Suddenly all the conversation stopped. The girls and Brandon and Jude who hadn't really been part of it all also stopped their chatter to stare at the stranger in front of them.
"Excuse me?" Stef said, clearing her throat uncomfortably.
"We're lesbian." Kate confirmed, letting go of Lena's hand thinking that that must be the reason that everyone was staring at her. "I get that it's not for everyone but we had a great time right?" She asked, turning to Lena for a response.
Stef's jaw dropped as she too turned to stare at Lena, unable to even respond.
"What exactly does that mean?" Mariana asked, hoping that it wasn't what she, and obviously everyone else, was thinking.
"She's your vice principal in school but she does have a life too you know." Kate laughed awkwardly, realizing that something was wrong but still thinking it was just homophobia.
"Mom?" Jesus said, turning to Lena, who was staring back at Stef, her face pale.
"Mom?" Kate questioned with a frown. "I thought she was your mom." She said, pointing to Stef.
"They're both our moms." Mariana said bitterly.
"You have kids?" Kate asked in shock.
"Five, and a wife." Jesus added with just as much malice in his voice as his twin.
The other three children just stood back, watching the scene. Neither boy was very verbal or confrontational and Callie just found the whole situation awkward and she wasn't really sure what she should say at all.
"You told me you had no family." Kate said to Lena, the hurt evident on her face. "I thought we really had something Lena. I thought maybe I'd move and start working here."
Stef and Lena were still staring at each other - one face covered with shock and hurt and the other filled with regret.
"Stef" Lena finally uttered the word filled with remorse as she reached out to her wife.
"Don't" Stef said abruptly, shaking her head and moving a few steps away from Lena until she walked into Brandon behind her. Immediately Stef spun around and handed Brandon the keys to the car. "Get everyone home please." She instructed before walking out of the gym while the rest of her family just stood around, still in shock.
"Lena?" Kate said again, hoping for some sort of explanation. The Lena she had met in San Francisco was nothing like the one she was seeing here - that one seemed confidant, carefree and spontaneous but this one seemed to have more problems than she had let on.
Lena finally turned away from the gym doorway through which Stef had disappeared to look at the younger woman in front of her. She could see the hurt look on her face and instantly felt bad for using her the way she did. Back then she had been a way for Lena to forget her heartache over her lost daughter and her struggles to mother five children, each with their own problems. Now, all she saw was a young girl, not much younger than she herself had been when she found out that Gretchen had cheated on her, feeling betrayed and insignificant.
Lena quickly turned to her children, planning on asking them to go home while she first talked to Kate and then try to find Stef but the moment she turned to them Mariana gave her a disgusted look.
"Let's go." Mariana said before walking away the way Stef had gone.
Jesus shook his head in disappointment at his mother as she followed his sister while the other three just walked away, their heads down, avoiding eye contact with Lena, Callie's hand placed gently on Jude's back, guiding him out of the gym.
"What's going to happen now?" Jude whispered to Callie once they were walking towards the car.
But Callie just shrugged. She had no idea. She's ever been in a home like this one before and she had no idea what to expect from now on.
Five hours later Lena finally entered the house. She had spent less than half an hour explaining and apologizing to Kate and the rest of the time just sitting alone in her office, crying until she had no more tears left. She had originally planned on going to look for Stef but she had no car and she knew that giving Stef a little time and space would do them both a world of good - she just hoped that Stef would give her a chance to explain.
Finally she had called for a cab and gone home to find her five children sitting together in the living room with the TV on low to some movie that even they were obviously not watching. Callie was sitting at one end of the couch with Jude rested against her, Mariana was on the other side, her feet propped up on Jude and the two older boys were on the armchairs. None of them were talking but all their faces showed their hurt and anger towards their mother.
"Where's mom?" Lena asked softly when no child made any attempt to speak to her.
"She's not home yet." Callie answered, the only one looking at her directly.
"Not at all?" Lena asked, feeling worried.
Callie shook her head.
Lena sighed as she pulled her phone out of her pocket to call her wife.
"She's not even answering our calls, you really expect her to answer yours?" Mariana asked bitterly, clearly angry with her mother and not afraid to voice it.
Lena sighed but walked into the kitchen to make the call. She waited as the phone rang and then went into voicemail. "Stef, where are you? Please come home so we can talk." She was about to hang up but then decided to throw a little guilt in there as well to coax Stef into coming back. "The kids are worried too." She added before hanging up.
And sure enough, twenty minutes later the front door opened for a second time and Stef walked in. She found her children sitting in the same spots as when Lena came home and she could hear the clatter of pots in the kitchen indicating that Lena was making dinner.
"Hi babies." Stef said as all her kids looked towards her. They could tell she'd been crying though she'd done her best to make herself presentable and they really weren't sure how to react.
"Are you okay mom?" Jesus finally mustered up the courage to ask.
"Yes love." Stef said. "Why don't you guys order some pizzas, mama and I will be upstairs." She said before walking into the kitchen to find Lena at the counter chopping something. The constant shake of her shoulders and the irritate rhythm of the knife made Stef certain she was crying.
"Lena." Stef said softly, causing her to turn around.
"Stef." Lena said, obviously relieved that she was back.
Both women stood looking at each other for a few minutes, neither sure of how to start or even what to say.
"Where were you?" Lena finally asked, wondering what her wife had been doing for the last five hours.
"The pier." Stef answered.
Once again neither woman knew what to say and Lena knew she had to be the one to start - she owed Stef an explanation and she deserved to be pushed out of her comfort zone. She opened her mouth to speak again but Stef stopped her.
"Let's go upstairs." Stef said quietly, aware that the kids were just in the next room.
"Um, dinner." Lena faltered, gesturing at the ingredients behind her.
"The kids are going to order pizza." Stef explained, no remorse for the fact that her wife was already half way through cooking a meal for them.
"Okay." Lena said, as she turned around to see if anything needed immediate attention before turning around following Stef quietly up the stairs. The eerie silence and the palpable tension making her even more nervous than she already was.
"I can't believe this is happening." Jesus mumbled.
They had seen their mothers go upstairs but none of them could judge what the outcome would be. The two adults had fought a million times before but never over something like this and not even Brandon had a clue as to how things would play out.
"I never imagined Lena would cheat on mom." Brandon said.
"She looks so hurt." Jesus pointed out. "I've never seen her look like that."
"When we first got here I used to think of the two of them were like a fairytale." Mariana admitted. "I never believed families like that really existed until I met them."
"Me either." Jude said softly, still sitting cuddled up with Callie. He couldn't remember much about his life before his mother had died and even then his parents weren't as close as Stef and Lena were.
"Who was that woman anyways?" Brandon asked. He'd never seen her before anywhere.
"She said they met in San Francisco." Jesus said, remembering her introducing herself to Stef. "Apparently she did a lot more than just go to a conference."
"She didn't seem like she knew much more than we did." Brandon pointed out. He didn't exactly feel sorry for the stranger but he didn't blame her either.
"So mom lied to her too." Mariana said bitterly. "And she's always nagging us to be honest and truthful." She gave a disgusted laugh at the thought.
"I still can't really believe it's happening." Brandon said. "I don't remember much about when my parents were together, but I do remember that it was nothing like this. Even before the fighting they were never as close as moms are."
"Do you think they'll split up?" Mariana finally asked the one question that was plaguing everyone's minds.
But none of the other's answered her for two reasons - for one thing none of them knew the answer and two, none of them wanted to even imagine that outcome.
All five children sat silently once again, lost in their own thoughts.