"How did it go?" Callie asked answering her phone nervously. She had been waiting for this call all day. Harry was being tested in school to see if they could find out some of the reasons why he was having problems. It was an hour after Lena said she would know by when her momma's name finally appeared across her caller ID.

"It went well, he was really cooperative and did everything they asked." Lena said.

"And the results?" Callie pushed her to go on.

"You know that I can not discloses those over the phone" Lena said.

"Then what is the point of calling" Callie muttered before she could stop herself knowing full well she was acting like the principals daughter and not a parent. She made a note to work on that.

"Why don't you come in at pick up and I'll go over the paperwork with you and we can make a plan" Lena said.

"Plan, we need a plan? Does that mean it's bad?" Callie asked

"Callie" Lena said in her firm voice. Lena never yelled but she had a tone when her voice got firm that they all knew meant she was done. Maybe Lena would also have to make a note to treat Callie more like a parent and less like her own child.

"Ok, I'll be there early" Callie said.

"Good, see you later" Lena said hanging up the phone.

The afternoon went by to slow for Callie and she was the first car in the parking lot when pickup time came. she parked her car and hurried into the main office nodding and offering a smile to all the familiar faces as she went. She knocked loudly on Lena's door and heard Lena's voice calling her inside.

"You're very early" Lena said glancing at her watch.

"Can you blame me?" Callie asked sitting in the chair across Lena's desk.

"Is Will coming?"

"No he couldn't get out of a meeting, can we just get into it?" Callie asked as Lena placed a file on her desk.

"Yes, ok so this is his IQ range vs other kids in his grade" Lena said handing Callie a paper. Callie studied the graph for a minute.

"Wait, is this him?" Callie asked.

"Yes, he tested above age level, way above age level." Lena nodded as Callie looked up at her surprised.

"So why is he doing so poorly in school?"

"Well we tested for a lot of things, Aspergers, ADHD, ADD. They all came back negative."

"So?"

"So we discovered his problem with school is his self confidence. I actually sat with him for a while and between not going often and being behind in assignments, not having many friends, no real help from teachers, and his mom telling him he couldn't do it, Harry stopped trying. He heard so many times to not bother, and it was to hard for him, he couldn't do it, that he really believes he can't do it." Lena said.

"But clearly it's not to hard for him" Callie said looking back at the graph.

"Yes, well no one has ever told him that be could do it." Lena sighed.

"So now what? Whats the plan?" Callie asked.

"Well, I know you have been working with him on reading and math, but I think a big part of it is getting his self confidence up. He just needs someone to tell him he can do this." Lena said.

"No one had ever told him that before" Callie suddenly realized. Stef but especially Lena had always been big on encouragement in their house. Brandon with his piano, Jesus with his sports, Jude when Lena was helping him through school. Almost everyday of her life in that house Callie was told she could do whatever she wanted and never once put down. Harry seemed to be put down all his life.

That night Callie was giving Elizabeth a bath while Will was struggling through Harry's reading with him. Harry would read a few words then get tripped up and Will would help him sound it out. Callie could hear Harry getting more and more frustrated as Will spoke patiently to him. When Elizabeth was dry and dressed Callie was carrying her into the kitchen for her bottle before bed with Harry grabbed the book from Will's hands throwing it across the room as it hit the wall with a loud bang.

"I hate reading! I can't do it!" Harry screeched. Callie went into the kitchen grabbing the file from Lena off the table she took out the graph and sat next to Harry on the couch putting Elizabeth on the floor in front of her.

"Do you remember those tests you took with Lena today?" Callie asked him.

"Yes" Harry muttered.

"How do you think you did on them?" She asked.

"Bad, I always do bad" Harry said.

"I want to show you something, see this red line right here, that is your class it's how smart everyone is, and you see this blue line right here, that's how smart you are. Your line is above the your friends line, that mean's you are very smart Harry" Callie told him.

"How do you know?" Harry asked.

