"I should have known I was just a distraction." Wyatt said angry.
"You're not!" Callie said through tears.
"Obviously, not a* one otherwise I wouldn't have walked in on this!" he yelled, causing Callie to jump and Brandon to move in front of her.
"Calm down Wyatt." Brandon said placing a hand in front of him and the other on Callie's bare stomach. Looking back at her as she grasped his arm gently. "Callie, it'll be alright, you're going to get cold, go on and put my shirt on." Considering her dress was now rags, since he'd been so anxious to have her back in his arms after all this time, after all the uncertainty, the thin satin barrier was too much and he had accidentally ripped it in two.
"No, Callie don't bother, you'll just pull it off again, I'm out of here." Wyatt said loudly "I left everything for you!" he screamed on his way out kicking the door frame.
"Wyatt, don't..." Callie started after him, but he was already down the stairs when she reached the door. Brandon didn't even try to stop her, as she ran out of the room with just his shirt on. Stopping short of the top of the stairs to see Wyatt still standing at the bottom.
He looked up to her. "This is how it's always been with us you know?" he gestured up "Me looking up at you. I thought you were an angel."
"Wyatt, I've never been an angel." Callie's cheeks were soaked with her tears. She really didn't want to hurt Wyatt. Unfortunately Brandon had her heart. It had been wrong for so long, to even think about Brandon, but tonight her birthday, having him so close after so long apart.
"I know that now." he spat. "I asked you after the failed adoption, if that changed anything with you and him, you told me it didn't."
"At the time Wyatt, it didn't I thought that I was going to be adopted by the Fosters still, but that was over a year ago. I never thought that I would find another family to love, and belong. As much as I love the Fosters, and as much as family as they have been to me, I've never really belonged, and that was because of Brandon. I've loved him for a long time, before he ever told me, but I was too scared to tell him, and then when I did..." she trailed off remembering what had happened after kissing Brandon at the wedding. Running away, going to juvie, the group home, independent living, breaking up with Brandon, lying to him every day. Even once calling him her brother, that had gutted her to do. "I thought there was no way for us to be together and for me to have a family, but I can, and I can have both of my families." saying it was like a relief.
"I thought if you spent enough time with him as your brother you would see him like that, but that was just wishful thinking. Callie, don't worry about me, cause we both know, I've always been runner up. That he was and always will be first in your heart." Wyatt said and slammed the front door on the way out.
Standing in the door way of his room, Brandon wasn't mad or hurt that Callie had gone after Wyatt. He just waited for her to come back. He heard every word they spoke, luckily they were the only ones here, he was here winding down from her party, and she'd just come to get something. She was a sight in that dress. Her eighteenth birthday, a party invitation extended to the whole family. It was formal, everyone wanted it to be special for her. He'd even written another song for her, and while there were no words the tears in her eyes told him she'd understood. Funny how they went from being outlaws to what was right about the world. She'd come upstairs retrieving something from Mariana's room, and had come to his hearing him play outlaws, the song that he'd written for her.
"Where is everyone?" Callie asked alerting him to her presence.
"They decided to take up your dad's offer and stay the night, I'm on my own tonight, and not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing here?" he'd asked startled by her presence.
"I left some clothes here, last week and I just came to pick them up." She shrugged. "You still play it."
"I do cause it reminds me of how much I can want something." A little thrown by her catching him play it.
"I've always loved that song." She'd smiled.
"Well I wrote it for you." He smiled back.
"Hearing it makes me feel happy, reassured somehow." she folded her arms around herself.
"I meant for it to make you feel wanted." He wasn't sure why he'd told her that, but felt compelled to explain further. "It was just after Mom was shot, and we were all here and I was picking stuff out for Lena to wear, and you told me I'd never known what it was like to feel unwanted."
Callie moved across the room and sat next to him on the piano bench. "Why did you want me to feel wanted."
"Callie, I've always wanted you, even in the beginning I didn't know it, but you were everything that was missing in my life." After the words came out he'd wished he could take them back. They would do nothing but torture her.
"You don't still feel that way do you?" Callie said with something in her voice that sounded like a mixture of mocking and hope. "Don't lie to me." that sounded pleading.
He looked at her. Wow the changes in a year and a half. She looked so deep into his eyes. "Callie, you're still the only girl I want, but you are also the only one I can't have." he admitted desperate to touch her, but afraid she would reject it.
"It'd been so long, I just thought after we'd both started dating other people that you stopped loving me that way." she said tilting her head back slightly.
"We could move to other sides of the world, marry different people and I would still love you more than any other person out there." his words intense.
She kissed him. "Me too." It's all she had to say. Those two little words gave him all the permission he needed to kiss her back.
