HI GUYS! So, here's the new chapter... sorry for the super long wait but, I just had a major writers block! Thank god for 'Junebugsm' (literally the best 'fosters' story writer ever) who helped me through it and freshened me up with some new ideas! Thank you so much Junebugsm for motivating me! you're the best! As you know, English is not my first language and not even my second (LOL) so please don't mind the grammatical errors! happy reading and I hope you like it :-) DON'T DORGET TO LEAVE A REVIEW!
ALSO, before you start reading, I don't know if Fanfiction is going to put the flashback I wrote in italic… cause it didn't last time…so I wrote *Start Flashback* and *End Flashback* in italic and bold, before and after the flashback just to be sure!
The last few days had been nothing but pure torture for Lena. She had tried to keep herself together but, she failed numerous times, she would break down and cry involuntarily. It was getting harder and harder to keep the hope alive, it was all taking way to long and she just wanted everything to get back to normal. She wanted Monte to wake up, she wanted to marry her and she wanted to hear Monte tell her that she loved her too. She hated the powerless feeling she felt when she sat next to Monte's Hospital bed. Lena had never felt like this before and she didn't know what to do.
It had now been almost a whole week since the shooting and Monte had still not woken up from her coma. Monte's family had the choice to either pull the plug on the machines that kept her alive or wait a little longer. Her brainwaves were at a bare minimum, the doctors had told Monte's parents that she was basically already gone and the chances of her waking up again were less than 5 percent.
Katarina, Monte's mother, refused to give up on her daughter, no matter how slim the doctors said her chances of survival were after this period. She needed to see her daughter wake up and she refused to give up faith. When she was not in Monte's room, talking to her comatosed daughter, Katarina was in the Hospital's chapel, praying for her daughter to open her eyes again. The doctors had told her that it was 'unlikely' that Monte would wake up again but they didn't know her daughter like she did. Monte was a strong woman, a real fighter and she always got through hard times, there was no doubt in Katarina's mind that this time wouldn't be any different. All she had to do was pray, and that was precisely what she had been doing since the moment they arrived in San Diego.
Monte's sister, Itzel was a little less optimistic about the whole situation. She was a newly graduated brain surgeon herself and she knew that it would take a small miracle for her sister to wake up at this point. There was almost no way that a brain, sending out such a small number of waves would regain itself again. She was raised to always have hope but right now, she knew that the doctors were basically waiting for her parents to pull the plug on the machines. She wouldn't say it out loud yet but, she had found peace with the fact that her older sister was probably never going to open her eyes again. She had cried her eyes out, day after day as she saw her mother pray to god at the foot end of Monte's hospital bed and her father stroking Monte's hair as he spoke to her. How would they handle this? This would certainly take a big toll on both of their mental stability.
After Monte's parents and sister had arrived in Sand Diego six days ago, they had come straight to the hospital and they only left once a day to freshen up at Monte's house, sleep at night and to eat dinner.
Lena and Marianna on the other hand, had stayed at Stef's house, not wanting to be in Monte's house without Monte herself there. Being in her house was a constant reminder of the condition she was in and what could happen is she didn't wake up soon. Pictures of Monte were all over the place, pictures where she was laughing and smiling, pictures that were hard to look at, especially for Lena.
Marianna had been at the hospital every day too but, only during visiting hours. She tried to be as helpful as she possibly could. Everyone kept telling her that what happened to monte wasn't her fault and she understood that but, she couldn't shake the faint feeling of responsibility that she felt towards the whole situation. SHE was the one that cheated on Nick and Monte was trying to protect HER when she got shot by him. When the rare moments accrued that she was alone in the hospital room with Monte, she would tell her repeatedly how sorry she was, and how much she hoped that all of this never happened.
"I just don't know how I feel… I never felt like this before so it's hard to explain." Marianna said to Callie. They were in their room at Stef's house. It was a little after 4 PM and Lena and Marianna had just come back from the hospital, Marianna had made her way upstairs to the room she shared with her sister within seconds.
"I know you are closer to Monte than the rest of us, so it must be harder on you…. Maybe you should see a counselor or something?" Callie answered as she painted one of her sister's nails a soft tone of blue with the tiny brush. She loved having Marianna back in their room full time but, she wished it was under different circumstances.
