Hi there!

So I was asked for a little more angst in my stories, so hopefully, this lives up to the request!

"Dispatch to 035, come in 035."

"035," Rick responded, grabbing the radio as it crackled to life.

"Reports of domestic violence at 1021 McCoy Street, the suspect is armed and dangerous. Proceed with caution."

"035 responding," Rick told, he switched on lights and sirens as he sped towards the scene. Minutes later he pulled up to the house, there was already another squad car and an ambulance there before him. Rick stealthily traipsed to the front door, retrieving his weapon and aiming it as he entered. He traveled towards the commotion, finding two of his fellow officers pinning down the perp, placing handcuffs on him as he thrashed about. Across from them laid a woman in her twenties, bruises and blood covering her chest, the floor, the walls. The EMT's working tirelessly to stem the bleeding pooling from her upper body.

"What happened," Rick asked, lowering his weapon.

"Perp shot his girlfriend," the officer explained, which didn't offer any further explanation from what he had already deduced. The officers roughly pulled the suspect up from the ground and guided him towards the squad car. Rick called for further backup as he was now the only police on the scene, he turned to watch the EMTs scrambled as the victim's pulse began to drop.

Leaving them to work, Rick investigated the house, securing the scene. The house looked undisturbed; he assumed the altercation must have started in the lounge room. The house was a mess, with spoiled food, dirt and dust on every surface, cigarettes, alcohol and drug paraphernalia littered about. He finds a bag of weed and heroine in the bedroom closet, takes an evidence bag and stores it there. In the bedroom he sees a bag of diapers and baby toys, making him curious about the other occupants of the house.

Rick investigated further into the house, bathroom, kitchen and lounge room all empty of any other child-related items, coming up empty on his earlier suspicions. Lastly, he entered the backyard, its mostly dead lawn, debris and broken-down electronics and car parts littered about. Rick scans the yard, travelling to the garage at the back where he hears a faint noise coming from inside. The officer slowly approached the garaged, weapon raised again as he gently prized the roller door open rapidly, the noise became louder.

"Holy shit," Rick breathed, the wind feels as though it had been knocked out of him. In the back of the garage, he finds a dilapidated dog crate, where a child, who couldn't be older than 12 months old, was gripping the broken steal sobbing in fear. Rick moves fast, holstering his weapon then running to the cage only to find it's padlocked. Searching around the nearby workbench, devoid of the key or bolt cutters, he finds a large hammer, repeated strong blows make quick work of the padlock. Rick throws the broken padlock away, reefing the busted door open, and snatches the boy from his prison. The little boy clammers to Rick, tear-stained face burying into his chest as he continued to wail.

"It's ok, it's ok, I've got you," Rick coos, running a hand through the child's dark brown curls. It's a boy, he assessed, a mop of curly brown hair that looks mattered and oily, he suspects he hasn't been bathed for a while by the grime that covers every inch of his body. He's thin, too thin, his cheeks are sunken in and his onesie hangs on him. The smell is overwhelming too, his diaper is full and Rick doesn't want to know how long he has been trapped in the crate.

After a few minutes of calming the child, Rick radios his findings before going back to the scene of the crime. He finds the EMT, explained the situation, and asks for an evaluation of the child. The child cried, hurt, terrified cries that break Rick's heart as they try to pry him away. The only way they can make it work is if Rick sits with him as the EMT's assess the child, they find the toddler has a severe case of dehydration and will need to be placed on an IV drip, he's malnourished and has an ear infection that will require antibiotics.

"He needs to be admitted to hospital," the EMT informed him, holding his hands out for the child. The toddler loses it, clings to Rick, screaming in absolute distress, and refuses to let go.

"Hey, it's ok," Rick soothes gently before looking to the EMT, "look I can ride along, I can write up my report from the hospital."

Rick entered the ambulance and they speed towards the hospital.

"What are you looking at?" Drew asked Jordan, noticing the slightly tilted head and smile on her face.

"Rick looks good with a baby."

"What?" Drew followed her gaze to see his husband cradling a small child to his chest. Confused, he approached him to find out what was going on.

"Hey," Rick greeted, handing his husband a clipboard, "the EMT gave me this, they were called away to another scene but will send the full report in shortly."

"Ok, what's with the kid," Drew asked, as he took them towards a private exam room.

"This is Matteo," Rick informed, "he was on the scene, found him locked in a dog crate in the garage."

"In this heat?" Drew asked, reaching for the forehead thermometer and taking a reading, "102F (38.3C). Could be a fever but it's most likely overheating, I'll take it again in a while."

"EMT says he's dehydrated," Rick explained.

"That's not good," Drew coos at the baby, tickling his stomach which earns him a giggle. "Can you take off his onesie?"

Drew continues with his examination, after reading the EMT's report, he finds that Matteo also has a bad case of diaper rash which the EMTs had put some cream on after changing him in the ambulance.

