(Sex ahead)
(Ivann's POV)
Our second appointment at the Haven Homes' office felt like it took years to get to. I couldn't help but looking into the two empty bedrooms and imagining cubs sitting at the desks, doing their homework, or sleeping in the beds. I could hear their paws as they ran through the house, and I could hear their laughter as they played together. At one point, I thought I was making myself crazy, but then I caught Sean looking into the rooms. As I watched him, he closed his eyes and a soft smile pulled on his lips and his ears twitched, like he was listening to the cubs, as well. I couldn't wait for them to be here, in our home, with Sean and me - we both couldn't wait for them to be here.
"Rebecca's waiting for you," Anna told us as we walked into the building. "You remember the way to her office, right? The third door, on the right, down that hall," she recapped for us.
"Thank you, Anna," Sean said to her, with a warm smile, as we walked past her and down the hall.
His mood seemed to be on a continuous rise since the rat came to inspect our home. Nothing seemed to drag him down. His happiness seemed to radiate from him. Seeing him like that brought my mood up, naturally. I squeezed his hand, and he looked down at me. We shared smiles, and then I nodded for him to open Rebecca's office door.
"Sean, Ivann, please come in," she said as she slipped a file into one of the filing cabinets behind her desk. Speaking of her desk, it was now neat and tidy, no paperwork or files cluttering it.
"Is there any good news?" I asked as Sean and I sat down.
She sighed heavily as she looked across her desk at the both of us. "I really wish I had some," she said, shaking her head. "The cub I was going to place you with just got awarded to one of her family members and they are no better than her mother. The court saw it better that she stayed with her family," she told us, sadly. "I only hope she'll be okay," she whispered as she looked down.
That news was what it took to bring Sean's mood crashing down. I could see it as I looked over at him, and I could feel it in the air around him. He looked like he had just given up. His ears drooped, his shoulders sagged and his tail hung soulless behind him. I have to admit, I'd be looking like him too, if I wasn't so prepared for this to happen, by watching all those videos of what other couples went through when they were trying to start their own families.
"Are there any other cubs that need a home?" I asked, not willing to give up.
"I'm sorry, but there are none right now," she answered as she looked at her computer screen. That brought my hopes down a lot. "We'll just have to wait, I'm sure something will come up," she said, with a mixture of different sadness' in her tone. Sadness because she knew how happy Sean and I were about opening our home up for a cub and now we have to wait longer, and sadness because she knew the inevitable truth, that something will come up and that she would have to place another cub. "Again, I'm sorry," she told us as we got up and left her office.
Sean and I barely held onto one another's hands as we walked back down the hallway. Our moods matched. We were both defeated, and everyone that we passed could tell without even asking.
"Sean, Ivann, wait!" Anna shouted to us, waving her hand in the air, just as we were about to exit the building.
Sean and I both looked over at her, but neither of us made an attempt to walk over to her. We just wanted to go home and wallow in our sadness. Rebecca came running out of her office, down the hall, and out to us.
She grabbed onto Sean's arm as she bent over and panted, "I need to work out more." She looked up at the two of us. "Something... came... up," she said, between huffed breaths.
