They talked for a few more minutes before the twins came downstairs, both apparently starving to death. While Stef and Lena started cooking breakfast, Callie slipped out of the kitchen and went back upstairs. In the hallway, she could hear faint music coming from Brandon's room; he was practicing piano. She quietly opened the door and slipped inside in order to listen.

"You can just come over here," he spoke up at one point while still playing.

"You heard me?"

"Yeah, there's a spot in the floor that creaks."

Callie smiled as she walked over to the doorway to his music nook. "What's this song?"

"Something new that I'm writing," he replied as he stopped and turned around. "It's about you."

She blushed. "You shouldn't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm a mess."

"No, you're not. I know things are complicated, but... part of that is my fault. And the other part... you'll figure it out. We're all going to be here for you."

"Yeah, that's what your moms said."

"Our moms," Brandon corrected her.

Callie shrugged. "That's kind of up in the air at the moment."

His eyes widened. "They're not sending you away, are they?" He took a step toward the door, all ready to go argue her case. Callie put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"No, they're not. It was a really surreal conversation, actually. They said that if we wanted to give 'us' a try, they wouldn't adopt me right now, but I could stay. And we could try being together."

"Are you serious?"

"That's what they said."

Brandon took her hand. "Is that what you want?"

"I don't know… They'd still take Jude, and that's what's important."

"You're important, too. Even when you don't feel like it."

Callie tried to smile. "Figuring out how to deal with what I'm feeling is a new project."

"I know. While you were gone, I started thinking that you were right. Everything turned into a mess because of us. I don't want to make anything harder for you than it already is. There are probably a lot of reasons why 'us' is a bad idea."

She slowly nodded. "For that moment when we kissed… it felt right and wrong at the same time. It's so complicated. There's a part of me that wants to try being together. And there's a part of me that's terrified of it. Things have been so insane and I don't think they're going to get simpler anytime soon. "

"I know."

Callie looked away. "I don't want you to hate me."

Brandon sighed. "I'm sorry. I know I wasn't fair to you before. But I could never hate you... When you were gone, I was scared that I'd never get to see you again. I wasn't sure what we'd do if we never found you. My life changed once you were part of it. And I think having you as my sister is a lot better than not having you at all."

"You'd really be okay with that?"

"Yeah, I'd get there," he admitted. It probably would be easier said than done - especially the next time she started dating someone else. But Brandon truly didn't want to add to Callie's burdens. "When do you have to decide?"

"I don't know… Nothing big in my life has ever been up to me. What if I make a mistake?"

Brandon shrugged. "What do you think is most important to you? Forget about me or Jude or the moms or anyone else - this is your life and your happiness. What do you want?"

Down in the kitchen, Stef looked up from the eggs she was scrambling with a fork when Brandon and Callie came into the kitchen. "Morning, B," she told her son.

"Hey."

Jude was also in the kitchen, and darted over to his sister in order to give her a hug. It was almost as if he was reassuring himself that Callie was still there. "Good morning," he told her.

"Morning, bud."

The kitchen was its normal whirlwind of activity. Sharon was talking with Jesus as they made bacon. Mariana got up from her place in the corner where she'd been talking on the phone.

"Hey, Mama - Grandma and Grandpa want to talk to you," she told Lena. Dana and Stewart had called that morning to check up on the family. They'd gotten a phone call late the previous night to let them know that Callie was back home.

Lena wiped her hands before taking the device. "Thanks. Can you take care of the oatmeal for me?" she asked her daughter.

"Sure."

"Jude, will you set the table, please?" Stef requested.

"I'll help," Brandon offered.

As they went to get the plates and silverware, Stef moved over to Callie's side. "Are you alright?" she softly asked her foster daughter.

She nodded. "Yeah, I think I am…" She hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath. "You're sure that five kids isn't too many, right?"

Stef grinned when she realized what that question really meant - Callie had made a decision. "No, five kids is perfect."

"Okay... Do you want help with the eggs?" Stef handed Callie the bowl and let her go join her soon-to-be siblings that were cooking.

Lena stood next to her wife once she'd hung up the phone. "Everything okay?" she wondered.

"Couldn't be better," Stef told her as she gave her a kiss and they both took a moment to watch the organized chaos around them. Everyone was happy and home together at last. "We've got our family."

Fin.

A/N 1: First of all, huge thank you to everyone for the feedback I received! This was not the original ending to this story (if anyone's interested, I can post that, too). Originally, I'd wanted to try my hand at Brallie since I'd gotten some requests during my last story. I was kind of surprised by how against it everyone was in their reviews. So... I decided not to go against what seems to be working. ;-)

A/N 2: For everyone who commented about having the story keep going, I see this fic as being like an episode. And since shows never have just 1 episode (unless they get cancelled REALLY fast), I've been working on a follow-up story. It's going to need some tweaking now that this one ended differently, but I should be posting again, soon. I'm also working on a separate fic inspired by Lena's conversation with Gretchen in "Clean." Stay tuned!