A/N: Hey everyone! If you haven't read Lena's Birthday Weekend, it will likely help a bit to understand this story, but it probably won't be super necessary if you haven't read it. Anyways, this is the sequel to that story, so to everyone who has read that one, welcome back! As always, please feel free to review and comment, but most of all, just enjoy :)

Thursday

Lena Adams-Foster paused just long enough to frown at the chalkboard in front of her. She had loved that chalkboard at one point, especially when her sister-in-law, Zoe had first shipped it to her. It had been beautiful, and sweet, just a reminder that Zoe and her little sister, Taylor, were actually thinking about her, Stef and the kids, but now the chalkboard was overrun with teenage need and angst. Notes like, 'remember the payment for piano tutor' (Brandon), or 'meeting for STEM' (Mariana) was now overrunning their beautiful, thoughtful, chalkboard. Lena sighed and pulled her hair back into a messy ponytail, set on starting dinner instead of feeling underappreciated at the moment. It wasn't hard to feel underappreciated lately. But with literally five teenagers in the household, there were way too many emotions swirling around for Lena to get caught up in her own.

She opened the fridge door and began pulling out ingredients for a salad. It was Thursday night and Lena really didn't have the energy to do anything, but make pasta right now. She was exhausted, yet she couldn't really admit that either. Being the Vice Principal at Anchor Beach Charter School was enough pressure, but the fact that a new principal had just transitioned in and their accreditation was up for question was making Lena work overtime. Funding, like with all charter schools, was at all times shaky, and Anchor Beach had never been on more shaky ground. Test scores weren't where they needed to be and Lena was beginning to get worried.

Lena stifled a yawn and went about putting on a large pot of water to boil. She could hear the front door open and someone drop his or her bag at the front door. Lena assumed it was Jude; he was usually the first to come home after school. "Hey…Jude, is that you?" Lena called out, adding the pasta to the now boiling water. Jude's head popped around the corner.

"Hey mom," he smiled gently, descending the three stairs leading to the kitchen.

"Hi sweetheart," Lena smiled. "How was school today?" He only shrugged as he propped himself on one of the stools surrounding where she was preparing the salad. "You're home kinda early, I thought you were going to Connor's."

"He has baseball practice today," Jude admitted. "Mom…I was thinking…about maybe playing baseball too…"

Lena concealed a grin. It was no secret that Jude and Connor had what Lena considered a mutual crush on one another, and now Jude was showing all of the signs of wanting to 'change' for the person he liked. "Baseball, huh," Lena said nonchalantly. "Well, sweetheart, that is definitely out of my league. I can neither thrown nor catch a baseball…let's not even talk about hitting one," she sighed as she chuckled. "Talk to Stef about it though…she is great at baseball…"

"Why didn't you learn to play baseball?" Jude asked turning on the stool. He was teasing her now, and smiled at his mom.

"That was definitely not in my wheelhouse. I don't think Taylor did much in sports either…she may have ran," Lena said thinking about her little sister. "She was a musician though…she didn't need much sports…"

"So she just played music all the time…kinda like Brandon?" Jude questioned.

Lena grinned, realizing that Jude and Callie knew a lot less about her little sister, Taylor than the rest of her kids did. "Somewhat, when she was younger," Lena tried to explain.

"But now she is a math person, right?" Jude tried to wrap his mind around his mother's little sister. He had met her twice…once when she was literally on an overnight meeting in LA and had driven down for the night and the second time when Lena had lost baby Frankie.

"She is a math person…" Lena chuckled. "She is a Quant for a small hedgefund in Chicago, and recently she taught a session at Northwestern University," Lena explained taking the pasta off of the stove. "You may get to know her a little better soon, she is thinking about bringing her family out here for her birthday, which is Valentine's Day, which she hates…"

"Isn't that the best day besides Christmas to have a birthday?" Jude questioned, hopping off of the stool.

