OK guys, here is the next chapter! May not be able to post tomorrow but the next chapter will be the conversation that was cut at the end of the episode. This chapter has a little cameo for some of my long-time readers. I would love to know people are still reading and enjoying and if there's anything you want done in the last few episodes!

Thanks to Mea23 and TheTBone for their idea bouncing help!

The door closed as Stef saw the Riveras out. Mariana and Jesus bringing her back home may have brought great relief (despite the questionable circumstances) but this in no way alleviated the stress that the situation had brought. Stef pushed the door to as they left and briefly leaned her head against it before slamming it closed the rest of the way and turning to face her younger twins. Lena turned to join her in a furious glare.

"Well...all's well that ends well..." Mariana chirped in vain hope that that would be the end. It wasn't. Stef was first to begin the tirade.

"What in the world just happened?" She bleated, striding to take her place next to Lena.

"We wanna know where she was, how much you were involved and why on earth you think you have the right to eavesdrop in a private conversation and then use that to ambush people?" Lena complimented Stef's opening, neither of them breaking gaze with the two sheepish looking teens in front of them.

"It got her home didn't it?" Mariana protested with a shrug.

"Know what else would have got her home?" Stef asked with a damning tone. "Telling us where she was instead of putting us through hell all day!" Her voice a crescendo with every word.

"Do you kids have any idea what Sonya and Ernie have been through in the last few hours? There is nothing more terrifying than losing a child." Lena grasped her chest with her hand, hovering it over her heart.

"Jesus, I stood up for you this morning." Stef stared him down as he raised his hands in defence.

"I honestly didn't know where she was - not until Mariana got home. I mean..." he looked at her in panic for blowing her secret as her eyes widened. "I mean, until she..." recovery was pointless as both Moms turned to glare at her instead.

"And you're meant to be grounded!" Lena voiced their joint thought.

"I know - and I mean, I am. This was just, well...Lexi needed me."

Stef shook her head, plastering her face with her palm in disbelief. She exhaled deeply.

"She needed you to help sneak around from her parents." Lena clarified.

"They were gonna send her away Moms, that's not fair and you know it." Jesus replied as Lena raised an eyebrow to Stef.

"OK, guys look. I think we've all been interfering a little much with The Riveras decisions here, and their right to make them. Myself included." She admitted, her voice dropping in defeat as all eyes turned to her.

Mariana looked to Jesus before looking back at her Mom.

"So are you saying this is your fa-"

"Don't push it." Stef cut her off as Mariana bit down on her lip. Bother twins exchanged a mutual smirk, their guilty faces at their being told off projecting them back to times gone by when the two of them would be thick as thieves and suffering a standard reprimand. After the stress of the last few weeks it was hard to take this too seriously, and for all of their frustration that had built up during the day, Stef and Lena were powerless to assume they would get any messages across tonight.

"You know what guys, just stay out of our way tonight?" Stef conceded. "This is so not over and there will be consequences for both of you...but not tonight. We've had enough of teenage drama today - got it?"

"Got it." Both twins replied in unison.

"But you two have an awful lot of making up to do for this." Lena added with a warning look.

Both twins nodded furiously.

"Get out of our sight." Stef waved them away, her voice draining as both of them bolted up the stairs.

Once they had disappeared Lena buried her face in her hands, mumbling through her fingers.

"Wine?"

"God yes." Stef's reply was instantaneous as they grabbed some glasses and headed to the sofa.

Liam's jeep pulled up and Kasey hopped inside.

"So - where do you wanna go?" He asked nervously. He had backed off after his latest confrontation with Callie and wasn't sure what Kasey knew. He had been surprised to hear from her at all.

"Just anywhere." She groaned resting her head against the rest behind her.

"Bad day?" He asked as she threw him an obvious glare.

"Right." He nodded, getting the hint. "Well - you look like you could use a drink."

"Why do people automatically turn to drinking." She replied harshly, letting her emotions get the better of her. She noticed his eyebrows raise and realised that unless he wanted to pour her heart out to this relative stranger, now probably wasn't the time for grandstanding against alcohol dependence. "I don't have ID." She sighed in compromise. She couldn't deny that her father's problems aside, she wouldn't mind one.

