A/N: The response to this has been amazing! Thank you all so much!


Stef and Lena made their way towards the girls section of the children's store, Callie was walking behind them dragging her feet and looking around her, Lena had told her to lift her feet when she walked, she did, but only for a few seconds, Stef couldn't help but laugh, she was such a clever little girl, Lena just let out a frustrated sign,

"Look at this" Lena said happily holding up a flowery pink dress to Stef and Callie, Stef turned and looked at it they both looked at Callie who turned her face up at it,

"Oh, take it no dresses" Stef said trying not to laugh

"Don't like dresses that colour" Callie said with a pout folding her arms across her chest

"Oh well that's good to know sweetie" Lena said as she tried not to laugh at the young girls facial expressions, "how about blue?" Lena said as she held a small blue dress up, Callie shook her head, she walked over to Lena and reached up, Lena looked to Stef and Stef smiled, Stef took Jude and Lena reached down and picked up Callie, this is the first time Callie and Lena had ever had any proper interaction and Lena's face lit up,

"Ohhhhh pretty" Callie said pointing to a red spotty dress at the end of the rail, Lena looked and smiled she grabbed it off the rail and held it up to Callie,

"You like this one?" Lena asked, Callie nodded and placed her head on Lena's shoulder, just that little thing made Lena smile wide, Stef saw the look in Lena's eyes, Lena was falling hard and fast for these kids and she wasn't far behind, that little bit of fun Callie had in the bathroom made Stef want to jump up and down with glee, Callie was getting comfortable with them, but she was still weary of Brandon.

"I think it's a very pretty dress" Stef said as she joined the duo, "what'd you think Jude?" Stef said looking at Jude and bouncing him slightly, he clapped his hands and hit his face, Stef just laughed, Callie smiled and reached for the dress, she touched it and then took her hand back just as quick, Stef watched her, she watched her face as Lena put the dress into the basket that was on the ground, Callie had tears in her eyes and buried her head into Lena's neck, Lena could feel the tears and looked at Stef with a worried expression, Lena pulled Callie back and looked at her,

"What's wrong Callie?" Lena asked looking at Callie, Callie just sniffed and tried to put her head on Lena's shoulder but Lena stopped her, "Tell me what's wrong baby" Lena asked again, using her free hand to wipe the tears off Callie's cheeks, Callie looked into Lena's eyes and her heart broke, this little girl looked so broken and so scared,

"Nobody buyed me clothes before" she said sniffing, Lena's heart broke even more, she pulled Callie close to her and rocked her, Stef joined them and put her hand on Callie's back,

"Well we are buying you clothes honey" Stef said running her fingers through Callie's long brown hair, Lena could feel her take a deep breath to try and calm herself down, she nodded into Lena's shoulder, Lena pulled her out and looked at her,

"How about we grab you a few more things and then we go home and take a nap?" Lena said with a smile, trying not to let her own tears fall,

"Tay" Callie said as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, she lay her head back on Lena's shoulder and sighed, Stef smiled sadly at Lena and got one in return, both these women's hearts were breaking for a little girl they have only know a few hours.


A hour later Stef was pulling into the driveway, Callie, Jude and Lena where all sleeping, well Lena was just 'resting her eyes' but Callie and Jude were out for the count, Stef smiled into the mirror as she saw Callie was holding Jude's hand , Stef stopped the car and Lena opened her eyes, she turned and looked behind her,

"They're both out" Lena said smiling, Stef nodded,

"I'm not surprised, Bill did drop them off at 8:30 this morning babe" Stef said as she unbuckled the seat belt, "you get Jude, I'll get Callie and then I'll get the bags" Stef said as she opened the door, they managed to get both kids in and up the stairs to their room without a fuss, they tucked Callie and Jude into their bed and watched them for a few minutes, Stef kissed Lena on the cheek and then went down to start unloading the car, fifty minutes later the car was unpacked and Stef was trying to assemble the highchair in the kitchen when Lena came down,

