"Hello, is this Stef Adams Foster? This is Mariana's teacher."

"Yes, is there a problem?"

"Well, Lena said to call if anything came in signed in anything other than purple ink. I know she is out of town and Mariana's science test was just turned in with her signature in black ink. Since Lena is gone, I thought I would call you."

"I will be at school in just a few minutes. Have you already talked to my daughter about this?"

"No, I called you first."

"Perfect." Stef hung up the phone and looked over at her partner. "My wife is out of town and one of my kids needs me. I need to run by the station to check out and get my own car."

Captain Roberts knew Lena was out of town and told Stef to take home some work and that she would see her Monday. Stef arrived at school within a half hour. She walked in the office a little sad as her wife was not there. "Hey, Mary." She greeted the secretary.

"Hey, Stef. Your wife is obviously not here. Do you need one of the kids?"

"Yes, I got a phone call from Mariana's teacher and I think I would like to check my daughter out for a little while if that is okay."

"Of course it is." Mary went over the intercom to page Mariana to check out. Mariana arrived in the office with her things looking fairly happy until she saw the look on Stef's face.

"Are we going somewhere, Mommy?"

"We are going to make a little trip home and then we are going to come back here so we can go talk to your teacher."

"Oh." Mariana said with some recognition that she was in serious trouble.

Stef check her out and drove her to the house. "So, your teacher called earlier and said you turned in science test signed this morning. Do you want to explain that one to me?"

"Mama signed if before she left. I just didn't turn it in until today." Mariana said obviously lying.

"So, if we call her right now, she will remember that?"

"I don't know. She is probably really busy with Callie and Jude. We should probably not call her."

"That's kind of what I was thinking, except we will call her before I take you back to school. She needs to know what is going on. I believe we told you not to ever forge a signature again, didn't we?"

"Yes…"

"Last time you were grounded. I really thought we should do something more, but Mama said that would work. Maybe you didn't know it was wrong. You know this time, right?"

"It would be wrong, but Mama signed it." Mariana insisted again starting to squirm in chair knowing where this was leading hoping to get out of it.

"We will call Mama in a moment." Stef said pulling into the driveway. "In fact, let's call her now."

Lena picked up in about two rings. "Hey Babe! What's up?" She said almost breathlessly.

"I have a small question for you, is this a good time?" Mariana was now trying her best to get Stef to hang up the phone as they walked in the front door.

"We are playing at the fort inside the science museum, but I can stop for a minute. Ask away."

"Did you sign a science test for Mariana before you left?"

"No, should I have?"

"I think she just brought it home yesterday. You somehow signed it without being in town. I went and got her from school. We just got home and we are getting ready to go inside. Would you like to talk to her for a minute?"

"Sure."

"Hi, Mama." Mariana said nervously. "Are you having a nice time in Chicago?"

"Yes. I bet you are not having such a great time in Mission Bay, are you?"

"No, how about you just ground me or something and have Mommy take me back to school. I don't think I want to be home with her right now." Mariana whispered not really being afraid of Stef as much as wanting to be out of trouble.

"No, you probably don't. You should have considered that before you signed my name on something again."

"I know." Mariana finally admitted. "You weren't home and I didn't know what to do. So, I did it myself. I got a B in the test."

"That is a good score, but not the right choice. You should have given the test to Mommy to get it signed. I think you already knew that, though, yes?"

"Yes. I just forgot."

"Well, please give the phone back to Mom. Go sit on our bed until she gets there."

"Yes, Mama."

Stef took the phone back and talked to Lena for a few more minutes. Mariana went and sat in her moms' room waiting by the door. This anticipation was almost worse than the spanking she knew she was getting. When she heard Stef's footsteps in the hall, she hurried to go sit on the bed like she was supposed to.

"Well, Miss Thing, I do not like you lying to me nor do I like you forging Mama's signature. You know better than to do both of those things, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Then, you know that I love you very much and because of how much I love you I am going to have to do something I really don't like doing."

"Then maybe we should do something else." Mariana squeaked out earning a glare from Stef.

"I haven't had to do this to you very often, Love, and I hope you don't start making a habit of it now."

XXXX

When Stef got Mariana back to school, Brandon's teacher happened to be in the office. "Hi, I am Brandon's teacher." She said shaking Stef's hand. "I was just looking for Lena, but then I heard she was out of town. Do you have time to come with me to my room for a moment?"

"Yes, I have the rest of the day off." Stef started walking with her to the classroom. "What seems to be the issue?"

"Brandon didn't do his homework last night. It surprised me because ever since the conference his homework has been well-done. He told me that Lena was out of town and that no one could help him with it. We have a procedure for that, but it requires the student to arrive at school early. Brandon was barely on time." Lena had to be at school early and therefore the kids were also there early. Stef was running late and got to work a little later than Lena anyway.

"What was the assignment?"