"You sound like momma" Marianna chuckled slightly as she put on a mocking voice, "Maybe you should see a counselor, Marianna, it's good for you to talk about your feelings…" She mocked as both Callie and herself laughed at the pretty accurate interpretation of something their mom would say.
Callie closed the little bottle of blue nail polish and put it back in her bag before ruffling through it again and pulling a clear one that said, 'top coat'. She opened it and started going over the nails she just painted again.
"Do you think she's going to make it?" Callie asked carefully.
The younger girl cocked her mouth to one side, "I don't know… I really hope so. Momma seems like she isn't giving up and Monte's family doesn't want to pull the plug so I guess that's a good thing, right?" She said.
"I guess…" Callie said, "What are they like? Monte's family, I mean." She added. She had heard Lena and Marianna talk about them allot but she hadn't met them yet.
After the day of the shooting, none of the other kids went to the hospital. Stef had told them that they could only visit if they really felt the need to. With Monte's family there, it would get way too busy with four more teenagers. Jude had visited twice but after school started again, he didn't go again. Marianna was the only one that visited the hospital EVERY day.
Marianna thought for a minute before replying to her sister, "They're cool. Her mom is Mexican and she's catholic… she prays like 24/7... in Spanish. Her dad reminds me of a cowboy with his southern accent and her sister is just like her, inside and out. They don't make me feel guilty like I thought they would… They're actually pretty empathic, considering…"
"That's good, I didn't even know Monte was Mexican!" Callie said as she finished Marianna's last nail.
"Half Mexican… Her dad is Caucasian and her mom is Mexican, she kind of…" Marianna stopped mid-sentence, hoping Callie wouldn't notice her sudden silence. What she was about to say didn't make any sense anyway.
"She reminds you of what?" Callie asked.
Marianna sighed, "She kind of reminds me of Ana… what she could have been like if she wasn't a junkie."
*Start Flashback*Lena heard the front door open and close again. 'Finally' she thought, Stef had been away for so long, her shift ended at 6 and it was now almost 7:30, she was starting to get worried. She heard Brandon's voice coming from his room yelling for his mommy before she saw him running towards the hallway where Stef was.
Lena had just moved into Stef's apartment and they were now looking for a house of their own but it was all taking a little longer since Stef and Mike were still trying to sort things out with their lawyers.
"Hi, Honey! I missed you, you were gone for so long!" Lena said as she got the beef stew she just prepared from the stove and set in on the dining table so they could eat.
"I missed you too… I got a little caught up at work, or two littles" Stef said
She watched as Stef emerged from the hallway with Brandon on her hip. She was just about to speak again when she saw two other children clamping to Stef's uniform pants. It was a boy and a girl about five or six years old, they were definitely siblings and they were definitely Latin. Lena was a little confused as to why they were in their apartment but, she thought it was best not to ask Stef what was going on in front of the two little ones.
She made her way over to Stef and bended her knees until she reached the height of the two kids. She smiled at them, "Hi there, my name is Lena... What are your names?"
"My name is Marianna… you're pretty!" The little girl said as she touched Lena's face ever so softly. Lena's heart immediately melted for the little girl.
"Thank you, you're very pretty girl too, Marianna." She answered.
"I'm Jesus!" The boy said, putting on a big boy voice. Lena didn't know who these children were but she thought they were absolutely adorable.
"Well I just made dinner, are you guys hungry?" Lena asked.
The twins looked up at Stef, as if they were asking for permission. Stef walked to the dining table and they automatically followed her as they still held on to her pants. When they were seated and Lena had served all three kids a plate of food, Stef gestured for Lena to follow her into the living room where they could talk in private.
"So, who are our adorable little guests?" Lena asked.
"They were brought in to the station a few hours ago, their mother is a drug addict and their father is in jail. CPS removed them from the home and they need a place to stay until we find a foster family for them. I didn't want to leave them at the station so…" she gestured at the kids with a look that said, 'tadaa'
"Alright, yeah, they can stay in the guest bedroom."
six months later, CPS had finally found a foster family for Jesus and Marianna, it wasn't perfect and it was short term but it was a foster family. Stef and Lena finally got the two kids to open up to them, Brandon enjoyed having them in the house with him too. The two women decided to get a foster permit and foster the twins themselves until they found a better foster family for them,
"Momma, can Jesus and I play video games until dinner? Please, please, please, please?" Brandon asked with a whiney voice.
