A/N: You guys are such good motivation! Thanks for your comments, and I hope everyone enjoys the new episode tonight!

CHAPTER ONE: CHOICES

"I've got a family that's interested in adopting Callie and Jude."

Upon hearing those words, Lena felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. "W-what?" she barely managed to ask.

"They're local, in Rancho Sante Fe," Bill explained. "They've fostered a few times over the years, and they had a biological son; he was killed last year in Afghanistan."

"That's horrible."

"I know. They're good people and are prepared to provide a lot for the kids. We've discussed Jude's learning challenges and Callie's history. They've come up with plans for helping them with both."

"Wow."

"So, you said you had good news, too?"

"Um, yeah, I did, didn't I? Stef and I talked this weekend and... well, we realized that we wanted to keep Callie and Jude." There was silence from the other end of the phone. "Bill? Are you still there?"

"Oh," was all he finally said.

Lena sighed. "Yeah."

Lena was in a fog for the rest of the day once she got off the phone. That was not at all how she'd expected her conversation with Bill to go, and now she was uncertain what they should do.

She tried to hide her preoccupation from the kids, but they all noticed. She forgot a couple items when they stopped by the grocery store on the way home, and dinner almost burned when she set the oven timer incorrectly (luckily, Stef came to the rescue).

"Hey, Mama?" Jesus' voice broke Lena out of her reverie.

"Hmm?"

Jesus indicated her still-half full plate. She'd mostly just been pushing the food back and forth during dinner. "Are you done?" All of the kids had finished eating and were each doing their assigned part to clean up.

"Yeah, I think I am."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Mariana asked. It was the third time that one of the kids had voiced that question since they'd left school.

"I'm fine. I'm sorry, guys."

Stef took Lena's hand. "You guys please finish up down here," she told the kids. "I'll take care of Mama." They then headed up to their bedroom. "What's going on?" Stef asked once she'd shut the door behind them. "What happened with Bill? Bad news?"

"I'm not sure. Apparently, he already had a prospective family lined up for Callie and Jude." Stef sighed. "Yeah, that was my reaction. I almost feel like I should apologize to the kids. We keep telling them how amazing they are, but I hadn't expected that Bill would find someone already."

"Are they good?" Stef wondered.

"The way Bill was talking, they sound like the Warbucks. They live in Rancho Sante Fe, in a mansion, I'm sure. The kids would have their own rooms, their own bathrooms, a pool - "

"All that just means they have money," Stef pointed out. "It doesn't mean they'd be a good family."

"They've fostered before, so they have experience. They're going to get a tutor for Jude. They plan to homeschool him, if need be, to get him caught up."

"Okay." Lena had been doing a lot for the little boy's schooling, but that was an offer they couldn't match. And they both knew it.

"The mom's a psychiatrist, and has a plan for working with Callie."

"That could be good for her." They'd been trying their best, but sometimes time and love just couldn't heal all wounds. With Callie, it felt like they'd barely scratched the surface.

"Yeah, it could."

"Did you tell Bill about our decision?" Stef wondered.

"Yeah, after he'd already been singing their praises." Lena sighed. "We've got them now, so he'd give us first dibs, but... I can't help but wonder if we're the best thing for them or not? I mean, we can all agree that the house is too small. Usually the only time any of the kids can manage to get our undivided attention is when they're in trouble."

"We can work on that."

"I know we can, and we need to, but... I don't want to keep them from a better life just because it'll hurt us to let them go. That's not fair to them. We've fostered kids before; we know the drill. We need to make sure that we're doing what's best for Callie and Jude."

Stef nodded. "They're both old enough to think for themselves. Why don't we ask them what they want?"

All of the kids had come up to their rooms by then, so Lena and Stef took Callie and Jude down to the living room to talk privately. Jude seemed nervous, chewing on his green-painted fingernails.

"Did we do something wrong?" he asked as they got seated.

"You tell me," Stef asked him with a smile. "What don't we know about?"

Jude shrugged. "Nothing."

Lena took his hand. "You guys aren't in trouble. We have some news for you, actually. Bill has found a couple that's interested in adopting you."

Jude's face instantly fell, while Callie worked very hard to keep hers an impassive mask. "He did?" the little boy shakily asked. The siblings were both afraid of leaving their current family behind and what might lie ahead in their lives with a new family.

Stef nodded. "We wanted to talk to you, because you have a choice to make. You can meet this couple and see if you'd like to live with them, or you can stay here. With us."

Callie raised an eyebrow, suspicious. "What do you mean, stay here? Just until Bill finds something else for us?"

"No," Lena told her, shaking her head. "Stay here for good. We talked this weekend and we've changed our minds. If you two want to stay here permanently, we'll adopt you."

Jude startled Lena slightly when he threw himself into her arms. "I want to stay," he happily declared.

"You don't have to decide right now," Stef told them. "This other couple... well, they've got more money than we do. They'll be able to provide things for you that we can't, and it sounds like they're very interested in making sure that you're happy, healthy, and successful in life."

"You're sure?" Callie asked.

"Well, we haven't met them ourselves," Stef replied, "But Bill told Lena - "

"No," the teen interrupted. "You're sure that you want us?"

Lena brushed Callie's hair back with one hand; her other arm was still hugging Jude. "We are completely certain. You have become part of this family, and we don't want to lose you. But we want you both to think about this, okay? We want to make sure that you pick what's going to be best for you."

Callie and Jude held each other's look for a long moment. "We don't have to think about it," she announced. "We want to stay here."

The moms smiled. "Okay. We'll talk tomorrow about what comes next," Lena told them. "It's almost bedtime for you, isn't it?" she asked Jude. He nodded. "We'll come check on you in a little bit."

"Okay." He started to leave the room, but turned back and gave each of the moms a fierce hug. "Thank you," he whispered to each of them.

Stef blinked back tears. "You don't need to thank us, love."

Callie was still sitting on the couch, staring at her hands. "Are you okay, sweetheart?" Lena asked.

"I'll have a house," she whispered, seemingly awestruck. Lena and Stef smiled.

"You do have a house," Lena assured her. "And you have two more brothers and a sister, and two moms that love you very much."

"That piece of paper is just to legalize what we already know," Stef added. "You're already a member of this family."

But that piece of paper was so important to Callie. Without it, everything else just seemed like more promises that could too easily be broken. She'd had so many broken promises during her lifetime. But she wasn't sure how to voice that fear. So she didn't say anything and simply headed upstairs after giving the moms a quiet thank you.

Stef sighed once she and Lena were alone. "She is like Fort Knox."

"It's understandable. She'll trust us eventually, once she learns to feel secure. I think this is the only way she'll ever be able to feel secure."

"We can't screw this up," Stef worried.

Lena smiled. "At least no worse than we've screwed up the rest of the kids."

TBC...