Amy POV
Time: 7:32PM
I was helping Lena and Stef clean all the dishes while Sharon was putting away the leftovers for the two other kids, that weren't home for the barbeque.
I take another sip of the beer, emptying my second bottle of today, and then I continue to dry the dishes.
"So many plates. Didn't we like had 7 plates already?" I ask and hand the dried dish to Stef who was putting the plates away.
"We have just started" Lena chuckles from the sink where she was washing yet another plate "We still got tableware, bowls, glasses"
"Seriously, are you like doing dishes from 3 days back? This is getting ridiculous" I dry off yet another plate
"That's what you get when you have so many kids and then decide to invite over two more people" Sharon joked from the table and then handed Lena the bowl, that had previously contained salad. She then places the leftover salad, that was now in a container box, in the fridge.
"And this is every day for you" I sight "If I were you, I would go out to dinner every day just so I wouldn't have to do so many dishes!"
"If you think washing 7 plates every day is much, just picture the sum on the check when you want to feed 7 people…and remember, one of them is Jesus, he eats for 2 if not 3 people at a time" Stef says back and laughs. Lena nods to that, smiling also.
"Is the check sum number in 3 digit?" I ask carefully just picturing how much they would spend if they go out all together
"Close" Lena says just when my phone rings. I put the towel over my shoulder and pull the phone out of my pocket. Weird, it was Hernandez from the precinct
"Hello" I answer cheerfully
"Hi, Amy, I hope I am not ruining a super-hot date right now" he of course had to tease me, he always does
"No, just doing dishes at Stef's house. She put me to hard labor" I say back walking to the nook "What's up?"
"Well, if you are at Stef's, you can give her the message too then. It is kind of for both of you. I was going to call her next"
"Don't tell me we have to go in? Does Captain needs us in?" I said thinking there is a going to be a bust or something and captain needs all hands on deck
"No, Captain doesn't need you, but you and Stef, and Lena still need to come in. We have 4 kids named Jesus, Jude and Frankie Adams Foster and Callie Scott, here in the holding. Oh and your car is in the police car pound." I laugh at first, thinking he was joking. But when he didn't say anything back or laugh with me, I looked to Stef and Lena and then walked a bit further away from the kitchen so they wouldn't hear me
"Are you serious? What did she do? Speeding? Did she crash into something? I knew I shouldn't have let her drive with her broken hand!" I say in a hushed voice. I scold myself at the end for even allowing to drive in the first place. I knew something like this could happen.
"Well…It wasn't exactly Callie's fault...listen, just tell Stef we have 3 of her kids in here, along with yours. I would much rather talk face to face about what they did than on the phone. I kind of want to see both of your faces when I tell you!" he chuckles at the end
"Not. Funny!" I say slowly and then rub my forehead "Did you arrest them?"
"We did put them in holding for now, but we didn't arrest them or process them. Just took their stuff away and put them in holding for now. Scared them a bit. We didn't lock it thought, they think we did lock them in thought, they are too scared to check. We wanted Frankie to wait in the lounge room with Diaz or Kate or whoever was free, but she strictly said that I and everyone else in here was a stranger and she wasn't allowed to go with strangers, even if we offer candy. Also Frankie said she needs to stay with her brothers or Callie all the time. Stranger danger! What do you want us to do with them - till you all get here?"
"Just…" I rub my forehead with my free hand and sight, thinking it over "scare them bit more and let them sit in there while we get there. Won't be long, I will tell them and then we will go. Just give them some food and water please…oh and Callie does need her pain meds for her arm. Give them to her, if she asks, please. We will be there as soon as possible. I just need to figure out a way to tell Lena that her 4 year old is in holding with her brothers" I look over to the kitchen where Lena was washing dishes
"Will do. See you soon" He says and hangs up. I walk back to the kitchen area, tapping my phone in my palm
"Was that Callie? Are they coming home soon?" Lena asks from where she stood, washing the glasses now, clueless of what has happened
"Not…exactly" I squint at her tapping my phone to my palm "That was Hernandez…"
"Please tell me Captain doesn't need us back in? It is Saturday after all and we are kind of…tipsy" Stef asked me and then placed one of her hand on the counter
"No. But he does need us" I point between me and Stef and Lena "to head in to the station"
"Why?" Lena asks confused. The thought of her kids there, hadn't even crossed her mind.
