AN: I have become completely obsessed with The Fosters so naturally I got a million ideas for fanfic for them! This is (hopefully) going to become a series of moments focusing on Callie and Jude's relationship with the rest of the Foster family because I just can't get enough of the sibling relationships in this show.


Night Terrors

Jesus woke one night to the sound of whimpering and crying from across the room. After wiping his eyes, he saw Jude's tiny figure tossing and turning across the room, having what Jesus recognized straight away as night terrors: when they first arrived at the Fosters' home, the only way that the twins could have a good, peaceful sleep was if they were curled up together or held by one of their moms. That's how Jesus knew exactly what Jude needed right now: his sister. Just as the teen was getting up to go and fetch Callie, however, Jude's eyes flew open, full of fear. Jesus quickly crossed the room instead, kneeling down next to the small, cowering boy, comforting him by whispering "It's alright, you're safe here," and, once the small boy's breathing had slowed, "I'll go get your sister, okay?" Jude nodded and sat up, only a little bit less fearful of the daemons in his dreams and Jesus left to creep across the hall into the girls' room.

Callie wasn't used to being in a safe place either and so any sign of movement outside of her door immediately woke her. She had learnt to freeze in these situations until she knew it was safe and so that's what she did, pretending to be asleep as she listened to the sounds of someone walking into her room. It wasn't until she heard her name being whispered in a gentle, not menacing, tone, that she began to relax but even then she didn't move a muscle until she recognised the voice as Jesus's.

"Jude's –" Jesus began to explain, but Callie didn't let him finish, already out of her bed and all but running towards her little brother, not caring about anything else.

Jesus padded behind her, reaching his room as Callie engulfed the small boy in her arms, soothing him and encouraging him to talk it through with her. Seeing the little family this vulnerable, Jesus decided that they needed some alone time and wandered back to the girls' room to wait for a bit. Seeing that his sister was awake now as well, he sat on the edge of her bed and gave her a big hug, met by grumpy but slightly amused protests asking what was going on. Eventually Jesus pulled away, and explained, "Jude's having the night terrors and, well, it brought back some memories." Mariana's features softened as she remembered those times, years ago, and how important Jesus had been then. Sitting up, she moved over a bit to make room for him to wait with her and they fell into comfortable silence.

Across the hall, Jude had talked everything through with Callie and they now sat in silence as well, the older girl's hand moving through his hair, soothing him the only way she knew. She had told him over and over that the bad times were gone for now, they were in a safe place and it would be okay. The more she said it, the more Callie started to believe it herself. She couldn't allow herself to believe that this safety was as permanent as she led Jude to believe but she was beginning to allow herself to see that it was real for them right now and would continue to be for at least a few months.

Once the comfortable silence between the twins turned into bickering about who was hogging most of the bed, Jesus decided it was time to go back to his own room and let Mariana sleep off her mood. He stood in the doorway for a moment, watching his two foster siblings. Just as he was about to move, Callie looked up and shifted slightly, not knowing whether to smile at his gentle expression or tense up at being watched in a vulnerable moment. Jude noticed this shift and looked up, more trusting and hopeful than his sister and Jesus took this as the cue to make his way over to them.

"Hey dude," Jesus said as he lowered himself down on the other side of Jude's bed, "how would you like to have some skateboarding lessons from me tomorrow after school?" Jude's eyes lit up as they found reassurance in his sisters' smile and turned to Jesus nodding with a big grin on his face,

"Cool. Well then, how about we get lots of sleep now so that we're on our best form tomorrow?" Jesus prompted, mussing up Jude's hair lightly. Both Callie and Jude nodded and the two teens stood up, letting the boy lay down, immediately falling into a more peaceful sleep with a smile on his face.

Callie gave her brother a kiss on his forehead and tiptoed out of the room, turning back to thank Jesus for everything. Now she knew that her brother was sharing a room with a good, trustworthy person and that meant the world. She knew, now, that Jude would be looked after as long as they stayed with the Fosters.

"Don't worry about it, I've been there," Jesus replied. When this was met by a cynical look from Callie, who couldn't imagine him as anything less than the confident boy she knew, he continued, "Seriously, you shoulda seen Mariana and I a few years ago. It's what the system does to kids," with a sincere look in his eyes. It was then that Callie realised that he really did have some idea of what her life had been like. Before she could say anything acknowledging this, however, her foster brother was retreating back into his room with a friendly nod.

As she entered her own room, Callie braced herself to get a hard time from a grumpy 15 year old, promising herself that she wouldn't get sucked into an argument in the middle of the night. To her surprise however, Mariana simply smiled at her before rolling over to go back to sleep. Although surprised, Callie had learnt early on to accept it when people behaved in your favour and simply shrugged before climbing into her own bed and settling back to go to sleep. It felt like something special had been shared that night, something only understood by the members of the Foster family who had been in the system. As she drifted off, Callie thought, for the first time, that maybe herself and Jude would be okay now.