"Your aunt is a very complicated person, Jude." Jude nodded and laughed. "Go up and do some of your homework before dinner, okay buddy?" Jude nodded and went back into the living room to grab his bag. Meanwhile, Lena finished up dinner, adding chicken breasts and pasta sauce to the pasta and finishing the salad. She still wanted to add another vegetable, but the kids were becoming more and more of picky eaters these days. Like Brandon and Mariana wouldn't eat cooked carrots, and Jesus literally only wanted corn-on-the-cob and any cooked green vegetable was out either way. Therefore, she decided to just wait and pick something when more of her brood came home.

Mariana and Jesus trailed in around the same time, followed by Brandon, who had been at band practice and finally Callie, who had picked up a half shift at the burger joint where she worked. By the time Stef came in around six, everyone was already sitting down to dinner.

"Hey love," she had come over and kissed her wife quickly before moving to the fridge and pulling out a cold beer. She had encountered the day from hell, and she was so glad to be safely in the confines of her home now. Of course, she couldn't share this with her family, mainly because it freaked out everyone when she had even a mildly bad day. Stef knew better than anyone that the dangers of her job freaked her family out, therefore she plastered on a smile and listened to her kids talk about their days and watched Lena smile even though she was stressed-out too. It was only fair that she didn't bring anyone down with the fact that she and Mike were nearly run off the road and she ended up chasing down three armed suspects that day.

It was later, after all the homework was complete, laundry was folded and put away, and everyone was off to their separate corners that Stef finally got to relax a bit. She lay on the comforter of her and Lena's bed and watched as her wife came in from their bathroom. "Hey…did you call Taylor tonight?" Stef questioned although her eyes were closed and her mind wasn't really in the conversation. Lena had mentioned several times the need to call and congratulate Taylor on some article that she was featured in, in some magazine. Stef only caught the bits and pieces of the conversation, but she thought she should mention it to Lena, nevertheless.

"I didn't get to it," Lena said after closing their bedroom door and then sinking down beside Stef. "And it's definitely too late now, because my sister is on the strictest schedule ever," Lena said turning towards Stef. "I'll call her tomorrow morning, she works half a day on Fridays or from home, so she'll have time."

"Oh, good," Stef said yawning. She closed her eyes again, hoping to avoid the intense stare that her wife was giving her right now. "Lena, you are staring at me, love," Stef noted opening one eye to look at her wife.

"I can't look at my wife?" Lena smiled. She leaned in and kissed Stef's mouth tenderly. "You look like you had a hard day," she whispered. She knew the signs; an automatic beeline to the fridge for a beer after work, and two more beers during dinner. It meant that Stef was stressed and she would have to be pushed to talk about it.

"It's nothing," Stef yawned again. "Just exhausted and glad tomorrow is Friday…"

"So nothing out of the ordinary happened at work?" Lena pushed just a tiny bit. Stef eyed her for a moment and then shrugged.

"Nothing worth commenting on," Stef confirmed. "How about with you?"

"All of the usual day-to-day grind," Lena frowned. "I'm actually going to work this weekend…Monty and I have to do a lot of grant proposals and maybe even have to attend a function for some funding. I love my work, but I swear, I hate the smoozing," Lena admitted.

"But you are such a good smoozer," Stef smiled. "You definitely have the face for it…"

"Well, my smoozing means you'll have a house full of teenagers on your own this weekend, so good luck with that. And Jude is having Connor over Saturday, Mariana and Jesus have school events, Callie I believe is going to work and Brandon…well, I have no idea what Brandon has planned for the weekend," Lena admitted. "I'm sure he has something though…"

Stef turned over and cut off the lamp on her nightstand. She was quiet for a moment before she turned on her side and looked at her wife. "Mike and I got into a chase with a suspect today…" she said quietly. It was a burden to keep it to herself, but the horrified look on Lena's face made her give a second thought to being so open with her wife. "I'm fine…"

"I thought Mike was there to protect you…"

"We are both cops, Lena," Stef reminded her.

"You know what I mean!" Lena said quickly, sitting up straighter. "He wanted to be your partner to have your back and you guys are chasing down suspects…"

"We are cops, love. It's what we have to do sometimes," Stef said calmly.

