A/N: It's been awhile but this chapter is a long one. Thanks as always for the sweet reviews.
Callie heard Jude giggling from Mariana's bedroom. Curiously she followed the sound. The two children had their heads bent over something as they sat on Mariana's pink bedspread. When Callie got closer she was dismayed to see that Mariana was painting Jude's nail…with blue nail polish. "Hey," she said gruffly.
"Look Callie," said Jude, raising his hands, "pretty!"
She looked at him, "why are you wearing it?" she tried not to sound mad but when his face fell, she knew she had failed.
"I like blue. Blue's pretty and Mariana said she'd paint them for me." He had his hands clutched a little closer to his chest, as if he knew she wouldn't admire them.
"It was easy," said Mariana, turning to cap the nail polish and ignoring the thunderclouds that were forming over Callie's brow. She and Callie had been getting closer, and she refused to be afraid of her anymore. "He's really good at holding still and everything."
"You shouldn't have done it," said Callie, folding her arms over her chest.
"Why?" asked Mariana, turning back to face her.
"Because boys…boys don't paint their nails."
Mariana scoffed, "sure they do. Maybe not all boys, but Brandon and Jesús have both let me put some on before." Not a lot and not very often but Callie didn't have to know that.
"That's because…" Callie began, then stopped.
"Because what?" Mariana asked, standing up and stepping closer to Callie, a little glitter in her eyes.
Callie stepped back, surprised. Mariana had not challenged her like that before. "Because of your family," finished Callie.
"What about my family?" If anything, Mariana's voice grew steelier.
Callie began backpedaling, "It's not like they're bad or anything…they're just different."
"So what?"
"Most people don't like different."
Mariana's eyes narrowed, "I don't care. My family's better than any other family. I've been to other families and nobody, nobody ever took care of me and loved me as much as my moms do."
"Look, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Callie said. "But I don't want Jude to think this is how things are. He's little and he'll get confused. I don't want him to get the crap beat out of him because he started wearing girl stuff."
"I'm not going to get beat up," said Jude.
"You aren't supposed to say crap," Mariana said, chin jutting. "Nail polish isn't girl stuff. And besides, there's no such thing as boy stuff and girl stuff. Mama said," she corrected quickly.
"Yes…there is," said Callie. "You don't get it. Me and Jude, we aren't staying here. And unless we move into another house with," she used air quotes, "les-bi-an mothers, boys wearing nail polish is not going to be normal."
"Well I think Jude should get to choose," Mariana shot back, ignoring the sarcasm.
"Well," Callie mimicked, "you aren't his sister so you don't get a say in it."
"Stop!" said Jude, inserting his tiny body in between the girls. "Stop fighting," he said firmly. "Callie, I want to wear nail polish and you can't stop me." Callie's face began to turn red, "but," he continued, "I'll take it off before I leave the house. Okay?"
Callie looked mollified, "fine."
Mariana put her hands on her hips, "you know," she told Jude, "you don't always have to do what she says."
Jude shrugged, "she's the only family I got," he said to Mariana, "and I love her. Even when she does stupid things."
Mariana's face lost some of her anger. She put an arm around Jude's shoulder. "Jesús use to be the only family I had left," she said seriously, "but that changed. Now I have Mommy and Mama and Brandon too."
Jude nodded. "I like your family. Callie does too, even if she doesn't act like it sometimes."
Callie looked slightly offended, "I'm being nice now, Jude, you know that." She had been too. Ever since they had come back from their real home, Callie had been trying to be really, really good. It wasn't just because Lena and Stef had done nice things for her and Jude, or that they had treated them kindly. It was something else, something she hadn't told Jude and hadn't acknowledged consciously.
"You have," said Mariana, her natural kindness overcoming her irritation. "You've been a really big help lately."
Callie tried to be offended that some nine-year-old kid was praising her like she was Jude's age, but it was hard not to feel a little pleased. She thought the moms would probably say something, but she hadn't expected the kids to.
"Thanks," she mumbled. "I-"
Suddenly a scream of rage echoed from the hallway, "I'm going to kill you Jesús!"
