AN: Finally, I return to this story. It has been a long time since the last chapter. And I am sorry about that. I wanted to focus on finishing my other story and not screw up the ending.

I'm not sure, how long will this story turn out (the whole story, not this particular mini-story). There are few ideas, which I definitely want to write up. My goal, however, is for this story to reach 26 chapters, so the AU I have created will reach it's 200th chapter. After that, only time will tell.

Callie POV

"We are so going to lose it!" I said thinking realistically as we, the girls, all huddled up inside the garage, which was our starting point

"Yup," Mariana agreed without missing a beat "They have an advantage on us. Jude and Jesus both love those shooting game. Battlefield or whatever it was called," By the look on Mariana's face I knew she thought we have no chance on winning this as well. The only positive looking was Frankie.

"Isn't it called Call of Duty?" I asked remembering that I have sat and watched how Jude and Jesus both have played one of those games. Jesus once tried to talk me into trying it, but it's really not my field. Mario Cart - that I like, it's a fun little game. Could play it for hours. But playing shooting games was not for me.

"It was about war and shooting right?" Mariana wondered

"Yeah," I replied turning slightly more to face Mariana "He was controlling this one dude, walking with a rifle in his hands, walking across some field. There were collapsed and burning buildings. Enemies attacking from left and right. "

"Jesus once tried to tell me that there were real life historical figures in the game. Like from the World War One-"

"Focus!" Frankie called out stopping our chatter "We have a game to win. If you want to chit-chat, go sit in a Coffee Inn, order a Mocha latte and leave your Nerf guns to me, so I can handle the boys on my own!" Frankie stared at both of us with a seriousness that I had never seen before "So, which one will it be?"

"Geez...Chill, sis!" Mariana said with a little bit of attitude

I stared at Frankie, without blinking, speechless for couple of seconds. That side of her really surprised me. I never thought Frankie was so competitive and so not like...Lena. Without a doubt, this side of her came from watching Stef on game nights. Not exactly sure if it's a good or bad thing. Could be both.

"Mom is rubbing off on her too much," Mariana explained to me

"Yeah...I can see that!" I replied in a low voice, still keeping my eyes on the young girl next to me

"Are you staying or-" Frankie started to ask us again, looking rather annoyed with us

"Of course we are staying!" Mariana answered as she stretched her left arm out to the middle of our small huddle, palm down "Girl power, right?" She looked to both of us, waiting for us to join in.

"Right!" Frankie agreed, placing her palm on top of Mariana's. They both looked to me, waiting to see my reaction.

"Hell yeah!" I put my hand on top of them as no other pep talk was needed to get pumped and excited about the game

"Girl Power on 3!" Mariana said "One, two-" Mariana hadn't finished the countdown, when the garage doors busted open and Nerf bullets flew our way. All three of us covered our faces and turned our backs to the boys as we all tried to protect ourselves from the incoming bullets.

"Ha, ha-yeah! Awesome! Got them!" All three of them cheered, giving each other high fives after they ran out of Nerf bullets

"It wasn't fair, we weren't ready yet!" Mariana protested, when all three of the boys came in and started to pick up their bullets their fired at us

Frankie threw a fit "I told you we were chit-chatting too much. I told you!" She was definitely close to tears now "It's all your fault!" she glared at Mari and me, but then turned to the boys "I want to change the teams. Jude, switch with me."

Jude snickered back putting his Nerf bullets back in his gun "No way!" he shook his head popping another bullet inside "I like my team. I like being on the winner side!"

"Hey," I poked the young girl's shoulder to catch her attention "What happened to Girl Power?"

"Girl Power sucks!" She barked back visibly upset that we lost the first round so easily. She clearly didn't get this from either of her moms. Frankie was throwing a fit, because she was still a young kid, who simply wanted to win badly and didn't like losing.

"Whoa. Hey! Na-ha!" Mariana exclaimed slightly hurt by her sister so quick giving up on her team "Don't say that. Girls rules!"

"And also," Brandon put hand on her shoulder and looked down to her "Watch the language, Chicken Little!"

