Title: Disregard
Rating: T
Summary: Different take on 4x01. Callie disregards her safety and goes to look for Marianna. AU, Nick did stay on school grounds.
Spoilers: Up to 4x10, but takes place during the season 4 premiere.
AN: While I was watching 4x01, I kept expecting Callie to do something stupid like go after Marianna, and after watching 4x10 where she did do something stupid to go after Marianna, I decided to write this.
AN2: My others stories will have an update this month. I know it's been years since I updated any, but I learnt from my mistakes, and this one is already almost fully written.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the characters I create.
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After sending the roll, Callie sat back, going over everything that happened that morning. A huge burden had been lifted off of her shoulders when she came clean to her Moms about what she and Brandon had done while at Idyllwild. She still felt the guilt of betraying their trust and her anxiety levels only rose up more with the current situation.
She was drawn back to reality by the blinking message on the computer asking if they were OK. Brandon replied that they were, and asked about the rest of their siblings and the situation. They got an « it'll be fine » answer which didn't ease her anxiety. Half a second later, the computer screen was blinking again, asking if anyone had Marianna in their class. One class replied that she didn't get into theirs, but assumed she got in an other.
Brandon felt a shiver down his spine, he knew that it meant that his little sister was out there all alone, and the look on his face told as much to Callie.
« We have to get her, she said she saw Nick this morning and he didn't seem right ! » Brandon grabbed her arm, trying to calm her down.
« We can't, we're on lockdown, we're safe here, and Marianna knows to hide if she can't get to a classroom. » He tried to convey to Callie that he had confidence in their sister to be safe but that wasn't enough for Callie.
She darted towards the door and tried to open it, but as she pushed the blackboard away, she heard the teacher hiss « stop ». That didn't stop her, but hearing her brother plead with him, she turned around and was met with the sight of a gun trained on her.
« Nobody's getting out, I can't let you open that door » he said, his voice trembling. Brandon, on the other side, moved to get his attention which he got, and Callie took that opportunity to get out while muttering an « I'm sorry » to her brother. She heard the bang before she felt the pain in her shoulder, but she kept going. She didn't look back as she heard the door close back down and set out to look for her sister.
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Outside, as the shot rang, Stef threw down her radio, and tried to run towards the entrance but she was held back by a fellow officer, she heard Lena scream as she kept trying to go inside. She turned around to face the cop.
« I can't let you go in there half cocked, Foster ! »
She wanted to reply when Lena grabbed her by the arms and asked her not to go. A few minutes passed when a new group of students emerged from the school. Relief flashed on both their faces as they recognised Brandon among them, but fear crept out when they couldn't find Callie who was supposed to be with him. When he reached them, he went straight to their arms, they could see the fear and anguish painted on his face. Before they could ask, he breathed out.
« He shot at her, he shot at Callie ! »
Stef wanted to go to her, but Brandon was holding on for dear life.
« Where is she, is she with the paramedics ? » she asked, not knowing the full extent of the gravity of the situation Callie found herself in, but knowing the answer as the paramedics were standing behind them and not one team had moved. « What happened ? » She pressed on.
« She went after Marianna. » her son uttered.
« What ? » Lena exclaimed. « Why, why would she do that ?! » She urged Brandon.
« After reading that Marianna wasn't in a class, she tried to take off, I tried to hold her back, I tried to keep her from going but she was faster than me and got out of my grasp, and when she got out, the teacher shot her, or shot at her. » He replied, his voice trembling.
Stef wasn't sure she heard right. « The teacher shot her ?! » she inquired, bewildered.
« Yea, and then SWAT came in, and arrested him, but I don't know where Callie is » He added, tears spilling out.
Stef didn't know what to tell him or Lena to comfort them. The truth was that she didn't have any answer. She hugged her son tight as did Lena, then asked him to go join the rest of the kids and his brothers.
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Callie, her blood rushing with adrenaline went to the girls bathroom, figuring it was a safe place. As she got near, she heard a voice that she recognised. It was Nick's.
« Come on, Marianna, I know you're hiding, I saw you leave the bathroom ! Come out so we can talk about how you hurt me when you were with Mat ! »
Callie approached slowly, she could see the entire hallway. She could make out Marianna's shape behind the pile of backpacks, trying to make herself as small as possible, on her left, and to her right, she could see Nick fast approaching with his arm held behind his back.
She decided in a split second to interfere and play dumb as she emerged from her hidden position.
« Hey Nick, what are you doing here, we gotta go, we're not safe here, there's a lockdown, we gotta go. » she whispered to him, moving in on him to make him back away from her sister, but he didn't bulge. Instead, he brought his arm from his backside and pointed a gun, a big gun, at her.
