"Coming, I'm coming."

On Sunday afternoon there was a ring on the doorbell, and when I hurried towards the door one more. I was pretty sure it was the couple who came to foster a child. And I had a pretty good idea about who might suit them.

"Yes?"

It was them!

"Hello." The man greeted me with an arm around his wife's shoulder. "You must be Michael Milligan?"

"Mike, just call me Mike. Here. Come in." I stepped back and then noticed Sofia coming down the stairs, she was alright after everything but had the worst cough. "Well… we're having a sickness going around here. So if you don't want to catch it and want to come back you can come back in another couple of weeks."

"Oh please." The man waved in the air towards me. "We've had it all. Nothing scares us away. I'm Robert, and this is my wife Margo." He shook my hand and so did Margo afterwards. "Is it always this quiet in here?"

"Nope." I shook my head and had to laugh. "But they are sometimes when people comes who have plans about fostering a kid, wanting to make a good impression. Here, let's go into the office." I held the door open. "Please, sit. So… tell me a bit more about yourselves and your family." The couple gave each other quite a weird glance. "Believe me, I've heard it all."

But well, most of the people who came here came because they couldn't have children of their own.

As it turned out, these two did.

"Well…" Robert hesitated. "As for starters. We have five kids."

"…Three dogs…"

"…Two guinea pigs…"

"…An aquarium full of fish…"

"…And a cat named Boss."

While the dark-haired man and the blonde woman ahead of me switched in between who said what I completely lost count.

"Can you say that again please?" Robert and Margo looked to each other and smirked. "Let's just start with the names."

"Well," Robert started again. "There are five kids- one son who's the oldest who has four little sisters. And from the oldest to the youngest is Finn, Stella, Ava, Alice and Ruby." He made a pause while I took some notes. "Finn is away for college a big part of the time and only comes home on holidays. Then there are three dogs- all Portuguese waterdogs which is an allergy- friendly kind. Their names are Curly Sue, Otis and Samson." He took a pause again so I could get caught up. "And two guinea pigs named Kermit and Miss piggy… Then an aquarium with… a number of fishies… And at last a cat named Boss- and she is the boss too."

At the moment Robert stopped talking I realized I just sat staring back at them and had lost count somewhere after "five kids"

"You know Rob…" Margo said with a shake of her head. "We do sound crazy. All of this and now a plan to foster a child and all of those pets… How did we even get into all of this?"

"I don't know really." Rob said with a lovingly smile back at her. "But I wouldn't trade my van full of kids for any motorbike or airplane in the whole wide world."

"Motorbike?" I asked. "That makes sense but… airplane? I mean, I have gotten the info that you work at the airport but… sorry. That was a bit random."

"I do work at the airport yes. But not as a pilot. My plan and dream was to become a pilot. But then, we were together… and all of a sudden she was pregnant, and then Finn was born and I just couldn't bear the thought of having to leave my whole family for several days at the time and I cut off the training I went to and I've never regretted that decision… I'm a skycap!"

Wow these two were confusing.

"You don't know what a skycap is, do you? A lot of people don't. Well, I answer questions, I carry around car seats and bags and wheelchairs and then I put them on a trolley that I roll over to an airplane and pack into it until that trolley is empty. Then I push the trolley back to the airport and start over. I answer a whole lot of questions, wear badge and clothes to show that I work at the airport. I bring a kid or two with me to parent-to- work day or those days when they have a cold and can't go to school and I also freaking love my job!"

This man was quite talkative for sure!

"And you…" I turned towards Margo. "What do you do for a living?"

"When the children were younger I only worked part time. But nowadays I work in a school kitchen. It's quite a small school so I' always trying to think of ways we can make popular meals like spaghetti or sandwiches a bit healthier and… a bit tastier too."

That sounded quite familiar…

I still had to go back in my memory and try to remember for just a second..

"You must know Jacob Mc…"

"Jake? Oh yeah, he's the one who mentioned… this. And now Jake and Jess has Jeremy and we… well…"

"So…" When she couldn't find the words to use I decided to move on. "Do you have any certain wish? Girl? Boy? Young? Old? Blonde? Dark haired?"

"I vote for dark hair."

"Not fair Rob. All the kids have your dark hair."

"Not Ruby, she has yours."

I couldn't help but smile- these two really loved each other and it could be seen in the way they talked and moved and- play- fought about everything. Such as a child's hair color which we all knew didn't matter anyway.

