A/N: Oh geez, I hate to say it but this chapter is a bit of a shorty. It's longer than the first chapter but shorter than the last three I've posted. I'm sorry! It's been so crazy this week, I've had to work almost every day, I've had two birthdays to celebrate, and I start school next week (still haven't done the summer reading assignment). To make up for it though, there's a special Brallie scene! I promise next weeks will be a long one again. Keep giving me ideas guys! Oh, and please keep reviewing, yeah? And if you haven't yet reviewed, could you would you (should you? yes. (: ) The more reviews I get the more motivated I am to write. I guess that's why I was so lazy this week. Only 10 :( But thank you to everyone that did! And I promise to that anon reviewer that this will not be a cancer deathfic. My grandma also passed away from it and it's time cancer gets an ass-whoopin'. It would be so cool if y'all could get me to 100 reviews! (too crazy?) I don't know, I dream big. Lol. The story will be here no matter what though, but it would be so amazing if you guys did. Lastly, I made up my own little story line and made it so that the moms had a wedding on a short little school break. Like a three day weekend for a holiday or whatever. That's why the kids are going back to school. Hope I cleared that up. Onto the story, enjoy! See ya next Monday.

Episode 15

"Callie, we'd really like you to rethink your decision-"

"Yes."

Two pairs of mom eyes meet, equally disbelieving and pleasantly surprised that it's not going to take any more convincing. Lena is ready to laugh, ready for that same kind of happiness Callie and Jude allowed them on the morning of their wedding when they said yes the first time, and reaches across the island to grab the young girl's hand, which is loosely folded in on itself.

"Now, you can take all the time you need," Lena assures, tone slightly hesitant. She doesn't want Callie to rush this decision again, and she knows Brandon can't already be so easy to dismiss for her. But Callie musters up all the love she can give right now and squeezes her hand back.

"I don't need it. I know what I want now." She nods, because she feels her eyes may make her seem unsure of herself, but she's very sure now that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity knocking and it's not going to be around for long. She's not going to let one person get in the way. One person that's got his own problems now. "I was stupid," she admits, and the second she does Stef reaches out her own hand and grabs Callie's free one, and they're in some kind of triangle now, impermeable and imperfect but perfect for Callie. "And I'm sorry, I know I caused you a lot of unnecessary pain but that's what helped me make my decision. To know that...to know that you really do care about me and Jude."

Stef bobs her head but Lena mumbles in agreement, "we do. We really do."

Callie's hands are clammy in theirs but if anything they're holding on tighter, and she's tired of fighting again, she's tired of fighting everything that her body is screaming at her to feel, so she lets those feelings form matter and slip down her cheeks and onto the solid tabletop. "And if you still want to adopt me, I...I want you to."

"Yes, Callie," Stef says, and it's like music, it's like sweet music to her ears and it's a symphony and it's a song written just for her and she's in their arms and they're hugging and nothing could be more perfect yet broken at the same time. But she's sandwiched between them again and this time it's less bittersweet because there really is no 'but' or 'wait' or 'maybe' left when it comes to Brandon. It's a single flavor of oatmeal and it's steel cut. "Yes!"

And they're all giggling but it's that sniffling kind because everybody's so done with this roller coaster, they just want to see the pictures of the crazy ride, because that's when you can really finally breathe.

"School," Callie croaks from somewhere inside their suffocating hug and they laugh as they loosen their arms and let her free, not a frown in sight. Lena pats her bottom and sends her off towards the door, agreeing, "That's right, you don't want to be late, or the vice principal may have to get after you." Callie flashes a smile before disappearing around the staircase, and Stef has to roll her eyes.

"You'll never let any of them forget that, will you?"

She's smug. "Probably not."

The cop is already policing the counters and starting up the sink for the dishes, her shoulders already tense despite the previous lovefest. It makes sense, keeping in mind her job, but Lena knows better. There's something else at play, so she plants herself behind her wife, wrapping her arms around her stomach and resting her chin on her shoulder. "Alright, spill the beans."

Stef raises both eyebrows, feigning cluelessness. "I think Jesus has already got that one covered. Did you ever get that stain out of the table from last night?"

