Callie's tears slowed and a look of anger spread over her face as she unbuckled her seatbelt, somehow got out of the car by going under Stef's arm, and then stomping over to Frankie and Mariana.
Neither Stef nor Lena had a chance to do anything before Callie stopped and lowered her face to be even with Frankie's.
"Francesca, that is my necklace. It's MINE. It isn't yours. You need to give it back to me right now! You had no right even putting it on! Now take it off and give it to me NOW," Callie yelled.
Frankie looked from Callie to her parents and back at Callie, her eyebrow raised and her mouth open. She looked so much like Stef when she did that.
"You're not my boss, Callie. You can't tell me what to do unless you are babysitting and you're not," Frankie said back, then reached up to hold the necklace in her hand to try and keep it from Callie. And there was the Mariana in her. Ever the lawyer-to-be.
"No, give it to me now! You don't get to take my things! That necklace was my mom's! It was the only thing I had left of her! Give it here," Callie continued to scream at the little girl.
Before Frankie could say anything else, Lena and Stef walked over to the two girls. Lena grabbed Callie, Stef picked up Frankie, and both looked at Mariana and gave her a look that told her she needed to get in the car and not cause any issues.
"Lena, let me go. Frankie has my necklace. She stole it!"
Lena gently moved Callie to the side of the car and moved her into the seat she had recently vacated. Lena bent over her and buckled her seatbelt again and then placed her hand on her knee, "You need to calm down, Love. We will handle this when we get home. You need to calm down and take deep breaths. I know you haven't had a good day. I know you didn't want to go shopping. I know you have been miserable. We have to work on you running off and putting yourself in danger. We have to work on you keeping your cool a bit better."
"She has my …" Callie started, but stopped when Lena put her hand up, telling her to stop.
"Stef will get your necklace. When we get home we will talk about this, okay," Lena asked softly.
Callie nodded sharply and then took the bottom of her shirt and wiped her face.
"Fine."
Lena shook her head at the stubborn child who had just took several years off of her life.
"I need you to drive," Stef suddenly said to Lena from behind her.
Lena looked up at her wife — Stef was white as a sheet, her hand clutching Callie's necklace.
"Okay, Stef. Get in the front. Mariana, buckle Frankie in, sit between her and Callie. Let's go," Lena said.
Stef climbed into the front seat and closed her eyes, trying to erase the images in her head …
Stef listened as dispatch came over the radio in her police vehicle.
'Dispatch units to Elm and 14th. Head on collision. Unknown fatalities.'
Stef looked at her partner, Hernandez, and nodded. He picked up the radio and responded they were less than five minutes from the area and were headed that way.
They were there within minutes, and could immediately tell the scene wasn't good. There were white sheets laid over bodies already. It looked as if the driver of one vehicle had gone onto a nearby sidewalk hitting several pedestrians before hitting another vehicle head on.
Stef and Hernandez got out of the vehicle and ran towards the scene to see what help was needed.
Captain Roberts was on the scene, too. She looked up and saw Stef and started walking over to her as quickly as she could.
"I can't let you go over there, Stef," Roberts said at the exact same time Stef looked over and saw a white convertible, top down. Her mind couldn't process the red color of blood all over the whiteness of what was left of the car.
"No. No. No. No no no no no …" Stef said, her eyes widening, her breathing picking up.
"Stef, I can't let you go over there. You have to go get back in your car. Hernandez …" Roberts said.
It was then Stef saw it. A small blue and red Nike shoe. It was so familiar. Why was it so familiar?
Then two EMTs picked up a person — no. No, not a person. A child. A small child.
The brown hair. The bare foot. The …
"NO," Stef screamed in anguish, dropping to her knees. She screamed so loudly everyone stopped for a split second to see.
"Come on, Stef. I will take you home to Lena. Hernandez can stay here," Roberts said gently.
Stef didn't hear her. She heard nothing. She was drowning on air. Her heart was beating, but had stopped at the same time. Her world was turned upside down.
She was in an alternate universe. A universe that could not be hers.
It couldn't be.
Because if it was, she'd just watched her six year old son's dead body taken out of his father's crashed convertible.
Going home was torture. How did you explain to your five year old children that their brother was dead? How did you tell a mother her child was dead?
Stef was completely quiet. Roberts was driving, but knew better than to say anything. Stef was stoic as possible right now.
But she had to go home and tell her wife and children their son and brother were never coming home.
Stef watched her wife break down and Jesus and Mariana struggle to understand what was going on.
Lena cried in her arms, then held Stef and her children close.
"We have to call Sharon and Frank. My mom and dad," Lena said.
Stef only nodded.
She stared at the blue coffin in anguish. Mariana was clinging to Dana. Mariana still didn't understand. Neither did Jesus who was sitting with her father.
Lena held her hand, her mother sat on the opposite side.
They had requested there be no flowers. He was a little boy. Flowers weren't for boys. Brandon had told her that a million times.
Instead, there was the soft hum of classical music filling the void. Brandon had loved classical music. He had been taking piano lessons for the past year.
Callie running across the road, through traffic, nearly getting hit by several different vehicles.
Brandon's little foot, hanging in the air. His small Nike show laying beside the damaged car.
Callie's look of frustration because Stef wouldn't let her continue across the street.
Brandon being lowered into a six-foot deep hole. She'd never see his smile again. She'd never see his brown eyes, or his brown hair, or his excitement. She would only see him in photos…
Stef snapped out of her fog and turned slightly, so she could see Callie.
Tears were coursing down the child's face. But she was alive, and unharmed.
And to Stef, at that moment, that was the only thing keeping her from breaking apart.
