This Time I Think You'll Know

It was a casual Friday evening, meaning Austin and Alan were cuddled up on the couch watching a random movie and eating pizza. The phone started ringing, Austin got up to answer it while Alan paused the movie, so Austin could hear better and so Alan could eavesdrop more affectively. Unfortunately for Alan, his husband chose to pace as he spoke on the phone and ended up walking out of earshot. When Austin finished the phone call he returned to the couch to cuddle with his ginger husband. 

"What was that about?" Alan asked with a mouthful of pizza.

Austin chuckled at his love and replied, "It was the adoption agency with another possible match for us to consider."

"I thought they didn't have anymore babies or toddlers for us to be matched with."

"Well, they said the child is a young girl who just turned five last month. Before you say something about her being too old, please try to keep an open mind and check out her profile that the agency emailed us," the taller man explained.

"Alright," the smaller of the two agreed as Austin grabbed his laptop. Alan curled into Austin's side as the email was pulled up onto the screen.

"Awwwwe" they both cooed as soon as they caught sight of the picture showing a little girl with ginger hair and bright green eyes. They read through every detail that the email gave about the adorable little girl. The page said her name is Marissa Jones and that her birthday is June 12, which was just over a month ago and that it had been her fifth birthday. They could tell that the picture was at least six months old, which just encouraged the couple to call the agency back to schedule an actual meeting with Marissa as soon as possible. With an arrangement to meet the little girl set for around noon the next day the couple finally went back to cuddling and watching their movie.

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In the morning the only thing the couple could think about was how hopeful they were that they could finally have found the child that would make the couple into a family. By the time they arrived at the home where the children are taken care of Alan was a bit concerned that they were only so confident about this girl because she has hair like his. He didn't want to get his hopes up too high on a child, no matter how beautiful she was. Personally he would rather have a baby or toddler, but all of the ones that the agency offered just didn't feel right for their home. Austin was still flowing with optimistic confidence, just hoping Alan didn't talk himself out of this one all because the age of the child. 

The couple entered the building and was met by one of the women who cares for the children who live in the home, along with Marissa's caseworker. The caretaker quickly informed the pair that Marissa is quite shy. Alan became even more uncertain with that new piece of information but Austin, however, was not discouraged and immediately asked if he could meet her. The women both gave him an apologetic smile and the caretaker pointed to the corner of the room. As they all looked over they saw a little girl sat curled up on the floor in the corner; the red hair they had fallen in love with was hidden under a little teddy bear beanie. The caretaker went out to the backyard, letting the couple know that the other kids were out there and they were all welcome to join her outside whenever they want. Alan chose to keep talking to the caseworker, who had introduced herself as Jane, while Austin decided to try to talk to Marissa.

As Austin approaches, Marissa pulls the hat down even more, almost as if it could help her disappear completely. He sits down on the floor and talks a bit in hopes of getting her to respond. After a few minutes she starts to warm up to him, talking and laughing, but making no move to remove the hat. 

Across the room Alan and Jane sit at a table and talk about how Marissa often won't even acknowledge people who are interested in possibly adopting her. She explains how the child is actually very energetic and full of life, but the other girls apparently tease her about her red hair, causing her to be really shy and always hiding under her hat. 

Alan sees his husband walking over with a big smile on his face. "Alan, you really need to come meet Marissa; she is just so great."

They walk over to the corner, Austin keeping his shorter companion behind him as they go to see the little girl. When she sees Austin coming back over to her she smiles a little bit, but pulls her hat down farther upon seeing the pair of shoes trailing behind him. As Alan sits down on the ground in front of her she gets a proper look at him, her eyes going wide from shock when she sees that he has ginger hair like her. 

The two gingers soon warm up to each other, and they all talk for about a half hour. When Marissa recovers from laughing at the face Alan made when he thought he was about to sneeze she seems to realize something, her smile becoming a nervous frown, and mumbles a question to the floor.

"What did you say?" Austin asks her gently, causing her to look up but hold onto the strings on her hat.

"Are you going to adopt me?" She asks in a voice so soft they almost didn't hear her.

The couple had different reactions to the simple shy question. Austin smiled brightly at the little girl, which was returned with an even brighter smile that vanished just as quickly as she looked at Alan. Austin looked over at his husband to see so many mixed emotions, the most apparent one being doubt brought on by Marissa's question.

"I need some air, and I think Austin and I need to discuss this before we officially decide," Alan tells the little girl as him and his husband stand up, while Marissa looks sad as she remains on the floor. They begin to head to the backyard since they were told they could go out there, and Austin was hoping that Marissa might go out and interact with the other kids.