« Yes, Callie, you're right, you're not safe ! » Panic washed upon her face, her plan to play dumb was dumb, but she wasn't going to back away.
« I'm looking for Marianna, » he continued. « I need to talk to her, I was upset yesterday, and I did something stupid, they're going to send me away, I need to talk to her ! » he uttered, tears coming down on his face, changing his demeanor from menacing to upset and deranged. « You need to go away, I don't want to hurt you, or her, I just want to talk ! » he blurted out, clearly getting more and more upset by the second.
« Ok, Nick, I believe you, you don't want to hurt anyone, just put the gun down, we'll talk after, ok ? » Callie muttered, trying not to upset him more. « We can help you, we'll figure something out, I did something stupid too, more than once, and violence was never the answer, just please, put the gun down, ok ? »
From her peripheral vision, she could see Marianna moving, so she moved in front of him, so he wouldn't see her sister. Marianna understood what Callie was trying to do for her and relief flooded her, she wasn't alone anymore. She took the opportunity given by Callie to stand up and move behind her sister. Callie, now aware of Marianna trailing her, moved closer to the hallway she came from. Marianna didn't want to leave Callie behind, she felt her sister squeeze her hand in reassurance that she'd be fine. Callie continued to soothe Nick into dropping the gun, he wasn't paying attention to her movements, only her words. A movement drew his attention, and he saw Marianna hiding behind Callie. He heard Callie yelling to run to Marianna, and as she took off he screamed.
« Nooo ! » he whipped out his gun and aimed at the moving figure that was Marianna, but Callie was quicker and stepped in his line of sight as he fired the gun twice. Callie, high on adrenaline, kept yelling for Marianna to keep going, to keep running until she was safe. Her relief, knowing that Marianna was now safe was short lived as she started to feel the consequence of her actions. Her adrenaline levels decreased and she felt the immense pain of the gunshots to her stomach and chest. It hurt so much that she didn't even feel the pain in her left shoulder. She started having trouble breathing.
Nick was beside himself, muttering to himself,
« What did I do ? What did I do ? » and then turned to Callie, « what did YOU do ?! Why ?! »
Callie didn't have the strenght to reply as she struggled to breathe and to stay standing in front of him.
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As a new shot rang, Stef stood up but was brought back down by Lena, when a second one rang, she took off from her wife towards the school, ignoring Lena's pleas.
Relief flooded over Lena's face as she saw from afar her daughter run into her wife's arms, and Stef whisper comfort words into her ear as she hugged her tight and kissed her temple. Her daughter's face was frozen in shock and pain, and Lena wondered if she was hurt, seeing red in Marianna's hand.
As they got closer, Lena ran up to her daughter to hugh her like her life depended on it. And then, Marianna uttered three words that froze both Lena and Stef's blood.
« Callie's with Nick »
Lena's looked over at her wife and the look of pure fear mirrored the one she knew she had, and Stef took off, running to the school as once again, the sound of a gunshot reverberated in the school. Lena couldn't catch a hold of her as she had her arms around Marianna.
She led Marianna towards the medics to get her checked out, and as they ok'd her, her brothers came and joined them, each hugging Marianna, but Jesus kept his arm around his sisters after hugging her, keeping her close as their brothers hugged her too. They looked to their Mama to have news regarding Callie, but she was at a loss about what to tell them. Marianna replied with what she knew.
« She's with Nick, she saved me from him ! He found me in the bathroom, and I ran, he was getting closer, and that's when Callie put herself in between ! I don't know why she did that ! » she turned to her Mama. « Why would she do that ?! »
Then Jude responded.
« It's what she does, she protects those she loves, regardless of the consequences for her ! » he said angrily. He worried about his sister, and anger was how he expressed it.
« She saved me ! » Marianna repeated.
Before she could tell more of what had happened, they heard the call on the radio of the officer standing next to them.
« We need medics, ASAP, two gurneys, send the medics in, the gunman is down, site is secured. »
As Lena watched the two teams of paramedics go in, she hugged her children close and prayed that Callie was Ok. They all did.
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As her surroundings gradually became darker and darker, Callie eyed Nick carefully, as to not set him off again. She held her stomach and slowly, with her remaining strength, backed away from him. He saw her move and pleaded with her.
« Please, don't leave me alone. » He begged, with his gun trained on her.
She didn't have any choice but to stay. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw her deliverance in the form of a SWAT team moving in on them. They filled the hallway from all sides. She breathed a sigh of relief.
Nick raised his gun, she heard the shot and felt herself crumble to the floor as SWAT moved in on them and she let the darkness envelop her.
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End of Chapter 1.
So whay did you think ? Should I continue this story ?
Reviews are always welcomed, and if I made any mistakes in the chapter, please do tell, so I can fix them and not make them again.
Cheers. See y'all next week, hopefully !