This happened because one character talked to another character in one of my other stories. Now I can't sleep. Hopefully sending this out there will help.

"Jesús, please be careful!" Lena warned as she watched her son climb the tree.

"I'm being careful Mama!" he called back, eyeing the tree truck carefully as he looked for another handhold.

"Remember, your Crow's Nest can only go the that tall branch on the left. That the deal you made with Mom and me," Lena warned for the fifth time, gnawing at her lip in concern.

"I know Mama, I won't forget," Jesús's tone was exasperated. "Okay Brandon, I'm ready for the board," he called down to his brother, leaning carefully into the crook of the tree so his body was balanced.

Lena's gaze shifted to her older son who was trying to read with one hand and absently pass his brother the piece of plywood with the other. "Brandon, if you're going to help your brother, you need to pay attention," she scolded as Jesús made an aborted grab at the wood.

Brandon heaved a sigh as he glanced upward, put his book down, and used the Y of the tree trunk so he could step up and hand his brother the board. "It wasn't my idea to help Jesús," he said matter-of-factly, "I was conscripted into it."

"Mom asked quite nicely, I believe," said Lena with a tolerant smile.

"I seem to remember it differently."

"Mom wants you to be more like me," boasted Jesús, "getting lots of exercise and running free," his thrown open arms would have worked better for dramatic effect had he not dropped the board, narrowly missing his brother and nearly falling out of the tree.

"Yeah," said Brandon dryly, "this is a lot more fun then finishing "The Scarecrow of Oz."

"The book will still be there if you decide to play for awhile," said Lena, then looked at her other son, "Jesús, please be careful."

"Maybe, but Mariana said something big happens in this book and if I don't hurry up she'll tell me before I have a chance to finish it and ruin it!" Brandon sent an aggrieved look at his younger sister who was swinging innocently on the other side of the tree, then bent down to retrieve the errant board.

"And I wi-ill," sang Mariana as she swung towards the house, hanging upside down.

"Mariana," warned Lena, trying to hide her smile. Her mother had brought the series with her the last time she visited and both Mariana and Brandon had latched onto the books with ferocious intensity, arguing about who would read which book and generally trying to torment one another with secret knowledge. Since they were not a house that would, G-d forbid, take away books from children, they had to deal with the fall-out.

"She's such a pain," grumbled Brandon as he handed the board back to his brother.

"You're telling me," said Jesús cheerfully.

"I am not. You guys are always ganging up on me. We need another girl in the family," Mariana pouted, slowing the swing so she could begin to twirl it.

"You've got Moms," Jesús reminded her. "There's already more girls in this family. We don't need anymore."

"I want a sister, Mama," said Mariana, beginning to spin now in the swing.

"Why don't you invite Lexi over tonight?" suggested Lena. "We'll find something special to do tonight."

"Okay," the idea of a sister immediately forgotten, Mariana rushed to call her best friend.

Lena smiled, she was grateful that Mariana and Lexi were so close. Lexi was a sweet girl and a very good friend. Unlike many little girls, Mariana and Lexi rarely fought and had remained close since Mariana began attending Anchor Beach.

Her phone rang at her side, startling her slightly. She checked the phone window, "Hey Bill, you need to come over for a mandatory visit, no that's right," she said, faking more hilarity to watch her sons giggle at her, "the twins are adopted so we don't need to see you anymore!" The boys cheered as she turned to the house, dropping her voice a little, "not that we don't love you or anything."

There was a slight silence on the phone, then Bill, cleared his throat. "This isn't a social call. Sorry Lena. I need your help."

"What's wrong?"

"I've got two kids that-"

"I need to stop you right there," said Lena firmly. I was semi-joking with you earlier but we just officially adopted the twins four months ago. We can't take two new kids Bill. Not even for a short amount of time. I'm sorry," she spoke rapidly, trying to finish and hang up on him as quickly as politeness and the dictates of her own heart would allow.

"Lena, wait. I'm at my wit's end. Truly. I tried to avoid calling you, but I really don't think I have anywhere else to go. I have two kids, a boy, seven, the girl's ten. Their mom died in a car crash on Wednesday, and their dad's in jail for causing the crash."

"Bill-"

"They were staying at the home, a coworker of the dad's was staying with him but on Friday…I guess the girl had a major temper tantrum."

"What kind of major tantrum."

This time the pause was very audible, "She… trashed her room pretty badly. She pretty much broke everything there."

"No Bill, no way. Are you kidding me? I cannot bring a violent child into out home. We have little kids here. Stef would never allow it and neither would I," Lena's stomach knotted at the thought.

"She's not violent, I swear. It was just a tantrum she-"

"Bill, I love you, I do, but your loyalty is to your kids. It's admirable, but I have to look after mine."

