Stef left the room and heard some sniffling coming from the boys room. When she walked in, she saw Jude sitting on his bed, silently crying. He looked sad and worried.
"Hey Bub, how are you holding up?" Stef asked the boy.
He nodded his head but didn't look up.
"Callie and momma are sleeping, you want to watch a movie with me?" Stef tried to get a response from him.
Jude just shook his head no.
At this point Stef started to get worried. He wasn't talking. She sat down on the bed next to him and lifted his face so she could see his eyes. "Bub, what's wrong, are you ok?"
Jude looked up and Stef saw the tears pouring down his face. "Oh honey, what's wrong?"
"Is Callie going to be ok? We can't let this happen again. We just can't! I can't lose her!" Jude was sobbing by this point.
"Oh Jude, honey, she's going to be fine. She just tired right now. You'll see that in few days it'll be like if nothing happened." Stef hugged him and started to rock side to side trying to comfort him. "On Monday we take her back to the doctor and if she's doing ok She might even go to school afterwards."
"Really?"
"Yeah." Stef said. She pulled back and held her youngest sons face in her hands. "And if she doesn't, I can assure you that me and momma are not going to leave her alone. We are going to take really good care of her so that she can get better and go back to school as soon as possible."
Jude nodded his head and hugged Stef.
"Hey buddy what's up?" Jesus said as he made his way into their room.
"Jude here is worried about Callie." Their mother said.
"Aw don't worry buddy she's going to be fine. How about me and you play some games for a while?" Jesus said while he sat on Jude's other side.
"You and me!" Stef corrected.
While Jesus rolled his eyes. Jude stiffled a laugh and nodded his head. Stef left the boys room so they could just play and distract themselves. She went and peeked in Brandon's room and saw him practicing the piano with his headphones on. The house could probably fall apart around him and he wouldn't know, so she left him to his music and made her way downstairs. She heard the TV on and walked towards the living room. There she saw Mariana, channel surfing.
"What's up Miss Thing? Bored?" Stef asked.
"Yeah. Just checking to see if there's anything good to watch." Mariana said without taking her eyes off the TV.
"Ok well I'm going to the garage to get a workout in. Momma and Callie are sleeping. Cal didn't get much rest at the hospital and neither did momma. So try not to wake them. Ok?" Stef wanted to make sure they rested. She knew Callie needed it. And Lena was exhausted. befire she keft she saw Jesus and Jude coming down the stairs.
"Yeah sure." Mariana said to her moms retreating form.
Lena had just dozed off with Callie in her arms, when she heard a knock on her door. She looked at Callie and saw that she didn't even stir. "Come in." Lena said quietly. She hoped they heard her. She didn't want to risk waking Callie up.
Jesus opened the door and without a thought started talking loudly. "Momma! Mariana is hogging the TV! I want to play some videos games with Jude, but she won't let us! She's being so..." He rambled on without even looking at his mother.
Lena cut him off. "SSHHHH!" Jesus froze. She then felt Callie begin to stir. She looked at Callie and saw her move over to her other side. She curled up, put her finger on the bridge of her nose and settled down once again. Lena took the opportunity and got up from the bed. She then ushered her son out of the room.
"Jesus! What was that? How can you just barge in there like that? Your sister has been through a rough two days and needs her rest." Lena was livid.
Jesus saw the look in his mother's eyes and knew that she was more disappointed than mad. "Momma! I'm so sorry! I didn't know Callie was in there with you! I thought she was in her room." He felt awful for talking so loudly. He knew Callie wasn't feeling good.
When Lena saw his expression she felt terrible for chastising him. He looked really sorry. "Oh honey. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted like that." She pulled him into a hug. "It's just that she just fell asleep and She really needs to rest. She has a fever again and just had a very emotional time after the doctor left."
"I'm sorry momma! I really thought she was in her room. If not I would have been quiet." Jesus apologized again.
"It's ok. Now tell me what's this about Mariana and the TV?" Lena asked to he new she wasn't mad anymore.
