AN: Sorry for the wait. It is exam time for me and all my free time went to studying.

To the guest who asked about Stef going to custody battle - sorry, but I don't see that happening. Ever. Callie is in a loving home, where she is safe and where she is taken care of, there is no real reason Callie should be taken away from Amy. It would be a different story if Callie was being abused there or neglected, but she is not! Also, Amy has adopted Callie and I am not really sure if custody battle can be started if a kid is already adopted. Besides, I don't see any of them gaining anything from that move, only losing something - ruining good friendships and breaking trust. It would be like a stab in a back for Amy. So sorry, but that is not happening.

Thank you for all the support! Hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Stef POV

"What do you mean by - following us?" Lena strutted out shocked and scared from the next seat, she turned around in the seat to see for herself

"Do you see it?" I ask Amy while peaking a look in the side mirror. I heard her shift, I heard Jude and Callie's voice and radio playing in background.

"Yeah, I see it. Are you sure it is the same truck from the gas station?" Amy asked after few seconds

"I remembered the plate number from the gas station…9MNN996…it's the same car Amy" I assured her, I was 100% sure it was the same car. In the rear view mirror I could tell there were two people in the truck, I couldn't see any features, but I was damn sure.

"What do you want to do? Split up, see if they are really following us not just heading the same way?"

"I'm sure they are following us! I almost stopped and they didn't drive pass me, other cars did. I speeded up, they speeded up with me. They are sitting on my tail, Amy"

"I believe you. I'm looking at the map right now, we are about to drive in the town. We could split up when we drive in the town"

"Hold on a sec" I told her and pressed the phone to my shoulder "Lena, take the GPS, look at where the first right turn leads…"

"W-What?" Lena barely got out

"Lena" I repeated very calmly and slowly yet firmly, so she understands how important this is "I need you to find a rout back to the main street once we take the first turn right when we are in the town. Not the shortest, just a rout back…few turns left and right"

She reached for the GPS system that was on the panel and took it down, she scrolled up the map and with finger she dragged along the road.

"Amy?" I wait till I am sure she hears me "We will take the first right in the town. Lena will find a rout back to the main street. You keep driving straight. We meet back at the parking lot by the park, like planned"

"Sounds good. Be careful" Amy replied and hanged up

"Do you have it?" I ask Lena, she looks up to me "Yeah…I think I do" she replied uncertain

"You think? Lena, I need you to be sure"

"I-I do. Yes, I'm sure" this time she sounded more certain

"Good" I said when Amy's car in front drove in the town. They drove straight ahead, while I took a first available turn right.

I hear the kids whispering and shifting in back. I was hoping that Frankie was still asleep and didn't hear anything that was going on. I briefly glance to Lena "Is Frankie awake?" I asked in hushed voice

Lena quickly turns to see and second later reassures me "She's sleeping"

"Good" I mouth to myself, the next second Jesus informed us "They are driving after us!"

"Take the second left" Lena said looking out the front window, pointing out to the street. I glanced up the rear view mirror and saw the red pickup truck still our tail.

"We are being followed!" Mariana cried out in fear "Why? Why is this happening? What did we do to them?"

Amy POV

Jude and I both were turned in the seats, holding our breath - waiting to see if the red pickup truck follows us or them.

"They turned! What now? What are we suppose to do now?" Jude asked nervous. There was fear written on his face. No doubt about it, he was scared for his family.

"Don't worry, buddy, it will be okay" I patted his knee softly, that was all I could do right now

"I'm scarred" Jude admitted quietly, Callie shifted in the seat once he did

"Hey, look at me" I said and waited till his eyes finally met my "Your mom and I will handle this. We won't let anything bad happen to neither of you. I need you to try and stay calm, can you do that?"

"They are following my family" his voice cracked at the end

"I promise you, Jude, I won't let anything bad happen to them. Not your siblings and not your moms, I promise"

"Amy never breaks her promises" Callie added from the front. Only then Jude nodded his head back.

"Good" I smile to him warmly, he gives me a small, sad smile back and turn back to front. We were almost at the park. Callie turned in the parking lot next to it, while I located a spot where to park.

"Park right there!" I point to a free spot at the far side in the parking lot by the building next to the parking lot. There were few cars parked there and it was closer to the buildings entrance, so there should be more people walking pass.

"Wait in the car! Don't get out until I get back" I tell the two kids and step out to wait for Stef and the others to get here

I stand by the building side, trying not to stick out, waiting till Stef drives in. In some 2 minutes Stef's black SUV drives in the parking lot. I watch carefully for the red pickup truck. They drive pass the parking lot, but I got my hope us too fast. They turned in the parking lot on the other side of the street by some Inn. They parked so they could see us from across the street.

