"Can we please talk." Stef said to Lena when she got home and found Lena making spaghetti in the kitchen with Jude grating the cheese.
"What do you want to talk about?" Lena asked.
"Um... upstairs." Stef said, eying Jude.
"Okay, keep grating honey, I'll be right back." Lena told Jude as she turned down the flame to simmer.
The two headed upstairs and Stef shut the door, taking a deep breath before turning to face Lena.
"What's wrong?" Lena asked frowning. She wondered if this had something to do with why Stef had been so distracted over the last two days.
"Brandon came to me this morning." Stef said. "He said we needed to talk to Callie about something."
"About what?" Lena asked curiously.
"I'm not sure." Stef replied. "He wouldn't tell me, said it was for her to tell us but she probably wouldn't come to us on her own."
"Is she okay?" Lena asked, now concerned.
"I think so." Stef said uncertainly. "He said she wasn't in danger or anything but that it was important."
"So what do we say?" Lena asked. There was nothing for them to really go on so how were they supposed to ask their daughter what she was hiding from them.
"We ask her if she has something to tell us and remind her that she's safe and loved." Stef suggested, lacking a better suggestion.
"Alright, well let's bring her in." Lena said.
"I thought we'd wait until after dinner." Stef said. "We have no idea what she's going to say and we don't know how long it's going to take."
"Okay." Lena agreed.
As Stef headed in to shower and change Lena went to find her oldest son.
"Hey." She said, entering his room to find him reading on his bed.
"Hey." He said, sitting up to give her space.
"So last night when you came and asked for mom you wanted to tell her about Callie?" Lena inquired.
"Uh yeah." Brandon said, wondering if they'd talked to her yet or not and what she'd told them.
"Mom just told me and we're going to speak to her after dinner." Lena informed him, answering his unasked question.
"Okay." Brandon said, wondering why she was telling him this.
"You know you could have told me last night." Lena said. "You don't have to avoid me just because your mom and I are going through something."
"No, I know." Brandon said.
"I know I've been a little crazy lately but I'm still your mom too and I love you." Lena reminded him.
"I know that." Brandon stopped her. "That's not why I didn't say anything."
Lena looked at him curiously, waiting for him to go on.
"I just knew that with mom being out later than she'd planned you'd be worried and I didn't want to add to that by making you worry about Callie too." Brandon answered honestly.
Lena smiled. This was more like the Brandon she knew.
"And for the record, I'm not avoiding you." Brandon answered. "I just think mom had to have been really angry or hurt or something to be able to do something like that to you. You don't know what she was like before she met you - she'd never hurt you like that or at least she'd never mean to hurt you like that."
"Honey, I know your mom loves me." Lena said. "And I know that she's sorry for what she did but it hurt me too and we have to work that out between us. You don't have to protect either one of us and you certainly don't have to choose. You should love your mom irrespective of the mistakes she made or the reasons behind them. But at the same time you don't have to feel weird around me."
"I don't." Brandon said firmly. "I get that you're hurting and I can't even imagine what that must be like and you deserve to be mad at mom or whatever. I just really didn't want you to worry more than you already were. I mean it's not good for you or the baby right."
Lena smiled. "You don't have to protect me either." She said. "We're the moms, let us do the worrying."
After dinner Stef and Lena called Callie to their room and as Callie walked towards the bed she was nervous. She had no idea what they were going to talk to her about but the fact that they had called just her made her worry.
"Sit love." Stef said gently. Both moms could tell that she was nervous and that made them nervous too. They had no idea what she was about to tell them or whether she'd tell them anything at all but Stef vowed to herself that if Callie didn't open up then she'd press Brandon to tell them.
"So, we just wanted to check in with you." Lena started. "See if there was something you wanted to talk about."
"I'm fine." Callie dismissed quickly. She wondered if the moms knew about Robert and the letter and which one of the kids had told them but if they didn't then she wasn't going to be the one to bring it up.
"Are you sure?" Stef asked her, giving her a look that told Callie she knew more than she was letting on. "You know you can tell us anything right?"
"Yeah." Callie nodded.
