{Troy's POV}
(Saturday, October 7, 2023-2:30 pm)
[Troy & Hayden's Apartment]
Life for Hayden and I was perfect. Honestly; we couldn't ask for anything more than what we had right now. Sure, we still wanted a family, but that would take a bit of time. Hayden is officially done with therapy; his last session was at the beginning of September. Hayden still had moments, but he knew how to get through them without help, and for Hayden; that's remarkable progress considering where he started. Everyone else was doing great too. Hailey and Fisher have set their wedding date; it would be in April 2024, so they were busy planning to get things taken care of by the 13th, which is the Saturday they chose for the big moment. Cole and Rosanna were working on their wedding too, and just got their own two bedroom apartment. Their date was set for Friday, September 20, 2024. Theodore and Avery were a couple, as Hayden and I suspected they would be. Yep, those two got together at the end of August on the 27th. Tyler and Willow were still seeing one another, but not dating yet. However, I personally gave that until the end of the year, maybe even the start of the new one. Shane and Mindy just start dating on October 1st. Rylee and Ethan, as well Drew and Myra are doing well too.
In other updates, Hayden and I got a call from the office where we submitted our adoption application. We were approved to adopt from the foster care system, and have completed our home study. That process is where the caseworker who was selected to handle matching us with the right child has to come into our home and check things out, see what kind of people Hayden and me are. We did assure the caseworker that we were in the process of buying a home, and he said when that change occurred to let him know. However, the man was able to get a good feel for the apartment that Hayden and I were very neat, understanding, and loving people. I guess with the home study done, it meant we could move on to the next step, which was waiting for a child to be available that matched what we wanted. Hayden and I were hoping for a baby, at least one that was no older than a year old. Hayden and I didn't mind waiting as we're still looking for a house, and I believe we might have found one, finally.
It's a beautiful home. A four bedroom, two and a half bathroom with a back and front yard. It's a two-level house, and there's even an office too. Hayden and I viewed it last week and put in an offer; we are still waiting to hear back if the owners have accepted it or not. Today, Hayden and I are celebrating one year of marriage, and the five year anniversary of meeting and beginning the friendship that helped us get to where we are now. Instead of doing something extravagant like take a three-day vacation to celebrate; we were staying at home to watch movies, play cards, cook, or the most likely activity of having sex. Hayden and I already had lunch, something easy; macaroni and cheese. Now, we were on our couch about to watch a movie. Well, I was on the sofa getting the video ready; Hayden was in the bathroom. I heard vibrating next to me as I glanced to see a number I didn't recognize. Tilting my head a little, I answered the call.
"Hello?" I said.
"Mr. Raseri?" a voice replied.
"Speaking," I responded.
"Hi, it's Gerald Stone. Your caseworker for the adoption?"
My eyes widened. "Oh, yes. Hi. How are you?"
"I'm doing well. How about you this afternoon?"
"The hubby and I are about to watch a movie. We're staying in for our one year anniversary of getting married," I chuckled a little; there was no reason not to tell the truth.
"Well, congratulations on one year of marriage them. Anywho, I'm sure you're wondering why I'm calling at such an hour on a Saturday,"
"I suppose I'm a little curious," I answered gently.
. . .
{Normal POV}
Hayden came out to find his husband on the phone, so he remained quiet out of respect. Hayden sat down beside Troy, looking at him curiously as to who was calling.
Who is it? Hayden mouthed. Troy put a finger up, still listening.
"I see; it is asking a lot, and I'd have to speak with my husband first," Troy said. Then a pause while he continued to listen. "Um, yeah. That can work. Thank you for calling, and we'll have an answer for you on Monday," after that, Troy ended the call and set the phone beside him. "Sorry, Love. Didn't mean to silence you. That was our adoption caseworker,"
Hayden blinked. "On a Saturday?"
"I thought that was odd too. However, he was calling because a baby just became available for permanent placement through foster adoption, or whatever they call it," Troy informed as Hayden's eyes lit up.
"A-And he called us as a choice be-because we're a good match?" Hayden inquired. Troy nodded to him. "Oh, my Thor! Why didn't you say yes right away?"
"There's a catch, Hayden," Troy enlightened. "This baby was taken from a set of parents who were neglectful, and abusive; they've been in trouble before with CPS with their other kids being taken away. This time; it's a permanent thing where they lose all their rights, and the kids can be adopted by other couples,"
"I'm not…seeing the problem?" Hayden tilted his head in confusion.
"The issue, babe, is that the children were all removed from the home on Thursday and have been placed in a foster home together, for now. The siblings varied in age according to Gerald but expressed that if they get adopted; they would like to stay together if they are able. Gerald asked if we'd be willing to take the baby, and the siblings too," Troy explained.
"Oh, wow. I see why you said it was asking a lot now," Hayden said, wide-eyed at the information. "How many other kids are there?"
"There's the baby, then four others. Gerald gave me a little information about them," Troy stated.
"Five kids at once? I mean…It's more than I could hope for out of adoption where I believed we'd only get one child, but all together? Different ages? We're still in this apartment since we don't know the status of that house we put an offer in on," Hayden stated.
"Well, Gerald said he'd give us some time to think about it, and we'd talk again on Monday," Troy informed.
