Fighting Authority Part I
As soon as Dante retired upstairs to do his homework, Beats followed Elliott into the kitchen, closing the door behind him. "Okay, so what is up?" he asked lightly. Elliott turned to him, and the moment that he saw tears in his partner's eyes, his heart sunk.
"I got a call; Dante's mom has been found dead. As a result of that, his status has changed in the department. There is every reason to believe that as a result, he will be taken away from us, and there is absolutely nothing that we can do to stop it…"
Beats stared at Elliott for a moment, and the shook his head. "Taken away from us?" he said incredulously. "Surely, if now in the eyes of the world he is more or less an orphan, then the last thing they would want to do, for the sake of his welfare, is uproot him and send him somewhere else! That is just insane!"
"Oh, I agree, but that is what will happen, much to the disgust I might add of our friend in the Children's Services department. He was previously in the category of a child that had been abandoned by his only known parent, to all intents and purposes, to the welfare of the city of New York. Now that he is a de facto orphan, however, he becomes the responsibility of an entirely different branch of the Children's Services division."
"So we just tell those people that we are more than happy to carry on being his guardians. I mean, even if they told us that there would be no funding, I would wish for him to stay."
"That was my thought too at first, but she prompted me saying that. The city policy is that he should now be put up for adoption, rather than fostering, to give him a greater degree of stability."
"Then we say that we will adopt him! You don't have any issue with that, do you?" said Beats, wondering if he might have hit upon a snag, and if Elliott was not ready for that kind of commitment.
"I don't; I would fill in those papers like a shot, as you would do. It seems though that there are two very different sets of regulations and rules. The city is quite happy to let most people foster; your colour, creed, sexuality or even mental status doesn't matter, as long as you can provide a stable home…."
"Please don't tell me that we can't adopt him because he is Latino, and we are two white men, because that is an absolute outrage, and I will be getting both Trent and Nick on the case!"
"Oh, if only it were that that was the problem!" said Elliott. "It seems that the city's rules on adoption have not been updated in decades, and unless there is a blood connection, an adoption can only be done by a man and woman; a married couple at that. There have been attempts to alter it, but some of the major adoption agencies that the city works with are resistant to any alteration, and so the law stays in place!" Elliott paused to swipe at his tears, then went on, "It is just so unfair! He is going to lose his mother and us; chances are he will also be moved back to the Bronx, so he will lose his school too…"
"And his boyfriend," said Beats quietly. "Right, we are not having this! We are going to fight, and it starts right now. I am going to call Trent, and then I will call Burt Hummel. Start at the top, then move on to a man that knows that 'family' matters in all its forms. We are not going to lose Dante, Elliott; he will leave this house and our care over my dead body!"
True to his word, Beats pulled out his phone and dialled Trent, and barely let his old friend reply before he started to tell him what was going on. After he had done so, Trent agreed he should call Burt, but added a note of caution. "The rules around adoption are a minefield, so much so that there is no single Federal policy on them. Even if there were, there would be a lot of otherwise liberal minded people who would still state that Dante would be better of being placed with a married couple, even with the nation's divorce statistics. Don't get me wrong, Burt will, like me, back your point of view, but his opinion will probably cut less weight than you might hope on such an emotive issue."
Beats ended his call to Trent feeling just a little deflated by his friend's wise reality check, but his talk with Burt restored his hopes. He was fully aware of how Dante saw his two foster fathers; how strong the love was on both sides, and he promised that he would do all in his power. "I will get in touch with the mayor of New York in the morning, sound out his stance on the issue. I will speak to the Governor too, although he has less authority in the city. I think the mayor will be on your side, but a lot of his colleagues will not be, believing that marriage should be a caveat. In my book, if two people love each other, then that should be enough." Burt promised he would be in touch as soon as he had talked with the two powerful figures, but it was still a sleepless night for Beats and Elliott, as both dreaded what they would have to face the following day…
Dante did not mind being asked to come straight home that night by Beats at the breakfast table the next morning, Elliott already being out at work. He did notice however that Beats seemed distracted and distant, and he couldn't help but wonder if he and Elliott had argued about something last night; he had heard raised voices after all whilst he was doing his homework. There had also been an air of tension at the dinner table beforehand. His day was uneventful after that; he sat in class as usual, and spent time with his friends too. He headed home without a care in the world that Friday night, but that blissful state ended as he turned into the street…
He immediately recognised the car that was parked more or less right outside the house he called home. He wondered why she was there, and then it hit him; if their argument had been the final straw, if they were splitting up or worse, then he would be affected… The smile that had been on his face vanished, and his mood fell as he climbed the steps and let himself in. He was sore tempted to go straight up to his room the moment he got in, lock the door and refuse to come out for anything other than a fire. However, if things were bad, then doing so would make little difference in the long run. So instead he set his school bag down on the hall table as usual, and after taking a deep breath to steel himself, he stepped into the lounge. He was surprised to see that Beats was at home, hours earlier than normal, and was sitting on the couch with Elliott, sadness written loud on their faces. Whatever the situation was, it was not good…
"Okay, what's going on? This can't be good, because all of you are here. Have I been accused of something by someone? Made a mistake that I haven't acknowledged? Or are the two of you just bored of me?"
