Chapter 27

Callie's eyes fluttered open. She rubbed her eyes as she sat up slowly and glanced around the room for Brandon, but he didn't seem to be in the room. She had been sleeping in his room since the Vico incident a couple of weeks ago. He always stayed in bed until she woke up except for the mornings he had to go to Idyllwild and she usually woke up when she heard him anyway. She pushed the blanket off her and planted her feet on the ground. She used the bathroom before heading downstairs.

"Happy birthday!"

Callie jumped slightly as she was greeted by the unsynchronized praise as she entered the kitchen. A smile found her lips; each of the fosters clan sat around the table, which held a large stack of pancakes. "Thanks, guys."

"Happy birthday, beautiful." Brandon smiled as he strolled towards her, a small, square box wrapped in birthday paper in his hand. He leaned forward to leave a kiss on her cheek before handing her the present.

Callie met his eyes with a smile as she took the box. She gently tore the paper and opened the box, revealing a beautiful silver bracelet with a dangling, heart locket. She opened the locket to find a photo of her sonogram inside. Callie's smile widened as she threw her arms around Brandon's neck, planting a kiss on his lips. "It's beautiful. Thank you."

"Alright you two, come eat while the pancakes are still warm." Stef hollered as she began to serve the pancakes to each place setting at the table.

Brandon helped Callie clasp the bracelet onto her wrist before the two made their way to the kitchen table where their family waited. Brandon pulled the chair out for Callie. "How are my favorite two girls doing today?"

"My back is killing me, I have to pee nearly every hour, and I'm pretty sure my stomach can't stretch any further, but this one…" Callie wrapped her hands around her round stomach. "is good. She's kicking away."

Brandon grinned and pressed a kiss to the side of her head after pouring her a glass of orange juice. "Two more months."

Mariana scrunched her nose. "I think I'm just going to adopt kids."

"Adopting is amazing. But pregnancy is also a beautiful experience." Lena smiled as she rubbed her own stomach.

"It is." Callie agreed as she took a bite of pancake. "I'm complaining about some of the less beautiful parts. But I can tell you there is nothing more amazing than feeling the baby kick."

A smile sprouted across Brandon's lips. Callie continued to amaze him with her big heart. The pregnancy was a result of a brutal attack and yet she was describing it as beautiful.

"Plus, food has never tasted better." Callie smiled as she shoved another bite of pancake into her mouth. The brunette earned a laugh from the others sitting at the table.

Lena nodded in agreement. "I agree on that one."

Ugh, I look like a whale." Callie groaned as she gawked at her reflection. She wore a peach-colored sundress. It wasn't tightly fitted, but it hugged all her curves and the belt below the bust accented her round belly. Dresses had been a common part of her wardrobe the past month. It was July and it was stifling outside. A dress seemed to be the easiest and most lightweight thing to wear.

Brandon chuckled. "You don't look like a whale. You look beautiful."

Callie spun to face him and shook her head. "You're just saying that. I'm huge! Maybe I should wear something else."

"You're not huge. You're eight months pregnant." Brandon took a step closer to her, erasing the space between them. His hand found her waist as he gazed into her chocolate orbs. The eyes that made him fall in love with her all over again every time he looked into them. "You should keep this dress on because I think you look sexy."

Callie watched Brandon's eyes flicker down to her lips. Her eyes fluttered shut as Brandon's lips fell onto hers. Her hands wrapped around the back of his neck, pulling him closer. She felt her heart quicken as their lips danced in perfect synchrony. They'd been officially dating for over seven months, he's kissed her a million times, multiple times a day, and yet he still somehow made her heart race and fireworks erupt behind her eyelids every time his lips met hers.

It was only when they needed air that their lips separated. Brandon reached up to brush a strand curl behind her ear. "No more complaining that you look like a whale because you don't. You are gorgeous. Pregnancy looks sexy on you and I'm not just saying that."

