Henry hadn't expected surrogacy to be as expensive as it was turning out to be. So far, as Marbell ran through the details with him, the price range for everything bundled into one was looking at around $80,000 to $100,000. Just the price alone frightened Henry a bit, but even as Marbell crunched those pricey numbers out, his brother-in-law made certain to reassure Henry that the cost wouldn't be a problem. As Marbell always did, he offered to handle anything they couldn't afford out right , and Henry was more than appreciative of that. If he went home only to tell Daniel they'd have to wait for a good long while before having a baby, his husband would be crushed to the core. And that's not something he wanted to see.
As for right now, Marbell continued to walk him through things he and Daniel would need to focus on as they contacted the mother of their interest. There were attorneys involved, contracts, legal parental orders, and that last bit had frightened Henry even more. He had no idea surrogates could opt for keeping the baby after birth, leaving the would-have-been parents without a baby and child support to pay. That alone was horrific news.
"I know," Marbell said after seeing the uncertainty in Henry's eyes, "The idea of that possibly happening is terrifying. I don't know if you remember, but that almost happened with Ozzy after he was born, but it was about six or seven months after the parental orders had been dealt with, so there was no way for London and I to not be considered his legal and rightful parents." Marbell breathed in deeply and let it out, "I don't think I had ever been so upset in my entire life when she threatened to take him. To think she wanted to steal our son from us was so infuriating."
Henry couldn't quite remember that time, but he did remember a lot of frustration around the house six years ago when Ozzy was still a baby.
"But, please," Marbell added, "Don't let that scare you away from finding a surrogate. You just have to contact the right woman, and it's always best to know that she's already had a few surrogate pregnancies. The one we found for Oz had only done it once, and the ones for Benjamin and the girls had already had a handful. Keeping a great relationship with the woman is always a great thing, too. I remember Benjamin's was super nice and very supportive of us."
Sitting back in the dining room chair he'd been seated in, Henry breathed out deeply and tried to fill himself with confidence as well. After he got off work, he headed straight to the Matthew's residence to get as much information as he could about surrogacy. He and London and Marbell had gone through a bunch of stuff together, even a website that provided contact information for Jewish women open to surrogating for any kind of couple. Since Daniel was adamant about keeping their Jewish backgrounds in the family, having a mother of the same was important to him.
When Henry nodded in full understanding of everything, he glimpsed the time on his cellphone before tucking it away again. His husband had texted him not that long ago to inform he'd be staying at the emergency center for a couple more hours, so when London asked if he'd want to stay for dinner, Henry was all for it.
As London prepared the meal in the kitchen, Henry went ahead from the dining table and into the living room. Layla and Naomi were sitting back on the sofa, sharing a laptop as they watched countless videos of ballet performances. When he sat down off to the side of them, Naomi looked toward her uncle, and said, "You're coming to our recital, right? We're going to perform it with everyone next Saturday and the Saturday after that!"
"Hmm," Henry kicked off his work boots and reached for the controller, "I think I might be free this coming Saturday, but I have to check first. I'm not sure yet. Are you two nervous?"
"Nope!" Layla answered before her sister, "We're, like, the best in our whole class, but we're not allowed to say that out loud, because it's rude to everyone else. I mean, our choreographers even made a mirror routine just so Naomi and I could lead the entire recital." She batted her fingers at Henry, "We're that good."
Naomi then poked her head around her sister, "Wanna see some of the routine?!"
Henry jumped at the abrupt question, but was cut off from answering when London raised his voice from the kitchen. "Not in the house," he said, "Break anything else in my living room and you're grounded until the show."
Layla and Naomi pursed their lips together, and Henry laughed as they recounted how they'd broken a couple picture frames and the entire stereo system after bumping into them. Long story short, they were banned from practicing in the house so they wouldn't break anything and hurt themselves.
After promising to go to one of the Saturday shows to watch the girls perform, Henry switched his eyes to the hall when Ozzy came into the living room. His ever-curly bleach blonde hair certainly was getting a bit longer, and since he didn't have it tied back, the full length of it was on the verge of reaching his shoulder blades. Frustration was in the six-year-old's eyes as he entered the living room, dressed in just light blue stretchy pants and a white sleeveless shirt that ruffled around the arm openings.
