologne and Werthers Originals and let the tears I'd never shed from the earlier conversation slide down my cheeks and onto his (thankfully not Christmas-themed) jumper.

'I'm so glad you're here dad…'

He pulled back from the hug and stepped back from me.

'I'm glad I'm here too, I really am. I've spent far far too long without seeing my amazing daughter in front of me.'

His gaze dropped to my belly and he smiled.

'Oh wow Kim, you haven't half gotten big!'

I adopted a hurt look and punched him lightly on the arm before his expression turned worried.

'No, no, I didn't mean fat, I mean, you're pregnant, you're going to be-'

I cut him off with an amused 'Dad!'

He stopped babbling abruptly.

'Yes..?'

'I know what you meant. Calm down, I was only joking with you!'

His features melted back into their happy, relieved norm and he hugged me again.

'You don't know how much I have missed you, old girl.'

'Yeh I do. I've missed you that much too.'

'Well, I'm here now. So let's enjoy ourselves, shall we?'

Evie and my dad had always gotten along swimmingly, and Kurt and Blaine had no trouble charming him into loving them, so the evening went perfectly. Kurt and Evie had prepared a gorgeous lasagne for dinner (mine and my dad's favourite) and a stack of homemade profiteroles for dessert, so we were all pleasantly full and happy by the time my father reluctantly said that he had to leave.

'I don't want to leave you Kimmy, but you know as well as I do that driving down the back lanes of Shropshire at night is never a particularly good idea. And besides, I'll miss my train if I don't get going soon.'

I sighed and hugged him as tight as I could considering the almost fully grown newborn in the way.

'I know dad, I'm just going to miss you.'

He sighed, and kissed my forehead before turning to Kurt, Blaine and Evie.

'I know it's your house and all, but I need to speak to Kim alone for a little bit, if that's okay?'

They all nodded and headed out of the room. I thought I saw a strange look on Blaine's face, but my dad coughed and I put it to the back of my mind to pay attention to him.

'Okay Kimmy, I have something to tell you, okay?'

I noticed him wringing his hands together. I know my father well, and I know he only does that when's he's nervous or has bad news, so I gestured hesitantly for him to continue speaking.

'Dad…' I began, 'Just get it over with. Tell me.'

He heaved a huge sigh and dropped his gaze to the floor to avoid looking at me.

'Your mother and I are getting divorced.'

I inhaled sharply and for the next few moments all the sound in the room evaporated until all I could hear was the thud of my own heart in my ears. Despite common sense screaming at me from a dark corner of my brain, all I could think was 'oh god, I've ruined my parents 35 year marriage. Everything has ended and it's all my fault'.

'Kim, I can practically hear the cogs whirring in your head. Please look at me and listen very carefully.'

I raised my head and looked my father in the eyes. I couldn't see blame or anger in his gaze, just sadness. It hurt even more than I thought it could've.

'This is not your fault. You hear me Kimberley? Nowhere near your fault. Elaine and I have been having problems for ages. Since… Well, to be frank, since you moved out to go to university and never came back. The cracks started to show and we realised that we were only really together for you and Claire. The only reason we've stayed married these past seven years is because we barely see each other. It just isn't worth it anymore. And she… Um…'

'She what, dad? Just tell me, please. I'm twenty five, I can handle it.'

He rubbed his face with his hand in a weary gesture.

'She said some awful things, Kim. She said horrible things to you, and about you. And if she was going to act that way to the child that she brought into this world and raised and loved for all these years, I knew that she was no longer the Elaine that I fell in love with. So I finally ended it. I live in the town now, got a nice terraced house. Your mum's keeping the farmhouse.'

'I… Oh.'

He leaned over and hugged me again.

'I'm so sorry that I have to go and leave you like this. I wish I could stay, but-'

'But you'll miss your train and you have to go to work tomorrow, I know, dad. When will I see you again?'