"Don't do this if you're going to run away again." He knew this much would shatter him, any more would kill him.
"I'm tired of running Brandon, I love you, and I want you no matter what the cost is anymore." Those words were the words he'd wanted to hear from her since he'd realized he loved her.
He pulled her in, tucked a strand of curly hair behind her ear, sliding his hand behind her neck and pulled her in for a kiss. It was scorching, like when they first kissed all that time ago. Soon they were tangled up in each other. Callie pulling off his jacket, Brandon pulling down her hair. Callie trying to take his tie off had nearly chocked him. He'd gently pulled her hands away and pulled of the tie. After that she'd begun to slow down.
She kissed him sitting facing him in his lap, slowly undoing the buttons on his shirt. "I keep thinking that this is going to be taken away from us somehow."
"Callie, no one can take me from you. And if after everything we've been through you don't understand that I'm not letting anything take you from me..." he'd had more, but Callie kissed him quiet. "Seriously Callie tell me when to stop." The words were pleading.
"Don't stop, not ever. I don't want you too." Her words were breathless from kissing.
"Callie don't say things like that, I'll lose control, go too far..." he pleaded with her.
Callie had finished taking off his shirt, however, she was still completely dressed, minus a few hair pins. She moved her hands to unfasten his pants. "It's alright to lose control, I want you to." She looked innocently into his eyes.
That look had always shredded his self control, and right now was no exception. He grabbed her arms firmly, pushing her back slightly. He needed her. She wasn't resisting, if she did he'd stop and walk away. He'd never be like Liam. Pulling her back to him, their kiss went from gentle to rough. As though he were still asking permission. "Let me know if you change your mind." He kissed her pressing her body to him, standing to move her to the bed. Sitting down with her on top of him, his hands on her waist. He slid them up her body feeling for a zipper, or a tie, or buttons. Not finding any, and the kisses growing more passionate, and his need for her skin on his skin he ripped the dress, the fabric giving way easily.
Callie laughed "Well you better let me borrow something of yours to go home in then."
"Callie, you are home." he said. "This may not be your family legally, but this will always be home for you."
"I know, thank you for saying it." she said and kissed him again.
Brandon rolled over on top of her, pinning her under his body. "I love you Callie."
"I love you too Brandon." Her response made him feel like he could conquer the world.
He slid what of her dress was still whole down her body, kissing her the whole way down. He mad love to her passionately for hours. It was well after two in the morning when he'd finally felt like he could stop without going mad. She laid in his arms bared to him, only moving away to retrieve her bra and panties, allowing him time to put on his boxers. He pulled her in again and kissed her deeply. Just as they both felt that they would have time for another go before having to sleep the lights flipped on. It was Wyatt.
Both of them jumped from the bed, Brandon wanting Callie to handle the situation the way she wanted to, but very much aware she was only in a bra and panties. "Wyatt," She began, but of course Wyatt interrupted. When he started yelling Brandon saw something violent in his face. So Brandon had moved in front of her placing one hand out towards Wyatt to keep him distant the other on Callie to reassure himself that she was safe.
Callie reentering his direct line of sight pulled him from his reverie. "You alright?"
"I'm fine, but Wyatt hates me. There's nothing I can do." She said in tears.
Those tears shredded him to the core, but he understood them. Wyatt was her first friend here, the one person who'd always tried to do what was best for Callie other than himself. More importantly, because Callie and Brandon both had thought that there would never be a way for them to be together, Wyatt was the one she let do what he thought was best for her. "He will come around, he always has."
"Brandon, would I sound like a bad person if I said I don't want him to come around?" The vulnerable note in her voice had him pulling her in.
"No Callie, that doesn't make you a bad person." He kissed the top of her head as he held her. These were the moments that no one could ever take away from them. Callie hardly every broke, but when she did, he was always there to hold her together, or pick up the pieces when she needed to fall apart. Callie was most likely the strongest person he'd ever met, so when she broke, it was hard. "It makes you a strong person. You don't want him to come around, because you want him to heal."
