This was just something that I thought about after the season opener. A lot of people have been focusing on the scene were Stef gets Callie back, but I wanted to do something that focused on Jude's feels to her being violently taken away and returned two days later. All we really got to see was everyone saying that he would be upset, but we never really saw it and this is my guess of what it could've looked like if I wrote for this show.
Callie had been tossing and turning in her bed for the last two hours and finally when she looked over at the alarm clock she could see it was just after midnight. Giving up on sleep she tossed the covers off her body and quietly opened the door and headed downstairs into the kitchen. After pouring herself a glass of water, Callie sat at the table and just seemed content to stare into the room around her that was dark save for the moonlight trickling in from the kitchen window. After about 15 minutes Callie could hear someone walking down the stairs and even in the fairly dark room she could clearly see Stef standing in the doorway, her eyes squinting to see which of her children was sitting there.
"Callie? Honey what are you doing up?" Stef turned on the light over the oven so that the two of them weren't sitting in absolutely darkness. Callie finished her water as Stef took a seat next to her and nudged her shoulder with her own.
"Couldn't sleep. Sleeping in a strange bed threw off my sleep cycle I guess." Stef shook her head, "I think being locked in a room like you were a prisoner threw off your sleep cycle."
"You forget, I've been to prison. That place wasn't prison. It was like prison, but the bed was far more comfortable."
"Is that what's keeping you awake? Too many similarities between that house and juvie?" Callie shook her head. "The worst thing about kiddy jail was the beating I got when I left and being away from Jude. Otherwise it's just federally funded babysitting."
A silence fell over them both and Callie could see Stef open and close her mouth a few times before managing to say anything. "I'm sorry that it took us so long to get you back."
"Not your fault."
"It kind of was kiddo. Mama and I didn't pay attention to those license updates because we thought your and Jude's adoption would be done and we wouldn't need a valid fostering license anymore."
"Well…you were half right." Stef didn't blame Callie for the slight bite in her tone. She was angry and had every right to be. Life had never been particularly kind to Callie, but Callie was getting tired of adults constantly breaking promises. Stef didn't know what else to say and Callie didn't know if she wanted to talk anymore.
"Listen Callie, we aren't giving up on this. If you dad wants a legal fight, then we will give him one. And no matter what that piece of paper says, you always be a member of this family." Before Callie could say anything back to her there were more footsteps from the staircase and this time Jesus popped into the kitchen and he seemed to know exactly who he would find there.
"Jude had a nightmare." Callie had to force herself to stay in her seat, reminding herself that it was no longer her job to mother Jude; he had actual mothers to do that now. Stef stood up and started to walk to Jesus when he shook his head.
"No offense mom, but I don't think it's you or Mama he wants to see." Jesus and Stef both looked at Callie.
"He was calling out your name for a solid two minutes before I woke him up and he just started crying." Callie shut her eyes and stood up from her seat, pushing past Stef and Jesus and quietly rushed upstairs. Jesus looked at Stef who seemed to look a bit defeated.
"Don't sweat it mom, he'll be back to himself in no time. Callie being taken really shook him up that's all." Stef laughed but in that way where nothing is funny, but you don't know what else to do.
"Yeah it shook everyone up. I adopted him and let his sister be ripped from my house. Shit, I'd have nightmares too."
"He doesn't blame you mom, he's just a kid and to be fair the last time this happened Callie went to juvie. He was alone. He just wants to be reminded that she came back for him, like she always does. I'm sure it'll be ok after tonight, but he just…needs to know that she is back in this house. He's a tough little dude, he'll be ok." Stef smiled at her son who seemed to be able to understand this situation better than her or Lena.
"When did you get so smart?" Jesus shrugged and left the room first, followed by Stef as they both headed upstairs. They both walked into the boys' room and found Callie sitting on the floor next to Jude's bed, running her hand through his hair and humming. Jesus climbed back into bed and Stef sat on the edge of his bed and watched, curious as to what Callie could do to soothe her brother's fears.
