"Ok guys happy faces yes, we are excited" Lena whispered as Stef came down the stairs for breakfast.
"Hi babies, oh that smells good" Stef said as Lena placed a plate in front of her. Callie watched Stef pick up her fork as they all sat down. Seeing Stef in her police uniform was giving her a shaky feeling, but If Stef was nervous she wasn't showing it.
"What's going on today?" Stef asked
"Oh right" Lena said pulling up the calendar. It had become a tradition to go through the activities of the day when they all sat down together in the morning.
"So last day of school for us! yayy! and work for momma, Jesus has basketball practice right after, Callie has her last day of study group remind me to bring you guys in the cupcakes before I leave. i'm going to need you guys to walk home today because I have to take everyone else home. And please be back by three because someone will have to stay with Noah while I am taking Brandon to piano. Noah you have your first day of summer soccer at 5 Stef will take you to that when she gets home from work. Mariana you said you had plans with Lexi please be home by 6:00 so we can all have dinner together. After dinner it is Mariana's turn to do the dishes and Callie's turn to pick the card game" Lena said running down the list
"Whoo poker night right Callie girl!" Stef cried giving Callie a high five.
"Ok sounds good. I will see you at 5 bud, good luck at practice Jesus, Mariana you have enough shoes, Brandon have fun, Callie girl good work keep at it, Love have a good day" Stef said giving Lena a kiss. Everyone watched as Stef picked up her keys, she turned seeing them all watching her. Now Callie could see her strong front was failing
"Guys, it's just a bunch of paper work today, I probably wont even get out of the station, It will be fine" She assured them all.
"Call me at lunch?" Lena asked.
"I will" Stef promised.
When the lunch bell rang Callie found herself walking against the crowed. She turned down the hall where Lena's office was surprised to see Brandon and Jesus standing outside her door. Mariana came up behind her.
"Did she call?" Mariana asked.
"I don't know" Brandon said as the door to Lena's office opened and she jumped seeing the kids standing there.
"What are you all doing here!" Lena cried
"Did momma call?" Jesus asked. Lena sighed cracking a little smile.
"I just got off the phone with her, she had a slow day and is getting out early, she's probably on her way home as we speak" Lena said. Callie felt everyone breath a sigh of relief.
"go, get to lunch!" Lena playfully swatted Jesus with her stack of papers as the kids went down the hall.
"Last day of school!" Jesus cried as he and Callie walked through the front door.
"He's been singing that the whole way home" Calle rolled her eyes
"That's because summer is the best around here" Jesus said.
"And we go camping right?" Noah asked. Ever since Stef and Lena had brought it up he had asked every day. Stef had made him a count down calendar so he could keep track.
"Yes my man we go camping" Stef said coming into the entryway behind him
"What do you have planed for the summer Callie?" Stef asked.
"I don't know, I never really thought about it" Callie shrugged.
"Lena was talking about starting a vegetable garden in the back if you have any interest in that" Stef said. Callie thought for a minute nodding.
"Yeah that actually might be really cool."
"Jesus" Noah said banging on the bedroom door.
"Dude see the hat" Jesus called from inside. Noah looked down at the hat on the door knob
"But I need my book, come on" Noah said banging again.
"Not right now go away" Jesus said.
"You locked me out all day yesterday! and the day before that!" Noah cried
"Go away" Jesus yelled again. Suddenly Noah barged into. Jesus was sitting at his desk webcaming with a girl
"Dude get out" Jesus cried.
"Who's that, that's not Kelly" Noah said.
"Hi. I'm Sarah" The girl said.
"You locked me out of my room all day so you could have Jesus time with some girl!" Noah said
"What's Jesus time, oh wait you on the video with Kelly.. Ohhh" Sarah cried.
"Sarah stop" Jesus told the girl on his screen.
"I hope you didn't think we were going to have Jesus time" Sarah said.
'No it's not like that, Noah get out!" Jesus yelled again.
"It's my room too"! Noah cried.
"To bad" Jesus shrugged.
"No!" Noah cried throwing the book in his hands across the room at Jesus.
"Whoo, Noah!" Lena said as she and Stef came in.
"Hey hey what's going on here?" Stef asked.
"He keeps putting his stupid hat on the door and locking me out so he can have Jesus time!" Noah yelled turning to them
"Wow, is that…true?" Stef asked turning to Jesus trying to keep a straight face.