"I thought with Mike as your partner…" the words sounded wrong and bitter in Lena's mouth, "I thought he wanted to make sure you were protected, Stef."

"That's not his job, Lena," Stef hated the fact that Lena actually believed she couldn't take care of herself. It actually hurt her feelings, because she knew if Lena didn't think she could take care of herself, there was no way she could take care of their family.

"Then what is his job Stef? Leading you into situations where you have to chase down suspects, or letting you go through doors first where you are shot?" Lena spewed.

"That's not fair, Lena," Stef said sternly. Lena looked at her wife and just shook her head. She swung her legs to the other side of the bed and stood. "Where are you going, Lena?" Stef tried not to raise her voice. Lena looked back but didn't answer. Instead she left their bedroom and Stef wishing she had just kept her big mouth shut.

Stef waited a few minutes before climbing out of bed herself and heading downstairs. Lena was neither in the living room nor kitchen, but Stef spotted her outside near the garden. "Lena…come back inside," Stef frowned. Lena had been finding solace outside in her garden for a few months now. Really, ever since she had lost Frankie, Lena had been a lot more reflective and she found comfort outside most of the time.

"Go back up to bed," Lena said quickly wiping a few stray tears away.

Stef stepped outside and shut the door behind her. "Love…" she began but Lena only shook her head. "Lena, what is this really about?"

"Nothing…I guess I'm just 'emotional' Stef," Lena said quickly.

Stef pulled Lena closer to her. She wrapped her up and felt Lena tremble a bit. "Talk to me, Lena," Stef pleaded. This was different for them, Stef begging Lean to talk.

"I worry, Stef," Lena said beginning to cry again. "I worry all the time… you were shot, and I couldn't protect Frankie and there is always something …and you are a cop and I worry. Being partners with Mike was supposed to make me worry less, but you just seem to worry more about him and it's stressful…"

"Okay…okay…baby," Stef said wiping her wife's tears and kissing her forehead. "Mike and I do look out for one another, and love," Stef said bending a bit so she could look into Lena's eyes, "I'm fine and I'm right here." She knew she couldn't make the memory or hurt from losing Frankie go away, but it was really killing them both. "Lena, I love you and these kids so much…I'm never going to get hurt again…" she vowed. Lena looked at her wife and nodded.

"Okay…" she resigned falling a bit deeper into Stef's embrace.

"Everything is going to be fine," Stef whispered into Lena's soft curls, and she was determined to make sure everything would be okay for her family.


"It doesn't hurt too badly, does it sweetheart?" Taylor asked leaning over and whispering in her little girl's ear. Thaddie had went through a few minutes of crying as Taylor had combed and brushed her tight curls, but now she had settled and Taylor was finishing up the two French braids that Zoe had wanted Thaddie to wear for her class picture tomorrow. The little girl looked hauntingly like Taylor, the same dark cinnamon brown skin with tight naturally curly brown hair and big brown eyes. Thaddie even had the small indentation in her chin that Taylor had received from her father. This wasn't particularly impressive though, because it seemed like Taylor had strong genes when it came to the looks department. She and Zoe's second daughter, Ava, looked a lot like her also. Well, a little more like Lena actually, because her skin tone was the same soft brown hue of her aunt's. What was really remarkable was that even at just over sixteen months, everyone could tell that Ava had none of Taylor's personality traits, but at nearly five, Thaddie had all of them.

"No," Thaddie said after a moment, drawing her big brown eyes back to her mama. "Mama…" she began, but stopped herself.

"What is it, Thaddie?" Taylor said finishing the last braid and tying a black rubber-band to the end. Tomorrow morning, before school, Taylor would tie the white ribbons that went with the little girl's outfit on the end of her braids, but for now, she was done with Thaddie's hair.

"You making dinner tomorrow?" the little girl asked standing up and turning in front of her mom.

"It is my turn to make dinner tomorrow," Taylor smiled and kissed her daughter's cheek. It still amazed her how much her daughters looked like her.

