Emmett finally got the phone call he had been waiting for five grueling weeks after Beena's visit while catering the birthday party of Pittsburgh's oldest citizen in a nursing home. He had run over to an empty stretch of hallway to answer his cell.

"I don't usually make these calls myself, but I insisted," Beena said to him. "Congratulations Mr. Honeycutt, you have been approved by the state of Pennsylvania to receive an adopted child into your home. You'll be getting a packet including your approval certificate in the mail in the next couple of days."

"Oh my God, thank you so much," he said, tears instantly pouring out of his eyes.

"I called my aunt and uncle in Karachi, and they offered to have you and your partner stay with them. There will be no issues with you two sharing a room, as long as you respect the fact that there are five children living in their home. The adoption process could take a couple of months before you're allowed to bring your new baby back to the states, and staying with them will be much easier on the both of you and your baby rather than staying in a hotel. They were thrilled that they could help. My uncle had a brother many years ago who was murdered for being gay. I will email you their information along with the phone number for the US Embassy in Islamabad. You will need to get an attorney locally before you can begin looking for a child. Keep in mind that they are nine hours ahead of us when you call."

"Beena, you are an angel," Emmett said. "Thank you for everything."

When Drew got home from the hospice that evening, Emmett had a feast waiting.

Looking around he asked, "What's all this for, Em?"

"Well my dear, I received a very exciting phone call from Beena Ahmad today."

Drew rushed over and gathered Emmett in his arms. "You mean...?"

"I've been approved to adopt," he happily answered.

After a few minutes of hugging, kissing, and crying, Emmett said, "Beena arranged for us to stay with her aunt and uncle in Pakistan, so that we can be together except for when we're out in public."

Emmett then told his lover about the rest of his conversation with "our angel," as he had decided to call the sweet woman who was helping to make their dreams to come true.

He got up very early the next morning to call the embassy. It took him a few days, but Emmett heard back from an adoption attorney in Karachi who was willing to meet with him the following week. Emmett also contacted Beena's Aunt Mala, who was just as sweet as her niece. Mala offered to contact her friend who ran an orphanage. No one at the orphanage spoke English, so Mala got back with Emmett and let him know that once they had received all of his paperwork, he could make an appointment to choose a baby in person at the orphanage.

After making their travel arrangements, Emmett spent the next couple of days making sure that his company would survive in his absence, since he would be in Pakistan for at least three months. He had two women that worked for him as planners he trusted to keep the company afloat. He called a meeting with his employees to finally let them know that he was going to be a father, and they were all very excited for him and promised that they would work their asses off while he was gone.

The couple also finally let their family and friends know that they would be bringing a baby home in a few months. Everyone was very happy for them and supportive, even Brian who offered to take them to the airport. Debbie hosted dinner at her house the night before they were to leave for Pakistan.

***************

Three days later, Brian had a limo at their front door to pick them up. He and Justin wanted them to ride in style, since they were about to fly for ninety minutes to Boston, then ten hours to Istanbul, then another five and a half hours to Karachi. Beena's Uncle Tariq and Aunt Mala would meet them at the Karachi airport and take them to their home, where they could rest and get used to the time difference for a couple of days before meeting with Emmett's lawyer.

Once they got to their departure gate, they were called to the front of the line. Worried that something was wrong with their tickets or luggage, they were both very relieved when they were told that they had been upgraded to first-class with priority boarding.

"Not that we're ungrateful, but why are we being upgraded?" Drew asked the lady at the counter.

She gave him a smile. "Mr. Kinney insisted that you get the best seats and any other accommodations that you gentleman will need during all of your flights."

Emmett couldn't help but start to cry, so touched by Brian's gesture.

"Of course, our first leg is on Liberty Air," Emmett blubbered as they walked along the ramp that took them to the plane. "Brian is their advertising god... surprised that his face isn't plastered on the side of their planes."

When they were seated, Emmett almost moaned out loud. The first-class seats were like sitting in a cloud. Liberty Air was touted as being one of the few regional airlines in the world that had first-class seating.

Drew had picked up the envelope addressed to him that was waiting for him on his seat, finding that it was a note from Brian.

Tell Honeycutt to stop blubbering. You two need to be comfortable and rested when you get there. Have a great trip and let us know if there is ANYTHING you need while you're gone. Peace, Brian and Justin, uncles-in-waiting.

Drew handed the note to Emmett, who made a face and then tried to dry the tears that were still falling.

After the short hop to Boston, they once again had priority boarding for their international flight. The food in first-class was wonderful and Emmett ate slowly, tasting carefully as he made notes, hoping to be able to add some of the dishes to his catering menu. They watched movies and tried to relax, both feeling nervous anticipation about what would be happening in the next month and beyond.

