A/N - And this is it. The epilogue. I want to cry. I don't want to let my babies go... Sigh. I had so much fun writing this last piece. Once again, Loki, thanks for your help.

To everyone else who has followed and reviewed, I do hope you enjoy.

On Blaine's Eighteenth birthday he received his inheritance from his Grandfather. He'd been shocked to find that, though there was very little by way of money, the man had left him an enormous (but dilapidated) house in Los Angeles, his estate covering the rates and city charges until Blaine would be able to move in after college, should he decide to keep the property. Leaving Emily with Ruth for a weekend, Puck, Sam and Blaine flew out to the city, meeting Cooper there, to check out the state of the house and decide what to do with it. In the end, though Blaine had debated selling it, he decided that his Grandfather had wanted him to live in a nice neighbourhood, and that the money he'd get from it wouldn't buy them anything even close to the potential that this had.

When Blaine was accepted into college in Boston, Sam offered to go ahead to L.A. after graduation and spend the next few years living in the house rent free, fixing it up himself while his friends went to college. He didn't see himself following any academic pursuits, wanting, instead, to settle down in the big city and see where life took him. Blaine and Puck agreed, going as far as to say that, because it was such a large house, Sam could stay there even after they finally moved in. He was their closest friend and one of Emily's uncles anyway, and it wouldn't be right to kick him out if he'd done most of the hard labour making the house liveable in their absence.

Five years later found Blaine and Puck in Los Angeles, both college graduates. Blaine had been ecstatic to get into Berklee College of Music in Boston, studying a Degree in Contemporary Writing and Production. It had been his first choice in colleges, and he'd done as he'd sworn to do; working his ass off to gain admittance, his personal essay, demo cd and audition securing him a partial scholarship. Puck had, once he'd started at OSU Lima, studied harder than he'd ever imagined possible, determined to get enough credit points to secure a transfer to a college near Blaine. His hard work paid off, his first semester's GPA allowing him to pursue a similar degree in Physical Education at UMass Boston, and he'd been surprised to find a small grant awarded to him, too, thanks to his essay (which had, unsurprisingly, detailed his shift from troubled kid to hopeful mentor of teens in a similar position, citing Shannon as his inspiration and Blaine and Emily as his motivation).

When Blaine finally held his diploma in his hand, he and Puck started applying for jobs in L.A. Not knowing exactly what he wanted to do, Blaine sent off his résumé and portfolio to every facet of the entertainment world that he could think of, from advertising houses to record companies and film studios.

Puck had been the first to land a job, teaching math and coaching football at a Junior High on the outskirts of Los Angeles. It was only part time, though, so he soon found himself working alongside Sam on his off days, doing construction, working as a session guitarist, cleaning pools, the list continued. Any opportunity that came along he took it, not wanting to eat into Blaine's inheritance any more than they already had during their college years.

After two months of relentless canvassing, Blaine's struggles paid off and he found himself employed by an advertising company that wrote and produced jingles for radio and tv. It wasn't much, but it was a start, and the extra income provided them money to occasionally spoil Beth and Emily. Sam even found a few jobs through him, providing hilarious vocal impersonations whenever a client required it.

They'd been living in L.A for six months when Blaine received his first promotion. He was given his own client and tasked with writing and producing a selection of jingles for their new campaign, a vocal artist already selected via online audition by his boss. The lyrics and music flowed out of him with ease, and Puck laughed when Blaine exclaimed that it all seemed too easy.

"Babe, you're over-thinking this." He said from his position on the couch. "You're good at your job. Don't stress so much."

Emily nodded enthusiastically, prone as she was to always follow Puck's lead. "Yeah, Daddy," she said in a no nonsense tone, "Don't stress so much." She was still having issues with her 'r's occasionally being pronounced like 'w's, making the word 'stressed' absolutely adorable. Then again, her fathers -and Uncles- thought everything she said was adorable.

"Well, in that case, I know just the thing to stop me from stressing." Setting aside his pen and sheet music, Blaine got up from the table and chased her down the hall, declaring a tickle war, her shrieks of laughter echoing through the house. Puck groaned and shook his head. It was going to be hell getting her to sleep now that Blaine had her all worked up.

He blinked. Since when was he the responsible one?

Shoving his grade book onto the coffee table, Puck ambled after his family, intent on joining in the fun.

-?-

The next Friday found Blaine pacing outside the recording studio, waiting on the actor his boss had hired. He knew nothing about the guy, not even the key he sang in, which was going to take a toll on their schedule. The man was running late, which, Blaine had found, was pretty typical in this line of work, and Blaine checked his watch for the fifth time.

