Chapter 1 – The Truth
Callie was headed up the stairs to her room when she heard Stef's voice from the family room. "Callie, can you come in here a minute?"
Callie walked back down the stairs, wondering what Stef wanted to discuss. She hadn't done anything wrong since… that night in the cabin. Pushing that thought out of her mind, she entered the family room and found Stef on the couch looking pensive.
Stef smiled warmly at Callie as she entered the room. "Come sit down, love" Stef said and gestured to the chair across from her.
Callie sat and asked, "So what did you want to talk about?"
Stef looked hesitant. "I'm not even sure I should be asking you this. But I've been concerned about Brandon, and since the two of you are so close, I wanted to ask you if you had any idea why he seems... Off. He's been so distant and irritable, but whenever I try and talk to him about it, he says that everything is fine…" Stef trailed off, seeing the stricken expression that flitted across Callie's face for an instant. "So you do know what's going on." It was not a question, and now Stef knew she was onto something.
Callie schooled her face into a neutral expression very quickly, but the damage had already been done. "I'm sorry, Stef, I wish I could help, but I don't know anything. Maybe you should try talking to him again."
"Your head was tilted away as you spoke." She said it mildly, but Callie knew the implication was that Stef knew she was lying.
Callie sighed, deeply. She hated lying to Stef and Lena, and it gutted her to see Brandon in pain and not be able to do anything about it. She was sure that if she touched him again, everyone in the house would either know they had been lovers, or she would leave both him and herself more damaged than they already were. They hadn't so much as brushed fingers since she had snuck into his room and confessed that she loved him. Maybe I really should have just called Robert… But in her heart, she knew she belonged with this family.
Callie told a version of the truth. "Okay, I do know why he's been upset, but it's private. I promised I wouldn't say anything." We both did…
Stef looked at her compassionately for a moment before leaning toward her and looking at her seriously. "Lena and I want you all to be able to confide in each other, and sometimes we don't have to know what you're all talking about. But Callie, Brandon seems very unhappy, he hasn't been engaged with the family, with his friends, with his music, and we have to take that seriously."
Callie looked at her hands quickly so that Stef wouldn't see her eyes well up with tears. Everything Stef had said about Brandon was true. How could she have done this to her son when they had given her everything? How could she have made Brandon so miserable when she loved him so much? Why couldn't they have just fallen out of love after they ended things the first time? She felt so ashamed of herself, and guilty.
"Stef… Please, I can't tell you," she murmured softly, looking down at her hands miserably. Realization was beginning to dawn on Stef.
Right at that moment, Brandon walked downstairs to get a drink and saw that Callie was talking to Stef and that she was upset. He walked over quickly and sat next to Calllie, looking at her concerned.
"What's going on?" He asked, looking between Callie and Stef.
Stef started, speaking slowly. "I was just asking Callie if she knew why you had been acting so differently lately. I didn't realize it would upset her."
He stood up, standing in front of Callie and looking furious. "Mom! If you have questions about how I'm acting, you should be asking me!" Callie looked up at Brandon, and because she was upset, she failed to cover the concern and love she felt for him on her face. Stef might have been able to disregard that.
But it was Callie's hand unconsciously reaching out to Brandon's hand to comfort him that made Stef realize, and her face showed dawning horror. Registering this, Callie brought her hand back to her lap as quickly as if she had touched a hot stove.
"Oh my God…" Stef whispered.
Brandon sat down next to Callie, defeated. Like magnets, his eyes were drawn to Callie's. His anguished eyes met her guilty ones, and they decided in that second to tell the whole truth. Perhaps they would be punished, or shamed, or screamed at, but then at least the burden of deciding what to do about the situation they found themselves in would be off of them. In the panicked days after they slept together, they made the decision that Callie would still be adapted because they thought they could bury their feelings for each other like they did before, but they hadn't accounted for how much more it would hurt after they had been intimate together.
Callie and Brandon turned as one to meet Stef's angry and disbelieving gaze. "You should call Lena," Brandon said softly.
Ignoring him, Stef yelled, "How long has this been going on?"
Callie winced, but Brandon just repeated himself calmly. "You should both hear the truth. You need to call Lena."
After Stef called Lena and asked her to come home to discuss Brandon and Callie's relationship, the three of them sat in uncomfortable silence for 15 minutes. No one spoke or looked at the other. Eventually Brandon grasped Callie's hand in his own, correctly determining it did not matter what he did at this point. Callie squeezed his hand slightly in reassurance, though she herself felt like she was going to be sick. Stef said nothing.
Once Lena came arrived home and was seated on the cough, Stef demanded, "Talk. Now."
"I broke the restraining order," Brandon started, feeling the sharp sting of shame that he was accustomed to feeling when talking about the restraining order.
Stef's eye's widened. "I could have you arrested for that!"
Callie shut her eyes, horrified. Why hadn't she just lied better? She wanted to run so badly, but she couldn't leave Brandon to their judgment alone again.
Lena broke in calmly. "But we won't do that, so let's listen to Brandon finish."
