Wow! Thank you guys so much for 500 reviews! I was so excited when I logged in and noticed I had THAT many. And thanks to the person who nominated me for the Glee fanfic awards. That meant a lot to me. I would like more nominations so I can be a finalist!
I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I may have made some mistakes with the adoption details, but I tried to get as much information as I could to write it accurately. Like I said, hope you enjoy and review if you want me to continue!
Chapter 30: Kindergarten and a Cousin
"I want to meet the baby!" Allie pouted.
"So do we, believe me," Rachel told her daughter. Rachel, Finn and Allie were sitting in the general waiting room at the hospital. Kurt, Blaine, Brittany and Santana were meeting with the doctors to go over some last minute details. Even though all the paperwork had already been completed, the doctors still wanted to go over some things with them.
"Isn't this making you remember the day she was born?" Finn asked Rachel.
"It is!" Rachel agreed, thinking back to that day. At the same time though, she felt for the teen parents who'd been carrying this baby for the past nine months. Kurt, Blaine, Brittany and Santana had never even met the two teenagers. They didn't even want to know who their baby was going to. All information was passed on to the four people who would raise this baby by the adoption agency. Rachel was sure it was because the two teens would find it too painful to know the people who would be raising the child they carried. She remembered when she was pregnant with Allie and briefly considered giving Allie up for adoption, and how hard the last five years would have been for her if she hadn't had Allie with her. She'd be wondering where Allie was, what she was doing, what she'd look like. These teens would spend the rest of their lives wondering those things about their son.
"Rach?" Finn asked.
"Yeah?" Rachel said.
"Are you okay?" Finn asked. He could always tell when Rachel was thinking.
Rachel smiled at her husband. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just still kind of sad we lost our second baby."
"Remember, we aren't giving up," Finn reminded his wife.
"Isn't it cool that this baby and I have the same birthday?" Allie asked.
"That's very cool!" Rachel agreed. "A little cousin is a pretty good birthday present!"
"I'm a good big cousin," Allie said. "Uncle Puck and Aunt Quinn always say that."
"You are a good big cousin," Finn said, giving his daughter a hug. He looked up at the clock. "I hope that baby's born soon. This is awfully late for you to be up!"
"But I'm a big girl now!" Allie protested. "I'm five!"
"You are a big girl, but it's still late!" Finn told Allie.
Finally, one of the nurses came out. "You're the godparents?" she asked.
Finn and Rachel nodded as Allie added, "And I'm the cousin!"
The nurse smiled at Allie. "Would you like to meet your little cousin?"
"YES!" Allie shouted. Rachel took Allie's hand as the nurse led Finn, Rachel and Allie into a hospital room, where Kurt, Blaine, Santana and Brittany were sitting on a bed. Blaine was holding a small blue bundle.
"May we come in?" Finn asked.
The parents looked up. "Of course you can!"
Finn, Rachel and Allie walked into the room. "Who do we have here?" Rachel asked, smiling at the new baby.
"This is Bryan James Pierce-Lopez Hummel-Anderson," Kurt said proudly.
"Santana and Brittany said that since we're the ones who found him, he should have our last names, but the next one has to have theirs," Blaine laughed.
"Isn't he perfect?" Santana asked.
Rachel looked again. "He is perfect!"
"I can't believe we're parents!" Kurt said.
"Isn't it the best feeling ever?" Finn asked.
"It is!" Brittany agreed.
Allie looked at Bryan. "He's so cute!"
"He is," Blaine said. "Would you like to hold him, Allie?"
Allie perked up. "Oh, yes!"
Blaine helped Allie hold Bryan as the other parents looked on. "When are the grandparents coming?" Finn asked.
"Your parents are supposed to come in later today," Santana said. "Blaine and Britt and I are all having our parents arrive sometime in the next week."
"There's three kids in this generation now," Rachel said. "Four if you count Beth."
"I know!" Santana said. "He's staying with his dads first, but Brittany and I wish that we could bring him home now!"
"They did tell us we can visit every day on days they have him," Brittany reminded her wife. "And we will, all day every day."
"It'll be the same way when you two have him!" Kurt said, taking his son out of Allie's arms. "I think one of his godparents should get a turn to hold him."
"You can hold him first," Finn said to Rachel. Rachel sat down as she took the baby, smiling down at him.
"We almost forgot to say, seven pounds even," Brittany said.
"I was less than that," Allie said.
"You know how much you weighed when you were a baby, impressive," Santana said.
"I was probably the least out of all of us," Rachel giggled as she tickled Bryan. "I was only about five and a half pounds."
"I bet I was the most," Finn said. "I was nine pounds, eight ounces."
"I feel sorry for your mother," Santana said.
"We did give a note to the birth parents that if they ever want to see him, they can," Kurt said. "But the adoption agency representative said they don't even want to know our names, so they gave it to the birth parents' parents."
"It is because of those two that we have him," Blaine said. "He's so perfect, and I'd really like for them to get to see him."
