Hey guys! Yes, back at it again with another chapter! This chapter will be about Stef since some of ya'll have been asking to see more of her. This chapter will be a little shorter that what you guys are used to from me…. I just wanted to introduce Stef's new guuuuuuuurlfriend and start up a new storyline that was suggested by ne of you.
PLEASE leave a REVIEW with what you think about the chapter and if you like the person that I paired Stef up with. I thought it would create some delicious drama between everyone… and you guys know I like to write some good 'ole drama!
Please don't think the pairs that I have together now will be endgame…. I don't know yet. REVIEW what couple's you'd like to see together at the end of the story… which is still about 40 chapters away LOL.
Oh, someone suggested Monte and Sally together…. For this story, it's a no because sally is 15 here. I'll probably do another story where she's 18 but thank you for the suggestion anyways!
Also, someone asked me what age the kids are in this story, I think that in this story they are a few years younger so… Brandon and Callie are about 16, Marianna and Jesus are 15 and Jude is 12. Stef is 45, Lena is 40 and Monte is 34.
Before you start reading please remember that English isn't my first language, Dutch is. So please point out any typo's or grammatical errors to me so I can correct them :-)
Happy reading you guys!
Stef walked into the small diner with a blank stare on her face. She had just come from the doctor and al she wanted was to be with this one person. She needed someone to talk to and someone to catch her if she fell apart during doing so.
"Babe, what's wrong? I tried calling you like a million times!" The younger woman said as she got up from the booth in which she was already sitting. She had been worried sick about Stef all day! This afternoon Stef send her a text asking her to see her around 8 pm that night at a diner. Nothing else. And when she tried calling her, there was no response whatsoever.
Stef didn't answer yet. She pressed her body against the woman and hugged her tight. The woman knew that something must have been very wrong with Stef for her to show affection in public. Even though there was a huge spark between them, they hadn't gone public yet. The two of them had just started dating a few months ago.
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(A/N: Get ready for some real mindboggling shit, guys!) She felt like it was the right thing to do. After Lena tried to have sex with her tonight, she felt like she understood Monte better. As weird as it sounds. She now knew what it was like to want Lena while she was someone else's.
A few hours after the whole ordeal had happened, something drove Stef to visit Monte. She felt thankful the woman had sacrificed her own safety to save Marianna. As her condition got worse, Stef felt like she had to thank her properly, before it was maybe too late.
Stef walked inside the hospital room and was greeted by the strong, piercing smell of disinfectant. The room was a lot darker than the hallway but, not too dark. She walked over to the bed, slowly. As she got closer to the bed, the groggy, watery intakes of breath got more audible to her.
She sat down on one of the two chairs next to the bad and looked at Monte. Her face was pale, her lips dry, and she was hooked up to all sorts of machines. As much as she disliked Monte for what she did to her, she hated seeing her like this.
"Hey Monte." Stef started, getting a little closer to the bed, "I know that we… we haven't been very friendly with each other but uhm… I want to thank you. I want to thank you for saving my baby girl."
For a few seconds, it looked like Monte's eyes fluttered open but, Stef thought it must have been a reflex to something.
Stef started again, "Lena did something stupid tonight… Something that I'm sure she didn't mean…."
Stef didn't finish as the door to the room opened behind her,
"Hello? Lena is that you?" A voice sounded from behind Stef, making her turn around fast in response. She could make out a figure but the bright light from the hallway made it hard to see who it was.
"No, it's uh… It's me, Stef." She answered. As the person came closer Stef could finally see who it was. Itzel. Monte's younger sister.
"Oh…" Itzel looked at Stef and didn't even ask for more explanation as to why she was here in her sister's hospital room. She walked closer to where Stef was next to Monte's bed and sat down on the chair next her. She looked at the unconscious body of her sister.
A silent tear escaped her eye. She thought that she was all cried out but, every damn time she saw Monte like this it made her want curl up in a ball and cry for hours. She was a Brain surgeon herself and she knew exactly how slim the chances of survival for someone in Monte's condition were.
