[Samuel x Roman]

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Blake sniffled a couple of times, and shook her head. "You don't need to thank me," she said, pulling away from Roman slightly to look at Samuel. "Really, you don't. If anything, I should be thanking you, because you gave him a good home, one he deserves."

"Blake, this was all you," Roman insisted. And it was. She had carried to term and given birth to their child, when she could have terminated the pregnancy and made everything easier for herself. Roman and Samuel would always be in debt to her, and Roman didn't think they'd ever be able to repay you.

Blake gave a small smile and wiped her face clear of tears. "Ugh, I'm a mess."

"You sound like Bella."

That made Blake chuckle, and she stepped away, wiping her tears from her cheeks. "We're never telling Elliot you saw me cry."

"Deal."

Their words seemed to have made Blake a little happier, which was wonderful. Roman leaned back against the kitchen cupboard and watched her with a careful smile as she washed her face and patted it dry with a tea towel. This woman was amazing -- she constantly gave nothing but kindness to everyone else, but life always seemed to give her the worst luck possible. Hopefully, things would begin to look up for Blake, because if anyone deserved it, it was definitely her.
 
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Even though Blake had ended up getting upset and crying in the kitchen that day Samuel still saw it as a step forward in the right direction. And thus, when he and Roman got the call a couple of weeks later about there was a couple who were planning on giving up their baby for adoption and were considering them as parents he could feel excited, because Blake could interact with Harper at least so they didn't have to worry about her being able to interact with his brother and sister and not him at all at least.

Of course, this weren't some friends of theirs giving up their baby, but two people they didn't know at all. They had been told a little about them, they were fresh out of high school and a couple who had agreed on this together. But nothing was set in stone and today they were supposed to meet them.

Samuel was unfathomably nervous. But also, excited. They obviously needed to make a good impression on these people, so they wouldn't change their mind about them. Samuel had spent a lot of time thinking about he would wear. They were just meeting them for a coffee so he wasn't wearing anything fancy, just a nice navy polo shirt and a pair of tan chinos, something he would wear at work really.

"Roman, do you think we should slice up fruit as well?" Samuel asked, they were in the kitchen, making things ready, brewing coffee and setting out something to snack on. The couple were coming to their house to meet them, which wasn't Samuel and Roman's idea but he supposed that made sense since the couple obviously wanted to know what kind of people they were handing of the child too, "Or some banana for Harper at least? Do you think he'll understand what's going on? Maybe we should put him in front of the TV for a little while?"
 
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Today was a hugely important day. They were meeting a couple who potentially would let them adopt their baby. This was massive, and Roman was terrified. Blake and Harper had been one thing — Blake was their friend who had known them for years and didn't need any confirmation that they were going to be good parents. These people were total strangers, and Roman knew they needed to present themselves well in order to be chosen to adopt this baby.

That being said, Roman was still going to be himself, because he thought it was incredibly important for this couple to know them well, without any deception, so they knew exactly who they were handing their child to. Roman was wearing his usual black skinny jeans, a purple galaxy print top and galaxy socks with no shoes. He wore cat eyeliner and white highlighter and all his piercings were black. Hopefully, the couple would like them.

"I'll go put on a movie for him," Roman said, taking a moment to pull his husband into a hug. They were both nervous, that was obvious, so Roman resolved to console his husband before they arrived so they were prepared. Roman kissed the top of Samuel's head and breathed in the scent of the Lush shampoo they were using at the moment, before pulling away. "Yeah, slice up some fruit, you should use the raspberries as well."

Roman then went and put Harper in his playpen, a blue mat with low mesh walls that prevented the toddler from crawling around and making a mess, and put on Moana for the little child, because he was biased and loved Disney. Then the doorbell rang.

Roman froze for a moment, then took a deep breath, went to the door, and answered it. On the other side stood a tall-ish man, probably about 5'11 (so Roman towered over him) with bright blue eyes and wildly curly brown hair. He held the hand of a shorter woman, who also had blue eyes and thick, wavy, gorgeous brown hair. Roman took a split second to look them both over, before he gave a charming smile and held his hand out to the man.

