Callie POV

I pulled my hand back from the cold metal elevator doors the second the system realized someone was trying to exit or enter the elevator. The doors once again opened, revealing the three people inside.

Robert took his hand out of his pants pocket and reached for the elevator panel "Going down to first?" he asked casual, pretending like us taking the elevator down won't cause tension and incredibly awkward feeling in the air. A business man knows how to keep calm and his composure intact.

"Yes," I replied in a hushed voice as all three of them took a step backward deeper into the elevator to make room for one more

Tilting my head down to avoid their stares, I stepped into the elevator, then turned around to face the doors. Looking at the elevator panel, I made sure that Robert had pressed first floor button. My fingers tapped at the side of my legs as we waited for the elevator to start moving. Because the metal doors were so clean and were made of a material that reflects, I saw the reflection of the family on them clearly. It was like I was standing facing them.

I saw how clueless and innocent my half-sister looked. She was humming something to herself. Her eyes going all over the small box as she was trying to occupy herself in the elevator ride down.

I saw how suspicious his wife looked. She glanced to Robert couple of times trying to see if he had any sort of reaction to me, but Roberts face didn't shown any signs that he knew me. At the 10h floor we had indirectly looked at one another as I was was watching her in the reflection, but she glanced to me, using the same reflection. She was the one, who averted her eyes down at our awkward and indirect eye contact. I didn't take my eyes of their reflection, simply because I was too curious about this family.

When the woman gazed at her husband again, all Robert did, was smile warmly at his wife. Looking all innocent. Robert completely ignored me. He hasn't looked at my reflection on the doors once. It was like I didn't exist him from. I was not important enough, I was not worth his time. It reminded me of how I felt in those first foster homes. So worthless. I was once again – nothing.

Invisible.

When we reached the 6th floor, Robert placed his hand on his daughter shoulder, making her look over her shoulder at her father. Her smile was bright and wide, reaching from ear to ear. Robert, in her eyes, clearly was her hero.

"What time was your competition on Friday?" Robert inquired

"At 11. Sunchaser and I are the first ones to go, so you have to be there at the very start," Her answer came quick "You will be there, right daddy?"

"For you, of course darling! Have I ever missed a single one of your competitions?"

The girl shook her head, her smile widened and the look in her eyes spoke volumes of just how much the girl loved her father.

"You work on that fourth jump with Sunchaser, honey. You need to ace it, to win the competition. Okay?"

"I know, daddy. We already practiced it in last training," the girl confirmed it with a firm head nod

"That's my girl," He smiled down at her and ran his hand two times over her hair "You know I love you, princess, right?"

"I love you too, daddy!" The girls eyes had lightened up at her fathers nickname for her. He was showering them with her. I had no way of knowing if they converse like this on daily basis or did Robert simply put on a show for me, to show me what I will never get from him.

"You're the best daughter !" He said leaning down and placed a kiss on the top of her head

"I'm your only daughter, daddy!" my half-sister said in a know-it all tone

Finally, when he leaned to stand straight, I saw him look at my reflection. His eyes weren't suspicious as his wife's or clueless like her daughters, neither did his gaze held questions like mine did.

It was like he was trying to tell me with his gaze that I will never be his daughter, even though the DNA test could say otherwise. All it took was a stare. It hurt to be disowned that way by my own father. I haven't done anything to him to deserve that kind of stare, to deserve that kind of treatment; I haven't done anything to him! But it felt like he hated me for just being alive.

"That's right. Only one and the best!" Robert added in a hushed voice while his gaze was still on me

Averting my eyes down to the floor, I wished that Donald had been my birth father. At least he didn't ignore me and while he did hurt me, it was never intentional. He loved me even thought I wasn't his. Robert made me realize how much I truly care for the person, who I had called dad for years. He was there my whole childhood and not once had he looked at me this way. I was grateful for Amy, who came into my life suddenly and despite her own suffering, she stuck my side. Never again will I take Amy for granted. A person, who I don't share blood line with, loves me more than the person, who is the reason why I'm here in the first place.

