Hey guys! Thanks for feedback on last chapter. This episode will mainly be the pill and Kasey's storyline. Ep 5 is my favourite episode of the show but I still felt that sooo much was missing so I have included a lot of Stef/Lena/Lexi in this. It was quite hard to pace this episode as to be honest I think the time period in the episode was longer than would have been realistic (though I understand why). Anyway, I hope that it doesn't feel like it drags - I'm working very much to the timings they set out.
Thanks to TheTBone who requested the Callie/Moms scene in this. Also thanks to Mea23 for the read over!
Right, enough from me! I hope you all enjoy would love to know thoughts if you can spare a moment or two! :)
"Come on in, Lexi." Lena opened her office door and beckoned the scared looking girl to come in.
Lena pulled out the chair for Lexi to sit on and pulled one up for herself, slightly angled next to her. She didn't want to appear intimidating and she was worried a desk in between them may give too stern an impression.
"Lena, I'm really sorry about -"
"Let's not worry about that right now, you made a mistake - it happens." Lexi looked up at her with her bottom lip firmly clasped in her mouth.
"The important thing for us now is that you get the support that you need to handle this." She feared she knew wht was coming but would still follow the script in vain hope Lexi may have solved the problem already. "Have you ever spoken to your parents at all about emergency contracep-"
Lexi shook her head briskly. "Lena, you don't understand!" She didn't want to sound angry but the panic was leaking through. "If it was up to them I wouldn't know what a condom was, as far as their concerned the only contraception you need is abstinence and fear. It's simple. I could never tell them, Lena I could never -" She put her hands over her forehead as Lena pulled her arm down gently.
"Sometimes people can surprise you when they're put in a different situation - when there is more at stake. They're your parents - we will help them to understand..."
"They won't!" Lexi sprang up and leaned on the desk, biting her lip from further outburst. "I'm sorry." Her voice cracked as Lena took a deep breath. She'd hoped so much that she wouldn't have to be the one to make the call - that by some miracle it wasn't going to come down to her. It was an impossible situation. She couldn't give Lexi the pill because doing so knowing her parents would feel so strongly about it would be unethical for someone in her position, but forcing her to tell her parents would effectively take contraception off the table altogether.
"Please, Lena." Lexi's eyes pierced deeply through. Lena's hands twitched and her teeth and tongue began to flex ready to bend behind her closed mouth. She was slipping. She had to help this girl. She opened her mouth to concede before they were interrupted by a knock on the door. Principal Sanchez bustled her way in.
"Sorry to interrupt." Lena snapped her head angrily towards her. "I need you to approve the revised school policy. If you could look it over and highlight anything we'll go over it in our meeting tomorrow." There were times she could strangle the woman. She was a good principal, but she had no tact or respect for the students' personal needs if it hindered the school. Here she was bursting in on such a sensitive conversation purely for red tape.
"I'll look when I get the chance." Lena growled back, the resentment going over Karina's head.
"Lexi." Principal Sanchez smiled in acknowledgement before disappearing as fast as she had emerged. Lena shook her head and looked down at the policy, Lexi's eyes still begging for an answer
She took a deep breath and thought about why she was really annoyed Karina had interrupted. It was a wake up call. She really was the Vice Principal and she had to do what she would do without the personal interest. The policy document was a glaring reminder in itself.
"Lexi, I can't..."
"Please!" she cut her off immediately as Lena raised a hand.
"Listen, I'm on your side here but my hands are tied. I'm not allowed to do this. This is a decision that can only be made between you and your parents."
Lexi blinked back a tear, using all of her wasting energy not to start screaming for her to reconsider. She wanted Jesus. Her arms began to shake as Lena tried to calm them with a soft cradle.
"Look - this doesn't mean you won't be able to take it, or that you're pregnant. I want to give you these leaflets and I want you to have a look through." she grabbed a handful she had assembled from the nurses office.
"I know you must be scared, and if you want I will talk through it all with you. They talk through your options, other options, as well as advice on how to discuss this with your parents." she handed them to her as Lexi used the same arm to wipe her tears from her eyes.
"How did this get so screwed up?" Lexi whimpered, finally losing her composure."Two days ago I was a virgin and now..."
Lena grabbed a tissue from a box on her desk and handed it to her, placing her other on her arm. Lexi took it and dabbed her eyes.
"I promise you that whatever happens, however your parents react, Stef and I will be here - and you know Jesus will too. You may feel alone, but you're not."
"Then why can't you just give it to me?" she asked softly through a sniff.
Lena licked her bottom lip. She was tugging the other way again, seeing her so broken. She found her mouth moving before she had regulated the words.
