Wow! Thank you for your response! I am getting this up quickly because I had it ready but fair warning, updates will be pretty sporadic considering I am a full time student and have a job so just hang in there with me!
Stef sang until she could feel Callie's breathing even out. Gently, she lifted the girl's head off of her lap and placed it on the pillow. She looked at her watch, noting it had been nearly half an hour. She quietly snuck up the stairs and slipped into hers and Lena's room. Lena, of course, was still awake.
"I'm sorry, love. She couldn't fall asleep. I'm also sorry for springing this on you without talking to you first but God, Lena if you would have been there and seen how afraid she was," Stef began explaining, sitting down at the foot of the bed.
Lena sat up. "It's okay, honey. As long as she's asleep and okay," she said, gently caressing Stef's face.
The two sat in a comfortable silence for a little while, until Lena spoke up.
"So, what is her situation?"
Stef sighed. "She called 911 because she woke up to her house on fire. Her parents were passed out on the couch. Either an overdose or too much alcohol. Most likely both. They're at the hospital being treated, but I'm not sure how well they're doing. But, it's obvious that they care more about getting high than this little girl. She said they leave her alone a lot. Hell, they passed out and the house caught fire."
Lena rubbed Stef's cheek as she spoke. Stef cared so deeply for people, and Lena knew she would do the same thing if she were in that situation.
"I just couldn't leave her. CPS came and told her she'd need to go to a foster home and she just started screaming and crying. If you would have seen her-" Stef continued before being cut off.
"Baby, it's okay. I understand. I would have done the same thing. What matters is that she's safe here. We will figure this out, just like we always do," Lena comforted, kissing Stef's forehead gently.
"We should wake the kids up earlier. That way we can talk to them so they aren't confused when they go downstairs. Then Callie can sleep more too," Stef proposed.
"Sounds like a good idea. Now, I think you need to rest, too. Come on," Lena said, patting on the empty space next to her on the bed.
Stef quickly obliged, getting herself under the covers and snuggled up to Lena, who cradled her and planted small kisses on her head.
The two fell asleep for a few hours, waking up to the alarm they had set. The clock read 7:30, and both women got out of bed fairly quickly.
"I'll grab the twins if you want to get Brandon up," Lena offered.
Stef smirked. "You want the kids that are easy to wake up. Leaving me with Brandon's morning attitude."
Lena chuckled, "I'm not denying that statement."
Quietly, each mother crept into their kids' room and gently woke them up. Eventually, the 5 of them found themselves back in the moms' room.
"Why do we have to be awake so early. It's Sunday!" Brandon whined.
"Because Mama and I need to talk to you about something," Stef said, urging them to sit on the bed.
The three kids sat down on the bed while the two women crouched down to be level with them.
"So last night a little girl needed my help. Her name is Callie and she's 8, just like you Brandon," Stef said, looking towards Brandon. "Her house caught on fire and her parents aren't very nice, so she needed somewhere to stay. She's downstairs on the couch sleeping. So, I need you guys to let her sleep, and when she does wake up, I expect you to all be nice to her. She's scared and this is all brand new for her."
"Don't worry, Mom. We will be nice. Just like Brandon was to me and Mariana," Jesus said.
Stef smiled at her son. She loved his heart and how sweet he was.
"Thank you, baby," Stef said, leaning in to kiss his forehead.
"Mariana?" Lena said, looking at the young girl.
"I'll be nice. Maybe we can play Barbie when she wakes up," Mariana offered.
"I'm sure she'd love that, Miss Thing," Lena replied.
"And Brandon, you were so nice when Mariana and Jesus first got here, so I trust you will be nice to Callie, too," Stef stated, cupping his chin in her hand.
Brandon nodded and smiled.
"Alright, my babies! Let's be quiet while Mama and I make breakfast," Stef ordered, standing up.
Lena stood up and tied her hair back. Soon enough, everyone parted ways. The kids went back into their rooms, except Mariana.
"Can I cook with you, Mommies?" She asked sweetly.
"Of course you can, baby. We always love it when we have our little helper in the kitchen," Lena answered.
They knew that Mariana would begin to get insecure. They had been adopted for a little over a year, but she was still living in fear that something might happen.
In the kitchen, the three worked to make pancakes and bacon. Mariana helped Lena make the pancake mix, breaking a few eggs in the process. Stef worked on the bacon, praying she wouldn't burn it. By 9, the table was set and their two sons joined them in the kitchen. The moms' were sure to make sure they stayed quieter than normal.
