Author's Note:

I couldn't stay away, I missed you all too damn much. So welcome to the You Are Mine sequel.

No promises how quickly this sequel will be posted and I'm still not sure if everything I've been thinking of will be in this one. I'm still considering some one-shots or another series in the same world of certain scenes I'm not sure I want to include in this one. I'm still figuring it all out, so if you don't want to miss anything, it may be a good idea to follow me.

I never thought I'd want to explore parenting in a D/s society, but I guess I've given myself a world in which I want to, because it's been really fun so far. But please remember, it is still very much a D/s story and as such, warnings about certain things inherent in that universe are not warned here on fanfiction (but will be tagged on AO3).

I hope you enjoy the continuing journey of Kurt and Blaine!

Couldn't wait to meet you
Hope you like your name
I get the funny feeling
Life will never be the same

~ Matthew West

January 2018

Kurt shivered from the cold as he stepped into their new warm apartment. There were still boxes around where he and Blaine hadn't quite finished unpacking even though it had been nearly two months since they'd moved in. Kurt had almost thought about ordering Blaine to do it while he was at rehearsal. Almost.

He hung up his coat and went into the kitchen, grabbing himself a hot cup of coffee. He didn't hear the piano in the music room and he came around the corner of the living room to find his fiancé sitting in the window seat, staring out into the city. Kurt frowned and walked over, sat opposite him and placed his coffee on the sill. Blaine looked up at him, eyes sad.

"Hey, you okay?" Kurt rested a hand on Blaine's knee. Blaine had been having more and more days like this and while Kurt worried it had something to do with their upcoming wedding, Blaine was constantly reassuring him that he had no regrets. But when Blaine didn't say anything, Kurt pressed harder. "If there's something wrong sweetheart, you need to tell me," he said, a gentle order, but an order nonetheless.

"I'm just thinking about my name," Blaine said quietly and his eyes shifted once again out the window.

Kurt let out a breath. They'd broached the subject of married last names on their way home from Ohio after Blaine had proposed, but it had caused so much emotion that they hadn't brought it up again. But the day was approaching, decisions needed to be made and Kurt reprimanded himself for not realizing sooner that this was weighing on Blaine. "You know there's no right or wrong answer," Kurt told him, though he certainly had his own very strong opinion.

"I know what you want though, sir," Blaine said.

And it wasn't that Blaine always did what Kurt said. Submissive or not, he was very much his own person with his own ideas and beliefs and sometimes they clashed with Kurt's. And the beautiful thing about Kurt not truly being a Dom was that he didn't have that hormonal need for Blaine to agree with him about everything. In this though…it wasn't hormones driving his stance. It was something much deeper.

"And I understand Kurt, really I do," Blaine continued, turning back to Kurt. "And part of me agrees with you completely. But the other part…"

Blaine lowered his head. Kurt reached over and squeezed his hand. "The other part what?" Kurt pressed.

Blaine's eyes lifted, glistening with tears. "The other part doesn't want me to let him win. My mom's still an Anderson, Cooper's still an Anderson. Why should I let my father decide for me that I'm not? Why should I let him take that from me?"

Kurt let go as if Blaine's words had shocked him, and he sat back from the force of it. And he realized he'd been wrong all along. Blaine's desire to keep his name wasn't an act of submission at all. It was one of the most beautiful acts of defiance he'd ever seen. "You're right," Kurt whispered and he fell in love with Blaine all over again. "You are absolutely right."

Blaine stared at him for a moment. And then he laughed. He breathed out a sigh of relief and he laughed because he'd been so sure that Kurt would be angry. "So it's settled then?" he asked with a nervous smile. "Blaine Devon Hummel-Anderson?"

Kurt's eyes flashed. "Can I pull Dom status on you?" he asked.

Blaine's smile faded, but his eyes brightened. "Always sir," he breathed.

"My name comes last," Kurt ordered and it was the strongest Blaine had ever heard. "My name completes you."

"Blaine Devon Anderson-Hummel," Blaine willingly obeyed. "You complete me."

"And our children just go by Hummel," Kurt demanded. "He doesn't deserve them having his name and I won't have him thinking they belong to him in any way."

"Of course," Blaine agreed. "Now may I please kiss you sir, because that was one of the hottest fucking things I've ever heard you say."

"Swearing Blaine?" Kurt said with an eyebrow quirked in challenge. "You really want to go there?"

Blaine leaned in, his lips inches from his Dom. "Fuck yes," he whispered before latching them on to Kurt's, preventing any forewarning of the punishment he was due.

December 2019

15 hours. Santana had been in labor 15 hours, she had refused medication and Brittany's hand was about to fall off from being squeezed so hard. And yet she still held on, hovering in a blissful state of submission that dulled the pain.

Kurt and Blaine paced. They had paced so much that Santana had kicked them out of the delivery room with the promise to have Brittany or someone come get them the minute the baby was truly on her way.

Her way. The day they'd found out they were having a girl was the happiest of their lives. They tried to convince themselves that they would have been just as happy had it been a boy and there wasn't a doubt in their mind that in the end they would have been. But they were at the hardware store for paint almost before the ultrasound pictures had been printed, pulling out the pink and lavender swatches.

Clothes shopping had been even more ridiculous. Blaine had to put his foot down to get Kurt to stop, which wasn't easy for the sub but it was necessary. Even so, they had a closet full of dresses she'd probably never even wear and there was a dresser full of adorable one-pieces. The diaper table was stacked with diapers, newborn and size 1 because they had no idea if the baby would take after Blaine or Santana. And on the wall her name was stenciled in a beautiful script.

Rachel had nearly had a conniption when they showed it to her, trying to dominate both boys into at least packing it all away until the baby arrived, if not returning every last item. Blaine had trembled with fear at the possibility that they were jinxing their baby's health. Kurt had laughed at her absurdity and then promptly kicked her out.

"It's just silly Jewish superstition," Kurt had told Blaine, holding him close as he tried to pull him out of subspace. "Our baby is being monitored better than almost any other in the world and she is going to be perfect. She is going to be perfect, healthy, and ours."

Kurt tried to remember those words he'd spoken as he paced just outside the delivery room door listening to Santana scream. It was hard to believe that the baby wasn't coming yet and he was just about to barge inside when Blaine grabbed his hand.

"No sir, not yet," Blaine told him, eyes deferential but his voice firm. "She's not ready for us."

Kurt didn't know if Blaine meant Santana or the baby but either way he let Blaine lead him to the little waiting room just off the maternity ward. Kurt sat down and he saw Blaine stop himself from kneeling.

The room grew warm, or rather Kurt did, and the clouds in Blaine's eyes were not at all surprising. "What's going on in your mind," Kurt asked as he gently let his heart go and wrap around Blaine. "Are you scared?"

"I don't know," Blaine answered honestly and Kurt knew right now wasn't a good time to tease it out. His own emotions were all over the place and if he'd had the luxury of retreating into subspace he might have done the very same thing. Instead he concentrated on keeping Blaine safe.

"Kurt? Blaine?" They looked up to see a nurse from the unit smiling at them. "It's time."

Both men bolted upright and raced to the delivery room. They wanted to be there to hear her first cries, to be the first ones to see her. They stood together out of the way, hands clasped tight. Blaine's eyes locked onto Santana and Kurt realized that not all of his submission was because of the baby. It must have been hard, seeing his Dom like that.

"She's okay," Kurt promised and he felt Blaine's tension loosen slightly. "They're both going to be okay."

It seemed like both hours and seconds before the doctor announced that she saw a head, but then in a blink of an eye, Santana's screams were replaced with the baby's cries and the doctor whisked her quickly away to clean her up and check her APGAR scores.

