"How about if we make a quick call down to the lobby to have the kids walk themselves back up here and knock?" Stef asked still lying on the bed with her wife.

"Hmmm, as tempting as that sounds, my wife, as a cop, hates for my kids to walk around an unfamiliar location alone. One of my kids is a wanderer and another is very impulsive. I have a better idea. I get up and take a shower while you get dressed and go for the kids. Then I will keep the kids in here and talk about how much fun they had while you take a shower. Does that sound about right?"

"What if we jumped in the shower together right now and wait for the lobby to call us and bring the kids?"

"Getting in the shower together would not as be productive as showering alone. No, if you pick them up tonight, I will do the drop off and pick up tomorrow night." Lena gave Stef one more kiss before getting up and gathering her pajamas to take to the bathroom.

Stef rolled herself off the bed and quickly pulled on some clothes. "If I am going for the kids, you have to straighten out our bed while I am gone." She yelled to her wife.

"In that case, take the ice bucket and fill it with the kids to give me another minute or so." Lena answered from the bathroom.

Stef grabbed the ice bucket and headed toward the lobby. The kids were already waiting for her. As they were coming toward her, she went to the same person she left them with. "Hi, I am Stefanie Adams Foster and I am here to pick up my kids, Brandon, Callie, Jesus, Mariana, and Jude. Do you need to see ID or anything?"

"No, I remember you from earlier today and it seems like the kids know you. It's fine." The girl answered glancing down at her phone.

"Wait… what if someone came in here that I did not want my kids to leave with, but they knew? Would you give my kids away to someone else?" Stef asked looking a little irritated.

"No, nothing like that. Like I said, I remember you from earlier."

Stef pulled out her ID anyway and held it up for the college aged girl. "Well, just so you know, I am who I say I am and I would appreciate it if you would make sure all of these kids make it back to their parents safely. It doesn't take much time to check and it saves police officers like me a lot of time that we are not having to look for abducted children."

By this time, all the kids were looking uncomfortable and Callie was trying to drag Stef away. "Seriously, Mom, I wouldn't go with anyone but you guys. I also wouldn't let any of the others. I promise. Now, though, we need to go back to our room…."

"Yeah, Mom. I am feeling really tired." Mariana added.

"When have my kids ever wanted to just go to the room? Oh, I know, what did you guys do? Am I going to find out that we are no longer invited to come back tomorrow due to someone's behavior?"

"No…" Callie answered uncertainly. "I just don't want you to cause a scene where we can't come back tomorrow. It is your behavior that we are concerned about."

Stef eyed Callie carefully. Just then, the young woman with the clipboard walked up. "You must be Callie's mom. Do you have a second?"

Stef noted Callie's frightened look before answering. "So, now I will know. Yes, I am Callie's mom, Stef Adams Foster. What exactly did she do tonight?"

"Mom! I need to go to the bathroom!" Mariana pleaded. "Please, take me back to the room."

Stef turned to her kids. "I am not sure what you all are trying to pull, but all of your stunts just make me want to talk to this lady more and find out whatever it is that you are hiding. Callie Marie, you better not have caused trouble tonight. You are already on thin ice with me."

"Oh, she isn't in trouble." Ashley said looking uncomfortable after this exchange. "Actually, I just had some questions for you about your family. When you signed up the kids, you signed a waiver that I could talk to your kids for my Child Psychology thesis. I talked to Callie earlier and I had a few questions for you also. I can see though, that his may not be a good time. How about if we talk tomorrow when you drop the kids off?"

Stef took a second to take a breath and calm down some relieved that no one was in trouble. "Either way would be fine. We may not make it back here tomorrow night, though, so if you need my input, I could stay for a minute."

"No, Mommy, we need to go to our room right now!" Jude said this time hoping to save the day.

"Jude, I know you didn't do anything. Callie, on the other hand, looks very guilty about something…. How about I take my kids upstairs and get them settled, then I come back down and meet with you?" Stef said to the girl thinking she could figure out what was going on before she came back down.

"Sure." Ashely said still looking at the situation wondering herself if Callie had told the truth.

Stef started walking back to the room with the kids all around her. "So, other than whatever was going on there, did you all have a good time tonight?"

Everyone except Callie started talking at once making it hard for her to sort out what any one person was saying. When there was a slight lull in the conversation, Jude spoke up. "Did you and mama really do it in our hotel room?"

Stef turned bright red causing her oldest four to also look embarrassed. Stef cleared her throat. "Is that what Callie told the lady that she now wants to discuss with me?"

"No, I swear I didn't tell her that. I only said that at dinner and it was only us at the table."

"Still, Sweetheart, that is probably not something you need to be sharing in public. If that isn't it, I would like you to give me a heads up on what she might be talking to me about later. Even if it is something really bad, I would like to know."

Callie answered quietly. "Can we talk about this alone when we get to the room?"

"Sure. Let's stop here for ice." Stef said handing Jesus the ice bucket.