What Brandon didn't know was that Callie had broken up with Wyatt a little over a week ago. She just didn't love Wyatt like she should. Every physical touch had been mechanical to her, while he'd been very smooth and natural. Callie had, had enough hurting him. She knew she couldn't love him, Brandon still had her heart and she wasn't going to be asking for it back anytime soon. Brandon had always taken much better care of it than she had. Callie looked up at Brandon, she wondered how much she was hurting him now crying over the complete loss of Wyatt. "I don't want him around, because I want you." Her voice cracked as new tears flowed. "I don't want to go back to feeling like there's this big pit in my heart that nothing is going to fill." Brandon kissed her, she pulled back looking up into his eyes. "I never wanted you to feel like I didn't love you Brandon. I love you, always have, it's just until now how could we have each other, without hurting everyone around us? I could always see how this hurt you, us not being together. It hurt me too. What hurt the most was you thinking that there was any way that I could get over us. I didn't break up with you because I wasn't in love with you, I broke up with you because I needed a family more than anything at that time in my life. Now I have two families, and all I want is you. I resisted my biological father at first, because I didn't want anything to take me away from you." She confessed. Brandon listened quietly his arms holding her close to him. "I love Lena and Stef, and Mariana and Jesus, are so close to my heart like siblings, I would have done anything to protect them like I have Jude all these years. You, however, since the first time we laid eyes on each other I knew I would never belong to this family, not like Jude, or Mariana and Jesus. I didn't belong to this family and if I let you get to close I would belong to you." Brandon kissed her again, stopping without being told to so that she could finish. "I just got so confused with Jude and wanting to be adopted, I fought my real feelings for you so hard, just to make the opposite true, but it never worked. I wanted to belong somewhere Brandon, and I do ever since I've been here, I belong with you." She began to sob, "I belong with you."
"It's going to be alright. I've got you, and I'm never letting go again, hear me?" Brandon assured her as she clung to him in the doorway. He ran his fingers through her hair smoothing it down what he could, trying to sooth her. He knew she would just have to cry this out. Letting go of all the guilt of what they had done, what she'd given up so that they could be together, but he knew they were also tears of extreme happiness mixed with the sadness. That she looked forward to their life together in this crazy mix of their two now separate, but somehow one family.
Callie would have her biological father, and half sister, and that family, but then she would also have the Fosters, as a family of sorts, and then she would always have him. Brandon held her letting her cry, letting her sob, as she clung to the phrase that 'I belong with you.' They stood for a long time in the door way while she cried herself out. Brandon joining her at points in tears overwhelmed by her emotions, but still able to be strong for her. When she'd quieted he looked at down at her, tears running silently down her cheeks. She was tiring, he could see it. Bending slightly he pulled her up into his arms. She didn't protest in anyway. He put her in his bed, on the side he usually slept on, mentally giving away the last piece of himself to her. She wouldn't let go of him when he went to stand to walk over to the other side of the bed, so he rolled over her. Covering them both as she settled into him. When she began to unbutton his shirt he wondered what she was doing. "What are you doing?"
"I just don't want to be there to be a barrier between us." She explained.
He understood and when she'd tossed the shirt to the end of the bed, he pulled her in close they were front to front a tangle that if they didn't need to be so close it would be uncomfortable. This was exactly what they both needed the physical closeness that front to front contact provided and unbelievably they fell into deep sleep next to each other.
Callie lay there next to Brandon, who had fallen asleep and she was fighting sleep only so that she could cling just a little longer to this feeling. She'd had no idea when she came tonight that she'd find Brandon and herself alone in the house. Stef and Lena were very careful about never letting that happen. So when she saw him playing the song he'd written for her, for them, she was drawn once again like a magnet to him. She'd stood in the door way watching him, listening to him sing. All she wanted to do was go sit next to him and let him know how much she really wanted him. It was forbidden though, but then she couldn't think of why, and with the closeness of him there, the feel of his skin on her skin, she drifted off to a deep sleep.
Morning bringing yet another surprise for the two of them. As the morning sun peeked into the room rousing Brandon first as he moved himself to look at Callie, she clung hard to him. Her unhappy groan from being roused made him laughed. "You're so beautiful." he said without being able to stop himself.
"I could get use to waking up this way." Callie smiled.
"Me too." he swept the hair back from her face, and kissed her.
She rolled on to her back pulling him on top of her, where the soft good morning kiss turned into a deeper more passionate kiss that they had been sharing the night before. Callie wrapped her legs around him, needing to be closer. Just as they were about to be once again lost in each other a crash of breaking dishes and clanking of metal spoons pulled them from it. Looking towards the door, they saw the cause of the noise Jude. A tray of broken dishes and food at his feet his pant legs slightly wet from orange juice and syrup that had splattered on impact of hitting the floor. Before either could say a word he was screaming at them.
"Get off of her!" He screamed moving toward them pushing at Brandon. "Get off my sister!" shoving at Brandon, yelling at him.
"Jude, " Callie said pulling the blankets around her to cover up, Brandon had allowed Jude to push him off of Callie. He could only imagine the fear from the memories this must bring back to his mind. Liam had brutally and repeatedly raped Callie. First having gained her trust, and making her feel special. And while they all knew Brandon was nothing like Liam, being confronted with the image of something similar must be too close. Bringing back the feelings of helplessness.