"What information was he able to provide about the children?" Hayden inquired.
"The youngest is the baby; male, six months old. The next oldest is a female, two years of age. After she is twin boys, both four. And finally, the eldest is a female; six years old. Right now, all of them are with a foster family on the mainland," Troy enlightened softly.
"It's a lot, but I'm sure we could handle it. The only problem is the space; we can't have them all here…" Hayden remarked.
"I know, but we don't know the situation with the house either," Troy sighed.
"Maybe we can call our real estate agent and ask if she's heard anything about our offer?" Hayden suggested.
"You want to give her a call?" Troy questioned.
"It's worth a shot," Hayden shrugged as he got his phone and dialed the woman handling their home-buying. "Megan. Hi, it's Hayden Raseri," a slight pause. "That's actually what I was calling about," Hayden was quiet to listen. "I'll ask him since he's right next to me. Hang on," Hayden pulled the phone down and looked at Troy now. "Megan says that the owners are pretty firm on their asking price, but as there are some things that need updating; they will go to $320,000.00,"
"And asking price was…$330,000.00?" Troy asked, and Hayden nodded. "So what they are asking is if we'll pay $5,000 more and they'll accept?"
"Basically," Hayden informed.
"You know what…Do it. It's not that much more," Troy told him. Hayden put the phone back to his ear.
"Megan? We'll do the $320,000.00," Hayden stated. Another pause, then Hayden smiled. "Oh, that's great. Awesome," Troy arched a brow as Hayden mouthed; we got it to him. "Thank you, and let us know when to come for the next step. Have a good day," Hayden ended the call and with his arms out. "We got the house! Next is a home inspection, then we sign everything and get the keys!"
"Oh, thank Thor! How much longer will that take?" Troy chuckled.
"Well, Megan says she can set up the inspection for sometime next week, and she knows our schedules to set that appointment up. The results of that will determine how much longer we're in this for. We might be able to knock that price down if the inspector finds anything wrong that they should be accountable for fixing. After that; I believe its contract signing, check signatures, and we get the keys," Hayden smiled wide. Troy hugged him back, then they shared a passionate kiss.
"I guess that brings us back to our original matter. Are we going to take these kids?" Troy inquired.
"I mean, we might not ever get this chance again, Troy. Getting a baby, and the siblings? I couldn't bear to split the family up. I'm sure they've been through a lot and leaned on one another in hard times," Hayden replied softly.
"I agree," Troy nodded. "Should we go for it? Nothing is official yet, but at least if we say yes, and inform Gerald that we'll have a house big enough; it shouldn't be a problem," he added.
"Well, then I guess that's two big decisions made for our future now," Hayden giggled a bit. Troy kissed him again, and from there, the two ended up making out and having sex; entirely forgetting about the movie they were going to watch.
. . .
(Monday, October 23, 2023-10:30 am)
[Mainland; Archia Park]
Everything with the house was done! Troy and Hayden had the home inspection take care of on October 12th, 2023, and the report came back clean. That same week on Monday the 9th of October; Hayden and Troy told Gerald that they would take all the siblings. The man was pleased to hear so and said that once he handled some paperwork; Troy and Hayden would get to meet the kids in person. It would start as one or two weekly visits, supervised on Archia Isle. After that; if going well, then Troy and Hayden would get to take the kids for the day on Berk. If things continued okay, Troy and Hayden would get to take them overnight. Of course, if all that ran smoothly; Troy and Hayden would get to adopt the kids, and they would remain with Troy and Hayden in their home. After that conversation; Troy and Hayden were very excited because they were also told that it already looked great that Troy and Hayden were willing to take the kids together.
October 20th was closing day for the house. Troy and Hayden got to meet the owners and spend a good majority of four to five hours going over everything, signing documents, then finally handing over the payment and received the keys in return. Everything ran flawlessly, now Troy and Hayden just had to move in. On the 21st of October, Gerald called to let them know that he was setting up the meet with the five kids for the 23rd. Hayden and Troy couldn't have been happier. Also, at that time, they let Gerald know that they had the house and would be moved in the next few weeks. Now was the 23rd and 10:30 am on the mainland.
"Try to settle down, Love," Troy reminded his over-excited husband.
"I can't help it," Hayden mumbled as they reached the place where Gerald said he would meet them. Today would be meeting the kids, and hanging out at the park for a few hours, maybe getting lunch if Gerald allowed it.
"Troy! Hayden! Over here," Gerald waved. Troy and Hayden made their way over to the picnic table where Gerald was with an infant carrier, plus four other kids.
"Hi, Gerald," Troy greeted.
"How was the trip over?" Gerald questioned.
"Peaceful," Hayden smiled.
"Well, I think we should get introductions handled; that is why we came here today. Children," Gerald stated as the kids stood together in front of him. "Kids, this is Troy and Hayden Raseri; they are the ones who want to adopt all of you together,"
"Thank you…" said the eldest sibling. "I'm Kristen, and these are my brothers and sister. That's Zackary and Dylan. This is Ashley, and that's Nicholas," she said pointed to each member before Gerald got the chance to begin.
"It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Hayden, and this is my husband, Troy," Hayden stated gently. This was a fantastic day, even if it had only just began. Nothing was said, but it felt like everything was going to work out just fine.