Callie couldn't help them smile that found her lips as she leaned into him. No matter how fat or ugly she felt, he made her feel beautiful. "Can I least complain that I feel like a whale? Because I do. This baby is heavy. It's exhausting carrying her around and I honestly don't know how my stomach is going to stretch any further, but it is because she's still growing."

A laugh left Brandon's lips. "Yes. You can complain all you want, just not about how you look."

"Okay." Callie sighed, and Brandon leaned forward to leave a gentle kiss on her forehead. She glanced at the alarm clock on Brandon's bedside table. "We should get going. You said we had to leave at five, right?"

"Yes." Brandon nodded. His eyes moved to the clock that read 5:01. He took Callie's hand in his and started for the door. "I just have to grab something out back."

Callie walked with Brandon downstairs and through the kitchen to the back door.

"Surprise!"

Callie nearly jumped out of her skin as familiar faces shouted as she stepped into the backyard. She met Brandon's eyes, who looked back at her apologetically. He knew she hated surprises and by his look, she also knew it wasn't his idea. Jude was suddenly standing before her wearing a huge grin and Callie assumed he had been the one to plan this. "Jude, what is this?"

"I wanted to do something special for your birthday. This is the first birthday in a while where we actually have a family. We wanted to help you celebrate."

Callie forced a smile at her younger brother. Anxiety was swimming in the pit of her stomach at all the eyes that were on her. She hated surprises. She hated having attention on her. But she pulled Jude into a hug. He put so much effort into this and excitement was practically radiating off him. She wouldn't disappoint him. "Thank you, Jude."

Brandon wrapped his arm around Callie's shoulder after Jude left to help Stef carry bottles of sodas. "You doing okay? I had to swear not to tell."

"Yeah, it's just a lot." She took his hand in hers.

"We will still go out to dinner. Just the two of us. But tomorrow." Brandon gave her hand a gentle squeeze. He had told her they were going out to dinner for her birthday to keep the surprise. Jude told him to keep her upstairs while they set up outside and the guests arrived.

"That sounds nice." Callie grinned, reaching up to peck his lips. "Come say hi to the Quinns with me."

Brandon walked with Callie to where Robert, Jill, and Sophia stood. He released Callie's hand as she greeted each of them with a hug.

"You look good, Callie." Jill complimented with a smile.

"Thanks," Callie replied, resting her hand on her bump.

"We should have a sleepover before the baby comes." Sophia suggested enthusiastically.

Callie smiled at her sister. She didn't know how to tell her that a sleepover probably wouldn't work. Callie hated sleeping away from Brandon. There had been a few nights where he stayed at Idyllwild overnight. She spent those nights awake half the night. The nightmares were worse when she wasn't with him. Even with him there, she was plagued by nightmares, but with waking up to Brandon's safe arms was so much easier. Sometimes she woke up crying or shouting. It was something she didn't want to expose to Sophia.

Robert must have sensed Callie's discomfort. He placed his hand on Sophia's shoulder. "Callie is welcome to stay whenever. She knows that. But she has a lot going on so let's not pressure her."

Sophia seemed to get the hint and nodded, offering Callie a smile. "But you better visit often when you have the baby. I want to spoil my niece."

"Okay, will do." Callie laughed. She caught the eye of the Girls United crew. "Excuse me, I'm going to say hi to my friends."

Wyatt." Callie startled as she heard footsteps behind her. She had stepped inside to the quiet kitchen to charge her phone. She was shocked to meet the eyes of her curly-haired ex. He left for Indiana again shortly after the winter ball. She hadn't seen him in months. "What are you doing here? Are you back for the summer?"

"Jude invited me. I ran into him at the beach a couple weeks ago. I'm lifeguarding." He explained, his gaze lowering to her swollen belly. "You're pregnant."

Callie was taken aback by the harshness in his voice. She smiled though as her hand found her stomach. "What gave it away?"

"Never really saw you as the type to get pregnant." His voice was dripping in bitterness. "I see you're with Brandon."