"Jesus be the big brother please. we will be back to discuss this, Noah we need to talk. come on" Lena said as Noah lowered his head walking past them down the stairs.
"You can't throw things at people, bub that is not how we solve our problems here" Lena said as Noah was seated at the table facing them.
"Jesus kicked me out of my room" Noah said.
"And he should not have done that, and he is going to hear about it. but that is not an excuse honey" Stef said from where she was standing behind Lena.
"I'm sorry" Noah said taking a deep breath.
"Never again bud ok?" Lena said.
"Ok i won't" Noah said
"Ok go play" Stef said dismissing him. He got up going into the living room Stef ducked her head down.
"He called it his room, HIS room" Lena whispered.
"And he threw something at Jesus and they were fighting just like real brothers!" Stef cried putting her head up to show she was beaming.
"AHH" Lena screamed as they wrapped their arms around each other
"Oh shhh shhh" Stef whispered as they laughed.
"Yes!" Stef laughed throwing her hands up.
"Oh goodness look at all theses clothes" Stef sighed as Lena emptied a laundry basket onto the bed.
"And this is just todays load, we will have to do like two a day to keep up with everyone in this house" Lena said sitting down as they both started to fold.
"remind me why the kids don't help with laundry again"
"Jesus and the red sock in the white pile" Lena said.
"Oh yes, I think I still have some pink underwear from that" Stef laughed. Lena glanced at her then got up closing the door to their bedroom.
"What's up?" Stef asked putting the shirt she had folded into the basket sensing Lena's need to talk.
"I was at the doctor today" Lean said.
"yeah..and?"
"No no nothing bad, I just I don't even know why I asked but, She ran a blood sample and I found out that if I want to get pregnant, I still can." Lena said.
"You…you want to have a baby?" Stef asked.
"I no.. I just thought. When Emma was here Callie asked me why I never had a baby and I hadn't thought about it in years but I don't know I don't even know what came over me it's probably all those stupid pregnancy pantalets in the office…" Lena started pacing the room.
"What? Lena, love sit down" Stef said pulling Lena onto the bed next to her.
"I mean look at this laundry! we have 5 kids." Lena said sitting back on the pillows.
"Am I crazy?" She asked turning to Stef after they were quiet for a while.
"Is this a trick question?" Stef asked.
"A baby is just…" Lena trailed off.
"Your right Lena we have five kids. Five kids, but four who will hopefully all be going of to college in the next 4 years and that is going to lead to a very quiet house, and a very lonely little boy" Stef said. Lena turned to her surprised.
"Really?"
"I mean, it's something to think about, talk about" Stef shrugged.
"So we're talking about it?" Lena asked. Stef nodded smiling at her.
"Yeah Love we're talking about it" She said.
"Well do we have to talk about it right now?" Lena asked.
"Nope" Stef said throwing the freshly washed clothes on the floor pulling Lena on top of her as their lips met.
"Alright troops coolers and food goes in Mom's car, tent's and blankets go in mine. Callie, and Jesus you are in Mom's car. Brandon, Mariana and Noah you are with me" Stef called as they piled everything onto the front porch.
"Camping!" Noah yelled.
"Oh, I think he should go in Mom's car too" Mariana said glancing at Noah.
"Oh come on, your brother's excited this will be fun you guys can teach him all the camping stuff" Stef said as they all started carrying stuff to the car.
"Sweetheart three tents?" Lena asked looking over the pile of stuff. Yeah. I thought instead of all cramming into our five man tent we could put the girls in one, the boys in the other and you and I get one alone" Stef said.
"Oh alone huh?" Lena said raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah, your not afraid of bears are you?" Stef asked making growling sounds she grabbed Lena's shirt pulling her in.
"um.. what are you guys doing?" Jesus asked.
"Nothing" Lena chucked rolling her eyes as they came apart.
"Let's go! let's go!" Noah yelled from where he was already sitting in the back seat.
"Ok let's go!" Stef cried.
Callie sat in the back seat of Lena's car. Jesus sat next to Lena in the front. Ahead Stef was in her own car. Callie laughed a little thinking about how much Noah must be bouncing off the walls. She was glad Lena's car was quiet, except for a bit go chatting now and then. Lena always liked things calm, she played classical music and Callie could count on one hand the number of times she had herd Lena raise her voice.
