Callie wondered through the quiet house. On chilly winter evenings after dinner there was always a calm around. Stef was reading with Noah in the living room Jesus was playing video games, Mariana was finishing homework in the nook and Brandon was upstairs playing on his key board. Callie wondered into the moms room and found Lena sitting on the bed going over paperwork.
"Are you busy?" Callie asked.
"Nope come on it" Lena moved her papers to the side and Callie crawled onto the bed sitting next to her.
"How did you know you were in love?" Callie asked her.
"With momma?" Callie nodded.
"Well, honestly, don't tell your momma but, I fell in love with your brother before I fell in love with her" Lena smiled.
"Really?" Callie laughed.
"Mmhhmm, It was my first year at Anchor Beach and I had no idea what I was doing, and I was greeting people on the first day of classes and in walks your momma with this adorable little boy. And I, I noticed your momma of course and went right over and Brandon took my hand, He was just so scared. That first week I took a special interest in him and come to find out his parents were getting a divorce and he was so confused and out of place, I started making sure I said hello to him everyday and he found a lot of comfort in me, and I in him to be honest. Well after that first week in school I called momma to talk to her about him and we hit it off, we meet for coffee the next day as friends and left the cafe as well…more then friends" Lena said.
"It wasn't love at first sight then?" Callie asked.
"No, for your momma it was, she swears by it, but for me, I thought she was the most beautiful women in the world for sure, but I guess I need to know a person a little bit before I can say I'm in love" Lena said.
"That's a good story" Callie smiled.
"Oh yes, we fell in love and bought this house together, when Brandon was six we decided to would foster some kids short term. After about two weeks of having the license your momma brings the twins hime from work, like they were two little puppies she found outside. Well we had them for a month and decided to adopt. Then we closed out foster license because three kids in two years was a lot and we felt our family was complete. The twins had a lot of trauma and we wanted to be sure we were able to give them the time they needed. When they were teenagers we opened the license again and thought we would take in kids short term. Well two days later we got a call about you, and..you know the rest" Lena said.
"So it's not instant love, you have to fall in love" Callie said. Lena nodded and Callie felt her looking deep into her eyes.
"Why do you ask?" Lena whispered
"Finn, he…he's been asking… I freaked out before it even got close" Callie started not sure how to finish it.
"Has he been pressuring you?" Lena questioned gently.
"No, no he's really nice about it. And it's maybe something that I want too, I'm just afraid" Callie confessed.
"Sweetheart, at the risk of getting all motherly on you, not being ready… it ok, it's normal. 16 is young, it's very young for anyone…" Lena tampered off.
"And i'm not exactly normal" Callie finished.
"No, No love thats not what I was going to say. Did you tell Finn about the Liam of it all?" Lena asked. Callie bit her lip and shook her head.
"You know when I was 16 I wasn't ready, No one is it's a big step"
"But it's not like it's my first time" Callie whispered.
"Of course it is, having consensual sex with someone you love is nothing like getting attacked and forced. They are very different things. That being said, if this is something you decide to do, I advise you to take it slow, very slow because you may have more panic attacks or flash backs and that's ok. Do you know what PTSD is?" Lena asked. Callie nodded.
"So that might happen, and you might have to work through that. But sweetheart if you are questioning it, you may not be ready. When your ready you'll know" Lena told her. Callie nodded understanding what she was saying.
"Your not just saying that because you don't want me to have sax right?" Callie asked.
"No my baby, I mean, I don't want you to, not until your married and 30 but I know with a beautiful, sweet, smart funny girl like you, it probably won't be that case. So I just want you to be comfortable and safe when you decide your ready to start" Lena smiled.
"Well, I don't think I'm ready yet" Callie said.
"I think that's a wise choice, you'll know when you are. and Maybe then if you want to talk to momma or I about it we can help you maybe figure out some ways to deal with some of the things you personally will have to get through" Lena offered. Callie nodded
"Ok good talk" Lena laughed a little.
"I noticed something about Callie today" Lena told Stef as they were getting ready for bed later that night.
