Chapter 18

"Stef I hope that this all goes over well and there's no more crazy turns. As I educator I had to report this immediately. With Callie wanting to keep this a secret and all…"

Lena was still home on bed rest. She was on the phone with Stef, anxious to provide a safe place for Callie and Jude but still nervous as to how they would react and accept them. After that day when Lena met them with Mariana her and Stef went into full action. They met with the judge that helped them before and she was able to give them a fostering license. Today Stef got the ok to be the officer to get them out of their home. The process wasn't as quick as they hoped but nothing was going to get in their way.

"Honey, everything is going to be fine. By time it's dinner time they will be settled into their rooms".

Stef and Mike decided to go to Jude's school first. It was about noon and though they didn't want to take them out of school, it was important to get them to safer place and know that they were safe.

They walked into the busy main office of the public school, with people paying little to no attention to them. "Excuse me?" Mike tried. "Excuse me, can we speak to a principal or secretary, or someone".

"I'm the secretary," I woman came over with her glasses on the tip of her nose. "We are here for Jude Jacobs", Stef said stepping forward, "We need to take him out of school".

"Well, seems like someone beat you to that. He hasn't been here for little over a week. Called his house and left messages, but got nothing. Sorry."

"Sorry? Really?" Stef said turning around.

They tried Callie's school next. Though they knew that there was no way Callie would be in school if Jude wasn't but they had to check before radioing back up to meet them at Allen's house.

But that experience was proving to be part of their worse fears. When they arrived, Mike and Stef began knocking on the door but there was no sign of anyone being home. There was complete silence. "Where could they be?" Stef said to Mike. But her eyes glanced passed Mike into the window and she could see what she thought to be blood on the ground. "Mike!"

They both drew out their guns and kicked down the door, with the rest of the cops running in right behind them. Allen was there laid out on the ground, dried blood stuck to the back on his head. With Mike over him Stef walked towards the kitchen where most of the blood seemed to be.

There was blood smeared on the fridge with a partial hand print, too big to be Allen's and not small enough to be Jude's. The blood seemed to have trailed away from were Allen was. The other officers searched the house but there were no sign of the kids.

They yanked Allen off of the ground and cuffed him before asking him where Callie and Jude were.

"Little bitch hit me in back of my head and they ran out. They got what they deserved. I want to press charges!"

"Sure we will start the paperwork when you are out of prison" Mike said bringing him to the cruiser.

Stef looked around the small hell that Callie and Jude have been forced to live in and couldn't believe how a system could put children in a place like this. "Where are you guys?"

It has been a few days since Stef went to pick up Callie and Jude and missing children reports have been reported and proceeded with. Every night Stef and a group of cops have been out in search of them. Little did they know they have remained in their small shed the whole time.

But things haven't exactly gotten better for them either. Jude had been running a fever and progressively getting worse by the day. They haven't been to school or out because Callie knew if people saw an abused teen with a sick kid CPS would take them away for sure.

So Callie has been trying her absolute best. She continued to keep him warm as possible and in a time of desperation, snuck out while he was sleep to snag some medicine and other things she thought to be hopeful from a store by her house. But nothing at all seemed to have been working.

Though she failed to show it because of Jude, she was really beginning to panic and didn't know what else she could do. She knew if things got worse she would have to bring him to the hospital even if they may get separated.

She looked down at her littler brother who was sweeting like crazy but had uncontrollable chills. He was depleted of energy as he would wake up to vomit and then pass right back out. "It's ok Bud. It's going to be ok".

Lena felt like she couldn't just sit around. She decided to go to the burger place to see if she could find anything out about them. She ran into Daphney who was just as protective and stubborn as Stef warned her that she would be.

"We aren't trying to bring them any harm. We want to foster them. But we can't find them. Something must of happened at their home and they fled. I just want to know where else they could be. Please."

Daphney took a moment to think and decide if Lena was trustworthy enough before saying, "There's this shed that they stay in. They turned it into like a miniature house. I don't think anyone actually lives in the main house. But when things get bad, that's usually where they go for some peace. I don't know the exact address. Just the area".

Lena quickly called Stef and told her the information that she got from Daphney. A handful of cops went out to start searching that block that Daphney described.

Callie was sitting with her back against the door watching Jude periodically as she wrote in her journal. She heard more voices than normal coming from outside. She got up and looked out of the window and saw the police searching through each of the neighbor's yard.

Convinced that they were coming because Allen called she went into survival mode. She grabbed a light and carried Jude on her back running towards the house. She loosened one of the boards and opened the window to the basement. She jumped down first, coughing from all of the built up dust before helping Jude through.

"Callie, we are going to get in trouble for this".

"Just until the coast is clear Bud".

Callie carried Jude up to the main part of the house. Minus the cob webs, it's as if time just stood still. She goes to her parents's room and takes a moment to look around as tears fill her eyes.

"I was half expecting it to still smell like them"

She placed him on the bed and wrapped him up as best she could as he began to shiver again. She could now hear the cops outside of her house going through the yard. But with the boarded up windows there's no way they would suspect them to be inside.

She walks over to the dresser and careful looks through her mother's belongings. She came across a tiny necklace with a circle pendant. One that she always remembered her mother to be wearing. She puts it on herself before going over to lay next to Jude.

Callie doesn't know how long she was asleep but something told her to wake up as she could feel the heat radiating off of Jude and his shivers becoming violent.

She tried to wake him up but as soon as she did he began to vomit over the side of the bed. She needed to get help and knew that she couldn't leave him alone. She reached for the paper that she kept in her back pocket and read the address printed on the paper.

She hauled Jude outside into the night. The fastest way she could think to transport him would be by bike. Knowing that it would be hard to balance while holding onto him she tried not to second guess it as she sat Jude across her lap with her arms in close to try to keep him in place. "Try to hold on Jude. It won't be far". She felt his weak hands grab the back of her shirt as she began to pedal stopping occasionally along the way.

Finally arriving to what she is sure is Stef and Lena's house she picks up Jude and places him on the porch swing as he is falling in and out of consciousness. She begins banging on the door and ringing the doorbell with all of her might. "Please open the door" she begs quietly with tears streaming down her face as she looks to her brother. Banging harder and harder she wouldn't let up even as she heard feet rushing to the door.

Stef opened the door wide confused as to who it could be that time of night with Lena making her way behind her with her cane and a startled Mariana.

"Cal-"

"Help him! Please!" She dragged Stef out of the house whose eyes bugged out when she saw Jude. She quickly carried him inside and directed Mariana to call and ambulance and Lena grabbed what she could to try to bring down his temperature. The two moms were able to keep him awake until the ambulance came as Mariana sat there and comforted Callie. Who was now putting all of her trust on this family.