Chapter 2

Three hours, thirty six minutes, and thirteen seconds- that's how long the Adams Foster family was waiting in the emergency room for news on Callie. Jesus and Mariana sat in the corner of the room. Jude sat with Lena, crying in her arms. Stef stood against the wall next to Mike. Brandon paced back and forth, anxious for an update on Callie.

A woman in her mid-thirties, who wore a pair of blue scrubs, entered the waiting room. Stef practically stumbled towards her and Lena gently slid Jude out of her arms to stand up. "Are you family of Callie Jacobs?"

"We're her foster mothers." Lena nodded. "Is she okay?"

"I'm Dr. Walker, the attending on Callie's case. Callie is in stable condition. She suffered from some serious injuries though. It's a good thing you got her here when you did. If you had waited another ten minutes she might not have made it. She fractured four ribs, which led to pneumothorax-a collapsed lung. One of the fractured ribs punctured the lung. That's what caused the coughing up blood. She also suffered from internal bleeding, which required surgery. She had severe vaginal lacerations that led to a hemorrhage, which also required surgery and a blood transfusion. She went into shock, most likely due to blood loss."

Stef felt like the room was spinning. "Vaginal laceration?"

"I'm very sorry, but Callie was sexually assaulted. We performed a rape kit and found two different DNAs. She also has some old vaginal scarring, which leads me to believe this happened before." Dr. Walker frowned.

Lena nodded, closing her eyes for a moment. This was all too much. "She was two years ago in a previous foster home."

"Callie also has a bruised cervix, a minor concussion, a fractured wrist, a severe ankle sprain, a hairline fracture on her cheekbone, and her shoulder dislocated. She has an abrasion on her forehead and arm which required stitches and she has many contusions. She's very weak and sore right now and experiencing a lot of pain." Dr. Walker pursed her lips as her eyes flicked back and forth between Stef and Lena. "This is just an overview of Callie's injuries. We can talk more in depth later, but I can tell you're anxious to see her."

"Yes, we'd like to see her." Stef whispered with a nod. Her heart was breaking with every word that came out of the doctor's mouth. Callie didn't even want to go to this winter ball, but Stef and Lena had convinced her to go. Maybe if she had stayed home she wouldn't be sitting in a hospital bed right now.

"I just want to warn you that she is traumatized."

Stef felt anger rise within her at whoever hurt Callie. She turned to Mike. "Call the station and tell them what happened. Whoever these bastards are, they're not getting away with this."

Mike nodded and pulled out his cell phone, starting for the exit.

Lena turned towards the children, who must have heard the doctor because all of them looked sick. "We're going to go see Callie first and if she's up to seeing you guys, we'll come get you."

"I'll show you to her room." Dr. Walker said before she spun on her sneakers.

"Do you think it could have been Liam?" Lena's voice came out as nothing more than a whisper and she glanced at her wife while they followed the doctor down the hall.

"I don't know." Stef sighed, trying to hold back her tears.

Dr. Walker paused as she reached a closed door at the end of the hall. She turned the knob and stepped aside with a smile. "I'll give you some time alone. Someone will be in to check in."

"Thank you." Lena whispered before she stepped into the room with Stef right behind her. Words escaped both women when their eyes fell on Callie; her eyes were glazed over as she stared ahead at the wall.

Stef approached the girl cautiously to avoid scaring her. "Hey Callie."

Callie glanced at Stef and Lena before taking interest in her hands, which rested on her lap. One wrist was wrapped in a cast, but the other wrist was painted in a deep purple and red bruise that resembled fingers.

"Callie, who did this to you?" Lena asked, concern laced in her voice, but Callie didn't respond.

"Please say something, love." Stef pleaded desperately. She gently placed a hand on Callie's arm, but pulled it away quickly when Callie flinched. "I'm sorry, baby."

Callie shook her head frantically. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm fine."

Stef and Lena exchanged worried glances. Stef frowned. "First of all, there is nothing you need to be sorry about. Second of all, you are most certainly not fine. Callie, you went through a lot tonight and what happened was horrible. It's okay to fall apart. It's okay to not be fine."

Callie swallowed thickly. She felt tears bubbling in her eyes and she struggled to keep them at bay.

"Callie, please tell us who did this." Lena asked. "Was it Liam?"

The look of horror in Callie's eyes was all the confirmation Lena and Stef needed. Callie chest heaved up and down as she began to gasp for air. Her heart was racing as if it were training for a marathon. Sweat beaded on her forehead. She couldn't breathe.

"Hey, Callie, look at me. Take deep breaths. You're safe, you're okay." Stef spoke in a soothing voice.

Alarms screamed from the machine that read Callie's blood pressure and heartrate as the numbers increased rapidly. Stef and Lena looked around frantically for help. A nurse darted into the room and over to Callie's bedside. "Callie, breathe. In and out. You're okay. That's it, keep breathing."

