"She's all yours." Bill finally said and a smile slowly crept onto Stef's face as she processed his words.

"She's ours." She whispered looking at Lena as tears formed in her eyes.

"Thank God!" Lena exclaimed as she hugged Stef, tears forming in her own eyes.

"But..." Bill continued. "She can't pull something like this ever again. It took a lot of convincing to keep her there and I won't be able to do it again."

"Oh she won't." Stef promised and then thanked the man and hung up.

Stef and Lena just hugged each other for a moment completely relieved. They officially had their baby. They headed into the shop where all the kids were holding things they wanted to buy. Jude ran over and showed them a t-shirt with a boat on it just like the one they had been on. Brandon and Jesus both chose keychains - one of a boat and the other a killer whale. Mariana had several things in her hands trying to decide between them and Callie was empty handed.

The mom's decided to finish with the shopping before giving the kids the news and instructed the kids to hand their items over to the cashier. Mariana finally decided on a pair of sparkly earrings in the shape of the helm. Stef walked over to Callie and placed a kiss on the side of her head.

"What about you?" She asked.

"Nothing's really my style." Callie said. She still had trouble asking for things and accepting gifts.

"You've been standing in the same spot looking at something." Stef challenged. "Come on, what is it?"

Stef gave Callie and encouraging smile and finally Callie shyly admitted to liking a small silver charm in the shape of an anchor on a leather bracelet. "It remind's me of Jude's speech." She said softly.

Stef instantly picked up the bracelet and headed towards the cashier. After paying for all the items she lead her troop outside an back towards the pier. It was dark now and there were no more cruises so it was mostly empty.

"What are we doing here?" Jesus asked.

"Aren't we heading home now?" Jude added.

"We are." Stef said. "But first there's something we need to tell you all."

She waited a moment and used it to glance at all her children. They all looked back at her with expectant faces. The only one that showed a hint of fear was Callie and it made Stef realize that even though today had been amazing it had done nothing to erase the tension that the girl was feeling. But finally Stef had something to lessen that pressure and she was more than happy to share.

"Callie is here to stay." She said and watched as smiles spread on all their faces as they turned to hug Callie. Lena had to help support Callie as she was nearly knocked over, especially by Jude. The whole family was in tears and it took a while for Stef and Lena to finally usher them all back to the car and head home.

Callie couldn't help but feel the weight of the world lift off her shoulders. She still had one major battle to face starting tomorrow but she felt like she had already won the war. Whatever happened next would be worth it all if it meant that she could stay with this family - her family.

Author's Note

I'll start with saying thank you to all those who sent support during my uncle's death. It really meant a lot to me.

Thanks also for all the great reviews. It makes writing my stories so much better.

I know the last chapter was really short and I could have just added it with chapter 8 but I really wanted to leave you guys hanging there for a bit. :P

I apologize for any medical facts and CPS procedures that were wrong. I googled some of it and just made up the rest to make the story interesting.

I throughly enjoyed writing this story and hoped you all enjoyed reading it. A special thanks to gleefan13 for the inspiration.

Love Junebug