Chapter 3 – Assessment and the Matchmaking Game

Arthur dropped the envelope into the blue mailbox and closed it with a clang. He could almost literally feel the weight coming off his shoulders. The last stack of paperwork was finally sent out and there was finally a lot less to worry about on Arthur's part. It was the start of the spring semester for Alfred's high school, and had to get his itinerary and lesson plans ready for the rest of the semester. Arthur was also falling behind on his latest manuscript and he was feeling the pressure of getting it done on time. Now that the paperwork was done, it seemed like things would get a little bit easier. Arthur was walking back to the house when his phone started ringing in his pocket.

"Hello?"

"Hey Arthur, it's Angelique."

"Oh hello Angelique, what's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know that we have reviewed both of your questionnaires and we just need to get the last little bit of paperwork before we can go on to the final portion of the assessment."

"That's great, I just mailed it off."

"Wonderful! We are sending you're questionnaires off to a social worker in your area. She will be visiting in the next couple of weeks to go over your answers and assess your home."

Arthur froze, "She's going to do what?"

"She's going to inspect your house and go over the answers of your questionnaires."

"Oh, okay."

"Is that going to be a problem?"

"N-no, of course not."

"Good. I'll contact you after she's reviewed your paperwork."

"Okay…could you tell me her name by any chance?"

"Oh, of course." Arthur could hear rustling of paperwork on the other end of the line. "Her name is Elizabeta Héderváry."

~USUKUS~

To say Arthur freaked out would be an understatement. Before Alfred, Arthur was very much a loner and isolated himself from the rest of the world. It wasn't because he didn't want to let people in, it's just that he didn't trust anyone enough to let them in. His home was his island, his safety net. Something secure he could feel absolutely comfortable in. He was extremely selective of the people he would let into his home. Francis, a fellow writer, had known him and Alfred for years but was never allowed to set foot into their house. Alfred often wondered how he could be friends with him for so long, yet never allow him in their house. Arthur would only say, "the frog, hell no". Arthur had to explain that they were closer to being "frienemies" than being actual "friends" anyway. Arthur was just a little picky about who he let into his home, so the idea of someone looking through their house and analyzing each detail terrified Arthur.

Arthur spent the next week cleaning every inch of the house. He began by cleaning the living room and rearranging the furniture, and then he steadily progressed to the den, the bathroom, the guest room and even to their own bedroom. Alfred would come home looking around curiously to figure out what was being cleaned today. He walked into the kitchen and found Arthur on his hands and knees, scrubbing the tile floor.

"You're really getting into this cleaning business, aren't ya?"

"I don't want the poor woman to think that we are slobs."

"You've scrubbed the entire house head to toe, aren't you getting tired?"

"No."

"Do you need any help?"

"No."

Alfred just watch him for a second, chewing his lip. Arthur seemed stiff, stressed out and it was making him worried. "Okay…is everything alright? You've been kind of stressed lately."

"I'm fine Alfred."

"You don't sound fine."

"I'm fine."

"Okay. You sure you don't need any help?"

"Yes, Alfred. I'm sure."

"I feel bad leaving you here cleaning all by yourself."

Arthur huffed. "If you're so bloody set on helping out, why don't you do the damn dishes?" he said curtly.

Alfred eyes grew wide at the sudden heated retort, "Okay. I will."

Alfred walked over to the sink, turned on the tap, and started washing the dirty plates in the sink. Alfred glanced over his shoulder at Arthur quietly scrubbing the tile grouts on the floor, his eyes furrowed as he concentrated at the task at hand. Alfred couldn't stand it when Arthur was in his "moods". He would never get angry per say but it did irritate him a just a tad. Alfred had a high tolerance for Arthur's moodiness, especially when they first started dating, but it got easier over the years as Arthur mellowed out a bit. He still could be a firecracker when he wanted to, but he was pretty much as harmless as a newborn kitten. But when Arthur got really, really stressed, he would become very irritable and lash out at people, but mostly Alfred. This was one of those times, but Alfred began to smile. He knew exactly how to rustle Arthur's feathers to get him out of his mood. This was either going to get him to loosen up or wind up with him sleeping on the couch tonight.

