After a few hours of having test done. Which included a camera in her ears and the hearing test that they had explained. It was confirmed that indeed Callie had mixed hearing loss. One was due to the ear infection she had a few years ago. And the other was that her inner ear suffered irreparable damage. They were going to try a hearing aid to see if it would work. If the hearing aid didn't work they would try surgery to see if they could at least restore some of her hearing, and then they would try the hearing aid again. The surgery was to put tubes in so that the fluid that was in her ears would drain out. That way the hearing aid would probably work better.
"Moms?" Callie said hesitantly.
"Yeah bug?" Stef looked at her daughter.
"What if I need surgery?" Callie was scared about that. Plus she would need to miss more school.
"Oh honey. It's going to be ok." Lena said.
"Yeah Cal. We are going to be there for you the whole time." Stef reassured her.
"But I don't want surgery. That just means more time out of school." Callie really didn't want that.
"Callie your health is more important right now." Lena said. She needed her daughter to understand this.
"But…" Callie tried again.
"No. No buts. You get better first then we can talk about school." Stef cut her off.
Callie just looked down and nodded. "Can I start on the paper I have to type?"
"Are you sure you're up to it? You look tired love" Lena said while looking at her.
"Yeah. I'm ok. I'll do some of it now, then I'll take a nap." Callie said. She was hoping that her moms would let her work on it.
"Ok, if your sure." Stef handed Callie her laptop and her school bag. She watched as her daughter took out books and papers. That were highlighted and marked. She opened her laptop and started to read. She would type and read, type and read. She looked so tired but she was completely focused on her work. This is why she skipped a few grades. She was a hard worker and liked a challenge. All her kids were smart. Ones more focused than others but they were all good students. But Callie? She was exceptional.
Even when Lena brought her home from juvie you could see she was wise beyond her years. They just thought it was street smarts. They had no idea about her academics. When they got her academic files, they saw a bright student but nothing that would make her stand out. That was until she took the entrance exam for Anchor Beach. She failed the first time she took it. By one point, but she failed it. She convinced Lena to give her another chance. But there was less than half of the school day left so Lena was hesitant. Until Callie promised to be done before the school day was over. To Lena's surprise, she was done in half the time and got a 100 on it. The next day Lena gave her the exam for the next grade. And she passed that one too. When she took the sophomore test she scored a 95, so that's where Lena assigned her. And she's been doing great. She has a few AP classes, but she gets all her work done. She also helps her siblings. She will tutor and help study when needed and asked.
She still had a hard time thinking about everything Callie had gone through in her short life. Despite everything she had been through she still tried her best, but it wasn't until Stef and Lena that she was able to relax and just be a kid. But even that wasn't easy. They still had problems with her taking on responsibilities that she wasn't supposed to. She would defend her sibling and protect them when she noticed anyone bothering them. She would stop bullying acts towards her siblings and other students. But she didn't care if she put herself in danger or not. To her, her life wasn't worth much. That was the biggest change they had to make with her. Trying to get her to understand that she was not disposable. That that she mattered. She would defend someone but take the punishment ishment or attack on herself. And that just didn't do. They have been breaking her of that habit for a few years now. And she was doing better.
After Callie worked on her paper for about half an hour. She started yawning. Before the moms could say anything to her, she started to pack up all her papers and shut down her laptop. "Moms?"
"Yeah bug?" Lena looked up from her book. Callie looked wiped.
"I think I'm going to take a nap. I'm tired." Callie said while she packed everything up.
"Ok honey, and thank you for keeping your promise. I know you want to get the paper done but you need your rest too." Lena said. She stood up and started to help Callie put the stuff away.
"I know mama. I just wanted to get it started. Starting is the hard part. Now I just have to let the information I learned flow." She finished putting away her stuff and handed it to her mom, who set it on the floor by the closet.
Callie laid down and got as comfortable in her hospital bed as she could. "Night moms."
"Night bug. Just rest were going to be right here." Stef said while tucking her in. She bent down and kissed her forehead.
Lena did the same thing. "Good night honey."
Callie smiled and closed her eyes. She was asleep in minutes.
When the moms were sure Callie was sound asleep, they decided to go talk with the doctors. They wanted to know how she was doing.
They walked to the nurses station and asked to talk to Dr. Carlson.
"I believe she's making her rounds. She should be dark any minute. She also has your daughter's physical scheduled for today." The nurse said.
"Yes. At what time?" Lena asked.
The Nurse looked at her computer, and after some typing she looked back at the moms. "Um… it looks like 1:30."