Callie's stomach clenched with uneasiness. It was obvious he was angry, but she didn't really know why. They hadn't ended on the best terms. They barely spoke after the winter ball. He had reached out to her while she was in the hospital, unknowingly to him. She had barely answered him and when she saw him at school, he called her out on her lies of being sick. She had avoided him after that. She didn't want to explain what was truly going on. Wyatt had left shortly after that and Callie wasn't sure if he had heard what happened from everyone else. "Wyatt…"

"You made me seem like I was crazy. You strung me along when you were hung up on him the whole time."

"Last time I checked, we were never officially dating. I didn't string you along. You were the one to convince me to go for it with Brandon. And then you left." Callie retorted furiously. He had no right to confront her like this.

"Is it Brandon's baby? Or is it Vico's? I heard some rumors before I left. I know it's not mine since you were a prude for me and apparently only me." Wyatt spat.

"What did you just say?"

Callie whipped her head towards the door to find Brandon fuming, his fists clenched by his side. She could tell by the fury in Brandon's eyes that he had heard Wyatt's last words. She blinked dumbly. Wyatt's words felt like a slap to the face. The rest of the school didn't know her, but Wyatt did. Wyatt knew her well enough to know that those rumors weren't true. And to call her a prude when they hadn't even been officially dating?

"Don't worry man, we're just talking. She doesn't sleep with me, just everyone else." Wyatt sneered.

Brandon's nostrils flared. He lunged towards Wyatt and swung his fist into Wyatt's face. Callie gasped and stepped between the two before Wyatt came to his senses and retaliated. "Brandon!"

"What the fuck, man?" Wyatt shouted as he held his hand to his swollen face. "She's yours, what more do you want?"

"Enough!" Callie shouted, clenching her jaw as she looked at Wyatt. "You really want to know the truth? I pulled away from you because Vico and Liam attacked me at the winter ball. No, the baby isn't biologically Brandon's because despite what you think, I've never had consensual sex. Not that it's really any of your business."

Wyatt's eyes grew wide and the bitterness dissipated from his face as realization washed over him. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. Guilt erupted in his stomach. "Callie…I'm sorry…I didn't…"

"Just leave. I don't want your pity." Callie spat before she took off upstairs before Wyatt had the chance to utter another word.

Wyatt watched her disappear towards the stairs before he turned to Brandon. "I didn't know. I wouldn't have…"

"Save it." Brandon interjected with a growl. He started for the stairs after his girlfriend. "Now you know why I'm so protective. You better be gone by the time I come back down, or I will throw you out."

Brandon found Callie exiting the bathroom when he arrived upstairs. She narrowed her eyes at him before moving towards her bedroom. Brandon gently grasped onto her arm in an attempt to stop her. "Let go of me."

"Callie." Brandon sighed, releasing her arm. "You're mad at me?"

"You know how I feel about violence."

He did know how she felt about violence. With good reason as she had been the victim to violence countless times. But he loved her more than anything and he would do anything to protect her. He refused to just stand there while Wyatt belittled her. "I was protecting you! He was saying awful things to you!"

"Okay, but he wasn't physically hurting me. I could have handled myself!" She shouted, throwing her arms in the air with frustration.

"I know that. I know you can handle it yourself." Brandon said in a calmer voice. He didn't want to fight with her; that was the last thing he wanted to do. "You're the strongest girl I know. But I wasn't there to protect you at the winter ball. And I was barely there to protect you a couple of weeks ago. So I wasn't going to just sit back and watch him talk to you that way. He had no right to say those things to you. Especially at your house on your birthday."

Callie let out a breath. She could see the guilt in his eyes and it killed her. He was still feeling guilty that he didn't save her the night of the winter ball. He was still feeling guilty that Vico attacked her a second time while she was waiting for him. She knew that was a contributing factor in hitting Wyatt. He took the opportunity to protect her while he had it. "Brandon, they set you up that night. He knew you would take the blame. He knew you would get in trouble and that's how he got you out of the way and isolated me. If it wasn't then and there I'm sure he would have found another time and place to do what he did. He was going to do it one way or another and honestly, maybe it was a good thing you weren't there both times. We know what he's capable of, who knows what he would have done to you to stop you from protecting me."

