Stef talks to Callie about sticking around and fighting instead of running away no matter how hard things got.
(Takes place after Stay (213) where Stef is afraid that just like Kiara, Callie will disappear again too.)
"She's sad, worried." Stef answered Lena as she grabbed a mug from the shelf and joined her wife at the table. "I don't know how much more disappointment she can take before she runs... again."
And that's what prompted Stef to have a little talk with Callie late that night.
Stef was laying awake thinking about how the system had failed almost every child she'd ever come across. Her twins had been lucky - she'd found them before they'd gone through too much. Jude and Callie had it a lot worse but even they had eventually found a family. But what about the others? What about all of Callie's friends at Girl's United? What about the two little girls that Stef had found with Kiara just the night before? What about all the thousands of others that were trapped in a system that quite possibly did more harm than good? Stef wondered if honestly they were better off on their own than in a system that was pawning them off like prizes.
Her though travelled back to Kiara. She wondered what the girl was doing at that very moment - was she safe, warm, fed? Or was she struggling to survive - stealing, freezing, selling herself?
As she thought these things through she just knew that her daughter would be awake, and just like her, thinking about her friend and so she quietly padded out of the room and into the girl's room where she found Callie lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling, a dejected, defeated look on her face.
"Come on." Stef whispered when Callie finally turned to face her.
Stef waited a moment until Callie finally made a move to follow Stef and the two then headed downstairs to the couch where Stef grabbed a large blanket and wrapped it around herself before sitting down and stretching out an arm and half the blanket to her daughter. Callie sat next to Stef in the crook of her arm and Stef instantly wrapped the blanket around them both as she held her daughter close, feeling a bit more secure in the cocoon she's created.
The two just sat in silence for a while, both lost in their thoughts but so comforted just by being with each other. For those few moments it felt like nothing could ever come and burst their little bubble - like the outside world couldn't taint their lives with it's cruel ways. But eventually they had to face reality and silence never solved anything.
"What did you do... the night you ran away?" Stef asked softly. She'd wanted to know about that night for months now but never brought it up. At first she didn't want to push Callie too far for fear of her trying again and after that she just didn't want to bring up all those horrible moments again. But now, with Kiara having done the same thing, Stef needed to know what her daughter might have been up to while she was away.
"Nothing really." Callie finally answered. "I stole a burger, a can of soda and a candy bar. But you already knew that." She said, knowing that her arrest report gave it all in more detail than she imagined possible.
"But before that... and after, if they hadn't arrested you." Stef asked. What she wanted to know wasn't just what the girl had done but also what she planned to do.
"Well after you showed up at the motel I hitched a ride with one of the eighteen-wheelers and when he reached his destination I hopped on a bus until the last stop." Callie relayed. "I walked around a bit until I reached the store."
Callie paused for a moment though it was clear that she had more to say. Stef could tell, just from that look that she wasn't going to like what came next.
"There were these girls there. They were, um... they worked the streets, I guess." Callie said, fidgeting slightly in Stef's encircled arms. "One of them offered me a place to stay, she said they had all started out like me." She admitted and then finally looked up at Stef to judge her reaction.
Stef was looking intently at Callie, studying her as well. She couldn't even begin to describe how thankful she was that Callie hadn't chosen to go down that path.
"You considered it?" Stef asked in a shaky voice. Callie not have picked it but she wanted to know if, even for a second, she had thought about it as a possibility.
"I guess." Callie answered honestly, looking away from Stef again. "It seemed like the easiest choice."
"It's not." Stef said instantly. "It never is."
"I know." Callie answered. "I kind of figured I wouldn't be able to go through with it after... what Liam did." She admitted.
"Whether Liam hurt you or not Callie, that is not the answer, prostitution is never, ever the answer." Stef said firmly as she tightened her hold on Callie.
Callie nodded in understanding. She knew that but at that time, in that moment it didn't seem like she had any other choice.