"Hey mom" Jesus said.
"Yeah?"
"Anna friend requested me on Facebook" Jesus said.
"Oh really, she's sure got a lot of…. what did you do?" Lena asked stopping herself.
"I blocked her i swear."
"Thank you buddy, and thank you for telling me, we just want you and your sister to be safe" Lena said.
"Mom that's not the part I had to tell you, before i blocked her I looked at her profile. she's pregnant" Jesus said
"what?" Lena asked.
"She's pregnant mom i saw it" Jesus said Lena took a deep breath.
"Are you…are you ok?" She asked.
"Yeah I don't care, but Mariana is going to flip" Jesus said.
"Let's just…don't tell your sister please, it will upset her and we want to have a nice weekend. Momma and I will talk to her when we get back" Lena said.
"Ok, you want to see" Jesus said holding up a picture of an ultrasound on his phone.
"You saved it?"
"Yeah to show you" He said. Lena glanced over at the picture.
"That shouldn't even be legal" Jesus said
"Ehh that's not ours to say buddy" Lena shook her head.
"I saw the ultrasound picture. It's true" Lena said as she and Stef set up their tent.
"ugh you should have to have your tubes ties if you ever get children taken from you" Stef sighed
"Stef" Lena shook her head.
"I'm sorry it's just people like her don't deserve a baby" Stef sighed.
"And us?" Lena asked.
"We..yes we would be the kind of people who deserve a baby" Stef nodded
"We are still thinking about it right?" Lena asked.
"yeah" Stef nodded.
"Can we go swimming!" Noah asked running up to them.
"Yeah bud go throw your suite on!" Stef said taking the distraction.
"This is crazy" Stef sighed looking around the campsite. The 4 older kids sat on their phones not having moved all say. Stef grabbed an empty bag off the table.
"I'm collecting phones" She told Lena.
"Oh your going to have a mutiny on your hands" Lena warned.
"Alright phones in the bag" Stef called.
"What" Everyone cried.
"You heard me we are getting away from it all, phones in the bag now you will get them back when we leave"
"But thats in like 3 days" Mariana said.
"Yes it is, phones now" Stef said.
"what are we supposed to do?" Jesus asked
"Fish, hike swim, do anything guys this is nature" Stef cried. Everyone sighed looking at her
"Ok you know what the Adams Foster family is catching their dinner tonight everyone grab a pole" Stef yelled starting to hand out fishing poles.
"Yeah come on guys momma's right" Lena agreed grabbing a pole.
"This is going to be a long trip" Mariana sighed. Callie wouldn't admit it but she loved that Stef had just taken away their phones. she couldn't wait to really start camping.
"Well honey I think you ll taught us a little something about patients and seeing something through to the finish today" Lena said as they all sat around the fire watching Stef cook the one little fish they caught all day.
"Thank god we brought other food" Jesus smiled holding his hotdog over the fire.
"Now the key to a perfect marshmallow, is the squish at the end" Callie watched Brandon tell Noah.
"look at those stars" Lena sighed looking up at the sky.
"That one is the big dipper, and the one over there, it's a lion see" Callie said pointing up at the sky tracing lines with her fingers.
"How do you know all that?" Lena asked.
"One of my other foster homes had a telescope, I was really into space for a while"
"Like the signs and stuff? I'm a virgo" Mariana said.
"No like, the greek gods more. It's amazing that so many years have passed and the stars never change"
"alright how about a song?" Stef asked handing Callie a stick and marshmallow.
"Brandon" Lena smiled picking up his guitar and handing it to him.
"Ok, what do you want to hear?" Brandon asked starting to tune it.
"Nothing cheesy" Jesus said
"Ohh come on that's what camping is for" Stef laughed.
"How about she'll be coming around the mountain" Lena offered. Brandon nodded and started strumming.
"She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes" He and Mariana sang
"Yeehha!" Everyone added Callie laughed watching Stef swing an infusible lasso over her head. Mariana was clapping her hands and Lena threw her head back laughing as Stef pretended tipped her hat. Jesus leaned over to Noah helping him put his s'more together and watched as her brother took a big bite his eyes lighting up.
"Callie" She heard Lena whisper pulling her back to reality.
"Yeah?" Callie asked.
