Happy 2018! New year new me? Maybe? Here's to hoping that I can actually write more! Yay! Thanks for waiting!
Not long after Jude's breakdown, the boy had fallen asleep in one of the chairs that Stef and Lena had sat him down in to take some time for himself. He was mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted and his crying had just exhausted him further.
Brandon, by this time, had found his own chair to sit in as he waited for whatever was to happen next. He wasn't sure what was gong to happen, but with all of his siblings suffering in one way or another, he knew that his moms would be counting on him to step up.
Stef and Lena stood by the door of the hospital room, hand-in-hand as they watched three of their children in utter silence. It felt unreal to them how such a fun vacation had turned into a terrible disaster in the matter of hours.
Suddenly, the sound of Stef's phone interrupted the thoughts of both moms.
The blonde sighed as she let go of her wife's hand in order to answer the phone. She looked down and saw that her son was calling. She quickly answered it. "Jesus?"
"Mom. I need you."
Those words. His tone. She knew something was wrong.
"Where are you?" She asked as she held her breath waiting for the answer. She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that this thing with Jude and Mariana wasn't just something small. It wasn't something that was going to work itself out.
"Outside. She... Mariana!" Stef heard Jesus yell in the middle of his sentence.
"Why would you call her?" the faint voice of her daughter was heard in the background.
"Jesus. I'm coming now. Don't move." the blonde replied quickly as she glanced over at her wife and boys.
Lena, knowing her wife was dealing with the situation, waited patiently for the woman to speak.
"I've gotta go handle this." She said in a whisper, as she still had the phone up to her ear. "Call me if anything changes" She added, though she knew nothing would change, at least not for a while.
Lena nodded and cupped her hand around the side of Stef's face. She gave the woman a small kiss before releasing her and watching her slip out the door.
The brunette sighed and looked over at Brandon, who wasn't even trying to hide that he heard the phone call and was worried.
"We're gonna be fine." the boy spoke softly as he looked from his siblings to his mother.
Lena sighed as she sat in the chair next to her oldest son and reached out to hold his hand. "I love you." was her only reply.
"Keep talking to me." Stef said into the phone as soon as she slipped out of her daughter's room. She needed to know that her children were ok until she could see it for herself.
"I hate you, Jesus!" Stef cringed as she heard her daughter yell this. She could hear the sadness and hurt in the girl's voice. She quickened her pace as her son responded.
"Mariana, you can't do this. You need to stop! Think about Callie. She's the one who is in the hospital!" she heard him say. Stef knew he was trying to reason with her, but she could already picture her daughter's response, and it wasn't good.
"Jesus! Put Mariana on the phone!" She yelled as she rounded the second flight of stairs.
"Mom wants to talk to you." Jesus said to his sister, but she was still responding to his last comment. "Just go back inside and be with Callie. I don't want you here with me. Leave me the hell alone" She said as she continued to walked away.
"Fine! Be selfish! Maybe Jude was right! You're only thinking about yourself! Moms shouldn't have to be worried about you too right now!" Jesus said, now filled with anger and not thinking before he spoke. He was so focused on his sister that he forgot he was still holding his phone with his mom on the other end. He dropped his hand with the phone in it and all Stef could hear was the faint sound of her son yelling. She tried to call his name, but he wasn't close enough to the speaker to hear.
"Damn it. Stef mumbled to herself as she quickened her pace and made her way to the last flight of stairs. She prayed that she would get outside before her son said something else to make the situation worse.
At Jesus' last comment, Mariana's eyes filled with tears as she continued to walk away from the hospital. She was furious with him and with Jude, but she realized that the one person who she was the most upset with was herself. You stupid idiot. Callie is lying in a hospital bed and you're pulling mom away from her. She thought to herself as her brother's words resonated in her head.
She didn't even realize she had started running until she found it difficult to breathe and slowed down to sit on a corner bench only a block down from the hospital. She rested her elbows on her thighs and dropped her head into her hands. She knew it wouldn't be long before someone found her- be it her mom or her brother, she didn't care- but what she did know is everything Jude and Jesus had said to her were true. And at that moment, she was determined to end it.
Back in the hospital room, Brandon had pulled out his phone and put on some soft music, anything to drown out the constant beeping noise coming from the machines that were hooked up to Callie. He toyed with what to think about and what the next few weeks and even months was going to look like for the family.
Turning to Lena, who seemed lost in her own thoughts, he spoke quietly. "Do you want me to call Grandma or Grans?" He didn't know if this was a situation in which the grandparents should be called, but he needed to do something besides sit around and wait.
Lena turned towards her son and smiled gently. "You know what, I haven't even thought of that." She responded. She hadn't thought of much of anything outside of the current situation. She and Stef had determined that they would go back home when Callie was discharged, but she honestly didn't know when that would be. She hadn't even thought about the hotel or the fact that they were hours away from any of their friends or family that lived by them back home. "Why don't we wait on calling them until we have a better idea of what is going on with Cal" She added after a moment of thinking. "But thank you for reminding me." She continued with a smile.
Brandon smiled back. He quickly dropped the smile though- it felt inappropriate to be smiling with Callie in the state she was in.
Lena saw this and reached over to grab his hand. She gave it a squeeze. "It's ok to smile." She said as she forced a small smile of her own out. Even though she just told her son it was ok, she too had an off feeling when one graced her lips.
The two remained hand in hand, each lost in their own thoughts as they waited for an answer; any kind of answer.
