It was just by chance, pure odd luck, a statistical oddity that Stef had ended up at the crime scene. She was heading back late, with Mike, from another case when they got the radio message.
A teenage girl had gone ballistic, hitting her dads car with a bat. It had seemed routine; seemed being the key word.
By the time they arrived at the dingy little house the man had managed to detain the teenage girl, at least, he'd mostly managed such. The bat was on one side of the lawn, and on the other, two people were brawling, the teenager clawing at the man who only had on of her arms, trying to break free, any individual voice lost in the yelling.
In took five minutes to break the girl, now identified as Callie, off of the man, she was questioned by Stef, who couldn't help but be angered by her lack of interest in the matter, "you don't seem to understand how serious this is. You're looking at time in jail"
Her words seemed useless, as Callie, stoned faced, glanced back at the house every few seconds.
Mike was taking notes of the mans account. He was skewing of curses at the girl, "rotten foster kid, she was trying to kill me. She's horrible, needs to be locked up in prison. Only place for a person who randomly starts banging up my car, I always new she- WAIT! STOP HER!"
He pushed Mike towards the house, as Callie, who had taken the first chance she got ran back inside, but Stef was already right after her.
Callie ran through the house, squalor was the only word to describe it. Even with Jude and her spending every waking hour cleaning, their foster dad had somehow managed to make it disgusting again- they'd sometimes joke it was only so he could always have chores for them.
"You're only making things worse for yourself!" Stef called as Callie slammed a door shut, locking it behind her.
"Take it off Jude! Take it off! Now!" She frantically began to unzip the back of the dress. Worried that if he was wearing it, the police would think the bruise on her brothers face was justified.
"If you don't open this door its coming down" Stef's voice came through, loud, clearly. She was dealing with a criminal, or so she thought.
Jude gripped Callie's arm, halting any chance of pulling off the dress and the door flew open with a crash.
Then, for a second, everything froze, everything changed, a little boy in a colbat dress, straps slipped off his shoulders, revealing his teeshirt underneath, the side of his face purple, his lip split from the impact of a single slap. He hid his eyes in Callie's side.
Stef slid her gun back in its holster, "oh".
Stef picked up her radio, "Mike"
mike radioed back a second later, "what Stef? Did the girl do something? I'm still getting this guys story"
"cuff him, then call for medical back up" she tried to keep her voice hushed, but she could only be so quiet"
"what? Why?"
"just do it mike, then put him in the car."
"we don't need any 'medical back up'" Callie held one arm around Jude, who had his gaze set on Steph, wondering, was she actually going to help them- but no, of course not. She thought she was helping them. Really she just had no idea they could be easily separated after this.
And the dress, he was still wearing the dress, what if she told Bill, and he put it in Jude's file. No one would ever take him again.
"I need you two to step apart, then we can head outside, and I can get your stories, and call your case worker" She changed her tone, less serious, gentler, sterner, more mother like- that got the best results from children.
Mike was taking their dad away, and Steff pitied them- really, she felt horridly, but it was protocol. She couldn't assume that Callie hadn't hit the boy who she supposed was her little brother, though there was no doubt in her mind by the way he clung to her, and she kept him close protectively.
Callie threw a stone cold glance towards Stef, and was about to say that was never going to happen when Jude tore away from her, peeling the dress off himself.
He needed to get on the police officers good side so she wouldn't tell bill it was Callie's fault or his fault, and he needed to get the dress of anyways. He'd caused so much trouble by putting it on. He was an idiot.
Stef half smiled, not happy, just relieved, hopefully reassuring, "come on, we need to go outside so we can call your social worker and have a nurse look at you two"
Callie threw a glance at Jude, a 'don't follow her' glance, a 'we- or at least I am ready to bolt glance'
stef knew she wasn't supposed to be able to read the silent communication between the siblings, but she could.
the girl who was a criminal only minutes before was just a protective older sister, and her brother? Terrified, but anyone could see that. He'd listened to her orders, but now he kept his eyes on Callie.
stef walked around the kids, and lead Jude out, and sashes hoped, Callie followed.
she had them both sit in the grass, and wait for the EMT, eventually Callie had told her their social workers name- Bill, she knew Bill, he was Jesus and Marina's social worker.
Jude remained silent, Stef couldn't tell whether this was part of a pre-made plan- or if he was terrified.
either way, he looked sick.
Callie didn't know why Jude was so quiet, but in the moments Stef looked away, she scooted closer and slung her arm back around him. Protocol or not, Stef didn't stop her.
The entire time they were on the lawn Jude refused to speak, and Callie did as well.
the EMT arrived first. A photograph was taken of Jude's face, and then he allowed himself to be checked over for other injuries, despite Callie trying to stop everyone from touching him. He looked utterly miserable, and Callie sat beside him, trying to make him feel better, "I wont let them separate us bud, I won't, okay?"
The Medical Technician held up Jude's arm, prodding his wrist gently, "Does this hurt"
Jude bit his tongue not wanting to cry, and tell him to stop touching his wrist, of course it hurt, the thing was purple, but Jude swallowed, "No. it's fine" He sounded guilty, and his voice was strained painfully. Never a good liar.
"It's sprained, I'm going to need to splint it"
Once the Medic left Jude and Callie alone, things were better for a second, then their social worker arrived, and started discussing their situation with Stef.
"Im going to have to put them in separate homes tonight"
"no!" tears welled up in Jude's eyes this was his fault. That stupid dress, why did it have to be so pretty.