"It's lovely to meet you, I'm Roman," he said in a polite and charismatic tone.

The guy blinked a couple of times at Roman's charisma, but shook his hand regardless. "Hi, I'm Kaleb Myers, and this is my girlfriend, Emina Deović."

"Hello," Roman said to Emina, smiling and shaking her hand. He was hyperaware that she was pregnant with a child that Samuel and he could possibly be adopting, but he didn't mention that. "Come in, come in."

He let the couple in, closed the door behind them and lead them through his and his husband's house. Roman had flurried about the day before, making sure that everything was clean and orderly, all the pictures were straight, all the cobwebs were off the walls. They had to go through the living room to get to the kitchen in the quickest way, since there was an open entrance between the living and dining rooms, so they passed Harper with his plate of banana and his gorgeous grey eyes fixed on the screen. Roman saw Kaleb glance at him, but he didn't say anything.

Finally they reached the kitchen and Roman gestured to his husband. "This is my husband Samuel," he said in the same absurdly charismatic tone. "Samuel, this is Kaleb and Emina."
 
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Samuel waited anxiously in the kitchen as Roman went to get the door, he heard some words getting exchanged but couldn't really make anything out, so his first impression of the two was when they came into the kitchen and Roman introduced them in that charismatic way he could do so effortlessly.

Kaleb seemed to be about his own height, with brown curls, and Emina was a pretty girl with long wavy hair. He shook both of their hands with a slightly awkward, "Hello, it's nice to meet you," and a happy smile, it was quite clear which one of him and Roman had the charisma.

There was a small, but still existing, part of Samuel that got very excited seeing Kaleb's very curly and dark brown hair. It was silly because none of their children would ever look like any of them but if one of them looked like Harper's biological dad it was Roman and Samuel just thought it seemed fun to have at least something in common with one of their kids.

That didn't mean he didn't love Harper's soft brown hair or his gorgeous grey eyes or the light dust of freckles he had over his pale nose and cheek though. No, his son was the most beautiful little child and he would think the same no matter what his sibling looked like.

"Tea or coffee?" Samuel asked casually as everyone took seats at the table.

"Tea for me, coffee for Kaleb, thanks" Emina said, politely, slightly nervously. Samuel nodded and started preparing the hot drinks for everyone. It was pretty nice to have something to occupy his hands with for a couple of moments as their guest had just gotten there, it helped him stay a little calmer.

"Did you make it here alright?" He asked, he didn't know what else to say and what was appropriate to ask this early on. He sounded kind of like a boring adult, but that was kind of what he was if he was being honest with himself, he and Roman both were closer to thirty than twenty at this point.

"Yeah," Emina replied, now sitting on a chair next to her boyfriend, holding his hand, "my mum drove us here, she'll come pick us up when we're done," suddenly Samuel felt a pang of what could only be described as guilt. He had nothing to be guilt about, really, but it was suddenly very clear that this man and woman seated in their kitchen ready to give up their baby were young, probably eighteen or nineteen, the age of the oldest kids he taught at school.
 
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Kaleb and Emina were so young, about the same age as London and Evan had been when they had had Allison. Roman glanced at them as he brought their hot drinks over to them. Kaleb's jaw still had a childish roundness to it, and he had a few pimples on his chin. Emina looked more mature, but hardly. They had just gotten their lives started, but were already facing a huge unexpected event that they would have to work around. Roman had nothing but respect for this young couple, because this couldn't have been an easy decision for them to make, especially not at such a young age.

"So you're both at uni?" Roman asked conversationally as he sat down across from Kaleb, a cup of tea in front of him.

"Yes," Kaleb replied, sipping his coffee and looking around. "I'm studying physics."

"Woah, okay, that sounds like a lot of maths so I'm going to steer the conversation away from it," Roman joked, and Kaleb laughed. "Nah, I'm kidding, that sounds really cool. What kind of career do you want to go into?"

