A/N: I'm actually amazed at how easy it is to get back into the rhythm of writing about this family, but thankfully it is! I hope everyone enjoys and please feel free to review and comment :) It is always welcomed!

Winners

Lena eyed Stef suspiciously and was met with the frustration of love and the tiny pings of jealousy that arose out of nowhere. Stef was getting ready for court, something that Lena definitely didn't envy; however, she did envy the perfectly wrapped dress that clung to her wife's body. When was the last time Stef had worn a dress for her? Lena swallowed that question and forced a smile upon her face. "You look wonderful," Lena mentioned passing Stef on her way out of the bathroom.

"Really?" Stef asked as if she couldn't quite believe that she looked great. "Mike thought it would be a little more impactful if I wore something nice instead of my uniform. He's going to wear a suit and everything…" she rattled off. They had to testify in a major case they had busted a few months earlier and Lena couldn't help, but notice how nervous Stef had become. It was court in general; with all of their ups and downs with Callie, court hadn't been particularly kind to the Adams-Fosters as of late.

Lena didn't want to be that wife that was a jealous wreck every time Mike was brought up, but she had to bite back a cringe at his name. Therefore, she only nodded and headed out of the bedroom to go start breakfast for the kids. Callie and Jude were already downstairs, and Brandon was close behind Lena as they descended the stairs.

"Morning, mom," Brandon said quickly heading around her and taking the steps two at a time.

"What's the rush?" Lena asked as Brandon sprinted down the stairs.

"I wanna practice some during breakfast," Brandon explained. He had a huge audition that evening and his keyboard was still set up downstairs from the night before.

"What does everyone want for breakfast?" Lena asked the kids that were already in the room. Jesus came sliding into the room as she asked the question.

"Mom…my socks…I can't find any socks…" he sputtered to a stop. "I had like seventy pair…and I can't find any clean ones…" he looked at Jude and narrowed his eyes. "Did you steal my socks?"

"Your socks stink; why would I want them," Jude countered quickly. He knew where his socks were because he put them away as soon as the laundry was done. Jesus, on the other hand, unraveled his and threw them in different places around the room. It was really no surprise he had no idea where they were.

"They're clean…" Jesus began. "Dude," he turned to Brandon, "I need socks…"

"You're not borrowing my socks…" Brandon shut his brother down before putting his headphones on and settling in at the keyboard.

"Mom!" Jesus turned to Lena.

"Jesus, your socks are wherever you put them," she said pulling some fruit from the fridge and pulling out a carton of eggs.

Jesus was about to respond when Stef entered the room with her high heel shoes in her hand. "Wow!" Jesus couldn't help, but say, "Mom, what's up with the hotness," he teased, laughing.

"I'm always hot," Stef countered punching him playfully. She moved over and poured herself a cup of coffee. "What does everyone want for lunch?"

"Turkey," Jude piped in quickly.

"Turkey too," Callie nodded, standing up to help Lena with breakfast.

Stef looked over at Brandon and assumed, since he was paying no attention, that he would be fine with turkey too. "Where is Mariana?" she asked after counting her kids quickly.

"Still in the bathroom," Jesus said thinking. "Man, I bet a pair of my socks are in there." He turned to head back upstairs. "Mom, I want peanut butter for lunch!" he yelled back, taking the stairs two at a time.

"Wait…what…why is he looking for socks?" Stef questioned, washing her hands and pulling out some bread to begin sandwich making.

"You don't wanna know," Lena shook her head. "Callie, can you pull out the juice from the fridge and throw some bread in the toaster please." Callie nodded and did so dutifully.

"Mom, can I stay at Connor's tonight?" Jude asked pouring himself some juice. "He has a basketball game tonight and his dad is going to drop us off at the movies so we can meet Maddie and her friend." Lena and Stef exchanged quick looks, but Lena quickly agreed.

"And Brandon has that audition tonight and then a gig; which I think Mariana is going to," Lena rattled off. "Callie, sweetheart, are you working tonight?"

"No, but the Quinns wanted me to stop by," she said piling up toast on a plate. "Sophia is having a family night…" Callie missed seeing Jude lightly roll his eyes, but Lena picked up on it. She could understand that Jude felt a little put out by Callie having another biological sibling, but Sophia's mental illness was taking an extra toll on him. It wasn't easy for him to fully understand that her illness wasn't just a misguided attempt to get her older sister and parents' attention. The entire Quinn clan was just as annoying to Jude to a point. He just wanted this family…with his sister Callie. That's how it should have been; but the Quinns seemed to have made it their mission to impose on that, even though Callie had officially been adopted by Stef and Lena.

