Hello folks! Welcome to a new short in my Fosters universe. Although it is in my AU it's a Stef-centric story as it's all about a cousin from her past. It focusses a lot on the relationships she had leading up to her coming-out period. Even though it's mainly a Stef story, I fully appreciate if people don't like AUs and OCs. There is also a kid-centric sub-plot mainly about Jude's first time in trouble at school and getting advice from Jesus and Kasey. It's about 11 chapters!
If you haven't read any of my other AU stories, it's not really necessary to do so because it's not based on Kasey's character. All you need to know is that she was created to explore Stef's relationship with a daughter who had some of her traits (and because it's fun to have characters that wind each other up constantly) and also because I wanted to create a character that would pick on Brandon in the way only a twin would do. She's very close (and similar in mischief level) to Jesus, is pretty sharp at school despite being quite blasé about it and she really likes SVU. I'd say that's all you need to know.
It's set pre-Nerd but post Callie/Jude adoption so I'd place it maybe a year after the pilot. Jude and Callie are well integrated into the family by now. So, thanks to thesameguest and TheTBone for being my testers and I hope you enjoy!
For whatsoever from one place doth fall,
Is with the tide unto an other brought:
For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought.
— Edmund Spenser "The Faerie Queene"
Stef slammed the oven door shut, blowing a hair out of her face as she heard the back door open up.
"Wow Mom, lovin' the sexy covered in flour thing you've got going on." Kasey teased.
"You look like you've had a fight with a blackboard." Brandon added.
"Did Mom make you clap erasers?" The teenagers wrapped up their routine with deliberately patronising looks.
"You're both hilarious." she replied deadpan, wiping her face. "How'd our children become so hilarious?" she asked Mike just as emotionlessly. The blob of flour she had targeted to remove had only succeeded in making her hand even messier.
"Got some here too..." Kasey pointed to a clean point on her face. "And here..." she further lied as Mike shook his head to give Stef the signal she was having her on.
As Brandon sniggered, Stef took her dirtied hand and smeared it over Kasey's face, wiping the last of the remnants onto her hair to teach her a lesson, Kasey trying to struggle away with a groan.
"Hot drink, Mike?" she offered once she was satisfied she had made her point.
"Sure, why not. I'll get it." He moved off to boil the kettle as Stef looked between the three of them, Brandon pulling out his phone.
"Why are you back so early, anyway?" she asked, grabbing a towel to make sure she could wipe her face properly this time, tossing it to Kasey afterwards.
Mike signalled his head to their daughter as Stef followed its direction with a suspicious glare.
"What d'you do?" she asked seriously as Kasey quickly raised her eyebrows and tossed the towel back.
"Nothing! I just said I wanted to get back." she replied innocently.
"Yeah. Before 9..." Brandon added with a sly smile as Kasey kicked him under the table, immediately sparking Stef's alarm bells.
"9 huh? What's happening at 9?"
All eyes focussed on her as she quickly tried to think of excuses.
"To...spend more time with my whole family. I was...bored."
"Wow, thanks." Mike squeezed her shoulder.
"And I had homework. That, now you mention it, I am going to get to."
Stef let her go a few steps before bursting her bubble.
"Sit back down. I know you're going to go try watch SVU. Two weeks and you know it."
"But that was a complete over reaction!" she immediately protested. "It's inhuman and I'm not even grounded! I got detention, isn't that enough?"
"Hey, I can ground you too if it makes you feel more comfortable?" Stef suggested playfully as Kasey flopped her head into her hands.
"Am I missing something here?" Mike asked.
"Kasey was caught watching SVU on her phone in class so she's not allowed to watch for two weeks." Brandon replied smugly as she darted a glare at him.
"I told you last week, remember?" Stef reminded her former husband.
"Ahh yeah. Well it seems fair to me, kiddo." he squeezed Kasey's shoulders firmly thinking back to a rundown Stef had given him the week before.
"It's not 'fair', it's the stupidest punishment ever." Kasey grumbled in defiance, even though she knew it made perfect sense.
