"Hey." Stef said as she entered the girls' room to find Callie sitting on her bed doing homework, refusing to look up.

Stef and Lena were going to talk to the girls together and Lena had gone downstairs to get Mariana from the kitchen nook.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you." Stef said, always upset when she became overly police-y with her kids.

"I get that she's your daughter but it's not fair." Callie said, finally looking up at Stef.

Stef's face filled with defeat at Callie's words. Yes, Mariana was her daughter and no, Callie wasn't legally adopted yet but that didn't make her any less her daughter either and Stef just wished Callie would see that. Nothing they seemed to do would make her feel like a part of this family and sometimes Stef just wanted to shake her until something clicked and she believed them.

"I'm sorry." Callie said with a sigh, knowing how Stef felt about the topic.

"I know you're hurt." Stef finally said. "I understand that but you are Mariana are a family and you both need to remember that."

"I know." Callie admitted. "I shouldn't have said that. I don't believe it." She said, almost believing it herself.

Stef smiled as she sat down beside Callie and pulled the notebook from her grasp, closing it and putting it to one side. "It's actually good." Stef said. "All siblings fight and you and Mariana are no different."

Callie smiled at the irony. Stef hated them fighting but here she was saying that it was a good thing.

"I remember the first time Jesus and B fought." Stef recalled, a faraway look in her eyes. "Jesus was always bouncing off the walls and Mariana was so timid she refused to ever come to us for help so we would have homework time down at the dinner table. Lena liked being right there in case any of them needed help."

Callie smiled - both moms were always around whenever they were needed and she liked the image that Stef was making.

"Well Jesus always struggled to sit in one place and get his work done and one day he had to write a book report and it took him over an hour to get it done. It wasn't hard and Lena and he would read a little bit of the book every night and then she helped him summarize it but still he struggled with finishing the report. He was almost done when B accidentally accidentally spilled glue all over it; he was putting together a windmill for the science fair. Jesus was so angry, he was almost crying but he jumped out of his chair and began yelling at B and when he ran out of things to say he started saying other things in Spanish." Stef smiled fondly at the memory. "B tried to apologize but Jesus wouldn't stop long enough to listen and eventually he took the windmill and smashed it on the floor and B was upset and pushed him and Jesus fell over the chair and we had world war three going on."

Lena and Mariana entered the room and Stef finally came back to the present and glanced at Callie. "We stopped it and talked to them but that feeling that Jesus wasn't afraid of us anymore was amazing.

"Oh the fight?" Lena asked as she sat down with Mariana on the younger girl's bed.

"umm." Stef said, smiling at Lena.

"We felt the same way when Jude fought with Jesus." Lena reminded Stef.

"Right, 'Jesus time'" Stef teased with a laugh and even Callie and Mariana let go of their anger just enough to crack smiles of their own. "Anyways, the point is that all siblings fight." She said, looking between the two teens.

"And everyone makes mistakes." Lena added, reminding them both that neither one of them was exempt from that.

"We get mad, we get angry but we don't bully." Stef said, looking at Callie. "And we think about who we might be hurting before we act." She added, turning to Mariana. "That's what family does."

Mariana sighed heavily as she turned to her sister. "I really am sorry." She said sincerely. "I was so disappointed that Matt didn't want to have sex with me and when Wyatt came along I just... I guess I needed to know that it was Matt and not me that was the problem. I wasn't thinking about you at all."

"I'm sorry too." Callie said though it was obvious she was still hurt. "I have no right to Wyatt and I really don't mind you dating him - I mean, it's weird but I'll get over that - I just wish you hadn't tried to lie and go behind my back."

"I just didn't want to hurt you on your birthday." Mariana explained. "And we're not getting together." She added. "I was dumb to even think it. I love Matt, not Wyatt."

Callie nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry too. I know you were just trying to help your mom and you didn't know something bad would happen." Callie said. "I know you were scared when Stef was shot."

All eyes turned to Stef for a moment and Stef smiled encouragingly at Mariana, reminding her that she was not to blame for that. It had taken her close to a month to get Mariana to let go of her guilt and she wasn't about to let it come back now.

"You were right though." Mariana said. "I should have just told moms, they would have understood." She glanced up at them in regret.

"Well, I'm sorry too, for bringing it all up again." Callie said. "I shouldn't have done that. I've made mistakes too and I'd really love to just forget them forever." She said with a small grin.

"Me too." Mariana admitted, wishing that those memories of Jesus in Ana's house and Stef fighting for her life would just go away.

"Just don't lie to me okay." Callie added, still a little hurt by that. "Even if you make a mistake, just tell me. I'd rather hear it from you."

Mariana smiled and nodded and then got up and went to hug Callie. "I love you and I'm glad you're my sister." She said. "This house has way too many brothers." She added with a grin.

The two sat hugging for a few more moments when Stef decided to join in.

"Oh, my babies." She said, wrapping her arms around both of them.

Lena got up and sat on the other side of Mariana, sandwiching the two girls between herself and Stef and hugged them tight.

"You know, I do agree with Callie." Stef said as she pulled on her pajama pants.

"About what?" Lena asked, buttoning her top.

"Mariana should have been the one to tell Callie." Stef said, remembering all the times over the years she'd told her kids to just be honest about a mistake.

"It's hard to just come clean." Lena said, swallowing a lump she hoped Stef hadn't noticed.

"But it's better than this." Stef said. She glanced at Lena. "I would want to know." She said. "If you cheated on me or whatever, I would want you to be the one to tell me."

Lena didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say and she felt her throat go dry as she wracked her mind of an appropriate response.

But before she could come up with anything Stef was laughing in amusement. "Thank god we don't have this kind of drama." She said ignorantly, missing the nervous look on her wife's face.

"Um hum." Lena nodded and quickly flipped the light switch off before her ever-observant wife noticed her nervousness."

Author's Note:

So this request specifically asked for Stef to side with Mariana and Lena to side with Callie. I got some reviews about how both girls were wrong (thankfully no one hated my story for it :)

Thanks for reading and for the reviews. Keep writing.

Love Junebug.