Once the couple landed in Istanbul, both men were very careful not to touch each other as they walked to the gate for the final leg of their trip. Emmett was especially careful to turn off his flame and act as butch as possible. Sitting in coach on this plane, they were even more grateful to Brian for the upgrade on the first flight. The local airline had a much smaller plane and was definitely not made for comfort. With both of them being over six feet tall, they didn't have much leg room.

They were met in Karachi by Beena's aunt and uncle. The couple greeted the men warmly as they met them near the security area. Getting through customs and collecting their luggage was a much quicker process than it would have been if the men had gone through without the two locals accompanying them.

On the way to the house, Emmett asked about the orphanage and if they knew how they were run. Mala told them that orphanages in Pakistan were very different from the ones in America, and they were often very sad places.

"The people who run the orphanages here do the best they can, but unfortunately they don't have the resources needed and have to make due with what they can get. When you take a child from here, you are likely saving that child's life."

When they got to the house, the men were amazed by the size of it compared to the other homes in the area. Going inside, Tariq directed the men into the living room so they could talk while Mala went to check on her children.

"First, welcome to our home. We want you to know that you will be totally safe showing affection to each other and being yourselves. Everyone here, including the servants, are very open-minded. Once you are outside these walls however, you must not show any loving affection for each other. I know that Beena told you about my brother. We were very close and I loved him very much. Unfortunately, he and his lover became careless one day and were seen by some of the hateful people that seem to have nothing better to do than turn people into the authorities for things that shouldn't be controlled by laws. My brother was beaten to death in prison. Just be careful and you will be fine. Mala and I are thrilled that you are staying with us and allowing us to help you. We will try to get things with the adoption done and settled as quickly as possible. In fact, the adoption attorney called this morning. You will be meeting him at his office tomorrow morning and then you can head on to the orphanage to pick out your baby."

"Wow," Emmett said in surprise. "Our meeting with him wasn't for another couple of days. How...?"

"Along with being the owner of some restaurants and a beach resort, I am also a member of Parliament," Tariq admitted. "I have lots of friends in the city."

"Thank you for your help and opening your home to us," Drew said.

Tariq shook their hands and led them to the room they would be staying in. The "room" was actually a suite, complete with a sitting room, a huge bedroom, and a bathroom that made Brian's bathroom in his loft look like a closet. Attached to the bedroom was a small nursery completely set up, including unisex clothes for a baby.

As usual, Emmett couldn't control the waterworks.

Coming up behind the men, Mala touched Emmett's back. "I hope you two will be comfortable here for as long as you need to stay."

"Thank you so much for everything, this is amazing," Emmett said, unable to stop himself from giving Mala a hug, which she warmly accepted.

"We are happy to be able to help," Tariq said. "You two unpack and rest. Dinner will be in about three hours and you are probably tired from your trip."

Later that evening when Emmett and Drew laid down to go to sleep, reality hit Emmett like a ton of bricks.

"This time tomorrow, we're going to have a baby," he said to his partner.

Drew wrapped his arms around his man. "I know... we'll be a family."

***************

Accompanied by his lawyer Nasim Khan, Mala, and Drew, Emmett walked into the orphanage the next day more nervous than he'd ever felt in his life.

"This must be how men feel when their wife is about to give birth," he whispered to his partner, who was walking right beside him but was keeping his hands to himself.

Drew gave him a smile, wishing that he could at least offer Emmett his hand to hold.

They all went back into an office before Mr. Khan and Mala spoke to the owner of the orphanage, an older lady named Parsa, in Urdu for a little while. Some paperwork was exchanged between Parsa and Mr. Khan before the lawyer explained the documents that Emmett needed to sign.

Once the legal business was concluded, the group was shown into the area where the orphaned children were kept. There was a large room with older toddlers and children, but they bypassed it since Emmett had expressed his wish to adopt a baby. They then went into the nursery, where there were at least a dozen cribs placed around the room.

There was a baby in almost every crib and a few of them were crying. A young worker was holding one of the babies, trying to comfort it.

Emmett and Drew walked through the room slowly, looking into each of the cribs. They didn't really have a gender preference but most of the babies were girls, or at least they were dressed in feminine-colored clothing.

Seeing all of those abandoned babies made Emmett very emotional and he couldn't help but grab Drew's arm as he started to cry.

They came upon a crib where the baby lying inside was asleep. She was wearing a plain white onesie and a pink knit cap, and she was very small.

"Oh my God," Emmett said when he saw her. "She looks so frail."

Parsa was chattering beside them and Mala translated for her. "That one was found outside the door yesterday morning. It appears as if the mother gave birth to her and immediately dumped her here. She weighs about 2.3 kilos, that's a little over five pounds. She was either born a few weeks early or her mother was unhealthy, probably very poor and didn't get prenatal care."