"Because Lena told me, I know reading is frustrating, but you are doing a really good job Will and I are both very proud of you" Callie said. Will nodded in agreement as Harry looked at him as if to check that the statement was true.

"I know you can do it if you practice a little bit more, you are very smart Harry" Will said.

"Ok fine" Harry said.

"Why don't you go pick up your book and we will read 5 more pages and then we can play a game before bed" Will said.

"Will you play too? Can we play trouble?" Harry asked looking at Callie. Callie tried to hide her smile but there was no point. The past week battled with Harry had become less and less and he was actually asking to spend time with Callie and Will.

"You bet" Callie told him.

"Ok I'm going to be downstairs in my office doing some work I will be back in one hour" Callie said as she and Harry exited the elevator.

"Great" Harry said waving her off as he ran down the hall to Katie's office as Katie was coming out to greet them.

"Hi, come on in your mom should be here any minute" Katie gave him a smile before turning to Callie.

"I'll be upstairs doing some paperwork" Callie said.

"Great, anything I need to pass along to mom?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, will you tell her he's doing really well in school, he brought a book he want's to read to her" Callie said.

"Wow, that's great news, I'll pass that on" Katie smiled as Callie headed back to the elevator.

A little over an hour later Callie made her way back down rushing as the elevator doors opened.

"Hi! I'm sorry i'm late I lost track of time! But I finished everything so we can go to the beach again with Frankie Friday after school" Callie said giving Harry a smile when she found him sitting on the bench outside the office. Harry just looked up at her and glared, Callie knew this week was going to be like last week's visit.

"Come on, let's go home and have dinner" Callie said trying to stay positive.

"I had dinner! my mom brought me burger king and it's better then your crappy chicken pie!" Harry snarled grabbing his back pack and marching down the hall.

"Mom brought him food again, he didn't read to her. She kind of discouraged it when he took the book out. She said she doesn't like him going to a charter school. I don't think she will do anything about it though." Katie said. Callie sighed.

"Thanks anyway" she said following Harry down the hall and out to the car.

"Did you read to your mom?" Callie asked pulling into the street pretending she didn't know the answer already.

"No, she said reading is for nerds and I'm not a nerd. She says I don't need that busy work and that you should be doing real things with me" Harry snapped.

"Well reading is important…" Callie started

"I don't want to talk to you" Harry interrupted her.

"Ok" Callie sighed and the ride home was silent.

Harry refused to join them at the table so they could eat as a family, he refused to read his chapter even after Callie took away his TV time. He kicked over a box of legos pushed Elizabeth to the floor and threw the book across the room when Will was out on his run. When he came home Will took one look around the house and tapped Callie on the shoulder as she was trying to get Harry to clean up.

"I'm tagging you out for the night" He said. Callie sighed knowing the biggest battles of taking a shower and going to bed were still ahead of them with Harry. She nodded just picking up Elizabeth putting her in her stroller and left the house. She wasn't even sure where she was going until she was walking up the walkway to the big house. She took Elizabeth from her stroller going inside.

The big house was calmer in the evenings now then it had been when Callie was younger. She almost found herself missing the noise. Brandon wasn't in the living room playing a song he was trying to learn over and over and over. The twins were not yelling at each other up stairs. There was no loud music Mariana used to play coming from her old room. There was no pounding of a basketball outside from Jesus. Jude was not at the table doing homework with Lena or playing video games to loud trying to over power all the other noise. There was not a toddler Francesca walking around yelling loudly to make everyone look at her because she loved the attention.

The house was calm, her moms were both in the living room on the couch with their feet up and a glass of wine folded into each other. Frankie sat in a chair near them playing on Stef's computer. They all looked up surprised when Callie came in.

"Hi baby" Lena said as she and Stef both sat up a little making room between them. Callie took the spot sinking into the couch and Elizabeth scrambled into Lena's lap content to settle in and suck her thumb.

"What's wrong?" Stef asked running her fingers absentmindedly through Callie's hair.