"Our kids are kind of….arrested" I drop the bomb. The glass in Lena's hand slipped out and made a splash when it fell back in the sink "WHAT!" Stef exclaims out loud, shocked.
But the few seconds of the silence, that had crept in after I told them, ended when Stef started to act on the news
"You are joking, right? Please tell me you are joking?" I slowly shook my head back at Stef
"Okay…we are going to bust them out, whoop their asses for whatever they did, ground them for a year…year sounds good, right Lena?" she asks Lena, who still looked stunned by the news.
Stef doesn't wait for an answer, she run her hand thought her hair and then run out of the kitchen to the stairs. Lena meanwhile closed the tap in the sink and dried her hands while she asked me "Where is Frankie? Please don't tell me she is sitting in the holding too"
"I have good and bad news" I say back to her. She gives me a look that says don't joke now "Okay, so the bad news she is in the holding with the other" Lena's mouth dropped "SHE IS 4!"
"You didn't hear the good news yet" I say as Lena walks pass me. She stops and turns back to me gesturing with her hands "What could possibly be good about a 4 year old being in a holding cell!?"
"Stranger danger. She said to Hernandez that he is a stranger and she can't go anywhere with him. Even if he offer her candy! So that is good, right?"
Apparently Lena didn't think that as she scoffed and went to the porch, turned off the light outside and then locked the back doors.
I turn to Sharon for some help "That is good news Lena" Sharon says to Lena calmly.
Stef came back in the room, went to the kitchen island table and grabbed the keys from the bowl
Sharon walked up to Stef, just when she picked up the keys "You had two beers. You can't drive" She took the keys away from her daughter. Stef didn't protest, she let her mom take the key from her.
Lena stepped forward "I will drive. Sharon you stay home, Mariana and Brandon should be home soon, I don't want them come to empty house"
"With our luck" Stef said frustrated "those two are arrested too"
Sharon pulled back her arm dogging Lena's hand, as she had reached to grab the keys from her. When Lena gave her a confused look back, Sharon said firmly back to her "No"
Lena was taken aback by this action "No?" Lena asked as she didn't get the keys
"No. You are too-" she looked to Lena, looking for the right word to use "-emotional. I will drive. We will leave a note for the other two. I am driving all of you."
As I follow the three woman out to the car, I add "My car is at the police car pound, I will need a lift." Stef just laughs at that, then shakes her head as she got in the car, passengers seat
"You were drinking too. I can't allow you to drive especially because two of those kids, sitting in the holding cell, lost their mother because of a drunk driver" Sharon added seriously as she started the car. She was right, sitting behind the wheel while drunk, even if tipsy, is never good.
"Well, I need to get my car, what am I supposed to do? How will I get Callie home?" I ask Sharon as I get in the backseat along with Lena. "We will figure it out. Let's now worry about that now"
Time: 7:55PM
We arrive at the precinct and all head inside, not wasting any seconds. Officer Kate, who works the front desk, greets us with a smile. Kate is a short woman, in her late 40, she has light short hair.
"Did she crash the car?" that was the first question out of my mouth when I walked up to her. I was sure she knew about our kids by now.
"What? No...nothing like that. The car is fine…well…" she trailed off "you should talk to Hernandez." She says pointing inside to the break room where Hernandez was sitting by his desk doing his reports.
