AN: Inspiration was there when I woke up this morning. Here's the result of it. Hope you like it :)
Amy POV
"Well?" I inquired, leaning on the table, while I waited for Cooper to open up the next bottle of wine.
The four of us - Cooper, Stef, Lena and I - were sat on the back porch of the Adams Foster household. It was already dark, the only source of light were the turned on lamps, as I had a feeling it was already getting close to being midnight. Our kids were upstairs, hanging out together. Not sure what they were doing. Last I heard, they were watching a movie together in the living room. But that was over an hour ago, when Lena had gone inside to use the bathroom. We had opened a bottle of wine during the dinner. One bottle was not enough, so a second bottle was had left to go inside once they all had eaten and all the plates and bowls were empty. Stef carried out a new bottle, one that she had been saving for some special occasion, and this was it. The bottles had kept coming as the four of us kept chatting and laughing around the table.
"I don't know," Stef chuckled, seemed like she didn't even thought about what I had asked. Or maybe she honestly had no clue.
Once Cooper had popped the cork out, I instantly moved the glass closer to him, wanting the refill badly.
I was already slightly tipsy, starting to slur my words a little, from all of the alcohol we had consumed. Lena's cheeks were slightly pink, and she started to giggle at the smallest things, her dimples showing up more and more often. Stef had started to dance at one point, when the song The girls just wanted to have fun had come on on the Spotify playlist Cooper had put on. She had effortlessly managed her wife to join her on the dance floor. Might I add, there was no resistance from Lena's part. After watching them dance for a while, Cooper had asked me to dance as well and we swayed to the beat of the song till it's end. Our dancing stopped, when the song had ended and the next one in queue was some rare song that none of us had ever heard before. Afterwards, we had sat back down, popped open another bottle as the conversation kept flowing.
"Come on, she's your daughter! How can you not know?"
"How come you do not know yourself what Callie's up to!" Stef reasoned back as Cooper was pouring the drink into all of the empty wine glasses, starting with mine
"You know-" I turned to Lena, avoiding Stef's question as I had no answer to her "You always know everything that's happening with your kids. You're like the super-mom. Swooshing in and saving their arses, finding lost shoes, getting grass stains out of their favorite shirts, braiding their hair, kissing their ouch-es away!"
"She has seemed a bit off lately," Lena said in more serious tone, reaching for her glass Cooper was handing her "Super-mom? Really? You think so?" Her seriousness broke the next moment, she looked shy from the compliment, dimples showed again
"Oh, you are ah-mazing with kids!" Cooper agreed with me, nodding his head furiously as he handed Stef her glass back
"Excuse you both!" Stef cleared her throat "What about me?" she gestured to herself, up and down "I'm ah-mazing as well. And not just with kids!" She gave a wink to Lena, who giggled like she was a teenager and blushed even more so than she had before
"If Lena's super-mom, you...you're..." Coopers paused as he thought of the right words " ...Wonder-mom!?" He suggested the next moment, wondering if Stef would be okay with that comparison
"That's much better," Stef smirked, pleased, taking a long sip "And...by the way, Wonder-mom kicks super-moms ass everyday?"
"Don't you mean...kiss not kick?" Lena joked, knowing everyone, who could react to it badly to the comment, were inside, far-far away from earshot. As the smirks and giggles dimmed down, I lifted the glass up to my lips and took a long sip
Remembering Lena's words, before we got side tracked, I quickly pulled my lips away from the glass and swallowed the drink "You said off. Off how?"
"Lately, she's been acting a bit...secretive, I guess," Lena explained further moving the glass in circular manner to move the drink, then raising the glass up to her nose to take in the drinks aroma
"Pfffff..." Stef huffed dramatically "That's nothing new. When have those buggers-" Stef pointed to the house, where all of our children were last seen "-ever been open and honest with us from the beginning. They are kids – our kids! They hide stuff. Kids hide stuff from parents...all the time. They think they know everything, they think they can handle everything themselves. They want to act all grown up be all independent..."
"Stef's right," Lena placed her free hand over Stef's right, agreeing with her wife "That's what kids do."
"Maybe they are right," Cooper said " Maybe you are getting worried over nothing."
"So you two are not worried...not one bit about what Mariana and Callie are planning on doing? All the whispers, all the late night chats, texting, all the time they seem to spend together during the weekend the whole last month...doing god knows what?"
"They are probably planning another Long Island cocktail night out," Stef shrug before taking another sip, Lena nodded her head agreeing with her wife. I did not fully buy that. It seemed more than just a night out. If the girls were planning a night out, Callie would just tell me. She would change the topic every time I mention it.
"If that's the case – it's your time to be on the call!" I leaned back in the chair and raised the glass up to my lips
"Morning!" Callie greeted me cheerfully, when I had finally made my way down to the kitchen the next morning. She was sitting at the kitchen table, with a cup of coffee in front of her and a newspaper in her hand. An empty bowl, cereal box and a pack of milk sat in the middle of the table.
