Disclaimer: I don't own the Fosters, only the plot and any characters you don't recognize from the show.

Author's Note: Two updates? Less than a day apart? Yay! (Well, actually, to be truthful, the chapter just got really really long so I cut it in two...) But the good news is that the next one's started and should hopefully be up in a couple of days.


The doorbell rang again. Cole started breathing a little harder. What was he supposed to do? Just then, like an angel sent from heaven, Alex appeared. Cole watched her watch him as he melted back into the hallway. She looked thoughtful, but just nodded reassuringly at him, as she opened the door.

"Hey Mom! Dad!" she said.

"Allie, it's so good to see you," the man said, pulling Alex into a hug.

"Nobody ever calls me that anymore, except for you," Alex responded, returning the hug.

"Ah, can't you let your old dad call you by your childhood nickname?"

"I suppose."

"We could start calling you Alexandra instead, if you'd prefer," the woman broke in.

"Hi Mom," Alex said, moving to hug her. "Try that, and I'll make sure everybody at this party calls you Theresa."

"Point taken," the older woman said with a grin. "Now, I know we're a little bit early, but we'd thought we'd come and help you finish setting up. Are Emily and the kids in the back?"

"Actually, we've finished the set-up. Emily's just finishing getting ready, but... KIDS! Nana and Papa are here!"

Cole watched from his corner as Mac came racing down the hall, followed by Jamie. "Nana! Papa!" she cried, trying to hug both of them at once. Cole noted absently that she was wearing a skirt for the first time, a fuchsia plaid skirt that complemented her fuchsia tank top. Jamie arrived, trying to edge Mac out of the way to get a hug of his own. He was also in plaid, a green plaid shirt which he paired with jean shorts. At least Alex wasn't also wearing plaid, that would just be too weird.

"So, where's Cole? That's his name, right? Cole? I want to meet him."

"He's right here," said Emily's voice from behind him. Cole jumped slightly. She nudged him out to where the others were. "Hi Terry. Hi Will. It's great to see you guys. We're so glad you could make it."

"Well, we weren't going to miss the chance to meet our soon-to-be grandson," Terry said with a smile. She faced him. "You may call me Nana, everyone else in this house does, or Terry, if you'd prefer, but God help you if you call me Mrs. King. Understood?" She offered him her hand.

He shook it. "Yes, ma'am."

"Oh no, no ma'am either," she stated firmly.

Cole didn't know what to say to that. Alex saved him. "So Cole, as you can guess, this is my mother, Dr. Terry King. And this gentleman over here is my father, Colonel Will King."

Will offered his hand to Cole. "Nice to meet you, son."

"Nice to meet you too, Colonel King, sir."

"Son, I appreciate the politeness. I do. Many teenagers these days don't know how to say please and thank you. But like my wife, I'm prefer Papa or Will, if you please. We're family now, or close enough." Cole nodded, not trusting himself to answer.

"Why don't you guys come in? Do you need help getting anything?" Alex said.

"We've got the food; all that's left are the lawn chairs in the trunk," Terry said, motioning to the paper shopping bags on the floor.

"I'll get them," Cole offered.

"Thanks," Will said. He handed Cole the keys. As Cole left, he overhead him telling Alex, "He's a helpful boy."

Cole let out a huge breath as soon as he was out of sight and earshot. Whew. Thank God that was over. They seemed nice. Moreover, they seemed to like him well enough. He wondered if they knew he wasn't exactly what he seemed. The woman – Terry – Alex said she was a doctor. She might have suspected something even if they weren't told about him. He grabbed the chairs and walked them around to the backyard.

The sound of another car attracted his attention, as he set up the lawn chairs on the backyard. More people. Soon enough, Mac and Jamie and three new kids came racing out the back door.

"COLE!" Mac called. She led them straight to him. "These are our cousins – Chloe, she's the oldest, then Izzie, she's Jamie's age, and David." In a softer voice, she added, "He's the baby of the family."

"I am not; I'm almost nine."

"Well, Cole's the oldest. He's fifteen."

"I'm almost fifteen," Chloe said, flipping her long hair back.

"You turned fourteen last month. That's not almost fifteen. And besides, Cole's turning sixteen right before school starts.

"Fine, he wins," Chloe said, resigned.

"Sorry," Cole said, with a shrug. Was age really a game? Who had control when they were born? If he had a choice, he'd have been born two years earlier, so he'd be closer to eighteen and all the privileges it would bring. Or, just be born in the right body. That would work too.

"Oh, I see you've met my kids," an unfamiliar woman said, approaching. "You must be Cole."

"Yes ma'am."

"I'm Miranda, you can call me that or Aunt Mandy, whichever you're comfortable with. This is my husband, Harry." She gestured to the man following her.

"Hi Cole," Harry said, sticking out his hand. Cole took it and shook it, noticing he was wearing surprising dark clothes for the hot summer day. Harry seemed to catch his once-over. "Yeah, I know, shouldn't come to a family event in work clothes, but I'll have to leave this party a little early and go straight to work. I'm a cop. I don't know if they told you that."

