Lena continued for Stef, "Speaking of grounded…"

Callie's face straightened as she realized that their moment had just come to an abrupt end. She knew that they would have to talk about everything else, if she were to come home. But now she realized she hadn't prepared for all of them.

She slowly sat up from where she was laying beside Stef and became stiff. She would remain a rock until things were finalized.

Lena noticed how Callie's body suddenly tensed, and she looked over at her wife worriedly. It was as if the entire conversation they all took part in a few minutes ago had been erased completely, and Callie was in the same shell she had been in when they first met. Lena wasn't sure whether to continue the conversation or not, but her wife nodded her head slightly letting her know that she should. They were going to have to have this conversation sooner or later and the sooner the better.

Lena and Stef sat up to the same level as Callie.

"Things are going to be a little different when we get home," Lena continued.

"Okay," Callie responded flatly and tried to give both of her foster-moms a forced smile, but her eyes were steadily focused on the house across the street.

Stef knew that this was Callie's way of dealing with all of her pent up emotions. But she hated the fact that Callie felt like she had to completely avoid their gaze, in an effort to keep from getting hurt. Stef rested her hand on Callie's lap to bring the girl back into reality. She wouldn't continue, until Callie was actually looking directly at them.

At the moment Stef's hand touched her lap, Callie was forced to look at her. Stef continued, "Mama's right... We feel that we should get everything out in the open, before we come to pick you up on Thursday. The last thing we want is for you to um….run away. Again." Stef twitched awkwardly at the uncomfortable memory of the day after her wedding.

"I won't," Callie answered without hesitation. She had no inclination of running away again.

"Well, we hope not," Stef said with a hint of humor in her voice, to try to lighten the mood again. But she quickly realized that she shouldn't joke about the matter, if she wanted Callie to take her a hundred percent seriously. So she took on a more assertive tone, "While we know why you ran away, and we understand your reasoning behind it, we want to make sure that there isn't anything else that will… I don't know… trigger you doing this again." Stef finished uncomfortably.

Callie nodded at Stef's words.

Trust. This was something that Rita and the girls discussed with her. And she knew that it would take a while for her to gain theirs back.

Lena took the awkward silence following her wife's words, as her queue to talk, "Callie, we need to know that this is what you really want. That you and Brandon will be able to live under the same roof without—"

"Kissing each other," Stef finished.

"Stef," Lena chastised for making Callie feel even more uncomfortable. There were better ways to word that, she thought to herself.

Callie quickly withdrew her gaze from either woman and glanced down at the flower garden again.

She eyed one of the daisies intently as she began matching the flower pedals with a thought in her head. She plucked each pedal in her mind and thought,

I can get through this.

I won't get through this.

I can get through this.

I won't get…

"Callie?" Lena said trying to get the girl's attention again.

Callie lost track of which pedal she had left off at cursed herself. Now she would never know the answer. "Um…" Callie stalled, trying to find the same daisy she had just been staring at.

Lena sensed the girl's avoidance technique and stood up, to walk in front of the garden, blocking her view of the flowers and forcing Callie to glance up at her in confusion. "We know that you're in an awkward position right now, but we feel that we need to get everything out in the open before you come back home."

Stef continued, "That way we can make sure that there aren't any more surprises and you feel completely safe coming home."

Callie gave Stef a perplexed look, "Brandon never made me feel unsafe…"

Stef smiled, "Well that's good to know. But that's not all we're talking about here, Love."

Lena spoke next, "There's more to all of this than Brandon…. We know that you left after the kiss, because Jude saw it, right?" Callie nodded in response. "And I hate to ask this but…I couldn't help but notice, that you and Brandon seemed really close during the funeral reception. And this whole independent living thing… Was it because of Brandon?"

Callie stared at Lena blankly. She wanted to tell them the truth, but she was more afraid of what that would mean for her,

Or for them as a whole.

"Callie?" Stef tried to get the teen's attention. Both women already knew the answer to the question, because Brandon had confessed about everything, in an effort to bring Callie back home. But they both felt that Callie had to admit it, before they could all figure out a way to move passed it.

