Thanks to FreakyGreenEyes123 for the suggestion for this!
This is about Mariana trying to sneak out to see Zac, but Stef catches her.
Yeah I know but you'll be great! -Mariana
Mariana smiled as her text to Zac sent. She was so excited to finally have a boyfriend.
"Hey. You're on dishes, remember." Callie said as she poked her head into the room. Mariana smiled and nodded her head. She had finally gotten used to having a sister and now that Callie was here, she couldn't imagine her life without her.
"Ok. I'll be right there." She replied turning her attention back to her phone.
"Is that Zac?" Callie asked, walking further into the room and sitting on her own bed. It had been a long time since Callie was able to just sit and chat about normal teenage girl things, like boys.
Mariana blushed and smiled. "Yeah"
"So you two are like a thing now, right?" The older girl asked and the younger one stood up.
"Yeah. I guess." She answered before slipping her phone into her pocket. "I'm gonna do the dishes before someone narks" She said squinting her eyes at her older sister.
"Woah! Don't look at me! I'm the one that came in here to remind you, remember?" She said with a fake hurt look. "I would never rat out my own sister!"
Mariana smiled at Callie's comment. She knew it was difficult for the older teen to refer to her and her family as her own family and hearing her being called her sister made Mariana giddy with happiness.
"Yeah. Us girls gotta stick together around here." She replied as her phone buzzed in her pocket. She smiled once more and took the phone out of her pocket before starting towards the stairs.
"I said no, Jesus. Not please drop it." Lena said in a stern voice.
"But mom I won't be out late I promise!"
"Hey! Didn't mama say to drop it?" Stef interjected as she flipped through some files from work.
"But..." Jesus began before he got a look from both of his mothers. "This blows" he muttered under his breath before turning to leave the room.
"Hey. You wanna be grounded?" Stef asked. All of the kids knew she hated mumbling.
"No." The boy said, handing his head.
"Didn't think so." She responded.
"Sorry, mama" He said quickly before darting up the stairs.
Lena exhaled deeply and looked over at her wife who was shaking her head. "That kid" She said with a slight chuckle.
"How was your day, love?" Lena asked as she heard another set of footprints on the stairs.
"Oh just great." Stef replied sarcastically, motioning to all of the paperwork she still had left to do. Stef let out a little chuckle and then smiled as she saw her daughter walking into the room, her nose in her phone. "Well look who decided to grace us with her presence." She said with a smirk.
"I was wondering when you were gonna get pestered by your siblings to do the dishes." Lena said with a small smile.
Mariana looked up from her phone and stuck out her tongue at her mothers in a playful manner and set her phone down on the counter next to the sink.
"Oh! She can live without her phone. It's a miracle" Stef said with a dramatic gasp. Mariana rolled her eyes and laughed.
"Oh my gosh mom, chill. Sorry I have a lot of friends." She said with a chuckle as she made her way to the dishes.
"So sorry, Miss Popular" Stef replied.
"Uhhh why are there so many dishes?" Mariana groaned as she looked at the overflowing pile in the sink.
"Well next time you could eat out of your hands if you wanna save a dish." Stef replied with a smirk, earning a look from her wife.
"Mari, no complaining please." Lena said with a small smile.
Mariana sighed and turned the water on before rolling up her sleeves and reaching for the first plate.
Stef turned back to her wife and smiled. "And how was your day?" She asked, trying to continue the conversation from earlier.
"Well I didn't have to give anyone a detention, so I'd say it was a pretty great day." She said wish a smile.
Suddenly, the sound of buzzing filled the room and Mariana looked over at her phone. Ignoring the text, the moms continued their conversation. Mariana, on the other hand, strained her neck towards the phone to see if she could read the text that she was almost certain was from Zac.
Sighing when she couldn't get to her phone, she quickly took her hands out of the water, wiped them off on her pants and grabbed her phone. She flipped her phone open and just as she was about to open the text, the phone slipped out of her hands and fell into the sink. "No!" She yelled as she quickly reached into the sink to pull out the phone.
"What happened?" Lena asked quickly, concern in her voice. She got up and made her way over to her daughter.
"My phone! I accidentally dropped it in the sink!" She said, tears beginning to form.
"Put it in some rice!" Stef said from across the room before getting up and making her way to the pantry. She fumbled around the food until she found the rice and pulled it out.