Alfred turned the tap all the way on, and grabbed hold of the retractable faucet head and aimed it at the Brit behind him.

"Arthur~"

"What is it-"

"Take this!" Alfred squeezed the handle and squirted Arthur in the face with the stream of water. Arthur yelped at the sudden dousing of water. Arthur grew red in the face, furrowing his eyebrows even more (much to Alfred's amazement). The next thing he heard was a fap of a sponge hitting him in the face. He had to give it to the Brit, he had a good arm. The sponge slid down his face and hit the ground with a flop. Alfred couldn't see anything through the soapy water dripping down his lenses. All he could hear was the sound of laughing. Alfred took off his spectacles and wiped them off on his sleeve. He put them back on to find his loving husband hunched over a bucket of soapy water, laughing hysterically. Alfred started chuckling himself as he took the faucet head in his hand and started spraying again. Arthur jumped backwards to avoid the stream of water.

"Don't you even dare, Alfred! I'll dump this whole bucket of dirty water on your head."

Alfred put his finger on the trigger.

"I fucking dare you!"

"With pleasure," Alfred chuckled. He started spraying the Brit again, but this time he aimed for the chest and stomach, drenching the t-shirt he was wearing.

Alfred started doubling over in laughter before he glanced back up at Arthur.

"Hey! That's my favorite AC/DC shirt!"

"You think I was going to clean in my clothes. No way. Also, take this!"

Alfred didn't have much time to react as Arthur picked up the bucket and threw the contents in his direction.

Alfred could feel his clothes cling to skin as the water sank into the cloth of his shirt and khakis. For few moments, they just stared at each other's sorry state before busting into fits of laughter. The louder the other laughed, the harder the other one did. It wasn't soon before both of them found themselves on the floor, gasping for air.

Arthur crawled over toward Alfred and removed his glasses before placing a peck on his forehead.

"I'm sorry for being such a prick, love."

"I'm sorry too. I didn't need to spray you with water, but I couldn't handle the scowl on your face. I know that you've been busy cleaning the house, but you need to relax hon."

"I know. I'm just really nervous about having some strange woman come into our house."

"It's okay, sweetheart. Its nerve racking for me also, but I know I can't sit here and worry myself over it."

"You know how I am."

"I do, that's why I'm not angry with you."

He leaned over and kissed him on the lips.

Arthur leaned back and grimaced.

"You taste like dirty soap water."

"Gee, I wonder why?" Alfred giggled.

Arthur smiled, "Now clean up, I'm going to go take a shower."

Alfred hummed, "How about you help me and we'll both take one, together."

Arthur snickered, "Now that sounds like a plan."

~USUKUS~

Angelique called them back near the end of the week, telling them that Mrs. Héderváry would drop by for a visit the following week. Arthur could feel his stomach twist. He was now seriously nervous. Alfred reassured him over and over again that everything was going to be okay, but Arthur being the worry wart he was, wouldn't stop stressing over it. The day had finally come for the social worker to come by, and Arthur could barely even sit down, let alone relax. He was too worried about what the social worker might say during their evaluation about their house or, god forbid, about the questionnaire.

Arthur was sitting on the couch, sipping a cup of tea when the door bell rang. Arthur jumped in surprise, and rushed over to the front door. He took a deep breath before opening it. When he finally opened the door, he found a small woman with long wavy brown hair pinned back with a flower pin, standing on their doorstep.

"Good evening, is this the Jones-Kirkland residence?"

"Yes, this it is."

"I'm Mrs. Elivabeta Héderváry, your social worker."

" I'm Arthur Kirkland, come in."

"Don't mind if I do."

Mrs. Héderváry made her way into the house as Arthur ushered over to one of the chairs in the living room.

"Please, sit. Would you like a something to drink? I made some tea."

"A cup of tea would be lovely."

"Great, hold on a second as I get my husband."

Alfred walked over to the set of stairs and called up, "Alfred. Mrs. Héderváry is here!"

Arthur could hear some thumping as he called back, "Okay sweetie, I'll be down in a minute."

Arthur walked into the kitchen and made a tray of tea before making his way back into the living room.

He placed the tray on the coffee table and handed a cup of tea to the brunette woman.

"Thank you!"

"No problem, ma'am."

