"Momma it's not a good time" Callie sighed answering her phone just as she was coming back to the office after her lunch hour.

"This isn't a momma call it's a principal call" Lena said Wednesdsy afternoon.

"Oh no what did he do? He's been so good lately, tell his teacher he didn't mean it he just gets defensive when he's unsure" Callie said.

"No it's nothing like that, do you have time to come by for a meeting after school?"

"Is he ok?" Callie asked not liking the tone of her mom's voice

"His teacher just wan't to have a meeting with you"

"Yeah I will be there" Callie said.

When the finial bell rang that afternoon Callie and Will were both walking up the front walk to the administration building knocking on the door to Lena's office. Callie suddenly feel like a past student, or the daughter of the principal who frequently stopped by to visit or have lunch. She was suddenly a concerned parent being called into the principals office of her child's school.

"Hey come on in. Oh Will I'm glad you could make it, does this mean we need to find a place for Harry to play for a while?" Lena asked smiling at them both.

"No, mom is in the playground with him and Elizabeth and Frankie" Callie said. Lena nodded. This was unfamiliar for both of them Callie knew Lena was trying to be professional about it, if anything that was making her more nervous.

"Come in have a seat Rachel should be here any minute" Lena said ushering them into the couch in her office.

"This seems serious" Will said as they sat down Lena behind her desk.

"It's not, Rachel just wanted to touch base with you so you can get a sense of what we are looking at" Lena said sounding a little bit more like herself. There was a knock on the door and it opened as Harry's teacher walked in.

"Rachel you remember Callie, and this is her husband Will" Lena said as Callie and Will both stood to shake her hands.

"It's nice to meet you I'm glad you could both be here" Rachel said as they sat down.

"Of course we want to help him anyway we can" Will nodded.

"I asked Mrs Adams Foster…well let's face it this is about as informal as a parent meeting gets" Rachel said with a smirking making them all laugh a little.

"I asked Lena because I have some concerned about Harry functioning in my class" Rachel said.

"I know he can be a bit defiant we get the same thing at home, we are hoping it is something that goes away with the adjustment period" Callie said.

"This is not about his behavior, in fact Harry is very well behaved in my classroom. I never have to speak to him about anything, he is a joy to have."

"Oh wow…thats….I wish we could say the same for him at home" Will said earning a bit of a glare from Callie.

"We have concerned about his academics and if we can help him here at Anchor Beach" Rachel said.

"Like he's behind?" Callie asked. She could honestly say they had not done much with Harry at home as far as seeing where he was with reading or math. Most of their time was spent trying to earn his trust and make him feel more comfortable at home and around them. Callie figured the rest would come later.

"He is quiet, but from what I can gather he is reading only sight words which it 2 years behind where he should be. His math skills are far below grade level as well. I have not even toughed on any kind of history or science with him" Rachel said

"He fights about school every morning, he said his mom never made him go, that could be part of the problem" Will said. Rachel nodded.

"I believe that is the problem."

"Do you have his old academic records? Do you know how many days he missed?" Lena asked. Callie shook her head.

"Katie, his social worker did not give us much, the assumption is he will not be with us long so we didn't ask for more then we needed" Callie said.

"We know of your unique situation which is why we thought Harry might do better in a different school" Rachel said.

"Wait, your kicking him out!" Callie cried louder then she had meant to.

"No" Lena said firmly as Will put a hand on Callie's arm trying to calm her.

"We just think that given his situation…" Rachel started before Lena could go on but Callie cut her off growing frustrated.

"There have been 4 foster kids from my family alone enrolled in this school. I know its't now that you have something against foster kids. I know because look who the principal is! Your not even willing to give him a chance." Callie said looking directly at Lena.

"We just believe.." Rachel started again. Before Callie could open her mouth to cut her off again Lena did it herself already understanding the look on Callie's face.

"Callie what Rachel is saying is this is your call. But since Harry might not be with you for long it might be worth thinking about if you want to push him to be in Anchor Beach. You know our standards are higher then that of the public schools." Lena said in the gentle but firm voice Callie had been trying to achieve with Harry all week.

