AN: Sorry for the glitches. The site has been acting weird today, for me at least.

Lena POV

July 6th

We haven't done camping in some while. I think some 5 years, if not more. Last time we went camping, we didn't have Frankie. That time we went camping to the Pio Pico RV resort & Campground, which is a place just next to San Diego. The drive there was really short, barely 40 minutes. We stayed there for 2 nights and then headed back. It was a trip from Friday to Sunday evening.

But this trip, that Amy and Stef has planned, is way more serious. We are driving way out of San Diego, all the way up to the Sacramento. Not really Sacramento, but to the Lake Tahoe. The drive there alone is at least some 9 hours. We will be making stops on the way, so just to get there, we will have to drive a whole day. The plan is to stay there for 3 days, maybe 4, we will see how we are liking it, and then head back home. So it will be a week-long trip.

That's why we will be driving out early in the morning, hopefully around 6AM so we could get there hopefully around 6PM. At least that is the plan, but who knows what will happen. We will be driving with two cars and there are going to be 3 adults, but 6 kids. We assume there will be hitches on the way. Also this will be Frankie's first trip, so we are not sure how that will go.

Right now, I was packing Frankie's bag. We are trying to keep as light as possible - one bag per person. With one eye, I was watching how Mariana wasn't even trying to pack her bag.

"Mari, you should really start packing. We won't have time in the morning" I said putting sweaters in Frankie's bag

"Don't worry mom, I will start real soon. I am texting with Tia!" she said and her phone buzzed, she was typing back the next second

"Can't you multitask? We are planning to drive out around 6AM, Mariana! Amy and Callie will be here even before that" I remind her the plan

"Mom…seriously. I know how to pack, I can pack in few minutes" Mariana said in very typical, annoyed teenager way

"Aha…sure" Stef said walking in the room hearing our conversation "Start packing, Mrs. Thing!" she patted Mariana's knee, smiling at her

"Soon" Mariana said not looking up. I folded some pants and placed them neatly in the bag.

"Love?" Stef asked from where she stood by Mariana's bed "Do you know where we have the camping chairs?"

"I think in the garage…they have to be there someplace" I said reaching in the drawer to get socks and underwear

Jesus peaked his head in the girls room "We will be by the water right?"

"Yes, pack your swimsuit!" Stef pointed out, Jesus hurried back to his room quickly

"Well, I didn't see them there" Stef returned back to the camping chair topic

"Did you look in the cabinet?" Stef didn't answer, she just turned on her heel and walked out. I saw Brandon walking by the doors and called out, knowing this job for Stef was too hard "B! Go help mom with the camping chairs, please!"

"Okay!" he called back and hurried after Stef

Jude walked in the room next second "Mom?" he asked walking up to me "Yes, honey?" I looked up to him

"I can't find my hat…the red one! I only found this old one. I don't like this one, I want the red one" he showed me the older hat

I sighted and got up from my where I was kneeled down "Let's go look" I said standing up. When I walked out with Jude I reminded Mariana "Mariana, please! Please start packing, it takes longer than you think"

After I finally find the cap for Jude, I head over to the garage to check in with Brandon and Stef "Did you guys find them?" I ask entering. Both of them were sitting on workbench that was situated at the far end of the garage. They had some book in their hands.

"What do you have there?" I ask walking up to them. I think, it was my old School Yearbook.

"Who is Renee?" Brandon asked with a smirk on his lip, Stef didn't looked up from the book, she kept looking at the pictures

"Friend" I said not wanting to get into any more detail about it

"Mom said she was your first kiss…" Brandon said not taking his eyes of me, he had a small mischief look in his eyes. I glanced to Stef - she didn't even bat an eye, she didn't even look up to me. Stef seemed very interested in the book.

"Let's leave it at first kiss then…" I said and reached for the book in Stef's hand

"Wow, heeey…I was reading that!" Stef reached after it with a disappointed look in her eyes, meanwhile, Brandon said slowly as shook his head at me "Lena Elizabeth..."

"Chairs first, then childhood stories!" I put the book under my arm and walked out

"You are no fun!" Stef called after me as I was leaving

"Find the chairs!" I reminded them when I did a 360 turn, to see their silly faces

When I get back to girls room, Mariana has 3 bags already full with stuff. I place the book on the top of Mariana's desk and walk up to her bed "3 bags, really?" I ask in disbelief

"I have a lot of stuff" She replied walking to the closet and picking up pair high heels

"No, no, no" I hurry to her and get the heels out of her hand "No heels! It is a camping trip, Mariana. Not a fashion show." I place the heels back down and then count off on my fingers explaining to her "Socks, underwear, swimsuit, towel, shorts, jeans/sweats, simple t-shirts, sweaters/hoodies for night, shoes – take your gym shoes and flip flips. That it!"

