Amy POV
It had been couple of weeks, since the last time our home was so full. We barely had the room for all of us in the living room, with most of the Adams Foster family members here, but we always have managed to make it work. The only ones who weren't here and were missing all of the fun was Brandon, who had flew to his university couple of days back, and Callie, who was still at work.
In the morning, I had no clue, that my evening would turn out this way. I had figured we would have a quiet evening with Callie telling all about her first day at her new job. The plans changed, when Stef told me about how worried Jude had seemed about Callie in the morning. Obviously, the young boy had his doubts about Callie's line of work. Around lunchtime, Mariana had sent me a message, asking if I had any news about how Callie's days was going. She had messaged Callie as well, but she hadn't answered, so Mariana had turned to me, hoping I would have some insight. Stef received a text from Brandon hour before our shift ended, asking about how Callie had settled in her job. After three of the five Adams Foster kids, had reached out worried about Callie, I knew my plans for the day had to change. Not soon after I checked in with Cooper to make sure he's alright with having guests over. He had no problem with it, so I invited all of the Adams Foster family over so everyone could see Callie once her shift was over and see with their own eyes that she was in fact good. Not much of a suprise - they all agreed almost instantly. There was no way of knowing how Callie would feel about a small gathering, but knowing my daughter, I was sure, she would be okay with it and won't send them away, especially if she sees how concerned everyone was.
On my way home, I stopped at a store and bought something to put on the table. I bought few extra wine bottles for I knew I'm going to be drinking it with either one of the moms. From the fruit stand I got some grapes, cherries and apples. Also grabbed couple of bags of chips - the kids loved it. I couldn't walk pass the salmon, it seemed like a great appetizer. And some other snacks, some candy.
Now all of the food, stood on the coffee table in the living room. Everyone had found a place to sit down. I was on the couch along with the twins and Jude. Frankie was mostly on move, walking around the living room. One moment she was in Stef's lap, other she was climbing around Jesus, then she was standing by the window, looking out or simply standing by the coffee table eating grapes one by one off the plate. Stef and Lena were sat in the armchairs, but Cooper had brought a chair from the kitchen and placed it between one of the armchairs and the couch.
"I think I start to understand, how my parents felt, when I started to work as a cop!" I confessed as I poured more wine into Lena's glass, then Cooper's, but finally mine as well.
"I'm so glad we won't have to find out how it feels!" Lena smirked reaching for her refilled glass, happy that their kids so far have chosen to study in fields, that don't put them in harms way each day.
"I think I might switch from construction to being firefighter," Jesus said casually before drinking his soda, punishing his mom for her previous statement. I could tell by the straight face he was trying to hold, that he was just messing with his moms. Physical work, working with hands, using tools, building stuff - it was what Jesus was good at and he enjoyed doing it. As he once told it, the most rewarding thing was seeing the end product in front of his own eyes, not on the paper blueprint.
I chuckled, but both, Lena and Stef, faces fell and they got serious the next moment "Um-" Stef dragged glaring at her middle son, not impressed at all "No you won't!"
"I might!" Jesus said in all seriousness
"I start to think about joining the army!" Jude chimed in in effort to irk his moms as well, but lost the seriousness, when he smirked after he glanced to Jesus. Still, seeing that their youngest son was playing around, didn't make moms to relax.
"You-" Lena pointed at their youngest son "If you keep joking like that, will be grounded till you turn 40!"
"Maybe the FBI will hire me, if I hack their system?" Mariana was certainly not going to sit this one out as she added to what her brothers had said previously "And I will end up working for a secret government service, helping them to stop terrorists, serial killers and the most wanted criminals out there by hacking their systems, reading their emails, tracing their steps on our grounds-"
"Stop!" Stef shook her head with her eyes closed, not wanting to even picture her daughter in that sort of job, that could trace a terrorist back to her and put her in any harms way "Please stop torturing us!" she ended up pleading with their kids
"I want to become a cop, like mom!" Frankie announced much to everyone's surprise. I couldn't even tell if she was being serious or did she say that just to fit in with the other kids.
"Oh my g-d! You are killing us!" Lena threw her head back, but Stef reached for Lena's glass and took a long sip, maybe even too long for she was the driver
"I can't think of a way, Brandon's music career might turn dangerous," Jude thought out loud, sharing a look with all of his siblings. It didn't take long for the other kids to give out ideas, much to Stef and Lena's horror.
