Holding the coffee pot, Stef poured what would now be her third cup of coffee. She took a seat at the table and buried her head in her hands. She had gone two days with hardly any sleep and didn't think sleeping would be on the schedule anytime soon.
The mug containing her coffee sat untouched. She stared down into the warm liquid and stayed as such until she heard the sound of footsteps. She looked up as Lena stepped into the kitchen, resting her hand on her growing baby bump.
Lena gave her wife a small smile, but it was nowhere near reaching her eyes. Stef didn't return it and looked back down at her coffee, which had now turned cold. "Stef, it's three in the morning." She said with a soft voice and gently took the seat next to her.
The room was silent as Stef still stared at her coffee and Lena wondered if she heard her. She placed a hand on her shoulder and looked her over sadly. Stef turned her head but didn't say anything. She didn't need to explain anything, because they both knew the reason.
"Come to bed. Your body needs sleep."
"I can't sleep, Lena," Stef said, a little harsher than she intended. She drew in a breath, "I'm sorry."
"You don't need to apologize."
"I just can't stop thinking about her." Stef picked at a small spot where it had chipped on the coffee mug. "I just can't stop wondering where she is and if she's safe," she stopped. She didn't want to think about that possibility. It made her stomach turn.
It made Lena's stomach turn as well and gave her goosebumps. She wanted Callie home with them and hated the thought of her being in trouble. Standing from her spot, Lena walked behind her wife and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. "Remember the police are doing everything they can to find her," Lena said with the same soft tone, though telling Stef that, she was also telling herself that as well.
"But what if they don't find her? What if she went somewhere else? When she gets home, things aren't just going to go back to normal."
Lena stared ahead. Stef was right and they both knew when Callie came home, they were going to deal with the consequences of, not just the fact that she ran away again, but also with her parole. If she would even be allowed to live with them again. Lena still couldn't help but blame herself for this. It was their responsibility to get their license renewed, but they didn't. It was because they thought at the time Callie and Jude would be adopted without any hiccups. She wished they knew then what they knew now. Lena didn't think she would ever forgive herself for this. "We'll worry about that when the time comes. Right now, all we need to worry about is the present."
When six came around, the two of them worked together to get breakfast made and lunches packed. Lena worked on scrambling the eggs and Stef got the cereal, milk, and juices out and placed them in their spots on the table. They made turkey sandwiches for Brandon, Jesus, and Jude, and made Mariana a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as part of their lunch.
The kids were up when seven came around. On normal mornings, they would argue with each other over the bathroom, but ever since learning about Callie running away, they had all been cooperative with each other and well behaved. This morning was no exception to the matter. Brandon had been the first one down, followed by Jude. Jesus and Mariana were still getting ready as the four of them sat around the table and ate their breakfast.
As she took a bite out of her slice of buttered toast, Stef looked at the sling around Brandon's hand. It had been a month since he had been beaten up by Vico, a boy who was caught selling fake ID's. Brandon was going through physical therapy to get his hand working properly again and had made progress, but they only hoped it was enough. Brandon was a pianist, and a good one at that, and needed both hands.
"How is it feeling?" she asked him.
Brandon made a fist with his hand and undid it just as fast. "It feels okay," he shrugged.
"Does it feel like it's made any more progress?"
"I guess."
Stef was about to respond, but before she could, the sound of footsteps and a "Good morning" from Lena pulled her attention into that direction. Mariana and Jesus took their seats and helped themselves to eggs and cereal. Mariana talked a little bit about the dance team, but after that It was silent for the most part until they heard the landline going off.
Stef stood to answer it. "Adams Foster residence." She listened for a little bit before walking into the other room. Lena watched with her eyebrows pushed together, wondering who it was that was calling and why Stef went to the other room.
A moment later, Stef was returning to the kitchen. "Guys, momma and I have some stuff we need to get done today, so you'll have to catch a ride to school or walk." She looked at Lena and made a gesture for her to follow her. She led her upstairs to their bedroom so that she was sure they wouldn't be heard.
"Stef what is it?"
Stef sat down on the bed. "That was Bill."
"What did he say?" Lena asked, knowing it was more than likely about Callie.