"Well that's nice, love," Stef smiled. "That you are going to take some time out for Sophia and Robert." She was a lot more comfortable with this situation now that Callie was officially an Adams-Foster. Before the papers were signed, Stef would have quite literally hit the roof in this situation. "Jesus…" Stef began seeing him coming downstairs smiling, "What are your plans for the night?"

The boy sat down and helped himself to a piece of toast from the stack, waiting as Lena put down a plate of eggs in front of everyone. "Wrestling then movies," he said with his mouth full.

"Jesus, get some fruit too," Lena instructed, impressed by the fact that Jesus had already filled his plate with eggs and toast before anyone else had even gotten settled. "And where is your sister?"

"Still in the bathroom; she says her hair thingy was broken so…" Jesus explained, mouth still full.

"Then she is never coming down," Callie laughed.

Stef went to the bottom of the stairs and yelled up, "Come on, Miss Thing…you are missing breakfast."

Mariana appeared at the top of the stairs in full pout. "I can't go outside like this?" she said pointing to one side of her head with her hair perfectly laid and the other that was still frizzy.

"Put a hat on it and get down here," Stef instructed sternly. "You have ten minutes to eat and get out of the door or Mama is leaving you."

Mariana frowned even harder. "Mama!" she yelled coming down the stairs. "Mama," she looked at Lena, who had to hold in a laugh. "I need a flatiron."

"Babe, you don't have time," Lena said semi-sadly. "We'll get you a new flatiron tomorrow…"

"I can't go outside like this!" Mariana gasped.

"You've looked worse," Jesus said standing up to take his pill. Mariana managed to sock him in the shoulder. "Hey…mom did you see that…"

"Jesus," Stef warned. She turned to Brandon. "B, eat…" she mouthed to her son who was barely paying attention.

"What am I supposed to do about my hair?" Mariana stomped.

"You look fine, just pull it back," Callie suggested. The fact that Callie had suggested it, Marianna considered it.

"Are you sure?" she asked tentative. Callie nodded, and that was good enough for Mariana.

"I could have said the exact same thing and she wouldn't have listened," Stef looked at Callie, who could only laugh.

Lena was about to say something, but the cell phone in her pocket vibrated loudly. She pulled it out and cringed at the fact that her mother was calling this early. "Geez, it's my mother…" she said passing Stef and heading out to the back patio.

"Love, you gotta eat," Stef said. Before she could protest, Lena took the cup of coffee out of her wife's hand and smiled, closing the sliding door behind her.

"Good morning, Mom. I was just about to leave for work," Lena prefaced her greeting. She didn't want her mother to think that she had an immense amount of time to be on the phone; especially in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the morning routine.

"Did you read the article about Taylor?" Dana started off immediately. "It was quite impressive, if I have to say so myself…"

"I did read her article," Lena agreed.

"I'm going to be landing at O'Hare in about four hours. I have a five hour layover and I'm going to call your sister to pick me up for a few hours. I want to see my granddaughters," her mother rattled off.

"You are in Chicago?" Lena asked a bit confused.

"No; I'm Washington DC right now with your father. But I am flying to Minnesota and I have a five hour layover at O'Hare. I was calling to make sure she still doesn't work on Thursday or Friday…" Dana said with a condescending tone.

"She works from home those days to help out," Lena corrected her.

"Help out…isn't her wife a stay-at-home mom…what does she do all day?"

Lena wasn't going over this with her mother again. "Mom…she is usually off or works half a day on Fridays from what I remember," Lena killed the subject of Zoe.

"Good," Lena could tell her mother was smiling. "I have great news for her. I have gotten her a job offer to teach at NYU."

"Excuse me…" Lena almost spit out her coffee. "You did what?" She could already see in her mind, Taylor hitting the roof.

"A colleague of mine told me about a wonderful opening at NYU for a mathematics and economics professor. He is the head of the mathematic department…"

"Mom…Taylor has a job…a very good job!" Lena stopped her mother. "And she taught a session at Northwestern last semester."

"Northwestern isn't NYU, Lena," her mother said firmly. "And if she wants to make REAL money as a Quant, or stock broker…whatever she does; she need to be in New York, not Chicago."

"Mom!" Jesus said sticking his head out of the door. "We're gonna be late."

Lena exhaled. "Mom…please don't touch down in Chicago and piss Taylor off," Lena pleaded. The fact that her sister and mother never got along was not lost on Lena. This was the type of thing that Taylor hated the most about her mother. The fact that she never, not once, thought that any of her decisions were right. Well, besides having those two little girls, Dana thought every decision Taylor made was ignorant or completely unnecessary. Dana had always hated the fact that Taylor had moved her family to Chicago instead of New York where she could make "real money," but finding Taylor a new job was a step too far.

