Summary - After Brandon`s arrest, the Fosters band together to fight for him. Also Lena makes a surprising revelation to Stef.
Disclaimer - I didn`t create most of the characters, with the exception of a few, in this story. They are the property of Bradley Bredeweg, Peter Paige and ABC Family. All infringements are unintentional.
The alarm clock on the dresser in Callie and Mariana`s room buzzed at 5:40 am. Callie, who had woke up earlier, immediately walked over to turn the alarm off. Then she took a quick look at Mariana, who was still asleep and balled up on her bed. Callie felt so bad for Mariana that she had to see Brandon being arrested last night. Seeing Mariana crying afterwards was ingrained in Callie`s mind and still bothered her. However Callie had little time to worry about and decided to get ready for the first day of school. She went to the bathroom for the usual morning activities of brushing her teeth, getting in a shower and then drying herself off, which took 15 minutes. After she finished drying herself off, Callie then put on a new black underset, an old t-shirt and pajamas before leaving the bathroom. Before going to her and Mariana`s room, Callie took a quick glance in Brandon`s room and saw Jesus sitting at his desk. She immediately went over to Brandon`s room. "Hey." Callie said.
"Oh hey Callie." Jesus replied. "I just wanted to come in here. This seems like a bad dream and i`m waiting for Brandon to come out at any moment to tell me to get away from his desk or not to hog the bathroom, but it`s so hard that he`s not here."
Callie felt terrible for Jesus, who was trying his best to hide how hurt he was emotionally about Brandon`s arrest, but she could tell that he was upset about it. Callie knew after living with the Fosters for a while how strong a bond the twins have with Brandon and it was tough for her seeing them hurting without their older brother. "This really sucks." Jesus said in disgust.
"I know that it sucks about what happened last night and i feel the same way too," Callie said. "but you can`t let this get you down. Your moms and Mike are doing what they can to help Brandon and before you know it, he`ll be back here complaining about not having any hot water."
Jesus laughed a little at Callie`s last comment. "I guess i better get my shower while there`s still some hot water." Jesus said as he stood up. "Thanks for listening."
"No problem." Callie replied as she gave Jesus a quick reassuring pat on the back before he headed off to the bathroom.
Callie then headed back to her and Mariana`s room to get dressed. As she changed into one of her new outfits, Callie noticed Mariana sitting up for the first time in a few hours. After Callie finished putting on her jeans, she went to sit down next to Mariana, whose eyes were dry, but red after all the crying she did. She didn`t know what to say to Mariana and could only put her hand on top of Mariana`s.
"I don`t know if i can go to school while Brandon`s stuck in jail." Mariana said.
"I know how you`re feeling right now." Callie said. "Believe me i`ve had many days where all i wanted to do was to stay in bed, but something inside me said to get up and go out to face the day as best as you can."
Callie`s words immediately began to sink in with Mariana. As bad as her problem was, she knew that Callie had faced a lot worse and immediately begin to feel a bit rejuvenated.
"Feel better?" Callie asked.
"I`m starting to." Mariana replied.
As Callie gave Mariana a hug, she saw Jude standing in the door holding a glass of water. "Hey buddy."
"I just wanted to bring Mariana some water if she wanted it." Jude said as he came in the room.
Mariana immediately felt very grateful by Jude`s action. "Thanks so much." Mariana said as she accepted the glass of water from Jude.
Jesus finished up in the bathroom about a minute later, which got Mariana`s attention. "Are you going to go get your shower now? Mariana asked.
"No thanks." Jude replied. "You can go before me."
Mariana smiled in gratitude at Jude and gave him a kiss on the forehand before going to the bathroom. Callie felt very proud of Jude for being so generous. "That was so good what you did for Mariana."
"I thought that she need it a lot more." Jude said. "Do you think that they`re going to do anything to Brandon and send him to juvie?"
