Missing Scene 1: The Aftermath from the Peace & Love Cookies

Stef rolled over on the bed and stared up at the window that could possibly break and crash down on her daughter when she slept. She imagined getting a phone call from either Mariana or from the police that Callie had been maimed by fallen glass from the window. And what about the out of date fire extinguishers in this fire trap. The emergency lights were also an issue. And the girls shower with…

"Mom?" Callie whispered, climbing into the bed with her mother. She lied beside the woman, resting her head against her shoulder. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been drugged by your 45 year old roommate's child bride," Stef dryly replied as she ran her fingers through her daughter's hair. When Callie looked up at her, she chuckled. "Oh honey, Mama and I are really going to have to discuss this living situation." She paused once she realized that they were alone in the room. "Where is she anyway? And Mariana?"

"Mama's in the shower, and Mariana ran out to pick up a bottle of wine since the one I bought was not expensive enough," Callie answered with a roll of her eyes. She missed her mothers. Being an adult was overrated. Having responsibilities and being accountable was not something that she wanted; she wished she could go back to the days where things weren't as complicated. Or at the very least, where they didn't have to be so complicated, but she had managed to make them so. "Mom?"

"Hmm?" Stef quietly replied, placing a kiss onto her daughter's forehead.

"I know that things started really weird today—"

"You don't say, my love," Stef sarcastically replied.

"Mom," Callie whined with a pout. She had never been a physical person who initiated hugs or snuggles, but her mothers had changed her. They made her feel safe and secure. And she wanted only to make them proud of her. She hated that the day had started so differently than she had anticipated. "I just... I don't want you to have a bad impression of this place. I know that it was a little crazy with the pot and the shower, but it's really—"

"Cal, I'm just worried about you and your sister," Stef began. "This is the first time that you girls have really been on your own. I mean, I'm not counting your life before you were ours," she clarified. "I just want to make sure that you girls are okay."

"We are," Callie nodded, moving to sit up on her bed that her mothers would be sharing for the weekend. She crossed her legs into herself and rested each elbow onto her knees while resting her head against her fists. When her mother rolled over to look at her she continued. "I mean, at first I thought Mariana was insane for making us stay here, but then I got to know everyone and they're really nice. And they care about each other. Mom, it's like a family here. Like our family, you know?"

"I hear you, babe," Stef began. She and Callie had had a strong bond from the moment they had met seven short years earlier. They were so much alike in their strong convictions of right and wrong, their stubbornness, and their fierce protectiveness over their family. Her girl had grown into a fine woman of whom she was so incredibly proud. "But what makes me uncomfortable is that the first thing I saw when I got here, apart from the death traps that appear to exist," she pointed up toward the window. "And we're going to rearrange this room because I cannot have you sleep like this—"

"I promise, it's not bad or dangerous," Callie assured her.

"Please indulge your anxiety riddled mother," Stef sighed. "I just don't feel comfortable that there is a man living here, who is undoubtedly in his late thirties or early forties, who is sleeping with a woman... a girl... barely legal to drink! What does that mean for your and your sister, Cal? Especially since you're showering in the same room with him with nothing but a curtain separating you! I'm not comfortable with that, honey."

The door to the loft opened to reveal Lena wrapped in her towel. While the bathroom had remained empty throughout her shower, she could not help but feel self conscious that one of these roommates might walk in. The entire experience left her uncomfortable. And if she felt that way, she could only imagine what her wife might say once she decided to shower.

"I haven't experienced anything like that since college!" Lena remarked, attempting to sound calm and unbothered. Given how wound up her wife already was, she could not give into her own upset over how embarrassed she was from the day's ordeal.

"Funny you should mention college, Callie and I were just discussing how one of her roommates looks as though he graduated two decades ago!" Stef replied as she sat up and leaned against the headboard. "How was your shower, sweetheart?"

"It was... interesting," Lena shrugged as she searched through her bag for underwear and a change of clothes. "It was definitely not what I expected when you girls had offered for Mom and me to stay with you." She commented, grabbing the moisturizer Callie had put in her shower caddy. "Stef, if you don't want to run the risk of someone else in the shower while you're in there, you should go now."

"Honestly, I think I'll take my chances showering in the middle of the night," Stef responded. "I'd like to keep sighting of my lady bits—"

"Oh God, what am I walking in on?!" Mariana groaned, hearing the last part of her mom's statement while getting flashed by her other mother in the midst of getting dressed. "Mama!"

Lena rolled her eyes at her youngest daughter. "You shower with your roommates, and you pee in a chamberpot, Miss Thang, but you're making a face at me for dressing in the privacy of my daughters' loft? Would you prefer me to be further on display in the middle of your... your Coterie?"

"Mama, it's fine," Callie assured her while glaring at her younger sister. Slipping off the bed, she approached the girl. Having been in juvenile hall where privacy was a luxury that did not exist, Callie had barely taken notice of her mother's state of undress. "Um... why don't we give Moms some privacy?"

"Cal, love, I think we're all beyond privacy and all that," Stef stiffly replied. Now that both girls were in one spot, and Lena and she were finally sober, she had a few things to unload off her chest. Scooting forward to the edge of the bed, she pointed to the couch. "I would like for you both to have a seat." When her daughters did as she requested, and once Lena was dressed and seated beside her, she continued. "I want you both to know that Mama and I are so incredibly proud of you for all that you have done and accomplished. We want nothing but the best for you. But this..." she waved her hand around. "This isn't it."

