Lena went to find Jesus before he hurt Jude or Conner. Jesus could not hold much of a grudge, especially against his brothers and sisters. In her explanation to him, Lena was tempted to tell him that his mother had not used her forward thinking. However, she knew better, so she told him instead that Jude would still be grounded after tonight. Jesus accepted it, but Lena was still a bit irritated with Stef. Not only had she stirred up trouble among the kids, but she had also used therapy against Callie. Lena wanted to show a united front with Stef in front of the kids and knew their fight would have to wait until later. In the meantime, Mariana was now vacuuming the rest of the downstairs area and Conner had just gone home.
"Callie, Jude, and Brandon! I need to see you guys downstairs right now!" Lena yelled up the stairs breaking her own household rule. Jude came wandering down, but the other two were not responding. "BRANDON AND CALLIE FOSTER! DOWN HERE NOW!" She yelled again louder as Jude covered his ears slightly. He had never seen Lena quite like this before.
This time she heard footsteps immediately on the stairs. Brandon made it down first clearly panicked. "What's wrong, Mama?" Brandon asked panting.
Callie was just behind him. "That would Callie Jacobs." Callie said not realizing until she saw that Lena was truly not in the mood when she received a glare. "Umm, not meaning to be disrespectful or anything… Mama."
"Callie said you guys were cleaning up for your grandparents' arrival. Callie, you have already cleaned the two bathrooms upstairs. I need to you do the one downstairs. Brandon, you did the dishes at dinner, but I would also like the kitchen cleaned. That is counters and floors. Jude, the vacuuming is nearly done down here, but there is still some mess. I would like everything dusted and straightened. Anything that belongs upstairs needs to be taken there. Go to it."
Jude sighed, but promptly went about his task. Brandon and Callie both balked some. "I know that Mari is vacuuming, but what is Jesus doing?" Brandon questioned his mother.
"That is none of your concern. Your only concern needs to be getting the kitchen clean." Lena glared at each of her oldest two again as neither moved.
"Stef didn't say that I needed to clean anymore when I talked to her." Callie whined some. "Besides, I already worked more than Brandon or Jude…"
"And only Stef can give you chores? You know I can be scarier Mom, right? Do we need to go there right now?" This interaction only served to make Lena angrier with her wife which was easily transferred to her children.
Callie and Brandon made eye contact and both hurried off to complete the jobs given to them before experiencing Lena's wrath. Callie practically ran into Stef. "Hey, Sweets! Where's the fire?" Stef joked. She promptly received a scowl from her daughter. "Hey, I do not like that look! What's going on, Bug?"
"Nothing. I just have work to get done and I don't have time to talk to you right now." Callie replied with an edge to her voice as she pushed past Stef.
"Watch your attitude with me, Bug." Stef said gently. This interaction seemed odd based on the conversation that Stef had with Callie after dinner just an hour and a half ago. Stef found Brandon furiously sweeping the kitchen. She knew he had been upset by doing the dishes earlier, but after cool down time, he was usually fine. "Hey, B! Do you need some help there, Son?"
"Nope."
"Are you still upset about Mama asking you to do the dishes earlier?"
"Nope."
"What's going on, Brandon and don't you dare say 'nope' again?"
"Nothing, Mom. I just need to get the kitchen cleaned up. We have visitors coming tomorrow, you know."
Stef reasoned that her kids had been cleaning earlier for their grandparents, but this felt different. Stef went searching for Lena. She was sure that this time the kids had done something to bring out the Mama Tiger in her. Lena was in their bedroom on the bed with her hands over her face. Stef smiled to herself as she laid down next to her wife and kissed her cheek. "Whatever they did, Babe, it will be okay. Callie and Brandon are cleaning exactly how you asked."
"Great. But Stef, please don't touch me right now. This is not really about them."
"If it isn't about our horrible children, what it is? You can tell me anything."
"Oh, we will talk about it later when our children have gone to bed. Until then, go supervise them or something. I would ask you to help clean up, but we both know how it went the last several times I have asked for your help. Right now, just go."
Stef was a little confused about all of this. "So, you are not mad at the kids, you are mad at me?"