"You haven't done anything, and we are definitely not bored of you! Exactly the opposite as it happens," said Elliott in reply.
"He is right. We both care for you so much, and you are family," said Beats, whose words faltered after family. He had to blink then to stop his tears from falling, then took a deep breath. "There is something that we do need to tell you though; it in itself is bad enough, but it then creates other issues which are so much worse…"
Beats motioned to Dante then to sit on the couch between him and Elliott; he did so, and that was when he noticed that their eyes were moist, and in the case of the latter, he had a haunted, far away look in his eyes too. He turned then to the other person in the room in expectation, and was disturbed to see that she too looked miserable.
"Dante, something has happened which will come as a terrible shock to you, as it did to me. There is no way that I can sugar coat this, so I will just come out with it. Yesterday I received a call from the NYPD, informing me that they had been called to an apartment in the Bronx by a concerned neighbour, and that on making entry to the property, the discovered that the occupant had died. I am sorry to have to tell you that the person in question was your mother…"
"My mother? Nah, she wouldn't be dead…"
"I was asked to go and identify the body, and it was definitely her I am afraid. The autopsy is taking place today, but all the initial signs indicate that the cause of death was an overdose…"
Dante just sat stunned at the news. He felt so conflicted; she had thrown him out, rejected him, but she was still his mother, and it hadn't always been bad. There had been a few good times too… He found that his tears were starting to fall as he recalled them, and whereas before he had been living in the West Village he would have fought them back, he gave in to them and let out an aching sob. At once he found himself wrapped in two sets of strong arms, as his foster dads held him close. He was pretty certain that they were crying too…
Eventually though his tears stopped and he knew he had to pull himself together. He hadn't needed her for so long now, and to be honest, her death was just a bump in life's road. He swiped at his eyes, then said, "I take it that there will be a funeral, and that I will have to go, on the off chance that some of her family show up?"
"There will be, yes."
"Let me know when. If that's it, I have homework…"
"I am afraid that isn't it… The fact is that her death will have a serious impact on your life in another way. Basically, when a young person in the foster parent program is orphaned, as you technically have been, then, if that young person is under 18, the department moves responsibility for their well-being and care from the fostering team to the adoption team. Your name has been automatically added to the list of children up for adoption. Technically it should be someone from that department that is here now, but they are short staffed, and so I pulled a few strings."
"Adoption? I don't want to move, I am happy here! If I have to be adopted, then I want these guys to do it, if they want to of course," said Dante.
"Of course we would, in a shot," said Elliott and Beats in unintentional unison.
"If it was only that simple… The rules governing adoption in this city have not changed in decades, and every attempt at modernising them has failed. Unless it is by a blood relative, only a couple can adopt; a married couple, consisting in quite specific terms, of one man and one woman…"
"You mean that even if these guys were married, they couldn't adopt me! That's bull! I don't want to be shipped off, adopted by strangers! I want to stay here!" yelled Dante.
"And that is what we want too," said Elliott, "which is why we have already began to fight back."
Beats continued, "I called Burt Hummel the moment that I found out…"
"Burt Hummel? The Democrat Leader of the House?" interjected the social worker in awe.
