Chapter 2: Intercepted

"I just wish we understood what Callie is thinking. I don't get where we are going wrong with her," Lena vented on the phone to Stef, updating her about Timothy's visit to her office and furious that the teen had ignored both of her announcements calling her to her office. "I have no choice but to suspend her, Stef. There is a zero tolerance policy against any substances on school grounds and Timothy said the kids were smoking marijuana and had alcohol in the car."

Stef sighed to herself, incredulous that Callie had not only managed to get herself suspended but was now also dabbling in drugs and alcohol after recently being grounded. "Okay," she spoke evenly, hoping to keep herself calm while still at work and to prevent her colleagues from overhearing. Mike especially had been supportive but wary when she had told him that they were adding two more children to the mix.

Lena paused, certain that what she had to say next to her wife would infuriate her to no end. She hadn't yet told Stef that Callie never came to see her, or that she was not picking up her phone. Lena had checked the parking lot but the stall next to Timothy's car was empty and she had no idea where Callie had gone.

"Lena? Hello?" Stef interrupted. She had been nursing a tension headache with her third cup of coffee of the day, which had been brought on by a backlog of documentation that greeted her at the start of her shift, an endless pile she could never seem to get under control. With afternoon patrol looming, she had to get back to work quickly and was impatient to back burner this latest incident with Callie until she got home.

There was a pause while Stef heard her wife clear her throat nervously. "I didn't hear Callie's side of the story…because she's disappeared. I have no idea where she went, she isn't answering her cell at the moment," Lena informed, cringing as she heard her wife mutter an obscenity under her breath. "Stef, I can't leave school right now, maybe you could drive around and see if you can find her," she added gently, but in a way that left no question as to what she should do.

Stef closed her eyes and massaged her temple with a free hand. She definitely would not be getting to her paperwork now; instead, she would have to find Captain Roberts to let her know she needed the rest of the day off. Her throbbing head was making her even more irritable. One again, it needed to be her who would leave work early to locate and sort out their headstrong daughter, because Lena would never miss work unless it was absolutely necessary. And since Callie was suspended now, she would have to take additional time off, as she and Lena didn't trust her enough to leave her at home alone.

Having a hunch that Callie would go straight home, Stef decided to go there first to drop off her stuff and wait to see if she could intercept the teen there. She made sure to take a different route from the one that the kids took when walking to and from school and pulled the SUV into the back alley to avoid giving Callie a reason to bolt. The woman hoped that she was right, that Callie wouldn't dare hang outside of school grounds after getting caught by her and Mike while on patrol. Then again, Stef had to admit that she did not really know what to think anymore.

Anticipating that Stef would have to wrap up a few things before heading home, Callie rushed home as fast as she could; she hoped that she would have just enough time to put some drops in her eyes to clear the redness from them and at least jump in the shower. And find some Febreeze for her clothes and backpack, which now stunk. The girl began to feel a twinge of panic, as she tried to figure out a plausible excuse to explain what had happened.

Almost at the house, Callie decided she would flat out deny it and maintain that it had been Wyatt who was smoking and drinking, and that she only happened to be there, figuring they couldn't hold that against her. Neither women had been there, so it would be Timothy's word against her's, she tried to reassure herself naively. Plus, she hadn't ever done anything like this before so it wasn't as if they had a reason to not believe her, Callie rationalized to herself.

Much to the teen's chagrin, the cop was calmly sitting at the kitchen table with that morning's newspaper in her hands. Shit, was all Callie could think as her heart leapt into her throat; it was one thing for her to plan to lie, but another thing altogether to try to execute it, and lying was definitely not something she was good at. Suddenly, the plan did not seem so foolproof after all.

"Hey Cal, I didn't expect to see you home this early," Stef said casually without looking up. Being a cop, she had a knack for drawing answers out of her kids. The last thing she wanted to do was to let Callie in on how much she knew, mostly because she was curious about how her daughter would be trying to get herself out of the latest quagmire she found herself in. The woman took her time before lowering and peering above the top of the newsprint. She watched as Callie's eyes darted back and forth between making contact; the girl was trying to suss her out for how much she knew about her afternoon. Finally, much to Stef's annoyance, the teen stammered out an excuse about how she decided to come home early because she was feeling sick.

Completely underestimating Stef's skill as a police officer and unaware that the woman was onto her, Callie felt a small flicker of hope that maybe she was safe, for now, anyway. Perhaps Lena had gotten caught up with something else and had not had the chance to talk to Stef yet.

Callie had begun to sidle towards the stairs, ensuring as wide a berth as possible from the woman, when she heard her say with an unexpected firmness in her voice, "Stop right there." She froze as Stef began to walk over to her and she felt everything she had planned to say escape her. Callie was certain that the cop could smell her now and hear her pounding heart through her chest.

"Are you sure there's nothing else you need to tell me?" Stef asked sternly. After a pause, she received a very cautious nod in response. However, when the cop reached out to gently cup Callie's chin and tilt her head up, she caught sight of her dilated, bloodshot pupils. The shamefaced look that the girl gave her confirmed everything that Lena had told her on the phone, and Callie knew then that the game she was trying to play was over.

