Hellooooooo!
So once again, sorry about the delay. I got sick, had finals, and got sick again. But now I am on break and will be able to update my stories! Thank you so much for being patient!
This is part 2 to Mom? where Callie tells Stef about Liam. Short mention of rape, but not detailed.
The ride home was silent, minus the soft sobs coming from the backseat. Stef glanced back at her daughters every few minutes to reassure herself that they were alright- that they were still there. Stef had texted Lena that they were on their way home after she had gotten Callie into the car and she knew her wife would be waiting up for them at the house. Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Stef pulled into the driveway, put the car in park, and took the keys out of the ignition. The car remained silent and not one of the girls moved. Finally, Stef took a breath and turned to face her daughters.
"Ok, my loves." She said, trying to mask the concern that was taking over her mind. "Let's get both of you inside, yes?" She asked before she unbuckled herself and got out of the driver's seat.
Mariana followed in suit, unbuckling and opening her door, but stopped when she saw that Callie hadn't moved. She looked at her sister and forced a smile. "Come on, Cal." The younger girl didn't know how to go about the situation at hand. Callie had always been the one to offer advice and say the right thing with Mariana was struggling. Now, as the roles were reversed, she didn't know what to say to help.
Stef saw the delimea and opened Callie's door for her. She squatted down next to the teen and tried to catch the girl's distant gaze. "Sweetheart. Can we get you inside?" She asked gently, hoping the teen would unbuckle herself. Stef sighed when Callie remained still and slowly stood up, bent her head into the car, and reached over the girl. "I'm gonna unbuckle you, ok?" She asked as she heard the click. Stef looked up at her younger daughter and smiled in order to relax the girl who was looking at her sister with a lost look.
"Hey baby girl will you do me a big favor and get mama and ask her to come out here? Then I want you to take a shower and get into bed. Ok? I promise I will be in to tuck you in as soon as I get your sister inside."
Mariana looked from her mother, to her sister, and then back to her mother before nodding her head and making her way out of the car. She started walking towards the front door when Stef pulled herself out of the side of the car and walked towards her youngest daughter.
She grabbed ahold of the girl and pulled her into a hug. She could feel the girl shake, which only made her hug tighter. "I'm so proud of you." Stef praised as she pulled her daughter's face into her hands. "Now go on inside, ok?" She said as she kissed the girl's forehead. Mariana nodded and continued walking as Stef watched.
Once the teen had made it to the door, she looked back at the car and inhaled deeply. She didn't know what happened at that party, but she knew that it was bad, considering how her always strong daughter was reacting.
Stef walked back to Callie's side door and resumed her previous position squatting next to the girl. "Hey, sweetheart." She said in a gently tone, using a finger to tuck a loose strand of hair behind the girl's ear. "Can we get you inside? I don't want you catching a cold out here." She explained as she cocked her head, hoping to see some sort of reaction from the girl.
"You're scaring me, love." Stef confessed when she saw no movement from the girl except for the slow blinking and shallow breaths. "Sweetie?" Stef tried once more, not knowing where to go from here. On one hand, she wanted to reach in, pick up the girl and take her inside, but she knew that it wouldn't only embarrass her, but it might frighten her. She wasn't sure how to handle the situation and she was thankful when she heard the front door open and Lena walk out towards the car.
Stef shot her wife a forced smile before turning back towards the teen. Lena walked over to her wife and ducked her head into the car. "Hi, honey!" Lena greeted the girl.
Stef looked up at her and shook her head, indicating that she wasn't receiving any responses from her either. "Hey Callie." Lena tried again. "Can you come inside with us? Please?"
Stef sighed and stood up, stretching her legs slightly from being in a crouched position for so long. She turned towards her wife and gave her a look of despair. "Lena. I don't know what to do. I don't want to scare her by touching her, but she isn't moving."
"What happened at the party?" Lena wondered, not knowing if either girl had told her any more information than they had heard on the phone.
Stef shrugged. "I dono really. All I know is there was some guy who showed up and Callie freaked. She hasn't talked since I got to them."
Lena bit her lower lip, trying to think of the best solution to the problem at hand. "Ok. Well if she doesn't want to come inside to talk, maybe we can talk to her out here." She spoke out loud.