"You haven't even given it a chance," Mariana replied softly, crossing her arms against her chest. "It's really not a bad place!"

"We were drugged within five minutes of arriving here, Mariana," Lena responded.

"And we watched a child exit the shower with a man old enough to be her weird uncle," Stef added.

"What Mom was obviously saying is that this isn't a living arrangement that we feel comfortable with or envisioned for you girls," Lena continued. "It isn't safe! Anything can happen to you girls entering this place since it's practically open to —"

"Mama, the doors lock after ten," Callie argued. "No one is asleep or unaware at that time! Plus, we lock our lofts. It's no different than—"

"So when you're in the shower in the middle of the day, and some random person comes upstairs, and since there is ZERO security here—"

"Alice's loft is—"

Holding her hands up to stop Mariana from continuing, Stef rolled her eyes. "I think from the short interaction, and drug induced, I might add, Mama and I had with her, I think we can all agree she is not the security anyone needs."

"Stef," Lena turned to her anxious wife.

"I'm sorry honey, but you know it's true," Stef countered. "That girl, while very nice, is a pussycat. No one is going to stop robbing the place if she's what they're calling security. From what Mariana said earlier, poor Alice had a meltdown over toilet paper, and because of that our girls are peeing in a chamberpot!"

Callie and Mariana looked at one another knowing there was no argument to be had. However the two girls had different ideas on what their mothers' disappointment might mean for them. Mariana, who had known the women as her mothers since she was seven years old had no issues defying them and doing as she pleased. She was confident in their love of her that should she decide to stay at the Coterie, they would eventually accept it.

Callie, on the other hand, who had only been with them for seven years, continued to struggle with deceiving and lying to them; disappointing their mothers was not an option. As a teen, she had absolutely done things she wasn't proud of and of which the women had been furious, but they occurred at a time when she did not know if she had wanted or deserved their love. And even when she had done things that later backfired, they were for selfless reasons. This situation, however, knowing how upset her mothers were, and how unsafe they found the Coterie, made staying here without their approval difficult. She did not want to disappoint them; her former foster kid brain could not disappoint them.

"So... what do you guys... what do you want us to do?" She timidly asked.

Looking at Callie, then to Lena, Stef knew her wife could read their daughter as well as she. The nervous look on her face was the same she had from the moment they had met her. Moving from the bed to sit beside her, Stef took her hand into her own.

"Look, Mama and I know that you girls are adults and you're free to do whatever you want. And we're not here to tell you where you should live—"

"But isn't that what you're basically doing?" Mariana asked. "I mean, if you say enough times that's you're not happy with us here, you know Callie is going to be want to leave, and then I'll have to leave because you know I don't want to live here without her."

Callie rolled her eyes when Stef raised an eyebrow and pressed a kiss to her cheek. She didn't think that she was so transparent in her need for their mothers' approval. She wanted to argue against her sister's comments, but everyone knew she was telling the truth.

"Miss Thang, we're not trying to be deceitful or to manipulate the situation through your sister," Lena defended. "We're just concerned."

"Well, what can we do to show you that there isn't anything for you to worry about here?" Callie asked. "Um... do you... do you want to meet everyone?"

Mariana perked up at her sister's suggestion. "Yeah! We have dinner together, like, all the time, Moms," she nudged Callie who nodded in response. "I mean, we can definitely all eat together tonight. I mean, everyone is here. Do you want to order in?"

"Or cook?" Callie smiles widely. She missed having her Mama's home cooked meals. "There's a market down the block; we can pick up some stuff for you to cook."

Lena and Stef looked at one another. They had not intended on cooking on their visit, but they could both agree that they missed having a large family around the table. And this would be the most ideal way for them to get to know most of the people their daughters were living with. It would certainly put them at ease. They both nodded.

"Let's say we do this tomorrow night," Lena countered. "I'm feeling a bit tired and just want to spend the rest of the evening with my babies. We can plan and go grocery shopping tomorrow and invite everyone then."

"And to be clear, Mama's cooking," Stef pointed to her wife. "I'm drinking. It'll help with my anxiety."

"Will it though?" Mariana laughed as she leaned over her sister to tease her mother. "Are you sure you don't want another cookie?"

"Mariana!" Callie pinched her before turning back to their mothers. "But seriously, we're so sorry about that Moms. If we had known what was in those cookies, we would've never offered them to you. That's really not how this place usually is."

"Yeah, and in hindsight, we probably shouldn't have offered you anything..." Callie paused.

"You don't remember her name, do you?" Mariana whispered.

"I don't!" She admitted, turning to look at her mom. "But since you interrogated her during improv, Mom, maybe you might? I think we heard you ask for her date of birth—"

"And social," Mariana added with a smile.

"And address," Callie continued.

"Very funny!" Stef rolled her eyes, poking both daughters.

"Mother's maiden name—" Mariana managed to squeal between giggles.

"Alright! That's enough from you two!" Lena laughed at the teasing her girl's inflicted on their mother. She moved to sit on the couch beside Mariana. "We love you girls so so much. High or not, we're always going to want to make sure you are safe and okay." She opened her arms for a hug. "Now, maybe I have the munchies, but is anyone else hungry for a mama sandwich?"

Without a second's thought, Callie reached one arm toward Stef, while Mariana reached the other toward Lena, and both mothers reached for one another thereby sealing their girls between them. They had missed this moment everyday their children were out of their home. Living in a smaller house, the familiarity, love, and warmth they had been accustomed to in their loud home was gone. This was just a small reminder, however, that a house is just a building. It's the people that make it home.