"He came after you because of me." Brandon's voice cracked mid-sentence.

"Brandon, I thought we went over this." Callie frowned as she stepped closer and reached up to cup his face. She gazed into his sad eyes, holding so much guilt. "I don't blame you and you shouldn't blame yourself. You made a mistake, that didn't give them the right to do what they did. Liam wanted revenge on me anyway, which had nothing to do with you. And the last time Vico wanted revenge on me for opening my mouth. Do you blame me for him attacking again because I'm pressing charges? Or do you blame me for the first time with Liam because I liked the attention he gave me at first?"

"Of course not." Brandon shook his head immediately.

"Okay so how can you blame yourself? I've spent so much time blaming myself for things they did, but the only people we should be blaming are them." She planted a soft kiss to his lips. "I'm sorry for getting mad. I know you were protecting me. I just...unless he was physically hurting me, that's not the kind of protection I needed. There's no need for violence in a situation like that. It's not worth it. That's how you had your hand shattered, remember? And when I see things like that, I can't help but remember being on the receiving end of it."

Brandon nodded in agreement as he processed her words. He knew she was right; she usually was. But nothing made his blood boil more than someone hurting Callie and, at that moment, hitting the source seemed like the best thing to do. His fist pummeling into Wyatt's face was satisfying. The words he heard come out of the curly-haired boy were harsh, inaccurate, and uncalled for, and who knows what he had said to her before he walked into the kitchen. Wyatt hurt Callie and Brandon wanted to cause him pain; he deserved to feel pain for saying those things to Callie. But hitting him wasn't going to make up for the guilt of not being able to protect her in the past. Hitting him wasn't really going to solve anything. "I'm sorry. I just, I can't stand when people talk bad about you or when they say things that hurt you."

"And I love you for that. But punching someone isn't going to accomplish anything. I have no problem with you saying whatever the hell you want to someone, but you can't fight them." Callie said, reaching out for his hands. "I need you. I need you here with me. And if you fight everyone that says something bad about me, you won't be because you'll probably be in the hospital or worse."

"I'm not going anywhere." It was Brandon's turn to cup Callie's face, gently caressing her cheek with his thumb. "And I'm glad you're not blaming yourself anymore."

Callie nodded against his hand. "There are days I forget, but I know now what they did isn't my fault."

"It isn't, and I'll remind you every day if I have to." He pressed a ginger kiss to her forehead, inhaling the sweet scent of her shampoo. "Are you okay? You know what Wyatt said isn't true."

Callie inhaled deeply and nodded her head. He had insinuated that she was a slut and that hurt, because on the days that she still did blame herself, she felt like a slut. But she knew Wyatt. She knew he was impulsive and acted on whatever emotion he was feeling. She knew he was angry she had pulled away from him before he left. That anger paired with the shock that she was pregnant caused him to lash out. He wanted to say something that would hurt her because he was angry. And she knew he had immediately regretted it after she divulged the truth to him, but it was going to take her time to forgive him. "I know, I'm fine. Except my back is killing me and I feel like I'm carrying a bowling bowl inside my stomach, so I need to sit. But we should probably go back outside before they notice we're gone."

Brandon chuckled, throwing his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder. "Okay, we'll go find somewhere to sit outside."

The two made their way back to the party hand in hand. They were headed towards empty chairs when Mike called their attention, standing beside an unfamiliar face. "B!"

Brandon paused and whipped his head towards the voice. He led Callie over to his father. "What's up, Dad?"

Mike offered Callie a smile before gesturing to the tall, muscular teenager standing beside him. "I wanted to introduce you to AJ. I'm going to be fostering him."

Brandon burrowed his eyebrows. "You're fostering?"

