Mariana gets punished for the first time and she doesn't know what else to do except run. Thanks for the idea coolgirl9680!
Seven-year old Mariana and Jesus had been with Stef and Lena for about a month and they were just starting to adjust to their new lives. Mariana, being curious as ever, snuck into her foster moms' bedroom and started snooping around. She looked under the bed and found a metal box. After she pulled it out, she looked at it with a devious smile. It had a simple key-lock on the front. She searched in the drawers of Stef and Lena's bedside tables and finally found a small gold key.
"They will be so mad if they find out…" Mariana said to herself. She shrugged her shoulders and stuck the key in the lock. Click. The lock opened and she slowly lifted the lid. Her eyes grew wide and she picked up the only thing in the box.
A gun.
She held the heavy glock in her hand and examined it closely. It was like no other gun she'd ever seen, and she had seen a lot in her previous foster homes and even when she and Jesus still lived with their biological mother. This gun looked like the ones police used when they arrested one of her old foster fathers.
"Mariana! What are you doing with that!" Stef ran to Mariana's side and grabbed the gun out of the young girl's hands. "You know better than to play with such dangerous things."
Mariana had tears welling in her eyes. "I- I'm sorry! I was just curious! I going to do anything with it!" She let the tears fall.
"I'm not mad, sweetie. But you do have to be punished. Come on. Come with me." Stef locked the gun up and put it on the top shelf of her closet. She held out her hand for Mariana, who took it cautiously.
The two walked downstairs and into the kitchen. Stef pulled a stool away from the table and set it down so it was facing the wall.
"Okay, you need to sit here for ten minutes and then Lena and I will come talk to you." Stef picked up Mariana and sat her down on the wooden stool.
Mariana nodded slowly and wiped the tears away from her face.
Stef walked into the living room to inform Lena of the situation. Mariana looked around and found the kitchen to be empty. She looked to the direction that Stef went and then to the door that led to the backyard.
I don't want them to hurt me… She thought to herself. Slowly and quietly, she got off of the stool and opened the backdoor, slipping out without anyone noticing.
She ran to the gate and made her way down the road.
Back at the house…
Stef walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch next to Lena.
"Well… I just found Mariana playing with my gun." Stef rubbed her brow waiting for the lecture from Lena.
"She what?! What happened? Is she okay? What did you do?" Lena shot off questions at Stef who couldn't get a word in.
"Slow down, love. She's fine. I think she was a little scared, but she wasn't hurt. I put her in timeout for ten minutes and told her that we would come talk to her after time was up." Stef grabbed her wife's hand. "I'm going to get a safe that requires a password to get into it and I'll put it at the top of our closet. I'm sorry, Lena. You've been telling me for years to get a better safe and I've just brushed it off, but if she would have… I don't know what I would have done if she would have gotten hurt." Stef brushed tears away and rested her head on Lena's shoulder.
"It's okay, love. Nothing happened, not this time at least." The two sat there until the timer went off.
"Well, I guess we should go have a talk with her." Stef got up off of the couch, pulling Lena with her.
They walked into the kitchen, but Stef stopped dead in her tracks when she found the stool empty.
"Mariana? Where did that girl go?" They searched the kitchen and when they found nothing, they split up to search the rest of the house. Stef went upstairs to check the bedrooms and Lena checked the back and front yards.
"The boys said she didn't come up there. Please tell me that you found her." Stef went outside and found Lena standing by the gate.
Lena squatted down and picked up a purple hair clip. "Mariana was wearing this today. Stef, I think she ran away."
Stef's heart dropped into her stomach. "You stay here with the boys. I'm going to go look for her." She ran inside, grabbing her keys and coat.
She drove all over their edition, searching for her foster daughter. Tears brimmed her eyes when she came up empty. She pulled off on the side of the road and thought of places Mariana would go. She thought of the school and old foster homes, praying she would find her. As she started to drive again, the skies let loose and started to pour down rain.
Meanwhile, Mariana was taking shelter in a tunnel of a playground near her school. She rocked herself back and forth while tears streamed down her face. She regretted getting off of the stool and wanted nothing more than to be back at her foster house. Thunder cracked through the clouds and Mariana cried out.
"Mariana?"
"Stef?" Mariana crawled to the opening of the tunnel and cried in relief when she saw Stef waiting there.
"Oh Mariana! Come here sweetie!" Stef opened her arms and Mariana jumped into them. "We were so worried about you! Let's go to the car and dry off. Stef pulled off her coat and draped it around Mariana's shoulders. They got in the car and Stef wrapped a blanket around Mariana and turned on the heat. The rain came down even harder as lightning struck and the thunder rumbled. "Why did you run, Mariana?"
Mariana looked down dejectedly. "I was scared of what you were going to do."
"What do you mean? Lena and I were just going to talk to you after your timeout was up."
"That's it? Just talk?" A little glimmer of hope entered the little girl's eyes.
"Yes, that's all, love. What did you think we were going to do?" Stef wiped water off of Mariana's face and pulled her chin up so she could see her face.
Mariana's eyes turned sad again and she held out her arm to Stef. "This is what foster mommies and daddies do when you get in trouble, right?"
Stef ran her fingers over bruises on Mariana's arm. How did I not see these? "No, sweetie. Bad people do that. Lena and I are not bad people. We love you and Jesus. We would never hurt you because you got in trouble. Do you believe me?"
Mariana nodded and smiled sadly.
"But, you are in trouble for running away. You can never ever do that again, okay?" Stef waited until Mariana nodded again. "You are grounded for one week. No tv and no playing with Lexi, understood?"
"Got it." Mariana smiled more convincingly at Stef. "I like having two foster mommies."
Stef smiled widely. "And we like having two wonderful kids like you and your brother." She started the car and drove home. By the time they arrived, Mariana was asleep. Stef smiled and carried the little girl up to her bed.
"Where was she?" Lena met Stef in the doorway to Mariana's room.
"The playground at Anchor Beach. Lena, what would you think about making this more… permanent?" Stef's eyes sparkled with hope.
"Really? I mean, it's only been a month. Are we sure that we're ready for two more kids?" Lena's heart was beating rapidly. She knew the moment Jesus and Mariana moved in that they were the perfect fit. She just didn't want to mention anything to Stef too early.
"Let's give it a couple more weeks and then we'll talk to B about it. But, they complete our family, don't you think?"
Lena smiled and nodded as she rested her chin on Stef's shoulder.
"Steffie, Lena?" Jesus walked out of his bedroom, rubbing his eyes.
"What's up buddy?" Lena knelt in front of him.
"I don't feel good. My tummy hurts."
Lena smiled sadly at Jesus and opened her arms to him. He slowly walked into them and rested his head on her shoulder.
He yawned at snuggled closer to her. "Let's go get you some medicine and then you can watch some movies. Does that sound good?" Stef brushed the hair out of his eyes and he nodded with a little smile.
Lena stood up and smiled at Stef excitedly. It was the first time Jesus had opened up to either one of them.
Stef leaned against the door frame and smiled to herself. She knew it for sure at that moment: Jesus and Mariana were their children, and nothing was going to change that.