O.M.G. I just realized it's late Sunday night. I thought it was Saturday and I was like "Damn! I said I would upload this chapter before Monday's episode!"

I completely forgot about it until now.

But this is the last chapter, and it might be longer than all of the rest were. Just because I still have a lot to go over :)

Anyways, back to the story:

The moms are driving back home in their car, right after leaving Donald's apartment. Stef is driving and Lena is the passenger seat, gazing out of the window. She's silently going over the conversation they all had, back at his apartment.

"What do you wanna do, Lena?" Stef asked her. She was honestly confused about the entire situation. She wanted to hate their father. She wanted to show up to his house, and see right through his lies. She wanted him to show what a complete psycho he was, to threaten them like he had already done, to threaten to take his kids away from them, to cause a scene.

Anything than what just happened.

She hated believing his words. She hated him for being so sincere and apologetic. But on the other hand, she wasn't going to give Callie and Jude up without a fight. She already loved those kids so much and wasn't willing to just let them go back to their father.

"I don't know, honey. I'm just so confused. I don't know how to feel...Do you believe him?"

"Do you?" Stef asked, silently hoping that her wife would be nip it in the bud and disapprove of the man they just met.

"I…think I do. But that doesn't make this any easier for me, Stef. It's like, suddenly I'm so mad at myself for falling in love with those kids. I really thought they'd stay with us, that we'd adopt them. And now…"

"Hey! Don't talk like that. We're still going to adopt them," Stef stood in front of her wife and placed her palms on Lena's shoulders.

Lena looked up at her wife, trying to find that same strength in herself, but knowing she didn't own it. "That's their father, Stef. And he really wants them back. Everything he's done, since he's gotten out of prison, was for them. You heard him. He's gotten sober, a decent job, a huge apartment. He's already gotten one of his kids back."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Callie and Jude haven't even seen him yet. They might not even want to go with him and—"

"What if they do though? What are we supposed to do?"

"Then we deal with it. Lena, you are the one who wanted to meet him. Remember?" Stef asked accusingly. She didn't want to direct her anger at her wife. She knew her wife was right about meeting him. If they didn't do it, Callie and Jude were going to see him, with or without their consent. But she didn't like the predicament that she and her wife were in now.

"That was before all of this happened. Before we understood what was really going on. This changes everything."

"So, what are you saying? We should just go home and tell Callie and Jude, "Hey it's perfectly okay if you go see your father," when we know what can happen if we do? I'm not comfortable with that."

"It's not up to us anymore. It's up to them," Lena finished.

The next day

Callie had just finished helping Jude with his homework, and Stef and Lena were in their bedroom, getting ready to take the two siblings to their Dad's apartment.

"Callie?" Jude asked, while he was shoving his math notebook back into his backpack.

"Yeah, bud?"

"What if we're not what he expected? What if he sees us and changes his mind?" Jude asked in a low voice that was depicting fear.

"He won't," Callie tried to assure him, but honestly she's wasn't too sure of that either. She's always considering the absolute worse possibility in every situation, and Jude learned that from her. But this time, for the first time, she regretted teaching him that.

"But what if he does? What if he asks us to leave? What if he thinks meeting us was a huge mistake?"

Callie thinks for a moment, pondering that exact same scenario, "Then, he does. He'll be making the second biggest mistake of his life, and we'll go on. We'll be okay. We still have Stef, Lena, Mariana, Brandon, and even Jesus. Right?" She smiles at him, letting him know that they'd get through this.

Jude smiles back at her, as he thinks about all of the people that love him now. He knew that whatever happened today, they'd still get through it. He and Callie weren't alone anymore.

As Callie, Jude and the moms walk toward Donald's apartment, Jude quickly whipped around to face the moms, "Are you sure this suit looks okay?" he asked them, as he adjusted his tie of his baby blue suit.

Callie thought he was trying to hard to impress him, but she didn't say anything about it. She looked down at her plain gray hoodie and jeans, and suddenly wished she'd borrowed some of Mariana's dresses. But she changed her mind, realizing how ridiculous the idea was. Her dad should accept them as is, not for what they think he wants them to be.

The moms both smiled at him, even though they knew that his nerves were getting them best of him. "You look very handsome," Lena offered.

Jude smiled back at them and grabbed Callie's hand. The siblings led the moms toward the door. "Are you ready?" Callie asked Jude.

"Are you?" Jude looked skeptical.

"Why not?" Callie asked as she knocked on the door firmly, so that Donald could hear, but not so hard that she would startle her brother. That would only add to his nerves.

Quickly after she'd knocked, Donald opened the door all the way. For a long moment, he just stared at his two kids in awe, not saying a word. Callie looked at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking, but having no such luck. Jude looked at Donald and then back at Callie. He was waiting for her reaction. He didn't want to say or do the wrong thing.

He'd wait for his sister to react first.