Stef walks up to me, I lean off the buildings wall, so Stef can take my place. I turn my back to the other side of street and face Stef.

"Third car from the right side, by the street, facing this building" I inform her scrolling through my phone

"Yeah…I see them" She says looking over my shoulder "Those assholes followed us all the way from Ridgecrest, I can't believe I didn't see them sooner"

"I don't think they followed us, they followed Mariana and Callie" I said and started to dial the phone to get the cops involved

"Calling cops?" Stef nods to me when I move my phone to my ear

"Yeah. I am pretty sure if we wait, they can follow us all the way to Lake Tahoe and I don't want that-" I finished quickly as I heard a woman's voice on other side of the line

"This is Bishop Police Department, what's the emergency?"

Stef POV

After talking with the cops, we head over to where Lena and the kids have settled down to have lunch. It was a small park just next to parking lot. They were all sitting at a table and eating lunch.

"How did it go?" Lena asks when she sees both of us walking up

"Good…I think" I said when the kids all scooted closer to give us a room to sit too

"Are they gone?" Callie asks looking to Amy. I don't even try to answer, I don't want to make things worse between Callie and us.

"They drove away once the cops talked to them. Not really sure for how long" Amy took the sandwich Callie handed her "they could come back later once they know the cops are gone. But for now, they are gone and they won't be bothering us"

"This is really creepy" Mariana commented and handed me a sandwich Lena made "I thought this only happened in movies"

"The sad truth is that it doesn't" I replied

"Do you know why they followed us?" Jesus asks curious from the far end of the table, I glance to Amy

We were pretty sure that they weren't following all of us. They followed Mariana and Callie. They saw them in the gas station and just…set their eyes on them. As creepy and gross as it sounds. It is like they see them as targets that they want to acquire now.

"We are not sure" Amy answers first

"Maybe they thought we were easy targets. We honestly don't know why bad people do half the stuff they do" I added reaching for the bottle of water "I believe, some people don't have a chance, because of the way how they were raised, the environment they lived in when they were kids and what they saw and suffered" I took a pause and took a small sip of the water

"What about those whose life were turned upside down and they simply weren't good enough for other people?" Callie spoke up in bitter voice, not looking up from her sandwich that she was holding in her hands "Do they have any chance?"

Silence fell over all of us, all eyes were on Callie. Callie doesn't look up to us, she took another bite of the sandwich and chewed looking at the wooden table in front of her. After watching Callie for some few seconds I share a look over the table with Lena. I had a feeling I knew why she was angry with us. By Lena's look, she was thinking the same thing.

"Probably sucks to be those people, right? Those who aren't good enough" Callie added looking up to me and took the last bite

"Mommy, can we go to the swings?" Frankie said in the awkward pause

"Callie…" I say softly looking right at her, I wanted to talk to the girl, but she wasn't making it easy

"You better go with her to the swings" Callie added looking down to the napkin in which she was cleaning her hands in "You wouldn't want Frankie to feel as if she wasn't good enough for you"

The way she said it, with so much hurt, but also anger towards me, that it just made me feel like my heart shattered, leaving me fighting with the enormous guilt that suddenly fell upon me.

Callie stood up, Amy reached for her hand "Where you going?" she asked in hushed voice

"Bathroom" Callie answered quickly

"Not alone you won't. We don't know if those guys are really gone, they could come back" Amy said standing up and left with her. The kids all look to one another, not sure what to do or if they should say anything

"What about the swings?" Frankie asks not realizing why everyone was suddenly so quiet

"I will take you" Mariana said and got up along with Frankie. Jesus grabbed the flying disk that he had taken along with him, Brandon nodded in agreement and they headed a bit further away from the table to throw it. Jude was much more hesitant about it, but in the end followed his older brothers.

"At least now we know why she is angry with us" I said cleaning my hands in a napkin

"Sadly, I don't think that's all there is. I think there is more to it" Lena replied crossing her arms on the table "One thing I am sure of, Callie hasn't dealt with the feeling she has had for the last 6 years" Lena said looking to me with sad eyes

Not a minute had passed since the kids left the table, when Mariana called out loudly, with panic tone in her voice, surprising us both "MOOOOM!"

I looked over where the swing are and saw how Mariana grabbed Frankie up to her arms and run back towards us. The boys all stopped throwing the disk and retreated back to the table as well.