"Rice?" Mariana looked at Stef like she was crazy.
"Yeah. It will soak up the water from your phone." She answered as her daughter gave her another look. "Just trust me." She said before reaching her hand out. "Let me put it in while you finish the dishes." Mariana groaned before handing her phone off. "You didn't think you were gonna get out of the dishes that easy, did you?" Stef asked with a smirk.
"Yeah. Like I purposely dropped my phone in the sink so I could get out of doing the dishes." Mariana said sarcastically.
"Mooooooom!" Jesus yelled from upstairs, causing all three to stop talking.
"Dishes." Lena said to her daughter, pointing at the sink before turning towards her wife. "You got this? I'm gonna check on your kids." She said planting a quick kiss on her wife's cheek.
"Oh I see. When they're doing something wrong they're my kids." Stef replied.
"Yup." Lena said with a smile before making her way towards the stairs.
"Real nice, hun." Stef called after her as she began to take apart Mariana's phone to put it into the rice. "Ok, Miss Thing. This needs to sit in here for a half hour or so. You think you can handle being without your phone for that long?"
"Gosh mom! You make it sound like all I can do is think about my phone. I'm not that shallow!" She exclaimed with a slight hint of hurt in her voice.
"I'm sorry baby" Stef said as she walked over to her daughter and kissed her on the head. "I'll keep it on the counter and we'll check it in a bit, ok?"
Mariana nodded and wiped her eye where a tear was threatening to fall.
"Mari, baby I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Stef said as she realized she may have teased her daughter too much on the subject.
"It's fine." She said before going back to the dishes.
Stef bit her bottom lip for a second before rolling up her own sleeves and reaching into the sink next to her daughter. "It'll be quicker with both of us." She said with a smile and was relieved when she got a smile back.
20 minutes later, Mariana and Stef were putting the last of the dishes away and Lena was making her way back downstairs.
"We still have 5 kids?" Stef asked as Lena sat down at the table.
"For now." She said with a slight chuckle.
"Why don't you go shower, Miss Thing. And then homework." Stef said as she playfully swatted at her daughter's behind.
"Uhhh mom." She groaned but walked to the stairs.
Stef smiled and turned to her wife. "So. What did my children do wrong?" She emphasized the word 'my'.
"Jesus has informed me that, and I quote, 'It's totally not fair that I have to share a room. I can't do all of the things I need to do.'" She said raising an eyebrow.
"What does he need to..." Stef started to ask before Lena answered with "I don't even want to know."
Both moms laughed slightly and Stef looked around before looking back at her wife. "Do you see that?" She asked.
"What?" Lena asked, clearly not getting what Stef was hinting at.
"I see an empty room." Stef said with a smile.
Lena finally caught on. "Oh I like that." Lena said with a smile as she reached over and looped her fingers through the belt loops of Stef's jeans and pulled her closer. She planted a firm kiss on her wife's lips, though the pleasure was short lived when she heard two sets of footsteps on the stairs.
"Mom!"
Stef groaned. and Lena sighed. "Your kids are here" she said as she kissed her wife once more and pulled away.
"Ok I don't know what is going on with you, but I don't want to hear it." Stef said as she turned to her two youngest sons. "Jesus, did you do your homework?" She asked, looking at him straight in the eyes.
"Well..." He began before she cut him off. "Dining room table. Now." She said as she pointed. "Any you, my little man." She said, slinging her arm around his shoulders. "Did you finish your homework?" She asked, though she was pretty sure she knew the answer.
"Yes." He said.
"Ok, sweetie. Why don't you spend some alone time in your room while Jesus does his homework down here. And then with Mariana is out of the shower you can take one. Then you won't have to take one tomorrow." She said gently.
"Ok." The young boy said and started back up the stairs.
Stef smiled and looked at Lena. "My kids, hu?"
Lena just shook her head and walked to the dining room to see if her son needed any help on homework.
Stef began to gather her paperwork from the table when she spotted the bowl that contained rice and her daughter's phone. She shook her head and walked over to the bowl. She quickly fished out each piece of the phone and began to put the battery back in to see if it would turn on. She really hoped that it would because she knew they couldn't afford to buy her a new phone right now. Stef smiled when she saw the screen light up. She put the phone down so she could put the rice into a bag to be used again if another electronic were to get wet.
