"Would you mind a bakery instead?" Stef requested as they walked out of the bank. "I've been running around all morning and I haven't had a thing to eat."
"Of course." Lena readily agreed. "Why don't we head to a restaurant?" She suggested. "It's a little early but I'm sure we'll find a place that's open."
"No, a bakery is just fine." Stef said. "They'll have a croissant or a sandwich I can have."
The two decided to walk to a bakery that Lena knew was just a few blocks away and Lena noted that Stef ordered the very same sandwich that Callie always picked when they came here - the spicy smoked chicken sandwich with extra dil but no onions. Lena smiled to herself as Stef began to tell Lena about her hectic morning that involved a case at work.
"Max has been sending me some work from San Francisco and I've been doing what I can from here. I went down to the library at the courthouse here to have a look at some of the books to see what we can do to help our client but it's a tough case and it basically comes down to the judge we get. Our client and his friend began a business about five years ago making stationary - letter paper, notebooks, personalized envelopes, that kind of thing. Now our client did the business part of it while the friend was involved in designing the prints on the papers and patterns on the envelope. It's actually quite a big demand in San Francisco - they personalize stuff and all the high-flying people want them. Now the friend is moving and wants to leave the company and take his share of the profits they made but along with that he is also saying that the company can no longer use the designs anymore as they are his and our client is claiming that the designs belong to the company and he can't claim them but the artist is saying that it was his work to begin with so he has the right. These types of cases are basically like Russian Roulette. As lawyers we can do what we can but when neither party is really right or wrong it all depends on the judge." Stef explained.
"But isn't he right in a way?" Lena asked. "The designs do belong to the company since they were made for the company."
"It's not that simple." Stef replied. "Copyright laws won't cover even the slightest change like for example if there is a dot on top of an 'i' that is a perfect circle and then everything else about the design remains the same but that dot becomes an oval the entire image is considered changed because it is not identical and therefore not copied."
"So basically, even if your guy wins the other guy still gets to keep his designs." Lena concluded.
"Exactly." Stef agreed. "We cannot stop the artist from using them so our goal is to get our client the rights to continue to use the designs as well on the ground of them belonging to the company and not only the artist."
"But then why doesn't your client just make a few tweaks as well?" Lena asked, thinking that if one guy can turn a circle into an oval then so can another."
"The company has grown pretty big and certain designs have become trademarks especially for higher end companies, including ours in fact." Authenticity is what we're aiming for so that this rift between the partners doesn't cost the company it's clients or status."
"Right." Lena understood. "Stuck between a rock and a hard place. "
"Exactly." Stef laughed exhaustedly. "Catch 22."
After that they began to talk about other things and in just a short one and a half hours the two learned a lot about each other. Likes and dislikes, interests and history. The two of them had a very different childhood and Lena learned that sometimes a simple life could definitely be more desirable than one of means and fame - she had parents that cared about her and her desires and dreams rather than what people around thought she should be. Stef learned that despite the downfalls of societal life; money definitely had it's perks - she had one of the best educations that the country could offer and although she did get in on a partial scholarship she knew that even if she didn't, her father's money would surly have gotten her in anyway.
They both had a love for travel but only Stef had really done any of it. She'd seen most of Europe before she had finished school and by the time she was done with college she's seen some of Africa and Asia as well. She'd been to Australia and New Zealand and Russia and even some of the Middle East. Lena, on the other hand had only been to Canada and Mexico once and visited only a handful of states within the country. Her parents were humble people that preferred to stay close to home - in fact, the only wish they'd ever had for their daughter was that she didn't move too far away - a wish that Lena didn't keep when she move halfway across the country to San Diego.
Through all of this Lena kept noticing other small details that were common to both Stef and Callie like the way that they both stuck the very tip of their tongue out when they were trying to remember something or the way that they both cracked their knuckles. These were the little things that made Lena desperate for Callie and Stef to bond but at the same time the things that made her feel just slightly disconnected from her daughter - as much as she knew that these things didn't matter, it still irked her to know that she'd never be able to say 'yes, she get's that from me."
"What about Callie?" Stef suddenly asked, interrupting Lena's thoughts as she sipped her third cup of coffee. "What is she interested in?"
Lena described Callie's love for art and photography which Stef already knew but she also told her how Callie loved animals and was curious about sea creatures. She wanted to dive but obviously her heart would never allow that. Lena had taken her to the aquarium more times than she could count but it just wasn't the same.
"I think she likes the freedom." Lena admitted. "Don't tell her I told you this but she has a thing for the Little Mermaid, only reversed - she'd give up just about anything to grow some fins and swim away."
"I can relate to that." Stef replied. "I remember sitting at my bedroom window as a kid wishing I could just grow wings and fly away." She admitted. "The wind in your face and not a care in the world…" She trailed off, dreaming of a world with complete freedom."
"I wish I could give her that." Lena admitted. "No doctors, no CPS, no pain; but unfortunately that's not real life. She can't even go swimming despite how much she loves the water. I took her once in a private pool but she got too tired within minutes."
"How about a boat ride?" Stef asked, thinking that maybe that was something they could do together. "The hotel has brochures on the rides and timings, I could get you one."
Lena seemed to hesitate for just a moment but it didn't go unnoticed by Stef. "I could just give you the brochure." She offered, wondering if it was something Lena would want to do with Callie alone.
"No." Lena shook her head at the implication. "It's not that; I just have a fear of the water." She admitted somewhat shamefully. "Swimming pools and even lakes I can do but anything beyond my control just makes me nervous."
Stef smiled gently though there was a teasing gleam in her eyes. "Don't feel bad." She said though she did laugh. "For me it's spiders." She admitted as her body shook involuntarily as though a spider was close by."
"Spiders huh?" Lena asked, laughing herself. "You afraid of the incy wincy spider?" She teased.
"Just a bit." Stef confessed as the two of them laughed good-naturedly. "Anyways it was just a thought. The brochure claimed that you should sometimes see the creatures if you got lucky."
"Why don't you take her?" Lena suddenly piped up. "You're going to have to get together at some point without a chaperone so why not something she might truly enjoy?"
"I don't think she'd be too happy about that." Stef said thought it was clear that she herself loved the idea. "You think she'd agree?"
"We can ask." Lena offered, leaving out the bit about her actually persuading and maybe even bribing Callie a little bit.
Stef smiled widely as she nodded and the two set a day for this next step in reuniting Stef and Callie.
The day of the boat ride had finally arrived and Stef woke up more excited than ever for Lena had already told her that Callie was looking forward to this despite Stef's attendance. But if she were being honest with herself she was just a bit nervous as well for while Lena was there to keep the transition for Callie smooth, she also made Stef feel more grounded. This time it was going to be up to Stef to make the afternoon go smoothly and she hoped that she had what it takes.
She packed an extra sweater for Callie just in case it got cold, ordered a few sandwiches from room service along with some fresh squeezed orange juice and fruit and headed towards Lena's house, her heart pounding both in fear and excitement.