Danger

"Mama and I will pick you up after her appointment." Stef tells the kids as they exit the SUV in the Anchor Beach Community Charter drop off lane. Stef had taken the whole day off for Lena's appointment. She was anxious that Lena's four weeks of bedrest hadn't resolved her high blood pressure.

"Don't forget to get us a picture of the baby!" Callie reminds her mother for the twelfth time this morning.

"Yeah!" The rest of the brood chimes in synchrony.

"I won't forget, I promise." Stef smiles. All five of the kids were extremely excited for the arrival of the sixth Adams Foster baby. Mariana and Callie had helped Stef paint the walls of Lena's recently cleaned out office. Lena was more than happy to give up her office for the precious baby she was carrying - especially since she rarely brought work home anymore anyway. Both Stef and Lena had been trying not to bring work home during the last few months. It brought unnecessary stress into their house and wasn't good for their relationship with each other. Sometimes it was hard, but both women agreed that things were better this way.

"Hey, are you ready to go?" Stef asks, finding Lena gently rocking back and forth in the glider in the nursery. The curly haired woman was studying the room, wondering if they had gone overboard on the pink - one hand gently caressing her swollen stomach.

"Yeah." Lena says, accepting her wife's outstretched hand to help her up. At six months pregnant, Lena wasn't shy about taking help when she needed it. "I love you." Lena tells her wife, before pressing a quick kiss to her rose colored lips. Stef would never know just how much Lena appreciated everything she did for her.

"I love you, too." Stef grins, squeezing Lena's hand before the two women exit the nursery.

"I don't understand how something like this can come on overnight - literally." Lena's lower lip trembles as she clutches Stef's hand from her position in the hospital bed.

"Pre-eclampsia can go from mild to severe pretty quickly." Dr. Hilcroft replies.

"Well, there must be another medication that we can try." Lena insists.

"There's protein in your urine. Your blood pressure is dangerously high. At this point, all we can do is deliver the baby and the placenta as soon as possible." Dr. Hilcroft informs.

"But the baby is only twenty-four weeks. What are her chances of survival?" Lena inquires, tears brimming in her chocolate brown eyes.

"At twenty-four weeks, a baby's chance of survival is only thirty-five percent." Dr. Hilcroft says solemnly.

"Then we wait another six to eight weeks. Whatever it takes." Lena insists.

"But this isn't just about the baby." Dr. Hilcroft tries to explain. "You could have a stroke or impaired kidney and liver function. It's maternal mortality that's the risk here." Stef's heart leaps into her throat. She couldn't lose Lena. She didn't want to lose the baby - already she loved the unborn baby girl as much as her other five children - but she knew they would eventually be okay if they lost her. But if Lena died - Stef knew that their family would never be okay again.

"But this is all just worst case scenario, right? I could still respond to the blood pressure medication. I can stay here in the hospital, on bed 's still a chance, right?" Lena was becoming frantic now. Her grip on Stef's hand was crushing.

"One I wouldn't recommend taking." Dr. Hilcroft replies. It broke her heart too to have to deliver this kind of news to the mothers she had become very close to over the years. "I'll leave you to talk."

"I'll be right back, okay?" Stef says, quickly following Dr. Hilcroft into the hallway.

"What are we going to do?" The blonde woman asks the doctor in the hallway.

"Well, we can't make her deliver against her will." Dr. Hilcroft says.

"Even if she could die?" Stef asks incredulously. Her wife was clearly not in the state of mind to be making such a big life or death decision on her own.

"Legally, we have to respect her wishes." Dr. Hilcroft explains. "But she isn't in crisis yet. Let's give her some time to process all of this."

"Okay, thank you." Stef nods, wiping the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes before going back into Lena's hospital room.

"Come here." Lena says, reaching for Stef. "I know she's going to be okay. I can feel her inside of me. Even if it takes a miracle, she's going to be okay. I have faith." Lena tells her wife, placing both of their hands on her stomach.

"I don't have faith, love." Stef squeaks out.

"That's okay. I have enough for the both of us." Lena insists.

"Lena, we have five other kids who need you." Stef tries to reason with her. "They can't lose you. I can't lose you." Stef knows her lower lip is trembling as she holds her wife's face in her hands. "I need you, Lena." The idea of losing the love of her life was crushing Stef's heart.

"I have faith." Lena repeats.

Out in the lobby of the hospital, Stef spots Mike sitting with the kids. Her former partner spots her and stands up, walking to meet Stef about twenty feet away from the kids. He wasn't sure if what Stef had to say would be appropriate for them.

"Thank you so much for picking up the kids." Stef tells him, sniffling to hold back her emotions.

"Of course, Stef. Is there anything else I can do?" Mike asks, concern written all over his face. Whatever was happening with Lena, it wasn't good.

"Can you take them home after I talk to them?" Stef asks. "They don't need to be here all night."

"Of course." Mike repeats. Stef nods her appreciation before going over to the kids. Five sets of worried eyes fall on her as she stands in front of them.

"Is mama okay?" Callie is the first one to speak, breaking the suffocating silence surrounding the family.

"She will be." Stef assures them, even though Lena hadn't yet made the decision that would keep her healthiest.

"What about the baby?" Mariana asks in a small voice.

"We don't know yet." Stef says. "It's not looking good." She didn't want to give the kids any sense of false hope. That would only make it harder if the baby didn't survive. "Mike is going to take you home. Grandma Dana is flying in, too." Calling Dana earlier had been one of the most difficult phone calls Stef had ever had to make.

The blonde kisses the tops of each of the kids' heads before sending them home with Mike. She wasn't sure when she would manage to get home depending on what decision Lena made.

Lena looks up as she hears the door to her hospital room open. As her eyes fall on her mother, something inside her cracks. Dana quickly crosses the room and pulls her thirty-six year old daughter into her arms. Sobs rack through Lena's body as she buries her face into her mother's shoulder.

"Shh, I know. It's going to be okay." Dana tries to soothe her daughter as she smooths back her curly hair.

"I don't know what to do." Lena sobs. "I'm so scared, mom. I don't want to lose her."

"I know, honey, I know." Dana soothes. "You have five kids at home that love you - so much. And they need you. They can't lose you. Their needs trump your wants - and that's what being a mother is all about."