Thicker than Water

Jaxon shook as the principal introduced all of the students. He hated reading in front of a crowd, and it didn't help that it was the parents of the entire school as well as the students.

"The assignment was to write an essay using a commonly used, but misunderstood, phrase as a prompt," Principal Sayler said. "The students' essays were judged by a panel of teachers from our affiliate school, Collum Academy for the Gifted."

There was a smattering of applause at this.

"Our finalists have been selected to read their essays aloud, and there will be a voting session after the performance."

Jaxon smoothed his hair out of his face for the eighth time.

"First up, we have Jaxon Hummel. Jaxon?"

Jaxon stood and walked to the podium. "Hi…I'm Jaxon Hummel." He paused, glancing out over the crowd and trying not to hyperventilate. He saw two hulking figures in the back grinning at him—his brothers Colton and Braxton—and he calmed. "They say that blood is thicker than water. What people usually mean is that family is the most important thing. What they don't know is that the full saying is 'the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb'. It was a saying that brought together knights under their bond to their lords. It meant that the friendships you make along the way can become your real family. Well, my family decided that they wanted it both ways. Some people don't understand us, but that's okay. We're a family that was built out of friends…. Fifteen friends decided that they would never lose each other, and that their children would grow up together. My biological parents are Finn and Sugar Hudson, but my father is Kurt Hummel. My brothers are here tonight—they parents are Sam and Mercedes Evans, and Quinn and Rachel Fabray. People simplify our family in the news by saying we all switch kids, and I guess you could think of it that way. But really it's that in our family, everyone cares about everyone else. We may live in different parts of the house, but all of the adults are parents, and each of us kids loves them. People say that blood is thicker than water, but in our family, it's all the same."

The audience stood and clapped as Jaxon stepped down from the podium.

Callaghan Castle loomed over them as Kurt drove them down the road near the lake. It was massive—nine wings, one for each of the families even though they didn't all stay there year round.

"He did well tonight," Kurt said, looking in the rearview mirror. Jaxon had insisted on riding back with Colton and Braxton.

"I know. I hope he wins," Rachel said.

Kurt snorted. "You know how people are. I heard way too many comments about how we were 'screwing those poor kids up' for him to win. But he made the finals, and that's good enough."

"Who do you think is still up?"

"Abby's filling out college essays, so I'm sure Finn is helping her with that. Braxton and Colton were out with us, so Quinn's definitely still up. Santana and Lux are still on Taipei time, so they're definitely up."

They pulled into one of the many carports and entered the cavernous hall of the mansion. Braxton and Colton followed them in, Braxton carrying Jaxon.

"He's too old to be getting carried everywhere," the seventeen-year-old grumbled.

"You're big enough to carry him," Kurt said. "Six-eight and two hundred pounds, Jax looks like a toddler with you two."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Goodnight, boys," Rachel said as they climbed the stairs.

"They get older so fast," Kurt said.

"Don't even remind me. Night, Kurt."

"Night, Rachel."

That Friday, everyone was sitting at the table in the formal dining room. It was a rare occurrence that they were all together for a meal, and breakfast was crazy. Only 8 of the 32 could cook, so it was quite an effort. The parents all sat between their kids, and there was the nearly constant buzz of chatter as the family caught up after a few weeks of being apart. Jaxon pulled his phone out and tried to sneakily check his email under the table.

"Eh, boy! No electronics at the table," David said, tossing a paper napkin at him.

"I won!" Jaxon yelped, jumping up from his seat.

"Won your essay thingy?" Iggy, his older brother, asked.

"Yeah! Second place!"

There were catcalls and whistles as he sat back down, a supremely pleased smile plastered onto his face.

"Well done," Kurt said, ruffling his hair.

"Don't let it go to your head, tiny bro," Edmund said. "One essay, and the next thing you know, you're Hemingway—drowning in vodka."

"Gin, Eddie," Quinn said, smiling at the only other literature buff in the house. "It was gin."

Jaxon just laughed and fidgeted happily in his seat before continuing to eat his breakfast. He really loved his big, weird family.