"I think it will be good to get him into a cool bath to get his temp down and clean him up, looks like he hasn't been taken care of for a while." Drew informed, placing his stethoscope around his neck, "I'm going to run some blood tests as well, just to make sure there isn't anything else we need to worry about. I'll get one of the nurses to take him to the Paeds ward so you can get back to work."

"No… I want to do it," Rick cut in. The couple then began having an expressive conversation with their eyebrows, faces twisting as they asked each other questions without words. Eventually, Drew nodded his head to the child where Rick picked him up from the examination table and they made their way to the elevator. Drew pressed the button for the Paeds ward, as the doors closed, he looked over at his husband and the toddler nestled in his arms, content and relaxed there.

"You can't get attached," Drew told, concern ebbing away at him as he saw that certain look in the other man's eye as he smiled at Matteo.

"I'm not," Rick said defensively.

"Just… be careful," Drew urged. The doors opened and they walked to the nurses' station in silence. Drew explained the situation to the nurses who then ushered them to a free room, while Drew began the paperwork to admit Matteo.

Once Drew had finish admitting the patient, he wandered to the room and saw the nurses and his husband giving Matteo a bath, Matteo giggling and smiling as he played with the warm, bubbly water, splashing it all over Rick who didn't seem to mind at all. Rick was shampooing his hair, making faces, and spiking the sudsy mess into a mohawk much to the child's amusement.

Drew smiled sadly at the scene in front of him. After everything was finalised with Bri's adoption, they had applied to adopt another child. With Bri's recent adoption they were quickly approved and impatiently waited for a child to become available.

A few months in, Rick and Drew had been chosen for the adoption of a newborn. The parents were a young couple in their late teens, an unplanned baby that they were not able to care for. Everything was ready, the couple painstakingly getting everything ready for the impending arrival of their new child when the birth parents had changed their minds at the last minute.

That was three months ago now, they had been waiting almost nine months since they first applied. While Drew was excited and eager for another child, it was Rick who was desperate for it. Rick, who never really gave much thought about having children when they first started dating, now craved to have children. To experience everything that they had to offer, all of their child's first, their achievements and failures, to be there every step of the way. Though Bri still needed them, she was a teenager, independent and wasn't reliant on them like a younger child would be.

"Matteo's been admitted," Drew informed, entering the room. "if it hasn't been done already, a Social Worker is going to be called to handle his case."

"Nina?" Rick asked hopefully, knowing that she did a great job with Bri.

"Not sure," Drew said, "I'm going to head back to ED, I can walk you out?"

"I'm going to stay," Rick explained, "I have my report to write up, plus I'll wait with him until the Social worker turns up so he isn't alone."

"Rick," Drew warned, staring at the other man questioningly.

"It's fine," Rick said with a wave of his hand.

"Just… remember what I said."

Hours passed. Rick gently stroked Matteo's hair as he slept fitfully against his chest, calming slightly as Rick soothed him. Matteo had been given a 'hydration' drink to combat the dehydration he had sustained, Drew wanted to avoid playing an IV in the child if it wasn't necessary. The toddler was prescribed antibiotics for his ear infection, which would also help with the diaper rash. They had taken blood and urine for testing as well, the test that had come back already were negative for any underlying medical condition.

While Matteo was being tendered to, The officer had found out more about Matteo and his situation.

Matteo Perez was a 10-month-old male of Mexican descent, his mother, Clara Perez, 28, was the shooting victim at the crime scene. Unfortunately, she hadn't survived as her injuries were too extensive. Clara's boyfriend, Rico Padilla, was the perpetrator, currently in holding with several charges. Rick investigated the whereabouts of Matteo's father, he discovered his birth certificate in the police registry, finding that it was blank where the father's name is supposed to be.

Nina, the social worker had stopped by earlier in the night as she was assigned Matteo's case. She had found very little about the child's family history, his only living relative was Matteo's aunt, 23-year-old, mother of three Isla Perez. Nina had discussed that Matteo would need to be placed in a group home until Isla was able to collect him.

Rick was disappointed, for some unknown reason he thought it would all magically fall into place. They could take Matteo home, adopt him and give him the life that he deserved, Rick didn't know what it was about this child. Maybe it was the way he clung to Rick when he was scared? The way he would smile and giggle when he was around? Or maybe because it was the first time, he had let himself get excited since their second adoption had fallen through?

"You're still here?" Rick looked up from his work to see Drew standing in the doorway.

"Yeah," Rick cleared his throat, closing his laptop and looking at his husband as he walked towards him.

"How is he?" Drew asked, pulling a chair next to the hospital bed Rick was laying on.

"Better, his temp is down. They gave him some paracetamol, found out he is teething pretty bad and he was in a bit of pain. Got him to sleep though, he should feel better when he wakes up."

"That's good," Drew smiled sadly, watching as the other man stroked the little boy's hair soothingly. "We can't keep him, Rick."

