"I want my belly button pierced," Mariana said over baked chicken, corn, and mashed potatoes.

Stef and Lena stopped and looked at her.

"No," Lena and Stef said in unison.

"Moms, how is that even fair. Isn't that a bit … hypocritical? I mean …" Mariana started to complain before her mother cut her off.

"Miss Thang, I am not completely sure where you are going with this, but you are not getting your belly button pierced. Or your nose. Or your tongue. Or anything else you want to put a hole through. You have three piercings in each ear. That is plenty," Stef lectured as she dished corn onto Jude's plate.

"Callie has more piercings than I do and she's three years younger! Seriously! Look at her ears. There are four in her left ear and five in her right," Mariana stated matter-of-factly.

"Yea, one of my foster sisters did it when I was ten. She pierced ears at the mall and brought the stuff home because she wanted to practice," Callie said with a smirk.

She knew the moms probably didn't approve of her ears having so many holes in them, but she'd had them for a while now. Callie honestly didn't even know why Mariana was even asking her moms if she could get her belly button pierced.

"See! Even Callie is cooler than I am," Mariana whined.

Callie looked at her with an eyebrow raised. What a stupid thing to say. Callie didn't have a single friend. Mariana had a lot of friends. Callie just wanted to blend in; Marina was born to stand out. That was obvious.

"Mariana, that is enough," Stef said.

"You have yours pierced! How is that even fair, Mom?"

"I am also an adult," Stef said, her eyebrow raised in an 'I dare you to keep talking' way.

"You have your belly button pierced," Callie asked, shocked, with her eyes wide with a look Stef had not seen before — almost like — mischief twinkling in her chocolate brown eyes.

Lena tried to stifle a laugh with her hand.

"What does that mean, young lady," Stef asked, moving her hands to her hips.

"You … you're … you're a MOM. And not like a trashy mom either," Callie said, utterly shocked.

Lena could not hold in her laughter any longer. It came spilling out to the point she had tears falling down her cheeks and she had to put her fork down to wipe her tears away.

"I think," Lena said laughing, "she is calling you old, Love."

"Hmph. I am not old!"

"How old are you," Jude asked suddenly, stuffing a spoonful of mashed potatoes covered in ketchup in his mouth. Unfortunately, ketchup all over his food was something he had picked up from Jesus. The little boy absolutely loved ketchup. With Jesus and Jude eating so much of it, they'd practically had to stockpile it.

"Forty-two. Which is not old!"

"I don't know, Mom. That is getting really close to fifty. So, Mom, you might be considered old …" Jesus said, stuffing a piece of ketchup covered chicken in his mouth.

"I am not old," Stef said, pretending to pout.

"How old are you, Lena," Jude asked.

"Thirty-nine," Lena said, trying to stop laughing.

"So this is a no to the belly button piercing," Mariana asked.

Callie shook her head. She didn't understand this discussion at all. But it at least the attention wasn't on her.

And it almost seemed … normal.

"Callie, wait, Love," Stef said from the kitchen sink. All of the others had already vacated, even Lena, who had gone upstairs to help Frankie take a bath since she had to go to bed early.

Callie sat back in the chair she had just vacated and stared at her hands. She wanted to get this over with.

"We need to talk about why you are in trouble, Cal," Stef said gently, sitting beside Callie at the table.

"It had nothing to do with the necklace. I would have done anything and everything possible to find your necklace for you had Frankie not had it. I want you to know that. I would have gone to every store with you. I would have helped you find it.

"You're in trouble for running out in the street, Love. You could have been hit by a car. You nearly were. You could have been killed, Callie," Stef said, a small tremble in her voice.

"You didn't have to run after me," Callie said quietly.

Stef stared at her for several long seconds and then brought her hand to Callie's chin and raised her face to toward her own.

"I did have to run after you, Callie. I care about you and I don't know what I would do if something happened to you. I know —"

"Ive only been here two months. You don't care if something happens to me. You're just waiting on the stupid social worker to come get me and Jude to take us to the next house," Callie hissed.

Stef shook her head. How wrong the child in front of her was.

"Callie, that isn't true. That is not true at all. Lena and I care so much about you, honey. So much. I wanted to talk to you about what happened today because it wasn't okay. You ran into the street and nearly got hit four times. I shouldn't have spanked you …"

"You call that a spanking," Callie laughed.

Stef sighed.

"I swatted you eight times because you ran out in the road. As a foster parent, as your foster parent, I shouldn't have done that."

"It didn't even hurt," Callie said.

"It wasn't supposed to hurt, Callie. It was supposed to get your attention and let you know you did wrong. It wasn't until after I'd already swatted you that I even realized I'd done it. I should not have done it, but I'm not sorry I did. You scared me half to death."

"Stef, it didn't hurt. It wasn't a big deal," Callie said quietly. It wasn't a big idea to her.

"Even if I wanted to tell my stupid social worker — which I don't — he wouldn't believe me. They never do," Callie told Stef.

"And that's not fair to you or Jude," Stef said.

"You don't want to keep us much longer, do you," Callie asked Stef, looking up at her with her piercing brown eyes.

"Oh, Callie," Stef said, reaching out to rub the child's back.

"Don't," Callie hissed, moving her body slightly away.

"Callie …"

"You can't make me love it here when you are just going to send us away! You can't make Jude love you! You can't make us like it because it's not fair when you send us away! I hate you! I hate everyone but Jude! Because no one wants us! You have to stop making us like it here, Stef, because its not fair," Callie cried and screamed, her face red and tears and snot running down her cheeks and face.

Stef stared at her intently, then grabbed her shoulders, pulling her into her chest.

"I want you damnit! I want you and Jude. Lena wants you and Jude. We want you," Stef said without thinking. She wanted this child to see what love was. To understand she was wanted. To understand her brother was wanted. To see that she mattered just as much as every other child in this house. Stef wanted Callie to feel it. She wanted Callie to feel the love she and Lena had for her.

Now, both Stef and Callie were crying. This was the scene Lena walked in on after she'd called Mariana into the bathroom to help Frankie with her bath. She'd heard raised voices from the kitchen and wanted to get downstairs quickly.

And she when she did, it was to both Callie and Stef crying, arms wrapped around one another. It surprised her — Callie sobbing and holding onto Stef as if her life depended it on it, Stef crying, her arms wrapped tightly around Callie, holding her head to her chest tightly.

Stef looked up at her wife, tears sliding down her cheeks. Lena looked at her with concern and walked over to the duo.

"What's going on," Lena asked.

Callie sobbed harder and tightened her grip on Stef, wiped her face on Stef's stomach to try and clear the tears and snot off.

"Stef said you want me and Jude," Callie sobbed.

That broke Lena. Something so simple — something every child should have — was so hard for the child to understand.

"We do, Callie," Lena whispered through her own tears, "We do want you and Jude. We've been talking about it since the night you rescued Jude. We want you both. Forever. We love you."

"Do … do … does that mean you want to adopt us," Callie sobbed again, wrapped her hand in Stef's shirt without realizing it, and bringing it up to wipe her face again.

Lena took that moment to wrap her arms around Stef and Callie.

"That is exactly what it means," Lena said, looking Stef in the eye. She loved her wife more and more every day, and today her love went twofold.

AN: I realize many chapters seem short to many — please understand the chapters are "short" because they need to be. I also update fairly often. More than 20,000 words in roughly six weeks is quite a lot.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. It is one of my favorite chapters yet.