"I want tacos," she announced leaning into her mother's arms. Taylor pulled her daughter into a hug and nodded.

"We'll have tacos tomorrow," Taylor promised. "Now, you wanna go find Mommy and take a bath so you can get ready for bed?" It was nearly seven o'clock and the girls where in bed promptly by eight on weeknights. Except for the past two weeks, because Ava had an ear infection, which meant she was keeping no particular hours at all. She had just gotten accustomed to her schedule to begin with and all of that was for naught now because she was sleeping more during the day and less at night and sometimes vice versa. This was of course wreaking havoc on Zoe and Taylor's sleep cycle, but Taylor realized it was only temporary. She couldn't really blame Ava for her lack of sleep anyways. It was mostly the pressure from her damn job that was hampering her sleep right now.

"Will you read me a story after I'm out the tub?" Thaddie asked stopping to look back at her Mama.

"You can read me a story," Taylor teased.

"Mama, I don't read good," Thaddie laughed at her Mama. Taylor picked Thaddie up and carried her upstairs to the bathroom that Thaddie and Ava shared. Ava was already out of the tub and had her diaper and pajamas on.

"Add," Ava said pointing to Thaddie in Taylor's arms. She pointed to Thaddie for a few more seconds before her finger went back to her mouth and finally both arms raised to Zoe. "Ma…" she said enthusiastically, "Ma…" Zoe smiled, but pointed at her wife.

"Can you go with Mama so I can give Thaddie her bath for tomorrow?" she asked Ava in a baby voice. Ava looked at Taylor and then back at Zoe. She really didn't care who picked her up as long as someone picked her up. Taylor bent down to put Thaddie down and scooped up Ava.

"Did she have a good bath-time?" she asked Zoe. Zoe smiled, but pointed to her now nearly soaked grey tee shirt.

"She had a blast," she laughed. She leaned over the tub to begin filling it for Thaddie's bath. "Can you give Ava her medicine for tonight?"

"I thought she was done," Taylor said bouncing Ava on her hip.

"She has two more nights of drops," Zoe tried to explain, but Thaddie was too busy instructing her to add bubbles. "Okay, sweetheart, we'll add bubbles," she said. They were already running late for the night and they really didn't have much time to play in the tub.

"Alright, I got it," Taylor said taking Ava into her bedroom and looking for the ear drops. She spotted them immediately, sitting on the top shelf of Ava's larger dresser. She placed Ava in her crib, realizing this was not going to be an easy feat. Ava had fought them tooth-and-nail every time she had to take her eardrops and this time was no different. After nearly five minutes and some cajoling Ava had her eardrops in, but was now wailing in her mother's ear. It took another five minutes before she calmed down completely and for some reason, most likely the lack of a nap throughout the day, Ava began to yawn and easily went into her crib and lay down. Taylor left the room, leaving on the baby monitor beside Ava's crib and her nightlight that projected imagines on the ceiling and walls.

"She did not go down that easily, did she?" Zoe frowned at Taylor's luck. Taylor nodded triumphantly, as if she had any factor in what had just happened instead of mixture of crying, a warm bath and lack of a nap.

"Do you want me to finish up here? I promised Thaddie a story," Taylor said coming into the bathroom as Thaddie went about washing the bottom of her feet the best she could.

"Sure, super mom," Zoe teased as she passed Taylor at the door. She stopped and looked at her wife. "Thank you," she said seriously.

Zoe really didn't have to be told that she had it good. She was thirty-one and she had two beautiful little girls and a wife that most people would beg for. Taylor had been true to her word and once she finished up her doctorate in mathematics, she had gone about giving Zoe the family she dreamed about. It wasn't enough to make sure that they had children, Taylor had also agreed to move to Chicago partly to be closer to Zoe's family. Two of Zoe's sisters lived in Chicago and her parents now, and although Taylor loved Boston, she agreed to move when she was offered a position with a small hedgefund in the city. This position afforded Zoe the opportunity to stay at home with the girls, at least until they were both in school, and that was what Zoe truly wanted to do.