"Do you have a name for her yet?" a nurse asked and it was Blaine who answered.

"Serena Fae Hummel."

"Who's holding her first?" the other nurse asked, holding her up and this time Santana's voice rang out.

"Kurt."

Kurt froze. He looked at Santana who just raised an expectant brow and then he looked at Blaine, who smiled as if he had known all along. And he probably had. "Why me?"

"She knows me and Santana already Kurt," Blaine told him, his eyes brimming with tears. "She needs to meet her Daddy. No matter what, forever, you will have been the first one to hold her."

Kurt couldn't stop the tears as he held his arms out and his baby girl was placed inside them. "Hi beautiful," he cooed, taking her tiny hand between his fingers. She had the most beautiful olive skin and a head of dark curls and big brown eyes when she opened them. Kurt looked up at Blaine. "Blaine, she looks just like you."

"I won't take that as an insult," Santana called from the bed and it was like Kurt just remembered she was there.

"Oh god, she needs your colostrum," Kurt exclaimed. They'd read a million baby books. Their living room was littered with them. Every single one of them said that babies needed that liquid gold as soon as they were born.

Santana laughed though. "She'll be okay if you hold her for a minute. Consider it her first lesson in delayed gratification."

"Oh my god," Kurt gaped scandalized as Blaine just laughed. Kurt immediately brought her over to Santana and nearly thrust Serena into her arms. "Feed my baby," he ordered.

"Yes sir," she teased and took his daughter from his arms.

Kurt felt Blaine draw near before warm, strong arms wrapped around his waist and held him close. "I love you," Blaine said kissing his neck gently. Kurt reached a hand back, offering a soft touch where he could reach. "I love our daughter." Kurt watched as Brittany helped Santana and Serena fumble their way to nursing.

"You haven't gotten to hold her yet," Kurt said quietly.

"I don't need lessons in delayed gratification," Blaine whispered. "I like to consider myself an expert."

Kurt rolled his eyes and laughed and turned in Blaine's arms. One look at him and Kurt's breath was stolen. "We're fathers," he said, his heart beating frantically in his chest.

"Yes sir," Blaine whispered and kissed him softly. "We're fathers."

Blaine was lying on the couch, reading a baby book. He looked up at Carole and Burt, bouncing the baby around, and he had to stop himself from yelling out that she was only four days old for goodness sake, they needed to protect her neck. But they'd both done this before and both of their children had survived beyond their first weeks of life. So he bit his tongue and immersed himself back in the book.

Kurt watched the scene from where he was cooking his family dinner. He had truly never been happier. It wasn't that he had dreamed of having a baby his entire life, he hadn't. But watching Blaine with Serena made him fall in love again every time, and watching his Dad and Carole with her…well, it was like seeing them when they were young. It was a glimpse into what his and Finn's childhoods must have looked like. And it was beautiful. And of course his little girl was as perfect as little girls could come.

The phone on the sofa table beside Blaine rang and Blaine picked it up absentmindedly. Since news got out, everyone had been calling, but they were trying to take this time for themselves. In just a few days they would be headed to the courthouse, Kurt's adoption papers in the hands of one of the lawyers from the firm where Santana was working during law school. After that, they'd decided, they'd let everyone come over. Until then though, until she truly was legally Kurt's, he needed it to just be them.

"Hello," Blaine said into the phone but only silence followed. Kurt caught his father's eye who was carefully watching Blaine and Kurt knew immediately something was wrong. Just as he came around from the kitchen though, Blaine hung up without a word and got up, silently asking Carole for his daughter.

"Who was that?" Kurt asked, drying his hands on a paper towel as Blaine took Serena in his arms.

"No one," Blaine said, his voice clipped, clearly holding back a tidal wave of emotion. "Wrong number." But as if turning on a dime, he cooed at Serena, nuzzling his nose to hers. Kurt watched him pull her in close, protectively.

Kurt said nothing before picking up the phone and checking the caller ID. Gregory Anderson. And Kurt's blue eyes hardened.

"Give Serena back to Carole," Kurt ordered gently.

Blaine's voice was as a small as child's when he answered, "No."

"Sweetheart," Kurt said, walking carefully so as not to startle. He didn't know if Blaine had fallen or how far, but Kurt didn't need his father's worried expression to tell him that Blaine's submission was swirling out of control. He placed a soft hand on the small of Blaine's back and rubbed a small but firm circle. "You need to give the baby to me or to Carole."

"No," Blaine refused again, a little more forcefully.

Kurt closed his eyes for a moment before looking back up. "Dad, do you think you and Carole can go out and get us some more diapers and wipes? I'm sure we'll be through the ones we have in no time."

"Yeah Kurt, sure," Burt said, understanding as well as trusting, and he and Carole quickly gathered their things and headed out of the apartment.

As soon as the door was closed, Kurt turned back to Blaine, eyes blazing. "Sit down," he demanded. His arms were crossed and his tone was one that could not be disobeyed and Blaine curled up with the baby on the sofa. But as soon as Blaine was settled and he knew that Serena was safe in Blaine's arms, Kurt knelt on the floor beneath him, resting his palms on Blaine's legs. "What did your father say?" Kurt asked softly.

Blaine's eyes were distant. His voice was rough. But he answered. "He wants to see her. His granddaughter." Blaine's hazel eyes, clouded with submission, finally flickered up and met Kurt's. "I'm sorry I lied."

Kurt knew he still wasn't telling the whole truth but he just bit his lip and gave a brief shake of his head. "You disobeyed me as well, but those are both things we can deal with later, if you need to. For now I just want to make sure you're okay." Blaine didn't say anything and Kurt squeezed his leg. "Are you okay?"

"There was a small part of me that wanted this I think," Blaine admitted as if it was something in and of itself that deserved punishment. "Like, I knew that if I had Santana's baby, he'd want me back." Blaine looked down at him, the sadness and the sense of abandonment so clear on his face. "Why would I hope for that? Why would I care Kurt?"

"Oh sweetheart." Kurt got up and nudged Blaine over so he could sit against the arm of the sofa, and he let Blaine lean back into him. Serena let out a tiny whimper, sleeping peacefully curled up on Blaine's chest. "Look at her," he whispered, touching a fingertip to her feathery soft curls. "That's exactly how we should we feel with our fathers. That there is no safer place than curled up in their arms. And there is no shame in wanting to feel that, whether we're 4 days old or 25 years old."

"When I heard his voice I just froze," Blaine said. "It was exactly what I wanted but I froze because…" This time Kurt could feel it. The coldness of Blaine's submission lashing out, searching for what it deserved. Kurt just wasn't quite sure what that was.

"Because why?"

Kurt had to strain to hear. But the words were loud and clear. "Because what if she was just a manipulation?"

The very idea twisted angrily in Kurt's stomach. "Okay," Kurt said firmly, nudging Blaine up so he could get out from underneath him. "Give her to me, I'm going to put her down. And I want you standing in the corner when I come back."

Blaine placed Serena obediently in Kurt's arms and Kurt went to their room and laid her gently in the bassinet. And then he gripped the headboard of their bed, his head spinning with the force of Blaine's words. He knew it wasn't true. He knew that what Blaine believed he had done wasn't true. It was his submission talking, it was his father's dominance getting into his head, and yet…

He knew what Blaine felt he needed and for a moment he almost called Santana. But Santana had just had a baby, was in no condition to deal with Blaine like this and Kurt wasn't sure he wanted to allow Blaine that out anyway even if he could have.

