Welcome to Atlantis Academy! (Lia && Chokuro)

Nodding, Tanner lead Relic into the agency and checked in, taking the clipboard with paperwork that they needed to fill out. They sat filling it out for nearly an hour, wanting to make sure that all of the info they gave was correct. After double checking it, Tanner moved to the window to turn it in, sitting back down when told that the evaluator would be with them shortly.

The blond took hold of Relic's hand and squeezed it softly as they waited.
 
Relic gladly settled back into the chair with Tanner, smiling all the more as he did so. He took in a few deep breaths, calming himself and trying to not show just how utterly ecstatic he was. His fingers laced with Tanner's, resting his head against his husband's shoulder with a content sigh. His eyes slipped closed and his thumb trailed along the back of the other's hand while they waited. "It's more nerve-wracking than I thought." He admitted with a soft little laugh. He tilted his head back ,looking up at the other with a warm smile to his lips.​
 
Leaning over, Tanner pressed a kiss to Relic's cheek. "It'll be okay." He gave a little smile to the man, nudging their shoulders together ast hey continued to wait. He didn't realize that the appointment would take this long. They had been told they had a ten thirty appointment. It was now coming close to quarter to twelve and they were still just in the waiting room. The blond occupied himself by entertaining Relic, telling silly and corny jokes to make the man giggle, and thinking about what their life would be like with a child in it. Tanner threw out all sorts of scenarios: play dates and birthday parties and first days of school...
 
Relic giggled gently, perking up when finally a woman in a skirt-suit showed up to the side of them. "Misters Reed ... Please follow me." She said, turning on the heel of her pump and then walking into the other room to promptly sit at the desk, waiting for the two.

Relic was instantly up, taking Tanner's hand tightly and leading the way int othe room. He sat down, taking his hand back to lace his fingers together in his lap, twirling the fabric of his pants between his fore and thumb fingers.

She waited for the two to sit before scooting toward the edge of her seat, looking over the two and she sighed softly. "I have looked over your paperwork and you two seem like very good candidates, but I am afraid we cannot let you adopt."​
 
Taking a deep breath as their name was called, Tanner took a moment to compose himself before following Relic into the office. He sat figiting while trying to figure out what the woman in front of them was thinking. It didn't take long to find out and when the words came out of her mouth, he didn't know what to feel first: crushed, sad, disappointed, curious, unsure, confused... They all swirled around inside of him and he reached over for Relic's hand.

"That...makes no sense?"
 
The woman sighed softly and shook her head a little. "I'm sorry, sirs. We do not feel it proper to give a child to two men. It is nothing against you two, I am sure you two are lovely, but we feel that a child should have a mother and a father, not two fathers. It would end up skewing their whole upbringing."

Relic was ... oh, he was pissed. Fuck the other disappointed emotions that were going through him. This was the twenty-first century and there was still someone homophobic!? and in Italy?! He did not give Tanner the chance to hold his hand as he was up and onto his feet, staring down at the woman. "Are you kidding me?! Because I love a man, I cannot have a child that you would prefer to have rot in a hell hole like this?! Talk about skewing their fucking upbringing! Two dads are better than nothing, you know! This ... Is BULL SHIT!" He growled and turned on his heel, kicking the chair he had been sitting in over and then proceeded to storm out of the room, shoving the door open and then through the hall he went, making his way outside and ust ... walking.​
 
Tanner watched in a bit of horror at Relic's reaction. He knew it was coming, and he knew it was justified, but it also didn't help their case of trying to sway the woman over, either. Tanner watched and waited for his lover to blow up and then sat in the office to give him some time to cool off.

He turned to the woman. "Despite my husband's crude language... You have to see that he's right?" he tried. "We work with children in a school as teachers. My brother in laws both have adopted children that we are frequent caregivers to. I have two little sisters who I had a large part in raising. Relic's family is three times as large and he's helped to raise his cousins and nephews and siblings younger than him... All successfully. Surely that has to say something for us?"
 