"Oh yeah what's that?" Stef asked
"She doesn't call us anything, I mean a few months ago she called us Stef and Lena, but she stopped. And I noticed when she's talking to the other kids she called us her moms or our momma but as far are actually addressing us as anything, she kind of skips over that part" Lena said.
"Oh yeah, I guess I never noticed that, but now that you point it out, I mean she can call us what ever she wants, Callie knows that" Stef said putting her book down.
"yeah. I just feel like she's in this limbo, like she doesn't want to go back but she doesn't quiet want to go forward" Lena sighed.
"Callie will call us what ever she decides when she's ready you know that love, Callie has and always will do everything in her own time we just sit back and let her" Stef said turning out her light.
"I just, I feel like sometimes we should walk around with sticky notes on our forehead saying do what you want we love you no matter what" Lena said.
"Callie knows that, she's just trying to find her place in the world, she will be fine" Stef whispered
"B!" Stef cried barging into the house Saturday morning.
"What?" Brandon asked as he was on his way down the stairs. Lena came from the kitchen to see what all the yelling way about.
"You got the big envelope" Stef smiled at him handing him three large envelops.
"Open them!" Lena yelled as Brandon tour open one.
"I got into Guilford!" Brandon cried.
"Oh my god baby! I know you would that's amazing!" Stef cried
"Congratulations B that was your top pick! We're so proud of you" Lena cried kissing his cheek.
"I'm going to go call dad!" Brandon smiled giving his moms a hug and sprinting up the stairs.
"Oh so it begins, the first one of to college" Stef sighed following Lena into the living room as she sat down on the couch.
"I know, Callie next year, and the twins the year after that" Lena nodded.
"Thank god for Jude and this little girl" Stef smiled running her hand over Lena's belly.
"But Guilford, that's the top music school in the country! He can go on to be in the symphony or whatever he wants" Lena smiled.
"Oh our baby is growing up" Stef sighed.
"I know, remember when he used to crawl into our bed the first month we lived here, he was the first person to call me mommy, I thought my heart was going to explode that day."
"Remember when he thought all mom's made out with the principal of the school" Stef said making them both laugh.
"He's a good kid, he always has been" Lena smiled.
"Hey how's Noah doing with his reading?" Callie asked Lena
"He's doing really well he's at grade level now he worked very hard you should be proud of him" Lena said.
"I am" Callie nodded smiling.
"why do you ask?" Lena said raising an eyebrow.
"Jesus come on dude your going to be late" Stef called up the stairs.
"Pancakes bub" Lena said putting a few on Noah's plate.
"Oh man did you see the leggings Kelsey was wearing yesterday" Mariana asked Callie.
"Hey Miss Thing" Stef shot her a look.
"Can Finn come over after school?" Callie asked.
"Sure love, he's welcome to stay for dinner" Lena told her.
"Here's your lunch bub, you have your backpack?" Stef asked Noah handing him a paper bag.
"Yeah" Noah reached into his bag and something caught his eye. He pulled out a little witch statue with the word And tapped to it. He looked up confused but no one seemed to notice. When Noah opened his desk after Lena had dropped him off he found another word. Tapped to a little chocolate bar was the word all. Noah pulled it off slipping it into his folder with the rest. At lunch Noah was eating with his friend Conner when a girl from his class walked up putting a tray of cupcakes in front of him. one had the word was, the other had the word in.
"What's that for?" Conner asked.
"Well tomorrow is my birthday"
"I thought it was in two weeks?"
"No, my mom had me at home and when she went to fill out the paperwork they messed the date up Callie said. But she never told anyone, she said our mom used to give me two birthdays, but when we went into the system Callie always kept my real birthday a secret, she said it was special just for us" Noah said.
"So what does this mean?" Conner asked.
"I don't know, she must be trying to send me a message" Noah said
"Can we eat them!" Conner cried
"Hold on!" Noah said copying over the words with the rest in his folder.
"ok" He smiled when he was done as he and Conner both grabbed for one.
"Did you find any more clues at school?" Conner asked as he and Noah looked around the kitchen.
"No, Here's one!" Noah cried pulling out a duck with a word taped to it.
"What does it say?"
"an…anx..ity anxiety" Noah said sounding it out.
"I don't see anymore ducks" Conner said.
