The next morning, as the sun rose up and the birds sang their 'good morning' songs, Callie was up long before her alarm would be going off. She had spent the majority of the night working up how she would make this work. Where she would go and how exactly she would get there.

In all reality, she wasn't sure at all. She had counted out the money she made while working at "Not a Burger Stand" and came up with just enough money for a bus ticket. But if she took one, she didn't know what her destination would be.

Callie wasn't sure if it was the adrenaline pumping through her veins or if it was the fact that this was a lot more stressful than she thought, but she found herself having to take a seat on the bed and calm herself down. A whirlpool of emotions was running through her and Callie felt they all came all at once.

Her elbow now resting in her lap and her chin in her hand, she recalled the last time she ran away. How easy it was to just slip out the door. Perhaps it was because she wasn't doing it by herself then. She had run away with Wyatt and they were going to make their way to Indiana but were caught along the way by Stef and Lena. There were a lot of consequences she had to go through, with betraying her foster mothers' trust and also violating her parole.

But those consequences were the least of her worries, because she vowed to herself that this time, she would do it right. She would make sure she didn't get caught. Even if that meant running to every state and city in the country.

By the time she heard the older woman's footsteps making their way down the hallway, she had made sure she had all her stuff neatly placed in her backpack. She held her backpack protectively in her lap as the turn of key and the click of door came to its destination. Swinging opened, Helen smiled softly at Callie.

"Good morning. I hope you slept well last night."

Callie returned the smile and gave a quick response that she did. When they made their way downstairs, Helen instructed Callie to place her backpack on the chair in the front room. She obeyed with reluctance and suddenly felt nervous. She wondered if Helen knew, but didn't know how she would, because she thought she was acting as normal as she could.

Helen had poured her a bowl of cereal and Callie only pushed it around with her spoon. Nervousness was being accompanied with nausea and she would have forced herself to eat if she didn't feel like she would throw it back up.

"Feeling sick?"

Callie brought her gaze up to meet Helen's, who had her eyes pushed together in concern. "A little."

"I have something for that. Are you allergic to anything in particular?" Helen asked as she stood from her seat.

Callie shook her head and a few moments later, Helen was placing two gummy tablets in her hand.

"Chew these slowly," Helen said gently, but sternly.

After closing the car door, Callie looked around the campus. There were kids all around being dropped off by parents or talking with friends. She looked past them to see if she could find an easy exit as she made her way to the doors. She turned her eyes to the reflection of the doors to watch for Helen's car to drive away.

When it did, she paused. She knew she would run away at school, but she hadn't quite figured out when she would. Obviously, it had to be before the end of the day and for a moment she cursed at herself for not thinking this part through clearly.

"Excuse us."

Callie turned around to see a group of three girls shoving their way past her.

"What a freak," the taller one, who Callie recognized was in her history class, whispered to the other two. They looked back at her before bursting out in laughter among themselves.

Callie stood shocked and confused as she watched them walk through the two doors and disappear around the corner. She hadn't spoken one word to the taller one and had never even seen the other two until now.

She felt her face twist in anger and her hands balled up in fists, so tightly that they were turning red. She contemplated going after them and punching that bitch in the face.

But instead she turned around and felt her feet leading her away from the entrance doors. That was all that it took. She wasn't about to sit in that classroom with that girl without giving her a piece of her mind. She was done with all of it. With this stupid foster care system. With having to depend on others. She was her own person and she was fully capable of taking care of herself. And she didn't care that others were looking at her as she angrily made her way off the school grounds with no idea where she was going.


"Are you sure you don't want me there with you?"

Stef walked over to pour herself some coffee. "You've got that meeting today and I'm not sure how long it will take." She sat down in her usual spot next to her wife and reached over to grab her hand. "This will be fixed, I promise," she whispered after a moment.

Lena only nodded. She knew she wouldn't believe that until Callie was back in her bed. "This is just all so stressful. That's not good for the baby." She placed her hands on her stomach, as if by example.

Stef didn't know how to respond besides continuing to hold Lena's hand and rub circles on it with her thumb. This was all so stressful, and it wasn't good for the baby. She wished she could make it all go away, but that seemed impossible right now. After a few minutes of silence among the two of them, she brought Lena's hand up to place a kiss on the back of it.