"We were multiplying decimals last night. I thought he had gotten more done in class. I was disappointed that he had done almost none of it and then also didn't do it last night. He did complete his English work and I saw that you signed his planner to say that he read last night."

"He sat at the bar in the kitchen with the twins and worked on things until he said he was done. Then I set a timer for all the kids to read. I am sorry that I did not check his backpack. Lena is out of town with Callie and Jude. This does not excuse my son, but it did make things a little odd. For the record, though, I can multiply decimals and I certainly could have helped him. Where is he right now?"

"My kids are at music. He will be back in about fifteen minutes now."

"Give me the assignment. I am going to go back up to the office and we will get it done right now. I am very sorry that my son didn't do his work. Feel free to take away recess or whatever you would like to do. I will also be dealing with this at home later."

Stef sent a quick text to Lena. "In case I do not say this often enough, I really appreciate all that you do for our family. Love you!"

XXX

"I think for tonight you are going to wear this dress and tomorrow you can wear this one. What do you think, Callie?" Lena asked holding up the two dresses.

"I think I would like to wear my star shirt and jeans. Why do I have to wear a dress tonight?"

"We are going to a family gathering at a funeral home, Babes. Traditionally people dress up for that. This will also be your first meeting with your birth grandmother. We want her to know that Mom and I are taking very good care of you. Sort of like how we had the twins dress up for their visits with Ana."

Callie remembered those visits and nodded slightly. "Neither of my dresses are very black. I thought people wore black to funerals."

"Many people do, but not everyone. In this case, you do not own a dress that is all black. I thought you could wear the one with the mostly black skirt tomorrow and the one with almost no black tonight. Since you wear very few dresses, this was all we had. It will be fine. Go ahead and shower first. When you are done, wrap yourself in a towel and come out. I dry your hair before you get dressed."

Callie wasn't really in a mood to argue. The somberness of the occasion combined with Lena taking care of her had made her extremely compliant. As soon as Callie got out of the shower, Lena sent Jude in only had him keep the door open in case he needed help. Once again Lena found herself able to play in her daughter's hair again. Callie relaxed and closed her eyes.

"I was kind of thinking that maybe you could wear a little make up today. Would you like that?"

"I am not sure. I don't really know how to put it on…"

"I could do it for you. I brought a little of Mom's because I thought it might be about the right color for you."

"Okay…"

Lena french braided Callie's hair like she had done for the adoption and then applied a little light make up. She was pleased with the end result and showed Callie in the mirror. The little girl beamed at her in the mirror. "There you are, you look just like a little princess. All we need to do now is get dressed. Why don't you go do that over there while I check on Jude?"

Callie went over to the main part of the room and carefully put her dress over her head so that she would not mess up her hair or make up. She saw Jude come out of the bathroom wrapped in another towel and she watched Lena dry his hair also. Callie carried her locket over to Lena.

"Mama, when you are done, could you zip my dress and help me put my locket on?"

"Sure, sweetheart. I think Jude is about done anyway." Lena ran her fingers through his short hair to make sure it was dry. Okay, Jude. You are all done. Your clothes are on our bed with your unicorn. Go get dressed."

"Will you help me with my tie, Mama?"

"Of course I will, baby." Lena zipped up Callie and tied the belt on her dress before putting the locket around her neck. "No matter what happens tonight or even tomorrow, this locket can remind you that you belong to Mom and me." Lena looked at her daughter in the mirror before kissing her cheek.

Callie smiled a little. "Thank you, Mama."

Lena looked over at Jude who was ready other than his tie. "I am going to go get ready now. When I am done I will fix your tie. For now, how about if you guys sit down and turn on the TV for a little bit."

Callie and Jude settled on the bed Jude and Lena had slept on the night before. Callie used the remote to turn the TV on and found some cartoons. Lena looked over at the two of them and sighed. She loved her kids more than anything in the world, but she sort of felt like she was taking these two into a situation that might be both uncomfortable and frightening.

XXXX

Both Jude and Callie grabbed on of Lena's hands on the way into the funeral home. They could sense Lena's nervousness and it scared them both. Once inside, Lena led them over to the guest book. "I will sign for all three of us." She wrote, "Lena, Callie, and Jude Adams, San Diego, CA."

"Mama, how come you wrote Adams instead of Adams Foster? I thought we had two last names." Jude whispered sort of loudly.

"Mom said this would be okay. That's also how you will be listed this weekend." In reality, Stef said that it could potentially be dangerous to give out all of the kids' information even though they were fully adopted. It was decided that since the kids were with Lena who had been just Adams it would be best to list them as that. San Diego was a bigger place than Mission Bay which would make the kids harder to track down.

Jude nodded, but Callie looked a little uncomfortable. Lena took the two kids into the chapel at the funeral home. Both were once again quiet. Callie held her hand tightly and Jude put his arms around her. Lena let out a relieved breath when she saw there was not an open casket at least in this room. Their grandmother had been watching for them and recognized them at once.

