My darlings!

I'm sorry it took me so long to post the epilogue. I just wanted to upload it on the 7th, because I started posting INJM on December 7th, and I don't know. It just seemed right.

I promise you're not getting rid of me after this. I'm already working on my next big story, and I have a lovely one-shot in beta modus (does Bravid ring a bell, anyone? :D), and several in mind.

Thank you all so much for sticking with me the last year. It means so much to me, you can't believe it. I love you all so much, so thank you!
(also, I know this is not how it works irl, I just took some creative license, okay?)

A big shout out to Themuse19, for being an awesome beta, and to Tomoyosita, for like everything :D

And now, for the last time in this verse: Enjoy!

Epilogue

They were standing in the middle of a crowded room. It looked more like a daycare then an orphanage. That was probably on purpose, Kurt realized. Their social worker, Susie, had explained that the house they would be visiting worked like a boarding school, to give the children a sense of normalcy. Apparently it worked, as most of the children were running around, screaming, laughing.

Kurt smiled sideways at Blaine and nodded softly. They knew this wasn't how it usually worked, but they had insisted, and had been lucky enough their social worker allowed them to mingle with the children.

Susie opened her laptop and started loading a file. "So, now that you have been approved for adoption, what would you like?"

"Uhm, sorry, what?" Blaine frowned.

"Boy? Girl? Age? Race? We'll find you the perfect fit."

"What, no we don't… uhm," Blaine looked helplessly at Kurt. This wasn't what they had been thinking of.

"Look, don't worry if it doesn't work out right away, you can always try another one."

"Another one?" Kurt shook his head to clear his mind for a moment. "We don't want to choose a perfect child. The child has to pick us. Can't we… see them?"

"You want to see all the kids?" The woman turned her eyes from the computer screen, a surprised look crossing her face.

"Yeah, don't they have a playground or something?" Blaine asked. "You said it was like a school, right?"

"I see…" She closed her laptop. "Well, this isn't how we usually work, but if that's what you prefer… I'll see what I can do."

They had followed her down long halls, around corridors. Luna had Luke in her arms and shuffled closely behind them, and eventually they had ended up here. It was large room, an indoor playground almost, filled with numerous toys and screaming children.

To be honest, it was a little overwhelming. How where they supposed to find their son or daughter in this pandemonium?

"He will find us," Blaine said, softly but sure. "He'll pick us."

Kurt nodded a little too enthusiastically. "Or she! Maybe we should walk around? Mingle, so we don't seem too threatening?"

"Maybe I can go play a bit with Luke?" Luna nodded at a table that was filled with Legos.

"Just stay in sight."

"Yes, Dad." She rolled her eyes and put her little brother on the ground, grabbing his hand and leading him to the table.

"So, mingle?"

Blaine nodded and they each went a different direction, talking to a ten-year-old girl, playing a game of tic-tac-toe with a seven-year-old boy, pulling silly faces at a toddler that was barely walking.

It was okay, but none of the kids seemed to take an instant liking to either of them. Sure, they were all lively and loud, but not one seemed to be really interested in playing or talking with them instead of their friends. Blaine walked back towards the table where own his two children were playing when he suddenly felt something at his legs. He looked down and saw a pair of hazel eyes looking up at him almost shyly.

"Hello," he crowded down on his knees so they were on eye-level. "I'm Blaine. What's your name?"

The boy, who couldn't be older than five or six ducked his head so Blaine could only see a crop of reddish-brown curls and mumbled something.

"I didn't understand, Sweetheart, can you repeat that?"

"Samuel."

"Well, that's a great name."

The boy bit his lip and looked at Blaine from under his eyelashes.

"Is there something you want to ask me, Samuel?"

The boy nodded and pressed his lips together.

"Hey, don't be shy." Blaine held out his arms and was delighted when the boy accepted the invitation so he could pick him up. "I've eaten this morning, so I won't bite you."

"Is that your boyfriend?" Samuel asked in a quiet voice.

"That man over there?" Blaine pointed at Kurt with his free hand. When the boy nodded he smiled. "No, actually, he's my husband." He showed his ring finger to the shy boy. "We're married."

The boy blushed and buried his head in the crook of Blaine's neck. "He's pretty."

Blaine could barely make out the words, because they were mumbled in his skin. "He is," he agreed proudly. The boy turned his head so it was tucked against Blaine's chest, under the man's chin. The next sentence that came out of his mouth made Blaine's heart skip a beat. "I want to marry someone as pretty as him someday."

Blaine's mouth felt suddenly dry as he tried to swallow. "I'm sure you will," he whispered softly.

"You have to take him," Luna was suddenly standing next to him.

"Luna, we're just getting to know the kids. We can't make any irrational dec-"

"Dad!" She yelled for Kurt, and continued when he came closer to them. "We have to take him home. What if he gets adopted by some homophobic family that'll reject him once they realize it? We have to take him home with us."

Kurt's eyes widened at his daughter's words. He looked at Blaine confused and mouthed, "He's gay?"

"He just told me he wants to marry someone as pretty as you someday," Blaine explained.

"Oh." Kurt looked at the little boy that was looking at him from under his eyelashes. He was shy, but his eyes sparkled when Kurt smiled at him. "Hey there, little man, I'm Kurt."

"You're his husband," the boy squeaked and buried his face in Blaine's neck again.

