Are you my Mother's?

Chapter 12

Stef's POV:

Shit. Gabriella ran out the door. Again. I was so hurt by her yelling that she hated us, that it took me a few minutes to snap out of it. Lena had already run downstairs. How many times are we going to go through this? We gotta get this girl to stay put.

I get to the steps and am about to head out the front door when I hear Lena, "Stef."

I stop and turn around and head to the kitchen. Lena is at the sink staring outside. I look and Gabriella is sitting by the back gate. Her legs are up to her chest. She is rocking back and forth, trying to soothe herself. The sight breaks me.

"We need to go tell her everything." Lena whispers. "We need to start there and earn her trust."

"Yes, I think you are correct. She deserves it. Let's go." We grab hands and walk outside. We sit next to her. I can't help but sit in front of the gate in case she gets any ideas. I just lean against it pretending I am using it for that.

"Thank you for not running," I say softly. She just looks at me and shrugs. "This is progress love." She attempts to give me a smile but she seems so anxious it comes out as a grimace. She is so uncomfortable. You can tell by the way she is rocking. She is moving so fast it can't be soothing. We are all quiet for a few minutes.

"I carried you." I hear Lena softly say. I look over and she has a tear rolling down her cheek. Gabriella stops rocking and turns her full attention towards Lena. Lena looks at me and I nod, telling her to continue.

"I carried you and it was one of the best times of my life. I loved having you inside me. Providing for my child." I can't help but look at Gabriella whose eyes are watering. "Stef is also your biological mom." She looks at me quickly and seems confused. "We were looking for sperm donors when we came across this scientific trial where they were trying to reconstruct female DNA and make male sex cells out of it, or take male DNA and create female cells out of it so that gay and lesbian couples could have children together with both of their DNA. Well, we tried it and it worked. I got pregnant. With you. I still remember the day I found out I was pregnant. It was one of the best days of my life." Gabriella let's a tear fall. I move to comfort her but she just shakes her head at me. I stop my movements and lean back, giving her the space she needs. I wish she would let me comfort her but I think she needs to try and get through this before breaking down. Lena continues. 

"You lived a great childhood. You were so smart for your age, independent and bubbly. You were very snuggly too. We ate it up. Cuddling you was my favorite activity." Lena had to pause to collect herself. She wipes a few tears. I do too. "We loved you, still do, so much. For real. A mother's love never stops. It doesn't stop just because we were separated. We have looked and looked for you. You were our favorite part of life. You and Brandon.  You still are. All our kids are." Lena looks at me. I take a deep breath.

"One day," I start, "September 30th, we woke up and we couldn't find you. I went to get you up for school. I thought maybe you were playing so I went to the play room and you weren't there. I searched the entire house until I realized you were gone. We panicked, looking everywhere. You were not in the house. We called the police, and called everyone we knew, hoping that someone would know something. Your room became a crime scene. We noticed some of your things were missing, almost like a bag was packed. So someone came in, took you and took some of your things. It was so bizarre. We searched Gabriella, oh did we search. I am so, so, so sorry we failed you. We even had an alarm system at our house. Someone got through it without setting it off. The doors were locked. I check them every night. We lived in an extremely safe neighborhood. Honey, we are so incredibly and deeply sorry you were taken. That we didn't save you. That we didn't find you until now. We always wanted you. We never stopped loving you. We never stopped looking for you. Losing you was the hardest thing that has ever happened to us. I have never been the same since. I have always felt like a piece of me was missing. I did until yesterday that is." She looks up at me. She was looking at the ground. When we started talking about her getting taken she stopped looking at us.