The elevator had now reached the 4th floor, going down to third. I reached for the panel; my finger lingered over the third and second floor buttons as I wondered if I can manage to stay in the same place with him for another 20 more seconds. It was a mistake taking the elevator down with him. Now I know that.

While he doesn't want to talk to me, I still had something I wanted to tell him, so I resisted the urge to press the button to get off sooner. The elevator went pass third and then second floor, but when it reached the first one, I pressed the stop button, making the elevator come to a sudden stop, before it opened the doors. The lights in here dimmed down, making the setting all more dramatic.

"What the-" Robert exclaimed. I turned around and faced the three shocked people.

"Why did you stop it?" The older woman questioned, glancing to the panel, but then back to me. The young girl looked a bit scared. She was clenched to her mothers side.

"I don't see it," I stated staring right at my birth father

"Excuse me? See what?"

"Whatever Colleen saw," Robert twitched at the name of my mom. He hadn't expected me to say it. It felt good, to sucker punch him like that. It felt like a sweet revenge. At least he look more nervous as I had put him on the spot, right in front of his family.

"It's pretty obvious, that your family doesn't know who I am, but you do. Don't worry, I'm not going to tell them, I'm not going to do you any favors."

I saw how his wife glanced to him, wondering if Robert truly knew me and if he did, then how. I could see how her wheels were turning in her head, trying to figure out what was going on. Her suspicion grew significantly. His daughter looked curious as well, but didn't look nearly as suspicious as her mother did.

"Robert!" his wife spoke "Do you know her?" she questioned "What is she talking about?" the woman was very fast to question Robert. She was fast to turn on her husband. Maybe she had been suspecting he had been cheating on her for a long time. Otherwise, no wife would find herself questioning her husbands trustworthiness and faithfulness so quickly. At the first sign of it, she jumped on the train.

I pressed the stop elevator button again, restarting the elevator. The ding rang out and the doors started to open behind me, but before I exited I turned to Robert one last time "Donald was right - you are a weak man."

I smiled politely at his wife and daughter before turning around and walking away, feeling satisfied and rather proud of myself. It might come back to me to bite me in the ass, but for the moment I didn't care. I needed to show him - I wasn't going to play his stupid games anymore. I wasn't going to be pushed around by him or anyone else for that matter. I'm not someone, who can be looked over and ignored. I'm not a scared and weak foster kid anymore. If he won't sign the goddamn papers because of what I just did, then we will wait till I'm 18 and no longer need his signature on the abandonment papers.

I'm a Scott, with or without that stupid piece of paper.

~o~o~o~

On our way home, I told Amy what I had done. Of course she wasn't happy about it, because challenging a man, who we need to sign the papers, wasn't a good idea. The more I started to think about what I had done, the more I started to dread the consequences for my actions. Just to repay for how I have outed him in front of his family, he could decide not sign the abandonment papers or maybe even try to get me taken away from Amy. But then again, would he really stoop so low to make sure that his own flesh and blood and a kid - a foster kid-, wouldn't get a forever home. That would be a despicable action, one that the press and media would love to get their hands on.

Later that same day, after dinner, mom came into my room unannounced. I stopped strumming the guitar strings and looked up to her, wondering what she was about to tell me.

"Put your guitar down and get your sneakers on!" she announced walking to the closet, pulled the closet doors open and got my gym class shoes out

"Why?" I questioned still holding on to my guitar

"Meet me downstairs!" Mom placed the shoes down by my bed and with that, walked away. I was left sitting there, not quite sure what was going on.

After setting the guitar down on my bed, I looked over my bedside to the shoes. Gym really wasn't my favorite class. I wasn't flunking it or anything, but if I had the opportunity to not attend, I would do so immediately. Some of the girls in my class always get away from gym by going to the nurses station. The nurse in our school is a very sweet, older woman, who loves to chat and who probably hated gym class in school as well. Why? Well, because she writes slips for all the girls, who want to skip gym, even if nothing is wrong with them. One time, I wanted to try it as well, but then I realized that Amy would probably some how found out that I had skipped it and I would end up going for a run with her every evening for the rest of my life.

