A/N: This is the haunted house story that precedes the flashback in The Night Before Christmas. It was cut from that fic because it didn't feel necessary but I'd written it wanted to share it. So I held onto it until I was able to tweak it into a full, standalone one-shot.

"Look, look!" Brandon pulled at Stef's hand and pointed through the rows of white tents and food carts, toward a haunted house on the other side of Fall Fest. "Can we go? Please, please, please?" Brandon danced before his moms, his hands folded under his chin as he begged.

"Maybe not today, B," Lena said.

Brandon's face was already forming a pout. "Why not?"

Lena looked down at the two children who stood between her and her partner. She couldn't see how this could possibly be a good idea. They'd only been fostering the twins for a few months but the alarm bells sounding in her head made her very wary about how either of them would handle a haunted house. A shared glance over their heads told Lena that she and Stef were on the same page.

Stef turned to Brandon. "I think maybe it's a little too scary, bub."

"I'm not scared!" their son declared and puffed out his chest.

"You're not the only one here," Stef reminded him. Brandon was still adjusting to having siblings and he wasn't always good about considering their feelings.

"Well, if they're scared, can't you just take me by myself?" he complained with a scowl.

"Brandon," Stef warned.

"I wanna go too! I'm not scared!" Jesús piped up, breaking from beside his sister to join Brandon.

Lena looked at Stef again, trying desperately to communicate through near imperceptible facial expressions and telepathy.

Finally, Stef shrugged. "I guess, if you both really want to go, I can take the two of you through the haunted house." Lena cleared her throat and looked to the ground to stifle her shock. Clearly the telepathy had not worked. "Mariana and Mama can meet us at the end." When Stef looked to Lena for agreement on the compromise, there was a No on the tip of her tongue but Mariana broke in first.

"If they're going, I'm going, too," her little voice chirped.

Lena touched the girl's shoulder. "You don't have to go, sweetheart. It's okay."

When Mariana looked up at her, determination flashed in her eyes. "I want to. I'm not scared." With her chin jutting in the air, she marched over to take up rank next to Jesús.

The three stood in a line of protest — defiant and unmoving, demanding their right to be scared out of their minds.

Stef threw her arms out to the side in surrender. "Okay. If you insist."

The boys whooped with delight while Mariana's face paled.

"Last one there's a rotten egg!" Brandon slugged Jesús on the arm to give himself a head start as the boys took off in the direction of the attraction.

"Hey, wait for me!" Mariana called and ran after them, her fear forgotten at the threat of being the rotten egg.

Stef looked helplessly at Lena.

"I guess we're all going," she said with far more amusement than Lena felt. When they looked back in the direction of the kids, they were already alarmingly far ahead. "Hey, hey! Slow down! No running!" Stef called out a warning as she followed them in a brisk jog, leaving Lena standing alone.

"I guess we are," Lena said to herself before trudging in the direction of her family who were all barreling toward this terrible, terrible idea.

By the time Lena caught up to her brood, Stef had managed to wrangle the boys as much as one can contain a whirlwind. At least they were no more than a few feet in front with Mariana lagging behind them and Stef bringing up the rear. The boys were trying to one-up each other with the possible horrors that awaited them in the haunted house. They had quite the imaginations and as each new suggestion was more gory and detailed than the last, the distance between them and Mariana continued to grow.

"I can't believe you agreed to this," Lena hissed as she came up beside her partner. She walked with her arms crossed tight over her stomach.

"I'm sorry, love," Stef whispered back. "How was I supposed to know she'd want to go?"

"She doesn't want to go," Lena scoffed, shaking her head, wondering how Stef couldn't see that. "She just doesn't want to be left out. And even if she did, I don't think a haunted house is a good idea."

"Okay, sure, maybe it's not ideal but I don't think it'll be that bad. We went with Brandon last year."

"Yeah, Stef, and he ended up sleeping in our bed for a week."

"Sure but look at him now." She gestured toward him as he pretended to projectile vomit while Jesús was doubled over in a full belly laugh. "It obviously didn't traumatize him or he wouldn't be dying to go this year."

"Brandon has had a very different life than Mariana and Jesús have," Lena stated, her tone bordering on condescension. They may not have been fostering the twins for very long but Lena already knew that Mariana, though courageous in the truest sense of the word, was a highly sensitive soul. She was such a clever girl with a keen imagination and some very deep-seated insecurities that her short yet troubled life had given her. That coupled with an environment meant to elicit fear was a recipe for disaster. And Lena wasn't too eager for Jesús to go through, either.

"I am aware of that, Lena," Stef replied, her words terse in defense.

Lena softened. "I just don't want to put them through anything that's…" She paused, searching for the right words. "They've finally started to feel safe with us and I don't want to undo that."

