"Bell, love, are you sure everything's alright at home?" Lena asked as she started getting out the cereal and bowls for the hungry crew that she knew would be down in a matter of minutes.

"Mhm." Bell answered quietly, she hated to lie, but there wasn't another choice for her, if she said anything Lena would just have to report it, making everything with her dad worse.

"What Stef said the other night was true, I wouldn't have to report it to the school or anyone if you told me as a friend's parent" Lena spoke softly trying desperately to get the girl to open up to her.

"Really?" Bell found it hard to believe, but most of the adults in her life had lied to her before so she wasn't sure how she could trust Stef and Lena.

"Really, I mean if you were getting hurt then we might just have you spend the night over here whenever you need to, but I won't report it if you don't feel its necessary" Lena responded.

"It's a long story." Bell finally admitted, tired of always fighting people.

"If you would feel comfortable I can call you and I both in sick and we can just spend the day here?" Lena offered as she heard her brood of children starting to make their way into the shower.

"If Aria is okay with it..." Bell answered cautiously.

"If Aria is okay with what?" Aria asked as she came down the stairs as everyone upstairs where still fighting over the shower.

Bell started to panic and pleadingly looked to Lena for help, she was afraid her friend wasn't going to be happy about Lena trying to help her.

"Me staying home with Bell today, just since she had a rough time last night. Is that okay love?" Lena answered quickly looking between the two girls.

"Yeah, thats totally fine" Aria said happy that her friend felt somewhat comfortable with her mom.

"Thanks." Bell answered quietly looking at the ground and quickly looking up to smile at her friend.

"No problem, anytime, anytime" Aria said as she pretended to bow like she just was on broadway or something like that.

Stef walked into the room to see her youngest daughter leaving, after bowing, "What's with her?"She joked.

"Hey love," Lena whispered taking Stef by the hand, "Can you do me a favor and take the kids to school today before you go to work? I'm going to stay home with Bell."

"Of course." Stef gave her wife a quick kiss, "Will you be okay?"

"Why aren't you taking us, why are you staying with her?" Callie practically spit the words staring at Bell from the doorway, "Why do you trust her."

"CALLIE! Please at least pretend to like her. Like it or not she is my best friend. So you really just need to fuck off with all the 'I hate you' bullsht. Its annoying as hell. You don't see me yelling at you everytime you want to hang out with Wyatt" Aria fumed. She was getting fed up with her sister.

"Aria. Callie." Stef interrupted, "Other room. Now." She didn't leave any room for argument.

"Okay" Aria said now regretting the freak out, she just had a lot of emotions bottled up and they just exploded.

"What the hell is wrong with the two of you." Stef whispered harshly, not wanting Lena to hear her once the three had gone into the other room.

"Im sorry, I just had a lot of bottled up emotions and just exploded. Im really sorry" Aria said trying to force some emotion into her voice with no such luck.

"You've been at each other's throats for the last two days, what is going on?" Stef asked, when neither girl answered right off, Stef looked to her oldest daughter for some answers, "Callie?"

"That's because she let Bell back in her life! Aria's being stupid again and she's just going to get hurt and I don't want to wait until she ends up in the hospital, again for her to realize this girl is toxic to her!" Callie screamed, upset at her sister.

"Callie, the only way I am going to get hurt is if I hurt myself. Bell has changed. We are really close. she is the only one who knows everything about me." Aria said calmly still with no emotion in her voice.

"Whatever." Callie muttered, she was trying not to show Stef and her sister how hurt she had been by everything, "Can I go get something to eat now so we aren't late to school?" She asked looking at Stef and ignoring Aria.

Stef nodded and Callie stormed out of the room without saying another word.

"Do I have to eat? Can I just eat at lunch?" Aria asked, just wanting a chance to talk to her friend.

"Go." Stef said, "You need to eat and you know this. Love, we've already been over this."