"Don't be crass, Lena," Dana dismissed her. "I'm not going to piss her off; I'm being helpful."

Jesus banged on the window again and pointed to his arm although no watch was there. "Mom, I have to go…" Lena sighed. "I love you…I'll talk to you soon. And mom, please, just don't with Taylor…okay?"

Her mother only clucked, a sound that Lena knew was dismissive. "I know what's best for Taylor," Dana said before hanging up.

Lena looked at her phone for a moment, considering giving Taylor a heads up, but she was after all, late. She would call her sister from work, Lena decided, heading back into her very busy kitchen.

Lena smiled when her little sister finally popped up on the screen. Taylor was sitting on her couch with her oldest daughter, Thaddie, right beside her, wide-eyed and looking down at a piece of paper. Taylor was holding her bass guitar and pointing to something on the piece of paper. "Boo!" Lena shouted and laughed when Taylor and Thaddie gave her identical skeptical looks.

"You're late," Taylor said matter-of-factly.

"I'm on time," Lena stuck out her tongue which made the little girl laugh. "Hi Thaddie!" she waved enthusiastically at the little girl, who hopped up on her knees and waved back eagerly.

"Hi Aunt Lena," the little girl yelled at the tablet. "I readin' music," she announced proudly.

"Awww…are you?" Lena gushed. She hated the fact that she didn't see her nieces nearly enough in person, but she absolutely loved Skyping with them. "Are you good at it, sweetheart?"

Thaddie looked at her mother and back down at the paper that was now on the floor. "Maybe," she decided after considering the question. Lena could only laugh.

"Yeah she's good at it," Taylor said kissing her daughter's forehead. "And you were late. Your text said, Skype at 1…and it's 1:13…"

"I could have meant 1 my time," Lena rolled her eyes, but laughed anyway. "How was your meeting today?"

Taylor's eyes widen and she smiled. "Really good," Taylor nodded as if she was still a bit in disbelief. "I got offered a plan to partnership…"

"That sounds awesome!" Lena grinned at her sister.

"It is…quant don't get offered partnership," Taylor said still amazed. "But my success rate came in for the quarter and it was 97% gains…it makes my overall for the last six quarters 92% overall. My team made the company nearly a quarter of a billion dollars last year…my boss thinks a big part of that was my modelling. She wants to make sure I'm not looking to move on from the firm so they offered me a partnership plan; vested immediately, full partnership in three more years. And they tacked on a significant bonus and pay bump."

"Congratulations!" Lena was proud of her sister, even though she never really understood what the hell Taylor actually did for a living. She just understood it was for the stock market in some capacity or the other.

"Thanks! I haven't even told Zoe yet," Taylor blushed at the praise.

"Where is Zoe?" Lena questioned.

"Mommy and Gracie went to the spa," Thaddie said getting restless. "Mama, I wanna snack," she said hopping off of the couch.

"Babe, we are going to lunch as soon as Avie wakes up," Taylor told the little girl.

"That was my next question…" Lena said referring to her youngest niece.

"Well, she was asleep when Thaddie and I got home and Zoe said she laid down around 11, so she'll be up any minute now," Taylor stifled a yawn.

"Midday yawning, little sister?" Lena laughed.

"I got no sleep last night worrying," Taylor was honest.

"Mama…" Thaddie whined.

"Okay, okay," Taylor picked her tablet up and lead Lena and Thaddie into kitchen. Thaddie climbed up on a chair that was set at the breakfast bar. "Do you want apples with yogurt or carrots and peanut butter?"

"Apples," Thaddie said happily. Taylor opened a premade pack, but handed Thaddie a baby wipe to clean her hands first. The little girl knew the routine and cleaned her hands then reached out for her snack.

"So…here's the deal…" Taylor returned her attention to her sister. "You know next week I'm going to be on LA for business Monday and Tuesday..."

"You mentioned something like that," Lena nodded although someone was knocking on her door. "Hold on a second, Taylor." She looked around the screen, "come in," she yelled towards the door. She looked back at the screen. "It's my boss, so…"

"Okay this will just take a second. I was thinking of coming down to San Diego on Tuesday after my meeting and Zoe wants to bring the girls out on Thursday and we can stay until Sunday…"

"So you are going to spend your birthday here!" Lena squealed with delight.

"Yes…if that's doesn't mess up your schedule too much," Taylor said somewhat unsure. She hated imposing on people and she knew that Lena was always juggling so much.

"That would be great! But Taylor I have to go…send me a confirmation when everything is set?"

"Sure, will do," Taylor smiled. "Say goodbye to your aunt," she instructed Thaddie before turning the screen towards her. The little girl stuffed half an apple into her mouth and waved goodbye to her aunt.

