Stef's POV (A continuation of the conversation from last chapter)

"Because Callie is our daughter!" Lena shouts as a reason as to why Callie should be given the benefit of the doubt, but Lux shouldn't.

I have to take a second to breathe so that I wouldn't say anything that I didn't mean out of anger.

"Stef, that's not what I meant," Lena tries to retract her statement. But she doesn't realize that it already struck a core.

"I know exactly what you meant, Lena…. But Lux is my kid, whether you like it or not, and I won't have her belittled in this house. And, yes. That's exactly what you're doing."

"That's not what I'm trying to do, Stef… I'm just trying to remind you, that neither of us know anything about this girl other than what she tells us."

"This girl? Okay…Wow!" I answer with astonishment. She was just digging herself deeper and deeper into the hole, and I couldn't understand why.

"I'm sorry... Lux," she corrects. "Stef, what I'm really trying to get at is you need to ask her more questions. Callie and Jude are living in this house too, and it's not fair to them that something like this had to happen in the first place. But you basically let it go un-discussed, because you let Lux get away with not even answering."

"I need to ask her more for more answers? Are you serious? …And what exactly are these questions you want me to ask Lena?" I cross my arms over my chest as I waited for her reply. I couldn't stand the fact that my wife, who's supposed to be on my side when it comes to our kids, suddenly felt the need to judge Lux off of one mistake she made when she was eleven or twelve-years-old. "…It seems to me like you're just looking for a reason to exclude her from this family and frankly, I don't understand it."

"Stef, do not even go there! That's the last thing I'm trying to do here! You're doing that all by yourself!" she yells as she begins to walk toward the door.

"Now, what the hell is that suppose to mean?" I ask. How the hell am I trying to exclude her from my family?

Lena whips around to finish her thought, "Stef, YOU are the parent here. It's not the other way around. And Lux needs to realize that sooner rather than later. And your behavior… isn't helping either."

"My behavior?" I ask with sudden interest but there's still anger in my tone, that I can't seem to lose no matter how many breaths I take during this conversation.

"Yes, your behavior. If you keep acting like you have been during dinner tonight or even half-hour ago when the question came up, she's going to think that she's the one calling the shots."

For a few seconds I try to take in what she's saying to me, but what Lena wasn't realizing was what I had been trying to do."…She just got here, Lena. I'm not going to ruin the little progress that I've made tonight, by asking her questions about what happened two years ago. She was finally opening up to me, Lena. She introduced me to her friends, invited me to her boyfriend's apartment, which she lied about at first but then admitted to it afterward, but that's besides the point that I'm trying to make here… We were getting along."

"Honey, I'm glad she's opening up to you, but there are other things at play here. Like, is she opening up to you because you're her mother or is she viewing you as her friend?"

"What the hell are you talking about, Lena?"

"During dinner, for instance, did you not notice how she just mentioned that she was going to her friend's house? She didn't even ask your permission, Stef." I sigh as I try to take in what my wife what telling me. "The kids noticed it too, and you said nothing. That's not how things work around here, and I don't want any of the other kids to get in the habit of doing the same thing. What's going to happen tomorrow if Mariana or Jesus just decide to just get up and leave in the middle of dinner without even telling us where they're going? Are you going to wave to them goodbye without asking what time they're coming back, where they're going, or who are they going with?"

"Of course not."

"Then, why are you doing it with Lux?"

"Don't you think this is hard for me too, Lena? Do you think it's easy to just figure out, that I have a fourteen-year-old daughter, who's been pretty much on her own her entire life, and then try to form some kind of relationship with her? A relationship that she doesn't even want! Do you really think that's easy?"

"I'm not saying that it is."

"And what about hearing that she's been living with her boyfriend, a drop out 17 year old kid with a tattoo of a spider-web on his neck? Or listening to him tell me that all he needs to do is say that he doesn't want me in her life, and I will never hear from her again? If that's not bad enough, Lux already told me that she hated me tonight." I sink down on our bed, when I realize that I still haven't forgotten the conversation Lux and I had in the car.

"What?" Lena asks as she sat down beside me and reached for my hand.

"She apologized. And she didn't use those exact words, but…we were talking in the car on our way to Bug's apartment, and I told her that our conversation was feeling one-sided, and she mentioned that she felt like I didn't care about her opinion, that I was trying to control her by telling her what school to go to, where she was going to stay, how she was going to get there—"

"So she was mad at you for trying to be her mother?" Lena asks.

"Basically…" I start to tear and immediately wipe them away with my hand and try to contain myself. "I just feel like I've been trying my best to accommodate her, by not hovering over her, but apparently she thought that I still was. So we both promised to make some sort of effort to make this work, and I feel like if I start asking her questions, telling her where she can and can't go, trying to control everything she does, I'm going back on my word… And I don't want her to hate me, Lena. That's not how I want to start our relationship." I start to cry even more once I realize that was my worst fear in all of this. I didn't want her to regret ever finding me.