Emmett couldn't look away from the tiny baby girl. "Can I hold her?"

Mala put her hand on his arm. "You may want to choose another child, Emmett. Parsa doubts that this one will live very long... many babies like her die within days of birth. They didn't think she'd make it through the night and they can hardly get her to eat."

Emmett didn't wait for Parsa's permission to pick the baby up.

"She's burning up!" he yelled. "She needs to get to a hospital!"

"The orphanage can't afford that," Mala said. "They can only have a doctor come to treat sick children, but they can only do so much for them here. She needs care that they can't provide."

"Well then, I'm taking her!" Emmett said, holding the baby close to his chest. He could feel that her sweat had soaked through her clothes, she was so hot. Her body was also very limp.

"Are you sure?" Drew asked, although he knew that the man had made up his mind.

Emmett looked at his lawyer. "I want this one. I'm not leaving without her."

He walked out of the orphanage with the baby still in his arms about fifteen minutes later. Mala called Tariq and told him about the baby and that they were headed to the hospital. Mala's chauffeur took them to the university hospital about ten miles away.

Armed with paperwork showing that he was the baby's temporary guardian, Emmett demanded that "my daughter" get treated. He handed her over to a nurse who promised that they would take great care of the baby. Tariq had already called ahead to the head of pediatrics and informed him of the situation.

They had not decided on a name for their child yet, so Emmett simply wrote "Baby Honeycutt" on the admission paperwork. He listed her date of birth as being three days prior, since Parsa had guessed that the baby had been born no more than a day or two before she was dropped at the orphanage. He then paced as he waited to hear something for what felt like an eternity, already in love with the tiny girl and very scared. He could hardly believe how strongly he felt for the baby already. Drew wished that there was something he could do to comfort his partner, but knew that would have to wait until they got back to the Baqais' residence.

A nurse finally came out and asked Emmett to follow her. When he walked into the room where many other children were being treated, he saw that the baby was lying still with an IV in her tiny arm. It was then that Emmett realized that he hadn't heard the baby cry or see her with her eyes open yet.

An older man approached him and said, "Mr. Honeycutt, I am Dr. Patel. I have spoken with Tariq Baqai and know that you are staying with him. I have the child on an antibiotic IV, which will be finished soon. What I suggest is that you take the child to the house with you, because what she needs is care and attention, which unfortunately is not easy to do here at this hospital. We are very understaffed and overcrowded with patients. I will send a nurse with you so that medications can be given and the child can be closely monitored. There will be another nurse that comes later to relieve this one. You are very lucky to know Mr. and Mrs. Baqai. If the child makes it through the next three days, she should be fine. Although she is underweight, her lungs seem well developed. I wish you the best of luck and I will come to the house tomorrow to check on the child."

When the antibiotic finished an hour later, Mala's driver came in with a new carseat for the baby. Her fever had broken and she rested quietly on the way back to the house. Emmett watched her tiny chest rise and fall with each breath.

The nurse had followed in her own car, so Mala closed the partition in the limo and spoke quietly to Emmett and Drew. "Since there will be nurses in the house for a few days, I had the maid make up the room across the hall for Drew. Your safety is very important and it is very hard to know who you can trust. As soon as they are gone, you will be moved back into the other room."

The men held hands on the way back to the house, hating that they would have to be separated but knowing they were doing it for their daughter.

The next three days passed quickly. The morning of the fourth day, Dr. Patel came to check they baby, dismissing the nurse. Once she had left he spoke to Emmett and Drew.

"You two will be wonderful fathers to this child,"

Emmett gave the doctor a confused look. "How did you know that...?"

"Tariq and I have been friends since grammar school. I was also friends with his brother, good friends. Just love your child and continue to take care of her, and she will be fine."

Later that night, lying in bed after having made love, they continued the discussion they'd been having for the past few months - what they would name their baby.

"Okay, how about I choose the first name and you choose the middle name?" Emmett offered as he thumbed through the baby name book he'd brought along with him.

"I like all of the names you've suggested, so okay," Drew agreed.

Emmett smiled. "How about Lyla? It means ‘dark beauty.' I like that one the most and I think it fits her."

"Lyla Mae, after my mother," Drew said.

"I love it!" the flamboyant man trilled. "But what about the last name?"

Drew shrugged. "I figured she'd have to have ‘Honeycutt' on all of her legal documents here, which would carry over when we get home."

"Yeah, but after you adopt her later, she'll get a new birth certificate with both of our names on it. We can change her last name to ‘Boyd' then. Once the lawmakers finally get their heads out of their asses and let us get married, I'm going to take your last name."

"Really?" Drew asked, surprised.

"Of course, I'm an old-fashioned girl," Emmett said with a big smile.