He stepped out of the bedroom having no clue what he was going to do, he just knew that he couldn't leave Blaine alone where he was for long. He crossed the room to where Blaine stood as he was told and set a gentle hand on Blaine's tension-filled shoulder. "Turn around," he ordered. Blaine slowly turned, his head bowed. His submission, his ice cold submission, sending shivers down Kurt's spine but he ignored it, wrapping his warmth around Blaine. "Look me in the eye," Kurt demanded and Blaine obeyed. "Tell me that you had Serena to manipulate your father into accepting you." Blaine just stood there, staring at him, his mouth not working. Kurt could see the pulse in his neck beating furiously. This time his voice was full of command, though inside he was shaking. "Tell me that you had Serena to manipulate your father into accepting you!" Blaine started to cry. He shook his head and he let it fall to stare at the ground. "You can't say it Blaine, because it's not true." He reached a hand out to Blaine's chin and lifted it firmly. "It's not true. You did not have her to manipulate him."

"But I-" Blaine whispered.

"Hoping and manipulating are not the same thing," Kurt admonished and he knew he was frustrated and for a moment he wished he was a real Dom because this wasn't Blaine, this was submissive hormones and fatherhood and exhaustion and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that what Blaine needed was dominance, the dominance the sub had heard on the other end of the phone, whatever his father had said to him, the dominance that Santana would give him with the swing of the strap. But he wasn't Santana. And he wasn't a real Dom.

He didn't know what to do. Blaine was lost and for the first time in a very long time, Kurt didn't know what to do.

So he stopped trying to be someone he wasn't. He took Blaine's hand and he led him to the bedroom. He brought Blaine beside their daughter's bassinet. She was pure innocence, her face scrunched, her arms raised above her head where it peeked out from the blanket Kurt had carefully placed up to her waist.

"What do you see?" Kurt whispered.

Blaine was quiet as he looked at her. Kurt almost gave up, but then Blaine answered. "My heart."

Blaine turned to his husband and fell into his arms. Kurt felt the chill subside and he lifted Blaine's chin to kiss away his every worry. "It's okay, to want what you want. It's okay to hope she bridges the gap. If you want to let your father back into your life I will always support you. But I don't want to lose you to the hope."

"You won't Kurt," Blaine said shaking his head. Kurt could see his eyes brightening again to their perfect gold. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, no sorries," Kurt told him. "We've got 18 years to figure this out. I think we're doing pretty good for the first four days, don't you?"

Blaine laughed, then hid his face in Kurt's shoulder so as not to wake Serena. "Yeah," he said. "I guess we are."

"Blaine!" Kurt yelled. His voice was frantic, high pitched and Blaine's heart dropped in his chest. "Blaine, come here hurry up!"

"Kurt what's wrong?" Blaine panicked as he dropped the pieces to the bookcase he was putting together and ran over to the couch where Kurt had been feeding Serena. "Is she okay? Is she choking? Should I call 911?"

"Look at her," Kurt said and he was staring down at wonder as their baby girl stared back up at him. In the past five weeks brown eyes they thought would be Santana's had softened to Blaine's hazel and they blinked as her chest rose up and down.

"Kurt?" Blaine was looking but he had no idea what had Kurt so worked up.

"Blaine, she's looking at me. Like, really looking." Blaine went and sat down next to his husband and Kurt turned her so that she was resting gently against his pulled up knees. Blaine snapped his fingers and Serena turned and looked at him. She truly looked at him.

"Oh my…she is," Blaine said, his voice full of wonder. Up until now she'd had that clouded unfocused gaze all babies had, which Kurt had so kindly mentioned was exactly what Blaine looked like in subspace, but now her eyes were squarely on theirs. Focused and clear.

"Get the baby book," Kurt told him. "Write it down."

Blaine ran to Serena's room and pulled it out, the book where they'd been recording every beautiful little milestone. "What do I call it?" he asked.

"Call it…" Kurt paused a minute, looking at her, thinking. "Call it her awakening," he finally said. Blaine smiled and wrote it down: 5 weeks old – awakening."Blaine, it's like she's looking into my soul," Kurt said softly.

"Which means she's looking into heaven," he said, coming around the couch to hug Kurt from behind and watch their baby girl watch them.

"She's gonna see everything we do," Kurt said, his voice shaky.

Blaine pressed his lips to Kurt's temple. "Does that scare you?" he asked.

"It terrifies me."

Blaine let go and came around, sitting back down next to him. He curled his legs beneath him and faced his husband who was still holding Serena like she was the most fragile yet powerful creature in the world. "What she's going to see," Blaine told him, "is that you love, more than any other person in the world loves. And that you care, more than anyone else I've ever known cares. And that you believe in us, the three of us, more than anyone else ever will. She's going to see the man I adore with all my heart and she is going to adore you too. And she's going to see how very strong you are-"

Kurt lowered his head. "I'm not though. I'm not strong, not like-"

Blaine pressed a finger to Kurt's lips. "You're strong like you. You don't have to be strong like anybody else. Trust me, you are stronger than everybody else combined when you want to be."

"I just…I'm scared, you know?" Kurt looked up with him, eyes swirling with fear. "Of being a father, but also of being…what you need me to be…in front of her."

"It's like you said, we'll figure it out," Blaine promised. "Like every other couple figures it out. Trial and error. We'll make mistakes, we always do," Blaine laughed. "But I bet we get a whole lot right too. We love each other and we love her. No matter what."

"No matter what," Kurt agreed.

Blaine leaned in and rested his head on his husband's shoulder. "I promise, in the end, that's all that will matter."

It was very well established that most relationships had honeymoon periods. The first few weeks when you start dating, a few months after you're claimed, the year after you're married.

Blaine was wondering when the honeymoon period would begin for having a baby. Because so far he'd had nothing even closely resembling a honeymoon.

After the adoption was finalized, Kurt went back to work. They needed money coming in and the theater waited for no one. Blaine had more leeway. He could keep composing from home, especially with headphones attached to his keyboard to use while Serena was sleeping. He tried to make it into the studio to record on Kurt's days off, and they found out soon that their lives were becoming quick kisses and baby handoffs, fast meals and other needs not being met at all.

Serena was four months old when Blaine felt he might lose his mind if he went one more day. So he called Santana and he left Serena with her mother at the apartment to sneak out and surprise Kurt at rehearsal. He hoped he'd catch Kurt at just the right time, treat him to lunch and maybe a quickie in some unused dressing room. Hell at this point he would take a bathroom in the rehearsal studio, he just needed a few waking minutes with his husband. No, not with his husband, they'd managed that off and on. Blaine desperately needed time with his Dom. It had been far too long.

He nearly ran to the address of the rehearsal studio that Kurt had left him in case of emergency and climbed the stairs two by two. The old warehouse door creaked as he opened it to peek his head inside the rehearsal room, and those not performing shifted their gaze to the interruption. At the sight of his husband, Kurt flushed, whispered to the woman Blaine assumed to be the director, and rushed over to push Blaine out the door.

"Kurt-" Blaine started with a smile but Kurt was not smiling.

"Blaine is everything okay?" Kurt looked around the hall nervously. "What's wrong, where's the baby?"

"She's fine, she's home with Santana, I thought I could take you out to-"

"What is she doing with Santana?" Kurt demanded, his eyes narrowing. Accusing.

Blaine blinked, his breath stolen. This wasn't at all what he'd pictured in his mind when he'd rushed over there. "I asked her to watch her," he said hesitantly. "I was hoping-"

"This is my job Blaine, I'm in the middle of rehearsal, and I told you visitors weren't allowed," Kurt snapped. He crossed his arms, and his glare left no room for refusal. "Go home and take care of our daughter. That's your job, not Santana's. And I'm going to be late tonight so don't wait up."