"My grandchildren have returned. Look, it is Colleen's children." She announced. Many people turned their heads to look. Jude practically hid behind his mother.

Lena approached the lady slowly. "Hello, I am Lena Adams. I believe we met at Callie's adoption?"

"Yes, that's right. I am Linda Wright, Colleen's mother and the grandmother to these little cuties." She reached out to touch Callie who shrank back. "That must be Callie. She looks just like her mother. I bet her hair is curly, too, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. It can be extremely hard to manage at times." Lena sort of dragged Jude out a little. "This is Jude."

"Hello, Jude. I haven't seen you since the day you were born. I was there, though. Did you know that?" Jude shook his head as a reply. "I have a few things for each of you." She walked over to the front row of the chapel and grabbed a plastic bag and handed it to Lena. "I thought you might like some newborn pictures of Callie and a few pictures of my daughter. I just can't believe how big these two have gotten!"

"Well it has been a long time since you have seen them. Thanks for the pictures. I know that we will all like to look at them. I brought two pictures for you also." Lena reached around Callie to pull two pictures out of her purse. "These are their school pictures from this year."

"Oh, they are very pretty children. It looks like Jude also got his mother's curls, but his father's looks." Jude released Lena to have a little look at his picture with the idea of his father in mind.

"Yep! I had curls like my mama before I cut my hair. Now my hair is short like my brothers'." Jude didn't understand genetics at six and always thought his curls came from Lena. Colleen's mother didn't seem to know he wasn't referring to Colleen.

"I see. I didn't know that you had brothers."

"I do. I have two big brother and two big sisters."

Jude might have said more, but Lena interrupted. "That's enough, baby. Jude is in first grade this year and Callie is in fifth. They are both doing well in school."

"My Colleen was never a very good student. Her teacher at school said she had some problem with words and numbers wiggling on the page or something. I never really understood it." Linda hung her head and began to cry again. "I guess now I never will."

"Was that called Dyslexia?" Lena asked. Linda nodded a little. Jude went and latched himself to his grandmother's waist because he could not stand to see someone cry without comforting them. "I know some about that condition." It dawned on Lena that perhaps Jude should be tested for that since he was still reversing some letters and had not yet taken off in math or reading.

"Colleen tried her hardest for her kids. You know that, right? She just knew that she wasn't really cut out to care for them every day. We never had much money and she really couldn't hold a job. My daughter somehow feel in with the wrong sorts of people and that's how she ended up being pregnant with Callie. She tried taking care of the baby by herself, but it was hard. Colleen had to drop out of school when she had Callie, but I knew she needed to go… She said she was going to move out of my house. I couldn't stand to see the baby go so I called social services. Colleen signed away her rights. When she found out a few years later she was having another baby, it just seemed easier to give him up to begin with."

"Well, I have done the best I could for them." Lena said unsure what to tell this woman. She ran her hand over Callie's braid and tucked a little escaped curl behind her daughter's ear. Others in the room were still staring, but none came over.

"Social services wouldn't approve for the kids to stay with me." The woman continued crying and Lena reached out to touch her shoulder. "I tried both times. They said Colleen was an unfit mother just because of one guy she kept hanging around. She was living with me when Callie was born, but not when Jude was born. She was living with Jude's daddy then." These disclosures went against the idea that Lena had that Colleen gave up the kids willingly. Now it seemed like it might have been a little forced.

"I have a daddy?" Jude asked happily. He was interested when she said he looked like his father, but having a daddy sounded even nicer.

"He's no good. He is in jail right now for killing your mother." Jude's eyes were bigger than Lena had ever seen them.

"I thought it was an accident that killed her, Mama." Jude finally said in a loud whisper.

"It was, sweetheart. Someone was driving a car and it crashed." Lena and Stef both thought it was best to not tell Jude that it might have been his father. Now his grandmother was almost making it out to be murder.

"Was it my daddy?" He asked looking pained.

"Yep. Just hope you don't turn out like him. Like I said, he is no good." Linda said informing the kids on more than Lena had hoped. "He drinks all the time and is a bad sort of person. He never treated my daughter right. Of course, men are often like that. My son is really no better. I told him to avoid the cops, but he still ended up in jail. He takes after his father… Men in this family just don't turn out right. Who knows? He might be Callie's daddy, too."

Callie clung uncomfortably close to Lena after this revelation and Jude stepped back to his mama as well. Both kids looked like they might start crying at any time. "I think we need to be heading out now, but we will certainly see you tomorrow. Thanks again for the pictures."

Jude ventured a little wave on the way out and Lena sort of prompted Callie to do the same with no response. Lena found a cab and asked the driver to take them to a relatively nice restaurant she used to go to when she lived in Chicago. The kids were silent the whole way there. Jude still leaned on his mother, Callie made a point to go sit in the front seat of the cab to get away from both of them.