Still, sometimes Zoe wished that Taylor would open up some more. It was stupid and perhaps a bit selfish, but Taylor was sometimes the same quiet, walled-off girl Zoe had married ten years earlier, and when Taylor didn't talk, it tended to worry Zoe. Like now, although Taylor was present with the girls, it had almost been four days since she and Zoe had engaged in a real conversation. It had been even longer than that since Taylor had went about holding her or really kissed her. It was probably stupid, but it truly worried Zoe when her wife disengaged some. Her father, who loved his family deeply, did that when he was angry, and now Zoe thought that maybe Taylor was angry at something that she wasn't sharing.

It was right at eight o'clock when Taylor made her way back downstairs and into the master bedroom. She quickly stripped off her pants and pulled back her side of the bedding. She could hear the shower on in the master bathroom, but she was embarrassed to admit that she was too tired to stay awake and wait for her wife to come out. Her schedule had been brutal for the last couple of weeks. Ava was waking up all times of night, and she was building a new model for the market, not to mention waiting nervously for last quarters official numbers to come in. It was stressful because her bonus, and potential for this year's raise lay with last quarter's numbers and Taylor wasn't completely sure where she stood with her previous model. It didn't help that her boss's boss was coming in for the meeting tomorrow, which never happened unless some big changes were going to happen.

Taylor closed her eyes, deciding that she no longer wanted to think about any of this. However, it wasn't long before her relaxation was interrupted by the ring of the doorbell. Taylor grumbled, wishing like hell that Zoe was actually in the living room so she could answer the door. Still, she wasn't, so Taylor crawled out of bed and pulled on a pair of pajama bottoms and headed out of her bedroom, again. "Who is it?" she questioned as she headed towards the front door.

"Who do you think it is?" came the cocky response from the other side of the door. Taylor groaned, rolled her eyes and opened the door to Zoe's older sister, Jillian. "Don't you have a key?" Taylor frowned, but smiled as soon as she locked eyes with Jillian.

"I do have a key, but my darling sister told me not to just invade people's privacy, so I used the doorbell…" Jillian stuck her tongue out at Taylor. "Are you already going to bed?"

"It's eight…" Taylor said moving out of Jillian's way.

"I'm embarrassed for you," Jillian admitted. She handed Taylor a Baby Gap store bag.

"What is this?" Taylor questioned raising an eyebrow.

"Zoe called me and asked me if I would pick up some tights for Thaddie's school pictures tomorrow."

"Dammit…I was supposed to pick them up earlier…" Taylor shook her head in frustration. "It was on the chalkboard and I forgot…"

"It wasn't a problem," Jillian shrugged and leaned against the closed door. "I was showing a condo near all of the stores anyways. It wasn't a problem," she assured her sister-in-law. "What's been going on, though? You are usually very good with you guys chalkboard system."

"It's not a system," Taylor laughed.

"It is …a creepy marriage system…must be why you two have been together for twenty...thirty years?"

"Yes, I've been with your sister for thirty years, Jillie," Taylor shook her head. "But thanks again…I owe you…"

"And one day…I'll collect," Jillian winked. "Well, I didn't even cut my car off so I'll talk to you tomorrow? You wanna do lunch?"

"Can't…I'm gonna have the girls all afternoon. I booked spa treatments for Zoe and Gracie as a surprise…"

"Ugh…Gracie …why?"

"Because she's been having a shit year, Jillie and it'll be nice for her and Zoe to get to relax together." Jillian just looked at Taylor and shook her head. She really couldn't stand her older sister, Grace, but that was because she was a condensing jerk, especially to Jillian. But who was Jillian to stop Taylor from doing something nice for her wife and terrible other sister-in-law?

"Whatever…" Jillian shook her head. "I'll call you tomorrow evening."