"Sure, go ahead." Lena said, as soon as the words left her mouth the boys ran to the TV and turned on the PlayStation.
Lena saw that the little girl she had grown so affectionate towards in the last six months was a little bored do she asked, "Marianna do you want to help me make dinner?"
Marianna nodded and walked behind her into the kitchen. Lena let her do little things like; peeling the skin of the onions and adding salt to the soup she was making.
"How come Brandon calls you and Stef both Mommy?" Marianna asked suddenly while she was chopping up a paprika with a butter knife.
Lena smiled to herself, "Well, Stef and I are a couple…" She saw the confused look on Mariana's face and tried to explain it differently, "like girlfriend and girlfriend"
"Ooooh! Now I get it!" Marianna said, "We only have one Mommy… She's not nice like you guys are... She does bad stuff to us" She added as if it was nothing.
Lena's heart broke for the little girl. She spoke about her mother like it was the most normal thing in the world. She knew the girl deserved a family that loved her. That night when Stef came home and they were in bed, Lena told Stef how she felt and that she really felt that they needed to make sure that the twins ended up in the nicest family possible.
"Maybe… we should adopt them." Stef started slowly, looking at Lena with a look that said 'hey it's just an option'
"No, we already have Brandon, we can't just go from having one kid to having three. Where are we gonna get the money to take care of three kids and ourselves?" Lena said. She loved the twins but, she didn't think she was ready to ADOPT children. They already had Brandon and for now, he was more than enough. Right?
Three weeks later, Lena and Stef were house hunting and they found the perfect house to move in to. Lena had let it slip that the house had enough rooms for all the kids to have their own rooms. Stef had never been happier, not only were they moving into their dream house, they were moving into it with THEIR three kids.
That evening, Stef and Lena sat Brandon down to ask him if he was alright with adopting the twins into their family on what he had answered "There is enough to go around."
Lena and Stef put him to bed and kissed him goodnight before going to the twins' room.
They opened the door and saw that they were still awake, Marianna was 'reading' a book and Jesus was playing some game on the Gameboy that Stef and Lena had given him for their birthday.
"Hi, you two! It's almost time for bed." Stef said, sitting down on Marianna's bed. Marianna put her picture book under her pillow and laid down, ready to be tucked in for the night.
"Stef, I brushed my teethes all by myself! Lena didn't help me today, I'm a big girl huh?" Marianna said, showing Stef her teeth, one of her front ones was already missing and it have the little girl a funny look. Stef thought it was adorable that the little girl was showing off to her. It meant that she wanted Stef to be proud of her and that she trusted her.
"Awesome! Big girl, Marianna! High five!" Stef said as she high fived the little girl.
"Before we kiss you two goodnight we wanted to ask you something" Lena started.
"okay!" Both twins said at the same time, making the two women giggle. They were so different when it came to their characters but, sometimes it was unmistakable that they were twins. They would hate the same foods and sometimes they would say things at the same time.
"How would you two like it if… we adopted you?" Stef asked slowly, letting the question sink in their heads.
"Like… forever?" Jesus asked as he fumbled with the edge of his Gameboy. He didn't want to be disappointed again. They had been in awful foster family before being placed back with their mother until they ended up with Stef and Lena. Stef and Lena were the kind of parents they would see on TV, they never thought people like that actually existed.
"Forever…" Lena said, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes.
"So, then we can call you mommy just like Brandon does?" Marianna asked, trying to find out if she understood correctly.
"Yes, baby." Stef answered.
The twins looked at each other for a few moments before both nodding their heads.
"Yes!" They said at the same time again. With that, Lena hugged Jesus and reached out her arm for Marianna to join them in the embrace. Stef followed and wrapped her arms around them too. About a month later, Stef, Lena, Brandon, Jesus and Marianna moved into their new house together. Life started to turn into a beautiful new routine and it seemed like they couldn't get happier. *End Flashback*
Callie moved to sit next her younger sister and wrapped one arm around her shoulder. She knew that Marianna's birthmother was a sensitive subject for the young Latina. The last time that Callie had heard anything about Ana was when her moms had invited her over for dinner.
