Her fingers curled around the pen; it was heavy in her hand, even though she had a pen just like that on her desk at work and a similar one at home and it never seemed to weigh so much when she used it before. Her hand shook and she took an inaudible yet deep breath before she brought the pen to the paper and signed her name at the bottom of the black line. She moved her hand in a measured manner, making sure each letter of her name was perfectly drawn. It seemed like a strenuous labor, but when she lifted the pen from the paper and inspected her signature, she smiled at the sight of it.
She dared raising her gaze from the paper and looked at her side, where Rusty was sitting. She gave him a reassuring smile and handed him the pen. He smiled back before he leaned down and scribbled his name on the black line on the other side of the paper. Then he straightened and looked at her, a smile of relief on his face. She took his hand and squeezed it and they both turned to the judge before them, who took the paper, inspected it and then added his own signature at the bottom of the page, in the designated place.
"Captain Sharon Raydor and Mr. Rusty Beck, I am happy to declare that legally you are now a mother and son. I wish you both luck in your shared journey," he said and the smile reached his eyes. He had known Sharon for many years and when she approached him about helping her and her foster son become a family, he was happy to be at her service. Now he looked at the reveling mother and son and in his heart, he wished them all the happiness they could get. He could see the tears shining in Sharon's eyes as she hugged her new son.
"It's a boy!" Provenza called out from the back of the room and the rest of the squad cheered happily. Sharon grinned, and the tears of happiness shone in her eyes.
"Rusty," she said softly. "I don't want to make a dramatic speech or anything, because I know this kind of thing embarrasses you, but I just want to tell you that right now, I feel exactly the same way I felt when Emily and Ricky were born. I'm so proud that you are now legally part of my family, even though you know that for me, you've already been family for a long time." She leaned and pressed a soft and swift kiss to her son's cheek, knowing that it would make him blush, but just this once, she allowed herself to publicly embarrass her son. He shrugged, as if it was nothing, but she could see through his façade that he was touched to his core.
"I love you," he said and leaned in to wrap his arms around her, something he has never publicly done before.
"I love you too," she whispered, and brought her hand to wipe her eyes. Here they were, a happy family, at last.