"Yeah, he was brought down to the station. I got to know him, and your moms talked me into fostering him." Mike explained with a grin. He looked at AJ and pointed to Brandon. "This is my son Brandon."

AJ held his hand out to Brandon, who accepted it with a gentle shake. "Mike's told me a lot about you."

"It's nice to meet you." Brandon replied. He glanced at Callie. "This is my girlfriend, Callie."

AJ locked eyes with Callie, his gaze lingering before dropping to her stomach. He peeled his eyes away and glanced at Mike. "I thought Stef and Lena were fostering Callie."

"They were. It's complicated, but Brandon and I fell for each other and long story short, the dad I recently found out about got custody, but I still live with the Fosters." Callie spoke up, watching AJ nod as he tried to process her words. "Like I said, it's complicated."

"As is every person's life who has been in the foster system." AJ said, earning a nod from Callie. "Happy Birthday, by the way."

"Thanks." Callie smiled, wincing slightly as she brought her hands to her stomach.

"You okay?" Brandon asked, concern laced in his voice.

"Yeah, I think she's just trying to kick her way out." Callie laughed, rubbing her bump in an attempt to calm her. "I swear she's going to be a soccer player."

"That means my granddaughter is strong and healthy in there."

Callie met Mike's eyes to find sincerity swimming in them. His words warmed her heart, nearly bringing tears to her eyes, which she had the pregnancy hormones to blame. Mike had been reluctant in accepting that Brandon was going to raise Melody as his own. She had overheard Mike lecturing Brandon about this stifling his future. He would have to give up so much and Mike worried that he would sacrifice his college education and dreams. Brandon had to reassure Callie that his father's words meant nothing and that they had been and would always be in it together. But now Mike was standing before her referring to her baby as his granddaughter. Not only was he accepting that Brandon would be helping Callie, but he was also considering this baby Brandon's daughter and his granddaughter.

"Thank you, Mike. That means a lot to me." She said softly with a smile. She felt AJ eyeing her and she knew he was trying to figure out the situation. She didn't know how much Mike told him, but she would leave it to him to answer AJ's questions. She wasn't going to divulge her story to someone she barely knew. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go sit because this baby weights a lot."

Callie and Brandon walked hand and hand to the outdoor living room and took a seat on the couch. Brandon wrapped his arm around Callie's shoulder as she leaned into his embrace. His eyes found AJ and his father talking in the distance. "That's kind of strange, huh?"

Callie turned her head to look at Brandon. "What? Your dad fostering?"

"Yeah. I mean he's never talked about fostering." Brandon shrugged. "I just feel like I'm never good enough for him."

Callie placed her hand on Brandon's knee. "That's not true. Mike loves you more than anything. He's watched Stef and Lena foster all these years and he probably wanted to help someone, make a difference in their lives like them."

"I guess." Brandon sighed. "I just got a weird vibe from him. It sounds like he was in juvie."

"I was in juvie." She reminded, pursing her lips.

"Well, you're a lot prettier." Brandon smirked, earning a smile from his girlfriend. His face hardened with jealousy. "But he was looking at you too."

Callie scoffed. "Yeah okay. I'm eight months pregnant, Brandon. I doubt he was looking at me."

"He was." Brandon pouted with annoyance.

Callie's heart fluttered at Brandon's jealousy. She was pretty familiar with his jealous side. It made an appearance not long after she met him. It was when she started to talk to Wyatt. Their feelings for one another were forbidden though. Now that they were finally together, there was something different about his jealousy. It was something she could enjoy now, whereas his jealousy in the past had almost been painful; it had been a reminder that they couldn't indulge in their feelings.

She shifted on the couch and placed a hand on his cheek. Leaning forward, she planted a soft kiss on his lips. "Well, it doesn't matter because I love you and only you."

"That makes me feel better." He grinned.

Thanks for reading! Just a reminder that since this story takes place after Metropolis, Callie never started working at the drop-in center, and hence did not meet AJ. Next chapter is quite intense so stay tuned!

Review!