Callie quietly contemplated Jude`s question. She thought back to her experiences in juvie and knew that someone like Brandon would had a very hard time there. "I don`t know," Callie replied. "but i know that Brandon has people that will fight for him. Anyway why you don`t go get ready."
Jude immediately went back to his and Jesus` room to pick which of his new outfits he was going to wear. After putting on her shoes, Callie went downstairs to the kitchen and fixed herself a bowl of cereal. Everyone else slowly made their ways downstairs for breakfast, which was more quiet than usual. Jesus and Jude tried to make some small talk about school, but didn`t get much of a response from Mariana. Lena joined the kids in the kitchen after finishing up some paper work and noticed not only the subdued atmosphere with the kids, but also the empty void without Brandon that was very ubiquitous in the kitchen as evident by the empty chair where he usually sat. She knew how hard it was with Brandon not around, but decided that it was best for everyone to go about their business. After everyone finished their breakfasts, Lena gave them their lunches. "We better get a move on." She said as everyone finished packing their bags.
The drive to Anchor Beach Charter School was quiet with Jesus listening to his iPod, while Jude was reading a book and Callie and Mariana were both looking at the window, obviously thinking about Brandon. As she parked in her reserved space, Lena decided that it was time for her to talk to everyone.
"Listen guys." Lena said as she turned off her SUV. "I know that you`re all having a hard time after what happened last night. You might have some people staring at you and talking about Brandon, but i don`t want any of that to affect you. I want you all to walk talk and face it."
The kids all silently nodded at what Lena had just said.
"Now i don`t want to hear about any of you getting into a fight or doing some crazy protest." Lena said emphatically, with her comment obviously directed at Jesus and Mariana.
"We got it mom." Mariana said.
"Yeah we won`t do anything stupid." Jesus said.
"I want to see you put that into action." Lena said as she opened her door. "I`ll see you guys later."
Everyone got out of the SUV and headed off in different directions, with Lena going to her office, Jude going over to the other side with the younger students and Jesus, Mariana and Callie staying together. As the trio walked through the schoolyard, they begin to notice some stares at them. Jesus and Callie kept their heads down and didn`t notice the stares, while Mariana noticed them and felt very uneasy.
"Hey don`t pay any attention to them." Callie said in Mariana`s right ear.
After a minute, the trio saw a friendly face as Lexi approached them. "Hey guys." She said as she went to give Jesus a hug. "I`m so sorry about what happened to Brandon. How are you guys holding up?"
"We`re doing fine." Jesus replied.
"I see that it didn`t take long for word to spread around about Brandon." Mariana said with a frown on her face to express with her displeasure.
"Don`t worry about it. I`m sure everyone will forget about it soon as there`s a fight or something."
"Hey guy i have to get going." Callie said. "I`ll see you later."
"See ya at lunch." Mariana said.
Callie tried hard to get through the gauntlet in the schoolyard, but she couldn`t handle everyone scrutinizing her and had to get out of there. As she walked into one of the building, Callie begin to feel that it was going to be one of those days for her.
Brandon was awakened by the sounds of a jailmate, who didn`t look much older than him, yelling for a guard along with the snoring of some jailmates. It had been one of the longest nights in Brandon`s life. He didn`t get much sleep, having to deal with a bunch of loud, drunk and rowdy college students, who had been partying too hard at some back to school parties. He stretched his arms and then rubbed the back of his neck to help alleviate the discomfort of having to sleep upright with his head against the hard stone wall.
"Hey i need to know when i`m going to get my phone call?" The young jailmate yelled. "HELLO!"
The young jailmate`s constant yelling irritated the other men in the holding cell and the guards. One jailmate was especially annoyed was a burely biker, who had enough of the yelling and decided to take action by walking over to the younger jailmate and gave him a hard right to the ribs that literally knocked the wind of the younger jailmate. "Why don`t you shut the fuck up you little pissant?" The biker growled. "You say another word and i`ll break your goddamn neck."