"Uh-oh," said Mariana, running to the doorway as several thumps indicated bodily harm. After a brief silence there was grunting, then a yelp. Mariana didn't hesitate, "Mama!"
When Callie and Jude joined her, they found Jesús and Brandon rolling on the floor, punching wildly at one another. Since the boys were the same size, they were evenly matched although Jesús's punches seemed to carry a little more weight. Callie looked at Mariana to see if this was a normal occurrence. She had seen the boys playfully wrestle on another, and even though they'd gotten a little rough at times, they still laughed at the end. But Mariana looked distressed, tears standing in her eyes, "Brandon, Jesús…stop! Stop!" she pleaded.
Callie was contemplating trying to separate them, when rapid footsteps came up the stairs. "Brandon… Jesús, stop right now!" Lena demanded her voice was low, but Callie had never heard it sound so deadly. The boys pulled apart. Jesús had a rapidly swelling lip and Brandon had a bruise running across his cheek. Lena pointed at Jesús, "you, downstairs on the couch."
"I didn't hit first," Jesús whined. "Brandon-"
Lena pointed down the hall and Jesús stomped down the stairs.
"Brandon, go to your room," said Lena, her voice like steel.
"Mama, he wrecked it! He wrecked my piano. It's completely ruined!" Brandon said, not moving from his position.
Lena ran a hand over her face as she walked over to look into Brandon's room. It was uncharacteristically messy and she could see the keyboard laying at a strange angle. Knowing that if the keyboard really was ruined, Brandon wouldn't calm down at the scene of the "crime", she pointed to her bedroom, "go to our room. Sit on one of the chairs. I'll be in to talk to you in a little while."
"But he-"
"Now, Brandon!"
Brandon made sure to slam the bedroom door after he walked through it. Lena sighed and looked at the other children, who were standing in a wide-eyed bunch. "I don't suppose you guys know anything about this?" she asked, keeping her voice calm.
"No." Callie and Jude shook their heads.
Mariana looked worried, "are they going to be in big trouble?"
"That's something I'm going to talk to them about," Lena said gently, but firmly. "I don't want any of you trying to talk to them right now or trying to see them. They need to cool down, understand?"
The children nodded again.
Marian gloomily went back to her bedroom. Uncertain, both Callie and Jude followed her. "What're your moms going to do?" asked Callie.
Mariana shrugged, "I don't know. They'll probably get extra chores or something." She frowned as something new occurred to her, "we probably aren't going to the park like we were supposed to."
"That was kinda scary," said Jude. "Me and Callie never fight like that."
"Duh, you're like munchkin size. That would just be mean," said Callie, tousling his hair.
"Brandon and Jesús don't fight like this either," said Mariana. "They get mad at each other, but they don't punch each other like that." Her mouth pulled down in distress. She wasn't adverse to them getting caught when they got in trouble once and awhile, but she didn't like to see them getting hurt either. Especially hurting one another. She hoped her moms resolved the situation…quickly.
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The boys were morose as they ate dinner that night, stinging from the lecture and the additional chores that had been piled on them. The rest of the family, either irritated by the debacle or nervous at the outcome, were quiet as well.
Lena sighed as she put her fork down. It had been an uncomfortable dinner. "Okay, Brandon, Jesús, you can start cleaning up the kitchen. The rest of you can pick a movie to watch, okay?"
Jesús's mouth puckered in disappointment as he stood up and shoved his chair back.
"Hey," Stef warned him. "That's enough of that. I see any more attitude tonight and you're going to be grounded another week, do you understand me?"
Jesús nodded.
"I don't just want to hear your head rattle," Stef warned him.
"Yes," he muttered.
Stef gave her older son a warning look to prevent any displays of attitude, but his chin was drawn up as if he were going to cry, ignoring this interplay entirely. "Mama, what about my keyboard?" he asked Lena.
"Brandon, I told you we were going to get it looked at in the music shop tomorrow," Lena told him wearily. She had heard a variation of this for the last three hours and her answer had been the same. She was starting to get a headache. "We'll get it repaired tomorrow."