Stef nodded at the idea and looked back towards the car, her heart sinking at the vacant look in the girl's eyes. "Yeah. We can try that."
Before either mother could move, they heard the front door open and saw Mariana sticking her head out.
"Mari, sweetie I thought you were taking a shower." Stef reminded the girl.
"I was just..." The Latina started to speak as she made her way towards the car. "Is Callie gonna be ok?" She asked in almost a whisper. "I mean I don't know what happened but I... I didn't mean for something to happen. It's my fault that I took her to that party. I didn't mean for her to get scared." She began to ramble as the mothers looked at one another. They had a silent conversation and knew that one of them needed to address their other daughter as well.
Lena walked towards the younger girl and grabbed her hands gently. "You're ok, sweetie. Come on. Mom is gonna talk with Callie for a bit and we're gonna go get you into the shower before talking, ok?" She said as she lead the girl back to the house. "It's not your fault. Callie said she wanted to go to the party too, ok?" Lena began to explain as the two made their way up the stairs.
Stef let out a sign of relief and disappointment. Relief that Mariana was with Lena, but disappointment because she didn't have her wife to help talk to Callie.
After watching the front door close once more, she gently closed Callie's side door before quickly walking towards the other back door, opening it up, climbing inside, and closing it behind her. The car was silent and dark, as the internal lights had shut off. Stef reached up and flicked on one of the manual lights, which allowed ehr to see the girl sitting next to her.
"Hi, my love." Stef began, praying that she would be able to gain some insight to the night. She forced a small smile before tilting her head towards the direction of the girl's face. "Can you look at me?" She asked gently. "Please, sweetheart? It's just you and me." She assured the girl, knowing she didn't like to show her vulnerability.
Finally, Callie moved her head towards the blonde. Immediately, Stef could see large tears forming in the girl's eyes and her heart broke for the girl. "Oh, baby." She cooed as she opened her arms in the hopes that the teen would allow her to hug her.
As if overtaken by emotions beyond her grasp, Callie flung herself into Stef's open arms and tears began to pour down her cheeks.
At first, Stef was stunned by the amount of contact and emotions the teen was displaying, but she quickly recovered by pulling the girl in closer to her body and stroking the girl's arm with her hands.
Callie's body shook with sobs as she relived her encounters with Liam, both from that night and from when he was her foster brother. All of her emotions were brimming over the surface and she couldn't stop them. She had kept quiet about the event for so long, and had shoved all of her feelings about Liam down, that she couldn't stop them once they began to flow.
"Shhhh. Sweetheart. You're ok. You're alright, my love." Stef soothed the girl as best as she could, not knowing what else to say at the moment. She was content with just holding the girl as she let out whatever she needed to before they began to talk, however, it had been a few minutes and Callie's tears were not slowing. In fact, it seemed that they were pouring out faster and she was beginning to struggle to breathe.
"Cal?" Stef said once she realized that the girl was having difficulty breathing on account of her crying. "Sweets come on." She said gently, but with authority as she pushed the girl up from where she had been resting against her. She needed the girl to sit up so she could breathe easier. "I need you to calm down for me." She instructed as she tried to get the attention of the brunette who was still looking down, struggling to take in a full breath.
"Callie!" Stef raised her voice, urgent to get the girl's attention, who was beginning to hyperventilate. She quickly pushed the girl up fully so she was sitting upright against the seat and took her face into her hands, creating a line of contact between their eyes. "Callie. Breathe. Now. In and out. In and out. Do it with me. Come on." She instructed. She wasn't exactly knowledgable on panic attacks, as none of her children had had one before, but she did what came first to her head, and it seemed to work. Slowly, the girl's breathing began to return to its normal pace and she was able to inhale the oxygen needed.
Although the girl's breathing was regulated, her tears had not stopped. Callie was mortified. Never had she shown so many emotions to someone. She tried her hardest, but she could not get herself to calm down her emotions.
"Callie?" Stef's voice pulled her from her thoughts. Callie looked up hesitantly and tried to focus on her foster mother. "Can we go inside to get you some water?" She asked with a smile.
