Anchor Beach Charter School advertised as taking your children from the cradle to the graduation cap. And it did. It was a one stop education center. It had a daycare that started at newborn. Then, preschool for the 4 year olds, and kindergarten once they were 5. And next grades 1 through 12. It offered afterschool care and summer learning terms. They partnered with local businesses and offered music, martial arts, dance, gymnastics, and a whole host of other athletic lessons for their students at a discounted rate than private lessons would be. It sat on a beautiful sprawled campus that overlooked the beach.

Lena was loving the job. Since it was still summer, she was only working 3 days a week. Callie attended the summer learning classes while she worked. She would run over to her Mama with a huge smile on her face when Lena would pick her up and would chirp happily about her day to the family when they returned home.

Lena's job duties included training, meetings, and other administrative tasks. This week was the first she had started to take over tours to new students. She had spent the previous two weeks following the principal, Karina Sanchez who then told her it was her responsibility from here on out. Lena was nervous but because she loved the school herself already, knew that she would be able to sell it just fine to prospective parents.

She went to Callie's summer enrichment classroom and was greeted by her little girl running into her arms. Lena laughed and scooped her up and planted kisses on her head. Jaleyn, who was also in the same class, came over for a hug too. Normally her sister picked him up but today Lena was taking the kids out and bringing them back to her parents where Lena and Callie were still staying through to the weekend. Her sister had already installed the car seats in Lena's car when she dropped them off that morning and left their bags inside too.

"Look Mama. I drew a picture of us." Callie proudly showed off her drawing.

"Oh wow. How beautiful my baby. "Lena was a little sad to see that Callie had drawn Gretchen along with her and Callie in front of her parent's house. Gretchen still called, sent presents and promised to visit soon but Callie was still not completely dealing with the separation. She just seemed to think she was away on business. Even when Lena explained it to her for the 100th time, Callie still held onto her Mommies being together.

"Look at mine Aunt Lena." Jaleyn thrust his into her hands. He had drawn his parents, brother Ethan, Cousin Callie and his Aunt Lena. He actually showed talent for a four year old.

"Come on you guys. We gotta get the baby and get out of here." Lena grabbed hands and went to the daycare. She got Ethan and then bundled the kids into the car. They got home and the kids ran out back to play until dinner after greeting their Grandparents.

Lena had only meant to borrow her mother's car the morning after the welcome home dinner party but when she drove up she saw a new car sitting in the driveway and her mother handed her the registration for her car with her name on it. Lena thanked her but still tried putting her foot down about her needing her own home and space.

A week later, Lena found the perfect house. It was a four bedroom Craftsman with two and a half bath, large porch areas, and large front and back yard that was only a 15 minute walk to the school. Plus, her sister lived in the same neighborhood and Timothy lived about 10 minutes away. It was perfect! Lena's Father went with her to discuss the financing part only to help talk about pricing and ended up purchasing the house outright for Lena. At first Lena balked, she had wanted to do it herself, but her Father kissed her and told her that being ungrateful about a gift was just bad manners and she was raised better than that.

Even though the house was bought and paid for there were still closing costs and other matters to attend to that took time. So for the time being, Lena and Callie were still at her parents. Lena went in to help her Mom with dinner while her Dad played with the kids.

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Stef hated to do it but knew it had to be done. She dialed Mike's number on the way home. She was so grateful for the voicemail picking up. She left a message that reminded him that Brandon's appointment for school was on Friday at 3. She had already gotten an okay to leave work early but she still wasn't sure if he was going to be a no show or not. For Brandon's sake at least, she hoped that he would.

Since leaving Mike a year ago, Stef had always went out of her way to make sure that Mike stayed in Brandon's life. She offered Mike Wednesday's and every other weekend with him. Unfortunately, with little or no notice Mike was just as apt to miss them as he was to show up. And then there were the times he would be obviously hung over and Stef would refuse him if he did show up. It broke her heart because she knew that it broke Brandon's heart.

Stef went inside and hugged and kissed her little man. She greeted her Mom and went to the room she shared with Brandon. There she changed and locked away her gun belt. Changing out of her uniform into civvies always seemed to change Stef's personality. She went from being assertive and self-assured to just plain Stef. She had always been extroverted and considered herself a bit of a prankster with a wicked sense of humor. Unfortunately, she really had no friends outside of the force. And for some reason, they seemed to all be on Mike's side. That left her with no social outlets at all. She had taken to spending all her excess time out of work with her son and mother with the strained weekly trips to her dads.

She snuggled on the sofa with her little man while her Mom finished dinner. Brandon knew that tomorrow was the big day for school and he was so excited. He had talked about nothing else but that for the past few days.

Sharon kept a watchful eye and ear out for her family. She loved Stef but she was truly starting to worry her. Stef in her younger years had been an outgoing loving girl. She was everything her mother dreamed she would be and more. Then Tess Brown entered their lives. Sharon had known for a long time that her daughter had inclinations towards women. When she was little she had said that she wanted to marry Wonderwoman. For Frank, this was just too much for his religious fanaticism to handle. He ruined Stef's friendship with Tess and sent her to a pray the gay away seminar. Stef came home broken. She was just never quite the same again. She kind of closed inside of herself. Sharon hadn't known what to do at first. So she did the best she could. She packed up herself and her daughter and moved them out. She embraced a life that made her happy instead of what made her husband happy and hoped that it stood as an example to Stef.

Sharon had been worried even a little scared after meeting Mike. She had noticed almost instantly how alike he and Frank were. She asked Stef repeatedly if this was what she wanted. Stef kept swearing she was happy. To Sharon, she had never looked happy. Sharon wasn't surprised when less than 3 years later, Stef was asking if her and Brandon could stay for a short while. That short while had ballooned into more than a year now. Sharon knew that Brandon missed his Dad. But, secretly she was glad that Stef had finally woken up enough to leave. Now, if she could just get her to remember the girl she had been before Frank's attack.