It was a long night at the Foster house. Stef and Lena had gone out again after dinner to look around for Callie, but they were starting to fear that she was far away by that point and they had no idea where. The kids had all sat around in the living room to wait for word. Once Jude fell asleep on the couch, it was an easy decision that everyone else would camp out downstairs, too. Sleeping bags on the living room floor was becoming a tradition whenever they had a family crisis.

In the morning, Lena called in a personal day from school and let them know all the kids would be absent, too. The grandparents were supposed to be leaving town that day, but Sharon decided to postpone her flight back to Florida in order to keep helping. However, Stewart and Dana still needed to get home for their work.

"Promise me that you'll call if you need anything," Stewart told his daughter when they came over to the house to say goodbye.

"I will," Lena agreed.

"And let us know as soon as you find her. When, not if."

She tried to smile at his faith and optimism - emotions she wasn't really feeling at the moment. "We will."

Dana hugged her daughter once her husband moved aside. "It'll work out, sweetheart."

"Thanks, Mom. For everything."

"You know we'd stay if we could."

"I know. I'm glad you guys were able to get away in the first place."

"Of course."

Once she had closed the door behind them, Lena just leaned against it for a moment. Stef came over and they held each other, trying to draw strength. "I think we should go look for her one more time," Stef quietly suggested.

"Where?"

"Everywhere. Anywhere. I just... We have to do something." She couldn't sit idle while Callie was still out there.

"Okay... You know we're going to have to call Bill, right?" Lena carefully pointed out.

"I know, but... not yet." Stef's eyes were pleading, and Lena quickly gave in. They'd protect Callie as long as they could.

"Okay. Not yet."

everybody's got a different story

everybody wants to give their selves away

but I'm still afraid

if we can stay out of their field of vision

if we can keep ourselves a half a world away

ah, honey we'll be okay...

Callie realized that Wyatt was smirking as she softly sang along with the radio. "What?" she asked him.

"Nothing."

"Are you making fun of me?"

"Who, me?"

They were somewhere in the Texas panhandle. That morning, after they'd found some breakfast, changed clothes, and refueled the car, they'd continued their journey east. Callie was trying her best to pretend that yesterday hadn't happened. She had lots of practice at making herself look like a normally functioning person when in actuality she felt like she was falling apart. Pretending made the people around her less nervous. Currently, her feet were propped up on the dash as she listened to the only station that the SUV's half-broken radio had been able to pick up.

"I'm just enjoying the music while we have it," she told him. There had been long stretches where static was the only thing that would come from the speakers.

"I know," he replied. "And I'm enjoying you enjoying it."

"My mom would always sing to us," Callie recalled. "She loved music. She'd keep a radio in the kitchen; we'd listen to it when I helped her cook."

"I can picture that: you running around a kitchen with a little apron on."

She smiled. "I didn't have an apron; I'd just make a mess." There was one time that they'd made peanut-butter cookies and gotten flour EVERYWHERE. When her father had come home to the mayhem after a night with his friends at the bar... She stopped herself from going any further. Remembering those kinds of nights wouldn't help her tenuous control over herself.

Wyatt noticed as her smile faded away. "So, music and cooking are two of your many hidden talents, huh?" he spoke up.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Are you going to get another guitar?"

"I don't know. Hadn't really thought about it."

"You already have one waiting for you, you know. And a home, and a family."

Callie put her feet down and turned toward the window. "No, I don't. Not anymore. I wrecked that."

"You know they'll miss you," he tried again.

"They'll get over it."

"You'll miss them."

She shook her head. "I don't deserve them."

the world can be so cruel

but I will sing for you

this cradle song, all night long

this cradle song

this cradle song...

While the moms were out looking for Callie again, Sharon and the kids had a late breakfast of just cold cereal and fruit. After they'd finished and cleaned up the kitchen, Brandon noticed that Jude had escaped to the backyard and was sitting up in the big tree. He went outside to talk with his soon-to-be little brother.

"You okay?"

"Sure," Jude half-heartedly replied.

"You know that Callie leaving wasn't about you, right?" Brandon tried to reassure the younger boy. "I mean... leaving you behind."

Jude glared down at him. "You don't know that." No one else had any idea about what he'd said to his sister when they fought. He'd almost told them about it a couple times, but it was hard enough to think about, let alone say out loud.

"I know Callie," Brandon countered. "And I know there's nothing in this world that's as important to her as you. She must have just... Everything probably got to be too much, and she got scared. I wish she'd talked to me, or the moms, or somebody."

"Maybe she was mad at you," Jude bitterly suggested, hoping that blaming someone else would hurt less than blaming himself. "'Cause you were being like Liam."

"I am NOTHING like Liam," Brandon quickly protested. "I would NEVER do what he did to her."

"He was nice to her, too. And he would hold her hand and kiss her. She would tell me to go away and leave them alone. And then everything got ruined."

"That was Liam's fault. And his parents'. Not Callie's."

Jude frowned. "I know... But it's going to happen again."

"Callie's been scared of that, too," Brandon assured Jude. "She's been so afraid of messing things up for you." It suddenly dawned on him - that's why she left. HE really was why she was gone. She hadn't believed that Brandon would keep his promise and not let her and Jude get sent away. Frankly, given her history, she had no reason to trust him.

The door to the kitchen opened and Jesus stuck his head outside. "Moms are back," he told his brothers.

"Did they find her?" Jude wondered, unable to keep the hope out of his voice. Jesus shook his head.

Brandon looked up at his youngest brother. "I'm going back inside. Are you coming?"

Jude shook his head. "I think I'm going to stay out here for a while."

"Okay." Once he was in the kitchen, Brandon glanced back at Jude, sitting sadly in the tree. The moms were in the family room; Lena was sitting on the couch holding Mariana while Stef paced the room. The whole family was hurting, and Brandon knew that he was responsible. Callie had been right - nothing would come from his feelings for her except trouble.

TBC...

song credit: "Cradle Song" by Rob Thomas