Stef watched as Itzel's tears started to really stream down her face and she started uncontrollably sobbing.
"Hey, are… are you okay? I can't even imagine what you must feel like." She asked putting a hand on the younger woman's shoulder.
"It's… It's hard. I never thought that I'd ever see her like this. You know, she has always been this strong person who I look up to. She was always the one who protected me, ever since we were little. Who's going to protect me if she's gone?" Itzel rambled, more to herself than to Stef. Her tears still streaming down her face.
Itzel looked up at Stef and quickly tried to gather herself, whipping her teats with the back of her hand, "I'm sorry, I'm such mess these days. You must think I'm an idiot."
Stef reached into her handbag and handed Itzel a pack of tissues before saying, "No, No, not at all. We've all been a little…"
She didn't even know what she was trying to say, she had no idea how it must be like for Monte's family, "I can't even imagine what you must feel like." She said truthfully.
Itzel accepted the tissues and pulled one out of the package smiling a tiny smile of gratitude.
"I just want it to be over, you know. I'm done with thy crying and the praying and I'm done seeing my sister like this." She blew her nose, "I miss her so much."
Stef tried to think of something that could maybe Itzel up, "Hey, it's going to be alright."
Itzel didn't even react. She was too caught up in her own sadness.
"Do you want something to eat?" Stef suggested, speaking louder this time, getting Itzel's attention.
Itzel made a face that showed pure disgust, "Oh no, I'm so over the food they serve here in the hospital. It's absolute garbage."
"Well, there is a pretty decent diner about five blocks from here… They serve some awesome garlic fries!" Stef tried. For some reason, she absolutely hated seeing the young woman cry.
"Ah…" Itzel exclaimed awkwardly. 'I don't even know her' she thought to herself.
"I think I'm just going to stay here with her." She finally answered, looking at her sister.
"Alright, okay." Stef said, "That's fine too… Uhm, try getting some rest." She added before getting up. She looked at Monte once more before leaving the room.
She reached the elevator and pushed the button when she heard Itzel's voice hollering from behind her.
"Stef!" Itzel exclaimed while half sprinting towards the older blonde woman.
Stef turned around and answered, "Yeah?"
"I could go for some garlic fries…" Itzel smiled, a little out of breath from the half sprint she had just done. She decided that a little distraction wouldn't hurt. She had spent almost every minute in that hospital for the last couple of days. Right now, she needed to set her mind off everything and just… eat some garlic fries.
With her Comatosed sister's, fiancée's, ex-wife who she didn't even know at all at 1 AM.
Stef got into the elevator and smiled at Itzel. Itzel smiled back. About half an hour later they were seated at a booth with two portions of freshly served garlic fries in front f them. None of them had really said something to each other since they got there.
"So? How long were you married to Lena before… you know?" Itzel suddenly said. She was curious. Her sister had always been this perfect, flawless woman. She would have never thought that Monte would ever have a romantic affair with anyone.
"Unless you don't want to talk about it…. I get that it's personal." Itzel had seen the expression on Stef's face change. Maybe she had gone too far?
Stef was a little surprised at the bold question but decided to answer anyways, "No its fine! Uh, we were together for 10 years before we got married and then we were married for about a year and a half before Monte started working at the school."
"Do you hate her?" The question popped up in Itzel's head and she asked it before even thinking it through. She knew that Stef must have felt horrible about all of it.
"For a very long time, I did." Stef answered truthfully, "But, not anymore. She fell in love with Lena… I can't blame her for that." She plated with the last three fried on her plate.
"I'm sorry, that must have been hard for you… and the kids." Itzel said. She was happy that her sister had found true love but she now also understood that Lena and Stef had five children together whose family was torn apart.
"Yeah, it was. But, now we've all moved on and we're all getting used to this new situation." Stef tried not to sound too torn apart. She was. But right now, that didn't matter so much.
"I wish they would have found each other in a different way. Divorces are never fun for anyone." Itzel spoke as she flashed Stef her most sympatric facial expression.
