AN- Wow guys just wow! I am blown away by the reviews on this story! You're so encouraging! I can't thank you enough! This family is just so much fun to write for. I've got lots of ideas and places I am going with this story still, however feedback and your ideas sometimes spark MORE and bigger and better then what I had originally thought! So if you have any ideas or something you'd like to see happen feel free to let me know. I am always open to ideas!
And again I say Thank You!
"Well the house looks like a tornado hit it" Stef said to herself as she glanced behind her. Their makeshift air mattress beds were taking up the whole living room. Part of her wanted to clean them up before the grief counselor got there. Though part of her wanted to have all the kids and Lena spend one more night together. She wanted them close by and she didn't want the girls on sedatives.
"Oh really, who are we trying to impress?" She mumbled to herself as went to answer the door after hearing the doorbell.
She opened the door to find a very friendly looking woman standing on her porch. She was a petite thing probably smaller than Mariana. Long dark hair big brown eyes a warming smile and dressed casually. Stef almost let out a sigh of relief seeing this woman. She knew her kids would be comfortable around this woman.
"Hello" She greeted the woman with a smile "Please come in, don't mind the mess and I am Stef" She extended her hand once their visitor was through the door.
"Hello, Stef it's nice to meet you" She extended her hand "My name is Samantha Benson"
"Nice to meet you too Samantha, I just wish it was on better terms" She said softly
Samantha gave a small sad smile "I know, me too. I am sorry."
Stef took a deep breath "My kids were all at the school yesterday, and they are all in some kind of shock still, but it's been really hard on my girls and my wife."
Samantha nodded "It's understandable, the biggest thing to remember is each one of your family members is going to react differently to this"
"Yeah, so I've noticed" She sighed then smiled "Come meet my troops. Sorry house is a bit of disaster." She explained as she motioned to the living room "This is where we'd normally meet with people but."
"It's been taken over by beds" Samantha finished her sentence with a smile "Did you all sleep together last night?"
"Yeah, the boys did it. They thought it would nice if we were all together"
Samantha smiled to Stef as she peered into the room "That's sweet, it was a good idea!"
"It was nice to have all my babies with me," Stef nodded as she led Samantha into the kitchen "Thankfully we have a big kitchen with lots of seating, nice comfy covered benches by the windows. "That's where my family is hanging out"
"Hey Guys" Stef greeted her family as they entered the kitchen. Brandon was finishing up the dishes Jude was drying. Lena and Marina were sitting together on the window seat looking out the window. Jesus was sitting on the floor by Lena's legs playing with the wheels of a skate board.
Callie was on a stool her new bear sitting on the counter in front of her as well as piece of paper. In her hand a pencil. It took Stef a second to realize that her daughter was sketching a picture of the bear.
"This is Samantha" Stef smiled Samantha looked around "Oh your kitchen is great! I love how it opens up like this. Very inviting"
"We like it" Stef smiled "Hey Brandon and Jude can you guys worry about that later? Come sit" She nodded to her boys. "Samantha, this my tribe" She snatched Jude as he went to go join Callie on the stools. This is Jude our youngest" She kissed the top of his head "And Brandon" She winked at him as he headed over to join Jesus on the ground by Lena. "The cool looking dude on the floor with the board is our son Jesus. The beauty in the pink hoodie behind him on the bench is our daughter and Jesus's twin Mariana. The gorgeous woman next to my daughter is my wife Lena."
Lena offered a weak smile "Hello" She said softly as she wrapped her arm around Mariana.
Stef turned and walked over to Callie "Did you think I forgot about you love?" She asked playfully jabbing her in the side "And this baby doll is my Callie girl" Callie blushed and Stef smirked before turning to Samantha "And now there will be a test!" She said with a smirk.
Samantha laughed "You'd be surprised what I can retain" She went around the room "Callie, Jude, Brandon and Jesus, Mariana and Lena and you are Stef"
Stef laughed "Fair, can we offer you anything?"
"No, I am good" She said as she pulled up a stool "Alright, I know you all had a really hard day yesterday. I am not here to make it worse" She promised "I know this seems awkward but I promise I am here to help. To listen and you only have to share as much as you want to share. I am not going to push you." She said sincerely "Then at the end of our session, I am going to talk to just your mom's, if that's okay with you"
The kids nodded
As Samantha took a deep breath "Alright, let's start with just talking about how the day started.
Samantha sat on the front porch with Stef and Lena after two hours of talking with the Foster kids. "You two have amazing children. I hope you know that."
