Callie woke up to the feeling of panic. This was nothing new to her the last few weeks almost every night she would wake up feeling like this. Some not as bad this one how ever seemed to be the worst so far. She couldn't get enough air in her lungs no matter how much she tried and willed her lungs to work. Her chest was tight and felt like some one was sitting on it, her heart beating out of her chest. She could deal with this panic attack she had done it many times before but she hated that she had no idea what set it off. Obviously a dream had been the cause but she could never remember what they were, sometimes she didn't know if that was a blessing or a curse…

Looking over at Mariana she mad the decision to leave the room. Callie would feel awful if she was the cause of her sister not getting enough sleep on a school night, well hell any night she would feel bad. Add the fact she knew if her sister saw her in the middle of a panic attack she would go wake up Stef or Lena. That was the last thing she wanted. Her foster mothers worked so hard during the day and then came home to take care of five teenagers, they deserved their sleep. They really didn't need to be woken up because Callie had a bad dream. Fresh air would help clear her pounding head she decided now if only she could get her shaking legs to work long enough to carry her from the room her and Mariana shared to the back yard without waking anyone.

Slowly she crept down the stairs using the wall to balance her self. Shaking her head as she felt another wave of panic creeping up on her. Willing her mind to shut off she cleared the step that creaked if you put any amount of pressure on it. Though clearing her head didn't really work as she wanted the panic just seamed to attack her body instead making her breaths come out in short breaths and her eye site to go into tunnel vision. Her chest hurt like hell and she was sweating like crazy but she had three more steps. Though to her it felt like thirty.

"Come on Callie just breath you can get through this, its just a panic attack you can get through this.." She whispered to her self, her voice horse from the ragged breathing.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs it felt like she had just run a marathon. Leaning against the wall she pressed her forehead to the wall letting the coolness of it seep into her skin and calm her some. God panic attacks suck she though as she stumbled forward to the kitchen. Her eye sight blurred from the tears. The attack was getting worse her legs could barley carry her anymore. Placing her back to the wall she slid down until she reached the floor resting her head on her knees she curled into her self.

Upstairs both moms had heard on of their kids open a door and head down stairs, they could hear what sounded like something dragging against the wall. Looking at each other they both climbed out of bed to go investigate. Stef went ahead of Lena incase it wasn't one of the kids. Reaching the stairs they immediately saw Callie sitting on the bottom of the stairs her arms wrapped around her knees and her body shaking from sobs.

Both quickly descended the stairs to get to their daughter.

"Callie?" Lena whispered as to not scare the girl. Kneeling down she placed a hand on the girls shoulder to ler her know where she was. Though her plan didn't exactly work as callies head whipped up in fear and backed further into the wall.

"Hey sweets its okay, you are okay." Stef said kneeling next to her wife.

"She's having a panic attack Stef." Lena looked at Callie speaking in the most soothing voice she could muster, though it cracked slightly from seeing her daughter in this vulnerable position. "Will you go get a cool damp rag?" Stef nodded and hesitantly left both of their sides not wanting to leave either of them like this, her protective side was in full swing right now.

"Callie baby, I'm know this is hard but I'm going to need you to listen to me love. You're okay you're mom and I are right here nothing bad is going to happen to you. You are safe. But we need to get your breathing under control. Can you do that for me Hun?" Taking Callie's hand in her own she pressed it against her chest so Callie could feel her own calm breathing. "Breath in through your nose and out her mouth slowly. We don't want you to pass out from hyperventilating." She stopped talking and showed Callie what she meant by doing it a few times like that. By this time Stef had reappeared and placed the cool rag on her daughters neck and was brushing the hair from her face and running her fingers through the girls hair slightly messaging her scalp. It calmed the rest of her children when they were scared she hoped this worked with Callie as well.

Whether it was from the soothing voice of Lena's or the calming way Stef was brushing her hair out of the way Callie started to calm and was able to focus on her breathing. The jagged short puffs of air she was getting slowly turned into long streams of air filling her lungs.

"That's it sweets just breath like that, we have you." Stef's voice filled her ears. She didn't understand why their voices were so calming to her, but boy was she glad it was helping. Her body hurt.

They sat like this for over forty minutes until Callie had relaxed enough and the panic attack was over.

