AN:Update - I hope I corrected the word appendix in the right places. If not, call me out again ;) English terms- I'm not perfect. Thank you for the guests, who pointed it out.

Lena POV

February 5th

The twins, Stef and I were in the kitchen. Callie already ate and left the kitchen, though, not the house. She had a day off today. The young girl mentioned something about laundry before she left the kitchen to go back to her room. Jude on the other hand, hasn't come down yet. Some of us were still eating breakfast, others were sitting for company. It was the same old morning routine we go through every morning and I enjoyed it greatly.

"What time is his test?" Mariana asked, before she takes another bite of the pancake that Stef had made this morning. Stef got up 10 minutes earlier just to make them.

"It will start at 10:00," I explained as I walked over to the sink to wash out my empty cup, which had coffee in few seconds ago. I placed the now dry and clean cup in the rack and let it dry.

"How long does he have for the test?" Stef asked as she raised her cup up to her lips as I took the towel to dry my hands "I want to know, when can I call and ask him how it went?"

"He has hour to take it. But we won't know the results for some few minutes after. Our math teacher Mrs. Blake will manage the test, while he writes it, and will check it afterwards," I turned back to the twins and Stef, who all sat at the table, after I had placed the hand towel back where it stood "I'm sure Jude will inform all of you the moment he finds out the results on his own! Speaking of Jude, where is he? Was he up, when you came down?" I look to Jesus, with whom he shares a room.

"He was up, even before I rolled out of my bed!" Jesus replied looking right back at me. Jude usually was the one, who slept in. Most of the time, he was the last to wake up.

"I'm here!" Jude walked in shuffling his feet, not looking so good

"Hey, bud!" Stef greets as she watched him closely "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm...I'm okay," He said not too convincing as he sat down next to Stef

Stef took his plate and put two pancakes on it. She placed the plate in front of him and handed him the syrup "You have a big day today. Eat up! You need the energy!" Jude looked down to his plate, but he was in no hurry of eating. He didn't even reach for the syrup to put on his pancakes.

"What's the matter, Jude?"

"I'm not really hungry," He admitted quietly, when he glanced at me

I take a seat on Jude's other side and watched him carefully "Do you feel okay, Jude?" His skin was a slightly more pale than usual. He seemed off.

I reached over the table and placed my hand on his forehead, feeling him "You feel a little warm,"

Jude leaned backwards, away from my hand and brushed it off "I'm fine, mom! I'm just nervous about today. I didn't sleep well tonight, because I was worrying about the test," he rubbed his forehead and reassured us "I'm a little tiered, that's all!" Jude looked up to me scared the next moment "What if I fail?"

"You are not going to fail! You studied with mama for weeks!" Mariana said supporting him, before Stef or I could say anything

"There is no way you are going to fail after those tutoring lessons with mama! Trust me, you got this in your bag!" Jesus added and offered Jude an encouraging smile, just like his twin sister did

"We believe in you, Jude!" Stef said rubbing his back. Jude glanced to Stef. The look in his eyes told me just how much he needed to hear that someone believes in him.

"No matter how the test goes, we love you!" I assured him as I placed my hand over his "Nothing will ever change how much we care about you. We will always support you! No matter what!"

The back doors opened and Callie walked in with a full laundry basket in her hands. Callie set the laundry basket down on the counter, when she saw that Jude was up and sitting at the table with the rest of us.

"You are up!" she said cheerfully walking up to her brother. When she was up to his back, Callie wrapped her hands around him and leaned her head down to his "You are going to do great today! I would wish you luck, but you don't need it! I know you will ace the test!" she kissed his cheek making him chuckle

I could tell he needed the hug and support from his sister. A smile grew on his face "You think so?"

"I know so!" Callie placed another kiss on his cheek before she ended the hug and ruffled his hair playfully

"Jude, honey, you need to eat!" Stef nudged him and pushed his place a bit closer to him "Few bites. You can't go with empty stomach! You need the energy," Jude reluctantly reached for the knife and fork and took a deep sigh as he looked down to the food


Jude seemed off today. And I don't think it was just the test that he was nervous about. He barely ate one half of the pancake that Stef put on his plate. The fact that he felt a bit warm, when I checked his forehead was worrying me as well. When I rallied the kids up to go the car, I noticed, how slow Jude was walking. I think I even saw him wince in pain few times. But I had asked him multiple times, he denied feeling sick and reassured that he was fine.

When we arrived at the Anchor Beach, the twins went to their classes, while Jude walked with me to my office, to wait till he can take the test. He settled down in one of the chairs and pulled out his math book and notebook to go over the exercises and repeat all of the formulas. Time by time, I looked up from my work to Jude. He was concentrated on his math and didn't notice me watching me.

