Stop Judging Him
Summary - Callie returns home to the Foster household, but is unhappy about the family's treatment of Brandon and let them know her feelings about it.
Callie awoke up early before sunrise in the morning. She took a quick look at Mariana, who was still sleeping, before going to the bathroom to brush her teeth and get a quick shower. Callie was slowly getting back to her old routine since coming back home from the group home. After Callie finished in the bathroom, she dried off and put on her robe before going back to her and Mariana's bedroom. It took a few minutes for Callie to get dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a black t-shirt and a red long sleeved shirt. As Callie was putting on her shoes, Mariana slowly began to wake up.
"You better get up before the hot water is gone." Callie said as she shook Mariana, who reluctantly got up.
Callie headed downstairs to the kitchen where she found Lena cooking breakfast.
"Good morning Callie." Lena said. "Do you want some eggs?"
"Yeah." Callie replied as she poured some cereal in a bowl.
Callie began to eat breakfast at the table. Slowly everyone else in the house came and join, with one noted exception, Brandon. He had decided to go stay with Mike due to things getting pretty bad between him and everyone else in the family after he confessed about the kiss with Callie. While breakfast had it's usual activity with some conversations and eating, Callie felt detached from it and could only pay attention to the empty chair next to her's that illustrated Brandon`s absence. She was told about all this by Brandon himself and felt very offended that the family would judge him so harshly to the point of comparing him to Liam. After finishing breakfast, Callie followed Lena, Jesus, Mariana and Jude for the ride to school. During the ride to Anchor Beach school, Callie took a quick look around at everyone else in the car and felt a rising wave of disappointment and disgust at everyone else in the family for their treatment of Brandon to the point of hardly speaking to any of them since coming back home. However she made it a point to finally speak to everyone about this later in the day.
_
The kitchen was full of activity as Lena finished cooking dinner, while Jude helped set the tables by placing the plates, forks, spoons and glasses at the seats, except for the empty spot that Brandon would've been sitting at. Stef finally came from work and greeted everyone as she got herself a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
"Good job setting the table Buddy." Stef said, praising Jude for his work.
"Thanks." Jude replied as Stef gave him a hug.
"Why don't you go get everyone else for dinner." Lena asked.
Jude immediately left the kitchen to go get Jesus, Mariana and Callie. The kids all entered the kitchen a couple of minutes later for dinner. The dinner had it's usual activities, with the eating and talk about school and work. However Callie kept quiet the whole time, eating and sizing up everyone at the table. She felt detached from the conversation, choosing not to speak until the time was right for her to say what had been on her mind for a while.
"Callie." Stef said, getting Callie to snap back to attention. "You wanna go to Jesus' first match next week?"
"Umm yeah, sure." Callie replied.
"You`ve been awfully quiet lately." Lena said. "Is everything alright?"
Callie took a moment to see Stef, Lena, Jesus, Mariana and Jude staring at her. Now she felt it was time to speak up. "No it isn't" She replied.
Everyone were taken aback by what Callie's response.
"Okay, do you want to talk about it?" Lena asked.
"Yes i do." Callie replied.
Callie took a quick look around at everyone else at the table before taking a deep breath.
"It's about Brandon."
"Okay what about Brandon?" Stef asked.
"He told me how bad things got when he told you all about the kiss. Well i want to set the record straight. First of all, Brandon never made me feel unsafe at anytime since i`ve gotten here and no, nothing has happened between us beyond that kiss."
Callie took a moment to gather herself for what she was about to say next.
"I`m just as much to blame for the kiss as Brandon." Callie said. "However i`m really disappointed with how badly you guys have treated him. You all judged so harshly to the point of even comparing him to Liam, which i think is absolutely uncalled for."
Callie immediately stared at Mariana and Jude, who both dropped their faces.
"I understand that you guys might be mad at Brandon," Callie said. "but what i can't stand for is you all judging him without listening to him about what really happened and putting your trust in him. I thought that you wasn't so quick to judgement."
"Callie i understand you-" Stef said.
"No you don't." Callie said, interrupting Stef. "He's your brother and your son. Do you think that Brandon would ever do anything like you've accused him of?"
Everyone quietly pondered their answers for a moment, but replied by shaking their heads.
"That's what i thought." Callie said. "It's really disappointing that you would judge Brandon like this. Do you realize how much it hurts him?"
Everyone's moods quickly changed upon hearing Callie's last comment.
"I thought that you were above passing judgement," Callie said. "but eventually it turned out to be false. If this is how things are going to be, then maybe this isn't the right place for me."
"Callie, i did your`re taking this far." Lena said.
"I think that i`ve said what i wanted to. May i be excused? I`ve lost my appetite."
Callie immediately left the table and headed back upstairs, leaving everyone at the table to reevaluate how they treated Brandon after Callie's criticism.
_
Brandon sat alone in the music room during lunch at school, getting in some practice on the piano. Music had been Brandon's sanctuary during this difficult time and he channeled all of his anger, frustration and sadness into it, which got some praise from the Grim Reaper. Brandon's playing slowly picked up in intensity as he thought about everyone's harsh words toward him, especially being compared to Liam. He pounded the keys harder as he thought more about it.
"Hey!" A voice called out from behind, which immediately got Brandon's attention.
He immediately turned out and saw Mariana in the doorway. "Oh hey." Brandon said gloomily. "If you've come to bash me more some more, i-"
"No i didn't come here for that." Mariana said as she approached Brandon.
"Okay."
Mariana sat down next to Brandon at the piano. The siblings both felt an awkward tension being alone with each other for the first time since the confrontation in Brandon's room not that long ago.