Cole shook his head. "Nice to meet you sir."

"My father-in-law was right. You are a polite one. But Harry works fine for me."

"Yes, sir, Harry, sir."

Harry laughed slightly. "We'll work on that." The crowd had moved to the table, where Emily was passing out drinks, and he drew Cole to them. "So, is this the last of our party?" he asked Emily, after requesting a Coke.

"Not quite. We're expecting a couple more."

"I thought this was family? Are your's coming?"

"In a matter of speaking. Ah and here they are!" Two women and a group of kids was coming around the side to the backyard, arms laden with food. "Cole, come, I want you to meet my surrogate sister and her wife and kids."

As Cole approached, he noticed that they all looked very familiar. "Callie?"

"Cole?" The eldest girl answered.

"You two know each other?" Emily asked.

"We were roomies at Girls United," Callie said. "Hi Emily. Been a while."

"You know, I don't think I've seen you since we first met, at that dinner party Stef and Lena held. You were living there, what, a couple of weeks then?"

"Something like that."

"I never knew that you knew Cole."

"I didn't then."

"Well, isn't this fun," the new blond woman said. "Hi Cole. If you don't remember us, we'll remind you of all the names later, but can someone please tell me where I can put this down now?" She hefted a huge watermelon in her arms.

"Next to the other one, on the table over there," Emily said, gesturing. "The rest of the foodstuffs can go wherever on that table too."

"Thank you," Stef said, making a beeline toward the table. Cole took one of Callie's bags and walked with her.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey you. Sorry I haven't followed up much with you. With everything that's been going on...how much have I missed? Are you adopted now? When did this happen?"

"I'm in a long-term foster placement, my parents won't have be back but they won't give up their rights either, and I've only been here a couple of days."

"My adoption hasn't gone through either yet. My birth father is dragging his heels. At least Jude's went through."

"Yeah, I remember how happy you were about that."

"Oh well. At least it's just a matter of time. Your's?"

"No idea. But they seem nice."

"It's so funny. I mean, I've heard Lena go on and on about Emily. Apparently they were really close in college or something."

"Emily called Lena her surrogate big sister before," Cole offered helpfully.

"Yeah, I wonder what the story is there. We should get them to tell us."

"Yeah." They reached the tables, where Mariana was laying out the chips and dips.

"Hey Cole!" Mariana said. "This is so cool. Callie, have you met Emily and Alex's other kids?

"No, not yet. I don't think they were at that party."

"You totes should."

"Definitely. Where are they?" Callie asked, looking around.

"Over there, with their cousins. Come, I'll introduce you." Callie followed Mariana, leaving Cole alone at the table.

But not for long. Lena soon joined him. "Hey Cole. How have you been? It's been a while since we saw you last."

"Did you have anything to do with this?" He asked abruptly. Maybe it wasn't that polite, but the thought had been nagging at him since he saw them arrive and he had to know.

"With what?" Lena looked genuinely confused.

"With me, being here. They're your friends, Callie was at the group home with me, I was the kid no one thought would get placed..."

"I'm sorry to say I didn't. But when Emily told me they were fostering a transgender teenager, I was kind of hoping it was you. She never mentioned your name, just said our new son."

"Okay." Cole accepted it. It was just coincidence then. The thought made him strangely happy. They really had picked him, picked him from a profile, not because their friend felt sorry for him and they were doing her a favor. "I should probably go tell Callie thanks then."

"Yeah, for what?"

"For taking that photo of me," he said with a smile, taking his leave. Lena smiled back. And that's how Emily found her.

"Isn't he great?" she said, with a pardonable amount of pride in her voice.

"Yes, he is. You know, he thought I might have something to do with your taking him. A weird coincidence."

"I know. We seem to have a lot of those."

"You mean like my wife's ex-husband being friends with your wife's sister's husband?"

"Yeah, like that one." They both smiled at the memory of finding that little tidbit out. Harry had known Stef since she was married to Mike at that time and he worked with them on the force, and Emily and Lena had been friends at the time, but neither Stef and Lena nor Alex and Emily had even met yet. Nor did that relationship have anything to do with any of them meeting. It was just chance.

"Crazy how these things happen."

"Some things are meant to be, I guess." They noticed a slight argument going on at the barbecue; apparently Stef and Will were fighting about who was going to grill, and poor Alex (who was a perfectly respectable griller herself) was trying to mediate between them.

"Shall we go help them?"

"Why don't we check on the kids first? Make sure everyone's getting along. And then, once that's done, if they're still at it..."

"You're devious, woman," Lena said with a smile.

It wasn't hard to find the kids. A vicious water balloon and blaster fight had broken out amongst the kids, with everyone from oldest Brandon to youngest David taking part. After a few moments of watching, it appeared as though it was boys versus girls and pretty evenly matched. Emily and Lena quickly got out of the way as kids careened past them and narrowly missed getting splashed.

"You're going to have fun driving five sopping wet kids home," Emily remarked.

Lena shrugged. "It's hot. They'll dry off in the sun. Shall we check the situation on the barbie?"