Blaine watched Kurt turn around and head back in. He tried not to be mad. Kurt was working hard, he was getting up with the baby in the middle of the night, Blaine knew his abruptness was due to exhaustion. Still it didn't make Kurt's anger hurt less and it didn't lessen the disappointment. Or the gnawing ache in the pit of his stomach.

He went home and sent Santana on her way before he did something he'd regret. He wrote some music, fed the baby, played with the baby, napped with the baby, fed her again, wrote some more and then finally put her down for the night. With any luck, she'd sleep through the night.

Blaine didn't wait up. He went to bed exhausted, but it was hard to sleep and with his back to the door he opened his eyes to the clock when Kurt came tiptoeing in at midnight.

He felt Kurt's hand on his shoulder and he turned over, reaching a hand out, finding Kurt's cock through his pajama pants. "Please, may I-"

"Not tonight Blaine," Kurt whispered and he gently moved Blaine's hand away. Disappointment surging, Blaine rolled back over. Kurt placed a hand on his hip and it wasn't at all what Blaine needed but it was enough to fall asleep.

The baby woke them both at 6am, screaming her high-pitched hunger scream. Kurt sat up and started to slide out of bed but Blaine grabbed his hand. "You sleep in Kurt, let me get her."

"No, it's okay, you spend all day with her," Kurt said gently. "Sleep and I'll get to cuddle her for a bit."

Kurt put on his robe and his slippers and the door opened and closed and Blaine lay there, wide awake, staring at the dark ceiling.

He heard the fridge and the water in the sink and Serena screaming as she waited for the milk to warm up. Finally she quieted and he could hear Kurt softly singing to her, rocking back and forth in the chair that had been added to the living room décor.

Blaine couldn't just stay in bed though. His skin was prickling and his nerves were racing through his body and there had been times taking care of her in the last few days and even weeks that he felt he couldn't breathe. So as soon as the sun came up he got up as well, pulling on sweats and a t-shirt and making his way out to the living room.

"Do you want a blanket?" Blaine asked, lifting the quilt off the sofa.

"No thanks," Kurt answered and Blaine put it back.

"Can I get you anything?" he asked hopefully as he moved to the kitchen.

"No, I'm fine Blaine, don't worry."

With a sigh Blaine started to pull the pans and the mixing bowls and everything he needed to begin a batch of gourmet pancakes. Kurt looked over at him from the chair, the baby far more awake than she should be that early in the morning. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm gonna make you breakfast," Blaine said, with a hopeful smile.

"Blaine, you don't need to do that," Kurt said.

Blaine tried again. "It's no big deal Kurt, it'll just take a few minutes."

"You should go back to sleep and get some rest while you-"

Blaine slammed the metal spoon and the spatula down on the counter. "For god's sake Kurt, let me do something for you!"

Kurt froze for just a second before Serena startled from the noise and started crying. Blaine lowered his head, his hands gripping the countertop, tears coming to his eyes. Kurt took Serena to her room, managed to settle her down in her crib and then returned, finding Blaine in exactly the same position.

Eyes closed, hands shaking, Blaine felt Kurt's hand softly on his back. "How long has it been?" Kurt asked gently.

"Ten days," Blaine whispered.

"I'm sorry, I hadn't…" Kurt said, but he didn't need to finish his sentence, Blaine knew he hadn't realized. Going without submission and dominance was a relief to Kurt, not a curse, and it made sense that the time would pass for him unnoticed. "Did you ask Santana? Is that why she was here yesterday?"

Blaine shook his head. "I don't need Santana, I need you, Kurt."

"Sir," Kurt corrected, his voice hushed but firm.

Blaine shuddered beneath Kurt's hand and he felt the knot in his stomach stir with the possibility of permission to unravel. "I need you, Sir."

Kurt walked away but this time when he did Blaine could almost feel the dominance pouring off of him and he breathed it in like oxygen. "I'm going to call Rachel and have her and Jesse come take Serena until dinner."

Blaine looked up, his lips pursed, Kurt's words tugging at a doubt in the back of his mind. He knew he probably shouldn't ask, but he couldn't stop himself. "If I had left Serena with Rachel yesterday would it have been different?" Kurt froze, but he didn't turn or say anything and Blaine came around the counter, pressing. "Instead of Santana? Would it have been different?"

"We're not going to have this conversation right now," Kurt said flatly.

"Would it have been different Kurt?" Blaine persisted.

Kurt slowly walked over to him and raised Blaine's chin with one finger. "I told you guests were not allowed at rehearsal. Your disobedience was unacceptable. No matter who you left Serena with."

Blaine looked in his eyes. He knew it wasn't the whole truth. But he had to choose the battle he wanted right now, and submission was the one he needed. The other could wait. He lowered his eyes. "Yes sir. I'm sorry sir."

"Go finish making breakfast."

"Yes sir."

Blaine did as he was told, and continued the pancakes he'd started. He heard Kurt call Rachel and knew she was sending Jesse over to get Serena. Kurt went to their room and threw on some clothes, then went to her room and quietly packed her a bag before coming back out to wait. The batter sizzled in the pan and Blaine cooked under the scrutiny of his Dom standing silently against the opposite wall, arms folded, appraising him. Blaine's submission hummed, though it struggled to focus with the unanswered question he couldn't set aside.

A text came into Kurt's phone and he put Serena in her carseat and the carseat on the stroller. When Jesse knocked on the door, Kurt slung her bag over his shoulder and, without a word to Blaine, pushed Serena out the door, walking her down to the street with Jesse.

Blaine hated the tension floating in the air, tension that came not from the punishment and dominance he so desperately craved, but this thing that had been hanging over them since they'd left the hospital with their daughter. It had come on so gradually he wasn't even sure when he'd begun to notice it but now it was this giant elephant in the room that Kurt refused to address. And it was affecting them even more than the time apart was. Or perhaps it was the cause of much of their time apart. Blaine didn't know.

The pancakes done, he brought them to the table, got the syrup and the butter and two mugs of piping hot coffee and set them down just as Kurt came back in the door alone. They ate in silence, but building inside Blaine was more resentment than submission and he realized he'd been wrong, the other couldn't wait if he was going to truly be able to submit to Kurt as his body desperately needed. Kurt must have realized it too because staring at his plate, he got the words out first.

"I hate that I have to share the two people I love most in the world with her," Kurt admitted quietly. He looked up at Blaine, shame-filled tears in his eyes. "Is it wrong that I want you both to myself?"

"Kurt," Blaine said, reaching a hand out to hold his husband's. "You have us. We are yours Kurt, Serena and I."

"Not entirely," Kurt said, shaking his head. "Not first."

Blaine lowered his eyes. He didn't know what to say. Kurt was right. But he'd gone into this with his eyes wide open. Still, no one knew how they'd feel about being a father until they were one.

"That's why you don't want Santana with our daughter?"

"Whose daughter?" Kurt posed, his voice raspy with a harshness that held every insecurity in its grasp.

Blaine was taken aback by it though. They'd talked about it so many times before she'd been born. "Our daughter Kurt. Yours and mine. Santana's her biological mother but we're her parents."

"And you're my husband but she's your Dom," Kurt pointed out.

"I am yours," Blaine argued, his own frustration growing. "Anything you want, anytime you want me. I obey you, I serve you. You're my Dom. And you're the one who would safeword out of it Kurt, not me," he snapped. Blaine saw Kurt's free hand curl into a fist at Blaine's biting words and he sighed. "Ten days is too long for you too. You may not need it, but you miss it, just as much as I do."

Kurt looked up at him and Blaine let his submission go, wrapping around him. And Blaine could visibly see that in the warmth of it, Kurt's hand relaxed and the tension in his shoulders subsided.

