Lena warned Callie to behave before she headed towards Stef while the cake was once again taken into the kitchen to cut up. Lena welcomed Stef in and took the present from her, adding it to the ever-growing pile on a table before leading her into the kitchen to introduce her to her parents. She was nervous but she wasn't sure why. For some reason she just desperately wanted her parents to like Stef. She's already talked their ears off about her and assured them that she was nice and not looking to ruin their family but still, meeting Stef and making their own judgements about her made her nervous.
"Mom, dad; I'd like you to meet Stef." Lena smiled as she entered the kitchen to find Dana cutting up the cake and Stewart refilling the sandwiches and chips. "Stef, these are my parents, Dana and Stewart."
"It's nice to meet you." Stef said, feeling just as nervous as Lena was. Here were more people in Callie's life that probably hated her for what she'd done. For all intents and purposes these were Callie's grandparents and for the first time Stef truly felt like an outsider. She could claim that she was Stef's mother all she wanted and she could swear that she loved her but in the end, these were the people who had been there for her when she needed someone the most and no DNA test could come between that.
But much to Stef's surprise Dana walked over to her with open arms and hugged her in a way that even her own mother never had - like it didn't matter what mistakes she'd made or how it looked to the outside world. "It's wonderful to finally meet you." Dana said with a smile while Steward wiped his greasy hands on his pants to hug her as well.
"Oh Stewart, wash your hands." Dana chastised, making both Stef and Lena laugh.
"Pants work just fine honey." Stewart replied, wiping them once again to emphasize his point.
"Yes, but you don't want those oil stains on Stef's clothes, it will be a pain to get that material clean." Dana replied as she eyed Stef's perfectly fitted black pants and cowl-necked sleeveless gold shimmer top. "You must only hand-wash that top if you want to keep the shimmer in." Dana explained from years of experience. "Those machines are so rough on the clothes that nothing lasts anymore."
"Mom, I don't think Stef came here for a laundry lesson." Lena interrupted, glad that her parents were welcoming of Stef but needing everyone to get back to work - they still had a living room full of hungry twelve-year-olds to feed and a pile of presents to open.
Callie loved the presents she'd been given. She was sitting on a chair with all her family and friends around her opening up one present after another and so far she'd received a small starter makeup kit, a set of three glittery jelly bangles, a few tops, a couple of books, a plush pillow in the shape of a heart, a handbag and a few gift cards to iTunes, Starbucks and Macy's and she still had a handful of presents left to open. She had done a fantastic job of avoiding Stef through her party and hoped that she could get through the rest of it without actually having to talk to the woman. Stef, for her part, was keeping her distance and for that Callie was thankful for she really did not want to lose it in front of her friends.
"Oh wow." Callie exclaimed as she opened up a tabletop jewelry box with three drawers and cupboard and a top flap that played music when you wound it. The box itself was a light pastel pink and each drawer was covered in a different pastel pattern as was the door giving the whole front a patchwork look and the top of the box was decorated in small jewels in the shapes of flowers. It was a little girl's dream jewelry box and Callie loved it. "Thank you." She said as she reached for a card to see who it was from so she could thank them directly but her face instantly fell when she saw who it was from.
Setting it aside she ignored the look she received from Lena as she continued on to the next gift, noticing Dana lean over Lena to speak to Stef from the corner of her eye.
"Don't take it to heart, it's a lovely present." Dana said supportively. "You really have wonderful taste."
Stef smiled even though it didn't reach her eyes. She had hoped that this present wouldn't be too over the top. It wasn't special in any way - not very expensive or fancy and held absolutely no significance - it was simply a gift for a girl who's birthday she was invited to. With that she'd hoped that even if Callie didn't like it she wouldn't be too upset like she'd been with the bracelet but the fact that Callie did infect love the box up until she realized who it was from is what hurt Stef. No matter how many times she was rejected or how clear Callie make her dislike of her, it still hurt and Stef just kept trying her best to hide it.
