The talk with Sharon had made Callie relax quite a bit and while the family was having a late dinner, talking quietly, she fell asleep at the window seat. Lena wished she could get the girl to eat something but in all honesty she was too focused on Stef to really fight with Callie nor did she want to rock the boat with her. Though Lena hated that they were letting her dictate their actions with her behavior, she just wanted Stef around when it got too tough.
During dinner Roberts got one more call from the bank to say that Stef had made a transaction about two hours away and the relief on everyones faces was evident - Stef really was coming home and she was almost here.
The family finished dinner and Lena insisted the kids go upstairs and shower and get ready for bed so that they would be done by the time Stef got home. With four sweaty, dirty kids to shower it would take at least that long for them to finish up.
While the kids were upstairs the four adults headed to the living room where Lena gave them all a glass of iced tea. She had offered beer or wine but Mike had turned her down for obvious reasons and Roberts and Sharon declined as well - neither wanting to drink at a time like this.
Sharon, Mike and Roberts began some light conversation, mostly about the trials of the police force and Lena quietly slipped back to the breakfast nook to check on Callie. The girl was sitting curled up leaning against the back with a cushion clutched tightly to her chest. Lena quietly headed back to the living room to grab a throw rug off the couch and brought it back to drape over her daughter. Callie's eyes flew open as Lena covered her and Lena quickly combed her fingers through the brown hair on Callie's head to try and relax her again.
"It's just me." She said soothingly. "Go back to sleep."
Lena watched as Callie's eyes darted around the room, obviously checking to see whether or not Stef had returned.
"She's not yet home." Lena said, knowing the girl wouldn't ask what she wanted to know.
The disappointment on Callie's face was clear and Lena bent down to give her a kiss on the forehead.
"We're going to be okay." Lena said as she sat down beside the girl. "You're going to be okay and you're going to have a home, nothing is ever going to change that."
Callie just looked at Lena, tears filling her eyes but she was too stubborn to let them fall.
"Everyone makes mistakes honey." Lena continued. "The twins made mistakes when they went to Ana's house, Brandon made mistakes when he got involved with Vico. So everyone makes mistakes, but the best part of being a family is that you stick together through all the mistakes. You may not do everything right but you'll always be loved and forgiven just like you'll forgive everyone else."
Lena gave Callie a moment to think about what she'd said and to say something if she wanted, though she knew that the girl would remain silent. But while Callie did remain silent she didn't look as afraid or worried as she had since she first found out that Stef hadn't come back home.
"Would you have a glass of juice?" Lena asked cautiously, hoping the girl would say yes since it seemed to be the only thing she had voluntarily. Lena realized that Callie hadn't had one single thing to eat since the yogurt the night before and it worried her a bit. She hoped they could do something to get Callie to eat before hospitalization became a necessity.
Lena practically jumped for joy when Callie gave a small nod but instead she quickly got up and poured a glass of pomegranate juice for Callie before she could change her mind. She watched as Callie drank down the glass and Lena offered to pour her another which, once again, Callie accepted. Lena realized that Callie really must be hungry and decided to try and get her to eat.
"How about some chicken?" She offered but Callie's face instantly closed up as she picked up her phone and began fidgeting on it again.
Lena sighed as she went back to the kitchen to rinse out the glass. She couldn't wait for Stef to get home so that everything could go back to normal.
Two hours later all nine of them were sprawled out in the breakfast nook and the kitchen waiting for Stef to show up. There had been no more transactions but they were pretty certain that she'd come straight home. Mike and Sharon were doing a great job of distracting the kids and keeping them occupied by telling them stories of all the mischief they themselves had gotten into as children while Roberts and Lena kept contact with the station for any word on Stef.
"The number of windows I broke with my baseball, I probably could have bought a whole house with the money my parents had to pay the neighbors." Mike said, laughing at the memory. "My mother said that I'd have to pay her back every cent."
"Did you?" Jesus asked curiously.
"No way." Mike said. "Where do you think I'd get that much money?" He laughed. "I doubt I have that much money even now."
"Did they get mad?" Jude asked, wondering what kind of punishment he got.
"Eventually." Mike said. "Our neighbor was more mad than my parents but my dad was so proud of my baseball talents that he never stopped me from practicing."
"So you never got punished?" Jude asked in wonder.
"Well, I got grounded and the neighbor never returned any of my balls so I kept having to buy new ones but nothing more than that." Mike answered.
"Cool" Jude said, his face lighting up at the though of no punishment.
"Not cool." Jesus added. "I once broke a lamp and moms made me pay every penny for it." He grumbled.
"If I recall correctly they told you not to bring the basket ball into the house a million times before you broke that lamp." Sharon said.
"And they never made him pay for the other hundred things he broke before that." Mariana added.
"That lamp was expensive." Jesus protested. "I had to give up half my allowance for almost a year to pay for it."
"And that wasn't even half the cost." Sharon said. "Trust me, I bought it for them, I know. Once your mom broke my mother's crystal bowl." She went on. "My mother wanted to just let it go but she had been told over and over again not to try and lift it because it was heavy but Stef never listened, even at four she did whatever she wanted."
"So what did you do?" Mariana asked, excited to hear that her mom got into trouble as well.
"She took away my cycle and wouldn't take me swimming all week." Came a voice from the landing outside the kitchen, surprising everyone."