"You think it's to hard for him?" Will asked.

"We think it will take work to get him caught up. A lot of work at home, probably a tutor, and even then it depends if he want's to do the work. He's a good boy but part of his slacking might because he believes he won't be here for very long" Rachel said.

"If you guys have even a little bit of a time line for his time in care you need to think about this. We want him here and we are willing to help anyway we can but if he's only going to be with you for a few weeks it might not be worth it. Pushing him so much might be stressful to you and him and it the end when he won't be here long enough to really benefit from it" Lena said.

"We don't really have a time line" Will said.

"I'll look into it, see what I can find, do you need an answer today?" Callie asked.

"No, no of course not, we are not making him leave, we just wanted to try and make it a little easier for him" Rachel said.

"Ok, well we will think about and let you know by next week" Callie said.

"Of course, thank you again for meeting with me. Harry really is a great kid." Rachel said.

"Thank you" Will stood up shaking her hand again as shed left.

"Ok let's go see mom and the kids" Lena said grabbing her bag as the three of them walked out crossing the courtyard to where Stef was running around with the kids on the beach. Elizabeth sat on her back laughing as Stef held onto her running up and down the beach chasing Harry and Frankie who were running from her screaming. Callie smiled watching them.

"Hi!" Frankie greeted them running over giving Lena a hug.

"Hey, how was your day?" Lena asked.

"Good" Frankie said.

"Can we go in the water now?" Harry asked.

"Yes you can" Lena nodded.

"Are you going in?" Harry asked turning to Will.

"Of course" Will nodded pulling off his shirt he threw Frankie over his shoulder making her squeal and ran down to the water with Harry right behind him.

"Be careful" Callie called after them realizing they were not even sure if Harry knew how to swim of not.

"Hi my love" Stef said taking Elizabeth from her back and giving Lena a kiss.

"He's funny, he was asking for you guys" Stef said.

"Yeah until we get here then he acts like he could care less" Callie sighed watching him. Elizabeth hugged her leg before taking off to the water.

"I'll get her" Stef said running after her and scooping her up she dipped her toes in the water making the baby squeal.

"So are you my momma again or still the principal?" Callie asked Lena.

"Oh my baby, I am momma again" Lena chuckled putting her arm around Callie.

"And what does my momma think we should do?" Callie asked.

"Well, it is your call. I think the same as I did when I was principal. Is it worth all that work when he's not going to be here very long. I love having him here, I think it's really helped him become close to Frankie and I make sure I see him at least once a day and I think it's good for him. It's good for all of us." Lena said.

"Jude was behind when we started here" Callie said remembered. Lena nodded her agreement.

"We didn't know how long you guys would be with us, but we knew it would be longer then a few weeks. It was important to me that you two stay together. I always felt like Jude would not do well in another school if he wasn't near you. And now I see that helping Jude with school was a big part of him and I being as close as we are." Lena said.

"I want him to have that. I want him to have you and Frankie, and to know that he got to go to the same school as everyone else in this family. If this were Elizabeth we would do all the work we had to to make sure she could stay to get the good education. If we see the rewards of the work of not is not really the question. He deserves someone in his corner." Callie said watching them playing in the water.

"So you decided then?" Lena asked

"I don't know. Will and I will have to talk it over, but I would really like him to stay" Callie sighed.

"Then I will help" Lena nodded.

The next morning Callie went to work early leaving Will to drop off the kids. She sat at her computer pulling up everything she could in Harry's file. There were 180 days in a school year. They were near the end of the year with only 70 left. Out of the 110 pervious days at his old school Harry had attended 60. He had missed half the year, no wonder he was so behind! Callie was fuming as she left her office taking the elevator and stalked into Katie, his social workers office slamming the file down on her desk.

"He missed more the half the year" Callie said.

"We are aware" Katie nodded.

"Well are you aware of the battle I am having with his school now to keep him there because of this! Why was this not look into sooner? Why was this kid allowed to miss so many days?" Callie asked.

