AN- I hope you guys like this chapter. It was longer than I anticipated so I have just introduced Callie and Jude to the other kids. There will be more interaction between them in the next chapter.

Stef sat with Bill and tried not to glare at Donald, who was sitting, handcuffed, in the table to the left of them. She knew he had evoked pity from some of the people there, but she couldn't. She couldn't stand to have an ounce of sympathy for the man who is the reason her foster children's mother was dead. Her mind was snapped out of it when she heard her name being called to the witness stand.

"Please state your name and rank," she's asked as she repeated the words she had said a couple hundred times before. Staring at the wall in the back of the courtroom Stef tried not to show her pure hatred of the man.

"When did you receive the call about Callie and Jude Jacobs?"

"At nine me and my partner, John were on our way back to the precinct from our round when we got a radio that there was a fatal accident and that there were two young children, Callie who is nine and Jude who is 6, at the home. We were closest to the address so we took it. We were told a DHS worker was on the way."

"When you got there, what did you find?"

"We met the DHS worker outside and told us she was working on finding a foster home. Entering the apartment we found it littered with beer bottles and smelled badly of cigerette smoke."

"Where were the children?"

"They were sitting on a couch in the livingroom." Stef sighed internally as she answered question after question of the night before. Finally she was let down from the stand. The questions she answered wouldn't change if Callie and Jude were going into foster care. There was no question they were. Their father was in jail and there was no family that was willing to take them. The questions would however, be used later in the criminal trial if they decided to charge him with child neglect.

"Foster!" Stef pulled her head around when she heard her name being called as she walked out of the courtroom.

"Captain," she acknowledged.

"Where's your report?" she asked as Stef cursed herself. She hadn't had the energy to write it last night and had forgotten with Callie's meltdown to do it this morning.

"I will have it to you tomorrow, Ma'am."

"I want you to come down to the station and finish it now."

"Ma'am?" Stef asked surprised. Usually her reports were written at her kitchen table in the evenings as her kids worked on homework. It gave them some bonding time and if she was doing work the kids were much less likely to grumble and complain.

"Then I want you to take three days off."

"What?" Stef asked surprised.

"I was in the courtroom," Robert's said a little more gently, "Those kids are going to need a little extra care, and seeing as it's almost Spring break, I have a feeling Lena would be hard pressed to disappear from work."

"I promised Callie I'd be home by 7, I would like to keep that promise," Stef sighed.

"Fine, I want it in my inbox before I get there to the station tomorrow morning."

"I will," Stef said, relieved, "Thank you ma'am."

"Just make sure you keep an eye on those kids," Robert's said as she walked in the other direction.

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"Lena? What time is it?" Callie asked for the eighth time in the past two hours.

"It's 4:45, Hun," Lena said as she looked over from where she was watering the garden. Callie sat in the grass as Jude jumped around on the trampoline. She had refused to do anything Lena had suggested and had spent the day sitting, staring off into space or pacing different areas of the house and yard. "Have you ever pressed flowers, Callie?" Lena asked as she watched Callie walk over to the rose bush and finger one of the pink petals.

"What is pressing flowers?" Callie asked looking over her shoulder at her.

"Putting them in books so they dry really pretty."

"Mommy says we're not supposed to pick flowers."

"Well, yes, if someone doesn't want you to pick their flowers you shouldn't. And it's stealing if you pick flowers out of other people's yards but it's ok if you ask." She said as she walked over. "What one is your favorite?" she asked as they stood in front of three bushes of roses. Callie pointed to a red rose. Grabbing the garden scissors, Lena handed them to Callie "Cut it off, but be careful of the thorns," she smiled.

Callie carefully cut it and held it in her hands gingerly. "Are there any other flowers you like," Lena asked as Callie looked around, pointing to a few other types, "Go cut one of each," she said, gently patting Callie's shoulder, happy to see the girl engaged in something. Once Callie was done they got Jude and went into the house. Lena set Jude and Callie at the table with a snack as she went into the living room and looked through the bookshelf that held her old textbooks on the top shelf. At one end was one that had been painted and colored, Lena smiled as she pulled it out for a moment and looked at the front, 'Mariana's and Mama's flower book' replaced the trigonometry title. Pulling a old stats textbook down she went into the kitchen where Jude was finishing his banana and Callie hadn't touched her's, "Once you eat half of your banana we'll press your flowers," Lena said to the moody girl that was slumped. Callie looked at her with an emotionless expression, "you didn't eat much breakfast, just half."

"I don't like bananas," Callie said.

"Ok, how about an orange?" Lena asked, holding one up, "You can have half a banana, orange, or apple." Callie glared at her for a moment before mumbling 'orange'.