"Skipping a meal here and there won't kill me" Aria muttered as she made her way to the kitchen knowing she was fighting a battle she already lost. "I will just eat a damn banana or something" she muttered to herself not knowing that Lena could hear her.

"Aria." Lena warned.

"Yes?" Aria asked as she ate a banana just so she would get stef off her back.

"You know what I'm going to say." Lena sighed, "Okay guys, everyone in the car, you're gonna be late." She said looking to her other kids.

"No I actually don't" Aria replied as she headed to the door so she could get into the car.

"Come here." Stef snapped at her daughter who was walking off. "Apologize to your momma now. You've gotten away with enough. I'm sick of this."

"Im sorry" Aria said, then put in an earbud and started listening to Invisible Nightcore.

"We're gonna have to talk later, because you can't keep acting like this to us." Stef said, still irritated but trying to be softer with her daughter. "Go get in the car, we're already late."

"Okay" Aria said as she put in the other earbud and turned up the music ready for another day of just sleeping during class.

Bell was standing out by the front door where Lena had told her to go sit after Callie had freaked out. "Hi." She whispered seeing Aria.

Aria didn't hear her but she hugged her friend on her way out and a comfort to her and as a way to wish her friend good luck.

"Well that was fun." Bell whispered and quietly laughed when she could feel Lena watching her pull at her sleeves and look at the ground.

"She's not normally like that." Lena promised.

"Callie's never been my biggest fan, but I mean, can you blame her after my family." Bell laughed harshly, trying to seem tough but she wasn't like Aria and this sarcastic humor wasn't helping her at all.

"What you said earlier, about a long story?" Lena asked going over to sit next to Bell on the couch.

"Yeah." Bell whispered her voice quaking, "It's basically just the stuff from last night, I guess."

'Im sorry sweetheart, is there anything that you would feel comfortable telling me?" Lena asked as she hugged the girl.

"I...I." Bell kept stuttering, "What do you want me to say?" She finally was able to spit out.

"Last night, when Aria was telling us about her, self harm thoughts." Lena tried to figure out how she was going to ask her question, "You quickly reached for your arm and pulled your sleeves down..."

Bell nodded, starting to freak out, "Mhm."

"Do you," Lena turned to face Bell, "hurt yourself sometimes?"

Bell kept pulling at her sleeves, trying to distract herself, "Aria doesn't know anything. Like anything."

"Aria doesn't know anything about what sweetheart?" Lena asked still looking at her daughters best friend.

"Anything." Bell whispered wiping away a tear, she scratched at her arm, "Like my father or the other stuff." She whispered looking at her arm, waiting for Lena to freak out. Just waiting for something bad to happen.

"Bell, love," Lena whispered kneeling in front of her so that Bell had to look her in the eyes, "I won't tell her anything okay? Do you trust me?"

Bell nodded, blinking away any tears in her eyes, trying not to let Lena see her so weak, she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

"Then I'm gonna do something okay? And I need you to try and trust me." Lena whispered softly, she slowly held Bell's hand in hers, running her fingers over her wrist. "Love, you're okay?"

Bell nodded, still internally freaking out, not being able to say anything still. Lena slowly lifted the girls sleeve just slightly, and instantly saw all of the marks, some clearly freshers than others, bandages still on some. And not just cuts but bruises on her arms too.

"Love," Lena whispered wiping away one of Bell's tears, Lena couldn't manage to say much more so she just wrapped Bell into a hug and held her for a minute, after a few minutes of silence, Bell looked exhausted so Lena walked her upstairs to Aria's room and told her to lay down until Aria got home. Lena stood in the doorway for a few minutes and then went downstairs to get her daughter's friend some food, hopefully before Aria and the others came home. After a couple minutes Lena went to go check in with Bell but she was already curled up asleep with earbuds in and Lena decided it would be best not to interrupt.

"Bell?" Aria whispered as soon as she came home from school. "Are you alright?" After getting no response from her friend she went downstairs to talk to her mom.

"Mama?" Aria said quietly as she sat at the kitchen table.