Callie's breathing slowly evened out. The beeping on the machines stopped. Lena let out a breath that she had been holding in. "Is she okay?"

"She had a panic attack. This probably won't be the last. They're very common among patients who have been through trauma." The young blonde explained. "If they continue, you can consider an anti-anxiety medication."

Lena felt guilt rise within her. She caused the panic attack by mentioning Liam's name. "Thank you."

"I wanted to discuss whether or not you want to take emergency contraception." The nurse said.

Callie felt her stomach churn. The possibility of pregnancy did not even cross her mind. "Yes…I-I do."

The nurse nodded. "Okay, someone will be in shortly to give it to you."

Callie waited for the door to close before she looked at Stef and Lena. "If this changes anything about the adoption, I get it, but please, please still adopt Jude. He…he wasn't involved in any of this and…"

"Callie." Lena interjected. "This doesn't change anything about the adoption."

"Mama's right. We love you, sweets, and this doesn't change anything about that. I'm not really sure what you went through tonight, but I know it was bad and now you have to let us help you. That's what we're here for. Me, Mama, Brandon, Jesus, Mariana, and Jude." Stef offered Callie a small smile.

Callie felt another batch of tears form in her eyes. "How much do you know?"

"Just what the doctor knows. That you were beat up badly and…violated." Lena said. She couldn't bring herself to say the word and she knew Callie didn't want to hear it either.

Callie bit down on her lower lip in attempt to stop the tears. "Does Jude know?"

Stef nodded. "Yeah, I think he does. Everyone overheard the doctor talking to me and Mama."

Callie closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.

"Hey, Callie, look at me." Stef said. Even after everything Callie had been through, she was still putting others first. "Jude is upset, we all are, but that's just because we love you and hate to see you in pain. But again, we are all here to help you. I know you love Jude, but you need to worry about yourself right now. He'll be fine because he has us too. He just wants to see his sister get better."

"But that's not going to happen if you keep everything bottled in. It's okay to cry, Callie." Lena smiled sadly.

Callie's lower lip trembled before tears erupted from her eyes. Sobs wracked her batter body, escaping her cracked lips. Stef's heart broke for the millionth time that night. She had seen Callie suffer from countless traumas and rarely saw her shed a tear. She had never seen her sob in agony the way she was right now. She gently wrapped her arms around Callie. Callie flinched, but eventually welcomed the embrace.

Stef rubbed soothing circles on Callie's shoulder. "It's going to be okay. We're going to get you through this."

Brandon continued to pace in the waiting room with a million thoughts running through his mind; all which revolved around Callie. He needed to see her. Whoever hurt her had practically signed their death certificates. Brandon would make sure that they would pay for this.

Everyone turned their heads at the sound of approaching footsteps. Brandon burrowed his eyebrows as he saw Vico entering the waiting room. "What do you want, Vico?"

"How's Callie?" He smirked.

"What do you know about this?" Brandon asked furiously. He was beginning to think Vico was somehow involved in this. His words replayed in his head. I'm going to hit you where it hurts.

"Callie left me a little gift." Vico slipped his hand in his jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of lacy black underwear. "She was a great fuck."

Brandon felt a surge of fury explode within him. He pounced on Vico without any hesitation. His fist collided into his flesh over and over, punching him wherever he could. He heard his dad and Mariana shouting his name and the woman at the front desk calling for security, but he wouldn't stop, he couldn't stop. Vico had hurt Callie and that was the only thing Brandon could think about right now.

Vico finally gathered himself and shoved Brandon away from his body. He tightened his jaw as he swung his fist to Brandon's jaw. The shock of the last few seconds dissipated for Jesus and anger took over; anger that Vico had hurt Callie and anger that Vico punched Brandon. He jumped into the brawl and punched Vico in the nose, triggering a thin stream of blood to trickle down his face.

Mike grabbed Brandon from behind and pulled him back. "Brandon, Jesus, enough!"

Three security guards darted towards the scene. "What is the problem here?"

"He raped her! He did it!" Brandon shouted furiously. His face was flushed and his nostrils flared.

"She was asking for it." Vico spat, narrowing his eyes at Brandon.

Brandon struggled against his father, but Mike held him in a strong grip. "Brandon, hitting him is not going to change anything. Go sit down or take a walk and calm down. Vico, I'm taking you down to the station. Those underwear will go for testing and even if you didn't hurt her, you are in trouble for tampering with evidence."

Vico spun toward the exit, but the security grabbed him before he had the chance to go anywhere.

"Tell your mom I'm at the station. I will try to come back as soon as I can." Mike said before leaving with the security guard escorting Vico.

"This is all your fault!" Jude shouted abruptly as he pointed his finger at Brandon. "Vico hurt Callie to get back at you for the fake IDs. This wouldn't have happened if you didn't sell them!"

