The Idea: A series of one-shots (ish) that fall under the premise of "What if..." I have a few ideas, but if you like this, and you'd like me to write one, leave it in a PM or review, and I'll see what I can come up with.

CMA Legal Stuff: I don't own The Fosters. I only have fun with their lives.

The Honeymoon – Part 2

What if the reason for Callie running away was more than just Jude and Brandon?

~*THE FOSTERS*~

"Well," the girl behind the counter stated as she looked at the open book in front of her, "we can definitely accommodate you for the next few days, but that room is booked as of Wednesday evening."

Stef smiled at the girl behind the counter.

"That's fine. Can you put us down for that, then?"

"Sure," the girl answered distractedly as she flipped through the book, seemingly looking for something. Once she found it, she paused, drumming her fingers slightly before looking back up at the blonde. "Though, would you like something a little more comfortable?"

That caught her attention. "Meaning…"

"We have a room available for five dollars per night more that has one queen and one twin." She shrugged slightly. "It's a little bit larger. You'd be able to stay the through weekend if you needed it with that one. Interested?"

Stef leveled her gaze at the young girl. "Only five dollars more per night?"

"That's it."

"Okay, let's do that, then." Truth be told, Stef didn't think she could spend another night in the tiny love-seat. "When should we be out of the current room?"

The girl smiled as an older woman came up behind her; it didn't take much to notice that the woman was the girl's mother. "Take your time. I saw you come in really early this morning with your daughter, and she looked like she could use the rest. I'll have our maid staff check on Room 219 and be sure it's ready for you. When your girl wakes up, just let us know, and we'll get you your key."

Stef nodded her thanks before venturing out of the office and back up to her wife and hopefully-soon-to-be daughter. Before she ventured inside, she sat down on the chairs outside their windows, her thoughts drifting to what Callie had said the night before – how they won't love her; not how they shouldn't; how they won't. There was finality to it, almost like she was leaving no room for argument.

She was afraid of the conversation they were going to have today. She hated admitting it, but she was. Callie never came across as the type of girl to admit defeat, and yet, she couldn't explain how running away wasn't admitting defeat.

Sighing slightly, she stood up and ventured into the room where she froze at the sight before her.

When she left the room earlier, Callie was still precariously perched on the edge of the double bed that she was sharing with Lena. Now, Lena was propped up slightly against the headboard, supported by her pillows, with the teen stretched out across her abdomen. The girl's sleeping form was resting against Lena's chest while Lena draped one arm on the teen's forearm and the other softly caressing the side of the girl's head, playing with the brunette curls.

Stef smiled softly at the sight when Lena looked over at her.

"When did that happen?" Stef whispered as she put her wallet and keys on the table and knelt beside the bed.

"Not long after you left, actually." Lena smiled sadly at her wife. "I was going to get up and dressed, hoping it would draw her to at least the center of the bed. I was about to sit up when she reached out and fell back to sleep here. We've been like this ever since."

Stef reached her hand up and brushed a few strands of hair out of Callie's face. While she looked peaceful, there were dried tear tracks running down the teen's face that broke Stef's heart.

She took a deep breath.

"I'm scared, Lena," Stef confided as she continued to caress Callie's head. "I know we can't avoid this talk, but…"

Lena cupped Stef's face so they were looking at each other. "I know," she said softly, "me, too."

Callie shifted slightly on Lena's shoulder before opening her eyes and looking directly at Stef.

Stef smiled, trying not to think about what they were going to have to do that day. "Good morning, Sweets," she said as she brushed Callie's fallen locks off of her face. "How'd you sleep?"

"I slept." Callie sat up and rubbed her eyes while shrugging.

"Well, that's a start," Lena said as she sat up against the headboard, "I guess."

Stef shrugged as she took a seat on the edge of the bed. Even though she was dreading what had to happen that day, they didn't exactly have to start the day off with it. It can wait a few hours until everyone was awake and ready to talk.

"So," Stef said as she turned to face both her wife and her daughter, "I spoke with the office, and we are going to move rooms. They have a room available for us through the weekend if we choose to use it that has two beds in it, so none of us has to sleep on a sofa-bed. That means, we need to get up, showered, dressed, and packed…"

"What about our talk?" Callie asked, her fear showing on her face.

"We have plenty of time for that, Love." Stef put a lock of hair behind Callie's ear. "Let's get moved into the new room, breakfast into our stomachs, and then we'll sit and talk, okay?"

Callie gave a tight-lipped smile and stood up from the bed before making her way into the bathroom. Stef watched the girl close the door before letting out the breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"I hate this," she commented to her wife as she heard the girl lock the door. "I hate that we have to have this conversation; I hate that something happened…"

"I know," Lena said, trying to calm her wife down a bit. "I hate it just as much as you do, but for as bad as we think it could be, her reasons for running could be as simple as seeing if we were sincere. She's been through a lot over the past six years, and much of it has been lies. She could just want to be sure we mean it when we say we want her."