"Are you married?" Stef questioned. Right after the question left her mouth she regretted it. What if Itzel thought she was flirting with her?
The younger woman looked away slightly, "No… I was engaged for a while but, that didn't work out."
"Oh… I'm sorry about that." Stef said in response, placing her hand on Itzel's shoulder to comfort her a little.
"Me too." The younger woman smiled a little at Stef. She was being so sweet to her and she didn't even know her that well. She was the ex-wife of her sister's fiancée, she didn't have to do all this just to make her feel better. But she did, she had taken the time and the energy to take Itzel to a diner at 1 AM. just to cheer her up. And she didn't even know her.
Itzel's eyes were starting to get watery again and soon she was full on crying. Why? She had no Idea! Maybe it was because of Monte, maybe it was because of how nice Stef was being, maybe it was because of her failed engagement. She was such an emotional mess. She didn't know why she trusted this woman who she barely even knew with all her emotions.
"Hey, hey, hey… What's wrong?" Stef asked with a tone that she had used often with her kids when they were upset about something, "Are you okay?" she asked, getting closer to the crying woman.
"I'm sorry, I'm such a mess! I just start crying for no reason these days." She rolled her eyes at herself. She was being ridicules. Why couldn't she control her tears?
"It's understandable…. Things aren't exactly rose-colored right now. It's totally normal to cry, Itzel." Stef said softly as she reached into her bag and handed Itzel another tissue. She brushed a few loose strands of Itzel's shoulder length hair out of her face with her hand.
"Thank you, Stef. You're a sweetheart." Itzel said as she took the hand that Stef had used to brush the hair out of her face and held it in her own.
"Try telling that to my kids!" Stef joked. Why did she joke? She always joked like this when she was nervous… was she nervous?
"Uhg, I must look like awful right now." Itzel sniffled as she blew her nose again with her free hand. She hadn't even looked in a mirror longer than 5 seconds since she got to San Diego. She figured she looked like a piece of chewed up gum.
"No, you look beautiful…." The words left Stef's mouth before she could even think about it. But it was true. Itzel was a beautiful woman. Her shoulder length brown hair with big waves, green eyes with long lashes. Her skin was about three tones darker than her sister's and her nose was much pointier. She was indeed gorgeous.
Stef noticed Itzel starting to blush and then realized that her hand was still holding hers. She quickly put her hand in her own lap to avoid any awkwardness between the two of them. They sat in the diner for another 15 minutes before Stef drove Itzel back to Monte's house and then drove home.
The next afternoon, the news came that Monte had miraculously woken up. Stef drove all the kids to the hospital. Lena was already there, she had already left when Stef woke up. Apparently, she was the one who saw Monte wake up, earlier that morning.
"Hi, guys!" Itzel greeted the five children cheerfully when she saw them walk into the waiting room. They all greeted her back politely.
"Hey." Stef said, groggy. Her voice sounding a little shy for some reason.
"Hi, Stef." Itzel smiled softly at the older blonde. Making eye contact with her.
"So, how is she doing?" Marianna asked, breaking the eye contact between her mom and her soon to be step-aunt. The moment that she heard Monte had woken up, she had busted into tears. Happy tears of course.
"She's stable… She's awake and already mostly breathing on her own…" Itzel didn't get to finish her sentence as a very exited Jude interrupted her.
"Can we go see her?" The youngest member of the Adams-Fosters asked.
Itzel laughed a little for the first time in days, "Yeah, sure…." She said, "Mom! Traer a los niños para arriba, por favor?" She asked her mother who was all the way on the other side of the waiting room and hadn't even noticed Stef and the kids until now.
Katarina greeted Stef and the five children before guiding the children upstairs to her daughter's hospital room.
"Hey…" Itzel said again when her mom and the kids had gone into the elevator. She flashed Stef a soft look.
"Hi…" Stef answered, "So, you must be relieved" she added.
