Callie, Stef, and Lena were sitting on the couch when Sharon arrived. "I'm here!" She shouted. They all stood up and walked toward the front hallway where she was standing. Stef wrapped her arms around her mother.

"Hey, Mom, We were going to leave in about 10 minutes." Stef invited Sharon back into the family room to sit until it was time to leave.

Callie had her headphones up so loud that the three could all hear the beat to the song. She sat alone on the chair in the far right of the room. Her pointer finger tapped to the beat and her eyes were closed.

Lena glanced around the room at the three "So…"

"How have you guys been?" Sharon looked at her two daughters. "Anything exciting happen?"

Stef and Lena just shook their heads. After 10 minutes had passed the four made their way to the car and started their drive to Dr. Larson's office building.

Stef was driving the car with Sharon in the passenger's seat. Callie and Lena sat in the back. They were about halfway there when Callie started to have her doubts. She was scared that everyone would be mad at her, and that they wouldn't want her anymore. She remembered holding Stef's hand the other day and how it comforted her. Callie thought some more and finally decided that holding Lena's hand wouldn't hut. She looked at Lena, cleared her throat, slowly reached her hand over and placed it in the brunettes.

At first, Lena didn't know what Callie was doing, she turned her head at the teen and she understood. Callie looked extremely worried and scared. Lena felt her heart break for the teen. She squeezed her hand and turned her head back out the window. Callie's warm hand in hers gave Lena a strong feeling of comfort that was priceless.

When they reached the office building, Callie stayed in the car as everyone stepped out. When she noticed they were one short, Stef leaned her head in the backseat and looked at the frightened teen "Are you ready?"

"I don't know." Callie slowly stepped out of the car and made her way, with the rest of them, to 's office. Once they arrived, Callie took her usual seat in the back of the waiting area. Sharon and Lena filled in next to her as Stef went to check in. Callie's leg bounced up and down uncontrollably, despite the worried glances from Sharon and Lena. She tried planning out what she was going to say but her mind was blank All she could think about was the negative consequences to what she was about to do.

Sharon hated seeing her granddaughter like this. She gently placed her right hand on Callie's leg and leaned in to whisper "We'll all love you no matter what. Nothing you say is going to make us leave you."

Callie was embarrassed that her nervousness was so obvious, but comforted at the same time. Could Sharon be telling the truth? Her thoughts were interrupted by the little door in the back of the room slowly opening and Dr. Larson stepping out. "Callie? Are you ready?"

She looked up at the small lady and slowly nodded her head. "Uh, yea." Callie stood up and walked to the back room, taking her seat apart from everyone in the red chair.

Once everyone was settled into their spots, Dr. Larson fixed her gaze on the woman sitting next to Stef "You must be Sharon, Callie's grandmother?"

Sharon smiled "That's me"

Dr. Larson smiled back "It's nice to meet you. Alright Callie, why don't you tell me why you called us all together." She looked at Callie, who was sitting with her legs pulled up to her chest, obviously scared.

Callie tried to relax some as she started "Um, All of my life…I have had to be very cautious with...what I say and what I don't. Now I think it is finally safe for me to…fall back and tell you guys, um, everything." She struggled finding the words to what she was trying to say "Does that make sense?"

"I think it does. You feel safe now with this family so you want to relax and let them help?" Dr. Larson summed up what the teen was trying to communicate.

Callie nodded, her gaze fixed on the back wall of the room.

Dr. Larson smiled "I think that is very brave of you, Callie. Where do you think it would be best to start?"

Callie looked at the three sitting on the couch; she knew the answer to this. "The beginning"

"Whenever you're ready"

Callie sat there staring at her family for a moment before she mustered up the courage to start. "Jude and I, with our mom, we had a good life. We weren't rich, but we were comfortable. Our dad had a little bit of a drinking problem but our mom tried her best to hide it from us. When I was 10, and Jude was 6 our Mom and Dad had planned a date night with some of their friends. My dad was drunk, and I was mad that she was letting him drive her while he was drunk. She asked me for a kiss goodbye, and" Callie tried to hold back her tears "I ignored her. I didn't say anything to her, and that night we were woken up and taken to the hospital to see the body. Our dad was sent to jail and we were put in the foster system."

The three sitting on the couch gave Callie looks of sympathy as the teen tried to gather herself.

"They told us we wouldn't be separated and we weren't. The first home we went to gave up on us after 3 weeks. They couldn't deal with us right after our mom died, I don't blame them. We were both really upset all of the time. At the next home we went to, they had a daughter but the parents were both really abusive. I had just turned 11 and the daughter showed me how she dealt with them, and I self-harmed for the first time. Right before we got sent out of that home, when I was 12, she gave me a few…things…to take with me. And I kept them with my stuff but I didn't do it very often, because the next home we were put in was good…The Olmsteads. And we stayed there for a while. After a year passed, their son…Liam… kept getting more and more affectionate. And well…you all know that story. After that, the self-harming really picked up. And we were put in a home that neglected us. We couldn't eat with them, and we couldn't watch TV with them. We stayed on 2 mattresses in their basement. Eventually they got fed up with caring for 2 kids and we were sent to a few other foster homes that weren't bad but they weren't very good. Then there was the last one before you guys. It was really bad, the dad was always drunk and he kept a gun around the house. He threatened us with it all the time. One day, Jude got caught trying on one of his ex-wife's dresses and he started beating him…really hard. And I tried to get him to stop but he wouldn't so I took a baseball bat and started beating the thing he loved the most…his car… and he called the cops and I was put in Juvie for a few months until Lena came and got me." Callie couldn't believe she told them all of that, no one had ever known that much about her.

Stef just sat there, dumbfounded "Wow"

Lena didn't know what to say either, "You are so strong, Callie"

Sharon wasn't surprised. She knew that teen had been through hell and back a number of times "But that isn't the end of your story."

Callie took a deep breath, sometimes she could hate Sharon "It isn't. I've been cutting recently a lot more than you think I have. On my hips mostly, but the other day I needed somewhere I could access quickly and I didn't care about the consequences."

Dr. Larson sat in her chair, letting the four of them talk until she needed to interject

Sharon cleared her throat. "Do you want to tell them why?" She said with a knowing glare.

Callie sighed. "Look, I don't want you guys to think I don't want to be a part of the family okay? It's just…the name. The other day I had to keep looking at 'Callie Adams Foster' on my papers and I just feel like I'm losing my mom all over again…I know it's dumb."

Stef started slowly "We can change it back…if that's what you want."

Lena nodded her head "It isn't that hard. Do you want that? We understand that it's probably upsetting."

Callie breathed a sigh of relief "Could we? Because I would feel a lot better, I love you guys but I need a little bit of my Mom with me too."

They all smiled and agreed that they would change it in the next few days.

Dr. Larson spoke up "Callie, do you feel comfortable going to one of us whenever you feel triggered?"

Callie nodded. "I do now. I didn't before but I think that I'm finally ready to recover."

NOTE: Was that bad? I know that was a weird stopping place. Sorry it took so long and that it probably wasn't that great :/ but on the plus side, it was pretty long! I need some suggestions for what to do next! I'll give you a shoutout if I use yours and I really need some ideas! Make sure to leave your reviews! I love you so much!

Xoxo

Katie