XXXX

"Hello. I am Lena Adams Foster. I am Callie's mama…."

"I need to see ID." The girl at the table said slightly freaked out thinking that cop had sent this random person to see what would happen.

"Oh, I didn't bring one. I am here to talk to someone named Ashley who talked to my daughter earlier."

Ashley had been expecting Stef for the last several minutes and heard the exchange from across the room. "I am Ashley. You say you are Callie's mother? I thought that's who the blond lady was."

"I know your confusion. By the time Stef got Callie upstairs she was sort of freaking out about your talk earlier. She said that she didn't mean to lie to you. The truth is that I adopted Callie when she was a baby. Then, Stef and I met and married when Callie was four and we adopted her biological brother Jude together. About a year later we began to foster the twins which led to their adoption. We are a blended family, just a slightly different kind than you were originally thinking."

"Ah, that does make sense. Callie didn't lie to me. I assumed incorrectly that we were talking about a heterosexual couple. Could I still talk to you for a few minutes? In some ways this will actually diversify my paper a little bit more."

"Sure. Do you have a quiet place to talk? If not, Stef will have the kids in bed pretty quickly and you could talk to both of us at our room so that we could make sure the kids are okay."

"That sounds perfect!" Ashley said. "Let me gather up my things and I will follow you." She quickly grabbed her bag and told someone where she was headed. "I do have a few questions for just you on the way there."

"Like what?"

"Callie said she and Stef were close. I noticed, though, when Stef came for the kids, she was rather hard on Callie. I did say I was looking for Callie's mom, but she jumped to the conclusion pretty quickly that Callie had was in some sort of trouble. Is that always the case?"

"Not really, but Callie can be a handful. She is currently grounded. Stef and Callie have some very similar characteristics. That causes them to sometimes to go from fiercely fighting to cuddling on the couch in the matter of moments. When Callie finally confessed what was going on, I couldn't pry her from Stef's arms. That's why I came instead. I would be jealous, but it is hard to be jealous of my baby loving my wife."

"I can see that. I guess I am still going off of my experiences. My stepmother, and even my stepfather at times, were both fairly harsh with me. When I saw Stef get on to Callie it brought back some of my childhood memories."

"Well, I wouldn't have married Stef or stayed with her this long if I didn't completely trust her with all five of our kids. When I adopted Callie I was in a relationship like that. I would never do that again. My mother and my half-brother have had many issues like that. I wanted the best and that's what I got." Lena smiled at Ashley as they approached the door. "Here we are, Stef will have the kids in bed, but I will need to go do bedtime with them before they go to sleep. "

They walked into the room and Lena motioned Ashely to sit on the couch which she had put back together earlier. Ashley sat down as Lena entered the kids' room. Stef came out shortly afterward. "Hello, I am sorry we got off to such a bad start earlier. I am not certain how the misunderstanding happened, but I am glad you gave us another chance." Stef approached the young woman and held out her hand to shake. Ashley stood up and shook it.

"It was completely my fault. As I already told your wife, I made assumptions. Callie never said that she had a father. Your family is still perfect for my study, however. Blended families can look all sorts of different ways. I am looking for both functional and dysfunctional families to study."

"I am hoping we fall into that first category. For the most part, I believe our family is doing well. I am not sure what all Callie told you; she sometimes likes to overshare." Stef said thinking back to the kids' conversation earlier.

Both looked up as Lena came back into the room closing the bedroom door behind her. "Well, before we get started, how many times are we going to let the kids get up?" She asked Stef.

"None. They have a bathroom in there and we don't play that game."

"Hmmm, how many times really? At home it is none, but I can already see they are going to try us here. I can already hear them talking. At what point do we stop that?" Lena asked sitting down in the chair near the couch.

"When we are done talking to Ashely here, or when they become too loud one of us will intervene. As far as leaving the room goes, I guess we could give a warning. This is a new place after all. What were you thinking?" Stef asked.

"I think each of them can have a warning. I don't mind doing one extra hug and kiss each, but then they will need to go back to bed. We both know that if one comes out, all of them will want to."

"Perfect. You can give each of them more love and I will give the warning." Stef stated looking toward the doorway.

"Yeah right… You know that if I get a little love from our babies, you will want it too." Lena said with a giggle before looking toward Ashley. "Stef only pretends to be this tough. In reality, she is the one that slips the kids candy, plays with them, and makes spontaneous plans like this vacation."

"Yeah, I do all of those things, it's true." Stef said thoughtfully. "Lena, though, is the one they want to go to when they are hurt or sick. Tonight when they start making appearances, it is their mama they will want."

"I see." Ashely said taking notes. "And who handles the discipline?"

"Really both of us do." Lena answered for the two of them. "I handle much of the day-to-day stuff because I work at their school and I am pretty much always with them. However, Stef takes care of almost anything she is home for. On bigger issues, we discuss it before doing anything. We are team and we are in this together."

"As a step parent, do either of you find it difficult to discipline your stepchildren?" Ashely asked after writing the last response.