"If you already know why are you even bothering to ask me?!" Callie said defiantly. She felt annoyance, irritation, and disappointment all at once. As Stef's expression hardened in anger, Callie cringed inwardly; she steeled herself to fight in response to the fear building inside of her, the only way she knew to protect herself.

"Careful," the cop warned. "You are not in any position to be taking that tone with me. I want an explanation from you and I want it now!"

Callie could only swallow; the woman was scary enough when she was mad, but in her uniform and having her stand this close to her was absolutely terrifying.

Stef proceeded to light into the girl. "Care to tell me why the hell my thirteen year old is smoking pot, hot boxing, and drinking when she should be in class? You're on probation, Callie," she scolded, "Did you not hear what the judge was telling you or did you just choose to completely disregard his warning? You cannot be getting into trouble like this, getting suspended from school and being in possession of drugs and alcohol. Honestly, I would have thought that after we found out what—"

"—Great! Just go ahead and throw all my mistakes back in my face!" Callie retorted. She hated it whenever the woman did that.

"CALLIE ADAMS FOSTER! I'd watch your attitude if I were you," Stef snapped, slamming her hand down on the table for emphasis. She felt her irritation rising quickly to a boiling point; not only had Callie tried to pull the veil over her eyes but was now going too far with her disrespect.

"Or what?" Callie asked disrespectfully, as her voice started to climb partly out of fear of the cop and anger at the slight humiliation she felt from getting yelled at. "You can't tell me what to do," Callie challenged. "Can't you read? The last time I checked my last name is still Jacob."

Although Callie continued to glare, her apprehensiveness of the woman was clear and Stef decided to lower the volume of her voice. "Callie," the woman said, "that is completely irrelevant. You're a minor living under my roof, meaning you have the same rules that apply to the rest of this family. The papers may say otherwise at this moment, but right now you have made it very clear that you need someone to remind you of what you need to be doing." The cop sighed and decided to change tactics slightly, deciding to wait for Lena to come home so that she could cool down before she said something to Callie that she would later regret.

Stef gestured to the canvas knapsack. "Hand it over," she demanded in a low tone that left Callie little opportunity to argue with.

"There's nothing in there, I swear," Callie replied a little too defensively, clutching onto her bag a bit tighter.

"Do you think I was born yesterday?" the cop asked abruptly. "I'm not going to ask you again, Callie," she said impatiently as she enunciated each word in annoyance.

Reluctantly, Callie gave in. She stood by nervously and held her breath as Stef searched the bag, hoping that by some miracle the woman would miss the small internal pocket where her stash was hidden. Unfortunately, she was thorough—Callie had almost exhaled in relief when Stef's fingers found the hidden compartment.

Callie saw Stef's expression change from one of confusion to disappointment, and finally to anger as she retrieved a pocketknife, two lighters, a half empty carton of cigarettes, a baggie with several joints, and rolling papers. "You're still smoking cigarettes?" she asked quietly.

"Those are mine…you have no right to take them!" Callie started to protest, still not daring to look at her foster mother who was annoying her to no end.

"Just watch me!" Stef very nearly snarled. Infuriated, she threw the items onto the dining room table so hard that the lighters and knife bounced off. She immediately regretted her actions when she saw Callie flinch; Stef softened her gaze and took a step toward the girl before gently holding her by her upper arms.

"Look at me when I am speaking to you, please," she said sternly but in a much quieter tone, as Callie met her eyes and she saw the tears that were threatening to fall. "I am so very angry and disappointed with you right now, but hitting is not a consequence in this house. You do not have to worry about that," she said as Callie looked at her doubtfully.

The cop continued once she received a small nod. "You are grounded, Callie. Two weeks. To and from school and group only, no phone, TV, or computer except for homework. You will not be leaving this house for any other reason unless Mama and I say otherwise, understood?" She braced herself for Callie's anger to return as an indignant look flashed across the girl's face.

"This is bullshit! You're a fucking joke, you know that Stef!" the teen yelled as her anger spilled over and she could not help but to run her mouth. Callie felt her stomach flip once again as Stef's eyes widened momentarily before narrowing, lips thin; she had done it now. Figuring she had very little to lose now, the girl shoved the cop hard with both hands to challenge the woman and to make sure she knew she wasn't afraid of her.

"You just earned yourself another week! Get upstairs, right now. This conversation is far from over," Stef ordered firmly as she raised her voice once again after steadying herself. After what she had just told Callie about not hitting in their home, she was incredulous that the teen had chose to get physical with her. It was a side of Callie that she hadn't seen before and it worried her that the youth had felt threatened enough to lash out like that.

Stef hoped that sending Callie to her room would give her time and space to get her temper in check, as well as for Callie to cool off, before Lena and the rest of the family came through the door. However, Callie only turned on her heel to go into the backyard, slamming the back door so hard that it reverberated through the house. Stef sighed. It was a power struggle with this one, and she had already lost this battle.