In the living room, Callie's nose crinkled as she woke to the smell of bacon. Her eyes fluttered open and she could hear the quiet chatter coming from the kitchen. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, accompanied by a long yawn. She sat for a moment. Should she go into the kitchen on her own, or wait until they came to get her. Ultimately, she decided to stand up and walk towards the kitchen. She stood in the archway between the two rooms. Stef looked up and smiled, quickly wiping her face and swallowing as she stood up from the table.
"Good morning, sleepy head. How did you sleep?" Stef asked as she made her way to the little girl.
"Good," Callie replied shyly as she placed her finger around her nose.
"Good. I hope you're hungry. There's tons of pancakes and bacon for your belly," Stef smiled as she guided Callie to the seat next to hers.
"Everyone, this is Callie. Callie, these are our kids. That's Brandon, he's the same age as you, and those are our twins, Jesus and Mariana. They're just a year younger than you," Stef introduced.
Callie felt her body suddenly tense up. She felt nervous and out of place.
"Do you like Barbie's?" Mariana asked.
Callie's eyes got a little brighter. "Yea, but I don't have any."
"That's okay, I have a lot. We can play with them after breakfast if you want to," Mariana offered.
Stef and Lena watched as the two interacted and smiled. They didn't doubt that their kids would be welcoming and sweet, but it still made them feel good to see it.
Callie nodded her head and smiled.
"Let me make you a plate, Callie," Lena offered, getting up and grabbing the plate off the table.
She placed 2 pancakes and 2 pieces of bacon on the plate and placed it back in front of the girl.
"What do you want to drink, honey?" Lena asked, heading to the fridge.
"Um," Callie scanned the cups in front of her, "do you have apple juice?"
"We sure do!" Lena replied, pulling the bottle out of the fridge.
Callie watched as the juice poured into the glass, fixing all of her focus onto it. She hesitated to start eating. Normally, her parents didn't make this much, and she was so hungry. She picked up the syrup and poured it over the pancakes as if she was in a trance, then grabbed her fork and started eating. She didn't realize how hungry she was until she actually swallowed the pancakes. Before she knew it, her plate was empty.
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to eat it all," Callie shuddered when she realized what she had done. Normally mommy and daddy got mad when she ate everything. They told her she was greedy. She didn't want to be greedy.
Stef and Lena looked at each other with confusion.
"It's okay, sweets. You can even have more if you want," Stef offered kindly.
Callie shook her head. "That's okay."
"Why don't you kids run off and play then while we clean up?" Lena suggested.
"Okay. Come on, Callie!" Mariana called, motioning for Callie to follow her upstairs.
Callie looked over at Stef as if she was asking for permission.
"Go ahead, love," Stef assured.
In the kitchen, Stef and Lena began clearing the table.
"She's so afraid, Stef," Lena finally said.
"I know," Stef agreed, blowing hair out of her face.
She could hear her phone ringing from the nook.
"That's probably Andrew. Let me go grab that," Stef called, putting the plates she had in her hand into the sink.
"Hello?" Stef answered, wiping her wet hands on her pants.
"Hi, Stef? It's Andrew from CPS," said the voice on the other line.
"Yea, yea. Hi, Andrew," Stef replied.
"So I've gotten more information about Callie like her most recent medical and dental visits. I also got her a bag of stuff from her room. Luckily her room wasn't damaged in the fire," Andrew began.
"Sounds good. Do you have any news on the parents?" Stef questioned.
"I called the hospital. They are both still breathing through tubes, but they are getting extracted today which is a good sign. However, the police as well as myself will be in there to talk to them as soon as possible. It's likely they're getting hit with drug charges and child endangerment, which means Callie's going to need to find a long-term foster home while that is all figured out," Andrew replied.
"Let me talk to Lena. I'm sure she can stay as long as she needs to," Stef offered.
If she was being honest, she didn't trust the system enough to let Callie get lost in it.
"Well, I'll be stopping over in about an hour. We can hash out everything then," Andrew answered.
They said their goodbyes and Stef went back into the kitchen.
"What did Andrew say?" Lena asked, looking back from the sink.
"Her parents are still breathing through tubes. They'll be extracted today. They're most likely getting drug and child endangerment charges. He said he would need to look into finding her a long-term foster home," Stef said with a sigh.
Lena dried her hands off and looked at Stef. She knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't allow herself to let Callie get hurt.
"And you want that to be us?" Lena asked.