"I don't want to get into it right now, Stef. Right now, I want you to just leave me alone. The kids are finishing up the cleaning. I just want you to make sure they finish. It is a perfect role for you since you are the one really in charge and all.'
"I am not the only one in charge. We are a team…."
Lena interrupted. "We cannot do this right now. Just go deal with your children. We will definitely talk about this later."
Stef left the room irritated and quickly stumbled upon Jesus lifting weights in his room. "Get back to work, Boy! Your mama wants the house spotless before you go to bed tonight."
Jesus paused and looked at his mother. "I mowed the lawn. Mama said that was good enough for me since Jude got to be ungrounded for tonight."
"Hmmm…" Stef considered his words, but figured since her and Lena were already due for a fight, she didn't want to add in that she did not make Jesus work after being told to deal with the kids. "Well, that isn't good enough for me. You can start off by sweeping the entry way and stairs. When you are done with that come back in here and straighten your room to how it looked this afternoon."
Stef's foul mood had spread to Jesus by this time. "But Mom…."
"Right now, Young Man. It won't take you more than a few minutes if you go now. You heard me, Go!"
Jesus reluctantly went downstairs to get started. Stef followed him down and saw Jude trying to carry all five back packs and a few pairs of shoes upstairs. She quickly took the backpacks and helped him get them to the correct bedrooms. Stef told Jude to get ready for bed and then banished him to his room to read until bedtime.
Mariana was done vacuuming. Her head hurt from the constant noise, so she sat down with a cup of water and took something for headache.
"You better be planning to wash that cup yourself, Mari. I have already done the dishes tonight and I am not planning to do any more." Brandon grumped at his sister.
"I will wash the cup, but if I do, you better not walk on any of my freshly vacuumed carpet. Your dirty feet would probably ruin it." She snapped back, clearly also in a bad mood.
"How am I supposed to get to my room without touching the carpet? Are you stupid or something?" Brandon came up behind Mariana and almost knocked her off the stool.
"Figure it out yourself, Genius Boy! You are just mad because you couldn't get away with doing nothing this afternoon while the rest of us worked! Jude would have been fine on his own, you know."
"Fine! I will figure it out. Now, though, I have to mop this room so you have to leave!" Mariana took another leisurely sip of her water without moving. "Right now, Mari! Or you will have to mop!"
Stef walked in the room just in time to stop Brandon from hitting Mariana with the mop handle. "No, sir. I don't have to remind you that we don't hit. Mari, go get ready for bed. B, as soon as your mopping is done you should also get ready for bed. I am not dealing with anything else tonight."
Mariana rolled her eyes and sighed, but complied with only another look from her mother. She knew that the best cure for her headache would be sleeping anyway. As soon as she left, Brandon had no one left to fight with so he started mopping.
Stef then found Callie in the bathroom finishing up. "Once again, Bug, when you are using this many chemicals, keep the door open!" Stef said more forcefully this time due to being in a bad mood.
"Do you guys not even appreciate the work I have put into this today? All I hear is 'keep the door open' and 'go clean the other bathroom!' You people are driving me crazy!" Callie halfway yelled at a stunned Stef.
"I think the 'you people' you are referring to are your mothers. I have also reminded you about your attitude once today. I am extending your grounding an extra day."
Callie shrugged and rolled her eyes. "Yesterday you grounded me for four weeks. Is that your answer to everything? Lena really might be scarier…"
Stef was now fuming mad. "Callie, go get your IPod. It will be mine for a while. Then you will get ready for bed and you may read until Mama or I comes to say good night."
Callie knew to not argue any further, but did give a shove to Jesus on her way up the stairs to vent her anger. "Hey!" He yelled. He tried to grab her leg as he regained his balance, but he missed. When Callie started back down the stairs, though, he wouldn't let her pass.
"I have to give this to Stef, so you have to let me down the stairs, Jesus!"
"You almost made me fall. I could have gotten hurt!"
"You are just being a baby!" Callie yelled as she tried to dart passed her brother.
Fortunately, Stef recognized those yells and came quickly to diffuse the situation. "You, hand me your IPod from there and head back upstairs and you, get your job done and get ready for bed."
"But he…" "But she…"
"But nothing. Both of you just do what I have asked right now. No more fighting with each other and no more arguing with me!"