"Here's one look for candy!" Noah said pulling out a big lollypop with the word At written on it.
"I got one!" Conner cried.
"Me too!" Noah said finding another They spread the words out over the table.
"Per…perf..ict. perfect." Noah said sounding out more of the words.
"This doesn't make any sense" Conner said
"We must be missing some! Come on let's go look outside" Noah cried shoving the words into his bag as they raced out.
"Hey bub" Steph called coming into the kitchen.
"hi!" Noah yelled running out the door
They found nothing outside. Conner went home, when Noah walked back into the kitchen he found Mariana and Callie talking to Lena. He waved Callie over pulling her into the living room away from them
"I found 11? are there more?" Noah said.
"11 what?" Callie asked.
"Clues are there more?" Noah asked again.
"Maybe, did you figure out what it says yet?" Callie asked.
"No, what does it say?" Noah asked.
"What does what say?"
"The puzzle!" Noah cried.
"What puzzle?" Callie asked
"You just said…" Noah started.
"I said nothing" Callie said shaking her head and going back into the kitchen.
"Callie your adoption is finial, we have a date for next week" Stef said unable to hold back the smile spreading across her face at dinner.
"Finally!" Lena smiled
"More cake!" Jesus cried.
"can we have a party?" Mariana asked.
"Yeah, if you guys want to have some friend over Saturday to celebrate that would be ok" Stef nodded.
"Callie, you don't seem excited" Lena said.
"Sorry, I just…I'm not ready to be happy yet" Callie shrugged.
"Don't worry love, that's our job, I checked everything, it's happening" Stef assured her.
The next morning Callie ran into Noah's room jumping on his bed to wake him up.
"Wake up! get up get up! it's your birthday" Callie cried shaking him until he sat up She handed him a thin package.
"More clues?"
"No, open it" Callie laughed. Noah tour the package open. Inside was the book Hansel and Gretel.
"Mom used to read it to us all the time, I thought you could read it now, maybe to the baby" Callie said opening the front page Noah found the word together.
"The clues?" Noah asked. Callie flipped to the last sentence in the book.
"And all anxiety was at an end and they lived together in perfect happiness" She read to him.
"I never found happiness" Noah said.
"It's downstairs" Callie said pulling him up and leading him down the stairs.
"Surprise!" everyone yelled when they went into the living room. There were balloons and more presents all over the living room. Callie reached up pulling down one of the balloons where she had written the word happiness.
"You told everyone, about my secret birthday!" Noah said surprised.
"Yeah we don't have to keep secrets anymore, we have a family" Callie told him as Stef walked in with a huge stack of pancakes with nine candles on them. Everyone started singing happy birthday and Noah blew them out.
"Alright food in the kitchen then we can open presents" Stef cried leading the trail of kids back into the kitchen.
"You pulled that off really well" Lena told Callie looking around the room.
"Yeah well, its his first really actual birthday since our mom died, and it's the first one he will remember we actually celebrated on. I wanted it to be special" Callie shrugged
"You are a good big sister" Lena smiled pulling her in for a hug.
"Hey B did you look at the website for Guilford yet?" Stef asked at dinner.
"More importantly the housing, if you want to live there we should look into deadlines now so you don't end up in a room stuck with 5 other boys" Lena added.
"Actually I was thinking about it, I think I want to live at home, at least for one more year" Brandon shrugged.
"Yes!" Jesus yelled.
"Well we are glad to hear that, what made you come to that decision?" Lena asked.
"It saves a lot of money, and school is not even that far. I know you had big plans to turn my room into a nursery…" Brandon teased
"Oh no your room would always be your room of course, you need someplace to stay on weekends and vacations" Lena laughed at his joke.
"Well I think we are all glad to hear you will be staying here, we would have really missed you if you lived at school, I think your brothers especially" Stef smiled as Jesus nodded.
"Man you can't leave me where with all these girls, Noah and I need another person on our team" Jesus nodded.
"Alright my sweat knucklehead come on now" Stef laughed at Jesus.
"Momma it's true, this place is about to be taken over by girls, and worse then that, baby things, we men need to band together, right Noah?" Jesus asked.
"Yeah" Noah nodded his mouthful before giving Lena a sheepish look knowing she would reprimand him for it.