"…Yeah," Callie answered as she felt a tear escape from her eye. To her, this was the moment, the moment that they saw her as the trashy foster girl, the moment when they realized that she had not only messed up once, but a few times after that. She immediately wiped the tear away with her sleeve, "I know that I messed up and it was a mistake."

"Honey," Lena said in disbelief. "You're not in trouble here…We just want to make sure that this is something you really want."

"Being a part of our family, she means," Stef informed her. "…We know that this is a difficult decision for you and we hate to give you an ultimatum but we need to hear it from you." Stef tilted her head to the side so that she could look Callie in the eyes, "So, what we need to know from you is…are you willing to give up this relationship with Brandon, so you can legally become a member of our family?" Stef awaited Callie's answer nervously.

That was when Callie realized, that this was a difficult decision for them too. They were risking being let down as well, and she hated that they felt like that to begin with. "Yeah," Callie answered as she nodded her head yes.

Stef smiled back at the girl, after she finally heard her response. She had already considered Callie as her daughter, but the fact that there wasn't anything keeping her from committing to them now was such a relief.

Lena sat down beside Callie, "We're glad to hear that. And there's something else we need to talk about." Lena gave Stef a stern look to let her know that their battle still wasn't over. They had to get to the bottom of one last thing.

"…Yes, right," Stef agreed. "We also know that Jude called you selfish on the day of the wedding. And he also told us that you promised that you weren't going to be selfish anymore…"

"He told you that?" Callie asked in disbelief. "Well he didn't mean it," she defended him, not wanting to get her little brother in trouble for something he said to her.

"But you must've thought so," Lena interjected "… if you told him that you weren't going to do it anymore?"

It took a while for Callie to answer, which didn't surprise either mom. "… Every time Jude and I ended up in a good foster-home, I always did something to screw it up. And it always ended the same. Jude and I always got sent to another home and I guess I was tired of it, you know?" Callie looked at both women hoping that they would understand where she was coming from. "I used to always blame it on having to defend Jude or myself. I never thought of it as me actually taking away another chance of him getting a real family…. I never thought I was being selfish, until he was finally old enough to tell me the truth."

Stef wrapped her arm around the girl and brought her body closer to her, "Callie Jacobs, you take that back."

"Honey, you are not selfish. In fact, you are far from it," Lena tried to convince her.

"You don't understand," Callie loosened herself from Stef's grip and stood up from the bench. She didn't want their pity. She wanted them to understand what really happened in all of those years. She wanted her mothers to understand the type of person she was before they would commit themselves to her.

Stef stood up and turned Callie's cheek so that she was forced to look into her eyes. She was angry now and Callie could sense it. Her anger came out in the sternness of her voice, "I understand that less than 24 hours after you came to live with us, you risked going back to juvie, not to mention your life, when you went all the way to Tijuana to save your little brother from a terrible situation. I understand that when you found out another young girl was living in the same house as that scumbag Liam, you risked almost being sent to a group home and being separated from your brother, just so you could save another girl from having to go through what you did. I understand that you left the person you love most behind, and ran away to nothing just so you wouldn't ruin his chances of having a family. You, Callie Jacob, are the most selfless person that I have ever met."

Callie ripped her face from Stef's fingers, "You don't know what you're talking about." She wanted to believe what her foster-mother was telling her, but she couldn't help but think about all the damage that Jude had to suffer because of her. "I had to make things right for him this time. He had to suffer so much, because of the decisions I made in the past. When our foster-father started hitting Jude, I completely lost it. I made the stupidest decision a person could make and landed myself in juvie, leaving Jude all alone. I needed to be there to defend him from all of that. And what did I do? I left him with no one to watch over him, because I couldn't handle it. And what about the Olmsteads? They were so nice to Jude and I. He was so happy there, and I ruined his chances there too. If I would have just kept my big mouth shut, then he would have been safe long before we moved in with that other guy and his wife. Jude never would have gotten hit, and I never would have gone back to juvie, and—"

Stef quickly wrapped Callie into her arms, and Callie struggled to get loose but Stef just tightened her grip even more. Tears were already spilling from both of their eyes, and Stef couldn't understand why the poor girl, who had such a tragic life, could feel guilty about trying to make it better.