"Ok, well it's 10:14 now, and Callie just went down for a nap. She still feels very tired." Stef said.
"Yes those are side effects of the medications she's on." The nurse explained.
"Yes. So can she have lunch before the physical or does she have to wait?" Stef asked.
"I would wait in case the doctor wants blood work done. Some of them have to be done while fasting." The nurse said.
Both moms looked a little worried. They knew that Callie didn't like needles. If she needed blood work it would not go well. "Ok. Then we will let her sleep until as close to the exam as possible." Stef said while glancing at her wife. Lena nodded. She knew Callie didn't wake up well from her naps. Hopefully she would wake up on her own.
"Please have the doctor see us before her exam. We have some questions for her." Lena said.
"Sure no problem." The nurse said.
"Thank you." Lena said to the nurse.
They both made there way back to Callie's room and sat down on the cot together.
What do you think we'll find out with her exam? Stef asked her wife.
"I don't know. But at this point any information is good. She's so hesitant to talk about anything that's wrong with her. She will stand up for everyone. And try to protect them, but when it comes to herself… it's like she has a death wish. When we adopted them she told us everything about Jude. Even that he had asthma as a child. But when I asked her about herself. She said that she was always healthy." Lena said.
"Yeah, this is healthy…" Stef chuckled sarcastically.
"Well in the time she's been with us. This IS the first time she's been really sick." Lena stated.
"That she's told us! God knows how many times she's been sick and didn't tell us." Stef pointed out.
At this Lena frowned. Stef was right. She wouldn't tell them if she wasn't feeling well. She didn't this time. Still I don't see them finding anything major.
"Maybe you're right. I hope they don't find anything serious. I don't think she'll be able to handle anything more. First the bee, then the infection, after that the antibiotics and now her hearing… she has been in and out of the hospital for the past five days and she still has to get her physical and allergy test done." This was going to be hard on Callie. Both moms knew it. She was going to feel like she was treated differently and she wouldn't be wrong. They had to be careful with her from now on.
"About the hearing. How do you think she's going to handle this whole hearing aid thing? She seems very adamant about not wanting to stand out at school. Which with her being 15 and a senior is kind of hard already." Stef said.
"Honestly, I don't know. She seems ok with whatever they say until she thinks about it and realizes that people at school will notice. Then she freaks out." Lena said.
"Maybe we should just ask her? She's been very easy lately and calm. Even with the hearing aid argument, she was calm and respectful. Which surprised me." Stef was really surprised. She expected Callie to throw a fit.
"I know. She held it together and expressed herself with respect. I was so proud of her." Lena said while looking at their daughter. She was sleeping soundly.
"So was I. Let's ask her when she wakes up. Maybe she'll talk." Stef suggested.
"I have to go to the school to turn in some paperwork and pick up some more." Lena said while standing up and stretching. "I also want to go home to change and take a shower."
"You haven't noticed anything at school?" Stef asked her.
"No… all her teachers say is what a wonderful and smart girl she is. Very respectful and helpful. One teacher told me that she was starting to make friends." Lena recited all the compliments she got from her teachers.
"Friends? Callie? In her age group or in her grade?" Now this surprised Stef. Callie never made friends easily.
"In her grade. I was actually worried, because I didn't considered the student a good influence, but the teacher told me that since she started to see them together, that this other students grades have gone up. That Callie was a good influence on her." Lena stated.
"Wait what?" Stef said suspiciously. "What do you mean a bad influence? And her grades have gone up?
"Yeah apparently this students grades have gone up since she started to spend time with Callie." Lena didn't understand the issue.
"And she's a senior with a bad rep?" Stef kept connecting the dots that Lena didn't seem to see.
"Not a bad rep per se, but not the best student and has a bit of an attitude. Why?" Lena asked. She was confused as to what Stef was getting to.
"Lena, doesn't this sound suspicious to you? Callie making a friend in her grade and then this students grades suddenly just start to improve." Stef asked her.
"It was at first, but when I saw them interacting, they seemed genuinely friendly with her." Lena said thoughtfully. Kylie was not the best student and she had received many complaints from different teachers. But nothing suggested that she was a bully.
"Did they see you watching?" Stef was now very concerned. If Callie was doing this girls work, that would explain why she has been stressing out about this paper.
"I don't know. Why?" Where was Stef going with this?
"I think Callie is doing that girls work for her." Stef finally said.
"What? No way. She would talk me if she was being bullied at school. She's told a couple of times when Jude or the others were getting bothered by other students." Lena stated. She had to think that they had earned enough of Callie's trust. Enough that she would come to them if something like this was happening.