"I still don't understand why we couldn't do it today!" Brandon said, "I won't be able to practice tonight! The competition is next Saturday!"
"You can use the piano in the living room," Stef interrupted, "Lower your voice and settle down Brandon."
"I can't play if everyone's watching a movie! It's not fair!" Brandon got up clumsily, knocking his knee against the table making the dishes rattle.
"Okay, Brandon, I want you to go to the top of the stairs and calm down," said Lena. "I'll come up and talk to you in a few minutes."
Brandon looked between the two of his moms, tears of anger and frustration standing in his eyes, "I want to live with Dad!" he declared. "There's too many people here!" He ran up the stairs before they could say anything to him.
With a set expression on her face, Stef began to follow him. "Stef," Lena grabbed her elbow, and turned towards Jesús who was looking upset as well.
"Brandon hates me! He's going to be mad at me forever!"
Lena sighed, they couldn't have just one crisis at a time? "No he doesn't sweetheart. He's just upset about his keyboard."
Jesús looked miserable, "I said sorry!"
"I know, I know," Lena said, still keeping a firm grip on Stef whose muscles were rigid against her fingertips. "Everything will be fine. Just do your half of the kitchen cleaning. Brandon will do his when he's calm."
She pulled Stef into the alcove, "Stef-" she began gently.
"Mike is not his get-out-of-jail-free card," Stef fumed. "He does not get to use that just when things aren't going his way."
"Stef, he was really upset about his keyboard. He's been off and on crying since it happened." Lena rubbed her forehead, trying to stave off the headache a little longer.
"We'll get it fixed Lena," Stef said, automatically trying to rub the tension out of her lover's neck. "It's not irreparable. What's the problem?"
"I think the boys are just having a rough time. They're good brothers but they aren't good roommates."
Stef leaned her head back a little, sighing at the ceiling, "we need to change the room arrangements?" she asked knowingly.
"I think so. I mean, Callie and Jude may get another foster placement soon-"
"Oh sweetheart," Stef looked at her in exasperation.
"What?" Lena pulled herself away from Stef to look at her.
"Bill is not going to be rushing around finding a new home for them."
"Stef-"
"Honey, the kids are in a safe place, with people he knows and trusts. He probably has a list of twenty kids or so that aren't that lucky. Callie and Jude are not a priority right now." Stef had her tilted in that way she did when she was sure she was correct.
Lena frowned.
"Plus he knows we're both suckers," the tone was semi-joking but there was a lament to it that made Lena bite her lip a little in consternation.
"Sorry," she offered.
"I'm not," Stef laughed slightly, curling her arm around her lover's shoulder's, "your heart is one of the things I love most about you."
Lena gave her a look.
"It is! You can't help it. And I'm grateful for it," she kissed her check, "after all, it's what allowed you to take a chance on me."
Lena's gaze softened, "I wasn't taking a chance. I knew you were my forever." They kissed gently and repeatedly for some moments, easily able to ignore the sound of the television in the other room and the clank of dishes in this one.
"So room arrangements?" asked Stef after a moment, leaning back a little but making sure their hips were still fused together.
"I think it's time. Let's talk about it tonight, after the kids have gone to bed."
"Yeah. I guess we better. Want me to talk to Brandon?" Stef asked, brushing the hair back from Lena's face, "you've been having to deal with this all day."
"No," Lena shook her head, "I want to see this through with him." What she did not say was that she knew Brandon had pushed a sore spot of Stef's by bringing Mike into the conversation. Whether it was consciously or unconsciously, Brandon had a tendency to throw certain aspects of the divorce out when he felt threatened or denigrated. That particular clash would not end well for either of them, and Lena refused to let two people she loved so much hurt one another.
"Yeah, okay," Stef rubbed her hands over her face briskly, "that's probably best. I'll talk to Jesús."
Lena leaned forward and let their noses rub together for a moment. "Love you."
"Love you."
