Once More With Feeling ZAINTSEE AU

Meet Leah

Saint had been living with Zee and Lee for almost 5 years now and since they got married 3 years ago things had gotten better and better. Saint had written another book which had been dubbed "ground-breaking" by other scholars and that along with the sale of his old apartment had allowed him and Zee to buy a bigger house closer to Saint's Ma. It was a spacious 3 bedroom property with a large out building for Zee to use for his business.

Saint had his own study for when deadlines crept in and he had to work late into the evening. Lee had his bedroom plus a play room and lots of space in their massive garden. They'd even built him a tree house for the summer months which was his favourite place to play.

It would be a lie to say their lives were perfect because, in Saint's opinion, there was no such thing as a perfect life. Saint and Zee had silly arguments over things like cleaning up or who's turn it was to put the bins out but their arguments were never over the importance things and they always resolved any issues they had before they went to sleep.

Lee was such a good kid who loved his Nana Nini, Dad and Bunny more than anything. He got a little spoiled at times but with all he'd been through in his short life he deserved nothing less. Saint was especially fond of indulging Lee's requests, mainly because he very rarely asked for anything and was simply happy to showered in love and affection, so when he did ask for something Saint would go out of his way to make it happen.

This was partially the reason the two men found themselves driving in the snow on Christmas Eve. For the past 2 years Lee had been desperate for a little sibling. He didn't care if it was a boy or a girl, as long as he got to be a big brother. At first Saint and Zee had told him this wouldn't be possible, both feeling it was too early in their relationship to even think about adoption. Then, as time went on and Lee continued asking earnestly, Saint warmed more and more to the idea.

It was a year later that Saint finally asked Zee if he would be on board with having another child. In typical Zee fashion, Zee had already anticipated that Saint would come around to Lee's way of thinking and had already started the paperwork to begin the process of adoption. They'd always said they would adopt if it they ever decided to add to their family as they knew there were so many children already in the world desperately needing a loving family. Saint had grabbed Zee into the tightest hug ever when he found out what his husband had done.

The process for adoption was a long and arduous one. They had to fill in pages and pages of paper work themselves as well as asking their friends and family to do the same with character references. Once the form filling section was complete they reached the checking stage. They had lots of home visits to check that they had a suitable home environment to bring a child into. Zee and Saint had worked hard to get the house baby proofed in case they got a younger child. They prepared a bedroom in neutral colours and  had purchased a cot bed which would do for anyone from a new born to a 6 year old.

All of this work had taken a over year until they had been told they had been approved to adopt. There was a 6 month old baby girl called Leah who had lost both parents and had been taken into foster care as neither parent had any relatives willing to take her. Zee and Saint had immediately fallen in love with their princess and had begun the necessary final steps to bring her home while keeping it as surprise from Lee. They'd bought her more clothes and toys than she could ever possibly need, wrapping some up as a Christmas gifts for her.

Zee and Saint discussed it and planned to tell Lee on Christmas day as the adoption was set to go through at the beginning of the new year, neither of them could wait to see his face when he finally found out.  It was 5pm on Christmas Eve when they got a call from their social worker to see if they would be willing to bring Leah home that day as her foster family had an emergency which meant they had to leave town for a while. They had immediately agreed and once Nana Nini had arrived to look after Lee they began the drive to pick Leah up.

They finally made it to the foster family's house at 8pm and were greeted by Julie the foster mum who was holding a happy but sleepy Leah.  Saint could see that Julie was upset not just about the emergency but about Leah leaving earlier than planned so he offered for them to keep in touch so that Julie could get updates on Leah from time to time. Julie had happily agreed, hugging Saint and Zee and thanking them.

Zee fixed the car seat in the back and before long the three set off for home. Saint sat in the back with Leah just staring and trying to take in every detail of her perfect face. When Leah fell asleep, the two men quietly discussed what they thought Lee's reaction would be when he met his sister, they couldn't decide if he would laugh or cry but they agreed he would be overjoyed.

Zee called to tell Nira they were on their way and when they arrived home at 10pm, Nira was stood on the door step waiting for them. Nira had met Leah once and was desperate to get a cuddle from her newest grandchild. Saint released Leah from her car seat and bundled the sleeping baby into his mothers arms.

"Hello my precious one." Nira whispered as she stroked Leah's cheek, her smile was so big it threatened to overwhelm her face. "I have such beautiful grandbabies." She cooed as she walked into the house. "It's time to meet your big brother..."