Secret Santa Fic for jacquzy! I hope you enjoy it!

Her prompt: Human AU. Alfred and Arthur (established couple) decide they want a baby. I would like to see them trying to work out how it would work, going through the adoption process, etc.

Chapter 1 – The Decision

Arthur stared blankly at the blinking black cursor on the word document before him. His fingers hadn't moved in over an hour and he was becoming a bit irritated. Arthur leaned back in his chair and picked up a cup of tea next to his laptop. He sipped his earl grey as he read the last two paragraphs written on the screen. He needed to finish the first draft of his next novel, even if it killed him, but he was beginning to suffer from a bit of writer's block. He hadn't gotten any further with the plot of the story and it was becoming worrisome. He glanced at his notes and decided to go over them to keep his thoughts together. As he was going over the rough plot outline of his story he felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder. Arthur jumped and turned to find Alfred grinning down at him.

"You've been at this all morning sweetheart, you should take a break."

"Not right now, love. I got to get this done, and soon. I don't want to cause Kiku any more trouble."

Alfred laughed, "He's been your editor for years. He knows what to expect."

"Yes, I know, but I hate causing more trouble for the poor chap. I give him enough stress already."

"Arthur, it'll be fine. You'll make your deadline and you won't have to worry about Kiku. Everything will be just peachy."

"Peachy. Right."

Alfred leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.

"Yes, your husband guarantees it. Come on, come lie down on the couch. You can finish up later."

Arthur sighed, "I don't know. I really shouldn't stop now."

"Yes, yes you should. If you just sit here in frustration, then you won't accomplish anything. I know how you get when you're frustrated."

"Well…alright."

Alfred fist pumped before taking Arthur's hand and dragging him toward the couch. Alfred sat down on the end and patted his lap.

Arthur grumbled about Alfred "distracting him from work" before sprawling across the couch, placing his head in Alfred's lap. Immediately after lying down, he felt his body relax and the tension in his mind disappear. He closed his eyes as Alfred started stroking his cheek with his left hand and surfed the channels with his free hand. Arthur couldn't help but to feel at ease when he was around his boyfriend, scratch that, husband. He was still getting use to calling him that, even after so long. They had been together for about six years now, and were still going strong. After the announcement that they had passed the Marriage Equality Act in the state of New York, they went straight to the Suffolk county court house and tied the knot. They didn't think twice about it, for they had wanted this for years and never thought they would actually be able to call each other their spouse. They had a small party afterwards with some friends to celebrate, and they couldn't have been happier. Arthur could smell the greasy fast food in Alfred favorite Giant's sweater, which made him smile. So Alfred. Arthur couldn't help but bask in the warmth of Alfred's lap. Before he realized it, he had drifted off into a light sleep.

~USUKUS~

When he awoke from his nap, he could hear Alfred chuckling above him. Arthur turned and glanced at the television before them. The TV was on Cartoon Network and Alfred was watching some weird cartoon.

"What are you watching Alfred?"

"Adventure Time."

"You know this is a kid show, right?"

"Yea, I know, but this show is actually pretty cool. I heard some of the kids talking about it before class; I was curious."

"You teach high school students. Why are they watching cartoons?"

"That's what I thought too, but then I actually watched it and it's actually quite good."

Alfred taught Chemistry at the local high school, and was also the head football coach for the school team. The students usually called him Coach Jones instead of Mr. Jones, which annoyed Arthur to no end whenever he visited him at the school. His argument was that he was a teacher in the classroom and a coach on the field, so he should be addressed accordingly. Alfred simply replied by calling him "old-fashioned". He found it perfectly alright that all of his students, even the kids who didn't play football, called him Coach instead of Mr. Jones.

"So how do you feel about tomorrow's game, Coach?"

"I feel like we'll do fine. It will be nerve racking since this game can make us or break us for the playoffs, but I'm confident in my kids. We watched film today, and I think we have a good gauge of what to look out for tomorrow. The other team's offense is pretty good. One of their running backs is just amazing, so our defensive line will have to step it up. Also, we have to make sure to stop drawing so many penalties this time around. I lost count of how many holding calls were called against us."

"Tell me about it, the referees were having quite a time throwing that yellow flag around."

"I know. Hopefully we will have new refs this go around. "

"Your boys will do just fine, love. They have one of the greatest coaches in the state."

Alfred blushed, "I'm no Parcells, sweetheart."

"I don't know who that is, but I know you're a great coach."

Alfred laughed, caressing Arthur's cheek in his hand.

"You coming to the game tomorrow, babe?"

"Of course, don't I always?"