Lena places her hand on my cheek and starts to wipe away the tears herself, "You're not going back on your word, Stef. Maybe this is the only way that you can make sure that you're keeping it. Did you ever think of that? The best way to show her that you're making an effort is to be honest with her. You need to tell her what you don't feel comfortable with because she's the kid… You know, unless you feel more comfortable with being her friend? Then, if that's the case—"

"No," I answer sternly even though I know that she was joking. She smiles back at me, and I know that she's right. But I didn't know how to try to parent someone who doesn't even want one.

"Then, you need to set some boundaries. She may not like them at first, but she'll get used to the idea eventually."

"And what if that backfires, huh? What if she just decides that this isn't something that she wants?"

"What would you tell Mariana if she asked you the same thing?" Lena asks and I suddenly realize what she's getting at. "…You can listen to what she has to say and take her opinion into consideration. But in the end, you need to do what you feel is right. Yes, she might hate you but…"

"She'll get over it," I finish for her. "God, I hate it when you're right," I mumble.

Lux's POV

Unfortunately for me, I decided to leave the house too late to catch a bus, because they all stopped running about an hour ago. So, I find the next best thing, a payphone. I had used it the first time I came to visit Stef and was relieved to find it still working. I immediately dial Gavin's number, knowing that it'd be the only way to reach Bug.

The day that I needed to reach Bug and Gavin wasn't with him, I knew that I'd be completely screwed.

"Yello?" Gavin answers.

"Gavin, it's Lux. Can I talk to Bug?"

"Hey! Lux, nice to hear from you t—"

"Gavin!" I yell from annoyance. He must've known I was using a payphone, so I hated that we had to have this conversation every single time.

"It's for you," I hear Gavin say.

"Lux?"

"Bug, I need you to come get me."

"You need me to come get you?" he questions angrily. "You ditched us. Again… And now what? You need me to come get you like nothing's happened?"

"I didn't ditch you—"

"No? We put together a nice dinner for you, got all of our friends together, to celebrate YOUR birthday, and you just decide to just up and leave with your new mom? Like we meant nothing to you?"

"Bug, I'm sorry."

"I'm getting really tired of hearing your apologies Lux—"

"Bug, I left! Okay! And you don't have to worry about me going back, because they don't even want me there. So just, please come get me."

"Well, surprise, surprise," he answers sarcastically, but he doesn't realize how much his words really sting. "…Where are you?" he finally asks.

Stef's POV

Is Lux seriously still in the shower? I wonder. It's been over forty-five minutes and I still hear the water running. I slowly walk over toward the door and knock on it lightly, "Lux, did you fall down the drain or something?" I ask, and Lena walks over toward me and laughs.

When I don't get an answer, I knock again, a little louder this time, but still nothing.

I stare at Lena for a second and the worried expression on her face just makes me even more nervous, so I twist the door-knob and peek my head through the door, "Lux, are you alright?" I yell.

Silence.

I immediately open the door and after a split second hesitation I pull open the shower curtain and find it empty. I glance at the shower knob and notice that it was turned all the way to the left, which meant that it should've been scorching hot, but I felt that it was ice-cold. "Damnit!" I yell as I immediately shut off the running water and make my way downstairs and notice that her bag is gone from the couch, and so is her coat from the coatrack. "I'm going to kill her," I say as I raise my hand to my forehead and try to think of where she might go.

"Maybe she's at Mike's?" Lena suggests. "Why don't you just take a deep breath and call him."

I immediately take out my cellphone and search for Mike's number.

"Who are you going to kill?" Mariana asks as soon as she and Jude exit the kitchen.

"Have either of you seen Lux?" Lena asks.

"Not since dinner," Mariana answers. "Why?"

"She left," I answer.

"Maybe it…" Jude stops mid-sentence, "Never mind." I remove the phone from my ear once I notice that Jude might know something.

"What were you going to say, bud?" Lena asks his calmly.

"Well… I saw her listening in on you and Mom at your bedroom door. I was going to say something, but she acted as if nothing was wrong and she went back into the bathroom right after, so…"

"How long ago was that, Jude?" I ask him.

"Maybe 30 minutes. Or a little longer than that."

"Lena, I'm going to see if I can find her and call Mike."

"Go. I'll wait here in case she comes back. Call if you find her?"

"I will."

Okay, so I wanted to use this chapter to focus mainly on Stef and Lena. I wasn't trying to make Lena sound like a biznatch before and hopefully she still doesn't.

But I did think that Stef needed this reality check. But I understand if some of you don't agree. Like I said, Lux and Callie are very similar but very different. Callie was used to being told what to do, so when her and Jude were brought into the Foster's home, they were very accepting of all of the rules. Lux on the other hand…not so much.

In Lux's own words from Life Unexpected, "I'm used to being told what to do. I'm just not used to caring enough to listen."