Beth was staying with them this weekend as part of the deal Noah had wrangled with Shelby all those years prior, and Blaine had wanted to get off work early to maximise his time with the other little lady in his life. He'd been so worried that he wouldn't be as attached to Beth as Noah was to Emily, but he needn't have been concerned. Shelby had brought her over to spend that first Christmas with the Puckerman brood and the toddler had latched onto him like he was her new best friend, and he'd fallen in love with her wide hazel-green eyes and sandy coloured ringlets. Ever since then, he and Puck had taken the little girl for occassional weekends, and sometimes Shelby would stay with them over school breaks, so Puck's daughters could bond properly. It was an odd situation, but one that worked for them.

Of course, it looked as though Blaine wasn't going to get the extra few hours with his second daughter that he'd hoped for, so he pulled out his phone and reluctantly fired off an apologetic text to his boyfriend, hoping that he'd understand.

"Hi, I'm so sorry I'm late. My flight was delayed and then...Blaine?" Kurt pulled up short at the sight of his first boyfriend, a man he'd not seen in the flesh in years.

Blaine looked up from his phone, almost frozen in shock. It looked as though Murphy was up to his old tricks again because, of all the actors in the nation, his ex boyfriend was standing down the hall from him, a frown on his face. "Kurt?" He asked, though it was pointless. He'd recognise that voice, that gait, that face anywhere. "Oh my God." The years had been kind to Kurt, it appeared. He was still tall and willowy, but his shoulders were broader, his thighs -still encased in jeans that looked painted on- thicker and more masculine. He'd probably been hitting the gym. "You...you look great."

Kurt was doing his own appraisal, scanning Blaine up and down without shame. Blaine had also filled out with age, his biceps and chest more pronounced in a skin-tight polo than Kurt could ever recall. Gone was the gelled helmet of hair, the curls now cropped short and lightly styled with product, a pair of squared glasses bringing his attention directly to the golden-brown eyes he'd known so well. "As do you," he replied, smiling warmly, their negative history seemingly forgotten in the surprise of the moment.

Blaine ducked his head, thanking Kurt, before realising that they had a job to do. He cleared his throat and gestured for the other man to head into the studio. At least, he mused, he knew Kurt's vocal range.

Three hours later and Blaine was satisfied with the three different recordings they'd completed. He'd run them through a few filters and some final edits once he got them home. Leaning forward over the console, he switched on the mic that fed into the studio. "And that's a wrap," he declared. "Thanks. Good work, Kurt."

The other man removed his headphones gingerly -as obsessed with his coiffed hair as ever- and grinned through the glass, winking. "Did you expect any less?"

Blaine sat back in his seat. Was Kurt seriously flirting with him? Blaine couldn't find it anything beyond awkward. He eventually settled on saying: "You still sound the same." Yeah, it was lame, but what else could he say?

Kurt placed the headphones back over the mic stand and gestured to the hall. "Meet you out there? I'd love to buy you a coffee."

Blaine checked his phone and sighed. This was definitely the sort of thing Noah would want to know about. He fired off another text and tucked the phone back into his pocket.

At Blaine's favourite cafe they sat across from each other in strained silence.

"So, you're still a medium drip kinda guy," Kurt said, trying for casual conversation.

Blaine nodded, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips, sort of appreciating the effort. "Yeah."

More silence. Blaine fiddled with a napkin, tearing at the edges.

"How...uh...how's your daughter?" Kurt asked, before sitting back in his own seat. "Wow. Sorry. It's still strange to say."

Blaine smiled genuinely, brightening at just the thought of Emily, ignoring the awkward statement that had followed Kurt's question because he understood the sentiment. "She's great. She's Five now. Starting school next year. I don't know where the time went. It was like I blinked somewhere around potty training and then suddenly, bam! She's this well spoken, grown up little girl instead of the toddler I was just looking at." He reached for his phone. "Want to see a photo?"

Kurt nodded and soon enough he was looking at a still image of a beautiful little girl with a mass of dark, curly hair and Blaine's impish grin. "She's beautiful, Blaine."

"Yeah, she really is."

Ice finally broken, Kurt leant forward. "I've missed you, you know. I should have sucked it up and called."

Blaine shook his head. "Water under the bridge. We were still kinda kids, Kurt. You had the right to be upset. I could have called you if I'd wanted. Believe me, I get that life gets in the way sometimes. I don't want to rehash old issues. Was I hurt then? Sure. But we weren't together, and we weren't really talking anyway." He shrugged. "Are you happy, Kurt? That's kind of what's important. I am. Happy, I mean."

Kurt blinked and pasted on a smile to match his ex's. "Of course I'm happy. I'm a paid actor, Blaine. I'm based in New York, I've just done an Off-Broadway run of Rent...Things are just the way I wanted them to be." Except he'd wanted to be in love, too. But he was still young, and this looked like a chance to mend the mistake he'd made when he'd dumped Blaine because a long-distance relationship had been too daunting.

