Alright. I'm sorry that it's been forever since I updated. I just struggled to write this chapter, I started a summer class, and had some personal things to deal with. This chapter isn't my favourite and it's a lot of exposition, and I'm sorry about that. Next chapter will be better.

Stef walked in the door as Lena was setting pizza on plates, and moving the pizza boxes off the island table.

"Hey love, we're doing pizza?"

Lena kissed her wife. "Yeah, it's been an exhausting day and we haven't had pizza for a while so…" She threw up her hands to say "why not".

"Hey, come on now, I wasn't complaining," Stef chuckled as she grabbed a glass of water.

"So, um, listen honey, we really, really need to talk. I have a lot of stuff to tell you. I think we need to talk tonight," Lena said.

"Yeah, I agree. I have some stuff to tell you too. Why don't we wait until all the kids are settled in doing their evening stuff after dinner?"

"Sounds good," Lena said.

Stef walked upstairs to change out of your uniform. "And tell everyone dinner is ready!" Lena shouted after her.

Jesus bounded down the stairs, "Did I hear dinner?"

Lena laughed. "You sure did, and it's pizza."

"Nice, mama."

As everyone filed in and sat down, Lena cleared her through. "So uh, guys, I know that a lot of stuff has been going on recently. And we don't mean to leave you guys out of the loop, but it's been hectic and we want everyone to feel safe. So tomorrow morning, family meeting. I know it's a Saturday but everyone needs to be in the living room by 11? Got it?"

"Got it," everyone mumbled.

Callie looked wide eyed at Stef who was sitting at the head of the table, while Callie sat on the corner seat next to her. "Don't worry sweets, we're not going to share anything you don't want to. We'll talk later, yes?"

Callie nodded and was silent for a few minutes. "Um...I...um…"

Lena and Stef met eyes with each other, quirking their eyebrows before turning back to their foster daughter.

"I...uh...the pizza...um, I'm not really up for it. Is it...is it okay if I have something else? My stomach kinda hurts," Callie said hesitantly.

Lena raised her eyebrows at Stef, while Stef suppressed a grin. Callie had asked them for something .Callie had expressed a need. Callie expressed pain. They felt like dancing.

"Sure sweets, what do you feel up to eating?" Stef turned back to Callie.

8888

The thermometer beeped. Stef took it from Callie and sighed.

"It's gone back up," Stef said while handing Callie some medicine.

"I'm sorry," Callie mumbled.

"Hey, you have nothing to be sorry about. It's not your fault that you're sick. Understand?" Stef said searching Callie's eyes.

Callie nodded.

"Good. I'm gonna go talk to Lena for a bit, and then we're going to talk to you."

Callie eyes widened in fear.

"Nothing bad sweets, we just want to talk to you about talking to Jude, getting Sarah out of the house and about Bill. But we don't have any bad news for you, so try not to worry." Stef smiled, patted Callie's knee, and went to join her wife in their bedroom.

"Her fever's gone back up, I think we need to take her to the doctor. It's been three days," Stef said shutting the bedroom door behind her.

"Yeah, I agree. We'll mention it to her when we talk to her," Lena said while pulling her hair up on top of her head. "So, just so you know, I've hidden the keys in the safe of our unlocked closet…"

Stef sat down. "Okay, and why is that?"

"Callie's overnight bag is in there...with all of her stuff…"

"What?" Stef practically shouted. "Lena-"

"Stef, let me finish?"

Stef let out of breath. "Yeah, of course, sorry. Just don't keep doing the suspense thing, you know it drives me nuts".

Lena chuckled, "Yeah sorry about that. Anyway, so Callie was packing her things today...she asked me to stop promising her things that weren't in our total control. She believes that we are there for her and will fight for her, or at least she says she does, but she's right...we cannot promise her things that we ultimately have no control over. It's like she wanted to be ready, or not allow herself to settle somewhere, so she packed her bag. Her feeling was totally valid...so I let her keep the bag packed, it's just now locked in the closet. Her essentials and a few changes of clothes are out of the bag. Anything she needs from the bag will have to go through us.

Stef sat there silent for a moment once Lena was finished. "Well, I guess it's better that you were there instead because I probably would have made her unpack her bag right then and there. What if she runs Lena?"

Lena took her wife's hand in her own. "We're going to make sure she doesn't. Validating her feelings is important to do for her. It will reduce her chance of running."

Stef nodded. "Okay."

"So...you have things to tell me?" Lena prompted Stef.

Stef sighed and got up and started pacing. "Mike and I found some interesting stuff looking through some old files on the Olmsteads. It turns out that multiple girls have been removed from the home under the claim that they were too sexually volatile or inappropriate in some other bullshit way, or even without an explanation at all. Not to mention the domestic violence calls...and no one seems to have noticed how suspicious this looks?! He could have been raping girls for years!"

Stef nearly shouted and threw her hands up.

"Stef honey, you need to keep it down. That's really awful, but do we want Callie or anyone else to hear yet?"

