It was simple to say that Lena was surprised not finding Stef lying in bed next to her the next morning. She was even more surprised to see that Mariana and Callie were both still sound asleep but Taylor wasn't in the room. It was early, too early for anyone in the house to be awake. Lena began to worry.
Stef hadn't realized she had fallen asleep outside alongside Taylor. The goodbye note sitting next to her that Taylor had wrote. Taylor was snuggled close to her, it appeared as if she had just fallen asleep, there were fresh tear marks on her cheeks. Taylor's eyes fluttered open, "It's around five." She whispered. Stef nodded, "It's alright. We'll have you stay home today." Stef looked up and saw the rope still hanging from the tree. "I should take that down before Lena or one of the kids see. Alright?" Taylor nodded, "I'll help. I'm sorry." Stef shook her head, no, "You're going to sit here and not move okay? I don't want you to move." Taylor nodded and closed her eyes. "Do I have to tell Lena?" She whispered. Stef pretended not to hear, she wasn't sure what she wanted to do about last night.
Lena saw the screen door to the back yard open when she walked into the kitchen. She saw through the kitchen window, Stef, she had a rope in her hands, it was being untied from around the tree. Lena looked around the yard and saw Taylor sitting on the ground, a piece of paper in her hands. She was shaking. "Oh please tell me this isn't what it looks like." Lena muttered. She decided to wait a few minutes to let the two come to her.
"You don't know what you're going to do yet, do you?" Taylor had gotten up and walked over to the tree even though Stef had told her to stay put. Taylor traced her fingers over the rope, "It would have sucked if someone had found me say now instead of when you did." Stef stopped trying to undo the rope, "Taylor? Do you want me to tell her?" Taylor shrugged, "We don't have much of a choice, she was standing in the window watching us a few minutes ago." Stef turned around, "What?" She was looking in the window but didn't see Lena. Taylors voice made Stef turn around again, "This is gonna suck." Stef laughed, Taylor reminded Stef so much of a teen her, Taylor had more troubles but a lot was still the same, like this reaction.
"Uh, hi." Taylor mumbled walking into the kitchen looking up at Lena. Stef followed her in. "Can I talk to Lena alone?" Taylor asked, both Stef and Lena were taken aback by the question but Lena was secretly happy that Taylor trusted her enough to talk. Stef nodded, "We all still have to talk later though." Taylor nodded. Stef left the room, Lena stood staring at the young girl who wouldn't dare to look at her, "It's alright. I pieced most of it together myself. I'm sure the rest is in the letter in your pocket there." Lena nodded towards Taylor. Taylor regrettingly handed over the note.
Taylor had been sitting on one of the kitchen stools for five minutes now, Lena re-reading the goodbye note one more time when finally Stef came back, "The rest of the kids are coming." Lena nodded and handed Stef the note to hide. Taylor stood, "I'm going to go get ready for school." Stef shook her head, "Not today, you can go hide in our room until the rest of the kids go." Lena walked over to Taylor, "Thank you." She whispered. Taylor followed Stef up the stairs.
Taylor sat on the floor, "School would be a good distraction." Stef shook her head, "We still have a lot we need to discuss. You still have a lot on your mind. Don't do anything stupid, I'm going to go downstairs to get everyone ready."
"Hey babies." Stef said as she entered the kitchen filled with her kids. "Where's mom?" Jesus asked. Stef looked around the room and realized Lena must have stepped out to keep from crumbling after Taylor's note. "Somewhere around here. Are you all ready?" Mariana was the only one who didn't reply with a yeah, "Where's Taylor? She's been missing most of the night." Stef froze, "She's been with me. She's not going to school today." Mariana took that as enough of an explanation. Lena re-entered the room, "Okay everyone in the car or else you're all going to be late."
As the kids filled out Lena stopped to talk to Stef. "I'm going to drop them off and pick something up and I'll be right back. We have to figure out what to do with Taylor." Stef nodded, "Okay, we'll be fine for a few minutes, don't worry." Stef kissed Lena on the forehead, "She's gonna be alright." Lena nodded, "Taylor's our first focus right now. We can discipline Mariana later."
