Chapter 7
Stef opened the front door, carrying one of Callie's duffel bags in her hand while the teen carried the other. Despite everything, Callie still couldn't help but feel uncomfortable about all of this. Even after Stef assured her that everything would be okay, she knew better than to just believe it... Nothing was ever okay for her. And as she stepped inside behind Stef, only a hundred questions clouded her mind.
How would everyone react to her being here?
Would her brother still hate her for leaving him?
Would Mariana still think of her as her sister?
Would Brandon think the kiss was just a stupid mistake, like Stef had insinuated?
Would Lena be dissappointed that she ran again
Would her being there just make things awkward for everyone?
If it did, she surely wouldn't stay... That she knew for sure. The last thing she wanted was to feel like a burden to everyone when the only reason she chose to leave her place was because Stef packed all of her stuff herself and practically pulled her over toward the car. Still, she went willingly when she thought about the mess she was in with Tommy. She needed a way out at this point and deep down, she couldn't help but feel as if she was using them to escape by going back.
"Home sweet home," Stef said softly as she put Callie's bag down on the sofa in the living room and the brunette followed her in and glanced around. Everything looked exactly the same.
Both her and Stef listened to the sound of someone coming down the stairs in a slow pace, and it wasn't long until Lena appeared before them in the doorway. She had her arms crossed over her chest but her facial expression wasn't really detectable. One thing that was certain to Callie was that Lena didn't seemed surprised at all. Stef must've told her.
"Hi, Callie," she began distantly, her voice feeling almost forced. "Stef, can I talk to you?"
The blonde already knew that she would be in trouble for bringing their daughter home with her, but the price to pay would be worth it. She could take Lena being mad at her for a few days, but she'd have to get over it.
The older brunette's eyes peered over toward Callie again and she finally noticed the bruise on her jaw. It felt almost like deja vu to Lena. Here she was back again, faced with the bruised a helpless girl in front of her.
The only difference she could tell was that Callie's eyes weren't pleading for help this time. Instead, they seemed almost fearful and filled with worry. But despite Lena's natural instinct to console her, she turned her attention away and began walking out of the living room, Stef began to follow.
The blonde whipped her body around to face Callie, "Wait here, please," she instructed her and waited for the teen to sit down on the couch before continuing to follow Lena into the kitchen and outside to the back porch.
Stef closed the door behind them. If she had to go this far from the living room to talk in private, then she knew Lena must've been really ticked off.
"I can't believe you," Lena said in a sulky voice as she gave Stef the death stare.
"I'm sorry," the blonde began to apologize, realizing she had no other choice in the matter.
"No you're not," her wife protested and hated that Stef was lying on top of it all. "You chose to go against me on this. You knew what you were doing was wrong," she said harshly. "The least you can do is admit it."
Stef squinted her eyes at her in confusion. "Bringing our daughter home was wrong?" She challenged.
"She is not our daughter!" The brunette's voice rose louder than Stef was used to during their arguments.
The blonde appeared to be stunned into silence at Lena's choice of cold words. She definitely wasn't expecting this type of reaction from her.
The silent treatment, yes.
A brief altercation, yes.
But not this.
Although only after a few seconds of quiet, did Stef notice the water wanting to form in her wife's eyes which aggravated Lena even further. She didn't want Stef to think that she was emotional about this, because that would just lead her to believe that she cared. If she was being honest, she wasn't so sure about that anymore. Instinctively, Lena quickly wiped her tears away before she spoke again.
"Not anymore, Stef... I can't do this," she shook her head and stopped. "I'm sorry, but I won't go through this all over again because you can't leave well enough alone. Things were going so well."
"You won't," Stef tried to assure her. "You won't have to go through it all again. It's not like last time, honey. I promise," she said because she really believed it. "I swear Callie knows better. She's not going to try to leave again–"
"Until she does," the brunette quickly interrupted. "Then what?" she asked her wife. "What do we say to Jude? How are we going to tell him that the one person, who we both know, he cares about more than anything, just decided to get up and leave again? Without any warning? Don't you think this is going to kill him more than any of us?"
Stef stood there in awe, not wanting to blow up at her wife for not being able to move passed the grudge she had against Callie. However, she couldn't stand that she was using Jude in order to prove her point, which made absolutely no sense to the cop. To use Jude against Callie was the final straw.
"HOW DO YOU THINK HE'S GOING TO TAKE THE NEWS WHEN WE TELL HIM WE FOUND HER AND YOU REFUSED TO TAKE HER BACK IN? THAT WE HAD TO REALLY ABANDON HER THIS TIME?" Stef yelled out of frustration.
"Well, I'd hope he'd understand that we were doing the right thing here," Lena attempted to justify.
"The right thing for who?" the blonde continued accusingly.
"That's not fair, Stef," Lena pointed out. "We gave her plenty of chances to change."
"So?" Stef challenged. "We don't just give up on family, Lena. Is that what you want to teach the kids? That they can't come to us when they mess up because you'll just... Cut them out of your life? Our lives?" The blonde squinted her eyes at Lena and hoped she'd be able to convince her otherwise.
"CALLIE DIDN'T COME TO YOU" Lena shouted when she felt the need to remind her of that very fact, without needing to ask how their conversation leading up to their arrival went. Lena knew how stubborn Stef was and she knew her wifewouldn't take no for an answer, even if Callie didn't want to come back. But what Lena also knew was that she, herself, was just as stubborn when it came to something she felt very strongly about. The brunette let out a deep sigh and she wondered if her wife would ever see passed whatever it was she wanted to see. "You found her and just decided you were going to bring her home. You just decide things without talking to me about it first, only this time you did come to me and made the decision by yourself. You completely ignored what I had to say and how I felt."
"You have to get over this, Lena," Stef answered flatly. She couldn't understand why Lena felt the way she did, when everything seemed so black and white to her. Callie messed up, but she was home. That was the most important thing. "She is our daughter and I'm not giving up on her. I'm sorry, but you can't ask me to do that. I know that this has been hard on you. I really do. But I can't make what she thought we did to her two years ago a reality now. Callie is staying, and that's it," Stef said sternly and stood strong. She was almost positive that there was nothing her wife could say or do that would change her mind about this.
Lena nodded after listening to Stef's words. Stef wasn't going to back down about this, but neither was she. Lena couldn't.
"Then maybe I should leave..." the brunette stared straight into her wife's eyes while she spoke.
To be continued...
A/N: I know I'm probably going overboard here but I like to explore my options in my stories :) I don't like to be too predictable. Where's the fun in reading that?
Btw...Who's team Lena? Team Stef? Do you think Lena was serious at the end? Will Stef have to tell Callie to hit the road? Yikes...
