Stef

"A-are you serious?" I stutter incredulously, "Callie can come home?"

I can practically see Bill's eyes rolling through the phone, "Yes, your foster-daughter can return to your house." He emphasizes the fact that Callie isn't legally ours. Normally, I would be annoyed with Bill but at this moment I am on cloud nine because Callie is coming home.

"When do I pick her up?" I ask, already reaching for my bag so I can search for my car keys.

"Actually, it's going to take around a week."

My movements come to screeching halt, "A week? Why so long?"

"The paper work has to clear," he answers unapologetically, "You know how these things are. Your captain pulled a lot of strings."

I furrow my eyebrows, "Roberts?"

"The one and only," Bill says with feigned fanfare, "I need to go. We'll be in touch."

"Bye."

I hang up the phone and lean back in my chair with smile. It's going to take a couple of days, but soon enough Callie will be back where she belongs.

With us.

Callie

I'm sitting on my bed, reading a book for school while Daphne works on her math homework. It's silent, but instead of feeling tense it feels comfortable. I'm glad that Daphne and I are okay now. I didn't really give her a chance because I was so angry and scared, but I don't feel any of that anymore.

I hear Daphne groan from her side of the room, "When the hell am I gonna need to know the area of a polygon anyway?"

I smirk, "I don't know. Maybe it'll come in handy the next time you land in juvie." I joke teasingly.

Daphne chucks a pillow at me, "Maybe if you knew the area of an octagon I wouldn't have beat your ass."

I laugh out loud and pick up the pillow, "That doesn't even make any sense!"

Daphne laughs too. I stand up with her pillow and bring it back to her, "Are you almost done?" I ask.

She sighes, "Three more problems. You?"

I shrug, "About fifteen pages to go."

Daphne goes back to her homework and I linger near her dresser. I never got to take a look at her side of the room because I wasn't interested. She doesn't have a lot, but something that stands out to me is a picture of a baby girl.

"Who's that?" I ask, nodding my head at the picture.

Daphne looks up to see what I'm talking about and when she does her gaze softens and she smiles, "That's Tasha, my daughter."

Wow.

I look back at the photo that has obviously been handled quite a lot, "She's cute," I say, "How old is she?"

"She's two now," Daphne answers in a proud voice. Her face darkens, "She's in the system. Like me. I didn't want that for her." She picks up the photo and traces it with her finger, "The first thing I'm gonna do when I'm out is get her back." She looks up at me, "I applied for independent living. I'll get my own apartment; be free of foster care. I have to get a job and do some other things but it'll all be worth it when I get my Tasha back."

I nod, taking in what she's told me, "You'll do it," I say confidently, "You don't seem like the giving up type."

Daphne nods. She places the photo back carefully in its spot and turns to face me, "What about you?"

I raise an eyebrow, "What?"

"Do you have someone you're waiting to see?"

"My little brother, Jude," I answer immediately, "And I guess my foster family, too."

Daphne looks surprised, "Really? I don't hear of a lot of kids who want to go back to their foster home."

"Yeah," I agree with a little laugh, "I know, but…they're different from what Jude and I are used to. They care about us. Sometimes I hope…" I stop myself and bit my lip.

Daphne nudges me, "What?"

I shrug, "Sometimes…I hope they adopt us." I shake my head, "It's stupid, I know, but it would be amazing."

"Try not to get your hopes up too high," Daphne says not unkindly, "Things don't usually work out for kids like us."

I sigh as I head back to my bed to finish my reading, "Yeah. I know."

Lena

"How are those tomatoes coming, Miss Thing?"

Mariana huffs, "A ton of water pours out whenever I cut them. At this point we'll be eating salad with tomato juice on top."

I laugh, "Just try your best, sweetheart." I walk over to Jude who seated at the kitchen table, "How's the math coming along?"

Jude looks up from his book, "I think I'm doing it right, but can you check when I'm done anyway?"

"Of course," I say, squeezing his shoulder. He's been pretty down since Callie has been gone. His smiles don't quite reach his eyes and he doesn't seem to want to talk anymore than he has to. I don't blame him.

Jesus comes barreling through the back door, "Is dinner done yet? I'm starving."

I roll your eyes, "I'm sure you are. Go get Brandon from his room, please, and then the two of you can start setting the table."

"Okay!" Jesus calls over his shoulder, already thundering up the stairs and yelling for his brother.

"The salad is done," Mariana announces, "Tomato mush and all."

I take the bowl from her, "Thank you, sweetheart. I appreciate it." I hear the boys coming downstairs just as Stef comes through the back door. She's grinning from ear to ear and I wonder what has her so happy.

"Hi," I greet her, pecking her on the lips, "You look happy."

Stef grins even wider, if that's possible, "I'm much more than happy. Do you know why?"

I shrug, "Um, no? Should I?"

Stef clasps her hands together, "Callie can come home!"

My eyes widen, "Are you serious?"

"Callie is coming back?" Jude repeats hopefully. I almost forgot the kids were here. Stef nods and takes a seat next to him at the table.

"She's coming home," she confirms happily, smoothing back his hair, "I talked to Bill this afternoon."

Mariana is all smiles, "That's awesome! What changed?"

"Captain Roberts pulled a few strings," Stef answers, "She really went to bat for us."

"When can she come back?" Jesus asks curiously.

"About a week," Stef replies and everyone visibly deflates, including myself, "I know, it's longer than I thought but at least it's happening."

"Does Callie know?" Brandon asks, "Did Bill say?"

Stef shrugs, "I'm not sure. Callie has her phone on her so I'm going to text her just in case."

"Still, that's great news," I say enthusiastically, and it is. I've never noticed before that our family was missing something until Callie was taken away from us. Jude and Callie are ours, even if it's not written down on some paper.

"I know," Stef says. Jude wraps his arms around her and holds tight. She doesn't hesitate to hug him back and kiss his head. Brandon is getting cups, Jesus is getting plates, and Mariana is placing the food on the table. It feels so comfortable, like I've been doing this forever. All we need is Callie.

Just one more week.

Callie

"Damnit." I curse to myself as I stealthily look at my phone.

"What's wrong?" Daphne asks from her bed. Lights out is in fifteen minutes and then we have to go to bed.

I listen for a moment to make sure no one is lurking in the hall and then answer, "My phone is dead."

Daphne shifts onto her side to face me better, "You don't have your charger?"

"No," I answer, annoyed with myself, "I wasn't my main priority when I was getting rushed out of my house. I mean the Foster's house."

"Too bad," Daphne says, "Maybe when we go to school you can ask someone to borrow a charger."

I sigh, "Yeah, I guess." I slip the phone back into a sock and then stick it under my mattress, "You can turn off the light whenever," I tell Daphne, "I'm going to bed a little early."

"Alright. 'Night."

"'Night."

Stef

I stare at my phone, waiting expectantly. I texted Callie almost half an hour ago to tell her what was going on, and she still hasn't replied. I hope her phone didn't get taken away.

"Stop worrying," Lena says in her infinitely soothing voice, eyes never leaving the novel she's reading, "Maybe she didn't have time to reply because someone was coming. Either way, we're getting her back in a week, right?" She lifts her eyes to shoot me a comforting smile.

I sigh, "Yeah." I check my phone one more time before setting it on the night table.

Sorry. I've been gone forever and I apologize. My Apple products are driving me up the wall (Laptop and phone). Clearly, Microsoft is superior.

Thanks for toughing it out, I know it's been forever. I am super excited for the Foster's premiere tonight! Season 2B! It's going to be amazing :)

Love you guys!

-Liv