"Bye Jillie…thanks again," Taylor offered as she closed the door behind the woman. She looked into the bag and smiled. Jillian, who rarely listened ever, managed to pick up a pair of black, red, blue, and white tights and even a few floral print ones. That was Jillian, covering all her bases. Taylor took Thaddie's tights upstairs to her bedroom and checked on both of her girls before heading back to her bedroom. She repeated her actions of before and ended up face-down in her pillow. She was asleep in what seemed like minutes, but the second she felt Zoe's pressure on the other side of the bed, she rolled onto her back.

"Jillie stopped by," she mumbled half sleep. "You should have told me to go back and get Thaddie's tights…"

She couldn't see Zoe smirk at that proposition. "You are exhausted," she said rubbing lotion on her hands. "And you cleaned up the kitchen after dinner, did Thaddie's hair and gave her bath."

Taylor opened her eyes and looked at her wife. "I'm supposed to do those things, Zoe."

Zoe chuckled, and got into bed beside her wife. "What color did your best friend bring my daughter for her pictures tomorrow? I told her black, so I'm guessing something floral print?" Zoe shook her head at her sister.

"She brought a multitude of different tights…but they are in the right size," Taylor shrugged. "She means well…"

"But doesn't listen…"

"Leave Jillie alone," Taylor laughed.

"Of course…we can't talk about your best friend," Zoe teased. "Well, at least she brought them…"

"Is that a dig at me?" Taylor asked tapping Zoe softly. "I'm sorry I forgot…I'll do better…"

"You just forgot," Zoe said sincerely. "You've had a lot on your plate lately."

Taylor rubbed her eyes. "At least tomorrow my numbers will be in and that uncertainty will be over. Hopefully, I'll at least get a raise; I think the firm did pretty well…"

"Thanks to you," Zoe said yawning. She snuggled down in the bed and was surprised when Taylor pulled her into her arms. Taylor hadn't held her in what felt like forever and the comforts of her wife's arms felt fantastic. She sighed and Taylor pulled back to look down at her for a moment.

"What's the matter?" Taylor whispered into Zoe's short pixie-cut black hair.

"Nothing…you just haven't held me in a while," Zoe admitted. It went without saying that they hadn't been intimate in what felt like forever, but Zoe knew that this was mainly her fault. She had carried Ava and although it was something she wanted to do more than anything, she hadn't counted on how long it would take before her body felt like it was actually hers again. This had led her to reject some of Taylor's advances over the past couple of months and now that Taylor didn't seem exactly interested in sex, Zoe had to admit it hurt her feelings. What if Taylor had lost all feelings of desire for her…? "I thought maybe you were upset with me about something," she said softly to Taylor. Her deep blue eyes scanned upwards to Taylor's dark brown ones.

Taylor only shrugged. "A lot has been going on," she said softly, making sure she didn't make Zoe feel responsible for the lull in their sex life. She was distracted also, but honestly, if she needed to, she would move mountains to make love to Zoe. "Maybe we both just need to relax a little," Taylor suggested. "How about tomorrow, I get up and get Thaddie ready for school and then pick her up on my way home and then I'll take the girls for the entire afternoon and you and Gracie can go out, have lunch, and maybe do the spa thing…"

"That sounds wonderful but…"

"Baby, don't say no, because I've already book you guys spa treatment and lunch at The Peninsula Hotel and I'll feel like an ass if you don't wanna go," Taylor grinned.

"I wanna go," Zoe said kissing her wife quickly, "I wanna go with you…but Gracie will love it…"

"She already knows…I'm surprised she could keep a secret." Taylor knew that she was really on the side of Jillian when it came to Gracie, but Zoe had a close relationship with her older sister mainly because they were both mothers. Gracie had been immensely helpful when Zoe needed her and Taylor respected that. "And we can spend tomorrow night together…" Taylor said suggestively cocking a brow.

Zoe smiled, although she was unsure she would be able to hold up her end of the bargain. Still, the fact that Taylor had gone out of the way for not only her, but Gracie too, made Zoe want to give it her best shot. "Deal," she said finally closing her eyes and just enjoying the warmth of her wife until she fell asleep.