"You ok?" Lena asked.
"Yeah, yeah i'm good" she smiled at her.
"Wow, hey dude your going to hang ten on the lake?" Stef said surprised when Jesus came out the next morning ready to swim with an SPF shirt on.
"Momma, the sun has so many damaging rays I'm just trying to protect myself" Jesus said.
"Well, that's what sunscreen is for" Stef said.
"Did you know that sunscreen had particles in it that has shown up in peoples livers" Mariana added from where she was reading by the tree.
"I did not" Stef said as Noah came running over.
"I'm ready, no life jacket this time" Noah said.
"You sure?" Stef asked. He nodded. Lena and Callie walked out onto the dock over the water sitting down they feet dangling in.
"Ok" Stef said. Noah walked a little ways out, when it got to deep Stef picked him up carrying him like he was a toddler through the water until it was over his head.
"Remember, kick your legs, paddle your arms and keep your mouth closed" Stef said. Noah lay in the water, Stef held him up for a minute as he found the balance she let go backing away from him a little.
"Ok swim to me!" She said. Noah started kicking his legs keeping his head above the water. It was a struggle but he made it to Stef and she held him up as he caught his breath
"Yayyyy!" Lena cried clapping her hands.
"Callie did you see me! i'm swimming" Noah cried.
"Good job buddy!" Callie smiled.
"Ok swim to Callie now!" Stef said and Noah kicked his way out of her arms again. Stef walked beside him as Noah swam a few more feet and Callie caught him when he got to the dock.
"I can swim!" Noah yelled.
"Yes you can" Stef laughed.
"Can I try that now?" Noah asked pointing up as Jesus swung out over the lake on the rope swing. Purposely landing near Mariana making her scream.
"I think a little bit more practice buddy. if you go on that you will go under water" Stef said.
"Ok, can i swim to you again?" Noah asked.
"Yeah let me see!" Stef laughed.
"How come no one told my Anna was pregnant!" Mariana cried marching up to Lena and Stef's tent that afternoon.
"How did you…?" Stef asked.
"I tried to get my phone but i grabbed Jesus's instead. I saw the picture, Why didn't anyone tell me" Mariana cried
"Sweetie we just didn't want to upset you" Lena said.
"You don't need to know" Jesus told her.
"Oh yeah well maybe mom's don't need to know you got a tattoo last weekend" Mariana said storming off down the hiking trail.
"You what!" Stef and Lena both cried turning to him.
"It's nothing" Jesus said.
"Is this why your wore that swim shirt! Where is it, let me see it now" Stef said. Jesus lifted his shirt reviling the image of a skull on his chest.
"Were did you get that?" Stef cried
"At the Mexican street festival" Jesus said.
"You got a tattoo at a Street festival, your damn lucky it's not infected" Stef cried
"They didn't ID you?" Lena asked
"who was it I want a name, That is illegal" Stef said.
"Momma I didn't exactly get his card" Jesus said.
"You don't know his name!" Stef cried.
"Honey" Lena said
"Ok please do not honey me, and please stop making me feel like I always have to be he disciplinarian dad in this family" Stef said turning to Lena.
"That is awfully heteronormal thinking" Lena said her hands on her hips.
"Oh, There is a time and place to have that conversation" Stef said putting her hand up.
"So are we done?" Jesus asked.
"No we are not! why would you do this!" Stef cried.
"I wanted to show Kelly how much I loved her, she wanted me to get it" Jesus said.
"Jesus that is was jewelry is for" Lena sighed.
"I'm sorry, I regret it" Jesus said.
"Oh your going to regret it" Stef said.
"Jesus, take a walk dude" Lena said. Stef shot her a look and turned around walking to the table.
"I discipline them as much as you do" Lena said following her.
"You didn't want me to be right, do you know why they come to you Lena?" Stef asked
"Because I'm the nice mom?" Lena said rolling her eyes as she said it.
"No because your the easy mom" Stef corrected her
"Just because I don't fly off the handle" Lena said.
"I don't fly off the handle!" Stef cried.
"Oh yeah…"
"Someone has to lay down the law that's why!" Stef said.
"And thats why they don't come to you. Because you police them you don't parent them" Lena said.
"Oh that is not fair" Stef said.
"Look I am not saying all the time I am just saying sometimes, sometimes your anger can be intimidating" Lena said as both women dropped their voices.