"What if he writes a song, but terrorists thinks it contains a secret code and they end up tracking him down-" Jesus suggested reaching for the salty nuts on the coffee table
Before I could even realize, Lena's glass was empty and she was handing it to me "We're out of wine!" Lena handed me her empty glass, that Stef had helped empty. Smirking, I pour what was left in the bottle into Lena's glass and then set the empty wine bottle by the leg of the coffee table.
I was very surprised about Jesus creativeness. Smirking at him, I replied "You watch way too many movies."
"Hey, it could happen!" Jesus shrugged not dismissing the idea totally
"Cooper, grab a new wine bottle, when you come!" I shouted out to my husband, who went to kitchen to make few more salmon sandwiches. The first batch we made together, were eaten in matter of 15 minutes of us all sitting down in the living room.
"That was fast!" Came a shout back
"Shouldn't Callie be home soon?" Jude asked, looking at his watch on his right wrist
"Anytime now," I agreed, glancing to the watch. Her shift was over 30 minutes ago, but one of the cons of this kind of job - it doesn't have office hours. If an emergency occurs, they can't just leave the second the clock ticks 6 or 9. There is no real way of telling, when she would be home. No one is looking at time, while at the scene. It might be she was still at scene or driving a patient to hospital.
"I don't mind waiting," Mariana said casually "I miss us hanging out like this, even if Brandon and Callie are not here. We used to spend so much time together, when we were all in school."
"You still hang out," Lena chimed in, glancing to her daughter, when Cooper walked back in the room, holding a new plate of small sandwiches and the wine bottle. He opened the wine and poured it in Lena's glass, then sat down quietly in his spot.
"But not as often," Mariana admitted, while the rest of the kids, nodded their heads agreeing.
"You know you can come over anytime you want," I patted her knee gently as I looked at her with a warm smile on my lips
"You're like the second mom to us…" Mariana stopped mid sentence and looked at her moms and corrected herself "I meant to say, third..." After glancing to Jude, she corrected herself again, making me believe the twins did not see their birth mom as a mom at all, just someone who gave birth to them "Or the fourth..." Mariana looked up to me, smiling once she was done
"The number ain't important. I'm just glad that you didn't think of me as your moms crazy and weird partner," I joked
The next second we heard Frankie exclaim happily, making us all turn towards her "She's here! She's here!" She got quiet a moment later and hurried back to Lena, climbed in her lap. The excitement was gone and she looked shy all of the sudden.
"Aren't you going to meet her by the door?" Lena wondered, picking up the drastic change in her behavior
"There's someone with her," Frankie added in quiet voice as she sat in her moms lap. It got all of us curious. We weren't expecting anyone else but Callie. I clearly wasn't dressed for guests as I was in my home clothes, old jeans and t-shirt, bare feet and slippers
"I wonder who is with her?" Mariana whispered to her siblings on the couch.
The room all of a sudden was quiet and everyone tried to act on their best behavior because no one knew who this stranger was. There was defiantly some light nervousness and curiosity going around the room. Duke, who had been sleeping quietly in the hallway, got up, sniffed the air and started to bark at the front doors because of the new scent coming from the porch.
The front doors opened. Duke stopped barking. Wiggling his tale, he moved towards Callie, greeting her. Callie was petting him as he moved around her, happy that she was home. But his mood change the next second as Duke started to bark at whoever was standing on the porch.
"Easy boy! This is Duke!" I heard Callie introduce him to the stranger "She's friendly, Duke."
Once Duke had gotten a good sniff of the new person in his house, he calmed down and went to lay back down in this spot, next to the stairs.
"Come on in," Callie said to whoever was still standing in the doorway. There was a shuffling sound, like some was taking off shoes and jacket.
Rubbing my hands together, I got up from the couch. Just as I was up to my feet, Callie appeared in the doorway. A huge smile grew on her face, seeing most of the Adam Fosters here.
"Hey, mom! Hey everyone!" Callie smiled and put her bag down by the doors "I thought I saw your car up front," She casually said to Stef
"Everyone's here," Stef replied "We were all worried about how your first day went. You know us," she threw her arms up a bit "We just couldn't sit in our home.." my partner grinned before added "So we came here instead!"
"I'm in one piece and it was awesome! I can't wait to tell you guys all about it!" Callie said in louder voice, so everyone else could hear. Her look mostly lingered on me and Jude.