"Omi," the little boy addressed his older sister, "Can you paint my nails, please?" and he held out a small bottle of pink glittery nail polish. "I tried by myself, but I can't do it nice like you."
Naomi looked around the laptop at her brother when he showed her his nails, and they were indeed in need of a serious touch-up. He couldn't quite stay on the nail, nor was he any good with his right hand since he was left handed.
When she agreed, she went upstairs with Ozzy to clean off his nails before doing it herself. Meanwhile, Layla stayed down in the living room now showing Henry the ballet videos they'd been watching, and some of the ones London had filmed during their other shows. Someday, Henry figured his and Daniel's lives would be as such. One day, he and his husband would possibly attend things in which their child was involved in, and they'd film and take as many pictures as possible to preserve the memories, and that thought of capturing fleeting moments put a slim smile on Henry's face.
He wanted to be the kind of father who supported his child through anything. No matter what his son or daughter wanted to become when they grow up, whether they wanted to be a doctor, or a writer, or an astronaut, or whatever, so long as he and Daniel's child grew up knowing they were supported no matter what they put their mind to...that was all that mattered.
"You really love this, don't you?" Henry asked Layla, referring to her ballet.
She nodded as the video ended, "Yeah, Naomi and I want to dance for as long as we can. Papa said we could even be good enough to perform as professional dancers when we're adults. We just have to work hard and do our best, but we have to keep doing good in school, too. Ugh, I wish I was as smart as Ben, then I wouldn't have to worry about school forever. Papa says he's going to high school soon."
This surprised Henry, "Seriously? I knew Ben was smart, but he's going to high school already?"
Layla nodded. "Next school year, I think. He said he's tired of elementary school."
Impressed by his little nephew's smarts, Henry pondered to himself about what it would be like putting his son or daughter through school. If anything, he absolutely hated school. In his opinion...kids were assholes, at least some kid's parents raised them to be assholes, and just the thought of his very own child perhaps suffering through things like being neglected by their peers or bullied, or even just having to resort to fighting if they had to, that frightened Henry as well.
"Crap," Henry stood from the sofa and stormed into the kitchen. London had just started cooking some chicken on the stove. "I'm nervous again," he blurted out.
London looked over his shoulder to his brother, and then focused back on what he was doing. "What is it this time?"
"What am I supposed to do if my kid is picked on all the time?" Henry asked, seriousness in his tone. "I mean, you and Marbell know what it's like to get those looks just 'cuz you're two dads. Haven't they all been made fun of for that? How do I let them know it's normal and nothing to be ashamed of for having two dads? When we were little, we fought our battles with our fists all the time."
"Well, first off," London smiled to himself, moving for the refrigerator, "My kids may not seem like it towards Marbell and I, but they've all got serious attitudes. Ben is soft spoken, but he sure can use his words to make anyone feel like a complete moron. Layla and Naomi have an intimidation all their own, and don't even get me started on Oz. He's definitely got the 'my dad can beat up your dad' act going smoothly for himself, and I'll admit I've helped him in that department when I pick him up from school."
"That doesn't help me," Henry huffed aloud, "What am I supposed to do? I don't want my kid to have to resort to fighting like I would have at any moment."
Before London could answer the question given to him, he and Henry heard as the front door to the residence opened. When Henry glanced down the short walkway, he saw his half-brother and Joyce enter and the door close behind them. "Hi, Uncle Dorian," Layla said, "Hi, Joy."
The two said hello in return and went to the kitchen. "You guys don't look like you had much fun," Henry noticed. "What's up?"
At the concerning mood following both Joyce and Dorian, London lowered the heat of the stove and turned around. His sister took a seat on a stool behind the counter, and Dorian pulled an envelope from his pocket and handed it off to Henry.
A bit worried for what it could be, Henry opened the envelope as Marbell made his way downstairs behind him. When he caught a glimpse of the name written at the bottom of the second page, he looked up at Dorian. "Where did you get this?"
