Hi folks! Happy Fosters Monday! I am so excited for tonight it is unreal! I can't wait. In the meantime however here's a continued glimpse back to Episode 7!

I'm a little unsure of how this comes across but I feel have a lot to cover in order to work up to Callie's scene with Stef and Lena. It's hard to get there without going over the same bits as the episode so hopefully this works to some degree! Also I know Kasey and Mike is a little frustrating at the moment but things have to get worse so they can get better! Everything I do is important for future plans.

OK, thanks to Mea23 and TheTBone as always and I hope you send me your thoughts on this chapter as I do so love to hear them :)

The car whizzed up to Mike's apartment block and Stef clicked the engine off before looking across to Kasey.

"You can't make me go." she folded her arms stubbornly.

"Really? Because you got in the car and I can carry you up those stairs. Don't make me drag you up."

"Fine." She reluctantly unclipped her belt. "But I'm not promising we're going to sort anything"

"Well if you wanna be children about it then fine, but I don't want to hear any more. Got it? No more snide remarks or pity parties."

Kasey didn't reply except for an eye-roll. She climbed out and reluctantly traipsed towards the building.

She shook her head and pushed her way in, making her way to his door. It had been ages since she had been there and all of the guilt and worry came back as she stared at the number on the door. She finally got the courage up to knock and Mike came to the door opening it wide.

"I see." He commented. "Well this explains the phone call." Mike looked her up and down and flicked his head to signal she come in.

Kasey walked a few paces in, her hands firmly in her pockets. She turned back to him, trying to decide how to start. She had so many mixed feelings accumulated over their silence. Her dithering eventually led to Mike starting the dialogue.

"Is this to do with my concern about the guy I saw you with? I have every right to be worried about who's walking you home at ten o'clock at night."

She spotted a bottle of whiskey on the counter but tried to focus on Mike.

"No. It's not about that -" she shook her head, the original irritation flooding back and distracting her further from the scenery. "But thanks for mentioning it to me, you know. Instead of spying on me and telling Mom behind my back. Oh wait." She was unable to hold back despite promising herself she would try and take the high road.

"Right. Clearly it's not about that." He bit back sarcastically, his voice still baitingly placid and relaxed. Kasey let out a frustrated breath, trying to pull herself back.

"But no, it isn't. Mom wants us to sort this out."

"I wasn't aware there was something to sort out?" He folded his arms.

"Other than you ignoring me for the last two weeks?" She glared at him, trying to be firm but unable to hide the toll the hostility was taking on her.

Mike took a deep breath, his voice softening. "I'm not ignoring you, Kasey. I just don't know what to say to you. You really disappointed me."

Kasey propped open her mouth with her tongue. It was harder to hear him say it than it was to just know he was thinking it.

"Well I'm sorry I did things the way I did. I was only trying to help you." She had been reminding herself of that so many times that it had almost drained out the genuine remorse. She just didn't know how many more times she'd have to say it, the sad truth being that hearing that wasn't what Mike needed. The fault line in their relationship ran deeper than any recklessness on Kasey's part, but more in what her actions had revealed in the process. Brandon had provided Mike with something Mike could do as a father, he could handle that and work with it. Kasey had shown him not only that she was moving on in a way that she didn't need his input, but the roles were reversing in a manner that she was taking on the role as the care giver.

He heaved another sigh seeing the anguish in her face. Stef was right to make them confront it - if this was how he was feeling Kasey had a right to know instead of being victim to a wedge between them, forced in so he could ignore his issues until he could feel like her father again.

"Kasey, it's not - " they were interrupted by a knock at the door.

Mike stuttered as Kasey went to open it.

"Kasey you don't have to -"

"Danny?" She gasped, shocked.

"Kasey, hey! How's it going. Hey Mike."

"What are you doing here?" She asked, genuinely floored that she would ever be seeing him again.

"Came to watch the game with your Dad. I brought the beer this time." He smiled.

Kasey turned to Mike, unable to believe it. He had stayed in contact? After the weeks of guilt tripping they had remained friends all along?