Before she was able to put the rice away, she heard the phone buzz several times. Stef wasn't one to snoop, but she glanced over at her daughter's phone and saw that the most recent text was from Zac. She smiled to herself. She and Lena had their suspicions that she and Zac were dating, but they didn't want to push anything. However, when another text lit up the screen, Stef crinkled her forehead as she read the message.
Just sneak out. Tell them you're sick or something. It's fine. Just this once. -Zac
Stef was surprised. She hadn't pegged Zac as the type to sneak around. Before she could say anything, she heard her daughter's voice.
"Mom! Is my phone working?" She asked with evident concern.
Stef shut the phone and held it out to her. "Good as new." She said with a smile. "But next time, let's not bring the phone near the sink, yes?" She asked while raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah I know." She said before taking the phone out of her mother's hands. "Thanks, mom." She said before kissing her mother on the cheek and running back upstairs.
Stef stood in the kitchen for a moment, thinking to herself. She wondered what her daughter would do with that text.
"Whatcha thinking about, babe?" Lena asked as she pulled Stef out of her thoughts.
"I put Mari's phone back together to make sure it worked, and when I did, a bunch of texts popped up."
"Ok..." Lena said, obviously waiting for the story to continue.
"So as I was checking it, I saw that one was from Zac." She continued.
"Aww I knew they had a thing going on." Lena said with a smile, thinking that was the end of her wife's story.
"Yeah but it's what he texted that confuses me." She continued and Lena stopped to look at Stef. "He told her to sneak out tonight to see him."
This time, Lena raised her eyebrow.
"So we'll see just what our little Miss Thing does with that."
As soon as she got to her room, Mariana opened her phone and looked at her texts. When she got to the one from Zac telling her to sneak out, she froze. She hadn't ever thought of sneaking out before, she knew her moms checked up on her before they went to bed, and it would be extremely difficult to leave without getting caught with so many people in the house. She looked down at her phone when it buzzed again.
Please? I'll just meet you outside a little ways down from your house. I want to talk to you in person about something. -Zac
Mariana felt the sides of her lips tug to form a smile. Just then, Callie walked into her room and Mariana's brain began to turn.
"Hey, Callie." Mariana said in the sweetest voice she could find.
Callie stopped what she was doing and looked at her sister with a confused look. "What do you want?" She asked, not beating around the bush.
"Ok. So Zac said he needs to talk to me but it's too late for me to go see him, but he said he can meet me outside for like a really short time and I feel like if I don't go he will think I don't like him." She rambled.
"Ok..." Callie said, getting an idea of where this was going, but wanting to hear it from her sister.
"So I was just kinda hoping. I dono maybe you could cover for me? I would only be gone for like 10 minutes." She said, her lip puffing out and her eyes pleading.
"I dono, Mari. We would get in huge trouble if moms found out." Callie said with a questioning tone.
"Please. This is what sisters are supposta do. They're supposta cover for each other and help the other out. Especially when it comes to boys." Mariana pleaded again, batting her eyelashes.
"Ok, ok. You don't have to do that with your eyes" Callie said as she shook her head. "But you had better be only 10 minutes." She said and smiled when Mariana squealed and gave her a hug.
"Thank you thank you thank you, Callie! I owe you!"
"Yeah. You owe me big." Callie responded as Mariana grabbed her phone to text Zac.
Ok. Callie is gonna cover for me. I'll meet you outside in 10 minutes. -Mari
"What are you gonna tell moms?" Callie asked as she took out a book to read.
"I'll tell them I finished my homework and I'm not feeling that great and want to go to bed early." She said simply as she touched up her makeup.
"You really think they're gonna buy that?" Callie asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Well maybe you could keep them distracted?" Mariana said. Stopping to look Callie in the eyes. "Please. It would mean so much to me. I mean this is the first guy I've ever really liked and I really want him to like me. And I promise it will be only 10 minutes." This time, her request wasn't a fake begging, it was sincere and Callie did want to help her sister.
"Ok fine. But girl you owe me so big." She started to say as Mariana ran over and hugged her.
"I know I know so big. Thank you!" She exclaimed.
"I'll talk with them in their room." Callie said while trying to think of something she could talk to them about that would keep both of them busy for at least 10 minutes.
"Perfect. I'm gonna finish getting ready then get into bed." Mariana said knowing that most likely one of her moms would be coming up to check on them relatively soon.