Callie had never known, because Jude had never told her, but he'd confessed to Brandon that he'd witnessed Callie's rape. When Jude had told him, Brandon had wanted him to confess, to their parents about having seen it, but he adamantly refused. Back then when he'd looked at Callie, realized that he couldn't tell her that Jude had seen the whole thing. She was fourteen, when Liam had raped her, Jude was barely ten, if he was that old. Callie knowing that her brother watched helpless to stop it, would have been more than she could handle. She had always been the strong one, always been the one there for him, little did she know the guilt he carried around not being able to do anything for her. For Jude, having seen how much pain she was in, would make it hard to believe she could forget what Liam did, that it wouldn't hurt her or bring back flashes or bad feelings. However, Callie had healed. It was all due to the support that she got from here. It was his mother Stef who'd first told her that she wasn't disposable. Just last year, after all the drama of trying to be together had long been over, and they were both dating other people, he'd told her that no one could ever replace her in his heart. It was true, he would always love her, he'd never stopped. He'd chalked it up to never knowing what might have been, but now he knew, it wasn't what might have been it was what was meant to be.
"How could you do that to her?!" Jude screamed.
"Jude, "Callie's voice was shocked at the anger in Jude. "Stop! Brandon isn't hurting me."
"Yes he is, it just like Liam!" Jude yelled.
Just then they heard a horrific sound. A stampede of feet coming up the stairs, Brandon quickly reached for the shirt that was miraculously still on the end of the bed and tossed it to Callie, who quickly put it on, Brandon then reached for some pajama pants, pulling them over himself, confronting the entire family naked was not something he wanted to do, ever.
"Jude what is going on up here..." Stef asked as her and Lena entered the door way of Brandon's room. Her voice had trailed off as she took in the scene.
"Oh my God," Lena picking up where Stef left off. "Brandon, Callie, you didn't..."
"Moms, Jude, what's with all the racket?" Jesus, asked as he rounded the stairs and came within eye line.
"Oh, my God," Mariana gasped as she took in the entirety of the scene.
"Moms , he's hurting her just like Liam did." Jude sounding scared.
"Jesus, Mariana take Jude down stairs." Stef said shortly. "Now!" She added when they hesitated.
Jesus said shaking his head pulled at Jude, and Mariana to move.
"Don't blame him, please this isn't his fault." Callie called after them as Jesus and Mariana took a struggling Jude away.
"What happened?" Lena asked then quickly wanting to take the much too open ended question back, but just added, "I mean how did this happen." Sadly realizing that wasn't much better.
"I um walked in to get some stuff, and Brandon was playing the piano, and one thing led to another, and." Callie started, awkwardly,
Waving her hands in front of her face in a plea that Callie would stop talking, "Stop, stop. No, I mean we thought you both were well past this."
"We were, trying, but I don't know we slipped." Brandon said, once again he felt the urge to be between his moms and Callie, protecting her from their anger and disappointment. Not that they would never forgive her, the blame would rest solely on his shoulders, as it always had, and as it should.
"I'll say you slipped, is this the first time?" Stef asked.
"Not counting when we'd first met, yes this is the first time since then." Brandon lied, not easily, but no one else needed to know their random confessions of love, and the stolen kisses that were between them. Jesus, and Mariana, might believe that she's their sister, but as hard as he'd tried, he could never get past this.
Hearing Brandon lie to his moms, pricked her heart, only because she knew how hard it was for him. How much it tortured him to do so. It took her back to the last time they'd kissed, it was a winter trip they'd taken and she told him that she would never feel the same about any other guy, that he still had the keys to the locks on her heart. They'd both been so overwhelmed they'd shared a passionate kiss. That was nearly six months ago."This was my fault, I should have not even let him know I was here."
"Callie, it's nice that you want to take all the responsibility, but this falls on both of you." Lena said irritated. "I can't believe you two would do this." she shook her head.
"Brandon how are you even home?" Stef asked "Where's your car?"
"I loaned it out to a friend." He said, "No one knew I was home, then how did Jude..."
"We saw Callie's car out front, and we all thought that she'd come home for the weekend, not spent the night with you." Stef said.
They all looked to the stairs when they heard the front door open. "Lena, Stef?" it was Mike."Hey I just got a weird text from Jude, wanting me to arrest our son, but didn't tell me what for." he climbed the stairs and took in the sight from the end of the hall.
"Great now everybody knows." Callie said wrapping her arms around herself. Wanting to disappear. Brandon stepped in front of her to shield her from his father's sight. She was covered, with nothing more than his dress shirt, and he was becoming more aware this was more people than he wanted to see her this way. Reaching over to the chair for his jacket he put that around her pulling her in.