"Sorry. I didn't know he had plans." She commented bitterly. "I don't wanna get in the way." She looked hard at Mike before moving towards the door.

"Kasey, wait."

"Is this a bad time?" Danny asked tentatively, lowering the crate.

"Could you just give us a minute. Maybe go put the beers in the fridge or something?" Mike asked as Kasey shook, still in disbelief.

"I don't believe this!" She whispered.

"You don't believe what? I thought this was what you wanted?"

"It was - yes..but..." she had no clue what to say.

"Two weeks? You've been making me feel like shit for two weeks and you didn't even lose a friend out of it?"

"Just because it worked out doesn't mean it wasn't wrong what you did - and let's tone the attitude down a bit - I'm still your father..."

Kasey bit down on her tongue and shook her head furiously.

"You know what Dad, just screw it. Enjoy the game."

She stormed out of the apartment, blazing with the whole situation. Did she have the right to be mad? She was mad. This solved the problem. It was what she wanted...but why? Why wouldn't he still be putting her through hell? She slapped her hand down onto the banister and flopped against the wall outside the apartment block. He tried to play all high and mighty with her life and as soon as she even tried to help him with his she gets reprimanded indefinitely. She drew her phone out to call Cooper. She needed to vent. She scrolled to his name before tutting loudly, remembering he was still grounded for their failed operation the weekend before. She was about to close it before she saw the name below. Craig had been trying to see her all week. Maybe some fresh ears would allow her to vent, or at least act as a distraction. He was busy tonight, but that didn't mean she couldn't book him in for tomorrow. She wasn't generally rebellious, but she needed an outlet, and right now blowing off steam with someone her Dad didn't want her to see seemed like the perfect one to make her point.

Mariana saw stewing at her computer. She was so fed up of everyone picking on her. She felt bad about what had happened, but everyone reacting to it just made her feel even more like it was justified. Why was everyone making her out to be the bad guy when they were the ones who had been lying? All she did was tell the truth. She banged away at her keyboard, the anger festering, just as a notification sprung up.

She clicked it open and was somewhat relieved to see it as Ana. It felt homely now, like a gateway into a little world that was hers. Not one she had to share with arguing siblings. A little escape that only she knew about and it was a welcome distraction.

How are things with you?

Short and sweet.

I've had better weeks. J and I still fighting, EVERYONE's on his side :(

She replied, enjoying the chance to vent without retaliation or being shut down.

She continued to write away at her assignment while waiting for the reply.

Ah, that sucks. So...I have some time tomorrow morning. Wondered if you were free?

Mariana mulled over the suggestion. It seemed a bit odd, seeing as she had school, but maybe she meant in her break. That kinda made sense.

I have school but we have recess at 10.30? You'd have to come to the beach tho.

She sat back and thought about the brief danger that meeting her may have. If Jesus saw them...wait, no! As if Jesus would care what she was doing during her break. The battle lines had been drawn and she was done caring about him or what he'd think.

Yes! That would be fun.

Mariana smiled as she began to think about meeting Ana again. The last meeting had gone so well and it was all more steps towards recovery. She confirmed the rest of the plans and lay down against her pillow.

Callie too was deep in thought across the room. She had been reading the message she had received over and over. It had to be coincidence. He wouldn't be stalking her, surely? The party was one thing, but more than that? He wanted her out of his life, not in. What was he even trying to achieve? Maybe he just wanted her to know he had the upper hand. She tried to zone out the constant din of Mariana's typing and did some exploration of her own. She had stalked through about every photo on Liam's account and wasn't sure why she was torturing herself with his face. His stupid face. It was a face she never wanted to see again. He'd violated her and then betrayed her, but more than anything it was a face that had once brought comfort and she hated herself for remembering that.

She flicked through them again until she grew frustrated realising he was even controlling her now in doing so. She went back to her own profile, deluding herself she was looking at anything else but him. She scrolled through her pictures, but the one with the tree lingered in her sight. She thought of him seeing it. Leering over it. Was he remembering the night they spent together as he typed? Was he reliving her nightmare with some kind of perverted pleasure? It made her feel dirty and vulnerable and she had to shake the thought away. She never wanted him to be able to see that photo again. She had been avoiding using her account at all, but had instead been checking it compulsively as some kind of subconscious penance.