The young jailmate could only nod his head due to him being unable to speak with the air knocked out of him and he immediately went to cower in a corner. Brandon was grateful for the biker`s action, which made things easier for him and everyone else.
"Foster, Brown, Jenkins!" A guard yelled. "Lets go. It`s time for your arraignment."
Brandon left the cell with a couple of the other jailmates and lined up to be handcuffed and chained to each other before heading to the court room. As Brandon was having his legs unchained, he saw his parents with a middle aged man in a suit. Brandon could only give Stef and Mike a brief glimpse before being told to go move in another area on the left side of the court. As Brandon stood in the waiting area, he was met by the man in the suit, who turned out to be Andrew Cho. "Hello Brandon." Andrew whispered to Brandon. "I`m Andrew Cho and i`m going to be defending you. The only thing you have to do say you`re not guity, look poise and stand up straight."
Brandon only nodded his head to reply. He waited for about 15 minutes before his turn to go up in front of the judge came. Brandon walked up to a bench up front in the court. The charge was read and he plead not guilty when asked by the judge. As Andrew and the prosecutor made their arguments over the charge, Brandon took a quick glance at his parents, who were sitted behind him. Stef tried to put on a brave front, but Brandon knew how much this was bothering her, while Mike was more stoic and silently encouraged Brandon. After the argument concluded, bail was brought up.
"Brandon Foster is no flight risk." Andrew said. "He is an outstanding member of the community, whose parents are both members of the San Diego Police Department and his stepmother is the vice principal at Anchor Beach Charter School."
"Any objections?" The judge asked.
"We don`t see Brandon Foster being a flight risk," The prosecutor replied. "but at the same time, we don`t want to take some precautions just in case."
"I understand your perspective Counselor. I think that we can come to some sort of middle ground. $10,000 bail. Next case."
Brandon and Andrew immediately left the bench and headed over to meet Stef and Mike, who both hugged Brandon.
"Are you okay?" Stef asked as she hugged Brandon.
"I`m fine mom." Brandon replied.
"Did anyone try anything on you?" Mike asked.
"No. They were mostly wasted."
A guard approached then approached from behind. "Excuse me." He said. "We need to get you back so that you get your stuff."
"I`ll go with you B." Mike said as he and Brandon went to follow the guard.
After Mike and Brandon left, Stef and Andrew chatted briefly outside the court before shaking hands and parting ways. As Stef went to go meet Mike and Brandon outside the holding faculty, she spotted A.D.A. Colbert, who had worked on Callie`s case against Liam. "Hi Stef, Andy." He said. "I`ve heard about what happened. I hope that i`m not the cause of any of this."
"No you`re not." Stef said. "You did the best that you could on that case."
"I would like to arrange some sort of meeting with the A.D.A on Brandon`s case."
"We`ll have to talk to our lawyer first, but thanks for doing this."
"Stef i hope that you won`t mind if i asked you this, but did Brandon go after Liam out of revenge for Callie because of how the case ended?"
Stef immediately felt very uncomfortable about A.D.A. Colbert`s question. "You know that i can`t answer that." She said, guarding against any sort of tactic that could come back to hurt Brandon`s case. "Excuse i have to go."
After leaving the court, Stef met up with Mike and a newly freed Brandon. She and Mike both felt very relieved that Brandon was freed, but now they knew that they had to gear up to fight for him.
Lunchtime at Anchor Beach Charter School was filled with the usual activity of students eating and mingling at the tables outside, usually in different cliques. Mariana sat down with Kelsey and some of their friends at a table under a tree. The girls mostly talked about fashion, guys and the latest gossip, with the notable exception of Brandon`s situation out of respect for Mariana, who was mostly silent and had her thoughts elsewhere.
"Hey girl." Kelsey said, snapping Mariana to attention. "Were you listening?"
"No not really." Mariana replied.