"Apparently," the half-brother started, "My real mother went to see Travis when he was in prison, and he wrote that letter for her to then give to me, but...she didn't want the orphanage to give it to me until I was older. I went back there to get something personal, and Father Charles handed it to me. Read it if you want."
Taking a seat beside Joyce, Henry flipped back to the first page and read the entirety of the words Travis left behind for Dorian. He had to bite his lip for a moment to keep himself from feeling too much, but in the end, his father's words touched his heart in some way. When he was finished, he handed the letter off to London. When the eldest brother was finished looking over the letter written by their father, London met Marbell's gaze for a second since the man had been standing beside him. "The Old Man sure knows how to pull at the heartstrings, doesn't he? So, what are you going to do with this information now?"
Dorian crossed his arms and looked down at the floor, "I don't know," he shrugged, "I would assume, since her name is there, my real mother knows that I'd become aware of who she is after reading that, so...maybe she wouldn't be too bent up over it if I did look for her. As for Darrah, what do you guys think about that?"
"Eh," Henry shrugged, "She's not too bad, especially at her age now. It wouldn't hurt to meet her."
"I'll do that sometime, then," Dorian said.
After having dinner at the Matthews residence, Henry said goodbye to his family and headed home. Since Dorian was going to stay a bit longer when Joyce asked him too, he expected to arrive home to an empty house, but was surprised to see the Rover Daniel usually took to work was parked in the driveway. Pulling up alongside it, Henry killed the engine and went inside.
Everything was off. There was no air conditioning, no television or lights, and all the curtains over the windows were pulled shut. A little worried, Henry closed the front door behind him and made his way inside. Since he was sure his husband was in their back bedroom, he moved down the hall and pushed opened the half-closed door. Inside the darkened room, Daniel was lying there in just a pair of his boxers and a pillow was hugged against his chest. His dark blue work scrubs were thrown on the floor, and he didn't even seem to hear that his husband had arrived home.
"Babe?" Henry called in a tender voice, "You asleep?"
A sniffle was heard then and the brunette turned over. His cheeks were glistening with fresh tears, and his eyes were puffy from the amount of time he must have been crying here all alone. When he met Henry's look of concern, Daniel sat up slowly and opened his arms, a gesture calling out the message of wanting nothing more than to be held.
Without delay, Henry tossed his keys on the table beside the bed and went for the young man he loved. "It's alright," he said, even though he didn't know the situation yet, and he gently embraced Daniel, moving his fingers softly through the brunette's hair. "I'm home now."
As if finally having what he needed enable to completely let out all the pent-up emotion he'd been drowning in, Daniel released the realest, most heart-wrenching cry Henry had ever heard. He clung to the back of his husband's shirt, buried his erratic breaths in his collar, struggled so hard to swallow down what air he needed, and it was only after he seemed to run out of tears – ten minutes later – that Daniel's ability to control himself worked its way back into him.
Henry rubbed the brunette's back tenderly, never letting go of him once until glossy golden eyes looked up at him. With his thumbs, he cleared Daniel's cheeks, wiped the streams away and kissed the tip of his nose. "Can you tell me what's wrong?" he asked. "Did something happen today?"
Daniel nodded and pushed himself further into Henry's comforting hold. As the ER nurse he was, that meant he worked in a hectic environment most times. He was used to fast paced emergencies, the sight of blood, unpredictable situations, and dealing with all kinds of patients in all kinds of conditions. In no way was Daniel squeamish or easily put off by things, but what he'd witnessed today had certainly caused something to snap in him.
When he was collecting some paperwork from the front desk after coming off his lunch break, he and the woman working at the computers watched as a red van drove up to the automatic doors, and a man rushed out with a young girl in his arms that looked no older than three. The man had approached Daniel in a frantic state, screaming about how he had nothing to do with what had happened, that he had found the child in such a condition, and then he'd dumped the little girl into Daniel's arms. She'd been bleeding profusely from what seemed to be stab wounds, blood gushing from her neck and mouth and there'd been bruises all over her.