"There's still time to take it. Just read the leaflets and please try and think about talking to your parents. You can come and talk to me at any time while you think, day or night. Just don't give up on turning to them. If you want we can be there with you - we can even tell them for you...try to persuade them."
Lexi shook her head and clasped the leaflets. "I'll read them, but it's not going to change anything." she resigned before turning to leave.
Lena took a step to try and catch her before she left the office but she had already gone. She flapped her hands onto her face. It was one stupid pill - they couldn't fire her for...no! She silenced her thoughts. This was bigger than that. It was about what was right for Lexi and her parents too. She couldn't endorse her keeping something as big as this a secret. She knew they could be difficult people, but the Riveras still loved their daughter more than anything else. If it was really the case they wouldn't let her use contraception it was still their right to help her in a way they believed in. It was not her place to take their right to parent their daughter away from them.
She picked up the school policy document and returned to her seat. She opened it and managed to read four lines before slamming it back down on the desk. She could convince herself all she wanted but she also knew she was stalling and that Lexi would be going through mental torture. Wasn't it her job to prevent that? She looked out of the window and tapped her foot, furiously. She was fufilling her role as a teacher. She was treating this the same way she would any other student. Her hands were tied from doing anything else. She repeated it in her head to quell the persistent contradiction from her gut.
Later that night, Lena busied herself in the kitchen as she heard Stef's arrival. She knew what it was they would have to talk about and knew she wouldn't like the answer.
"So...any progress?" Stef asked after a quick hello as Lena immediately absorbed her attention into fiddling with folding a towel. She cleared her throat before diving into re-arranging some dishes.
"I had a talk with her about it all, gave her some leaflets including ones about talking to her parents and told her to come to me anytime if she needed us."
Stef immediately dipped her head to try and get eye contact, darting a glare straight at her. Lena down at her and slapped her palms down noting the unmistakable disapproval in her face. "What? It's exactly what we discussed."
"You're waiting for her to come to you? I thought the whole point was to try and guide her." Stef folded her arms angrily.
"Stef, I flipped back and forth so many times, but the facts remain the same. I cannot give her that pill."
"So, what? We're just going to risk her getting pregnant? That's our plan?" Stef's voice dropped to a flustered whisper.
"You're over-reacting. She may still -"
"Over-reacting?" Stef spat back in the same lowered tone. "We're relying oh a girl who is terrified of her extremely religious parents to admit to having underage sex and now needing contraception. Lena - you're deluding yourself!"
"Well it's all we can do, Stef! I can't force her to tell them, I've tried talking to her, I've offered for us to tell them - she has to make the decision of what she wants to do."
"She wants to take the pill!" Stef shot back immediately.
"And we can't give her one." Lena fired back with just as much force. They were interrupted by a flicker of a body disappearing, both of them snapping their heads to identify it.
"You OK out there?" Stef asked as calmly as she could, hoping the listener would identify themselves and that they could figure out if they had to do any damage repair. They were relieved it turned out to be Callie.
"I'm really sorry - you guys are in the middle of something."
"Honey, we're always in the middle of something - you're still the priority. What do you need?" Lena added putting her hands on her hips.
Callie looked between them before working up the courage to make her request.
"So, Wyatt was wondering if...well I guess I was wondering if you would mind me going to hang with him tonight."
Lena and Stef looked her up and down before exchanging a look. Stef cleared her throat.
"You mean like a date?"
"No." Callie replied immediately. "Well, yes. I mean...I don't know..."
Stef squinted trying to keep up. Her head was too full right now for dithering.
"Well will it just be the two of you?" she asked, trying to make sure her tone at least didn't reflect her other distractions.
"Uhm, yeah - I guess."
Lena and Stef exchanged another look, a silent conversation firing between their eyes. Callie, panicking slightly at the delay, quickly thought back to what Wyatt had said.
"You know Wyatt, right? He stayed and helped washing up Sunday night." she blurted out. She was taken aback by how desperate it had sounded once it was no longer in her head.
Lena breathed out a small giggle. Neither her or Stef could miss the glaring motive of the reminder and both relaxed slightly at the innocence of the plan.
"He is a very nice boy." Lena raised an eyebrow towards Stef.
"Yes - he is." she agreed. "Well...I suppose we could allow that. It's good to see you settling in."
Callie nodded nervously with a smile. "Thanks." she turned to leave before Stef and Lena shared a different look as their minds darted back to the main topic of the evening. Callie was going on a date. They wouldn't have thought much were it Kasey or Mariana but they suddenly realised Callie was different. They hadn't raised her - and didn't know who had. "Do you think we need to -" Stef whispered to Lena.
"Well with all that's happened - " she murmured back without needing her to finish the sentence.