"I am," Kurt agreed. "I'm a very lucky guy."

The boy turned his head again and bit his lip. "I want a husband, too."

Kurt inhaled sharply. Their daughter was right. What if some homophobic family came along and adopted him without realizing the truth? What if they rejected him once they found out? He looked at Blaine, who was softly stroking the boy's back and nodded. "Okay, let's take him home."

…

Of course it wasn't that easy. There were rules to follow, procedures to run through. They had to spend a few hours with him at the house; they had to take him out under supervision; they had to take him home for a weekend as a try-out. But eventually, two months later they found themselves sitting at the office it had all started, finalizing the paperwork while Luna, Luke and Samuel where playing in the next room. Samuel would be officially Samuel Anderson after a few more signatures.

"So, some final details." The social worker looked at them. "If his family wants to contact him, would you be fine with that? We'd contact you first and arrange a meeting, but if you're not open to that, we can add it in to file."

"Family?" A confused look crossed Kurt's face. "I thought you said his parents died in a car-crash and there was no family left to take care of him?"

"Well, yes, but there is his sister."

"Sister?" Blaine's jaw dropped. They had never mentioned a sister.

"Yes, Samantha."

"Samantha. Oh, God, we should have realized." Kurt looked at Blaine. Whenever they had spend time with Samuel, he had talked about a Samantha, how Samantha would have liked to be here, how Samantha would love to go to the zoo, ….

"I always assumed he was talking about one of his friends here."

"Me too," Kurt bit his lip.

"How old is his sister?" Blaine asked, curiously.

"What?" Kurt abruptly turned his head to look at Blaine with wide eyes.

"They're siblings, Kurt!"

"She's six months," Susie answered. "You probably never saw her because you asked for an older adoption; the babies are in a separate ward."

"No. No, no, no." Kurt shook his head. "Blaine, no!"

"Kurt, come on, we can't separate them. She's his sister; she's family," Blaine pleaded.

"We're his family now. Blaine, we can't adopt two children."

"Why not?"

"Because… she's a baby, Blaine! We've just gone through the baby-phase with Luke; we can't have another one. We agreed to adopt an older child," Kurt reasoned.

"We can't separate them Kurt," Blaine shook his head, determined. "We can't."

"I—Oh my God, a baby." Kurt pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing deeply.

"Do you two need a minute?" Susie asked, looking at them curiously.

Blaine shook his head. "If we decided we want her as well, how long would it take us?"

"Well, you've already been approved for adoption, and we don't require the same rules to spend time with a baby as we do with an older child, especially not since you've already adopted her brother. We could finalize the papers and you could pick her up in two weeks."

"Can we see her?" Blaine asked.

"Sure, I'll go see if I can get her for you."

As soon as the door closed Kurt turned to face Blaine. "Blaine, Love, I know what you're thinking, but we can't. We don't have the room."

"We do. Wwe have more than enough room in our house now. We have five bedrooms."

"We were gonna use the extra room as a music room, remember?"

Blaine shrugged. "I don't care. I'll put my music equipment in the living room, or we can remodel the attic. We do have a marvelous attic."

"We don't have the time for another baby," Kurt rationalized. "I can't take a year off from work. We have money, but we still need the income, especially since we bought the house."

"I'll quit."

"What?" Kurt's eyes widened.

"Someone else can take over my job. I'd still get money, because I own part of the company. It won't be as much, but it'll be more than enough. I'll stay home to take care of her." Blaine was determined by now. "Our house in Brooklyn has more than enough room. Like I said, I don't need the fifth room as a music room, and you don't need to go to the shop every day. We can arrange for Britt and Nathaniel to email you most of the stuff, you'll only have to commute two or three times a week, and you can avoid the busy hours."

The woman entered the room with a small baby cradled in her arms, Luna, Luke and Samuel close behind her. She handed the baby to Kurt, who accepted her instantly.

"Dad? Papa?" Luna looked curiously at them. She had lifted Luke and settled him on her hip.

"That's my sister," Samuel happily announced, grabbing Luna's free hand and tugging at it until they were standing beside Kurt and the baby.

"Sister?" Luna's eyes widened.

Kurt looked up at her. "Samantha."

"Oh, I thought he was talking about one of his friends." Her eyes traveled to the baby in Kurt's arms, who was blowing spit bubbles and giggling.

"I'm not gonna share my room," she suddenly announced. "The boys can maybe get bunk beds, but I'm not up for that. I'm not going to share my room with a crying baby. I need my beauty sleep."

Kurt let out a breathless laugh and handed the little girl over to Blaine, who immediately started cooing at her. "Of course not. Your papa already offered to give up his music room, and convert the attic to a livable space for that purpose."

She looked suspicious. "I hope he's not planning on doing that himself."

"Oh, God, please no," Kurt laughed. "We'll get a contractor, believe me." He closed his eyes and shook his head; maybe this was all just a crazy dream. He opened them again when he felt Samuel crawl into his lap, and lifted the boy to help him get settled. Next to him Blaine was gently rocking Samantha, and Luna was holding Luke who pointed at the baby with a confused face and asked "Sister?" He turned to look at Susie, who was sitting behind the desk and watching them curiously. "Okay." He nodded. "Let's get started on those papers."

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Xoxo, Joyce