"Yes." Callie lied through her teeth. She watched as Lena's eyes filled with sadness. She wondered what she would see if she looked up at Stef - would she see sadness in her eyes too or would they only be filled with anger?
"Can you tell us what happened?" Lena asked.
Callie just shrugged her shoulders like she always did when she didn't want to tell the truth but couldn't come up with a good lie either.
"Sweetheart did you feel like this before the diagnosis?" Lena asked still holding on to the hope that it was just the cancer that had scared Callie.
"Yes" Callie whispered but couldn't look up at Lena this time. She couldn't bare to look into her eyes.
Lena could no longer continue. She didn't know what questions to ask and even if she did she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answers.
Stef could see Lena struggling and searched her own mind for what to do next. Only one thought came to her mind and even though she knew it was a low-blow she decided to try the very last card they seemed to have.
"Jude belongs to us now. If you try to take him with you I'll charge you with kidnapping." Stef said flatly to Callie hoping that Callie's love for her brother will keep her from leaving.
"I wasn't going to take him." She said bitterly but her eyes betrayed her. Stef could see that leaving Jude was a sore spot for Callie.
"How come?" Stef challenged and when Callie remained silent she emphasized her question. "How come you'd leave Jude here alone with us?"
Callie knew that she had been caught. If she admitted that Jude would be safe with them then they would know she was lying and if she didn't then they would question why she was okay with leaving Jude unprotected. She settled for staring down at her hands.
A moment later Stef was down on the floor in front of Callie. She beckoned Callie to look at her and eventually Callie was left with no choice but to do just that.
"Okay Callie." She said gently as she took the teens hand in her own. "You want to try again with the truth this time?"
Callie had no idea what to say. These people had a way of tearing down a walls and leaving her bare and when she had learned how to keep them up they had in turn, learned how to look right through them. Callie was finding it harder and harder to keep them at bay.
Stef watched Callie's face for a few minutes waiting for the girl to start talking and when she didn't Stef decided to ask a question making it easier for Callie to figure out what to say.
"Were you unhappy here before the diagnosis?" Stef repeated Lena's question.
This time Callie shook her head ever so slightly.
"Are you unhappy here now?" Stef continued.
Once again Callie shook her head. She closed her eyes as a few tears spilled down her cheeks. Within seconds Stef's arms were around her pulling her into a hug.
"It's okay Love." She said gently. "You're safe."
They sat in silence for a few minutes and then Stef released Callie so she could look at her.
"Bill is going to be here in about an hour." Stef told Callie.
They watched as the girl's eyes filled with fear. They wanted to tell her that they could all just forget about it but they didn't want to make any promises that they may not be able to keep. Bill had made it very clear that even though he would hold off making a formal report regarding Callie's request he was duty-bound to make one eventually. He had felt something was off when Callie had called him and told him that she needed to be moved especially when she mentioned that it was just her and not Jude. That's what had compelled him to call Stef before making any plans and when Stef had told him about Callie's diagnosis he was even more reluctant to do so. But he would have to do it at some point and so he agreed to come to the house and speak with all three of them together to get to the bottom of this before he made any decisions. He knew that this was a wonderful home and Callie was lucky that this family had been willing to take her in and it would be tough to find her another home especially now that she was sick. His only other option would have been a state-run hospital and he really didn't see the girl surviving in there.
"He wants to talk to you in person." Lena added unable to see Callie so afraid. "He said that he is going to have to make a report, he's duty-bound to do so, but what he writes in it will depend largely on what you say to him when he gets here."
"We need you to think very carefully about what you say." Stef told Callie. "We want you to tell the truth, whatever that is, but we also want you to know that we want you to stay here with us. We love you so much and cancer doesn't change that."
Callie's eyes shot up to Stef as she said that. Once again they had found the route of her fear despite how hard she tried to hide it.
"That's it isn't it?" Stef asked as she saw the look on Callie's face. "You're afraid that we'll change our minds now that you're sick."
Callie looked away. She didn't have the strength to give the answer and since they already knew what it was she saw no point in even trying.
Lena then turned to look at Callie. "Did you really think that we wouldn't want you just because of this?" She asked, unable to believe it.
"I didn't think you'd send me away." Callie said softly.
"But you thought that it would be more difficult for us." Stef finished for her.
Callie nodded.
"And so you decided that the best thing would be to just leave?" Stef asked.
"Jude is so happy here." Callie said, her answer neither here nor there.
"Jude has nothing to do with this honey." Stef said.
"I didn't want to be a burden to this family." Callie finally admitted in a shaky voice.
Stef and Lena just sat in silence for a moment wondering how to make it clear to the girl that they loved her unconditionally and that they would always want her.
"Do you know how upset we would all be if you left us?" Lena finally asked.
Callie looked at her waiting for her to continue. She had no answer to that question. She was beginning to realize that she didn't have answers to a lot of their questions. She had always thought of herself as someone who could handle any situation and if Jude was in danger she would find a way to save him. But in this house she had no responsibilities, at least not the adult kind that she had had all her life, and so she didn't know how to be just the kid.
"It would break my heart." Lena continued.
"Mine would be missing a piece." Stef added. "There's a part of my heart that only you can fill Callie."
Callie looked from Lena to Stef as tears filled her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that day.
"What am I supposed to tell Bill?" She asked in a shaky voice.
"What do you want to tell him?" Stef asked her.
"I want to stay here." Callie said softly.
"That's a start." Stef said.
Callie looked at her with questioning eyes. What more could she say?
"Tell him why you called him in the first place. Tell him what you were feeling and how you feel now." Stef said as though reading Callie's thoughts.
Callie nodded. Stef had been right, she had made this decision in an emotional state and now she was regretting it. But she herself had been right about something else - she always found a way to mess up a good thing and this is just what she had been afraid of.
They sat together discussing what their possibilities were until they heard the doorbell signaling Bill's arrival.
"This is it." Stef said as she got up and pulled Callie and Lena up with her.
Callie looked nervously at Lena as Stef went to open the door.
"Just be honest." Lena gave the girl a reassuring squeeze and she lead her inside.