OK guys - I'm a little uncertain about this one but thought I'd post anyway. As far as one-shots from Mother go there are many highly emotional opportunities...but I couldn't find it in me to write one (still heartbroken)! Maybe one day, but right now I did think there was some space around the fluffy half of the episode and even though that wasn't enough for a fic in itself I also really wanted to write about Lena's thoughts as she told Stef about the pot...and why she stopped short of telling her about Dani. I am sure this was just a logistical choice so that it wasn't too much in the episode (and I'm glad for that so that it gets the focus it deserves) but I did want to try and put it into rationale. Between the two ideas I think there's a two-shot here. Anyway, sorry if it's not my best but who knows, maybe someone will like it! Chapter 1 focusses on bed and how Stef and Dani communicate along with some thoughts from Lena and then Chapter 2 will focus on Lena telling Stef about the pot.

Anyhow, hope you enjoy.


"Jesus..." Stef smiled sternly as she wandered through the hallway. Her eyes were looking possessed with a mixture of agitation and confusion as the young boy emerged sheepishly from the girls' room. Before he could get a word in Stef's hands were firmly on her hips and her eyebrows low over her eyes.

"Would you care to tell me why there is an elderly Korean couple trying to buy half our bed?" She asked pleasantly, though the venom behind it was no secret. Jesus was about to respond before his brain caught up with what she had actually said, the specifics acting as a distraction.

"Wait, they only want half?"

"Jesus!" Stef snapped with a whisper as he shook his head back to attention.

"Half? Watch out Ikea - there's a new furniture king in town." Mariana bobbed out sarcastically with her arms crossed.

"It's half more than you would have managed to sell." He bit back before Stef tugged on his shoulder, turning him towards her room.

"The way you two are going with this fighting we'll include you alongside the bed! Mama is on bedrest and trying to keep her stress levels down. Does this look like a furniture store to you?" The frustration was now sneaking past her menacingly peaceful façade.

"No but it doesn't look like a hospital either." Jesus shrugged, Stef's eyes quickly alerting him to the fact the comment hadn't been welcome.

"Well it's definitely not a carehome for elderly."

"Well another year or two and-"

"If you want to live to get anywhere near elderly you will not finish that sentence and get them out, now!"

"But Mom, you said I could sell the bed - Mama told me it was fine for -"

"Well I'm telling you that I want that bed empty by the time I bring Mama back to it - no more customers today. Now is not the time."

"But -"

"Now. Cancel the rest for today and get them out." She growled, patting him harshly towards her door which he returned with a groan. Mariana wandered after with a smirk before quickly shedding it on cue from Stef's look. She shook her head towards them before striding into the girls' room where Lena was waiting for her turn for a lecture.

"You didn't even bring the airhorn?" Stef threw her a look scanning her bedside table and at a loss for what other words to say. Her voice was damning but it was clear from her eyes that any frustration was from a place of pure love and concern.

"Stef, that airhorn will scare this baby out if it goes off one more time - will you relax?" She giggled, not wanting to spare any energy entertaining her wife's paranoia. "And what do you want from me? I am in bed - it's just a different bed."

"I want you to stop trying to tell me to relax when you are the one who's meant to be relaxing. I need to check your blood pressure anyway so let's get you back..." Stef placed her hands behind her wife, urging her up. "And I also would like to be able to declare how sexy my wife is without risking it being to a family of strangers."

"You don't like telling strangers I'm sexy?" Lena teased as Stef squinted back. They held the look for a moment before Lena cocked her head to the side, seeing from Stef's rigid pose that she wasn't going to back down.

"Honey, I told them it was fine."

"And I'm telling you it isn't..." Stef insisted as Lena's eyebrows shot up with a warning.

"I'm doing it again aren't I?" she sighed, closing her eyes as Lena confirmed with a small smile.

"Well just consider it payback for when I got shot." she grumbled in addition, helping Lena off the bed.

"Oh if you want payback for how bad a patient you were I should be going for a run around the neighbourhood right now." she poked her. "And sweetheart, as much as I love your hands all over me, you don't have to carry me to our bedroom." she smirked as Stef eased off the hold she had her around her before dropping her voice down again in stern warning.

"I could carry you, you know. Don't push me, young lady." she replied, a smile finally emerging on her lips. Lena wished she would believe her that small gestures of normality like that worked to relax her more than any demands.


Mariana paced briskly towards the door. She was fed up of being ridiculed and even more fed up of being used as an unintentional wingman for her brother's hook ups.