"But this is her were talking about. And if this person decides to threaten Jude or Mariana she would take it." Stef pointed out. This was Callie they were talking about. She had a protective instinct but no survival instinct.
"You have a point. And there's also this paper she just has to get done and turned in. I excused her from all assignments at school. They are not expecting anything from her." Lena thought it over.
"Then maybe we shouldn't let her do this paper. See what happens." Stef wanted to get to the bottom of this.
"I think we should ask her. She might tell us." Lena was always optimistic. She believed that with a little support and comprehension, the kids would open up. But that didn't always work, especially with Callie.
"I don't think so. But if you want to try that we can." Stef said.
"Like I said. I have to go to the school. I'll stop by her teachers and talk to them. Maybe they noticed something." Lena said. Yes she would talk with Callie's teacher. It was english so all she had to do was talk to Timothy.
"Also we can check to see what this paper is about. We know her laptop password, so we can just go in and check." Stef said. Her cop instincts were sharp. And her gut was telling her that something was wrong.
"Stef… we can't just invade her privacy. That's why I want to ask her first. Give her the chance to tell us what's going on." Lena scolded in a whisper.
"Lena do you really think that she's going to tell us?" Stef asked.
"I know that she will close off if pushed, but we can't invade her privacy just because. We have no proof." Lena said. She wanted to give Stef the chance to change her mind. She needed to understand that hair kids were not criminals that she had to investigate.
"Fine we'll ask her when she wakes up and then I'll invade her privacy." Stef said resigned.
"Stef! She is not one of your criminals. You don't have to investigate her or interrogate her. She needs her mom not a cop." Her wife obviously didn't get it. What was she going to do?
"Well I'm both so she's going to have to talk or I'll find out on my own." Stef was determined to find out what was going on. Callie wasn't going to talk so she, as her mother, was going to find out what was wrong and fix it.
At around a quarter after one, Callie started to wake up. She was hungry, but felt a little better. If only she could get rid of the tiredness, then everything would be bearable. From what she could tell, this tiredness was going to make it hard to finish that paper.
Stef and Lena noticed that Callie had started to stir. She was waking up just in time. It gave her a chance to get ready for the physical that Leslie was going to do. Stef went to stand up with a look of determination on her face. Lena put her hand on her wifes knee, silently telling her to wait. This was not the time to have this discussion with their daughter. They needed her as calm as possible so they could get accurate results from her exams. Instead Lena stood up and made her way to Callie's bed. "Hi sweetheart. How are you feeling?"
Callie looked at her mama and smiled. "A lot better. I hate to admit it, but I needed that nap."
"Really, huh?" Lena said chuckling. "At least you admit it."
Callie smiled. Any other time she wouldn't have. She would have said she was fine and spent the day fighting against sleep. She felt safe with her moms. Safe and loved. Something she hadn't felt since her mom died. "I still feel somewhat tired though. I know it's the meds, but man. I just want to feel normal again."
"I know honey. Once you get better you won't have to take these meds anymore. Only if you have another reaction. And we are going to do everything in our power to try to avoid them." Stef said.
Callie nodded. This was something she didn't want to go through again. "Mama?"
"Yes Bug?" Lena said while brushing stray hairs away from Callie's forehead.
"I'm hungry. Can we have lunch?" Callie was really hungry. Even though she hadn't been doing much, she was still using a lot of her bodies energy ro recover.
"Actually. I'm waiting on the doctor to let us know if you can eat." Lena stated cautiously. This was not going to go well.
"Why?" Callie asked apprehensively. She was a little scared to ask.
"Because you have your physical exam in a little while and they might need you to be fasting." Stef said trying to help with the news delivery.
"Fasting? Do you think they could do those tests first. I'm really hungry." Callie didn't know what test needed her to be fasting but wie was really hungry so she wanted to get done as soon as possible so she could eat.
Stef and Lena looked at eachother. "We can ask." Callie obviously didn't know these were blood tests.
"Hey Callie?" Stef decided that she was just going to ask.
"Yeah?" Callie said while sitting up on the bed.
"How is everything at school?" Stef knew this was going to be hard but she needed to know.
"Stef!" Lena said chastising her wife. This was not the time. They made eye contact and had one of their silent conversations.
"What do you mean?" Callie was getting a little nervous. Where was her mom going with this? "What's going on?" She noticed the look Lena was giving Stef.
After a stare down with Lena, Stef looked at her daughter. "I mean how is school? Is it too overwhelming? Do you think we should have kept you in your grade?" Lena, knew that he wife wasn't going to let this go, so she decided to help prob her daughter. She saw the nervousness in Callie's eyes and knew that her wife had hit a nerve.