"Do you want me to peal it for you?" Lena asked with a smile. At least the little girl didn't flat out refuse.

Callie shook her head and Lena handed it to her, watching as Callie peeled it and meticulously made sure there was no white strings before peeling the sections apart one by one. Lena was trying to figure out if this was a way to put off eating the fruit as Callie put them in two piles. After she was done Callie held out one of the piles to Lena, "Do you want some?" she asked quietly.

"Thank you, Callie," Lena smiled, taking it from her.

"Mommy says oranges always taste better when you share them with a friend," Callie mumbled as she picked up one of the smaller sections and eating it as she stared off into space. Lena smiled to herself as she ate a section watching the girl.

Lena tried to remind herself not to get too close to the children. Her and Stef had been fostering for three years not and had done short term placements (a month or less) until they got the twins, who's mother would be close to getting them back, visitations, clean UAs (Drug test), an apartment, and then she would disappear. After the fourth time this happened the court took away her parental rights.

About that time Abby came as an emergency placement until they could find a long term home for her. Like Callie and Jude, it was so she would not be put in a children's home. A girl who had attachment issues and tried to play parents against eachother. They had started to break Abby's barriers and she was integrating herself into the family. One day about a month and a half ago, a year and a half after Abby had come into their home, they were told Abby would be moving the next day. That was when they decided they were done with foster care, after their heart was broken. And now her wife, without talking to her, decided to take in these two kids who she couldn't help having an instant connection to. Jude because he was such a sweet and loving boy and Callie she felt herself falling more everytime she broke through to the girl.

"I'm done, Lena," Jude said, looking up at her. Lena watched him for a moment as he yawned, reminding herself of their late night and waking up in the middle of the night.

"Ok, Mr. Jude, put your glass in the sink and go wash your hands," as he did, Lena turned on the TV to Spongebob. It wasn't like them to put the kids in front of the TV but he looked tired and maybe it would coax him into a nap. Once she got him settled she pulled out the textbook and put it on the table as Callie cleaned up. She helped Callie place the flowers in the book and explained to her how it worked as she watched the girl. She couldn't help but watch how careful the girl was in her movements, and how often she asked if she was doing something right, almost as if she was afraid to do something wrong. Once she had put the flowers in different pages the placed the full fruit pull on top of it and placed it in the middle of the table.

"Why don't we get you in the bath now? Once all the other kids are here it'll be really busy."

"Can I take a shower?" Callie asked.

"Do you not like baths?" Lena asked surprised.

"We didn't have a bath. We just took showers."

"Ok, come on and I'll show you where everything is," Lena said as she walked up to the kids' bathroom and turned on the shower, showing Callie what was what and setting a towel on the counter, "I'm going to find you some clothes, in the next couple of days we're going to go buy you guys some of your own, ok?" Callie nodded at her as she played with the water nobs.

Lena went to the hope chest where they kept emergency cloths for kids and pulled out a pair of stretch pants that looked like it would fit Callie and a purple t-shirt, grabbing a pair of underwear out of the one of the packages in the bottom of the chest. "I'm going to open the door to put some clothes for you on the counter, ok?" Lena called before cracking the door and setting the clothes next to the towel. Checking on Jude she found he was asleep, turning off the TV she picked up from the day until she heard the water turn off. Giving Callie ten minutes she went up and found Callie standing in front of the mirror, her hair in a knot near her neck. "You want help?" she asked as she saw Callie was getting frustrated, tears filling her eyes.

"I can only keep long hair if I can take care of it myself," She said as she continued to brush it, causing more tangles, tears falling down her face.

"Come on, I'll help you," Lena said softly, as she lead Callie by the shoulders to their bedroom, grabbing the detangler on the way, Once she was sitting cross legged on Stef and Lena's bed, Lena sat behind her with a pile of hair supplies next to her. Spraying Callie's hair with Mariana's favorite watermelon smelling detangler, she started from the ends of Callie's hair and worked the tangles out. Every so often rubbing the girl's back, "I'm not going to cut your hair short, I promise," she said, hoping to sooth the girl who was trying to hide her tears by pressing her face against her drawn up knees. Once she was done she braided two braids down her back. "We're all done, Honey," she said as Callie stayed as she was, her shoulders moving, "Honey," she said again as she wrapped her arm around Callie's shoulder and rubbed a hand up and down her knee, "What's wrong."

"I don't know," Callie said after a couple minutes, "I don't feel good. My belly hurts."

"Oh, why didn't you tell me?" Lena said as she rubbed her back, "Does anything else hurt?"

"No," Callie shook her head. Lena got up and found the thermometer, running it across Callie's forehead,

"You don't have a fever, Honey," She said as she put the thermometer on the side table, "I think your tummy is upset because there as been so much going on." Callie shrugged, "Why don't we wake Jude up and go get stuff for tacos?"