Itzel let out a deep sigh of relief and smiled at Stef "I am... I really am." A few hours ago, she had been trying to convince her parents to maybe pull the plug on the life support machines, to spare all of them even more pain. And now she woke up all by herself! It was a miracle.
"Thank you again for last night… I needed that." Itzel said
"You're welcome." Stef answered. She had enjoyed the night before. She like being in Itzel's company. She was sweet, very smart and gorgeous too. Monte's parents sure had some good genes…
"Do you… maybe want to have dinner again tonight?" Itzel stuttered. Wait! Did she just ask Stef out on a date? She had never even been attracted to women. But, she wanted to know more about the older blonde woman, she wanted to get to know her. Did this mean that she was attracted to Stef?
"Uhm…" Stef couldn't find any words to shoot back at Itzel. Did she mean dinner as in a 'date' kind of dinner? Or just dinner as in eating food dinner?
Itzel noticed the doubting look on Stef's face, "Just, to repay you for yesterday." She said, trying to ease the awkwardness.
Stef thought for a few seconds before answering, "Ah, sure. I'd love that." She figured a dinner wouldn't hurt. She was Monte Porter's 29-year-old little sister for god's sake, there was no way she would consider DATING her? Right? Wasn't she straight anyways?
"Okay, let's go see Monte." Itzel said as she started walking towards the elevators, Stef followed her. The two walked closer to each other than necessary.
The next couple of weeks they saw each other more often. They had both dropped little flirty comments towards each other but they hadn't dared to go any further than that.
"Uhg, I'm so full! I feel like I ate a whole cow!" Itzel moaned after eating the last bite of her hamburger. She leaned back in her chair and smiled to herself a little, already knowing that Stef would make a smart-ass remark in 3…2…1…
Stef put on her typical mocking voice, "Ah! You're weak, I could eat two more of those burgers!"
"Yeah but, you're a good eater." It escaped Itzel's mouth before she could even think about how sexual it would sound. She started to blush and smiled shyly.
Stef decided to take her chance and go in a little deeper, "You're yet to find out if I'm a good eater or not." She mumbled just loud enough for Itzel to hear.
Then Itzel's smile started to fade a little and made place for a more serious face, "Listen, Stef…" she started, "I know we've been kind of… flirting the past couple of weeks."
Stef nodded and cocked her mouth to the side, "We have."
"I'm not…" Itzel paused, not knowing exactly how to formulate her next words, "I'm not gay… I've never been with a woman."
"What are you trying to tell me?" Stef asked. Maybe she meant that Itzel didn't want her to get the wrong idea. Maybe Itzel didn't want her to flirt that much. Maybe it was the age difference… they were 16 whole years apart. Maybe Itzel just didn't want to be with a woman. Maybe she had just been experimenting with her sexuality when she had been flirting.
So many things shot through Stef's mind but she tried to keep a straight face.
Out of nowhere, Itzel spoke again, "Do you like me?" she asked, not being able to look Stef in the eyes.
"I do…" Stef smiled, "allot actually." She added, hoping it wouldn't sound desperate or anything.
Itzel smiled at Stef's answer but quickly went back to her serious expression, "You don't think it's strange that I'm your ex-wife's soon to be sister in law?"
"Do YOU think it's strange?" Stef shot back. To be honest, Stef didn't really care. How could this be worse than the affair that Monte had had with Lena?
"Maybe a little." Itzel said truthfully, hoping Stef wouldn't mind that she did.
"What if we… take things slow and don't tell people anything yet. Until we figure out if this is going to be something serious?" Stef suggested. She knew that there was a chance that nothing serious would come out of their 'dating'. Why make a big ole fuss about it and tell everyone, if nothing was sure yet?
"Yeah… That sounds good." The younger woman said.
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"What happened? You had me so worried with that text!" Itzel exclaimed. She had really been worried sick.
"I'm sorry." Stef finally said when their embrace ended. She saw the worry and fear in Itzel's eyes and felt a little guilty. She had been so tiered that she just went to bed right after she got home. She had told the kids to order pizza and had asked them not to disturb her. Tomorrow they would spend the weekend at Lena's which she was kind of happy about, she would have some time to sort thing out for herself.