"Please, I know everyone is angry at us right now, but can we please get dressed before continuing this argument." His arms wrapped completely around Callie, his hand on the back of her head, her face hiding in his chest. "I promise we'll come right down." he said looking over his shoulder at all of his parents and then down at the mess Jude had made. "After we clean up the mess as well."
"Fine, but right down." Stef said turning and stomping off. Lena followed, and his father Mike, made a face that said he was more amused than angry.
"They all know." Callie said on the edge of tears.
"Yeah, I didn't plan that, I'm sorry." Brandon said.
"Oh this is going to be so bad." Callie worried. "Jude is going to hate me forever."
"No, I think Jude will hate me forever, you he will see as the victim." Brandon assured her.
"What are we going to do?" Callie asked hopeless.
"Right now we are going to get dressed, clean up the spilled breakfast, and go down stairs and face the family." Brandon said pulling her into his arms. "Come on you'll feel better confronting them with underwear and pajamas on, even if they are mine and way too big for you."
Callie looked up at him. There it was, reassurance in his eyes. How could he possibly think this would turn out well. Last time their family had even heard about them hugging they'd put a restraining order on Brandon. How could anything be alright after they realized that her and Brandon would never be able to be brother and sister properly. The look in his eyes that told her that she was not only safe, but loved, that was something that had always made her want to just curl up in his arms, she'd always thought that if she could capture that look on a camera it would be the most popular photo in the world. "You know what I believe you are right. Come on let's get dressed. "
Down stairs and in the backyard the three parents were trying to untangle this mess. Lena and Stef going rounds with what they should do. Possible scenarios that they should try. Mike just stood back and took it all in. Until he could no longer keep quiet.
"I hate to remind you about this, but this girl hasn't lived here in more than eight months. And she isn't really your daughter, no matter how much you feel that she is." Mike holding up his hands in surrender and also so that they would hear him out. "I'm not saying what this is, was appropriate, but I do want you to understand that I've seen this coming for a long time." Mike explained. "I've never really understood why you guys were all up in arms when this happened the first time. I get there are rules, and that's why Brandon should have come to live with me to stay. You should have been in front of this by being behind them. They wanted to date, let them try it back then. Brandon should have stayed with me, so that Callie could have what she needed from you, but no you talked me into putting a restraining order on my own son for kissing a girl that as life would have it would never be his sister, not biologically and not legally."
Stef and Lena were silent after Mike had said most of what he wanted to say, Stef could tell there was more coming , but he was giving them a chance to speak their peace. When neither spoke up he decided it was safe for him to continue.
"All this anger, is going to turn to resentment. Brandon didn't stop Callie's adoption, Callie's mother did. Heck the man who pretended to be her father all those years did. What would have happened if Callie's biological father would have been notified he had a daughter when her mother died? Maybe Robert would have taken both her and Jude. Maybe, but Jude sure as the sky is blue, belongs here, but Callie, that girl belongs with her father." Mike finished angry now at the system that kept Callie from her father a man that as fate would have it, never knew she existed, and wanted her desperately when he realized she did.
"So we are suppose to do what?" Stef asked realizing that Mike was right, that her and Lena were angry, but for the wrong reason.
"I don't know, but I wouldn't yell at them, that's what happened last time and frankly I don't think we can handle this happening again in two years." Mike joked. "By the way, why does Jude want me to arrest Brandon?"
"He thinks Brandon made Callie have sex with him, like Liam." Lena explained.
"He didn't though right, cause that would make me feel like a jackass." Mike asked suddenly concerned.
"No, we're pretty sure this time she did it willingly." Lena said all the wind out of her sails. She realized she had no reason to be angry or surprised. Maybe that's why she was both. She had been so sure Callie belonged there, that she never thought that life had brought Callie to them so that Jude who was very special, would have a safe home to be who he was.
Mike looked toward the house and through the window he saw Jesus, an unexpected bout of anger seized him. "All this time, all this time and you were focused on the wrong son." Mike felt anger at the two women in front of him like he'd never known before.
"What are you talking about..." Lena began asking before Mike interrupted.
"Half of the crap our son went through and did was because you put all your focus on him instead of being focused on helping Jesus stay off his medication!" Mike yelled, he really wanted to hit something, but channeled his anger into words. "Brandon never would have stolen the money from me if you wouldn't have over reacted to him kissing a girl who wasn't his sister. Never would have sold fake I.D.s to pay me back, never would have had the money to bribe Ana. Never would have been beaten up, or had his hand shattered! He would have been playing for a freaking junior symphony! If it hadn't been for you. Our son paid the price of your failing to see what was in front of you, not only our son, but Jesus as well. Instead of helping him keep a routine that would keep him off his medication, you ignored it letting him fend for himself, not allowing me to help other than to point him in the direction of wrestling. You two are amazing moms, and hind sight is twenty-twenty, but if you would have just listened to me back then, instead of railroading me, maybe this wouldn't have happened in the first place." Mike finished his anger not completely subsided, but as much as Jesus felt like his son, he was Lena and Stef's and they had to do what they felt was best for him.