It had been Marianna and Jesus's choice to finally meet her for the first time in years and so Lena and Stef arranged a dinner. The dinner was meant for just Marianna, Jesus the moms and Ana but, Marianna insisted her other siblings join the dinner. When Ana showed up high as a kite off whatever drugs she had taken, Stef quickly made the decision to send her home.
A few months later, Ana reached out again and asked to meet the twins again, this time Stef and Lena took the Twins to a public place to meet her. She had been sober and everything went much better, after that meeting, there was more frequent contact between the twins and their birth mother. It was very much visible that their moms, especially Lena had a hard time adjusting to this new person in the lives of their twins. Over the next few months, the contact had drastically watered down again… or so everyone thought.
Before Callie could say anything, Marianna started talking again, "Ana is pregnant again…"
"what? Really?" Callie asked.
Downstairs, Stef and Lena were busy preparing dinner for the Porters. Lena had offered to cook dinner for them that day, they had been eating take out at Monte's house ever since they got to Sand Diego almost a week ago. Lena thought they would enjoy a homemade meal. Stef offered to help her, they were making Potatoes salad, stuffed chicken and mixed vegetables.
"After you drop this off, are you coming straight home? Or are you… going back to the hospital?" Stef asked as she continued chopping the carrot in front of her.
Lena grabbed the ovenmit to check on the chicken, "I think I'm going to check on Monte really quick and then come here."
"I'll make sure to stay up until you're home safe okay?" Stef went back to chopping up her carrots when she suddenly noticed an ever so small sob coming from behind her. When she turned around, she saw Lena with her back turned towards her and the sobs became more auditable. Stef walked to where Lena was and just wrapped her arms around her waist from the back. For about five minutes they stayed like that, just like that. No words, nothing. Just Stef holding Lena, comforting her.
After what seemed like forever for them Lena turned around, "I just want her to wake up, Stef… That's all I want!" Lena sobbed in Stef's arms.
Stef felt sad, not only because Monte was in a coma, not only because Lena was crying but, the fact that Lena was crying over another woman was hurting her more than anything. She knew that it was wrong to feel like that but, she couldn't help it. She genuinely felt horrible about the shooting and Monte's condition but, she felt like her feelings for Lena were stronger than her feelings towards anything else at that point.
Lena kept sobbing, her tears soaking trough Stef's grey shirt. Just the feeling of Stef holding her made her feel calmer. The whole situation with Monte made her emotions explode all over the place. What if Monte didn't wake up anymore? What if her family decides to take her off life support? There were so many what if's. For a second she let her mind go blank, she let her emotions just go numb. In that moment, all she felt was Stef's hands rubbing her back and her voice sounding in her ears, telling her 'Everything is going to be alright, Love'. She had missed this more than she wanted to admit.
Stef breathed in the smell of Lena, they hadn't been in each other's arms for so long and it felt like home. For a moment, she thought back to the day of the shooting before she got called in to the school, when she and Lena almost kissed, but Lena had pulled away right before their lips touched.
She knew Lena well enough to know that she could effortlessly take advantage of her emotional instability right now. She knew Lena well enough to know that if she leaned in and kissed her right now, she would not push her away. But she also knew that it would break this new… friendship that they were starting to build up again. Stef knew that all Lena needed right now was a shoulder to cry on and she respected so, that was just what she was going to be. A shoulder to cry on.
The two were still lost in their embrace when they heard the voice of their youngest sounding from behind them.
"Uh, Moms?" Jude said. He had just walked into the kitchen and saw their moms holding each other, he hadn't seen them being that close since before Stef found out Lena was having an affair with Monte.
Stef and Lena quickly released each other and turned to face Jude.
"Hey buddy, whatsup?" Stef said, coming down from her high that was Lena.
Jude thought for a minute, he didn't really know how to put in words what he was feeling and what he wanted to say, "I… I was wondering if you guys needed help with cooking?" He tried to sound as normal as possible. He came downstairs to talk about something else but, seeing how upset Lena looked, he decided not to bother them with it.
"Yeah sure, you can help me cutting these" Stef said as she pointed to the bowl of yet to be chopped vegetables.
When they were done cooking, Stef offered that the whole family could tag along to Monte's house so Lena could drop off the food they prepared to Monte's family and after that they could Go out for their own dinner at Lena's favorite restaurant. She thought that after the dinner Lena could go to the hospital.