The woman watched the man leave and then turned her eyes to the other, closing her eyes. "If I had it my way, you would have any child you wanted.' She stated, lifting her eyes to look at the man in front of her once more. She then rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a card. "Here. Fight it. Go to the courts ... If you win and can convince my superiors to change the rules, then i will gladly let you adopt a child here. Any one would be lucky to have you two. It is just that my hands are tied. So, please, don't give up."​
 
Taking the card, it wasn't really what Tanner had wanted to hear. But it was better than a 'too bad, so sad', which was what he'd expected in all honesty. He nodded and thanked the woman before he moved outside to find Relic. He found his husband and pulled him into a tight hug. "We can fight it, baby." He recapped what the woman had said, rubbing soothing circles over his back. "We're going to fight it. We'll go home and call this person and make an appointment for this afternoon."
 
Relic turned to look at the man, listening to his words and he leant forward to bury his face into the other's neck. His arms wrapped around his husband's form, holding him tightly. His eyes slipped closed and he buried his face into his neck, not caring right now. He hated it! "Why ... Why is it that ... that we're the ones who wanted children yet we cannot get one because we're doing it right?! RUNE has children ... Mias never really wanted them ... and ... he has his daughter, granddaughter ... " he gripped him tighter, letting the tears pass his eyes, feeling horrible about everything that was happening to them.​
 
He shushed Relic softly, gently rocking them back and forth. "I don't know, baby. But we're not giving up without one hell of a fight." Tanner held the other man tightly, waiting patiently for the tears to subside. His husband wanted children, and he was determined to make it so that he could have them, no matter what it took. "Come on," he encouraged, tilting Relic's face up. He kissed his lover's lips. "We're going to get through this...and have a child in the end, too."
 
Relic took in a shuddering breath, pulling back a bit and he looked at the other. He let out a short laugh, a ilttle more annoyed than anything else right now. "It's unfair." he whispered, his hands gripping the other's shirt tightly between his fingers. "Maybe I should've knocked some girl up." He laughed, shaking his head and he leant forward to kiss the other's lips, taking in another deep breath as he did so. "But, I love you too much."​
 
"I know it's not fair." How could it be fair? They were being discriminated against for... What? "Even if we lose, we can look into surrogacy. Or private adoption." There were other options, but this was now a moral thing that he felt that they needed to take a stance on. "And no knocking girls up. You'll make Rune sick with just the thought." He hugged his lover once more before stepping back to take his hand and lead him back to the car.

"Come on. Lets go call this guy and see what he can do for us."
 
Relic let out a short laugh, poking his lips out in a pathetic little pout. "I had some cute girlfriends in the past ... A few that I'm sure would love to do me a favor." He said, grinning and then leaning foward to press a kiss to his love's lips, nodding a little to what he was saying. "Yes. We'll call him. Fight this thing." He whispered, knowing that there were many solutions, but not happy about them at all. He had been so happy for them. He kissed his husband before moving into the car, sighing heavily. "Wore pants for nothing.."​
 
The receptionist was very nice, and when she heard why they were calling, she rearranged appointments to get them in that afternoon. Tanner was impressed with that and his hopes were growing that they would be successful. He made them lunch after changing into a simple pair of khaki slacks and a t-shirt for the time being. He wanted Relic to rest and regain his composure before their appointment.

The afternoon seemed to fly and before he knew it, they were in front of another office building, hands laced together.
 
Relic had changed. He pulled on a pair of black pants that were laced with the sides. He pulled on a nice black and white corset, a few white accessories, and the his commando boots. He was glad that they would get to talk with teh attorny tonight. He was still annoyed. He was still very annoyed, actually. THat was why he changed. He did not want to wear a skirt since he doubted that would make anyone want to give them a child, but he did not care right now. He was not in a dress like he wanted to be, but whatever.

Walking up to the building, he turned to press a kiss to Tanner's cheek, nuzzling his nose into the other's neck, thumb rolling along the back of the man's hand. "I'm nervous.' he murmured into the other's neck, truly jittery about this.​
 
"Why?" Tanner asked. "We know we're right." He smiled at his lover and kissed him. The time to be nervous was at the adoption agency. Now... Now it was about being right, and because of that they had nothing to worry about. The blond kissed Relic once more before leading the way inside and checking in with the receptionist. The couple was lead into the lawyer's office right away. Tanner got a good vibe from the greying gentleman behind the large mahogany desk who looked up at the couple.