In an attempt to diffuse the situation Lena spoke "You're right,"
"Lena!" Stef gasped, but Lena put a hand up to her wife, requesting silently that she allow her to finish.
"I have wondered so often, if we wronged Jesus, I've always felt that we should have done more to help him stay off the meds. We were pulled in too many directions, and we should have asked for your help, but you can't seriously blame us for Brandon's hand." Lena said close to tears.
"Besides you brought Danni into his life." Stef said.
"Stef!" Lena scolded, but Mike interrupted before she could say any more.
"You are right. I am to blame for bringing that waste near our son." Mike shook his head, "But, I know where I failed, you were always there to point it out to me. It's mostly my fault cause I brought her into our lives, but you have to take part of the blame there too Stef." She looked confused, but before she could voice it he pressed on "I brought her in, but you made him vulnerable to her. If he had been able to feel like Callie still loved him, or was able to love him, then he would not have been drunk, he would not have been heartbroken, he would not have been an easy target for her. If you had not taken Callie from him, she would never have been able to hurt him." Mike said finally with anger subsiding from his voice because he was able to pinpoint where the root of the anger was. "Our son, needs that girl more than you. He was the only one who could get through to her, and she was everything he needed at the worst possible time in her life, she was his life preserver. You were so blinded by being her life saver, you didn't recognize how much she was saving our son. Of course he acted out when you took her from him. Of course he broke the law and confessed to things he didn't do to protect her. Callie was the one thing keeping him afloat. She made him feel needed, she made him feel special, she made him feel wanted. Everything he wasn't getting from us, he was getting from her, but you, you took her from him for her good."
"He's right." Was all Stef said. She couldn't believe that she was agreeing that he was right, but he was. There was no arguing it. She and Lena had been so focused on saving Callie, they didn't see Brandon drowning, but Callie did, and so did Danni. Danni took advantage of him, filling his heart with hope that him and Callie could have a life together, then when it all fell apart taking advantage of his weakened state. Callie had seen him drowning and reached out to him to save him, he'd lied to protect her feelings, but still she'd tried. They were so focused on protecting her, they didn't see that Brandon and Callie were actually saving each other. "What do we do?"
"Nothing, we can't do anything anyway." Lena said. "What are we going to do? Tell them it's wrong for them to see each other? Robert ran the clock out on us, so we couldn't adopt Callie. And maybe that was for the best, he knew what she needed without even knowing the whole situation. She needed Brandon, that's why he never banned Callie from seeing him, even though he knew the situation."
"So we just act like nothing's wrong?" Stef wondered.
"Stef, is there anything wrong?" Mike asked looking not just at her, but to Lena too.
In the kitchen, Jude, Mariana and Jesus were attempting to sort out how they felt about the whole situation, Jude being none too happy. While Jude was ranting Jesus listened, while Mariana tried to calm him. While Jesus understood his brothers anger, it still annoyed him.
"What are they thinking!" Jude throwing up his hands.
"They probably weren't thinking they'd get caught." Jesus said, mildly irritated at his brother's anger.
"Well that's obvious." Mariana smiled, "Do you think this is the first time they you know..." Mariana trailed off.
"It better be!" Jude practically screamed. "It better be the only time!"
Jesus remembers walking in on the argument that they thought to this day no one else had seen. Callie's dad had just left, Brandon had passed him on the way in. Their Moms had walked him out and were talking to him, Jesus, didn't want to deal much with the whole situation, so he walked around back, only to stumble on Brandon and Callie's argument. He'd remembered being relieved, thinking if they are fighting then they aren't in love any more, but that was far from true. The scene played out in his mind.
"You can't be serious about this Callie." Brandon outraged gesturing a hand toward the house.
"Well I am." Callie shook her head. "My sister needs me."
"What about Jude?" Brandon sounded lost.
"Jude will always have me, and I have always been there for him, but my sister hasn't. Jude also has you, Jesus and Mariana." Callie said as though it should have been obvious.
"So everything we went through that was just a lie!" Brandon practically yelled. "Everything!"
"Don't you dare, nothing was a lie and that's mostly why I have to go Brandon can't you see?" Callie's tone went from anger to pleading. When Brandon registered the change his entire mood changed.
Now worried, he looked at Callie with concern. "What are you saying?" Brandon moved closer, clearly afraid to touch her.