'I don't know Kim.' He replied truthfully, 'I really don't know. But I promise it won't be in four months. I'll never leave you for that long again if I can help it. Now, come and give your old man a proper hug goodbye.'

We embraced for a good few minutes before he went into the hallway to grab his things and say goodbye to Kurt, Blaine and Evie.

'You all keep an eye on my girl, you hear me? Her sister was always her mother's daughter, but Kim is… Kim is my daughter. She has any trouble and you'll be answering directly to me, understand?'

They all nodded dutifully at his order and he looked to me.

'I'm going to be wanting to meet this David chap when I come down next, alright? Make sure he's good enough for you, not like that Mark. Got it?'

I agreed through my tears and he headed for the door.

'Goodbye old girl. I'll see you soon.'

And he was gone. And then I burst into tears. Ladylike, dignified tears, of course.

Kurt and Evie rushed over first, wrapping their arms around me and making comforting cooing noises. But I noticed Blaine had hung back, and I knew he was the only person I could talk to. I caught his eye and gestured to my two personal limpets.

'Okay, I think Kim needs some time guys. Evie, Kurt, why don't you take Ernie for a walk, he hasn't gone out today.'

Just as Kurt was about to protest, Blaine fixed him with one of those 'only you will understand what I'm trying to say here' looks that they share pretty often. Kurt nodded sharply and pulled Evie off to get coats and boots, whilst mumbling about telling her what's going on later.

Before I could dwell too long on the very loaded silent exchange between him and Kurt, Blaine has tugged me into the living room once more and pushed me lightly to sit on the sofa before taking a seat opposite me.

'How much do you know about my family Kim?'

I was about to give an easy answer when I realised that I didn't have one. I'd met his brother Cooper and his family, but never heard anything about Blaine's parents or upbringing. They weren't in any pictures and I'd never known him to call or email them.

'Not much, apparently…'

I could see the thoughts dancing behind Blaine's expressive eyes. He seemed to hit a bad one and he grimaced.

'Okay. Well, put it this way. I know what is going through your mind right now. I know that you're thinking that you can't possibly be worth very much because how could your own mother leave you if you were, and did she ever love you in the first place if it's that easy for her to let you go? And you're convinced that it's your fault that your parents are separating because if you hadn't done this then they could still be happy. Am I right?'

I nodded speechlessly, and Blaine seemed to come to a decision. He ran his hand through his curls and sighed before continuing.

'I came out when I was thirteen. Coop wasn't there, he's ten years older than me, he lived in Columbus at the time working at a newspaper. He was the golden boy, handsome, smart, steady girlfriend, went to Yale. The perfect son in every way. I should've resented him, but I loved him, looked up to him.

Anyway, he wasn't there that night. We'd just finished dinner, and I decided to just do it, get it over with, quick and painless like ripping off a band-aid. So I just said it. I just stood up and said 'Mom, dad? I'm gay.'

He heaved a great shuddering breath, and I reached over to place my hand on his shoulder. As soon as I did he grasped it like a lifeline.

'They didn't say a word. They just got up and walked out of the room. I heard them screaming at each other that night. I don't like to dwell on what they said. The next morning they pretended like it had never happened.

They did that for years. My 'little problem' was just something to be swept under the rug and ignored. They asked me about girls all the time, turned away when I reminded them that it was boys I was interested in instead. After the Sadie Hawkins incident I thought they may realise that I was still their son, that they should still love me, but they didn't, not really. They shipped me off to Dalton. I boarded there, and at the weekends I escaped to either Cooper's up in Columbus or my grandparents in Westerville. I technically still lived with them, but I was rarely there. My grandparents set up a room for me in their house and raised me better than they ever did.

When I met Kurt, I did the dutiful thing and introduced him to them but I could never put him through trying to forge a relationship with them. Coop and grandma and granddad loved him immediately though, and I was accepted by Kurt's family too.

As soon as I graduated I joined Kurt in New York and that was that. My parents have never tried to keep in contact, ignored the invitations to our engagement party and wedding that we sent them.

