Callie made it to the station in record time. She didn't think she'd ever run so far in her life but she just had to know for certain that Stef actually was just as work like Lena had told them. She tiptoed her way up the stairs and through the doors. The station was full of activity so no one really noticed her but she kept her head down and moved fast just to be on the safe side. All she wanted was to get a glimpse of Stef and then get back home before anyone even knew she'd left.
She walked down a few hallways, peeking into rooms, looking for one of the very few women in uniform but didn't find her mother anywhere. Callie spotted a bench with a water cooler by it and decided a two minute break would be a good thing. She grabbed a paper cup and filled it to the brim before sitting down and drinking every drop. She gave herself two minutes to catch her breath and then she'd go looking for Stef again.
"Did you bring your daughter in?" Morris asked his partner.
"No." Stef said, looking up at him from her paperwork. "Why?"
"I thought I saw her downstairs by the cooler." Morris answered with a shrug.
"Not her." Stef said, though her gut told her that it wasn't as simple as that. "Which one?" She asked.
"Her." Morris said, pointing to the girl in the purply-grey dress on the far right of their family wedding picture.
"Callie?" Stef asked though she already knew that there was a good chance it was actually her.
"Looked like her." Morris said.
Stef instantly headed down to the water cooler but just found two officers sitting there. "Either of you seen a teenage girl wandering around?" She asked them.
Both officers shook their heads so Stef took a quick look around and when she didn't find Callie she headed back down the hallway she'd come and sure enough she found her daughter peeking into one of the rooms.
"So it is you." Stef said, quietly walking up behind the girl.
At the sound of Stef's voice Callie jumped and turned to look at her mother guiltily but soon the guilt was masked by a hint of relief.
"What are you doing here young lady?" She asked sternly.
"I..." Callie began but had no clue what to say. Somehow 'I just wanted to make sure you really were here' didn't seem like quite the right thing. "I..." She tried again but then just gave up.
Stef watched her daughter and her face softened. She knew why Callie was here and she had no one but herself to blame.
"Making sure I never went anywhere?" Stef asked gently, though she already knew the answer. "That's my fault I guess."
Callie looked back, shocked. She'd expected Stef to be mad at her for sneaking out, walking all this way in the dark alone and just generally breaking the rules but instead she was blaming herself.
"Don't think you're not in trouble." Stef said, as though reading her daughter's mind. "You know it's dangerous to go somewhere without telling us first, especially alone at night like this."
"I'm sorry." Callie said. "I just..." But once again she stopped. In any case, Stef already knew the truth so there was no real need for her to voice it now.
"You never thought to call?" Stef asked, knowing what Callie wasn't saying.
"I just wanted to see for myself." Callie finally admitted, looking down at her shoes.
Stef lead Callie back towards an empty room and sat the girl in the chair. "Honey, I'm not going anywhere." Stef said. "I made a mistake and I'm sorry but it will never happen again. Even that day I had absolutely no intention of ever leaving you."
"I know." Callie said. "But sometimes even when you don't mean it bad things happen."
"Sweetheart, you can't keep living your life waiting for the other shoe to drop." Stef said. "At some point you just have to start living and let life go on. Something bad may happen one day, I don't deny that. But by waiting for that one day, you're missing out on all the good things that are happening right now."
Callie looked up at her mother thinking about what she'd said. She was right, Callie now had everything she'd ever wanted - a family, a home, people who loved her, she was fed and warm and never hurt. Why was she looking for trouble, like Jude had said? Why was she trying to make things go bad? Callie finally realized her answer - she was doing it unconsciously so that she could be prepared for when it happened, but chances were that it wasn't going to happen and Callie was missing out on enjoying her life.
"I'm sorry." Callie said. "I'm sorry." She said again. Tears fell from her eyes as she finally felt a huge weight being lifted off herself.
"Don't be sorry love." Stef said gently. "You have nothing to be sorry for."
"I didn't really believe you." Callie admitted. "I always thought you'd let me down somehow."