When she received no response once again, Stef exhaled and turned her body to face the teen next to her. "Ok, my love. We can talk out here. But I need you to take some more deep breaths for me, ok?" She instructed, knowing she could make herself sick by the severity of her crying.
Callie nodded. She so desperately wanted to stop all of her current emotions and forget about the whole thing all together. She would much rather Stef had simply taken her inside and said they would talk about it tomorrow. But now she was in the back seat of a car, crying hysterically, while her foster mother just let it happen. I'm such a baby. The teen thought to herself as she shook her head, hoping that it would help her tears to halt.
Stef could sense that Callie was becoming frustrated with herself. "You're fine, love." She assured the girl. "We can stay out here as long as you need to."
Finally after what seemed like hours, Callie was able to control her tears until they finally stopped all together. The brunette inhaled deeply and focused her gaze on the ground- hoping to avoid any eye contact or conversation with the woman sitting next to her. However, Stef had other plans. "Can you tell me what happened?" She asked gently, knowing that the teen was most likely exhausted and wouldn't want to talk any more than she had to.
Callie's mind flew back to the party. To Liam. To his house. To that night. The emotions threatened to come back and pour out once more, but Callie stopped them before they could be seen. "Umm. You know, I'm really tired. Thank you so much for coming to get us." She began as she made sure to grab her phone and checked the ground for any other belongings before reaching over to the door handle. "It's really not that big of a deal." She explained as she opened the door. "But really. Thank you." She continued as she began to climb out of the car.
Stef could see the girl throw up her walls right in front of her and was determined to keep it from fully happening. As soon as Callie began to thank her, she knew it would be pulling teeth to get the whole story. She immediately opened up her side door and quickly made her way around to the girl's to meet her.
"I'm gonna head to bed." Callie said quickly as she tried to pass the blonde, but Stef put her hands out and steadied the girl.
"Callie." Stef said simply, waiting for a response from the girl who was back to staring at the ground.
"Callie. This was not nothing. Whatever happened, you can tell me. It will not change how much I love you. But you need to be honest with me." She explained.
The teen bit her lip in order to hold back the new wave of tears that had formed. She knew that Stef was only trying to help, but this was something she had kept to herself for many years and she didn't even know where to begin. Maybe I can just explain what happened tonight. She thought to herself, hoping that she could avoid the initial incident all together.
"Cal?" Stef's voice pulled the girl from her thoughts once more and finally, Callie looked up at her foster mother.
"Oh, sweetheart." Stef's lips pursed together in sadness as she saw the girl's brown eyes filled with fresh tears. "Come on. Let's get inside and talk on the couch. Ok?" She said as she wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders and began to walk both of them towards the house. When Callie locked her knees in an effort to stay put, Stef tilted her head so she was facing the girl and continued talking. "Lena is upstairs with Mariana, Jude is in bed, and the boys won't be home for a while. I promise it will be just the two of us." Stef explained and released a sigh of relief when the girl began to walk with her to the door.
After getting Callie into the house, Stef led her to the living room and sat her down on one of the couches.
"I'm gonna get you some water, ok?" She asked as she grabbed a blanket from the other couch and placed it next to the teen. "Do you need anything else?"
Callie simply shook her head and looked down to her jeans, picking at a loose string.
Stef sighed and nodded. "Ok. Be right back."
Callie waited until Stef had walked into the kitchen before exhaling a breath she didn't even know she was holding. Pull yourself together. She instructed herself. Tell her only what she asks for, nothing more. You can do this.
A few minutes later, Stef returned to the living room with two glasses of water and an apple that she had sliced up. "I didn't know if you were hungry." She explained as she put all three items on the coffee table in front of the couch and sat down next to the teen. She waited a moment to let Callie situate herself before she licked her dry lips and began to talk.
"Ok. I know you don't want to talk, but this is something that is obviously very important and keeping it to yourself will only make things worse for you in the long run." Stef began, hoping that if she comforted the girl as much as possible at the beginning, then she would allow herself to speak to Stef. "And I know you have had some terrible adults in your life previously, who might take advantage of whatever is bothering you, but I want you to know that in this house, you are safe. You are loved and you are cared about. I'm here to listen and hopefully do what I can to help you. But for me to help, I need you to trust me enough to talk." She concluded. "Do you think you can trust me enough?" She asked, praying that the answer would be yes.