"Glad to hear it went well," I heard Lena reply quietly to Callie
"Who is your guest?" I asked stepping over the twins and Jude's extended legs
"Um…" Callie hesitated for a moment, she always did, when she was nervous and was trying to think of a way, how to tell me something she doesn't know how I'm going react to it. She looked to the part of the hallway by the front doors that was hidden to us from the living room. "I met someone today..." Callie said secretive, when she glanced back to me "Old friend of yours."
"Of mine?" I pulled my forehead up in a frown as I could not think of anyone, who Callie could have ran into that she would bring over here today.
"She's also my partner," I heard Callie say right before the person stepped up next to Callie. My eyes were glued to the woman next to her as I simply could not believe my eyes.
Jude POV
The woman standing in the doorway, next to Callie, looked 3-4 years older than Callie. It could be the glasses on her eyes made her look older. Her brown hair was taken up in a high pony tale, same as Callie. She was an inch or two taller than my sister as well and she looked a more fit and athletic than Callie, but the body build was the same.
Amy was still standing still, taken completely off guard. Her hands flew up to her face and she covered her mouth as if she had not been expecting to see a familiar face, especially, this familiar face.
Jesus had the exact puzzled features as I did, so I knew I would have no luck of getting an answer out of him, so I leaned closer to Mariana so I could whisper "Who is that?"
"No idea!" Mariana whispered back, being just as clueless as I was.
When I looked over to Cooper and Lena, I noticed they seemed to be confused and intrigued to meet her. Stef on the other hand, seemed like was trying hard to concentrate to recognize her. It might be she has seen the woman, Callie's partner before, but can't recall, which made me guess, Amy and Stef might know her from police work.
"Oh my gosh!" Amy finally lowered her hands and exclaim "Beth!"
"Hi, Mrs. Scott," the woman, Beth, smiled shyly, her fingers nervously tapping at her leg. She did, however, manage to hold the gaze.
"Look at you!" Amy stepped closer to her, with her arms out "All grown up, " She placed her hands on the guests upper arms and looked her up and down. Beth tilted her head down, hiding the smile, but then looked back up to Amy, almost proudly.
Callie was still standing next to them, but had taken a one step sideways to give them a bit more space so they won't feel overcrowded. My sisters was smiling at Amy and Beth, but in her eyes, I noticed tears. Happy tears as Callie did not look sad, only emotional.
"Can I hug you?" Amy asked the woman. Beth nodded her head back and leaned into Amy's hug. Before she closed her eyes, I saw tears lingering in the woman's eyes as well. I can only assume Amy had gotten emotional as well. The hug was long, like two friends hugging after a long time.
"How are you?" Amy asked in a caring, gentle manner once the embrace was over
"I'm good...I'm good," Beth confirmed nodding her head, while running her thumbs over her eyes
"Yeah?" Amy asked, tilting her head a little to right, wanting to make sure
"Yeah!" Beth confirmed with a firm nod "I should be asking you that," she chuckled award afterwards
"Um," Amy hesitated a little "As you can seen-" she turned sideways to the rest of us "I'm as good as I could be!" Amy ran her hand quickly and swiftly over her mouth before she continued "Let me introduce you."
"Whoa...last I remember it was just you and Callie," I heard Beth comment quietly before Amy started to speak
Amy put a hand on Cooper's shoulder, right before he stood up to shake hands "My second husband Cooper," they moved on to my moms "This is my partner Stefanie Adams Foster," Amy gestured to my mom
"So official!" Stef chucked before shaking Beth's hand "You can call me Stef!"
"Her stunning wife Lena," Amy moved on to mama, who had Frankie sitting in her lap, so she didn't stand up like mom had
"Hello!" mama had a warm smile on her lips
"This young lady is Francesca, but she goes by Frankie! Their youngest," Beth simply smiled at my younger sister, who was still very much shy sitting in mama's lap, trying to hide in mama's shoulder
"There we have Mariana, Stef and Lena's older daughter," my sister waved her hand back cheerfully
For some reason, Amy skipped over me and went straight to my brother "And Mariana's twin, Jesus!" Jesus had a firm handshake, everyone could see it
"And last but not least, Stef and Lena's youngest son and Callie's brother - Jude!"
"Brother?" Beth seemed shocked, hearing the short introduction about me and looked back at Callie, who was standing quietly by the doorway. My sister just shrugged her shoulders looking all innocent.
"Everyone," Amy put her hand on her shoulder "This is Beth Morris."
"It's nice to meet all of you!"
"Well, you haven't actually met their oldest son - Brandon. He's at univiversity."
