SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! IM ABOUT TO FAIL HIGHSCHOOL LOL. I promise I'll start updating more consistently in a couple weeks cause school ends soon and it will be summer vacation which means lots of free time!
It was Monday, finally adoption day. The whole family got to miss school and work. Jude walked into Callie and Sophia's room. Callie was already awake sitting up in her bed. Jude was surprised since everyone was sleeping in because they didn't have to go to school. He walked up to Callie and sat on her bed. "You excited?" Jude asked. Callie smiled. She was excited. She loved the fosters, and she was so happy her and her siblings were finally getting their happy ending they deserved.
"Yes, very excited." Callie said.
"Party without me?" Sophia called from her bed. She jumped onto Callie's bed next to Jude.
"It's adoption day Soph!" Jude reminded.
"How could i forget?" Sophia said clapping. "We're finally going to have a family." Sophia said.
"What are you guys talking about?" Mariana asked as she stretched and woke up.
"Oh sorry we woke you." Jude said,
"Don't be sorry, she wakes me up in the middle of the night to go downstairs with her to get water." Sophia said with an eyeroll.
"Umm.. it's scary down there! Who knows, someone could break in or something, and me being downstairs means I'm the first target." Mariana defended.
"So you bring me with you? To be the first target too?" Sophia laughed and Mariana laughed too. They saw Jesus open the door.
"Good morning!" Jude said.
"Can you guys be a little bit quieter?" He asked. Sophia threw one of Callie's pillows at him.
"Well now I'm awake.." Jesus said and sat on Callie's bed.
"Listen my bed is not big enough for the four of us." Callie said and they laughed.
"It may be big enough for the four of us!" Mariana said and walked over and pushed Jesus off the bed and sat on the bed with her three siblings. Jesus looked at Mariana and stuck his tongue out at her. He took the pillow Sophia threw at him and sat on it beside Callie's bed.
"You guys ready to be adopted?" Jesus asked.
"More than ready." Jude said.
"You guys ready for three more siblings?" Callie asked.
"Totally." Jesus said, "It would make it easier if Jude doesn't have Connor sleep over anymore."
"Why?" Jude asked.
"You guys sleep in our room and stay up all night! I can't sleep."
"Aw!" Callie exclaimed.
"What?" He asked.
"You said 'our' room." Callie said and hugged Jesus.
"Well it is. You guys are great." He said smiling.
"What happened to my brother and who is this guy?" Mariana said noticing how nice Jesus was being.
"What about you? You haven't said a mean thing to me all morning. That's pretty out of character." Sophia asked Mariana.
"You better fix that bed head." Mariana said pointing at Sophia's poofy hair.
"There she is."
"What is all this noise?" Brandon asked opening the door.
"Just talking." Jude said. Brandon sat down beside Jesus.
"Guys did you hear?" Jude whispered.
"What?" They asked in unison.
"I'm not supposed to say anything, but after the adoption we might be going to Disneyland." Jude said. They all gasped.
"Disneyland?" Sophia asked, Jude nodded. her jaw dropped.
"Should've known, moms did the same for us when we got adopted." Jesus said.
"And the same for me when moms moved in together with me." Brandon said.
"So fun! Our first family vacation." Jude said. They all laughed and smiled, so excited for what was to come
"Let's hope this adoption goes through." Callie said, breaking the laughter.
"Really? Negative Callie had to ruin the moment." Mariana said.
"Usually judges, and the system just doesn't work in our favor." Callie said. She looked at Jude and Sophia who looked at her with sad eyes. "But it will probably work out. Don't worry." Callie said. They all sighed in relief.
"Why don't we get another hour of sleep before we actually have to wake up to get ready." Brandon said.
"Fine but i call first shower!" Sophia said.
"Ugh!" Mariana shouted and walked back over to her bed.
"Good morning loves!" Stef said as her kids came downstairs.
"What's for breakfast?" Jude asked.
"We are going to go out for breakfast." Lena said.
"We haven't done that in so long." Sophia said. She remembered her first breakfast out with the Fosters, they went to breakfast and then went to Callie's court hearing for Liam. Liam ended up getting a small sentence due to the fact that his family was wealthy and had a good attorney, but Callie still had won the case because there was a lot of evidence against Liam. At breakfast before the court hearing, Callie remembered being a mess. She was nervous, she didn't want to see his face. Stef, Lena, and the kids made her feel better. She was excited to go to breakfast to celebrate something, instead of preparing for something bad.
