A/N: For those who asked about getting to see the Pride Rally - it's coming! Thanks to everybody for your comments/ideas.
When Stef came back inside, all Lena had to do was look at her face and she knew something had gone very wrong. "Did you guys take pictures on your phones during the game?" she asked the boys.
"Yeah, a bunch," Jesus told her.
"Can you copy them to my laptop so we can all look at them later?" She pointed to where her computer was sitting in the kitchen. "Mom and I are going to work on laundry for a bit."
"Okay."
Stef took Lena's hand as they walked up the stairs together. "Thank you," she told her wife.
"I know that look. What happened?"
She didn't say anything until they were in their room with the door shut. And then the whole story came pouring out. "I'm done with him," Stef proclaimed at the end. "I'm done."
"Maybe that was what you've needed to get off your chest all these years," Lena suggested. "I mean, you've normally always just kinda let him think the stuff he thinks."
"I always hoped that maybe if I gave him enough time, he'd be different."
"I think he is different. He's never started asking questions like that before."
Stef shook her head. "It's still the same crap underneath, though. We're not some new species on National Geographic. We're just people, and we deserve to be treated like it." She sighed. "I can't wait anymore, Lena. I can't put myself through it and I don't want to put our kids through it."
Lena wrapped her arms around her wife. "Okay. What are we going to tell the kids about him?"
Stef greatly appreciated that she'd said 'we' instead of 'you'. "I don't know yet. Most of them already know where he stands on things. Jesus heard all about it at that disaster of a dinner."
"True… Are you really ready to cut Frank out of all of their lives?"
"I'm not ready to have them hear things like what he said to me."
"That's not an answer."
Stef sighed. "I know… I don't know what to do."
"Then how about we don't decide anything until you've really cooled off?"
She nodded, knowing her wife was right - and full-well knowing that Lena had just used her psychology degree on her. "Okay... The high road sucks, by the way."
Lena smiled. "Yeah, I know."
Callie had told the moms that she didn't need a ride when she got out of her therapy session. She was planning on catching a bus and told them it was because she was going to make a stop at a bookstore along the way home. However, she actually had another destination in mind.
She made her way to a small house a couple bus stops away from home. A middle-aged woman answered the door when she knocked and Callie offered her a smile. "Can I talk to Connor?" she asked.
"Sure. Connor!" his mother called through the house. He appeared in the doorway a minute later and froze for a second when he saw Callie.
"Hey," she greeted him.
"Hi," he nervously replied.
"You got a minute to talk?"
"Okay." Connor shut the door behind him and then leaned against the frame. His eyes were downcast. "Is Jude mad at me?" he quietly asked.
Callie was surprised. "No. He thinks that you're mad at him."
Connor sighed. "No. I'm just confused. I don't know what to do. I'm not gay, and I don't know if we should hang out anymore."
"Do you still want him to be your friend?"
"Yeah," Connor instantly replied. "He's my best friend. But... it's going to be weird now, isn't it?"
"It doesn't have to be," she replied, but Connor didn't look convinced. Callie took a deep breath. She was willing to take a risk for the sake of her brother's happiness. "Can you keep a secret?"
"Yeah."
"When I first came to the Fosters… Brandon and I had crushes on each other."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Which is definitely against the rules. We decided that having our family and keeping everyone together was the important thing. And it was a little awkward at first, but we wanted to stay friends enough that the other stuff didn't matter so much."
"Wow."
"Jude's not an idiot, Connor. If you're not interested in him, you're not interested. But him being gay shouldn't have anything to do with whether you're friends or not. And I think both of you really need each other as friends." He didn't answer. "At least think about it, okay?"
"Okay."
Callie nodded. "Thanks. See you in school."
When Callie got home, the whole family was in the kitchen pulling together dinner. "You are just in time to help," Lena told her.
"What are we having?"
"Lena's mac & cheese," Brandon told her, holding up a couple bags of shredded cheese.
"Shake 'n Bake chicken," Stef added. Jesus and Jude were working on that.
"I'm making my cranberry almond salad," Mariana finished.
"Sounds good," Callie told them. "What can I help with?"
"Can you cut up onions and stuff for me?" Mariana asked.
"Sure."
"Did you find what you needed at the bookstore?" Lena wondered as Callie joined her sister by the cutting board.
Callie shook her head. She wasn't entirely sure why she'd felt the need to deceive her foster mothers about her plan for the afternoon; it was a deeply ingrained habit since she'd always had to look out for her little brother. Finally having a home wasn't a magic fix for her childhood. "No, they didn't have it," she easily fibbed before changing the subject. "How was the game?" she asked the boys.
"Well, we won," Jesus happily replied.
Callie laughed. "I guess that's the important part."
"And nobody threw up," Jude added.
Lena looked at the older boys. There was only one reason Jude would make a comment like that. "How much junk did you two eat?"
Jesus shrugged. "Not enough to puke."
"And you're still hungry now?" Stef wondered.
Brandon nodded. "Yeah. Why?" She just rolled her eyes.
% ^ % ^ % % ^ % ^ %
Once everything was finished, the kids divided up the responsibilities for setting the table and serving plates. "Hey, Jude, can you get the ketchup out?" Jesus asked his little brother, who was closer to the fridge.
Lena glared at her son. "Really?"
"What?"
"You haven't even tasted the mac & cheese yet. How do you know it needs ketchup?"
Jesus shrugged. "Everything's better with ketchup."
"Mama's going to get payback one of these days," Mariana warned her twin. He didn't seem too worried.
"Does it really taste better?" Jude wondered as he put the ketchup on the table.
"See?" Lena told Jesus. "Now you're corrupting your little brother." Everyone laughed.
"It's even better with Tabasco," Stef told Jude and earned a glare of her own from her wife. "Hey! Just saying. But note that I'm eating it plain just for you, my love."
Lena rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh."
Stef was just about to sit down when her cell phone started ringing. "Hey, Callie?" she said, indicating for the teen to grab it off the counter and hand it to her. Stef frowned when she took the device and saw the number on the screen.
"Who is it?" Lena asked.
"I don't know." Stef was tempted to just ignore the call, but her gut told her not to. "Hello?" she answered. "Yes, this is she… Okay…" And then Lena and the kids watched as all color drained from her face. "O-okay. Thank you." She hung up and just stared at her phone for a long moment.
"What happened?" Lena wondered.
It took a minute for the question to register in her mind. "Um, that was someone from Scripps Hospital... My dad had a heart attack."
TBC...