A Father's Love

Ch.2- Ready?

Lisa's POV

I breathed in deeply as the car came to a halt and turned to my husband, his light stubble, Harry Potter style glasses, this would change our lives forever.

I had always wanted to be a mum and Jake a dad but it didn't work out. I was excited and nervous, but contained my nerves as Jake pulled up at the kid's home. "Ready?" Jake asked, his tone nervous.

"As I'll ever be" I replied nervously, he reached over the gear shift and squeezed my knee reassuringly, we got out of the car and locked hands as we entered the building. The house was as I expected it to be: grand pillars throughout and art and craft works completed by children plastered onto the walls. I saw a bubbly lady approach us she introduced herself as the lead carer, Jenny, showing us to her office with many beige cabinets each side of the worn red sofa. A tall girl with black hair, dark lipstick and heavy makeup opened the door allowing us to view her full body: headphones pushing her dark hair away, silver rings looping through her nostrils and all dark clothing.

"This is Stephanie, she is 15" Jenny introduced as her deep shadow filled the room. I was a little intimidated by her, to be honest.

"I am not a dog at the annual pet show" she replied coldly with attitude still staring down at her phone, I liked her wit she seemed clever with words but there was something that was intimidating about her. We talked to her for a while but it didn't feel right. We heard a distant shouting from outside the offices walls, I stood up and peered out of the protective blinds as Jenny went to make tea, I witnessed two young boys running around with nerf guns hiding behind pillars and shooting each other, I smiled to myself, it reminded me of me and my sister when we were younger. It hurt that we couldn't have that of our own but hopefully this was the start.

"Behave boys" Jenny's voice snapped as she carefully carried tea into her undecorated office. The two boys ignored her request as Jenny sighed and returned to us.

"Is there nobody else?" I asked almost desperately, taking her tea from the chipped mugs.

Jenny murmured worriedly shifting through the scraps of paperwork flying around on her untidy desk, I watched as she hesitated on a file and then glance up at us, "There are two left that may be suitable, girl and a boy, Louis has just turned 5 and Poppy is thirteen. Brother and sister. They will need to be placed together in a home, if possible. I am not allowed to say any more, at this point but you should know she suffers from nightmares quite badly. May be something to consider. I can bring them down if you like"

I glanced over to Jake who instantly locked eyes with me we nodded and Jenny left the room, to fetch them. I inhaled deeply clasping Jake's hand as he squeezed onto mine. I was nervous I knew that it might not work out and if it didn't we would try again but I couldn't help feeling worried with a spiral of anxiety looming in the pit of my stomach.

Poppy's POV

"Hi" smiled the man, standing up his height filling the small room, he seemed kind, rather nervous though. A woman with ginger hair was sitting seamlessly perfect on the faded red sofa, as I walked through the familiar office door carrying Louis, who was playing with my hair. They were both smiling, looking very much like every other hopeful adoption parent in this place, and yet, somehow this felt different.

"I'm Jake and this is my wife Lisa," the man introduced beaming now.

"Hi" I replied quietly, keeping my gaze to the floor.

"We wanted to chat to you, is that ok?" asked Lisa, I forced myself to meet her gaze and took note of her features she had ginger hair flowing down her back and was smiling at Louis.

"Sure," I replied, sitting down. There was a second of silence so I bounced out a question to prevent this from getting awkward. "So, what do you do?

"I'm an actress," Lisa said, whilst Louis clung onto her finger, "TV shows mainly,"

"I write and direct films but I'm involved in the fashion industry as well," Jake told me, I nodded. I was a little shocked most people work at the local Tesco they don't have anything to do with more glamourous industries.

"Poppy," Louis groaned from my arms, he was reaching over to Lisa. I smiled at how insanely cute he was but I was hesitant about letting him go but by the look on Jenny's face I daren't make a scene. I placed Louis between me and Lisa and he seemed contented playing with her.

"So, do you have any hobbies?" Jake asked, I inhaled slowly before replying. He sounded so much like Dad; quite a soft tone but an underlying depth to it.

"Not really," I said, cutting the conversation dead. Jenny subtly coughed from her desk and everyone in the room turned. She had that look; don't f this up. I paused and then mumbled, "I play guitar,"

From then the conversation became less structured and we were talking quite normally without any prompts from me or Jenny. I enjoyed talking to them, something I hadn't really experienced with any other 'potential parents'. Jenny eventually wrapped up the conversation whilst me and Jake were in a very in-depth conversation about Harry Potter and sent me back upstairs. I picked up my guitar and started to strum, with a small smile on my face. I sort of hope this works out. I really enjoyed today and they were so like me, especially Jake. I began to strum my way through a song humming along to the lyrics when there was a quiet knock on the door. I called a quick 'come in' and Lisa peeped her head around my door followed by Jake's overpowering shadow.

"Can we come in?" asked Lisa sweetly, stopping.

"Sure" I said, placing my guitar down, enhancing the childish screams that echoed from downstairs.

"Well we have meet all of you here and if its ok with you we would like to have you come around ours for a couple of nights and then if it all goes well adopt you" Lisa burst out happily, sitting gently on the foot of my bed. I couldn't help but let my expression drop and then break into a massive smile.

"And Louis" added Jake, leaning on the side of the door, smiling at his wife for forgetting. I was stunned. Slightly shell shocked.

"Are you sure?" I laughed, trying to get my head around it through humour.

"Absolutely" said Jake, sitting down next to Lisa, interlocking is fingers with hers. I couldn't help but edge away a little as reminders of Dad kicked in "We need to go and sign a few papers first but it will give you some time to pack for you and Louis when we are done we will come help you" he said smiling. They left me to it and I brought a hand over my mouth, letting out a quiet sob of happiness but also fear. I hadn't lived with a man for two years and the last time was... not great.

"Where are we going?" Louis asked as I packed some of his clothes from his drawer in his shared bedroom, I knew this would be hard to explain and to be honest I was finding it hard to get my head around myself. I lifted him up onto my hip as I sat down on his bed.

"Some people don't want children so they give them to people who do want them. Two very nice people want to see us and maybe then we can go and live with them" I explained gently.

"Why didn't Robin and Giles keep us? Did they not like us?" he asked innocently, I sighed. Robin and Giles tried to adopt us but it didn't work out so they sent us back to the home. However, when they adopted us Louis was much younger and I didn't have to explain to him about why we were at the home. I was hurt then myself, I tried to be strong for Louis but I couldn't hold my emotions in; to be rejected after everything we had been through felt like another stab in the back.

"No, they liked us but they-" I was interrupted by the dormitory door opening again. It was Jake. I blinked back my tears, I was overwhelmed and Louis didn't understand.

"Just thought you should know that we might be awhile with this paperwork, seems your social worker has it in for us" he joked, I nodded back and he left us shutting the door behind him. I smiled weakly, I had to give this a chance and even if it didn't work I knew that I would regret it if I didn't try.

"Is he like Dad?" Louis asked innocently, I shook my head and held him closer to me, out of habit, kissing his forehead. "I don't like Dad he hurt us"