"What a happy fucking family!" the two men had returned, they were walking closer to us. I jumped up and whispered to Lena "Call the cops!"

I moved towards them and stood myself between them and my family. They looked worse now that I saw them up close. The greasy hair looked even dirtier. They both smelled like booze and cigars, and filth. Their clothes were dirty, the t-shirts they wore had holes in them. Shoes looked wore out.

"Hey little one!" The guy with the longest hair wiggled his fingers towards where Frankie was, he added a dirty look and creepy smile. I took a step aside blocking his view to them.

"Leave us alone and stop following us!" I demanded standing between them and my family

"We have a problem, because..." the tall one said and reached in his jean pocket "You and your friend called cops on us" he took out an old Swiss knife and opened it

"Well, then, maybe you shouldn't have followed cops in the first place, huh? Have you thought about that?" I ask back, my face as blank as possible, I wasn't going to show them any fear

They both laughed at me. The taller one run his tongue over his lower lip and chuckled at me "A feisty one…I like her. And a cop...I will take her. I will show her who is in charge"

"Fine with me…" The one with the longer hair said and looked behind me, over my shoulder "I wanted the two brunets I saw with them…a mother and daughter I hope? Where did they go?"

The tall one pressed the sharp edge of the blade at his left index finger and draw some blood. He licked the blood off his finger, clearly trying to scare me while other one added "I have always wanted to try mother and daughter at the same time…"

"Is that one a virgin?" the long hair guy said pointing behind me, I assume to Mariana "It's been a while since I had one…a virgin, I mean!" Shiver ran over my spine instantly, the way he looked at her, like he was picturing her naked "Would love to show her the ropes…"

"SHUP UP! DON'T TALK ABOUT MY SISTER LIKE THAT!" Jesus called in anger from behind me

"You have about a minute to leave" I said pulling my right hand in fist, trying to keep my composure and not just lunge at both of them out of anger that was building inside of me

"Oh…is that so?" The tall one said playing with the knife "and what are you going to do…blondie? Huh?" He took on step closer to me pointing the knife to my face "I will have my fun with you…" he said slowly and looked down to me, dragging the knife over my jawline, I felt the sharp blade on my skin

"Get away from me" I hissed back leaning away from him. I needed to drag time, I knew Amy would be back soon, I just needed to drag a little bit more time

"...I can't wait till I will have you alone" He just continued to force himself on me, I took a step back to get away from him

"Look at that beauty..." The other guy said heading towards my family, I move my hand in front of him, stopping him from getting pass me. Surprisingly to me, he took a small step back

"Wait...Are you two?…Dude, they are lesbians!" He laughed out loud "Blondie got all upset when I looked to that one!"

The other one laughed at that "Boy, we will have fun, we will show how real men feel like" he grabbed his crotch and licked his lower lip again, now looking over my shoulder to Lena I assume

But that's when I saw Amy and Callie at the other side of the park. Callie stayed put while Amy continued her way over to us. She was coming up from the side, so these guys didn't know she was coming. I also saw few other people watching what was happening here and dialing their phones, but no one was coming to help directly.

"Well, guess what!?" I said looking between the two of them "You are out of time…" I warned them

"Are we? Really, what are you going to do, blondie?" The tall one said once again pointing the knife to my face. His other hand touched my stomach and started to move upwards to my breast.

I flinched away and hissed at him "Don't touch me!" but his hand kept roaming around my body, I kept pushing his hand away

"I will do whatever I want to do with you..." he chuckled and leaned closer to my face and felt me up

The other one walked pass me, closer to my family. I couldn't stop him this time, all I could do is turn my head and see what he is going to do. He was up to Lena, by the table, all the kids were behind her. Jesus looked like he was about to jump on him, others looked too scared to move a muscle.

I heard the other guy threaten Lena when he pulled out a knife "My friend will slit your lesbian friends throat if you even think about screaming…got it?"

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" I yell at the other guy and then felt the cold blade to my neck, he leaned closer to me "One more word and you—"

He didn't get to finish because he heard Amy call "Hey! Get away from her!"

"I told you, you were out of time" I said back smirking at him. He looked back to me confused. I used his confusion to my advantage.

First, I hit the knife out of his hand, it fell down to the grass, just my my feet. Then I quickly twisted and bent his right hand fingers backwards till they snapped and forced his hands backward till he dropped to his knees while screaming out in pain.

Amy meanwhile dealt with the other guy. She dogged the first slash attempt with the knife that was coming her way and then landed a huge hit with her plan to his chin, causing him to bite his tongue and drop his knife. But Amy didn't stop there, she stomped her leg hard on his foot. The next second she punched him right in his stomach, in the spot that made his lungs to push out all of the air, leaving him breathless for few seconds and then just to end it nicely, a knee to his groin that landed him on the ground crying like a little baby.