Once she saw me enter, she lowered the newspaper down. Duke was laying next to Callie. He raised his head up and moved his tail back and forth, excited to see me
"Not so loud, please!" I muttered back weakly as I shuffled slowly towards the kitchen table with one of my hand up to my head "My head hurts."
When I had sat down, Duke got up and moved to my side. Setting his head into my lap. I patted him, but he still remained by my side. Usually, in the mornings, I'm the first downstairs. He gets to greet me first, we go out for a little walk, just around the block, before we come back home and I give him a bone to chew on, while I start making breakfast for Cooper and Callie. We have a routine and seeing me come down so late, probably confused him.
"Did you give him his bone this morning?" I asked, looking down at our family pet, petting him
"Yeah he already ate it," Callie said and reached for something that stood on the counter behind her
"Aspirin, for the headache. Water for the dry mouth," Callie pushed a white pill and a glass of water towards me. She had prepared for this. When I glanced to the counter, I saw another glass of water already ready with an aspirin pill next to it for Cooper.
I took the pill and drank half of the water on top "What time is it?"
"Almost 10," Callie replied casually as she started to make me a cup of coffee. I lifted the glass up to my lips and drank the remaining water as I still had felt thirsty and my mouth was dry.
"What would you like to eat, mom?" she asked me walking over to the fridge after a new pot for coffee had been put on
"Do we have yogurt?" I asked finally setting the now empty glass on the table in front of me
"One left," Callie grabbed it, closed the fridge, took a small spoon from the drawer and walked back to the table "Here you go."
"Thanks, love." I said opening it up and digging in "How much did we drink last night?"
Callie took her phone and a moment later she showed me a picture Jude had sent her this morning of the mess we had left last night or this morning. I counted 6 empty wine bottles on the ground next to the patio table. But there must have been more. At least it felt like there was more. My head was complaining.
"Oh, god! No wonder my head hurts," I sighed at the photo "I'm so sorry, honey!" I added, when I looked up to my daughter
"For what?" Callie gave a small laugh back putting her phone down on the table "For finally having some fun? Don't be...you have nothing to apologize for."
"No, I do. I do. Cooper and I got so...drunk. I never wanted for you to see me like this. Hangover. I hate that you needed to care of me-"
"Mom!" Callie placed her hand over mine stopping me for rambling further "No harm, no foul. Seriously, don't apologize."
I watched Callie closely for a moment "I still feel bad, honey, for putting you in that sort of position. "
"Mom," Callie said a bit louder as she patted my hand "It's all good!. You haven't done anything wrong in my eyes. There is nothing to apologize about. You don't have to feel bad about anything." I squinted my eyes as I observed my daughter, as I took in her tone, her features.
"Really?" I asked still not fully believing it
"Yes!"
"Okay," I nodded back after taking a deeper breath in and letting it go "I love you, you know that?"
"I love you, too, mom!" Callie smiled at me, before she got up again this time, to get me my coffee she had put on a moment ago. She handed me the first page of the newspaper, she had already read and we continued on with our breakfast.
Duke was now loyally laying beside me, while I drank my coffee, ate my yogurt and read the paper. Even thought this morning was a peaceful and calm, no one was rushing anywhere, I still felt restless. Something kept bugging me. And it was the same thing I had brought up last night that Callie and Mariana were up to something. The not knowing was killing me. I was itching to talk to her about it. As a mother, I simply could not let it go. And I don't think I was capable of waiting for her to come to me about it.
"Honey?" I folded the newspaper and set it down
"Yeah?" She asked without raising her eyes form the article she was reading
"What's going on?" I asked bluntly, not wanting to waste any more time and just needing to get to the core of the problem
My question made her look up, her forehead frowned up, eyes puzzled "What do you mean? With who?"
"With you," I stated back, locking eyes with her
"Um," Callie looked confused for a moment "Nothing. Why are you asking me that?"
"Because you are acting strange these last few weeks. I can feel that you aren't telling me something Cal."
Callie sighed, then put her newspaper down, sensing that I was not going to let it slide this time and she set her eyes on mine.
There was something heavy on her heart and I could tell, she was afraid to tell me. Maybe scared of my reaction. Whatever it was, we could deal with it together. Like we always have.
"Whatever it is, you can tell me honey," I pressed on softly "I just...I want to help, with whatever it is, that's bugging you so much. Please, talk to me. Don't lock me out."
Callie sat, in silence, watching me closely from the other side of the table. I saw the struggle in her features. Her lips had parted few times, but something had stopped her from saying whatever was on her mind. She looked out of the window for a while. Even rubbed the bridge of her nose two times. Glanced back to me, slightly scared and anxious. She ran her tongue over her lips and broke the eye contact again, looking down this time.
With her head down, looking down at her lap, she whispered quietly "I'm thinking about moving out."
Duke sat up, his ears perked up and he gave out a small whimper as he joined me staring at Callie in shock at her revelation, which had left me speechless for the moment.