"Harry had a visit with him mom today, They just bring out the worst in him, I needed a break" Callie said.

"Of course it's important to step back with you need it" Lena nodded.

"He just gets so mad and I don't know how to help him. He threw his book again, pushed her down" Callie said running her thumb over the light bruise on Elizabeth's head. It wasn't big, she knew it would be gone by tomorrow but Callie still felt guilty.

"How long does it last?"

"The day, he will be back to normal tomorrow but she's just so toxic and he doesn't even see it" Callie sighed. Lena glanced at Stef reading her mind.

"Frankie, let's go up, it's almost time for bed we can read some Harry Potter in my bed if you hurry up and get ready" Lena said.

"Ok, bye Callie" Frankie said closing the computer and giving Callie a hug going up the stairs.

"I'll take the little miss with me" Lena said standing up moving Elizabeth to her hip and giving Callie a kiss on her forehead.

"Thanks" Callie gave her a smile as Lena climbed the stairs after Frankie.

"See! That is a good kid" Callie said pointing up the stairs.

"Harry is a good kid" Stef said.

"I know, it's just days like today… I wish he didn't have visits. I know that's an awful thing to say but he would be so much better without these visits."

"He needs to see his mom love" Stef said.

"But why? She lost him because she couldn't take care of him, he idolized her and she never did anything for him" Callie said.

"You don't get this part of foster care because you never had visits" Stef reminded her.

"I guess" Callie sighed realizing she was right.

"The twins had visits with their mom a few times their first few weeks here. It was terrible. Mariana would cry so hard when we picked them up at first she wanted to stay with her birth mom. After a while she would cry when we left her there wanting to stay with us. She was afraid we wouldn't come back and being around her mom who did leave her a lot reminded her of that fear. Anna would being them candy and junk food, you can just imagine what that did to your brother. Visits are not easy, but Harry has a right to his mom, and she has a right to him." Stef said.

"He was so excited to read her his book, he practiced all last night, he has it memorized he read it so much. And she just shut it down didn't even let him open the book. All the hard work we put into him this week is gone." Callie sighed.

"It's hard. Foster care is not easy my love you just do the best you can with what you can."

"But she's going to get him back. When she finished these mandatory parenting classes she is going to get him back and she hasn't changed. Maybe she has on paper but not really. I think that's why this is so hard, I know he's not staying but if I knew he was going to a good stable home I would be so happy."

"Love, everything about this is hard. There is not one thing easy about foster care or everyone would do it. No matter where Harry is going after he leaves your house it will be hard. You will have to readjust. Do you remember what we told you when you might have to go live with Robert?"

"No, I think I blocked that month out" Callie muttered.

"We told you that we would always be your family. These would always be your brothers and sisters, you would always have a home here, a bed in your room, a seat at the table. No matter where you lived we would always love you and be here for you no matter what. You need to do that for Harry."

"How, I was 16, he's 7 he doesn't have a choice, and even if he did he would clearly pick the easier one of not going to school and not learning to read" Callie said.

"You need to work with him, and his mom. Instead of fighting this women because you think you know best, work with her. Show her how to encourage him, and help him and how happy he is about it. You are fighting her but you don't know her story. Maybe no one every encouraged her, maybe she doesn't know how to for him. Maybe she was told her who life school isn't important. Help her and him together." Stef said.

"Are you always right?" Callie asked when it dawned on her everything her mom was saying made sense.

"Yup" Stef sat back putting her feet up making Callie laugh at the smirk on her face.

"Oh, I guess I should go get my girl and head home to put her to bed, Harry is going to throw a fit and wake her up I just know it" Callie said.

"Or you could leave her up there to fall asleep with momma which you know they would both love, watch a movie with me then take her home already asleep after Harry is in bed" Stef offered raising her eyebrow at Callie.

"Oh, better idea, pass the wine" Callie smiled sitting back as Stef turned on the TV.