As if on cue, 5 minutes later, Stef knocked on the girls' door and walked in. By that time, Mariana had gotten into bed and pulled the covers over her head. Callie turned off the light and was editing pictures on her phone. Once Stef opened the door, Callie got up from her bed and began her part of the plan. She hated lying to the women who took her in when she thought she had no one, but she knew Mariana wouldn't do anything stupid and she felt special to be able to help her sister with something she really wanted.
"Uh mom." Callie whispered, throwing the mom title in there for extra sympathy. "Mariana got a really bad migraine and said she usually just goes to sleep and it goes away. So she said to tell you that she did her homework and is going to bed early. I was gonna come get you but I wanted to finish editing some pictures."
Stef raised an eyebrow. Sick, hu? She thought to herself. She assumed that her younger daughter had roped Callie into helping her,and she decided to play along to see just how far they would take this.
"Aww my poor baby." Stef said as she walked further into the room and towards the girl who had wrapped herself into the comforter of her bed and was facing away from the door. "Mari, baby." Stef said as she sat on the bed next to the girl. "How you feelin?" She asked.
"Mmmm. Migraine. Just wanna sleep." She mustered up the best sick voice she could make and replied without lifting her head.
"Well ok, baby girl. I hope you feel better. I love you and I'll come check on you in a bit, ok?"
Mariana nodded and pulled the covers tighter against her face as her mom bent down to kiss her head.
Stef stood up and walked back to wards Callie who was still by the door. "Did you do your homework, love?" She asked in a whisper. Callie nodded then looked at the door. "Uhh can I talk to you for a second?" She asked shyly.
Stef's face lit up. She nodded and opened the door just wide enough for her and Callie to slip through before gently closing it behind them.
Once they were in the hallway, Stef looked at the teen once more and said, "what did you want to talk about, sweets?"
Callie fidgeted with her hands but continued with the plan she had come up with. "Uhh I was wondering if I could talk to you and Le- erm mama about something."
Stef smiled and nodded again. "Sure, baby. Mama is helping Jesus with some homework, but maybe we can all talk in our room? That way it's private and I can hear your sister in case she needs anything." She said, making sure to watch the teen as she said that last part. Callie's eyes darted from side to side as she mentioned Mariana but she simply nodded.
"Ok, love why don't you go get settled in our room and I'll get mama." Stef said, gently squeezing the girl's shoulder and giving her one more smile.
"Ok." Callie said as she turned to the master bedroom.
"Yup! Last one!" Jesus exclaimed as he looked happily at Lena.
"Ok. Go on up and get ready for bed. But please be nice to your brother." Lena said.
"I know. I'm sorry." Jesus said quietly, realizing that Jude was probably not used to the whole sibling rivalry thing and was really just trying to feel included.
"Ok, baby. Scoot." Lena said with a smile before the teen grabbed his homework and ran towards the stairs.
"Woah there!" Stef exclaimed as Jesus almost ran into her as she made her way down the stairs.
"Sorry!" He responded quickly and continued up.
Stef smiled to herself and shook her head before continuing down the stairs towards her wife. "What are we gonna do with that kid?" Lena asked.
"I say we send him out to do laps" Stef responded with a straight face.
"There is something like that at school. It's called track." Lena said as she got up and brushed some eraser pieces off of her lap.
"So Callie asked to talk to us about something." Stef explained to Lena.
"Wait, she came to you about this?" Lena questioned, not believing what her wife was saying.
"Yeah. Though I'm not sure if she actually wants to talk about something important or if she wants to distract us from a "sick" Mariana" Stef continued, air-quoating the word sick so Lena could understand that she was sure the girl was faking.
"Ok. Well either way, maybe we can actually get her to talk about how she is feeling." Lena started before stopping and looking at Stef. "But what are we gonna just let Mari sneak out?"
Stef had a sly smile painted on her lips and Lena knew her mind was at work. "Oh great. What are you thinking?" Lena asked, nervous of what the answer could be.
"Let's just say that we can talk with Callie, but I will also be talking with our other daughter tonight." Stef said as she reached her hand out for her wife to take. Lena shook her head, but took the outstretched hand. "Nothing too crazy, right?" She asked timidly.
"No. Promise, babe. Just crazy enough for her to never even think about doing something like this again." She answered as they walked up the stairs.