XXXXX
Finally Stef had all the kids in bed. She had sent them in one-by-one to say good night to Lena. Then she kissed each one and turned off their bedroom lights. Only then did she go back in to face Lena and the fight she knew they were about to have.
"I understand what you are feeling, Love." Stef said as she sat down on their bed. She knew from past fights that apologizing early, even if she was unsure exactly what happened could sometimes smooth things over. "I know that I handled things badly today and I am very sorry."
"What did you handle badly, Stef?" Lena asked seeing through Stef's generalities. "Give me specifics."
Stef tried to think back about when she first noticed Lena being angry with her and realized it had something to do with dinner. "I meant to tell you that dinner was really great today. I just love it when you cook asparagus that way."
"Thanks, but that isn't what I was looking for….Ugh! Stef, you CANNOT, I repeat CANNOT, use therapy against Callie! She is making good progress, but she already hates going. Imagine how much more she will hate it when she thinks it is punishment!" Lena said loudly and sharply.
Oh, that was it, Stef thought. She took a deep breath and said calmly. "Lena, if that is all that you are upset about, I understand that, too. I just wanted to know what was going on with my kids and I knew that I would work. Sometimes to get information we have to find what works."
"That is not ALL I am mad about, Stef! They are OUR children, Stef! Not criminals to be interrogated!" Lena explained getting progressively louder. "You had everyone except Jude all worked up and angry tonight. Did you not see that in their eyes? Jesus was very mad that you ungrounded Jude. I am also disappointed. I went along with it because it is important to our babies, but please don't do that to me again!"
"This cannot be blamed only on me! You didn't even know what was going on with them when you brought them home from school." Stef pointed out.
"Right, I am such a terrible parent to our kids because I allowed them to clean up the house without being asked. Were they unhappy? Were they being injured in any way? No, they were all fine!"
"Well you did yell at Brandon and Callie earlier and made them do extra chores. I heard it. Callie just gave me lip over it and I had to take her IPod."
"YOU TOOK CALLIE'S MUSIC! YOU DO REALIZE SHE NEEDS THAT IF SHE HAS A NIGHTMARE, RIGHT? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" This time Lena was all out yelling.
"I WAS THINKING THAT OUR DAUGHTER TOLD ME THAT WE WERE DRIVING HER CRAZY AND THEN TRIED TO SHOVE HER BROTHER DOWN THE STAIRS. WHAT ELSE COULD I DO?" Stef screamed back at
"I DON'T KNOW, DISCUSS IT WITH ME FIRST. YOU SAY WE ARE A TEAM, BUT THE KIDS ONLY LISTEN TO YOU BECAUSE YOU RUSH IN IMPUSIVELY TO MAKE A DECISION AND LEAVE ME IN THE DARK! I HAD TO YELL AT BRANDON AND CALLIE BECAUSE NEITHER WOULD OBEY ME."
Stef did not get a chance to respond as they had a knock on their door. "THIS IS NOT A GOOD TIME. GO TO BED!" She yelled instead.
"This is exactly what I was talking about, Stef. We are a team. You just answered for both of us. If one of our babies needs us we cannot leave them out in the hallway just to fight more." Lena whispered harshly now aware the kids could hear them.
Callie had actually been by her mothers' door ever since she heard the fight break out. She had heard her name several times and knew they were fighting about her. When the loud yelling started she finally got the courage to knock hoping to protect her mothers from each other if things went badly. Stef opened the door for Callie and left the room.
"Callie, Baby, come here!" Lena said opening her arms to her oldest daughter. Callie was still frozen in place by the door and did not move. "Sweetheart, it is okay. Come on in here."
Callie took a few steps to be inside the door and after a moment quietly spoke up. "I am sorry for my bad attitude and not obeying the first time. Are you guys going to be okay?"
"Of course we are, Cals! Mom and I just have some things we need to work out. We are sorry that we were being so loud. Come sit down with me." Lena again patted the spot next to her on the bed. Callie went over and sat next to her Mama. Lena put her arms around her and let her cry. "It is okay, Baby. We were fighting, but we still love each other and all of you very much. Nothing could change that."