Daniel explained that, while it felt as though all the noise around him stopped, and he screamed for a doctor and rushed to an open emergency room, he could perfectly hear the little girl crying for her mommy. Before anything could be done for her, however, the little girl bled to death there in Daniel's arms, and it was like he could feel her...go. No matter how many times they tried to resuscitate her, nothing at all worked, and in the end, he had to stand there covered in the blood of a little girl who's only wish was to be with her mommy.
"I couldn't – I couldn't focus after that," Daniel said, closing his eyes as he was held, "So they sent me home early. I just kept thinking, who could do that to a child, a three-year-old child, and then I kept thinking about how her mother was going to feel when she found out about her little girl." Daniel's voice cracked and he sucked in a chest of air. "And then I thought, I don't ever want us to have to feel that way one day, y'know?"
Steadily running his gentle fingers through the back of Daniel's hair, Henry pressed another warm kiss to the side of his temple. "We won't. You know why?" he said, "Because we are never going to let anything happen to our child, and no one is ever going to lay their hands on them. We will protect our son, our daughter to the best we can, and I'll be damned if anyone tries to hurt them, to hurt our family. Okay?" he kissed Daniel once more, "We're gonna be there for our baby."
Comforting Daniel for as long as he needed it, after several minutes of just lying there together and talking over the steps they'd need to go through before contacting surrogates, and what Marbell had told him a while ago, Henry worked himself up from the bed to change out of the work clothes he'd still been wearing. When he was down to his black boxer briefs, he stood with his back to the bed and raked his dark tresses up into a messy bun.
"Hen," Daniel's voice was so light it could float through the thickest of air.
Henry glanced over his shoulder at the golden gaze looking up at him. Turning back to the bed, he cupped the brunette's face with his kind touch. Henry smiled warmly and leaned down a bit, brushing their lips together before sealing many quick kisses. "I love when you call me Hen."
"I'm the only one you'll let call you that," Daniel kissed him once more.
"Did you want something?"
"Mhmm."
"What?"
"Can I...name the baby when they come?"
Loving every bit of his husband's enthusiasm towards soon becoming parents, Henry pushed Daniel's fringe back and watched it frame his face again. "Of course, what did you have in mind?"
"If we have a girl," Daniel stood out of bed, touching his fingertips lightly at Henry's waistline, "I was thinking maybe Izabela or Aurelia, and if we have a boy instead, I've always liked the name Dimitri. Dimitri Emil Vladu-Dawncraft. It's a mouthful, I think, but I like it."
"All those names sound so Romanian," Henry laughed.
"They are!"
With an approving nod to the suggestions given, Henry would love whatever name his husband wanted to give. Either way, their child was going to be beautiful.
_
Later on in the evening, Dorian showed up home after he'd stayed at London's house for a while longer. When he entered the house, Henry and Daniel were cuddled on the couch together in the living room, and they were playing a co-op fantasy videogame together. Not wanting to disturb them since they seemed so immersed in the gameplay, Dorian continued to the bedroom that was given to him. Before closing himself inside, he stopped and turned back out. While he was at London's house, he'd spent a lot more time getting to know his nieces and nephews, talking with Joyce and had a sit down with London and Marbell.
If there was any conclusion he'd come up with when it came to this family, Dorian had come to solid terms with how much he already loved everyone so much. He was so glad, even with the detached childhood he'd lived through, he'd been able to find these people after so many years. He loved his brothers, his sister, and their spouses and children, because...they gave him something he was sure he'd never have when he was growing up.
They gave him hope and unconditional love no matter how much of a stranger they kind of still were.
Heading back to the living room quickly, Dorian blocked the television and leaned down to hug his brother before also giving Daniel a quick hug. "Do you guys mind if I use your laptop?" he asked, now going to his room, "I want to spend the rest of the night trying to find my mom and the love of my life." He paused in the opening of the hall. "...Did I say that out loud?"
"Yup," Henry had paused the game, "Laptops on our dresser. Good luck."
Embarrassed, Dorian retrieved the device and closed the door to his room behind him. After taking off his shoes, he booted up the laptop and sat down in bed. Becca Gurvich and Tamina Summers, one was his biological mother, and the other was a girl he had only ever dreamed of meeting or even speaking to ever again. Without his family, she'd been his hope when he was younger. Now, he just hoped to find her again.