"The Reeds?" Tanner nodded and took a seat when they were gestured to.
 
Relic nodded to his words and gripped his hand a bit before he straightened up. He took in a deep breath as they moved inside, looking at hte man in front of them when they made it there. He sat down in the chair beside his love, still holding his hand. His right knee lifted to drape over his left, free arm wrapped around his lower torso and he remained silent at the moment. He did not want to speak until spoken to, really.​
 
"I'm very sorry to hear about your experience," he offered sympathetically as he took out a yellow legal pad and a pen to make notes. "Why don't you tell me what happened?" Tanner nodded and went through the entire story, skimming over Nikkos and Tomias gaining custody of Dawn, and Calder and Rune gaining custody of their three before getting down to what had happened earlier that day.

"She told us to fight it, not that we needed the encouragement, so here we are..."

The man nodded. "I need to tell you two that this could be a very long process. It could take a few weeks, if the owner of the agency is willing to cooperate-which I don't anticipate-but it could take a few years or more. Are you willing to stick it out?" Tanner looked to Relic, wanting to be sure he was okay with that.
 
Relic listened to the man in front of them and he felt his heart crash. Years?! Weeks ... He would not mind weeks. But, years?! That just defeated the whole purpose of them getting there this morning. Who knew how long it would take, IF they won, to get a child? He bit his bottom lip, his finers pressing into his side and easily breaking the flesh with his annoyance at this whole situation. His eyes closed for a moment and his eyes then fluttered to the man in front of them. "It's fine." he mumbled, really hating this so much right now. It was far too unfair.​
 
Easily hearing the annoyance in his love's voice, Tanner asked for a minute and was directed out to a conference room across the hall. He took his love's hand and lead him there, closing the door before easily lifting him up and onto the table there.

"Relax. We can do two things at once, right?" He kissed his husband softly, nuzzling along his jaw a little. "We'll fight the agency while looking into other options. Who knows? By that time we might be ready for a second."
 
Relic looked at the other, listening to him and he let out a heavy sigh. His eyes slipped closed and he flopped forward and rested his head against the other's shoulder, groaning a little bit. "True ..." He whispered, hugging his love tightly and he bit into his bottom lip and he pulled back, looking at the man once more. "It'll be ... fine." He murmured and then slid off the table. He took a hold of the man's hand, leading him back toward the room once more. He smiled at the man behind the desk again, heading to the desk and sitting down once more. "Sorry about that..." He said softly, his arms folded over his loewr toros, ready to listen to whatever the man wanted to say.​
 
Hugging Relic, Tanner whispered a soft 'love you' before returning to the office.

The meeting took a while, and they were encouraged to look into private adoption and surrogacy while they went through the legal process. "Just a few last notes before you go: You will be in the media with this. I think it best that you alert your family and loved ones. Be prepared for any adoption or surrogacy to be publicized. It may or may not help you to find someone who is willing to adopt or carry. With any positives there are negatives. You'll be attacked by those who agree with the agency."
 
Relic listened to the other and he nodded a bit. "No problem." He stated, knowing his mother could easily handle himself. Tomias and Rune? He would let them know ... Tell Rune not to kill anyone. Anyone else really did not matter. Though, Prometheus would probably have to hype up their security or something. Ugh. Back into the lime light. He shook his head from the thoughts and then stood up, looking at the man and smiling warmly. "Thank you." He said, shaking the man's hand and then leading the way out of the room.​
 
The drive home was pretty quiet as Tanner ran situations through his head. This could turn out pretty ugly if they weren't careful. He played with how to handle things in his head, and weighed their options. Private adoption sounded...better? He wanted to give a child a good home who might otherwise not have one.

But before he could think about it more, they arrived home. After changing, the blond flopped onto the sofa. "So what do you think?"
 
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