Lena's POV

I heard the front door open and close from my spot in the kitchen. Dinner was in the oven, almost ready to come out and I had just got done prepping the salad.

"Why don't you go wash up before dinner?" I heard my wife say, followed by foot steps quickly making their way up the stairs.

"How did it go?" I asked as Stef entered the kitchen.

"What, no hi?" She asked feigning hurt. I laughed as she approached me and I greeted her with a kiss.

"Hello, my love." I paused for a moment gauging the look on her face. She didn't seem upset and she didn't seem happy. She looked stoic and my first thought was, 'always a cop.'

"Hey." She smiled and pulled me into a hug. "Callie wants to sit down and talk with us after dinner." She explained and I pulled back to share a slightly shocked look.

"Wow." I closed my eyes wondering if Callie would finally be opening up to us. She had been here for six months but she never shared more than she had to. She always involved herself just enough to be noticed but not enough to draw attention to herself.

"I think it had to do with what I overheard the other day." Stef thought out loud as she gave me one of those 'be prepared' looks. "It's not pretty." She warned and I signed. She was definitely the stronger of the two of us when it came to stuff like this. The timer went off, signally that dinner was ready to come out of the oven.

"It'll be okay." I commented with a quick kiss before I hurried off to the oven as to not burn dinner.

Stef's POV

I exited the kitchen and walked over to the bottom of the stairs.

"Dinner!" I called up and not a moment later I heard doors open and close and three of my four little loves rushed past me.

"Finally! I'm starving!" I heard Jesus exclaim as he passed, I chuckled. I looked up and noticed Callie was slowly making her way to join the rest of the family.

"What's up, sweets?" I asked, seeing that she wasn't acting like her usual self.

"I'm not really hungry." She shrugged as she got to the bottom of the stairs, standing next to me. I felt her forehead and frowned slightly.

"You're not warm." I noted as I put one of my arms around her.

"I don't think I'm sick but my stomach is in knots." I smiled and kissed her temple.

"Think it had anything to do with our talk later?" I offered an explanation and Callie cocked her head up to look at me before she shrugged again. "Just try to eat a little, okay?" I asked and Callie nodded.

Callie's pov

Stef and I entered the kitchen together and Jesus cheered.

"Finally! Momma made us wait." He complained and I heard Stef laugh.

"That's because if she didn't, there would be nothing left." She joked and I quietly took my place as food started to be passed around.

"So how was school today?" Lena asked after everyone had food on their plates.

"We've got this paper due in English tomorrow and I'm only halfway done." Mariana groaned.

"Well I guess we know what you'll be doing tonight." Lena said giving her a look as Mariana signed heavily, she always seemed more dramatic than needed but I thought it was funny. Brandon and Jesus started to talk at the same time and Brandon stopped, holding his hand out for his brother to continue.

"I think I'm going to try out for the wrestling team." Jesus explained nonchalantly.

"Really?" Stef asked amused.

"This doesn't have anything to do with that girl Emma, does it?" Lena asked with a pointed look and before Jesus could argue Mariana interjected.

"Of course it does!" She laughed and her twin brother shot her a look. Stef looked like she was going to say something and Brandon beat her to it, hoping to help his brother avoid any more embarrassment .

"I got the audition." He announced, referring to his chance to work with a prestigious pianist. Rewarded with a round of "congratulations," and cheers of excitement, he smiled proud of himself.

"What about you, Callie?" Lena asked and I gulped. I knew I would have to answer the question soon enough about how school was going.

"Well, I have this project I have to finish." I offered and everyone looked my direction. I hated when all the attention was on me.

"Oh yea? What's it for?" Stef asked and I sighed softly.

"It's supposed to be about family." I explained while looking down at my mostly full plate. I had spent most of my time during dinner just pushing the food around with my fork.

"Well it's a good think we're adopting you." Mariana spoke and I slumped my shoulders.

"Mariana!" Stef scolded.

"What? I didn't mean it like..." She tried to defend herself

"We know what you meant, Mariana, but you need to think about the way you say things before you say them." Lena explained.

"No, it's okay." I said without looking up from my plate. I knew Mariana didn't mean it the way it sounded but I couldn't help but feel like I was intruding still. "Can I be excused?" I asked, desperate to get away before things got any more awkward.

"You've barely eaten anything, honey." Lena noticed, sounded concerned.

"I'm not really hungry." I shrugged

"I'll put your plate up, in case you want it later." Stef said and I nodded my thanks as I stood and left the room. I needed some space.


Stef's POV

Dinner came to an end and all the kids were starting to leave the room.

"B, you're on dishes tonight." I reminded him.

"I was hopping to go get in some practice time before." He explained as he pointed towards the garage.

"Dishes first." I told him, in a tone that meant, 'this isn't up for discussion.' I was met with a grunt as he went over to start on the dishes and I shook my head, knowing it was the only response I was going to get. "Thank you." I called as I left the room. I made my way into the living room where I found my beautiful wife straightening up the coffee table.

"You ready for this?" I asked, going to stand behind her. I wrapped my arms around her when she stood.

"No time the present." She quipped as she turned around to give me a kiss. We climbed the stairs together and found both of our girls in their room. Mariana was working on her paper for English and Callie was laying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She looked like she was lost, deep in thought.

"You ready to talk, Slug a Bug?" Lena asked and Callie's head rolled in our direction and she just looked at us for a second before she nodded and got off the bed. "Why don't we go into our room so we can have some privacy?" Lena suggested as we all made our way into the room. I shut the door behind us and we all sat on the bed. It was quiet for a little bit and I could tell that Callie was still stuck in her thoughts.