The car ride to school was tense. Jesus refused to talk to Mariana after last night. The two had already gotten into a fight that morning about it all. Callie was acting strange as if something had happened last night. And Lena was on autopilot driving to the school. Jude sat in the back seat watching everyone caught in their own thoughts. "Uh. You just drove by the school." Brandon said to Lena. "Oh right. Sorry." She muttered. Jesus and Mariana, fled the car immediately as it stopped in different directions, Callie got out and looked around but then started walking Jude towards his first class. Only Brandon lingered, "Uh, Is Taylor alright?" Lena looked up from the steering wheel, "You should know. You brought her to her parents yesterday right?" Brandon was surprised by the hostility in Lena's voice but noticed the pain layered beneath it, "Oh. She told you? I'm sorry she just wanted to go so badly and I thought it was better for me to go with her then her to sneak off with no one knowing where she was. I'm surprised she told you." Lena shook her head, "You should have come to us, Brandon. Your mom and I could have figured out how to help her. She got hit which was bad enough, but what if her parents pulled out a knife again? This is just like what happened with Callie, we got lucky." Brandon nodded, "So are you going to let her go back?" Lena was surprised, "I don't think she wants to go back, Brandon you should go to class." Brandon was being defiant and he felt bad but he needed to know what happened, "Why? What happened?" Lena took a breath, "Don't tell the other kids, alright? We only know about her going to her parents house because it was in her..." Lena paused, choking down a sob, "her goodbye letter to your mom." Brandon was shocked, "Is she alright?" Lena nodded, "Get to class. We can talk later, alright?" Brandon numbly walked off and started to head to class.
"Are you going to talk or just stare at the wall?" Taylor had been sitting in the room for almost an hour now, she had watched Stef stare at the wall for almost forty-five minutes. Stef shook her head, "Do you remember what you said last night, during dinner?" Taylor smiled, "Yeah. I didn't like your dad. He was a jerk." Stef laughed at how Taylor chose to change her words today, "Well, Are you ready to find out why I relate to you so much?" Taylor shook her head, "You don't have to tell me. I kinda put most of it together myself." Stef smiled, "You don't have to spare me, I'm offering to tell you something after you've trusted me with a lot." Taylor nodded, "Okay." Stef sighed, "When I was younger, in high school. My dad caught me cuddling on the couch with a friend of mine. He kicked my friend out and sent me to a youth minister." Taylor interrupted Stef, "It sucks huh?" Stef laughed and continued with her story, "I was told how wrong it was to be gay, the sin crap, blah blah blah. You know the drill." Taylor nodded. "That's where the similarities end, I went back into hiding, I married Mike and had Brandon. Until I met Lena and blah blah blah gross old people romance." Taylor burst into laughter. Stef smiled, " I wish I could have been as strong as you to say, no this is who I am deal with it. But I wasn't, which is why I have so much respect for you." Stef could see the awe and amazement in Taylor's eyes, "And your dad still didn't accept you when you told him and left Mike and married Lena?" Stef shook her head, "I'm still his daughter but he doesn't respect my uh... "Choice" and doesn't think I should be allowed to marry Lena." Taylor gave Stef a hug, "I'm sorry. You shouldn't be allowed to marry Lena? Does that mean you aren't already married?" Stef shook her head. Taylor felt guilty for mentioning it,"It's his loss, you and Lena are amazing."
"Hey Callie! Come here." Wyatt called Callie over after one of their first classes had ended. "Ugh. What?" Callie faked disinterest and annoyance but secretly like Wyatt bugging her. Callie turned around hoping to see Wyatt smile but he seemed angry, "Why'd you change you're instagram profile from public to private? Why did that creep Liam comment? What was he doing at the party?" Callie froze, "No reason, I just did. And Liam he's just an uh, old friend." She cringed saying Liams name and calling him a friend. The truth was about as far from that as it could be, but Callie could never tell anyone the truth. Wyatt tried to get Callie to answer him but she just ended up snapping at him in the end, "Stop with the twenty questions already, would you?"
