"Hey." Mike said at the door. It was eight thirty and he was here to pick up Brandon but when Lena opened the door she looked completely confused.
"Hey Mike." Lena said, trying to look like she hadn't just been crying. "What are you doing here?"
"Brandon asked if he could spend the night." Mike said in confusion. "He said he needed to talk to me."
"Oh right." Lena said, forging understanding. She figured that Brandon needed some space and would talk things through with his dad but she couldn't blame him for it. She also assumed that Stef had no idea about any of this and decided to just let it go. She had turned down Brandon's request to move in with his dad but he was still allowed to go over occasionally so tonight would just be that night.
"B, your dad's here." Lena called up the stairs and waited a moment while Brandon came down, closely followed by Jesus.
"You're leaving?" Jesus asked, clearly envious of his brother.
"Yeah, I'm spending the night with my dad." Brandon answered as he picked up the backpack that he had already left by the door.
"Ready B?" Mike asked.
"Brandon nodded and walked out the door without so much as a glance towards Lena, much to Mike's surprise.
"Lucky bug." Jesus mumbled as he went back upstairs while Lena closed the door behind them.
"How are you holding up?" Mike asked Stef the following morning. Stef was almost ready to finish her shift and Mike was just starting.
"Great." Stef said, not looking up from the report she was writing. "Never better."
"Come on Stef." Mike coaxed as he took a seat on the chair by her desk.
Stef finally looked up at her ex-husband and realized that he knew more than she wanted him to.
"Brandon told me." Mike confirmed. "I gotta admit, I did not see that coming." He sounded genuinely sad for her.
"Yeah? Well that makes two of us." Stef said, clearly still upset.
"You moved out." Mike continued.
"I did." Stef confirmed. "I just couldn't be there anymore."
"B asked to move in with me." Mike told her. "He wanted me to convince you."
"No." Stef said flatly.
"Actually I'm going to try to convince you of something instead." Mike cut her off. "Go back home Stef. That's no place for a woman all on her own." He said, referring to the area Stef had moved to.
"I'm fine Mike." Stef dismissed his concerns. "I can take care of myself."
"I'm sure you can." Mike couldn't argue with that fact. "But at least move somewhere else. Come stay with me if you have to stay somewhere else. You can have B's room for a while."
Stef smiled. "Leave my cheating wife and move in with my ex-husband." Stef summed up. "Sounds like some TV Drama.
"It wouldn't be like that." Mike said. "Just a tenant."
"I'm fine Mike, thank you." Stef turned him down. "I really need my own space right now. Besides, I've taken double shifts almost all week so I'll be out of the apartment most of the time anyway and I'll be asleep when I'm actually there."
Though Stef had tried hard to look indifferent Mike could see the hurt in her eyes. He knew her better than she liked to admit. He also knew that Lena would worry about Stef working so much and living down by the homeless shelter. He decided to go visit her as well. She'd been an amazing mother to his son - loved him like he was her own and helped raise him into who he was. Mike felt like he owed her this much at least.
Lena sighed as she opened the front door to Mike again. She knew instantly that Mike now knew what had happened. The kids had already left for school, refusing to eat anything she made for breakfast and now she was alone at home. She'd called in and said that she'd be in a little late. She needed a little time to herself to just regroup.
"I just thought I'd let you know that I told B he had to stay here." Mike said sympathetically. His son had made it clear that all the kids were mad at Lena and basically avoiding her. He remember how upset B had gotten when Mike was drinking while Stef was in the hospital and remember feeling so disappointing at letting his kid down. He figured Lena would be feeling the same way.
"I also talked to Stef." Mike continued. "I tried to convince her to move back or somewhere else or even in with me but she refused."
Lena sighed and nodded, she expected nothing less from Stef.
"I promise I'll keep an eye out for her and make sure she doesn't overdo it." Mike offered.
"Thanks Mike." Lena said gratefully. "I really appreciate that. She's totally running on emotion right now and I just don't want her to do something stupid."
"I'll make sure she sleeps and I'll talk to Roberts and have her put us together for a while, that way I can keep an eye out for her and maybe even find out where she's staying exactly." Mike promised.