"I want to do astronomy and work at the Mount Burnett Observatory," Kaleb said without a moment's hesitation. Roman was suddenly reminded that these two kids were incredibly career-driven and serious about their futures. They reminded him of Elissa a little, who was fiercely devoted to her legal career. Roman hoped that they could help Kaleb and Emina make their decision a little easier, because these dedicated young people didn't deserve to have their careers disrupted.

"That's really cool," Roman said to Kaleb. He then turned to Emina. "What about you?"
 
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Samuel sat down next to Roman, now one couple were on either side of the table, so they could all communicate properly. Though the atmosphere was a little nervous, it wasn't tense, which was nice. This was probably a very hard decision for the young couple to make, but it wasn't as emotionally loaded as it was with Blake.

"I'm studying biochemistry," Emina answered Roman's question simply, they were both studying science, which was generally viewed as being one of the harder things to study. Samuel certainly was impressed and the teacher in him was happy to see two young people be so studious.

"Oh, wow, that sounds interesting," Samuel said in a pleasant and conversational tone. It was quite clear that both of the young adults were very ambitious, and it wasn't hard to guess why they wouldn't be raising the baby themselves. Still there were other options available for them and Samuel was curious, but also didn't want to pry so he didn't ask, instead letting the other couple approach the subject whenever and if they felt like it, "what can you do with a degree in biochemistry?"

"research, mostly, collecting data to use for medical science, things like that," Emina said, then she glanced over at Kaleb, as if to get some reassurance, then she looked right at Samuel and Roman with a serious expression, "I'm going to continue to study next term," she said this somewhat firmly, "I mean I'll take a break from it if it proves to be too stressful, but I thought you should know because I'm not sure all people would want that,"

This was really the first kind-of mention as to why they were there, something to bring them onto the subject, Samuel hadn't expected it so soon, but maybe he should have because both Kaleb and Emina seemed like very socially capable people.
 
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Emina brought up the topic that had been looming on the horizon, and Roman was honestly a little surprised, but he supposed it made sense, because both Emina and Kaleb seemed like pretty serious people. This was something that they'd probably both like to discuss thoroughly, and that was fine with Roman, because he wanted to do that too.

"I understand, and I don't see any problem with that," Roman said. He looked at Samuel, but knew Samuel wouldn't mind either, and then turned back to Emina. "My twin sister was pregnant for most of our last year of high school and she finished it with no problems, and she got A's on all her exams, and she took a year off before uni but she's a high school teacher now." Roman told them this to let Emina know that pregnancy wouldn't inhibit her as much as she thought. Obviously university was different to high school and she was studying a rigorous course, but she most likely wouldn't be keeping the baby, so she would have an easier time continuing her educational career than London had.

Kaleb seemed to be relieved at this news, which Roman thought was sweet, because it meant he cared about Emina's career as well as his own. "Did you hear that? You'll be able to study without too much disruption," he said to her with a smile.
 
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"Yeah," Emina smiled at Kaleb and looked seriously relieved, this was probably something she had worried a lot about, she turned back to Samuel and Roman, "Don't get me wrong, I really want to do this, but I just don't want it to be too much of a distribution in our lives,"

"Yeah don't worry, your thoughts and opinions are really the most important," Samuel assured her. Unlike Harper this child was clearly conceived under loving circumstances, but that didn't make Emina's say in things any less important, she was still the one carrying the child and being kind enough to give it up to a couple who couldn't have children of their own.

"Thanks," she smiled, took a sip of her tea and then continued on with normal conversation, "you're a teacher too yeah? My mum always jokingly says that the three most respectable professions are policemen, doctors and teachers," she said with a small laugh, "

Samuel laughed a little at that, it was a kind of fun thing to say, Emina's mother seemed like a nice person, and she had to be supportive of her daughter's decision since she had driven the couple there and everything, "I mean that's glorifying it just a bit, I suppose it's hard work for little pay, but it's worth it at the end of the day," Samuel shrugged, he really did love his job, "and Roman really having made it with his tattooing helps ease the stress a little," he added that mostly jokingly and to brag a little about Roman's talents, but he supposed it also put across the point of them being financially stable and would have no monetary issues having another child.
 