"Listen i`ve been holding back from doing this, but we like to know about-"
"The answer is no." Mariana snapped as she saw Callie walking around. She immediately signaled over to Callie to come over.
"Hey Mariana." Callie said as she sat down.
"Hi Callie." Kelsey said.
"Oh hey Kelsey." Callie replied in a bitter tone, which indicated that she still hadn`t forgotten about Kelsey accusing her of selling Jesus` pills and didn`t forgive her.
"So Callie we were about to talk about Brandon if it was alright with Mariana."
"Let me guess. You`ve been spreading gossip about Brandon and how he killed someone or some other nonsense."
"I didn`t start it. I picked it up second handed. You know how these things are where you hear it from a friend, who heard it from-"
"We get it Kelsey." Mariana said, interrupting Kelsey.
"I saw online that they`re talking about Brandon at least three other schools around town. I didn`t think that he would be trending like this."
Mariana and Callie were both visually annoyed by Kelsey`s last comment, more so with Callie, who was boiling. "Excuse me, but does this sound like a joke?" She said in disgust.
"I didn`t say it was funny or anything. Kelsey replied. "It`s just that we never get something like-"
"Oh so you think that this is cool and something you can gossip about before you forget about it and move on to your usual shallow talk about clothes and judging people. The sad thing about it is that you don`t even care that people have been hurt and affected by this."
Kelsey was about to respond to immediately saw Callie and Mariana glaring at her. She felt the glares like lasers and in a rare move, thought better than to say anything else of fear of being slapped by either Callie and Mariana. "I`m sorry." She said meekly. "I`m just talking out of my ass. Look it sucks what happened to Brandon. He`s good guy and doesn`t deserve it."
The rest of the lunch went by quietly with everyone saying little.
Lena returned to her office after lunch in the facilty lounge. She had received a lot of support from the other members of the faculty throughout the day. Lena escaped from worrying about Brandon by channeling her energy into work, which included dealing with some pranks against new students and a couple of fights. After dealing with a couple of disruptive students, Lena felt her cell phone vibrating in her right pants pocket. She got it from her pocket and saw on the I.D. that the call was from Stef.
"Hey." Lena said. "How did things with Brandon go?"
"It went well." Stef replied. "He was able to make bail."
"That`s great. How is he doing?"
"He`s pretty tired, but otherwise is fine."
"Everyone are going to be so glad to see him."
"I can`t wait to see it. By the way, we`re going to have meet with the A.D.A. on Brandon`s case tomorrow."
"Okay. I`ll clear my schedule for it. Look i`ve got to go. Please give my love to Brandon."
"I will."
Lena breathed a sigh of relief that Brandon was out of jail and turned her thoughts to seeing him back home along with the impending meeting with the A.D.A tomorrow.
After the first day of school ended, Lena decided to drive the kids back home so that they could see Brandon. Everyone got back in the house as soon as possible to see Brandon, who was upstairs playing his piano.
"Brandon!" Mariana said as she rushed in his room to give him a hug. "I`m so glad that you`re back home."
"I`m glad to you guys again." Brandon replied as Jesus, Callie and Jude entered his room.
Stef and Lena happily watched the reunion from the hallway. They were happy to have Brandon back home with everyone.
"Can we talk about the meeting tomorrow?" Lena asked.
"Yeah." Stef replied as she and Lena went downstairs. "It looks like the A.D.A. likely want to do a plea deal."
"I don`t see the point in any plea when Brandon didn`t do anything wrong and only defended himself and Callie."
"Andrew thinks that we should at least listen to what they have to say."
Lena felt very skeptical about the meeting, especially in light of how Callie`s case went. "What is it going to be?" She asked.
"It`s going to be at 10 tomorrow morning."
"I`m going to go ahead and tell Marina that i`ll be out for it."