"Talk to her Kurt," Blaine said softly. "Promise me you'll talk to her. You'll see that all she wants for Serena is her fathers to care for her." Kurt looked into his eyes and nodded his promise. With that resolved, Blaine then bowed his head. "And all I want is for you to care for me."

His eyes on the table, Blaine couldn't see the transformation as Kurt's eyes grew hard and his mouth grew firm. But he felt it, the tight squeeze of his submission before Kurt walked away, taking his plate to the sink behind him. Leaving him sitting there. Alone and in silence. For what felt like eternity.

In the months before Serena was born, they'd gone over their contract, adjusting things prior to this new phase of life. They were a little surprised at the limits that had moved, things Kurt had become more confident about, and with that, things that Blaine had always wanted as much as he feared. Memories of Artie and Kitty's claiming and sitting at the coffee shop the day after the party and the things he'd wanted at the club had swirled in his mind. It had taken time for Blaine to fully realize how much humiliation tied in with denial, and how much his submission craved it. Kurt had hesitated, but agreed to write it as a soft limit in their contract.

With Kurt standing behind him now, appraising him, Blaine shuddered with desire for it.

Finally, Kurt's voice seemed to boom in his head. "You knew you shouldn't have come to the theater yesterday. You knew it wasn't allowed."

Blaine's heart jumped in his chest and began to race. His skin flushed. "Yes sir."

"Did you come to manipulate me?"

Blaine's eyes widened though he didn't turn, the words striking fear in his heart and he shook his head wildly. "No sir, no. I came to see you. I missed you. I knew I was disobeying but I hoped…I wasn't manipulating. Not how you mean, I promise."

Blaine could feel Kurt's eyes on him, contemplating. Deciding. Making him wait. The seconds ticked by. Blaine's nerves grew. He didn't think he could handle it if Kurt believed it was a manipulation and denied him submission after all this time.

"I want you to go shower. From the time the water goes on you have five minutes. You will wash thoroughly. When you come out you will not dry, you will immediately take your place in the corner of the living room. You will place your hands flat on your thighs. You will not touch yourself. You will not move."

The dominance of the orders rushed over Blaine and he could not question, he could only obey. Time was difficult to keep track of while his submission swirled so he washed as quickly as he could, not wanting to go over. When he opened the bathroom door, wet and naked, his skin immediately shivered from the chill and he was sure that Kurt had opened the window to let in the brisk air while he'd been inside. There was a towel folded neatly on the floor in his corner and Blaine stepped onto it. Standing up straight while his body shivered was difficult, but he forced himself. He felt Kurt watching silently for some time before the door behind him closed, the shower went on, and Blaine spent the next 30 minutes, his hands inches from his denied and cold cock, frozen figuratively and nearly literally, watching the water drip from his skin and from his curls onto the Egyptian cotton below. And he fell carefully over the edge.

He didn't hear the water stop, or the sounds of Kurt dressing in the bedroom. He didn't even hear Kurt come up behind him. But he felt Kurt's love wrap around him just for a moment and pull him out.

"Turn around."

Blaine had finally started to warm up but Kurt's harsh tone put the chill right back in the air and Blaine turned, fighting the urge to hug himself warm or sink to his knees. One sight of Kurt though and he forgot everything else. It amazed him that after all this time Kurt could still take his breath away, but in his turquoise button down, tan jacket and kenzo jeans, his husband, his Dom, was absolutely gorgeous in his severity.

"Ten days you've denied me the pleasure of your submission," Kurt said, turning the accountability back on the sub, and Blaine was certain the floor fell out from underneath him before he wrapped his submission around Kurt to steady himself. Kurt just waited. He didn't come to his aid at all, he simply watched Blaine struggle with a haughty air. "I thought you were a better sub than that. And it's really been more than ten days, hasn't it? You're giving yourself credit for tiny little things that could have just as well been accidental, aren't you. It's been far more than that since you've truly submitted to me. It's shameful really. Isn't it?" Blaine nodded, his heart skipping a beat as his skin grew hot with the humiliation Kurt seemed intent on testing today. "That will not be easy to make up for in one day, will it?"

"No sir," Blaine whispered, his cheeks flushing with shame and excitement. "I'm sorry sir."

Kurt walked around him, being sure to brush his clothes against Blaine's bare skin before pulling him back against his body. He ran his long thin fingers over Blaine's chest and down, until he wrapped his fist around Blaine's now achingly hard cock. "I'll tell you what," Kurt said hotly into his ear, slowly stroking his hand up and down Blaine's length. Blaine swallowed hard and bit his lip. "I'll take the blame for half those days. You'll only owe me five. Isn't that kind of me?"

"Yes Sir," Blaine uttered on shaking breath. "Thank you Sir."

Kurt firmed up his grip. "Tell me when you're close," he ordered.

Blaine closed his eyes. It had been so long and he didn't know how long it would be after today and he just wanted to savor it, savor the feel of Kurt's hand controlling him, testing him, bringing him to the very edge of his restraint. Kurt was right, it had been ten days since the last time he'd had the opportunity to submit to Kurt in even the smallest of ways, he honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd had this. The sudden fierceness of Kurt's dominance was intoxicating. His head spun with it. His submission swirled powerfully from it. Kurt must have felt it, yet he didn't latch on. He left Blaine free to fall, if he was too weak to control himself.

"You want this so badly," Kurt hissed in his ear, twisting his wrist, thumbing over his head. "You want me to make you come so hard don't you?"

"God yes." Blaine held his breath, knowing he should stop, knowing that he needed Kurt to stop but not wanting him to.

"You want it so bad you're willing to defy me, aren't you? Willing to disobey?"

"No sir, no." Blaine felt his stomach coil and his balls draw up and his hold on his submission slip. The sweat glistened on his brow. He knew he should beg for relief. But he didn't.

"You're so desperate to see what your punishment would be, you're willing to come without permission, aren't you?

Kurt's words took hold in Blaine's stomach and twisted as surely as Kurt's hand did on his cock. Up and down, Kurt's fingers stroked. Blaine could feel every line, every curve. Pre-come pooled onto Kurt's skin and yet he still didn't ask to stop. He held on. He didn't need to wait to find out what his punishment would be because this was it. "I won't," Blaine sputtered, breathless. His eyes were closed. His head was back resting on Kurt's shoulder and it was only the nearness to Kurt's ear that allowed his Dom to hear his promise.

"Oh Blaine," Kurt sighed with exaggerated disappointment and shook his head. "Falling to escape the humiliation of your failure. Knowing you weren't good enough for me. I thought your submission was stronger than that. I thought my sub was stronger than that."

Blaine's everything flooded with Kurt's ownership. "Now, Kurt, stop, please," Blaine begged, panting as Kurt's hand immediately disappeared. The orgasm that had been right there, so close he still shuddered with it, was cut short just in time. Tears streamed down his cheeks, the pain and the beauty of it overwhelming him.

Kurt hugged him close, latching on now, trapping him on this side of subspace, as Blaine breathed his way through the edging. When Kurt finally felt Blaine's body relax in his arms, he kissed him softly on the cheek and let his love soothe him, just for a moment. "Five days of submission you owe me today," Kurt reminded him, pressing his cock into Blaine's ass. "That was one."

~2~3~

"Come on Blaine, I want to hear what you've been working on while I've been at rehearsal."

It should have been an easy task. There was nothing Blaine enjoyed more than singing for Kurt. But as soon as he'd recovered from the edging, Kurt had laid him out on the bed and hovered over him, fucking his mouth until Blaine's throat was raw. Blaine's cock had throbbed with Kurt's release, but the taste of him on his tongue had soothed the burn. That had been number two. Now this was number three.

Sometimes Blaine hated how much Kurt enjoyed counting.

"Don't make me ask you again," Kurt warned, his voice growing darker quickly.