Stef and Lena went with Lena's car and the kids all went with Brandon's car. Brandon drove behind Lena's car to Monte's house and parked behind her when they got there. All the kids waited patiently as they saw Stef and Lena get out of Lena's car with the food. Of course, all of them, except Marianna, were focused on who was going to open the door they were all a little curious about Monte's family.
Lena ringed the doorbell. Even though she lived there she didn't want to use her house key because she felt like the Porters needed some kind of privacy. The door opened and Monte's mother appeared from behind it.
Stef took in the appearance of the woman, she was not very tall she had long hair for an older woman, it reminded her of Monte's. The woman had strong Latin facial features with prominent, she could see where Monte got her slightly upturned nose from. This must be her mother, Stef thought
"Hi Katarina… how are you?" Lena asked with a sympathetic smile plastered on her face.
Monte's mother returned a weak smile, "As good as can be expected, but, I know everything is going to be alright" She spoke with her prominent Spanish accent.
Lena liked that about Monte's mother, not for one moment had she doubted that her daughter would wake up again. She was one hundred percent sure that this was all just temporairy.
Katarina looked at Stef before reaching out to shake her hand, "Hi, I'm Katarina Porter."
Stef shook Katarina's hand, "Stef Adams-Foster, nice to meet you, ma'am." Stef introduced herself, still using Lena's Last name.
It was then that Monte's mom realized who Stef was, "Oh, you're Lena's ex-wife?" she asked.
Stef nodded her head, not sure how the woman would react to her now that she knew who she was, she didn't know what Monte had told her mother about her.
Katarina's facial expression softened, "Well, Lena sure had good taste in women, you're gorgeous!" She said, rubbing Stef's arm in an affectionate way, "I met your daughter Marianna, she is such an a sweet, empathic young woman, you must be so proud of her!" Katarina added.
"Thank you, and yes we are, she's right there in the car with our other kids." Stef said, pointing at the car where Brandon, Jesus, Marianna, Callie and Jude were sitting, clearly looking at the three grownups who were standing at Monte's front door.
Katarina smiled and waved at them, they all waved back simultaneously.
Lena smiled at her fiancé's mother before speaking, "Let me put this inside for you guys so you can enjoy your dinner, I hope you like it… It's stuffed chicken, potato salad and…" Lena was cut off by Katarina.
"Why don't you all stay for dinner? I would love to get to know your kids, Lena." She said, a hopeful tone in her voice.
"I… We were going out for dinner actually, we could…" Lena started but this time she was cut off again.
"We would love to, we made more than enough food anyways, right Lena?" Stef stated with a goofy smile on her face. She herself was a little curious to find out more about Monte's family, if the mother of her children was going to Marry into a new family she would like to know more about them.
"Oh-kay… Sure you go get them and I'll bring the food inside then." Lena said as she walked past Katarina and inside the house. When she walked inside the living room she saw Itzel sitting on the couch, reading a book.
"Oh, hey Lena." Itzel said, getting up from the couch. Lena greeted her back and explained that her family was staying over for dinner. Itzel helped her set the table in the dining room.
Moments later, Stef and the kids walked into the dining room followed by Monte's mother.
"Hi, Itzel!" Marianna said as she walked to the dining table that was alreay set. The rest of her siblings shook Itzel's hand and sat down too.
Just as everyone was seated there was the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. Monte's father walked into the living room and then into the dining room.
"Well, Hello… I'm Floyd. You must be Lena's kids, Nice to meet ya'll!" He said smiling at everyone as he sat down next to his wife at the table.
Just as Jesus wanted to pull the bowl of Potato salad closer to himself to put some on his plate, Katarina started talking.
"Let's thank the Lord before we eat." She said as she bowed her head.
All the teenagers looked dumbfounded, they never prayed before dinner before. They just kind of stared around as Katarina began to say grace. The only one other than Monte's family that was bowing her head was Stef, being raised strictly Catholic, it was an automatism to bow her head in respect when someone prayed.
"O Lord, we thank you for the gifts of your bounty which we enjoy at this table. As you have provided for us in the past, so may you sustain us throughout our lives. Oh, sweet Lord, may your healing breath, breathe over our daughter Monte..." She started, her voice growing stronger throughout the prayer.
