"NO!" The objection came from Lena of her own accord. Callie could barely hear her. She could barely hear anything after the judge had made her decision. Blood was rushing in her ears and ice ran through her veins.

"…I am granting full custody of Jude Jacob to Adelaide Jacob."

They had lost. They had actually lost. Callie got to her feet and turned to see Jude already coming towards her. She opened her arms and he fell into them, fitting perfectly like he always did. She couldn't cry; it would just make him more upset. She had to be the big sister.

Stef was on her feet and walking toward the judge's bench, "Your honor, please―"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Foster, but I made my decision," Judge Patton said apologetically as she descended from her chair, "My ruling is final." With that, she disappeared into her chambers. Stef turned back to see Callie and Jude, clutching each other for dear life. Adelaide was walking towards them with an impatient look on her face. Stef cut her off, blocking the old woman from the siblings.

"If you have any shred of humanity in you, you will let those kids say good bye."

Adelaide studied Stef for a moment before rolling her eyes, "Five minutes."

"Callie…" Jude whimpered into his sister's dress.

"Shhh, Jude." She soothed as she kissed his head, "It's alright buddy."

"But…but…"

Callie pulled back a little to wipe away the tears on Jude's face, "I know, Jude. This isn't over, not by a long shot." She looked behind her at the various members of the Foster family who she knew would want to say goodbye as well, "Go say bye, Jude. Just for now."

The twelve year old nodded and took a shuddering breath. He walked up to Mariana who had tears pouring down her face and gave her a hug, "Don't cry, Mariana. It's okay." The Latina nodded but she couldn't stop her tears. She kissed Jude's check and stepped back.

Brandon came next pulled Jude into a hug, patting his back, "You're gonna be fine, Jude. Moms will get you."

"Watch out for Callie," Jude said to the older boy, "Promise?"

"I promise."

Jude went to Jesus next and hugged him as well, "Bye, Jesus."

"Your side of the room will be ready for you when you come back home," the older boy said with a smile that looked more sad than happy. Jude nodded and finally turned to Stef and Lena. The blonde had tears in her eyes and Lena was all but sobbing. Jude went into their arms and they held him tightly. The boy felt Lena shaking from the cries she was trying to hold in. Stef pressed a lingering kiss to his head and tightened her hold on him.

"Mama and I aren't giving up," Stef said to him in a determined tone, "You will come home. I don't know how long it will take, but you will come home."

Lena kissed Jude's forehead. "We love you, baby. I'm so sorry this is happening," she choked out tearfully.

"It's okay," Jude said, although his fingers were gripping his foster-mothers' shirts in a strong hold, "I'll be okay."

"Jude," Adelaide interrupted, standing next to Mr. Benton with her coat on and ready to go, "We need to leave. We have a long drive."

Jude looked over at her briefly and hurried back over to Callie to give her one last hug, "Bye, Callie."

Callie held her baby brother tight and kissed him once more on the head, "Bye, Jude." She watched as he slowly walked over to Adelaide: he looked as though he were walking to his death. He pulled on his coat and gave the Fosters one last sorrowful glance before being lead out of the courtroom by his grandmother.

Callie turned to the family and put on a well-practiced brave face, "We should go home."

Stef furrowed her eyebrows, "Callie―"

"It's okay," the brunette with a smile, although Stef could see right through it, "Everything is going to be okay."

"Honey…"

"Let's go home."

Brandon watched from the hallway as Callie plucked away at her guitar. The teen had yet to truly react to the court's ruling. She had her brave-face on, acting as if everything was okay although everyone in the house knew it was not.

Callie looked up from the guitar and smiled, "Oh, hey. Are you busy? I was thinking you could help me with come chords."

"Are you okay?"

The brunette raised an eyebrow, "Um, yeah?"

Brandon sighed, "But Jude―"

"It's okay!" Callie answered too quickly in a voice that was too high, "It's fine. Don't worry about it."