I heard from Cooper a few years back that they got a divorce, stating that the relationship had become 'strained'. I was convinced it was my fault for a long time.

But it's not my fault. It never was. This was their choice. We sent my mother an ultrasound of the baby but we never heard back. It's not like we expected her to. My parents are not my family. I have family who love me, it just took me a while to find them.'

He raised an eyebrow as if to say 'do you know what I'm getting at here?', and I laughed.

'Yes, yes, I know. I have my dad, and my sister on some occasions, and I have Evie and you and Kurt and hopefully I'll have David. It's all good.'

'No', he said truthfully, 'it's not all good. But at the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy, it gets better. A lot better.'

He grinned and we leaned in to hug each other. As Blaine got up to go make a cup of tea, I thought of a question.

'Where are your grandparents?'

His shoulders sagged minutely, before he turned to me with a small smile.

'They died five years ago in a car accident. They were married for over fifty years. You know how Kurt wears his mother's wedding ring on a chain?'

I nodded.

'He wears my grandmother's wedding ring on his finger. I wear my grandfathers. They were one of the few personal bequests in their will, and it just seemed right when we got married to use them. Fifty years of good fortune on our fingers was the perfect way to start our marriage.'

I choked back a new round of tears (happy ones this time) and Blaine left the room.

After the high level of emotional turmoil of the past few days, the arrival of Christmas eve and the Hudson-Hummel clan was very welcome. Kurt had gone mad, decorating the apartment even more and cooking up a storm in preparation for the big Christmas day meal. He'd just slid a new batch of mince pies into the oven (and wrestled Ernie into a santa hat) when we were all interrupted by a loud knock at the door, followed by an exclamation of 'Uncle Kurty let me in I need to show you my picture!'

Kurt laughed at the sound of his nephew and as soon as he opened the door, a small bundle of brown hair and woolly jumper leapt into his arms.

'UNCLE KURTY! I drew a picture on the plane and it's of you and Uncle Bane and your baby!'

'Alex!' came a high voice from the hallway, 'let everyone else in the house before terrorising your uncles, okay?'

Kurt grinned and buried his face into Alex's soft hair to kiss him on the forehead.

'He's fine, Rach, he's just excited. It's Christmas tomorrow, can you blame him?'

Alex wriggled around excitedly in Kurt's arms before catching sight of Ernie over his uncle's shoulder.

'UNCLE KURTY YOU HAVE A DOGGY AND HE'S WEARING A HAT!'

Kurt craned his neck around to see Ernie sitting looking at the new intruders to his territory with a wary gaze.

'No Alex, that's Kim and Evie's doggy, he just lives with them here at the minute, but…' he added at Alex's suddenly forlorn face, 'I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you went and played with him for a little while?'

Permission granted from us, he put Alex on the floor. As soon as his little converse covered feet hit the ground he ran over to Ernie with a massive smile on his face and led him off to the dining room, proclaiming that he was 'the best doggy ever'.

After he'd disappeared with a bizarrely happy looking pug leading the way, the rest of the self-proclaimed 'Hudmel' family managed to get through the door, tugging two large suitcases with them. Believing that they were going to be staying at a hotel (because there certainly wasn't going to be enough room for them all to sleep comfortably in the apartment) I looked at them confusedly. Carole caught my stare and laughed.

'Oh these are just the ones with presents in, the others are all back at the hotel. We figured Kurt would want to arrange them all under the tree himself, he can be a little fussy with interior decorating.'

I laughed at her understatement

'Oh I know. Even if I wasn't huge and a safety hazard, there's no way Kurt would've let me help with the Christmas decorations. It took all of the patience Evie learned to have at law school for her not to throttle him. Blaine just has a lot of practice I think.'

Blaine entered from the kitchen carrying a plate of mince pies.

'That I do', he started, 'I barely ever get shouted at for putting the ornaments on in the wrong order anymore.'