"Um… everything is fine. I like my classes and my teachers. Why?" Callie asked. Where were they going with this?
"Cal, are the other students giving you a hard time?" Stef asked carefully. She didn't want to stress her more.
"Huh? Wh...what... what are you talking about? No one is bothering me." Callie stuttered out. They couldn't know could they?
Callie looked like a deer caught in headlights. They hardly ever heard her stutter like that anymore.
"Are you sure honey?" Stef insisted. She was going to get to the bottom of this.
"What's going on? Why are you asking me about this?" Callie asked nervously.
"Callie? Mom asked you a question." Lena said seriously.
"Mama. You're in school with me every day. You would have noticed something. Don't you think?" Callie countered. She knew this was a cop out, but she was willing to try anything.
"We have noticed something. That's why we're we're asking." Lena said carefully.
"I'm fine." Callie said defensively.
"That's not what we asked you." Stef said. She looked Callie in the eye and maintained eye contact.
"You knowing me the way you do. Do you really think I would let anybody bother me?" Callie was grasping at straws and she knew it.
"If you thought is was the right thing to do then yes." Lena saw Callie's eyes dart to the side. "You have before. If you thought your siblings were in danger. Or maybe you think that if your too much trouble that we won't want you anymore. But, honey, there is nothing that would make us not love you. We are your moms." At this they saw Callie's expresion change. They were getting close.
"Callie, is someone at school bothering you?" Stef asked with no reservations.
"Mom. Please don't." Callie pleaded. She didn't want to talk about this. "Mama?"
"Cal, please talk to us." Lena took her daughter's hands in hers. She saw that Callie's resolve was wavering.
Callie just looked at her blanket covered lap crying and nodded.
"Oh cal. What happened?" Stef knew this wasn't easy and that the fact that Callie was sick had a lot to do with this confession.
"It's this girl from class. She said that if I didn't do her work that she would beat me up. I laughed in her face. I mean, what was she going to do? I was sure it wouldn't hurt nearly as much as my old foster families. So I walked away. That same day later. I saw her and her friends bothering Jude and Connor. Then they started to bother Jesus. You know he would never hurt a girl. I was going to put her in her place when I saw mama talking to our teacher. This girl said that her mom was on the school board and that she could get you fired. I couldn't let that happen." Callie just rambled and cried. She rushed through her explanation not even taking a breath. The machine that was monitoring her started to make a beeping noise.
Lena noticed this and tried to calm her down. "Bug. calm down. Just breath. Can you do that for me?" Callie nodded her head and took a deep breath. Lena kept glancing at the monitors to make sure everything was ok.
A nurse made her way to Callie's room to see if everything was ok. When Stef saw her, she stood up and walked her back to the hall. Lena stayed with Callie getting her to calm down. When stef came back she sat on Callie's bed and started to soothe her right along with Lena. when she was calm and the machines had stopped the beeping, she started on Callie again. "Who was this?"
"Kylie Anderson." Callie then looked at Lena. "She said that her mom already didn't like you. And that she was looking for a reason to get rid of you. I didn't know what to do. So I did her homework for her. Then she started to sit close to me in class. Next thing I know she's taking my tests and changing the name. I started to write my name in pen. So she couldn't. I didn't have enough time to finish two tests. So on those I got b's or c's. Not horrible grades but not my work."
"Callie I asked you about those grades. You just said that you hadn't studied for them." Lena said. She had grounded Callie for those grades. If she had known what was going on none of this would have happened. "Why didn't you come to me? Or the teacher?"
"I tried to go to the teacher. Before I could tell him what was going on he started to thank me for the good influence I had on Kylie. What was I supposed to say?" Callie said.
"The truth. That's what you say. You know that we would have helped." Stef said. "How many times do we have to tell you? If you have a problem, you come to us!"
"But then I would be known as the girl who told her mom the vice principal. Or had to go to her mommy." Callie said exasperated. "I don't want to be a tattle tail."
"Oh Callie. How long has this been going on?" Lena asked. How could she not notice this. She worked at the school and she was there every day.
"A few months now…" Callie whispered. If Stef and Lena hadn't been paying close attention they might have missed her answer.
"And this paper you just have to finish?" Stef asked. She really didn't want to hear the answer to this.
"It's hers. I already finished mine. She wants it by Monday because it's due Tuesday. And since I'm not there, I can't stop her from bothering Jude or Jesus." Callie started out slowly and then rushed to finish. She was starting to get worked up again.