The 4 of us walk up, he noticed walking us in and stood up "You are all here" he says smiling to us. But neither of us were smiling back
"What did they do?" Stef asks bluntly before I could
"Let me guess…Callie was making zig zags while driving with only one hand and didn't use turn signals! Wait no, I got a better one - she missed a stop sign! No, she hit something?" those were the things I thought she had done to get here. What else could of she done to get herself arrested
"Slow down" he smiles to us "Okay, first off – they are in the holding, we gave them sandwiches and water like you asked, also Callie did ask for her pain meds, we got them to her. Second, they still think they are locked in, so if you do go talk to them, if you want to play the charade on and keep them scared for a bit, Damian is willing to play along. Third, Frankie perfectly OK, she was sleeping in Callie's lap last I checked, which was basically 5 minutes ago" He said the last part specifically for Lena, who was mostly worried about her little one being in a cell.
"Okay, now…" He looks back to me "We were patrolling the south side when we saw a car with a broken tail light. Diaz run the plate number after it pulled over, it came back as yours" He looks to me.
"Oh, come one! Again!? Stupid car...I changed the light bulb in the back 4 months ago. How can it be out again? The right side, yes?" I exclaim out loud frustrated because that tail light is giving me hard time for over a year now. I changed the light bulb 4 months back. I am starting to think ,the problem is not in the light bulb itself.
"Yeah, right side. Maybe it is not the light itself, maybe you should check the wires…shortage somewhere. My wife's car had the similar problem, she was pulled over like 3 times for a broken tail light. At first I thought that light was out too, but it turned out it was the wires." He gives me a quick advice and then he explained further
"So we asked the driver to pull over, with no intention to arrest whoever it is. I honestly thought you were going to be driver. We just wanted to give the driver a verbal warning to have it checked out, do a routine license and registration check and let the driver go. To our surprise, Callie wasn't the driver!"
"What?" Lena exclaimed out shocked "Jesus was." Hernandez told us calmly
"He doesn't even have a drivers permit!" Stef almost shouted. Hernandez just nodded back.
"I am going to whoop his ass so HARD!" Stef said and took off the holding area. Lena followed after her but both of them were stopped as Hernandez called out "WAIT! There is more!"
Stef was furious. In a cartoon, you could see steam coming out of her head, Lena had placed her hand on Stef lower back to keep her calm. But even the usually calm and very reasonable Lena looked madly angry.
"It looks like the kids got into some…altercations. Jesus has bruised knuckles and a small gash on his cheekbone. Jude, I think, has hurt his arm, he didn't allow me to check it, so I don't really know, but the way he is keeping his arm very still, it looks that way. Callie ,addition to her cast, now also has a black eye and I think…there is chance that Frankie has a chipped tooth! She lisped when I talked to her" He looks to each one of us and then adds
"How did that happen?" Stef asks back walking few steps back to Hernandez
"No idea. They didn't say anything when we asked." He says back now standing in a very typical cop way, hands resting on his belt
I heard doors bang at the wall, and when the 4 of us – me, Stef, Sharon and Hernandez- looked to the source of the sound, we saw Lena storming down the hall that leads to the holding area.
"That's…not good right?" I point after Lena asking to Stef.
"That is definitely not good…for the kids' sake, not my." Stef said watching her wife storm away "That should have been me…" Stef then says quietly
"What is she going to do?" Hernandez asked us. Sharon, me and Stef just stand in the break room, looking at the doors, totally ignoring Hernandez questions. I had a thought what got Lena so angry and what she was going to do. Only time will tell if i was right.
"Guys?" he asks and as we don't answer again, he walks up to me. He leans closer to me "Amy, what is happening?" he whispers to me
I raise my index finger up, gesturing him to just wait like the rest of us "Wait for it…"
Few seconds pass, Hernandez again whispers to me "Nothing is happening…"
"Shush" I keep my finger up and then we all hear it as it happens. The doors are opened back up again, by Lena, she is carrying Frankie in her arms and Jude is right next to her, her free hand on his shoulder.
"Oh boy…I will…I'm going to go…over there…" He says as he sees the look on Lena's face "Someplace, that is not here!" He says and bolts to the far other side of the room just as Lena sits Frankie down on Stef's desk and tells Jude to sit down in Stef's chair.