"So your playing sounded good." Mariana said to break the silence.
"Yeah it's something that i`ve been working on lately." Brandon said. "I take it that you didn't come to talk about my music."
"No i didn't. Callie mentioned you during dinner last night and kinda let us have about how we've been treating you lately."
"Really?" Brandon asked with a surprised look on his face.
"Yeah." Mariana replied. "It got me to do some thinking."
Brandon gave Mariana his undivided attention to hear what she was about to say.
"I`m really sorry about what i said to you." Mariana said. "I had no right to compare you to Liam."
"It's alright Mariana." Brandon said. "However i kinda had it coming after i went off on you at the hospital."
"No you didn't. I had no right to say those things to you and should've trusted you."
Brandon thought about what Mariana had just told him for a moment and then put his hand on top of her's. "Apology accepted." He said.
"Thank you." Mariana said as she hugged Brandon.
The bell rang loudly, which got Brandon and Mariana to break their hug and stand up to get their bookbags.
"Hey about that screw you comment," Brandon said. "Even if we weren't related, you`re obviously not my type."
"Excuse me?" Mariana said in mock anger.
"Well you`re beautiful and all, but you're too high maintance."
"You shouldn't be casting stones Music Geek."
Brandon and Mariana shared a laugh over their exchange as they began to head out of the music room. Then they shared another hug at the door.
"When are you going to come back home?" Mariana asked. "Moms really miss you."
"I don't know." Brandon replied. "I hope that we`ll work something out soon."
"I hope so. I better get to class."
"Alright, see ya."
As Mariana walked to her next class, she felt a weight lifted off of her shoulder and in a better mindset after making amends with Brandon. However she immediately had a brainstorm and began to think about doing some sort of gesture.
_
Brandon brushed his hair to a neat look before buttoning up his dress shirt. He got news from Mariana that the family would be having a dinner that evening at a Chinese restaurant and he immediately accepted it. As Brandon put on his navy sport coat, he felt a great sense of uncertainty about the dinner. Brandon felt good about making amends with Mariana, but wasn't so sure about everyone else, especially Jude.
"You`re ready B?" Mike asked.
"Yeah Dad." Brandon replied as he left the guest room and joined Mike in the living room.
"You`re looking very sharp, albeit a little too dressed up."
"Why do you think that?"
"Just saying." Mike said as he and Brandon went outside.
"Okay." Brandon said, knowing what Mike really meant to say.
The guys got in Mike's car and made their way to the downtown restaurant. The drive was silent with Brandon feeling very nervous about what kind of reception he would get from everyone outside of Callie and Mariana. He wanted the dinner to go peacefully, but at the same time, couldn't shake how harshly everyone treated him.
"Hey." Mike said as he approached the restaurant.
"Huh?" Brandon said with the startled look on his face.
"Are you up for doing this?"
"Yeah dad."
"Are you sure?" Mike asked as he parked the car.
"Of course Dad." Brandon replied. "Mom wanted me to come, so i wanted to honor her request."
"Alright, but please try not to make a scene in there."
"I won't Dad."
Brandon and Mike entered the restaurant and immediately saw Callie, Lena and Mariana having a conversation. The guys walked over to join the ladies. Brandon immediately greeted Callie with a quick peck and a hug.
"Hey guys." Lena greeted Brandon and Mike. "Brandon, we're so glad to see you."
"I`m glad to see you too." Brandon said as she hugged Lena.
"Our table is over there."
The small party made their way to the table in the back of the restaurant where Stef, Jesus and Jude were sitting and having a conversation, which immediately stopped as soon as they saw Brandon. Things were very awkward, with all eyes on Brandon. Then Stef got up and walked over to greet Brandon. "Hey B." She said while hugging him. "How have you been doing?"
"I`m doing fine." Brandon replied.
"You smell good. Is that a new cologne you're wearing?"
"Yeah. It's something Dad got recently. I think it's Ocean Breeze."
"Nice to see your taste in cologne has improved."
Everyone had a laugh at Stef's comment for a moment. Then Jude got up and walked over to Brandon, which immediately got everyone's attention.
"Hey Brandon." Jude said as he stuck his right hand out, which Brandon immediately took
"Hey Jude." Brandon said as he shook Jude's hand. "How has things been going for you?"
"Fine. I got my first A in math."
"That's pretty cool."
Jesus immediately followed Stef and Jude's lead and got up to meet Brandon. "Hey man." He said, greeting Brandon with a hug.
"Hey Jesus." Brandon said as he hugged Jesus back, which got a grimace from Jesus after Brandon touched his lower back. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah. My back is a little sore from practicing some new moves."
Stef and Lena were very happy to see some nice interaction between Brandon, Jesus and Jude for the first time recently.
"I hate to interrupt the happy moment," Stef interjected. "but how about we sit down and order dinner."
Brandon, Jesus and Jude immediately complied to Stef`s request and went to sit down at the table. Brandon was about to sit between Jesus and Jude when he felt a tug on his pants. He turned around and saw that it was Callie, who motioned for him to sit next to her. Brandon felt uncertain about it for a moment, but decided to honor Callie's request. As everyone was talking while the food was coming to the table, Brandon leaned over toward Callie. "Thanks for doing this." He whispered in Callie's left ear.
"No problem." Callie replied.
Brandon and Callie immediately smiled at each other while holding hands under the table. They felt good that things were starting to get better with the family.
Fin
_
A/N: I decided to write this story as a response to how badly Brandon was treated in the last episode, especially being compared to that piece of shit Liam along with the ever increasing hate toward him by some so-called fans, which i think is uncalled for, because Brandon has been nothing but good to Callie and never stopped believing in her.