TITLE: Chances

SUMMARY: Everybody deserves a second chance. Sometimes they need a third or fourth, too. Story #4 in my Series (after Harm, Marks, and Pride)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own, you don't sue.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Finishing this story took WAY longer than I had anticipated; I apologize. Life has been quite hectic. This will probably be the last story in the series, although I may entertain ideas of doing a shorter, holiday-themed 5th story.

None of the five children under the Adams-Foster roof are morning people; that is a well known fact. However, on certain occasions, they can get coaxed out of bed early. And the first Thursday morning in September was one of those occasions.

When Mariana felt a hand shaking her awake, her first instinct was to bury her head under her pillow. "Five more minutes," she murmured.

"C'mon, we can't sleep in today," Brandon whispered. After a moment, Mariana pulled her pillow back down.

"Oh… Right."

He smiled. "I'm going to go wake up Jesus."

"Okay." Brandon quietly slipped back out of the room. Mariana got out of bed and grabbed a robe before she headed downstairs to the kitchen. Sharon was at the counter, making coffee, and smiled when she saw her sleepy granddaughter.

"Hi, love bug. Too early for you, huh?"

Mariana returned her grin as she wiped at her eyes. "Yeah."

"Do you want to get started on the pancakes? We'll let the boys do the eggs and bacon."

"Okay."

Brandon and Jesus soon joined them, and they got to work on making breakfast. Twenty minutes later, when Stef and Lena entered the kitchen, they were surprised to see everything was already being taken care of.

"This was all their idea," Sharon told her daughter and daughter-in-law. "I just got recruited to help."

"Thank you, sweets," Stef said as she came over to hug the trio of teens.

"Do you need us to do anything?" Lena wondered.

Brandon shook his head. "We've got it. You guys can go do Adoption Day presents with Callie and Jude."

That earned them all another round of hugs from both moms. Stef and Lena had spent a lot of time over the past few days debating how they were going to handle Callie and Jude's Adoption Day. When they'd adopted the twins, they'd been very concerned about Brandon feeling like he was getting pushed aside. Most of that day had been all about the five of them as a family, with just a few stolen moments alone with their new children. This time, they had still planned to make most of the day be about their whole family, but it was really encouraging to know that the other kids understood the need for a bit of individual time.

"Thank you, guys," Lena told them. "I think today is going to be a great day."

Upstairs, Lena headed into the boys' room, while Stef went into the girls'. "Time to rise and shine," Lena told Jude as she shook his shoulder.

He stretched and yawned, then gave her a smile. "Hi, Mama."

"Hi, buddy. You remember what today is?"

Jude nodded. "We get adopted."

"Yep, you do. Mom and I wanted to talk with you and Callie before breakfast, okay?"

"All right."

% ^ % ^ % % ^ % ^ %

Callie was actually already awake when Stef came into her room; she was in front of her closet, picking out clothes. "Morning, love."

"Hey, S…" Callie paused for a moment, unsure what to say. Unlike her brother, she hadn't started calling Stef and Lena 'Mom' and 'Mama' yet. The words seemed strange coming out of her mouth. But using their first names also just seemed wrong. So normally she tried to avoid using either. Which lead to a lot of awkward moments. "Hey," she lamely finished.

Stef just let it go. She could understand her soon-to-be-daughter's struggle - even if it did feel a little bit like a rejection. "Can you come with me for a minute? Lena's getting Jude."

Callie put the shirt she'd selected on her bed. "Sure."

They all went into the master bedroom. Lena got a flat box out of the closet while everyone else sat on the bed. "We wanted to give you something that shows how much you mean to us, how much having you in our family means to us," Lena explained as she joined them. "We had a similar gift when we adopted the twins."

Callie took the box and Jude untied the ribbon. Lifting the lid revealed a framed poem:

We've added to our family tree,

a stronger one to make.

Two children from another plant

have become our new namesakes.

Our family tree has been improved,

adoption made this so.

For love, much more than bloodlines,

makes us thrive and grow.

We chose to share our life and love

and all the joys to come.

Our family tree has blossomed

with the addition of our new cherished ones.

Jude smiled as he finished reading. "I like it!"

"We had something for you, too," Callie told the moms. "It's not much…"

"I'm sure it's perfect," Stef assured her.

"I'll be right back." She headed for her room, then returned a moment later with an envelope in one hand and something else held behind her back. Lena opened the envelope and showed Stef what was inside - a Mother's Day card.

"It's kind of like Mother's Day all over again," Jude explained. "Only this time, you'll really be our moms."

It was one of those sweet Hallmark cards that all mothers love, and the women deeply appreciated the sentiment. "Thank you guys so much," Stef told them as she finished reading. "We can't wait to be your moms."

