"Oh good, you're up." Sharon said as she got off the bed. "Let me go heat you up some hash browns and sausages." She offered, wanting to leave the mother and daughter alone.
"Thanks mom." Stef said as she gave her mother a hug. She knew that her mom was another person she'd need to have a conversation with about her disappearance but for now it could wait, Callie was more important.
"You sleep okay love?" Stef asked her daughter when her mother was gone. Normally she would have known if Callie tossed and turned but last night, or rather, early this morning, she was so tired that she could have slept through a fireworks display.
"Yeah." Callie answered. "You?" She added with a cheeky smile.
"Like a rock." Stef said smiling back. "And it helped that I had two of my best girls to snuggle with."
Callie gave Stef a shy smile causing Stef to grab hold of her arm and pull her up of the bed to give her a hug. "I love you so much Callie." She said. "If there's just one thing I want you to believe, it's that."
"I do believe it." Callie shrugged. "You show me all the time."
Stef would have cried had it not been for Sharon, yelling up the stairs. "BREAKFAST." She said causing both Stef and Callie to laugh as Stef took Callie's hand and they headed down to the kitchen.
Just before entering the kitchen Callie stopped, pulling Stef with her.
"I already ate." She said softly when Stef turned to look at her. "I did." She continued when her mother never said anything. "I ate a hash brown and two sausages."
"Okay." Stef said, deciding to trust her daughter and hoping that Callie wasn't just trying to trick her.
Callie finally relaxed and the two made their way into the kitchen. There were two plates laid out on the table and once again Callie tensed thinking that one of them was for her. She wanted to cry because Sharon had seen her eat but Sharon obviously caught the look.
"It's mine. I waited to eat with your mom." Sharon told her granddaughter and watched as Callie released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"Callie already had breakfast." Stef said, hoping it sounded like a comment and not a question.
"That she did." Sharon confirmed and Stef felt herself relax as well. Callie promised she'd try and she really was putting in the effort.
"I guess it's just you and me then." Stef told her mom as she sat down at one of the plates and dug in.
After breakfast Sharon once again did the few dishes while she sent Stef up to shower. It was already past nine and they had to leave by ten fifteen so that Stef could get Callie to school before heading in to the station. Sharon would make lunch while she waited for Stef to return and then the two of them would have lunch together and talk until Lena brought the children home at three. Then Sharon was going to go for a walk while Stef, Lena and the kids talked. The whole family would have dinner together and then Stef and maybe one of the kids would drive Sharon to the airport for her nine o'clock flight.
Stef quickly showered and dried off and headed into her room for some clothes when she found Callie sitting on her bed smiling at something on her phone.
"What're you smiling about?" Stef asked as she tightened her robe around her and walked over to her daughter.
"Mama sent me this." Callie said, holding up the phone for Stef to see.
But Stef didn't see the message, instead she only noticed the crack running from the top of the screen almost to the bottom. "What happened to your phone?" Stef asked as she took it from Callie to examine it.
"It broke." Callie said, making it sound more like a question rather than an explanation.
"I can see that." Stef commented, looking back at her daughter. "How?"
"I got mad yesterday and I threw it." Callie said softly as she looked down at her hands, avoiding eye contact with her mother.
Stef could tell that Callie felt bad for what she'd done but she was more concerned about why Callie was that angry in the first place. She took at deep, calming breath and then sat down in front of her daughter and, with a hand under her chin, she made Callie look up at her.
"What were you so mad about?" Stef asked, hoping that it wasn't because she'd left or that someone had said something to her about it, though she knew she'd deserve it if that was the answer.
"Grandma tried to make me eat." Callie mumbled, looking away though Stef was still holding her face up.
Stef felt herself relax a little though she didn't let go of Callie's face.
"I was scared." Callie whispered with a catch in her voice. "I was so scared that you weren't coming back and I just didn't want to do anything besides sit and wait for you."
"I was wrong to take off like that Callie, I'm sorry." Stef said, surprising Callie. She expected Stef to be upset that she hadn't eaten and more that she'd broken the phone. She hadn't expected Stef to apologize.
"I didn't realize how much of an impact it would have on all of you." Stef continued.
"You aren't mad at me?" Callie asked curiously.
"No baby." Stef said. "Why would I be mad at you?"
"I broke the phone because I was mad." Callie explained.
"And I took off because I was mad." Stef rebutted. "Both of us forgot to stop and think about what we were doing huh?" She asked, hoping that Callie wouldn't feel so bad.
"I guess." Callie said. "But mine did more damage." She mumbled.
"Oh honey, you have no idea how wrong you are." Stef said, finally letting go of Callie's face. "I did much more damage than you did."
"How?" Callie asked.
"I left you kids and even though I had absolutely every intention of coming back, I still left four kids who had already been left numerous times before and I left even more people to worry about me." Stef explained. "That wasn't right and I really wish I could take it back."
"I never thought about it like that." Callie said, realizing for the first time that apart from being worried about Stef the other kids were probably just as afraid that she'd left them as she was.
"Neither did I obviously." Stef said regretfully. "I guess we both gotta work on our anger issues huh?" She asked getting a small smile from Callie.
"I guess." Callie said sheepishly before leaning forward to hug Stef.
"Let's just say it's a fresh start for both of us from now on." Stef suggested as she held out her hand for Callie to take and smiled when Callie took it and held on tight. "Now what did you want to show me?" Stef asked, remembering that this conversation started with something that Lena had sent Callie.
"Mama sent me this text." Callie said as she unlocked the phone to the message.
Stef looked down and smiled too as she read the words - I love you baby, now and forever.
"We both do." Stef said handing the phone back to her daughter but then pulling it back. "I guess we need to get you a new phone too." She said as she traced her thumb over the crack.
"It's fine." Callie reached for it again. "It still works and the scratch guard is holding it together."
"No." Stef stopped her. "It's time you had your own phone. Fresh start right?"