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"Oh, yeah, we read in your applications that you're a tattoo artist," Kaleb said to Roman. "But, like, your income is really high for a tattoo artist."

That was true — Roman was clearing a few thousand a week by this point, plus tips, so he had a six figure income at the end of the year and was therefore obviously the main financial contributor to their household. He didn't hold that against Samuel, though, because they were both following their passions and Roman supported his husband wholeheartedly.

"Well, yeah, I work at one of the most high-end parlours in the city and I'm actually the manager," Roman told them both. He wasn't showing off, but simply trying to prove to them that they had more than enough money to support another child.

"So you're quite financially stable?" Kaleb pressed.

"Yes, we also own this house, so there's no chance of us getting evicted or anything," Roman added.

Kaleb nodded thoughtfully, then turned to Emina with a questioning look, prompting her to ask any other questions she may have on the topic of money.
 
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Emina looked at Kaleb and gave a small nod before turning back to Samuel and Roman, "And tattooing is a stable profession long term, yeah? Because I know teachers get laid if sometimes due to a lack of funds,"

"In Roman's case it's stable even if something would happen that would cause the parlour to close Roman would be able to get a job with no issue, and that's not just me saying that because I love him, he's very respected in the community," Samuel assured her, "and I'm teaching three subjects at my school, so chances of me getting laid off is pretty slim,"

"Okay, thanks, I know it's kind of prying, but part of why we can't do this ourselves is that we don't have the money," Emina said, a little apologetically but Samuel just smiled and shook his head to tell her it was okay. If she wanted it he'd give her they're exact income before and after tax, anything to make her at ease with the idea of them parenting this child, "We just want this kid to have an equally loving home they would have gotten with us, but also the time and attention they'll need plus financial stability we won't have while studying... And the medical bills are also going to pile up obviously, and if you two suddenly stand without jobs we won't be able to start paying them, so that's why we needed to know,"

That was a very valid concern so Samuel didn't at all mind that she brought it up. Samuel and Roman would of course be paying anything that had to do with the pregnancy, it only made sense since it would be them who were the parents. And they were students, obviously they wouldn't want to have a bunch of bills piling up, especially when one of them most likely wouldn't be able to work, "Yeah that's okay, really the money isn't going to be an issue, we have it and we wouldn't have started to look into this if we knew we couldn't afford another kid,"

"Okay... Another thing I really need to bring up early on is that we really need to know that you'll be willing to take care of and love them no matter what," Emina said, there was a sense of urgency in her tone that told them this was something very serious and important, "we haven't had an ultra sound yet, so we don't know if there are any complications, and even if they show up later we need to know now that you'll be okay with taking them no matter what. That includes physical and mental disabilities. I don't drink or smoke, and I eat healthy, so there shouldn't be any issues because of that, but we do have mental illnesses in the family and you need to be aware of that going into this,"
 
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Money was clearly not an issue for them — one look at their bank account would prove that. But Emina's next concern was harder to ease, and it was completely valid. Caring for a child genetically yours with mental illness or physical disabilities was one thing, but caring for a child with those ailments who you adopted was completely different. You didn't have the genetic obligation to care for that child.

But you had the legal, moral and emotional obligation. Ailments didn't make a difference to Roman, and he doubted it made a difference to Samuel. They wanted another child, and nothing was going to affect how much they loved that child, if Emina and Kaleb chose them.

Roman leaned forward a little, not in an intimidating way, but rather with the air of someone about to say something rather private and emotional. "I'm ... I'm a haemophiliac," Roman said. Roman's physical ailments, and both of their mental ailments, were detailed in their applications, so this wasn't new, but he said it anyway. "Severe haemophilia, to the point where taking a bruise is extremely risky for me. I also have a migraine disorder, and both of us have mental disorders. So, any ailments or disorders that the baby might have won't make a difference to us at all."

