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“Special Agent Grady?” Agent X said. “I have an unusual assignment for you and Special Agent Garrett.”
“Yeah?” Ty asked, getting excited. “We’re not supposed to do field work, but what do you got?”
“I overheard you and Special Agent Garrett talking about adopting.”
Ty blinked. “I’ve got two kitties and I wasn’t planning on more. Or else Zane’s gonna call me a crazy cat lady again.”
“I meant a child, Special Agent Grady.”
Ty pulled the phone away to stare it. A kid? “Well, we’ve talked about it, but without really meaning it. Just idle thoughts, ya know?”
“Do you think you and Special Agent Garrett would be able to make it serious?”
“I would have to ask Zane.” Ty wanted to twitch himself out of his skin. They’d talked about it, sure, but Ty never thought they’d actually do it.
“We have come into possession of a child that we would like placed with someone we can… supervise.” Agent X continued. “You and Special Agent Garrett are the nearest possibilities we have.”
“Supervise? Why us?”
“It’s a favor to a fellow agent who died in the line of duty.”
“And there’s no family to take the baby in?”
“It’s mother and father are dead and their families can never know the infant exists.”
Ty felt himself falling into the story, despite the fear of the possibility of becoming a parent. “That’s sad.”
“Yes. So please discuss this with Special Agent Garrett and have him call me back as soon as you two have made a decision.”
“Wait, how old is the baby? And why can’t I call you back?”
“It is 8 weeks. And because Special Agent Garrett will have further questions.”
The phone beeped as the call ended.
“Fucker,” Ty mumbled at him. “Garrett!”
“What!” Zane’s voice drifted up from somewhere downstairs. Might have been the basement and no way was Ty going down there.
“Come back up here, I need to talk you!”
Ty could hear Zane grumbling as he thumped up the stairs.
“What did you need, dear?” Zane drawled.
“The Company wants us to adopt a kid,” he sounded as stunned as he felt, saying it out loud.
“They want us to what?” Zane’s face may have lost a little color, or it might have been Ty’s imagination.
“They have an 8-week old kid they want us to take in. And I’m freaking out a little here.”
Zane reached out to touch Ty’s arm, slowly lacing their fingers together. “We have talked about it before- “
Ty opened his mouth to cut-in, but Zane continued.
“I know this is different. And yeah, I’m going to have a freak-out in a minute. But what kind of information did they give you?”
Ty repeated what Agent X had told him and Zane stepped away to get his phone out the minute Ty stopped talking. “What?”
“I have questions.” He brought to the phone to his ear to continue. “Hey, yeah I have questions. What kind of paperwork are you going to give us for this kid? … Is The Company making any provisions- … This wasn’t our idea and we’re not prepared for this. … Yes, we’ve discussed it, but never seriously.”
Ty watched as Zane started pacing up and down their living room. He looked much more aggravated than Ty had guessed. Maybe the idea was starting to hit him? Ty interrupted Zane’s next circuit and ran his hand down his arm.
“I understand. We need to discuss this further and will get you an answer by the end of the day.” Zane stabbed at his phone to end the call and Ty could hear Agent X’s tinny voice as it ended.
“I can see that went well.”
“Yeah, basically The Company will give us legal paperwork for the adoption, connect us with social services, and then we’re on our own.”
“Okay,” Ty drew out not following why this was bad.
“It means that they expect us to do this. Period. Without their support and likely consideration. It means that we will still be information broker and they will still ask you to give training sessions. Think about that and bringing a child into that, Ty.”
That took Ty aback. “You mean they’d be bringing spy stuff into a home and business with an infant? A defenseless baby?”
“Yeah Ty, it does. If we do this, we’ll be completely responsible for their safety and wellbeing. And part of that will be dealing with the baby spies.”
Ty was almost afraid to ask, “What will they do if we don’t take it?”
Zane rubbed a hand over his face. “Not sure. Maybe find someone else? It’s not like a puppy they might have to put to sleep.”
Zane finally sank onto the couch and looked at Ty. He looked so tired and a little nervous.
“Can we do this, Ty?”
“I dunno, Zane. I want to. I never thought I would get the chance and we’ve never really talked about doing it.” Ty sat next to him, but didn’t look at him as he added, “I was afraid maybe we never would.”
Zane’s hand gripped his knee. “I know. Me too.”
Ty looked up into the dark eyes that he could get lost in and saw all the love and fear he was feeling. “Maybe we can try?”
Zane snorted a laugh. “You don’t try to have a kid. It’s forever.”
“Well if you were a girl we could try to have a kid.” Ty tried not to laugh and failed miserably when Zane’s brow rose. “I know, I know!”
“Let me call Agent X, while you call your mom and tell she’s becoming a grandparent again.”
Ty nearly fell off the couch, he’d forgotten about that part. “Ma’s gonna kill us for not warning her.”
“Well we didn’t know either.” Zane shrugged as he got up to make the call.
“Right, cause that’s gonna save my ass,” Ty grumbled as he searched for his phone. He shifted on his seat as the phone jabbed him in the butt. He huffed and called his mother. “Hey Ma.”
“What did you do?” Mara immediately asked, bypassing any greeting.
“Why did I do anything?” Ty flailed a little, indigent.
“You never call without having done something.”
Ty spluttered a little before conceding that that might just be true. “Well we did do something. Rather unexpectedly.”
“What? Don’t make me pull it from you.” Ty imagined her waving a spatula at the phone, wishing she could bop him on the head with it.
“We’ve agreed to adopt a baby.” It sounded more like a single word than a sentence, but he said it. Out loud. He was going to be a daddy. “Oh holy shit.”
“Congratulations to me. And Ty don’t freak out.”
“Ma,” he could only say, not admitting that he sounded like a little boy again.
“You and Zane agreed to this?”
“Uh huh.”
“You two think this one out?”
Ty nodded, before saying, “A bit, yeah. We’d kinda mentioned it before, like in passing. And just now we talked a little.”
“When’s this baby getting to you?”
“Uhhh… Hang on.” He lowered the phone. “Zane!”
Zane’s head popped around the corner. “What?”
“When are we getting the baby? And what’s its sex?”
“Next week, pending an interview with family services and boy.”
“Thanks.” He pulled the phone back up. “Next week. Oh and it’s a boy.”
“Oh good Lord in Heaven. At least he’s not actually related.”
“HEY!”
His mother started howling with laughter at him.
“I wasn’t that bad,” he mumbled.
“If you want I’m sure we can all get you two set up and ready for this baby by then, if you want the help.”
“I’m sure Zane’s gonna look stuff up, but I know I can call you if we need something.” He cleared his throat. “Thanks Ma.”
“You too, kiddo. Talk to later.”
“Bye.” He lowered the phone. That was it. He was officially going to be a daddy. Of a little baby boy. Wow. The fear finally fell away with the giant grin cracking his face. When Zane finally came back into the room and sat with him, Ty still couldn’t shake the idiotic grin, but it didn’t matter since Zane started returning it.
“We’re going to be daddies, Zane.”
“We’re going to be daddies.”