Callie didn't respond for a moment. Deep down she felt like she could trust Stef, but she had been played by trust before and it had only broken her when she realized that the person who she thought she could trust was lying. However, finally looking up from her jeans, she could tell that Stef wasn't going to let her leave until they talked, so she figured she needed to say something.
"I... Ummm." She began, praying that she would be able to get through this without falling apart.
As if she could read her mind, Stef responded gently. "It's ok. I know this is hard, but you are safe. Take your time. I'm not going anywhere."
Callie nodded as she blinked back a tear. "Uhh. There was a guy who I saw there. Umm someone who I knew from a different foster house and he uhh he and I didn't uhhh I don't really get along with him." She began, her line of sight moving around the room. "He was at the party and I got scared that I mean I hadn't seen him in a long time so I wasn't like ready to see him. And it kinda scared me I guess." She stumbled through the night as quickly as she could. "Uhh and when I saw him, I saw Mariana and told her I needed to go to the bathroom and then he kept pounding on the door. He was drunk, but it was kinda scary. So I asked Mari to call you." She finished, inhaling deeply and hoping that it would be enough for the woman.
Stef waited silently until Callie lifted her eyes up and they met. "It seemed like it was something a little more than that, sweetie." She said gently. She didn't like to point out when she thought one of her children was saying something wrong or dishonest, but she knew this was a situation in which she needed to pry in order to get the truth that she had a gut feeling wasn't pretty.
"Uhh I mean he scares me so I wanted to get out." Callie tried again.
"Sweetheart." Stef said as she grabbed ahold of the girl's hands and gently squeezed them. "Please. You're alright. I just want to help you. Please let me help you."
Stef's eyes said more than her words and Callie could feel a lump form in her throat.
"Uhh. Well he was... he was a foster brother." She began. "And he was one of the first people to actually seem like he cared about me. He gave me candy secretly and stole money from his parents and gave it to me. He made me feel special." She said and tried to swallow the lump in her throat.
"But after a while, he started doing things that weren't really allowed." She looked up to Stef who gave her an encouraging smile and gently squeezed her hands, which she still had ahold of. "He would hold my hand under the blanket and kiss me on the cheek. Uhhh and then one day he kissed me." She looked to the blonde thinking that she would look disgusted with her, but she only nodded her head. "He made me feel like I was worth something, so I let it happen." She explained.
"Keep going, sweetie. You're doing a great job."
Callie nodded and inhaled deeply before continuing. "Uhh one day. Uhh he told me he wanted to have sex. And I... I didn't want to... I wasn't ready." She was blinking back tears, but they began to form too quickly and a few fell. "Uhh he... he waited until everyone was out to dinner and took me into his room... and he... he said we were going to do it." By now the tears were falling freely down both girl's faces. "He forced me to... forced me to have sex with him." She finally said what she had been holding in for so many years. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders and she collapsed into Stef's lap, not bothering to hold back any tears.
Stef quickly gathered the girl in her lap and held her close. She assumed that she was one of if not the only people who knew about this, based on her current reaction. She didn't know what to say in order to comfort the girl, so she stuck with rubbing random shapes on the girl's back and gently rocking her in her arms.
After a solid 10 minutes of silence, Stef looked over at the clock and saw that it was almost 11 and that the boys would be home shortly. She knew Callie would be mortified if they saw her in this state, so she kissed the girl on the top of the head and spoke softly. "Thank you for telling me, sweetheart. You are so brave. I am so proud of you." She knew there was much more that they needed to discuss, but at the moment, she knew Callie was drained and would be better off sleeping and talking in the morning.
Stef lifted the girl's face up towards her own and smiled. "Let's get you upstairs, yes? We can talk more tomorrow."
Callie nodded as she wiped the stray tears from her cheeks and stood up. Stef stood up next to her daughter and wrapped her arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a standing hug. "I love you." She said simply to the girl.
"Thank you."