A/N: My first Fosters fic. Please review and let me know what you think.
It was Friday afternoon and that met that school was out for the weekend. Normally this was not something that would make Callie Jacob's happy. But she and Jude had been living with the Foster's for a couple of months now and things were going well. The Foster family was caring and treated both her and her brother with love and respect.
Since the weather was nice, her and Mariana had decided to walk home from school while the boys road with Brandon. Though it was true she and Mariana weren't exactly best friends, both girls were trying hard and things between them were becoming more than amiable. Arriving home the girls could see the garage open and Jesus working hard moving boxes around.
"What'd you do now?" Marianna called as they walked up the driveway.
"What makes you assume I did something?" Jesus feigned hurt as he waited for his sister's reply.
"Please, you always do something!" Marianna replied.
"Do not." Jesus argued.
"So then what are you doing?" Callie interrupted before a full blown sibling fight broke out.
"Digging this out for Mom." He said holding up and old dog cage.
"What for?" Marianna asked.
"Dunno. I got home from school and Mom told me to get this out of the garage for her." He shrugged as he put the rest of the boxes back into the garage.
"Ok, well we're going to ask Mom's if we can go to the mall." Marianna stated turning to Callie with a smile on her face.
"Uh, on second thought, I think I'll uh, just do my homework tonight." Callie said heading for the house.
"Callie, wait." Marianna said catching up to her. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Callie said. "I just forgot about an assignment." She said before making her way to her room, where she stayed for most of the night except for dinner where she mostly just moved the food around her plate and tried to avoid eye contact with everyone.
*FOSTERS*FOSTERS* FOSTERS*FOSTERS* FOSTERS*FOSTERS*
Callie had sweat on her forehead and her eyes were scrunched shut as she tossed and turned in her bed. Small whimpers and groans of displeasure would escape her lip's every few seconds as her head snapped from side to side. As if in time with the thunderstorm outside she shot upright in her bed as a loud clap of thunder echoed through the skies. Lungs gasping for breath and eyes wide they began to dart around the dark room trying to make sense of her surroundings. As lightning flashed and thunder roared outside the bedroom window she gradually began to realize that she was secure in her bed, in the Foster house. She was safe now and not back in that nightmare from so many years ago.
Little by little her eyes adjusted to the dark room and she had never been so thankful to be alone as she was right this moment. Remembering that Marianna was at Lexi's for the night, she quickly glanced at the clock, groaning at the numbers; 3:15 a.m. Another clap of thunder nearly made her jump out of her skin as she turned to the window getting her first real look at the storm outside.
Deciding a glass of water might help to calm her nerves Callie swung her legs over the side of the bed and quickly but quietly made her way downstairs. Once she reached the kitchen she retrieved a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water from the tap. As she stood holding the glass of water in her hand staring off in to the distance she tried to will the images and feelings invading her brain to leave her alone. She could feel her legs tremble slightly at some of the thoughts that were flooding her mind and the sound of the thunder and rainstorm invading her ears.
"Callie?" a voice called from behind her. The storm masking all other sounds in the house and deep in thought she hadn't heard anyone come down the stairs, let alone enter the kitchen. The voice had startled her and as she jerked her body towards the entrance to the kitchen the glass she'd been holding slipped from her grip and hit the tile floor breaking upon impact.
Callie stood staring at Stef, fear and panic in her eyes for a brief moment before another roar of thunder sounded, snapping her out of the trance. "I'm sorry!" she rapidly blurted out in a panicked tone falling to her knees with her back to Stef and began to scoop up the glass with no disregard for her bare hands.
"Callie," Stef tried to get the young girls attention. "Callie, stop." She tried again, approaching the teen.
"I'm sorry." Callie cried again glancing over her shoulder as Stef advanced.
"Callie, it's ok." Stef said calmly, concern in her voice. It hadn't gone unnoticed by the seasoned police officer that her approach seemed to aggravate the situation further, making Callie's attempt to pick up the broken glass hasty and dangerous as the shards were now beginning to dig into the girl's fingers and palms.
"I…I'm," Callie tried, shaking her head as tears formed in her eyes, "sorry. I…I didn't… I didn't mean t..to,"
Stef, unsure what was causing this reaction to a broken glass could no longer watch the frightened girl shred her hands on the shards and approached her from behind kneeling to her level and wrapping her arms tightly around Callie's mid-section effectively pinning her arms to her sides.