"Oh, wow...five kids," Beth managed to choak out, full of suprise "So, if you two are brother and sister," Beth looked between Callie and me "And you all are siblings, does that mean-"
"Together we make a family. One big, messy family!" Callie conclued walking deeper in the room
"How exactly do you know each other, if you don't mind me asking?" Lena asked innocently
Amy and Beth glanced to one another, before Amy replied "Markus and Beth were dating, when...uh, you know..." she didn't have to say it for everyone to understand
"Oh!" was heard in the room, before an awkward silence sat in as no one knew what to say or to what subject to move on. Everyone just looked around, waiting on someone else. Beth seemed slightly uncomfortable as she was basically thrown to the wolves. And we all just looked at the new blood, wondering what was she like, what was her relationship with Amy, had Callie actually been friends with Beth before today.
Cooper stopped the silence by saying "I'll go get you a chair!" After a short moment Cooper returned from the kitchen with a chair. He set the chair down at the free spot.
Before Beth could sit down and we would start to gently interrogate her and question Callie about first day, I got up from the couch "You can take my seat," I offered
"Oh, thank you," Beth replied gingerly
"Callie, can I talk to you for a moment?" I walked up to my sister and whispered to her. Callie looked at me puzzled, but recovered quickly and nodded her head back. We made our way to the kitchen, far away from everyone's ears.
"You look worried? What's the matter?" Callie asked once we were alone. I stood by the table tapping my fingers nervously at the dining chair backrest, trying to figure out how to answer her question.
In the end, I decided to show it, rather than explain it. After couple of fast steps I was up to her and wrapped my hands tightly around her, pulling her close. I could tell, she was suprised at first as I hadn't felt her hug back. But eventually, I felt her hold me back. Never before had I needed a hug from my big sister as I did now.
"I'm okay, Jude!" she whispered to me in a way to try to sooth me
"Today was hard," I admitted quietly "I was so worried about you."
"You don't have to worry about me!" Callie replied casually, as if it was so easy
Her statment made me end the hug as I simply needed to give her a look "How can you say that?" I threw my arms up expressing my concer not just with my voice anymore "Of course I'm going to worry. You're my big sister! I care what happens to you. We might now live under the same roof and call different people our parents, but it doesn't change how much I love you!" Callie remained silent, letting me vent and say what was on my heart
I shifted in my stance, took a small step back to have a better view of my sister "It makes me restells and nervous thinking about the things you will have to do on your job. I barely slept the last night. All I could think about today - was you. I hate that you are risiking your life out there...I don't like it!"
"Your mom risks her life everyday as well. Don't you worry about her as well?"
"Not as much," I admitted shamefully as I averted my gaze down to the floor
"Why is that?"
It was because mom was lot, lot more experienced, she was a cop long before I even met her. Callie was all new to this. Cops also have bullet proof vests. Paramedics aren't issued any weapons. Mom knows self defense. Cops can call for backup if in danger. Mom also has a gun, which I have seen her use in a gun ring. But mostly my mind was put at ease because of one person "Because I know Amy has her back!"
"And I have Beth and about 10 big, tall, strong firefighters!" my sister said with a chuckle as she came up to me and put her hands on my shoulders
"But I don't know them!" I reasoned back, looking down at her. There might be 100 of firefighters, the same amout of cops and a swat unit - it's not going to stop me from worrying about my sister. Maybe if mom and Amy would be at all of the same calls as Callie was. But still, just maybe.
"Then how about you start by getting to know my partner?" Callie suggested with a smile. Once she saw that my mind was not fully put at ease, at it probably never will, Callie pulled me in a hug "I know what I'm doing, Jude. Trust me, when I say, I won't do anything to jepordize me coming home, seeing your face, hugging you. I'm taking all of the precautions that there are. We're a team out there - it's not just me out there, alone. I am being careful!"
"Can you like….at least try to answer my messages, when I send you them?" I had sent her three messages, none of which she had replied. If she had at least sent me a smily face or poop smiley face - it would have put my mind at ease a little bit.
Callie laughed leaning out of the hug "I'll do my best!" she leaned up and kissed my forehead "I love you!"
"I love you,too!"
"Why don't go back and join the rest of the family?" Callie nodded towards the living room
"Yeah," I nodded back. Side by side, arms wrapped around each other waist we walked back into the living room, where now casual conversation was going around as Beth was telling everyone, how Callie did on the first day.
Jesus tossed us both pillows and we sat down on them, joining the small family gathering.