Itzel looked up during the prayer and saw all the kids looking around awkwardly. She made a funny face to Marianna who snickered slightly. Itzel bowed her head again after that.
After the word, "Amen" Left Katarina's lips, Jesus dug into the potato salad earning a sigh from both Stef and Lena and a small laugh from Monte's family. Smalltalk started flowing and soon everyone was telling more and more about themselves. Monte's mother was especially interested in the children, she didn't have any grandkids yet and if Monte was going to marry Lena, she would suddenly have five step-grandchildren.
"So, when your momma told you about Monte, what did you think at first?" Floyd asked. Monte hadn't told her parents that she had a month's long affair with Lena behind Stef's back prior to Lena's kids finding out.
Everyone's facial expression morphed into an awkward one, none of the kids had the guts to answer that question. They had found out when they heard Stef yell the fact through the house during the first fight they had about Monte. Monte's parents noticed this and looked at Lena for an explanation.
Lena looked at Stef for a second, noticing the emotionless look before clearing her throat saying, "Ah, Stef and I were uhm… we were still married when Monte and I started seeing each other, so at first they didn't like it too much." She explained, not daring to look Floyd in the eyes.
Katarina's mouth dropped open as she put one and one together. She would never have expected her daughter to have an affair with someone, she had always taught valued the meaning of marriage.
"So, you cheated… on your wife with my daughter?" Monte's father asked with disbelief in his voice, this didn't sound like something his daughter would do at all.
Lena nodded her head, "But it wasn't like… it wasn't like that I swear." Lena stuttered. Monte had told her multiple times how important the values of marriage were to her parents. The fact that they accepted her coming out as bisexual was already a small miracle in its own. At first of course, they tried to talk her out of it, telling her that marriage to a woman wasn't going to be as serious as marriage to a man, that it was just a phase after she divorced her husband. Now that they found out that her relationship with Lena started as an affair, they would maybe come back on their accepting ways.
"My daughter was 'The other woman' for you?" Katarina started, the fiery rage audible in her voice. She had put her knife and fork down and was looking at Lena with that typical Latina skeptical look, A look Marianna had also flashed at her times before.
"No, Ma'am… It wasn't like that. We just fell for each other at the wrong time." She was cut off by Katarina's voice again.
"De ninguna manera. No puedes amar a dos personas a la vez." She said, her disbelief and slight anger taking over, forgetting to speak English. She got the feeling that Lena had just used Monte and when her wife found out she had no choice than to stay with her.
Now Jesus started to talk, "Tu hija era parte del asunto también, no sólo mi mamá!" he said calmly, trying not to put more tension on the situation. He didn't want to sound rude but he couldn't just sit there and let these people talk to his mother like that.
"He's right mom, Monte is an adult and she knew what she was doing." Itzel spoke, looking at her mom with a look that said; 'calm down!' Her parents had this vision of Monte, that she was perfect, and that she didn't make any mistakes. She was tiered of them expecting her to be anything but a normal human who made mistakes.
"I really love your daughter, and I'm going to marry her because I love her and she loves me back." Lena softly said, reassuring them that Monte wasn't just some replaceable toy to her. She loved monte and she didn't want to have to prove it repeatedly to everyone.
During the whole conversation, Stef had been silent the whole time, hearing Lena declaring her undying love for Monte and explaining the affair to her parents was bringing up all those feelings again. Those feelings that she felt when she found out about the affair. Those feelings she felt when they had been fighting. Those feelings she felt when they filed for divorce. She wished that she had never felt them. Hearing the woman she loved talk about loving someone else was the hardest thing in the for her. But, she had to keep her emotions for herself, she didn't want to look… defeated by it.
Katarina calmed down and apologized to Lena for getting a little heated. Lena accepted the apology and dinner went on 'normally'.
When everyone was done eating, Katarina asked if Lena was still going to the hospital with them. Lena thought for a second before answering no. She would visit first thing in the morning, right now she was just too tired and she needed rest.
Before Stef, Lena and the kids left, Katarina and Floyd asked Lena if they could speak to her alone for a minute. Lena hollered at Stef to wait in the car for her and then followed them to the living room and they all sat down.
"Lena, I wanted to apologize again for my horrible behavior earlier, Dear." Katarina started, the remorse visible in her voice. She looked at Lena with the softest expression on her face.