"Ohh" Stef sighed putting her head in her hands.
"Ok no that was the wrong word, your intensity can be a little intimidating" Lena said. Stef took a deep breath.
"So they are scared of me?" She asked looking up at Lena.
"Honey they love you" Lena said gently
"But I intimidate them" Stef said.
"You are a powerful, passionate women, you intimidate me sometimes" Lena said.
"oh just come on Lena" Stef sighed.
"No it's true, it's true, and It's one of the things I love about you how strong you are. And maybe I am softer then I should be at times. I don't like conflict you know that about me. But if we want the kids to talk to us, they have to feel heard. You make them feel safe in so many ways, so many ways that I never could, but they have to feel safe to talk to you too" Lena said. Stef nodded understanding her.
"Ok well somebody has to talk to Mariana, and i'm sure she want's you" Stef said.
"No, no don't do that, they want both of us" Lena said.
Stef found Mariana a little ways up the hiking trail off the path sitting on a big rock.
"Wouldn't imagine you out here with the spiders" Stef said gently as she climbed up to sit next to her. Mariana turned to look at her and Stef could see the tears on her cheeks.
"Oh Miss Thing, don't cry" Stef whispered pulling Mariana to her.
"Why is she having another baby, what she's sober now so she want's a do over. She shouldn't get a do over" Mariana said.
"Oh love, people make mistakes, Your birth mom loved you and your brother, but she didn't know how to take care of you, and she was sick." Stef said.
"What if she can't take care of this baby, What if it ends up in foster care too" Mariana said.
"I tell you what if that baby ends up in the system I will make sure mommy and I are the first call for a placement. But my love you can't worry about Anna and the things she does with her life" Stef said.
"It's not fair" Mariana said.
"I know, I know your feeling replaced, like someones first mistake. But my god Mariana I am so happy your birth mother couldn't keep you because I don't know what my life would be like without my princess" Stef said. Mariana looked up at her smiling.
"Aww there's my beautiful girl" Stef whispered putting Mariana's hair behind her eyes.
"Ok hold on tight don't let go until we say" Callie said she pulled the rope back as Noah clung to it.
"Ready go!" She yelled letting go as Noah swung out over the water.
"Drop!" Brandon yelled. Noah let go falling into the water. Brandon reached under pulling him up.
"That was awesome!" Noah yelled
"Wow buddy look at you!" Stef said as she Lena and the twins walked out onto the dock.
"Did you see me! We should put a lake in our backyard" Noah yelled excited.
"Hey come in family swim" Brandon called waving them in as Callie jumped in near him.
'Oh no way, this suite is dry clean only" Mariana said shook her head. Stef and Jesus glanced at each other then each took one of Mariana's legs lifting her up and throwing her in as she screamed.
"Ahhh no!" She laughed hitting the water. Jesus jumped behind Stef and Lena.
"Ahh no no no one pushes moms" they both cried.
"except the momma's!" Stef yelled pushing Lena before she could think and the women crashed into the lake as everyone laughed. Stef and Jesus chased each other around the dock until she caught him throwing him in too.
"Yes I win! the momma wins!" She sang dancing around when suddenly Brandon and Callie jumped up onto the dock behind her pushing her in and jumping in after her.
"No fair!" Stef laughed coming up splashing them.
"look look at me" Noah cried swimming on his own from Mariana to Lena who caught him in her arms kissing his cheek.
"Hey your better then Mariana now" Jesus yelled dunking his his sister under the water.
"Hey" Mariana yelled climbing up onto his shoulders.
"Chicken!" Brandon cried pulling Callie onto his and the two girls started laughing trying to knock each other down. Lena watched them laughing settling Noah on her hip so he could watch. Stef came up next to her spitting water into her face.
"My love" Lena whispered as Stef came up giving her a deep kiss. Suddenly they both screamed as the two girls went crashing into the water in front of them.
"Oh god I love camping!" Stef yelled.
"How did you score the quiet car back?" Lena asked as she closed the trunk climbing into the drivers seat.
"I don't know, Jesus wanted to ride with Noah to watch the movie and I didn't let anyone know we had a free seat" Callie said in the passenger seat
"Smart girl" Lena smiled at her as they pulled out of the camp site.