"Alright everyone get ready to go!" Lena said.
Sophia put on her dress. Mariana curled her hair and put some of her makeup on her. She felt so beautiful. She felt so happy. Jude wore a suit and Mariana painted his nails. Jesus wore jeans and a black nice shirt, Brandon wore jeans and a red shirt with a black jacket. Mariana wore a dress that was black and had flowers on it, she braided part of her hair too. Callie put on her dress and put her hair back. She looked in the mirror. She looked at herself. She could see that today was a chance at happiness, life with the fosters was a dream come true. She smiled at her reflection and took a deep breath before joining her family downstairs.
"Alright are you all ready?" Stef asked. Everyone responded with yes or nodded. "Okay lets roll!" Stef said. They walked to the car. Callie grabbed Sophia and Jude's hands. They shared a smile before piling in the car for their big day. It felt like nothing could go wrong.
"So we wanted to tell you guys something." Lena said and took Sophias hand who was sitting next to her. "After the adoption, we're going on a family trip to disney land!" Lena said. Everyone smiled, Mariana faked a gasp.
"Oh my god you guys knew." stef said with a laugh.
"I'm sorry I had to tell! It's so exciting!" Jude exclaimed.
"How did you know we knew?" Jesus asked.
"Mariana." Everyone said in unison.
"Oh come on." Mariana said with a laugh. "Should've known the almost falling over in shock was a bit much." She said and everyone bursted in laughter. Everyone continued to talk about small things like school, sports and friends. Callie felt the air being sucked out of her as she looked over and saw a familiar head of hair. It was Liams hair, his blonde wavy hair. She felt her heart drop the floor and her breath quicken. Her mind replayed the moments of when he hurt her all those times. He then turned around, and Callie realized it wasn't him. She sighed in relief. She still couldnt get him off her mind. No Callie, don't let Liam ruin this day. She felt tears fill her eyes as she couldn't shake the thought of Liam being here. She knew he wasn't here, and she knew he couldn't hurt her, but she still felt unsafe. Callie felt that she couldn't breathe. She stood up, interupting the families conversation with each other. "I uh, have to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back." Callie said.
"You okay love?" Stef asked.
"I'm great." Callie said and faked a smile. She hurried off and the tears started falling uncontrollably. She walked into the bathroom.There was no one inside. Callie looked at her puffy eyes in the mirror and the mascara she put on that was smearing off. Her chest felt so heavy, like it did when Liam was on top of her. She felt like she couldn't breathe. She felt her body start to shake. No Callie! Calm down, this is a big day. Callie told herself. She couldn't calm down though, her heart was beating so fast and everything didn't feel real. Callie turned on the faucet and turned on the water all the way to the hottest setting. She stuck her hands under and jerked it back fast as extreme heat overwhelmed her. Then she slowly moved her hands under the water and gasped in pain, but suddenly she felt calm. She heard the door open aggresively. She shrieked in fear and fell back.
"Hey it's just me! Sorry to scare you!" Mariana said to her sister. She examined Callie, her eyes puffy, her face stained with tears mixed with running mascara. "Are you okay?" Mariana asked.
"Yeah I'm fine." Callie said. Mariana held her hand out to help Callie up, Callie grasped her hand and Mariana let go.
"Oh my god your hands are burning hot!" Mariana screamed, she looked over and saw the water in the sink steaming. "Callie what the hell? Were you washing your hands with steaming hot water?" Mariana asked. Callie stood up.
"Mariana chill, I didn't mean to." Callie lied.
"What's wrong Callie?" Mariana asked.
"Nothing Mariana! Mind your own damn business!" Callie hissed.
"Oh my god. Just trying to help. Don't have to be like that." Mariana said and reached for the door.
"Wait!" Callie said. Mariana turned around. "I'm sorry. Will you help me fix my make up?" Callie asked. Mariana smiled and nodded.
