Author's Note: This piece is not entirely my own. It was inspired by a story written by Dark Hippie called, "Surviving isn't Living", and is being written as a companion piece to that, with permission from Dark Hippie. Her story is referenced in the video mentioned in this story. If you want to see what's going on, head over to her channel and read "Surviving isn't Living".

Disclaimer: I don't own The Fosters; I don't own the main event surrounding this story (Thank you, Dark Hippie for allowing me to write this! I hope I do your story justice!) I only own this story, and the ideas I present as the companion piece to "Surviving isn't Living". That's it…oh, and the cup of melted ice beside my computer monitor…

Survive for Today
Live for Tomorrow

She hated the days when she had to stay at the school for board meetings. She hated not being home with her family for dinner and to just unwind with her kids.

Please don't misunderstand; she loved her job. She loved every aspect of being a vice principal; she just hated the politics that went with it. Some days, she thought she was running for office more than actually doing her job, but that just comes with the territory, she supposed.

Lena drove down her street toward her house and furrowed her forehead in mild confusion. There should have been two cars in her driveway – her son's and her partner's. However, only her son's car was present.

Did Stef have to stay late? she wondered as she pulled in, put the car in park, and reached for her cell phone. She glanced at the time and groaned – nearly seven-thirty. If Stef had to work late, the kids may not even be fed. Leftover night, she decided before checking for any messages from the blonde cop. Nothing.

She dialed for Stef, but the phone never got answered. Must be working late.

"Hi, Honey," she began once Stef's voicemail kicked over. "I'm just wondering if you had to work late tonight. I just got home and was surprised you weren't here. Call me when you get this. Love you." She pressed End.

Lena shut her car off and began heading inside. Once inside the door, she immediately felt the air thicken. Something was definitely not right, and the look on Brandon's face when he came to greet her did nothing to alleviate the sudden pressure in her chest.

"Hey, B," she started as lightly as possible, "What's – uh – what's going on?"

"Mom went after Callie," was all Brandon said to her.

Um…

"What do you mean went after her? Where is she? Didn't she walk home with you?"

"Yeah." Brandon ran a hand over the back of his neck. "Yeah, she did, but something happened after school, and she…"

Lena waved a hand to silence him. "Wait, wait. What happened after school?"

"Someone approached her – an old foster brother, I guess – and it kind of freaked her out. So, after she got home, she took her bag upstairs and left. Mom went after her."

Lena pinched the bridge of her nose. After a two-hour Parent Board meeting, this was on the list of things she really didn't need right now.

"Okay." She took a deep breath. "Has mom contacted you?"

"No. Not yet."

Again, Lena let out a sigh. "All right." She pulled her cell phone back up to send a text to her partner – two words: Call me! – before turning back to Brandon. "Have you guys eaten yet?"

"Yeah," he answered softly, "mom made it a 'clean out the fridge' night."

Lena smirked. It never ceased to amaze her how she and Stef could be so in-tune with each other sometimes.

"All right. Thank you, Brandon." When Brandon nodded and made his way up to his room, Lena ventured into the living room to try and call Stef again.

Voicemail.

Where was she?!

She hung up her phone and went into the kitchen to make herself something to eat, the dread in her stomach growing without knowing why. It didn't take long, however, before she heard, "Mama!" yelled from the vicinity of the staircase, followed closely by what could only be identified by someone falling down said staircase.

Leaving her dinner in the microwave, she hurried to the foyer, expecting for one of her kids to be injured in the middle of the foyer, but thankfully, was only met with Mariana's phone practically in her face.

"You need to watch this!"

Lena moved back slightly, trying to focus on the screen in front of her.

"Watch what?" she asked as she tried to get her heart to slow down.

Mariana pressed play, and Lena watched the video stream.

"Whoa, man! Look at that!" she heard from somewhere behind the camera.

"Who's the chick?"

"Who's the blonde hottie?"

Lena saw Callie on a ledge; she saw Stef approaching her; she saw Stef get through to the girl (thank God!); she saw the child slip, and she felt her heart stop as the teen dangled from the bridge.

"Shit, man, are you getting this?!"

"Yeah, bro. Everything!"

She moved into the living room and sat down on the couch, letting out a gasp as continued watching her blonde soul-mate also go over the rail and onto the ledge, grab the back of Callie's shirt, and pull her back over the rail – back to safety.

"That was insane!"

Lena saw a glimpse of the other side of the rails; she thought she saw Callie in Stef's arms.

"How messed up do you have to be…"

"Yo, shut up, man! You don't know what's going on!"

"You're just as freaked out by it!"

"You're just drunk…"

And the video stopped there.

Lena put the phone on the coffee table before rubbing her face with her hands. She couldn't believe what she'd just seen. Surely, that couldn't have been her Stef and Callie.

But it looked like them.

What on earth happened?! Callie seemed fine that morning! Well, as fine as Callie got, anyway. The girl doesn't exactly volunteer information about her self – they're still working on that.

But surely – surely – Callie would still come to them if something this drastic was really wrong. Surely she and Stef would recognize signs leading up to this, one being a school administrator who goes through yearly trainings on teenage signs of severe depression and potential suicide and the other a cop, who probably goes through trainings even more intense for being out in the thick of it all.

Surely one of them would've recognized the signs in their own home.

"It's streaming all over social media," Mariana said as she slowly approached her mother.

"Has Jude seen it?"

"Not that I know of?"

"Good. Try and see that he doesn't, please. At least, not until I've had a chance to talk to Mom and Callie."