"Alright." Stef said, satisfied that at least Callie knew that. "So then tell us whatever it is you're hiding." She said, not beating around the bush.
Callie looked away, she knew the moms had found out somehow and she wasn't sure what to say. "How did you find out?" She finally asked.
"We didn't." Stef admitted and received a confusing look from Callie.
"We don't know what it is. We're hoping that you'd tell us." Lena added.
"So then how did you know to ask me?" Callie asked, aware that she was digging herself deeper but either way she knew they'd never let her go now without getting what they wanted.
"Brandon came to us." Lena answered honestly. "He was worried about you and he thought you needed to talk but was maybe too afraid."
For the first time Callie actually felt the urge to punch her brother in the face. She couldn't believe he'd told them - even if he hadn't given them the details.
"Honey, you know that no matter what is going on between Lena and I, we are still here for you and we still love you and nothing will ever change that." Stef reminded her.
Callie looked away for a second, unable to maintain eye contact with Stef as she said that.
"Is that why you're afraid to tell us?" Stef asked. Her ever observant eye catching her daughter's nervousness.
"Honey, if you are in some sort of trouble you don't have to hide from us." Lena added, catching on to Stef's train of thought.
"I'm not in trouble." Callie said. She didn't want them thinking that. She didn't want them thinking anything bad about her.
"Okay, then what?" Stef asked her.
"I um... I..." Callie began but just couldn't get the words out knowing that once she did there was no way of taking them back.
"Sweetheart, it's okay." Lena said gently as she reached for Callie's hand. "We're here, we'll always be here. We'll help you figure things out."
Callie looked at Lena. Her eyes almost begging the older woman to mean what she was saying. "I met Robert Quinn." She finally said.
"You did?" Stef asked, in a tone harsher than she meant to."
"He came to me." Callie answered quickly, before they thought she'd gone behind their backs.
"What do you mean?" Stef asked, her motherly protectiveness fully powered now.
"He came to the diner." Callie began to explain. "He wanted to see me and he said that he knew right away that I was his daughter and that the DNA test was only because his lawyers insisted on it."
"So he knew about you?" Lena asked.
"No." Callie answered. "But I look exactly like his other daughter. Or she looks like me I guess, she's fourteen."
"You met her too?" Lena asked.
"No, I have a picture." Callie admitted. "Robert gave it to me along with a letter she wrote."
"He showed up at the diner and just told you who he was?" Stef asked, still upset about that.
"No." Callie said. "He's been coming there for a few days and he's been friendly but when he didn't show up for the DNA test I looked him up online and realized who he was so I confronted him and he said that he just had to see me for himself."
"That is still unacceptable." Stef said angrily. "You are a minor and he shouldn't have done that."
"He promised to sign the papers as soon as his lawyers give him the go ahead." Callie said, hoping to lessen Stef's anger.
"Has he said anything to you or done anything?" Stef asked protectively.
"No." Callie assured her. "I haven't seen him since."
"And his daughter." Lena asked. "What did she have to say."
"She wants to meet me." Callie answered and then looked down at her hands, unable to admit that she wants to meet her as well.
"Is that what you want?" Lena asked knowingly.
Callie looked up at her but didn't say anything. Her eyes said enough for her.
"That's okay." Lena said gently. "It's okay if you do."
"Can we see this letter?" Stef asked.
Callie nodded as she went to get it and came back a moment later with envelope and handed it to Stef who read the letter and then handed it to Lena for her to read as well. Both moms sat staring at the picture, thinking that this was exactly what Callie must have looked liked just a few years ago.
"If this is what you want we can arrange it." Lena said again, trying to assure Callie that it was okay.
"Why didn't you just tell us about this?" Stef asked. She didn't want Callie to feel like she had to hide from them or be afraid of them.
"I just didn't know how to tell you." Callie admitted. "I thought you guys wouldn't like it if I wanted to know her."
"Why would you think that love?" Stef asked, her entire posture mellowing as she pulled Callie closer.
"I didn't want you guys to stop fighting for me just because I wanted to know Sophia." Callie admitted with teary eyes.
"Oh sweetheart." Stef hugged her. "We would never stop fighting for you and wanting to know your sister and even your father isn't a bad thing.