"I'm saying that I can't belong to this family, no matter how much I want to or need a family Brandon." She looked up at him with unshed tears in her eyes. She was also moving closer to him, but looked as though she would run if he so much as thought about touching her.
"Don't say that, we can make it work." Brandon's words sounded like he didn't believe them, like the whole thing was just hopeless even to him.
"How?" Callie's question was a whisper, and they were now so close touching by proximity.
"I don't know, but I'll do whatever it takes Callie, if you want to stay, I will do whatever it takes." Brandon sounding desperate, a hand now gently on the back of her neck their foreheads touching.
"Don't you see it Brandon, I don't think anything we do can make this work." Callie said almost kissing him, "I'm so tired Brandon, all this energy pretending that we are brother and sister, is exhausting, aren't you tired?" Her voice sounded more like she was begging him, rather than asking. And that's when it happened.
They kissed and not the kiss of happy lovers. It was a kiss that Jesus himself had experienced, once before. The desperate kiss that would follow an indefinite separation. It was a moment that he knew he was never meant to see, and a moment in time that appeared to be torture for both Brandon and Callie. Just as he turned from the scene so that he would no longer intrude, he saw Mariana, the look and tears in her eyes told him that she knew all too well what the separation had taken. Only Jesus wondered if they could fully know what this time apart had cost Callie and Brandon. Unlike him and Mariana, they had to see the one person they could never have every day. The two walked away in silent understanding that this would never be spoken of, even just between them.
"Calm down Jude." Jesus said. "It's not like they did anything wrong." As Mariana caught his eye, he knew they were both thinking the same thing.
"Didn't do anything wrong?" Jude was outraged.
Jesus, almost laughed at his little brother. Not because Jude's feelings were funny, more because he didn't see the bigger picture. Jude is Brandon's his adopted brother, and Callie is Jude's half sister, but to Brandon she was neither of those things and as luck for Brandon would have it, her biological father wanted nothing more than to keep her. Even to go as far as having her move in with him for a while, and if she still wanted to be adopted by the Fosters he told her he would let her. Again luck was on Brandon's side, though by the way he acted you wouldn't have known it. Callie liked living with her dad and half sister. She became more a real part of that family than she ever had this one. "I know this is upsetting, but Callie's living with her dad, and she likes it there, and technically she can't be adopted anymore. She's eighteen. Her time ran out. Yea we love her like a sister, but Brandon never has."
"It's not right, she's suppose to be his sister, like she's mine." Jude was frustrated.
"I think you're being selfish Jude." Mariana said not hiding her irritation.
"How can you say that?" Jude shocked.
"Simple, ever since you guys lost your mom, Callie made it her life's mission to take care of you. She got arrested for hitting your old foster dad's car so that he would stop hitting you. By claiming that he beat you, it forced your case worker to keep better tabs on your foster father. The first thing she did when she got out of juvie, was to go looking for you. She not only went looking she went to retrieve you. Not caring about herself." Mariana said looking Jude square in the eye. "You know what she said to Mom when her and Mike went to get the three of you out of that house?"
"No." Jude's voice was small, remembering all the times that Callie had been looking out for him.
"She told Mom that she didn't care what happened to her, as long as you were safe. If you were safe it's all that mattered." Mariana's voice was angry. "From the time she was ten, all she did was watch out for you, and she was ten. She basically became your mother at ten Jude."
"Still not seeing how I am the selfish one in this case." Jude's anger had been humbled by his sisters reminder about how much Callie had raised him.
"Don't you get it Jude?" Jesus, said shaking his head. "Callie never had anyone take care of her until Brandon came into her life. She became a mother to you Jude, at ten, and at ten her life no longer mattered to her as long as you were safe. No one looked out for her that way until Brandon. Any other foster brother would have let her go on her own to get you ,and not thought twice about it, Brandon went with her to get you, knowing full well that both their safeties were at stake. And while to you Brandon is your brother and Callie is your sister, they are not brother and sister."
"So what she's just giving up on being in our family?" Jude said hurt.
"No, she's probably still going to join the family, just not through adoption." Mariana smiled, looking at Jesus who rolled his eyes smiling too.
"So you guys aren't upset?" Jude was clearly taking their words into consideration and was becoming equally confused by them.
"When it first happened, and Callie ran away." Jesus sighed.
"We were furious." Mariana exclaimed, "but now..."
"We figured out that Brandon has always been the only one sacrificing for Callie's sake." Jesus finished.
It was not the first time Jude had ever seen the twins act like twins, finishing each other's thought, but it was still annoying when it happened to be him on the other side of it. "What do you mean he's the only one sacrificing for her?" Jude still confused "What about Moms?"
