Chapter 4

When Stef's eyes finally opened the next morning, her surroundings immediately put her in a confused state. Where the hell am I? she thought to herself as she stared up at a ceiling that she had never woken up to before.

It wasn't until she saw the color of Lena's caramel soft skin right in front of her that she remembered what had happened. She lifted her body up a little from the couch and the first thing she saw was the title menu of The Heat replaying over and over again on the television screen. Did we even watch the entire movie? she wondered as she started to get up.

She remembered starting it but never remembered finishing it…

And as hard as Stef tried to get up from the couch without waking Lena, her plan proved to be unsuccessful when the woman beside her startled her with her voice, "Leaving already?" she questioned with a smile as she sat upright and turned to face the blonde.

Stef's face depicted embarrassment at first but she tried to play it off, "Uh…no. I was just—"

"You were just?" Lena squinted her eyes but couldn't help but reveal a smirk. "You know… I thought we already discussed this the last time. Don't tell me you're going to be just as stubborn as Callie…"

Stef smiled awkwardly as she remembered the first morning after her and Lena slept together. The blonde had snuck out of her own apartment and waited in her car for Lena to leave because she had no idea what to do. That was one of her biggest regrets but she did it out of confusion. This time she felt like she had a better reason. "Babe, if your daughter wakes up and sees us here—"

"No, you're right," Lena interrupted. "I just figured that after you fell asleep on me last night…"

"I didn't mean to," Stef defended in an apologetic tone. "I'm so sorry. I think it was the wine because I don't remember finishing the movie at all… Andddd, you know, you should have woken me up the second my eyes shut," Stef's challenged playfully.

Lena made a fake surprised expression, "So it's my fault you passed out on my couch the second that I suggested we go to my room for some more privacy?"

"Yes, it is," Stef's tone remained stern even though she was trying hard not to laugh. And then she realized what Lena had said, "No, I didn't!" she tried to defend.

"Yes, you did…"

"No, I'm pretty sure I would've jolted right up," Stef tried to reason.

Lena shrugged her shoulders, "I guess you'll never know… And since you were so rude to me last night, then I guess you'll be the one who tries to make it up to me."

"Right now?" Stef asked in a flirtatious voice as she put her hand on Lena's shoulder.

"Yup," Lena smiled before she brought herself even closer to Stef. "You'll be the one to make breakfast," she informed the woman.

Stef's mouth dropped open as she stared at her girlfriend. "Punishment? Really?" she questioned.

"Uhuh," Lena nodded.

"Sweetheart, I can't cook for the life of me… If I'm in charge of breakfast, then IHOP it is," the blonde finished with a nod.

"No, no, no," Lena shook her head. "You're cooking. I think I need to see what I'm dealing with here. I'm sure you're not just a narcoleptic alcoholic," she teased.

"No, I'm not," Stef confirmed. "I'm a narcoleptic alcoholic that sucks at cooking… and children too apparently," the woman answered with a smart-alecky attitude, causing Lena to laugh.

"Maybe you'll even get rewarded if you do a good job," Lena attempted to give her some incentive.

Stef raised her eyebrows, "Like?"

"You'll have to wait and see," the brunette smirked. "…But first you have to change your attitude." Stef looked back at her in confusion. "You don't suck at children," Lena threatened. "Callie will come around…"

Stef chuckled, "Well, I really hope so."

"Hey… Do you know what might make her come around sooner?"

"Besides me disappearing? Nope, not at all," Stef tried to joke but Lena obviously didn't think it was very funny. "I'm sorry. What were you going to suggest, babe?"

"Blueberry pancakes," Lena answered with a smile. "I'm sure you can handle that…" Lena said intuitively, which made Stef feel like she had no other choice.

"You just want to see what kind of disaster I can come up with so you can tease me later," Stef told her.

"No, I just want to sleep-in a little more, and I'm not really in the mood to leave the house," Lena answered honestly.

Stef laughed and nodded, "Okay. Stef's Not-So-Famous Burnt Blueberry Pancakes coming right up," she said as she started to get up from the couch.

"Stef?"

"Yes, my love."

Lena made a nervous face, "You may need to pick up some eggs on your way to the kitchen… and some blueberries..." the brunette confessed.

Stef sighed, "Sure," she nodded. "Maybe I'll stop at diner and pickup the pancakes too."

"Stef," Lena complained.

"I'm kidding," the blonde answered before she bent over to kiss her girlfriend on the cheek. "You better sleep," she threatened. "…Making me make blueberry pancakes when I already told her I don't cook," she mumbled in a childish-like voice before she grabbed her car keys and left.

Callie had become irritable when she realized that the blonde woman her mother had invited over for dinner wasn't going to leave right after. Lena brought the girl's food to her bedroom when Callie refused to come out and eat with the two of them.

And out of spite, the girl let her food go untouched and took a quick bath right before going to bed.

She couldn't stand listening to the two of them, or listening to Stef's voice at all. To her, it was worse than listening to nails screeching against a chalkboard and she had to cover her head with a pillow to drown out both of their voices. And she was just as mad at her mother for bringing her over their apartment and entertaining her for hours. She should have ate and then left. Not eat, talk loudly for hours afterwards and watch a movie. It didn't matter that Lena had invited her to watch the movie with them. She wanted nothing to do with that woman and she felt uncomfortable even leaving her room while she was there.

Callie ended up waiting so long that she had accidentally fallen asleep. But the fact that she had woken up in her own bedroom was enough to remind her of the events that took place the night before. She should have come to get me, Callie thought to herself, which already put her in a bad mood.

Ever since her mother had broken up with Linda, Lena had allowed Callie to sleep in her room with her.

Why didn't she come and get me? she kept repeating in her mind as she lifted herself off of the bed to make her way to her mother's room. She was angry with her mom so she probably would have refused to stay with her last night. But in her eyes, Lena should have at least offered.

The first thing Callie noticed when she walked into her mother's bedroom was that she wasn't even there. Immediately the five year old ran towards the living room and saw her mother curled up on the couch with a navy blue fleece blanket that was lying over her. Her first instinct was to jump onto the couch and curl up next to her, but the sound of plastic bags moving around in the kitchen was enough to keep her from doing so.

Stef had begun to remove the boxed blueberry pancake-mix from the bag and the bacon along with the eggs. She had no clue how to make pancakes so she cheated and bought the pre-mixed box that only required her to add water. She hoped that neither Lena nor Callie would be able to tell the difference.

"Why are you here?" she heard a child's voice and Stef immediately sprung her head up to see the small girl giving her the deathliest stare.

"Uh, Lena?" she tried to call.

"Don't you have a home?" Callie spat, as she looked the blonde up and down and kept her mouth pursed, so that Stef would know she wasn't happy about her presence.

"Yes, I do," the woman defended. "I was just—"

"You should go dere," Callie informed her before she turned her attention away from the confused-looking blonde and began walking back over toward the living room. Once close enough, the five-year-old started to shake her mother awake.

Lena jumped up when she felt someone's strong shakes, "What? What?" she asked as she tried to wake herself up.

"What is she doing here?!"