Ok, that took longer than I expected. Once again I wanna thank my friend who's reading this for reading it and urging me to write the next chapter constantly. And I want to thank everyone who is sticking with the story and reviewing.
Disclaimer: I do not now nor have I ever owned Degrassi or any of its characters.
Marco opened his car door and plopped into his seat with a sigh. It was barely one in the afternoon and he felt as though it should be at least ten at night. The social worker took a breath and slid his car key into the ignition. He slowly pulled out of the parking space. What had started out as a wonderful Christmas morning turned into a strange and slightly difficult Christmas afternoon. Marco thought back on all that had happened in those few hours. Many tears, a hard phone call, and many, many soothing words had taken all that time, time away from his small, but wonderful, family. On Christmas no less!
Marco knew that an important, and possibly uncomfortable, conversation was coming up. With that in mind he began rehearsing a speech to not only convince Dylan, but also himself. All too soon Marco was pulling into his driveway. He took the key out of the ignition and rested his forehead on the steering wheel between the hands he hadn't removed from it. He took a deep breath and told himself it wouldn't be too bad, but even he didn't believe that.
"She want's us to what?" Dylan asked the astonishment clear in his voice.
"You heard me Dylan." Marco replied.
"But why us? And now?"
"Well I'm sorry she didn't get raped and impregnated at a more convenient time." The Italian responded sarcastically.
Dylan sighed, "That's not what I meant and you know it."
"What did you mean then?"
"It's just, well, we just adopted Esmeralda. Do you really think it'd be a good idea to bring another baby into the house?"
"It wouldn't be for another seven months. Besides I never said I wanted to do it, I said I wanted us to think about it."
"Ok, but why does she want us?"
"Well, she trusts me, and you're my husband, so she trusts you by extension. She knows that we'll raise the baby right and she'd be able to see it. She's just so young; she can't handle a baby, let alone one that's a product of rape."
"Why can't you find a home for her baby, why do we have to take it?"
"Dylan, this rape was violent and demeaning. It's given her serious trust issues, she doesn't want this child to go to just anyone." Marco was slowly shifting from husband mode to social worker mode. Both men noticed, but neither said anything. "Think of it this way Dyl. If Paige had been impregnated when she was raped, and she decided to put it up for adoption, do you think she would have been more comfortable with the child being in the hands of total strangers, or with a couple she knew? Or if, God forbid, Esme was in this situation. Wouldn't you want to know that your grandchild was being taken care of?"
Dylan looked to the heavens for strength then muttered, "Merry Christmas. Here's a new baby."
"So that means you'll think about it?"
"What else could I do after that speech?" Marco smiled at his husband, whose face was still tilted toward the ceiling. The blond took a breath and faced the younger man, "Do you want to adopt Megan's baby?"
"I don't know. I think it'd be a good thing to do. I mean when we adopted Esmeralda, it was more for us than for her, or for Jane. But this baby, well, this one will really need us, you know? Not that we didn't do a good thing adopting Esme, it was just for more selfish reasons. Plus, I just know that we'll love this baby too, if we do end up taking it."
"Which is still a pretty big if." Dylan pointed out.
Marco nodded his agreement and knew that this was a conversation to be continued later, especially when Esmeralda began to cry. She had been taking a nap when Marco got home and was just waking up.
"I'll get her." Marco said. He stood from his chair at the kitchen table and made his way to her bedroom.
"What's wrong la mia bambina?" Marco asked letting his Italian slip out. When the girl continued crying he picked her up and held her close. "Shh, it's okay sweetheart. Papa's here. I'm here." All his soothing words and soothing sounds were lost on the child nearing hysterics. She had eaten just before her nap, so she wasn't hungry. She didn't need to be changed, so what could it be? Maybe she just had a bad dream or something. With that thought in mind he began to sing a soft song. It was one he knew well. A slow, soft sweet song and one he had always enjoyed.
"Often times I dream of music,
Of the river that freely flows.
And it sings a song
Sweeter than honey,
One everybody knows.
Late I night I hear it singing
Then again when I wake at dawn.
And it fills me up
With hope and good will,
The will to go on, go on
There is a river in Judea
That I heard of long ago.
And it's a singing ringing river
That my soul cries out to know."
By the time Marco was done with the first verse and the chorus Esmeralda was asleep again. The proud papa put his sleeping daughter down and returned to his husband who was still sitting in the kitchen. Marco stopped in the doorway when he saw Dylan sitting with the baby monitor in his hand, a hand that was outstretched with a head full of blond curls resting on it. After watching his husband sleep for a moment Marco walked over to the table and sat in the chair next to Dylan's. As far as the dark skinned man could tell the blond had been listening to his impromptu lullaby over the baby monitor and he was no more immune to it than their young daughter.
"Dylan." Marco said gently resting his hand on the taller man's broad shoulder. "Dyl, honey," he said as the other began to wake up, "As comfy as I'm sure our table is, I think it would be better if you finished your nap in our bed." Dylan muttered something intelligible since his face was still mostly on his arm. "What was that babe?" Marco asked him.
"Only if you join me." He said sleep obvious in his voice.
Marco chuckled and told him, "Of course honey."
Leaning against each other, Dylan leaning more than Marco, they slowly walked up the stairs and to their bedroom. Marco opened the door and led his husband to their bed where he took off his own shoes and socks and Dylan just lay down, not having needed to put on his shoes all day. About thirty seconds after Dylan Marco curled up beneath their blanket. As a natural reaction the older man wrapped his arms around the younger's waist and pulled him closer to his body, both sharing their body warmth.
"I love you Marco." Dylan said suddenly. Marco was surprised having assumed that he was already asleep again.
"I love you too Dylan." He replied.
"I think we should do it." Marco's eyelids flew open at these words, while his husband's remained shut.
"Me too." He admitted.
"I have one condition though." Dylan told him while both smirking and yawning.
The mischief evident even through closed eyes made Marco cautious. "What?"
"I get to tell everyone that we're pregnant." With a chuckle from the Italian and another smirk from his husband the couple fell asleep.
I swear that seemed longer on Word. Sorry if it's too short, I just thought that was a really go place to end the chapter... and I wanted to get it up since I hadn't gotten one up in a while.