"Oh, well," Sighing I put my feet down and got the shoes on

I did not see mom anywhere in the first floor, but I did hear some noise coming from the outside. When I walked outside, I located that the sounds origin. It was coming from the garage. By the time I got there, mom was pumping the tiers to a bike. Another bike stood at the garage wall.

"Lock the doors to the house, honey!"

"Um...what's with the bikes?"

"We're going for a small ride!"

"Why?"

Mom stopped pumping the back tire and moved over to the front "Because, riding bikes is fun!"

"Uh...I'm grounded. Remember?" I reminded her, not wanting to pedal for hours. It seemed like torture. I would much rather be grounded and read a book or play my guitar.

"Technically," Mom huffed and puffed as she was pumping the tier "But you're with me, so, that's okay."

"You are just making the rules as you go!" I argued back as I crossed my arms on my chest "You can't do that!" I must the be the only kid, who wanted to be grounded.

"Sure I can!" Mom stopped pumping the tire and glanced to me, with a big smile on her face "I'm your mom!" she resumed pumping the tier after that. Her last statement made my heart do a little jump and I was struggling hard to keep the smile off my face. This was the first time she had refereed to herself as mom in front of me.

"Lock the doors, will you?"

"Sure..." I was trying to talk myself up to calling her mom for the first time. It seems so much easier, when you are just thinking about it or talking with someone else. This was the perfect moment for me to say it, but my feet got cold. I lost all courage to and left without saying it, scolding myself as I walked away.

When I returned back to the garage, I handed the key to mom, who put in her jacket pocket, secure behind a zipper. Then she moved one of the bikes in front of me, holding it by the steer and seat. It had a speedometer on the steering wheel and by the looks of it, it had quite the mileage on it.

"This was Markus bike," Mom told me but surprisingly didn't sound sad at all "I lowered the seat down for you. Check to see if it's the right height."

Hesitantly, I got on the bike to check it out. I swung my right leg over the bike's bar. With my left still on the ground, but right on the pedal, I lowered my butt to the seat. I placed my hands on the steering where and gripped it softly. Some of the steering wheel lining was starting to come off, I guess, Markus often used to ride it. The seat was much harder than it looked from afar. My butt will probably hurt from this ride. The seat height seemed about right, at least I thought so. It had been a long time since I last sat on a bike.

"Take a spin around!" Amy patted by back

Thankfully, I still remembered how to ride one and didn't lose my balance. I increased the speed gradually worried I would fall. But the longer I ride the more confident I got. Tested the breaks - front and back - couple of times.

"Good?" Mom asked as I rode around her couple of times making my head start to spin a bit

"Yeah, good!" I replied not stopping the bike as I started to really enjoy it. It brought back memories of how I used to ride to the park with my family on the weekends.

"Good. Then lets go!" Mom said, then walked over to the garage, locked it, but then got on her own bike.

"Where to?" I asked, when we both rode out to the street

"Wherever our noses show us to!" Mom said stepping on the pedals a bit more. I got to standing position and pedaled fast to catch up with her. Once we reached the end of the street we had found a pace that was suited for both of us. Not too fast for me, but not too slow for mom.

~o~o~o~

Heavy rain comes once in a blue moon in San Diego.

Unfortunately for us, this time time it happened when we were halfway on our way back home.

Water was now pouring down my face. My clothes were soaking wet, but my shoes felt so heavy. The streets were flooding because of the heavy rain. Water was splashing left and right as mom and I were trying to get back home in this god awful weather. There was no longer use in stopping and trying to find somewhere to hide, because we were already soaked to the bone. We didn't have a dry spot on us.

When we reached the house, we dropped our bikes on the porch and hurried inside, wanting to dry off and warm up.