"Doesn't your mom run that school…?"

"Not the point!"

"Look Callie, he was in a different foster home at the start of the year, those days didn't credit over. Then when he got to mom mom wasn't consistent with sending him yes but the school didn't inform us of this until a few weeks ago?"

"why?"

"Because it's a big inner city school, to many kids in a classroom not enough teachers, it's complicated Callie we can't all go to a swanky charter school" Katie muttered the last bit and Callie felt it turning her face red.

"I grew up going to those schools when I was in the system. I know what it's like. I also know this mom was under observation for a lot of things and his school records were supposed to be looked into regularly."

"Look Callie he's only going to be with you another 3 weeks tops. His mom has to finish her parenting class and then he's going back to her. Besides he hates school, maybe he's just not that bright" Katie said.

"Well it doesn't hurt for us to catch him up. Someone has to be putting some effort into this kid" Callie snapped before stomping out and going back to her own office.

When Callie picked Harry up from school he was running around the playground with Frankie but he stopped the minute he saw Callie walking over to them.

"We can go see my mom right?" Harry cried without greeting her.

"Yes, you have a visit" Callie nodded.

"Where is your mom?" Frankie asked.

"She can't take care of me right now, but in a few more weeks she can, but I get to visit with her once a week." Harry said.

"Why can't she take care of him?" Frankie asked turning to Callie.

"Umm I'm not really sure, why don't you go find momma it's getting late she's probably ready to leave" Callie said. Frankie gave her a look mirroring Stef's when she knew Callie was hiding something from her.

"Fine" Frankie said grabbing her backpack. Callie was glad her sister was so much younger, she couldn't get away with anything that easy when she was up against that look on Stef's face.

"Come on we can't be late" Harry yelled running to the car. Callie turned it on and started back towards work.

"How was school?" Callie asked.

"Fine"

"Harry do you like school?" Callie asked.

"I like playing on the playground with Frankie, and I like when Lena gives me cookies at lunch" Harry said.

"she does!" Callie cried surprised. Her momma was growing soft with her age.

"yup, are we almost there?" Harry asked

"Yes, we're here" Callie said pulling into the parking lot of her office building. She had to stop Harry from running into the building and he was bouncing on the balls of his feet as they took the elevator up. Callie dropped him off at Katie's office to wait for his mom, because he was not staying long term she would not be meeting his mother.

"I will be back in one hour" Callie assured him but Harry just waved her off and Callie was pretty sure he could care less if she came back for him or not.

Callie left the building going to pick Elizabeth up from daycare and met her sister at a restaurant near by for dinner. With everything that had been going on Callie felt like she had not had a decent conversation with her sister all week. She was relieved to see Mariana already there saving a table.

"Hey" Mariana got up giving her a hug and taking Elizabeth from her as Callie sat down across from her.

"Oh man this place is so….momma" Callie said looking around at the vegetarian restaurant Mariana had insisted Callie needed to try.

"Salad is healthy, besides it's Sam's favorite place" Mariana said in her sassy voice.

"And how is the wonderful Sam?" Callie asked.

"Still wonderful, working late tonight, I think we found a house." Mariana said letting Elizabeth crawl all over her lap banging her spoons on the table.

"Oh yeah, close?" Callie asked, honestly that was all that really mattered.

"Yes, don't worry mom will have her way" Mariana smirked.

"If mom had her way we would all live in one big house, like those sister wives or something" Callie said making Mariana burst out laughing. They put in their order and were quiet for a minute.

"So how is he?" Mariana asked.

"Right now he's over the moon, he had a visit with his mom, what could be better. It's like he didn't even care about me" Callie said.

"Well he doesn't see how much she is hurting him, he thinks all the things she lets him do are great. He will see when he gets older.

"By then it will be to late" Callie sighed.

"You can't save them all Callie" Mariana sighed.

"did you have visits with your mom?"

"A few, mostly she didn't show up which pissed Jesus off to no end. But we didn't have a good relationship with her. We were never close to her like Harry is to his mom" Mariana shrugged.

