I'm sorry it's been forever. Guys I update when I can. I actually exist outside of this website. So please no yelling. I love you guys, thanks for sticking by me! Enjoy:)
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"Good morning my loves." Stef says cheerfully. It was the weekend after the visit to the cemetery and things had been running smoothly. Lena and Stef knew they were still a little reserved but figured, once they asked them if they wanted to be adopted, that would all fade away.
"Morning.." A couple of the kids mumbles out but most of them stayed quiet. Caleb in particular. He was feeling a little off. He was getting sharp stabbing pains in his side and he couldn't shake it.
"Please don't forget mama has a meeting tonight, so I am cooking my special 'ordering take out a la mom'" Stef says earning some laughs and a playful glare from Lena.
"So only I will be at your practice today love." Stef says taking Caleb's hat off and kissing his head. When Caleb doesn't protest his hat being taken off, the moms share a look at Lena looks at Caleb. His usually bright green eyes were pale and tired.
"You ok my love?" Lena asks and Caleb nods his head.
"Maybe we should think about sending you to bed a bit earlier." Stef says figuring it was fatigue that was getting to her son. Caleb shrugs and finishes his banana, before standing up slowly and trashing the peel. Stef watches Caleb walk stiffly and looks over at Lena.
"You sure you're feeling ok?" Stef asks and touches the back of her hand to his forehead. He was a bit clammy, but Stef didn't read to much into it. Caleb again nods as another sharp pain travels through his body.
"Ok." Stef smiles and Caleb takes his lunch bag when offered to him by Lena.
"Alright troops. We leave in 3." Lena smiles at her wife before handing her, her lunch.
"Are you sure you can drop them off?" Lena asks and Stef nods.
"Yes, have fun at your district meeting." Stef teases and Lena shoot her a playful scowl. "But not to much fun, we want you to come home." Stef laughs and kisses Lena's pouty lips before hanging Jesus an apple as he jogs down the stairs.
"Alright, say bye to your mama and let's go." Stef orders as she walks out the kitchen. One by one, the children kiss Lena goodbye, and Lena couldn't help but to notice, Caleb leaning on Callie as they left the house. Lena gives her self a metal reminder to call the school and check on him later. Oh how she hated district meetings.
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"You can barely walk Caleb." Callie says helping him sit at a bench later that day.
"I'm fine. It will pass." Caleb holds on to his side as he struggles to talk.
"I'm going to tell Lena and Stef." Callie starts to stand but Caleb stops her.
"Callie." Caleb breathes out and Callie stops to look at her brother. She sees the plead in her brothers eyes and sighs.
"Here." Callie takes out his water bottle and hands it to him. "Just for today." Caleb takes the water bottle with a shaky hand.
"Just for today." Caleb looks out across the water slowly sipping his water and Callie rubs his head softly, attempting to take the pain away.
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Later that day, Caleb was desperately hanging on to consciousness. The pain increasing with every minute, and his day wasn't even near over. He still had practice and Stef was going to be there. He had to show Stef and Lena that he, Callie, and Jude wouldn't be a burden on them. He had to prove his worth. Caleb leaned against the cool metal of the lockers and allowed his eyes to close. When he closed his eyes he was met with flashes of his mother face, laughing smiling, with Callie, as they ran around. Jude of course was next to him, with a bright smile. For a minute his pain was gone. In this moment, nothing mattered. When he opened his eyes he was met with a wave of intense pain. He stared ahead at the wall and slowly pushed himself off the lockers and pulled on his football gear. When he left the locker room and approached the football field, he became dizzy and leaned against the nearest wall. He pressed his forehead against the sun covered brick before pushing off and looking across the field to see Stef already seated and looking down at her phone. He pulls on his helmet and jogs stiffly on to the field, where his team was waiting for him to lead practice.
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"Hey babe." Stef smiles as she climbs on the bleachers.
"Hi, how's it going?" Lena asks and Stef takes a seat with the most shade.
"I just got here, I don't see him yet." Stef says scanning the field for her son.
"I think we should keep him home and let him rest tomorrow, he did not look good this morning." Lena says and Stef runs a hand through her blonde locks.
"I think it more than fatigue. I think he is getting sick." Stef says and Lena agrees.
"We will take his temperature tonight and give him some soup." Lena says and Stef sighs.