Lena allows the quick change of subject, but only this once. "Yeah, I did. Did Jesus take his medicine yesterday? That spillage seemed easily preventable."

"I don't know. I'll hound him about it when he comes down. Are those kids getting ready?"

Lena unwraps herself to lean on the counter next to her, narrowing her eyes on the obviously conflicted woman scraping at the cereal bowls with the soft side of the sponge. "Whatever's bothering you, you've got to tell me. You're not going to feel any better holding it in."

She shuts off the faucet and proceeds to rub the bowls dry, meeting Lena's concerned eyes. "It's their first day back and I'm sure you've got a lot to do and a lot to think about and I can't burden you with my prob-"

"Oh, don't give me that," Lena warns, but she's not very serious, she's actually quite soft, "your problems are my problems."

"Alright," she drags out, setting down the last bowl to come face to face with her. "But I gave you the disclaimer. Mike wants to ask Brandon to move in with him...again. And if I don't let him, he wants to get the court involved."

Lena's eyes are practically out of their sockets, but there's almost a little humor in her voice. "What? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Why would he even mention court? Of course you're going to let him-"

"I'm not going to let him ask Brandon, Lena," Stef interjects, confused as to why Lena would think so, "He's not fit to be a father right now, nor has he ever really been. I'm afraid he may be a danger to Brandon-"

"Brandon's a smart kid, Stef," Lena scoffs, handing her the coffee cup in her hands so she can empty its cold contents into the sink, but she continues to talk while her back is to her, "He knows when to drive his intoxicated father home and he knows how to handle similar situations."

"See, the fact that 'intoxicated' and 'father' came up in the same sentence-"

"He's not going to say yes, anyway," Lena cuts her off with a shake of her curly up-do, "He said no the first time and nothing's changed. Besides, I think he's got a few people to hang back for."

That's when Stef turns around again, groans, and runs a hand across her face, pulling at her features in fatigue. "I almost forgot about those two. Maybe Callie's over it but if he's not, this news is not going to go over well with him. Ah," she steps away from the sink to retrieve a water bottle from the fridge, and as she twists it open, she says, "I'm not even worried about Mike anymore. I'm worried about this. How is this-"

"Hey," Lena interrupts once more and marches over to her spouse, placing both slim hands on the side of her face, "not now. You don't have to worry about that now. Get some rest today so you can get back to work soon and kick some ass. That is all."

She plants a quick kiss on her lips, and when she pulls back, her expression is firm, so all Stef can say is, "Fine." With a clap of her hands, she marches up to her bedroom to follow orders, leaving Lena will a victorious smile.

"Yo, Jesus,"

Jesus leans back out of his locker to nod in greeting at the fellow beanie-doning pal that sits behind him in math. He's not too fond of him, since he's never prepared for class and is always asking to copy his homework, but right now he's not in the mood to talk to Mariana and he's girlfriend-less so he'll accept the odd company. "What's up, man?"

"People are talking," he says pretty vaguely, so Jesus looks around pointedly, taking in the noisy, crowded hallways filled with sweaty teenage bodies and the occasional pissed-off teacher and agrees, "they are talking, aren't they?"

He looks almost annoyed that Jesus didn't automatically understand what he meant, and clarifies, "Nah, I mean, people are talking about you. And your family. This is a small school, word travels fast."

Jesus closes his locker and brushes past him, clearly uninterested. "This is a huge school, and people are stupid."

He's almost jogging to keep up with him, seeing as he is drastically shorter than the hispanic boy and he keeps weaving in and out of the crowds. "You mean you don't want to know what they're saying?"

"Not really, but it seems like you really want me to know." He swings his backpack further up his shoulder and nearly hits a gaggle of girls who are leaning against some lockers, clearly talking about him because they watch him as he goes by. He wishes he did hit them. "What, then? What are they saying?"

They stop by a trash can at the end of a hallway, and the idiot from math class spits his gum in it before telling him, "Well, Kelsey's been telling everyone that your new foster sister ran away over the weekend and there was a huge manhunt to get her back."

"It wasn't a huge manhunt."