"Hi mommy, hi grandma, hi Amy…I broke my tooth! See!" Frankie calls out with a lisp as she is sat down by Lena on the desk and then flashes a big smile, pointing her finger to her tooth. I don't see the chipped off tooth because I am standing too far away from her, but Stef instantly walks up to her to check it along with Lena
"It doesn't hurt…don't worry mama!" Frankie says next after Lena and Stef were done looking at her teeth. The two woman share a look, then Lena pulls out her phone
"I will try to get an appointment with our dentist. I hope Cindy can squeeze us in somewhere" she says and walks bit further away from the desk. I assume Cindy is a family friend, who is a dentsit, that could help out in situation like this. Stef then turns to check Jude's hand out.
"How did this happen?" Stef asks as she examines Jude's hand. Sharon walks up to Frankie, picks her up and walks around the desk to sit at my chair. They start to play some hand clapping game where they need to count the words along.
I walk up to Jude to look at his hand too as he replies to Stef "I fell" he says back to her
"Really?" Stef asked and looked up to his eyes, to tell if he is telling the truth.
"Really. Jesus was teaching me to skate. I was doing fine on the plain ground and the light bumps so I thought I would try the lowest ramp. Just, try skate it up to it and then just back down, without no tricks" He looked from Stef to me for a brief second
"And I lost my footing and balance. Jesus said the speed was too slow. When I skated up I lost it…and I fell down. I broke the fall with my wrist" he explain. It was very possible thing to happen.
"I had all the pads on and helmet…Jesus also said I should have fallen on my side, so I wouldn't beak the fall with my hand. I would then just have a contusion and I would be sore but I didn't know that, and I landed on my wrist. It doesn't hurt that bad, mom. And I can move my fingers, see" he says and wiggles his fingers to show Stef
Mom stood up and placed a kiss to his forehead. Lena walks back up to Stef "I got an appointment first thing in Monday morning. Cindy said if the tooth hurts we can just give her some Aspirin and no hot and cold food." Lena explains to Stef
"Okay" Stef nods back, then places her hand on Jude's head, stroking his hair softly "This one needs to have his hand checked out in the hospital."
I walk away to let the two woman talk this thing over. I head to get the ice pack from the med cabinet in the locker room, I also grab a towel to have it wrapped in. When I walk back Sharon hands Lena the keys after Lena has picked up Frankie to her arms.
I walk up to Jude and place the ice pack in the towel "Keep this to your hand Jude." He takes his right hand to keep the towel with the ice pack to his hand "Thanks"
"Jude, baby, come on" Lena says and the next thing I know, the three of them walk away.
"Amy" Sharon spoke up, I turned to her "I could go get your car, if one of the officers gives me a lift and then take it back to your place and wait for all of you till you are done, at your place."
"Lena will pick us up once she is done in the hospital" Stef adds the missing parts "We will then drive you and Callie back to your place and pick Sharon up. If you are okay with my mom waiting in your home for hour or so?"
"I'm okay with that." I say reaching for my car and house keys.
"I will need the address too" Sharon said once I handed her they keys
"Oh, it's Opal street 14, in the Pacific Beach region. The car is grey Volvo 2000 s40." Sharon pulled out her phone and slowly presses some buttons on it.
She looks to me as she presses it "Better write it down, darling" she hands me her phone for me to type the address and the car in her phone.
"Okay, Stefanie give a call or a text when you drive out" She says to Stef and then walks to Officer Diaz, who apparently had offered to drive her. They walk together out of the precinct.
There was only one thing left, we had to find out every single thing that happened today. From the second they left the house, till the second they got pulled over and were brought here.
I turn to Stef who also had a determinate look on her face.
"Ready?" I ask her. She nods back "Ready"
I extend my arm to her in a fist. She fist bumps me back and then we head to the holding area to deal with Jesus and Callie.