"We won't honey, not on purpose ever." Stef promised. "This is it forever baby. You'll always be ours, you don't have to keep testing it."
"I'll try." Callie promised back. "I'll try to remember that."
"Good girl." Stef kissed her head. "Now let my call mama before she finds you gone and worries."
"Honey, don't worry, she's fine, but Callie's here with me at the station." Stef said into the phone to a groggy Lena who had just been woken by the sound of her phone.
"What?" Lena asked, sitting up, completely alert now. "What do you mean she's with you?" She asked.
"She came down to the station to find me, worried that I'd taken off." Stef admitted guiltily. She still blamed herself for that.
"Oh my god." Lena said as she padded quickly to the girl's too and sure enough she found one bed empty. "She walked there all alone?"
"She's fine honey." Stef promised. "I already gave her that lecture but we'll give it to her again tomorrow." Stef said, looking at Callie who looked miserable at the thought.
"Okay. Just bring her home soon please." Lena said, knowing that she wouldn't sleep again until her daughter was safely back in her bed.
"I'll leave as soon as I can." Stef promised. "I should be home by eleven."
"Okay." Lena said before hanging up, both angry at Callie but relieved at the same time that she was safe.
"What's this?" Callie asked when Stef hung up the phone, holding up a couple of brochures of various organizations.
"That's actually something mama and I want to talk to you about." Stef explained. "They are organizations for social services that are always looking for volunteers."
Callie fanned the three brochures and Stef pointed to each one. "This one is a home for children with handicaps." She explained before pointing to the second. "And this one has a grandparent program." She then took the third on and opened it up. "This is the one I think will suit you the best." She began. "These kids have no families or have come from abusive homes just like you. We thought that maybe you'd like to volunteer there and help some other child that could use a friend or a big sister."
"They look sad." Callie said, looking down at the pictures of young faces.
"They haven't found their forever family yet." Stef said. "They could use a friend."
"I think I'd like that." Callie said.
"Well I was going to bring them home today and you, mama and I can talk about it." Stef said. "It might be good for you to have something important to focus on. This way you will still feel in control without having to put yourself in danger."
"I never thought about it like that." Callie said. "When I protected Jude, I didn't think about myself. All I could think about was his safety."
"That's why I thought when I went to get Jesus from Ana's house." Stef admitted. "It's what I think for each one of you."
"I wonder if these kids have someone who thinks about them first." Callie said, looking back at the brochure.
"They'll have you." Stef smiled encouragingly, receiving one in return.
Stef went back to work while Callie browsed the brochures for a few more minutes before looking up at the station. All the officers were moving about, knowing exactly what needed to be done and amongst them was her mother. Callie watched her move with confidence as she took and gave orders and handed papers to various other people. One of only three women in the room, Stef looked completely at ease and sure of herself surrounded my all the men. She was definitely someone Callie hoped to be like one day - just like Sharon had promised.
Callie was brought out of the thoughts by Captain Roberts calling out to her mom. "You brought your kid in just so you could leave quicker." She said to Stef who just laughed.
"Damn, you caught me captain." Stef teased back. "I should have known I can't get anything past you."
"Get out of here Foster." Captain Roberts said. "Get that kid to bed."
"Good night." Stef called and Callie mimicked her.
"Let's get home baby." Stef said as she packed up her bag and headed out.
"You are grounded until you're thirty." Lena said when Stef let them both into the house. Lena had been waiting for them in the living room and heaved a sigh of relieve when she heard the front door open. "What were you thinking?"
"I'm sorry." Callie said shamefully. "I only meant to find Stef and then come right back."
"And if something happened to you on the way?" Lena asked angrily.
But Callie didn't answer. She hadn't thought about how they would feel if something happened to her, all she worried about was if something happened to them.
"I'm sorry." Callie said again. "I'll never do it again."
"You're damn right you won't." Lena said, her anger evident in the word she used. Though she did reach out for her daughter and hug her.