"Yes love?" Lena asked turning away from the sink where she had been splashing water onto her face trying to hide her puffy red eyes.

"Im really sorry about this morning" Aria said as she got up and gave Lena a hug.

"We've all had a long couple of days." Lena hugged her daughter tightly, never wanting her daughter to feel the same way her friend did. "I love you."

"I love you to mama" Aria said. "Is it okay if I call you that?" Aria timidly asked.

"Of course!" Lena practically laughed with excitement, "Of course love."

"Thank you" Aria responded pulling away from the hug slightly. "How is Bell?"

"She's upstairs in your room," Lena had to be careful, she promised Bell not to tell Aria anything and didn't want to lose the girl's trust, "She's just had a long day and needed some rest."

"Okay" Aria said sensing that Lena didn't want to accidentally say anything that she didn't want her friend to tell her. "Is ste- mom mad at me?" She asked instead on pressing onto the Bell issue. she would talk to her friend later. For now she really just wanted to talk her her moms.

"She's hurt more than anything love," Lena answered truthfully, "It's hard to see your babies hurting and rather than asking for your help, they just lash out against you. You'll understand it one day."

"I just really don't know how to ask adults for help, I barely went to Callie before" Aria said as she and Lena made their way to the couch so they could be more comfortable.

"We know. Your mom just feels like she has to be super mom all the time no matter what the problem."

"Its just hard for me because I really don't know how you guys can care about me all the time. I was in this one foster home when Callie was in Juvie and the mom would just keep telling me that I had to eat and that I had to stop trying to get attention and that I am not helping myself get better" Aria admitted. It felt weird for her to tell her mom all this but she knew it was part of the reason why she was refusing their help.

"That's not us. Okay? We're your moms, okay? And we're gonna help you love." Lena wanted more than anything to go back in time and save Callie and Aria from all the awful homes they had been in.

"Okay" Aria responded. "Im going to go check in on Bell" She added as she went up stairs to go and check in on her friend again.

"Bell?" Aria said as she saw that her friend was sitting up.

"Hey." Bell smiled once she opened her eyes and saw her friend in the doorway, "How was school?"

"Ummmm, not good. I slept during all my classes and refused to do anywork. I wouldnt be surprised if the teacher contacted Stef and Lena about that" Aria admitted. "How was your day?"

"Your moms are going to kill you. Not to mention, you realize that this isn't public school, they could kick you out?" Bell asked, and also avoiding her friend's question.

"Damn it. I forgot about that" Aria responded. "How was you chat with lena?" Aria asked again.

"Yeah so, maybe you should start trying to pay attention?" Bell suggested sitting up so Aria could come sit next to her.

"Yeah" Aria responded sitting next to her friend.

"And," Bell finally admitted, "It was fine, I mean your mom's nice and everything."

"She really is. Im glad that you are starting to trust her more and more" Aria said.

"Yeah." Bell whispered, secretly wishing she hadn't trusted Lena. "But I mean, I don't want to trust her to much."

"Why though?" Aria asked, clearly confused.

"It's just," Bell shrugged, "It's your moms not mine, and it's not like I should trust them anyways, I barely know them."

"Bell, they are giving you a chance for you to get to know them, Yeah they're my moms, but you are my friend so they care about you!" Aria said trying to get her friend to understand that her moms care about her.

"Yeah I know." Bell sighed laying back down on Aria's bed, "I just don't want to deal with everyone when they find out how screwed up my life is outside of just being the quiet girl in your moms class. I'm just afraid of what their gonna think, or what you're going to think."

"Who is everyone?" Aria asked clearly wondering if her friend was implying that Lena would tell the whole school about what was going on with her.

"Your moms, and your siblings. And Callie." Bell laughed quietly, "Clearly, your big sis doesn't like me, I might be failing but I'm not that dumb."

"Hold up, you really think that Lena would tell my family what is going on with you? the only person she would tell is Stef, and thats because they tell eachother everything." Aria responded trying to get her friend to understand that she was safe here and that no one would tell anyone anything that she didn't want shared.

