Hey guys. I was on a roll, and figured I'd put up the next chapter. I'll update by next week. Enjoy.
Also some of you seemed confused in your reviews (thank you by the way for the lovely reviews). This will NOT be a Brallie story. Brandon and Callie's relationship will strictly be a friendship/sibling relationship.
While Mariana was in the bathroom getting ready for bed, Stef checked up on Callie who was lying on her bed fiddling on her phone.
"Hey love, let's check your temperature again before you go to sleep?"
Callie nodded, not looking at Stef the entire time they checked her temperature.
"Hm. It's going down, but we'll still have to keep an eye on it. So no school tomorrow," Stef said.
Callie nodded again. "I...um...I...I'm sorry about the soup...and what I said to Lena. It was rude. I apologize."
Stef sat down on the bed, hoping that Callie would open up to her. She'd have to tread carefully though. "It's okay, sweetie. We're not upset. Just worried."
"Yeah, that's what Brandon said."
"Well, Brandon can be pretty smart, except for when he's baking," Stef chuckled.
Callie smiled slightly. "I'm sorry that the soup upset you earlier...our intention is to never upset you," Stef secretly prompted.
Callie sighed. "I know..I just…"
"You just what, sweets? It's okay. You can tell me," Stef said gently.
"I don't have very good memories with soup, that's all," Callie replied.
Stef gently rubbed Callie's shoulder. "What happened?"
Callie looked up at Stef, her eyes swimming with tears, shaking her head. "It's okay, Callie. You can tell me. But if you really don't want to tell me right now, you do not have to. You don't have to do anything you don't want to...except helping out with the chores but you already knew that," Stef said lightly.
"I….um, Mariana will be back soon… I don't really wanna talk about it to her yet…," Callie said. While she and Mariana had been getting closer, Callie wasn't ready to disclose that kind of information with her. They had only just started getting along and sharing things about each other.
"Do you wanna go into my room? Lena is in the shower if you just want to talk to me, but I'm going to have to tell her what you tell me so we can help you better. But it's up to you."
"...Okay…" Callie said almost inaudibly.
Mariana walked in as Stef stood up from Callie's bed. "Everything okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, Miss Thing. Callie just needs to talk to your old mom for a bit," Stef said, and walked out the room. Callie followed her and stood in the doorway of Stef and Lena's room.
"Well, come sit up on the bed with me sweets."
Callie slowly walked over to the bed and then sat as far away as possible from Stef while still facing her on the bed. Stef sat quietly, waiting for Callie to begin talking.
"I um….you know that most of our foster homes weren't as great as this one?" Callie started.
"Yeah," Stef said sadly.
"Well uh, this one house...the foster mother, well I thought she was alright. She never yelled or hit or anything, but she would do terrible passive things to punish eyes. She used to put soap and other stuff in the soup liked to make so much...it hurt so badly...Bill finally took us out of the house after I ended up in the hospital…," Callie started slowly and then let it all out in a rush. If she was going to do this, she was going to get it over with fast.
Stef sat in stunned silence. "So...that's why I don't like soup," Callie stated, looking at Stef, waiting for her to say something.
"Callie...I'm...I'm so sorry that happened to you. Lena and I will never do anything like that to you. We will never hurt you on purpose. If we are upset with you, we will tell you with words and give out appropriate punishment like grounding. Okay? Understood?"
Callie nodded.
"Thanks for telling me, love. You've been so brave these last few days. You should head to bed, you deserve your rest."
8888
Lena and Stef woke up to Lena's cell phone rining. Lena glanced at the clock. It was six in the morning, who could possibly need her at six in the morning?
"Hello?"
"Hello, Lena, it's Bill."
"Bill! Hi! Is everything okay?" Lena asked nervously. Stef sat up in bed watching Lena anxiously.
"Uh, yeah. I um, just, well Lena you're not going to like this, and frankly I don't either."
"What? What is it?" Lena asked getting more nervous by the second.
"CPS got the report that Stef sent to us about what happened with Callie at the Olmsteads. They need to me to evaluate Callie to see if she's capable of staying with you and her brother."
"What, that's ridiculous? She didn't do anything wrong!"
"I know, Lena, I know that is probably the case. But I'll be stopping by to evaluate Callie and talak to her about the situation. Then I'll be needing daily reports from you aand Stef detailing how Callie is doing for the nexdt week. Then I have to make a decision. I'm sorry. I don't like this anymore than you do."
Lena sighed. "What time do you expect to come around today?"
"A little after one."
"Alright….see you then." Lena hung up.
Lena turned to her partner with tears in her eyes and began to explain the situation. By the end, Stef was furious. "Callie is fine here! She is safe! We'll make sure she gets the help or whatever she needs! What about Sarah? What are they doing about her?"
"I don't know, honey. We'll ask Bill when he comes by. I'm going to take the day off work. We need to try to remain calm for Callie's sake."
"Right, right. Of course," Stef said. "I'm going to call Roberts and tell her I can't come in again today. Then I'll get the rest of the kids up."
"What about Callie?"
"If she's not up by nine, we'll get her up," Stef said climbing out of bed and heading to the bathroom.
Lena sighed and pulled her hair up ontop of her head before throwing back her covers. This was going to be a long day.