Lena smiled "We do, we're proud of our babies."
"Lena, you Callie and Marina should see a professional together for a while" Samantha said handing Stef a card "I am giving you my number as well as a few people I'd recommend. You three went through a very traumatic experience together. Also from what it sounds like to me, your family has had past traumatic experiences. It's a lot to process especially for the kids"
"Yeah" Stef threw her head back and laughed sarcastically "You have no idea how many past traumatic experiences my kids have faced. They have seen the horrible system that some Foster kids face, abuse homes that are supposed to protect them. I got shot and almost died. They just can't seem to catch a break and my beautiful wife with a heart of Gold."
"Stef" Lena said grabbing her hand "Honey, I am okay"
Stef looked at the card in her hand "Lena, I think you and the girls should go."
"Of course" Lena promised "I'll do what's best for my kids"
"And yourself" Samantha looked to Lena "Lena, its okay to be upset. You don't have to be strong for your kids."
Lena took a deep breath "I know, but I function better when I am taking care of my kids. What do I do for my girls today? Tomorrow?" She asked as her eyes filled with tears "What do I do to comfort them? They are both so far gone right now. I don't recognize them."
Samantha looked up at the sky "I wish I could give you a fix it Lena. Make them feel better. Their sense of security is gone right now. It was robbed from them. From you Too. Don't forget to take care of you during this time Lena."
Lena let out a sigh and looked away as Stef nodded "Right, how do we do that?"
"Get them into counseling, know it's not an overnight thing. PTSD is real. The air beds in the living room is good for one more night. Then tomorrow put just one in the hallway upstairs by their rooms. You two sleep on them. You put your kids to bed like to normal but if they wake up and want you that's fine they can crawl into bed with you. The next night put it on your bedroom floor the same thing put them to bed and if they crawl in with you it's fine. Then after that keep it there for another night or two and if they come in after being in their own bed, they sleep on that bed. Finally put it away and if they come in they sleep on the floor by your bed. You want them to start sleeping in their own beds. You want them to know you are there for them too. Keep things consistent, same rules. Limit the media right now though. The less they see of what just happened the better. Deny interviews" She looked to Lena "Reporters will come to you and Callie especially because you two witnessed the most. Don't put her through that. Or yourself. Talk" Samantha said seriously "Listen and don't judge them for their feelings"
Samantha looked to Stef "I can't stress this enough get them into counseling. A lot of emotions are coming up and they need to come out. This triggered past demons as well."
"Mariana doesn't want to be out of our sight" Stef looked to Samantha "I bet if I open that door right now she's going to fall through. What do we do?"
"Reassurance" Samantha "And love. You two already know what to do. I see it. I saw it in the way we all interacted today. Stay consistent, follow your gut and get into counseling"
Lena nodded "Are we done? I think I want to go inside with my kids" She said scanning the neighborhood with her eyes. It was such a beautiful day. A good one to be outside but right now that didn't feel safe. She wanted to be in her house. She wanted Mariana in her arms. She'd even take Callie's new found attitude right now. As long as she was with her.
"Go on love" Stef nodded "Don't trip on Mariana. I'll finish up with Samantha"
Lena let out a sigh of relief "Thank you" She said to Samantha before opening the front door and sure enough Mariana tumbled out from leaning on the door.
Stef gave Samantha an I told you so look as Lena helped Mariana up "And I bet Callie is…" She pointed to the window on the left. Watching us, but pretending not to be"
Samantha's eyes traveled to the window and nodded "She's there. You're good."
"Even right now, I know my kids" Stef looked to Samantha "And they are hurting. Yesterday was the anniversary of Callie's mom's death and…"
Samantha let out a whistle as the door shut behind Lena "And she almost lost Lena."
"Right" Stef sighed finally turning to face the window. She and Callie made eye contact for a brief moment before Callie scurried off the bench. Probably to go pretend to not care what Lena was doing but to silently try to join in."
"Their closet doors are open" Samantha said softly "And skeletons are falling out Stef. I talked them through some of the emotions and feelings of yesterday but it's so much more. Your family is going to have a rough few weeks." She reached out and touched Stef's arm "But out of all my years of working with families I haven't seen one quite as tough as this one. You're the first family that I am not worried about falling apart. You will get through this together. It's not going to be easy, but it's doable."
"Counseling"
"Right away" Samantha nodded "Go on, go back in there. Your kids need you. Miss Callie is back at the window. I am thinking she's wants her mom."
Stef turned again and saw Callie looking out the window at her.