Blaine sat at the piano, naked and desperate with his cock hard and leaking within his husband's ever teasing hand. He'd been working on a song, possibly for Mercedes or maybe for his own musical he was sort of writing. It was difficult to get his brain to remember the notes or the words but Kurt's hand on his cock tightened in warning and somehow the music came back to him.

Have you ever felt like you woke up on the wrong side of your heart
Has it ever felt like it's broken – like the world tore it apart?
Have you felt so weak you could hardly stand
Like if you ever fell you could never tell if you'd ever get back up again?

Kurt's hand relaxed as he fell into the words, forgetting for a minute his immediate goal, his eyes solely on his husband as he sang. Blaine was gorgeous like this, his eyes closed, his lips red, his cheeks flushed and the music of his heart, so incredibly beautiful. Beautiful and honest, like telling the story of his own life. Their own life. Their beginning. And now, here they were.

It's difficult to try to stay awake when you walk a tired path
And there are moments when it's easier to take the road that leads you back
I'm not the first to say it, and I won't be the last but I want to remind you
I'm there, it's time to hold on, You're stronger than that

Blaine turned and looked at him, tears in his eyes. Nine months of books of how to feed and bathe and diaper and sleep but the books they'd read had forgotten to teach them how to be and how to remember who they were and what they needed from each other. And Kurt had forgotten. He hadn't just been giving Blaine a way out when he took half the blame. He'd been tired and he'd taken the easier road, the road where he'd forgotten the promises he'd made to Blaine, the words he'd signed in their contract.

But when it gets too tough to find my way home
And I'm stupid enough to try to find it alone
When it feels like there is nothing I can do but give up
I look up and thank God I have you to tell me

I know it's hard to do
But I think you can make it
'cause I know you can take it

Kurt couldn't forget again. Because this is what everyone had thought would happen. Even after all these years of proving themselves, there were still those who told them that this would be their downfall. That a Gray couldn't be a father and keep pretending to be a Dom at the same time. But they didn't understand what Kurt and Blaine both knew. Kurt had stopped pretending years ago. He was the Dom of Blaine's heart, no matter what anyone else said.

Yeah baby we will rise
We are young, we are the dreamers we will fly
When the world will not believe us we will rise above the ashes
Before this whole life passes us by
You and I, we will rise

Blaine took his hands from the keys. Kurt leaned in and kissed him, with a gentle power that made Blaine's heart flip and his submission swirl.

"You are the most incredible person I have ever in my life met," Kurt whispered. "And I will never understand why the world gave you to me. But I am so incredibly grateful that it did."

"I love you," Blaine said, his eyes dipping.

"I love you too," Kurt said and his grip on Blaine's thigh stiffened. "And after you make us lunch I am going to fuck you until you are crying because you just can't hold back any more. And then I am going to fuck you even more. Will you need something to help you obey me or can you hold it on your own?"

"No sir," Blaine said, his eyes flicking up in brief and desperate terror. "No sir, I can take it. I can be good for you, I swear."

"I know you can," Kurt said, kissing him once more. "You're stronger than that."

~4~5~

"Kurt, god, sir, please," Blaine begged as prettily as Kurt had thought he would. But he just ignored the sub and continued his assault, his mind-blowing, body-aching assault. Over the years he'd come to find that when the goal was torturing Blaine to his beautiful breaking point, he really didn't mind denying himself too much anymore. "Kurt, I need to come, for fuck sake please."

It had been so long that even Kurt had lost track of the time. The only thing he was focused on was how much Blaine needed this, how neglected he had let his husband feel since Serena's birth. Dominance was something he had to constantly remind himself was a necessity in Blaine's life. Allowing it to fall by the wayside was so easy for him, a relief at times. Maybe the denial was just a little bit of punishing himself too.

Kurt decided to give Blaine a little relief and he grasped Blaine's cock in his hand. It throbbed in his fingers, begged as if it had its own mind. One tiny pull and Blaine threw back his head and literally growled at the ceiling, not wanting to accidentally prolong the torture by any use of a word of which Kurt might not approve. "Tell me what I have to do," Blaine begged. "Tell me. God Kurt, sir, I will do anything, please."

"You will not disobey me again," Kurt started ticking off his demands.

"No sir, I swear," Blaine said, empty promises, but they both knew that.

"You will be honest with me. Tell me when I've lost track of what you need. I will try my hardest, but you also cannot let me forget," Kurt told him.

"Definitely, I'll tell you, I promise. This crept up on me, I didn't meant to let it get this bad." Blaine swallowed hard, his chest stopped rising for a minute as he held his breath with a sudden surge before letting it go in short bursts. "What else? Please Kurt, I can't hold on much longer."

"You will respect my feelings when it comes to our daughter, and you know what I'm talking about," Kurt said.

Blaine did know. Blaine knew and he knew that Kurt was wrong and that Kurt had promised. "I will but… you also respect my feelings and…you promised you would talk to her," he managed to stutter out.

"Yes I did," Kurt agreed. "I promised because I love you."

"I love you too Kurt, so fucking much, please."

Kurt angled himself perfectly, knowing his husband's body even better than his own and as he hit Blaine's prostate he came inside him. Grunting with the force of it, he pressed his body against Blaine, trapping Blaine's hard and overworked cock between them.

"That was four," Kurt announced, still breathless.

"Now Kurt, please, let me now, please," Blaine begged.

Kurt got his breath back and he leaned up on his elbows. Blaine prayed for mercy, but Kurt's eyes were still dark with control. "You will not come."

The words, the look. Blaine's orgasm hovered so close he breathed through the coil in his belly and the desperation in his balls and the throbbing of his cock as Kurt continued to stroke it, edging him, he was certain, better than Jesse had ever taught him. Tears rolled down Blaine's cheeks. "I'll obey you sir. If you say I have to wait I'll detest it with every fiber of my being but I will obey you."

"Will you?" Kurt asked. And he pushed three fingers roughly inside Blaine.

Blaine screamed. He could barely breathe. If Kurt hadn't been holding him he would have plummeted into subspace. Kurt though did not relent, in fact he hit Blaine's prostate with practiced perfection.

Blaine wasn't sure anymore that obedience was in his power. "Please, sir, I'm gonna-" Blaine pleaded.

"No," Kurt said firmly, but he did not ease the pressure at all.

"Then please stop," he said gasping.

"No."

"God Kurt, what do you want?" Blaine sobbed, his tears intermingling with the sweat of his restraint.

Kurt's fingers went still. And when Blaine finally managed to look up at him, blue eyes stared back, full of challenge as his lips curled up in a smile. "Who's going to safeword out now?" Kurt asked smugly.

And Blaine understood. Kurt wanted Blaine to fail. Kurt needed Blaine to fail. For a moment a memory of Kurt, so scared to dominate, flashed in his mind and now the Gray was pushing him harder than he'd ever pushed before. Whether to prove his strength or to fulfill one of Blaine's most hidden desires he wasn't sure but it didn't matter. Kurt was going to force him to come without permission. Blaine's only choice was to eat his words and safeword out of it, or take his punishment.

In that moment, Blaine was in both heaven and hell. And it was perfect.

He was brought back to reality by another thrust that took his breath away. "I'm waiting for an answer Blaine," Kurt said.

"What's my punishment?" Blaine asked desperately between breaths. "For coming…"

"I don't think you need to know that," Kurt told him.

"Please Kurt," he begged. "I need to know if you'll deny my submission." It was the only punishment that brought him no pleasure, no sense of accomplishment, no sense of belonging. "Please."

At the question, Kurt finally showed some mercy, and his eyes softened. "No sweetheart. I won't deny your submission. Not for this."