Callie broke the silence, "Are you going to let us in or just stare at us all day?"

She knew that she was being rude, but Jude's was tightening his grip around her hand, something he only did when he was afraid of what's to come. Her brother was scared now, and she didn't like it.

When Donald finally came out of his daze, he stepped backward so that he could let them all through, "…Yes, please come in." All four cautiously walk inside, Jude refusing to lessen his grip on Callie. Donald's eyes start to fill with tears, "You both are so beautiful. Callie, you look just like your mother." He smiles and tears fall from his eyes and make their way down to the sides of his mouth.

Callie stood there, staring back at him with her vision being blurred by the sudden tears that started to form in her eyes. She was speechless.

I was the one that wanted to see him! She cursed herself.

One part of her wanted to have no emotions at all. She wanted to show up here, meet him, listen to whatever he had to say, and go back home with the Fosters: completely unscathed.

The other part, the one that she was giving into, was so glad that she was finally standing in front of her father.

She wanted him to heal every mental wound that she and her brother had to endure after he left, after he took their mother from him.

She wanted him to apologize, not in a letter, but to her face.

She wanted him to promise to never leave her and Jude alone ever again.

She wanted to believe he had, in fact, changed.

She did something she thought she'd never do again. She threw herself into his arms and allowed him to comfort her as she wept. He put his arms over his two children and hugged them tightly, afraid of being taken from them again. He kissed Callie on her forehead and then he kissed Jude on top of his head. Jude placed his arms around his father, suddenly realizing that it was ok to let his guard down.

Callie had, so it must be ok, he thought.

"Kids, I'm so sorry," were the only words he could mouth, because he couldn't stop from crying. All this time, he had been trying to write letter after letter, trying to find the right words to console his two children, and he realized something.

He realized the reason why he couldn't send out any of the 235 letters, that he had written them.

Words written on a piece of paper meant nothing, compared to this moment right now, that he was having with his children. The moment that they all desperately needed, since the second they lost both of their parents, ten years ago.

Stef and Lena exchanged looks. Sudden worry appeared on both of their faces, but also sadness. They had been moved by what they were seeing, but it still didn't make them feel any better.

They felt like they were playing a game of tug-of-war with their father.

They could feel the rope being pulled farther and farther away from them.

They could feel the burning sensation on their hands as the friction between the rope and their palms moved quickly.

Their father was pulling it harder and harder, until the two were barely holding on to the very end.

The aftermath would be the same though.

The losers would have to shake hands with opposing team and fake a smile.

Chris and Donald had prepared dinner for all six of them. After everyone had eaten, Donald asked to speak with his two children alone, leaving Chris to tend to the moms.

Callie, Jude, and their dad all walked outside onto the porch to talk. Callie and Jude sat closely on the small bench, and their dad stood leaning against the rail.

Donald spoke first, "You all have no idea how glad I am that you both came. You didn't have to."

"You're right. We didn't," Callie said in a firm voice, but then regretted it after seeing his hurt face. "But it was something we both needed to do."

"I understand. And I'm glad you came. No matter the reason."

"It wasn't right," she says, and her comment catches both Jude and their father off guard.

"What wasn't right?" he asks.

"What you did to our moms—foster moms, I mean. What you did to our—their entire family."

"I know it wasn't. I regret it from the bottom of my heart I do. I never meant to scare anyone, to scare your foster moms, your foster siblings, you, or Jude."

"Yes you did," Jude corrected him.

"You're right I did. But I only wanted to scare them into giving you two up. I wanted you back, which was so selfish of me. I see that now. But I do regret it. I didn't realize that I was hurting you by my decisions, and neither did Chris. I wanted you both safe and with me. And by doing what I did, I caused a lot of grief to you both. But I can't change what I've done, even though I wish I could. I'd take it back in a heartbeat. All of it: the drinking, the accident, the time I spend away from you because of those two things, the notes, the stalking. Everything."

"Did you apologize to Stef and Lena?" Jude asked with curiosity.

"Yes, I have actually. And I owe them 1000 more apologies, especially now that they've brought you both back to me. I want both of you here with me, forever. I want to be able to make it up to you, and I'll apologize all day, every single day, if I have to. I miss you two so much."

"We missed you to," Callie admits. Donald gives her a warm smile.

"Does that mean you're going to come home? Finally?"

The car ride back to the house was silent. Stef and Lena attempted to make small talk, asking about what the kids thought about their father.

"He said he was sorry," Jude answered them.

"That's good," Stef replied with a smile on her face.

"He asked us to go live with him. And Chris, too," Jude includes.

The smile quickly leaves Stef's face, but she doesn't turn around at all. Lena grips her wife's leg hard, as she waits for him to continue. He doesn't, which just adds to our discomfort.