"I can't fit all my clothes in one bag, mom!" Mariana whined back

"Mom set a strict one bag rule! If you don't pack in one bag, she will take whichever bag she wants and will leave other behind!"

"Let the boys pack in one bag!" she said taking out some tops "Girls should be allowed to have at least two bags!"

"Mom and I have the same one bag rule. You can do it too" I said walking to her and placing a kiss to her forehead and then reached in the bag "No electronics!" I took out the hair dryer

"But how will I make my hair? I always use hair dryer!" Mariana whined

"You will figure it out!" I said walking back to Frankie's bag

Amy POV

I got the sleeping bags from the garage and set them down next to all of the other bags by the stairs. The two of us had a lot of stuff, I am wondering how much will the Adams Foster clan have and if they can fit all their stuff in the trunk of their car.

I pulled out my list that I had made over few day span. I go over the list and check off everything that I had packed. Now only Callie had to add her bag and then we are all set.

I fold the note and place it back in my pocket. After that I headed to living room to just stretch my legs out on couch and relax by watching some TV.

I was about 20 minutes in a documentary about the wild life in Alaska, when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I looked over my shoulder and saw Callie walking in.

"All packed?" I ask as she came more inside the room

"Yeah, all done" She said walking up to the couch

"Did you remember to pack for night?" I ask to make sure she won't freeze at night

When you spent few nights in tent, there is always the possibly that you will be very cold at night. Even if you have the warmest sleeping bag, you also need to be dressed for the night. More importantly, you always need to have dry socks.

"Yes" She answered in a very typical teenager manner when she stepped on the couch. Yes, stepped, she was now standing on the couch over me "I took a photo of your list yesterday and followed it!" She grinned at me and then squeezed/wiggled her way between me and the backrest of the couch.

"Wow…hey...where the hell do you think you are going?" I ask grinning at her, when I am forced to scoot to the outer side to give her enough room so she could lay on her side

"I like to be on inside" Callie smiled back and cuddled up to me. Left leg bent on top of my legs, left arm wrapped around my stomach, head pressed to my chest, her ear was pressed right over where my heart is. I placed my left hand on her back and run it gently up and down, while my right was now rested on her upper left arm.

"You know that" I say smiling to myself "you are 16 right? Technically you are supposed to rebel against me, not snuggle up to me. We should be butting heads all the time and you are supposed to hate your old mother while you take on heavy drinking and try out drugs, and date a guy named Spider or Q who rides a motor bike and has tattoos all over-"

"I miss you" Callie said stopping my ramble

"Miss me?" I ask taken aback by her words, smile appears on my lips second later

"Don't make me repeat it" Callie said and moved her head a bit so she could see my face. She smiled to me warily and then moved her head back to the previous position "Now that you are with Cooper, you aren't home as often as you used to be. I just…miss you. I miss spending time with you and watching silly movies with you or just doing nothing all day with you. It is like we are starting to drift apart" She said sadly

"Drift apart?" I repeat the words that worried me the most "Honey..."

"You know, you are now spending more time with Cooper, meanwhile, I spend more time with Jude and the whole Adams Foster clan. We are spending less and less time together…" Callie explained more

"Thank you for telling me how you feel and what you think, honey" I said firstly and kiss the top of her head. I remembered our talk in the car, after we had caught the guy who vandalized her mother's grave. About her coming to me when she has any concern. I'm glad she remembered that and kept her side of the promise.

"I will never allow you to drift away from me, Cal" I said and tightened the hold on her "You are my baby, you are the single most important person in my life. I'm sorry baby, I never meant for you to feel this way…"

"It's my fault too. It's not only you" Callie added to my relief "I have been so focused on Jude lately and building relationship with the Adams Foster clan that I have kind of put you in the background"

"Still…" I kissed the top of her head "I'm sorry that I made you feel that way" I was determined to fix that

"I think" Callie started slowly "I just want...need few hours in a day, when I don't need to share you with anyone" Tears whelmed up in my eyes suddenly "I don't want you to stop seeing Cooper. I can tell that you are really happy with him. I just want…few hours with you, when there is just you and me" Callie once again moved her head so she could see my face "Just the two of us…like before"

"I can do that" I said looking to her big brown eyes, that right now, held so much emotion, that made a tear fall down my cheek "I can certainly do that"

We both lay there for some few minutes, not talking, just enjoying each other company for few minutes. The TV is running in the background, but I had a feeling neither of us were watching it, I know that I wasn't. It was just a noise in the background.