Stef let out a breath and plopped back down on the bed with Lena. She put her head in her hands and mumbled, "no, I guess not."

"So...how much do we tell Callie?" Lena asked, finally verbalizing the question neither of them wanting to answer.

"Well...I called the DA's office, spoke to a friend who has helped me out before...he's going to call me back soon, and we go from there...and I'll have to tell Roberts and Bill," Stef listed off.

"And Callie?"

"I think we should be honest with her. We want her to trust us. She deserves honesty," Stef said firmly.

"I agree, but I think we shouldn't give her too many details at once. She has enough to deal with, and we don't even know where this is going yet."

"Agreed," Stef said. This was exhausting. She hated that Callie had to go through this and that this conversation even needed to happen with her wife about one of her children...foster children. Foster children. Temporary. Stef reminded herself.

Lena put her head on her wife's shoulder and Stef wrapped her arm around Lena. "Tomorrow...I think we should keep all the kids home for a few hours...relax a little...play a game...do a family day…"

"Mmm, I like the sound of that," Stef said. She kissed Lena's temple before breaking the embrace.

"Let's talk to Callie."

They found Callie curled up under a blanket, reading. Lena had been surprised to find that Callie was an avid reader. When she had talked to Callie about this, Callie just shrugged and said it was nice to have time to read and not worry about things like how she was going to feed Jude. Lena took her to the library once a week after school, after that conversation. She loved watching Callie's eyes light up every time they entered the library. She wished her other children loved reading as much as Callie did, it was nice to talk about books with her daughter...her...foster daughter. Lena frowned. Maybe this isn't meant to be temporary?

"Hey, Callie, do you mind if we talk now?" Lena said.

Callie shut the book, and followed her fosters moms back into their bedroom.

Once they all were situated on the bed Stef cleared her throat. Callie was picking at the bottom of her pajama pants.

"Look at us, sweets. We're not going to hurt you and I promise you this conversation will not end in anything bad for you or Jude," Stef said gently.

Callie looked up, but wouldn't meet Stef's eyes. Stef sighed. Well, that was a starting point.

Lena began. "Honey, we just wanted to let you know some things and ask you some things." Callie nodded and Lena continued. "For starters, we're going to be looking into getting you some therapy. This is not optional and not up for debate, but if you don't feel comfortable with the person we find for you, it's okay to let us know. We'll keep looking until you find someone you feel comfortable with."

Callie swallowed. "Okay."

"I know, therapy sounds really scary and tough. And you've done group therapy and not found it helpful, but we're here to support you. No matter what happens. Talking to a therapist will be really helpful for you and healing. Does that make sense, slug a bug?" Lena finished.

"Yeah, it makes sense," Callie mumbled.

"And if your fever hasn't cleared by tomorrow, we're taking you to the doctor," Stef added on.

Callie nodded. "Okay."

Stef opened her mouth to start questioning Callie about how she was feeling but Lena caught her eye and shook her head. "Let her process," she mouthed to Stef. Stef nodded. They would talk to Callie again about therapy later, after she'd had some time to think about it.

"So...tomorrow morning we want to let everyone know what's been going on, but only with how much you are comfortable with sharing."

Callie looked into Lena's eyes. "I um...um...they can know what I told you."

Stef nodded, and then asked the golden question. "How much does Jude known already?"

Callie's eyes filled with tears but she forced herself not look down, just away. "He knows that something bad happened, and that it hurt me. And that Liam and I had a 'more than foster sibling relationship' but...I never actually used the word...rape...around him. He was younger at the time and I just…"

Lena put her hand on Callie's knee. "It's okay, you don't have to justify yourself. You did what you thought was best, and it probably was for the best. You're a good big sister."

Callie blushed.

"I think...I should be the one to tell everyone. Or at least part of it...Jude deserves to hear it from me."

"That's very brave of you sweetheart," Lena replied quietly.

"But um...can you guys do the rest…?" Callie asked tentatively.

"Of course," Lena and Stef said at the same time.

"They aren't….they aren't going to think I'm a freak, right?" Callie said looking down and so quietly Stef almost didn't hear her.

"Hey, hey," Stef titled Callie's chin up and forced her to look her in the eye. "No, they will not think you are a freak. You are not a freak. What happened wasn't your fault. We'll remind them to not treat you any differently than they would normally treat you, but just be a little extra supportive. Does that sound okay?"

Callie nodded and yawned.

"Alright, Cals, one last thing before we check your temperature and bed. I'm looking into the Olmsteads to see if there is a way to get things to move faster for Sarah. I don't know many details yet, but I just want to let you know that I'm trying but I can't promise anything."

Callie stared at Stef, and then shocked Stef by reaching out and hugging her. "Thanks for trying," Callie whispered in her ear.

Stef whispered back, "you're welcome baby" and caught Lena's eyes.

Stef hoped she was reading Lena correctly and that Lena was thinking what she was thinking...that they should adopt Calie and Jude. But that was another conversation and another hurtle, for another day. They just needed to take it one day at a time for now and let Callie and Jude know they were loved and supported no matter what.