Promt: Stef comes home to Lena after a difficult day at work. Approx. eight months into the relationship.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters belong to the Fosters and ABC Family.

The day had started out so well. Stef spend the majority of the morning doing routine patrol with her partner, Alex. So far nothing seemed out of the ordinary. After they had lunch, they ended up doing mainly paperwork, but Alex had a few errands that he needed to run, so they went ahead and went back out on patrol around four. Little did they know that they would be in exactly the right place at the right time.

As they pulled into the parking lot at the pharmacy, Stef noticed that three people had just come running out of the building .

As she approached them, she asked "Is everything okay, what is going on?"

"There was a man with a gun in there," an older woman said completely out of breath and in a complete state of panic.

"You have to get in there, that guy was trying to rob the place," a tall man said.

Alex called for backup, but at that time, shots rang out in the building. Stef and Alex both drew their weapons and entered the building. Stef went to the right as Alex went to the left. As she got a visual on the suspect, she saw that he was holding a gun to a pharmacists head.

"Police, drop your weapon," Stef shouted in her no nonsense voice.

At that time, he turned his weapon at her and fired. She dove out of the way, hitting her head on a shelf as she went down. She heard two more shots, but she couldn't tell where they were coming from. She also heard a number of voices and as she stood back up, she saw that Alex had shot the suspect twice.

She called for an EMS unit and removed the gun from the suspects reach. About that time, backup came storming through the door and took over dealing with the suspect. EMS arrived and took the suspect to the hospital as IAB questioned the officers and witnesses that were involved in the shooting.

After her interview, Stef made her way over to Alex. He was responsible for saving her life. She gave him a huge hug and he took her out to have a paramedic look at her head and ribs where she hit the floor and the shelving. After a quick look, the medic patched up her head and she was sent back to the station. When she got back, she was given a few days off and sent home.

As she drove home, she realized just how much her head and ribs hurt. There would surely be a few nice bruises. She was so glad that Mike had Brandon for the weekend because she knew that he would worry if he saw all of her cuts and bruises. The one thing she just had to worry about now was Lena. She wasn't sure what to tell her, but she figured that she could just try not to worry her too much if she just went straight to bed.

When she walked in the door, she saw Lena was in the kitchen cooking. She thought that that would give her a chance to make it up the stairs, but she wasn't so lucky.

"Hi babe, how was your day?" she heard Lena call from the kitchen.

"It was okay Love. I am going to go shower and change."

"Stef, what happened?" Lena asked without even seeing her. She knew that when the day was "okay" that it meant something happen and the shakiness in Stef's voice was enough to send chills down her spine.

She walked in to the living room where she found her bruised and battered girl friend trying to make and escape. "Stef, what happened to you? Are you alright? You have a giant cut on your head and bruises all over," Lena said in an extremely worried voice.

"It was nothing honey, just a normal day at work."

"There is nothing normal about you coming home all beaten up. What is going on Stef?"

At that time, Stef began to break down in tears. Lena gently wrapped up the smaller woman in her arms and let her cry for a few minutes. About that time, she heard Stef mumble, "There was a robbery at a drug store, and the guy shot at me, so when I got out of the way, I fell into the shelving. Alex shot him though. It was just a really close call."

"Oh, baby, why didn't you call me? If I had known I would have come and gotten you from work. I'm just so glad that you are safe. I love you so much," Lena said while kissing the top of her girlfriends head.

"Go ahead and start upstairs. I am going to put dinner away and I will be right up." With that, Stef slowly made her way up the stairs and into their bedroom where she had a seat on the bed.

Lena came in shortly after and took her belt off, placing her gun in the safe. She then knelt down in front of her girlfriend and started to undress her. As she removed Stef's shirt and t-shirt, she saw the bruising on her ribs and back for the first time, and her heart broke. She continued undressing her girlfriend and then wrapped her up in a robe and led her to the bathroom. Lena then quickly undressed herself and started the shower. Once the water was warmed up, she took Stef's robe and helped her into the shower, following closely behind.

Once in the shower, Lena just held Stef until she had calmed down. Eventually Lena began to gently wash Stef's hair and continued to wash her body. Stef was physically and emotionally exhausted and just let herself melt into her girlfriend. Eventually they got out when the water started to get cold. Lena wrapped Stef up in a towel and dried herself off. She then dried off Stef and left her to get changed. Soon Lena came back with their dinner and they both ate in the bedroom. Once they finished eating, they just held each other.

"Thank you for being here with me Love. I didn't know how you would react, but I am so glad that I have you."

"Stef, I can't say that I like your job, but I will always be here for you. I love you so much and I am just glad that you are here, safe in my arms."

With that, they both shared a kiss and just enjoyed the feeling of each other. It had been a hard afternoon, but being able to come home to such a supportive partner made Stef feel more at ease than she ever had. She was just glad that they had a few days to share with Lena before she would have to return to work. She also knew just how much she loved the woman beside her after today's events.