Roman reached over and took his husband's hand, for support for the both of them, as he spoke about this heavy issue to Kaleb and Emina. "My parents could have ... given up on me, or just permanently hospitalised me, or something like that, if they hadn't wanted to deal with my haemophilia. But they didn't, because they're amazing and wonderful parents, the kind of parent I want to be. If we're lucky enough to adopt your child, there's no ailment or disorder that would prevent us from loving them with everything we have, or to cause us to give up on them, because that's the kind of people we are. If we're lucky enough to be parents to your child, then we're not going to take that for granted."

Kaleb seemed quite moved by what Roman was saying, looking at the tall man with a thoughtful and slightly impressed expression. He squeezed Emina's hand and looked at her, communicating a message that only she would interpret with his facial expression, something that Roman did with Samuel quite a lot. Roman leaned back in his chair with his hand still clasped in his husband's, and waited.
 
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Samuel squeezed Roman's hand, he knew his haemophilia was a major insecurity for him, and that it was hard to talk about just like that. But it was important to build the case that they really would love this kid no matter what. And that was the truth, disabilities, illnesses or whatever didn't matter. They had the money, time and most importantly, love to give.

Emina and Kaleb exchanges a look, then the woman spoke again, "I... that's actually kind of reassuring," Emina said, Samuel was sure some people would be concerned that Roman couldn't take of the child properly after hearing that, but it didn't seem to be an issue for her, "I just don't want to give them up to some people who'll just end up not wanting to deal with them or who'll treat them badly because their upbringing will be challenging,"

"Believe us, we won't, we know challenges like illness and disability isn't a reason to love someone any less, it just another part of what makes someone themselves," Samuel said softly, Samuel and Roman both reassured each other of this so many times that saying it now felt simple, it was what Samuel truly believed.

Emina was quiet for a moment, a soft expression on her face, looking at the two men in front of her. Then she spoke, carefully, "I think you two are the kind of parents we're looking for to give them up to," she said softly and carefully, "you meet all the criteria we've put up for it..." she glanced over at Kaleb and proceeded to lost things, "financially stable, nice, okay with complications, have another kid already, who also is adopted,"

Samuel's heart was definitely beating hard now because the younger couple seemed like they were seriously considering them. Not just enough to have a talk about it but actually consider them properly. He really wanted to have a second kid just as much as he had wanted Harper, the only difference was that it wasn't the same urgency this time, but now that it was on the table Samuel would feel seriously sad if they didn't get this chance. Eden and Kaleb seemed sweet and nice, sure of what they wanted, really the ideal for this situation and it would be so nice for everything to go smoothly.

"That's all of the points, yeah?" Emina turned to Kaleb for confirmation that they had gotten it all and not forgotten to ask anything.
 
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"Yeah, that's all the points," Kaleb confirmed. He was looking at Emina, so he didn't see Roman close his eyes in relief for a moment. This was so much different to the adoption process with Blake, because they had known Blake forever, they hadn't needed to prove themselves to her. They didn't know these people at all.

But they had seemed to have fulfilled Kaleb and Emina's requirements, and that was amazing.

Kaleb looked back to Roman and Samuel. "One more thing, though, I kind of just thought of it." Roman steeled himself. "Can we meet your son?"

That was surprising. "You want to meet Harper?"

"Yeah. Kind of ... to see how you are with him, and stuff." Kaleb shrugged. "Don't take it the wrong way, we think you're great, just ..."

"It's fine, you don't need to explain," Roman said. He knew what Kaleb meant — words were all well and good, but they needed to see what kind of child Harper was and how they interacted with him to decide whether or not they were going to be good with the child growing in Emina's womb. "I'll go and get him."

And so he did. Roman left for a moment, and came back with the little boy in his arms. He looked happy, and was delightfully chattering on to his dad about the plush fish toy he was holding in his hands. Roman pulled up Harper's high chair and positioned it between his and Samuel's seats, and then placed the baby inside, securing the tray so he didn't fall out. He then sat back down.

"Harper, say hello to Kaleb and Emina," Roman said sweetly to his son. Harper looked up from his fish toy, smiled when he saw the newcomers and held up a hand to wave at them enthusiastically.