Blaine took Kurt's words at face value, grinning enthusiastically. "That's great, Kurt. I'm glad to hear it."

Before Kurt could reply, a little voice shouted "Daddy!" and a blur of curly hair raced past him and flew into Blaine's lap, peppering him with kisses, ignorant of the two other frustrated voices calling after her.

Kurt was startled when he discovered who the voices belonged to.

A taller, slim girl came rushing up to the table, sandy coloured hair held in a high ponytail, accentuating a face that resembled Quinn Fabray too much to be a coincidence, though the nose and eyes were all wrong. "Sorry, Daddy Bee," she said as she reached them. "We told Em not to run away from us. Daddy says it's not safe to take off on our own in the city."

Kurt blinked owlishly at the way she addressed Blaine. Daddy Bee? Before he could introduce himself, a familiar pair of biceps were in his field of vision, lifting Emily out of Blaine's lap.

"Emily Rose Anderson," Puck began, propping the girl on his hip as easily as he might have done when she was half the size, "What are the rules when we go out anywhere?"

Her lower lip trembled and she turned wet eyes on Blaine, who shook his head. "Don't look at me, Em. You know better." When her lip continued to tremble, he sighed. "What are the rules there for?"

"Keep us safe." She recited, tone sullen.

"Exactly," Noah interjected. "What were you supposed to do?"

"Hold Beth's hand and walk with you."

"Yep. And what did you do?"

She pouted, a stray tear working its way down her cheek. "I saw Daddy!" She protested. "He wasn't far away. And you were watching me!"

Noah brought his thumb to her face tenderly. "Drop the crocodile tears, Em. You know they don't work on us. And you know that you were naughty."

Next to him, Beth nodded up at her sister, a smug Fabray smile on her face, the workings of a taunting comment obviously on her lips. Before she could speak, Blaine pulled her into his lap, her legs dangling over his knees. "You've done the same thing before, Missy," he reminded her quietly. "There's no need to tease your sister. You don't really want to fight with her, do you? You want to be a good big sister. A great role model." She was used to this lecture.

Beth looked suitably admonished and nodded. "Sorry Daddy," she said, looping an arm around his neck.

He grinned and kissed her cheek. "You're a good girl, Beth."

Kurt cleared his throat, startling the family unit out of their oh-so-domestic moment.

"Who are you?" Beth asked, causing Puck to groan.

"Manners, Beth. Honestly."

She sighed dramatically. "Sorry," turning back to Kurt she cocked her head to the side. "I'm Beth," she told him, "Who are you, Mister?"

Blaine hid his smile behind her hair while Noah put Emily down long enough to pull up a chair for himself, muttering about teaching his kids some tact. Emily was back in his lap within moments, also staring at the stranger.

"My name's Kurt," the actor replied awkwardly, not used to children. "I, uh, I'm an old friend of your Dad." He looked between the two men, each holding the other's biological daughter contentedly, like this was a regular position for them. "Dads."

Not used to being ignored by anyone, the dark haired girl stuck her hand out at him, mimicking the move she'd seen her fathers do countless times. "I'm Emily," she told him, frowning when he just stared at her, "You're s'posed to shake my hand now, Mister Kurt."

Blaine couldn't contain his snort of amusement, especially when Puck looked at him in exasperation. "She gets that from you," Puck told him. "Total drama queen."

Blaine rolled his eyes, watching as Kurt shook his daughter's hand, an expression reminiscent of Sebastian ghosting across his face. Kurt looked back at him, fleetingly wounded. "I didn't realise...you and Puck? How? When? Because, well..." He glanced at Puck, mindful of the two sets of little ears listening to him avidly. "You, uh, you liked women. A lot."

"It was a little right after you...guys broke up," Puck saw that only Hummel noticed how he shifted his statement to be less accusatory. He smirked at him to let him know that he did it for Blaine's sake but he was more than happy to swoop in when Hummel foolishly decided to let Blaine go. The slight tightening around Kurt's mouth and eyes made it clear to Puck that the message was received. "And yeah, I did. But it turns out I like Blaine more."

"Yup," Emily piped up, well versed in the story of how her parents fell in love. Her Uncles told it to her all the time. She particularly liked it when Uncle Seb told it, 'cause Uncle Sammy would always get mad and correct him. "My daddies have loved each other ever since I was a baby." She gestured with her hands, indicating how small she must have been. "Then they lived happily ever after." She cast Blaine a sly look. "And they bought me a pony. The end."

"You're not getting a pony, munchkin." Blaine refuted, shifting Beth from his lap and making move to stand, Puck following suit. "But the rest is all right."

A/N - I'm loathe to say that this is the end for our boys and their girl, so, instead, I'm just going to say that this particular fic is complete. *grin*