"You totally asked for that you know." Jesus walked behind her, emerging from the kitchen.

"Well you are totally asking for an STD the rate you're ploughing through girls." She shot back, the subject of their argument forever to-ing and fro-ing from whatever subject was closest at hand.

"Nice. Good to know you think so much of your friends." Jesus rolled his eyes as they were interrupted by the doorbell.

"It'd be good to know if you thought at all before hopping into bed with someone" she opened the door to find Dani standing before her, Mike just behind.

"Well that's an interesting greeting." Mike commented, wide eyed, as Dani shuffled her hands nervously around a casserole dish.

Mariana stood, blushing pink with embarrassment as Jesus shook his head and walked off.

"Sorry we uhm.."

"Probably best you don't explain." Mike held his palm up with a chuckle as Mariana dipped her head in embarrassment before opening the door for them to enter.

"I'll go get Moms." Marina hesitated towards the stairs before turning back.

"Thanks." Dani smiled clutching at the dish. Mariana adjusted her shirt running up the stairs. She wasn't sure how Stef would take to guests based on their last encounter.

"Hey, Mike and Dani are here." She poked her head in as Stef gaped down to the bed before poking Lena in the arm.

"OK, stay! Rest, you." She hopped up as Mariana smirked gently in sympathy with Lena. She was someone who generally indulged being spoiled, but even Mariana could remember how overbearing Stef could be at times, especially when stressed. Lena was too distracted to even notice as she watched them both leave. With all of the recent developments she had pushed a particular subject to the back of her mind, but with Mariana's announcement it had just come crashing back.

Dani.

Sighing heavily she leaned back against the headrest. She hadn't reflected much on her talk with Brandon the day before. It had been a surreal day. Experimenting with pot was nothing she hadn't expected to happen with one of them at some point. She had obviously hoped that they wouldn't, but she was at least encouraged at his response. Their afternoon together had been refreshing, for the most part. It was rare she got to spend any one on one time with Brandon. Part of her was glad for the experimentation, she knew that he never would have admitted his liaison with Dani without it, or at least he would have been torturing himself even longer before it had come out.

His confidence in her was not without its difficulties though, she now found herself in an impossible situation. The only blessing her illness had given her was at least an excuse to prolong deciding how she would tell Stef - though there was no doubt in her mind that she would have to, or at least persuade Brandon to. She was a mandatory reporter and what's more, she and Stef had only recently tackled their last bout of miscommunication. She had no intention of returning to more distance between them. The problem was approach - something she had happily taken the excuse to delay. Hearing Dani's name had been a crushing reminder, however. This was not going away and sooner or later she needed to address it.


Stef had greeted her guests downstairs via a small altercation with Jesus who appeared to be lurking around the front door. She had reminded him in no uncertain terms about potential visitors, but he had insisted he was just there to turn away any stragglers who had not received the cancellation. It was now just her and Dani left in the kitchen. Mike had gone up to see Lena and Brandon had run off as soon as he had the opportunity. This was the second time she had noticed Brandon having a less than pleasant attitude regarding Dani. She watched her as she began to prepare a salad, pulling out the ingredients from her bag. She had been nervous around her ever since finding out about the money she gave Brandon. Even before that she had always found her a little direct and a little forceful, their exchange the night in itself before had been unsettling enough. Her nervousness definitely wasn't a jealousy thing, at least not over Mike. She had considered if it could be jealousy over a mother for Brandon, but his recent attitude certainly indicated no closeness to Dani. One thing she was sure of however was that she wanted to set a good example for Brandon. Here she was, catering for them at their time in need and deserved some respect for that.

That didn't help make the small talk come any easier though.

"So..." Stef began, desperately scraping for a subject. "Lasagne? Nice."

"It's a special recipe." Dani replied with a smile. "Plus I know it's Brandon's favourite. Not that I imagine it will compare to yours and Lena's."

Stef nodded back. "Well Lena is the lasagne specialist - I'm sure yours is wonderful though." She almost winced at the sickly superficial sentiment of her own words. Stef was not a pleasantries person - she always had another thought or joke in her mind and had only recently learned to train herself out of saying it. Most of the time. She tried to think of anything she knew about Dani. They'd only had one conversation recently and that was definitely one she didn't want to bring up now knowing the truth of Mike's activities. There were only two other things she associated her with. Drinking and dogs.

