But You Stood By My Side

WritingIsLoveAndLife

AN: I'm back with Chapter 35 of our story! It's been way too long. I never intended to go on this extended hiatus, but writer's block and real life have their ways of getting in the way. I got a job, celebrated my 21st birthday and I even had a piece I wrote years ago published in a magazine, which was quite surreal for me. I didn't even believe it until I had a physical copy of the issue in my hands.

Anyways, as far as all my stories are concerned, my writer's block was so bad that either no words came to mind, or what did come to mind didn't read well. It was very frustrating, to say the least. At times, I didn't even recognize my own words. I hated not updating, because I really wanted to. I wanted to give you all what you were asking for, but I couldn't. I refuse to put either my pen name, or my real name on anything that I can't say is my absolute best, and what was being written was definitely NOT my absolute best. The closest I came to writing anything new for any of my stories was putting But You Stood By My Side on the Archive of Our Own.

Fortunately, that, coupled with getting published in the magazine seemed to ignite my creativity again and I'll be updating my stories with new chapters soon!

You've been the most loyal, dedicated and amazing readers I could ever ask for. You've taken my stories to heights I could never have dreamed of, and I look forward to finishing them all for you. I want to thank you all for your patience and understanding. I would be nowhere without you.

With this chapter, we begin the first of the final story arcs for this story. It's in Connor's POV and I hope you enjoy it.

I've had one review posted to Chapter 34 of this story since I published it, so I'll answer that now, before I leave you all to your reading:

Nuke Rose: I'm glad that you're glad I updated, and even happier that I was able to give you something to read when you were running out of stories. I'm as glad to be back as you are to have me back. This was a very difficult time for me, creatively speaking, so it feels good to finally be able to share the next chapter of this story with everyone.

Hope all is well with you. Thanks as always for the review! I really appreciate it.

Disclaimer: Peter Paige and Bradley Bredeweg created The Fosters. I claim no ownership of the series, or its characters. I merely respect the series and wish to pay tribute to it, while continuing to sharpen my writing skills. The only characters I do own are my OC's: BC Adams-Foster-Stevens, Marina Reyes, Jan Stevens, Dean Williams (even if he's out of the story), Mark Wells, Bob Olsen, Mary Stevens, Theo Stevens, Ryan Clark, Zane Johnson and the twins, Hannah and Christian Davis, as well as any further characters I choose to create and insert into this story in the future.

Chapter 35

"Who the hell is at the door this early in the morning?" I grumble sourly when the doorbell sounds as Jude and I work to cook BC a big birthday breakfast.

For his part, my husband tilts his head sideways in thought. "I have no idea, Con," he says finally. "Do you want to go see who it is? I'll finish cooking and get plates."

"Alright," I nod. "I'll tell whoever it is to fuck off. It's probably some random salesperson anyway."

"Be polite!" Jude admonishes as I make my way to the door, the annoying melody of the doorbell becoming more frequent the longer it goes unanswered.

"I'm coming!" I yell. "Do you have any idea what time it… Marina? Zane? What are you two doing her so early in the morning? The party isn't until this afternoon."

Marina fixes me with an overly sweet smile, "Good morning, Connor!" she chirps, surprisingly alert for 6:30 in the morning. "Don't mind us, we just wanted to come by and spend some time with BC before everyone else arrived. Can we come in?"

Before my brain catches up with my body, I step aside and allow them entry. "Where's BC?" they ask

Before I can answer, another voice enters the fray. "I'm right here," it says, and I turn around to see my son rubbing at his eyes tiredly.

"Good morning, buddy!" I offer. "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks, Dad," he says before turning to our unexpected company.

"Ringing the doorbell just once is usually enough, you know?" he laughs.

"I know!" Marina exclaims. "But this is me we're talking about. Besides, I did bring your boyfriend along too"

BC chuckles, wrapping Marina in a hug. "He's not my boyfriend, Marina. But I love you anyway."

"Correction, BC," Marina says. "Yet. He isn't your boyfriend yet."

As BC and Marina's banter continues, I can't help but notice Zane is blushing. I walk over to him.