Enough was enough.

She went into her settings and changed them to private. Why should she be scared of him being inside her head? He wasn't. It was an illusion. It was luck. She continued to skim through her own photos, feeling slightly empowered that he no longer had access. A shallow sigh glazed through her lips as she passed the one of Sarah. Callie could kid herself that he could be filtered out of her life but deep down she knew that wouldn't be enough. That didn't stop him from being part of Sarah's and the thought of the trauma she experienced being inflicted on someone else not only filled her with fear, but with guilt. Sarah needed to know - but would she listen? Callie clicked on Sarah's profile. She could see her affiliated accounts and clicked over to her Tumblr. Maybe there was a way to contact her after all.

"OK guys, I've got to head. I am meeting Craig later and I wanna get myself sorted." Kasey packed up her things into her bag.

"Cool, we'll work a bit longer and Callie can fill you in later." Both Wyatt and Kasey looked to a distracted Callie before exchanging a mutual look of concern. She had barely taken her eyes off her phone all day, failing to discretely check for a response to her messages at every interval she had. She had sent about 3 messages since the night before, finally deciding to stop in fear that she had already come on too strong.

"Callie?" Kasey prompted, finally getting her attention.

"Right." She smiled. "I'll see you at home." Kasey nodded another goodbye with a pointed look at Wyatt. As she left he watched Callie go straight back to her phone, looking yet again. He had already been nervous about her today and had already been shut down when he had probed further about Liam.

"You know I'm starting to think you've got a secret boyfriend." He commented. "Or are you just desperate for someone to call you away."

Callie looked up at him perplexed. She felt guilty about having been ignoring him but her distractions were too great to waste too much emotion on anything else.

"Sorry." she chuckled defensively. "I guess you're just boring me today!"

Wyatt nodded with the friendly dig but couldn't get her recent behaviour off his mind.

"You feeling better after last night, I take it?"

"Last night?" She queried having completely forgotten anything outside of the messages. "Oh! Right, the café. Yeah, I guess the nachos just didn't sit right with me."

Wyatt knitted his eyebrows.

"I thought you had a headache?" He began to twitch his fingers around the edge of the table as Callie stared, her mouth drooping open as she tried to think of a response.

"You've never eaten so many nachos you get a headache?" She attempted another diverting joke that Wyatt saw through before her phone bleeped.

She tried not to look too alerted by it but he saw right through. She gave him a big smile but he could see her hands twitch as she opened it. Her face dropped again.

It was photo of Anchor Beach. Callie couldn't hide the fear in her face and Wyatt was done with trying to pretend he couldn't tell what was going on.

"Is that a pic of the school?" He asked, peering over. Callie quickly snapped the phone away.

"Yeah, it...it's just some joke thing." She put it down and began to gather her things. "You know, I don't see why we should have to do this while Kasey gets off. Maybe we should call it a day too."

Wyatt jumped up to join her in packing away his things.

"I have to go catch my science teacher before the end of the day - he said I had till 5."

"Uhm...OK. I'll wait for you out front? I need to go to the bathroom anyway." She mumbled.

"Cool. I'll see you out there soon." She left awkwardly, leaving him to watch her walk away.

He'd had enough of this. His protective instincts becoming overwhelming, he found Liam's profile that he'd looked into the night before and tapped away a message of his own, biting down his anger. He wasn't going to just sit back and let this guy screw with Callie. If she wouldn't help herself, he'd do it for her.

Liam lay back on his bed, reaching over as he heard his phone sing out a tune. He opened the text and smiled.

Just abandoned Callie and her boyfriend for you. Looks like you're a better option than staying late at school! I hope we're still on for tonight?