"So how was your day?" I ask quietly as I keep running my left softly over her back. Callie spent the day with Jude at his home, while I spent some time with Cooper before the trip. Part of me wanted for him to come too, but in the end we both decided against it. This was more about the kids and he didn't want to intrude.

"Fine" Callie mumbled back. Uh-oh – I think to myself. Fine is not the answer I wanted to hear. Fine meant something bad has happened.

"What's the matter, honey?" I ask tiling my head to one side to see her face better

"Nothing…it's stupid!" she tried to brush it off

"You know that's not true. Nothing you say or feel is stupid. Please, tell me what's the matter?" I pressed on. I had a feeling, deep down, that this was something serious.

Callie moved and sat up, she looked to me, her mouth opened to speak, but nothing came out. That's when I pull my legs closer and sit up too, watching her "Callie, it's just me here. You can tell me…"

Callie jolted up "It's Stef and Lena, okay!" she now was standing by the couch

"What did they do?" I ask as nothing came to my mind

"It's not what they did…" she said frustrated "It's what they say!"

"Sorry…I'm not really following"

"I said it was stupid…just forget I said anything" Callie said turning on her heel and stormed out of the room. I got up and followed her up the stairs to her room. I found Callie kneeled down by her packed bag. She pretended that she was going over her stuff or maybe she was pretending to look for something in the bag. Either way, she was pretending to be busy, so I wouldn't talk to her.

"Callie, whatever it is-" I started and kneeled down on the other side of the bag "You can tell me. I am always on your side, no matter what" I said and reached for her hand to stop her from digging through her bag.

Once I touched her hand, she stopped digging through her bag, she slowly lifted her head up and I finally saw her eyes, Callie was holding back tears. It worried me that I didn't notice anything when she got home. She was clearly upset and I hadn't noticed that. Now, addition to worrying about Callie, I was scolding myself too.

"Their friend came over today" Callie started quietly "I think her name was Jenna…"

"I'm listening" I said softly encouraging her to continue. With her free hand she rubbed her brows "And they called me to meet her. Everything went okay, we greeted, she seemed nice. I didn't stay long, I went back out to Mariana, Frankie and Jude. But few moments later I had to use the bathroom so I walked back in and I overheard them talking" Callie took a small pause and looked guilty up to me

"I know I shouldn't have eavesdropped on them, but I heard them say my name…" she continued

"It's okay Callie. What happened next?" I ask, gently running my thumb over her palm

"Jenna said something along the line of – Last I saw you, you only had 5 kids. Are you fostering Callie?" There was another small pause, Callie gathered her strength and courage to continue

"And Stef said back – She is our sixth child. I know she was probably joking, she has joked about me being almost like her own kid before, because of the way we butt heads sometimes and how we tease each other and because I am at their home so often…but this time, the words hurt. It hurt to hear her say it. What Stef said…it made me so upset…so mad..."

"Can you tell me why you felt that way?" I coax her to continue. Callie hesitated for a moment.

"Because…Because they had their chance!" Callie said in much more harsher tone and much more louder. She was very upset "They had their chance to have me…to foster me…maybe later on adopt me" she pulled her hand out of my hold and jumped up. I slowly stand up as she continues to vent.

"They didn't even consider to ask if Jude has a sibling. They chose to only foster Jude and they left me behind! And now…now that I have grown up, when I am better, now that you have put me together…now they suddenly want me?...Suddenly I am like their kid!? Suddenly I am their family?! Suddenly they act as if nothing has happened!" Callie let it all out, the anger, the frustration.

This wasn't just the 16 year old Callie talking. This was more than that, this was the 10 year old Callie, the girl who watched her brother being taken away. This was the 14 year old Callie, the girl that had suffered and endured more than anyone should in her short life. These were her past demons. Unresolved issues and feelings. This was the anger the 10 year old girl felt against the two people who took in Jude, but didn't take her in and left her behind.

"NO…No!" she turned around and started to pace around the room, anger was written on her face as she kept on venting "That's not…they had their chance!" She stopped and turned to me, she pressed her right index finger to her chest few times "THEY DIDN'T WANT ME THEN, THEY SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO TALK LIKE THAT NOW! ACT AS THOU...EVERYTHING IS FINE!"

She took few calming breathes and paced to the other side of the room. Callie stopped at the window and looking out of it she finished in a very hurt, quiet voice "They have no right to say that…or to even joke about it. I am not their kid…I will never be their kid, they made sure of it 6 years ago"