"I can't believe this is happening." Lena mumbled, more to herself than Mike. "I can't believe I did this to her."
"I know that feeling." Mike assured her. "Every time I'd get drunk and let her and Brandon down she'd give me that look of pure disappointment. It nearly killed me."
Lena nodded in complete understanding. She was getting that look from Stef as well as the five kids.
"But in all honesty, I don't see this lasting long." Mike said. "She'll be back. She loves you too much. She's never looked at anyone the way she looks at you - it's like you hung the moon or something."
"And this is what I go and do to her." Lena sighed miserably. "What does that make me?"
"Human." Mike said without missing a beat. "We all make mistakes that we wish we can undo."
"Thanks Mike." Lena smiled. "I really appreciate it. Just looking out for Stef is enough. I don't want anything to happen to her."
"It won't." Mike assured her. "I won't let it."
After lunch Callie found herself on the rocks on the beach with her feet shin deep in the water. She had skipped lunch in an attempt to be alone for a while and though she'd heard the faint sound of the bell telling her that lunch was over but she just couldn't bring herself to head back to class - not when things were falling apart around her.
"Ditching too?" Brandon asked from behind her.
Callie smiled up at him as he took a seat beside her and rolled up his pants so he could stick his feet in the water too.
"Things really suck don't they?" He asked.
Callie nodded, still silent.
"I never thought something like this would happen to moms." Brandon told her. "They were like the perfect couple."
"There's no such thing." Callie said quietly.
"No." Brandon agreed. "Unfortunately my dad refused to let me move in too. I'm stuck home with Lena."
Callie understood what he felt but she was glad. She wanted them to be together as a family as they went through this.
Brandon suddenly laughed. "We're the only two with dad's out there who'll take us in." He said.
"Yeah but you want to live with yours and they won't let you and I don't want to live with mine and he's fighting the courts for me." Callie pointed out.
"You don't want to go?" Brandon asked her. "Even now? After this?"
"No." Callie said. "This is my home. This is where I want to be."
"It's pretty dreary right now." Brandon pointed out. "Plus the Quinn's have everything and then some."
"They don't have what I want or need." Callie said. "A home doesn't have to be perfect or have everything - it just needs love and after living in so many homes where there was never any love this is like a dream come true." Callie said. "It's what I waited for my whole life."
"I get that everyone's mad at Lena, I really do." Callie continued, trying to explain. "But still, even with all that she's done everything for me. How can I ever hate her? She made a mistake and she knows it but it's for them to work out. I'm not saying I'm not worried or sad that things won't work out but in the end she's still my mom and I learned the hard way not to hate the people who love you.
Brandon thought about what his sister had said. He would never understand the lives that his siblings had led but he did know that he was blessed with the family he was born into. Even with the mistakes and the ups and downs it was still better than most.
"At least this time if things go south I won't go back into the system." Callie said with a small smile.
"What do you mean?" Brandon asked.
"Moms are fighting the Quinn's for custody of me. Or at least they were. I'm not sure what's going to happen now and even if they do continue to fight they may not win if they aren't together." Callie explained. "I don't want to live with the Quinn's but at least they are better than the foster system."
"They won't win." Brandon said, though he was no more sure than she was.
Callie smiled gratefully at him. She could tell that he was just trying to encourage her but she appreciated it all the same.
Their conversation was interrupted when Callie's phone rang and Lena's name flashed across the screen. Callie quickly picked up the phone as the two of them jumped off the rocks and headed back towards the school.
"Where are you?" Lena asked, a mixture of anger and worry.
"On the beach. We're coming back right now." Callie said quickly, regretting that she'd upset Lena further.
"Where are Brandon and Jesus?" Lena asked.
"Brandon's with me, I don't know where Jesus is." Callie said, turning to Brandon for information if he had it.
But Brandon just shook his head in response.
"Come to my office now." Lena ordered as the two headed into the school.
"Where the hell is that boy?" Lena muttered as she tried Jesus' number one more time just to get his voicemail yet again.