"I have ID." He replied. He was realising this could actually work to his advantage. If Kasey got talking he could figure out how far Callie's stories had gone.

"Just take me anywhere." She said. "Anywhere on the way towards mine."

He nodded and revved up the car.

Kasey settled in the corner of the place he took her to, trying to keep out of sight in case anyone flagged up her age. No-one seemed too bothered. She looked down at her phone and up at Liam at the bar. It was just across the road from Scurro's but they didn't know her in here so she felt a little better about not getting caught out. She wasn't exactly planning on drinking a lot, she was still going home later and didn't want another reason for her parents to be mad at her, but it was nice to think she could at least have one.

She spun her phone round in a circle on the table and waited for his return.

He came over with the drinks and smiled broadly.

"So, you gonna tell me why you're searching for an ear to chew?" He asked taking a swig of his beer.

She sipped her own drink and sighed. "It's really nothing major. Just my Dad - we fight a lot."

"Your parents separated then?" He asked to a look of confusion.

"Well - my Mom didn't exactly stay married to my Dad when she got together with my Mom..." she replied bluntly, slightly confused that he could forget such a detail. Liam laughed at himself with a shrug.

"Right - blonde moment." He laughed. "That must be kind of strange for Callie then, coming into a family with two Moms." He spotted her eyebrows twitch and quickly refined his comment. "I mean, from a foster kid perspective. You go from so many families - must be weird going into one with such a different setup."

"I guess - I don't think too much about it. I mean, it's the way I've grown up so..."

"But you guys must talk right, about previous homes? They must come with lots of experiences."

Kasey twisted her bottle around in her fingers trying to think. She realised that Callie very rarely said anything about their past homes - not even about her birth parents.

"Not really, I think with foster kids it's not so much about the past...more about the future. The present even. In my experience they don't tend to look back."

"That's good." He smiled as her face twitched again. "I mean, that they don't worry about past difficulties. That they keep moving forward." He put his bottle to his lips to avoid digging any deeper. Kasey's senses were beginning to tingle. Something didn't feel right about this. She realised that this was the first time she'd really properly spoken with this boy, but it still seemed more awkward than before.

"So do your parents foster or something? You seem pretty...interested in it." She probed, channeling her Mom's techniques.

Liam laughed out an awkward smile in order to gain some time. He had to play this cool - the latest encounter with Callie had clearly unsettled him and he'd reacted by coming on too strong.

"No, no we don't. I just, it's something I've always wanted to do one day maybe. Foster kids of my own. Give them a chance, you know?" He nodded convincingly, tiding Kasey over for a little while longer.

"Well, it's a pretty rewarding thing to do. Challenging of course. I mean, it's a big responsibility."

"I bet, I mean - they must come with all sorts of baggage. I bet Callie has some stories!"

Kasey leaned back in her chair. There she was again. Callie.

"Not that she tells us, I mean - as I said. They don't tend to live in the past. Do you know Callie, by any chance?" She asked, folding her arms. Liam began to panic. Too strong! He needed to think fast.

"No, of course not. It's just you talk about her so much I just figured you like talking about her. Guess it's my stunted conversation skills again!" He tried to laugh it off, hiding once again behind his beer.

Kasey nodded tentatively. She wasn't aware she spoke about Callie that much. She would try for a subject change and saw his wallet sat neatly on the tray.

"So - you have an ID? What's your picture like?" She picked it up before he could grab it.

"Wow." She gawped looking. Thinking fast he took it back off her.

"Not bad for a fake, huh?" He whispered taking it out to quell her suspicion that he had taken it off her. Trying to stop his hand visibly shaking, he showed it over to her. "It's my brother's...sometimes looking like each other has its advantages."

Kasey looked at it carefully. The name read "Liam Olmstead" and he was right, the resemblance was uncanny.

"So your brother's 21. How old does that make you?" She asked, still unsure of why this was making her so nervous.

"19." he said firmly. "He is away at college. How many siblings do you have then?"

Back with the siblings.