Mrs. Héderváry took a sip, sighing contently.

Arthur sat down on the couch, fiddling his fingers. Mrs. Héderváry could tell Arthur was nervous and started to chuckle.

"Mr. Kirkland, it's okay. You can relax. I'm not going to bite."

Arthur laughed nervously.

"I promise, Mr. Kirkland, you have nothing to worry about. Just to start off on a happy note, I've reviewed your questionnaires and I didn't find anything alarming. Now, relax."

Arthur let out a sigh of relief. "I'm terribly sorry, Mrs. Héderváry, I must look like a fool."

Mrs. Héderváry smiled, "It's quite fine. It's to be expected from nervous adoptees. I know that in your questionnaire you mentioned a poor family life growing up, and I'm sensing that is what you're so worried about. After first reviewing it, I was concerned, but then after carefully reading your answers again, I realized that they are answers of a sound, good human being. Just the way you welcomed me into your house and offered me tea shows that there is nothing to worry about on my part. Also, I can already see that you have a lovely home."

"Th-thank you, Mrs. Héderváry."

"You can call me Elizabeta."

"O-okay."

Suddenly, there were loud footsteps coming down the stairway, "Sorry I took so long. I was in the shower!" called Alfred. He walked into the living room with a clean shirt and khakis, his hair still wet.

"Nice to meet you. Mr. Jones, I'm assuming."

"That's me! Please, call me Alfred."

"Sure, as long as you call me Elizabeta."

"Deal!"

Elizabeta giggled. Arthur could tell that she was already warming up to Alfred's exuberant personality.

Alfred sat down on the couch (after grabbing a soda from the fridge – no icky tea for him), and Elizabeta began to speak.

"Now, time to discuss business. You know I'm here to discuss your questionnaire and assess your household. Firstly, I've already partially discussed some of it with Arthur. It was sad to read about his unfortunate past, but I could tell that there was nothing to worry about pertaining to his own character. Alfred, you were very honest with your questionnaire and honest, I was shocked. But just like Arthur here, I could tell that you were a good person through your responses. I cannot lie; some of your answers were very amusing, to say the least."

Arthur looked over at Alfred and slapped his palm to his face. Of course you would, he thought.

Elizabeta giggled, "It's quite fine Arthur. His answers didn't reveal anything too horrible; well his answers about your sex life were quite intriguing,but nothing too terrible."

Arthur, for some reason, didn't like the way she had said that. There was something in the tone of her voice that made it sound way dirtier than it should have. Arthur could have sworn he saw her smirk too.

"Anyway, let's have a look around, shall we?"

Arthur nervously began to show her around their house. She looked over the kitchen first, explaining that the kitchen was fine except for knives in some of the drawers. "They need to be in a high place, in which the child can reach them." They also needed to get the child safety locks installed in the bottom cabinets so that the baby couldn't get to the chemicals under the sink. They moved on into the bathrooms where she recommended the same precautions for the bathroom cabinets. When she entered the spare bedroom they were cleaning out, she inspected the walls. She told them that they needed to get covers for the outlets so the baby couldn't stick any metal objects into the socket. Arthur eventually got a notepad to take all the tips on child proofing the house. She also explained that they needed to keep the cats' litter box in a place where the child couldn't get into it. She also recommended putting locks on their fence in the back yard.

Everything went very well on their part, and overall Elizabeta didn't find any major problems with their house, just suggestions to make the house safer overall for the child.

"Thank you for showing me around your home. It was very beautiful, and very clean."

"Thanks! I have excellent taste," Alfred chirped.

Arthur elbowed him in the stomach, "You mean that I have excellent taste, you git. You didn't do any decorating."

Alfred chuckled, "I'm just teasing."

Elizabeta giggled, "You two are the cutest couple!"

Alfred and Arthur began to blush.

"I'm happy to be your social worker. I'll be back later on in the future, but until then, I hope you have a good day."

"Thank you again for being so kind to us," said Arthur.

"No, the pleasures mine. You two are definitely one of my favorite clients."

"Thanks! We are pretty awesome!"

Elizabeta giggled, "See you later."

With that, she walked back to her car and drove away.

"I'm glad that's over sweetie, now you can stop worrying so much."