"Sucks, sucks, sucks!" Frankie repeated the words back just to despite him as she glared up to her older brother

"Hey, enough!" Brandon said in a lot more firm and louder voice, which made Frankie stop pouting "You know moms don't approve of that language and they certainly don't want you to use, despite the fact they they are not here right now. You will respect that! Got it?"

"We lost..." she looked down, kicking her foot out, still pouting "I don't like to lose. I want to win!"

"Sorry, Chicken Little," Jesus ruffled her hair walking pass her, heading towards the doors "That's life."

"I don't like it!" Frankie whined back

"You need to learn how to lose too, you know," Jude said closing the Nerf guns barrel close

"But you never let me win anyway!" Frankie crossed her arms on her chest

"You won at the Circus game, remember?" Jude recalled

"What Circus game? We haven't played Circus in years!"

Jude squinted his eyes a little as he recalled the memory back "Oh, right…you were 4," My brother shrugged his shoulder "Ah, well...Callie never let me win, when we played games growing up."

"That's not true!" I defended myself "I let you win."

"Oh, yeah?" Jude challenged me back "Name one time it was only the two of us playing!"

As I was put on the spot, nothing came back. All I remember, were the board games we played with mom and dad. And in them, mom or dad always allowed Jude to win, because he was the youngest. It definitely wasn't fair, so whenever Jude and I played something, I never let him win. There were even few occasion where I changed the rules or cheated just so Jude wouldn't win. But that's just what older siblings do, right?

"You can't remember, because that never happened!" Jude answered for me "See, Frankie, that's what older siblings are for...to teach the youngest to lose," he smirked at her

"Someday," Brandon smiled down at her, before looking up to us "Second round in 2 minutes?"

"And not a second less!" Mariana pointed her finger at him, wanting them to keep the words "Also..you can't ambush us right outside the garage. Go to the other side of the house," Mariana added an extra rule to give us a more of a chance to win at this

"Fine!" Brandon agreed, he shook hands with Mariana. As he turned to the exit, he called out "Jude time it! 2 minutes."

As Brandon stepped over the doorstep, he pulled the garage door with him and said "Starting now!" the garage doors slammed close behind me. Through the small window in the garage wall, we saw all three of them walk pass the house. Duke ran up to them, each of the boy patted him, but then Duke ran back to the back porch.

"So, what's our plan?" Mariana asked "We hide and attack, when they come looking for us?" She suggested the next second

"I just got the perfect idea," I said as a huge grin slowly grew on my lips as I watched Duke "We have to hurry, come on!"

~o~o~o~

My plan was perfect, taken in the fact, how quickly we had put it together. The plan consisted of 7 steps.

Step 1: I called Duke over.

Step 2: we recorded ourselves talking on Mariana's phone. It was a message of us talking in hushed voice as if the three of us were hiding in a room, talking in a hushed voices, trying to plan an ambush on the boys.

Step 3: we changed Mariana's ring tone to the recorded message

Step 4: we attached Mariana's phone to Duke's collar, basically turning Duke into the forth player on our team.

Step 5: the three of us went to hide upstairs, while the boys waited for the two minutes to be over by the street. Frankie hid in the girls room, Mariana hid in the boys room, but I hid in the bathtub behind the curtain in the joined bathroom. Duke was with me in the bathroom, simply laying on the floor.

Step 6: we waited for the boys to come upstairs

When I heard the boys coming upstairs, I got ready to execute our plans last and most important Step 7. The timing had to perfect, otherwise the plan will fail miserable and we will once again lose to the boys.

"Do we split up?" I heard Jude asked his brother in the hallway in a hushed voice

"No," Jesus replied after a moment "It's safer if we keep sticking together. That way we have each others back."

"Where do we start?" Brandon questioned later

I waited to hear what room they choose. If they chose the Master bedroom or Brandon's room, we have couple of more seconds to get to the last step in our plan. If they chose either the girls, boys or bathroom – I have to act fast. Otherwise, we are doomed.

"Let's start with moms room first," Jesus decided. I listened in on how they all walked further away from the bathroom. It took them approximately two minutes to clear both the master bedroom and the bathroom. Once they were done, they walked out to the hallway again. The boys agreed to check Brandon's room next, which meant that we had to sit in complete silence for another minute.

