Lena sent a calmed down Callie back to class and then called her wife. "Okay, Love, here is what I can piece together on what happened with our little Love Bug this morning. She received a text and texted back during class time. She was then caught with her phone out and it was taken. He allowed her to delete the other messages and she sent the odd one at the same time."

"Okay, well do you know who she was writing to during class or what it was about that she would need to delete it before we got her phone? I mean, are we looking at a drug deal or a shoe sale sort of text?"

"It wasn't a drug deal. From what I gathered, the texts were from one of our other children. Actually, Callie was so concerned about not wanting us to read the messages that her teacher said she requested up to three days of detention instead of sending her phone to the office. Something about us being easier to deal with than her brothers and sister. Apparently, she forgot your threat because keeping her Mother's Day secret was more important to her than being grounded."

"I am less scary that Jude and Mariana? Really? I mean, I knew you weren't scary, but me, come on, I am the mean one."

"So, where do we go from here, Stef?" Lena said to get back on topic. "Timothy already sent Callie back down here because she was having a hard time in class after she left the office. The teacher who gave her the detention really did not want to, he said that she was doing very well in his class and had no complaints. Her phone can't be out in class and she does need to learn there are consequences when she breaks rules, but four weeks…."

"I am already taking the kids to Ikea on Saturday. She cannot get out of that trip. The kids are planning to take us to the beach, or somewhere, on Sunday. We can't really ground her from that. Therefore, we explain that the four week grounding is a little flexible as we understand the circumstances.

"I am beginning to agree with you that we should have just taken the kids to the mall and gotten store bought presents like we did that one year with Brandon. If all of this drama is because of one day, I am not sure it is worth it."

XXXXXX

Callie sat in detention working on some homework. "So, Miss Foster, how long are you grounded for?"

Callie started to glare in his direction instead of answering, but then she remembered that he had been sympathetic with her earlier. "The rest of the school year. If I get another one, I will have a day of ISS and be grounded for the entire summer break."

"Ouch. Four weeks is a long time. I did speak with your mother earlier and put in a good word for you. She wanted to know about the texts. I told her that they were a secret between you and your siblings and that you deleted them. I am hoping that does not get you into more trouble."

"Thanks for letting me delete them." Callie glanced toward the doorway when she thought she saw someone walk by.

"I think your brothers and sister are all waiting for you in the hallway." Her teacher said noticing where Callie was looking. "You have served thirty minutes and you are free to go with them."

"Thanks again." Callie said as she gathered her books and left the room. Sure enough, all four of the other Foster siblings were waiting for her. "You know that you guys didn't really need to wait for me, right?"

"It really wasn't a problem. This way we call all hitch a ride home with Lena to make up for yesterday." Brandon said smiling at her.

"We also have an idea for Mama, but we all need to go talk to her together." Jude grabbed Callie's hand and started dragging her toward Lena's office.

When they arrived, Jesus knocked on the door all they all went in surprising Lena slightly. "Oh, I was just expecting Callie! What are the rest of you still doing here?"

"I got some extra wrestling practice in…." "I wanted to use the school's piano…" "I got some help from my math teacher…" The boys answered at once.

"We really just didn't want to leave without Callie, Mama. We knew she had a bad day and it was sort of all of our faults." Mariana explained.

"So, we didn't even tell Callie this yet, but we shared in her crime and we want to share her punishment. However long she is grounded for, we would like you to divide it into five pieces and give some to each of us. It is only fair, Mama!" Jude said flashing his innocent smile towards his mother.

Callie looked at each of her siblings and back to her mother. "Really, guys, it is no big deal. Stef warned me on my last detention that his one would be harder. I knew that I could get in trouble to having my phone out and I did it anyway. It is sweet of you, but you don't have to take the fall for me."

"Mama, I sent the text that Callie was responding to. I was on my lunchtime, but I knew she wasn't. I could have waited until after school to have sent it." Brandon said defending Callie. "So, I deserve something."

"Callie said it is always better to be grounded together than alone. I don't mind serving the time with my only sister just this once."

"Family sticks together, Mama, and Callie is my sister. She helped me out last week when I would have been in trouble for coming in late…" Jesus confessed before he stopped realizing what he was saying.

Jude came and grabbed his sister's hand again snuggling close. "Callie, you have taken punishments from me lots of times. This time we went to help you."

"I really don't want to make a decision about this without talking to your mom." Lena was obviously touched by what the kids said and knew Stef would be also. "Let's all go home now, we can start dinner and then maybe I can talk you Mom and we can tell you guys over supper. Sound good?"

XXXXX

All the kids volunteered to help with supper which was a first at the Adams Foster household. Lena had Jesus working to put together a salad, Brandon and Jude grilling chicken outside, and the girls making cookies for dessert. It left her being able to just spend time with the kids. She knew, though, that they only volunteered in hopes that their mother's discussion would go their way. Lena would take that.

Stef came home to see her kids and her wife peacefully laughing and working on supper together. She smiled to see Callie back to herself again and interacting with everyone well. Stef went to put her gun away and then game back to greet each of her babies and her wife with a kiss taking a little extra time with Callie.

"Hey, Stef, the kids are making dinner tonight. I need your opinion on something they brought up earlier. Can I see you upstairs in our room for a few minutes?"