"Yes. Elliott was a close friend of his son, and I went to school with Kurt for a short while," said Beats with a determined smile. "I also contacted another classmate of mine from Dalton, Trent Nixon, who happens to write speeches for the President himself. This law needs to change. Dante wants to stay with us, and we want him to stay too. We will be fighting this nonsense for as long as it takes, right to the bitter end."
"Normally I would say to people, don't bother, the city is too strong, but you guys have the sort of backing that might just be what we need to swing it. Unofficially, I am right behind you; that is why I fought to stay on this case, and to prevent them from doing what they would normally have done. If they had their way, Dante would be packing his stuff right now to head back to the home in the Bronx. I argued that he should remain here, but at any time that might change. How long I can keep things this way is up for debate, but I will fight any attempt that they make to remove him from your care."
By the time that the social worker finally left that afternoon, the three residents of the West Village apartment had no doubt as to whose side she was on, at least unofficially. Dante had fallen silent as the three adults had talked, his mind processing everything that this could mean for him. He was settled and happy right now, for the first time in his life he could remember; he had a safe home in a good street, a place filled with love. He actually wanted to go to school, a place with good teachers and a friendly vibe. He had a steady boyfriend of his own age that he did all those romantic things with, his days of quick meaningless fumbles long gone. If he was sent back to the Bronx, he would be returned to his old school, where his life had been a living hell every day; the commute back to his current school would not even be an option as far as the department was concerned. In short, he would lose everything that had turned his life around…
He had heard the social worker say that there was no home nearby he could be sent to, and even if there had been, it was policy that a newly orphaned minor was returned to the area in which their parent had lived. He could of course have begun to act up rather than sit in silence; thrown a tantrum and run off, but he didn't. he owed that much to his two foster fathers, although to him they actually felt more akin to two older brothers. He could see that they were every bit as devastated as he felt by the news, and the more he thought about it, the more he realised that they had known about this the previous day; it explained why they had both seemed so out of sorts last night and this morning. They had not told him then so that he could have one last day before the weekend came when everything was good…
He could see that now their sadness had given way to anger, and he knew that they would fight his corner right to the bitter end; they had already enlisted their friends and contacts to join in the battle. He was honest with himself, and knew that there was no guarantee that they would succeed, but he also knew that they would not give up before they had exhausted every potential avenue open to them. What would happen if they lost he did not know, but he did know this; if they took him back to the home, he would not stay there meekly - he would run. After all, he knew all about the beach house they could use in Port Jefferson, somewhere that the authorities would not know of, and that would be his destination; he knew exactly where the keys were stored in the house two doors down after all…
Dinner was a subdued affair that evening. Pizza had been ordered in, a rare treat that Dante normally loved, but his mood that day meant that he ate very little of it when it arrived, and nor did his foster fathers. After that, he headed up to do his homework as usual, a distraction from the reality of life for a while. His boyfriend had called as he did his work, and talking to Lachlan put a smile on his face, giving him a break from his despair. He knew of course that he would have to tell him what was going on soon enough; that he was potentially going to be dragged away to a borough that Lachlan's parents would never let him travel to, assuming that he still wanted to see him in any case. That discussion would be for another day, face to face, when the news was less raw…
His homework finished, he returned back downstairs, to find Beats and Elliott sitting on the sofa again, and once more he was beckoned over to sit between them. He did so, and once he was settled, Beats spoke.
"Okay, so we need to be frank with you. We have some great people on our side. Burt Hummel told me that he thinks the rule is a great travesty in this era of equality, and can't see how they can say it is okay for us to foster you, but wrong for us to adopt you. I am a realist, and I would think that the objection comes from the church, in one of its guises; if that is the case, then even in this day and age, we are facing a powerful enemy. Trent is certain that both the President and Vice President will be behind us too, but unfortunately this is a state matter, not a federal one, so they cannot make a direct intervention. Our intention is to fight, and keep fighting, challenge it every way we can and stall the process; heck, if we can keep that up until you are 18, then we win by default, because it will be too late then."
"And we will fight whatever the cost to us," added Elliott. "You are our son, and I am darned if I will allow a bunch of faceless bureaucrats take you away from us now. You want to stay, and we want you here, and that's that."
