Title: Mail Order Bride 12/12
Pairing(s): Puck/Kurt
Genre: Historical AU, Romance, Drama
Warning: Mpreg and slight genderbending, crossdressing
Spoilers: None, I pretty much used names and basic personality outlines
Disclaimer: If I owned Glee I would probably make it unsuitable for broadcast television and it would be taken off the air which would be sad, so I'll let Ryan Murphy keep it.
A/N: Eep! I'm so sorry. This was actually finished last week, but then I flew to my Grandma's for Thanksgiving before posting it, only to discover that she's decided she doesn't have internet anymore! I couldn't even go to the library since that was closed too. But here is the ending finally, now if you'll excuse me I need to go sort through the 100 or so emails that have piled up in the week I've been without web access ^_~
Puck
Puck had never moved so fast and at the same time so slow in his life. He ran out the door, barely pausing to grab his coat. He raced to the barn, cursing the snow that seemed to be dragging him down. He pulled himself onto Flame's back without bothering with a saddle and whispered a plea in her ear to run as fast as she could.
As the wind whipped Puck in his face, he tried to keep his mind on the ride, if only to keep his mind from going back to the sight of Kurt's scared, pained face. But no matter how hard he tried his thoughts would slip back there every few minutes and his body would tense up all over again.
Flame seemed to sense his desperation, because she was stretching herself to the limit, all but flying over the ground. By the time they made it into town, her flanks were heaving. Puck pulled her to a stop outside the house Doc Brown stayed at when he was in town and began shouting before his feet had touched the ground.
"Doc! Doc, open up!" Puck hollered as he pounded on the door.
"Puck, what's going on? Calm down, boy," Doc Brown said, placing a hand on Puck's shoulder.
"Doc, something's wrong with baby. We think it's coming too soon."
"Alright, calm down. This happens sometimes with first pregnancies, especially for carriers. I've got a fresh horse I can take out to your place and check on Kurt. You cool your horse down a little bit and then follow. Don't worry, everything's going to be fine."
As Puck watched the doctor ride out of town he began to breathe more easily. Doc Brown was a good guy, he wouldn't lie to Puck. Kurt was going to be fine, the baby was going to be fine, everything was going to be just fine.
"How you doing, ol' girl?" Puck murmured to Flame, rubbing her neck. He got a snort in response that sent a blast of hot air over his face. "Yeah, I'm sorry I ran you so hard. I was just worried about Kurt, but the doc's going to take care of everything now."
Puck walked Flame up and down the street to cool her down a bit before settling himself on her back and heading back home. He didn't push Flame as hard going back, but he still kept her at a pretty fast pace. After something happening to Kurt or the baby, the worst thing that could happen would be for Puck to miss the birth.
Unfortunately, what little peace Puck had been able to find vanished as his house came back into view. As Flame slowed to a stop outside the front door Puck tensed at what he heard. Even 30 feet away, he could clearly hear what could only be Kurt's screams of anguish.
He rushed into the house, heart in his throat. The first things he saw was Kurt's tear streaked face screwed up in pain.
"Kurt!" Puck cried as he hastened to his side. "Baby, it's alright, I'm here now. Doc, you said everything was going to be alright." Puck ran a hand through Kurt's sweaty hair wishing there was a way for him to take away his beloved's pain.
"Puck, I know this is hard for you to understand, but there is always pain with childbirth. Kurt is doing fine and just needs to push through it a little longer. However, I don't think your anxiety is going to help. Why don't you go put your horse in the barn and take a few minutes to calm down?"
"But, I can't just leave-," Puck started, but Kurt interrupted.
"No, it's okay Puck, really. I'd really rather you didn't see me like this."
Puck frowned, he really didn't want to leave Kurt's side, but he knew how important it was to his husband to be perfectly put together. How many times had Kurt demanded Puck look away when his hair had been mussed by the wind?
"Alright, I'll go take care of Flame, but I'll be right outside if you need me."
It only took five minutes for Puck to get Flame settled in the barn, he brushed her down and gave her some extra grain for being so awesome this evening. Once he could no longer find a reason to stay in the barn he moved outside and stood aimlessly in the snow.
For some reason, even though he'd had months to prepare for this day it suddenly seemed like it was all happening very fast. A year ago he had just been some bachelor farmer, but then Kurt had come into his life and now he was minutes away from becoming a father.
