And Baby Makes Three

Chapter 29

“I love how thick your hair is now,” Kurt said happily, running his fingers through Blaine’s curly hair. “It’s gorgeous, especially when you don’t glue it to your head with all that gel.”

Blaine snorted where his face was half-pressed into the pillow, eyes closed in a half-doze, in limbo between sleep and wakefulness. “It’s even more difficult to tame now than it was before. I hate my hair.”

“But it’s so…..curly,” Kurt insisted, winding one said curl round and round his finger before pulling it straight and letting it spring back. “It’s never been this curly before.”

“Trust me, it has. I spent my toddler years looking like I had a bush for hair. People thought that my father must have been a clown because my hair was so wild.”

“Okay, now you’re just exaggerating.”

With some difficulty, Blaine rolled into his back, stretching his arms out above his head. His nap was over; he was too awake now to go back to sleep. He stayed quiet for a few moments. 

“Whatcha thinking about?” Kurt asked, propping his chin on his elbow. He cocked his head to one side, making Blaine think of an inquisitive kitten. 

He shrugged. “Nothing. Everything.” He sighed. “Kurt, d'you think we’re prepared enough for this?”

“I don’t think any parent is 100% prepared, no matter how much time they give themselves." 

"That wasn’t my question.”

Kurt thought for a moment. “Absolutely. We’re absolutely prepared.”

But Blaine’s reluctance to confirm this statement, or even reply, put Kurt on edge. It seemed like he was constantly doubting himself, always second-guessing his thoughts or his feelings, and it was something that Kurt had noticed more and more frequently. 

He reached out across the bed to link Blaine’s fingers with his own. It was meant as a gesture of comfort, but Blaine’s gaze remained glued to the ceiling above them. He refused to look at Kurt, or anywhere else in the room.

After a while, Blaine fell asleep. Kurt knew that because his hand went limp, and slid out of his grasp.
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Over the next few days, it seemed like Blaine had forgotten their conversation about “being prepared”. He was mostly his usual cheery self, doing his best not to complain about the constant pain in his back or how sore his swollen feet were so as not to dampen the mood.

It was difficult, of course. Sometimes, he just wanted to stay on the couch and never move again, for fear of the bone-deep ache he felt in his spine and pelvis whenever he did.

Kurt helped, though. A simple kiss on the cheek or the touch of his hand on the small of his back could make him feel better.

It also helped to remind himself, when the pain was particularly bad or when he felt he couldn’t walk another step, that there was only five weeks left until they would meet their son or daughter. For him, that was the biggest motivator of them all to keep going and to not give in when he received yet another bruise on his shin from walking into the side of the coffee table, unable to see his feet to know where he was placing them.
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