Chapter 9


Callie stared at Stef as she began walking over to her. What does she want? she asked herself as she held her doll even closer toward her and wrapped her arms around the swing so that she wouldn't drop Molly. Immediately she felt uncomfortable.

"Hey," Stef started with a smile. "Do you need help there, sweets?" the woman paused for a second when she realized she had just said sweets. It was something her own mother had called her when she was a child but she never thought that she'd hear it come out of her own mouth.

"No, I'm okay," Callie mumbled as she got off the swing a little bit and then jumped back on top of it so that she would move a little. Not exactly swinging on your own but it would do for Callie. She didn't want her mom's girlfriend helping her.

Stef nodded her head and wondered what she should do now before she turned her gaze away and noticed Lena watching them from afar. So not only was Callie not participating at all, but now Lena was watching her every move. It couldn't get any more awkward.

"So…" Stef clapped her hands and Lena had to bite back a chuckle as she watched. "Do you play on the swings a lot?"

Callie was trying her best not to sound too rude to Stef even though she honestly just wanted to tell her to go away at this point. She knew that her mom wouldn't like it. But for a child, rudeness was like a second language to her. "Maybe you… I dink you can go back to Mommy. N she's not here. She's over dere," Callie pointed to Lena as she stared at Stef.

I knew she was going to try and send me back, Stef thought to herself yet still tried to maintain a smile as she walked over toward the swing besides Callie and sat on it. "Yes, your mommy is over there but I came over here to talk to you. That's why I wanted to come to the park, so that I can get to know you too. I already know her," Stef tilted her head. She tried to joke a little so that she could force Callie to smile against her will, but Callie just stared at her blankly and jumped off of the swing and back onto it so that it could start moving again. Stef coughed nervously when she realized that she had no idea how to handle this little girl. "Do you want to learn how to swing really high?" Stef questioned next while she attempted to smile again, "See," she began to instruct, "You move both of your feet out like this," the blonde pushed her feet up, "…and then you—"

"Mommy don't like it when I swing too high. She tol' me I'm goin to get hurt," the small brunette said flatly as she turned to look at her. "You want me to fall?" Callie asked next though she kept her face still rather than angry when she said it.

"No," Stef shook her head, "Not at all," she answered seriously, " I was just—"

"Goin back to Mommy?" Callie continued as she looked away from the woman and toward her own mother who was staring at them both. She wondered if her mom could read her lips and knew what she was saying. If she could, the little girl knew that she'd surely be in trouble.


Stef accepted the stab that Callie made at her and took a deep breath. She wondered if she should in fact go toward Lena, since her daughter obviously didn't want her anywhere near her.

But then she thought back to what Lena said the first time Callie made her feel like this, Don't let her walk all over you, because she will and you'll lose.

Callie wants me to leave so why should I?

"No, you know what Callie. I like the swings too. I think I'll stay," the blonde answered her as she began moving her feet up and down so that she could swing and tried to keep herself as casual as she could, all the while keeping her eyes focused on Lena.

Callie shook her head slightly from annoyance as she looked down at her doll. It's just me and you, Molly, she said in her head before she brought the doll even closer toward her chest. She wanted so badly to jump off of the swing and run over towards her mom, but for some reason she just couldn't. She didn't want Stef to follow her back there either.

The little girl took a deep breath and tried to keep her attention off of Stef the best that she could. Maybe if I just ignore her then she would go away, Callie tried to rationalize. She jumped off of the swing and jumped back on it harder, attempting to move her feet in different directions again but that just made her stop swinging. She sighed and let her eyes roam toward Stef's legs so that she could see exactly how high she was swinging. How was she doing that? the five year old mentally asked herself while she began to study Stef's movements.

And Stef tried her best not to look in Callie's direction, despite the fact that she knew the little girl's eyes were intently focused on her. She knew exactly what Callie was doing and didn't want to discourage her by opening her mouth. And before she knew it, she glanced up when she heard the chains from Callie's swing begin to slowly rock back and forth. She smiled slightly at the thought of having taught a kid something. But still, she kept her eyes focused on the scene around her.

Lena's eyes widened with excitement when she noticed that Callie was swinging all on her own. She babied Callie a lot and always pushed her on the swing from fear that she would fall, if she weren't right next to her the entire time. But Callie wasn't going so high and strangely she felt that Callie was safe with Stef beside her. She smiled when she saw the two of them staring in complete opposite directions at absolutely nothing, apparently trying to avoid eachother.

Immediately afterwards, she reached for her cell to snap a picture of it but noticed Stef's phone was closer since it was already out on the blanket. When she grabbed hold of it and held it up to the air to take a snap shot, she noticed a text was in the way. She didn't want to read it but Mike's name was staring right back at her: Thank you for staying over last night. I know that you didn't need to help me but I still appreciate it. I owe you one -Mike

Her face went flat and she could almost feel her heart stop beating midway through the message. And the text just confirmed the fear that she had every since she started dating Stef. She kept reading it over in over again praying that she had misread it the first time… and the second time… but it still said the same thing.

As she stood there frozen she could feel a sudden burst of emotions want to come out of her but something else snapped her out of it.

"Mommy!" Callie screamed in complete terror.

To be continued…