Was he ready for this, really ready? Puck knew Kurt thought he would make a good father, but would he really or would he end up being just as useless as his own father. As Puck looked up as the star filled sky he wondered if there was anything he could have done differently to be better prepared for this.
Before he could come up with an answer though, another cry tore through the air. This one wasn't from Kurt though; this one clearly came from the mouth of an infant.
Puck stood frozen for all of three second before he could move towards the house, towards the sound of the baby, his baby. He flung the door open and his chest squeezed impossibly tight at the sight in front of him.
Kurt's hair was still sweaty and plastered to his face, but his face was aglow with happiness and Puck didn't think he'd ever looked more beautiful. Kurt was smiling down at a little bundle in his arms, but when he noticed Puck in the doorway he turned that glorious smile in his direction.
"Puck, come meet your son."
Puck found himself moving forward as if in a dream, his legs were moving, but it was as if he was aware of this fact from a second perspective, his first priority focused on the image on the bed.
"Son?" Puck croaked as he neared the bed, "It's a boy?"
"Yes, isn't he the most beautiful thing you ever saw?" Kurt murmured, leaning into the press a kiss to the baby's head.
Puck wasn't sure if beautiful was really the word he would use. With a red, wrinkled face the baby looked kind of like a tomato that had been left out in the sun for days on end. But one of the baby's little hands was poking out of the blanket he was wrapped in. It was opening and closing like he was searching for something to grab onto.
Puck reached out a hand to run a finger over that tiny, perfect hand and the second his finger touched the baby latched on and held tight. The hand was so little that it only just barely made it around Puck's finger, but for some reason the hold felt so strong that Puck didn't think he could have moved even if he wanted to.
"He's perfect," Puck whispered, not realizing until he felt the salt on his lips that he was crying. Kurt didn't call him out on it though, just smiled at him and said, "Do you want to hold him?"
Puck couldn't seem to get any words out of his mouth, so he just nodded and reached down to scoop the little bundle up. He held the baby carefully in his arms, still feeling that immense weight in his chest. He sat down on the bed next to Kurt turning slightly to look him in the eyes.
"I can't believe this is actually happening," Puck choked out.
Kurt didn't respond. He just moved over so he was pressed against Puck's back, pressing a kiss on Puck's shoulder.
Kurt
Kurt took another sip of tea, enjoying this small break after all the craziness of the last couple of weeks. He loved little J.B. but the boy was quite a handful. Still all the crying and lack of sleep was worth it for the few times his son looked up at him with those big, blue eyes.
And Puck had been wonderful, always on hand help with their little bundle of joy. And it had been his idea to name the baby after Kurt's father.
"I know how much you miss your father," Puck had said when they were discussing names. "We should use his name, in honor of his memory." So Jonathon Burton Puckerman's birth had been added to the church's registry. The name was a little too big for such a little baby so they had started calling him simply J.B.
For the most part J.B. was a happy baby. He rarely fussed without cause, but when he was hungry or needed his nappy change he would break out a very impressive set of lungs. He'd started screaming tonight jolting Kurt out of a deep sleep.
It had taken Kurt over an hour to get J.B. to go back to sleep and now it was so close to morning that Kurt didn't see the point of trying to go back to bed. Besides it was Christmas morning and the snow was reflecting the light from a clear starlit sky with just the barest hint of sunrise on the horizon.
There was a small fir tree leaning against the wall with a pile of presents around it. The only one missing was Puck's guitar. That one had been too difficult to wrap so Kurt was keeping it hidden up in the loft to pull out at the last minute.
His husband and baby were both sleeping soundly. Puck was sprawled on his stomach; his arms that were normally wrapped around Kurt were now wrapped around a pillow. J.B. was snuffling softly, his little fist jammed into his mouth. Kurt wasn't sure which one made a more adorable picture.
With a pleased sigh Kurt turned his gaze back out the window. Soon one or both of the men in his life would wake up and the quiet would be broken by excited words and kisses and gurgles from J.B. who wouldn't understand what was going on, but would want to be a part of the excitement anyways. Life was pretty great right now.
Kurt didn't know how much time had passed when he was broken out of his thoughts by Puck's arm circling around his waist.
"Hey, did I wake you?"
"Mm, smelled the coffee," Puck replied nuzzling the back of Kurt's neck. They stood in silence for a few minutes before rustling started coming from the crib, signally J.B. would be waking up soon.
"Should we go get the kid and get this party started?" Puck questioned.
"In a minute," Kurt said, pulling Puck down for a kiss.
Yeah, life was pretty great.