When they came out to the hallway again, I executed Step 7. All I needed to do was make a call to Mariana's phone. The recorded message of us talking in hushed voice to be quiet and sit still, they are coming, rang out, getting their attention and telling Frankie and Mariana to get ready. I ended the call after couple of seconds, otherwise the message would start to repeat itself. Besides, if the message rang out too long, they would realize it was a record and not our real voices.

I remained laid down in the bathtub so they won't see me the second they come in.

The location and plan was ideal. Why? Because they had to make a big decision as to how to proceed.

If they come barging into the bathroom through the main doors, they would find themselves in a room with two other entrances. Two locations they could be targeted from. Not to mention, Mariana or Frankie could surprise them from their back as well, if either decided not to attack through the doors that lead to the could of course approach the sound from one of the bedrooms, but I was not convinced they would do that.

If they split up, each taking one room, respectively - boys, girls and bathroom - they would be split up. Making themselves more vulnerable for attack. There's no one to watch their backs - as Jesus said. They might thing we were all hiding in here, so they could walk into the bedrooms without a worry in their mind, thus, walking into a trap.

Another option was for them to split up 2 and 1. That could be tricky, for one of us. One of us could be outnumbered, one could be in a duel, but the last one wouldn't have any idea what was going on and why no one was coming inside. This is something that I don't want to happen.

The last and, what I assume was also the smarted, option, was for them to not approach us, but to just wait us out. Till we leave our post. But, as I sat here in the bathtub thinking, I came to the realization that they won't do it, because they don't want to sit around and wait for us to get bored. They want action. They want to charge at us. They want to show us that they are better at us and in their minds, they can't do it, by just waiting around.

When I heard them split up, I knew this was going to be the Battle of Siblings as it was going to be 1 on 1 in each room.

I heard how someone was opening the doors slowly. Whoever it was, he was being cations. I did not hear him walk inside once the doors were open. He was checking the room out from the hallway, because he did not want to get shot the second he enters. I took a deep breath in to calm my nerves and racing heart. While this was just a game, it was exciting and nerve tickling at the same time.

When I heard someone take a carefully placed step inside the room, my heart began to beat against my chest faster. Blood was rushing through my veins just like, when Jesus made me play the horror game or when I watched a horror movie. It was scary sitting completely still in room with no idea what to expect. I had no idea if the person entering had suspected someone hiding behind the curtains. I pressed my lips together trying to hush my elaborate breathing and tried to stay perfectly still.

"Duke?" I heard my brothers voice, when he saw my dog laying by the bathtub "What are you doing here buddy?"

The timing had to be perfect and this seemed to be the perfect time for my brothers attention was on my dog.

All my movements were fast. I pulled the curtain open fast and fired the Nerf gun at my brothers chest.

"Wha-" was all that he said, before the Nerf bullet hit his chest, thus, fake killing him. His hands lowered, shoulders slumped down as he relaxed and looked to me in shock. I pressed my index finger to my lips and showed him to be quiet, because, well, in the game he was dead and dead people can't speak. That would be cheating.

Climbing out of the bathtub was a struggle. I didn't want to make much noise, but also, I felt some mild pain from my abortion because of all the bending and stretching and pulling.

I noticed Jude's worried look, once I had stepped out of the bathtub with my left hand rubbing my lower stomach and me wincing in pain. He took a step closer to me and reached out to me.

"I'm fine," I mouthed to him, when he gently touched my arm, while his eyes were on my stomach

I pulled myself together as I needed to make an important decision. Which room do I go to now? Girls or Boys? Did Mariana or Frankie succeed like I did or were they both shot? What was the score?

I pulled my phone out from my pocket and unlocked it. This was a long shot, but I needed to draw the attention. If either Jesus and Brandon were still in the game, they would most likely call out at the sound of one of their sisters, which no longer was in the game and was right in front of them.

I locked eyes with Duke. He tilted his head to right as he looked to me.

"Stay," I whispered to Duke before I snuck out of the bathroom, pass Jude. Once I was in the hallway, I pressed the call button.

"What is that!?" I heard Jesus exclaim from the boys room

Drawing to a conclusion, that Frankie had succeeded, because Brandon made no sound, I tiptoed towards the boys room. Peaking my head inside the open doors, I saw Mariana sitting on his bed, watching her brother, while Jesus was carefully sneaking towards the bathroom. Mariana noticed me peaking, but stayed perfectly still and made no noise not to alarm her twin.