"I know," Rick muttered. "Nina was here earlier, found Matteo's aunt, she should be here tomorrow. I was thinking since they want to discharge Matteo, we could take him home for the night? We're still registered foster parents, save him from going to a group home for the night."

"I don't know," Drew said hesitantly.

"We have the room, we can borrow one of those port-a-cots from the hospital, set it up in our room so we can watch over him; I'm sure Bri would get a kick out of it," Rick said smiling elatedly. With a dejected expression, Drew reached over and grabbed his husband's free hand, sighing in exhaustion.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Drew began.

"But-"

"Let me finish," Drew told, squeezing the other man's hand reassuringly. "I would love nothing more than to take him home, have dinner, read him bedtime stories, tuck him in and watch him sleep but I don't think it's a good idea. He has a family Rick, an aunt with three kids he can grow up with- "

"How do you know?"

"Nina told me," Drew explained. "I know you want to adopt another child so badly! It breaks my heart to see you this unhappy, upsets me that I can't take your pain away but it's not Matteo, he already has a family that loves him."

"He's just so great you know?" Rick muttered pitifully, looking down at the little boy on his chest, sleeping peacefully, the child unaware of the situation around him.

"I know," Drew agreed, leaning over and pressing a tentative kiss to Rick's forehead.

Rick managed to go home, shower, change clothes and eat before getting back to the hospital prior to Matteo waking up. The hospital had a spare bed in the Paeds ward, able to keep the little boy in the hospital instead of sending him off to a group home for the night. It was mid-morning now, Matteo munching on some soft toast with his few teeth along with a bottle of formula for his breakfast, vaguely watching the cartoons on the small hospital tv. Drew had joined them after his shift had finished, supplying some much-needed coffee for the pair.

Matteo had taken a liking to Drew, climbing over Rick to reach him, sitting on the doctor's lap and playing with the stethoscope around his neck. Finding it fascinating as he pressed it against Drew's face, all laughing in amusement when he would softly whack Drew in the nose.

Soon after Matteo had started playing with Drew's penlight, they heard a commotion from the corridor.

"Come on!" roared a woman's voice. Drew frowned, handing Matteo to his husband as he stood to see what caused the ruckus. Shortly, Nina and a young woman entered the room, three young children tailing her.

"Hi Drew, Rick," Nina greeted, "this is Isla, Matteo's aunt."

"Yeah, hi," Isla said with disinterest, "this the kid?"

"Yes, this is Matteo, you've not met him before?" Rick asked, subconsciously holding the child closer as Matteo hid his face in the officer's neck.

"I live in Austin; I don't have time to visit."

"It's like an hour and a half away," Rick said, earning him an elbow to the ribs from Drew.

"He has an ear infection," Drew cut in, "he's on a high strength antibiotic that he will need to take twice a day. He's also recovering from dehydration, there is a hydration drink that I've prescribe for him to take for the next few days. You can pick it up at the pharmacy downstairs."

"Great, here for two seconds and the kid is costing me money I don't have," Isla complained.

"Mum, I'm hungry," a child no older than 3, said.

"You had chocolate in the car, you shouldn't need more food!" Isla explained angrily. Drew and Rick exchanged a worried look.

"I'm still hungry."

"I don't care," Isla said dismissively before turning to Rick. "give me the kid, I've got to get back so I don't miss my shift at work."

"Who will be looking after him while you're at work?" Rick asked with concern.

"What's it to you?" she snapped, holding her arms out.

"His safety is paramount, please take care of him. He's been through a lot," Rick told heavily.

"He's a baby, he'll be fine," Isla said with a roll of her eyes, trying to take Matteo from Rick. Matteo cried, buried his face into Rick's shoulder, holding on with all his might. Isla huffed in annoyance, before snatching up the baby, Matteo screamed louder, his face streaming with panicked tears as he tried to escape his aunt's hold; desperate to be free and returned safely to Rick.

The couple stood frozen in place, watching as that sweet baby was taken away from them, Matteo in distress while Isla barked at her children to follow her before they disappeared out of sight and out of their lives. Drew was the first to shake himself out of it and approached Nina with purpose.

"This is bullshit, she's unfit to take him."

"System prioritizes keeping family together," Nina explained defeatedly.

"Look at her! Do you think she is best to take care of him? She can't even look after her children!"

"As long as her kids are not being neglected or abused, there is nothing I can do, I'm sorry," Nina expressed before leaving.

Drew pursed his lips angrily, shaking his head before turning to his husband who was still frozen in place. The doctor tried to place his hand on Rick's shoulder only for it to be brushed off, Rick stalking off and out of the room furiously.

Drew walked over to the hospital bed, sitting down on it and thumbing the sheets where Matteo had previously been. He looked at the empty bed with remorse, wondering what was going to happen to that sweet little boy, the one he didn't want to get attached to but the toddler somehow managed to worm his way into Drew's heart.

Be on the lookout for part 2!