The guy whose fingers I had just broke, screamed out in pain by my knees"Aagghh…you bitch…you broke…my fingers"

"I did warn you. Also, I did tell you that I was a cop, didn't I?" I said back and pushed him down to ground completely. He grabbed his right palm in his other hand, kept his hands close to his chest.

I walked over him and with my foot I pressed on his groin "Now…" he screamed out in pain as I pressed down my foot harder "You know when you really pissed me off?"

I wait till he shakes his head "When you two wanted our daughters…and my wife. That's what really pissed me off. Cops usually don't like when people threaten our families. We take it very personally" I explained to him slowly as I looked him in the eye

I heard squad car with sirens pull up to the side of the park. The same two officers, that we talked with hour ago, came up. They both stop and look down to the two guys on the ground.

"It looks like you two have everything under control" One of the officers says as he takes out the handcuffs

"Why is he bleeding?" The other officer asked pointing to the guy which Amy handled

"He bite his tongue" Amy answered simply

The officers shared a look with one another and then each of the officers walked up to one of the guys and cuffed them "Okay, up you go" the officers said pulling the tall guy up to his legs and took them to the squad car.

"You okay?" Amy asked looking to me, eying me if I had been hurt

"I'm okay, but you should work on your timing, thou" I smile at her and dust off my clothes

Frankie was in Lena's hand, pressed close to her side, hiding her face in Lena's shoulder. Mariana run to me and wrapped her hands around my waist "I was so scared, mom" she cried out

"I'm okay honey. It's over" I said soothing her and looked to the boys

"Now we know not to mess with the two of you" Brandon said looking proud of me. Callie pressed close to Amy's side, under her left arm, but didn't say anything. I gave each of the kids a hug and kiss, made sure they are okay. They all looked pretty shaken up about what happened.

Each of us gave a statement to the officers. Once we were done, we cleaned up the table, gathered our stuff and headed back to the cars, to continue on with the trip.

~7 hours on the road: Third stop – Topaz Lodge

Lena POV

I took over the driving from Bishop to here, giving Stef some time to just relax for a change. She has been driving since morning. The car ride to here was the quietest one yet, everyone was still thinking about what happened in Bishop.I parked the car next to Amy's. Kids got out first, they were all in hurry to get to the bathroom.

We didn't stay long at this stop. We had planned to stay here longer at first, walk to the lake and see the small town, but because we got held up in Bishop, we decided that it would be better to just get to the camp site before the sun sets and not waste anymore time. It is better to settle in before it starts to get dark, who knows how long it will take for us to set up our tents and make dinner on the campfire.

So after a quick bathroom break we all jumped back in our cars and continued our journey.

~9 hours on the road: Final destination – Kaspian Recreation Area

Amy POV

I get out of the car first. Once I step out, first thing I do is take a big, deep breath of the fresh air. I look over to Callie who looks mesmerized by the place.

She looks to me from the other side of the car, her eyes are beaming at me "How did you knew about this place?"

"Your old mother" I point both thumbs to myself grinning back "knows how to camp"

Callie laughed back. First time today, Callie looked truly happy, she no longer looked sad and angry, it is like for a moment she forgot all the worries, all the unresolved issues with Stef and Lena and she was simply…happy.

"Oh my gosh…Amy! This place…It's…I'm speechless" Lena said walking around the campsite while Stef got Frankie out of her seat

The camp was far enough from the road so we don't hear the cars going by, yet it wasn't too far from the lake and the mountains were just behind us. The high tall trees separated the camp sites, giving each of the campers plenty of privacy. The birds were singing softly and the trees and bushes were spread out enough so we could also see the lake from here.

"This place is awesome!" Jude exclaimed "Can we go finishing!?" He was impatient, bouncing up and down

"Sure can, I have the permit in the glove department" I replied back to him quickly

"I think we need to say here 4 days instead of 3. I am already loving this place and everyone knows I am not an outdoorsy person…" Mariana said looking thought the trees over to where the lake was. Other kids walked up to her and just looked at the lake from the distance while the sun was getting ready to set. Callie grabbed the camera from the car and started to take the first camping trip pictures.

"We need to take a picture together!" Callie called out and started to organize everyone for a family photo. That took her some 5 minutes, but once everything was in the right place, she situated the camera on the top of the car, set a timer and run back to us, to my side for the first big family photo.