"How's it going honey" Lena said noticing her wife's frustrated expression,

"I don't see why people give you instructions if they can't write them in bloody basic English" Stef said throwing the paper on the ground and running her hands through her hair, she looked at Lena who was giving her 'the look' "oh come on Lena, this thing is hopeless" Lena laughed

"I'm sure it is honey, but there is no need to get angry with it" Lena said as she walked over to Stef, she reached down and picked up the instructions, "ah I see what you mean" Lena said as she studied them,

"Exactly, useless"

"Stef!" Lena said,

"Sorry"

"So you should be, you need to watch your language around the kids, and especially Brandon, I heard him attempt to say something yesterday" Lena said

"Did he know, I'm sure he didn't get very far" Stef said raising an eyebrow and laughing,

"Too right he didn't, he got a time out" Lena said smiling, Stef smiled too,

"It's nice to see your taking my advise on board about the discipline love, I don't want to be the bad guy all the time" Stef said laughing and rubbing Lena's arm, Stef placed a small kiss on Lena's cheek and was about to say something when they heard Jude yelling, Stef and Lena dropped everything and ran straight up the stairs and into their bedroom, when they entered, Jude was sitting up outside the duvet pushing Callie, Callie was pushing his hand away, Jude looked at Lena and Stef and cried harder, Lena went and grabbed him into her arms, she started to bounce him, she walked to the bathroom and took him in, leaving Stef to deal with Callie, Stef noticed that Callie looked uncomfortable, she took a step forward and heard her say something,

"No please" Callie said in pain, her hands flying to her neck, Stef watched in amazement at the little girl who was flinging herself all over the bed, Stef grabbed her and tried to wake her,

"Callie" Stef said, she was met by Callie pushing against her,

"No, sorry" Callie said trying to get out of Stef's hold, Stef just held onto her tighter,

"Come on Callie, wake up for me sweetie, it's Stef" Stef said as she leaned down and kissed her forehead,

"No please, no more please" Callie said as her hand went down to grab the button of her jeans, Stef watched in horror as Callie tried to fight her and hold onto her jeans at the same time,

"Please baby, wake up" Stef said again and this time she was met with big brown eyes, scanning the room, Stef let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding, "Hi" Stef said smiling down at Callie, Callie didn't say anything she just looked at Stef confused, Stef smiled down at her, "you ok?" Callie nodded and tried to get out of Stef's arms but Stef wouldn't let her,

"Let me go" Callie asked her voice breaking, Callie wiggled and moved around as best she could but Stef wasn't going to let go,

"I'm not letting you go Callie" Stef whispered in her ear softly,

"Please" Callie asked again, this time tears were falling and she couldn't stop them, Stef's heart broke, and she pulled the little girl towards her and held her close,

"It's okay Callie" Stef said, Lena was now standing at the doorway of the bathroom with Jude asleep in her arms, she looked to Stef who looked back at her lost, she didn't know what to do, Lena was always the one that dealt with the kids when they were upset, even Brandon, but there was something about Callie that was different, something had clicked between them and Stef wanted to do nothing more than hold her all day, "it's ok baby, I've got you" Stef felt Callie lean into her more and let out a sign, Stef smiled to herself, she felt Callie's little hands wrapped around her neck more and she done the same, she placed a kiss at the side of the girls head and held her, Lena walked over to them and sat at the end of the bed,

"Everything ok?" she asked Stef as she rubbed her back with her free hand, Stef nodded,

"She was having a nightmare" Stef said her voice breaking, Lena had never seen Stef act like this around any of the kids they fostered, Stef tired her hardest not to get too attached as she knew it would only be harder when it came to saying goodbye, but will Callie, she seemed to bond with her straight away, the same way she did with Jude, Lena knew in her heart that these kids would be staying more than a week and she secretly hoped that Stef felt the same way.