While her wife sounded reassuring, Stef doubted it.

~*THE FOSTERS*~

Breakfast that morning was nearly silent, no one really knowing what to say or where to start a conversation. That is, until they got back to the hotel and moved into the larger room.

Callie sat on the bed, once again, furthest from the door while Stef and Lena sat on the double bed facing her.

"Okay," Stef started as she leaned her elbows on her knees, fully paying attention to the girl in front of her, "I'll be honest here, Callie. I'm not entirely sure what is supposed to happen from this point. Something happened between the moment you said, 'yes' to the adoption and that night when you took off." She stopped a moment to gather her thoughts. "I also don't want to rush you in talking to us."

"However," Lena took up the conversation, "we really are concerned, honey, that something happened that you felt like you couldn't come to us. Did…" She really wasn't sure if she wanted to ask this question. "Did we do something?"

"No," Callie's answer was immediate, "no, God, no!"

"Then, what happened, Love?" Stef asked as she sat up so she could level her gaze on the teenager. "Help us understand what exactly this is…"

Callie fought with herself as to how much she needed to tell the two mothers. After a moment, she took a deep breath and said, "I made a…uh…I made a promise…"

Stef raised her eyebrows in confusion. "A promise to….run away?"

"To not be selfish anymore."

Lena jumped in at this point. "Honey, who said you were selfish?" Callie only looked to the floor. "Was it Mariana?"

No, Stef thought as she studied the features on the girl. She and Mariana had become close, but her saying something wouldn't have caused Callie to run. No, this was deeper.

"Jude?" Stef asked softly, silently hoping that wasn't the case. However, just by her looking up and directly into Stef's eyes confirmed everything she needed to know. "I see." She took a deep breath before she continued. "I'm not going to pretend that doesn't surprise me, Sweets. However, I think what bothers me more is that this was the course of action you decided to take; to run away rather than talk about it."

The girl stayed silent, and the two mothers were nearly at a loss.

Lena was the one who spoke next, however. "Why, Callie? Why does he think you're selfish?"

Callie looked at the two women. Could she tell? Could she tell and still have them keep Jude?

"Callie, Honey," Lena beckoned as she leaned forward slightly to place a hand on Callie's knee, "please help us understand. What happened?"

"I, uh," Callie stammered. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, counting backwards from ten as she did. When she opened her eyes again, she was staring back at the calm, patient eyes of the two moms. "I kissed Brandon." She immediately closed her eyes, not wanting to see the looks on the moms' faces.

There, she said it. She said the one thing that could ruin her chance, and Jude's chance, at adoption.

Stef couldn't help the shocked look on her face any more than she could've helped her stomach from bottoming out. She couldn't believe what she was hearing! She ran through the last days, every event she could think of when the kids were together, when they were left alone, when this could've happened.

"See?" Callie's voice cut into her thoughts. "See, I told you!" Stef looked up and saw Callie retreating to the wall in the corner. "I told you you'd hate me!"

Lena was in the other bed within an instant.

"No, Sweetie," she whispered into the girl's ear as she pulled her close. "No, we don't hate you." She looked over to Stef.

"That's right, Love," Stef said as she also went to the other bed and ran her fingers through the teen's hair. "I don't recall saying anything about hating you, Callie. Did you, Lena?"

"Not a thing."

"I saw it," Callie said as she tried to pull her knees up to her chest. "I saw the look on your face."

"Callie," Stef said as she turned the girl's head in her wife's arms, "it took me by surprise. I do not hate you. How could I?"

Fully in tears, Callie cried, "I kissed your son, and Jude saw it, and he's right! He's right! I am selfish!" She grabbed onto Stef's arms in sudden desperation. "It was a mistake! I swear, it was a mistake. I got caught up in the moment, and he was being so sweet, and I couldn't stop myself until I heard Jude, and I didn't mean to and…" She had to stop as she suddenly found it difficult to breathe.

"Callie?" Lena exclaimed as the girl doubled over, clutching at her chest.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Stef asked hurriedly as she took Callie's arms into her hands. "Honey, talk to me!"

Callie couldn't look at either woman as she tried to catch her breath. She wasn't even sure what brought this – whatever this is – on. Why couldn't she breathe? What happened to the air in the room? Where'd the oxygen go? Oh, God. Is she dying? Is this what it feels like to die?

Then the relief came – a cold towel on her neck. She heard a voice coming through the fog.

"In…out…in…out…" She looked up and tried to focus on the blonde in front of her. "That's it, Love. Look at me. Breathe, Baby; that's it. Good girl." The blonde looked over to her side. "Lena, hand me the glass of water." There was some movement, and then there was a glass in Callie's hand. "Drink, honey. Just sip it."

Callie lifted the glass to her lips, taking a small sip of the ice-cold water. She felt it go all the way down her throat and into her stomach before she took a deep breath, leaning back against the body behind her. She barely felt an arm wrap their way around her collar while the other held her head against someone's cheek. She felt a few kisses being placed on her temple while the body breathed, silently encouraging her to do so as well.