"Just making sure, tomorrow is a big game for us. The parents are worried, but I know that the kids will step it up tomorrow."

"I know, love. With your guidance, they will do great."

Alfred grinned, "I know you don't enjoy football, but I love it when you come."

"Alfred, I might not find the game that enthralling, but I always enjoy watching your team play."

"Aww, babe. You're so sweet! By the way, you should totally help coach the school's soccer team. They would appreciate the help."

"Sorry dear, I have enough on my plate with writing, book signings and what not. I couldn't possibly think about teaching kids about real football."

"You mean soccer, but yeah, I understand babe, but if you ever reconsider I know the Feliciano wouldn't mind. Especially since his brother was banned from coaching."

"Did he really almost kill that referee after the red card?"

"Yeah, it was really scary. The ref was running for his life all the way out the stadium. Antonio ran onto the field to try to stop him."

Arthur stared into the ceiling, "I'll think about it."

"Awesome! I promise, you'll have a great time coaching. You're amazing at soccer."

"Football, I am amazing at football."

"Whatever, you're good at it."

Arthur turned his head and looked at the TV. He didn't know what the hell was going on in the episode. All he saw was this human character with a strange hat, surrounded by talking candy and talking to bipedal dog.

He shifted and glanced up at Alfred. He was completely absorbed in the cartoon. Arthur couldn't believe how much Alfred acted like a big kid sometimes. He was twenty-eight years old but he acted like he was twelve sometimes.

It made him popular with his students, that's for sure. By how Alfred described it, he is one of the most respected teachers in the school. The kids loved him, his football players loved him. Alfred wouldn't admit it, but he was very good with kids, always had been. It made Arthur a little jealous, because he knew that he wasn't the greatest with kids in his younger days. When he was in his early twenties, he hated kids, couldn't stand them. It's more because he couldn't relate to them than anything else, but as he got older, he began to soften up. The sight of little kids at the grocery store, sitting in the grocery carts was becoming more appealing.

For some odd reason, Arthur started envisioning what Alfred would look like with a kid. He could imagine Alfred sitting on the couch next to a toddler watching these cartoons, each with their own bowl of cereal. He couldn't help but smile up at his husband at the thought.

Then reality slowly crept up to him.

Wait. What is he thinking?

Arthur shook the crazy notion from his head and slowly made his way up from the couch.

"Did you let the cats in?"

Alfred cut his attention away from the screen and up at Arthur.

"Oops! Totally forgot sweetheart. Should have done that earlier."

"It's alright, Oscar is probably fine, but I'm more worried about Bear. He's probably hungry."

"Yea, I'm surprised I haven't heard him scratching on the door."

Arthur went to the kitchen and opened the back door.

As soon as he opened the door, a white and brown blur ran into the house, followed by a few seconds later a bigger, fatter and fluffier white cat. Arthur started laughing as the white cat ran, for he jiggled when he ran.

"Your cat is fat, Alfred. I don't think it's good for Bear's health to be that large," Arthur called into the living room.

"He's not fat, he's just supper fluffy."

"He may be fluffy, but he's also fat. He can barely make it up the steps."

"He totally can. He just likes to take his time."

As he turned his attention back to the cats, Bear was lying in front of his bowl while Oscar sat in the corner, cleaning himself.

Arthur started pulling out two cans of cat food from the kitchen cabinets.

"Alfred, did you forget to buy Oscar's food again?"

Alfred walked into the kitchen and leaned against the door frame.

"It's not my fault yourcat is really picky. It shouldn't be that hard to feed a cat cat-food for god sakes."

"He just likes certain brands, okay. Just because your cat eats anything he gets its paws on doesn't mean you can pick on my cat for liking certain brands of cat food."

"BlueBuffalocat food is really expensive! And I can only get it from Petsmart! Why can't I just buy it at Wal-mart?"

"Stop complaining, it's on your way home from work. I'll pick it up Sunday. We have a few cans left to make it through the weekend."

"You spoil that cat worse than a child!"

Arthur paused as he was popping the lid on the can of cat food.

"No I don't. It's not a big deal if I get him special cat food."

"I can only imagine if you did have a kid…"

Arthur huffed. He tried to brush off the silly comment but something kept bugging him.

What if he really did have a child?

~USUKUS~

There was time to spare before the big game, so Arthur went to the local bookstore to find new reads to kill time. He wanted to have something to entertain himself while he was waiting on the kickoff.

He really didn't know what he was looking for, so he started perusing the different isles. He started off with the fantasy section, but he couldn't find anything terribly interesting, so he went off into the fiction section. He found a nice hardcover of the Complete Sherlock Holmes. He once had a nice hardcover copy of the collection, but alas, it was home in London with his mother. He picked up the book and made his way to the front of the store.

