The agency worker looked at her schedule. The next couple were due any moment. Not much stood out; he was an academic and she was a doctor. A blank in government records around for a few years after 2020, but the chaos of the war could easily explain that. The door opened, and they were shown in. “Ah, Mr Shirogane, Ms Strange, please take a seat.” As usual, the couple seemed nervous, but that was understandable.
“Thank you for showing interest in our program. With the global chaos after the lizard war, we've got a lot of children in our care, and need all the help we can get. There'll be plenty of forms, background checks and so on later, but for now we'd just like to get to know you. To start with, why don't you tell me why you want to adopt?” They looked at each other, and then he spoke. “We've wanted a family for a long time now. After all of the horror the world's been through,we to bring something good back into it. But Steph and I have a… condition. We can't have children, so we came to you.”
The woman - Stephanie? - started talking herself, but the agency worker wasn't listening. Something in what the man had said was ringing alarm bells in her mind, and she remembered the governmental instructions to be on the lookout for strange medical conditions, odd behavior and so on as hints of Naki infiltrators. She had a quick scan on their file on her computer, and sure enough there were the telltale signs of infiltrator nvestigations ongoing. She went for the phone to call security, but as she glanced past the couple she stopped. The mix of worry and hope on their faces, the way they nervously clasped each other’s hands… she had seen these things on thousands of hopeful parents. She reached down and instead pulled out a sheaf of forms.
“Ok, the next step is for us to get a better picture of you. If you could fill in these papers…”
* * *
They walked happily out of the adoption centre, carrying a binder full of information on potential adoptees. She looked at him, with a brief look of concern. “For a while there, I thought she might have guessed. I don’t want to have to move again…” He sighed. “We shouldn’t need to live in fear like this. We saved the world, for crying out loud! It’d be nice if someone was grateful.” They walked in silence for a time, then she grinned and nudged him. “C’mon, stop worrying. It’ll be fine. Now let’s get home and look through these files.”