Lena noticed this and started to try and calm her daughter down. "Cal, take a deep breath for me please." Lena coached her daughter. After Callie was calmer Lena continued. "Sweety, you have to let us know these things. I'm sorry we didn't put it together sooner. We had noticed that you were working harder and taking longer with your homework. We just thought that the classes were a bigger challenge than we expected. We were even thinking about asking you if you wanted to switch back to 10th grade."
"What? No! I like my classes." Callie practically yelled. She didn't want to go to her old grade and be bored out of her mind again. "They are fun and engaging. If you put me back in 10th I'll be bored out of my mind. Please no. I like it." She kept looking at both of her moms. She needed to get this message through. She wanted to stay in her current classes.
"Ok, ok calm down." Stef said when she noticed Callie's heart rate go up again. "Breath honey." Callie took a couple of deep breaths, and calmed dawn. The moms watched as the heart rate monitor went back to normal. "That's it honey, good job. Just deep breaths."
"I'm sorry moms." Callie began to cry. "I was just trying to protect my brothers. And I didn't want you to have to worry about your job. Plus you guys already have a lot on your plate. So I didn't want to worry you guys with dumb stuff like this."
"Bug, if your not happy then it's not dumb." Lena said. She reached over and tucked some hair behind Callie's ear. "If you find that you need to protect your brothers all by yourself, then we are not doing our job as parents and we need to know about it. I m going to talk to Monty today and your teacher when I go pick up the kids in a few."
"Your leaving?" Callie said looking between both moms.
"No, just me." Lena stated. "I have to get some paperwork from my office and pick up the kids for there exams. They have them today, but I'll be back in a little while."
"Please mama don't say anything I'll be labeled as a nark. That's never good." Callie pleaded. She really didn't want the other student to know. She'd have even less friends.
"I'll tell them that you talked in your sleep and that we needed to find out what happened since you didn't want to talk about it." Lena said. She needed to get this taken care of.
Callie just looked down and nodded. She was going to be in so much trouble.
"Bug, what's wrong?" Stef noticed her daughter looked marginally paler.
"I just didn't want this to happen. Their going to pick on us more now. And I've been trying very hard to stay calm and not retaliate. But when they get in trouble their going to know it was me and it's just going to get so much worse." Callie said quietly.
"Oh Callie. No. We are going to make sure that you guys are all ok. No one is going to bother any of you." Stef said.
"Maybe we should have an assembly about bullying. What's considered bullying and the school policy towards it." Lena thought out loud.
"What? Mama! No! That's just going to make it bigger than it already is!" Callie yelled. This was starting to get out of hand.
"Callie Quinn Adams-Foster. Do not yell at your mama like that. I understand your worries, but that does not excuse your current behavior." Stef said quietly but firmly.
"But mom an assembly will just make things worse." Callie tried to debate. This couldn't be happening.
"What did I just say to you? Need I remind you that your still grounded?" Stef said. She understood that she was sick and that all this was putting more stress on her but she couldn't let her get away with this disrespectful behavior.
"No ma'am. I'm sorry. I'm sorry mama. I shouldn't have yelled." Callie said quietly. Looking at both her moms she saw the worry and the sadness in their eyes. 'I did that', she thought to herself.
"Callie we just want what's best for you. And if we have to stop a bully then we will." Stef stated.
"Can't you just let me handle it?" Callie pleaded. She really just wanted this to go away.
"The problem is that you're not handling it. You're giving in and doing what the bully wants." Lena said.
"What if I promise to not do anymore work for her?" Callie tried again.
At this moment the doctor walked into the room with a smile on her face rolling in a tray covered with a blue medical pad. Hello Adams-Fosters. "Callie are you ready for your physical?"
"Yeah. I'm ready." Callie said a little down.
"Oh don't sound so down it will be fine." The doctor said while she went to the machines in the room to take note of Callie's vitals. "Are you feeling ok? You'd blood pressure and heart rate are elevated."
"Yeah I'm fine." Callie mumbled.
"That's our fault. We had a little disagreement that got somewhat out of hand." Stef said to the doctor.
"I see. Well, let's get some blood samples so we can give you time to calm down." Leslie said. This way Callie can try and calm down and she could eat faster.
"Um… that might not be a good idea." Stef was saying at the same time that Callie started freaking out.
"Blood tests? No! No needles!" Callie said shaking her head. "Mom please. No needles."
Sorry it took so long. I have been very busy but hopefully I will be able to update more often now. Hope you all like this chapter and that you don't give up on me.