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Brandon was immediately apologetic and Lena had to assure her son that they knew he still wanted to live with them and loved them.
"I just got mad," he said, frowning at a spot on his shoes. "There's so much going on all the time and it seems like there's never anyplace to just be alone."
"I understand that. I know it's a big change, but it's a change all of us are going through so we all need to be aware of that and be extra aware of other people's feelings." Lena put her hand on his knee.
"I was trying," Brandon mumbled, not looking at her.
"Hitting your brother is not trying," said Lena firmly, "what's more it's completely unacceptable." She tilted his face gently so he would look at her.
He sighed, "Jesús doesn't get in as much trouble as me 'cause he has ADHD. But he still ruins my stuff. I don't break any of his stuff. It's not fair Mama."
"Jesús gets just as upset as you do when he breaks your things. He feels especially bad because he knows it's his fault and he'll probably do it again, even when he's trying really hard to make good choices. Can you imagine how hard it must feel, to feel like you don't have control of your own brain and your own body?" She released his chin as his gaze remained steadily on her own. "He gets in more trouble than you do but we don't punish him for it because most of the time, it's impulsive, not malicious."
"Yeah," sighed Brandon. "I am sorry I hit him. I'll say sorry to him now." He had refused to do so earlier, on the grounds that he wasn't actually sorry and it would be lying.
"That would be a good choice," said Lena, squeezing his shoulders. "And Mom and I are talking about ways to make this better for everyone, okay? We know its been tough."
"Okay," he said. "Can I -May I go downstairs now? I'll apologize to Jesús and start my part of the cleaning."
"You may," said Lena, patting his leg again and watching him go down the stairs.
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"I didn't mean to Mom, I really didn't," said Jesús earnestly. "I mean, I was mad at him 'cause he wouldn't stop playing but I didn't mean to spill soda all over the keyboard. Honest."
"I know you didn't mean to buddy, but one, you don't need to have soda in your room. Or any soda at all. You know how Mama feels about it. Two, you should not have an open container around B's stuff. The keyboard is expensive and because it's electrical, it's susceptible to liquids and all sorts of things." Stef contemplated her son as he slouched on the kitchen chair.
"Brandon's mad at me all the time now," said Jesús. "He won't play with me or anything. All he wants to do is practice for the competition. Ever since he won that thing last year he just plays piano over and over and over again. It drives me crazy Mom. I'm starting to hear that stuff in my sleep."
"Your brother loves you," said Stef firmly. "He's just very competitive when it comes to piano. You know - like you are with volleyball, basketball, and soccer."
"But he practices the same stuff all the time," said Jesús scowling. "It's boring."
"Not to him," Stef reminded him. "Everyone in this family has their own interests and things they love. Anyway, Mama and I are going to talk about the situation tonight, okay?"
"About what?"
"About how to make the situation better for everyone. Meanwhile, try to be careful around you brother's belongings and we'll figure out the music thing."
"Maybe he'll want to play with me," said Jesús brightening, "since his keyboard is broken he can't practice anyway."
"You may not want to say it like that buddy, but yeah. He'll probably play with you."
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"So what do you think?" Stef stretched her legs out over Lena's lap, holding a half-full glass of merlot. "Jesús and Brandon in separate rooms again? Or should they try to work out their issues?"
"Well, they do need to work things out, although as usual they're best friends again. For now," said Lena, resting an arm on the back of the couch. "Unfortunately I think it's asking a lot of both of them to continue to share a room. We had Jesús's room set up specifically for him. Remember all those books we read about organizing children with ADHD?"
"Yeah."
"We took all the stuff out that would be too much for him, stored it, bought bins, labeled…it was a ton of work and he still had problems. We can't expect him to be organized when he's not even in his own room. That's setting him up for failure and it's not right," Lena said.
"We just dealt with the situation as best we could. Now that we know we're in it for awhile, we can make changes. If we need to get Jesús back in his room, what do we do with Callie and Jude? We can't put them on the sofa for an indeterminate period of time."
"No. But I was thinking…I was thinking it might be time to break them up a little." Lena hesitated over the last part.
