There was definitely buzz around this episode that it would be tissue worthy, but just how teary-eyed we'd get was severely underestimated. It's a rough week for the Adams Fosters, and one of the most heart-breaking to date. We start off with Lena and Stef having some alone time, only it's interrupted by their newest addition; an adorable baby girl. All is well in the world as they cuddle their new child, that is until Lena wakes up from her dream to find herself still pregnant and surrounded by her bickering family. Cue the credits and the beginning of our heartbreak.
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Lena confronts Jesus and Mariana, who are fighting about the effects of Jesus' sex life on many of Mariana's friendships. When Lena stands to leave, she falters sickly and calls her doctor to try and figure out what's going on. Stef, in the meantime, is in a sticky spot of her own as she interviews Ana and Mike about what's been going on with them. Ana admits that Mike's been helping her and that this is the longest she's been sober since she was 15, meaning she was doing drugs when she was pregnant with the twins. Stef pulls Mike aside and chews him out for taking care of someone who nearly destroyed their family. Mike says he understand what Ana's going through and will continue to pay for her treatment until she can get a job. That drama is put aside, however, when Mariana calls to tell Stef that Lena had to be taken to the emergency room after fainting and vomiting. She ends up back at home pretty quickly with Stef to take care of her and monitor her high blood pressure.
Wyatt meets with Brandon to ask for help with Callie. He's confused why she won't talk to him, and wonders if it might be because she's still hung up on Brandon. Brandon insists they are strictly siblings now, and the meeting ends pretty uselessly. In distractingly mundane subplot news, Jesus has been put in charge of selling the ever-inconvient bed because it no longer suits Stef and Lena's intimacy needs and future parenting desires. After going through several eclectic options, they finally sell the bed to a crotchety old woman. Why this is such a time-consuming plotline is beyond me, but at least the bed is out of the Adams Fosters' lives forever!
Callie continues her quest to get Jude to speak again during a gardening session, but he remains silent. She lets him know that she understand he's been through a lot, and that if he needs to take this time for himself, that's fine. Stef continues to take care of Lena, and it looks like her blood pressure is going down. This is interrupted by the arrival of Mike and Dani with dinner for the family. They ask to go say hi to Lena, but Brandon stops Dani from going upstairs, saying she barely knows Lena. Dani complies, and when Mike goes upstairs he admits to Lena that he and Dani might try to have a child themselves soon. Now remember, this is the Dani who Lena now knows slept with and then threatened Brandon, so this is not exactly the idea Lena wants to hear.
Mike pulls Stef aside and explains in more detail exactly why he's helping Ana. He tells her that he genuinely did believe he might have killed Ana the night he was found with blood on his hands, since he had passed out at the same time she went missing. He decided after discovering she was still alive to dedicate himself to helping her get sober, as well as staying sober himself. At this point in the show, you may have forgotten Mariana usually has some sort of plotline, so as she's sitting down to do homework, she's joined by Brandon's bandmate Mat. At first, he challenges her dance team-related angst, then ends the friendly tiff in a request to go on a date. Mariana accepts, and for once it seems like her social life may thrive.
While lying in bed together, Lena and Stef discuss baby names. Lena wants to name the baby 'Francesca' or 'Frankie' for short after Stef's dad, Frank. They agree it's a good choice, and then Lena moves on to the next topic- a secret about Brandon. Stef then goes to talk to him about his experience getting high, and it seems that Lena didn't divulge the actual important piece of news reguarding Dani. Stef tells him to be careful about his substances, and warns him that if the band affects his grades or judgement, he'll need to drop out. That night, the family gets together for a night of Monopoly, and while it's adorable, it's also the last time happiness will be had in this episode.
