For months, he had searched for a reason, some explanation for why you had disappeared like smoke in the night, vanishing from his life without so much as a goodbye. One moment, you had been there—warm, laughing, tangled with him in sheets and soft murmurs, in stolen glances that had felt like something more. The next, you were gone. No calls, no messages. Just silence.

He had told himself to move on. That whatever they had—casual, fleeting, unspoken—clearly hadn’t meant the same to you as it had to him.

But now, standing in the middle of a crowded street, frozen in place like a man struck by lightning, he realizes the truth had been far more complicated than he ever imagined.

Because there you are.

And in your arms, bundled close against your chest, is a baby.

Kurt barely breathes. The world around him dulls, sounds blurring into nothing as his golden eyes fix on the tiny face nestled against your shoulder. Soft blue skin. A dusting of dark curls. And when the baby stirs, fussing slightly, Kurt catches a glimpse of something that makes his heart lurch.

A tiny, swishing tail.

You haven’t seen him yet. But he doesn’t hesitate. His feet move before he can think, closing the distance between them, his voice coming out rough, barely above a whisper.

“Liebes?”