Rachel was again reminded of herself and Shelby, Puck and Quinn and Beth, and what could have been her and Allie. Before she could say anything else, Kurt's phone rang. Kurt answered it and turned to the group. "It's Mercedes. She's wondering why there aren't any photos online yet."
"I can take a photo of the four of you with your son if you want," Rachel said. She gave Bryan to Kurt and took a photo of all four parents with their son. Rather, four photos so each of them could get a turn to hold him. At the end of taking photos, she turned to Finn. "Finn, would you like to hold him?"
"You are his godfather!" Brittany added.
"I'd love to," Finn said. Rachel smiled as she watched her husband hold their nephew. He always was good at holding babies.
x
The next few days were pretty crazy. Burt and Carole had come into town, as had Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, Cooper, Mr. and Mrs. Lopez and Mr. and Mrs. Pierce. However, even with all the family stuff, the beginning of the new school year was in sight. This was a big first for the Hudson family - kindergarten. Allie would officially be in elementary school.
There was one disappointment - a few days before school started, a letter arrived from the school with the class assignment, and Allie was not in Finn's class. Finn and Rachel had always known that was a possibility, seeing as the school had four sections of each grade, but it was disappointing nonetheless. With all the family excitement, Rachel and Finn had decided not to tell Allie until the night before school started that she wouldn't be in Finn's class. To add to it, Mia was in Finn's class, so that would add to the disappointment.
"I have all my stuff for kindergarten," Allie said proudly, holding up her backpack to show Finn and Rachel.
"Good for you, honey," Finn said, reminding himself that he and Rachel still had to finish all the paperwork.
"Do we know if Daddy's going to be my kindergarten teacher yet?" Allie asked with hope in her voice.
Finn and Rachel sighed and looked at each other. "I'm sorry Allie, but the school didn't think it would be fair to put you in my class," Finn said.
"But I wanted to be!" Allie said, looking ready to cry.
"I wanted you in my class, too," Finn said.
"I don't want to go if Daddy isn't my teacher!" Allie pouted, starting to cry.
"The other teachers are really nice," Finn said.
"But I wanted you!" Allie sobbed.
"We'll see how things go tomorrow, okay?" Finn said, hugging his daughter. "Promise me you'll give your teacher a chance?"
"Okay," Allie said.
"You'd better get to bed, little missy," Rachel said. "You do have school tomorrow. And in kindergarten, you're there all day."
"Good night Mommy, good night Daddy," Allie said before going to her room.
When Allie was gone, Rachel turned to Finn. "Do you think she'll be okay?"
Finn shrugged. "I wanted her in my class, but at the same time, it might be too hard not to give her preferential treatment. The school told me that they couldn't put her in my class because they didn't want to risk that."
"She'll still get to see you," Rachel said.
"That's true," Finn said. He picked up some of the papers. "You do the health history form, I'll do the release form."
"I can't believe we have a kindergartener!" Rachel said.
"Me either," Finn said.
x
"Allie, you've got to get up," Rachel said. Since Finn had to get there early for the required entrance time for teachers, Rachel was on her own to wake up Allie.
"No!" Allie said.
"Allie, you have to," Rachel said.
"I'm not going!" Allie said. "What if my teacher's mean?"
"I'm sure your teacher will be nice," Rachel said.
Allie sat up. "But I want Daddy!"
Rachel sighed. "I know you do, Allie." She wished she had Finn here to help out. She didn't want to stress out her daughter anymore.
"Mommy, do you think they'd let you stay for a little?" Allie asked.
"I can ask your teacher," Rachel said.
"Okay," Allie said as she began to get dressed. "I'll get to see Daddy, right?"
"Of course you will," Rachel assured her daughter. "And maybe some of your other friends from preschool will be in your class."
"I hope so," Allie sighed.
x
As Finn set up his classroom, he began worrying about Rachel and Allie at home. He wished he could have been home to help see Allie off on her first day of school ever, but since today was the first day, he had to get to school even earlier than the standard arrival time. He'd finished setting up, and now it was time to go meet up with the students.
As Finn went outside, he spotted Rachel and Allie in the crowd. He smiled and waved at them, and Rachel waved back. Allie was talking with another girl.
Finn gave Rachel a look to ask her if everything had gone okay. Rachel gave Finn a look that told him that in the end, things worked out.
x
"Hi Daddy!" It was the end of the school day, and Allie was coming into Finn's classroom.
"Hi Allie!" Finn said. "How was your first day?"
"It was good, I got to play with Mia at recess," Allie said. "And Grace is in my class. I made a new friend, her name is Becky."
"That's great," Finn said, feeling relieved. "So you had a good day?"
"Yep!" Allie said. "The playground's fun here."
"That's great," Finn said.
"Can we go home now?" Allie asked. "I want to tell Nibbles and Coda about my day."
Finn smiled at his daughter. "We sure can! Maybe you could visit your new baby cousin, too."
"Let's go!" Allie said.
Chapter 31 preview: Haven't completely decided yet. Maybe the Samcedes wedding, or maybe something with Rachel in Phantom of the Opera. It'll be up soon though!