The Key

Talking

Signing/Talking

Signing

WHEN IN FLASHBACKS/DREAMS:

Talking

Signing/Talking

Signing

Get Comfortable

After the initial shock of seeing the Cochlear Implant, he focused on the teacher. There wasn't a point in worrying about it as he probably wouldn't talk to Connor more than their previous conversation. He later found out Connor was in one other class with him. He sat by himself at lunch because no one wanted to sit with the weird new foster kid. Jude walked home with Callie and Mariana after school. He started on his homework, staring at it for a while. Callie was behind him doing her own.

She tapped his shoulder. "Sixteen," Callie told him the answer to the problem he had been staring at. He looked up hopefully, thinking she could help him. He wrote down the answer.

"And this one?" he asked, pointing his pencil eraser toward the next math problem. She leaned forward, frowning at him when she saw it.

"No, you know that," she assured. Jude sighed, looking at the paper and furrowing his eyebrows. "What do you have to do?" Callie reasoned, tilting her head. Jude stared at her. She leaned forward, pointing toward the numbers with the end of her pencil. "You have to divide it by the y," she explained, looking at him expectantly. "It's four. The answer's four, you should have known that!" she laughed, pushing his head as she sat up.

"You should have known that!" he teased, smirking, writing down the answer, then glancing back at her.

"I did know that," she stated.

"No, you didn't," he grinned.

"Yes, I did."

"Uh-huh!"

"Yeah!" Callie leaned forward, grabbing him around the waist and pulling him onto the couch, laughing. "So cheeky!" Jude caught off her lips, before bursting into laughter as she tickled him.

"Stop it!" he begged through his laughs.

"No, you stop it!" she attempted to sign, laughing herself.

"How long are we gonna be here?" Jude asked as she let go of his waist, sitting up, his laughs subsiding.

"Uh, I don't know, kid," she answered truthfully. She looked at him with wide eyes, the smile still on her face. "Finish your homework!" she ordered. Jude nodded, slipping off the couch and onto the floor.

"Okay," he whispered.

After he finished up, he went into the kitchen where Lena was. He wanted to ask about the chores he would have to do. "Hi," Jude greeted Lena who was leaning over the sink. She turned around smiling at Jude.

"Dinner isn't ready yet. Do you want something to drink? Is everything okay?" she asked, walking over to stand by the table, attempting to use the signs she'd learned.

"Yeah, I was just wondering if you had any chores for me," Jude explained. They had told him to sign around them so it could help them learn.

Lena tilted her head. "Chores?"

Jude nodded. "Yeah, well, if foster families aren't gonna send us away right away, they usually give us chores and stuff," Jude explained. Lena frowned, but swiftly recovered.

"You know what? You could really help me," Lena paused, grabbing something from a drawer then turning back toward Jude and holding up a few forks. "Put out the salad forks," she explained. Jude nodded as she gave him half the forks. The two began to place the forks on each of the plates.

Then Jude decided to ask Lena the question that had been bugging him all day. "So are you and Stef married?" he asked, placing down the last fork and looking at Lena.

"Well, not exactly. Not legally, no. We're married in our hearts, I guess," Lena told him, giving him a stiff smile.

"That's basically the same thing, right?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Basically, yeah," Lena agreed, smiling. Jude nodded. He helped her finish setting the table, then went back in the living room with Callie.

It was a little while later when Jude, Callie, and his foster siblings were sat down.

"Callie, can you help us out?" Lena asked. Callie nodded and turned to Jude, who looked at his sister who signed for him.

"So, we have to talk about something, obviously," Stef explained.

"Uh, Stef and I had our meeting with Bill and we have come to a decision," Lena told them. Jude glanced at Stef and Lena eagerly. Were they gonna send them away?

"We are not in a position to offer Jude and Callie a home forever," Stef explained. Jude's shoulder's slumped.

"But," Lena started. "We would like you guys to be as comfortable and safe as possible, until Bill does find you a permanent home." Jude smiled. They would be staying!

"How ever long that may take," Stef told them, smiling at Jude and Callie.

"Yes, it could be a week it could be a year," Lena added.

"We just don't know," Stef explained, Lena nodded in agreement. "We want this to be your last way station, ever, ever, ever," Stef explained. Jude looked up from Callie's hands, sharing a grin with his sister, before she started moving her hands again.

"Okay, so that means, we need to get you guys out of the living room," Lena explained. Jude furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, looking over at Lena and Stef.

"I think you're okay to camp down there one more night, but tomorrow we're having some beds delivered. So, Brandon and Jesus, we're gonna need some muscle," Stef told her sons. Jude looked over at his foster brothers who were nodding in begrudging agreement. Jude looked at Stef as he saw his name. "Jude, my sweet, new, young friend. You'll be moving in with Jesus," Jude nodded, looking at Jesus and smiling stiffly. He frowned as Jesus rolled his eyes. He looked back at Callie. "And Callie, you'll be moving into Mariana's room, all right?" Stef finished. He saw Mariana sit up, almost threateningly. He frowned. Did Mariana not like Callie? He brushed it off as him and Callie turned back toward Stef and Lena.

"I'm fine with it," Jude explained, smiling. Callie agreed and Jesus and Mariana agreed hesitantly a few seconds later. Jude looked over at Callie.

"Well, this should be fun," he signed, raising his eyebrows.

"Yup," Callie agreed.

My readers from the beginning, yes I've taken out the Connor part. Don't worry, he will be back soon enough! This chapter is based of Consequently, the second episode, and the next will be focused mainly on that as well! Also to the Guest who asked about the hearing aids, for deaf people who don't get Cochlear Implants, hearing aids only help them hear ambient noise so they can understand what's going on around them, it doesn't make them actually hear.

Alright! Thank you guys, hopefully I can update soon.

I don't own The Fosters, the ideas for these scenes, or anything else you recognize.

-HJ