'That's because you learned from the best, B.'

He span around to see his husband smirking, and enveloped him in a loving hug before kissing him a little too passionately for being in front of their family members. We women in the room all ignored them but a gruff cough from the corner of the room alerted me to Kurt's dad, Burt, standing with a stern look on his face. They broke away from each other and turned to him with sheepish (Kurt) and worried (Blaine) looks before Blaine started babbling.

'I'm sorry, we just-'

Burt laughed and clapped his hand onto his son-in-law's shoulder.

'I'm kidding, Blaine. This is your home. Jeez, I never thought scaring you could be this much fun after ten years of it, but it still is!'

Kurt glared at his father whilst Blaine let out a relieved sigh, and Carole playfully slapped her husband on the arm.

'Honestly Burt, leave the boys alone!'

Burt rolled his eyes and then came over to where I was standing with Evie.

'Evie, you look lovely.'

Evie batted her eyelashes jokingly.

'Why thank you sir. And you look rather debonair in that shirt. I assume it's Kurt-approved?'

'He sent me a pre-approved list of clothes I was allowed to bring, yes', he admitted reluctantly.

We all laughed whilst Burt tugged uncomfortably at his collar.

'And Kim, how are you? My sons are treating you well I hope?'

I glanced at Blaine, who had a huge smile on his face at being referred to as Burt's son, as I now knew he would.

'They have, Burt, don't worry. I couldn't have asked for better treatment. They've become rather adept at back rubs and late night trips to the shops to buy ice cream.'

Carole jerked her head up at my sentence and hurried over. It took me a few seconds to register what I'd said that could alarm her, and was reminded that she was a trained nurse and was likely to want to know all about the medical side of my pregnancy.

'Back rubs? Have you been having back pain honey?'

Her concerned motherly eyes bore into mine and I faltered a little before answering.

'Just the normal late pregnancy lower back pain. Dr Farmer says everything is normal, baby is moving downwards now and she's nearly in position for birth. He thinks I may actually have her a little earlier than my due date, which would be nice. I'm finding it kind of hard to do things at the minute, I can't imagine what it'll be like in a month…'

She sighed and pulled me into a maternal hug.

'I know it's hard, I had that problem with Finn. Unsurprisingly, he was a rather large baby. You'll probably find that she is too.'

'I don't think so, I mean, Blaine is her biological father…'

'HEY!'

Just as I was about to retort, Finn and Rachel came back in, Rachel carrying a sleeping Alex in her arms.

'Hey mom, did you say something about me?'

Carole rolled her eyes.

'No Finn, don't worry, it was nothing bad', she looked at her snoring grandson, 'wow, he really crashed out cold didn't he?'

Rachel transferred him to Finn's arms carefully.

'Yeh' she replied, 'he's jet lagged and I think only the excitement of seeing Kurt and Blaine kept him awake. Now that's done and he's tired himself out playing with Ernie he needs to rest for a little while.'

Kurt told Finn to go and put Alex in the master bedroom for a nap (complete with Finn asking 'are you sure he won't find anything, you know… inappropriate in there?' and Kurt whacking him around the head as hard as he could without waking his nephew) before we all retired to the living room for an evening of Chinese takeaway and board games.

After Kurt had well and truly thrashed everyone at every single game we played ('it's been a Hummel tradition for years, I always win!'), the Hudmel's left to go back to the hotel for the night and we all went off to bed, ready for whatever Santa would bring to us the next morning.

'MERRY CHRIIIIIIISTMAAAAAAAAAAS!'

I awoke abruptly as something heavy that I later identified as Ernie was dropped onto my legs and Kurt and Blaine started singing 'Merry Christmas Everybody' by Slade at the top of their voices. As they got to the second verse I reluctantly opened my eyes to see that they'd dragged Evie out of bed and all three of them were now dancing around the room in pyjama's. One look at the clock told me that it was only half past six in the morning.

'Are you joking me right now? I haven't gotten up this early on Christmas morning since I was a child!'