Mariana nodded. "You okay?"

"Hm?" Lena smiled slightly as she handed the phone back to Mariana. "Yeah. Yeah, I will be."

The teen Latina took her phone back and looked her mother in the eye. "You sure?"

Lena stood up and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. "I will be fine once mom gets home with Callie. I promise."

"Okay." Mariana turned to head back upstairs when Lena called to her.

"Do me a favor, Baby?"

"Sure."

"When Mom and Callie get home, try to keep everyone upstairs. Get Brandon to help you.

Mariana nodded and continued her climb up to the second floor.

The microwave went off.

*~THE FOSTERS~*

Stef pulled into the driveway, put her SUV in park, and killed the ignition. For a moment, she sat, just waiting for something to come out of the teenager.

The drive home was quiet, despite the slight breakthrough that the two had had at the bridge. So, quiet, in fact, she had to put the radio on softly to drown out all of the what-if's that popped through her mind's eye in a desperate attempt to remain in the present.

Motion on the front porch caught Stef's eye. The front door opened, and she saw her wife make her way out onto the front porch.

Stef took a deep breath and looked over at Callie.

"You ready for this?" she asked as she took the girl's hand into her own.

"As I'll ever be," was the teenager's answer.

The two got out of the car and slowly made their way, together, over to where Lena had come to the bottom of the stairs and onto the front walkway. Stef stopped a few feet short of her wife, but surprisingly, Callie continued until she was engulfed in her wife's arms.

Stef smiled softly as she watched the two. Callie hadn't developed much of a relationship with Lena, but in this moment, they looked like mother and daughter, which warmed Stef's heart, and not for the first time, she considered what it might be like if she and her partner adopted the Jacob siblings.

She watched as Lena cupped the back of Callie's head and leaned down to whisper something in the girl's ear. She watched as Callie tightened her hold on Lena, and let out a few sobs while in the woman's arms.

Lena pulled the girl closer, nestling the child on her shoulder, and allowing her to let go of her tears. Then, she looked up, and Stef saw the truth in her partner's eyes. Lena knew what had happened that night; though, Stef was lost as to how.

After another few minutes of holding the girl, Lena said softly, "There's a plate for you in the microwave, honey. Go into the downstairs bathroom and wash your face, and go eat." The two held together for a few more moments before Callie made her way inside, and Lena turned to Stef.

Stef smiled at her as she opened her arms and took her partner into them. After a few brief moments of just being in each other's arms, Stef said, "We have a rough road ahead of us, Love."

Lena pulled back slightly as the two made their way up onto the porch and over to the porch swing. "You have no idea how rough."

Stef sat down, pulling Lena onto her lap. "Yeah? How rough?"

"A bunch of boys that were partying somewhere nearby the canal taped everything, and it's being spread all over social media. Mariana's the one who showed it to me."

"So, that's how you knew." Stef leaned her forehead against Lena's chest. "Shit." She pulled back again. "Well, I want to see who posted it, and who's spreading it. That's going to be taken down ASAP." After a small moment, Stef continued, "Does Jude know? That would crush her…"

"Not that I know of, but it doesn't mean he won't find out. We need to talk to Callie about it; maybe even show it to her so she's not blind-sided by it…" She let out a sigh. "God, one break! Just one is all that girl needs."

"We'll keep the both of them home tomorrow – give them that break. I have a day off, so I can stay home with them."

Lena nodded. "I can take an emergency day, and we'll both be here, and we can watch it together." Lena's gaze met Stef's. "She's not going through this alone."

Stef shook her head. "Absolutely not. Neither of them are, for that matter."

Lena leaned her head onto Stef's, letting out a sigh. "What are we going to do? We can't just act like tonight didn't happen."

"I don't intend to," Stef answered as she held Lena a bit closer. "I'm going to contact Doctor Kodema and see what she recommends, since she's been working with Callie in group…"

"Yes, but Callie also hasn't been sharing anything, so I don't know exactly how helpful that can be." When Stef didn't say anything, Lena continued, "Callie did request that we move her out of that group, though."

Stef looked up. "Yeah?"

Lena nodded. "Something about the kids makes her uncomfortable. Maybe we can get her into individual sessions, or in with another group?"

Stef shrugged slightly as she pushed Lena lightly off of her and stood. "I don't know, Love, but we're going to do something. Whatever happened today, I'm not going to let it destroy her like this. I can't." She pulled Lena into her side and began walking inside. "Come on. I don't want to leave her alone for too long."

Lena nodded and walked inside ahead of her partner, neither sure of what the next day would bring with watching the video with the siblings; neither sure of how Jude was going to react to seeing his sister on the bridge; neither sure of how Callie was going to react to seeing this video.

The only thing they knew for sure was getting through this wasn't going to be easy, but something in each of them pushed them forward and readied them for battling whatever demons the girl could throw at them.

They would get her thought this; they would teach her that there are people in her life that truly care about her. They would teach her that there's always another way, and death is nothing but a permanent solution for a temporary problem.

They would teach Callie how to survive for today, and live for tomorrow.

Author's Note II: Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope it really does "Surviving isn't Living" justice. It really is an amazingly told story.

As for my other stories, "What if…" and "Life Saver", I haven't forgotten about them. Promise! I hand-write everything before I put it in the computer, and the next installments are complete; the problem is finding the time to type while working two jobs.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, and "Life Saver" and "What if…" will be updated as soon as possible. Promise!