As Marissa sees Alan head for the back door she rushes up from the floor and runs in front of him to get him to stop for a moment. She looks panicked as she exclaims, "You can't go out there!"

"Why not?" Alan asks.

The child, clearly upset and nervous as she plays with the tassels on her hat, responds, "The other kids are out there, and if you go out there they will tease you about your hair."

"Thanks for the concern, but we need to go outside to talk, so please just let us go outside," Alan says, trying to be polite but still a bit on edge. Seeing that they are going to go no matter what, she lets them pass her, but quickly makes a new decision just as they are about to reach the door.

"Alan, wait!" She yells causing the couple to stop and turn to look back at her. They both look down at her in shock as she stands in front of them with her hat in her hands, held up to Alan. She tells him, "You can wear this to cover your hair so the other kids won't tease you," attempting to shove it into his hands when he makes no move to grab it. Neither of the guys say anything as they both take in the view of the little girl's tangled, ginger colored hair that was previously covered by the hat in her hands.

It is in that moment when Alan realizes that all of his doubt are pointless, because he knows that no other child could ever be more perfect for their family. As soon as the two guys recover from their momentary shock they share a look that tells each other that Marissa is exactly the child that they had been hoping for.

"I definitely won't be needing the hat," Alan assures her with a smile when she tried to hand it to him again.

Rather than smiling back Marissa looks worried as she turns to Austin and lightly tugs on the hem of his shirt to get his attention, which had been directed at Alan. He looks down at her, but she gestures for him to get down closer to her level, clearly wanting to talk to him better. He crouches down in front of her and she moves closer as she lowers her voice to a whisper, one of her hands covering the side of her face closest to Alan. "Please make sure he wears this; I don't want them to tease him. You are supposed to keep him safe from mean people." 

Both guys are smiling so lovingly at the little girl and Austin grabs the hat as she puts it in his hands, but tells her, "The reason he doesn't need the hat is because we have decided that we want to adopt you and be a family together."

The excited squeal that Marissa makes as she launches herself at Austin is just barely enough warning to open his arms to catch her, but not enough to keep him from being thrown off balance. Alan laughs and takes a quick picture of the adorable little ginger and his husband, who is trying to get back up while Marissa is still latched onto him in a hug. When Austin is stood in front of Alan once again he is holding Marissa, who pulls her arms away from around Austin's neck to reach out to Alan, making cute little grabby-hands. The little girl then switches from Austin's grasp into the arms of an awaiting Alan. 

The three of them walk across the room to the caseworker, who has the paperwork already set up, having seen the way the couple was interacting with the little girl. When they are stood in front of Jane, and the little girl is set back on her feet, Marissa makes a point of excitedly introducing all of the adults to one another, even though they had already met. 

"Marissa, why don't you go get all of your things packed up and brought out here while the adults deal with the boring papers," Jane instructs the young ginger. 

"Alright," Marissa chirps before zipping out of the room to get ready.

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"Well, that should be the last of the paperwork, and once she gets back you are able to bring her home," the caseworker says as the final paper is signed. "Speak of the Devil," she smiles and gestures behind the two men.

"I'm back!" Marissa announces as she enters the room with all of her stuff. She has a pink backpack on her back, a puppy plushy tucked under her left arm, and a little purple suitcase being dragged behind her with her other hand. When she reaches her new parents Austin helps take the suitcase and Alan holds the backpack.

"Are you ready to see your new home?" Alan asks, receiving an excited nod from their daughter. "Alright, let's go then."

Before they leave, Marissa throws her arms around Jane and tells her goodbye. After saying her farewells the young girl walks with her new Dads to their car, Alan passing the pink bag to his husband so they can be put in the trunk. The shorter parent making sure their daughter is buckled in the middle backseat so she will remain safe, since they still need to go get a booster seat for her. As this is going on Austin is placing his daughter's bags in the trunk and finds himself staring at the teddy bear hat that he had been holding since it was placed in his hands. He smiled at the fact that the little girl had forgotten all about the little security blanket she had been hiding under, focusing instead on the fact that she was going to be a part of a family. The hat was tossed in the trunk on top of the purple suitcase before the trunk was shut and Austin got into the driver seat. 

As the car was started and the new family headed to their home Austin smiled at his two gingers; the bubbly new ginger asking questions from the backseat, and the bubbly ginger he married answering them from the seat next to him. He answered some questions too and soon they were pulling into the driveway of their house.

When they all got out of the car Marissa looked at the house and asked her parents, "Are we home now?"

The two grinned down at the beaming face of their child and both answered her question with a perfect cliche; they each held one of her hands and said, "We're home."