"So now that we are getting adopted, I can go to college?" Callie said almost as a question.
"Yes, yes we really encourage you to go" Lena nodded.
"what if I want to be a social worker?" Callie asked. Lena looked at her.
"I think that's a great idea. The college near us is actually recommended for social work, you could live at home and work and take classes, What makes you interested in social work?"
"I just want to make a difference you know? I know what its like to be a foster kid, I think I can make a difference and change the system, maybe make it better because I know what its like to be on the inside"
"Well I think that is a really good idea. I think you would be good at that job and your right it is because you understand what it's like, but for another reason too" Lena said.
"What reason?" Callie asked.
"Because your kind, and protective, you stand up for people smaller then you, you have such a good heart Callie, you would be really amazing and I think you could really make a difference" Callie looked over at Lena and smiled.
"Brandon, you got mail!" Lena called walking into the house. Summer vacation meant the house was always busy with kids and things everywhere. Noah was in the living room with legos everywhere. Brandon plunked at the piano. Mariana was in the kitchen nook painting her toe nails. The basketball pounded in the driveway as Jesus tossed it around. Callie sat on the swing outside drawing music coming from her phone next to her.
"Thanks" Brandon said grabbing the envelope from her.
"Did you call your dad yet B I think he wanted to have dinner with you" Stef said coming into the kitchen in her police uniform.
"No I will" Brandon said opening the envelop. His eyes skimmed the paper inside.
"I got in" he said.
"What?" Stef turned to him confused.
"The Maxwell school! the one I auditioned for months ago I thought I would have heard I gave up on it, I got in!" Brandon said.
"Oh congratulations I knew you could!" Stef said excitedly as Lena took the paper from his hands to read it herself.
"Brandon this is amazing!" She said.
"I told you!" Stef said.
"I'm going to go call dad!" Brandon said excitedly rushing up the stairs.
"So, I was looking online today" Lena said.
"Yeah?" Stef was tying her hair in the tight bun she always wore to work.
"It was about people using sperm donors that they know, instead of just picking one off the paper" Lena said. Stef stopped her hair falling down as she turned to look at Lena.
"and?"
"And maybe we should talk about someone we know being the donor."
"Lena all the custody battles we have been through with every single one of these kids, what happens if the father turns around and says he wants a part in a babies life" Stef sighed.
"We can get a contract. I was looking them over we can pretty much put in anything we want" Lena said
"Wow…you really looked into this" Stef muttered.
"Well you said we would talk about it and we haven't!" Lena said raising her voice a little in frustration.
"No no, you seem like you have it covered, How about you give me a ring when the baby is born and i'll swing by and pick you up from the hospital, unless you already have a ride" Stef said leaving the bathroom.
"Stef" Lena sighed after her.
"Hey Callie girl, where is everyone?" Stef asked coming home to a quiet house.
"Upstairs. Brandon went to Mikes for the night and Mariana is sleeping over Lexie's" Callie said not looking up from her computer.
"You didn't want to go to Lexie's?" Stef asked knowing how close Callie was becoming to Mariana's friends.
"They are going to the mall tomorrow, I don't feel like following them around the stores all day. Besides I like the quiet sometimes" Callie said.
"Yeah I get that. We don't have a ton of quiet around the house. what are you doing?" Stef asked sitting down on the couch next to her.
"I was just looking over some of this adoption stuff" Callie said showing her the screen on her computer.
"Oh yea, do you have any question" Stef asked.
"It says that even though my dad hasn't seen us in years he still had parental rights" Callie said.
"Yes, yes he does" Stef nodded.
"What if he decides he doesn't want to sign the paper?" Callie asked.
"We go to the court, potation for his rights"
"That sounds like a lot of work" Callie sighed.
"Don't worry about the work love, It will all be worth it, do you think your father won't sign the paper?" Stef asked.
"no, I was just looking, I think he will, he was never all that interested in us when we were little" Callie nodded.
"Ok, then you have nothing to worry about, Don't stay up to late ok" Stef said kissing her forehead before going up the stairs. Lena was laying in bed reading a book. She didn't look up when Stef walked into the room and Stef knew that was always a sure sign she was mad. Taking off her gun and badge Stef locked them up then went over kneeling beside Lena.
"I'm sorry, I know you want a baby. We said we would talk about it and I didn't talk about it" Stef said. Lena didn't take her eyes away from her book.