"Stef, stop! You're not listening!" Callie yelled.

But the blonde ignored her daughter's protests, "Oh Honey, you and Jude should have never had to go through any of that. None of it was your fault and staying with the Olmsteads would have only meant that Liam—"

Callie shook her head in Stef's arms but stopped trying to get away from her, "But Jude would've been safe."

Stef tried shushing the girl and giving her kisses on her head. "You don't have to suffer for him anymore. You should've never had to do it in the first place."

Lena stood up and placed her hand on Callie's back and looked Callie in the eyes, "We're glad you said something. I can't even imagine what would've happened if you stayed there." Just thinking about it, made both Stef and Lena angry at the world they were living in. They were angry that their daughter regretted staying in a house, that she was being raped in, just so she could protect her brother. "That was not good placement, Callie. The most important thing is for you and Jude to be safe."

"Callie?" Jude's small voice came from behind Stef.

Callie quickly released herself from Stef's grasp and looked at her brother, immediately wiping away her tears and placing a smile on her face, "Hey, buddy."

Both moms knew that Callie, masking her feelings from her little brother, wasn't healthy for either of them. They were the parents and Callie was a child, but they knew that it would take a lot more time to get that across to both of them. Especially, after Callie had to adopt the parent-role for him at such a young age.

"You don't have to do that," Jude said as he took a few steps closer towards them.

"Do what?" Callie asked with confusion written all over her face.

"That," Jude answered. "You don't have to pretend anymore."

Callie shook her head, "I'm not—"

Jude interrupted, "Yes you are. You're always trying to protect me; afraid that I'd get hurt. But we're not alone anymore, so I don't want you to do that anymore, okay?" He looked up at his sister at waited for her reply.

She gave him a small smile, and he quickly wrapped his arms around her. "Okay," Callie answered even though her eyes told a different story. She would never stop trying to protect him and the tightness of her hug displayed just that.

"And I'm glad we didn't stay with the Olmstead's either," Jude mumbled.

Callie's eyes widened, when she realized that Jude heard more than he should have.

If he did, he wouldn't mention it, "If we would've stayed with them, we never would've found Stef and Lena, and our new family." After a few seconds, Jude loosened his grip, and looked up into Callie's eyes. "So, did you tell them?"

Callie ruffled the hair on his head, "Yeah buddy. I did."

Jude's smile widened and he looked over at his moms, who both seemed surprised that Jude knew what was going to happen.

"Jude, you knew?" Lena asked, in a somewhat hurt voice.

"She told me she wanted to come home before. I just didn't want to jinx it. I'm sorry."

Stef and Lena both nodded with acceptance. They knew that he was secretive when it came to his sister, so they couldn't be too angry, especially when it proved just how inseparable they were.

Everyone turned at the sound of Rita's voice, "Moms, will you be joining us for desert?"

"Yes," they both answered in unision.

"Great," Rita smiled in return. "Well, the girl's made plenty of apple pie and fruitcake, so when you're ready," she finished and made her way back inside.

Callie turned to face her two mothers, and they both had astounded looks on their faces after Rita's last sentence.

"Do you think they…" Lena questioned with an eyebrow raise.

Jude looked over at Stef and couldn't help but giggle at the sudden flushed color that appeared on her cheeks. That's when she realized, that everyone in the entire house probably heard her rant earlier.

"You shouldn't have called her a fruitcake, Honey," Lena smirked as she looked at her wife.

"Why thank you. I realize that, now," Stef answered her wife sarcastically and looked at her two children with embarrassment. "Well, come on you two. Let's go have some of this fruitcake everyone's talking about."

This part 2 was so hard to freaking write for me. Note to self: never promise a part 2 to a one-shot. Sorry it took forever, but I had no idea what to write. So I just added another missing-scene, kinda? Idk wtf I did, but eh. It's up now, so whatever.

Hope at least someone liked it. If not, I'll live. Point is, I did it, and don't have to think about it anymore.