"Girl stuff is better then boy stuff, what is boy stuff anyway? skate boards and video games?" Mariana asked.
"Yeah well it's better then make up and hair bows" Jesus shot back.
"Alright let's keep it civil please we are at dinner" Stef laughed a little.
"This is why we never go out to eat" Callie said looking back and forth between the twins.
"No we never go out to eat because we're basically a modern day Brady Bunch" Brandon said.
"What's the Brady Bunch?" Noah asked.
"Oh my goodness that just made me feel old" Stef sighed putting her head in her hands as Lena laughed
"They were a family of 6 kids 3 from the mom and 3 from the dad, when their parents got married they all turned into siblings" Jesus said.
"Wow we are going to have 6 kids" Callie said as the numbers just hit her.
"6 kids is a lot" Brandon nodded
"yeah you guys are crazy" Mariana smiled at her moms.
"Oh my love, you have no idea" Stef laughed.
"Hey" Finn called to Callie in the hallway. She turned to him trying to force a smile onto her face.
"Hey" she greeted grateful that he didn't try to kiss her.
"So I haven't heard from you lately"
"Oh yeah things have just been busy, I had Noah's birthday, and then Mariana forced me to go shopping for a dress for the adoption…"
"I mean, I haven't heard from you in weeks, and you are like avoiding me at school, is this about what happened at your house I'm really sorry…"
"No, it's ok it's not your fault" Callie said as the bell rang.
"Do you think maybe we can talk?" Finn asked.
"Yeah, But I don't need my mom to catch me late again, do you want to come over after school?"
"Umm yeah, yeah that sounds good" Finn nodded.
After school Callie threw her backpack in her room.
"Do you want me to leave so you can have the room?" Mariana asked.
"No, it's not going to be that kind of hangout, plus moms will be home from the doctor soon and they would be pissed" Callie said as the doorbell rang.
"Callie!?" Jesus called up the stairs Callie went down to find Finn standing in the hall.
"Hey, lets go into the kitchen" Callie said leading him away from everyone else in the house.
"Just tell me now, are you ending this?" Finn asked as they were seated in the nook. Callie bit her lip, she was not expecting him to be so straight forward.
"So that's a yes?" Finn asked.
"I'm really sorry, it has nothing to do with you I swear" Callie said.
"then why?"
"I just…What happened when we tried to do it was not about you, it was about me and some things I have to deal with. I have to learn to be comfortable in my own skin before I can try and be comfortable with someone else. I need to focus on me. I know this sounds selfish"
"No, I get it, but Callie we don't have to do it again."
"It's not fair to you, and it's not fair to me to leave you hanging. I have to recover from some PTSD before I can try anything like that gain and it's not fair to make you wait. I have to ale care of me." Callie said
"So that's it?" Finn asked.
"You have been really nice. and I'm really sorry to do this, I'm just not the right girl" Callie said. Finn nodded.
"I'm sorry it had to end like this, I really liked you"
"I really liked you too" Callie whispered.
"Ok, well, I hope everything works out, I'll see you around" Finn said getting up and letting himself out. Callie stayed seated afraid if she moved she would burst into tears. Brandon came in a few minutes later taking a seat beside her.
"I'm sorry, that really sucks" He said. Callie shrugged. They sat in silence for a few minutes before the front door opened and Stef called to all of them as she and Lena made their way into the kitchen.
"Hey guys, how was school?" Stef asked seeing Brandon and Callie in the nook.
"Good, Callie had kind of a rough day though" Brandon said getting up and heading up the stairs as Lena made her way over to Callie.
"What happened Love?" Stef asked.
"Nothing it's fine, I just broke up with Finn" Callie shook her head. Lena gave her a small smile but didn't look surprised like Stef did.
"I'm sorry to hear that, he was a good boy" She whispered rubbing Callie's arm. Callie leaned into her putting her head on her shoulder.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Stef asked.
"No, no I just want to stay here for a while" Callie said.
"Ready girly? are you nervous?" Stef asked as Callie came down the stairs
"Honestly, a little" Callie said
"Don't be my love" Lena gave her a hug.