"It's alright, I understand that you are under a lot of stress right now." Lena said. She understood that everyone was just a little more irritated and on edge than normal due to Monte's coma. She would probably be even worse than miss Porter is something like this happened with one of her kids.
"Monte is going to be just fine, I just know it… I know my daughter, she's strong!" Katarina said proudly, there was no hint of doubt to be heard in her voice.
Lena on the other hand was constantly thinking about the what if's. She knew Monte was strong but, the doctors had repeatedly told them that the chances of Monte waking u were very small. She had hope in a miracle but she also prepared herself for the worst possible scenario.
"I wanted to tell you how happy I am that our Monte has found someone like you. I can see that you genuinely love her and I know that you would never purposely hurt her." Floyd said and with that he got up and rubber Lena's arm before walking out of the living room.
Katarina moved closer to Lena and kissed her cheek before also getting up from the couch and leaving the room. The curly haired woman followed her to the front door, but not before walking to the fireplace and taking one of the pictures that was placed atop it down. It was a random picture Lena and monte had taken together on a school trip, it was one of their best days together. That was the day Lena realized that she really loved monte. She loved everything Monte did and she didn't want to spend a day without that woman by her side anymore.
Lena walked to the car and drove to Stef's house. The whole car ride was in silence, Lena knew that the whole conversation at the dinner table must have upset her. Lena knew that Stef's feelings for her hadn't changed a bit, she had just become better at not showing them. Hearing her talk about Monte and how much she loved her during the dinner must have been hard for her.
When they arrived home All the kids disappeared to their rooms, tired for the day. Lena noticed that Stef went straight to her bedroom too. She felt like she needed to sort this out with Stef, she had made it seem like their marriage had been nothing compaired to her feelings for monte and she knew that as wrong of her. She just wanted to get the point across to Monte's parents that Monte hadn't just been 'the other woman' to her.
Lena walked up the stairs and stood still in front of Stef's bedroom door, the bedroom that they had shared together for all those years. She knocked on the door and almost immediately a faint 'come in' sounded from the other side. She took a deep breath before opening the door and walking inside.
"Stef, we need to talk…" Lena said as she walked over to the bad and sat next to her soon to be ex-wife.
Stef smiled at her, she knew that Lena was about to apologize for everything she said at the dinner, or rather HOW she said it.
"You don't have to apologize, Lena." Stef said, not wanting to hear Lena's apologies, tell me… why didn't you go to the hospital after dinner?" she added, changing the subject.
Lena was silent for a minute, "I don't know… I just, I'm tired of not seeing Monte opening her eyes. And I'm scared…." Lena didn't finish.
Stef moved closer to her when she saw that Lena was getting a little emotional "Scared of what?" she asked.
Lena shrugged, "Scared that when I go see her it will be the last time." Lena now let the tears stream down her face freely.
Stef hated seeing Lena cry like this. It made her feel powerless and it made her feel weak. She moved closer to her and wrapped her arms around her, she immediately felt Lena melt into her touch and relax into her arms.
Again, the feeling of Stef's arms around her made Lena calm. It made her able to shut down her pain for a minute. Right now, it was just her and Stef. There was silence in the room, not one sound was heard but the steady breathing of them both.
Without thinking, Stef laid down on the bed, making Lena rest her read on her chest. Stef's breathing hitched when she felt Lena's hand resting on her ribs, just below her breast, her fingertips grazing the underside of her boob.
Lena looked up at Stef, she had noticed the sudden uneven breathes Stef was letting out and it took her a few moments to understand that it was because of where she had placed her hand. Without thinking she asked, "Do you miss this?"
Stef didn't answer but Lena felt her slowly nodding her head.
"Me too" Lena said truthfully. Right then, Lena forgot about all her worries, it was just her and Stef, like it always used to be. It was home. She leaned up on one elbow and looked into Stef's eyes, she was going to say something but, she had already forgotten what that was.
Stef didn't know what was going on but she just went with it, before her mind could register anything else, Lena kissed her hard, pressing her lips on Stef's. Stef moaned at the feeling of Lena's soft lips on her own. The curly haired woman took advantage of that and by letting her tongue slip into Stef's mouth, their tongues wrestling each other. The kiss was slow, lazy and full of meaning. Everything else in the world was gone in that moment, it was just the two of them
While they kissed, Lena's hands started to roam all over Stef's body, from her face to her hip and then to her breast, giving it a gentle squeeze. Stef half moaned as she suddenly removed Lena's hand from her breast and pulled back from their kiss.