Kurt and Blaine stopped dancing and turned to face me with looks of horror whilst Evie just gave a resigned shrug.

'But that's the point of it Kim!' Blaine started, 'You're meant to get up early and run down the hall and open all your presents and start overeating straightaway!'

I heaved myself up into a sitting position against my pillows.

'Look, I love Christmas. But I love lie-in's too. And so does the baby. So go away and come back in a couple of hours, okay?'

Kurt smirked.

'No can do Kim. My family will be here in half an hour with an excitable toddler. You may want to wake up now instead of being slapped in the face by an irate three year old when he finds out he can't open his presents for another few hours.'

I gaped at the fact that they were willingly travelling across London to get here for 7am before sighing.

'Fine. One of you needs to come and give me a hand though, because there's no way I can navigate getting out of this bed on my own right now…'

After Blaine had pulled me from my cosy blanket cavern and given me an extremely welcome cup of caffeinated tea, I emerged from the bathroom to find that the living room had been taken over by quite a lot of people and quite a lot more presents. No, scratch that. A huge amount of presents, all neatly wrapped in nice paper and coordinating ribbons.

Kurt clocked me standing by the door in shock and climbed over his various family members to reach me.

'Come on, come on, it's present time!'

He grabbed my hand and pulled me back the way he came before instructing me to sit down on the sofa next to Carole.

'Okay, so we generally open presents one at a time and go round in a circle, with Alex just sort of ripping all of his open when he wants because he has more than everyone else and he's a kid, so he's not exactly patient. And we all decided that you should go first!'

Before I could protest he shoved an envelope into my hand.

'That's from me and Burt honey' said Carole, 'we hope you like it.'

I raised an eyebrow because I had specifically stated earlier in the month that presents were not necessary but opened the envelope anyway to find…

'Pregnancy suitable spa day at Ragdale Hall Health Spa for two… Oh my god Carole, Burt!'

They both sat grinning as I clutched the voucher in my hand.

'We figured you needed some time to yourself to relax. It's for two, for you and Evie.'

I placed the envelope carefully on the side before leaning into Carole's open arms. I knew that Kurt had told his parents about my mother, because I'd given him specific permission to, but I didn't realise until my talk with Blaine a few days before just how much they'd understand. It felt really bloody lovely to be honest.

As I pulled away, Alex looked up from his mountain of ripped wrapping paper to exclaim that his Uncle Bane had got him the bestest thing ever and everyone would be jealous of his new football (an American football. Not a British one. Which explains why he got angry when I mistakenly called it a rugby ball) and we all paid dutiful attention to him for a little while.

All the presents were exchanged and unwrapped, including a lot of baby items for Kurt and Blaine, a new fishing rod for Burt, perfume and jewellery for Carole, a karaoke machine for me and Evie, a signed copy of Barbra Streisand's autobiography for Rachel and a pile of Kurt-approved clothes for Finn ('because I don't care if you're a 28 year old man Finn, I don't trust you to not buy those horrendous puffy coats again') and we were all happily sipping early morning non-alcoholic champagne when Kurt and Blaine snuck off to their bedroom.

Every adult in the room looked confusedly at each other before they both returned with massive smiles on their faces, carrying a large box wrapped in elegant white paper. They set it down in front of me before stepping back and beginning to talk.

'We know you said that you didn't want a present from us, but this isn't really a physical present that you can hold, as such' Kurt began, 'it's more of an experience…'

'And it's definitely an experience that you deserve' said Blaine, 'so open up!'

I gingerly lifted the lid off the box and leaned over to peer inside. I started pulling things out including a pretzel, a small plastic whale toy, a thick white envelope sealed with red wax and a travel guide for

'New York'

I choked on my own saliva in shock, as you would when presented with this sort of gift, and looked up at Kurt and Blaine with tear-filled eyes.

'I… I can't even begin to thank you…'

'We've been telling you that for months, Kim' Kurt said softly, 'we wanted to do something amazing for you too. We hope this will be.'

