This fic was inspired by lifesizehysteria's Journey to You, Chapter 2, specifically the Fosters' first meeting at Anchor Beach, and Brandon's assessment. I liked her shy Brandon characterization, and felt the need to write roughly the same idea for when Jesús and Mariana came to Stef and Lena. So this is that!
"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Stef cheered, picking up her keys and poking her head into the den where her three kids sat on the floor playing together. "Jesús, Mariana, it's time for your school meeting!" She smiled widely. "And Brandon, you're coming too!"
"Mo-om, do I have to?" Brandon whined.
"Yes," Stef said with an air of finality, raising her eyebrows at him. She and Lena had spoken to him about what it meant to have two foster siblings, and among the things they'd told him was that he had to be very careful not to make his new siblings feel like they were a problem or a bother, because they'd had a lot of people make them feel that way before, and it wasn't very nice. Brandon received her magic mother eyebrow message, and piped down, putting his Velco sandals on quietly.
"Do you need help with your shoes, Mariana?" Stef asked, kneeling down in front of her daughter. The twins had only been with them for a few weeks, and already she found herself forgetting that they weren't officially adopted.
"Yes please," the little girl said softly, extending her feet to Stef. Her new white sandals were still immaculate, quite the feat for a five year old. They were also on the wrong feet, a mistake which Stef chuckled at before gently correcting.
"Jesús, you're only wearing one shoe," Stef noted, puzzled. "Where's the other one?" Her active new son shrugged.
"I think I lost it," he stated matter-of-factly, and Mariana gasped.
"Jesús!" she admonished quietly. "Esos son nuevos! Se enfedarán!"
"Mariana, you have to speak English!" Jesús whisper-shouted back angrily. Both children hunched their shoulders as though preparing to be hit, and looked down guilty.
"Hey, hey, guys," Stef said softly. "It's okay to lose things sometimes; I know it was an accident. No one will get angry." She stroked Mariana's shoulder comfortingly. "And it's okay to speak Spanish, too, but sometimes it makes others feel left out, so it'd be nice to stick to English when we're all together, okay?" She smiled at Jesús, grasping his shoulder with her free hand. Brandon, feeling left out, wriggled into the center of the triangle.
"Yeah," he added knowledgably. "Sometimes I lose stuff and then I can't find it for days and then Mommy gets mad and sometimes she yells but Mama usually can find it even if it's really really lost like one time I lost Joe and he was gone for days but then Mama found him behind the couch, and-" Brandon paused in the middle of his run-on sentence to take a breath, and Stef took the opportunity to cut him off.
"Okay, Brandon, save your story for later. Right now we need to get this show on the road. Jesús, where did you last see your sandal?"
"He took it off right here," Mariana whispered, pointing underneath the coat rack.
"And there it is!" Stef dug the missing footwear out and handed it to Jesús. "Good eyes, Mariana! Thank your sister, please, Jesús."
"Thank you."
"Now then, are we all set? Off we go! We're meeting Mama at the school." Stef ushered the three kids out the front door, locked it securely, and helped them each buckle into their car seats.
Stef pulled into the Anchor Beach parking lot exactly two minutes late for her appointment with the school's vice principal. She hated to be tardy but knew the school administration would understand, and she didn't rush the kids getting into the school. Mariana stayed close by her side, holding her hand, throughout the entire walk to the main office. Jesús and Brandon, on the other hand, both ducked in and out of the playground equipment, high-fived trees, and generally jumped around. When they got to the main door, she paused, taking Brandon's hand in her free one. Mariana grabbed Jesús without being told, and the family entered the school in a line.
"Hi, Stef," Lena's secretary greeted. "You can head right into her office." She jerked her head to indicate the door. "She's expecting you." Stef released Brandon's hand to turn the doorknob, and the four entered Lena's small, bright office.
"Hi, babies," Lena said, squatting down and holding out her arms to her children. Brandon bounded into them eagerly for the first hug and kiss. Jesús, after prying his hand away from Mariana, shyly accepted the second. Mariana wrapped her arms around herself and let Lena hug her, resting her small head on Lena's chest. Mariana was reluctant to initiate any sort of physical contact, but seemed to relish being cuddled and touched and held, even when she didn't reciprocate. "Are we all ready for our evaluations?" Lena asked the twins brightly.
"I am!" Brandon shouted, and Stef put a hand to her ear, as though she'd been deafened.
"Brandon, you got evaluated when you started school, silly," Lena told him. "You can come say hi to Ms. Peters, but then Mariana and Jesús each get to talk to her alone."
"Alone?" Mariana whispered fearfully. She did most of her talking in a whisper, when she talked at all. She'd started to speak up a bit more with each passing day, and Stef and Lena never forced the issue.
"It'll be okay, baby," Lena reassured her. "We'll be right outside the door if you need us, we promise."