"Go to bathroom. Get your clothes off and hop in a warm shower!" Mom said as we both made our way through the front door

A puddle formed right underneath us. My sweat pants were so heavy, they were falling off by themselves. I had to pull them up every two seconds to keep them up. Shirt was stuck to my body and was basically see through. With every step that I made, my shoes made a squelching sound and I felt the water squeeze between my fingers. Shivers ran through my body every now and then.

Once I was in the bathroom, I discarded of every clothing I had on me in matter of second, leaving them on the floor. I hopped in the shower in effort to try and warm up a bit. The water seemed so much hotter than it usually does. All I wanted was to warm up.

I heard the bathroom doors open, when I was letting the water pour over my back. By the sound, I believe mom discard of her own soaking wet clothes and then dried off in a towel. I didn't hear mom walk out, because I had my head under the water stream, but a while later I hear moms voice.

"I got you dry clothes," Mom informed me, but the next second, I heard her walk back out. Stopping the water, I pulled open the shower curtain, grabbed my towel and dried myself up. As quickly as I could I got into the clothes my mom had brought me. A shirt, hoodie, sweatpants and my warmest socks.

After putting the towel to dry, I walked over to moms room. She was now trying to dry her hair as best as she could.

"Are you still cold?" Mom asked me, when she saw me enter with my hands pulled into my sleeves and the hoodie over my head

"I could use a tea or hot cocoa," I suggested innocently, rocking back and forth on my feet, not wanting to go downstairs and make it myself. It tastes so much better, when someone else makes it for you.

"All right," Mom smiled at me, when she stopped drying her hair "I'll go make us some tea, but you pick out a movie for us to watch."

I nodded my head vigorously, excited for the cuddling on the couch together.

But even with our efforts to keep warm, we both ended up with temperature, running nose and cough the next day.

Amy POV

I reached for my pant pocket, pulled out a napkin and blew my nose as I waited for the water to boil. In the other room, I heard how Callie was coughing. Reaching for the shelf, I got a jar of honey. My mom always added honey to my tea, whenever I was sick. I guess she passed that to me as well.

I pour the hot water over the tea in both of the mugs; swirled the spoons to mix the honey, sugar while waiting for the tea to brew.

With mug in each of my hand, I made my way to the living room. I had poured so much water, that I had to be very careful so that I don't spill any of the hot sickness had gotten to me as well and I was shuffling my feet, trying to save energy that way.

"I hate you!" Callie announced, when I had reached the doorway to living room. There was no truth in that statement.

"No, you don't," I reply without taking my eyes off the two mugs "You love me!" I smiled back knowingly at the girl, who had wrapped herself into a blanket on the couch

My nose started to tickle inside, but thankfully, I had already reached the table and I could set the mugs down. Quickly, I reached for the napkin just in time for me sneeze attack. Once that was over, I took the thermometer from the table and handed it over to Callie.

"I checked my temperature few minutes ago!" Callie whines back like a little kid

"It was 4 hours ago!" she reason back as I still held it out for her

"You do it. I am warm and I don't want to move my hands and get cold air in my cocoon!" Callie replied blinking her big brown puppy dog eyes at me. How can I say no to them.

Sighing, I took a step closer to the couch and put the thermometer in her ear. After couple of seconds it beeps and as soon as it does, Callie asked, eager to hear the result "Well?"

"No. Still very much sick!" I answered, changing the thermometer to medicine I had in my pocket. I gave Callie two of the pills and a bottle of water, that stood by the couch, just for this occasion "Take these!" Thankfully, she didn't resist medicine like a kid as well, that would have made everything so much harder.

After I had taken care of Callie, I check my own temperature and take two pills myself.

I was about to get back on the couch, the same position I had been before heading to bathroom, but when I looked around searching for my blanket, I did not find it "Where did you hide my blanket?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," Callie lied through her teeth, keeping her eyes on the TV screen "Why do you always think I did something?"

"Who else?" I laughed back while still looking for my one source of warmth "Where did you put it?! I am cold, I need my blanket Callie!"