Blaine nodded, took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I won't safeword," he whispered.

Kurt nodded. "You will not come."

Blaine let himself fall, not into subspace but into Kurt; into his hand and his skin and his breath and the beating of his heart. He let himself drown in the humiliation of his failure, of knowing that for the first time, Kurt's dominance was stronger than his submission. He let the emotions that were swirling in his head and his heart rush through his veins until there was nothing else he could do but let it out. And with one last brush of Kurt's fingers inside him and one final stroke of Kurt's hand on his cock, everything he felt coiled inside him and his body could do nothing but shudder, his voice could do nothing but repeat Kurt's name, and he could not stop the orgasm that burst through his obedience and his submission and his pride, shattering him and putting him back together at the same time.

Blaine didn't know how long he was out, but when he finally blinked his eyes open, Kurt was leaning down over him, breath hot in Blaine's ear. "That was five."

Blaine couldn't speak, he couldn't move, he just lay there as Kurt cleaned him up, laid down next to him with his head on Blaine's chest and tickled his fingertips back and forth against Blaine's skin. There was nothing but silence as Blaine's thoughts came back to him, until he quietly asked, "What's my punishment?"

"A week," Kurt told him. "One week, you will not be allowed to come. You will not even touch yourself unless I allow it. No exceptions. And whether I am here with you, or at work, or you are at the studio, you will remember that you are submitting to your Dom every waking moment. You belong to me every moment. That belongs to me completely."

Blaine shivered in Kurt's arms, humming out a nearly unrecognizable, "I love you," before falling asleep.

As soon as he knew his husband was out, Kurt sat up slowly. He took a deep breath in, then let it out, all the fear and relief going with it. He hadn't been sure if he was pushing too far, if he would make everything worse rather than better, but as he had been doing fairly successfully for the past four years, he had trusted himself, trusted Blaine and followed his instincts. He was always surprised how amazing it felt and he couldn't help but smile with pride.

He reached over to the alarm, setting it so they would wake in time to get Serena for dinner, and then laid back down. He put his hands on Blaine's heart, beating contentedly beneath his hand, and more relaxed than he'd been in a long time, quickly falling asleep in the arms of his love.

Blaine was at the studio. Kurt was home with Serena fulfilling the promise he'd made to his husband. He'd wanted to get dressed up, look his best, look as dominating as possible. But instead his daughter had spit up on his vest and had drooled on his shirt and he wouldn't at all be surprised if she decided to explode through her diaper in the 10 seconds between Santana knocking on the door and Kurt calling, "Come in."

Santana, of course, looked as amazing as always in a tight Clover Canyon floral dress and leather jacket. He wouldn't have been surprised if she'd spent her day in the courtroom. Kurt had spent his day sitting on the floor surrounded by toys that shook, rattled and rolled.

She could have come in with a million wise-cracks, but instead she hung up her jacket, put down her purse and asked, "Do you need anything? Water? A minute to pee?"

Kurt didn't even realize it until she'd said it. "Peeing would be wonderful," he said with a sigh and as soon as Santana scooped Serena up he raced to the bathroom.

When he was done he took a minute to straighten himself out, change his shirt and fix his hair. Some part of his brain believed that it would make a difference in whether his daughter chose him over her mother even though the rest of him knew that those thoughts made absolutely no sense. Still, he understood, they all understood, that his insecurities made perfect sense. Realistic or not.

Kurt stepped outside the bedroom door, leaning against the wall. Santana's back was to him and he watched her, on the floor despite her designer pencil skirt, bouncing Serena up and down, cooing while the baby laughed. "You're good with her," he said quietly and she turned with a smile.

"You're better with him than I ever was," she said, knowing the thoughts stirring in Kurt's head after so many years. "I'm certain you're better with her too."

Kurt lowered his head and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "But they were both yours first. It was your choice to give them to me."

She shook her head. "I held them for you in keeping. Both of them. But they never belonged to me. They always belonged with you." She got up, leaving Serena happily on her back with a rattle in her hand. She went to her bag and pulled out a square wrapped present. "Don't be mad at him," she said as she brought it over. "It was my idea."

Kurt looked at her with curiosity and he took the gift from her. When he opened it up and realized what it was, his eyes welled up. "When did it come?" he asked.

They'd been waiting for the birth certificate since Santana's surrender documents and the paperwork for Kurt's second-parent adoption were filed in court the week after Serena went home. "Two days ago," Santana admitted. "The mail came right before he went to see you. I asked if I could take it to have it framed. Blaine was worried you'd be mad he let me see it first. But I thought it was important that I give it to you."

Kurt looked at it all. But there were three things that stood out.

Child: Serena Fae Hummel

Parent: Blaine Devon Anderson-Hummel

Parent: Kurt Elizabeth Hummel

He looked up at her. "Thank you," Kurt said softly.

She gave him a hug and then took his hand, leading him to the couch. "I feel like she was the last big thing I could give to Blaine. But I also felt like she was something I could give to you. To thank you, for being everything that I couldn't be for Blaine. For being everything Blaine needs. And even if you think you're not yet," she said quickly before he could protest, "you will be. I have complete faith in that."

"It means a lot to me that you do. And I'm sorry. For being scared of having you involved in her life. I just…I love them so much and there's this part of me that feels that you're always going to have that ability to take them away from me."

"I'm going to tell you a secret," Santana said as she took his hand. "And I'm not going to tell you not to tell Blaine because he's your husband and your sub and it's not my place to tell you not to share. But you need to know. If I raise a child, and that's a big if, I would want it to be with Brittany, not Blaine. I did this for him, Kurt, and you. I didn't do it for me."

"But you still love her," Kurt said, worrying slightly now. "Serena?"

Santana opened her eyes wide. "Oh yes, I still love her," she assured him. "Like any aunt loves their niece. Even though we agreed she'd call me mom so it always makes sense to her, aunt is still how I think of myself. You and Blaine are her parents. I'm not. Okay?"

Kurt didn't want to be sappy, but in that moment he had never loved and appreciated Santana more. "Okay," he said and he wrapped her in his arms, and without even a thought he let his heart wrap around her as well.

"Oh!" He felt her tense, just for a moment, and then she relaxed into it a minute, before pulling back. "That's…" He watched her eyes as she tried to figure out the right words for it, to describe what she felt. But she couldn't find them. So instead she put her hand on his heart, where she knew it had come from, and she looked up at him. "Blaine and Serena are so lucky to have you."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kurt asked a very jittery Blaine. His fingers were shaking so much he couldn't even get his bowtie straight. Kurt pushed his hands away and took over as Blaine looked sheepishly up at him. "We can still take it back. You don't have to let him come, this is entirely your choice."

"It's Serena's first birthday," Blaine reasoned, shaking his head. "I don't want her looking back at pictures years from now asking why all her grandparents weren't there."

Kurt looked down at him. Blaine's face was scared but determined and Kurt's face filled with pride. Pride and responsibility. "Okay. Just tell me what you need from me," he said.

Blaine knew exactly what he needed, Kurt could see it on his face. And he watched as Blaine's resolve outweighed his anxiety at asking for it. "I need you to be the strongest Dom in the room," he said firmly.

Kurt's hands dropped reflexively to his side and his eyes dropped to the floor. Santana would be there. Rachel, Mercedes, Santana's mother, Blaine's father, Burt…

He had no idea as a Gray how to be the strongest Dom in the room. He only knew he had to try. "What does that mean?" Kurt asked carefully. "To you."

But Blaine just shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know," he admitted. "But I trust you," he said, peering up at Kurt with those eyes that said he thought Kurt could move mountains if he wanted to.

"Okay," Kurt smiled, burying his own fear. "Let's go then."