"What about you?" Bell asked cautiously.

"You really think I would tell?" Aria asked.

"Well, I mean, Callie's approval use to mean the world to you, it didn't seem unreasonable that you would still talk to her about everything." Bell shrugged.

"Callie doesn't know about the reason why I am not eating, I do keep things from her" Aria said "You are my best-friend, I wouldn't betray your trust for the world".

Bell couldn't help but smile, Aria was so important to her, and Bell had been so afraid of losing her over some of her own issues, "Are your moms going to want us downstairs soon or do you think we have a little time?"

"I don't know" Aria responded. "Lets just go downstairs and then afterwards we can enjoy ourselves without having to worry" Aria responded as she starting making her way downstairs.

"Wait?" Bell pleaded, "Just five minutes before we go down?" She pleaded moving over so Aria could lay down next to her. "Please?" She begged again.

"Sure" Aria agreed as she layed down next to her friend.

"Sorry." Bell whispered, "I'm just really embarrassed to face your mom right now. I had a little mini panic attack earlier when we were talking."

"Dude, a few minutes before I called you the other day I had a full blown panic attack, there is nothing to be embarrassed about" Aria said trying to comfort her friend.

"Yeah." Bell whispered turning to face Aria and placing her head on her friend's shoulder, "Guess not."

"Come on, lets go" Aria said, all she wanted to do was be close to her mom right now. she didn't know why but that was all she could think about.

"Yeah." Bell said moving away slowly, "Sorry." She whispered, a tiny bit of hurt in her voice but she knew her friend was going through a tough time so she tried not to think about it, "I'm sure they're gonna want you to talk to them again anyways."

"Talk to them about what?" Aria asked as they started making their way down the stairs.

"I don't know, but I mean, isn't that what most parents do, ask how your day went and everything?" Bell shrugged, her home wasn't even close to the Foster household so she wasn't sure what was "normal" interaction between mothers and daughter.

"True" Aria said as they made their way into the kitchen where Lena was.

"Hey girls," Lena smiled at the two who entered the kitchen, "What's up?"

"Hi Mrs. Adams Foster." Bell whispered avoiding eye contact and tugging at her sleeves after the conversation the two had earlier.

"The sky, the ceiling, everything above the ground" Aria responded sitting down in the chair closest to Lena.

"Hey there smart ass." Stef joked entering the room giving Aria a quick kiss then giving one to Lena.

"Hi mom" Aria responded.

"So, since your mama didn't get a reply," Stef rolled her eyes at Aria, "Is there something you wanted or were you just down here because you were bored? Since what's up isn't the right question."

"We actually came down here so we plan our trip to mars" Aria responded smirking. "We just need to see what food we could take wit his and what not".

Stef couldn't help but chuckle at Aria, "Well then, Bell, what's up? Since I know you won't answer like a smart ass here."

"Hey!" Lena tried but knew it was a lost cause to correct language when Stef and Aria were at it again.

"Whats wrong with smart ass?" Aria asked looking at Lena

Lena sighed defeated before going back to what she was doing before the two girls had entered the room.

"Hey, only I can tease your mama like that." Stef teased some more before going over to the sink with Lena and kissing her neck. "Right love?"

"You are just going to have to learn how to deal with someone just as much sarcastic or more than you in the house" Aria shot back. "I mean, you guys just set yourself up for so many things. Its hard for me to catch them all!".

"Wow. You two are so alike it's not even funny." Bell laughed, "And exhausting, you're not even good at it and yet you keep it going." She teased her friend.

"Shut up" Aria said.

"Make me." Bell laughed, enjoying playing Aria's game for once, she stuck her tongue out at her friend.

"Mama, on a completely unrelated note, do we have any duct tape?" Aria asked as she stuck her tongue out at her friend in return.

Bell giggled as she slowly started to back away from Aria, ready to make a run for it towards the front lawn if Aria decided to "make her" stop.