"One day, that boy will trust us." Lena laughs lightly.
"That's the dream my love. I will see you soon." Stef smiles and says goodbye before removing the phone from her face and looking down to check her emails.
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"Hey, you good?" Caiden asks jogging over to Caleb. Caleb gives him a nod before Caiden hits the top of his helmet and jogs off.
"Alright Foster." The coach says grabbing Caleb's attention. "Quick ace, F-stop right." Caleb jogs over to the huddle and takes a knee in front of them.
"Quick ace, F-stop, on one, ready?"
"Break!" They all shout and clap before jogging over to their positions and Caleb stands up and puts his mouth piece in his mouth.
"Green 80! Green 80!." Caleb looks around and feels his vision start to blur. He takes a step and his half back runs to his position and Caleb shuts his eyes tightly. He is hit with a wave of pain and he keeps his eyes shut. He is again met with flashes of his mom. Laughing and smiling. He is so wrapped up in his flashes he doesn't realize he has passed out in the field.
"Foster!" The coaches run out on the field when Caleb falls to the ground. Stef looks up from her phone to see Caleb sprawled out on the ground and jumps out of her seat and runs down the bleachers.
"Foster." The head coach takes Caleb's helmet off and Caleb curls himself into a ball and screams out in pain.
"Caleb!" Stef yells running onto the field. The coaches move to the side as Stef reaches her son screaming in pain.
"No one touched him." The coach says and Stef tucks her blonde locks behind her ear and tries to get Caleb to talk to her.
"Baby, hey." Stef soothes and wipes the tears from his face. She tucks her phone in her pocket and swoops Caleb up bridal style. She takes off towards her car, not saying a word to anyone. Her only focus was her son.
"Caleb, I need you to stay awake love. Talk about something, anything." Stef says putting her hand on Caleb's head as she speeds to a hospital. "Caleb." Stef says looks briefly from the road to her son. She sees his struggle to stay awake, and wills the traffic to disappear. As they grow closer to the hospital, Caleb was loosing his ability to stay awake, and Stef was loosing her ability to stay strong.
"Caleb." Stef says pulling up to the hospital. She jumps out and runs over to the passenger side and pulls Caleb out of the car and runs into the emergency room. "Somebody help!" Stef yells and gains the attention of some nurses.
"How long has he been unconscious?" The nurse asks as they load Caleb on the gurney.
"I don't know, a couple of minutes." Stef answers walking briskly along side of the gurney.
"You have to stop here." The nurse stops Stef.
"But he is my son." Stef says looking passed her to watch the gurney.
"We will take good care of him." The nurse smiles and walks passed the door Stef wasn't allowed passed. Stef stands there for a minute before running a hand through her hair and squeezing her eyes shut. She takes a few shaky breaths before reaching in her pocket for her phone. Her fingers shake as she scrolls through her phone to find Lena's name. As she presses on the contact she feels her resolve breaking. It continues to ring and Stef can feel herself near tears.
"Hey love." Lena answers and Stef takes a minute to feed off of her positive vibes.
"Stef?" Lena says climbing into her car.
"Lena.." Stef chokes out and Lena's heart stops.
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A few hours have passed and no one has heard anything. The family sits in the waiting room, obviously divided. Callie and Jude have taken residence in the corner, Lena and Stef sit across from them, hoping they will take comfort in one of them. Callie holds on to Jude and occasionally looks over at them and Stef. They look... Scared. No one has ever looked scared for them. Callie looks at how Lena grips Stef, and how Stef wipes the silent tears away. They are scared. She is scared. She needs them. She needs to feel that warmth. The warmth Caleb usually gives her when she and Jude are scared. That loving hug that makes her feel as if everything is going to be ok. Callie slowly untangles herself from Jude and stands up.
Jude who is unsure of what was happening, stands up with his sister and watches her as she walks over to Stef and sits right next to her and places her head on steps shoulder. Jude watches as Stef's tears seem to flow harder down her face. Jude walks over to Lena and gets in her lap. Lena instantly wraps her arms around him and holds him against her chest.
"Listen, both of you." Stef whispers. "It's ok to be ok. I promise. Ok?" Stef says and both children nod slightly. "Ok." Stef says and kisses Callie on the head and runs Jude's back. They aren't sure how long they stay like that, but when the doctor finally comes out, all of their children are asleep.