"I checked everything, every little thing that could go wrong, it's all set you are getting adopted today" Stef assured her.
"Your sure?" Callie looked up at her with venerable eyes.
"yes, so I want you sot stop worrying, enjoy this day!" Stef said shaking her shoulders. Callie smiled
"OK" She said.
"Mariana let's roll!" Lena called up the stairs.
"Hey, look" Mariana said waving her phone running down the stairs.
"What?" Stef asked as they gathered at the bottom of the stairs.
"In exactly two weeks to the day will make one yeah since Callie and Noah first got here" Mariana said reviewing the dates in her calendar.
"Wow, this year flew by" Lena said amazed
"You mean the day we were only supposed to stay for a week tops?" Callie asked laughing.
"wow it feels so long ago" Brandon said
"Yeah, I hardly remember what it's like to have a room to myself" Jesus agreed.
"Oh what a year it has been, ok everyone into the car we don't want to be late" Stef called.
As they all marched up to the court house Callie could feel her heart starting to pound. Despite what Stef had said she was still not sure she was ready to get her hopes up, since when had anything in her life every gone as planed? Lena took her hand as they were walking and Callie gave it a squeeze.
"Is it still scary today?" Lena asked as they marched up the steps to the big building
"A little" Callie said.
"Don't worry, we got you" Lena whispered they went into the court room and everyone took their seats. Callie sat up front between Stef and Lena. Mike and the others sat in the first row behind them. The judge walked into the room and they took their seats.
"Callie, It's nice to see you back" He said. Callie nodded.
"So, last time we were hear you were with your father and he was refusing to sign the papers and asking to get custody of you" The judge said.
"Yes sir" Callie said.
"And that changed because?"
"I just told him that it wasn't want I wanted. and he realized that, what I wanted was more important to him" Callie said.
"So your father, Robert Quinn, has signed over all rights asking for no visitation or anything like that correct?"
"Yes sir but I will still be seeing him sometimes, my moms and I thought that we could come up with something, dinner once in a while or something like that" Callie offered.
"Good, I am glad to hear that, although I do support what you want and your desire to be part of your adopted family, I think your father truly does have your best interest a heart, and if you can have more people supporting you…well it takes a village doesn't it" The judge smiled.
"So Stephanie and Lena Adams Foster, do you promise to love and treat Callie as if she were your own child" The judge asked.
"We do" Stef and Lena both said standing up.
"And Callie do you want to become a part of this family?" Callie look down at Stef who winked at her.
"Yes sir" Callie said loudly.
"Ok, Then Callie, I officially declare you are a member of the Adams Foster family, congratulations" The judge boomed. Even as he said it Callie couldn't believe it. She sucked in her breath couldn't believing it had just happened. Almost 9 years after going into the foster system and she was finally adopted. She was still trying to process everything when Stef and Lena squished her into a hug between them.
"Callie, your ours" Lena whispered with tears in her eyes
"I can't believe that just happened" Callie cried as the rest of the family came running over and everyone was hugging.
"Oh this is one of the happiest days of my life" Stef smiled as they got back to the house.
"I just can't believe thats finally it" Callie said again.
"Oh come on, I told you I was on top of it" Stef said
"I know, I know I just…the universes has never been on my side" Callie smiled.
"Well, it is now" Mariana said.
"Yeah, this whole family, since we pretty much are the biggest one in the universes" Jesus smiled.
"And we can have cake now!" Noah cried.
"Dinner first my sweet boy" Stef laughed.
"Can we all cook?" Mariana asked.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea, Mike are you staying for dinner?" Lena asked.
"Hey don't have to ask me twice" Mike smiled.
"Alright, Momma, Noah your on salad, Mike and Jesus your on the rice, B please set the table I think we should celebrate and eat in the dinning room today, Miss Thing your with me and the lasagna. Callie girl, your on music" Lena directed as they all moved around the kitchen. Callie went over to the radio plugging her phone in. She put on some happy dancing music and watched as everyone started working. She laughed watching everyone dance and teasing each other. She went over to the sink wrapping her arms around Stef who planted a kiss on her cheek.
"Are you enjoying your day now?" Stef asked.
"Yes" Callie smiled.