"I…"

I started talking when there suddenly were kids right outside the window to the office- three of them. Two blonde and one red- haired. I could have known who they were with my eyes closed.

But Rob still jumped high when Floss knocked on the door and she came in with Michael and Harry holding a kettle with tea, some cups and a plate of cookies.

I should have known!

"Hi." Floss greeted first. "We were just going to check if you wanted some tea and coo… Michael look out!"

I wasn't so sure how it happened, but Michael did hold onto the kettle full of hot tea and managed to drop it all so it broke to pieces and boiling- warm water spread on the floor.

"MICHAEL!"

"Floss." I sent the couple in front of me an apologetic look. "Leave it. I…" With a sigh I gently pushed Michael- who looked as if he was about to cry. "Don't worry about it Michael. I'll clean it when it's not so hot. You two, Floss and Michael go put the cookies and cups away and Harry, can you stay in here please? Come, we'll go into the quiet room so we don't get wet and we can all have somewhere to sit. Come here. Don't step right in the pool of hot water… I'm sorry about that… kids!" I patted Harry's shoulder. "Well… kids in this place are always longing for a family… Aren't you Harry?" The blonde boy nodded happily. "Your papers say you had one son and four daughters so I'd already figured that girl- or- boy- thing. And this is Harry. And Harry, this is Margo and Robert Campbell."

Harry stared up on me with his chin dropped as if he didn't understand what I was saying. He knew very well but it was just too big for him to get at first.

"Hello." Rob and Margo had stood up and gaped just as well too looking back at Harry. At last Margo was the first to greet while the boys still stood staring back at each other. "At first, we couldn't get anything personal or with your name since we didn't know we were meeting you." She took her bag and opened a side pocket that she pulled up a small, wrapped gift from. "I'm… looking forward to getting to know you."

Most people would hold on until they knew what the child liked or not with getting a gift. Now I was more sneaky than anyone when Harry unwrapped his gift.

The gift was a snow globe, but without the white "Snowflakes" and with gold sprinklers instead. And in it a small giraffe.

"No way." I couldn't help but to be stunned and didn't know what to say for, for sure thirty seconds. "How did you guys even know?"

"Know what? Don't you like it? We can take it back to the store and exchange it if you want…"

"No, no." Harry interrupted. "I love giraffes. My whole room is filled with giraffes and giraffe pattern and when I was little I had a stuffed giraffe named Jeff that I carried everywhere." He shook the snow globe. "I love it. Thank you… I wonder if Floss will let me have Jeff back when I leave…"

"Guys and wife." Rob interrupted as if speaking something important… "I want to get on with this of course but at first, can I please use a bathroom?" Margo sighed and rolled her eyes. "I don't want to start this relationship with wetting my pants."

I couldn't help but smile- for the moment I could just feel how perfect it was for these three to be brought together. Out of every animal and every snow globe… A giraffe!

I'd have to talk to Floss though…

"I guess when Rob comes back we can go upstairs into my room and I can show you. I have a blanket and paintings and pillows and everything… Not Jeff though… I need to get him back. And Floss has two Jeff's now."

"I know." I patted Harry's shoulder and then led him to sit down next to me. "But first of all, let's just wait until Rob comes back."

So that's what we did, we waited, we waited, and waited.

How long could a man stay in the bathroom for?

"I wonder where he went."

Just as Margo had questioned where her husband had disappeared he came back into sight and then came and sat down next to Harry again, but the look on his face had changed since he went to the bathroom and I couldn't help but wonder why.

Soon, I found out…

"Just a question… how do I do it if I want to foster two kids?"

The portrayers for Margo and Rob are Kelly Rowan and Peter Gallagher (with dark hair as in the OC and not all grey as he has now) and their kids are Finn, Cole Sprouse (with dark hair as in Riverdale), Stella by Ariel Winter, Ava by Chloe East, Alice by Millie Bobby brown and Ruby by Mia Talerico.

The pets all look like in pictures from Polyvore. Gosh I miss that site. I can't change any of it now. But I can post the picture of them all on my Instagram "Linneagbfanfiction"

Random fact

I didn't mean for Rob to be such a talker and Margo so quiet. There's nothing wrong with either of them (in difference from Harry and Finn's foster parents in the series) that's just the way it ended up.