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Title: Met Before

Summary: Years ago, they'd met before, at a park.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own a thing, and I don't pretend to.

It was that time again. The time of the year that she dreaded the most.

Mothers' day.

Sure, now she had Stef and Lena, but that didn't make the day any better. How was she meant to be okay, meant to celebrate it when all it did was serve as a reminder for what - for who - she'd lost?

So she didn't. Instead, after giving the moms their gifts, she excused herself from the room and ran upstairs, hurrying herself to her bedroom, upon arrival of which she got into her bed and wrapped her duvet around herself, creating a physical layer - a physical barrier - betwee herself and the rest of the world. And only then did she begin to cry.

And cry.

And cry.

She allowed herself to grieve, to let her pain fill her body. She allowed herself to miss her mother, something that she didn't do. Not ever.

Not if she could help it.

So consumed by her grief was she, that she didn't hear her door open, didn't hear her name begin called out uncertainly, didn't feel the bed shift slightly as someone sat down beside the shaking mound that was her. She did, however, feel the two arms that wrapped around her body, snaking under the duvet and engulfing her into a large, comforting hug.

"Hey, Love."

She lifted up the edge of her duvet to see Stef's face, the older woman wearing sympathetic smile.

"Do you know, on Fathers' day, I had no idea how I'd get through it. I managed okay, only missing my dad a little, until you kids were in bed. Then, as I got into bed beside Lena, it hit me; I was never going to share another Fathers' day with my dad. And at first, I just burst into tears, and then, I spoke to Lena. And even though she has both her parents, she understood, because she understands me." Stef smiled again, reaching out to tuck a stray strand of Callie's hair behind her ear. "What I'm trying to say, Sweets, is that even though I have my mom, even though Lena has hers, and so does Brandon and the twins, you're not alone. You can tell us when you miss her - no matter when that is - we understand. She was - and still is - your mom. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Meeting Stef's even gaze, she nodded. "Yes."

"Good. Do you want to talk about her?"

Callie hesitated, unsure, before this time shaking her head. "No."

Stef's smile never faltered, though a flicker of hurt was detectable in her eyes. "Okay."

"I mean," shifting on her bed so that she could sit up, Callie bit her lip. "That's the problem. You don't know her. You never met her, never spoke to her, never even saw her. And Jude doesn't remember much - he was too young. It's just me, it's only me, and telling you just reminds me of that - just shows how separate I am from all of you, and how easy it is for someone to just... not exist."

"Oh Sweets!"Stef cried, her heart going out to the grieving girl in front of her, "I wish that I could help you, I wish that I'd met the wonderful woman that created the amazing girl I see in front of me, I do. But I don't and the only way your mama and I can is by you telling us about her. And if you don't want to - or fell that you can't - that's okay. But just know that you can, okay Bug?"

Callie nodded, wiping a stray tear from her cheek. "I know. And I think that you'd get along, she was sort of a mixture of you and Lena - the two of you often remind me of her."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

The two of them sat in silence, consumed by their own thoughts.

Unknown to the two of them, they were wrong. Stef had met Coleen before.

...

As they stood cramped under the single umbrella, Stef couldn't help but feel that it'd been a mistake to take the kids to the park. Yes, Jesus had been practically bouncing of the walls, and Brandon had been so consumed by his newly acquired his piano that he hadn't left his room - barr for meals - in two days, but with the amount of fuss Mariana had made when forced to go out and the sheer amount of rain falling from the skies above, it seemed like too much effort for something which hadn't really helped. Especially when her partner, Lena, wasn't even there to help her keep control of the kids. All that she'd achieved was getting Jesus covered head to toe in mud, Brandon to cause his siblings to go crazy as he persistently and repeated hummed the current piece of music that he was learning, and Mariana to go into a sulk, after a full-blown Miss Thing tantrum.

"Excuse me," Stef turned at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. The owner of the voice was a woman, who looked to be slightly younger than Lena, but not by much. In her arms she held a young boy who couldn't have been older than four and was holding hands with a girl who was about the same age as Brandon. "Excuse me, but do you know where the nearest bus station is?"

"Um, yeah." With a nod, Stef proceed to give the woman and her young family instructions.

"Thanks." The woman smiled, "We took a wrong turn and this one-" here she gestured to the boy "- is getting a little tired. As is Cals."

At that the girl, Cals, looked up and glared at her mother, pouting slightly. "No I'm not. I'm not tired. I want to stay here."

At the woman's exasperated look, Stef couldn't help but send her a sympathetic smile. "Little angels, huh?"

The woman let out a sort, sharp laugh. "Are yours as bad?" She asked, gesturing to them.

"Worse." Stef replied dryly, but affectionately. "This one is known as 'Miss Thing' for a reason..."

Mariana looked up briefly at the sound of her nickname, before continuing to talk to her brothers.

"Wow, I hear you. Cals refuses to let her birthday be just that - a day. Last year she twisted her dad's arm into agreeing to let it last an entire week! Still, you've gotta love them, huh?"

"Exactly, sometimes I don't know what to do with them, but I always know that I couldn't do without them. I love all my babies, so much."

"Exactly." The woman nodded again, before shifting the boy slightly in her arms in order to check her watch, "Well as nice as this chat has been, I'd better get going. Thank you, again."

"No problem."

With one more smile, the woman and her two children left. Stef smiled again. Knowing how bad some children had it, it always made her happy when she saw children in happy, loving families, just like the ones she'd just seen.

...

The two of them sat in silence, consumed by their own thoughts.

Unknown to the two of them, they were wrong. Stef had met Coleen before.

And chances were, they would never realise that.