Realizing that it was afternoon in Pittsburgh, Emmett called Justin to let him know what had been going on. Justin asked if they had everything they would need for the baby and was told that because they weren't sure what sex their baby would be that all they had gotten was a bassinet and would get everything else when they got home. Emmett told Justin her name and how small she was, still hardly believing that he was now a father. Justin listen happily, hearing the emotion in his friend's voice.

"I'm so happy for you guys," Justin said, trying not to be jealous as he told himself not to dream that he'd someday be in Emmett's shoes.

"If it wasn't for you and Daphne being sneaky bitches, I'd still be a lonely old queen, sitting at the house on my fat ass by myself eating pudding," Emmett pointed out. "Now I have my king and a little princess, thanks to my two lovely friends."

That evening, Justin and Brian got together with Ted and Blake and decided to surprise the new dads by finishing up the nursery for them. Brian and Ted went furniture shopping while Justin and Blake went "baby stuff" shopping. Justin then spent several days painting a beautiful garden-themed mural with lots of butterflies. The areas not covered by the mural were painted peony pink. All of the uncles had fun preparing for the baby's arrival and nothing was too good for their new niece.  

***************

Emmett and Drew spent the next three months in Pakistan getting all of Lyla's legal documents sorted out. Emmett had to have Lyla legally classified an orphan, get her a birth certificate, file for permanent legal custody, register her with the country's national database, and get her a passport and visa so she could legally go to America with him. In the meantime, Lyla was getting healthier each day and her two daddies couldn't have adored her more. Everyone at the Baqai residence loved the baby, too. By the time she was three months old, Lyla weighed eleven pounds and had a head of thick, curly dark brown hair.

Finally the day they had been waiting for came when the court granted Emmett custody of his daughter, allowing the new family to return home to Pittsburgh. It was a sad goodbye with their wonderful host family, but they could hardly wait to get back home with their new baby. It was not a moment too soon, since Drew was due to start his new sports announcer job in just a few days and had been worried that he'd have no choice but to return alone if the court had delayed their ruling.

After the first leg of the flight home on the local airlines the new family spent the rest of the trip in first class thanks again to Brian and Liberty Air. Luckily Lyla had slept for most of the last flight so she was well rested when they landed in Pittsburgh. As soon as the new family got through customs, which took quite a while given the special little package they were carrying in the baby seat, they found Brian and Justin standing near baggage claim holding a banner and balloons. The banner said Welcome Home Emmett, Drew, and Lyla!

Emmett hugged Brian and Justin, thanking them.

Justin looked at the tiny bundle in the baby carrier that Drew was toting. "She looks like a little doll! She is so beautiful, guys."

Lyla responded by blowing a spit bubble and smiling.

"This banner and balloon stuff was all Sunshine's idea," Brian snarked.

"Sure it was, Honey," Emmett replied, kissing the brunet's cheek.

As they were walking to the parking garage after getting their baggage, Drew commented, "Not that we don't appreciate you coming to pick us up, but were you planning to tie us to the top of the Corvette to get us home?"

Giggling, Justin answered, "We brought something a little larger."

Brian clicked the remote in his hand and the back hatch opened on a shiny silver Cadillac Escalade.

"Ohhh, pretty, it looks like foil," Emmett remarked.

"Wait until you see it in the sunlight, it looks like a prism." Justin said.

When they pulled up to Drew and Emmett's house, Ted opened the door to greet the new family. Blake and Daphne were waiting for them in the living room.

"This is so sweet of you to welcome us home, guys," Emmett told his friends as he gave Ted a big hug.

"We wanted to meet our new niece... oh, she is so precious," Ted replied as he looked at the newest edition to the family.

Emmett picked Lyla up and gave her to her Uncle Ted to hold her.

After cooing at the baby for a moment, Ted said, "Oh yeah, we bought a couple of things for the nursery, come look."

Emmett and Drew looked at each other and shrugged, wondering what their friends had done. They all made their way to the door of the nursery and stood back as Emmett opened the door. Both Drew and Emmett stood there with shocked looks on their faces.

"Oh my God, this is so amazing," Emmett cried as he looked into the beautifully decorated and furnished nursery. Pink walls, a beautiful mural done by Justin, white furniture, a rainbow-colored rocker, stuffed animals of all sizes, a high chair, a stroller, and a closet and dresser full of freshly washed baby clothes. Hanging over the crib was a handmade crocheted mobile, most likely made by Daphne.

Emmett sobbed as he hugged each of his friends.

"One more thing Honeycutt - you are not driving my niece around in that crazy pink van. Here," Brian said as he tossed the tall queen the keys for the Escalade, which he actually managed to catch. "The little princess deserves a nice car and so does her daddy."

Emmett and Drew both teared up, unable to believe how lucky they were to have these wonderful men in their lives.