As Lena went to make her phone call, Stef went back upstairs to check on Brandon and saw him talking with Jesus, Mariana, Callie and Jude about the first day of school. She felt sad for Brandon that he had to miss the first day of school and instead had to deal with the terrible uncertainity with his case. However Stef felt a determination to help bring some normality in her son`s life as soon as possible.
The next morning at the Foster household was somewhat back to normal with the usual hustle from everyone to use the bathroom as quickly as possible. The only thing different was that Brandon wasn`t going to go school with Jesus, Mariana, Callie and Jude and instead had to get ready for the meeting with the A.D.A. As Brandon was picking out what to wear for the meeting, he heard a knock on his door. "Come in." He said.
Brandon turned around and saw Callie standing in the doorway. "Oh hey." He said.
"Hey." Callie replied. "I see you`ve been trying to choose what to wear for about half an hour."
"Mr. Cho wants me to wear something that will make a good first impression on the A.D.A. Which outfit should i wear?"
"The one with the navy jacket." Callie said while pointing at one of the outfits Brandon laid on his bed.
"I think that it looks a little too much like a prep school uniform." Brandon said.
"Yes it does, but it`ll make more of a good impression on the A.D.A."
Brandon and Callie shared a laugh and then headed downstairs where Jesus, Mariana and Jude were packing their bags for school. Brandon looked on somewhat glumily at the activity. He felt left out, having to get ready to meet with the A.D.A instead of going to school with everyone.
"You guys ready?" Lena asked as she got her keys.
"Yeah mom." Jesus replied. "Hey man good luck on the meeting."
"Good luck Brandon." Jude said.
"Thanks guys." Brandon said. He felt very flattered by everyone`s support.
"I`ll be sure to get your assignments for you." Callie said as she walked out of the door with everyone.
"Thanks Callie."
Brandon and Callie shared a brief smile with each other before Callie went to get in the SUV and headed off to school. Brandon could only look on sadly from the porch as everyone else drove away, while he was stuck at home. He wanted so much to get some normality in his life and it was starting to frustrate him. As Brandon went back in the house, he knew that there was no time to worry about not being back at home with the meeting with the A.D.A. looming. He immediately begin to focus on his energy on it.
Stef drove downtown to the Hall of Justice along with Lena and Brandon. The drive was quiet, with the threesome stuck in their own thoughts ahead of the meeting with the A.D.A. After a few minutes, Stef parked the Denali in the parking lot and then she, Lena and Brandon walked up to the front of the building where they were met by Mike.
"Hey buddy." Mike said as he shook hands with Brandon. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel alright." Brandon replied.
"That`s good. You`ve been a real trooper through this whole thing and we`re all proud of you for it."
Brandon silently nodded his head in response, while Stef and Lena smiled at him to display how proud they were of him. About a minute later, Andrew made his way to meet the Fosters. After some quick hellos, the quintet went inside the building and headed over to a corner for a private conference.
"I wanted to go through this before we head upstairs." Andrew said. "The A.D.A likely wants to plead down to a Misdemeanor and have Brandon serve a year or less in juvenile."
Stef, Lena and Mike grimaced simultaneously at the mention of juvie. "Absolutely not." Stef said while shaking her head.
"There`s no way we want that." Mike said. "I`ve arrested a lot of kids that went on to juvie and some of them are pretty bad. Brandon would be a prime target if he were locked up."
"I agree." Lena said. "I saw first hand what juvie can do to a kid when i first got Callie and i don`t want to see the same thing happening to Brandon."
Andrew quickly took stock of the parents` opinion. "You`ve made your opinions known. I`m glad that you`re unanimous about this."
The meeting quickly broke up and the quintet got in an elevator to head upstairs. After the elevator stopped on the third floor, everyone got out of it and headed to over to the office of A.D.A. Charles Pierce where they were greeted by his secretary, who showed them in to his office, which had five leather chairs in front of the A.D.A.`s Jamocha Wood desk.
"Would any of you like anything to drink?" The Secretary asked.
