"Kaami?"

When I came out of the room, Kaami was a few steps away. He leaned on the wall and stared at the stairs at the very end of the corridor. As soon as he heard his name, he turned in my direction. Even from where I was standing I could see him holding his breath. His whole body seemed stressed and tense. Slowly I crossed the hallway to finally stand beside him. Without saying a word I leaned on the wall.

"That's some bullshit", I said and looked at him. He just shrugged but didn't answer. He didn't even look at me.

"So?"

"So what?"

He put his hands in his pockets but finally looked at me. I couldn't completely read his face. It seemed as if too many emotions crossed his mind at the same time.

Now it was my turn to shrug. "What do you wanna do? Leave? Let the brat be?" "Nik!" "Sorry." "I- I don't know. I wish the circumstances were different. I wish he wasn't put in this naked room. He was like an animal in the zoo. He was completely exposed to us, you know? He's not a brat. He just reacted how everyone would react in such a situation."

I nodded.

"So, we tell Cheryl we just leave?" "It's not that easy, hun. I want to foster a kid. I really want to. But we don't have enough time to get to know him and Tau doesn't have it either." He huffed, pulled his hands out of the pockets and started to pace up and down the corridor.

His button-down looked greyish in this diffuse light, not white. The slacks shimmered in dark, olive green.

"Maybe we can get another child", I suggested. In the middle of his movement Kaami stopped.

"We won't get another chance, Nik! This system-", he made a wide gesture with his arms that included everything around us. "This whole shit is completely against us! Either we take what we get or we give up."

Silence.

I could just stare at him while he stared back. Finally his shoulders relaxed and he walked towards me. With his arms open and took me in for a hug. "What do you want", his voice asked. I shrugged, tried to focus on his scent and his breathing. "I want you." "Nik, you're not helping" "And I want you to be happy. You really want to foster him, don't you." "Hm."

I pulled him away to look him in the eyes. For another moment we stared at each other's eyes. He nodded. "I want to try at least." "Then it's decided. Come on. Let's not make the poor kid wait any longer." "Okay."