"I borrowed her phone and called my da..." Callie paused and amended. "Called Donald at the prison but they said he'd been out for a year so that obviously wasn't going to help." Callie continued. "So I headed into the store and I had used up all the money I had for a bus ticket and so I stole a really sad meal and got arrested." Callie finished.
"I'm glad." Stef said when Callie was done, making the girl look up at her in surprise.
Stef smiled sadly back at her before explaining. "I'm glad you stole the stuff and got arrested. It's what I hope for Kiara too. I definitely prefer that to the alternative."
"What do you think will happen to her?" Callie asked in a small voice. She was scared for her friend and she wished that she too had a family that would cross the state just to find her.
"I don't know." Stef answered honestly. "But hopefully she'll get arrested for something minor just like you did. It will save her from a really hard life."
Callie nodded. She too hoped that Kiara could get lucky just like she had though it seemed highly unlikely. There were way too many Kiara's out there and not enough Stef and Lena's to save them all.
"Callie I know you've been going through a rough patch." Stef said as she released Callie just a little so the two could sit comfortably again. "I know it's just been one thing after another for you with Donald and the Quinn's and now with school."
Callie nodded in complete understanding. Each time she felt like she'd reached rock bottom and nothing could possibly get any worse but each time she was proved wrong as the ground kept opening up further and swallowing her deeper until she felt like she couldn't even see the top, let alone climb back up to it.
"You can't run Callie." Stef finally got to the point that had been plaguing her all evening. "You can't give up" She said with as much emphasis as she could. "I wouldn't survive." She said with a catch in her voice as she thought about what her life would be like without the beautiful girl sitting beside her. "I need you Callie. We all do." Stef said as she turned to face Callie again. "We know it's hard and we are so proud of you for trying to hard and I promise you we are with you one hundred percent and will do whatever we have to help you get through but we can't do it alone." A single tear rolled down Stef's cheek and she didn't even bother to brush it away.
As Callie listened to Stef she could so easily feel all the love that Stef had for her. She knew that they wouldn't let her down and would be there to help her over every hurdle and though every rough patch that she faced and she just knew that she could never do that to them again - make them worry about her by just disappearing on them without a word to anyone - no matter how desperate she got.
"We need you to stick around and help us too." Stef continued, unaware of Callie's thoughts. "We need you to fight for us just like we are fighting for you and one way or another we will work it all out. We won't give up until you have everything that you deserve."
"I know." Callie finally said as tears began to roll down her cheeks as well. She couldn't bare to think that Stef was so worried that she'd take off again. "I won't do it." She assured her. "I won't run."
Stef smiled gratefully though a part of her knew that Callie would still think about it from time to time even if she fought the urge to just do it. When life just kept knocking you down the one thing that helped you survive was your imagination and Stef was certain that Callie imagined herself disappearing to a place where no one would know her and her past couldn't ever catch up to her.
"I promise." Callie added, as she sensed Stef's thoughts.
The rest of Stef's tears fell from her eyes as she pulled Callie into the tightest hug she could muster without actually crushing the girl. "I am so proud of you." Stef said. "You have survived though more than I can even imagine and you are an amazing girl despite all of it and I want you to know that we see it - we see how hard you work at trying to be the best that you can be and we love you so much you can't even imagine it."
"I love you too." Callie said as she held on to her mother just as tightly. "And I couldn't have done it without you. You are the first people in seven years that have bothered to ever come after me."
"It's not a bother Callie." Stef said. "You are never a bother. You have brought so much joy into our lives and everyone else, all those other foster homes, the social workers, anyone who ever doubted you, lost out on knowing and love an amazing young woman." She said as she wiped her daughter's tears away with her thumbs, both hands on either side of Callie's head, making sure that she was paying attention. "We lucked out and now I need you to stick around and fight it out because we would be destroyed without you."
"Why would I leave when I have everything I could ever possibly want right here?" Callie asked with a smile.
Stef smiled back as she pulled Callie back against the couch and the two of them once again sat in a comfortable silence.