The next day, the kids are all pulled out of class to go see Lena, who has been taken on an emergency visit to the hospital. Lena is suffering from preeclampsia, and the only way to really deal with it is to deliver the baby as soon as possible. The baby is only 20 weeks old, and the earliest she would survive is 24 weeks. Lena insists she can hold out until the baby is old enough to be delivered, but the doctor doesn't recommend the level of risk to Lena that would require. Stef wants what's best for Lena's health, but the doctor informs her they can't make Lena deliver her baby against her will and suggests they give Lena time to figure this out. Lena tells Stef about the dream she had abotu Frankie, and insists that everything's going to be okay. "I don't have faith," Stef tells her. "That's okay, cause I have enough for the both of us," Lena responds. Stef breaks the news to the kids, and just then Lena's mom arrives. Even though Lena told Stef she didn't want her mother to come in earlier, she breaks down in tears the moment she sees her.
Outside the hospital, Brandon sits down with Callie and tells her about Wyatt's visit. Callie admits to Brandon that she had a panic attack when the two tried sleeping together, and that at first she thought it was because she was still in love with Brandon. Now, she realizes that it's because of what happened with Liam, and though she doesn't want to tell Wyatt, Brandon thinks it would be for the best. "Keeping stuff inside doesn't make it hurt less. You just hurts the people you shut out," he tells her, giving some of the best advice Brandon has ever managed. Of course, Callie isn't having it right now and storms off.
Lena and her mother have a heart-to-heart where Lena admits that something that was truly important to her about having her own child was having someone who was connected to her by blood in the house, like everyone else already has. She wants a child who won't be able to one day potentially turn on her with the excuse that she isn't their "real mom" when she fails them or doesn't give them what they want. Her mother tells her that, no matter whether their bonded by blood or not, this is a fear that all parents have, and that, in truth, most parents do love their children more than they will be loved in return. "That's the way it's supposed to be. Mothers and fathers, we have to love our children more in order to make the sacrifices it takes to put them first. But one thing is true; love will always have a stronger bond then blood, trust that," her mother tells her. She continues on, saying that her children out there love and need her, and that, "Their needs trump your wants, and that's what being a real mother is all about." It is absolutely necessary to quote Lorraine Toissaint's character, because summaries are just not enough for how beautiful and heart-breaking this scene was.
In the waiting room, Callie sits next to Jude and tells him that she knows he's upset because they don't have the same birth father, Callie has a half-sister, and they couldn't get adopted together. She tells him she won't see Sophia if he doesn't want her to, and no matter what, she won't run away from him like she did before. However, she imparts some of Brandon's advice and explains that not talking to the people you love is selfish, and that she knows Jude isn't selfish at all. He responds with a meek but important, "Ok." That night, Callie takes her own advice, and calls Wyatt to meet up. He asks about Lena and she tells him that she did lose the baby, but she'll be okay. Callie then goes on to tell Wyatt that the reason she couldn't sleep with him is because she had been raped, and now she needs some space to work through things. Wyatt's understanding, but insists that in the future Callie talk to him instead of shutting him out. This is definitely a common theme in the Jacobs family, but it seems like things are looking up for the both of them.
At the hospital, Lena wakes up to find an adorable little child in front of her, clutching a pink unicorn. The kid talks with Lena for a moment until her mother reclaims her, but before they leave, she insists that the unicorn has a message. Turns out, the unicorn apparently wants to stay with Lena, and before the child leaves, Lena asks what the unicorn's name is. She responds, "Frankie," and even though it's a weirdly contrived moment, I burst into tears anyway so, hey, it worked. When Lena returns home, the family gathers to plant a cherry tree for Frankie, and Jude delivers a speech in the lost baby's honor. He speaks of how Frankie will always be a part of the family and live in their hearts forever. It's a tragic end to a story line that it's safe to say most of us believed might end differently, but seeing the family come together and love each other so deeply during this time gave an uplifting end to an incredibly painful episode. Unfortunately, next week it seems things take a turn for the just plain horrible when the house burns down (seriously? After all this the house has to go and burn down?) but hopefully the family has been through enough for that to end too horribly as well. Can't the poor Adams Fosters just catch a break?
