Mom - No More

When Callie's adoption is denied she goes back to calling them Stef and Lena.

(I know this story was supposed to be complete but after watching the first episode of Season 2 I decided that it needed one more part.)

'The adoption of Callie Jacob by Stephanie and Lena Adams Foster is denied.'

These words kept ringing in Callie's ears. Once again someone had made it a point of showing her that she was all alone in the world. The people who were supposed to love her wanted nothing to do with her and the people who did want her and who she too wanted, couldn't have her. It was a cruel way of showing her that she didn't really belong anywhere.

Things had been going so well for them all. Her mom's; yes, moms - or so she had begun to believe, had managed to show her that she could let her guard down and that they were capable of keeping both her and Jude safe and she was finally starting to be just a kid again. She knew that her unknown father was another bump in the road but what she hadn't expected was that he - someone who hadn't ever even laid eyes on her - had all the power to decide her future.

Callie couldn't help but slowly build up some walls around herself. Past experiences had taught her that no matter how safe things seemed something was always just waiting to come and attack and she knew she had to do whatever it took to protect herself.

Callie, Jude and Lena were the only people in the house. The twins had gone to school and Stef had taken Brandon to the doctor. With just the three of them the house was quiet and Callie wished for some noise, something to distract her from her thoughts.

She eventually drifted off into a restless sleep and was woken a few hours later by Mariana entering the room.

"Hey." Mariana said gently. "Mom told us what happened."

Callie just nodded unable to say anything.

"We'll find this guy Callie." Mariana tried to reassure her. She then tried to make it humorous "and you know mom will torture him until he signs those papers."

Callie couldn't help but smile at the comment. She knew right from the start that this was what she needed - her family to get her to focus on something else.

Downstairs Stef entered the kitchen to find Lena and Jude making dinner.

"How is she?" She asked as she pulled out a can of coke.

"She's been up in her room all day." Lena sighed. "I checked on her a while back and she was asleep."

"Has she said anything?" Stef enquired?

"No." Lena whispered. "You know how she is. Trying to hide how she really feels."

"Um." Stef nodded, understanding exactly what her wife was talking about.

"How did it go at the doctors?" Lena asked.

"Pretty good. He has between ninety and ninety-five percent function back which is more than they had expected." Stef said softly.

"That's good." Lena said skeptically.

"It is." Stef replied.

"Then why do you sound like it's a bad thing?" Lena observed.

Stef sighed before she answered. "Because it's not good enough for him to play."

Both women just looked at each other knowing that there was nothing either of them could say that would change the truth.

A few minutes later Mariana and Callie came downstairs. Stef noted that Callie looked a little withdrawn and she gave the girl a reassuring squeeze.

"So." Mariana began, "We were thinking that tonight should be a movie night."

"Oh yeah." Jude piped up.

"You were huh?" Stef said amused.

"Yes," Mariana stated. "It'll be nice for the whole family to have a relaxing evening together." She added knowing that it would make her mom's cave.

Stef, Lena and Callie all had to smile at Mariana's tactics. The girl had a way of getting what she wanted.

"Alright Miss. Thing." Stef conceded, "We would love to have a family night with you, even if it's a movie night."

Mariana smiled, clearly pleased with herself while Jude ran upstairs to tell his brothers.

"I'm going to go finish my homework." Mariana said as she too followed Jude up the stairs.

"Callie, come have a seat. Let's talk." Stef said gently once the three of them were alone.

"Um... I should go finish my book-report." Callie said trying to avoid what was coming.

"That can wait love." Stef stopped her. "Come sit down please."

Callie reluctantly did as she was told.

"Honey, we know you're upset but we..." Lena began but was cut off.

"No. I'm fine really." Callie said with a slight catch in her voice.

"Callie." Stef tried to coax her again.

"I really don't want to talk about this." Callie said.

Stef and Lena glanced at each other and sighed. "Okay." Lena finally said. "We won't talk about this for now."

"Do you want something to eat?" Stef asked. "You missed lunch.

"No thanks Stef." Callie said as she got up and left the room.

Stef was shocked. It had been months since Callie has addressed them by their names. It had taken a while for Callie to finally get used to calling them 'mom' but she eventually got used to it. The day's events had erased some of Callie's progress and Stef and Lena both knew that they would have to do something about it soon - before it because a habit.

They followed the girl and found her lying face down on her bed.

"So we're back to 'Stef' and 'Lena' huh?" Stef asked with nothing but love in her voice.

Both women sat down next to Callie and Stef tried to get her to turn around but Callie refused to budge. They knew she was crying even though she didn't make a sound and they wished so desperately that they could just fix everything.

"Callie, the judge said something today that made a lot of sense." Lena said causing Stef to give her a questioning look and Callie to actually turn around.

Lena smiled down at Callie before she continued. "He said that even though this Robert Quinn was your father on your birth certificate, Donald was the one who was really your dad because he was the one who cared for you and loved you for your first ten years." Lena choked up when Callie's face fell at the memory of Donald as her dad.

Stef realised where she was headed and finished Lena's thoughts for her. "Mama's right Callie." She said using the term to show Callie that nothing had really changed. "That works for us too. Just because our names aren't on your birth certificate doesn't mean that you aren't our baby. We are your moms." She said firmly. "no matter what some god damn piece of paper says."