On his way to the register, he skimmed over the collection of clearance books scattered on the tables near the front. He really never bought anything from the clearance section for the following reasons: 1. It was just obscure titles that no one wanted to read 2. It was a biography for a so-called celebrity that probably didn't write it anyway. That's when he found the little book on the corner of a clearance table. The front cover featured a picture of a laughing baby, looking quite cheerful. It looked to be another one of those baby books for new parents. Arthur was about to walk away when he unconsciously turned around and picked it up. The book was on sale for five bucks. He didn't know why, but he placed under his arm on top of the Sherlock Holmes hardcover and made his way to the cash register.

The clerk gave him a smile.

"Did you find everything you needed today?"

"Yes, thank you."

The clerk started scanning the books.

"I see someone's a new parent."

Arthur's eyes grew in shock. He cleared his throat, "Oh, oh no. That is for a friend of mine. He just found out his wife is pregnant."

It was a total lie but it was better than explaining, no, my husband and I don't have a kid. I just wanted to buy the book for no apparent reason.

"Well congrats to them, do you want it gift wrapped?"

"No thanks".

The cashier told him his total and Arthur gave him his credit card. As soon as the transaction was over, he quickly headed to his car with a flustered look on his face. He sat in the driver's seat and stared at the purchases in his lap. He pulled the out the baby book and started glancing over the table of contents.

This is for research for my next novel, he told himself.

That was it, research.

~USUKUS~

Arthur made his way to the lower bleachers, a few rows away from the student section with his overpriced diet coke from the concession stand in hand. Alfred complained when he was too far away for him to see during the game. He sat down next to a middle aged woman wearing a pin with a picture of one of the football players. Arthur put his bag down on the bleacher next to him and looked out onto the field. He could see the team doing warm-ups. He saw Alfred talking to one of his assistant coaches, apparently looking over plays. When Alfred turned around, Arthur started waving his hand to get his attention. When Alfred finally spotted him, a grin spread across his face. He started bouncing in place and waved back at him. Arthur buried his face in his hand. Alfred always acted like he was five years old when he spotted Arthur in the crowd of fans at the games. Arthur was a little embarrassed but he found it so endearing that he never said anything.

Alfred blew him a kiss and Arthur turned even blushed even more. Alfred didn't mind public displays of affection, even in front of his students and their parents. He was pretty open about being married to another man. Alfred kept a picture of him on his desk, and wouldn't hesitate to tell any of the students who asked that he is his husband. He never had trouble with his students knowing that he was gay. He says that he find most of his students are surprised at the fact, but don't think anything of it. He had a few football players before who had mocked him on the field or in the locker room for being gay, but those players' attitudes were remedied by suicides up and down the field until they couldn't feel their legs and a place on third string. He explained that he wanted his students to not judge or stereotype people on their sexuality by being the example himself. Alfred even helped students who were facing issues with their own sexuality. To say that Arthur was proud of him would be an understatement.

After his display of affection, Alfred turned around and called in his team for the huddle. Game time wasn't for ten minutes, so Arthur went into his bag and searched for something to occupy him for the time being. He pulled out the baby book and looked around. Once he was sure no one was paying attention, he started reading the first chapter on bringing the baby home. He surprised at how interesting he found the book. He didn't even realize that the game had started until he heard the band start playing the national anthem. Arthur quickly shut the book and shoved it into his bag. He stood up, joined the crowd and placed his hand over his heart.

~USUKUS~

The game was really intense and came down the wire in the fourth quarter. Alfred's team was playing tenaciously throughout the entire game, but it was still going back and forth between the two teams. The defense was able to hold off the superb offense of the opposing team much to Alfred's pleasure. The game had come down to 28-24, with Alfred's team taking home the victory. They were able to shut down the opposing team's offense on their last drive to win the game. At the end of the game, two of the team's players came from behind and dumped the cooler of ice water on top of Alfred's head. Arthur couldn't help but laugh as Alfred was drenched in the cold water. He could have sworn Alfred jumped five feet in the air.

After the game, Arthur met Alfred in the parking lot of the school. Alfred ran up to him and scooped him up in a hug. Arthur couldn't help but laugh as Alfred started swigging him around in circles.

"I got it, coach. Now put me down, you're still quite wet, love."

Alfred chuckled, "Okay, okay."

Alfred carefully placed Arthur on the ground and kissed him on the forehead.

"Well, that was a good game."

"I'd say so myself."

"Did you have fun?"