"No none for me." Stef replied. "Brandon would like anything to drink?"
"No mom." Brandon said.
"Well i hear A.D.A. Pierce coming." The secretary said before she stepped outside to meet the A.D.A.
Everyone felt an edge of anxiety before A.D.A Pierce stepped in his office. "Good morning to you all." He said to greet everyone. "I`m glad that you could make it here. I`m sure your attorney has made you aware about the nature of this meeting."
"Yes he has." Mike said.
A.D.A. Pierce sat down at his desk and then got a couple of files handed to him by his secretary, which he looked over quickly. "I want to get straight to the point here." The A.D.A said as he adjusted his glasses. "I was made aware of the full scope of this case, especially with the background information that was given to me by A.D.A. Colbert."
A.D.A. Pierce paused to close the file and then looked at Brandon. "This is a very bad situation here and i would like to present a way for us to solve it. Brandon from what i`ve heard, you`re an outstanding young man and i`m very sorry that you`ve been having a very hard time of it lately. You found yourself in a very tough spot and understand you wanting to defend yourself and your foster sister Callie Jacob, but i think that you exceeded yourself with the method that you did it."
"Excuse me," Andrew said. "but my client lawfully defended himself and Ms. Jacob after trying to walk away from the confrontation that was started by Mr. Olmstead, who i might add, has a very terrible history with Ms. Jacob, which includes him stalking and menacing her on three occasions recently. I don`t see the point of these charges being brought against Brandon Foster."
"I respect your zealous defense of your client, but he crossed the line when he bashed Mr. Olmstead`s head with a blunt object a second time when he was concessed. Not to mention he was prepared to hit him a third time."
"The only one that crossed the line was Mr. Olmstead." Andrew said, slowly raising his voice.
"I think we`re not getting anywhere arguing back and forth about this." A.D.A. Pierce said with an irritable tone in his voice. "I want to put this offer to you and young Mr. Foster`s parents on the table. I`m not the bad guy here. We can settle this manner right now by having Brandon pled to Aggravated Battery. He`ll serve a year in a juvenile detention center with time shaved off in half for good behavior."
Stef, Mike and Lena briefly looked at each other after the A.D.A made his proposal.
"I don`t think that we can accept this deal Counselor." Mike said. "Not when Brandon did nothing wrong."
"As stated earlier, Brandon was only defending himself and his foster sister." Stef said. "Plus he was roughed by Mr. Olmstead, who i might add is much stronger than him. Besides there`s no way we would allow our son to be locked up with a lot more hardened delinquents."
"I expected that you both would bring some of your expertise as police officers." A.D.A Pierce said. "I respect your opinions officers, but i firmly believe that Brandon overstepped his bounds."
As the debate was in progress, Lena began to fidget in her chair, shaking her head. "Excuse me," She said, interrupting the A.D.A. "but i think that you`re absolutely wrong on your statement."
"Am i Miss, i mean Mrs. Fosters?"
"You`ve been missing the point that Brandon only acted in self defense and a fight was the last thing that he was looking for on that night."
"Mrs. Fosters it would be one thing if the fight ended up with some stiches, but Brandon seriously injured Mr. Olmstead, who almost died and now is struggling with the effects of TBI that was delivered by your stepson."
"Counselor you seem to forget about what type of man, which i`m very reluctant to call Mr. Olmstead, is. He raped our foster daughter a few years ago and has come back to harass and forcefully menaced her on three different occasions. So don`t try to make him into some sort of model citizen."
Everyone was surprised by Lena`s forceful statement.
"This predator beat up our son and who knows what he was about to do to our foster daughter if Brandon didn`t get back up to defend her. I absolutely think that it`s an absolute disgrace that you would want to lock Brandon up, but yet when Callie presses charges against Liam, you hardly bother to listen to her and just write her off because of her record."