"Stef" Lena cringed at the curse causing Callie to smile slightly.

"There's my girl." Stef said catching Callie's smile and completely ignoring her wife's warning, knowing that she wasn't really upset.

They each gave Callie a hug before they left to finish dinner.

"I have never hated the sound of my own name before." Stef admitted as they headed back to the kitchen.

Later that evening the whole family was sitting down to dinner. The conversation largely consisted of what movie they should watch which relieved Callie immensely. She couldn't deal with more emotional topics.

"Orphan." Jesus offered.

"No way." Mariana said in disgust. "That movie's creepy.

"You're just chicken." Jesus teased.

"A kid that goes around torturing people." Mariana said in disgust. "No thank you."

"I agree." Stef said not wanting her children to watch horror movies.

"Well what do you suggest?" Lena asked Mariana.

"How about Twilight?" Mariana smiled.

Both Brandon and Jesus groaned.

"That vampire movie?" Stef asked.

"Yes but it's a love story." Mariana offered.

"No." Stef said.

"Jude what's your choice?" Lena asked.

"Um I don't know. I haven't seen that many movies." Jude answered shyly.

"Well then why don't you go through our collection and pick one out." Lena offered with a smile.

"No higher than PG13." Stef called after him as she left the room.

The kids continued to give suggestions about movies until Jude came back in a few minutes later with a movie in his hands.

"What did you pick out bud?" Lena asked as he sat back down.

"Annie." Jude said softly.

Stef and Lena both glanced at Callie but the girl had no reaction. Clearly she had never heard of the movie.

"That musical orphan one?." Jesus asked in disgust.

This caught Callie's attention and her reaction was exactly what the adults had expected.

"Yeah." Jude said slowly. "It's about a girl who's trying to find a family." He said this so softly that you almost couldn't hear him.

"Bud, maybe a different movie tonight." Lena said cautiously.

The whole room was silent. They all knew why Jude had picked that movie but none of them knew what to say.

"Okay." Jude finally said as he got up again.

"No." Callie stopped him. "If that's the one you want to watch then it's fine."

Jude looked at Callie and then at Stef and Lena for confirmation.

This did not go unnoticed by all three of the women. Jude had settled rather quickly in this house and had begun to look to his mom's for guidance in stead of Callie for a while now but suddenly, after today, it seemed to cause more of a gap between Callie and the rest of the family.

"Are you sure?" Stef asked Callie.

"Yeah." Callie said with a smile to mask her pain. "It's just a movie right?"

"Alright then." Lena said, trying to cheer up the room. "We have our movie. Let's clear up here so we can start."

Everyone got up and the noise level increased as they all went about their chores but still there was a cloud hanging over everyone, only no one wanted to admit it.

The movie started off pretty well. It was humorous and fun which helped in cheering up the children. Even Brandon and Jesus seemed to be enjoying themselves. Stef had made sure to sit by Callie, just in case the girl needed some support, and Lena was snuggled with Jude. They both kept watch on Callie through the movie and were happy to see her actually enjoying it.

They were almost at the end of the movie and Stef found herself thinking that Mariana had been right all along about a family movie night when Callie suddenly got up and excused herself in a hurry. Stef and Lena looked at each other for a moment trying to figure out what had happened. Finally they understood when they turned back to the TV. They had reached the part where Annie's 'parents' wanted to take her away from Oliver Warbucks.

Stef went into Callie's room looking for her and then checked the bathroom when she didn't find her. When she realised that Callie wasn't their either she felt her heart catch. 'She wouldn't leave again, would she?' She asked herself thinking that she should of just followed the girl immediately. She charged into her own room to get her phone and keys to go look for Callie and stopped with relief when she found her lying across the double bed.

"There you are." She said gently. Not wanting the teen to know that she thought she had run away.

"Sorry." Callie said as she sat up. "I just needed some space."

"That's fine." Stef said as she sat down by Callie.

"I, um... should have gone to my own room." Callie said, slightly embarrassed.

"Sweetheart we don't mind if hang out in our bed sometimes." Stef said gently. "Brandon and the twins spent so many nights with us. Sometimes all together." Stef added smiling.

"Well they are your kids." Callie mumbled softly but Stef had heard her and she knew that that's what had been bothering her girl all along.

"You know, the first time Mariana crawled into bed with us she had only been living with us three days. She hadn't started speaking to us yet so she didn't ask permission, she just crawled right in. And the first time Brandon wanted to cuddle with Lena we hadn't even moved in together yet."

Callie just looked up at Stef thinking about what she had said. She was starting to feel too emotional and it was making her uncomfortable and she had to find a way to change the focus.

"They weren't sixteen." Callie stated with a hint of mischief in her voice.

"No, they weren't sixteen." Stef admitted with a smile.

"Sweetheart, we love you so much and we are just as disappointed as you with what happened today. But we aren't giving up Love. We will adopt you. I know you don't want us to find this man but even if we do have to wait a couple of years to claim you we will still go through with it. We are your mom's Callie regardless of what you call us, and we don't need a piece of paper to make it true."

"I know." Callie said with a sad smile as she went over and snuggled into Stef. "It just hurt so much." She admitted.

"I know baby." Stef said pulling her close. "I love you so much my sweet girl."

"I love you too, mom." Callie said as Stef smiled.