"Come on, let's go get something to drink." Dana suggested and soon Stef and Dana headed back to the kitchen leaving the party guests to themselves for a while.
Soon guests began to leave; first Lena's friends and slowly even Callie's friends began to disappear one by one as parents came to collect their kids. Lena and Callie said goodbye to each one and then Callie went back to her presents to really look at them again while Lena headed into the kitchen to join Stef and her parents.
"Come sit honey." Stewart said when she saw Lena begin to collect up dirty cups and plates. "Leave that for a bit and just relax, we'll help you clean up in a bit."
Lena took a seat and heard Dana tell Stef the tail-end of a story about how Lena once tried to stuff her bra with socks.
"It was a pretty lopsided stuffing if I recall correctly." Dana laughed.
"MOTHER!" Lena said aghast as she turned a shade of red while Stef nearly spilled her drink from laughing so hard.
"Oh honey, you were just twelve." Dana dismissed her. "It was adorable."
"I'll let you in on a secret, I didn't really need a bra until I was almost fourteen." Stef offered good-naturedly, in an attempt to even the score. "And it didn't help that I was younger than everyone else in my class either. They would call me 'surf board' and 'nipples' because I didn't have breasts, just nipples."
Lena couldn't stop herself from glancing down to Stef's chest where she observed that Stef was anything but just nipples now. Obviously she had developed well and didn't have to worry about that any more. Lena on the other hand still had considerably small breasts that she wished were a cup size or two bigger.
"Don't feel bad honey, I'm still known as nipples." Steward teased as she looked down the neck of his shirt, pretending to search franticly for what he was looking for.
"Thank god for that, I don't think I could ever marry a man with bigger breasts than me." Dana added, adding to the laughter that filled the room.
A good twenty minutes passed and the conversation moved on from breast sizes to modern clothing styles to justice and politics in the United States and finally to Stef and her life.
"Honestly, I don't think I'd be able to live in a world where I'm being watched all the time." Dana said after Stef explained just how big of a scandal her pregnancy was to her family. "Makes me thankful that I'm not a celebrity."
"It's not always easy." Stef agreed wholeheartedly. "Everyone is always trying to top each other. I remember my mother would host this huge Christmas party every year and she'd serve these mini mince pies that were the talk of the town. Everybody who was anybody was invited to this party and for weeks before and after they would talk about these pies. Then one year the Richmond's, three houses down who hosted the Thanksgiving party every year served up a turkey the size of a horse with a new stuffing recipe that Lynn Richmond got from her dead grandmother's recipe book and it was so delicious that people were talking about it right up until Christmas week and my mother was a wreck. She was sure that that year her mince pies wouldn't be enough to keep up with the stuffing and so she had this professional baker down in San Jose make her a three foot cake to resemble a manger. The damn thing came up to my waist." Stef said as she shook her head at the absurdity of the whole thing. "But one thing was certain, my mother got what she wanted for people were talking about that cake until next Christmas."
"I wonder how much your mother actually got to enjoy those parties." Dana said, thinking back to the few simple, carefree parties filled with fun and laughter that she'd thrown when she was younger. "Sounds like more of a chore than anything festive."
"Oh dad and I knew better than to get in her way the week of the party." Stef assured. "She was like a raging bull, barking orders at all the help. More often than not I would find them crying in the servants quarters."
Dana was just about to respond when Callie came into the room sporting some of her new presents - bangles, lipstick and the handbag with a book tucked under her arm. "Grams, doesn't this bag go perfectly with the dress you made me?" Callie asked as she twirled around, molding for everyone.
"It looks lovely my darling." Dana responded and Callie beamed happily until she once again spotted Stef. "Oh, I thought all the guests had left. I wanted to spend some time with just my family." She said politely enough but with an edge to her voice letting Stef know that even though she was warned not to be rude, Callie still didn't want her there.
