new directions | glee

BONUS: adoption

And now it's a year later and Kayla is sitting in this bed she shares with her wife, getting ready to welcome a whole child into their lives, and she's so scared. She knows she has what it takes to be a caregiver. She's always put everyone in her life first, most of the time to her own detriment, and she's the person most of her friends lean on in tough spots. She gives great advice and she loves to spend time with her friends either distracting them or talking things out. She knows when it comes down to it, she's going to be a great mother to their daughter. She's just never truly been so responsible for a human being before, and what if she fucks it up?

She's talked to all her friends about this. Almost all of them have kids now and they've all given their advice. Kurt told her she'd never truly be ready and Blaine told her that it'll just come naturally when their daughter gets here. Sam told her that you fake it until you make it and Mercedes told her that she leaned on God a lot to figure out how to be a mom. Kayla's tried everything, but this sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach just will not go away.

"Hey," Rachel frowns, throwing an arm over her wife's shoulder when she notices their eyebrows pinching together. It's the tell-tale sign that something is majorly bothering Kayla, and Rachel has spent a lot of time figuring out what makes them tick. "What's wrong?"

Kayla pouts, head pressed into the crook of Rachel's neck. "I just—what if I'm not a good mom?"

Rachel looks at her with amusement. "That's what you're worried about? You're gonna be a great mom, my love. I see the way you care for others, even when they don't deserve it. A kid couldn't be luckier to say that you're their parent. I knew that from the moment I kissed you."

"You mean when you dumped me for Jesse?" Kayla's frown lifts just a tiny bit with the dig and she revels in the way Rachel makes an affronted gasp.

"Shut up. You know what I mean." Rachel says, smacking her shoulder lightly. "I mean that from the moment I realized I liked you, I've seen it all. Yes, we had a few bumps back then, but I always knew you were going to make an amazing partner and parent someday, even if it wasn't with me."

"Good thing you married me, then." Kayla quips, sitting back on their haunches and looping their arms around Rachel's neck.

Rachel grins. "Funny how things work out like that."

Kayla leans in and presses a soft kiss to Rachel's lips, cognizant of the fact that neither of them have brushed their teeth yet and they have so much to do before their meeting with the social worker, but right now, in this moment, she's in Heaven—and she doesn't think the addition of a child will change that for them at all.

Rachel pulls away, leaning her forehead against Kayla's and brushing her growing bangs out of her face.

"I love you, you know."

"I love you too." Kayla mutters before she separates herself from her wife and gets off the bed. "Now get up. We have places to be and people to see!"

Kayla skimps over to the closet for the clothes she set out the night before and returns, heading towards the bathroom. Rachel is sipping on a cup of coffee that she must have made before she woke Kayla up. She walks over to her wife and watches as Rachel's eyes raise from her drink to her life partner.

"Come shower with me." Kayla pouts, pulling at Rachel's arm.

She laughs in turn, pulling her arm back. "We are never getting out of here on time if I join you. Go on."

"You're no fun." Kayla playfully glares, skipping to the bathroom and patting her ass just to make Rachel laugh. It works.

And as she gets ready for the biggest day of her life since her wedding, she knows there's no one else she would rather be doing this with. She knows they're ready. She just has to find the courage to face it head on.

-

Kayla is nervous—well, that's actually an understatement. She's shitting bricks from the moment they pull up to the office. For the most part, they know what they've been getting into. They were carefully vetted by the office and went through a billion interviews, both together and separate, to determine whether they'd make a good family for a child. Then came the interviews they did with possible kids, and that was a little heartbreaking because there was always going to be some child that wouldn't be coming home with them, but they quickly bonded with Christine, an adorable five-year-old girl with the sweetest little smile, and that's who they were taking home today.

A lot of Christine's background isn't known. She was left in front of a fire station, so as far as learning about her biological parents or any predisposed conditions, they may never know, but they found that that didn't matter to them at all.

"Hey, it's okay," Rachel says, pulling Kayla's hand entwined in hers up so she can kiss it.

"I know. This is just a lot." Kayla sighs, leaning her head against Rachel's shoulder in the hallway where they're waiting to get called in.

It doesn't take long for their names to be called and for them to be pulled into the office. Christine is sat at a kids table coloring. While Rachel is talking with the social worker, she nudges Kayla to go sit with Christine.

"Hi, Christine. What are you drawing?" Kayla asks as she sits in a chair much too small for her and peers over at Christine's artwork.

She peers up at Kayla and she has these big brown eyes that remind her so much of Rachel and a toothy little grin much like their own. She pushes her drawing over to Kayla so she can really look at it. It's very neat and put together. No colors clash. There's very clearly two women holding hands and herself standing right next to them. There's a small pink house in the background.

Christine says, "Miss Olivia said we're gonna be a family, so I drew me and two mommies. Do you like it?"

Kayla wipes away a little tear forming at the corner of her eye and replies, "I love it, Christine."

Her nose scrunches up at her name and Kayla frowns. "What is it?"

"I don't really like my name. Could you... can you call me Chris? I like that name." She asks with a nervous glance, but Kayla can't get past more than the name change before she starts crying.

"Oh no," Chris frowns, walking around the table to the other side to sit in Kayla's lap. She pulls the adult into a hug and rubs her back like she's the adult. "What did I say?"

Kayla sniffles and wipes her eyes. "Nothing. Just... Kris was my mom's name. You just reminded me how much I miss her."

"Is she in Heaven?" Chris asks and Kayla nods.

"Yeah, if you believe in that." Kayla says. "But I have another mom, too, cause I was adopted. Kris was my birth mother and she died when I was sixteen. But your grandma Denise is still very much alive. Mommy Rachel is adopted too, you know."

Chris' eyes widen. "Wow, really?"

"Yeah," They smile, looking over at their wife who is listening intently to everything their case worker is telling her. "She was adopted as a baby and she has two dads. My parents adopted me and my brother when I was eleven."

"So did you know your birth parents?"

Kayla nods. "Yep. I lived with them up until I was adopted. Rachel knows her birth mom too. They're pretty close. You'll probably meet everyone tomorrow."

Chris frowns. "Why not today?"

"Because today is just a day for us. Sometimes it's nice to just have time to be with your family." Kayla says.

It's not much longer after that that everything is cleared up. A signature from each of them here and there and suddenly Chris is standing between them wearing a Bluey backpack and basically dragging them to the doors. Both parents laugh as they let their little girl lead them on a new adventure.
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[A/N: hey bestiesssss! I've been sitting on this bonus chapter for a while, but seeing as it's been almost a year since the last one, I wanted to contribute! I miss you guys (and Rayla) more than anything, so it was nice to be able to come back to this. I am not adopted, so I apologize if this is highly inaccurate. But if you wanted to see more bonus chapters, please comment what you'd like! Past, present, future—doesn't even have to be Rayla-centric. If you want to see her friendships or Evarrett or something, just let me know. I love you all endlessly!]

~ Emilee