Taken Away


Something bad was going to happen, something very bad. Callie knew something was wrong as she walked home with Brandon from school. She could just feel it.

"What's wrong?" Brandon asked seeing her expression. The dark haired brunette shook her head, running her hand through her hair.

"Nothing," she told him, "I just- I just have a feeling something bad is going to happen."

Brandon stopped her from walking, and then he looked around for a moment. After he saw no one was in sight or come their way, he tilted her chin up and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

"Don't worry Cal, nothing is going to happen." He reassured his girlfriend as he gave her a hug. Callie silently nodded, but she couldn't shake the feeling that some big was going to happen. They continued their walk home.

When they got home, Callie could feel something was different from the atmosphere. Usually, the house felt warm and inviting, but right now it felt tense and cold. The sixteen year old shivered involuntarily. Luckily, Brandon didn't notice or he would've thought she was coming down with something; by the way she had been sneezing and coughing for the past two days. He always was little overprotective of her, but she liked being cared for by him. She liked being able to let her guard in front of him, but only him.

"Hey," his voice brought her back to reality, "You go get us a snack while I put our stuff down and grab your guitar."

Callie nodded, handing him her backpack. Then she walked into the kitchen. But as soon as the dark haired girl stepped a foot into the kitchen, her breath hitched in her throat. There sat Stef, Lena, and her and Jude's social worker, Bill and he didn't look like he had good news…

"Bill," she said, finally making her presence noticed. All the adults looked up with confused, yet solemn faces. Lena was the first to break out of the trance.

"Callie," she said, "What are you doing home?"

"Brandon and I wanted to finish that song we were working on." She said slowly. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing Callie, just go-"Stef started to stand up and direct the girl out of the kitchen, but Bill stopped her short.

"Stef, the kid deserves to know. This is her life we are discussing. It'll be her world that will change."

"Did you find a perment home for us?" The teenager asked her social worker.

The man shook his head as he slid a piece of paper toward Callie, "No…not exactly. Just know that it wasn't my choice and I tried to fight it for you."

At the sound of those words, Callie's heart started chip away. She moved numbly through the room and toward the granite top where the paper sat. Picking it up, she read it.


From the board of the California Foster System Department

In light of recent events and complaints made by their most recent foster dad, we are led to believe that, Callie Jacob is a danger and bad influence to her younger brother, Jude Jacob. For that reason, we have decided to remove Callie from the Foster's household and away from her brother, Jude and will be moved to another family.

Sincerely,

Gwen Rauncher: Head of the California Foster System


"So they're going to send me away?" She asked in a hollow voice as she set the paper back down. Lena stood up and moved to hug the teenager.

"No, Callie," she said smoothing the young girl's hair down, "Stef and I aren't going to let them spilt you two up again. We are going to work this out."

Callie pulled out of the women's arms as if they were hot acid. She knew how this worked, she had been sent to enough foster homes to know that there wasn't a thing she or Lena and Stef could do about it. She could feel the tears breaking through her mask she wore, but she wasn't going to cry in front of them.

Turning around, she ran up the stairs, into her room. After she slammed the door, she sunk to the ground. Then she brought her knees to her chest and started to cry silently. A tentive knock sounded the door with Brandon's voice following, "Callie, are you okay?"

Callie didn't answer; instead she buried her head in her arms and ignored him.


Soon, the door opened and Brandon poked his head in. When he saw his girlfriend his heart tore in two. But what could have happened in the mere five minutes that could have made her so upset? Walking in, he shut the door quietly behind him.

"Callie? Callie what's wrong?" He made sure to keep his voice soft and soothing so he wouldn't upset her more as he knelt on the ground in front of her. Lifting her chin up, he tried to get her to look at him. But she wouldn't meet his eyes…and she had tears rolling down her face. Brandon could fill a pit full of fury bubbling inside of him, but he forced himself to calm down-for Callie's sake. He took another deep breath and tried to get his girlfriend to look at him. Cupping her face in his hands; he said, "Cal, Callie. Look at me."

After a little more persuading, her eyes shyly met his. As he tried to wipe her tears away; Brandon asked, "What's wrong Callie?"