Lena's eyebrow rose as she realized how they had signed their names at the bottom: 'Callie and Jude Adams-Foster.' She and Stef had both hyphenated their names after the wedding, but all of the kids were still just Fosters, and they'd assumed Callie and Jude would be, too. "Why did you…"

"That's the present part," Callie explained. "We all talked about it and decided that we want to be Adams-Fosters, too. I mentioned it to our adoption lawyer after our last meeting, so that's what she put on the paperwork for today. And these," she produced some forms from behind her back, "Are for everyone else. You just have to sign and file them."

Stef and Lena looked at the papers and discovered they were legal name change petitions for Jesus, Mariana, and Brandon. Stef was stunned when she realized that Brandon's papers were already signed by Mike. "Is this real?" she wondered.

Jude nodded. "Yeah. Brandon laid a really good guilt trip on him." The young boy had thoroughly enjoyed hearing the story of that conversation. Brandon had finished his pitch to his father with the statement that if Mike didn't sign it, he would change his name at 18 anyway, so it was just delaying the inevitable.

"It helped that Foster was still going to be one of his names," Callie added. "So, do you like it?"

They both got wrapped up in hugs. "We love it," Lena promised. "This is amazing." She hadn't even realized until that moment how much it affected her that none of the kids had her name. She had agreed at the twins' adoption that it was more important all the siblings be bonded together, but now that she and Stef were a couple in the eyes of the law... This was more than she could have hoped for.

"We wanted to be one family," Jude told the moms. "And anybody who sees our names will know it."

Once everyone finished eating breakfast and getting dressed, they left to meet their other family members downtown. Dana unfortunately hadn't been able to fly to San Diego on short notice, but she sent her love (and presents) along with her husband. Stewart and Frank were standing together outside of the courthouse when the moms, kids, and Sharon arrived. The men each hugged all of their grandkids.

"Are you excited?" Stewart asked Callie and Jude.

Jude nodded. "I can't wait!"

Callie, however, seemed more restrained. "Hopefully, everything goes through," she quietly said.

Stef wrapped her arm around her shoulders. "Everything is going to be fine," she promised.

But Callie didn't have much faith that things would work out in her favor - they never had before. Her nerves only got worse as they went inside and waited for their turn with the judge. She was on pins and needles as the older man flipped through all of their paperwork. What if there was something in her file that he didn't like? There were certainly many different episodes that he could choose from if he wanted to make a stumbling block. What if he denied her adoption? Worse still, what if her past caused problems for her little brother, too?

"Where are Callie and Jude?" the judge asked.

Both of them stood up from their spots with the rest of their siblings in the front row. "Here, sir," Callie told him.

"You two have certainly had a time of it, haven't you?" he wondered.

"Yes, sir."

"Do you think you're going to be happy and secure in your new home?"

"Yes, sir."

"We have the best family in the world," Jude added. Lena and Stef turned and smiled at them.

The judge chuckled. "I'm very glad to hear that. Well, everything looks in order here; I'm granting your petition," he declared as he started signing the right forms. "The minor children are now the adopted children of Stefanie and Lena Adams-Foster, with all the related rights and responsibilities. And the children's names are now Callie and Jude Adams-Foster." He signed the last paper and then smiled at the family. "Congratulations."

Jude instantly went for hugs from his new moms, but his sister was just frozen in place. "Are you okay, sweetheart?" Lena asked as she held Jude.

"Did that really just happen?" Callie wondered. It seemed so quick, so easy after everything that they'd been through over the years. This couldn't be anything more than a dream, could it? A wonderful dream that she wished would never end.

Stef gave her new daughter a hug. "It really just happened," she assured the teen before kissing her forehead. "You're one of our babies now, forever." She could see that Callie's eyes were filling with tears and held her closer. "You don't have to worry anymore, love," Stef whispered. "You're always going to have a home and people to look out for you. You're going to be okay."

Callie sniffled. "Thank you."

Stef kissed her forehead again. Over the years, she'd heard so many people say how lucky foster and adopted children were to have a home, and how grateful they must be. Almost nobody talked about how lucky and grateful the parents were for having those children in their lives. "You don't ever have to thank us for loving you," she promised Callie.

The whole family gathered together up by the judge's seat in order to get photos. "This is my favorite part of this job," he happily proclaimed as they all crowded around. Their lawyer took shots of the entire group including grandparents, the moms and five kids, and just the moms and Callie and Jude.

Once they were done, Stef and Lena had to finish signing a couple forms. Callie watched them from a few steps away, just to be sure there were no issues. She wasn't sure what it would take for her to finally let he guard down a little, but she wasn't there yet. When Jude tapped her on the shoulder, she startled slightly.

"Who's that?" he asked his big sister, pointing to a man sitting in the back row of the courtroom. "He looks familiar."

Callie turned around to look, and all the color drained from her face. "Th-that's our father."

TBC...

A/N2: The adoption letter given to Callie and Jude is a modified version of the poem "Our Family Tree" (unknown author).