"Hi Kay-web and Mina," he said in his adorable baby voice. Then, he leaned over as far as he could and offered his fish toy to the woman. "Fishy."
 
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"Aww, thank you Harper, that's one cute Fishy you've got" Emina grinned at Harper as she received the fish and made sure to look at it properly before handing it back for him to play with while he had to sit with the adults.

"The cutest little fishy, right Harper?" Samuel smiled at his son and reached over to tickle his tummy a little, "Blub blub," it was silly, but he always allowed himself to be silly with Harper.

Emina smiled softly at the interaction, was quiet for a moment and then curiously asked, "What was the adoption process like with him? If you don't mind,"

"We don't mind. His biological mum is a friend of ours, but we're not telling him who it is, partially for personal reasons, partially because there's no real reason for him to know, we're his parents after all,"

"yeah, we've talked some about that, and we're going to want check-ins every now and again, just to know they are doing alright? But we don't think we're going to have any need to actually see them or be in their life? It's like you say, you would be the parents."

Samuel smiled, it was pretty nice to hear that, there were plenty of laws in place that basically allowed the birthparents right to visit they child and the adoptive parents had to agree to it. Samuel honestly didn't like that. He didn't like the idea of someone who didn't have a part in the upbringing of his future children forcing themselves into the kid's life without their permission. It wasn't even that Samuel minded if Emina and Kaleb would want to visit the child in the future, if they would allow Samuel and Roman to have it, but since any future child of theirs from now on would be adopted from parents they didn't know prior Samuel was seriously afraid of the idea of the birth-parents thinking they had a say in how the kid should be raised years later or that they even would try to get custody over the kid or something.

"Sounds good," Samuel shrugged but didn't say more because of the curious little boy next to him, he added, "We haven't told him anything yet though, so keep it on the down low,"

Emina looked a little surprised, but nodded, seemingly not realising that a tiny toddler would understand, but the little boy understood more than he could express. It was just a matter of receptive versus expressive vocabulary, and all people understand more than they can produce in terms of language. That went for tiny children as well.

"Harper sweetie," Samuel changed the subject, and ruffled Harper's hair a little, he loved doing that because it was a playful way to show affection, perfect for the curious and adventurous little toddler, "Do you want to tell Kaleb and Emina about the movie you were watching? It was about the ocean, right? Like where your Fishy lives?"
 
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It was a relief to hear that Kaleb and Emina didn't have much of an interest in being involved in their child's life. This wasn't like Blake, who was friends with them and would therefore be involved, but had a lot of bad memories and feelings associated with the child. This child was conceived by a loving couple and the child, if they were to keep it, would have been loved as well. That could create problems between them and the adoptive parents. But luckily, they didn't feel the need to be involved, meaning if Roman and Samuel were to adopt the child, it would be their child, with no interference in the way they raised that child from anyone else.

Harper seemed oblivious to the conversation going on. He wasn't even one, so if he was listening he probably wouldn't understand. Still, Roman didn't want to tell the little boy that he was getting a sibling until it was set in stone. It would be cruel to get his hopes up while there was even a chance that Emina and Kaleb could change their mind.

But luckily, he seemed preoccupied with his fish and the mention of the movie he had been watching. "Mah-na," he said happily to the younger couple, using his baby version of 'Moana' to name the film.

"Do you want to tell them what Moana is about?"

"Uhhhhhh ... oh-shon, aaaaaaaand ... shiny ..." Harper trailed off, looking to Roman for confirmation.

"Very good, sweetie!" Roman praised the little boy, running a hand over his hair and kissing him on the top of the head. Harper beamed with pride and hugged his fishy closer.

Kaleb smiled softly. "You're both really good parents," he said, and the rest of the meaning of those words hung in the air. The kind of parents we want for our child.
 