Stef looked at her partner, "I promised her she'd be okay. I can't fall back on that. I know this was sprung on you in the first place, so I told Andrew we would talk about it."
Lena hesitated, but ultimately, she was in the same boat as Stef. Her caring heart couldn't stand the thought of that young girl getting hurt even more than she already had been.
"We'll make it work," Lena said.
Stef felt a weight lift off of her chest. Callie deserved some peace of mind for once in her life.
Upstairs, Callie and Mariana sat on the floor in Mariana's room. Callie had never seen so many toys in her life. There were barbies, cars, stuffed animals, everything. She was pretty sure her barbies had more clothes than her.
"This is my favorite one. But you can play with her if you want," Mariana offered, picking up the brunette barbie.
"That's okay. It's your barbie so you should get to play with her," Callie replied. She didn't want to make Mariana mad.
"When I first got here mommies' let me use their favorite blanket. So, I want you to use my favorite doll," Mariana pushed, handing over the barbie.
Callie grabbed the barbie and smiled. The two played for a little while until they were interrupted by the doorbell. Callie froze, knowing that it had to be Andrew. She felt her chest tighten. All of a sudden, she found it hard to breathe, and she just started crying. Mariana didn't know what to do.
"MOMMY!" She screamed, knowing they would come right away.
Like clockwork, both women appeared in the room.
"What is it baby?" Lena asked.
Mariana pointed at Callie. "Something is wrong! I don't know what happened. We were playing, and I was being nice!"
"It's okay, sweetie. We know you were being nice. Can you do us a big favor? I need you to go downstairs and ask the nice man, Andrew, if he would like something to drink. Then go into one of your brother's room, okay?" Lena tried as Stef approached Callie.
Mariana nodded, and did what her Mama said, running down the stairs.
Lena joined Stef, who was talking to Callie.
"Hey, honey. Can you take a breath for me?" Stef asked, attempting to calm the girl down before seeing what the problem was.
Callie took in a shaky breath of air, sniffling in the process. She couldn't stop crying, and she didn't want to get in trouble.
"I'm-I'm s-s-sorry," Callie stuttered, but both women could hear how afraid she was.
"Oh, sweetie it's okay. It's okay to cry, we just need you to take a deep breath so you don't make yourself sick, that's all," Lena explained this time.
Callie did as she was told, continuing to try to take stable and deep breaths. Her body wouldn't cooperate, and her head was beginning to hurt along with her chest.
"My-my chest, it hurts," Callie stammered.
"I know, I know, just keep breathing. Think of something super happy. What's your favorite movie?" Stef tried.
"The Wizard of Oz," Callie answered between breaths.
"That's one of my favorites, too!" Lena answered back, rubbing the girl's back.
"You know how Dorothy clicks her feet together 3 times to get back home? Why don't you try to click your heels together to come back to us? To calm down," Stef suggested.
Callie looked down at her feet. She clicked her heels together once.
"Alright that was once, now give us two more!" Stef encouraged.
Callie did two more, hearing the two women count it out loud with her. When she was finished, she looked up, surprised that her breathing had begun to even out and return back to normal.
"Good job, love. Now, what's got you all worked up and upset?" Stef asked once she saw that Callie was calmer.
"Andrew," Callie answered.
"What about him?" Stef asked.
Lena allowed her to take the lead, at least for now. Callie trusted Stef more than her at the moment.
"I don't want to go with him. I'm afraid. He's gonna take me and put me into a scary house. Or to mommy and daddy who are going to be so mad at me," Callie replied.
"Oh, honey. Andrew isn't here to take you away. He's here to drop off some more stuff for you! And he's here to give us some information about you that we need to take care of you. Your mommy and daddy are still in the hospital, and they are going to be getting in trouble for the stuff they've done to you, so Andrew wanted to come and see if it was okay that you stay here longer," Stef began explaining, figuring honesty was the best way to approach this.
Callie's eyes widened. Her head was so confused, because she's supposed to love her parents and want to be with them, but her parents were scary. They yelled at her, and they didn't want to spend time with her.
"We know this is scary, but you're going to be here for a while, and we aren't going to hurt you. You can laugh and smile and play here, but you can also cry if you need to. You're not going to get in trouble," Lena added after Callie's hesitation.
Callie just nodded, hooking her finger onto her nose. She felt guilty for not wanting to see her parents. She felt guilty for wanting to stay. Everything was so confusing, and she didn't understand why.