"She's just sitting there on the couch flipping through channels. Not even watching anything. Me and Jude want to play video games." He said.
She put her arm around his shoulders and started to walk downstairs. "Well let's go see what you're sister is up to then."
When they got to the living room, just like Jesus said, she was just flipping through channels. "Hey Miss Thing. What are you up to?"
Mariana looked at her twin. "Really? You went and woke up momma? Even after mom said she was resting? That's just low Jesus…" Mariana said not answering her mother's question.
Lena looked at her youngest daughter. "Mariana, don't start. Just because mom told you I was resting doesn't mean that he can't come talk to me."
"Yeah but you were resting with Callie!" Mariana tried to clarify. "Mom said not to bother you guys. That Callie wasn't feeling well and that you were both tired from staying up all night at the hospital."
"Hey you didn't tell me that part!" Jesus exclaimed softly.
"I didn't?" she asked. "Sorry I thought I did."
"Mariana, are you watching anything on the TV?" Lena asked trying to get back on topic.
"I'm looking for something to watch." Mariana resumed flipping through channels.
"You've been sitting there since lunch. Let others use the TV!" Jesus said angrily.
"Jesus, please calm down. Your sister is sleeping." Lena said in a stern voice.
"Sorry momma." Jesus dropped his head.
"Ok guys, listen up. Mariana I want you to go clean yours and Callie's room. Jesus you get the tv for two hours. That's it." Lena said in her no nonsense tone.
"But no. Why do I have to clean the room by myself? It's not just my room." Mariana protested.
"So what you're saying is that you want me to wake up you ill sister so she can help you clean the room that she normally cleans by herself?" Lena raised her eyebrows , waiting to see what her youngest daughter would say.
Mariana eyes were wide "W...what are you t...talking about?" She stuttered. She didn't think that they new Callie was the one that did the actual cleaning in there room. Mariana just kept her stuff organized.
"Do you really think me and mom don't know?" Lena said. Then she pointed up the stairs. "GO! NOW!"
Mariana hung her head embarrassed and went upstairs to her room to clean.
Lean watched her. When she was out of sight she turned to Jesus. "Now, where's mom?"
"She's in the garage working out." Jesus answered his mother.
Lena sighed. She knew what was going on. Stef was worried, overwhelmed and feeling guilty about what happened to Callie.
Jesus went up stairs to get Jude so they could play and Lena went to check on Callie. When she slowly opened the door to her bedroom. She saw her daughter still asleep. When she touched Callie's forehead she was happy to see that this was the coolest she's felt her since last night. She felt tired, she wanted nothing more than to just lay down next to her daughter and sleep, but she needed to go check on Stef. She knew that Stef needed a little alone time so she was going to shower first then go looking for her to give her time to calm down.
Stef was in the garage jumping rope, she had been here for a little while now just exercising. She needed to clear her head. She couldn't get the look on Callie's face while she was gasping for air out of her mind. And now she was sick. She looked so tired and pale.
She switched to weights and started to adjust the weights on the bench when Lena walked in.
Hey babe.
"Weren't you sleeping with Callie?" Stef asked confused.
Lena just shrugged. "What are you doing?"
"Just some exercise. I haven't really worked out lately…" Stef shrugged.
"Didn't you and Callie go running just the day before yesterday?" Lena knew there was more to it.
"Yeah but you know… that's not really exercise. That's just me with Callie." And we won't be doing that any more either… she thought to herself.
"Jesus barged into our room, while I was sleeping Callie, to complain about Mariana hogging the TV." Lena said cautiously. She was trying to gouge Stef's reaction.
"That he what?!" Stef yelled. "I told Mariana to make sure you two were not bothered. That Callie was sick and you were sleeping with her." What is wrong with these kids? Stef thought to herself. She started to walk towards the door.
"Honey where are you going? Calm down!" Lena blocked Stef's path.
"To talk to the twins. I will not calm down. Did they wake her up?" Stef was beyond mad.
"No she didn't wake up. She's still sleeping. It's ok, I dealt with it. Besides Mariana didn't tell Jesus that we were both in our room. He thought Callie was in her room." Lena explained.
