It was just another ordinary Tuesday at the Rory-Palmer household, when Ray walked into the room looking all giddy and nervous.
Mick stared at him from his spot on the couch, a beer in one hand. Ray had a huge grin on his face. He kept twitching awkwardly, the way he did when he wanted to say something important.
"What is it, Haircut?" Mick asked, wanting to skip over Ray's agonizing hesitation. Ray walked over and sat down, all fidgety and awkward. It was the kind of thing that use to annoy Mick, but now it was actually kind of adorable... not that he'd ever say that out loud.
"Okay...um..." Ray started. "You know how we've been married for three years now?"
"Uh huh," Mick said, taking a sip of his beer.
"And you know how all our friends have started families and have kids?"
"Uh huh." Mick had a sneaky suspicion he knew where this was going. He'd never actually envisioned himself as a father before. He was too rough. He had too much of a temper. Not to mention he'd burned his parents alive, so it wasn't like he had the best track record with family.
But Ray... he was the most caring person Mick had ever met. He'd give his life for complete strangers. As a kid he managed to befriend a hostile alien, even if that was just an anachronism. He'd invented a super suits so that other people didn't have to suffer and lose people like he had. Ray would be such a good father.
"Do you want to have a kid?" Ray asked. Mick stared at him, not really sure how to answer. He looked excited about the idea, and Mick always hated disappointing him.
"How are we going to do that?" Mick wondered. "Are you going to get pregnant?"
"What? No," Ray said. "That would be impossible....well...it might be possible in a couple billion years...but I was talking about adoption."
"Adoption," Mick repeated. He glanced around their tiny living room, trying to imagine a little baby running around....and then he realized just how dangerous that was. The outlets on the wall were free to stick tiny fingers in. There were wires that could potentially strangle a little person's neck, and gadgets to trip over, scattered all over the floor. Not to mention Mick's heat gun just laying out in the open.
"This place is a mine feild of danger," Mick said after several minutes. "We'll have to baby proof everything!"
"Is... that a yes?" Ray grinned.
"Yeah," Mick nodded. "Why not?"
Ray's grin broadened. In a rush of excitement, he wrapped his arms around his husband, bursting with excitement and happiness. If it were anyone else, Mick would have punched him in the jaw. Ray was the only one who had ever been allowed to make physical contact with him....well and Snart when he was punching him in the face.
It was three weeks later, when they had finally baby proofed the whole house. Baby gates, those annoying things that made the cabinets harder to open, moving Mick's beers to the top shelf of the fridge.... The whole works.
The paper work for the adoption had been filled out. They'd even met the biological mother. (She was a frantic woman with a fearful look in her eyes. The whole meeting she kept looking around, as if they were being watched.)
The whole thing went by really fast because the biological mother really seemed to want to get rid of the baby, almost as much as Mick and Ray wanted the baby and that was before they had even met him yet! Today was the day they would finally meet him for the first time.
"Hey, guys." Toni Lewis greeted as she walked into the Rory-Palmer house. "Ethan is in the car. I want to make this as smooth as possible, so I'm going to bring him in and then I'm going to leave."
"Are you sure you don't want to hang around a little longer?" Ray asked.
She shook her head, "No. It needs to be fast. Before he finds out I've been coming here."
"He who?" Mick asked, squinting suspiciously.
"The father. He's a really bad guy and I want Ethan out before he can hurt him. Okay. I'll be right back."
Toni walked out of the house and Ray grabbed Mick's arm. "This is it. We're about to meet our son."
"Everything is going to change." Mick reminded him.
"For the better. Our family is growing." Ray grinned, excitedly as Toni walked back in with Ethan in her arms. "Guys... Meet Ethan. Ethan, meet your new daddies."
"Oh, my God..." Ray looked down at the 13 month old baby in the woman's arms.
She handed him over to Mick and kissed him on his forehead. "You be a good boy, okay?"
It took about three seconds for Ethan to get distracted by the zipper on Mick's jacket. He wrapped his tiny fingers around it and tried to eat it.
"Don't do that, you're going to die." Mick told him but the baby didn't listen, he put the zipper end into his mouth. "Fine. Don't complain to me when you're dead."
"I...should go," Toni told them, back out of the doorway. Ethan looked up, momentarily letting go of Mick's zipper. He stared at his mother, his face contracting in confusion. The little one year old really didn't have a clue what was going on, all he knew was that his mommy was leaving him with two strange men.
The woman stared at her son, eyes watering. But she didn't say anything to him. She didn't hug him or even say goodbye. She just turned and ran out of the house. Seconds later, her car started and sped off down the road.
"Momma?" Ethan said, still very confused. He stared at the door for a solid two minutes, before going back to playing with Mick's jacket.
It wasn't until a month later that Ethan had finally forgotten all about his mother. He would often stare at the door, like he expected her to come pick him up at any time. But soon he must've realized that wasn't happening and accepted Ray and Mick as his new fathers.
Ray felt a little guilty, as if they were stealing the child away from his mother. Of course, it had been her choice to put him up for adoption. And she had seemed very happy that they agreed to take him in....but still.
On the other hand he was quite excited to be a father with Mick, even though it was exhausting. Ethan was already able to walk around on his own, so he liked trying to get into things he wasn't supposed to. Like the cabinets and drawers.
Usually, Mick was the one who kept him out of things, while Ray made sure their son ate like he was supposed to. Everything was all good and well in the Rory-Palmer house...for now...