On Saturday, Spencer woke up to an empty bed and the smell of bacon being cooked. He threw back the covers and padded down the hall to the stairs. He wiped the sleep from his eyes as he descended the stairs, and smiled when he came upon Derek in the kitchen, softly singing along to some hit from the 50's that was floating from the radio while he cooked breakfast.

"Morning, baby." Derek grinned as he flipped the pancakes on the griddle.

"Morning." Spencer mumbled as he shuffled over to get a cup of coffee.

"I have a good feeling about today." The older man set two plates on the table and sat down in his usual seat.

Spencer joined him, setting his coffee down as he slid into his seat. "I do, too." He said softly. "I still think Caleb is the one for us."

Derek stopped cutting up his pancakes and reached across the table to take Spencer's hands in his. "I know, baby boy. I think so, too."


They arrived at the adoption center early and sat in the lobby waiting rather impatiently for Ms. Greenway to lead them to the room where they'd meet the first child of the day. Spencer kept bouncing his knee, even after Derek placed his hand on it. Finally, after what felt like hours, Ms. Greenway called them back and lead them to one of the interview rooms.

When they entered the room, a girl Derek recognized as Rosie sat at the table, her hands folded and placed on the table. "Hi." She said cheerfully.

"Hello." Spencer smiled.

They took their seats across from Rosie as she started asking them all sorts of questions. Most pertained to their relationship and what they were looking for in a child. Both Derek and Spencer raised their eyebrows in surprise at her maturity. They did their best to answer her questions, and before they could ask their own, Ms. Greenway knocked on the door to let them know the next child was ready.

Derek and Spencer said goodbye to Rosie and followed the woman along to the next room. A small boy sat on a booster seat in the chair. He looked about three or four. They talked with him about his Thomas the Train cars that he was driving across the table as Spencer told him facts about trains.

When they were done talking with him, they were led to another room where Caleb was sitting with his head bowed and his shoulders slumped in what they recognized as defeat. Derek hated seeing someone so young look so defeated. "Hi, Caleb." He said as they walked in.

The boy looked up and gave a halfhearted smile. "Hi."

Derek and Spencer took their seats across from Caleb and introduced themselves. "So, your file said that you like to read, what's your favorite book?" Derek asked.

Caleb's face lit up as he started in on his favorite books. "Well, I really like the Eragon series. And Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is really good, too." He grinned. "But I think my favorite is Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter was really good." Spencer agreed.

"Do you like to read?" Caleb asked Spencer, bouncing in his seat.

"I do." Spencer nodded. "I can read 20,000 words a minute."

"Whoa." Caleb breathed. "That's a lot."

"Yeah, it is." Derek laughed. "I can never keep up with him."

Caleb cracked a smile, and Derek counted that as progress. "I read faster than other kids in my class. They stutter of words when we have to read aloud, so I just read ahead."

Derek nodded in sympathy. He knew it couldn't be easy being the smartest kid in class, he'd heard stories from Spencer. Even had a few of his own. "So, what else do you like to do besides read?"

"I like to color with my sister. Well, when I can see her." He looked down at his hands, a sad look on his face.

Derek and Spencer shared surprised looks. "You have a sister?" Spencer asked.

"Yeah," Caleb nodded. "She's four. She lives in a different foster house, though, so I only get to see her a couple times a month."

"I have two sisters." Derek told him. "I don't get to see them very often, either because we live so far apart."

Caleb asked them about their families and told them about his. About his mom and how Child Protective Services had to take him and his sister away after her third trip to rehab. Half way through their conversation, Ms. Greenway came back to tell them it's time to meet the fourth child.

Derek and Spencer stopped her in the hallway. "Actually, Ms. Greenway," Derek started. "We've made a decision." He glanced at Spencer who was smiling and nodding.

"Oh?" She looked surprised.

"Yes, we want to adopt Caleb." Spencer said.

"Oh, that's wonderful! He'll be happy with you, I'm sure!" The woman smiled. "Let's go to my office and get started on the paper work!"

"There's one more thing." Derek stopper her. "We also want to adopt his sister."

"His sister?" She looked between the two men. "Are you sure you want to take on two children at once?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, alright. I'll go pull up all the necessary papers. Why don't you go tell Caleb the good news." With that, she turned and headed for her office.

Derek turned to Spencer. "We're doing this."

"We are." Spencer grinned. He took Derek's hand in his. "Come on, let's go tell Caleb."

They walked back into the room and Caleb looked up from the book he was reading. He gave them a confused look and set his book down.

"How would you like to become part of our family?" Derek asked.

Caleb's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

Spencer nodded. "Yep."

"Oh my god!" Caleb pushed away from the table, the chair scraping noisily against the floor. He launched himself at the men, wrapping his small arms around both of them. "Thank you." He choked.

"No need to thank us, kid." Derek said.

"Will I get to see my sister?" He asked as he pulled back from the hug.

"Every day." Spencer said.

"What?" Caleb looked between the two, confusion written all over his face again.

"We're going to adopt her, too." Derek said. He suddenly had an armful of crying Caleb. He wrapped his arms around the boy's small frame and squeezed him tight.