A/N: I want to update quicker, I do. I just do not have the time at all.


"This is a nice group home, Cals."

Jude peaks up from his small suitcase that he's been unpacking and Callie raises an eyebrow. "How so?"

Jude shrugs and smiles. "I just havva feelin. I like the games room."

He's right, really. They've never had a games room. "Yeah, It's pretty cool."

Jude closes the lid to his case and sits down on his bed, his small legs dangling over the edge. "and I also like that the beds aren't squeaky."

Callie smiles and crosses the room to sit next to him. Jude will always find the good in everything. Always, without fail. "Yeah, that's a plus. Annnnd we don't have to do top to toe, so I suppose I dont have to wake up to your smelly feet in my face every morning." She smiles, and Jude giggles.

Truth be told, no matter how nice the homes are. No matter how nice the people are, no matter how much space or food or toys or money, Callie always thinks that her brother deserves more.

And that seems to be the one thing that makes all this moving the most painful. Because she can settle for less, she can settle for nothing. But Jude shouldn't have to. Jude is good, Jude is important, Jude is untainted.

"Hey, bud?"

Jude looks up at his sister with a grin on his face. Ear to ear, as per usual. "Yeah?"

"I'm gonna make sure you get a house with a huge games room in it one day, one that you don't have to share with twenty kids."

Jude laughs. "How can you do that, silly?"

Callie shrugs. "I dunno, bug. But I will."

"Callie!"

She shoots up, disorientated for a moment before realising where she is and who she's with. Stef is looking at her, concerned and she tears her eyes away from the older womans to look at her feet.

"We're about to land." Stef says. "You'll need to sit up."

Callie nods, and Stef sighs. Since meeting that morning, Callie hasn't muttered a single word and Stef is worried that maybe the girl feels like she's been forced into this. She looks uncomfortable and worried, and Stef can't stop thinking about her admission a few days before.

Theres nothing left for me in California.

But there is, she tries to tell herself, to make herself feel better about hauling this girl across the country. There is, she thinks. There's Jude.

Thats something.

"What were you dreaming about?" Stef asks. Callie shrugs and keeps her gaze fixed out of the airplane window.

"You'll need to talk at some point, Callie."

For a moment, Stef thinks it's a lost Cause, but then Callie takes her eyes away from the window and she sits forward, looking down at her fidgeting hands.

"Can I ask you something?" She mumbles, and Stef nods with a gentle yes.

"I can't go back to New York, can I?" She asks, and Stef realises that maybe Callie understands more than she thinks she does. Maybe Callie has realised that, by stepping on the plane, she's had to say goodbye to her life in New York, that Stef can't morally or legally allow her to continue living the way she has been.

But what Stef doesnt know, and what Callie will never admit, is that she is grateful.

"I had to call CPS, love. I couldn't...I had to. You understand that, right?"

Callie nods sheepishly and lets out a sigh. "Where will I live?"

with us. "You can crash with us until you have your feet on the ground, okay?"

She nods. "Okay."


They arrive at the house at 5pm and Callie feels overwhelmingly anxious.

It's the most beautiful house she's ever seen, more beautiful than anything she's ever lived in before. She thinks it's almost too pretty. She's learned not to trust anything, and especially not the things that look perfect.

She gets out of Stef's car slowly and stares at the house, suddenly finding herself rooted to the spot on the driveway.

You can do this.

Stef walks around to her side and reaches out her hand, placing it on her back. "Ready?"

She's not. But she nods anyway.

You can do this.

Step by step, the worry escalates. She isn't even sure why it is that she's worrying in the first place. He's her brother and she misses him, a lot. She wants to see him, but she also feels sickeningly guilty even now.

Stef opens the door and the smell of vanilla candles and soup hits her like a tonne of bricks.

You can do this.

It smells like she always imagined a good home to smell like.

You can do this.

She follows Stef around the corner

and there he is.

"But what's so good about this family? Why have I gotta go and you don't?"