"Foster?" The doctor says and Stef carefully stands, waking Callie and Lena stands with Jude in her arms. Stef takes a step forward.
"Hi, I'm his mother." Stef says wiping her hand on her jeans.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Jennings." Stef shakes the Doctors hand. "Caleb is going to be ok." Stef lets out a breath and covers her mouth with her hand. "We got to him just in time. He had a ruptured appendix. The damaged that was done, he was in a lot of pain." Stef wipes the tears and shakes her head.
"We had no idea." Stef says and the doctor nods.
"He probably mistook it as a stomach flu and tried to shake it off. But, he will be just fine, and make a full recovery." Stef nods her head.
"Can we go see him?" Stef asks and the doctors nods.
"Of course. Two at a time for now. He's probably just waking." Stef reaches for Lena, and Sharon takes over to direct the kids attention else where. Lena takes Stef's hand and follows the doctor to Caleb's room. When they get their they slowly walk in and take in their boy. He was asleep on the bed that was slightly elevated. He had wires connected to him all over the place. They slowly approach him going to opposite sides. Stef leans down and tucks a piece of hair behind her ear.
"We are right here my love. Mama and I are right here. Please don't be scared." Stef whispered and kisses Caleb's head.
"We love you so much." Lena says and runs her hand through his hair. Caleb starts to stir awake and Stef looks back at the nurse who nods encouragingly.
"Hey baby, it's ok." Stef says gently and is rewarded by the flutter of Caleb's eye lids.
"We are right here my love." Lena says still running her hands through his hair. "That's it baby boy." Lena encourages. Caleb slowly starts to open his eyes and adjust to his surroundings.
"Hi." Stef smiles, tears puddling in her eyes. Lena reaches over and rubs Stef's back gently.
"Hi." Caleb says, sleep evident in his voice.
"You gave us a scare." Stef says before leaning down and kissing Caleb's head.
"What happened?" Caleb asks and Lena picks up his hand.
"Your appendix ruptured." Lena answered and Caleb squints his eyebrows together.
"This is why it's important you tell us when you are not feeling well. Caleb we are your parents, when you are in pain it's important we know."
"Caleb!" Jude yells as he runs into the room. Lena and Stef turn to see Callie standing with Sharon.
"Mom.." Stef starts but Sharon holds up her hand.
"I couldn't stop them. Frank is out with the rest of the kids." Sharon looks down at Callie who is looking down at her feet shyly.
"Callie come look!" Jude says looking away from Caleb. Sharon carefully nudges Callie towards Caleb's bed. Callie starts to walk towards Caleb slowly and unsurely.
"Hey." Caleb's groggy voice fills the room and Callie looks up at him, tears in her eyes.
"Don't make me sing the song." Caleb smiles softly and Callie rushes over to him and practically lays on top of him at she hugs him.
"Don't ever do that to me again." Callie whispers in Caleb's ear. Stef and Lena looks at Sharon who excuses herself and Lena walks over to shut the door quietly.
"Hey you three, we want to you for a second." Stef finds a chair and let's Lena sit down. Callie slowly removes herself from Caleb and looks over at Jude. Callie finds a chair and Jude slides on to her lap.
"Is something wrong? Are you.. Are we getting kicked out?" Callie asks and Jude sinks into Callie, feeling the sting of yet another rejection.
"No." Stef shakes her head with a smile. "Quite the opposite actually."
"We want you to be apart of this family." Lena says to the three children. Caleb feels Callie's grip tighten and Jude sits up straighter on Callie's lap.
"Like adopt us?" Callie asks looks to Caleb on his hospital bed.
"We think you guys deserve a family, and we would love it if it was ours." Stef says rubbing Lena's shoulders. Caleb turns his head to look at Callie and Jude.
"What do you guys think?" Caleb asks his voice groggy. Callie looks at Jude who stands up and walks over to Lena and Stef.
"Yes." Jude smiles and Lena and Stef laugh and pull him into a hug, kissing him and excitedly cheering.
"So?" Jude says turning to face his brother and sister, staying in Lena and Stef's arms. Lena and Stef look up from Jude. Callie looks at Caleb who is staring at her. Stef and Lena allow the moment to pass between the siblings and when Caleb looks away and at Lena and Stef they wait in anticipation as Caleb holds up his hand, wires and all, and shows a thumbs up.
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