"Seriously?" Stef sat up a little to look at Lena.
Lena automatically straightened, presenting her case carefully. "They're getting more comfortable here, Jude especially. We could put Callie with Mariana and Jude with Brandon or Jesús."
"I don't know. I think Mariana would rather stay with Jesús or Brandon. She's still kind of scared of Callie."
"She and Jesús would be arguing within hours," Lena pointed out. "And she has the same feelings about Brandon's constant piano playing, remember? She said she was going to puncture her own eardrum if she had to hear that Schumann piece one more time."
"Yeah, nice imagery, huh? Maybe we need to limit Brandon's practice time," said Stef reluctantly.
"Since when do we limit our children's potential skills?"
"When he drives the rest of the family crazy. I love him with my whole heart but when he gets to that stage where he's trying perfect a certain part over and over again, I start to feel a little crazy too."
"Let's try headphones at least part of the time," said Lena after a moment's thought. "That can be our first step."
"Okay, so if Callie and Mariana share a room, who do we put Jude with?" Stef leaned back into the couch cushions.
"I don't know if Jesús can handle sharing a room right now. We can barely keep him organized by himself. We might be asking too much of him. If he were a little older, it might be different," said Lena, running her hand up and down Stef's leg in a mini-massage.
"Well if Jude shares with Brandon, he's going to have to deal with the music stuff too. How do we know the little guy won't try to smother Brandon with that blue, stuffed elephant he takes to bed with him?" Stef grinned a little.
"We could ask him," Lena suggested, "see how he feels about it."
Stef stretched, setting her now empty glass on the coffee table, "it could work," she admitted. "Do you think Callie and Jude could deal with it though? Being separated?"
Lena took a breath.
"Sanely," Stef said. "No uncontrollable tantrums."
"I think at this point, it would be healthy if they separated, just this little bit. They need to know they can depend on each other, after all they're pretty much the only family they've got, but they also need to know that they're safe here, that they can be separated and the world won't end," Lena ran her finger thoughtfully over the rim over her wine glass as she spoke.
"It must be terrifying," said Stef quietly. "Untethered completely from everything they've ever known."
Lena picked up her hand and kissed it, "right now they're tethered to us. And I bet between the two of us we can find a way to keep an eye on them, no matter what."
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"Why?" asked Callie, looking at them with serious brown eyes.
"Because it's time you guys got a little more settled. We need you to be able to unpack your suitcases, find places for your toys. Normal stuff," said Lena, seated in the bog, comfortable chair in the living room.
Jude wiggled a little from his perched position on the couch, "why can't me and Callie stay together?"
"Well," said Stef carefully, "a couple of reasons. Lena and I decided that Jesús needs to have his room back." She let her arm rest on the back of the chair, her fingers just barely touching the back of her lover's neck.
"'Cause Brandon and him got it a fight?" Jude asked. "It was a big fight. I didn't like it. Neither did Mariana and Callie."
"Partly, yes. Jesús is working very hard on his organization and it's hard to do when he's living part in and part out of his room," said Lena. "Also Brandon practices a lot and that's a lot of stimulation for Jesús."
"So if all your kids have their own rooms again, you have to find a place for me and Jude," Callie said, eyes narrowing. She was going to make sure and give Brandon hell about this later.
Giving Callie and encouraging look Stef said, "yes. Now Callie, you and Mariana are only a year apart, so we thought you'd make good roommates."
"Mariana and I don't get along super good," said Callie honestly. "What about me and Brandon?"
"Foster children can't share a room with a child of the opposite gender after a certain age and you're both past that," Lena said. "It's one of the foster care rules."
Callie sighed. She was becoming better and better acquainted with the foster care rules. She had decided they pretty much sucked. Lena and Stef had told her the rules were meant to protect her and Jude but to her, all they did was make her feel different from the rest of the family. "Okay. Whatever. I guess I can handle living with Mariana."
Stef and Lena traded surprised looks. They had hoped for a grudging compliance at best, this was even better than they expected.