Stef hesitated for a second, "He said that… that the police found something… and they want us… to come to the precinct with him…"
Lena looked at her and tried to process what Stef was saying. "What did they find?"
"I don't know Lena."
Lena could feel herself becoming nauseous. She sat down on the bed next to Stef. Stef saw that she had become pale and placed a hand on her knee. "Whatever it is, we're going to get through this."
"You say that, but what if it's something we can't get through."
Stef stared at her; her mouth open. She wasn't sure how to respond or if she could at all. The same thing was going through her mind, way before answering the phone. "Let's make sure the kids make it out the door safely and then we'll leave," that was all she could think to say in the moment.
They met Bill in the parking lot of the precinct, and he led them inside the building. They braced themselves for whatever it was as they met up with a detective and were led to a room where they sat down at a desk.
The detective that sat down on the other side folded his hands in front of him. He looked at them with sympathy in his eyes. "We received a call from the police in Arizona. They said that a hiker in the woods came across a shirt." He pulled out a photo and placed it in front of them.
Both women felt their hearts drop. The shirt in the photo looked exactly like one Callie owned. "What does this mean?" Stef didn't think she wanted to know the answer.
"The shirt had Callie's DNA on it." They could tell that there was more. "Along with that," the detective paused. "There was also dried blood."
All three of their eyes widened and tears were flowing freely down Lena's cheeks. They waited for him to continue.
"This leads us to believe that Callie was either kidnapped or was killed."
"No, she's not dead," Lena cut in. Stef grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze, telling her to let the detective explain.
"And I really hope I'll be able to tell you that. But right now, we'll to have to go over the steps we'll take to find her. Since there was no body, we will be treating this as an abduction. That being said, a search party will be conducted where we will search the surrounding areas where her shirt was found. Is there anyone in her life who would want to harm her in any way?"
"Um… we-we can't…"
"Stef and Lena Adams Foster had been Callie's foster mothers for the past couple months," Bill informed the detective. "They were going to adopt her, but it was discovered that Callie had a different father on her birth certificate."
"Is her father in the picture?"
Stef shook her head, no. "After she couldn't get adopted, we tried to look for him, but Callie soon told us she didn't want to continue with it, and we respected that."
The detective nodded. "With these current events taking place, we will have to resume that search and find her father. Given the circumstances, it gives a big possibility that someone may have told him about her, or he may have known about her to begin with."
Stef and Lena shared a look. They never thought about that.
They talked more about the next steps and what exactly would be happening throughout the next few days. It was decided later after they got home that Stef would travel down to Arizona to help in the search. Lena would stay home with the kids, though she had tried to argue about it. They didn't want Lena under too much stress as it wouldn't be good for the baby. Stef would be leaving the next day and had packed for a week.
It was the next day, shortly after Stef's arrival, when the search party took place. Stef looked around at everyone. People from all over town had come to help in the search. The chief of the department that was working on the case informed everyone of each of the areas they were going to look, and Stef was given the chance to speak to everyone before they began.
She talked about how much Callie meant to her and her family and how much she wanted to be able to hug her again and to tuck her in for bed and help her with her homework. She would give anything to be able to do those things again.
The areas that they searched were wooded. They searched for hours but ended up with no success. Stef had gone back to her hotel room for the night and called Lena about how the search went. The search party would continue the next day.
Just a couple miles from where the events had taken place, Callie sat in front of the tv as Thomas sat beside her on the couch. She rested her bad hand in her lap, a rag wrapped around it. It hadn't seemed to get any better and she doubted he would take her to the hospital.
On the tv, the news played, but this wasn't an ordinary news report. It was a news report about her. It covered everything from her running away to the search party that took place and would resume tomorrow. She saw Stef and wondered how far away she was from where she sat on the couch.
Thomas turned the tv off after the report was finished. He turned his head to look at her. "Callie. Your name is Callie. I told you I would find out."
Callie quickly moved her eyes away and looked and looked down at the floor before looking at the door. She knew she couldn't escape yet, especially with him sitting right next to her. She would never make it, probably not even a foot from the couch before he would grab her. However, she did feel hope, because she now knew the Fosters were looking for her and she saw the look on Stef's face during the news report. She looked like she wanted to find her more than anything. And Callie wanted to be found more than anything.