"Neither do I. But sweetheart, as much as we want to, we can't protect them from the whole world and trying to is just going to end up hurting them more in the end. We have choose when to protect them and when to give them the space and the agency to make mistakes. If that means we deal with a week of nightmares, then we'll deal with it."

Lena exhaled and let her arms fall to her sides. She knew that if their roles had been reversed, she would have told Stef exactly the same thing.

"So you do listen to me sometimes," she teased, moving closer to slide her hand into Stef's, their fingers lacing together.

Stef gave a nonchalant shrug, a smug glint in her eye. "Sometimes."

Lena shook her head, her face alight with laughter. "Do I sound that pretentious when I say things like that?"

"I plead the fifth." Stef winked and nudged Lena with her shoulder.

The two women closed the distance between themselves and the kids as they approached the line for the attraction. The boys were still going with the graphic predictions as they queued up to wait their turn.

"Boys." The single word was a stern warning from Stef.

Jesús dropped the conversation without question, hanging his head a little, but Brandon looked at her, affronted. "What, Mom?"

"That's enough." Noting her seriousness, he huffed but relented as he turned away.

"There are lots of other kids around and we don't want to scare them," Lena clarified. After the explanation, Jesús' head perked up. He had a real tendency to lay blame on himself for any and all minor behavioral corrections. Since noticing, Lena had been making a conscious effort to offer more explanations along with corrections and so far she had noticed quite an improvement.

The line moved at a steady pace. Groups were being let in about three minutes apart. The three children were involved in a game of I Spy, which kept them occupied as they waited. Lena and Stef stood behind them, touching at the shoulders and sharing snippets of conversation between lengths of easy silence. As they neared the front of the line, the sounds from inside the house began to reach them. Squeals and shrieks drifted out of the makeshift building and with each one, Mariana looked more apprehensive. By the time the family before them entered, the little girl's back was rigid and her hands were balled in tight fists by her sides.

Lena nudged Stef with her elbow, nodding her head in the direction of their foster daughter.

"You alright, sweet pea?" Stef asked. Mariana jumped at the question but turned her head over her shoulder and nodded, her black ponytail rippling down her back.

In the presence of Mariana's trepidation, the family grew quiet during the rest of their wait. Lena chewed the inside of her lip. She wanted so badly to yank her out of the line for her own sake. As if she could read Lena's mind, Stef's hand slipped into hers, affording her strength with a gentle squeeze. If only that telepathy had been working earlier; they wouldn't be here now.

"Okay, folks. You're up." The gentleman working the attraction beckoned them forward. He rattled off his script like a seasoned flight attendant. "Remember, keep your hands to yourselves; no touching, no running, and certainly no hitting. You're here for thrills, they're here for bills; the monsters are people, too. Have fun and happy screams." He waved them toward the entrance and the two women held their breath, waiting for Mariana to move. She didn't.

"C'mon, Mariana," Brandon urged. He was inching closer to the entrance, impatient after waiting in line so long.

Mariana's feet had taken root in the grass.

When the host looked expectantly from her to the two women, Lena offered an apologetic wave. "Sorry. Just give us a minute."

"Can I let the next group go?"

"Of course. Thank you," she said as she knelt down on one knee beside Mariana. "It's okay if you're scared."

"I'm not scared." Her quiet voice trembled, giving herself away.

"You know, I get scared too, sometimes. Especially when I don't know what to expect."

The girl's brown eyes were bright with worry and curiosity as she looked at Lena. "You do?"

"Yeah. All the time."

Mariana fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. "Are you scared now?"

Lena nodded. "A little bit." Of course, it wasn't the haunted house itself that scared her but she kept that detail to herself. "Are you?"

The girl's eyes dropped to the ground and she hesitated before nodding her head.

Jesús took his sister's hand before Lena had a chance to speak again.

"If you're scared, we don't have to go." His disappointment was obvious when he looked with longing at the dark entrance in front of them but his jaw was set with certainty. Lena felt a tightness around her heart at the touching gesture. He was alway so willing to sacrifice for his sister.

"Yeah, it's okay if you don't wanna go." Brandon stepped in front of them, facing Mariana with his hands on his hips. "It's just a lame haunted house. It's probably not even good." Pride swelled in Lena's chest at her son's sudden change of heart and she shared a quick look with Stef who seemed just as surprised as Lena. Maybe he really was getting a hang of this big brother thing.

Mariana looked between Brandon and her brother, her mouth pursing as she considered his offer. Finally, she shook her head.

"I wanna go. I won't be scared if you guys are with me," she said and reached for Brandon's hand. United, the three turned toward the haunted house, their hands linked while they waited for their turn. Lena shared a look of love and pride with Stef as she returned to her side. She took her hand and squeezed it gently, grateful despite herself that Stef had agreed to this terrible, wonderful idea.