"Who'm I gonna be with?" asked Jude.
"Well my young friend," said Stef, "we thought you might enjoy sharing a room with Brandon."
Jude looked at Callie to see how she felt about that. She shrugged.
"The only thing we want to make sure of, is like we said, Brandon practices piano a lot and even with the headphones we're going to get him, they'll probably be some noise," said Lena.
"I don't think it would bother me," said Jude after some consideration. "I could probably play downstairs or something if I got tired of it."
"What mature thinking, little man," said Stef, leaning over to tousle his hair after looking at Lena.
"Jude doesn't make a big fuss about anything," said Callie. "Mommy said he's her easy-going boy. Even when he was in her tummy he'd just roll around and stuff. He hardly ever kicked," she gave her brother a proud look.
"So you'd be okay sharing a room with Brandon, buddy?" asked Lena, wanting to be sure.
"Yeah," said Jude. "Callie's just right across the hall, right?" He looked at his sister for reassurance.
"Indeed she is," said Stef giving the little girl a smile.
Lena squeezed her lover's hand. "You'll still be close to one another and it will give you a chance to get to know the other kids even better."
Callie looked pensively at her lap, "how long are we going to be here?" she asked.
"Why do you ask?" said Stef, straightening a little.
"Well, we're moving into new bedrooms, so it doesn't seem like we'll be leaving really soon," said Callie astutely. "Bill said he was going to look for another home with us, but we haven't seen him for weeks. So what's going to happen to us?"
"I don't want to leave," said Jude, looking at them worriedly, "I want to stay with you guys. Can't we stay here?"
"Jude-" Stef began, then turned to the little girl, "Callie…we-love having you here but yes, Bill is looking for another place for you to live."
"Why?" asked Jude, his lip thrust forward.
"He wants to find you a good place, someplace you can live for a long time with really nice parents in a good home," said Lena moving closer towards the children so that she sat on the edge of the chair and releasing Stef's hand gently.
"We're going to live with our Daddy," said Callie, looking away from them for a moment. "He's going to come back and take care of us."
The two older women exchanged looks again, "Sweetheart, you know that's going to be awhile, right?" asked Stef. She tried to think back if Bill had mentioned anything about talking to the children about their father's prison sentence.
"Yeah. That's what Bill said but that's okay. One time my mom hadn't seen her best friend for like, a whole year or two but when they saw each other again, Mom said it was like no time passed at all," said Callie. "That's what it will be like with our dad."
"This might be a little different sweetheart," said Lena. She looked over to Stef and saw her shaking her head in a small, quick motion. Truthfully, Lena agreed. It would be too much at this moment to dump the news on these children. One change at a time was enough. They had time. They would find a way to breach the topic slowly, not at all at once…so hopefully it wouldn't hurt as much.
"Different how?" asked Callie already alerted by the shift in tone.
"It's different because he's your dad and you aren't use to him being gone for awhile," Stef said diverting the conversation expertly. "But we're going to help you with that, okay?"
"Can I call my dad?" asked Callie in a pleading tone. "It wouldn't feel like such a long time if I could talk to him."
"I don't know about that yet," said Lena. "We'll find out. But you can definitely write to him. Would you like to do that?"
"Sure," said Callie.
"Me too," said Jude eagerly. "I can write too."
"Of course," said Stef. "Both of you can write as long a letter as you want. We can even send pictures of you both to your dad. I'm sure he'd like that a lot." She was feeling a little conflicted. She thought it was horrible that the man had been driving drunk and killed his wife. He deserved to be in jail. Part of her believed he shouldn't even have the comfort of hearing from his children. After all, it was through his actions that the Callie and Jude were robbed of their mother and deprived of their home and everything else that was familiar to them. His mistake had cost them everything, and the thought of giving him succor for anything was galling. Almost as if she knew what she was thinking, Lena reached over and gave her hand a little squeeze. Stef relaxed and squeezed back, looking at the children. At the end of the day, it wasn't what Donald Jacob needed, it was what Callie and Jude needed, and they needed to be able to communicate with the man who raised them – who loved them, despite his actions.