"I brought these for you." Stef said, handing Lena the brochures, giving her a chance to cool down. "Callie said she was interested."
"Yeah?" Lena asked, looking up at her.
"I'd like to try." Callie admitted. "Maybe I can help someone."
"I have no doubt that you can sweetheart." Lena said encouragingly, proud of her daughter. "I love you so much. I may have gotten mad at you but only because I love you so much."
"I know, I love you too." Callie said before jumping off the couch. "I almost forgot, I never got to give you your present." She said as she darted up the stairs quietly to retrieve Lena's magnet.
"What present?" Lena asked surprised.
"Don't get your hopes up." Stef teased. "I got a bumper sticker that said I was old." She explained.
"It's sort of for both of you but Lena more." Callie said, coming down the stairs with a small brown paper bag.
Lena took the bag she was given and carefully pulled out a magnet that read You can't buy love, but you can rescue it. Lena's eyes filled with tears as she saw it.
"It's actually for pets but it kinda works for us too." Callie said.
Lena looked back at it and noticed that over each paw print Callie had stuck the faces of all five of her children.
"I love it." Lena said as she hugged Callie tight. "It's beautiful."
Callie smiled as Stef sandwiched her between them. "We love you." Stef said.
"I love you guys too." Callie said back. "I'm so lucky to have you. Thank you for everything."
"Honey, you have given us just as much as we have given you." Lena said.
"Our life wouldn't be complete without you in it." Stef added. "Remember that. You're not the only one on the receiving end here."
"I had nothing." Callie said. "But you guys gave me my life, you gave me the world."
Callie stayed between her moms for a long time as the three held each other tight, so thankful for the second chance she was given and determined to make the best of it instead of always waiting for something bad to happen - chances are it wasn't going to happen, and even if it did, Callie knew that with her family, she could get through anything.
Author's Note:
So once again this series did continue. Hope you enjoyed it. I'm not sure if it will go on but if I get any further requests that fit into this series I will add to it. I honestly thought I'd get a lot of flak for this story but really I only got good reviews and I just have to thank all you amazing people out there who encourage me to keep writing. You're awesome.
Please, please, please don't hate Stef for what she did (or me for that matter) - she's human, not perfect and she'd just reached her limit. Plus this is just a story... entertainment, and some drama. I always loved Stef's character most because I felt like she struggled a lot to become who she is - someone she's happy to be (like I said in the story) and I really admire her for that but at the same time I think that no one's perfect, everyone makes mistakes and everyone disappoints the ones they love at some time or another. Everyone reaches a point where they just need to take a step back and catch their breath before they make things worse and for Stef, this was it.
I'm not a cop so I'm not sure of procedures, this was just for entertainment purposes so any errors are accidental thought I tried to keep it as realistic as I could. Also I've never been to the West Coast so distances, times and milage may not be correct but I googled what I could and tried to keep it as accurate as possible. This includes the fact that I later realized that Vasquez was sent to Sacramento - too far for him to just drive down to help out but anyways... let's pretend he hadn't moved so far :)
As for Lena's pregnancy - I purposely left out the details because I didn't want all the stress to cause her to lose the baby. Like I said in Pushed to the End I don't want Callie to be directly or indirectly responsible for what happens to the baby and so if at all it does happen it will be after this story, where Callie is not involved.
I didn't write about Callie's time with the children's home because I plan to make that a story of it's own that won't involve her eating problems and self harm. It will just be a short story of Callie coming to terms with what her life used to be versus what it is now.
A big thank you to Lacorra for her help and suggestions.
If any of you have any ideas for me please let me know, I'm kinda having writers block but don't want to stop writing. Thanks.
Once again that's a ton for reading and for the great reviews (especially all of you who tried to make up for the hate reviews)... I took your advice and started moderating my reviews, I didn't really want to but this one person (I'd rather call her something worse) is ruining it for everyone.
You guys are awesome and I get so excited whenever you update your stories. Keep writing.
Love Junebug.