Sunday night after dinner they all walked down to the park in the neighborhood for some fireworks. Stef pulled a wagon with Frankie, Harry and Elizabeth sitting in the back. Jesus pulled another full of folding chairs and snacks. They found a spot settling in the grass, some people in chairs others on the blanket. Elizabeth sat in Megan's lap on a chair waving a glow stick in the air. Harry sat by Jesus's feet, he had become his little shadow lately for sure. The park was filling up and Callie was glad they got a good seat. Mike was working security but he came over with sparklers letting Frankie and Harry try them as the sun went down. Frankie danced around in the grass waving her's around making Elizabeth laugh at her. Harry stood very still holding his at arms length dropping it to the ground every time it got close to his fingers. Mike stomped out everyone he dropped and he eventually settled for a glow stick to wave around with Frankie. When it finally got dark enough they settled back into their seats as they started. Callie watched Harry who covered his ears but seemed to enjoy them. She lay back on the grass resting on her elbows next to Mariana.

"So am I a bad mom for keeping the kids up late on a Sunday because I wanted to see fire works?" Callie asked making Mariana laugh.

"No way, it's educational, fire safety and such" Mariana said turning to her. A loud boom echoed and Elizabeth let out a screech struggling in Megan's arms. Callie reached up to take her, Megan's lap was small enough with her ever growing belly she didn't need a squirmy toddler in it as well.

"Here" Mariana said placing a pair of headphones over Elizabeth's ears to block some of the sound. They were comically to big for her little head but they seemed to work. Lena laughed snapping a picture as Elizabeth settled back down.

"Christmas card" Will laughed from behind them on a bench behind them with Brandon and Sam.

"We'll have to beat momma to it" Callie smiled back at him. They are quiet for a few more minutes everyone just watching enjoying the show. Callie was just wondering how much longer when Sam came up to her tapping her on the shoulder.

"Something is wrong with Will" He said. Callie sat up straighter looking around. Will and Brandon were gone from their spot.

"Brandon when with him into the bathrooms" Sam said. Callie nodded passing Elizabeth to Mariana standing up she looked around in the dark. The fire works ended with a loud boom and everyone clapped before starting to gather their things. The crowed was thinning out when Callie found the bathrooms on the far end of the park going inside she found it empty but she heard familiar yelling from behind them. She ran out going around the back, Brandon was standing with his arms out as Will paced against the fence a few feet away muttering to himself.

"I think its his PTSD" Brandon said. Callie nodded watching Will, it had been almost a year since he had had any sort of attack, things had stopped bothering him so much, he had been able to live a totally normal life. They had even seen fire works before but something about these must have been to much.

"Will, Will it's Callie and Brandon" Callie called to him not getting any closer. Will didn't hear her as he kept walking back and forth.

"Will, Will your home, it's safe" Callie said again.

"Has this been happening a lot?" Brandon asked.

"No, not in a long time" Callie shook her head as they both watched him.

"You can go, moms were packing up i'll stay with him we'll meet you at the house" Callie said.

"Like I'm going to leave you alone with him" Brandon said as Will continued muttering with a wild look in his eye.

"He won't hurt me" Callie said.

"You sound so sure of that"

"I am" Callie said glancing at Brandon.

"How long does it last?" Brandon asked

"Depends" Callie shrugged. Will was not responding to her so she knew enough to keep her distance and wait it out.

"Callie" A voice behind her suddenly called making all three of them jump.

"No Harry! stay here" Jesus went to grab him but Harry was to quick as he ran towards Will. Callie stopped him roughly as Will turned to glare at Jesus and then at Harry. Harry seemed to shrink into Callie who didn't blame him. Will's face was always so soft and calm.

"It's ok, it's fine go with Jesus" Callie said gently pushing Harry back to her brother but Harry sayer rooted in his spot.

"Will, what's wrong with you?" Harry asked.

"No no, shhh go now please it's very important" Callie said giving him another little push. This time Jesus walked over and picked him up, Callie was thankful Harry didn't throw a fit.