"Really?" Stef asked, in an attempt to encourage the boy to continue. She was trying to hide her emotions, but her heart was throbbing in her chest so fast, that she'd thought someone could see it if they looked close enough.

"Yeah," Jude shrugged.

Stef looked in her review mirror at the two kids, "And. Um…what'd you two say?"

"We said we'd think about it."

As soon as those words escaped Jude's mouth, Stef hit the brake a little to hard, causing the car to shift back and forth.

Callie and Jude exchanged looks.

"Sorry," Stef offered. "That squirrel came out of nowhere. Did you guys see that?" she lies.

"Yeah, I saw it," Lena catches on. Callie and Jude glance at each other and nod.

Both knew very well, that there was no squirrel.

Everyone arrives home. Stef and Lena go into their bedroom and Callie and Jude go outside to the patio.

In Stef and Lena's Bedroom

As soon as Stef closes their bedroom door, she goes off, "This is what I didn't want to happen. He wasn't supposed to do this, Lena. How could he do this? We told him that the only way he could see them is if he didn't spring this on them." She started pacing the room, "What are we supposed to do? What do we tell them?"

Lena sat still on their bed with her arms crossed, "I don't know. I'm just as angry about this as you are. I don't want them to leave. We just got Callie back, and Jude has made so much progress this year. He's opening up to us and doing better in school. And he needs Callie with him."

"I know that, Lena. You know that she's going to go wherever he goes. She's not going to leave her brother, if she can help it. She's going to let him make the decision," Stef responds as she shakes her head.

"I want them to stay," Lena says as she allows a thousand tears to flow from her eyes down to her neck. She closes her eyes, in an attempt to pretend that this isn't really happening.

Stef kneels down on the floor next to the foot of the bed, where Lena's sitting. "I know babe. Please don't cry we're going to get through this. We have to."

Lena falls forward into Stef's embrace and allows the rest of her tears to fall down, onto the back of Stef's shirt.

Outside in the patio

"What are you thinking?" Callie asked, as she stared at Jude, who was staring down at the floor.

"Of Stef and Lena. Of Mariana and Jesus. Of dad and Chris."

"Yeah? So, what do you think about them?" she asks, as she takes a seat on the stairs next to her brother.

"I really like Chris. And I miss dad, even though he did a lot of bad things. I just…"

"Love him?"

"Yeah. I didn't want to," he tries to reason with me.

"I know, bud."

"Why couldn't he have come back before? Before we came here? Before we met the Fosters? Or the Olmsteads? Or the Wilsons? Why couldn't he come back before all the bad stuff?" Jude looks up at his sister.

"He was in jail," she reminded him.

"I know. But…he should have said something. He should have called us, so that we knew he cared. If we knew, then—"

"We wouldn't have gotten attached to these people," Callie finishes for him.

"Yeah. It just makes it so much harder, you know?"

"Do you want to go live with him?" she finally asks.

"Yeah," Jude admits. "But I love it here too."

"Me too," Callie says, as she brings him in closer for a hug.

A couple days later

Callie and Jude invite their dad and Chris over for dinner, to discuss their decision. The dinner was relatively quiet and awkward. The rest of the kids were out and dinner is now over.

"Alright," Callie starts. "There's no easy way to do this, so we might as well get this over with."

Stef sits up from her chair.

Lena puts the glass she was about to drink from, back onto the table.

Donald clears his throat.

And Chris leans in to listen better.

"Jude and I have thought a lot about this, over the past few days, and have come to a decision, that we both feel somewhat comfortable with."

Everyone is looking at the two kids, and they're all afraid to even blink they're eyes in anticipation that they'd miss something.

"We didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but we know that is inevitable." Callie turns to look at her father, "Dad, we love you, and we want to move in with you…but we also love it here, and we don't want to leave. We care about these people, and they care about us. What I'm trying to get at is, we think we need to stay here."

Stef and Lena grab hold of each other's hands from underneath the table, and do their best to refrain from smiling. They were so glad that Callie and Jude chose to stay with them, but they knew that the Jacob men were hurting.

Donald nodded, "I understand. I just want you two to be happy, and if you need to stay here to make that happen, then you should stay," he finishes.

Callie and Jude smile at him. Jude talks, "But we still want you in our lives. You know, if you still want to be?"

"Of course, I want to be. It's all I ever really wanted."

The End.

Yayyyyyy! I'm so excited that I've actually completed one of my stories.

I never finish anything, so that's pretty awesome :)

But I can't take all the credit, because your reviews actually reminded me, that I couldn't NOT finish it, because I would have left all of you guys hanging.

I didn't want to do that, even though I was getting super lazy after the first 15 chapters, but you guys pulled me through, lol.

So thank you, to all of you who've actually bothered to read 35 freakin' chapters. Idk how you did it, but you did. And thanks to all who followed and favorited this story.

You all are awesome!

XOXO

Boredouttamymind21 (I need a new pen-name, lol)