Dante nodded, then said, "I won't go back to that place, whatever they say. I love it here. I love you guys… Life has taken so much away from me, and I won't let them take you away too…" In spite of himself, Dante burst in to tears then, which started Elliott crying too. Beats felt his own eyes start to well up, and he leaned over to pull Dante into a hug with one arm, pulling Elliott in with his other. All he could think was that this was turning out to be one of the worst weeks of his life…
Dante headed to bed early that night, tired by the events of the day; Elliott followed him, as he had the early shift at the Spotlight again the next day. That left Beats to sit alone with his thoughts, his mind racing too much to consider sleep. He wished that Flint was still downstairs, so he could head down and confide in him. He did not want to call him up on the phone, nor did he even consider talking to Ethan or Drew as a substitute for his best friend….
He felt the draught then, and he looked up to see Wes standing in front of him, looking at him with eyes full of understanding and concern. "I just wanted to be able to tell them both that it will all be okay, that we will win, but I couldn't, because there is a very real chance that we won't. How can the system still be so unfair, so full of prejudice even now? If they take him away from us because of who we are, then I will lose all faith in the fact that there is any justice in this world, Wes. It isn't right, it isn't fair…." Beats said no more as the tears began to roll once more, and Wes moved forward to take him into his arms, just letting him melt into his embrace and sob his heart out…
The weekend, which usually held out such promise quickly fell apart in the wake of the news. Elliott headed off to his early shift after yet another night of disturbed sleep; Beats got up with him, having had the same issue. They had both looked in on Dante, who had from the look of his face cried himself to sleep that night. That was not what broke their hearts though; it was the fact that he had looked out a holdall and had placed some of his most prized possessions in it already, just in case he was forced to leave in a hurry… Both of them privately thought at that moment that he might have done it so that he could run away before they came to take him away, which made things twice as bad; they both had heard the stories of what could happen to a young gay boy out on the streets…
They ate breakfast together in silence, the shared a longer than usual hug at the front door. With Elliott gone, Beats found himself browsing through all the photos he had taken on his phone in the last year, happy moments with his partner and their son - and that was what Dante had become to them both. In hindsight they should have kept a bit more distance, not become so emotionally involved, but he had just fitted into their lives so well and so quickly. He came to the pictures he had taken on Dante's birthday, when he had had a few of his friends from school over. He looked so happy, so content… He was determined that the system was not going to ruin that for his boy and destroy his life. They had failed him so often already, and he was not prepared to let them hurt him again, even if it meant getting into serious trouble himself. They could go on the run, or something, anything to save Dante being made miserable…
He did not even know that he was crying until a hand fell on his shoulder, and he heard the words, "Don't cry. It's not your fault, any of this…" He turned to face Dante, who looked to be on the verge of tears again himself. "I know that the two of you will do your best for me, but whatever ends up happening, it won't be your fault. I will always have you guys to run to if it gets bad…"
"Always, but that's academic, because you won't be going…"
"You can't be sure of that; it is best if I prepare for the worst," Dante replied.
Those words, said with no emotion, broke Beats' heart, but he knew that Dante was right. They had to prepare for the worst case scenario, and then just hope and pray that it didn't come. On that note, he decided that he would head to the one place that he felt he could go and pray without fear of ridicule, somewhere that he had been on a happier day so long ago now… With that resolve, he felt able to face the day, and set about the usual Saturday morning routine; he made Dante breakfast, then sorted the laundry, wrote the shopping list, and tided up the living rooms. Dante helped him with the latter, but then he asked if he could go and see Lachlan. Beats agreed at once, knowing that the time that he spent with his boyfriend now could well be precious. In any case, it would let him slip out to the synagogue without any awkward questions…
As soon as Dante left, he headed out himself, hurrying to ensure that he arrived in time for the early service. He made it just in time, grabbing one of the yarmulkes from the pile at the door, and once it was in place, he looked for a seat. That was when he saw Flint looking right at him in surprise. Of all the weeks for his best friend to be there, Beats thought, and he resigned himself to the fact that he had no choice but to join him…
"Now this is a surprise! So, what's up? You look awful…" said Flint as he sat down. Before he could answer, the service began and their conversation had to end, but Flint had seen the tears in the corner of his friends eyes. He reached down, and took his friends hand in his own, all he could do to show his solidarity with him until they had a chance to talk properly…