Callie stared at Stef, her eyes wide and fear etched in her eyes. This couldn't be happening. Not here. Not now. Not ever.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Callie whispered, turning her back to Stef and pulling the blankets over her head.
Stef knew this wasn't going to be easy, for either of them, but she knew this needed to happen. She needed to know who Liam was and what he had done to Callie.
"Callie, love, I know this isn't something you want to talk about — I knew it would be something you didn't want to talk about when I woke you up from your nightmare — but Love, this is so, so important. I want to help you. I can't do that if I don't know what happened," Stef said, resting her hand on Callie's back.
"I can't, Stef, I can't," Callie sobbed, her breath catching in her chest.
Stef was so tired of her daughter hurting. She was tired of her daughter fearing life in general. She wanted Callie to live the care free life she deserved. She wanted Callie to be the child she was instead of the adult she pretended to be. So much had changed in the months Callie had lived with them, she had become more childlike — something Stef and Lena had been working on. Because they wanted her to be a child. She deserved it. Finding out she was only just turned twelve instead of thirteen had been a blessing. Callie may not think so, but to the moms it gave them one more year to ensure their daughter got to be a child.
"Callie, can you sit up for me, Love?" Stef asked.
She watched as Callie slowly sat up, still sobbing silently, clutching Lena's pillow to her chest. Tears were cascading down her cheeks, the hair framing her face had come out of her ponytail and was matted to the sides of her cheeks with sweat and tears. Callie was broken. Her twelve year old child was broken.
Stef opened her arms and Callie leaned into her. She wanted nothing more than for Stef and Lena to be able to stay in the dark. She didn't want to share something with them that would make them look at her differently. She didn't want to share with them something that made her look bad. She knew they would not understand. She didn't even understand.
"Who is Liam, Love?" Stef asked gently, laying back and pulling Callie with her. She positioned herself against her pillows and then helped Callie lay against her chest. She ran her fingers over her hair to calm her.
And then she waited.
Callie was battling within herself. She wanted to share this with Stef. She didn't want to share this secret with Stef.
She wanted to share it with Stef for herself. And Callie knew that to share her secret about Liam with Stef was for her own gain. It was because she was selfish. To not tell Stef her secrets would be for Stef's benefit. It was the unselfish thing to do. Because Stef and Lena deserved for her to be unselfish.
"Love, I know you are thinking it will be easier not to tell me about whoever Liam is and why you are having nightmares about him. How long have you been having nightmares, Cal?"
Callie shrugged and moved her hand up to Stef's hair, twirling it around her fingers, soothing herself. Stef never stopped running her fingers through her hair.
"I can't tell you about him. It will make things worse," Callie whispered.
"Callie, you are my child. Nothing you ever tell me will make things worse for you. Mama and I would never not put you first, Cals. Especially for something like this. I want to protect you. I need to protect you."
Callie cried, and moved her face so it was between Stef's side and arm.
"I begged him not to touch me. I begged him to leave me alone, but then he said he'd hurt Jude. Jude is a baby. I couldn't let Liam hurt him, I couldn't," Callie sobbed. She wiped her eyes and face on Stef's shirt, but the woman didn't even flinch.
"Where did he touch you, Love?" Stef asked cautiously.
Callie's cries grew louder and she pulled herself closer to Stef, clinging to her as tightly as she could, afraid to let her go and afraid to look her in the eye.
"Please, Stef …"
"No matter what you tell me, no matter what it is, Callie, we — you, me, and Mama — we will work it out together. But what I can promise you, Love, is that nothing you could ever tell me would make me love you any less. I love you so much, Callie. So much."
Callie rubbed her face against Stef's shirt again, and then looked up, her eyes meeting Stef's.
"Liam Olmstead was my foster brother. They were our home before Jim Pearson. I was — I guess I was ten. And, and, Stef — Mommy — he touched me. He touched me and made me touch him. I begged him not, too."
Callie cried harder, clinging to Stef as if her life depended on it. Stef was honestly wondering if Callie thought her life did depend on it.