Brandon furrowed his eyebrows, "Don't worry about it? Callie, Adelaide has custody of Jude. We lost."

Callie set down the guitar and stood up, "I'm going to go help Lena with dinner. We can work on the chords later, okay?"

"Callie―"

But she had already left.

Dinner was a solemn affair, save for Callie who had been acting overly cheerful. Stef watched her daughter as she forced smiles and made mindless conversation and her heart broke at the pain the teen had to be in.

"What do we do now?" Mariana asked quietly as she looked up from her food, "About Jude?"

Stef sighed, "We go back to the drawing board. Mama and I set up a meeting with ADA Gardner for later this week to see what we can do."

"This blows." Jesus muttered as he stabbed some salad onto his fork.

"It's okay, guys." Callie said with a smile, "Jude is going to okay. Everything will be fine."

Brandon gave her a strange look, "Callie, it's okay to be upset."

"I'm not upset." She answered a bit too quickly, "I'm fine."

"You're not."

"Brandon," Lena interrupted her son, putting her hand out, "That's enough."

Brandon shook his head and continued, "It's okay to be upset, Callie. You don't have to be brave all the time."

Callie took a deep breath, "I said I'm fine."

"And I'm saying you're not."

Callie let her fork clatter to her plate and she glared across the table, "How about you mind your own fucking business―"

"Callie!" Stef interrupted in a less than pleased tone, "Upstairs, now."

The teen pushed back from the table as she threw a deadly glare at Brandon and stomped upstairs, presumably to her room. Stef turned to her son, "Brandon, you shouldn't have pushed her like that."

"She's bottling up her feelings," he argued back, looking into his mother's eyes, "Jude made me promise to watch out for her. This is me watching out for her. It's better she get it out now then later after it's been eating away at her."

Stef sighed, "Okay, B. But please, don't provoke her like that again." Receiving an affirmative nod, she stood up and tossed her napkin on the table.

"Time to do damage control."

Stef walked into the girls' bedroom and spotted Callie sitting on her bed, arms crossed over her chest, posture suggesting she was ready to fight. Stef crossed her arms as well, "You cannot talk to your brother that way, Callie. There was no need to speak to him like that."

"He started it!"

"He did," Stef agreed in a softer tone, "But you did not have to respond that way. He's right, anyway. You don't have to pretend to be okay."

"I'm not pretending," Callie insisted, blazing brown eyes meeting blue, "I am fine."

Stef took a seat next to the teen on the bed, "You're not." Stef stated simply in a gentle voice, "You miss your brother. You thought you were going to have Jude back today but we lost. Okay? We lost. It's okay to be sad; it's okay to be angry―"

Callie shot up and moved towards the door. Stef stood up as well, "Young lady, you do not get to walk away from me." The brunette kept walking as if she did not hear her foster-mom and walked right out of the house.

Adelaide grinned as she watched Arthur Benton drive the long distance home. She peered towards the back seat: Jude was asleep, tear tracks drying on his cheeks. He'll soon learn that this is best for him. She returned her gaze to Arthur and reached her hand over, placing it over his where it rested on the vehicle's clutch.

Arthur glanced at Adelaide with a smile before returning his eyes to the road ahead of him, "Didn't I say we would win?"

"You were phenomenal," Adelaide praised, thumb stroking the top of his hand, "Absolutely amazing. I knew you would win this for us, some way or another." She brought his hand up so that she could press a kiss to it.

"That's why I love you."

Oh snap?! Adelaide and Arthur are in lurve?The madness! Sorry, I would have updated sooner if I had a minute to myself. *Sigh* So much to do, so little time. On the other hand, daylight savings is nice (it's lighter later so coming home from work isn't as depressing). Fosters tonight (whoo-hoo!).

Thank you guys SO SO SO MUCH for the reviews! You honestly have no idea how much they brighten my day! It's nice to hear that people enjoy what I'm writing. I am completely and utterly grateful for every single review I receive.

Hit that review button por favor! Let me know if there's anything you guys would like to see ;)

-Liv