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"Thank you, we try our hardest to be," Samuel said, "We were really worried we weren't going to get to adopt for a while, so we're just very happy to have him, and will be no matter what, you know,"

That was pretty important too in Samuel's opinion. Yes, they really wanted another child, they wanted Harper to have a sibling. And if Kaleb and Emina chose to have some other parents have the child they'd be devastated. But it wouldn't stop them from loving and taking care of their child, he was the most important thing in the world to them and if h didn't get a sibling they'd just have to compensate by giving him all the love and affection, which they wouldn't have an issue with.

Emina smiled, equally softly as her boyfriend and nodded. They continued to sit there for a while, interacting with Harper. Samuel asked him some little question about what colours things were so that Harper got to show off his small but still impressive vocabulary. He just seemed to be happy to do things that got him praise and positive affirmations. Samuel loved making him happy.

Eventually, they all thanked Harper for joining them and Samuel carried him back to the living room to finish his movie. Samuel sat back down next to Roman, was quiet for a moment and then went, "so…?" just to indicate that he wasn't really sure where to lead the topic to next, opening up for the other couple to ask any more questions if the had any.

Emina turned her gaze to Kaleb, exchanging another silent but obviously very communicative look and then turned back to Samuel and Roman. Samuel felt himself grow a little nervous again as he didn't know what that look had meant, "I… think we both can agree that you two are great parents, and you really are just the kind of people we want to raise this child…. I mean, nothing's set in stone yet, but…" She turned towards Kaleb again to get him to confirm they were on the same page.
 
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Kaleb looked at Emina for a few moments, communicating with her silently, before finishing her sentence. "But we see no reason why we wouldn't choose you to adopt our child."

Roman let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding, and a smile crossed his face. Nothing was concrete yet, but by the looks of things, they were likely going to be fortunate enough to adopt the precious child in Emina's womb. Roman laced his fingers with Samuel's and pressed a kiss to the back of his hand, it was a small flicker of affection, not too much, but enough. Kaleb was smiling as well. Evidently, he was happy to be making the other couple happy.

"We'll send you over the documents when we finalise things," Kaleb told them, his hand in Emina's. That was almost concrete confirmation and it made Roman very happy.

"Thank you," he said. "For even considering us, it ... it means a lot." They had never been refused adoption, but they had known it was going to be extremely difficult, so to have these strangers believe in them was absolutely incredible.
 
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Samuel let out a breath almost in unison with his husband when Kaleb confirmed what Emina had started. It was like he had held it in for the entire duration of their visit without knowing it. It was pretty nerve wrecking to just wait for someone's judgement like this, just a little under two hours determining what their entire future would look like. But they had basically just said they'd choose them, and all they needed to do was to send over the paperwork and things would be set. Samuel felt so incredibly happy.

"It really does, thank you," Samuel agreed, "And even if you do change your mind I'm really grateful you've at least considered us, it gives us some hope,"

There weren't much more to talk about after that. Emina informed them that she'd be calling her mother to come get them and Samuel and Roman assured them that they, of course, could wait for her there. When she arrived, they got to shake hands with her, she seemed like a nice woman. They also made sure to thank Emina and Kaleb a couple of times more and made sure they knew they were looking forward to meeting them again.

Then they left, and Samuel closed the door behind them. Everything was quiet save for to faint sound of the end of Moana playing, they'd have to go entertain Harper in a moment, but for now, Samuel just looked at Roman. His eyes were filled with tears because now it was really starting to sink in. He wiped the tears away and then he pulled Roman in for a tight hug, "we might get to have another kid, Harper will get a sibling,"
 
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After an afternoon of holding his emotions in as much as possible, Roman finally closed the door, and let out a small, happy sob as his husband pulled him into a hug.

"Hopefully," Roman murmured. He didn't want to get his or Samuel's hopes up, in case Kaleb and Emina chose someone else, but truthfully, he was almost completely sure that they were going to be selected. And that was absolutely amazing. "I love you, and I love Harper." Hopefully, they would be able to extend their family a little more in a few months' time.

A little time passed, it was now the end of July, and Kaleb and Emina had confirmed their decision. They would be giving their child to Roman and Samuel for adoption when he or she was born in February the next year. Roman was practically jumping out of his skin with excitement, and he was already making plans to decorate one of the spare bedrooms in the form of a nursery. They had yet to tell anyone, not even Harper, but they would be breaking the news soon, and Roman couldn't wait until he and Samuel got to hold their new child in their arms.