"Here, come sit down, tell me what happened" Itzel took Stef's hands and guided her to the both where they sat down. Still holding each other's hands.
When Stef finally found her voice, she spoke barely above a whisper "I… I went for the second mammogram today…"
A long pause. Silence.
"And?" Itzel tried catching Stef's eyes in her own without much success, "STEF! Answer me…" she demanded. She needed to know what was going on. from the look on Stef's face she could already tell that the doctors found something.
"There was a lump…." Tears were starting to form in Stef's eyes but she absolutely refused to let them fall. She was strong and she knew she would get through this.
"What?" Itzel said, more out of shock then out question, "what kind of lump? I'm a doctor, Stef… you need to be more specific with me." She asked, she needed to know exactly what the doctors had told Stef. She needed to know what was going on.
"I... It's…" Stef stuttered, not able to gather any words yet, "They said it was Ductal Car… something…" She tried to remember the exact term but she couldn't recall it right at that moment.
Itzel nodded quickly and fished for more information, "Okay so, a tumor… And further?" She looked at Stef with big eyes.
"It's… Invasive." Stef muttered.
Stef hated feeling like this. Powerless. There was literally nothing that she could do except trust the doctors. She hated putting her trust in other people… it had been broken so many times. Her own body was fighting against her and she couldn't make it stop.
"Invasive to where?" Itzel prayed softly, hoping that the answer wouldn't be 'To my spine' or 'to my brain'. Those would almost eliminate any chances of survival.
"Just nearby tissue, it's still inside my breast and nowhere else…" Stef let out a sigh. The thought of it possibly spreading anywhere else made her want to scream out. What if right at this moment, the cancer was starting to find its way out of her breast tissue?
"What did they say they were going to do?" she needed to know everything, "A mastectomy? Bio therapy?" Itzel asked in a non-patient when Stef wasn't answering right away.
Stef shrugged her shoulders, "They want me to come back in two days to discuss that." She tried not show her fear. She needed to stay strong.
"Oh, baby… I don't want you to wait that long. I'm going to get you the best specialist possible. First thing tomorrow!" The young doctor said, stroking Stef's face. Hoping it would bring her any comfort knowing that she was getting the best care possible. If the cancer really hadn't spread out yet, there wasn't a very big threat.
"You don't have to do…" Stef was cut off mid-sentence by the younger woman in front of her.
"Yes, of course I do… I love you. Now, there are two main components that I would recommend you focus on when looking for the right specialist…" She started explaining. This time it was Stef who cut her off.
"What?" Stef asked. Did Itzel just told her that she… loved her? They had just been dating for about three months and they hadn't even had sex yet. She knew there was a connection and she felt very strong towards Itzel too. Did Stef love Itzel?
Yeah. She did. As strange as it was to admit to herself.
"I was going to advice you on what kind of doctor to get." Itzel though that Stef meant she didn't understand what she was saying so she repeated.
"No, before that." Stef smiled a goofy smile, "You said you love me." She said with a tone in her voice that said 'HAH! GOTCHA!'
"I did?" Itzel was confused for a few seconds but then she remembered. Yes. She did. She did tell Stef that she loved her. By the tone in Stef's voice she understood that Stef didn't feel weird about it.
Stef relaxed her posture, she suddenly didn't feel so... alone anymore. "Ah, yeah. You did."
"I'm sorry. Too soon?" Itzel laughed it off, trying to not make this awkward.
"No. Just in time." Stef leaned in and pecked Itzel on the lips. For the first time in almost two years, Stef felt like she belonged somewhere again.
Yaaaas… that was it for this chapter! Let me know what you think about this chapter and what you think about Stef and Itzel together… PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW if you have any suggestions and requests and I'll put them in the story. I'll update soon, the next chapter will be nothing but drama drama drama and more DRAMA! Bye bye!