The envelope Luke and Reid had been waiting for for a year and a half had finally arrived. Today they would find out if their application for adoption of a child would be approved.
"Reid I'm too nervous to open this. This could change our entire lives," Luke said as he tossed down the envelope.
"Luke I will open it if you want me to. Remember, we promised ourselves we would not get our hopes up."
"I know but we want this so badly. And we paid the application fee which was not cheap. And our references were spotless. So I don't see why we would be denied."
"Well, "Reid took Luke's hand," There's only one way to find out."
Luke slowly opened the envelope, read the letter, then dropped it to the ground. Reid could see from his partner's face that it was not good news.
Why, Reid? Why not us? Wait. We both Know the answer," he fumed. "We did everything right. We followed their rules. We played their game. There is no reason we should not have been approved. This is.."
"Luke calm down. We always knew there was a chance of this happening. This was just our first agency. We applied to a few others."
"Tell me that its not because we're gay," Luke challenged.
Reid stopped to think. Personally he felt the same way his partner did. He truly believed a miscarriage of justice had been done to them, but he needed to stay strong. For Luke's sake, he had to be strong.
"I can't think like that," he decided on. "Besides, how many straight couples get denied for no reason? We're not the only ones this has happened to. We just have to keep trying."
Luke stared at him. How could he stay so calm when things had gone so wrong? "What if we don't get our child, Reid? Then what?"
Reid looked at him for a minute. "Then I guess it will just be the two of us. Just you and me. I love you Luke and personally I can live with that. A child would be nice but personally I don't need one to make me feel complete. That's why I have you."
Luke smiled. After getting that letter he'd almost forgotten how wonderful life with his partner could be. "I need you too Reid."
They forgot about the letter momentarily and sat on the couch, enjoying each other's company. With any luck, they wouldn't have much time soon for little moments like that. And if fate had other plans in mind for them? Well that was all right too. They had each other, and that was good enough for them.