Callie sits down next to them on his bunk in the home and takes his hand. "they just want one kid."

"Then I don't wanna go." He mumbles, and his bottom lip is trembling.

"Jude, they're a really great family. They can give you lots of stuff and they can keep you safe."

Jude shakes his head. "But I don't care about getting lots of stuff without you."

She hates that his voice is a quivering little whisper, and she squeezes his hand. "You gotta go, Jude. You won't get another family with me here."

"But I don't understand why..." He whispers and he looks up at her, tears dripping down his cheeks. "I don't understand why they wouldn't want you, too."

"Baby, i'll be okay. Okay? I'll be just fine. Sometimes people dont like to adopt kids that are older and it sucks but it's okay. I'm okay."

She's trying to convince herself, she's trying to not let herself get emotional.

She stands up in front of him and straightens his tie, looking directly into his eyes and smiling. "Remember what I said?"

He nods.

"Say it."

He takes a deep breath. "Everything's gonna be okay."

She kisses him on the cheek. "You should go now, they're ready to meet you. And Jude?"

He stands up off of the bed and makes his way towards the door, but stops just before he exits and turns to face his sister. "Yeah?"

"To the moon and back."

He smiles and nods. "To the moon and back."

...

The first thing she notices is his height. He's almost the same height as her now, probably a couple of feet taller than he was when they last saw each other. He's wearing a shirt and tie, just like when they parted, and his hands are straight down at his sides. He looks just as nervous as she feels and if her feet weren't stuck to the ground, she would run towards him and pick him up in her arms.

For a few unbearably long minutes, they just look at each other, faces completely blank, and then Jude walks towards her and wraps his arms around her tight. She just stands there, mouth hanging open.

"You kept your promise."

"As you saw, a lot of our kids are really really lovely."

Callie peeks from the crack in the door and see's a man and a woman talking to the head of the group home.

"Yeah, there were definitely some bright young faces. We're looking for one of the youngest, we think that they'll have the best chance of adapting to living in a new home."

The social working notions for them to sit down at his desk, where he hands them a pile of files.

"Those are our youngest. The file will tell you everything you need to know about them. We don't have a lot of...troubled...kids here, but there obviously are a few."

The woman nods and opens up one of the files. "There was one kid...I don't know his name but he was probably about 6? brown hair?"

The social worker nods and hands her another file. "Unfortunately some of our kids come in with siblings that don't want to be separated."

"We can't take home two kids...there's just not enough room."

Callie knows that she'd been looking at Jude. She'd been watching him read from the doorway with a smile on her face. Unfortunately, some of the kids don't want to be separated.

She coughs and everyone in the room notices her standing at the doorway. Tom, the social worker, stands up and smiles. "Callie, what's wrong?"

Callie shrugs and shuffles into the room, smiling at the couple awkwardly and crossing her arms around her. "Nothing. I just..."

"Is there something you were wanting?"

She shrugs. "Have you met Jude?" She looks towards the woman. "He's my brother. I saw you looking at him...Maybe you should meet him."

She feels bad for suggesting it. But she knows they were talking about him.

"Jude...is that the little boy who was reading?"

She nods. "Yeah. He loves books and stuff. He's a really good kid."

Tom gives her a confused look. "Callie..."

"I heard you say that you only want one kid...Maybe you should pick Jude."

The memory hits her like a tonne of bricks. The fact that she'd told them to take Jude had long since slipped her mind, and now the guilt worsens and she tries to make herself look normal as she places a hand on her brothers shoulder.

"I missed you, buddy."

I'm sorry I let you down.

"I missed you, too."

I wish I could take it all back. "You look bigger now."

"Yeah," He smiles at her awkwardly and shifts on his feet. "I think I get it from dad."

She nods, and realises that she hasn't smiled once since she saw him. She realises that there are tears trickling down her cheeks, she realises that her lips are trembling. She realises that it's a little too much.

She ruffles her bothers hair, lets out a shaky breath, and walks out of the house to the front yard.