"Wait - Callie..." Stef quickly stopped her in her tracks as she turned, slightly confused.
"We...can we have a quick talk before you go...?" Lena indicated the chair opposite. They were in enough of a mess this week, they weren't going to take any chances.
Callie hesitantly took up her position and both Moms sat opposite, waiting for the other to start. Lena finally did after a winning eye prompt from Stef.
"We know that you've probably had all this before but as you're in our care now we have to make sure..."
"Make sure?" Callie queried clasping her fingers together and pushing her shoulders out in an awkward pose. She was suddenly cast back to her first night in the house.
"We just need to make sure you know the facts."
Callie squinted out a confused smile. "The...facts?" she looked across at both women's expectant glances, a look of both horror and realisation flooding her face. Oh God.
"Like...the facts of life?" she whimpered out nervously. She squirmed in her seat as she rubbed one arm with her other. Not again. Not another set of adults fumbling their way through the birds and the bees in the same way they'd talk to a kid they'd gone through it with when it was still relevant.
Lena immediately put a hand up to calm her nerves.
"Not quite, we imagine you know those. More our facts. Don't worry - we don't want to make this any more awkward than it has to be...just..."
"Just with Jesus practically knocking up Lexi you're on high alert?" she asked awkwardly. She didn't mean for it to sound as blunt as it did, but she was trying hard enough not to beg they kill her instead that other sentiments slipped through.
Stef's eyes immediately flared.
"How did...?" she paused, open mouthed before rolling her eyes. "I swear I am gonna staple Kasey's mouth closed." she whispered as an aside to Lena.
"She briefly mentioned it but you were also kind of just arguing about it..."
Lena waved her hand at them both before regaining control of the conversation.
"OK - that aside, yes - that is fresh on our minds but more so it's our duty to make sure you're safe."
"In all senses of the word." Stef chipped in to a look of distaste from both of the others in the conversation.
"I appreciate it - I do...but really. I know the facts. Don't feel pressured, there are other ways you can be close to someone and if you do do it, wear a condom. I really, really know." she rubbed her arm again, cringing not just with the awkwardness of discussing this with yet another set of adults but also because of past memories. She knew more than anyone how easy it was to be seduced and then no longer be in control of what could happen to your body.
"OK. Well that's good, but almost more importantly we want you to know that we are always, always here to talk about anything like that. One of us, both of us. Just please come to us. If you get in a difficult situation we won't be mad, we always have your happiness and safety at heart. We would rather you didn't have sex but if you do there are condoms in the bathroom."
Callie blinked back another awkward look. She remembered Talya boasting about Stef giving her and Brandon condoms. It was probably the least awkward sex talk she'd ever had but it didn't make it any easier to discuss with people she was still getting to know, no matter how approachable or understanding they were.
"Thank you...but you do realise this is barely even a date, right?" she winced.
"Yes we do, but wouldn't you still rather get this over with now?" Stef sighed as Callie nodded.
"That all?"
The couple looked to each other in a silent review before nodding and giving her leave to go. As she disappeared Stef pushed herself off the stool.
"Wow that's easier when they're little and the dialogue grows with them."
"Well I like your optimism but if it was easy with the boys we probably wouldn't be in this mess." Lena sighed.
Stef rubbed her neck with frustration at the reminder they were still in this fight. "Look Lena, I don't know what to suggest. Clearly I have no bearing on your opinions so I-"
"It's not my opinions it's my restrictions." Lena cut her off to clarify as Stef held her hands up in defence to correct herself.
"Your restrictions, whatever. My point is, clearly we're at an impasse so we'll just have to do it your way and pray that the Riveras' God know what he's doing." she threw her hands down in resignation and walking towards the door.
Lena bunched her hair up with a silent bicker..
"Oh, before I forget -" Stef turned back, still inadvertently retaining her frosty tone. She tried to cough it away before continuing. " I added my old phone to the plan like we talked about. We should probably give it to Callie tonight if she's going out." she suggested as Lena nodded, the subject change being a now peaceful acknowledgement of their latest debate hiatus.
Next Chapter Preview: Mike meets a new friend, Kasey tries to give Mariana some advice and a phone call she receives from Callie leads to a confrontation with Brandon.
"Jeez!" Brandon swung away from her, cutting her off before flapping his arms out firmly. "How about you lecture me on my feelings when you've had a relationship that lasts more than a couple hours and doesn't involve scaling a building."
Kasey furrowed her eyebrows and stared him down. "Nice. You know it's exactly that kind of aggressive response that makes me think there is more to this..." Brandon pushed his hands firmly in his pockets before turning back to the house.
"Do you have a thing for Callie?" Kasey asked bluntly, stopping him in his tracks.