Chapter 10

Aileen looked at Mickey as if she were a gift from God.

"You'd take him? Really?" she asked amazed. "Why?" She didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth but with all the setbacks Callen had had over the years she knew better than to take anyone at face value, and besides she knew Callen himself would ask.

"Look, I'm with the Forestry Service and I've been passed as a foster parent, you can check my records. I fostered my little brother when my parents split, and Callen looks like he could use a break," Mickey said honestly.

Aileen called her office, and was pleasantly surprised that Mickey Halloran was indeed registered as a foster parent with Child Services in Santa Clarita. Aileen made arrangements to immediately have Callen placed into her care as soon as Dr. Martin signed Callen's release papers.

She walked back in with a smile on her face.

Callen was waking up and glared at Aileen as she walked in smiling.

"I'm not going, you can't make me," he stated.

Aileen smiled at him, "I'm not. We have somewhere else for you to go, just until you are 100% better."

"Fine, we leaving now?" Callen asked uncaring. As long as it wasn't Bayliss, he really didn't care what hole he was dropped in.

Aileen sighed, "Don't you even want to know where you're going?"

"Why bother? One 'rent' is as whacked out as another 'rent'."

"Rent?" Mickey asked confused.

"Callen's nickname for foster parents. They don't keep him, they rent him from the system, so to him they are all 'rents'," Aileen explained.

"And we are telling "Ranger Smith" why?" Callen asked, being awake and on meds had brought out his snarky side.

"Because, Ranger Halloran has offered to foster you until you are well. The doctor said you should be able to leave in a few days and then you'll have to come back in another few weeks for a follow up appointment, so having you stay with Ms. Halloran is a plus as she lives nearby."

Callen looked at Aileen like she had lost her mind.

"You check her out?" He asked guardedly.

"No." she sighed, "You're so annoying, I'm just going to throw you to the wolves," Aileen said sarcastically. "Of course I checked her out."

"So what's wrong with her?" He asked with a sidelong glance at Mickey.

"Nothing!" Mickey said. She could see why Callen was pegged as a challenging child.

"So why d'you want me then? Don't you know how much of a danger I am?"

"Stubborn I am." Mickey grinned, "I don't know about you being a danger, but what I do see is a scared kid who needs someone to believe in him."

Callen looked stony faced. "Had that, don't need it anymore," he said and looked away as those annoying tears threatened to fall again. "And, I'm not scared!" he said under his breath.

"Ok, I'll take your word for it," Mickey said.

By the time Callen was ready to leave the hospital, he was a bit more receptive to staying with Mickey.

Hetty had bid her goodbyes to the stony faced teenager and had left the room as Mickey had come in. "Are you leaving?" Mickey asked with a smile.

"I am Ms. Halloran, my work here is over for now," she said.

"So you're not taking this one too?" Callen snapped at her.

Hetty turned and looked sadly at the teenager, a flash of something Callen couldn't quite place in her eyes.

"I did not take the Rostov's from you and I did not want you to be separated from them. All I have ever wanted for you was for you to be safe and happy," she said looking him in the eye.

"You've only known me two weeks, don't …" Callen started and Hetty waited.

"Don't what Mr. Callen?"

"Don't act like you know me. Don't act like you care about me, you don't and I can't let anyone care about me...not anymore," he said. "Just go, go back to your life and pretend you never met me, it's safer that way."

Hetty nodded and walked off thinking, "Is it safer for you or me?"

Callen looked at Mickey, "Doc letting me go today?" he asked.

"I just talked to Andy, I mean, Doctor Martin. He said when you're dressed you can get out of here but you have to come back in a week for a check-up of your lungs."

After getting dressed, Callen pulled his shoes out of his bag. He noticed a child's colored drawing fall to the floor and before Mickey could say anything he carefully folded it and put it back in the bag. She saw some writing in blue crayon, but it looked like scribble, so she didn't say anything.

"Ok, let's blow this joint," Callen said giving her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes as Aileen walked in the room.

"We are ready to go Mr. Callen. You'll be riding with me and we'll be following Ms. Halloran to her home."

Callen followed them both to the car, climbed in and waited as Aileen sorted out the directions with Mickey.

He pressed the back of his head firmly into the headrest and holding the drawing that still remained in his bag, closed his eyes.

"Are you sure he's ok about coming with me?" Mickey asked, looking at Callen in the car.

Aileen smiled, "He's as good as he's going to get," she admitted. "Usually when he's placed in a home environment we know if he is going to stay after an hour or two. I will head to the coffee shop down the street from here. If you check on him after an hour and he's still with you, it's a good placement, otherwise, according to your directions he's going to have to run down this road, so I should see him go by."

"It sounds like you've done this a lot," Mickey stated.

Aileen nodded, "Sometimes he stays, sometimes he runs, sometimes they throw him out. His last placement was the best he's ever had. If you can't cope with him, don't worry, just give me a call," she said wanting to offer the younger woman an outif she needed it.

"How many homes has this happened to him in now, three maybe four?" Mickey asked.

"You'll be home number twenty-seven," Aileen admitted. "That's not counting the group homes and the times he's run away to live on the streets."

"Oh my gosh, the poor kid. How long has he been in foster care?"

"Our first records have him dumped on the doorstep of a group home when we think he was five. He didn't speak English and all we had was a piece of paper saying G. Callen."

"So that's why he doesn't know his first name!" Mickey exclaimed.

Aileen nodded, "No one does."

Callen leaned over the front seat and hit the horn, "Come on!" he yelled impatiently. "Stop telling the woman my sad life story and let's get this over with!"

Both women smiled and headed to their respective cars.

On the drive to Mickey's Cabin, Aileen turned to Callen and asked, "Are you sure you're all right with this placement?" She needed more than anything for him to stay put for a while.

"It's better than the alternative," Callen sighed.

"I will see what I can find for you after this. You know this placement is only for the two weeks you're recuperating."

"I know, I know," Callen said resigned. "Aileen, do me a favor?" Callen asked.

"Sure, anything?" she replied.

"After this, no more families; I don't want to be part of a family again, group homes are fine," Callen said sadly watching the streets turn into forests as they drove on. "I can't do that again."

Aileen nodded and drove on with her charge.

Mickey's Cabin was made of wood and the area around it was secluded and beautiful and Callen paid as much attention to it, as if they had parked outside a rundown tenement block. Not looking, he grabbed his bag and stood at the door as Mickey opened it. She invited them in and walked to a door in the back of the living room, "This will be your room Callen," she said. It had a bed, a chest of drawers, a desk, a chair and a new light blue rug on the floor. Light blue bedding completed the décor.

He stood and looked around the room and noticed the new bedding, "You didn't need to buy new stuff for me, it's only gonna go to waste."

Mickey smiled, "I didn't have any bedding for this room so I figured that you might need some."

Callen shrugged, "Floor is good," he replied.

Aileen sighed; he wasn't giving her an inch.

"Come on Callen, put your stuff down and then we can go over the paper work," she said hoping this would move him.

Callen dropped his bag, walked out to the living room and sat on the lumpy couch.

After signing the forms, Aileen left him with a "be good" glare.

Mickey shut the door, turned around and smiled at her new charge. "Ok, so I have steaks or chicken, which do you want to eat?"

"Whatever," Callen replied.

"I hope you'll be happy here Callen. If you need anything, let me know," Mickey said.

Callen stood, walked back to his room and slammed the door, "The only thing I need is Mama, Papa and Alaina," he sobbed to himself in the pillow. "You can't get me that." He continued to cry until he fell asleep.