Both adults turned around, and Callie held onto Jude more tightly, as he went on about this being his fault. She sighed, knowing she really just had to cooperate.
"I wont let them separate us, Jude" she promised, standing up, and walking over to Bill and Stef,
"I'll tell you what happened" she crossed her arms, her tone was supposed to be strong, her face emotionless, neither quite worked.
"alright" Stef pulled out her notepad and a pen, Bill listened as well.
"Jude put on a dress and-" in the background Jude started sobbing, why did Callie have to tell? Didn't she know they'd be separated?
Callie breathed in deeply, "Jude put on a dress, and our Foster dad came in and started beating him, so I grabbed a bat and ran out here so he'd stop. Nothing else would work. I tried, just.. make sure he goes somewhere safe"
Callie turned without another word, and went back to Jude, who had managed to suck in his tears long enough to speak "why did you tell them? It's all my fault, now they're going to know there's something wrong with me" And without a doubt Jude really did feel as though something was wrong with him in that moment, he'd out on a dress hadn't he? And obviously he wasn't supposed to- it wasn't something boys did, he was a freak, that's why he'd gotten hit.
"Jude this isn't your fault, you'll be okay, it'll be okay. You'll be safe, how could this even be your fault anyways" She sounded serious at first, but as she spoke her tone shifted into gentle.
"If I hadn't put on the dress if I wasn't such a freak" The sentence wobbled coming out of his mouth, "If I wasn't here things would be so much easier for you"
As Stef heard Jude speak, it brought her back to her own childhood. The feeling of not belonging, and having been made to feel that way by the people who should take care of you. Like you were broken, a freak, a weirdo, like how you felt was wrong. She didn't think she could let him feel that way anymore, and she couldn't let him be torn away from Callie. Callie, how had she ever thought the girl was a criminal, she was only protecting her baby brother.
She watched Callie pull Jude into a hug, "No, buddy, no you're not, it's not your fault" She murmured, as Stef pulled Bill aside.
"They can come home with me for tonight, or until you can get them in a home together" She told Bill, her voice become more certain as she spoke.
Callie sat in the back of the EMT van holding Jude tightly, she couldn't tell what Stef was saying to Bill, they'd wised up and walked further away, but she could only pray that she wasn't telling Bill to send her to juvy, and that if she was, he would at least find a nice place for Jude. When their conversation ended Callie released Jude from the hug he'd been in for almost ten minutes, and went to talk to Bill, and Stef
"Look" She stumbled over the first word, it came out wet sounding, like she might cry. So she started over, the result hardly better. "Look, I know this looks bad for me, but I wouldn't have done it if I didn't have to, and... If I have to go to jail, just" she averted her eyes to the dirt, trying to regain her composure, her pitch was all over the place as she spoke, "Just make sure Jude is safe, okay"
Stef Sighed, this was sad, it was sad and so, so wrong, and she had no idea what to say, so Bill spoke, "Callie, why don't you go get your things with Officer Stef, I'm going to talk to Jude"
"Like hell if I'm going to leave him right now after what just happened" Jude was still sitting in the van, now his arms were wrapped around his torso, replacing the hug Callie had taken away with her, a steady drip of tears slid down his cheeks.
"Listen, Callie" Bill struggled for the right words, "I know you want to help Jude right now, but it's really important I talk to him right now" He paused, "I need to make sure you can get into a home together" And to his hope, Callie's expression softened, and she agreed to collect their things, but she kept her eyes fixed on Jude until Stef and her disappeared into the house.
Bill walked over to Jude, kneeling down to be eye level from where he sat, "Hey Jude-"
"Where's Callie going" Jude's tears had disappeared, and his voice was layered with guilt, as far as he was concerned this whole thing was his fault.
"She went with officer Stef to get your things, now, we need to talk about the whole thing with the dress" He was hoping to get a story from Jude, but what he got instead was an outburst, an uncharacteristic outburst.
"I didn't put on a dress! Callie is lying!" from the defensiveness in his voice alone you could tell he'd done just that, "I didn't I didn't. She's lying" any attempt of Bill's to get a word in was useless, "I'm not some stupid Pansy, I'm not a little girl" He spat out just the words that had been hurled at his when his foster dad had found him in the dress, "This isn't my fault. I didn't put on the dress. I didn't" His speech flowed into tears until he was sobbing again, and Bill was shocked into silence.
A second later Callie came out holding two backpacks, She'd stuffed all of their emergency food supply into Jude's in case he needed it while they were apart. A few snack bars, a bag of jerky, and some travel cereal boxes. She dropped them both on the Lawn when She saw Jude and ran over to him, engulfing him in a hug, telling them it would be okay. Bill went over to Stef, "We'll have to get a statement from Jude later, he won't talk about it right now.
"Of course he won't poor kid" Stef sighed, checking her phone for any response from Lena. There was none, but she was sure she needed to take Callie and Jude home for the night, she hadn't been as sure of anything since Mariana and Jesus. "Why don't you go tell them they wont be separated" Stef told Bill, picking up their bags. Bill smiled, and walked off, he spoke to the two kids for a second, they looked confused, he pointed to Stef, and she took her queue to walk up, "come on, lets get you two into my car"
So if you'd like to see more of this like or comment? I'm new to this site, but it seems like this is where all the fosters stuff is at. If theres something you'd like to see comment too