"You know you can't talk to me when i'm doing my hair love i'm already frustrated. I hear you, I do and If you want to use a donor we know, if you think that's a good idea then I trust you, I just want you to be happy" Stef went on.
"Stef, if you don't want to have a baby you need to say it" Lena said finally looking up
"My love, there is nothing in this world I want more then for us to have a baby who looks just like you." Stef said. Lena turned to her smiling. she throw her book across the room pulling Stef in for a long kiss.
"Hey…hey momma?" Noah asked standing in the doorway of Stef and Lena's room the next night Stef and Lena's heads both shot up
"Yeah bubby?" Stef asked trying to hide how surprised she was to hear Noah call her that.
"Is Jesus coming home tonight?" Noah asked.
"No he's sleeping at his friend Troy's tonight remember" Stef said.
"Oh yeah" Noah sighed.
"Something the matter bub?" Lena asked
"I…it's really dark" Noah said. Callie appeared in the doorway behind him.
"Sorry, I forgot he's never slept alone before" She said.
"That's ok, I bet we have something in here to fix that" Stef said getting up she dug through one of the box's at the bottom of her closet.
"'I'll take him back to bed, did you want to talk to Callie about that meeting?" Lena asked
"Oh yes good idea come here Callie girl sit by me" Stef patted the side of the bed while Lena took Noah's shoulders steering him back to his room.
"What's that?" Noah asked looking at the thing in her hand Stef had found.
"This is a night light, it used to be Jesus's" Lena said
"Jesus was afraid at night too?"
"Oh yeah a lot of kids are. Brandon too, and Mariana" Lane said plugging the light into the wall by Noah's bed.
"Is that better?" Lena asked. Noah nodded.
"Ok love climb into bed" Lena said pulling back the covers and covering Noah up.
"Will Jesus be home tomorrow?" Noah asked.
"He will. In the morning because we are going to the beach remember"
"Oh yeah! Is momma coming?" Noah asked. Lena felt a smile spread across her face.
"Momma has to work, but she's meeting us down there after and we thought we would all have dinner together" She told him. Noah nodded and she noticed how he still looked around the room with worried eyes. She realized that since Noah went to bed before Jesus he probably usually had the comfort of another person awake in his room as well as a dim light coming from the lamp by jesus's bed.
"I'll tell you what buddy i'll leave the hall light on for you ok, and we are right down the hall if you need anything ok. We would never let anything bad happen to you" Lena whispers.
"If I get scared can I come sleep with you?"
"Yes you may" Lena told him.
"Ok good night my love, I will see you in the morning. I love you" Lena said tucking in his blankets and bending to kiss his cheek and turned to go
"Mommy?" Noah asked. Lena felt her heart jump as she turned back to him. Three kids had gone from calling her Lena to mommy in their life time and each time it was just as amazing.
"I love you too" Noah whispers. Lena smiled blowing him a kiss from the doorway she turned on the light in the hall and made her way back to her room where Stef was talking to Callie.
"So it looks like your dad got out of jail 8 weeks ago, has he tried to contact you or anything?" Steph askf. Callie shook her head.
"No, I used to write him letters and stuff but he stopped answering a few years ago, It was mostly my mom that took care of us anyway"
"Ok, well he has agreed to sign over his rights, so once he does that we can move further with the adoption. But your social worker was wondering if you wanted a visit with him." Stef said. Callie shook her head
"you might want to sweetie, get some closure, It might be good for Noah" Lena offered going to sit with them. Callie bit her lip thinking about what she said.
"Can I think about it?" She asked.
"Yeah love, of course let us know ok we just have to call by next Monday" Stef said.
"Ok, I will" Callie nodded.
"Callie I also wanted to let you know that, It looks like Noah may have started calling us Mom and momma, is that ok with you?" Lena asked.
"Yeah, yeah of course I think that's great" Callie smiled
"Good, we do too" Lena smiled
"Ok, now head off to bed sweetheart it's late, remind your sister to pack her stuff for tomorrow please" Stef said.
"Ok, good night" Callie said getting up and giving both women a hug.
"Good night sweetie"
"We love you" Stef and Lena called after her. They settled back onto the bed after she left.
"He called me mommy, he called you momma" Lena whispered. Stef looked at her smiling.