"What wasn't?"

Jesus flips to see his sister behind him, purse casually on her arm though her eyes tell him that she's guilty of something. "You told Kelsey about Callie?"

"Well, yeah, but," she pauses to eye the moron who's starting to look pretty entertained now, then looks back at her brother, "she didn't tell anyone, did she?"

Jesus motions over at the kid with his eyes, folds his arms over his chest, and deadpans, "What do you think?" Mariana's body rolls with frustration and Jesus goes on, "Really, Mariana, you really thought she wouldn't tell anyone?"

A couple more skater boys have joined the group now, and the main moron is explaining what's going on when Callie just happens to walk by and notice the strange circle. She swoops in just as Jesus is about to go off on Mariana, and asks, "What's going on here?"

But Jesus and Mariana aren't the ones who answer. "We're talking about you and how you ran away." one of the idiots, who she barely remembers being named Travis, blurts. Her heart sinks at the words, and her eyes wander over to the twins, who look equally guilty, though only one is at fault.

"Um," she starts, but she doesn't know what to say, because she did run away, and so far they're not making up anything, so she really has nothing to defend. Jesus tries to come to her rescue but one of the other skaters adds, "Yeah, and how you totally abandoned your brother."

Callie wonders if this is even real, if this is even happening. This is not something that happens in real life, this is something that happens in books and movies. People aren't this ballsy. People aren't this flat-out rude. She's still asleep, she's still in bed, it's not time for school yet.

"Hey, hop off, dude," Jesus snaps, stepping forward in front of the two girls, and he's unable to see Mariana reach out and touch Callie's arm, to which she doesn't respond. She doesn't know why she's still hanging around but it would be too obvious if she just walked away, and she's not prepared for the walk of shame. Maybe Jesus will tell them off.

And though he begins too, Brandon also happens to be taking this hallway, because in the next moment he's in front of them all, allowing himself a quick glance at a very disheartened Callie before taking over for Jesus, who, after much insistence that he's "got this", informs him of what's being said.

But Callie doesn't know if she can listen to him defend her, so she finally bails out, slipping out of Mariana's grasp and dashing through the hallway to the lunch area outside. Nobody stops to stare, but it feels like the whole world is watching her.

"Hey, Callie!"

All she wants now is to be alone, but it's just Jude, trekking across the grass to come join her where she's sitting under a tree. She puts on the cheesiest smile she can and chirps, "Hey, what's going on?"

"I came to ask you that," he smiles but he does not laugh, able to see through her ruse. He's not dumb and they're blood. "Why are you sitting alone?"

She picks up a fallen leaf, crisp and brown, and crumbles it in her hand, letting the remnant litter her notebook, which is barely hanging to its spiral. "Why were you walking alone?" she counters, but she's still grinning, and Jude's own doesn't falter, so he appears to drop it, especially when she points out Connor across the lunch tables. "Why don't you go say hi to Connor?"

He's ready to object, clearly feeling obligated to sit with her, but she jokes, "who wants to hang with their sister anyway? You see me enough at home." and he stands with his usual childish optimism and bounces off.

She's settling back into that easy silence when leaves crunch under foot and Brandon is approaching her, and she's scrambling to pick up her belongings and get out of here, go anywhere but here. "Wait!" he pleads, but she's storming off, stomping across the parkway, teetering towards the beach and away from school that she'll have to head back inside to in a few minutes. He stays hot on her trail.

"Don't listen to those idiots!" he's calling after her, swinging under the handrail to catch up with her, and it's reminiscent of the first time he tried to stop her from running off, except he didn't love her then, not yet. "None of that stuff is true, they even said something stupid about my moms getting married and you know that's not true so if you know that, then...Callie," he sees the uneven pavement coming up but she's unaware of it in her escape mission, so of course her foot snags on it and her body hurls forward, and he's finally close enough now to grab her arm, though she stops herself from falling on her own. "Just, wait,"

But when she tries to keep moving and he doesn't let go, she throws a fit of sorts, shaking her body wildly to free herself. This, of course, only makes him try harder. "Let me go!"