"Jude…" Mariana interjected. Her cheeks were dampened with tears.

"No, it's his fault!" Jude cried as he jumped to his feet. He glared at Brandon before storming away down the hall.

Brandon's eyes gleamed with unshed tears. "No, he's right. It is my fault."

"No it's not." Mariana sighed before she took off in search of her foster brother.

Brandon collapsed onto one of the chairs, burying his face in his hands. Jesus took a seat next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Jude's just angry and upset. We all are. But it's not your fault. It's Vico's and whoever else hurt Callie. When Mom got shot, you blamed me and Mariana because you were upset and the easiest thing to do was blame someone. That's what Jude is doing."

Brandon let out a small laugh. "When did you become so insightful?

"Too many women in the house." Jesus chuckled.

A moment of silence fell between the two brothers. Brandon shook his head. "I didn't think Vico would do something like this."

"None of us did. If we did, we would have gone to extremes to make sure he didn't go near Callie." Jesus said. He studied Brandon for a moment. "You still love her, don't you?"

Brandon sighed, nodding his head. "I do. I told her at the winter ball, but it doesn't matter because we can't be together. She's going to get adopted."

Both boys swung their heads towards the sound of approaching footsteps. Stef walked into the waiting room, her eyes scanning the room. "Where is everyone? Is that a bruise on your face, Brandon?"

"Vico showed up and he had…evidence that suggested he hurt Callie so I got into a fight with him. Dad took him down to the station for questioning, Jude got angry and took off, and Mariana went to go find him." Brandon explained, watching as his mother tried to process his words.

"Vico?" Stef's eyes grew wide with horror. Was Vico tied into all of this because of the fake IDs? "Are Vico and Liam friends?"

"Liam?" Brandon's voice raised an octave. "He was involved in this? He was the other guy that…that hurt Callie?"

"She didn't say it, but it was pretty obvious by her reaction to his name." Stef said with a frown. She paused for a moment before her eyes shifted between her sons. "Callie said she would like to see you guys. She's in room sixteen, why don't you head over there and I'm going to look for Jude and Mariana."

Jesus and Brandon stood and walked down the hall to Callie's room. Brandon froze when he opened the door and saw Callie. Her right eye was a multitude of colors; hues of purple, black, and blue. The left side of her jaw was tainted with a blend of red and purple in the shape of a fist. A red gash was etched on her forehead. Her bottom lip was split and caked with dried blood. The faint remains of fingerprints were imprinted around her neck. A path of bite marks began at her neck and vanished into the hospital gown that she wore. Her arms were littered with bruises and scrapes. Even still she was beautiful.

"Hey Callie." Jesus said softly, despite the anger coursing through his veins at Vico and Liam.

"Hey." She whispered, exhaustion evident in her voice.

"Where's everyone else?" Lena asked her sons.

"Uh Jude ran off so Mariana went after him and now Mom is looking for them." Brandon explained briefly; he didn't want to rehash the details of what had just occurred minutes ago.

"Let me go help Stef. Stay with Callie." Lena said before departing from the room.

"Jude ran off? Is he upset?" Callie asked with concern. Her eyes were red and puffy; it was obvious she had been crying.

Brandon nodded. "He's fine. He was angry at me."

"Why?"

"Uh…" Brandon began hesitantly. "Vico showed up."

Callie's face drained of color and she flinched at the mention of the name. Her throat felt like it was closing. "Jude…he ran off and V-Vico's here. And Mariana is alone."

Brandon moved closer to Callie's bed. "Hey, Jude is okay. So is Mariana. My dad took Vico down to the station to be questioned."

Callie let out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding. "They're safe?"

"Yes." Brandon nodded. "Vico and Liam did this? Was it to get revenge on me?"

Callie began to tremble as tears blurred her vision. "Please don't blame yourself, Brandon. It was not your fault. I shouldn't have gone outside. I was so stupid to listen to him. To think that he was telling me the truth after he had just set me up. I'm so stupid."

Brandon closed his eyes for a moment. She was blaming herself for this. "Callie, you are not stupid. This isn't your fault."

"How…how did you know it was them? Why was he here? What did he do? Did he give you that bruise on your face?" Callie rambled nervously, blinking back her tears.

Brandon glanced at Jesus. "It doesn't matter…"

"Brandon." Callie whispered angrily. "What did he do?"

"He had…he had your underwear and I beat him up, but he got in a punch."

Callie swallowed thickly, casting her eyes to the wall as tears began to trickle down her bruised face.

Jesus and Brandon glanced at one another, worried expressions written across their features. Brandon took another step forward so he was against her bed. He reached his hand out slowly and gently placed it over hers. She tensed for a moment, but relaxed when she saw that it was Brandon. "We're going to get you through this. I'll be with you every step of the way."

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed chapter 2. There still much more to come! Review!