"Yeah, to fit with the stupidest crime. I think two weeks of you learning some patience will do you some good." Stef raised her eyebrow. "And a little distance from getting too emotionally absorbed in a TV show."
"It is impossible to be too emotionally involved in a TV show." She replied bluntly as Brandon turned with a laugh.
"You shouted 'Now, Dick Wolf? Really? You sadistic bastard!'"
"Brandon..." Stef warned lazily in her wife's absence.
"I did not call him a bastard."
"Kasey..." the language protests continued to fall on deaf ears.
"Yeah only because our teacher was standing over your desk before you got to it." He smirked as Stef shook her head with an eye-roll.
"OK, we've established that it was inappropriate for the classroom and the details are inappropriate for here too, so can we move on, please? Kasey - it all still stands." Stef finally got them to listen, glad that Lena hadn't been here to hear the re-telling.
"Alright, alright." Kasey sighed, giving in to her clear defeat but brushing it off. She knew it was a long shot to begin with even if Brandon had succeeded in riling her up.
"How come you're baking, anyway? You never bake." She asked Stef eager to change the topic of interest.
Stef heaved a tray of cakes out of the oven, adding them to the collection scattered around various parts of the kitchen.
"Your darling sister promised she would make 50 cakes and 50 cookies for your school bake sale tomorrow."
She turned to put the now empty tray in the sink. "And anyone who touches them loses a hand." She managed to snap both Mike and Brandon clean on the back of the theirs after catching them in the corner of her eye.
"Yeah...well...uhm..." Mike cleared his throat, pulled it back, Brandon nursing his. "So why isn't Mariana making them then?" He quickly tried to divert attention.
"Well, Mariana being Mariana she took a phone call 40 minutes ago so I'm apparently left here playing Julia Child."
"Julia Child?" Brandon looked up quizzically from his phone.
"Chef lady from like a hundred - " Kasey slowed seeing Stef's eyebrows raise.
"A hundred different cook books." The re-route was acknowledged with her Mom's headshake and a 'watch it' smile.
"Anyway..." Kasey quickly tried to change the subject. "What bake sale? They're not publicising it very well."
"They talked about it at assembly on Monday." Brandon jumped in, unable to avoid the opportunity to get one over. "You and Cooper were too busy playing 'which of us can make Brandon turn around if we alternate blowing on his neck.'"
Kasey's eyes rolled down clearly thinking hard before they bulged in delight breaking into a laugh, her earlier anguish being fickly replaced by the memory of earlier fun.
"Oh my God, I forgot. That is the best game. Man I love it when you end up in front of us! You have the funniest little flinch thing you do with your...yeah." Her snigger drifted as she looked to both her parents with her beaming grin before noting the 3 unimpressed glares and quickly coughed to straighten her face.
"It is a fun game though." She whispered to Mike who just shook his head gently with the tiniest hint of a smile. He took a sip of the coffee he had made and placed the other next to Stef.
"It's like you never want to watch SVU ever again." Stef teased through a similar look, putting another tray into the oven to replace the ones she had removed as Kasey rolled her eyes.
"I would actually die." Kasey replied seriously. "I'm not going to make the point that you probably didn't have TV shows when you were a teenager because I'm smarter than that, but if you had any idea that trauma of not being able to keep up to date when there are spoilers everywhere you look you would realise this is a completely disproportionate and gratuitous punishment." She stated with genuine conviction as Stef rescued her so far neglected mug and shook her head.
"It's true." Brandon commented without looking up. "There's one right here. Apparently Benson - "
"I swear, if you finish that sentence I will punch you so hard in the -"
"Kasey..." Stef cut off her daughter's blood-curdling whisper with a deeper but just as firm a tone. Kasey settled for a sharp nudge that Brandon returned with a smirk and a nudge back.
"And you - don't provoke her." she squinted her son. "I can't protect you forever."
"She really can't." Kasey added with menace, proving yet again that a fangirl was not to be messed with.
"Hey kids, Mike." Lena joined them, striding into the room with a smile.
"Hey Lena, drink? Kettle has just boiled."