"But first," said Lena, hoping to dispel the sudden gloom that had fallen over the room, "we're going to go to the furniture store and get you guys new beds and new dressers."
"Really?" asked Jude.
"Cool," said Callie matter-of-factly.
Furniture shopping wasn't a huge draw for young children, but Stef and Lena thought it was important for them to choose what they put in their new bedrooms. It was something they might not have in their next home.
"We get to pick it out?" asked Jude.
"Within reason," said Stef quickly. "Lena and I have final approval. We do have kind of a tight budget."
"What's that mean?" asked Jude, looking at them, then Callie for an explanation.
"They don't have a lot of money," said Callie, "probably 'cause they got so many kids."
Stef snorted and Lena elbowed her. "That's pretty much it in a nutshell kiddo. Why don't you guys go get the other kids and we'll go to the store?"
"Sure," Jude jumped to his feet and made a beeline for the stairs.
Callie got up more slowly, looking at her foster mother's measuringly, "do the other kids know about the bedroom changes?" she asked.
"They do," said Stef, "and they're very excited about it." Excitement was a bit of an overstatement. They were tolerant of the idea.
"Okay," said Callie.
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Both Callie and Jude made their choices relatively quickly which surprised but pleased Lena and Stef. Mariana was happy that Callie's off-white headboard and dresser would match her furniture. Brandon was less thrilled with Jude's choices. "It's purple," he pointed out to his mothers.
"Yes it is, buddy," said Stef, leaning against the wall of the gently-used furniture store. It was where they had bought the other children's furniture. It catered to people with children, knowing that they tended to grow out of their furniture or phases with a rapidity that would leave most families with empty wallets. Lena raised an eyebrow at their son expectantly.
Brandon sighed as he looked at them. Were they really going to make him say it? "Look, I know there's no such things as boy colors and girl colors, but other people think there are," he said. "What am I going to say when they start bugging me about it?"
"B, it's a darker purple," said Stef, coming over to clap him on the back.
"So?"
"Tell them it's the color of bruises."
Lena rolled her eyes at this, but Stef gave her a look right back. Raising gender-conscious, anti-traditional sex roles, twenty-first century kids kids was fine, but having a good comeback was just a law of the playground jungle. She wasn't going to send her kids out there ill-equipped.
Brandon brightened, "hey that's true." He trotted over to Jude, "good choice Jude," he said sincerely.
"Crisis averted," said Stef smugly.
"Yes, yes, you're very smart," said Lena, hooking her finger in Stef's belt loop to pull her closer for a kiss.
Stef grinned at her. "Let's get this stuff and bring our brood home. I'm sick of shopping."
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The dressers and beds would be at the house the next day, so the moms and children spent the rest of their day organizing the bedrooms, moving things around, replacing things, and eliminating others to ease the transition to additional furniture.
Jesús was delighted to be getting his room back and kept darting around into corners saying things like, "oh, there's where that pencil went, I've been looking for that." Or, "hey how long does it actually take for an orange to go bad?"
"You're acting like you've been away from your room forever," snapped Mariana, her mood considerably less light than her twin's.
"It feels that way," Jesús agreed cheerfully, setting out on another discovery expedition.
Mariana huffed but said nothing, moving past Callie in the hallway as she took some old toys downstairs to the garage.
"Hey," said Callie, bringing in a small armload of Jude's books into Brandon's bedroom. She piled them onto a shelf that was designated for her brother.
"Hey," Brandon said, frowning at her tone as he moved a box to the side.
"We haven't really had a chance to talk about Jude sharing your room," said Callie, walking over to where he stood. "Especially since it's pretty much your fault."
"So?"
"So I just want to tell you," Callie said, poking him in his chest, "you better be nice to my brother or I'll kick your ass."
Brandon scowled at her, insulted by the implication and irritated she'd used a word he would have gotten yelled at for using. "I'm not going to hurt Jude," he said, pushing her finger away from his chest. "He's just a little kid."