When her eyes focused completely, she noticed Stef in front of her, so that meant that Lena was the one holding her.

When Callie finally caught her breath, she relaxed further into Lena's embrace.

"What was that?" she asked breathlessly as she took another sip at Stef's insistence.

"That," Stef answered as she sat cross-legged in front of Callie, "was a panic attack – one that neither of us was expecting." Stef reached out and cupped the teen's cheek when she noticed tears forming in Callie's eyes.

"That was scary," Callie said as she closed her eyes, unwillingly letting a tear fall.

"Yes, it was," Lena said as she held the child closer.

"I thought I was going to die."

"We know…"

"…and for what?" Callie could feel her heart racing again, and her breathing began to quicken once more.

Lena began running her fingers through the child's hair, playing with her curls, to try and calm her down. "Baby, it's okay. We've got you."

Stef reached over and pulled Callie's hands into her own. "We're not letting anything happen to you; please, Love, calm down."

Callie leaned further back into Lena, collapsing under all the stress she'd put on herself.

"That's not even all of it," she cried, barely keeping herself composed.

Stef sat back, completely at a loss for what to do for the girl. She looked up, looking to her wife for any kind of course of action. She got up on her knees, pulling Callie's hands into her own.

"What else was there, Love?" she asked softly, trying to get the girl to open up just a little more.

Callie, though, couldn't answer. She only looked around the room, trying to figure out how she was going to explain the next part.

"Someone else saw us," she said softly into Lena's shirt.

Stef looked up at her wife, seeing her confused expression mirrored on her wife's face.

"Who else saw you?" Lena asked as she stroked the teenager's hair in an effort to comfort her.

Callie looked Stef in the eye. "Do you have my phone?"

Stef reached into her bag and pulled out the girl's phone. She handed it to the teen, watching as she unlocked the screen, pulled something up in one of her few apps, and then handed the phone back to the blonde mother. Stef looked at the picture that was showing, and gasped slightly, not only at the picture of the two of them kissing on the side of the house, but of the comment made: Wouldn't this be a shame if it got out? I'm sure Bill would love to see it.

The cop tapped the face next to the picture, and her blood ran cold. This individual was not to have any contact with Callie whatsoever; he was not supposed to be near her – not in the same vicinity. How he had gotten this picture…

Stef shook her head. She couldn't focus on that right now. She had to focus on her daughter.

"Love," she said softly as she locked the phone once more, "is this the reason you ran?"

"Yes." Callie began crying again. She turned her entire body into Lena, who tightened her grip while looking to Stef.

Once her face was hidden, Stef showed Lena the picture, comment, and who posted it. She watched her wife's worried, but serene, face turn into that of a Mama Lion whose cub is being threatened.

She put the phone into her back pocket and closed the Mama Sandwich around the crying teen.

"It's going to be all right," she whispered into Callie's hair. "Mamas are going to take care of it. It's over, and he's not going to hurt you ever again. Understand?" Once Callie nodded, Stef sat back on her heels and called Mike from her own cell phone. She talked to him for a while, getting caught up on the kids – and the car.

One more bill, she couldn't help but think, but at least Mike was part mechanic. He offered to fix it, and neither mother was going to say no.

After hanging up, she turned back to her wife and soon-to-be daughter, smiling when she saw the teen brunette asleep against her wife's chest. They looked as if they had been that way all their lives.

She caught her wife's eyes, and saw the anger and fear in her eyes.

"It'll be taken care of," Stef reassured her. "He violated the restraining order; he's going to have to pay those consequences."

With that, Stef went out the door to the outer hallway and called the lawyer, who they'd worked with for the rape trial, informing him of what exactly has been happening. She wanted Callie to come home, but she wanted her to be coming home to a safe environment.

When she went back into the room, she saw Callie relaxed a bit more against her wife.

"Would you have run?" Lena asked the teenager in her arms.

"What?" Callie whispered.

"If you hadn't received that picture, would you have run?"

The girl sat for a few minutes, thinking of an answer.

"I don't know," she said softly as she curled herself into a small ball. "I really don't."

That worried Stef a little. However, they had her in their arms now. She would worry about it more after they were home with no other problems to speak of. The next problem to tackle would be Callie's probation. That would be a headache all in itself. But Stef and her wife will fight for her, no matter what that means or looks like in the weeks to come.

Author's Note: I'm so, so sorry this took so long, and that it's not as long as the last one! My muse decided to take a vacation toward the end of this chapter without consulting me. Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, followed, and favorited both me and my story! I honestly didn't think I would get that kind of response, and it was great! I hope to not take as long with the next story, but we'll see what life decides to throw at me!

Coming up next on What if...

With or Without You: What if Callie refused to see any visitors while she was in Girl's United and put up a wall from all of them? (idea submitted by FreakyGreenEyes123)