"What are you thinking about, Callie girl?" I asked while moving some hair out of her face.

"Umm," She stalled momentarily, "Rita thinks that I need to tell you about my past before I get adopted."

"We've read your file." Lena commented, confused and Callie shook her head.

"It's not in my file." She heaved a sign. "It's from before I was in the system." Callie was struggling, I could tell.

"What's wrong?" I asked putting a comforting hand on her knee.

"I'm afraid." She mumbled.

"Afraid of what?" Lena questioned

"That you wont want me after I tell you." Callie explained as she wrung her hands.

"My love, look at me." I waited until I had eye contact before I continued. "Nothing you can say is gonna make us not want you. You hear me? Nothing." I assured her honestly. We had come to love Callie as if she was our own and soon she would be. It was quiet again and I wasn't sure if she was going to talk to us. I was about to say something when she spoke up.

"After my parents died, I didn't go straight into the system." She started and stared at the floor as she talked. "I lived with my aunt and her husband for almost four years. It was good for the first year and most of the second. I was doing really good in school. They were going to have a baby." Callie started to fidget between us and I put my arm around her shoulder, hoping she would feel some level of comfort as she divulged. "My aunt, she had a miscarriage." Callie paused and I looked over and caught site of my wife. I was hoping she would hold up okay. "Her husband, he started drinking a lot and he got really violent and one night, he tried to set the house on fire when we were inside.

"Oh, Callie." Lena hummed in her soothing momma voice.

"Wait," Callie interjected before Lena could say anything else. "Please, I have to get this out before I change my mind." Lena nodded and placed one of her hands on Callie's knee.

"Well, after that we moved into a rental house. My aunt started to stay out a lot, I use to think she was just working late but one day, she was just gone. She never came back. I asked about her when I was put in the system. They told me she died of an overdose." Callie reached up to brush away a stray tear. "After that, her husband got really angry, like, angrier than he was before. He told me that it was my fault that she left. He said that I made my aunt stress so much and that's why she lost her baby." Callie stopped to catch her breath and I noticed that she now had a stream of tears continuously free falling down her cheeks. "Then, he said that because it was my fault, that I had to fulfill her role and he, he," Callie started to get worked up and I pulled her closer to my side.

"What did he do, baby?" I asked softly. I knew what she was going to say but I also knew that she needed to say it and that Lena and I needed to hear her say it.

"He raped me." She cried and I looked up to see that my wife had a pained look on her face and she matched Callie with streams of tears cascading down her naturally tanned face. "He made me do so many things. I didn't want to but if I said no he would hit me. I told him to stop but he wouldn't!" Callie buried her face in my neck and I placed my hand on the back of her head, rocking us gently. I couldn't help it anymore, the tears started falling. I felt Lena put her hand on the small of my back.

"It's okay, my love. He can't hurt you anymore." I promised. My heart was breaking into a million little pieces. This was the first time our girl had showed this much emotion and while I was glad that she had trusted us, I was so hurt by what she was causing her pain.

"What happened to him, sweetheart?" I heard Lena ask, her emotion was evident in her voice. Callie sat up and looked Lena in the eyes.

"I came home from school one day and I found him in his car in the garage." She sounded emotionless. "He killed himself." I heard Lenas voice catch and then she put a hand on Callie's shoulder, wanting to comfort her but not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable. Our girl surprised us, she leaned over and wrapped her arms around Lena. This was the first time Callie had initiated a hug herself and I was over joyed, despite the dismal situation we were in.

"I'm so sorry you went through that, honey." Lena consoled Callie as she started to get worked up again. "I'm so sorry." She murmured as she rubbed soothing circles on her back. Callie sat up and tried to wipe her face clean from the tears. It was a task that proved to be fruitless, since she was still crying.

"Do you still want me?" She asked timidly

"My love, we could never stop wanting you." I clarified. "You've been our girl since the day you came to stay with us and you will always be our girl." I kissed the top of Callie's head and made eye contact with my wife, having a silent conversation.

"It's almost bed time, bug." Lena noted and you could visibly see Callie deflate. "Would you like to stay in here tonight?" Lena offered and for a moment our girl perked up but then I noticed a flash of embarrassment sweep across her face.

"Oh common. It'll be like a sleepover. We can make a momma sandwich out of you!" I joked and Callie smiled.

"You don't mind?" She asked, looking back and forth between Lena and I.

"We'd be happy to have you." Lena insisted and Callie's smile grew.


Len's POV

Stef was doing her thing, checking to make sure the doors were locked downstairs and checking to make sure everyone was in their beds. She had come back into the room and sat down on the bed shortly before Callie showed up. Stef pulled back the covers and motioned for her to get in, "Hop in, sweets."

We had been laying in the dark for about ten minutes. Callie wiggled for a second and then we heard, "I love you, moms."

"Callie?" Stef asked surprised and when we looked down at her, she was already asleep.

"We love you, too." I said even though she wouldn't hear me.

"We both do," Stef agreed and kissed the top of Callie's head a few times. "and we'll never stop loving you." She finished while closing her eyes.

"Never." I smiled and closed my eyes as well. It had been a long night and I was ready for sleep to take over.


A/N This one was really difficult to write. It's hard to go back and revisit old trauma without reopening some old wounds. I've been working on it all day and I hope it turned out all right.

Coming up, be prepared for a lot of Callie outbursts and then emotional breakdowns. This is only the beginning, hence the chapter name. When you spend years of bottling up the past, when it comes out, it tends to come out in waves. So, mood swings, very high highs and very low lows. It's going to be messy.

As always, thank you for reading and PLEASE let me know how you're liking it, if you're liking it.