"You don't have to tell me what's wrong, but just know everything's going to be okay. You're getting adopted, and we're going to be a family now. You don't have to go through whatever's going on alone." Mariana said. Callie sighed as Mariana took a paper towel and started removing the smeared makeup.
"I thought I saw Liam, it wasn't him but it still made me think about things I didn't want to think about, especially today." Callie admitted. Mariana stopped removing the makeup off of Callie and looked at her.
"I can't even imagine what you have to deal with, the painful memories. Sometimes I remember my birth mom. How she left me and Jesus in our cribs for hours on hours so she could get high. Sometimes what I do when I think about that stuff or it pops in my head is replace it with a different memory, a better memory. Like I think about going to the beach with my friends. I take a deep breath, inhale good memories, exhale the ones I don't want to think about." Mariana explained. Then applied fresh makeup on Callie.
"Wow..Thanks Mariana, that really helps." Callie said. She thought about memories she could replace with Liams. Maybe the day her and Mariana went to the park and took pictures of each other until dark, or maybe when her and Brandon played guitar and piano together during lunch at school, or maybe bike rides with Jude and Sophia on the new bikes Stef and Lena gave them. She smiled. Mariana took Callies hand and returned back to breakfast.
At the courthouse, stefs mom was there and so were Lena's parents. Stef invited her dad but he couldn't make it. Sophia's softball friends were there, and so was Connor. They were sitting in the waiting area for their turn.
"Hey Callie!" Callie heard a voice from the entrance. She turned and it was Wyatt. Her and Wyatt barely talked since talya. She was confused why he was here. She approached him. "This is for family and friends right?" He asked.
"Yeah.." Callie said.
"Listen, I'm sorry about the whole thing with Talya. But you seem cool, and I'd like to get to know you." Wyatt said. Callie smiled a little bit. They returned back and Wyatt sat beside her. A woman approached.
"Stefanie and Lena? Can I speak with you?" She asked. She looked serious. Sophia and Jude exchanged worried looks and Stef and Lena went over there. They came back, they looked upset. Sophia, Jude and Callie walked up to them.
"What's wrong?" Jude asked.
"It seems like there's been a problem with the adoption. Callie has a different father than you guys who didn't sign away his rights." Stef explained. Sophia and Jude felt tears leave their eyes.
"What?!" Sophia asked.
"What does this mean." Jude said.
"Callie can't get adopted till her biological dad signs away his rights. The lawyers have been working on it, but it takes time i guess." Lena said. She looked at the kids, their hearts broken. Callie took a deep breath and kept the tears from falling.
"No there has to be a mistake, we all share a dad. Donald, he's in jail." Sophia explained.
"They said they spoke with Donald as well, and he said they he was not the biological father of Callie and they can confirm that with dna. I'm so sorry you guys." Stef said with tears in her eyes. "Callie, do you know anyone named Jim Pearson?" Stef asked.
"N..No.." Callie stuttered. "Is that my dad?"
"Yes. Don't worry, you're still getting adopted honey, we just have to get this guy to sign off his rights." Stef said.
"What if he doesn't? What if he wants to..keep her?" Sophia asked.
"He won't." Callie stated.
"Callie, if that happens then we fight. Because we are family." Stef said. She wanted to hug Callie, but she knew Callie wouldn't want that right now. She saw Callie fighting so hard not to cry. "Now i know this is a difficult question, but Sophia and Jude, do you still want to get adopted today?" Stef asked. Sophia's tears were flowing uncontrollably.
"Not without Callie." Jude said.
"We can push it back a little, we have to do it together." Sophia said. Callie took a deep breath and looked at her siblings.
"No. This is your big day. You are finally getting a family. You are going to go in there, and becoming an adams foster. This is what we've always wanted." Callie said and put her hands on a shoulder of her siblings.
"But Callie.." Sophia started and Callie wiped their tears.
"Come on, no tears. This is a happy day." Callie said.
"Okay, we will do it." Jude said. Stef and Lena let a few tears fall, they couldn't help it. It was obvious Callie was so hurt.
"Callie-" stef started.
"No i just need a minute." Callie said backing away. She felt a tear fall.
"Honey-" Lena said.