Just then, Mac zipped past them into the backyard with a blaster, Jesus hot on her tail carrying two gigantic balloons. "Be careful, guys!" But neither made any indication that they heard it. Emily shrugged it off, as she and Lena turned around.

When they got to the backyard, the sight had certainly changed. Mac and Jesus were frozen in spot, looking just a tiny bit terrified. Alex, Stef, and Will were also standing there silently. The large wet splotches, the sopping barbecue, and the splashed adults explained the absence of the balloons in Jesus's hands as well as the suddenly subdued scene.

"Oh dear." They approached the scene.

"Makensie King, give me that gun," Will said in a foreboding voice.

"Yes, sir," Mac's voice was small as she handed the blaster over. Will took it in his hands, turning the the blaster over as he considered it. As the two women got closer, they could see that he apparently took the brunt of one of the balloons and the barbecue the other.

Suddenly, he burst out laughing and started spraying Jesus with the blaster, who immediately took off running. "Get me wet? I'll get you wet, you devil child you!" he called out before Jesus had a chance to disappear entirely. Mac relaxed, and started laughing too, her giggles turning into shrieks as her grandpa turned the water on her and she too ran.

He put the gun down. "Now, where were we?" he asked Stef.

"I think we had just gotten it lit."

"I'll get more charcoal," Alex offered.

"I'll help you," Harry added.

It seemed like the unintended drenching had cooled the atmosphere considerably, and the two would-be grillers worked companionably together. Emily and Lena walked on, eventually meeting up with Terry and Miranda.

"That looked like fun," Miranda remarked, as they grew closer.

"It was probably inevitable that something like it would happen eventually," Emily sighed, taking a seat. "You know Lena, of course."

"Of course. We've met before. It's nice seeing you again, Lena, both you and Stef," Terry commented. "Though I think last time you only had three kids."

"Yeah, we've grown a bit since then. But I couldn't imagine life now without Callie and Jude. They filled corners in my heart I didn't even know were empty."

"Did you hear that Lena actually met Cole before we did? He and Callie are friends."

"I didn't hear that. What a pleasant surprise."

"Really."

"So, I'm sure I've heard the story before, but how did you two meet?" Miranda asked, after a short silence.

Emily grinned at Lena. "I was in high school, Lena was in college. She was in an LGBT group there, I was a high schooler trying to figure out how to come out. Her group did a little presentation at my school, we met afterward, and sorta hit it off."

"You dated?" Miranda sounded surprised.

"No, not like that. She's like my super awesome lesbian mentor big sister person. She really helped me get through my coming out. It was, it was a different world then. I mean, not that it's easy now, but it was different then. There was less acceptance, AIDS was really just coming to the forefront of the public eye. It was nice to just, to just have someone to talk to."

"Alex could've used someone like that," Terry remarked. "We tried our best, but there was no support to be had on a military base. It just wasn't talked about there. I don't think she really felt free until she hit college, and maybe not even then." Silence followed Terry's comment, as the four women took a moment of silence.

"FOOD!" Will called out. It was too late for lunch and early for dinner, but that's how their barbecues usually went. Nevertheless, kids came swarming, the adults followed a little more leisurely. Will had platters of hot dogs and hamburgers and veggie burgers, and it looked like Stef had finally gotten her chance at the grill, albeit with the corn on the cob. They helped themselves to buns and condiments and macaroni salad and deviled eggs and baked beans and fruit salad and watermelon and, soon enough, corn on the cob. There was talking and eating and laughing, and Emily felt her hand being grabbed. Alex was holding it under the table, like they were two kids, and they looked at Cole and smiled at each other. It actually looked like he had relaxed and was enjoying himself, chatting with Callie, Brandon, Mariana, Jesus, and Chloe. He was as wet as the others, and barely seemed to notice it.

"His clothes," Emily said in an undertone.

"What about them?" Alex also kept her voice low.

"We need to do something about them. He must be miserably hot in all those layers."

"He's dressing to conceal. That's what he always wears."

"There must be a better way, one where I don't have to worry about him getting heatstroke."

"We'll figure it out," Alex said, stroking her wife's knuckles.

If Cole had any idea of what there were talking about, which seemed unlikely given that he was at the other end of the table, he gave no indication of it. Fact is, contrary to all his fears about the day, he was actually having fun. He should have guessed that such great people would have such great family members. His relaxation probably also had something to do with the fact that he only had to meet half as many people as he thought he would, since he'd already met the other half and liked them. It was good to see Callie again. He'd had some fun at her house the night of the adoption party, and he missed his friend. Hopefully now they'd stay in touch more, if he could just stay here. For now, he'd laugh with the others at Jesus's pompous claims of being a ladies' man and Mariana's deft deflation of his ego.


Author's Note 2: In case you missed it, the party they're referring to is the one at the beginning of 1x04. There seemed to be lots of lesbian couples there, so I figured why shouldn't Emily and Alex be there too? They just didn't get any real screen time ;) And if you're wondering why they weren't all at the wedding, they were on vacation then and regretfully couldn't make it. It was kinda short notice, after all.