"Are you sure you are feeling okay, Jude?" I asked worried, when he had yet again shifted in his seat and winced in pain

"Yeah," Jude brushed it off without batting an eye. I got up, walked around my desk and took a seat next to him. Jude glanced to me, but then returned back to his attention back to his math book.

"Jude, can you look at me, please?" I ask softy as I watched him closely

He looked up from his book to me "You can tell me if you are not feeling good! We can postpone this test if you-"

Jude ran his hand gently over his stomach "There is no need to postpone it! I'm fine!" He insisted yet again, trying to stop my concern about him

"Does your stomach hurt?" I ask noticing his hand movement "Are you feeling nauseous?" I once again reached for his forehead to see if he was warm. Jude evaded my hand, forbidding me to touch his forehead. I place my hand back in my lap as I sigh in defeat.

"Mom, I said was fine!" He said back in a very typical teenage manner whose parents was getting on his/her nerves

"Jude-" I was interrupted by a knock on the my office doors. I sigh and look over my shoulder "Yes, come in!"

Mrs. Baker appeared in the doorway holding files in her hands "Is it 10 already?" I asked her, unaware how the time passed. Because I am Jude's mom, I wasn't allowed to see the test. Mrs. Baker got the test from the principal. She was here to observe Jude taking the test, making sure he doesn't cheat.

"Yes!" Mrs. Baker confirmed it and looked down to the file in her hand "I have the test right here. We can start!"

I smile back at the teacher and then glance to Jude "Are you ready?"

He looked incredibly nervous and worried. I am pretty sure, Jude thinks that his whole life depended on this test. If by any chance he fails, I could already picture how devastated he would be. I really hope that he passes the test. He really wants to get in Anchor Beach. It's what he has been working for these last few weeks. He's been working real hard for it. Jude deserves to get in.

"Can I go to bathroom first?" He asked for permission looking between Mrs. Baker and me

"Of course!" I said back without hesitation. Jude quickly closed his books and hurried out of my office. I heard him run down the hall.

"He looks nervous," Mrs. Baker spoke up after a little while. I get up from the chair I was sitting and make my way back to my desk.

"Yes, very much so! He really wants to get in and he's afraid to fail," I made small talk with the teacher, while we wait for Jude to returned

"I'm sure he will do fine! The test is not hard," Mrs. Baker said reassuring "How long has been adopted now?"

"It's been one week today!" I replied with a huge grin on my lips, not being able to contain my happiness about it

"You seem very happy,"

"I am...we are! It has been great. Jude is...he's amazing!" I beamed

"I'm glad," Mrs. Baker smiled at me "You and Stef are doing such amazing things for these kids. Loving kids that are not...biologically yours. Not everyone can do that. The world needs more people like you."

The office doors opened and Jude came back in "I'm ready now!" he announced standing by the doors. Looked like he was ready to take on the world on his own. I was so proud of him.


"Time is up! Pencil down!" Mrs. Baker announced, when the one hour was up. Jude put his pencil down and turned the test to the first page, closing it.

He handed the test to Mrs. Baker "I will go and score this. You will know your result in 15 minutes!"

"Mom!" Jude turned to me "I'm not feeling so great!" Mrs. Baker hadn't left when Jude said that. His announcement made her stop at the doors.

I pushed the chair back and got up "What hurts?" I asked hurrying to his side. I had a feeling he had been hiding something ever since the morning. Now I wish I had pressed on harder to get the truth out of him.

"My stomach!" He said to me, when I crouched down to him "It hurts real bad, mom! Worse than in the morning! Sharp pain," I could see the pain in his eyes. I wish I could take it away from him. Make him feel better.

"Do you feel nauseous?" I asked placing my palm on his forehead. His temperature was clearly up from this morning. He felt warmer.

He nodded his head as he placed his hands gently on his stomach as he admitted "I threw up, when I went to the bathroom...and in the morning before breakfast!"

"Text the results to me!" I told Mrs. Baker as I got up and reached for my phone and purse on the desk "I'm taking Jude to hospital!"

We were out of my office the next moment. I had a bad feeling that this was more than just a stomach bug and I was not willing to risk it, by simply taking Jude home to sleep it off. Right about now, I started to feel like a really bad mother, because I allowed him to come to school and take the test while he was sick. I will not forgive myself if something bad will happen to him.

Stef POV

Getting a call, saying your kid is in hospital, is very scary. When Lena called me to inform that she took Jude to hospital, I instantly dropped everything, informed my Captain and went straight to hospital. It took me about 15 minutes to get there. I hurried inside the hospital and tried to locate Lena as soon as possible. When I entered the waiting room, Lena jumped up the moment she saw me.

"What happened?" I asked walking up to Lena and hugging her

"It's his appendix!" Lena explained, while in the hug "They took him to surgery some 5 minutes ago!"