"I just need some air I'll be right back." Callie said and turned around as the tears bombarded her and fell uncontrollably. She ran outside and sat on the bench and began to sob. It hurt so much, it hurt that she would never get a happy ending. She put her hand to her chest, to try and control the sobs but it was no use. She couldn't help it anymore. She heard a door open and Brandon come outside.
"What happened?" He asked. She felt her heart actually hurt, it felt like someone was trying to rip it out of her chest. She couldn't breath. Brandon walked over to Callie. "Callie?" He asked.
"I..I can't get adopted.." she said. "Nothing ever works out!" She shouted. Her head was spinning.
"Hey, it's going to be okay, what happened?" He asked.
"I have a dad, a different one than Sophia and Ju..Jude.." Callie said. "They have to push back the adoption till they get him to sign away his rights. It feels like the whole fucking world is against me." Callie said.
"They'll find him cal, we will make it work. We don't need a stupid piece of paper to say you're our family, we know." Brandon said. He took her hand. "This is going to be okay, i know it feels terrible right now, but everything's going to be fine." Brandon said. Callie wrapped her arms around him. And finished crying. "Thanks Brandon, you're a great brother. I'm glad to have you." She said.
"No problem, now lets get back in there." Brandon said.
"Okay i think i just need one more minute by myself." Callie said.
"Okay, I'll tell moms you're okay." Brandon said and left. Callie collected herself, pulled out her phone and looked up 'Jim Pearson' She saw a foster care license pop up, and a photo. She noticed the similarities between her and him. Her dad was a foster parent? And couldn't take care of her? She saw his address and saw it in califnornia. She took a deep breath. She knew what she had to do.
The adoption was over, the small crowd that consisted of family and friends clapped and cheered, along with Callie. Sophia and Jude smiled as the mothers hugged them and kissed their heads. They were so happy. They knew they would be more happy if Callie was being adopted with them, but they knew she would be adopted soon anyways. Callie watched her siblings with a smile on her face, then her smile quickly faded as she remembered that she was not up there with them. That her father abandoned her, and that Liam still couldn't leave her mind. She felt so happy for her siblings, but at the same time she was still so unhappy.
The family returned home. "I'll go get the cake!" Mariana said. Jude and Sophia ran to the kitchen, along with Jesus and Brandon. Callie started to walk towards the kitchen when Stef stopped her.
"Callie love, can we talk?" She asked. Callie stood and nodded. "You know you're just as much apart of this family as the rest yes?" She asked.
"Yes." Callie said. She didn't know if that was how she felt, but she knew that was the right answer.
"We love you honey." Lena said and kissed her head.
"Love you too." Callie said. She felt her heart melt as Stef and Lena hugged her. No. Stop. Who knows how long this could last? You're still just a foster kid. Callie backed up. "I..I'm going to go to bed." Callie said.
"We have cake honey." Lena said.
"I don't really feel like celebrating.. I'm sorry." Callie said.
"It's okay, we understand." Stef said before Callie disappeared up the steps. Stef and Lena exchanged looks, they hoped their Callie was okay.
Callie pulled out a notebook and wrote down Jim Pearson at the top. Then wrote his address, and his phone number. Callie got up off her bed and looked out the door. There was no one upstairs. Then Callie shut her door and locked it. She pulled out her phone and slowly dialed the number, took a deep breath and clicked call. After a few rings, she heard a gruff "hello?" From the other line. It was so aggressive, so angry.
"H..hi.. I'm Callie. I'm a foster kid and I'm trying to get adopted, but i need my fathers signature to sign off my rights. I would've let the lawyers and stuff take care of this, but it's a long process. A..anyways, i was told you were my biological father, and I..I need your signature so I can get adopted." Callie said. There was a pause.
"Listen kid. I don't know you, but I know I'm definitely not your father-"
"But you are, listen, my mom, Colleen-"
"Colleen? Listen kid I'm not signin anything. You're not getting anything from me. Don't call again." He yelled.
"Please! I just want your signa-" Callie yelled and then she heard the phone call end. She felt the tears pour out of her eyes. How could she fix this?
Okay, I know some of you have questions. Like where is Robert. I decided he wasn't that much of an important character for the story cause Callie already has a biological half sister. I made Jim Pearson (i believe that's his name) to be Callie's biological dad for specific reasons you'll find out in the next chapter:) thank you please review and follow and favorite! 3