"Buddy, I promise it's ok now. I'm not going anywhere and we'll get everything sorted with my dad and we'll move on from this."
"What if he takes you?"
"He'd have to be pretty dumb to try and rip be away from Mom don't you think?" Stef heart stopped beating, she was sure of it. Callie never called them anything other than their names, before now that is.
"He would have a very weak case Jude. You can't just decided you want to be a parent 16 years after you walked out on a pregnant woman carrying your kid. He made a choice and he'll have to live with that because he isn't taking me anywhere. Worst case, I fight him in court for so long that I turn 18 and tell him to leave me and my family alone."
"You shouldn't have to fight someone for two years to be happy." Callie let her head fall back and hit the mattress' edge. "I'd fight for 200 years if it meant staying with you." Stef watched as Callie sighed heavily. She was tired. Not regular tired; she was tired of having to fight and Stef couldn't blame her. Callie turned her head just a little towards Jude, "will you go back to sleep if I sing you that song mom always sang?" Jude nodded his head and Callie took a deep breath and kept humming the same tune she had been when Stef walked in, but this time she started to softly sing.
Lay me down gently, lay me down low,
I fear I am broken and won't mend, I know.
There's one thing I ask when the stars light the skies,
Who now will sing me lullabies?
Oh who now will sing me lullabies?
Stef could see that Jesus was already fast asleep again and Jude seemed to have finally settled down listening to his sister sing.
In this big world I'm lonely, for I am but small,
Oh angels in heaven, don't you care for me at all?
You heard my heart breaking for it rang through the skies,
So why won't you sing me lullabies,
Oh why won't you sing me lullabies?
I lay here; I'm weeping for the stars they have come,
I lay here not sleeping; now the long night has begun.
The man in the moon, oh he can't help but cry,
For there's no one to sing me lullabies,
Oh there's no one to sing me lullabies.
Callie could see that Jude had finally fallen back to sleep so she rose up from the floor and still sang as she covered him with a blanket.
So lay me down gently, oh lay me down low,
I fear I am broken and won't mend, I know.
There's one thing I ask when the stars light the skies,
Who now will sing me lullabies?
Oh who now will sing me lullabies?
Callie checked once more to make sure Jude was sleeping before she walked past Stef to leave the room. Stef shut the door behind them and caught up with Callie before she shut the door to her and Mariana's room.
"Callie." The teenager stopped and turned to look at Stef and Stef realized something the second Callie locked eyes with her. Callie looked far too much like a grown up. Mariana still carried herself as a teenager, as she had every right to, but Callie…Callie stood up straight and had this depth in her stare that only came from years of maturing too fast. Stef sighed and stepped forward.
"I'm not much of a singer. Ask Brandon. Mike had to sing him to sleep when he was a baby because I was so off key it made him cry harder. That being said, I'll sing you the ABC's if it'll make you feel better." Callie had to smile. Stef was trying to say the things that left unsaid in the kitchen minutes earlier.
"I'll have to remember that. Goodnight." Stef watched Callie climb into bed before she headed back to the Master bedroom and got back into bed with Lena. Just as she got comfortable her phone vibrated with a text message and Stef quickly looked to see it was from Callie.
'I've heard you sing in the show before, you aren't that bad. That being said, I'll send you the list of songs mom sang to us when we were little. Next time you can sing him back to sleep. I need my beauty rest…or so Mariana keeps telling me.'
Stef had to smile. This was how things had been before that awful night. This witty banter with a teenager that was too much like Stef for her own good. Stef put her phone down and snuggled back into her pillow knowing that she couldn't erase the last 48 hours, but she can make up for them by getting things back to normal…whatever that meant.
So it's short and bit all over the place, but hopefully you enjoyed it. That Song is called Who Will Sing Me Lullabies by Kate Rusby.