But Stef was also holding on to another emotion: absolute unadulterated, pure fury. It was running through her veins and fueling her body.
Liam Olmstead would pay for what he did to her daughter. One way or another.
"Sweetie, what do you mean he touched you and made you touch him?" Stef asked, wanting to make sure she truly understood what her child was saying.
Callie looked again at her mother, tears sliding down her face freely.
"He touched me where he wasn't supposed to touch me — and he made me touch him where I wasn't supposed to touch him. I didn't want, too. I promise I didn't want too, Mommy, I promise," Callie cried.
Stef wrapped both of her arms around the child and held her close.
"I know you didn't want to, Callie. I know. What he did to you was not something you asked for or wanted to happen. Believe me, baby, I know. Mama, me, and you, we are going to figure this out together, okay? But know that we love you more than life itself, and we will do what we have to do to protect you," Stef told her daughter as she held her close. She never wanted to let her child go, not now that she had her. Callie and Jude completed their family. The only way it ever could have been perfect was if Brandon had been here, too. But it was definitely as perfect as she could imagine it being.
"What's going on?"
Stef was brought out of her thoughts as she looked to the doorway and realized they must have woke Lena up, because she was walking in the room, shutting the door behind her.
Seeing Lena caused Callie to cry even harder. She wasn't sure she could talk about Liam again tonight. She didn't think she had it in her. She felt mentally exhausted.
Stef cleared her throat, "Callie just told me about Liam — we have a lot to talk about."
Lena nodded. She knew this wasn't great. Callie was crying, Stef was holding her like she was afraid to let her go. In that moment, Stef was the anchor keeping Callie secured to reality. An anchor Callie desperately needed, Lena could tell.
But the question that continued to come to the forefront of Lena's head was a very simple one:
How much more could their Callie take?
Stef had rocked Callie back and forth until she fell asleep, a deep sleep she had been in earlier. Stef knew better than to stop rocking her. This wasn't her first rodeo, and she knew the minute she stopped rocking this child back and forth, Callie would wake up. And she didn't want that.
"Miss. Thang apologize to you?" Stef asked softly. They had talked about Liam at length, and Lena was now struggling with the information she had learned.
"Yes, of course. We both knew what her problem was. She's sixteen and is jealous, but hates that she feels that way. She is afraid me having two children who are related to me by blood will make me not pay as much attention to her. It was the same fears she had when I was pregnant with Frankie. She just needed reassured that she isn't going anywhere. Twelve years and she still has so many fears," Lena said, staring at Callie as Stef continued to sway back and forth with her like she had all of their children at one point or another.
"Tell me about your visit with Robert," Stef said gently.
Lena positioned her body around so she could face her wife.
"He is going to pay for everything. The adoption, legal fees, everything. Then he is giving us five million dollars to "pay us off," but he offered us more. He offered us a lot more."
"Lena, five million dollars, how are we going to explain that? Taxes alone will —"
"Not when it is child support, which is exactly what it is. I told him we were going through a lawyer and getting all of the necessary paperwork together, but it is child support. I told him he would never have to worry about seeing me again," Lena explained.
"Have you called your parents yet? To let them know?"
"No. I can't even think about calling them right now. They will want to fly out here immediately and I can't do that to Callie. Too much has happened to her since Friday, and I am not subjecting her to my mother or father. Especially not my mother," Lena said. Just the thought of having to deal with her mother right now was too much even for her.
Stef nodded. She agreed with her wife. Dana was a lot to take in on a good day.
"Maybe when we figure out the adoption day," Lena said, though even that thought seemed especially close. Too close.
"I should have talked to you before I talked to him …"
"No, Lena. I know this is something you had to do. Just like it will be something I have to do where this Liam Olmstead is concerned. He hurt our baby. And something will be done with him."
"Stef …" Lena started, fear laced through her voice.
Stef stopped rocking back and forth for a moment and moved a hand to Lena's cheek.
"I will never do anything to that would cause harm to come to our family. I promise. I will always put our family first, my love. Always."
Lena nodded her head — yes, Stef would always put them first. And Callie did deserve closure. She deserved it so much.