"Shhh," Stef cooed. Gently Stef began to rock the two of the back and forth.
"It won't happen again." Callie promised desperation strong in her voice.
"It's just a glass Sweets." Stef tried to calm the teen in her arms to no avail.
"I'll clean it up." Callie reached for the shards again, but this time she was stopped by the bear hug Stef had her in.
The two sat in silence on the floor for quiet sometime; Callie flinching every time lightning would flash or thunder would sound and Stef in turn would squeeze her tightly to reassure her that she was safe from the world.
As the storm began to settle and Callie began to calm, Stef slowly unwrapped herself from around the teen and stood bring Callie with her. "Let's see." Stef said with motherly concern reaching for Callie's damaged hands.
This was the first time either had a chance to survey the damage the broken glass had cause. Callie stood staring at the bloodied mess while Stef was much more proactive and had already assessed that the cuts would need to be cleaned and treated. "Common, we better get those cleaned up." Stef said gently pulling on Callie's wrist as she moved to make her way out of the kitchen.
Immediately Stef could feel Callie resist her pull and the tension and panic return to her body. Turning to face Callie, Stef's concern grew stronger when she made eye contact with her daughter and saw nothing but fear.
"Please don't make me go in the time out room." Callie pleaded in a low voice sounding much younger than her current 16 years of age. "I'll be good."
"No one is going to make you do anything you don't want to." Stef said in a stern but loving voice. But no matter how reassuring she tried to sound, she could see the distrust in Callie's body language. If being a cop had taught her one thing it was how to read body language and right now Callie's was screaming fear, distrust and her fight or flight instincts were in high gear.
"You can't lie to me. I saw it." Callie spit out, pulling her arm from her foster mother and backing herself up to the counter to create more space between the two.
"Callie," Stef started slowly not wanting to make things worse than they already were. "You're safe here and no one is going to make you do anything you don't want to do." She said holding her hands out slightly in front of her trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. "I want to help you but I need you to help me do that ok?" Stef asked waiting for a reply.
A few short seconds later Callie slowly nodded her head yes. Stef could tell she was unsure if she should be trusting her or not but for now she was trying and that was a good start.
"Ok," Stef nodded back mirroring Callie's nod. Taking a breath she continued. "What did you see Callie?"
"The time out room." Callie replied matter of factly.
"I need you to tell me what that is." Stef asked not daring to move closer.
"You know." Was Callie's only reply.
"Can you explain it to me anyway?" Stef asked, trying to keep her voice neutral and loving.
"Don't lie to me. I know you asked Jesus to get it out of the garage for you!" Callie's voice became louder as her agitation grew.
"Callie, I'm not lying." Stef tried again to calm the girl as the realization of what she was talking about hit her like a tonne of bricks. "Callie," Stef started again, not sure she wanted an answer to the question she was about to ask. "Are you talking about the dog cage?"
Callie, with tears welling in her eyes, shook her head yes which in turn caused the tears in Stef's eyes to fall. "Sweets, I want you to listen to me. You are safe here, and that dog cage is not intended for you or any other human being. Do you understand me?" Stef questioned in a stern voice, wanting to make sure Callie understood the message.
Waiting for what felt like an hour, but in reality was only seconds, Callie slowly began to nodded her head yes, and the two stood eyes locked for a moment. It happened so fast that Stef didn't see her daughter move, but instead felt her wrapped around her midsection. Placing one arm around her and other on her head, Stef began to stroke her hair in a motherly way whispering words of comfort as she did.
"Callie?" Stef said not wanting to break the moment, but concerned for the cuts on her daughters hands as well as finding out more about this so called 'time out room' that had obviously frightened her daughter so. "We need to clean up those cuts. Can I take a look now?" Receiving a small nod in response Stef continued. "Do you want to go sit on the couch, while I get the first aide kit?"
"Ok." Callie replied weakly before making her way to the living room. Stef in turn let out a huge sigh before wiping the tears from her eyes and heading off to retrieve the first aide kit.
*FOSTERS*FOSTERS* FOSTERS*FOSTERS* FOSTERS*FOSTERS*
TO BE CONTINUED...