"I'm OK thanks." She rubbed Brandon's back. "Hey, good going, babe." She looked across the mountain of cakes. "I'm finished with my finance report now, thank goodness, I can give you a hand?"
"I think it's about done. If you want to help though you could drag your daughter down here so I can strangle her." She gave an exaggerated beam as Lena shook her head, her gleaming teeth making a strong appearance.
"Oh, Stef - I forgot." Mike chimed in. "You'll never guess who's coming into town tomorrow."
She looked at him expectantly making it clear she wasn't going to attempt to.
"Tyler."
"Tyler Suggs, Tyler?"
Stef's face dropped with the name even though conversation continued around her.
"Ooh, is this an ex-boyfriend?" Kasey piped up, enjoying the distraction from thinking about what she was missing.
"Do you remember anything that isn't a TV drama? Suggs. He's Mom's cousin." Brandon replied, Kasey immediately prepared to fire back the dig.
"Her cousin?" Kasey exaggerated a gape in her brother's direction before settling into a shrug. "Well I'm surprised you of all people would judge."
"Really? Are you ever gonna let me live that down. It was like a year ago!"
"I guess my memory's not that bad after all." She turned away as Lena re-moved the tub of sprinkles Brandon was about to launch at Kasey from his grasp.
"He was best man at your wedding wasn't he?" She asked, successfully defusing the bickering.
"Mom's cousin was your best man? Have you ever had friends, Dad?" Kasey asked with a cheeky grin as Mike looked back offended.
"Hey, can I add more episodes?" He remarked, turning to Stef but instead of seeing her expected approval he was the first one to note her mind was clearly absent from the room.
"You OK?" He asked, snapping her back from her memories. She looked at the mixture of expressions around her, the others having caught onto the silence.
"Uhm, yeah." She eventually replied. "I just didn't realise he was in town. It's been a few years."
"He's staying at mine." He added, slightly surprised at how awkward her reaction had been. "I just thought you may want to, I dunno, see him or something."
Stef silently tried to collect herself as she took a sip of her coffee to bide time. Swallowing it down she forced her best smile.
"I guess. If he...well I dunno he probably has a lot of people to see."
"We should have him round tomorrow." Lena suggested obliviously. "It would be nice to meet him, he seems to have been quite a big part of your life."
"Well yeah but like a million years ago. Don't comment on that." She pointed her mug at an eager Kasey who obediently stayed silent. "You know how these things are though, he moved...we drifted. I mean, he was already more your friend than my cousin by the time we married, right?" She busied herself, clearing her baking paraphernalia.
"Well...sort of but -"
"You know I'm not sure he'll even want to come round here. He was always such a party boy, I just don't know if he'd be interested." She cut Mike off, barely having noticed his response.
"Stef. He's your cousin." Lena intervened as Stef froze, tapping her fingers down but turning before her lingering could be noticed.
"Yeah but he's also rowdy and obnoxious and -"
"and ten years older like all of us. You two were two peas in a pod..." Mike added poking his tongue out as she threw him a glare.
"I wanna meet him!" Kasey piped up. "We barely speak to anyone from your family."
"That's true! I only vaguely even remember him." Brandon added.
"Oh stop pretending you know who this guy is." Kasey rolled her eyes. "You don't remember more than I do you just recognised the name."
"Clearly I do!" He raised his shoulders.
"OK, OK - " Stef cut them off before the fight could escalate. "Sure. Bring him round to say hello. He can come round, get the kids hyped up, make Lena uncomfortable with his childishness and you two can drink like frat boys." She rallied off, the tone of her rant not going unnoticed as Mike got the silent signal from Lena that it may be best not to push things further.
"OK, then. He said he'd have eaten by the time he gets in but I'll suggest coming round after you guys have had dinner."
"Good, great. Everyone's happy. Hell, we'll probably still have half these cookies." Stef forced a laugh, clearly still edgy but otherwise pushing it aside and normalising back to kitchen routine. "Kasey, seeing as you can't watch your show anyway, you can with these dishes, please?" Kasey pushed herself off her stool softly blowing on the back of Brandon's neck as she passed, causing him to wiggle and flinch in his chair, Lena girpping the swipe of his hand before it made contact with his sister.