Lena had walked back into her bedroom to hear the last words "You and Lena are amazing." She smiled, at least Taylor didn't hate them, "Hi guys. I love to hear how amazing I am but could we talk about last night?" The mood in the room was tense instantly. Taylor quickly looked at Stef and then to Lena, "I'm sorry." Lena shook her head, "Why don't we start with explanations okay? Why did you go to your parents house?" Taylor shurgged, "I wanted to make sure they weren't out searching for me, I know that Stef checked and they hadn't reported me. And I wanted to check to make sure they didn't change what they thought of me." Taylor's voice dropped quickly, "They didn't." Lena nodded, "Okay. And they hit you. Struck you across the face. Is there anything that we're missing?" Taylor sighed, "Uh. I blackmailed Brandon into taking me so don't get mad at him please." Stef was shocked, "Brandon took you? And he didn't tell us?" Taylor nodded, "It was my fault, I begged him, even blackmailed him to."
Jude was sitting in class when his teacher announced that they would be working on a group project. He looked around as everyone jumped up to their friends. Connor turned around, "Hey Jude, do you.." Jude cut him off, "No." Connor smiled, "Wanna be mine?" Jude smiled, "Sure."
"Honey," Stef started. Taylor cut her off, "I know if I ever feel worthless or anything like this happens again I need to talk to you." Lena shook her head, "My turn to talk. You shush." Taylor was stunned. Lena continued, "Honey, I know how hard it is to talk to someone about this. But you can talk to me okay?" Taylor nodded, Lena continued. "When I was younger, I felt useless and worthless a lot. I was going to try to.. well I was in your shoes last night before, one of my friends stopped me. My point is, I understand what you're going through when it comes to this." Stef sat staring at Lena, "What?" Lena nodded, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you Stef, I was the only one who knew before I just told you and Taylor." Taylor was stunned, "But Lena, you're always the calm composed one, I can't believe." Lena and Stef both laughed, "We were young once. We've all done crazy things." Taylor sighed, "So, am I off the hook? Can I go to my room now?" Stef shook her head, "Not so fast, you're not off the hook. You have to stay in whichever room has a few people in it, we're gonna read all of your writing to check in on you and you can't leave for a few weeks unless WE, either Lena or I only take you." Taylor's emotions were off the walls, "Reading all of my stuff! But, why?" Lena sighed, "It sucks but it's to make sure you're alright and aren't going to try that again." Taylor nodded, "Thank you."
Callie was standing outside the school getting ready to go home when a pickup truck came speeding to a stop. Liam jumped out and grabbed Callie, he started yelling at her and screaming about some instagram comment. Wyatt saw Callie, he ran to tackle Liam. The two were rolling on the ground fighting each other. Brandon saw the ordeal and ran to pull Wyatt off Liam. Liam got up and ran off to his truck. "I told you to stay out of it!" Callie yelled at Wyatt. Wyatt was furious, "Fine! I stay out of it for good!" and stalked off. "Care to explain?" Brandon asked.
"That was Liam. He was an old foster brother..." Callie went into the story about her previous foster home, about how nice the family was and the son, Liam. "Until finally one night... he climbed into bed with me, he forced me to...he forced me to have sex with him." Brandon didn't know what to say for a minute, "We need to tell my moms." Callie nodded, "I know. Taylor too, I promised her I would tell them all."
When Callie and Brandon walked into the house, Lena and Stef could tell that they needed to talk. "Taylor why don't you go upstairs?" Stef said when Callie asked to talk to them. Callie shook her head, "No Brandon and Taylor can stay." Stef and Lena nodded, "Okay. Whenever you're ready Callie" Callie took a breath and started her story. Stef and Lena kept nodding to tell her to continue, Taylor's heart broke, all three of them felt horrible for Callie and didn't know what to say to her.
Authors note:
Hey guys. What did you think of this chapter? I will finish episode 7 and episode 8 in the next chapter. Next chapter will have Jude and Connor scenes and Taylor will have a love interest. Thanks. Reviews please!