"There's so much information out there, it's just too overwhelming." Syed turned away from his computer screen and looked at Christian. "It'll be months before we get approved and there's so many checks they do first."

"Wow, you're keen. I only mentioned it yesterday and you've spent hours on there today. Are you okay with it all?"

Syed glanced away. "Yeah, I just... really want a kid, that's all."

Christian's expression changed from teasing to concern. "How come you've never mentioned this before? You know you can tell me anything."

"I know, I just wasn't sure how you felt about it. You've never seemed too bothered before."

Christian dropped his eyes. "Yeah, well, had a bad experience, thought it would never happen."

Syed joined Christian on the couch, pulling him into a hug. "I didn't know that. What happened?"

"Roxy. I was nearly Amy's dad, but she changed her mind. I was gutted for a while and swore off families."

"When you say you were nearly Amy's dad, you don't mean – "

"What? Oh no, nothing like that. Rox had a bust-up with Sean, said it was over. She was about to pop, so I offered to be the dad. I got the box room all ready for Amy coming home, then Roxy came over, told me she was back with Sean. Course, then Jack asked for a DNA test, and when the results came in Sean went mental."

"How mental?"

"Tried to kill them all. Anyway, point is, Amy was the first person I was willing to change my life for. Changed right back after, trying to hide how gutted I was, but then you came along." He kissed him. "I think I was looking for something to give my life meaning. I thought that could be Amy, but she wasn't it. Of course I love her anyway, and Rox gave her Christina as a middle name, to try and make it up to me a bit, but she wasn't the answer. You are. And a kid with you would just be that bit more special." He paused, but held Syed's gaze. "I've gone all soppy again, haven't I?"

Syed heaved a huge mock sigh, moaned "Yeah, but I love you anyway," and pulled Christian towards him for a long, slow kiss.

Christian was slightly dazed by Syed's kiss, but he attempted to shake it off, blinked, and said "If you do that again, I might not be able to control myself, and you had these piles of information to show me."

The list was huge. CRB checks, interviews, talking to family members and nominated referees, and even if they passed all of that, an adoption agency might decide they were unsuitable anyway.

"So, the family thing. Jane'll be fine, but can they talk to my parents over the phone?"

"Don't know, we'll have to check. At least we know your parents will speak to them. Mine would probably try to tell them that I'm dead."

"Tam and Shabs can still talk to them though. Hey, maybe if Tam can sneak Kamil along to his interview, he can say how great we are at looking after him!"

"Might work. Maybe they'll talk to the kids when they do Ian and Jane as well."

"We should tell them we're looking into it. Oh, by the way, we're meeting them down the Vic later."


They sat in a booth in the pub waiting for Jane and Ian to show up, Syed with an orange juice and Christian with a beer.

"Christian?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think they'll support us?"

Christian put his arm around Syed. "Of course they will. Jane understands, especially after all the hassle before she adopted Bobby. Anyway, it should be obvious to Ian that we'd be great parents. Lucy still likes me better than him," he giggled, as Syed rolled his eyes and flicked his ear.

Just then, Ian and Jane walked in.

"Hiya sis!" called out Christian. "Ian," he nodded.

"Ian, get the drinks in," said Jane. "So, you sounded all excited about something on the phone. Have you got something to share with us?"

"Well, maybe..." Christian gave her a cheeky grin.

"Oh, come on! You can't sound so happy about something and then not tell me," Jane pleaded, giving Christian puppy-dog eyes.

"Oh go on then," grinned Christian.

"Yes!" cried Jane.

"Well, we've decided," he broke off to put his arm around Syed, "we want to adopt."

"Yeah, and we wanted to ask you about when you adopted Bobby; just about the details of the whole process, if that's okay?" asked Syed.

"Of course! I'm so happy for you," she squeaked.

"Oh, and if you can get Bobby to tell them what great uncles we are, that'd be good too," said Christian.

"Who does Bobby have to tell you're great uncles?" asked Ian, as he came over with the drinks.

"They're going to adopt! Isn't it great?" replied Jane, almost bouncing on her seat in her excitement.

"Well, there's a lot you need to think about. Kids aren't cheap, you know, and I don't –"

"Trust you to make it about money Ian," interrupted Christian, rolling his eyes.

"There were we thinking it was about loving someone and wanting to complete the family," said Syed.

"Look, all I'm saying is that I think they do look at your income, so how are the books looking?"

"The gym is doing very nicely Ian; we have loads of regular clients and everything's peachy. Sy will tell you the exact figures if you're really interested but they're good enough for us to spend money on stuff and move out of that pokey little flat."

"There's nothing wrong with that flat. You never minded it before," grumped Ian.

"It's made a lovely sex den –"

"Christian! Stop talking now!" interrupted Syed.

"- but we can't bring up kids in it. Sorry babe," continued Christian, kissing Syed.

Syed agreed. "We need something bigger, with at least two actual bedrooms."

"Yeah, need a proper door between a possibly naked us and little eyes, seeing things they're not old enough for. Apparently it's not good for them to learn about sexuality when they're too young. It can be scarring."

"Stop talking now," said Syed. "Seriously. Just – no more."

"I suppose it doesn't look too great if you live above a chippy either," mused Jane.

"We can balance that out with owning the gym though."

"So have you spoken to anyone official about it yet then?" asked Ian.

"Yeah, sent them an e-mail. Their biggest thing was whether we'd be okay culturally, you know, like would me being Muslim conflict with Christian not being much of anything and did we think it would cause problems in our relationship and how we'd raise kids. We said no but I think they'll want to do proper in depth stuff."

"They're gonna want to talk to everyone, so the biggest thing there'll probably be Zainab and Masood telling them Sy's dead, when he quite plainly isn't, because he's here and just lovely," said Christian, resting his head on Syed's shoulder.

"Yeah, but surely Tamwar can tell them Syed's not dead," said Ian.

"Tamwar and Shabnam will tell them whatever we want them to," said Syed. "I hope they will, anyway."

The conversation continued in this vein for a while, until Ian decided to call it a night, saying they'd have to relieve the babysitter.

When they got home, Christian turned to Syed. "It all feels more real now we've told someone, doesn't it?"

Syed agreed. "We should have a private celebration as well though," he grinned, pulling Christian towards the bed.