"Jesus, why did you have to involve yourself?" Mariana questioned sharply as she rushed into her brother's bedroom and shut the door behind her. "I was about to tell them and you just-"

"You're still my little sister, Mari. As pissed off as I am right now, I would rather take the fall for you because we both know that if Moms found out the real reason, you'd be in a whole lot more trouble than I am."

She dropped down onto his bed and leant her head against his shoulder with a huff.

"This is all going to blow up in our faces, isn't it. Moms always find out our secrets in the end, no matter how good we get at lying. I don't want us both to get in trouble…there's no point in that," Mariana grumbled.

Rolling his eyes, Jesus wrapped his arm around his sister's shoulders and held her for a quiet moment. The two weren't as close since they had come to the Fosters; they had other people to talk to now and they weren't entirely dependent on each other like they used to be. But still, when it came to blows, Jesus would do anything to keep his sister safe.

"We'll figure it out. Don't worry. You know that you'll only get anxious and give it up to Mama if you think about it too much."

The younger of the two, though it was a matter of minutes rather than hours, swiped away a tear that had fallen to her cheek and sniffled.

"I know I've said it already today, but I'm so sorry you got dragged into this, Jesus."

"Don't think this gets you off the hook. I am still annoyed at you for the rest of eternity, and I am still going to make you do all my washing and tidying for the next month. But I love you, and sure, you're acting like an idiot at the moment and I might get really annoyed and yell at you sometimes, but you're always gonna be my little sister."

It was clear that Jesus wasn't going to let Mariana get off easily, but she wouldn't have let herself anyway. Every time she looked at her brother, she thought about going downstairs and telling her Moms that he'd covered for her. He'd spent long enough protecting her, but she was too scared for herself to be that chivalrous.

It wasn't like Callie – she'd heard her Moms talking to the new girl about the way she'd been treated in her old homes and she wasn't going to pretend that she'd ever experienced anything like that – but that made the kind of punishment her parents doled out even more scary to her. Feeling like she'd disappointed her Moms was one of the worst feelings she'd experienced in her whole life, and the thought of seeing that look in their faces was enough to keep her quiet.

"You know, Moms are gonna realise something's wrong if we keep having private conversations. Mama will put two and two together as soon as she realises that you might have something to do with this."

Mariana nodded, reluctantly standing up and offering her brother an apologetic smile before she made for the door. She couldn't help but wonder when she was going to start feeling better about this, if she ever was.

Crossing the landing into her bedroom, Callie was sat on the new bed that sat under the window with her school work laid out in front of her. Mariana knew that Callie didn't like her, and that she didn't trust her, but she also knew that nobody was going to believe the new ex-con in the house over her. She'd said herself that no-one would've believed her if she'd told Stef and Lena the truth, and Mariana knew it was the truth.

"Hey girls, lights out soon, okay?" Stef walked into the room with a warm smile on her face and Mariana couldn't help the sharp intake of breath. "Sorry, sweets, didn't mean to frighten you."

The blonde dropped onto the bed and wrapped her daughter in a hug, pressing a kiss against her temple and Mariana was fighting not to tense up against her. It was difficult to have her Moms be so normal with her, when her brain was constantly reminding her how mad they would be if they found out.

Mariana uttered a soft 'I love you' as her Mom crossed toward Callie and rubbed the girl's shoulder calmly. Contact wasn't normal between them yet, it was pretty clear that Callie wouldn't accept a hug from anyone except Jude at this point but her Moms seemed okay with it.

"Goodnight," Callie offered as Stef left the room and the brunette dropped her school books into her backpack before turning onto her side and switching off her bedside lamp.

As she laid in the dark, Mariana forced herself to think of something other than the pills but her mind wouldn't let her. She was too busy trying to figure out how on Earth she was supposed to make this up to her brother, as well as how she was going to keep this a secret for the rest of eternity. She dwelled on it, staring at the back of her eyelids until eventually sleep gave her refuge from her own thoughts.

But even in her dreams, she couldn't get away from her own words; Moms always find out our secrets in the end.