"Not in the car?" Callie asked quietly.

"Nope, we can walk, it's only three blocks away."

"Ok," Callie said as she took her hand and scooted off the bed.

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"Hi Love, Callie, Jude," Stef called as she walked through the front door. Lena watched for the first time as Callie sprinted through the house, throwing her arms around Stef.

"You came back," She said as she pressed her face in Stef's stomach.

"Yep, and it's only 6:30, I told you I'd be home by 7, look at those beautiful braids" She said as she wrapped an arm around Callie and they walked towards the kitchen. In the kitchen Jude was ripping up a head of lettuce and Lena was browning meat. Callie climbed back up on her chair and worked back on opening the cans of beans.

"That looks great, Bud," Stef squeezed his shoulder, "But you can make them a little bit smaller," she said as she ripped the pieces of lettuce in half again.

"Ok, Stef," Jude said quietly.

"You're such a good helper," she said as she walked over to Lena and kissed her quickly, "How was your day, Love?" she asked, "Things go ok?"

"Everything went fine," Lena smiled.

"The kids will be here in about 20 minutes."

"Well, it's a good thing I am making enough for everything," Lena smiled, looking over at the two kids.

"I'm going to go change, I'll be right back down."

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Stef was warming tortillas on the stove when the front door opened, "MOMMY, MAMA, MOMMY, MAMA." Stef smiled as her daughter yelled through the house.

"Hi, Miss. Thing," Stef laughed as she picked Mariana up and gave her a kiss. She gave her daughter the nickname after she started coming out of her shell. She went from the shy girl who wouldn't take a sucker from Stef to a little princess.

"Who are they?" She asked as she pointed to Callie and Jude who were sitting quietly, a little shocked at the noise that came from Sharon, and the three kids coming in the house.

"That's Jude and Callie, They are going to be staying with us for a few weeks."

"Awesome," Mariana said as she jumped from Stef's arms, "How old are you?" she asked them as she walked over to them.

"I'm 9 and Jude's 6," Callie said as she watched the girl slump her shoulders,

"I'm 7," she said, "I guess you don't want to play."

"I'll play with you, I usually play with Jude and he's only 6."

"You want to play barbies?" Mariana said with Callie making a face.

"I like barbies!" Jude said perking up. Callie gave him a look. Her daddy told them he wasn't supposed to play with girl stuff, "Nevermind," he said slumping.

"You can play with barbies," Stef said, seeing the interaction. She'd make sure to talk to the two kids later. She watched as Jude and Mariana ran off,

"I've never had a little brother here," She heard Mariana exclaim before hearing the pound of feet up the stairs. Callie grabbed a coloring book off the counter and sat at the table to color.

"Mom!" Brandon said as he ran into the kitchen, "Who are you?"

"Callie," she answered.

"That's a Lion King coloring book, that's awesome."

"It's my favorite movie," Callie said.

"Mine too, you want to color with me?"

"Sure," Callie shrugged as she grabbed the book, following Brandon up to his room.

"Stefanie," Stef turned to see her mother with a raised eyebrow, "I though I was taking the kids so you could have a night alone with your wife, not so you could have more children."

"It's short term, Mom," Stef shook her head as her mom wrapped her arms around her and kissed her cheek.

"Watch that big heart of yours, Stefanie Marie," Sharon said.

"Thank you for watching them, Mom."

"They were no trouble at all, Jesus is doing better now that he's on his medication," she said as she handed Stef the medication bottle.

"Yeah, we're seeing a lot of improvement."

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"Ok, B, Miss. Thing, Jesus, you all have school tomorrow morning. B, go hop in the shower. If we hurry we can watch a movie before bedtime."

"The Lion King? It's mine and Callie's favorite," Brandon said as he placed his plate in the sink.

"Sure, that sounds like a great idea. B, you're going to be sleeping in Jesus' room for a couple nights so Callie and Jude are near Mama and I."

"Cool, it'll be like a sleep over!" Jesus yelled.

"Inside voices," Stef reminded him, "Jesus, you're going to take your bath in the morning so we can get to the movie faster, ok?"

"Ok, Mom," he said as he ran off towards his room to help Brandon unfold the cot that sat in his room for when they had foster kids.

"You two go play while me and Lena clean up, ok?" she told Callie and Jude. Jude readily agreed, running to play with Mariana as Callie sat at the table,

"Can I help?"

"We got it, Sweets, go play," Stef said a little unsure, but she had a feeling Callie had taken on a lot of responsibility at home. It wasn't abnormal for kids they took care of. Callie grumbled but grabbed her diary and a pencil before walking to the living room.