Arthur smiled, "You quite right, love."

"Come on! Let's go see what's on TV!"

"Yes, love."

~USUKUS~

No less than a week later, Arthur was sitting at the kitchen table working on his manuscript when he heard his cell phone ring. Arthur was tired and frustrated. Spending so much time working on getting the house ready made him fall behind on writing. He was determined to get the thing done on time, but it seemed that Alfred had some reason to call him for every silly little reason. He was too concentrated on typing to look down at the caller I.D.

Arthur picked up the phone with a huff, "What do ya want?" he asked curtly.

"Mr. Kirkland?"

"O-oh, sorry Angelique!"

"It's quite alright. I was just calling to tell you the good news."

"Y-yes."

"You've been approved! Congratulations! You are now legally able to become foster parents!"

Arthur almost dropped his phone, but he caught it with his other hand as he started to lose his grip, fumbling it in the process.

"That's wonderful!"

"It is, I was wondering if you could come out this weekend to start going over some of the potential children."

"Of course we can! We'll be there!"

"Great! I'll set up the appointment."

After he got off the phone with Angelique, Arthur just sat in his chair, silent. He could feel the tears welling up, but he started rubbing his eyes in an attempt to hold back the tears. For some reason, Arthur couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day.

~USUKUS~

Arthur and Alfred were elated as they walked through the adoption agency's office that weekend. Alfred nearly jumped six feet into the air after Arthur told him that night that they had been approved and they would soon be looking at potential matches. Now here they were sitting at a table waiting for Angelique to return. It didn't take her long as she walked into the room with three thick 3" binders full of papers. She slammed them on the table with a thud.

Arthur and Alfred looked at them questionably. Angelique just huffed and explained, "That's all the kids in our adoption system. Start looking for one you'd like."

They sat there in the little conference room for hours looking at different kids and reading their profiles. There were so many kids to choose from and quite frankly, it was heart breaking. If Arthur could, he would take in all the children in those binders but he knew that was completely impossible. Still, how do you choose which life to save? They had pictures of potential kids spread across the table, each one displaying a picture and a brief profile. Arthur and Alfred had no idea how to choose which kid to adopt. Alfred was flipping through the second binder as Arthur was flipping through the third one. Arthur was finding it all quite depressing when he came across this picture of a tiny baby girl. The name Guinevere was written across the top of the picture. In the portrait was a little baby hooked up to a bunch of machines, apparently in the neonatal intensive care unit.

The profile was short: Child was born to a mother suffering from preeclampsia, causing the child to be premature, weighing only about 2.5 lbs at birth and is suffering from underdeveloped lungs. The child is stable, but it is unknown if the child will suffer from any long term complications. Much more medical attention will be needed in the future.

Arthur felt his heart tug as he read this bleak profile. He couldn't have felt more heart broken in his life. The summary was so sad and ominous. Arthur couldn't help but feel for the child. As he looked closer at the picture, he could see a beautiful baby girl. She looked very sick, but Arthur felt something about her.

"Alfred, why don't you look at this one."

He handed the book over to Alfred side of the table.

"She sounds very sick. Very cute, but very sick."

"Exactly."

Angelique leaned over the table to see the profile.

"She is a beautiful child, but you know, if you take her on, then you'll have to accept all her medical bills now and in the future."

Arthur nodded, "I know, but I just have this gut feeling about her."

Angelique hummed, "If you want to meet her, I'll call her social worker and set up a meeting. She's probably still in the hospital so you'll probably be meeting her there."

"We can deal with that," Alfred answered.

"Very well, then. I'll start making some phone calls. Her profile says she's not too far away. You drove all the way out here, and since she is close then maybe we can set up a meeting before you head back to the island."

Arthur smiled, "That would be lovely."

Angelique took her profile out of the binder, "Okay then, you guys are done for the day. Go back to your hotel and relax. I'll call you later to tell you further details."

"Thank you, again Angelique," Arthur said.

"No problem, now go! I got to make some phone calls!"

A/N: I hope to have the last chapter up tomorrow (or technically later today oops).

I chose that name for a reason, but you'll find that out next chapter! Arthur explains it actually!

Also, Elizabeta! I love you!