"I think i see where you`re going-"
"Excuse me, but i`m not finished." Lena interrupted with a forceful tone in her voice. "You wanna talk about serious injuries, what about Liam did to our foster daughter? You don't see how much this predator has ruined her life to the point where she struggled to open up to anyone for so long and is still struggling with the emotional trauma he has inflicted . Brandon has been nothing but supportive of her and bravely put himself in harm`s way to protect her."
Lena caught herself for a moment and stood up. "Mr. Pierce there`s no way we would ever agree to your deal, especially when Brandon did nothing wrong. Not to mention that it would take him away from the people who cares about him. I think that i`ve done all the talking that i want to. Come on Brandon, lets go."
As Lena stomped out of the room, Stef had a slight grin on her face to indicate how proud she was of Lena, while Mike could only shrug his shoulders at the A.D.A as he and Stef got up and followed Lena and Brandon out of the room.
"I think that you got your answer." Andrew said. "I guess we`ll be seeing you in court."
As the quintet walked back to the elevator, Mike motioned to Lena to come meet him by the corner. "It took a lot of balls saying that back there." He said.
"Thanks Mike." Lena replied.
Although Mike had his share of issues with Lena over the years, he gained a new respect for her after hearing her speaking on Brandon`s behalf.
"We better get going." Lena said as she and Mike went to get in the elevator.
Dinner at the Foster house had more of an air of tension given that Lena was still stewing over the meeting earlier in the day. Stef made a point of keeping her away from any sharp instruments in the kitchen, while everyone else stayed out of Lena`s way as much as possible. Even Jesus, who usually griped about washing the dishes, dutifully did them and dried them off quietly. A few hours later, Stef and Lena headed upstairs to bed. As Stef finished checking on the kids and saying good night to them, she came back in the room and found Lena sitting in the bed where she was struggling to read a book. Stef knew better than anyone how Lena was whenever she bottled up her emotions.
"How come you`re still on that page?" Stef asked as she pulled back the covers on her side of the bed.
"Oh i lost my train of thought." Lena replied.
Stef gave Lena a look of concern and then rubbed her dark curly hair. "I think you still have what happened earlier today on your mind and it`s bothering you."
Lena put her book down on the night stand and looked back at Stef. "I feel so angry that Brandon is having to go through this."
Stef stared at the brooding Lena for a moment before rolling over to Lena`s side to sit next to her. "I think that this is more than just about Brandon."
"Just being in that building brought back memories from when Callie was in court. I still can`t forget about how courageous she was telling the truth about what Liam did to her and the jury didn`t bother to listen to her because of her record. So instead of Liam being locked up, he was out free to go after Callie again."
Lena took a moment to gather herself. "I`ve struggled with this for a while, but sometimes i think we would`ve been better off having Brandon, Jesus and Mike go out to find Liam somewhere and just beat him to a bloody pulp. It`s pretty sad that i`m losing faith in the justice system to be in favor of Vigilantism. I mean how can i go about trying to teach students about the justice system when it`s so screw up?"
Stef felt her heart sinking at the sight of Lena shedding a couple of tears and immediately placed her hand on top of Lena`s. "I`m so sorry that you feel so angry and disillusioned right now." Stef said as she wiped a tear from Lena`s face. "I feel that way too, but you know what? All it does is make me want to fight even harder for Brandon. What you said to the A.D.A. was such a amazing defense for Brandon. We have keep on fighting for him and tell everyone what a great young man he is and how he had the courage to stand up and defend Callie and himself from an abusive bully."
Lena immediately began to feel better after listening to Stef. "You know Mike told me that it took a lot of balls saying what i said to the A.D.A."
"For once i agree with Mike." Stef said, getting a laugh from Lena.
Lena then turned out the lights and she and Stef took their places in bed, with Stef giving Lena a kiss on her forehand and cuddling her. Both ladies now felt a newfound vigor to fight even harder for Brandon and to face whatever challenges were ahead.
To be continued...