"Callie, where the hell is my phone?" Mariana asked angrily.
"How should I know?" Callie shrugged. "I didn't touch it. Ask Jesús."
"Jesús!" Mariana yelled, storming into his and Jude's room. "Where's my phone? JESÚS!" She ripped his headphones off.
"Ouch, Mari, calm down. What the hell?" He blustered, rubbing his ear.
"What did you do with my phone?" His sister challenged him.
"I didn't do anything, god."
"What's going on here?" Brandon asked, sticking his head through the door. "I heard yelling."
"He stole my phone!" Mariana screamed.
"I did not!" Jesús yelled back.
"Then Callie did!"
"No I didn't!"
"Oh my god, you guys, CALM DOWN," Brandon had to shout to be heard above the din. Jesús' computer had started to beep angrily, too, as though it wanted to join the fight.
"THE NEXT PERSON TO YELL HAS TO DO ALL THE DISHES TONIGHT!" Stef thundered as she strode down the hall. Immediately, all five kids turned to the doorway, where their mom stood imposingly. "Now, what in the name of - heck - has gotten into you all?" she admonished.
"Jesús took my-" Mariana started, but Stef held up her hand.
"Mama has a massive headache, and she is cooking dinner for you lot, after a hard day at work dealing with other people's yelling teenagers. The least you could do is keep it to a dull roar."
"But Callie-" Mariana started to protest.
"I did no-" Callie rebutted.
"QUIET." Stef silenced them all with her deafening boom.
"Mom, you have to do the dishes," Jude whispered with a small smirk.
"What was that?" She turned on the little boy with a saucy hair flip.
"You said the next one to yell has to do the dishes and you were the next one to yell," the youngest boy explained, twisting his sheets in his hands.
Stef laughed, running her fingers through her hair. "I guess you're right, little man," she said with a sigh. "But I'd be glad to let any of these stinkers take my place," she added warningly, glaring at the older kids.
"Sorry, Mom." Brandon was the first to apologize. Callie left the room without a word, and Mariana crossed her arms.
"Hug it out," Stef ordered the twins.
"Mo-o-om," Jesús complained.
"Now!"
Grudgingly, the twins hugged each other.
"Better?"
Mariana stuck her tongue out at Stef. "Mom, we're not babies anymore." She paused for a second, watching Stef's face. Right before her mom was about to explode she added, "but yeah, that still works." Mariana hugged Stef, who kissed her daughter's head.
"Wash up for dinner, babies," Stef said, ruffling Jude's hair. "I expect you all downstairs in ten with happy faces on."
Stef changed out of her uniform quickly and headed back down to the kitchen for a few minutes alone with her wife. When Lena heard her footsteps on the stairs, she took a beer out of the fridge and set it on the counter for Stef.
"Hey, love," Stef said, popping open the can and sliding her arms around Lena's waist.
"Did you solve World War III up there?" Lena asked scathingly, pushing her wife away so she could open the oven and check the potatoes.
"Yeah, I did," Stef said, her tone cocky and joking.
"Good," Lena answered practically. "I have a headache the size of-"
Her sentence was cut off by a kiss from Stef.
"Babe, for once in your life, shut up," Stef said, kissing her again. Lena relaxed into her wife's embrace, wrapping her arms around Stef's neck and kissing her more deeply. Their romantic moment was interrupted sooner than they expected - not by kids, as usually happened, but by Stef's yelp when Lena let the metal end of the hot spatula touch her neck.
"Oh no, did it burn you, love?" Lena asked, her voice full of concern.
"It's fine, "Stef said, carefully taking the spatula out of Lena's hand and setting it on the stovetop. "Now, where were we?"
Their second moment was interrupted as they had come to expect all moments to be interrupted - by a stampede of hungry teenagers.
"Let's continue this later," Lena whispered into her wife's ear. "It's doing wonders for my headache."