"So she's ok?" Stef asked with worry in her eyes.
"Yes, she's ok. I told Mariana to go clean her room." Lena said with a smile.
At that Stef laughed. It was no secret that Callie was the one that cleaned their room. Mariana kept her stuff put away and organized but Callie did the actual cleaning. "That must have been fun… What did she say?"
"Asked if she was supposed to clean it all alone. I told her that if Callie could, so could she. She tried to act all innocent and stuff. Like she didn't know what I was talking about. I told her it was no secret and that we have always known that Callie was the one cleaning." Lena said.
"Hahaha and then what?" Stef was still laughing.
"She huffed and went up stairs." This made Lena's smile bigger.
"Good. I'm going to check on Callie." Stef tried to make her way to the door again, but Lena held her arm stopping her.
"Babe I just checked on her before I came out here. She's fine. Still asleep. And her fever is starting to go down. She felt cooler and looked peaceful." Lena told her wife.
"Great thank God. I was worried. Leslie said that she wouldn't have released Callie from the hospital. And that the reaction was worst than what we think." Stef started to pace.
"What do you mean?" Lena asked.
"She said that her symptoms were supposed to have gone away by now. She should just be tired. But she still has swelling on her face and throat. And then there's the fever and infection. She wants to see Callie first thing Monday morning." Stef rubbed her face with her hands trying to calm herself down.
"Ok. Then we'll take her. Just like we told her we would." Lena said as she took Stef's hand and started to walk towards the house. As they got closer they could hear the TV volume and Jesus and Jude talking loudly. The mom's looked at eachother and hurried to the living room and turned off the TV.
"What? Hey!" Jesus and Jude said at the same time.
"What's with all the noise?" Stef asked in a low voice.
Lena looked at Jesus. "Did me and you not just talk about being loud? Your sister is sick." Lena looked at Jude. "Do you want her to wake up?"
Jude shook his head no. "I'm so sorry moms. We weren't thinking. We just got caught up in the game."
"Yes I can see that. I hope your sister is still sleeping because if she's awake you two are grounded, no videos games for a week!" Stef said.
"What?" Jesus exclaimed. While Jude just nodded his head.
Jesus looked at his moms. "That's not fair mom!"
"Oh you think it's not fair? Lena he thinks it's not fair. Ok let's do something, next time you're sick, I'm going to turn up the tv as high as it will go until you wake up. And not care whether you're sleepy or tired or anything." Stef said while looking at her son. Stef didn't understand why they just couldn't be quiet.
"We are going to go check on Callie. Don't move and be quiet!" The mom's made there way up stairs. Before going into their room they stopped to check on Mariana. She was still cleaning the bedroom.
"How's it going in here Miss Thing?" Lena asked her youngest daughter.
"Almost done. All I have to do is vacuum the floor." Mariana said.
"Not now Callie is sleeping." Stef told her.
As if on cue they could here the boys yelling and laughing down stairs. "I thought I told them to keep it quiet."
"Well when I was watching TV they were quiet." Mariana said with a bit of sarcasm.
"Not now. You weren't even watching TV. You were channel surfing." Lena said. They should be able to use the TV.
"I'm going to check on Callie. Hopefully they didn't wake her up." Stef said. She wanted to make sure that the girl was still asleep and that she was in fact ok.
Lena followed her wife to their room and when they opened their door and peeked in they found their bed empty. Stef sighed and Lena closed her eyes and shook her head.
"I'll check the bathroom in here." Lena said.
"I'll check the kids bathroom and the boys rooms." Stef said.
They split up and went looking for there daughter.
After checking the house they started to panic.
"Stef I can't find her!" Lena was starting to get panicked.
"Me neither. Where could she have gone?" Stef was worried.
"I don't know. She wouldn't go outside would she? Even after I told her not to?" Lena saked.
"I don't know. With her anything is possible." Stef was actually thinking that she might be. "Let's check out back."
"But we just came from out back." Lena reasoned. she wanted to check places that she new they hadn't checked yet.