"Fine," said Callie, "as long as we have an understanding," she turned to go, tossing her braids back over her shoulder as she did so.
"And you better be nice to Mariana," he said before she reached the door. He seated himself in his music alcove, fingering the keys of his borrowed keyboard.
She turned back to look at him, "what?"
"You heard me. Don't look mean at her and don't try to scare her. She'd been really nice to you and Jude. You don't have to do that." Brandon turned himself sideways so her could see her.
Callie was uncomfortable for a moment, knowing she had done both of those things several times since moving into the Fosters' home. "I haven't," she said finally. "You know since we…since we went to my house."
Brandon nodded back, "I know."
"Well then why did you just tell me that?" she asked.
"Why'd you tell me to be nice to Jude when I've never done anything mean to him?" he countered.
She sighed and rolled her eyes, trudging over to sit beside him. "Fine. I get it. We're both the oldest."
"I bet I'm the oldest, oldest," said Brandon, smirking a little. "When's your birthday?"
"Not telling," Callie sassed back, a smile growing on her own face.
"Aw, you're probably months younger than me," said Brandon, nudging her with his shoulder.
"Or years older," said Callie airily. "I could be like fairies who are hundreds of years old and always look the same.
"Yeah right," snorted Brandon, playing a couple of careless notes, "fairies. Next thing you'll be telling me that you believe in Santa."
"Wait," said Callie, her body drooping, eyes wide, "you're telling me there's no such thing as Santa?" There was a slight quiver to her words.
Brandon looked at her, fingers sliding from the keys, mouth gaping as his mind desperately grasped as straws to repair the situation. They looked at one another for five seconds of uncomfortable silence.
Then Callie grinned at him, "I'm just kidding. I know there's no such thing as Santa."
"That was not cool, Callie," said Brandon, taking a deep breath of relief and glaring at her. He sagged a little in his chair.
She smirked at him again, giving him a shoulder nudge of her own, then sobered. "Jude believes in Santa though, so don't mess that up for him, okay? I want him to believe in magic and stuff for as long as he wants too."
"I wouldn't do that Callie," Brandon looked serious. "I would never ruin that for him. Not ever. I think that's a really mean thing to do."
Callie nodded, glad he understood then stood up to go. She paused again, "wait, do the twins still believe in Santa? I don't want to mess it up for them either."
Brandon's face darkened. "No, they don't believe in Santa," he said. "They've never believed in Santa. They never got to."
"What do you mean?" Callie's brow furrowed. "Do they not celebrate Christmas or something? I mean before they lived here."
"No." Brandon scowled, he hated Ana. "Their mom was a really bad mom. She didn't take care of them. She left them all by themselves at Christmas. If they did believe in Santa Claus they would've thought he hated them or something 'cause they never really got presents."
Callie's face mirrored Brandon's now, "that's really terrible."
"Yeah. They've been through some bad stuff. That's another reason you should be nice to Mariana. Things haven't been easy for her either," he looked at Callie sincerely.
"Yeah. I get it, okay? I do."
"Good."
"Okay." She hesitated at the doorway, "you'll help take care of him, Jude I mean, right?"
"I will. I promise."
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
The first night in a new place always felt weird. Callie found herself staring up at the ceiling. It was kind of like a sleepover, but since she knew she was going to be there for awhile, it felt different. If she had been older, she might have been able to verbalize her feelings more easily. There was vulnerability in sharing a room with someone, another soul in the darkness. It created an intimacy between them, one that hadn't been there before. In sleep, Mariana looked as young as Jude, and Callie remembered what Brandon had told her. She couldn't help but feel a little protective. Listening to her foster sister's soft exhalations, Callie drifted off into sleep.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
The next day, Lena came over to the couch where Stef was peacefully reading a magazine. She curled up beside her lover, resting her head on Stef's free arm. "Just got a call," she said.
"Oh yeah?" said Stef, eyes still rapidly moving over the article.
"Yeah," Lena said, her voice tense, "Donald Jacob wants to see his children at the prison next weekend during visiting hours."