"First of all, we have no stepchildren. Lena did bring Callie into our marriage and I brought Brandon, but they are both our children. I adopted Callie and made her officially mine and Lena got guardianship of Brandon when we had his last name legally changed. Both Callie and the twins have gone through phases where they refer to some siblings being their 'real' siblings. Neither of us stand for that. We have five children with no distinction."

"Stef is right. However, Stef is generally better than I am with Jesus and Callie. When I am at my wit's end with either of them, I know she will take care of it. On the other hand, when Stef is alone with the kids, she sometimes calls me when it comes to Brandon or Mariana." Lena explained as Ashley kept writing.

"In my defense, Mariana cries if I look at her funny. I find it hard to know how to discipline her when she cries so easily. My wife can talk to her in a steady soothing voice and actually get through to our younger daughter without the extra drama."

"Hmmm, so for the sake of the study, we will continue calling both Brandon and Callie step children to avoid confusion. However, you two seem to actually switch children to discipline. Many studies say that step parents need to be very careful with that in order to avoid resentment. What is your difference?"

"I have a Masters in Child Psychology like you are working on right now. I think our biggest difference is that going into our relationship and marriage, we made no difference between the two kids. We actually met after Stef filed for divorce and was looking for a preschool for her son. We decided to get the kids together and they instantly bonded. It was Brandon's idea for us to date because he wanted two mommies. The day we decided to move in together, he asked if I was now going to be his mama. He told his dad that he wanted to have the Adams last name in his name. I am not going to say that it was always easy. We have had many bumps along the way, but it helps that the kids were behind it."

"And Callie?" Ashley asked looking between the women.

"Callie had a few more bumps than Brandon. That is her nature. The first night she had a fit about him calling Lena Mama. Then, Lena took her to a quiet spot and worked some magic. Next thing I know, Callie is calling me Mommy like she had her whole life. I do feel like I have had to prove my love for her fairly often."

"That is partially because of my failed relationship before Stef. Callie called my ex Mommy even though she did not help take care of her at all. I perpetuated it until I found out that Gretchen was cheating on me. Then, we left. Stef came into our lives within a month of moving to California. It was too soon for Callie at first as she was still talking about her mommy in Chicago. I also recently took both Callie and Jude back to Chicago when their biological mother died. That was another hard adjustment for Callie even though she didn't really know the woman."

"That would explain why Callie said she had two mothers before Stef. She also said that Brandon had a dad that he visited. Tell me about that."

"I was married to Mike first and we had Brandon. He was my friend when we went to the Police Academy together, but we were not really compatible over all. He had a drinking issue and I was generally unhappy. We separated and then divorced. Mike has always been a good father. He was worked through his drinking for the most part. We invite him to many of our family functions like holidays and birthdays. He is good with all of our children."

"Mike was very good about helping Brandon understand that we were going to be a family. He willingly signed papers to change Brandon's last name. I do think he was very hurt at the beginning, though. It was hard for him to understand why his wife would leave him for another woman. Mike is supportive, but sometimes he has periods of time that he cancels his weekends with Brandon without much explanation. Those times are difficult for all the kids to understand, but particularly Brandon." Lena added.

"What about your parents?" Ashely asked after another moment.

Just then they heard the bedroom door creak open and saw Mariana looking out. "Mommies! The boys won't be quiet and I can't sleep with them talking." She whined.

"Did you ask them nicely?" Lena asked.

"Yes. Jesus said I am not his boss. Now I need Mommy to tell them."

"Well, Miss Thing, we are busy talking to Ashley right now. Come give both of us another hug and kiss. If the boys are still loud when we are done, we will tell them then. Otherwise, you need to go lay down and stay in there so you can go to sleep. Got it?" Stef said to the little girl.

Mariana skipped across the room to give both of her moms hugs and kisses before going back into the room.

"Well, getting back on topic…"

XXXX

After Ashley left, the moms quietly got ready for bed and pulled the couch bed back out for sleeping. "I think the kids are finally all asleep." Lena reported coming back out of the bedroom. I'm afraid it is going to be hard to get them up in the morning after they were up so late."

"Well, we are only an hour from the Grand Canyon. We can all sleep in just a little if we want." Stef slid into the pull-out bed which now felt a little less comfortable than it had earlier. "Can you believe that Callie said she was my favorite?"

Lena climbed in next to her wife after shutting off the light. "Yes. The two of you are nearly inseparable. I would like to think, though, that all of the kids would consider that we liked them best."

"Me too. You know I really don't like one more than another, right?"

"Right. We both love all the kids." Lena turned over several times trying to get comfortable to no avail. "Do you think it would badly disturb the kids to carry some of them out here and take over one of their beds?" She asked after several minutes.

"Better yet. They are always crawling into our beds. How about if we just get in with the girls? It looked like they were both in the center. I will get in next to Callie if you want to get in next to Mariana."

"Sounds perfect!" Lena giggled getting up and heading that direction.