"I promise you Lena, she isn't violent. I care about my kids but I would never abuse your trust in me, and I wouldn't knowingly put Jesús, Brandon, and Mariana in harm's way. I've looked at her school records, any documents I can get my hands on and there is no history of violence. Not one thing. She's just grieving. You know how grief can effect people."

Lena sighed, her silence giving him permission to continue.

"The coworker and his wife didn't feel they could handle it. The kids went into an emergency foster home Friday night."

Lena leaned her head against the wall, sorrow filling her, as she thought of the two little ones who had lost their family and home within two days. "Bill, I feel horrible for them, I do, but we-"

"I guess the little boy brought something of his mom's with them. A dress or a scarf, or something, I'm not really sure. Something very feminine. Anyway, some of the older boys found him and – pushed him around a little. They didn't really hurt him," he said over Lena's indrawn gasp, "but I guess they scared him pretty badly. Lena, you know how hard it is to place LGBTQ children, or kids that people think have any sort of remote chance of that."

Traitorously, Lena felt herself began to weaken. She knew that was true. She took a deep breath, "I need to talk to Stef, Bill. I can't make this type of decision without her."

"Can you call her, right now?" Bill's voice had gotten more desperate, "This is just a really hard day for them and I want them to be able to go to a safe home tonight."

"Why, what else happened?"

"They're at their mother's funeral today."

They both breathed in the silence. Bill damn him, knew exactly what buttons to press. "I'll call Stef," she said, "then I'll call you back."

"Thank you Lena, than you so much."
"I'm not promising anything Bill," she wondered if her words sounded as false to him as they did to her.

From the relief in Bill's voice, they did, "Alright. Thanks again."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Her partner was, irritatingly enough, impossible to get ahold of. She called her cell, she called the precinct, but was told in no uncertain terms that Stef was on patrol and could only be gotten ahold of in the case of an emergency. Lena glanced at the clock, which was nearing dinnertime. She wondered what Bill was doing with the kids, would he feed them? Bill had been calling her nearly nonstop and she could feel herself fraying slightly, the tension of not being able to talk to Stef and the weight of the decision on her shoulders destroying her normal even temper. Her children had wisely caught on to this unusual occurrence and retired upstairs to play. She picked up her ringing phone for what felt like the hundredth time. "No Bill, I haven't heard from her," she snapped into the phone.

"Can't I bring them, please? They're exhausted, they need someplace to rest," Bill pleaded.

Lena bit her lip, her generous heart warring with her fears for her children. She looked around their warm house, where every inch of it exemplified their happy family. She sighed, "bring them. We'll take them, for now, but yo need to start looking for a good place for them. A permanent place."

"I will," the relief in his voice was unfeigned.

Lena closed her eyes as she slumped down onto one of the kitchen stools. She sat there, second guessing her decision and frantically trying to figure out what her next step would be. Like a gigantic testament to Murphy's Law, the phone rang again. She looked at the caller id. Stef, of course. "You have terrible timing," she told her lover.

"What's wrong, I have about a million missed messages, are you okay? Are the kids okay?" The questions were rapid but lacked any real alarm. Stef knew if there was a real emergency, they would have broken into her patrol.

"We're okay," just hearing Stef's voice made Lena feel better. "I've got some interesting news," her voice took on a different note. "I just want you to hear me out, okay?"

On the other end of the line, Stef covered a chuckle. Lena was using her very rare, give-me-what-I-want-because-I-am-a-beautiful-goddess tone, so named by Stef. Stef smiled because Lena rarely asked for anything, didn't have to ask for anything, really. Stef had mad it her mission on earth to give her whatever she wanted. This was not an honor she afforded her children. She had gotten use to telling Brandon "no" when he was about two. Jesús had taken a bit longer but when his wild requests included alligator wrestling and orbital parachuting, it had become a lot easier. Mariana had taken about double amount the time of the other two because her timidity had been so great in the beginning, that Stef and Lena had gotten a private delight in spoiling her. A little. Her open-mouthed delight and stunned wonder had nearly allowed them to spoil her rotten. Luckily, cooler heads had prevailed and eventually they'd gotten themselves under control. But Lena, Lena was in a class all by herself and Stef acknowledged that very early in their relationship. "Okay," she said.

Lena spilled the story within minutes, interspersed with her feelings and observations of Bill's desperation, the worry about the children's state, and other such information. Then Lena dropped the clincher, "I already told Bill to bring them," her voice held a mix of tentativeness and stubbornness that Stef would have found adorable on any other occasion. "Lena!"

"I know, I know."

"Love, we can't save all the starfish," she said, referring to a poem that hung in Lena's office.

"We can save these ones," Lena said, the pleading in her voice palpable, she gripped the phone tightly, willing her lover to believe in her choice.

"They aren't dangerous? They won't-"

"No," said Lena. "Bill said he wouldn't do that to us and I believe them. They're sad, and the girl is acting out, but that's all there is."