He wasn't sure yet what he wanted from Kasey but he was enjoying keeping her in the picture. He wasn't sure what Callie was going to do next and he felt safer having a part of her life still under his control. Sarah had told him she'd been harrassing her and he wouldn't have her and her big mouth ruining everything again. He flipped through his photos and chose one he had taken earlier in the day. Every picture he sent he knew he was keeping her that little bit more in check. He chuckled to himself and sent it off, getting a twisted thrill from how much it would be freaking her out.

He flicked through his history and photos, admiring his work and remembered that this had been inspired by the text he had yet to reply to. He began to type back as another message bleeped through. It was on instagram. Had Callie dared to reply this time? This should be good. He opened it up but saw it was from a name he didn't recogise. He did recognise the face though. He sat up briskly as he processed the words.

"I know what you're doing. Quit screwing with Callie or I'll go to the cops"

Liam's heart pounded. What had she told him? Did Kasey know too? He couldn't risk it if so, if eyes were on him it was too risky. That curly haired son of a bitch was ruining everything! How dare he threaten him? He was in control here. Callie was supposed to be silent, muted by her restrictions. She shouldn't be confiding in anyone, let alone another guy! Anger pulsed through him. She couldn't get away with this. The school wasn't far. He jumped off his bed and grabbed his keys. Callie would have to come out at some point and when she did he would be there.

Wyatt couldn't get out of his brief meeting fast enough. He thought he was only handing in a slightly late assignment but his teacher had seemingly chosen that afternoon to regurgitate all of the reasons handing in assignments late would lead to nothing but destitution and civil war. As the lecture subsided, Wyatt checked his phone. No response from Liam. Was that good or bad? Maybe he hadn't checked his phone yet. He pushed his way through the other students and set eyes on target, seeing Callie waiting at the other end of the lawn. He felt a certain serenity, seeing her framed against the blue sky. He hadn't felt this attached to anyone in as long as he could remember. She intrigued him and impressed him all at the same time. He checked his phone again but almost dropped it as he heard the screech of a car. It was a jeep...and there was Liam.

He threw his cell into his pocked and began to run, he could see him grabbing her arm and getting close to her face. The anger he had felt when he saw the photo was nothing compared to the adrenaline pumping through him now. Something took over and he could feel his stride propelling him faster than he thought he could run. A man possessed, he lunged forward, tackling Liam to the ground and before he even knew what was happening he felt himself punch once, then another, then another - each thrust being controlled by a fire inside of him. The surroundings were dissolving, all he could hear was Callie yelling and all he could see was the blood appearing from Liam's nose.

Outside of any concept of time, he was pulled up - dragged away from the magnetic pull. Suddenly, he felt connection to the world again along with the feeling of Brandon's clasp around his chest. As the coward drove off, he forced himself free.

"And stay away from Callie! If I ever see you again -" he bolted forward, the final dregs of aggression trying to free themselves.

"Shut up!" Callie cut him off, her voice brimming with anger.

Wyatt turned to her, confused. She had just been attacked! How could she be defending him?

"I told you to stay out of it now you've just made things worse!" She added firmly. He could hear the fear in her voice. All he wanted to was for her to feel safe, feel protected.

"I was just trying to - "

"Go home, Wyatt." She cut him off again.

Wyatt paused, panting. It had all happened so fast. The message, the response, the fight. Callie had been terrified and he was her boyfriend. It was his job to protect her. Or is that what this really meant? Callie had barely committed, never even confirmed what was or wasn't happening. He'd had enough - this was the final straw. He wasn't going to just wait around the sidelines and only play when her mood permitted him.

"Fine." He finally responded. "If you want me to stay out of it, I'll stay out of it for good." He turned away and stormed off. Callie watched him go, the build up of repressed emotion shaking her to the core. In that moment she realised something was happening that she had feared for so long.

Her secret was coming out - and contrary to everything she had convinced herself it would be - she was almost relieved it was coming to light.

Next Chapter Preview: Mariana has a revelation and tensions run high for Kasey and Stef as the pill issues resurface and the blame flies freely.

Stef paused again and looked up.

"Well you bought it, Kase. Without our permission."

Kasey moved around to be across from Stef.

"No. No, no. You do not get to do that." she protested folding her arms as Stef looked up again shocked at the defiance.