"What is going on?" he demands, pulling her in, and her feet stick to the pavement, she's so stubborn. "I'm just trying to help!"

It's a humid day, and the sun is beating down on both of them, and Callie's pretty sure her hair is hotter now than the temperature outside, so she's used up all her energy and he can finally manage to flip her around so that she's facing him and get a better grip on her, though she stills resists. And because she does, he can only grasp one arm firmly, and the other is snaked around her back, and her shirt has ridden up in the commotion so he's touching her bare skin, which is slightly sweaty, though from the weather or the tirade he's unsure. And she sobs.

"Callie," he begins, already feeling her trying to slip out of his arms, so he bends his knees to push her back up, "You're a great sister, none of that is true and you know it."

But that's not why she's crying. "Why are you doing this?"

"What?"

She gets one last burst of energy and struggles anew, but he stays firm with his grasp and she goes nowhere. She gives one strangled, frustrated scream and yells at him through her tears. "You're only making it harder! You're going to be my brother! You can't do this!"

"Wait, what?" he repeats, aware that he's moved his face a little into hers, so he glances around to make sure they're thoroughly hidden by the foliage. "I thought that you-"

"Stop being selfish," she spits a little, she's almost foaming with anger, and leans as far back as she can, "We can never be together and I want to be happy."

"Stop making it sound so simple," he backfires, so stunned at the new info all he can manage is anger, "and stop pretending like this is how you feel because I know it isn't."

She shakes her head furiously, flinging tears off the corners of her eyes. "You don't know anything."

He presses his lips to hers, and they burn and they mark her and she pushes her full weight into the ground, trying to fall out of his arms but he won't let her, and the heat and the fervor of his lips have drained her and so she gives up, she fails, and she lets herself go limp and lets him hold her up, and he still tastes like syrup and she didn't eat breakfast so it really wasn't her decision to kiss him back, no, it was her body and it's desire to function.

Her lips are two metal bars, hard at first, but they grow hot in the heat of both their chemistry and the humidity and they soften and melt against his, but they never part, she never tries for air because she knows even when they're not attached anywhere, air is not something that comes easy.

It doesn't last long, because the risk of being seen is still very real, and so he pulls away to examine her face and she's visibly conflicted, because her body knows she needs him but at the same time she's in pain, and it's flashing across her face. Her hands are wrapped loosely around his arms, weak, and she whispers, "You must hate me."

"Ditto, Callie."

This pisses her off again, and she shakes out of her daze. "Yeah, what about Talya? I don't see you breaking up with her anytime soon, which I can understand because she really needs you right now, so how were you going to come about that?" She's finally able to toss his arms off her and she fixes her shirt. "This is the way it has to be."

The bell rings and she's already trudging back up towards the school, and Brandon waits behind a minute so that he can give her some space. Maybe he's wrong about some things right now, and he's not going to abandon Talya at a time like this, but he's not going to abandon what he has with Callie, either. This is not the way it has to be. Not if he can help it.

"I'm sorry."

They have been walking in their own personal silence for the past three minutes, though the hallways remain noisy. Jesus arches an eyebrow at his sister, who's looking pretty remorseful right now, but he waves her off. "You didn't do anything. You just have horrible friends."

"Yeah, I should've known about Kelsey." she admits, head hanging a little, "but if it were Lexi she wouldn't have told a soul. I'm sorry if I wasn't more supportive, Jesus. I just don't want to lose anymore people. Please forgive me?"

They stop in front of his math class and he hikes his board up a little in his arms, shaking his head at her. "No, you were being realistic. You don't have to apologize, Mariana. You're not going to lose me."

Her brilliant smile rises out of hiding, so relieved she could squeal. "Hug it out?"

He winces, jokingly. "In public?"

"Shut up," she demands, and he lets her wrap her arms around him briefly, which he reciprocates. But not for long, because he's still a teenage boy and he's not about to let those idiots take another jab at them. This is their class, too, after all.

Though he might like another opportunity to kick their asses. Nobody insults his family and gets away with it.

Next week on The Fosters:

Mike returns with his demands

Talya leans on Brandon for support

while he stays persistent with Callie

and more

All new, Monday, September 9th