"Let's check anyways. And the front porch too." Stef reasoned and Lena agreed.
After checking the backyard and finding empty, they made their way to the front of the house and found Callie sitting on the swing with a blanket around her shoulders and one of the epipens in her hand.
"Callie what do you think you're doing?!" Stef demanded.
Callie looked up with wide eyes. "I… uh… um… I just… I just need some air." Callie stuttered.
"Stef…" Lena put her hand on her wife's arm.
"No Lena, she left the house!" Stef was furious.
"I have my Epipen mom. I didn't leave the house without it." Callie held up the Epipen to prove that she had brought it with her.
"That's not the point. You went outside after we told you not to. Why would you disobey us like that?" Stef was still yelling.
"But mom…" Callie was trying to hold back the tears. She hated disappointing her moms.
"Don't but mom me!" Callie's gaze was on her lap at this point.
"Stef calm down she's fine" Lena sat next to Callie on the swing and put her arm around the teen.
"Look at me when I talk to you!" Stef ordered.
Callie didn't dare look at her moms eyes. She new she was disappointed in her but she really needed to get some air. And the boys were being so loud that they woke her up. When she came down to see what was going on, she saw Jude was having so much fun. And he was laughing and smiling his big real smile. She couldn't bring herself to ask them to be quiet. "Mom I'm sorry. I didn't think it would be such a big deal. I'm just on the porch. The hive is in the back yard. I needed some air. I feel like I've been cooped up inside for days."
"Bug you're supposed to be sleeping. Resting." Lena said calmly. "You're still not well. We were worried when we went to check on you and we found the bedroom empty."
"Lena stop sugar coating it." Stef then looked at Callie. "What were you thinking? Huh? Why even get out of bed after we put you down?"
"Mom… look I just wanted some air. Really… I felt like I was suffocating!" Callie was starting to get agitated and her anxiety was starting to rise. Not a good combination.
"Suffocating? What part of your sick do you not understand?" Stef was still mad. She couldn't understand what was going through her daughter's head at that moment.
"Stef!..." Lena could see the change happening in Callie's eyes. She felt as her back and shoulders tensed. And felt a slight tremble in her body.
"No Lena she has to understand that what she did is wrong! And we will not tolerate it." She looked back at Callie. "So tell me, what were you thinking? What could have caused you to disobey us and the doctor."
"Nothing caused it!" Callie yelled. Her face was red and she was starting to tremble harder. "I just needed some air, jeez! Can't you just leave me alone? I can take care of myself!"
"Yeah and where did that land you? The hospital! I can see how well you take care of yourself." Stef said.
"That wasn't my fault. I didn't know I was allergic to bees! But trust me that next time I won't bother you with it!" Callie yelled back.
Stef was about to reply when Lena put her hand on her arm. "Callie honey you can't do that. Look I know you're upset and that you're tired of being inside. But you have to let us know if or when this happens again. This is a very big deal. You could die."
"Let you know? For what so she can yell at me again! No thank you, I'll take care of it. It wouldn't be the first time I had to take care of myself while sick!" Callie said with venom in her voice.
"Callie that is not what I'm talking about and you know it! And watch your tone and attitude." Stef said forcefully.
"No don't worry, I'll make sure to not worry or inconvenience you again." She stood up and started to walk in side.
When she was gone, Lena turned to her wife with anger and disappointment in her eyes. "Stef! What was that!"
"What, so this is my fault now? She needs an attitude adjustment." Stef defended herself.
"And did it occur to you that maybe it's the fever talking or did you not notice how red her face was and the sweat on her forehead?" Lena asked.
At this revelation Stef eyes got wide! "What are you talking about?"
"She's sick Stef! And deathly allergic to bees and to god knows what! And you just convinced her to not let us know when she isn't feeling well!" Lena was livid.
Stef opened and closed her mouth not knowing what to say!
"Yeah that's what I thought! I'm going to go check on OUR daughter and see if she's ok." Lena stomped back inside to check on Callie while Stef sat on the swing and put her head in her hands.