"Lena, we need to stop…" She whispered. No matter how much Stef wanted this, she couldn't do it right now. If she and Lena were going to do this, she needed Lena to be one hundred percent on board with it. She knew Lena well enough to know that the kiss had been not much more than Lena being emotionally confused. She needed a way to keep her mind off everything that was happening.
Lena looked at her soon to be ex-wife. Kissing Stef made her feel like she was somewhere else, like she had no worries. It was hard to explain. Now that Stef had pulled away she had also pulled away the dream world Lena had been in during the kiss. Now she was pulled back to reality. Her hand short to her moth, it was still tingling from Stef's lips. Why did that happen… and why did it feel so good?
"I didn't mean to do that." Lena said quickly. Now that she was back in reality, she was disgusted with herself. She was ENGAGED to Monte! Monte was in a COMA! They were getting a DIVORCE! What was wrong with her?
"It's okay… I know, I understand. You should get some rest." Stef said before kissing Lena's forehead. She understood completely that what just happened, Lena needed a break from reality and Stef was there to give it to her.
"Yeah, I'm… I have to be at the hospital early tomorrow." Lena said as she got up from the bed and made her way to the bedroom door.
"Goodnight, Lena." Stef said.
"Goodnight, Love" Lena answered as she made her way to Marianna and Callie's room where she had been sleeping for the past few days.
She thought about Monte, fighting for her life in that hospital bed while she was out here kissing her soon to be ex-wife. Lena knew that there were still feeling, a connection between herself and Stef but, she had made her choice and it had been Monte. She loved Monte, she loved everything about Monte and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with her.
Lena got into the bed next to Marianna and covered herself. She fell asleep.
The next morning, Lena woke up extra early to be at the hospital before Monte's parents go there. She didn't mind having them there at all but, today she wanted to be alone with her, even if it was just for a few minutes.
She parked her car in front of the hospital and walked straight to Monte's room. She slowly opened the door before going inside. The strong smell of disinfectant filling her nostrils and the groggy sound of Monte's breathing filling her ears. She walked to Monte's bed and sat down on it, stroking Monte's hair. She planted a kiss on her forehead.
"Good morning, baby." She said, getting no response. She reached into her bag and pulled out the picture of the two of them that she took from the fireplace, she put it on the small table next to Monte before sitting on the bed again.
"Oh, my beautiful, beautiful Monte. I miss you, you have to wake up." Lena said, still stroking her finance's hair. It seemed that day by day Monte became paler, the breaths she let out became groggier and the small responses like her eyes fluttering when the light from the hallway got smaller.
"I'm not giving up on you, you are…" Then as she was talking, Lena's heart jumped for a second. Was she imagining things or did Monte just open her eyes and close them again?
"Baby? Monte? Can you do that again?" Lena asked, she needed to make sure that she was not just seeing things. After a few seconds, Monte opened her eyes again, they were hazy and they dulled around the room lazily. It had been so long since Lena had seen those beautiful brown eyes. This was most definitely not just a reflex to any light, she was awake!
"Oh, my God, Monte!" Lena got up from the bed fast and ran into the hallway and practically SCREAMED for a doctor.
The doctor came and asked her to wait in the waiting room as he checked out what was going on. Lena did as she was asked and called Monte's parents to come to the hospital as quickly as they could.
Just as she got off the phone with Floyd, the doctor came to her.
"And?" Lena asked instantly.
The doctor smiled at her, "Her eyes are open, they are a little out of focus, but she definitely opened them by herself."
Lena's eyes started to water, "Does this mean she's going to be alright, Doctor?" she asked with a voice full of hope.
"It means that her brain is sending waves through her body again, so, she is most likely to heal indeed. We out the life support machines on a lower level to encourage the brain to start doing everything by itself again. You can go see her, not more than two people in her room at once though, it might be a little too much for her." The doctor said giving Lena a small smile before walking away.
That was it for this chapter! PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW with any request for the story and I'll do my best to put it in there! It motivates me to write faster! I'll update the next chapter within this week! :-)