"Be patient with my son," I whisper. "He's yours, even if he won't admit it quite yet."

Zane startles, and then looks at me curiously. "How do you know?" he whispers back.

"Because I know my son," I say. "He isn't always the most open when it comes to telling you how he feels, but he shows his feelings quite well. You just have to be patient and able to recognize when his actions are saying what he can't put into words."

Zane smiles. "I can do that!" he tells me, still whispering.

"I have no doubt of that," I respond.

When the two of us have finished our whispered conversation, we're greeted by twin glares from BC and Marina.

"Dad," BC says knowingly. "What were you and Zane talking about?"

"Nothing!" I say quickly.

"Zane?" Marina questions.

"Nothing!" he confirms, backing me up.

"I don't believe you," Marina determines. "How about you, BC?"

"Not for a second," he agrees, smiling widely, while his eyes glint mischievously.

"Breakfast is ready!" Jude calls. "Will we be needing extra plates?"

I've never been happier to hear Jude's voice. Saved by the husband. Literally.

The party begins in earnest by the early afternoon. Jesus is first to arrive, shouting boisterously in Spanish, and dragging Mariana with him. The rest of our family follows shortly thereafter.

Everyone is having a fabulous time, when Jude appears at the patio door. "Con, someone's at the door asking to speak with you."

"Is it urgent?" I question.

"I don't know," Jude says. "I didn't recognize them, but they said that you would."

That strikes me as odd. Jude knows the same people I do, save for some of my colleagues in the MLB, and I can't think of a single reason one of them couldn't call me if they had business to discuss. Not that I would have taken the call, given today's occasion, but I could've at least seen that they had called, and make a note to call them when I returned to the office.

I'm so lost in my internal musings that I fail to notice I haven't given Jude any kind of indication that I had heard him. He appears in front of me, gazing up at me with concerned eyes.

"You okay, love?" he asks.

I snap out of my reverie and look down at him. "Yeah, I'm fine, babe," I assure him, and I see the concern immediately leave his features. "I'll go deal with whoever's at the door. It's probably one of my colleagues from the league.

Jude nods. "Go on then," he says, giving me a quick peck on the lips. "I'll make sure everything is good out here. Don't take too long though."

"I wouldn't dream of it, babe," I assure him. "If it's one of my colleagues, I'll tell them to call my office when I return to work. I might slip a few choice words about appropriate time and place in there, too."

"If you need me for anything, just call out, okay"

"I doubt that will be necessary, but if you're needed for any reason, I'll let you know."

"Good," he says.

I step inside, and make my way to the door to greet my unexpected guest. As I get my first glimpse of them, my eyes widen.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I grit out, teeth barred.

Alex Meyer is sweating profusely, as if he's nervous. He rubs his neck, and refuses to look me in the eye.

I'm about to prompt him to speak, because frankly, I have no time today to entertain him but, before I can, I hear BC yell from the backyard.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he snaps. "And on my birthday, of all days? Why would you think it's even remotely okay to show up here? How the hell did you even get my address?

I notice Alex trying to make a break for it, and I immediately grab for his arm.

"Oh, no you don't!" I tell him. "You're coming with me."

I drag him through the house to the backyard, where the party has basically frozen in place. No one dares to move or speak. BC is clutching Zane's hand and breathing in angry gasps, while giving the person across from him an epic glare.

Standing across from him, to my shock, is one Michael James Callahan.

AN #2: And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the first chapter since February to even remotely resemble my writing. I'm so glad to have finally gotten this finished! You have no idea how frustrating it was to sit at a computer for hours at a time looking at a blank word document and knowing what I wanted to write, but not being able to put that into words effectively... I hate writer's block.

Please let me know what you thought, and what you'd like to see going forward. I really do appreciate every review I receive and I will try my best to incorporate every suggestion you have. Thank you again, for all of your patience, understanding and support.

New chapters of all my other stories will follow shortly, so stay tuned! If you haven't begun reading them and are interested in doing so, please go to my profile page!

Until next time,

WritingIsLoveAndLife