Forever

Owls and Cupcakes

"Mike! Mike!" Chester burst into their studio, his hands waving frantically in the air in front of him as Mike swiveled around in his chair and used both hands to drop his headphones to rest around his neck.

"What's wrong?" Mike asked instantly, about to stand up and grab Chester to calm him down, but Chester fell to his knees on the floor in front of Mike and dropped his face into Mike's lap. "Ches? Love, what is it?" He reached out to stroke over Chester's head soothingly, dismayed to feel his husband's body shaking. "Chester. Tell me what's wrong," he begged, his mind racing over the possibilities. Something had happened to one of the children. To one of the guys. To Anna or Talinda.

"Mike, I- I can't believe it." Chester raised his tear streaked face to catch Mike's eyes. "The agency. They called. They finally called." He watched as realization slid over Mike's face. "There's a baby waiting for us, Mikey. A baby girl."

The enormity of it hit Mike squarely in the chest as he looked down at his husband, hardly daring to believe the words he'd just heard. Words they had hoped for so much over the past three years, words that all the money they had couldn't buy for them. They'd been queued like everyone else, put on a long list of couples hoping to adopt a newborn. It seemed that they would never get the call, but even when they almost lost faith in their reputable adoption agency, they didn't lower themselves to other methods of obtaining the child they so desperately desired. And now, finally, the agency had called with the news they'd been waiting for.

"A girl?" Mike asked in disbelief, tipping Chester's face up to see him better. "A baby, really, Ches? How old?" His heart was thundering in his ribcage and he could barely get a breath in, it was all so overwhelming.

"She's two days old, Mikey. Still in the hospital in Shanghai. The parents just signed over their rights but we can go now, we can hold her! She'll be ours in two weeks, I can't believe it!" Chester burst into a fresh round of tears and Mike couldn't stop himself from joining him.

Tossing his headphone onto the desk, Mike pushed the chair back and fell on his knees with Chester in front of him, holding him close as they cried into each other's necks. They were going to raise a child together. Their child. It didn't matter that their mid-forties had already crept up on them, another thing that had made them less than desirable as adoptees in the agencies mind. They were flying to China, tomorrow, to meet their baby girl. The one and only child they would have with the surname Bennington-Shinoda.

Chester's damp cheek met Mike's as he leaned back to take his lips in a tender kiss.

**

"Who was that, Ches?" Mike mumbled, turning his face toward Chester. "On the phone?"

"Hana," Chester answered softly, thinking about the day they'd gotten the call she was waiting for them. "Letting me know she's on her way to the airport."

There was a long moment of silence before Mike asked, "today?"

"Yes, love." Chester leaned forward in the plush chair he was sitting in to stroke his hand down Mike's arm.

Mike turned his head as he feebly lifted his free hand to find Chester's. Chester knew exactly what his husband wanted, and linked their fingers together, gently squeezing Mike's hand. Their wedding rings rubbed together with a soft clink. "I wish she didn't have to fly alone."

"Me, too. She hates flying alone." Chester leaned over and kissed Mike's forehead.

"She got that from you." Mike managed a weak smile as his eyes met Chester's.

Chester nodded with a wry smile. "She was like that at birth. She's never been a fan of flying." He was lost in Mike's dark eyes, eyes that were remembering, eyes that were shining with awareness in the moment.