It was currently a Thursday, and Samuel had forgotten his lunch at home. His happened semi-often, and Roman had the day off, so he had no problems driving up to the school to drop it off, maybe say hello to London and spend the lunch break with his husband and brother-in-law. Harper didn't have daycare that day, but that wasn't a problem, and besides, Roman had no doubt that Samuel would want to see their son.

So, Roman walked into school that day, with a paper bag with Samuel's lunch in it in one hand, and Harper in a baby harness strapped to his chest. Roman looked exceptionally gorgeous today, with a dark blue T-shirt he had stolen from Samuel, black skinny jeans and gold high-top shoes. He also wore a full face of makeup, with a shimmery gold eyeshadow look, white highlighter and a nude lip. Some of the gold glitter from his eye makeup had transferred into his hair, making it all sparkly. All his piercings were black.

He approached Samuel's classroom and knocked on the door. The girl sitting closest came to open it, and her eyes widened when they landed on him. He gave her a charming smile as she let him in, then looked up at his husband, giving him a sarcastic little smile.

"Your personal food delivery service has arrived," he said drily, crossing the room to the teacher's desk and sitting the brown paper bag down on the table. He didn't care that all of the eyes in the room were fixed on him. "Also, your son missed you, say hello to him, he keeps trying to rip my septum piercing out."
 
s a m u e l​

As it turned out Emina and Kaleb stuck to what they had sad that day and had chosen Samuel and Roman as the adoptive parents for their child. Samuel was so happy, and it was nice because in this situation he didn't have any conflicting feelings about it. There was nothing sad about it all, unlike how it had been with Harper. Roman was already planning on decorating the nursery, Samuel couldn't stop thinking about what they needed to get and stock up on before the baby's arrival and he couldn't wait to tell Harper and their family's and everyone. But they were waiting a little with that, even if Emina and Kaleb were nice and seemed trustworthy there was no real way of knowing if this all would turn out like they wanted yet.

Either way, a couple of weeks later the young couple had not yet changed their mind and Samuel was just as happy as ever. Right in that moment though, he was at work, so the future of his little family wasn't the first thing on his mind, maybe the second though.

They were close to the end of class and start of lunch when a knock on the door was heard, not knowing who it was he didn't say anything when one of the students went to get it. He curiously peered over only to see his husband, looking incredibly gorgeous in a full face of makeup and what Samuel was pretty sure was one of his own shirts, carrying their little son in a baby harness. Samuel's face shone up instantly.

"Oh shoot, I forgot my lunch? I didn't even realise, thank you" Samuel said with a small laugh, because it was the truth. He tended to be pretty scatterbrained in the mornings before he got his morning cup of coffee, so it wasn't at all uncommon for Roman to come over with his lunch. A little more uncommon, though, was Harper tagging along. This was for Samuel a very happy surprise and he certainly wasn't complaining about getting to see his cute little kid.

He stood from his spot behind the dress and reached out to get Harper out of the Harness for a moment so he could iv him a proper hug and a little hello, "Hey, sweetie, I missed you too, but don't rip out Daddy's piercings, he likes them," he pressed a little kiss to the toddler's cheek and was met by an 'aww' sound from some of the teenage girls, suddenly he was reminded that he was very much at work, he blushed a little and turned towards the class to make a quick apology for disturbing class but didn't get a chance to.

"That's you're son, right, Mr Hemlock-Ortega?" A girl with fluffy brown hair named Sophia Powell said excitedly, Samuel might have mentioned Harper once or twice… Or like a million times, he just couldn't stop himself, "He's so cute!"

"Oh, yeah," Samuel smiled brightly, and instead of an apology, he continued, "This is Harper, Harper, this is my year nine history class, can you say hello to them?" he figured t wouldn't hurt since class almost was over anyways and there was no point in trying to make the kids regain their focus the last five minutes or so.
 
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