"He's failing in school. I told you about the meeting we had with momma and his teacher yesterday. It's not pretty Mariana, he needs a lot of help."

"They all need a lot of help Callie, at least this is something you can do about it."

"But to what cost, he'll hate us more for making him do extra work and then it won't even be worth it when he goes back to his mom and she doesn't make him go to school."

"It will be worth it to you, you will know you did all you could." Mariana said. Callie nodded and was silent before smirking up at her sister.

"Remember when we used to just talk about drinking and boys?"

"Oh yes, all those many years ago?" Mariana laughed.

"Not so many! We used to have girls night out every week until I got pregnant." Callie said nodding over to Elizabeth who was trying to put on Mariana's sweater. Callie sighed watching her, she had a feeling she had a future Mariana drama queen on her hands the way her daughter mirrored her sister.

"When I get pregnant, we should have playdates, we can go to the zoo and not get funny looks" Mariana laughed helping Elizabeth into the sweater.

"Wait! you guys aren't…?" Callie started.

"Trying? God no! but we have been talking, talking a lot actually. Since we have been looking at houses and number of bedrooms, it comes up you know?" Mariana said as Callie winked at her.

"Ahh so there's a number, how many"

"Sam want's 8 like his family. I told him no fricken way. But I think 3 would be a good number. Big families are special you know, I want kids who get to be a part of that" Mariana said. Callie nodded her understanding. As both children of the foster system who for a while had only their brothers to count on they both understood how important family was.

"Would you adopt?" Callie asked. Mariana shrugged.

"I want my own first, just don't rush me ok! I'm not even engaged yet" She said putting up her hands making Callie laugh.

Callie walked into the office carrying Elizabeth feeling not one bit full.

"Stupid salad" she muttered wishing she could have ordered a nice burger or some pasta. Harry was sitting out in the hall sulking kicking his feet against the chair while Katie sat at her desk filling out paperwork.

"Hi buddy, how was your mom?" Callie asked. Harry just glared at her not answering.

"He had a great time, mom brought dinner so he should be all set, he has another visit next week" Katie said.

"Thank you" Callie offered her a smile hoping they were still good after how Callie had barged into her office earlier that afternoon.

"Ok buddy, let's go home" Callie said.

"no" Harry said firmly.

"Harry, the office is closing it's time to go home now" Callie said.

"No, I hate you I want my mom!" Harry screamed at Callie making a move to kick her as Callie jumped out of the way.

"I'm sorry I know you want to go with your mom but you can not today, you need to come home with us or you will be stuck here until I come back to work tomorrow morning" Callie said firmly. She knew she was losing her patients.

"Fine, but I still hate you" Harry snapped standing up and grabbing his backpack.

"That's fine you can hate me walking to the car" Callie said adjusting Elizabeth on her hip as Harry dragged his feet behind her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Callie asked as she pulled the car from the parking lot.

"No" Harry snapped. Elizabeth was watching him with wide eyes. Callie prayed she didn't pick up his behaviors.

"It must be hard seeing your mom, you must miss her" Callie said.

"Shut up" Harry yelled.

"I am sorry if that upsets you, why don't you take a break in your room when we get home and then we will have to do your homework" Callie said.

"I hate homework! My mom says I don't have to do homework! I hate your house and I hate that stupid school" Harry yelled. Callie didn't say anything as she pulled into their street. Harry waited for a reaction from her before going on.

"I hate Lena and Frankie! That school is dumb and I hate homework" Harry yelled again. Callie just nodded pulling the car into the driveway. She got out unstrapping Elizabeth as Harry climbed from the car. Will opened the front door to greet them.

"Your house is stupid, i hate it there's nothing to do here. This whole neighborhood is stupid" Harry yelled as they walked up the walk to the house. Callie stopped in the doorway handing Elizabeth to Will.

"Good day?" Will asked looking over Harry as he rambled on about everything he hated.

'Yup, I'm going to take a bath" Callie said already closing the door.