Callie stood up at the breakfast table that Sunday morning "May I be excused?"
Stef could not be sure where she was going and what she planned to do so she waved the teen to sit down and said "Absolutely not, stay here with the family. Besides, me and Lena have to talk to you afterwards."
Callie slumped down in her chair. She wasn't looking forward to this talk from Lena and Stef. "Okay, fine." She mumbled.
When breakfast was over Stef managed to herd everyone out of the kitchen and into their rooms as Lena prepared Callie for the talk. "Okay, I don't want you to get mad when we tell you any of this. I promise you there is no way you will get taken out of this house and we are doing all of this to help keep you safe." Lena talked to Callie as if she were in kindergarten
The teen's anxiety grew with each phrase Lena said. This must be something really bad if Lena had to keep repeating not to get mad and that they love her. After what seemed like hours, Stef returned and sat next to her wife. Finally the blonde spoke "Where do we start?" she was nervously tapping her toes on the tile. She was afraid Callie would hate them after the precautions they are going to take. Stef still hadn't fully forgave her mom for taking away all of her tools when she was 17.
"Guys, could you please just say it? You're making me really apprehensive." Callie was annoyed and wanted to know what the hell they were talking about "So…what is my punishment?"
Lena was quick to respond "It is not a punishment. We realize you hurt and we want to get you help so we are taking some…extra precautions to keep you from hurting yourself again. First thing is we are definitely telling Dr. Larson about this."
Callie groaned. She knew that there would be many questions to come that she did not want to answer from her therapist. God, why couldn't she just be stronger and not cut? Or be cleverer to hide it she thought.
"And we are going to take away your um…" Lena didn't know how to refer to whatever she was using to hurt herself. She looked to Stef who, even though it bothered her, would know what to say.
Stef cleared her throat. "Tools, we are going to um go through your stuff and take them away to make sure you don't hurt yourself. Please, please know that we are doing this for your own good." It hurt her so much to do this to the teen. A part of her still wanted to be the girl on tumblr giving people like her advice on what blades to buy and how to bandage fresh cuts. But no, she thought, there are better ways to deal with this and Callie needs to learn them.
This was so unfair, Callie thought. She hoped they know that a self-harmer will always find a way to get the job done. They were just choosing the hard way. Callie looked up and she saw the pain in Stef's brown eyes. Could she be? No, Callie thought. Stef had quit self-harming a long time ago and there is no way a teenager that she practically just met could trigger her.
Lena grasped her wife's hand under the kitchen table. This must be hard for her. How was she going to handle going through Callie's blades? Lena shook off the thought and reminded herself that Stef had fully recovered a long time ago. "And we will be checking every week for cuts."
Callie couldn't believe this was happening to her. How would she be able to self-harm if they checked her every week? She could always buy new blades but she hoped they only checked her wrists.
Stef swallowed. She knew the time had come to go through Callie's blades. Breathe, she thought, you can make it through this. "Okay girls, ready to go into Callie's room?"
NOTE: Hey guys, make sure to keep reviewing! I really want to know how I am doing. The next Chapter will be about Stef fighting back old triggers while going through Callie's tools. I am open to any suggestions you may have for the story or the next chapter. I still love you and I hope you are sticking to the story! I love the whole Fosters Family!
xoxo Katie