Stef's sigh echoed her own, earlier ones, "Alright love, I trust you."

"Thank you."

"We can talk more when I get home. It'll be another hour," Stef's voice was a little dry.

Lena refrained from rolling her eyes, "I'm sure we will."

"Love you."

"Love you too."

Lena placed the phone carefully on the counter and lowered her head onto her hands. Okay. Now for the next part. "Kids!" she yelled.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Their mom died," Mariana's lips trembled a little as she looked at her mother, tears beginning to well in her eyes.

"Yes, ess than a week ago," Lena reached out to cup Mariana's face with her hand.

"Where's their dad? Or their other mom or whatever?" Brandon's face was somber. "Where's their family? Why isn't there anyone else to take care of them?"

"Their dad got into trouble and is in jail," said Lena carefully, not wanting to give them the particulars of the accident yet. "They must not have any other family."

"Any other family that will take them anyway," Jesús's tone was matter-of-fact. Both Mariana and Brandon looked at their brother, then nodded.

"How long will they be with us?" Mariana asked.

"I don't know honey."

"What do you want us to do?" asked Brandon, sensing this was more than an informational talk.

"Well, first of all, I want you all to be very nice to them. Remember this is a really, really hard time for them," Lena looked at them seriously. None of her children had ever been to a funeral, this was a wholly new experience. "I also want you to watch them carefully, not to spy on them, but to make sure they're okay. Sometimes when people are sad they have a hard time saying how they feel and sometimes they think they should be feeling one way when they're feeling another way."

"I can do that," said Mariana eagerly. Mariana, with her empathy and her survivor's skill of environment, would be very aware of the emotions of the people around her. Brandon nodded, watching his mother carefully. He seemed to catch the undercurrent in her tone, because his second nod was more serious.

"Me too," said Jesús eagerly.

Lena tousled his hair fondly. Her little boy, as willing as he was, had a difficult time figuring out the emotional temperatures of the people around him. With his family it was easier, but even then there were challenges. "I know you will sweetheart. The other thing I need you to do mostly concerns Brandon and Jesús."

The boys sat up a little straighter.

"Jesús, you're going to share Brandon's room for a little while. We'll get the air mattress for you. Jude and Callie are going to stay in your room for a little bit."

Jesús frowned, "Why can't they stay in Brandon's room and he can sleep in my room?" he asked.

Because Brandon's room has a keyboard and other expensive equipment that would take a lot of money to replace, Lena thought. "Your room has less stuff," she said honestly. She and Stef kept his room to a bare minimum, determined that until he learned better organizational skills, or developed more maturity, the less in his room the better.

"Okay," he didn't sound thrilled at the prospect but at least he wasn't whining.

"Okay," Brandon echoed.

"Thank you boys, you're being very generous," Lena praised them, both of them looked pleased.

"I can share too," said Mariana.

"We might need you too," said Lena. "Thank you baby. I appreciate you guys being so good about this. It really, really helps me. I needed that tonight. Brandon, Jesús, if you could get started, get two air mattress, one for you and one for Callie or Jude, and Jesús, get some clothes for tomorrow, pajamas, and anything special you want to take to Brandon's room. Callie and Jude are probably going to be very tired and I don't want them disturbed."

"Okay," the boys ran off.

"Me too Mama?" asked Mariana, twining her arms around Lena's waist.

"That would be a big help sweetheart."

"Okay," the little girl disappeared up the stairs as well.

As if realizing all the fates had finally aligned, there was a knock at the door.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The children had yet to let go of one another's hands. Lena couldn't tell whether they were clutching one another, or if the little girl, Callie, just refused to let go of her brother. They both looked wan, their pale skin in contrast with the black they were wearing. She and Bill had taken their suitcases to Jesús's room and Lena had encouraged home to get into something comfortable. They had done so, but then hadn't left the room until Lena had gone back upstairs an gently escorted them down. The girls' face was almost fearfully blank. She seemed to be in shock, and Lena decided her first priority the next day would be to get the information from Bill so they could take her to the doctor's. The little boy seemed withdrawn, but at least his grief seemed more obvious, and being such, easier to deal with. Now they all sat together, the pizzas in the center of the table, cooling slightly while the children looked at one another across the table. Her kids tried to talk to the Jacob children, but Callie only stared at them and Jude answered in one or two word answers. Lena made sure everyone had food and sent subtle glares at her children to stop them from staring. The awkward conversations were broken when Stef walked into the room, all buttoned up in her uniform, "Hey babies," she said to her children. "Hey love," she said with a kiss that said both I-love-you and I-forgive-you.

Lena kissed her back with mingled relief and love.

Suddenly, an icy voice, coupled with a disgusted look, broke their harmonizing, "What are you guys, freaks or something?" Callie asked.