"I know it's a trick!" Jesus called out as he stood by the bathroom doors, reaching to the handle with his left "Mariana is no longer in the game-" He called out, when I pointed my Nerf gun at him, aimed and fired, hitting him in his side.

Jesus rubbed his side "Ah, maaaaan!" He turned towards me, wanting to see, who got him "Figures," he sighed as he saw me

"We lost!" Jude announced from the hallway after he heard Jesus

"I got Brandon!" Frankie shouted as we all heard running footsteps "Callie! Mari!" she was so excited "We won, we won!"

"We sure did!" I smiled, while watching the very disappointed Jesus. Frankie ran up to me, hugged my side and then ran to Mari and jumped on her, hugging her both fell backward onto the bed, both giggled.

"How could we have lost!?" He was shocked "Jude! B!?" Jesus called out "What the hell happened?" he threw his arms up, when his brothers walked inside

"We were tricked!" Jude explained walking inside the boys room along with Brandon and Duke "They used a phone," my brother held Mariana's phone up "Recorded a message, thus forcing us to slit up."

"Nice plan," Jesus admitted

"I would say it was an excellent plan," I grinned at him feeling very proud for I came up with it

"1:1," Brandon concluded "Are we ready for the next round?" He looked around, waiting to see everyone's reactions. We all agreed, picked up the Nerf bullets and started round 3.

~o~o~o~

Five rounds in, when the score was 2:3 (the boys were winning), Amy and Cooper arrived. We took a small break - chatted for a while, took bathroom breaks, tried to come up with new game plans for the next match. When Amy and Cooper learned that we were playing with Nerf guns in two teams – girls versus boys- they both wanted to participate as well. Respectively – Amy was on girls team, Cooper on boys team. Luckily enough, in the old box, we found two more working Nerf Guns, we all could participate. The only problem was that there weren't 8 bullets. There were only 6 bullets. So both of the adults got only 3. The rest of us had 4.

We played in those teams, till Stef and Lena returned along with the grandparents. When everyone was here, there was a small change in the teams lineup. Cooper put his gun down and gave it away to Stef, who joined the boys team. To conclude – each team had a cop now. While we played, the grandparents, Lena and Cooper started to make food for the BBQ in the kitchen.

As the food was almost done, the table on the back porch was set, and Cooper and Stewart were grilling the last of the meat, it was time for the last match of the game.

For the last time the teams lineups were changed up. The one and only change – we had talked Lena into playing one match. She was being very stubborn and unwilling at first, but eventually after Frankie pleaded to her, she agreed. She replaced Amy on our team and without wasting any more precious minutes, we started the 10th and final match of the day.

"Ow!" I cried out, when a Nerf bullet hit me right in my left ear. Rubbing my ear, I looked at the small hallway, which lead from the kitchen nook area, where I stood now, to the dinning room. Stef winked at me, before she run off, hunting.

"Oh, well," I thought to myself as I headed towards the back porch were everyone else was sitting, waiting for the game to be over.

Just as I walked out, Cooper put the last rib in a bowl and turned off the grill. He grabbed the bowl, turned around and saw me stand by the doors.

"Wow, look who is finally here!" He smiled at me as he carried the bowl to the table and set it down on the middle

"Yeah, Stef got me. Not really a surprise if you ask me," I replied as I set my Nerf Gun next to the other one on the floor. Looking around I was surprised to see almost everyone there – Brandon, Jesus, Jude, Mariana and Frankie.

Frankie had been the first one out as Jude had gotten to her about 2 minutes in the game. Mariana and I witnessed it and went after Jude for revenge. After intense shoot down, Mariana and I had managed to hit him. At that point Mariana had run off to somewhere leaving me alone. As I was wandering the territory, Jesus tried to attack me, but I was saved by Lena, who with her eyes closed, had managed to fired a Nerf bullet right to his butt, causing all three of us to laugh out loud. Stef apparently had gotten Mariana at some point, but either Lena or Mariana had ruled out Brandon from the game (not sure at what point). Just few seconds I got Stef shot me, which meant that there were only two players left on each team – Stef and Lena.