"I love you, Thaddie. I love you, Taylor," Lena said quickly. She only heard I love you back from Thaddie.

"So, that was your little sister?" Anchor Beach's principal and Lena's boss, Monty questioned with piqued interest. "She sounds a lot like you…"

"I think she kinda looks like me too," Lena smiled rifling around her desk to pull out the magazine that Taylor had the feature article in. She stood a bit and handed the magazine to Monty.

"Behind the Scenes of Wall Street," Monty read the title above Taylor's picture. "She does look a lot like you," Monty agreed. "You mind if I borrow the magazine."

"Yeah, you can have it…we have like five copies at home," Lena grinned. "So…what can I do for you?" she smiled eagerly. It had energized her to talk to her little sister and even more so knowing that she would get to see her family next week.

"I just got in the test scores of the QIs and our reading scores are nowhere near where they should be. The kids just aren't grasping enough reasoning skills from our English department," Monty said lightly. Of course Lena knew exactly what that meant; Timothy and his department were on shaky ground. "I know how difficult it is to have these conversations with teachers…especially when they are so dogmatic about their teaching style, but without those scores improving…let's just say we'll have to do a lot more fundraising and a lot less applying for grants," Monty sighed.

"And you know how much I hate fundraising," Lena mumbled.

"It's definitely not my favorite either," Monty agreed wholehearted. "I'm willing to see what we can scrounge up this weekend with the test scores we have now, but we are going to eventually have to talk to Timothy…"

"Did you just use the word scrounge? Is that what Ivy League teaches you?" Lena teased light. Monty's soft skin flushed red with embarrassment, which made Lena chuckle a bit more.

"Scrounge is a very useful word," she countered after the embarrassment subsided a bit.

"It is…" Lena still laughed. "Well, I'll be in all day tomorrow, ready to scrounge."

"Then, I will be right here with you," Monty said turning to leave. She stopped at Lena's door. "Thanks for the magazine," she looked Lena over gently. "Hopefully, it's a good read."

"It's about my sister; I dare you not to be enlightened," Lena grinned as she watched Monty close the door behind her.

Lena was surprised at how much of her good mood had lingered throughout the day. Getting to talk with Taylor and see little Thaddie and then having a pretty good day lining up some grants to research had boosted her mood all the way home that evening. Her mood skyrocketed when she actually entered her house and it was amazingly quiet. It had been just after four and she had time enough to change into something more comfortable and even had time to tidy up a bit before Stef would be home. She debated between ordering out, or actually making dinner, but decided to leave that decision to her sexy wife. Oh and how sexy her wife actually was. It was on rare occasions that Lena actually saw Stef decked out in full gear, and although her police uniform was everything fantasies were made out of, Stef Foster is that black dress that barely reached her knees, made Lena want to squeal. Lena had actually gotten stuck on that image throughout the day; Stef with her blonde hair hanging around her beautiful shoulder, with those fierce blue eyes and that black dress that clung to her body. Thank goodness they would be alone most of the night.

Lena tried fruitlessly to occupy herself until she heard Stef open up the front door; and then like a well-trained puppy, she headed into the living room to greet her wife at the door. Stef was already kicking off her heels with mixed frustration. "Now I remember why I rarely wear those," she huffed. Lena tried to give her a kiss on the lips, but ended up landing awkwardly on her wife's cheek. "I swear…I hate court," Stef said breezing past Lena and into the kitchen.

"Was it that bad?" Lena asked frowning.

"Love, you have no idea," Stef assured her. She sat at the table and rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Mike and I were in court all day and the prosecutor called us for exactly two questions. Then when the jury went to deliberate, they came back in less than twenty minutes with a not guilty verdict. Mike was so angry…I swear, days like this makes it hard for him not to drink," Stef said absently.

Lena bit down on her lower lip. "Well, at least it's over now," she offered humbly. She didn't want to hear about Mike, but she damn sure didn't want to start another argument with her wife. Therefore, she would grin and bear it this time. She was still on the high from her awesome day, so there was no reason to fight with her wife. "I talked to Taylor today…" she noted, hoping that hearing about her sister-in-law would change Stef's mood. "She is bringing Zoe and the girls here for her birthday…"

"Valentine's Day, right?" Stef craned her neck until it cracked. "I guess we won't be going all out for that day then."

Lena wanted to say something, but she only shrugged. "I guess not. What do you want for dinner?" she asked finding it easier to just completely change the subject.

"We can order in Mexican…something spicy to wash away this terrible day," Stef said standing. "I'm not really even hungry. I only want to take this get-up off, take a nice long shower and forget that this day even existed," she said moving towards the stairs.

Sadly enough, this was how Lena now felt too.