"See, I told you it looks hilarious!" Kasey beamed almost walking into a squared up Lena. She missed the earlier conversation but had got the gist.
"Is that what you were doing in my assembly the other day?" she challenged, a wash of realisation about the odd behaviour she had noticed but soon forgotten about. She folded her arms in a stare-down causing Kasey to stutter.
"I...uhm...I've gotta help Mom with the -"
"Mmhmm." Lena nodded, following her movement with her gaze as Stef chucked the mischievous girl the towel.
"Well, I better head back. Thanks for the coffee." Mike drained his mug passing it to Stef who nodded her farewell.
"I'll see you out." Lena responded, refocusing her attention as he said the rest of his goodbyes and they left, Brandon taking the distracted room as an opportunity to sneak a cookie.
"So this guy gonna tell us lots of your deep dark secrets?" Kasey asked, deciding that completing her chore would be more fun with some light teasing. It worked, as Stef turned to glare at her. "Give us ammunition that resorts you to do as I say not as I do-s."
Stef's imminent threat was hindered by the sound of the cookies apparently being crunchier than Brandon expected.
"Dude, like that wasn't obvious." Kasey chuckled, looking round to him as Stef turned her glare to her son instead.
"Did you just eat one of those?"
"Mnmo" he mumbled through his full mouth before deciding it was pointless. "Mwhat I'mn jsst tsstimng thmem" he added, Kasey smirking with delight as Stef moved forward to the table.
"Testing them hmm? Reach up, then there are these too."
He moved his hand forward as she scooped one up with the spatula before dropping it down and swiping his hand again.
He shook it with a yelp in defeat to the backdrop of Kasey's laughter .
"I can't believe you fell for that!" she wiped her eye before her gloating was stifled by a sharp snap on the butt.
"And you can quit buggin' me too." Stef added as the playful scolding continued.
Mike and Lena walked through to the front door before she pulled him aside.
"Is there something I should know about this?" She asked him, thinking back to Stef's bizarre behaviour. She knew that as much as she was trying to pretend this was just an annoying relative, that there was more to it than that and knowing Stef's stubbornness it may be best to get what info she could.
Taking a deep breath, Mike shrugged.
"Honestly, I don't know. I thought it was weird he got in contact with me rather than Stef but we hadn't really spoken much since before the separation. Things got a little complicated round then because he was caught in the middle so he and I didn't talk much last few months he was still in California. I dunno though, maybe she just doesn't want to draw attention to her wilder days." He added awkwardly as Lena shuffled.
"Right." She looked down biting her top lip. "I guess I'll try and pry it out of Stef."
Mike nodded walking towards the threshold before turning back.
"Oh but if it helps, they were close. Like brother and sister close...grew up together, went to high school then the academy together. She may pretend he's an ass but he wasn't all that bad."
Lena nodded, leaning on the door. "Thanks, Mike. I guess we'll see you tomorrow both tomorrow night."
"See you then." He bid his final goodbye as Lena closed the door over. She sighed, leaning against it. Over their years together there had been a few times she'd had to virtually rip something out of Stef and she could tell this was going to be one of them.
Soooo...what are people thinking? What secrets is Tyler going to bring with him? What are the chances Kasey will ever get to watch SVU again and will Brandon ever get to eat a cookie in peace? Let me know what you thought, especially if you liked it!
Next Chapter Preview: Stef and Lena wrangle the kids at breakfast and Jude finds himself dabbling with danger in class.
"Psst..." Connor tossed a piece of paper to him, Jude looking round and checking the teacher was distracted. Their science teacher, Carson, was a nice man but he did generally insist on quiet study when not engaged in practical activity.
He took it up and saw that it was a cartoon of various characters loosely based on conversations past. Seeing there was an empty box and the story incomplete he turned back round to Connor who urged him on with his head.
Checking their teacher's location again he slipped the comic onto his book and filled in the next part of the comic strip, adding a few bits of dialogue before tossing it back. Connor gave him a wide grin as he tried to keep the giggling under his breath.