"How bad is it?" I asked, when I leaned out of the hug. I rested my hands on Lena's forearms, that way still keeping contact with her, holding on to her.

"Luckily it hadn't burst. It was caught in time. Doctors said he should be okay," Lena spoke in what I think, was calm manner. I could tell she was extremely worried about Jude. It was written all over her face, but she kept her composure intact. At least for now.

"That's good news! That's good!" I said and pulled Lena in another hug. When I started to run my hand up and down Lena's back and kissed her cheek, Lena's voice cracked a little

"I knew something was off...I should have done something-"

"Hey! It's not your fault! I missed this too. Don't blame yourself!"

"I let him take the test, while-" A small, quiet sob escaped and stopped her sentence in middle

"Shhh, it's okay, Lena. He will be okay. Jude will be okay!" I whispered soothingly to her as I held her tighter against my chest

After few seconds, Lena leaned out of the hug first. There were few stray tears on her cheers. Lean wiped those away with her left, while I was holding her right hand "I'm sorry, I just...I feel like a bad mother!" Another tear fell down her cheek

"You are not a bad mother, Lena!" I reassured her without any hesitation "You are the best mama in this whole wild world. Don't believe it? Ask our rascals! They will confirm it!" Lena wiped her cheeks "The kids love you. They adore you! You, my love, are not a bad mother! We both missed this. But just because we missed Jude not being up to 100% in health, doesn't make us bad parents! You took him here the second you knew something was wrong. That is not bad parenting!"

I raised my hand up to Lena's cheek and gently moved my thumb, stroking her cheek "This was the first time Jude got sick, while in our care. We had no idea what we had to look for. Now we know and we will never make the same mistake ever again!"

Lena smiled at me sadly, before she leaned her forehead down to mine as she closed her eyes.

Callie POV

I have had a busy morning. Before everyone went to school or job, I had already put a load in laundry. While the clothes were washing, I cleaned out the garage. Vacuumed every inch of my room, even under the bed, and dusted all the surfaces. The room was spotless afterward. The laundry was done once I finished cleaning my room and I hung the clothes out to dry.

Then I locked up the house and went to all of the construction shops I knew off in the region. I wanted to get booklets of wooden floor panels. My plan was to identify the wood panels that are in my apartment, find out in which shop I could buy the new floor panels and calculate the approximate cost of buying new panels. I also grabbed all the handouts that were in the shops, hoping that I could piece together what I need to buy to fix the ceiling. I needed some sort of panels for sure, white color obviously...Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing. It was like I was walking blindly in unknown territory.

After I had been in all of the shops, I made my way to my apartment. I dropped my bag on the couch, took out the booklets and dropped to my knees on the floor.

I spread out the booklets and compared them to the current wood floor panels. Walnut and acacia were out first. Those were too dark in comparison. But pine and larch were out, because those had like these stripes/lines, which my current floor panel did not have. Cherry was too orange.

That left me with the choices of: maple, beech, ash and oak. After closer examination, I excluded maple floor panel as well. So it was either oak, ash or beech. They all were in this creamy, sand color, with some light stripes on. I was starting to lean towards oak, when the doorbell rang, stopping my examination.

It was strange. I wasn't expecting anyone. Everyone I know was either at work, school, living in the other side of the city or the other side of the country. I got up from the floor and walked towards the doors.

I turn the lock and open the doors a little. When I saw who was on the other side, I opened the doors wider "Stef? What are you doing her?" she stood there in her full uniform, hair in a bun. I was not expecting to see her there.

"Why is your phone off? Lena and I have been trying to call you!" She said in slightly raised, frustrated voice. She seemed to be very stressed out about something, no idea about what.

Her look then spotted something behind me and she blurred out shocked as she took two more steps deeper in the apartment "What the hell happened to your apartment!?" I looked over my shoulder to the damaged wood floor and the hole in my ceiling, but said nothing in return as I turn back to face her

She shook her head and ran her hand over her face "We will talk about this later. Right now, we need to go!"

"Why? What's going on?" I asked still not sure why she was here instead of her work

"Well, if you hadn't turned off your phone, picked up when I called or answered our texts, you would already know why! But your phone has been off! And there was no way of contacting you! I drove home, but you were not there. No note, no nothing saying where you went! I was lucky I found you here!" she said in a raised voice. It felt like she was accusing me of being reckless and inconsiderate

"Why are you yelling at me? I haven't done anything wrong! It is my day off and I can go wherever I want!" I replied in raised voice, not liking her attitude towards me

I could tell she felt bad about how she had spoken to me. Stef closed her eyes and took a small step back. She took few calming breathes before she opened her eyes.

"I'm sorry Callie," she said sincerely, now in much more softer and calmer voice "It was very mean of me. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry, can you forgive me?"