"No Jude don't confuse, actions to keep her safe, with sacrifice, Moms lost nothing taking her in other than maybe some sleep." Mariana explained. "Brandon sacrificed an audition for a scholarship, within the first few days of meeting her. He also gave up the trust of our parents. He freely gave her the guitar he'd worked so hard to buy, and meant so much to him. He nearly gave up his freedom, and he did give up piano lessons with a highly sought after teacher."
"And when Callie decided that she needed a family more than a boyfriend, he sacrificed what he needed for what she needed. And in the process gave up his home so that she could have one." Jesus added.
Jude sat there silent, he'd never really thought about all Brandon had been willing to give up, or the lengths he went to, to protect Callie. Never really thinking about how just her smile was enough of a thank you for Brandon at the end of the day no matter what the cost to himself. Taking all that in Jude felt ashamed that he'd been so cruel. "I said he was exactly like Liam."
"We know, he'll forgive you if you apologize." Mariana, assured him coming over to hug him.
Upstairs the mess was under control and Callie and Brandon were dressed and ready to face the music of their angry family.
"You think they will forgive us?" Callie wondered sliding her hand into Brandon's for strength.
"I think if they are mad at anyone it's me." Brandon said matter of fact, not angry just as an accepted part of life.
"Jude will forgive you, I know it." She promised as they descended the stairs together.
"He called me Liam." Brandon said flatly.
"He will get over this." Callie assured him.
They were about to walk into the kitchen when Brandon tugged at Callie's hand, pulling her in for a kiss.
"What was that for?" Callie giggled.
"Because this will be hard for both of us, and I needed some reassurance that we aren't going to crumble just because our family is mad." Brandon smiled against her lips.
"I love you and right here, " Callie said wrapping his arms around her and then hers around him " is where I belong."
"Then let's face the music." Brandon gestured toward the kitchen. "Parents or siblings first?"
"Siblings." Callie sighed, knowing that they would be the most outraged.
The surprise when Jude saw them and ran to them hugging Brandon and apologizing, nearly killed them. Jude was crying and barely understandable.
"Brandon I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I don't think that you are anything like Liam, you're not." Jude cried, arms wrapped around a stunned Brandon.
Brandon looked from Jude, to Callie, then to the twins. "Jude it's fine, I know you didn't mean it, it's alright." Brandon still looking around the room for an explanation.
"Callie we've decided that if we can't have you as a sister, that Brandon will marry you and make you family any way." Mariana laughed.
"Marriage?" Brandon said with a goofy smile on his face looking over to Callie, "That sounds like it could have possibilities."
The door to the backyard opened. "No one is getting married, yet." Stef said.
"Yeah, there's suppose to be a whole dating period before that." Lena said.
"Well unless you're pregnant." Mike teased.
"Oh, no they better be smarter than to not have used protection." Stef said. "You did use protection right, I mean we aren't always wrong and in this case we are..."
"Mom, yes, please stop." Brandon made a face.
"So you guys aren't mad?" Brandon confused.
"Well your father and us talked and he made some very good points." Stef started.
"Mariana and Jesus, helped me understand better too." Jude interrupted.
"Callie we will always love you, and you will always be like a daughter to us, but you are unfortunately not our daughter, and Mike's point about who was really hurting while we were trying to protect you, helped us to understand." Lena explained taking Callie's hands. "We are going to need time to get use to this, but we want you to know, we are done, trying to pull you apart, we see now that whenever we do we just end up hurting you both even more."
"So, we're not in trouble?" Callie looked shocked.
"Oh you are, but for not locking the door, and leaving it wide open." Stef said. "As much as we are going to try to accept this arrangement, we would like to never walk in on that again."
"Agreed." Brandon and Callie simultaneously.
"How about lunch I am starving." Mike said walking toward the fridge.
Everyone took their prospective rolls, in the preparation for lunch. Brandon pulled Callie to the living room.
When he was sure he was out of ear shot. "See everything worked out, like I always believed it would."
"Well that's just because you're lucky, and it's apparently rubbing off on me." Callie smiled as she put her arms around his neck.
"The luckiest day of my life was when you walked in and sat at the kitchen table when I came home." he said sliding his hands around her waist pulling her in close to him.
"That seems like so long ago." Callie smiled.
"It does and it doesn't." Brandon's words were thoughtful. "I mean so much has happened, since I met you, but my favorite times are these, when we have stolen moments of time alone together."
"Considering the size of our combined families, I would say we will always be looking for moments of stolen time alone." Callie laughed.
Brandon raised his eyebrows, and smirked, "That may be true, but now, even if they catch us, nothing will pull us apart, because we're no longer outlaws."
Knowing that he +was right, Callie smiled realizing that for the first time ever her relationship with Brandon wouldn't cost them anything. At that she pulled him in for a kiss.