"I'm sorry." Callie's hoarse voice filled the early morning air.

"What on earth are you sorry about sweets?" Stef looked over at Callie with a raised eyebrow. She was genuinely curious as to why the girl was apologizing"

"I woke you guys up. You need your sleep. I was trying to get down here before anyone heard me. I could have dealt with it on my own you guys could have just went back to bed. You work so hard you don't need to deal with me freaking out you have enough on your plates. And… And I'm just adding to it."

"Callie love, I'm going to have to argue with you on this one. You should have come and woke us up. I don't care if I just pulled a twelve hour shirt, I would rather you come wake one of us up instead of you dealing with this on your own. We are moms it is what we do." Stef said with a serious tone. She didn't know how many times they told Callie to come get them if she needed anything no matter what time of day it was.

"

"But.." Callie started but was soon cut off by Lena who gave her a pointed look.

"No, no buts its our jobs as moms and you could have hurt your self what would you have done if you passed out on the stairs and fell down them injuring your self?" This really caught Callie's attention she hadn't thought about that. Noticing callie looked down Lena caught the girls chin and lifted it with one finger so he would look her in the eyes. "We understand coming to someone for help is hard for you. We get you think you have to be strong all of the time" Smiling softly at the girl she brushed Callies bangs out of her eyes. "But with us let us be the strong ones, we will be here for you to lean on."

Callie bit her lip and looked from both women who were sitting in front of her. Letting there words sink in she slowly nodded.

"Ill try I cant promise anything but." She took a breath and let it out slowly her lungs still slightly burning from not getting enough air for so long. "But I will try." Both women smiled knowing that it wasn't going to be an easy road to get the young girl to open up completely with them but this was a start.

"Do you want to talk about what set this attack off love?" Lena asked. The question had been burning in both of the mothers minds from the moment they had found the girl at the bottom of the stairs.

"I actually umm.. Well I actually don't know? I guess a dream? Maybe? But im fine now you guys can go back to bed I know its late well early I guess." She said as she looked through the window and show the sun was starting to rise.

Raising an eye brow Stef looked from her wife to Callie. Did the girl really think they were going to leave her after finding her having a panic attack? Looking into the girls eyes she sighed softly as she saw that their daughter was being completely serious. Noticing the look Stef was giving her Callie's eyes dropped to the floor.

"Well I mean all three of us could go back up to the room and get a little more sleep. Thankfully it is Saturday. I don't know about you but if I don't get enough sleep I just cant function." Stef said with a smirk as Callie's eyes shot back up to hers after hearing her say the three of them would be going up to their room.

"I can just stay down here. Really you guys can just go back to bed I usually cant go back to bed after having a panic attack I usually just hang out down here so I don't wake Mariana up." Lena and Stef looked at each other both silently communicating with each other, neither missed the fact that Callie had said she has had panic attacks before.

How often do these happen Callie?" Stef asked her voice sounding more like a mothers now. Slightly filled with worry but another part had a slightly more stern tone to it. Callies eyes widened slightly thinking back on what she had just said, that was not supposed to slip out. But god was she tired the sleepless nights were apparently wearing out her brain and filter.

"Uh well umm I guess the past three weeks?" She mumbled but knew both mothers had heard it.

"Alright we will talk about this more once we wake up but the tree of us are going to go up to the room and get more sleep. And before you argue yes Callie you are going to sleep in our room just incase" To Callie's surprise it was Lena who had said this usually she was the more calm one and never really told her what to do. But if Callie was being honest with her self she actually kind of wanted to sleep in their room. She missed when she was little and her mom would chase away her fears.

Callie nodded even though it didn't matter at that point Stef was already helping her off the floor and leading her back up the stairs.

When they reached the room Stef lead Callie to the bed and pulled the covers back and patted the bed.

"Hop in sweets." Swallowing thickly Callie climbed in the exhaustion taking over her argument. Both moms climbed in on both sides of her and for once Callie felt safe. Like nothing could hurt her. She knew thinking like that was dangerous but all those thoughts were wiped away when she felt Stefs had cover her own.

"Stop thinking so much and close your eyes, you will have time to think in the morning. Just go to sleep and remember we have you." Smiling softly Callie closed her eyes with one last thought she fell asleep. She could definitely get used to not taking on the world by her self.