That led to another wave of tears. Brandon finally resolved to ask his moms later. But for right now, he picked his girlfriend up and brought her to his room. He knew what she needed right now. Cradling her between his arm and knee, he pulled the blankets back and placed her on the bed. Then he took off her shoes and socks. After he pulled the blankets over her, Brandon sat on the edge of his bed and rubbed her back. Slowly, but surely lulling her to sleep. An hour later; after rubbing, scratching her back and eventually singing to her-Callie was finally asleep. Giving her a delicate kiss on the forehead, he stood and walked over to his piano, plugged in his headphones so he wouldn't disturb her and began to play.

After playing for a while, Brandon felt someone tap his shoulder. He glanced over and saw Mariana.

"…her?" Was all he heard as he was taking off the headphones. He watched Callie as she rolled on her stomach. Putting a finger to his lips, the brown haired piano player then pointed to his sleeping girlfriend; he signaled for his little sister to be quiet. Together they walked out of the room and Brandon shut the door quietly behind them.

"What's up with her?" Mariana asked her question again. Brandon groaned in frustration as he leaned against, "I don't know! She was happy when we were walking home and when she went to get us a snack from the kitchen. But five minutes later I heard her footsteps and the sound of your door slamming shut and then I walked in and found her bawling her eyes out on the floor. And when I tried to ask her what was wrong she'd just start crying again; so finally I put her down for a nap."

"Such a good overprotective boyfriend," She mocked in a baby voice, leaning up to pat the top of his head. Then she turned serious and in a hushed tone; she asked, "Do you think moms found out about…you two being together?"

Brandon shrugged looking down at his hands. Is that what had happened to make Callie so upset? Were she and Jude going to be sent away? Brandon shook his head. If the moms had found out about them, after three months of them sneaking around, he was couldn't let them send her of her brother away. He wasn't going to let them.

During dinner, (Which Callie slept through) Brandon knew something was going on. He could tell by the way the moms kept glancing at each other. Finally, Stef cleared her throat. "So Bill came to see us today, he brought some news."

Bill…Wasn't that Callie and Jude's social worker?

"Are Callie and I being moved? Did we do something? If we did, then we're sorry we didn't mean it! Please don't make us leave!" Jude pleaded with a panic expression.

"No Jude not exactly," Lena told him as glanced at Stef again. When she saw her partner nod her head slightly she continued. Taking a deep breath she told the children, "It would seem that the people who run the foster system in California believe that Callie is endangering and a bad influence on Jude."

"What does that mean?" Jesus was the first to speak after a moment of silence. Before either of the moms could speak; Jude had already beat them to it. "I'll tell you what that means. It means they're going to send her away!"

There it was…the cold hard truth. And Brandon couldn't believe it. Someone was going to take Callie away from their family? From him?

"No," His blonde mother's voice of reason broke through Brandon's thoughts. "We're going to fight this. We are not letting them spilt you two up again."

The twelve year old boy stood up. The plate was rattling on the table, the chair falling over. "Well good luck with that because it's not going to work, the system always wins."

And with that he was up the stairs in his room. No one made a move to go after him; they all knew he needed time to cool off…

"Go," Jesus said while he and Brandon were doing the dishes.

"What?" He asked as he hurriedly dried the dish his brother had handed him. Then he held out his hand for another.

"Go and be with her," his brother nodded his head out of the kitchen and grinned, "I can handle things from here."

And with a grin and a pat on Jesus' back, Brandon went up the steps and into his room.

As he changed into his pajamas, he watched Callie sleep. He watched her chest rise and fall every other millisecond. He watched her body turn on its side and curl into a ball. After he had changed into a pair of flannel pants, he pulled the comforter back. Climbing carefully into the bed, he wrapped his arms around Callie's sleeping form. The brunette turned her body in her sleep so her head was tucked into Brandon's neck. The piano player wrapped his arms tighter around his girlfriend, knowing that this might just be the last time he held her for a while…


So hey, I hope the characters aren't to OOC. But I felt this needed to be written. This is just a trail chapter by the way, if I get enough feed back, I will continue. So if you like it, give me feed back.