As if Kaami had said a spell to calm him down, Tau stopped screaming.

“When I was your age, my parents had a dog. It was like this big”, and Kaami’s thumb and index finger almost touched.

“Never! There are no dogs this small.” “True. Maybe it was a little bigger.” “Which breed?”

I could not believe it!

How the hell did Kaami do that?

“Aussie.” 

Tau laughed – really laughed. “They are like really big dogs, you know.”

I shrugged in disbelief, looked at Cheryl who was just as confused as I was.

“Can we talk for a second”, Kaami asked. His voice was deep and calm how I liked it.

“We are talking right now.” “I mean: Just the two of us.” “Alone?” Kaami nodded and lowered his arm to the ground.

“We will be right in the corridor”, Cheryl agreed and nodded backwards.

“But-“ “Just a few words. I won’t touch you. I won’t do anything, I promise. Just talk one or two minutes, okay?” “No touch?” “Yep.”

Tau stood there, undetermined, and looked at Kaami.

“Nik, Cheryl, could you please leave us alone for two minutes?”

“Sure.”

“Sure, honey. Whatever you want. I’ll be right back. Love you.” “I love you, too.”

Cheryl and I went to the entrance. Silence fell upon us as we waited. I couldn’t hear a single word, only whispering and mumbling. Tau didn’t scream at all.

“What is he doing there? How can Tau be this calm?” Cheryl asked impatiently. She looked at the watch around her wrist. I shrugged. “I wish I knew.” “For real. What is your partner doing?” “I don’t know. I guess it’s a secret now.”

“You can come now!”

After some time Kaami called us back. He and Tau were sitting in front of each other and looking at us.

“What happened”, Cheryl burst out while hurrying to the kid.

“I will try”, Tau completely ignored her and looked up at me. He didn’t look very happy but he didn’t panic either. He looked like a robot without any emotions.

“Try what? The fostering thing?” I hunkered down. Tau nodded yes. “Even though we are gay”, I asked. “Yeah.” “Even though my lover is a tiger?” “God dammit. Stop it already! I said, I’ll try. Didn’t agree to any time period. I can quit anytime, right?” He turned to Kaami who nodded immediately.

“Fine. Now I want to leave this prison!”

He stood up and headed out of the room without another word.

“What – Tau, what are you doing?” “Getting my things! Give me five!”

We all looked at him leaving. What just happened?

I couldn't believe, Kaami had the kid to go with us.

"What did you do?"

Cheryl turned to face Kaami, who still looked at the empty entrance. He seemed completely calm. No heavy breathing. No nervous ear-twitching.

"Sir? Mr. Saab?" "I-", he shrugged. "I just needed some time to calm down a bit." "You needed time? What about Tau? What did you do to him?" "I didn't even touch him! We sat there and talked." "Talked?"

As unbelievable as it sounded - Kaami had somehow calmed Tau down. Did he trust us now? That couldn't be - could it?

"Okay", Cheryl sighed for the thousandth time and made a few steps to the door.

"Let's really get this over with. I need my lunch break!"

"That's it for now. You can leave."

Cheryl looked up from all the papers. We sat in her office, which was small and crowded. Kaami and I sat next to each other, well I almost sat on his lap, while Tau was standing next to Cheryl. He had put his hands in his jeans' pockets, trying to look as uninvolved as possible.

The only thing that proved this wrong was him nervously biting his lower lip.

As soon as Cheryl had signed the contract, Kaami stood up.

"Then we'll leave now", he said and looked at me, then at Tau. 

He smiled.