They heard movement coming from upstairs. "Looks like the kids are up," Lena chuckled. And about a second later they heard the yelling of Mariana who was telling Jesus to hurry up in the bathroom.

"I just got in!"

"Well then hurry up and get out. I need to do my hair!"

With that, they felt it was their cue to step in. Stef stood from her seat and made her way up the stairs. "Mariana, your hair can wait until he's done. You have plenty of time."

"That's if Brandon or Jude don't get in there before me." Mariana said under her breath and went back to her room and Stef felt her little statement was a reminder of how big their family had just gotten. One day, it was the five of them, but then just a second later they suddenly became a family of seven.

She shook herself out of her train of thought and went to make sure her other two children were up and getting ready.

"Will Callie be home today?" Jude asked suddenly over breakfast.

Stef and Lena looked at each other, a little shocked by how sudden the question was. Lena swallowed the coffee she had in her mouth before answering, "Well, that's what your mom is going to talk to the judge about today." She offered him a warm smile.

Jude looked down at his food, almost the same way he looked at Callie's spot last night. "But. My essay..." he whispered so quietly that they almost didn't hear him at first.

"Remember what we told you last night? About how Callie will want to hear it when she gets home?" Stef said.

Jude nodded, staring at his food.

"We will all be there to hear it," Lena said gently while smiling softly at Jude, offering him some encouragement.

They watched Jude with broken hearts.


By the time Callie was calming down, she found herself in an unfamiliar neighborhood. She didn't know how long she had been walking for, but she was sure it had been a long time as she felt out of breath.

She felt unsteady on her feet and bent down to sit on the sidewalk, needing to catch her breath. With the palm of her hand, she wiped the sweat off her forehead, and shrugged her jacket off, feeling the hot sun beating down on her. She was dizzy and needed to just rest for a moment.

Off in the distance, she heard dog's deep howls. Turning her head, she caught glimpse of a yellow lab behind a fence. He stared at her and continued barking, but Callie realized that he was wagging his tail and wasn't being aggressive.

She grabbed her bottle of water that sat in one of the side pockets on her backpack.

When she began to feel better, she stood up again and was relieved to keep her balance this time. She looked around, wondering where she should go now. She wasn't sure where she was and wondered how she even ended up here. Biting her lip, she looked at the houses. They were nice and more than likely belonged to someone who was wealthy.

Backpack flung over her shoulder and knowing she had to get out of that neighborhood, she made her way up the street.

Feet colliding with concrete and silently hitting the rocks on the sidewalk with her shoes, Callie wondered if the school had called Helen yet. If anyone was out looking for her. She imagined her social worker on their way to pick her up and the police being called.

Part of her thought of going back to school. She had no idea where she was going and even began to wonder if she was making a mistake. She knew her wanting to run away had more than likely been a spur of the moment. She had been upset with Helen for locking her in the bedroom, and she felt even more upset with Stef and Lena for not coming to get her yesterday.

But she knew she already did screw up. She ditched school and knew the consequences that she was sure to face.

As she continued making her way around town, she found a gas station that she recognized. She stopped walking. She knew her way back to the Foster's from here. If she continued down the sidewalk and went down the first neighborhood, she was on their street.

Her heart raced as she thought about what she should do. Did she even want to run away? She was just so confused right now and wasn't sure if the decision she would make would be the one she would regret.

But, maybe, if she did go over to their house and she told them she was running away, maybe they would convince her to stay.

Callie stared down the street. She had longed for that comfort for a long time. She had longed to be held by her mom; even if Stef and Lena were technically not her mother's yet. She wanted them to tell her that they would fight for her to be part of their family. She needed them to tell her to stay. She needed to hear them say it. She felt extremely vulnerable right now and if they didn't, she knew she would be gone, off to wherever she ended up.

Her feet felt unsteady once again, but this time it was not from exhaustion but from nerves. Once arriving at the neighborhood, she sucked in a breath. She held her backpack strap tightly and tried with all her effort to drag her feet down the sidewalk.

It took three streets to pass, but she eventually found herself on theirs. She could even see their house off into the distance. She stopped once she was right in front of their driveway. There were no cars. Everyone must of been at school and work. She felt her heart sink. They were out like any other day. Completely forgetting about her.

Callie shook her head, knowing that wasn't true. Stef and Lena cared about her. Brandon, Mariana, Jesus, and Jude cared about her. She had to go knock on the door. Maybe someone was home. She walked up the driveway and made her way to the door. The first knock she gave was low and shaky. But the second was more confident and grew louder with each bang. She leaned her ear against the door and tried to hear for any movement coming from inside.