She winked at her and blew her a kiss and to her surprise Callie put her hand on the window and didn't run away. "Yeah, I need to go love on my Callie girl" She held out her hand to Samantha. "Thank you."
"Counseling"
"I will go make official appointments as soon as I get back inside. Well after I love on my daughter. Then I'll make the appointment"
Samantha nodded "You have my number, I am around. Stef, just remember there is no right or wrong or black and white rules for handling this. Other than ignoring it."
Stef nodded "Thank you again. It helps to hear that." She said softly before heading back into the house to go join her family.
The Fosters
FB
Stef held on tightly Lena's hands as they walked through the school heading to Lena's office. Walking the very same path Lena and Callie had just taken to get out of the school.
"Oh, my god" Stef gasped. Being a cop she'd seen a lot of horrifying things. However nothing could prepare her for seeing a school's hall covered in blood. Or seeing the body of a young kid Jesus's age laying in the middle of the hallway with a gun a few feet from his body. She shuddered at all the blood movies always made it look like a gunshot wasn't an overly messy thing. One shot a pool of blood. Nothing horrifying. This however was horrifying blood was splattered on lockers on the walls, on the ceilings. There were two separate abandoned pools of blood. Stef guessed that's where the girl that had been carried out had been shot as well as where Callie and Lena had been when their arms took a bullet.
By the look on Lena's face it confirmed to Stef what she thought was right.
They continued to walk in a quick speed towards Lena's office "Those are yours and Callie's shoes." Stef observed as they passed them "Should we grab them?"
"No" Lena shook her head "Remember they said we can't touch anything this is a crime scene."
Stef exhaled something about seeing her daughter and wives shoes abandoned in a building where a shooting had taken place made her feel uneasy. Like picking them up and taking them with her would fix everything.
"Callie loved those shoes" She said more to herself
"We'll buy her a new pair"
Stef had to shake her head at herself were her and Lena really having a conversation about shoes while they were on their way to go get their child that was hidden away because of violence?!
Finally they had made it to Lena's office stepping inside. Lena let out a loud gasp as Stef gripped her hand tightly.
Two dead bodies lay in the entry way. They had to actually step over them to get in the room. Again more blood over everything. Walls, furniture. Stef felt like she wanted to throw up.
"Mike" Lena turned to him as he stood starring at the bloody mess in front of them "I am going to need you okay?"
Stef raised an eyebrow "Lena?" She watched as Lena held up one hand to stop her from asking questions before pulling her to the bench in the room. She quickly threw off the pillows and opened the top.
Stef peered over Lena's shoulder to see her daughter laying there clutching Lena's coat with her eyes tightly shut.
"Mariana, baby mama is here" Lena spoke softly as she reached in and brushed her finger tips over Mariana's forehead "You were so good! SO big and brave and I promised you I'd come back for you. Open your eyes Sweetheart."
Mariana's eyes slowly opened her brown eyes locking with Lena's. "Mama?" She whispered.
Lena nodded leaning in and kissing her tear stained cheeks "Right here baby girl. Right here." She whispered "Feel my lips on your cheeks? That's me."
"Mama" Mariana whimpered again.
"Stef, lean in" Lena whispered
"Hi love!" Stef greeted as tears rolled down her cheeks "I am so glad to see you baby girl"
Lena smiled "Mom and I are both right here." She brushed Mariana's cheek again "And Mike is here too" She told Mariana with a smile "And what's going to happen is he's going to lean and pick you up okay? Then I want you to close your eyes and put my coat over your face until we get to Callie" She said seriously "Mariana, I am serious there are things right by us I just don't want you to see."
"Mama's right love" Stef agreed "This is for the best, but I'll walk next to Mike holding you hand. Can you do that? You've been so brave this far. Can you do that for me? For us?"
Mariana nodded her head "Yes mom"
"Good girl" Stef praised "I am so proud of you baby. Let's get you out of here and go find your sister."
Mariana nodded again as she handed Lena her phone.
"Thank you angel" She leaned in kissing her one more time.
"Mike?"
Stef and Lena made a shield with their bodies as Mike picked up Mariana just in case she didn't have her eyes closed as Mike lifted her.
"Close your eyes love" Stef reminded her while Lena tucked the coat over her face.
"I've got you Mariana' Mike whispered to her "You're safe princess"
Stef gave Mike a smile before grabbing Mariana's hand with one hand and Lena's with the other and they made their way outside of the school. They finally made their way outside of a living nightmare.