"A twin brother, two adopted siblings and my two fosters." Kasey replied bluntly, gulping down more of her beer. She was deciding she wanted to end this sooner rather than later but didn't want to be rude. She was getting a strange feeling but he hadn't actually done anything wrong. "What about you?" If there was one thing she had learnt from her Moms it was ask lots of questions and look for inconsistencies.

"Just the one." Liam smiled, picking at the label of his beer.

Kasey thought back to his excuse earlier in the week. She cocked her head to one side.

"I thought you had a little sister?"

Liam's head snapped up. She had caught him completely off guard. Before he had a chance to answer a voice saved him from thinking of an excuse.

"Hey Liam!" A guy yelled in, approaching.

"I thought Liam was your brother?" Kasey asked growing increasingly suspicious.

"Gotta keep up appearances." He whispered standing up to greet the men before they could get any closer. "Guys...I'm kinda busy here..." Kasey heard him begin as he took them aside. She couldn't take her eyes off his wallet that he had left on the table in his haste. Peering over to make sure he was distracted she slid it discretely towards her and opened it again. She looked past his ID at his other cards. Credit, debit - Mr L.D Olmstead. This wasn't just borrowing an ID, this was having a whole other persona. She put it back down quickly, seeing him shift. She had to get out of there.

Gathering her things together she stood up to go.

"You know, Liam, this has been nice but I really have to go." She didn't quite know what else to say. She wanted to warn him off but it was becoming clearer that had no clue who this guy was and didn't want to risk anything.

"What? Already? Let me drive you home, at least..." He grabbed his wallet and downed the rest of his beer.

"Sorry dude, we didn't mean to cockblock." The friend jeered causing a mild disturbance and alerting the surrounding tables.

"Cockblock - no, I mean...Kasey, it's not like that." She looked between the guys. She just wanted to get moving as fast as possible.

"Really, it's fine I just remembered I was supposed to be home by now. My brother, he's picking me up."

"Why suddenly going?" Liam began to get agitated. He wasn't good at dealing with sudden rejection. Was she onto him? He scurried after her, conversation around the bar starting to turn their way.

"Just let me go please." Kasey demanded, growing increasingly frustrated and even slightly scared at what she had got herself into. She had been so stupid! She didn't even know why she had got into this mess in the first place.

Liam lurched forward as she turned and he tried to grab her wrist. Instinctively she spun, grabbed the closest drink she could find and threw it in his face. He immediately let go of her and grasped at his soaking face. "Bitch!" He exclaimed in shock as Kasey turned down to look at the table of confused looking customers. Whistles and yelling reverberated.

"I am so sorry - I just..." She gasped at the young man whose drink she'd thrown. His hair was golden and curly and he had a look of kindness in his eyes.

"It's OK - he can replace it." He said standing up in front of a still stunned Liam.

"I don't understand! What happened?!" He yelled, ignoring the comment, as Kasey began to back towards the door and run out. Liam lunged forward but the man stepped in his way. "Dude, let it go." He said firmly, fire in his eyes along with a gathering group of other patrons.

"Think you better head out of here, Liam." One of the friends who had distracted him suggested. He turned to look at the barman who stared him down, indicating he agreed.

Liam wiped his face with his sleeve and chucked a five dollar bill out of his wallet and onto the guy's table.

He shook off his shoulders and walked out as some of the more drunk members cheered.

"Not bad, Ev. Think you scared him off." The young man's companion patted him on the back as the bar patrons returned to their evening.

Next Chapter Preview: Callie divulges her secret to Stef and Lena

"One night, we were alone in the house. Well, Jude was sleeping. Liam had had some of his Dad's beer. He came into my room and well, one thing led to another. Next thing I know we were on the bed, kissing. I mean, it was fine, that – well that happened a lot. I let him do that, I was used to that, you know."

Stef bit down on her lip. That was not fine. She should not have to let him do anything. She sat on her hands. She was determined to let Callie finish in her own words but she so desperately wanted her to not have to say what she knew was coming. Lena crossed her arms; her own method of defence. The pauses between Callie's statements seemed to go on forever, mounting and mounting.