"What are you going to do?" Stef asked Callie.

"Wait it out" Callie just shrugged.

"Ok, I will take the kids to your house, B stay with her." Stef ordered. Even when Callie was asked to make a decision Stef ended up giving the finial orders.

"Yah" Brandon nodded as they walked bask to the rest of the family.

An hour later Callie held the door open for Will as he walked into the house. He was shaky and pale, the way he often was after a bad PTSD attack.

"Go lay down I will being you some water and Advil" Callie said gently, he just nodded walking to the bedroom as Stef came from the kitchen.

"You ok?" She asked Will. Will just nodded again going down the hall.

"That was longer then I thought" Stef said quietly to Callie.

"Yeah sorry, I guess we will stay away from fire works the rest of the summer" Callie said filling a glass with water.

"No need to be sorry, are you ok?"

"I'm fine" Callie shrugged her off ignoring the look Stef gave her.

"Ok, well the baby is asleep but Harry wanted to stay up and wait. I said it's ok I know it's a school night but I don't know how to deal with his fights, and I thought you would be home sooner" Stef said.

"It's ok, I want to talk to him anyway" Callie sighed pushing back her hair.

"You look tired baby"

"I am" Callie chuckled in sarcasm Stef waited knowing she had more to say.

"I just…This is my life you know, and it was all going good, we were in a rhythm, and then Harry came and most of the time he does fit into our rhythm but the days he doesn't are exhausting. And I love Elizabeth with all my heart but I'm so tired I could sleep for days. And not this, now Will, and I know it's not his fault, I know that but it's just another thing." Callie sighed. Stef just nodded pulling Callie into a hug and Callie allowed herself to take the comfort she needed from it.

"You will be fine, ok? Your tired and tense, I think you get just as drained from his attacks as Will does. Why don't you go talk to Harry, I'll take this to Will, what else do you need done?" Stef asked.

"Nothing, nothing else thank you" Callie said.

"Why don't you two plan a date night for Friday, Momma and I will keep the kids overnight" Stef said.

"No, no you don't have to" Callie shook her head.

"We want to, Callie love you need a night off" Stef said.

"thank you" Callie gave her a smile.

"Go talk to Harry i'll let myself out" Stef said rubbing her arm before going down the hall to being Will his water.

"Hi bud" Callie said knocking on Harry's open doorway as he sat on his rug playing with his legos.

"Hi" Harry said looking up at her.

"I just wanted to talk to you about what happened today" Callie said going in to sit on his bed in front of him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well I know it was pretty scary what happened with Will" Callie said. Harry looked up at her and nodded.

"I just want you to know that when he is like that, he doesn't know where his is or who we are" Callie said.

"Why?"

"Well because when he was in the war he has some bad memories and sometimes when something happens that reminds him of the war he kind of forgets that he is home and safe with us and thinks he needs to defend himself again" Callie said.

"Was he scared?"

"He was, war can be scary" Callie nodded.

"I was scared" Harry whispered.

"I know, but it's important to remember he is confused when that he won't hurt us, it can be scary but he won't hurt us and he always comes back." Callie said.

"Does it happen a lot?"

"No, you know why it happened today? Because the fire works reminded him if the guns"

"Is that why I can't play the shooting games?"

"No, the reason we don't allow you to play the shooting games is because guns are not a toy, and it is not fun or a game to shoot someone. It is a very serious thing" Callie said.

"ok" Harry nodded.

"I just wanted to let you know that Will and I care about you very much. and I know what you saw was scary today but we would never let anything hurt you? ok?" Callie asked.

"Ok" Harry nodded.

"Ok, now time for lights ok you have school tomorrow" Callie said sliding onto the floor helping him pick up the legos before he crawled into bed.

"Good night" Harry said sitting up pulling her into a hug. Callie was surprised but she tried to hide it as best she could.

"good night buddy, see you in the morning" Callie smiled returning the hug.