Blaine stroked the back of Kurt's hand with his thumb and started to explain.

'So we've booked for you and someone else to go on a trip to New York for two weeks to be taken any time in the next year. The hotel details are in there, as well as recommended things to do. The pretzel and the whale kind of point towards that. The sealed envelope contains vouchers for two tickets to see Phantom on Broadway, because we know that's your favourite show.

We want you to have an amazing experience there. Whenever Kurt and I talk about college we see how your eyes light up. So please don't tell us this is too much and that you can't take it. You're giving us our child, Kim, so let us give you this.'

Everyone seemed to sense that I wasn't going to stop crying any time soon, so after saying hushed but sincere 'thank yous' to Kurt and Blaine, and being told by Rachel that I simply had to meet up with them when I was in town and that she could get me tickets to see her in Evita too, everyone else left to go to the kitchen and have a traditional Christmas breakfast of pancakes.

Evie stopped when she got to the door and turned around to walk back over to me.

'You'll be taking David you know.'

I looked up at her smiling face.

'He's the real deal Kim. I see it in his eyes every time he comes over here. So you'll be going with him. Not any time soon, but you have a year. It'll happen. Just make sure you two take lots of pictures, okay?'

I nodded and she leaned down to kiss my forehead before going off in to the kitchen, with me following shortly after.

Later that evening, when we all full from Kurt's magnificent turkey and sitting comfortably in front of the fire watching The Sound of Music, Alex decided to join me on the sofa.

'Kim?' he started

'Yes?' I replied

'Are you having a baby?'

I giggled at his curious look.

'Yep.'

He looked at my stomach as if deep in thought before placing a tiny hand on my distended belly button. As if on cue, the baby started kicking right up against his palm, and he looked at me with huge eyes.

'Is that the baby? Is it okay?'

I smiled and rubbed the side of my belly

'She's fine. She must just really like her cousin, that's all.'

His eyes got even wider.

'Am I her cousin?'

'Yeh' I nodded, 'this baby is your Uncle Kurt and Uncle Blaine's baby. She's just growing in my belly until she gets big and then I'll give her back to them.'

'That's good' he replied, 'because men can't grow babies. Mommy told me that.'

'Then your mommy is very wise and clever. Just like you.'

'Yeh, she says that a lot.'

He snuggled into my side with his hand kept firmly on my stomach, as if scared that if he removed it that it would fly away of its own accord.

'I'm gonna sleep now Kim. Night baby.'

With an ease only young children ever seem to have, he fell asleep almost immediately against my stomach before Finn came over and lifted him into his arms.

'Little guy always crashes hard after a long day, and Christmas is the longest day of them all.'

I quietly agreed when I felt my eyelids becoming heavier, and it wasn't long before I bid everyone adieu myself and left them watching Maria get married and eating the divine Godiva chocolates that Burt and Carole had bought everybody.

I really shouldn't get into the habit of leaving you with these cheesy 'wrap everything up in one go' endings, because they are, for the most part, truly awful (even if I do love me some Greys Anatomy re-runs from time to time). But here is one anyway.

I realised as I left that room that despite most of them not being connected by blood, they were still the closest family I'd ever met. They loved and accepted everyone for exactly who they were. So even though my mother wasn't in my life anymore, and despite the hopes I had deep inside my heart that one day she would be my mum again, I still had a family who loved me.

And family is the point of Christmas, isn't it? Well, that and eating enough to fill a medium size landfill site. Which me and the baby managed quite well together. She's probably going to be one of those adorable chubby babies that everyone loves immediately.

One month to find out anyway!

Phew, that was long! Anyways, I genuinely have no idea what the next chapter will be about, but it is unfortunately the penultimate one for this story. But never fear, dear readers, as I've already informed you that there shall be multiple sequel oneshots to this and two of them are practically written already!

Until next time, au revoir! Oh, and please review :D