This was sure going to be an easy win for the boys – I thought to myself as I went to one of the empty seats at the table - A trained cop versus a vice-principle, who is afraid of guns. Boys will win this whole thing with 6:4.

"Juice?" Stewart offered me, holding a jug up. The offer came at the right time as I was thirsty

"Yes, thank you," I grabbed my glass and handed it over to him. Steward handed the glass back in few seconds, but afterwards offered to refill the glass his granddaughters.

Just as I raised it up to my lips, I saw how Lena wandered in the backyard from the left side of the house. She was looking around frantically, probably worried that Stef will sneak up to her.

"Go, mama!" Frankie cheered her "You are the last on our team!" Lena did not look happy at those news, not even a little bit. In fact, to me she looked scared.

"There you are!" We heard Stef's voice as she appeared in the backyard from the other side of the house. Lena instantly raised her Nerf gun up and aimed it at her wife, who still was on the other side of the yard. Too far away as the bullets don't fly that far.

The rest of us were in the perfect place for the last showdown. We were in the middle of the stage, having the perfect view on both of them.

"Stef…don't!" Lena sounded desperate the second Stef took the first step towards her. Stef paused briefly, taking in her wife's demeanor.

"Lena it's okay," Stef assured her wife as she resumed walking towards Lena more confidently, almost knowing that Lena won't pull the trigger and end the game. Lena kept retreating back, until her back hit the brown fence that separated their yard from their neighbors.

"Stop!...Please, stop, Stef!" Lena pleaded with tears in her eyes now moving her finger on the trigger. We all knew Lena didn't like guns. And that was an understatement. That was seen now. Every cell in her body was against guns. As we all witnessed, it didn't matter if it was a play or real gun.

Lena probably never thought that she would be pointing a gun at her wife's chest. The curly haired woman was struggling like I've never seen before. It was getting to her. I actually thought she could break down crying any second now. All over a silly game.

But as I thought about it some more, it probably didn't feel as a game to her. Stef has been shot two times. Both times she ended up fighting for her life. And Lena was the one, who sat beside her, holding her hand, caring for her 5 children on her own. I wouldn't be surprised that those memories of nearly loosing Stef, of seeing her wife bleed out right in front of her, were flushing over her like waves. The reminder of mom lying on the hospital bed pale as the sheets had reappeared in my mind, when in one of the games I saw how Brandon shot Amy right to her chest, where a bullet once pierced her skin. A sudden urge to jump up and call out "Stop!" came onto me, but as fast as it came, it went away, as I remembered that this was just a game, that those were not real guns, there weren't real bullets inside and that it didn't hurt being shot.

The closer Stef got to Lena, the lower Lena started to point the gun. Eventually, her arm was bent 90 degrees, her elbow pressed to her side and then gun was pressing into Stef's stomach were once a bullet had already penetrated her.

"Love," Stef intruded Lena's personal space "One of us has to do it! You know it, love!" Stef moved her Nerf gun so it touched Lena's stomach as well

A tear must have fallen down Lena's cheek, because Stef raised her left arm up and with her index finger she fondly caressed her wife's cheek. Lena placed her palm on Stef's cheek in the most lovingly way. They leaned closer. Their lips touched for a slow, passionate and heartfelt kiss, which made all of us go awww. I felt their love for each other just by this one kiss. And it was one of the most beautiful moments ever. To witness that. To see that affection.

Once the kiss was over, they took a couple of seconds to just gaze into each others eyes, before they both closed their eyes and pressed their forehead together. Unknowingly and unintentionally, I held my breath, waiting for the game to end. The tension around the table was so high, I could cut it with a knife. I took my eyes off the two woman out in the yard to see if the others at the table were holding their breath as well. It appeared that everyone was in a similar state as I - their eyes on Stef and Lena, holding their breathes, mesmerized by their love for one another.

Someone unsuspectingly gasped next to me forcing me avert my gaze back to the two woman...

AN2: Which team do you think won? Team A (Lena, Callie, Mariana and Frankie) or team B (Stef, Brandon, Jesus and Jude)? Who pulled the trigger?