Callie shot a grateful look at Lena, and Brandon continued. "We made it seem like our relationship was just that one kiss at your wedding, but it wasn't. We met up secretly while Callie was at Girls United. We communicated with a cell phone that I gave her and she kept hidden."
Callie winced again, remembering the consequences of keeping that phone. She continued the tale. "I eventually gave the phone to Rita in order to fully commit to the program, but some of the girls knew about our relationship, and I'll get back to that because that's important. Shortly after that, Stef, was when your father passed away. We decided after the funeral that since I needed a family more than a boyfriend, we would end our relationship."
Stef and Lena looked at each other in shock, trying to comprehend what they were hearing.
Callie continued, wanting to finish this excruciating conversation. "We shoved our feelings aside, and we were doing all right at not acting on them… Until I kissed Brandon at the fundraiser after I found out that Robert wouldn't sign the papers." Callie's voice was shaking, but she was determined to be honest. Brandon squeezed her hand, silently letting her know that he was there and supporting her. "Some of the girls at GU knew that as well."
Lena asked softly, "Why is that important?"
Callie took a deep breath and looked at Brandon again, finding reassurance and love in his gaze. Despite themselves, Stef and Lena marveled at their ability to communicate in silence.
"Before I go on… I'm so grateful to the two of you for this home and this family for me and for Jude. I love you both so much," Callie said desperately, wanting Stef and Lena to understand that she didn't want to hurt them.
Stef pushed aside her fear, anger, and disappointment and reassured her. "We love you too, Callie, no matter what you do or what you say. Go on. Finish the story."
Callie went to speak and found that she couldn't. All of a sudden, she was fighting for breath, and her heart was pounding. I can't. I can't. I can't… She closed her eyes.
Brandon saw Callie's panic attack start and reacted instinctively. He turned toward Callie and reached for her other hand, holding both close to his chest. "Callie, calm down. Take some deep breaths, okay? Try to breathe with me."
Brandon saw her eyes open and saw the wild fear there, so he pressed his forehead against hers to try and calm her. He kept speaking, "It's going to be okay, Callie. Try and breathe with me, please." Callie focused on Brandon and matched her breathing to his, and eventually she felt calm enough to continue.
Stef and Lena looked at the two of them and wondered at how they could have missed this connection that must have been growing steadily all this time.
Callie and Brandon turned toward them, and Callie bravely finished their story. "Lena, to answer your question… Carmen knew about the relationship and about the kiss at the fundraiser. When I talked to her about Rita, she told me that if I told anyone she was buying meth, she would tell my social worker everything. I recorded the whole conversation in order to clear Rita if I needed to, and I never denied anything about Brandon. When you told me Rita was being charged, I had no choice but to send her the recording, so I sent it. At Idyllwild. So I figured you wouldn't be able to adopt me because either my social worker or Rita would tell you everything." Callie sighed, looking helplessly at Brandon as if to say, your turn.
Brandon continued, wanting to be done with the conversation. "We assumed that the adoption was over, so we…" He took a deep breath. "We had sex. At the cabin."
Stef's and Lena's eyes went wide.
Brandon used their silent shock to continue. "When we found out the adoption was back on, we decided that we would bury it and never tell anyone. But it's been…" His voice broke, and Callie wanted so badly to hold him. He settled on, "Really difficult."
"But I promise you we haven't been sneaking around since I was adopted," Callie added.
Stef shook her head. "It doesn't matter, Callie. You lied to the judge, the social worker, and us. So did you, Brandon."
Lena asked, "Were you safe? At the cabin?"
Brandon and Callie both nodded.
Lena hesitated before asking, "And you both felt safe? Emotionally?"
Brandon and Callie looked at each other lovingly before turning back and nodding easily at Lena again.
Despite themselves, Stef and Lena were both touched by the love and trust evident between the two teens. But from the parents' perspective, it was still a problem that they lied.
"Okay, we need to discuss this more," Stef said, gesturing to her and Lena. "And then we need to discuss it more with the two of you more once we figure out what the consequences are for lying." Stef hesitated. She was so angry with them, and yet… She looked at Lena, and she could tell from the conflicted look on her face that she was having the same issue with banning them from seeing each other. In the face of their obvious care for one another and the pain they've been in, it didn't seem right to ask them to go back to the lie they were living. Practically speaking, banning them from seeing each other also clearly didn't work the last time.
Bearing that in mind, Stef continued. "For right now, no more sex before we've figured out how we're all moving forward with this, but don't go back to trying to be brother and sister. I can tell you right now – that won't ever work, and you'll just cause yourselves more pain. Be yourselves, understand?" She made eye contact with both of them.
Callie and Brandon both felt an intense wave of relief at that despite their uncertainty about the future. Slowly, they let the lie of disconnection fall away from their body language. Brandon put his arm around Callie, and she tucked her head against his shoulder, taking a deep cleansing breath. Brandon leaned his head against Callie's. Both of them were exhausted from the conversation, but they also felt lighter. This secret was no longer their burden to carry alone.
A/N So should I continue? What did you think? Leave a review!