~ Happy 1st Birthday Serena ~

Rachel had somehow managed to secure the adorable theater she and Jesse were currently working at for the party. Brittany and Santana had put up the decorations while the fathers had fretted at home dressing their little girl in the most adorable of outfits. It had practically been a fashion show, trying on dress after dress, but eventually Blaine put a stop to Kurt's constant changing of his mind and they settled on a lilac tulle dress with gold ribbon and trim.

Blaine, Kurt and Serena were to make a fashionably late entrance after all the guests had arrived, and they were right on time. Serena gasped when she entered the room and started running around in circles on the stage floor. Kurt and Blaine just laughed and let her go. She knew everyone in the room; Burt and Carole, Santana and Britt, Rachel and Jesse, Santana's parents, Mercedes and Sam and some other friends they had become close with over the years who had babies and toddlers on of their own. There was only one person invited that she wouldn't know and he hadn't arrived yet.

Blaine was wondering if maybe his Dad had changed his mind about them coming when he felt a soft slap on his back. "Blaine," Mr. Lopez said with a fond laugh. "It's good to see you, how are you guys hanging in there?"

Blaine grinned and shrugged. "Oh you know how it is. There are good days and bad days. But more good than bad."

Mr. Lopez held out a book to Blaine. "I hope this will help you have even more good days. I know it's not customary to get parents presents on their children's birthday, but personally I think it should be."

Blaine took the book and read the title. "Submitting to Fatherhood, the Submissive Man's Guide to Parenting by Jack Lopez." Blaine looked up at him with a lopsided smile. "Wow, Mr. Lopez, this is awesome, but um, is it gonna be awkward? You know. Knowing that you're talking about Santana?"

"I interview lots of men Blaine, it's not all about me and Santana. You're even in there a little bit," he said proudly. "After all, you're the closest thing we ever got to a son or a submissive child."

Blaine blushed and he held the book close. "Thank you."

"You're welcome Blaine. I know it's not easy, and I suspect it's harder for you and Kurt than most. It can be hard to be the one in charge when submission is in your blood." He looked over to Santana with a father's love. "But if you do it right, then she'll love and respect you as the father you are."

"Dada!" came a little voice from below.

Blaine couldn't help but laugh as he picked his daughter up and hugged her close. "Thanks Mr. Lopez. It means a lot."

Santana's father nodded and walked back to his Dom. Blaine peered down at Serena. "You gonna love and respect me as the father I am?" he asked.

"Dada!" she yelled again and he swung her around in a circle, catching his father's eye halfway around. Blaine stopped and put Serena down gently. Kurt was busy talking to Burt and Carole but Santana and Brittany were sitting down with some food. "Go over to Mommy," he said pointing. "Ask her for some yummies." He watched her run off without question.

"She's beautiful."

Blaine turned. It wasn't the first time he'd seen or talked to his father since that day in the hotel. It had been seven years. Even disowned sons don't disappear after they are disowned. There were family events, there were brief conversations when Kurt asked permission for his mother to visit. But this was the first time they'd seen each other since Serena was born, and it was the first time Gregory Anderson had seen anything but a photograph of his granddaughter.

"Thank you," Blaine said softly.

"Thank you for letting me see her." The conversation was stilted. Fraught, Blaine realized, with a power imbalance that had never existed between them. "It means a lot to me."

"I didn't do it for you," Blaine told him. "I did it for her. She should know who her grandparents are. All of them."

"Blaine," his father started, but then stopped. He looked down. Blaine took the opportunity to search the room but he didn't have to search far. One glance up and Kurt was exactly in his line of vision, leaning against the wall across the room. Watching, waiting. Ready if necessary, but standing back. "She doesn't have my name," Gregory finally said.

"No," Blaine confirmed, looking back at him. "She doesn't."

"If we were…if I were…" Blaine could see in his father's eyes how much it hurt him to have that little girl, who bore so much resemblance to the Anderson family, denied his name. "If I were to make amends. Would you change it?"

"No," Blaine said firmly. His father nodded with defeat and looked back down at the floor, but Blaine had little sympathy. "I don't know if you've ever been punished before, but if not consider this your first one."

"I'd like to try anyway," he said, looking back up at his son. "To be a part of your lives. No strings attached."

Blaine took a moment. Kurt had supported him since the moment they'd left the hotel seven years ago to reconcile whenever and wherever he felt it was right. Blaine wasn't naïve. He knew that Kurt hated his father, hated what he'd done to Blaine, how he'd treated him much of his life. But Kurt also knew how important a father's love was, even more so now. And he would never deny Blaine that, if at any point in his life it was possible. And right now, his father seemed sincere. Blaine wouldn't give him all his trust. But he would give him the respect to try. "Okay," he agreed. "We can try."

Blaine took a deep breath and looked at Kurt. Kurt's eyes shifted quickly to Blaine's right and Blaine followed his gaze. Santana had been watching them, as carefully as Kurt had, and now she walked over.

"Mr. Anderson," she said gently. "Would you like to meet your granddaughter?"

Blaine's father looked at him. Blaine nodded.

"Yes, please," he said.

Santana took him to where Serena was playing with Brittany and Mrs. Anderson. Kurt smiled across the room, leaning back against the wall, emanating his learned dominance. Blaine made his way to him, drawn in by him.

"What did he say?" Kurt asked calmly.

"He asked if we would change her name. I told him no. I told him it was his punishment." Blaine expected a reaction from Kurt but he got none. "He asked if he could be a part of our lives. I said we could try."

Kurt gave a quick nod. "The strongest Dom in the room gives his sub the freedom to make his own choices, his own mistakes, then deals with the consequences." Kurt leaned up from the wall and his hands went to his hips, appraising his sub up and down. "Did you make any mistakes?"

Blaine shook his head, keeping his gaze firmly on Kurt's. "No sir, I don't think so."

"Would you like me to show the room how proud I am of you?" Kurt asked.

Blaine couldn't help the smile that erupted, or the sparkle in his eyes. "Yes sir. I would like that very much."

Kurt said nothing and he did not hesitate. He pulled Blaine to the center of the room, wrapped his arms around his husband and kissed him, long and deep, teasing Blaine's tongue over and over until his cock took the bait. Only then, did Kurt pull away, but he didn't go far. "Really Blaine?" he whispered hotly. "I don't think that's very appropriate at your daughter's birthday party."

Blaine lowered his eyes, growing pink more at the whistles from the crowd than Kurt's admonishment, but his smile remained. "No sir, it's not."

"I think I will need to teach it a lesson later," Kurt said. "About when it is appropriate to come out and play and when it's not."

"Yes sir," Blaine grinned.

"Daddy!" Serena yelled running toward them and Blaine blushed harder and turned away, muttering swears before taking some deep breaths.

Kurt just laughed and picked up his daughter. "Well hello there little girl," he said. "Do you know whose birthday it is today?"

"Sena!" she yelled pointing to herself.

"That's right," Kurt grinned. "I think Papa needs to get in here for a family hug, don't you?" Kurt looked over at Blaine with a smirk. "Ready for a family hug Papa?"

Blaine turned back to them and opened his arms. "I am always ready for a family hug," he announced and he put his arms firmly around his husband and his daughter.

"Happy babyversary," Kurt told Blaine, his love filling him so fully that he let it go and wrapped it around them all.

"Happy babyversary," Blaine said, then he kissed his daughter's forehead. "Happy Birthday Serena," he told the little girl. "We're the luckiest family in the whole world."

~S~

Safe and Sound
You're here with us now
And we will always be

Safe and Sound
You're here with us now
And that's all we'll ever need
You're all we'll ever need.

Author's Note:

Thank you guys so much for reading! Let me know what you think!