Mariana waited until she couldn't hear her mother or sister outside of her door before getting out of bed and opening up her window. She was glad that the house was designed in such a way that part of the roof jutted out as a flat surface right beneath her window. She could easily climb from the roof to the tree and get down. She took a deep breath and began to make her way out the window.
"Hey bug." Stef said as she and Lena entered their bedroom and saw Callie sitting unusually straight and still on the bed. "You alright?" Stef asked.
Callie nodded her head quickly and tried to push a smile out.
"So mom said you wanted to talk to us about something?" Lena said as she sat next to the girl and put her hand on the teen's back.
Callie looked at both moms and slowly nodded her head but before she could open her mouth to speak, Stef's phone began to vibrate in her pocket.
"Oh hold on." She said quickly as she pulled it out and looked at the call- hiding the fact that she knew it was from her mother- as she had asked her to call her cell in 5 minutes. "It's the station. I'm gonna see if it is an emergency and I will be right back." Stef said giving Lena a look before turning to exit the room.
"Wait!" Callie said suddenly as Stef answered the call and turned around before putting the phone up to her ear saying, "Can you hold a moment, Captain?"
"I'll be right back, love." Stef said before looking at Lena to talk with the girl while she dealt with her soon-to-be grounded daughter.
"You alright, love?" Lena asked as Stef walked out of the room. Callie swallowed deeply but nodded her head. "Uhh yeah. Fine." She said, hoping that Stef wouldn't feel the need to check on Mariana before coming back.
Mariana put her ringing phone up to her ear. She had dialed Zac's number as soon as she made it to the grass. She wanted to make sure she headed the correct way to meet him, knowing she had a limited amount time with him.
"Hey!" She said excitedly. "Yeah. Callie's covering for me." She said as she made her way past the side of the house. "Ok. Yeah I know where that is. I'll be there in a minute." She said but stopped in her tracks when she saw a figure sitting on the front porch steps. "Oh shit!" She exclaimed. "Uhh hold on" She whispered into the phone and tried to quietly back away.
"Why don't you tell Zac goodbye? And that you probably won't be able to see him for a week." Stef said calmly and Mariana closed her eyes in defeat.
She sighed and spoke once more into the phone. "Hey Zac I gotta go. I'll see ya at school." She said before quickly bidding him bye and closing the phone. She slowly made her way to the steps that Stef were sitting on, head hanging down with guilt.
"Have a seat." Stef said, gesturing to an open spot next to her. Once the teen sat down and put her phone down, Stef continued. "Care to tell me why you thought sneaking out to see a boy this late on a school night was a good idea?"
Mariana silently shook her head no and kept her gaze downwards.
"Please look at me."
When Mariana's glossy eyes met Stef's the woman continued. "Do you know why it was a bad idea?"
This time Mariana nodded and a tear fell from her eyes. "I'm sorry, mom. I was only gonna be gone for like 10 minutes. He just wanted to tell me something." She tried to explain.
"It doesn't matter the reason. You broke the rules and you knew full-well that you were doing so." She said before cocking her head slightly to look at her daughter in the eyes. "Is there something more to this?" She asked quietly.
More tears began to fall as Mariana tried to look away, but Stef grabbed ahold of her hands and pulled the girl closer to her. "Mari, baby. I'm sorry but you know we have these rules to keep you safe." She said gently.
"I know" Mariana said, trying to hide the cry in her voice, but failing. "I didn't mean to lie." She said before dropping her head again.
"Come here" Stef said as she pulled her daughter closer to her body. She rested her head on the top of Mariana's head and took a deep breath. "Oh baby girl. I know you didn't. But you knew better. I know youo knew better and there are going to be consequences for your actions." She began. "You know, you never even asked us if you could see him." She said, pointing out the fact.
Mariana listed her head from Stef's shoulder and looked questiongly at her mother. "Wait. You would have let me go see him?" She asked, not believing what she was hearing.
"Well." Stef began. "I would have had to talk with mama, but he might have been able to stop over for a few minutes if it was something really important that he needed to discuss with you tonight. But that's the thing, baby. You didn't ask, you just did what you wanted." She finished before leaning over and kissing her daughter's forehead. "I love you so much, baby girl." She said before smoothing the teen's hair down and kissing her head again.
"I love you too, mom." Mariana said as she relaxed into her mother's loving arms. "I'm sorry." She whispered again.
"I know, baby. I know."
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