I shifted in my stance a little, while still holding on to the door frame with my right hand "It's okay,"

"Jude's in hospital," Stef said next taking me completely off guards "He's having a surgery as we speak,"

"Wh-what?" I breathed out scared. My heart dropped at the news. Tears filled my eyes as I feared about Jude's health.

"His appendix got infected. It's nothing too bad. He will be fine," Stef explained calming my racing heart a little "Lena and the twins are at the hospital already,"

Stef closed the distance between us and placed her hands on my shoulder, then ran them down my arms "Get your stuff so we can go, sweetie!"

I nodded my head few times too much, but forgot to move from my spot "Go get your stuff," Stef repeated in a whisper

Jude POV

This time, when my eyes fluttered open, I could feel that the anesthesia had finally wore off completely. I could feel a slight pulsation sensation, where the incision was made, but it didn't hurt. The pain medication does wonders.

I was greeted by my moms smiling down at me. Lena, who was by my right side, was holding my hand, while with other hand she was caressing my cheek fondly. Stef was by my other side, running her fingers gently through my hair.

"Hi, baby. How are you feeling?" Lena asked, when I blinked my eyes trying to get used to the bright light.

"I'm okay, mama," I smiled at Lena "I'm sorry!"

"For what?" She asked placing her hand on my shoulder and rubbing it

"Not telling you sooner," I said looking straight to Lena. I had a feeling they would be mad, that I hadn't told them that I wasn't feeling well this morning.

"It's okay, honey. What matters is that you are going to be all right!" mama didn't hesitate to reassure me

"I didn't want the test to be postponed," I admitted as I tried to sit up "I wanted to be done with it!"

"Slowly, slowly!" Mom said helped me get more comfortable. She fluffed up the pillow as much as she could and made sure I was warm, by tucking the blanket around my legs.

"That wasn't the best decision you have made, because your appendix could have burst. We are lucky we managed to get you to doctors before it did, because then it would much more serious damage. Your health has to come first, Jude! You can't takes risks like this!" Lena explained to me

"I'm sorry," I repeated in whisper

"It's okay, baby. Mama and I are not mad!" Stef assured me "We simply worry about you, because we don't want anything bad happening to you. We love you and we don't want to see you hurt!" Stef leaned down and placed multiple kisses on my forehead

"I'm glad you are doing okay!" Mariana smiled at me from the end of the bed

Jesus stood right next to his sister "Yeah, good to see you awake and talking!" he patted my feet lightly

"Callie?" I asked not seeing her in the room

"I'm here!" came Callie's voice from somewhere behind Stef. She moved aside letting my sister take her spot by my bed. I could tell that Callie had been concerned about me. The worry was written all over her face.

"I'm okay!" I told her, when she slipped her hand in mine "It doesn't hurt!"

"Don't do this again! You scared me...I can't lose you, Jude!" Callie said not being able to look me in the eye as tears filled her eyes. She was looking at our interlocked fingers.

"I won't. I only had one appendix. And now I have none!" I joked trying to light up the mood, trying to make Callie ease up and relax. I know how much she worries about me. She might even worry more than moms do. It's just the way how she is, how she always has been.

Jesus and Stef both laughed out the loudest, Lana and Mariana were a bit more quiet, but still the laughed. A small smile appears on Callie's face, before she returned back to being concerned. Slowly her gaze met my eyes.

"I'm okay" I mouth to her as I squeeze her hand. I feel her squeeze my hand back as well.

Her forehead frowned up, like she was holding in tears. She bit her lip and nodded her head. Callie leaned down to me and kissed my forehead and whispered to me, her voice shaking a little "I love you, Jude!"

"Love you too!" I reply quietly, before she leaned away

"So," Jesus dragged looking around the room "Do we know how Jude did on the test?" I saw how Stef and Lena share a look over my bed.

"You have the results, right? I mean, it has been few hours since I took the test, right?" I asked wanting to know the results. Mama gave another look to Stef on the other side of the bed. She took a deep sigh as she turned back to look at me.

My face fell, because I was sure, that look was not a good look. That look that mama gave mom, was a look of – how am I going to tell him that he failed? Callie squeezed my hand tighter as we waited for Lena to speak up. I was preparing to hear the worst, that I failed. In my mind, I could hear how Lena says those words tome. Moms probably are very disappointing in me...Hell! I disappointed myself!

"You passed!" Lena announced happily

"He did?!" Mariana squeaked happily as she jumped up and down

"Way yo go, man!" Jesus patted my leg "Didn't I tell you? So great!"

"I passed?" I couldn't believe it "I got in?" I looked between my moms, still surprised by the news

"You sure did! You scored 76!" Lena said proudly. I couldn't keep the huge grin off my face, I was ecstatic.

"I'm so proud of you!" Callie beamed at me as she leaned down to give me another kiss on my forehead

"We are all proud of you, Jude!" Stef said with a huge smile on her face