"You're not mad about it?" Callie asked, just to make sure.
"Not at all." Lena said. "We understand completely."
"Sweetheart, you know that you are already one of us." Stef said. "Adopted or not you're already our daughter and there is nothing you can't share with us."
"I'm sorry." Callie said, feeling bad that she had underestimated them.
"If all this between mom and I hadn't happened would you have told us?" Lena asked curiously. She was beginning to realize that the kids weren't being honest with either of them anymore and they had to put a stop to that.
"I guess." Callie admitted. "I just didn't want to add to everything."
Both women sighed as she glanced at each other, silently agreeing that they had to work out their problems and come to one decision or another before it destroyed their entire family.
"Callie, we are never too busy, or too preoccupied or too anything to help you or your brothers and sister." Lena said firmly. "If any of you have a problem or something to share you have first dibs on our time."
"Mama's right." Stef said. "Nothing is more important that the five of you."
"I guess I knew that." Callie said, smiling a little. "I just got nervous."
"No more secrets okay." Stef said and received a nod from Callie before they sent her on her way.
Callie headed straight to Brandon's room and barged in without knocking. He was at his keyboard with his earphones on but he had heard the door and turned around.
"I'm sorry." He said guiltily. "I shouldn't have done that." He was prepared for her outburst and knew he deserved it.
"Thank you." Callie said with a straight face.
"Anytime." Brandon said, relieve that he had done the right thing. He watched as she left, smiling slightly at the fact that she now wasn't so worried anymore.
"We need to make some decisions." Lena said once Callie was gone. "It's affecting the kids too much."
"I agree." Stef said though she was terrified of what those decisions were. Now that she knew what was bothering Callie and had sorted her issues out she was back to worrying about her marriage.
"I know you're sorry and you've been giving me the space I asked for but we need to talk about it now." Lena said, unsure of how to start.
"I am sorry and I know you're hurting and I don't blame you." Stef said. "I can't believe I hurt you like that. I honestly have no explanation." And she didn't, for the one possibility she thought she had wasn't even true.
"Neither did I." Lena said, trying to keep her composure. "So what do we do now?"
"I'm not sure." Stef admitted. "I don't want to move out." She said honestly, afraid that that's what Lena wanted her to do. "I know you can barely stand to look at me right now but I don't want to go anywhere."
Lena sighed. It wasn't what she wanted either but what else was there? If they stayed in the same room she was sure they'd keep arguing and nothing would get solved.
"I should stop blaming you for everything." Lena finally said. "I know I've been throwing it all at you lately."
"It's okay." Stef assured her. "I get it."
"No, it's not." Lena said. "It's not good for the kids."
"I could continue sleeping on the couch." Stef suggested. "And we talk a little everyday until we figure something out." She said.
"But that's no different from right now." Lena said.
Stef sighed, realizing that moving out seemed to be the only option. "I love you Lena." Her eyes filling with tears as she said it. "I hate myself for what I did to you but I can't live without you. I need you to forgive me and I will do anything to make that happen."
Lena was crying too. Somehow they both knew that this was an end, at least for a while. If they had any hope of making things right then they had to split.
"The kids still need you." Lena said, not wanting Stef to leave but still needing her to.
"I'm there for them." Stef said.
"All of them?" Lena asked, her hand going protectively over her stomach.
"All of them." Stef whispered, looking longingly into Lena's eyes as she too reached out her hand to cover Lena's.
"This is just temporary." Lena said, more to assure herself than Stef.
Stef nodded, knowing that they had finally made a decision - albeit one that she hated. "I'll start looking tomorrow."
"Somewhere close, and safe." Lena said, knowing that Stef would look for the cheapest one she could find.
"I promise." Stef said.
The two stared at each other for a long moment before Stef leaned in and kissed Lena, receiving one in return. Their tears mixed together as the two just sat in their bubble for a moment before Stef finally pulled away, knowing that if she didn't go now then she never would.
Lena watched as Stef headed down to the couch and just as the bedroom door closed behind her she heard Stef's phone ring and Stef answer.
"Hey Harry." Stef said as she headed downstairs, wondering why her investigator friend was calling.