Stef sat down on their bed. "Lena, I have been thinking a lot this afternoon between going to school and our phone calls…."

Lena interrupted. "Stef, before you go any further, you need to know what the other kids did. All of them waited around after school until Callie's detention was over. Then, they came to the office and asked me to divide up Callie's punishment equally for all of them." Lena could feel the tears starting to burn in her eyes before they started rolling down her cheeks. "If you asked me last week if I thought our kids would stand up for each other this way, I would have said no. But, Honey, we are doing something right."

Stef reached over and held her wife. "I was going to say that we should shorten Callie's grounding to two weeks or less, but this seems better. If you had asked me this afternoon about our kids I would not have suspected a bond this strong."

XXXXXX

After the moms headed up the stairs, the kids had a meeting of their own. "Okay, Mari, did you find out the price of lamps at Ikea?" Brandon asked.

Mariana pulled out her phone and showed the others the Ikea website. "Yes. I think we are looking at about fifty dollars per lamp. Which means we will all owe around thirty dollars each just to replace those. Now, there are some cheaper options that are nice looking, it would lower our bill if we could convince Mom to go for the less expensive choices."

"Mama should have to buy one of them… We didn't break Jude's lamp. Which by the way, little bro, see if you can find a lamp for less than twenty dollars. I don't even have thirty dollars to put in for the lamps…."

"If that's the case, Jesus, we have a bigger issue. Zoo tickets are almost fifty dollars apiece, making it like three hundred and fifty dollars for a family of seven. I still think they are a good idea, but I have no idea how we can afford them. On the other hand, a year membership for all of us would only be about twenty-five dollars more. Then we could go whenever we wanted for the entire year."

"You guys still have your phones, right?" Callie asked and everyone else gave affirmative answers. "Call the grandparents. They shouldn't have to pay for the lamps, but if they would help us with zoo memberships it would help their daughters have a great Mother's Day. It is worth a shot, right?"

It was decided that Mariana should call Dana, Jesus should call Stuart, and Brandon should call Sharon. Callie would check on the food again as she didn't have a phone to use. Jude went back into the house and stood at the bottom of the stairs ready to distract the moms if they were to come down. He was secretly hoping the others would be done before the moms came down the stairs because Jude wasn't very good at misleading either of them.

Fortunately, Jude was not needed. All the grandparents agreed to support the cause, but also all three decided to fly to San Diego for the weekend. Jesus, Mariana, and Brandon all extended the invitation to come. The kids figured that bringing in their moms' moms as well as the zoo memberships would count as a gift from the heart for Lena. Also, no one could truly be grounded when the grandparents were there. Now it was just a matter of deciding where they could stay and how to break the news to their moms. It was decided that Jude was the cutest and therefore would be the spokesperson for the group.

Jude set the table as the others brought food, condiments, and drinks. The moms came down and smiled at the initiative the kids were making for dinner preparations. Everyone sat down and starting putting food on their plates. Stef cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "Mama and I thought about your offer. We had originally grounded Callie for basically four weeks. If you all really are willing to share it, we would be happy with five days for each of you. All of you will still be going with me to Ikea on Saturday, even though you are grounded until Tuesday. We are also willing to let Sunday be a free day as long as the whole family is doing something together. That is our offer if you are willing to take it."

None of the kids really wanted to be grounded, but all were willing to accept for Callie. They also realized their news might not go over well already. So, everyone readily agreed.

"We have something to tell you guys, too. As part of your Mother's Day surprises, all the grandparents are all coming for the weekend! They will be here Friday night and they are leaving on Monday morning!" Jude was genuinely excited to see the grandparents as he had never had this much family before.

Stef and Lena looked at each other before Stef decided to speak for both of them, "You are telling me that you used your last few moments with phones to call your grandparents and invite them to spend the weekend with us despite your offer and everything else? Are you trying to torture us? Are you all crazy? Today is Wednesday, Friday is just two days from now!"

"Your moms really wanted to spend quality time with their only daughters and grandchildren. I, for one, don't think it is crazy to want to spend time with my family." Jesus said trying to keep a straight face. "Besides, we could have told you about it Friday after school."

Jude looked a little troubled. "Will you not want to spend time with us when we are grown-ups with kids or will we not want to see you?"

"Honey, we will always want to spend time with you and we will want to spend lots of time with our grandbabies. Sometimes when our mothers come things are a little tense, but I promise we both love our mothers very much. We love it that you all invited them to come spend the weekend. The only issues are that is very short notice and we would like to be involved before invitations are given. Everything is okay in this case, though. My parents can stay in Brandon's room and he can stay in the boys' room. Sharon can stay in the girls' room and they can stay on the couches. See, Jude, there is always room for our family here." Lena said realizing how much Jude takes things to heart.

"Oh good! I cannot even imagine having a time that I didn't want to spend time with you, Mama or with you, Mom. I want to spend every Mother's Day with you guys!" Jude proclaimed happily.

"I hope you always feel that way, Bud." Stef said with a smile. She could tell that a few of the others around the table were not exactly having those same thoughts at this moment. Stef's constant fear was that when her babies had the chance, at least one would leave and never come back. Her number one concern currently being Callie, but had been each of the other three big ones over the last few months.