"So how did you get into the dog walking business?" She blurted out, Dani turned, surprised. She was about as keen to make smalltalk as Stef was, especially after the way Brandon had reacted regarding her seeing Lena. He had been at breaking point two nights previous and now he wanted to keep her from Lena. If she knew...but then Stef would know and that couldn't be the case - if she did she was pretty sure she wouldn't be standing there now, but at the same time, Stef was a cop and probably knew when something was troubling her son...and if Lena knew she wouldn't be hiding it from her. No. She was overthinking. Seeing Stef was still waiting for an answer she shook her head and forced her best smile.

"It just grew from doing it for some pocket money, I guess." She nodded, focussing on chopping up some cucumber. Stef edged her hands along the countertop, feeling her automatic awkwardness reactions initiating.

"Must be some real bitches in that industry." She added before she could stop herself. As expected it was met with a blank look.

"Sorry, that was a terrible -"

"It's fine -" Dani cut off her backpedalling, waving a hand. "I was just trying to figure out if you meant the dogs or the owners." She tried to ease the mood, even though both of them just found themselves giving half-hearted chuckles at a loss for where next to go next. A glaring silence followed before Dani removed a carrot from the bag. Stef was quick to take advantage of the opportunity.

"Peeler, you'll need a peeler." She leaped up, quick to the drawer before Dani could acknowledge it. Soon enough it was thrust into her hand. She received it with a smile as Stef leaned over across the table.

"Brandon!" She exclaimed with joy, seeing the distraction arrive but causing Dani to jump slightly.

"Just passing through." He added, exchanging another brief look with Dani whose peeling speed increased. Part of Stef wanted to grab him and force him to take her place but he was already out of the door before she had the chance.

"Sorry about him. Teenagers, you know?" She shrugged, trying to hide that the red flags were flying.

"He's fine." Dani replied, her hands tightening around the peeler in her hand. Stef nodded slowly with the reaction. She had dismissed it very naturally, as if this really was the norm for them. It got her wondering about those evenings at Mike's and whether this indifference was a new thing.

"Do you two spend much time together?" Stef asked, catching Dani by surprise. "Alone time?"

Dani looked up, trying to prevent her cheeks flushing red.

"As I said yesterday, Mike's been back and forth..." She stuttered. She had to remind herself that it was unlikely there was an agenda behind her questioning but it didn't stop her heart from hopping into her throat. For all of her powers to swing a conversation to her favour, it was harder when she wasn't in control of it.

"He doesn't tend to stay if his Dad's not there. I understand that, of course. He's had a difficult few months." Stef nodded, taking it in and thinking it through. It was true. She couldn't blame him if it was that though she did want to make sure he was aware of not being rude.

"Well as long as I don't have to kick anyone's ass." Stef added plainly with a smile as Dani gasped with a shot of pain as the peeler nipped her skin.

"Oh, here, let me help you with - "

"It's fine, I've got it. It's not even bleeding." Dani raised her hand between them before they were rescued with Mike's return. Both women heaved a sigh of relief, as big grins plastered their face.

"How's she doing?" Stef asked immediately, happy for the subject change.

"Well, it seemed. She's in good spirits! How you getting on?" he looked to his girlfriend who had returned from her minor setback.

"Just have to grate this carrot." She nodded as Mike looked between them.

"Do you have time for a talk before we go?" He looked to Stef who paused for a moment but weighed up her options. Ultimately she and Mike did have things to discuss and what's more she didn't really want to spend much more time in the kitchen.

"Sure." She nodded, turning to the door.

"I'll just catch you up when I've finished." Dani replied, granting her blessing as Mike looked for her approval. She watched them leave taking a deep breath and leaning against the worktop. She had to hold herself together. Brandon wouldn't tell. He couldn't tell. He was a teenager and teenagers were easy to sway. She just had to hope he could trust that this was the best way for everyone - and if not, make him believe it.

OK - any thoughts welcome. I am not sure if this worked or not but hell, here is it! I kinda really wanted some awkward Dani/Stef and I must admit that I really wanted more of Stef's exasperation regarding bed so I had to put that in. Anyhow, will post chapter 2 tomorrow. Would love some feedback if you have time!


Next Chapter Preview: Lena wrestles with how much of the truth to share with Stef

"The park? Was that where they were rehearsing?"She queried as Lena stroked her arm, now trying to lose her gaze anywhere other than her wife's eyes.

"I'm not sure it really counted as a rehearsal." she began as Stef's eyebrows shot up.

"It would seem that rehearsals at the woodshed are more for creativity." She paused. "Inspired by the brownie variety."