"Let's go," Stef said, taking Mariana's hand again. "Jesús, hand please," she added, and he took the one she offered. Brandon grabbed one of Lena's hands, and the family made their way down the hall to the office of the elderly Anita Peters, the Anchor Beach head guidance counselor.
A light knock on her open door prompted Ms. Peters' cheerful call of "Come in!" The family entered, Brandon pulling his hand away from Lena and rushing to give Ms. Peters a hug. His love for the woman had not diminished appreciably in the last two years, and he found as many excuses as possible to say hello to her at school.
"Hi, Brandon," she said warmly, hugging him back. "I don't think you're the one playing with me today, goofball." She gently pushed him off her lap and got up, crossing the room to where Stef and Lena stood with the twins. "Hi," she said gently, squatting to their level. "I'm Ms. Peters. Who are you lovely friends?"
After a bit of a pause, Jesús gave her his party line, the one that hooked Stef in the police station that sunny afternoon. "I'm Jesús and this is my sister, Mariana."
"It's very nice to meet you, Jesús and Mariana," Ms. Peters said, smiling at each of them in turn. "I'm gonna talk to you one at a time and we'll play some fun games, okay? Who wants to go first?" Mariana pressed her back into Stef's legs, and reached up to take Lena's hand with her free one. She clearly was immune to Ms. Peters' magic making-children-feel-safe powers. Jesús did not seem to be, though. He smiled eagerly at her before looking at his moms.
"Do you want to go first, Jesús?" Lena asked, and he nodded. "Great. Mom and Mariana and Brandon and I will all be sitting in the hall if you need us, okay?" He nodded again, and the girls left the office. Brandon dragged his feet, but eventually came and joined them in the hall, where he clambered up onto the bench next to Lena and sat silently, playing with the Velcro on his sandals. Mariana looked fearfully up at her moms, and didn't protest when Stef lifted her up into her lap.
"Let's read a book while we wait, huh?" Stef said, stroking her daughter's hair. Mariana nodded, her little body already relaxing just from being held.
Too soon, Jesús' evaluation was over, and he came bounding out of the office with Ms. Peters close on his heels.
"You've got a bright one here, ladies," she praised, and Stef and Lena smiled.
"We know it," Lena responded, offering Jesús a high-five. Stef was trying to coax Mariana off her lap, who had buried her face into Stef's shoulder when Ms. Peters arrived again.
"C'mon, baby," Stef urged, leaning back to see her daughter's face. "You're just going to go play some games with Ms. Peters. I promise Mama and I will sit right out here, and you can come see us whenever you need to." She peeled the girl away from herself and lowered her to the floor. Ms. Peters squatted down again, talking right to Mariana.
"Mariana, I never, ever force anyone to come into my office, or do anything they don't want to do. I'd love to talk to you for awhile, and play with some toys with you, but if you don't want to, that's okay. I'm going to go into my office, and if you want to join me in a minute, that'd be wonderful. Okay?"
Mariana nodded, and the older woman walked away, her long skirt swishing.
"Mama?" Mariana said softly, and Lena leaned forward to hear.
"What, baby?"
"Can you come with me?"
"I can walk you to the door, but you have to go in alone," Lena offered. Mariana nodded bravely. Lena stood up and took her hand, walking her slowly to the doorway of Ms. Peters' office. Anita sat at her desk, pretending to be absorbed in other work. Lena knelt down and hugged Mariana, and then kissed her cheek. "Ready?" Mariana took a deep breath, and walked through the door by herself.
"Hello, Mariana," Ms. Peters said as the little girl approached her big, imposing desk. "I thought we'd start off with some colouring; how does that sound?" At the child's affirmative nod, she stood up and gestured toward a small table with art supplies on it. "Let's sit here and draw some pictures."
After a half an hour, Mariana and Ms. Peters emerged, hand in hand. Stef and Lena both smiled when they saw their normally painfully reserved daughter actually touching a relative stranger. Both mothers stood up, along with their sons, to greet the prodigal daughter.
"Everything go well?" Stef asked Ms. Peters, who winked.
"You should be asking Mariana," Ms. Peters said wisely, and Stef repeated the question, this time aiming it downward. Mariana nodded, reaching both arms up to Stef, who lifted her easily.
"Say thank you, Ms. Peters," Lena said, and her three kids all parroted her.
"Thank you both for talking to me, Jesús and Mariana," Ms. Peters answered. "And it was good to see you Brandon." She smiled at the children. "Lena, I'll be in touch." Lena nodded and shook her hand. Stef smiled apologetically, her arms full of Mariana.
"Bye, bye!" Ms. Peters called, waving, as the Fosters walked down the hall.
Mariana waved over Stef's shoulder. "Adiós," she called, her voice loud enough to be audible from far away. Her moms exchanged a grin. It seemed their Mariana was opening up after all.