Eventually, she decided to go around to the backyard. She knocked again and peered inside. The house looked like a ghost town almost. It was obvious that no one was home. Her heart once again sunk with defeat. Tears came to her eyes and she wiped them away. When she heard a car coming near, she ran to the front with a glimpse of hope. But she made it just in time to watch the car drive passed her.

As it disappeared, she still watched the empty space. At first, she had no reaction but soon felt tears come back to her eyes. This time she didn't even bother wiping them away.

"Screw them!" She felt herself beginning to hyperventilate with anger. "I'll just leave and not come back." She reached into her pocket and felt the money she had for a bus ticket. She took one last look back at the Foster's house with tears staining her cheeks.

"I'll just take care of myself. I've been doing that my whole life!" she wiped at her cheeks with aggressive force.

She stood for a few minutes, getting herself to calm down some more. Once she did, she took a deep breath and whispered, with a steadier voice, "They'll never see me again."


Stef felt more confident today. She knew she had a much better chance of the judge talking with her and she was going to make sure she didn't screw it up.

Waiting now.

After sending Lena the quick text message, she tucked her phone back in her pocket.

Even though she felt better about today than she did yesterday, her heart still raced. There was still that possibility of the judge refusing to give them an emergency license, and if he did, there was a good chance that Callie wouldn't be coming home anytime soon.

That was why she was going to make sure she didn't lose her temper or do anything that would set Judge Ringer off and make him not want to help them. She needed this to all be fixed.

"Mrs. Adams Foster, Judge Ringer is ready to speak with you now."

It was about a half hour later when Stef was being pulled from her train of thoughts. She quickly thanked them after standing from her seat and was led into the direction of the judge's office.

Judge Ringer sat behind his desk and was looking over some papers, which Stef guessed was likely their's. After waiting for her to sit, he greeted her and began, "I understand the passed couple days have been kind of hectic."

Stef had to stifle a sarcastic laugh, reminding herself that she couldn't make this worse for all of their sakes. Instead, she responded with, "Yes it has. That's why we need your help. I know we should have renewed our license when we were supposed to, but we thought we would be able to adopt both Jude and Callie." Stef couldn't help the desperate tone her voice had taken.

She watched as Judge Ringer looked back over the papers. Judging by the look on his face, she was sure he was going to refuse. She waited for his response with hitched breath. When he looked back up, he let out a small sigh which Stef realized he was probably trying to hide, but she was able to see it.

"This is a bit of a hard rock," he admitted. "As your license did expire and you really were supposed to renew it. But I can tell how much you have been through these past couple days, so I will go ahead and give you an emergency license."

Stef eyes widened with surprise as she really wasn't expecting the judge to give her an emergency license. "Thank you. Thank you." As she stood up, she shook the judge's hand with her own shaking one. "You don't know how much this means to me, to my family, to Callie. Thank you so much!" Words couldn't describe how much relief was running though her and she wasn't sure if she could thank Judge Ringer enough.

As she exited the building, she was desperate to call Lena. She had to sit down on the bench as she held the phone up to her ear. She felt so much excitement.

"Lena!" she said giddily after hearing her answer. "I got it! Callie's going to be home tonight!"

"Oh my god!" Lena yelled, not caring that she was at work. "We have to tell the kids!"

"We will tonight!" Stef's face was beginning to hurt with how much she was smiling. "I have to go with Callie's social worker to pick her up from school."

"I think I'll take the rest of the day off. I need to see our girl as soon as we can."


Callie took a deep breath as she read the sign they had just passed. "Welcome to Arizona: The Grand Canyon State Welcomes You".

The bus she was on was already empty. Everyone who had occupied it before had gotten off at different stops. She wondered why she hadn't gotten off earlier. She wasn't sure she wanted to travel this far.

When the bus halted to a stop, the driver looked at her. "This is the end of the line."

Callie grabbed on to the seat in front of her to help lift herself up. She walked slowly through the aisle until she was making her way down the steps. Once her feet landed on the Arizona soil, she heard the doors of the bus close and watched as the bus drove away.

Part of her wanted to run after it and have the driver drive her all the way back to San Diego. She had no idea what she was supposed to do now.