"Yes love, I always have fun at your games."

"Thanks, sweetheart."

"Come on. Get in the car. I don't want you to catch a cold in those wet clothes."

"Yes dear."

Arthur climbed into the driver's seat while Alfred climbed into the passenger seat next to him.

Arthur was driving on the road toward the house, but he decided to make a little detour today. Alfred noticed.

"Baby, why did you turn here instead of going straight?"

"You'll see."

"Okay," he said slowly.

"So does this mean you guys are going to the playoffs next week?"

"Yea, it's going to be a tough game but I know we can do it."

"How long will playoffs be?"

"It depends. If we lose next week, we're out, but if we win we continue on. The goal is state championship but we are facing one of the hardest teams in the state next week."

"That sounds daunting."

"It is, but it isn't. I have enough faith in our team. If I don't have faith, how can I expect them to believe they could win?"

"You're always the perfect coach aren't you?"

Alfred laughed, "No, I just know enough about sports, especially football, to know what we need to succeed, that's all."

Alfred reached into his pocket and pulled out his iPhone.

"Do you have your car charger by any chance, sweetheart?"

"It's in my bag, in the back seat."

Alfred reached over the center console into the back of the cab and grabbed the bag. Once he pulled it into the front, he started shuffling through the bag to find the charger.

He paused.

"Arthur, sweetheart, why do you have a baby book in your bag?"

Oh shit.

Arthur gulped and didn't look away from the road in front of him.

"I-I, uh, I picked it up for a friend while I was at the bookstore."

"Arthur, none of our friends have kids nor are having kids."

Arthur couldn't come up with another excuse. He should have known that Arthur wouldn't have bought the lie; he was smarter than that. Arthur just sat there silent, not wanting to face his husband at the moment.

Arthur was saved by the light of the golden arches.

"McDonald's!"

"Surprise! I knew you'd be hungry after the big game, so I'd thought we could stop by."

"Thank you, sweetheart!"

"No problem, love."

Alfred started bouncing in his seat as they pulled up to the restaurant. Alfred shook his head as Alfred start skipping toward the restaurant as they got out of the car.

When they entered, they made their way to the line in front of the counter.

Alfred ordered two big macs, a large fry and a coke while Arthur just ordered a chicken sandwich with a small fry and a diet coke. He really didn't like McDonald's and could only imagine the amount of cholesterol they consumed every time they ate there, but he knew it made Alfred happy so he never complained.

"Order number 62!"

"That's us!" Alfred cheered.

They took the trays and made their way toward a booth in the back of the restaurant. Alfred started to immediately dig in to his burgers while Arthur nibbled on his fries. It was silent for a few minutes as Alfred scarfed down the first burger, but just as Arthur was getting comfortable, Alfred brought it up.

"So, what's really up with the baby book, and don't lie."

"Well…"

"Spill it."

"I guess I just found it interesting, that's all. It was in the bargain bin and I don't know, I bought it, I guess. What for, I don't know."

Alfred paused, shoving a few fries into his mouth.

"Arthur, have you ever thought about us having a kid?"

Arthur started choking on his sandwich. After a good pat on the back by Alfred, he was finally able to respond.

"To be honest, I guess I have. I know you're great with kids, but I worry that I won't be as tolerable as you around them."

"Arthur, you're getting older. You're not the person you were ten years ago. Besides, I think you'd make a great dad."

Arthur paused and looked up at his husband.

"You, really think so?"

"Yeah, I know so."

"Would you like to have a child, Alfred?"

"Well, considering that my whole career revolves around kids and all. Yes. I would love having a kid. Do you want to start a family Artie?"

Arthur looked down at his tray in front of him. He would of never considered kids when they first got together, but now the idea was actually quite…well, nice.

"Yes, actually."

Alfred grinned.

"Well, we have to start getting ready."

"Huh?"

"We have a lot to do, you know. That spare room upstairs won't clear itself out."

Arthur couldn't help but smile.

This was the start of a new journey in their lives. One they would never regret.

A/N:

This prompt made me smile soo much. You have no idea. I love the idea of Alfred and Arthur adopting a baby, you don't even know. I was excited to see this prompt, let me tell you.

I named Iggycat after Oscar Wilde because I know that Arthur has a thing for his works (especially Dorian Grey) and I just think Alfred would name Americat Bear, because he's just that odd.

Bill Parcells was the head coach of the New York Giants, and won two Super Bowls with them.

Oh and they live in Hampton Bays, New York. It's a small, lesser known part of the Hamptons. It's more of a fishing town, or at least once was (the fishing industry kind of died out). It's quiet and quaint, which they both like.