"I don't know anything about your blanket," Callie said trying to keep a straight face

"You little sneaky-" I called out. She had been hiding it in plain sight, it was wrapped around her legs. Callie had embezzled my blanket while I was gone. I pulled on the blanket, wanting to get it back.

"You can't hurt a sick kid!"

I glared at the young blanket thief - Is that so? Take a look at this then! – I thought to myself, before I lunged myself at her and start to mercilessly tickling her - I will teach her not to steal blanket from me!

Few seconds later she was laughing so hard, her face had gotten red. The girls laughter echoed throughout the entire house as she desperately tried to get out of my tickling claws.

"Stop!" Callie pleaded when she had gotten a breath in "Stop…mercy…please…mercy!"

"No mercy for blanket thief's!"

"Stop…Mom…please!"

A moment of silence fell upon us as we realized what she had said. I leaned off Callie and sat neatly next to her.

Maybe she hadn't meant it –I pondered even thought I didn't want that to be true – Maybe, it the words simply slipped out

"Callie you don't have to-" I started, putting an end to the silence between us, wanting to reassure her. While I was talking to her, I kept my eyes averted to my lap. Somehow it was easier that way. "...if you don't feel like it, you don't have to call me mom. It's okay. You don't have to call me that if you are not ready. There is no rush and I wouldn't love you any less if you would never call me mom."

"No!"

"No?" we both turned to each other

"I mean…I…you are, right? I mean, you are my…mom," Callie stuttered, clearly scared and worried about my reaction

"Yes," I confirmed, my voice hushed and soft

"I have thought of you as my mom for quite some time now. I was just…I was…"

"Scarred?" I made an educated guess, but the girl didn't move or say anything "Callie, I want you to know one thing-" I reached over to her and took her hand in mine "I don't ever want to replace your mom. I know, that it is not possible. I could never do that. And I don't want to take her place. Colleen is and always be your mom. I am just—"

"You're my mom, too!" she completed my sentence for me and I couldn't be more happier about it "I love you...mom!" Tears began to form in my eyes. Hearing her say it, warmed my heart. This was the ultimate gift she could ever give me. Nothing can ever top this feeling.

"I love you too, munchkin!" I pulled her to my side and hugged her tightly, hoping she would feel how much I lover her from my hug

~o~o~o~

Cuddled together, we ended up falling asleep on the couch. We ended up sharing the blankets, because they were both now covering us and keeping us warm.

I was woken up, by the sound of my phone ringing. Thankfully it hadn't woken Callie up. Once I got up from the couch, I tucked both of the blankets around her and planted a soft kiss on her temple. I got my feet into my slippers, grabbed my phone from the table. When I was reached the hallway, I answered it.

"Hello?" I asked in a hushed voice, peaking a look back to living room to check if Callie was still asleep. Once I saw that she was still sleeping, I made my way to kitchen.

"Amy, hi!" It was our lawyer "I know you and Callie are both sick, but...good news - signed the papers!"

"For real?" I couldn't believe it at first

"Yes, I'm looking at the signed abandonment papers right now!"

"Oh, wow...that's amazing! I'm so happy. I can't wait to tell Callie!" Happy tears appeared in my eyes. Words couldn't really express how happy I was. Part of me wanted to run to living room, wake up the sleeping beauty and tell her right now - I want to see her reaction. While I expected to be glad and cheerful about these news, I knew they will bring another set of feeling to her as well. Why did Robert didn't even want to get to know her? Why had he simply signed the papers?

"So..." I could her her smiling through it, her voice had changed "You want me to go set a date with the Judge?" The second she asked me that, the door bell rang. My head snapped toward the hallway as I wondered, who that was. No one was coming over, at least to my knowledge.

"Yes. Of course!" I said quickly, wanting to end this conversation before another bell rang out that could potentially wake up my girl "Listen, someone's at the door...I need to go," I let her now I'm in a hurry

"Go. I will go talk to the Judge and inform you, when I know anything."

"Thanks!" I said before ending the call and hurrying down the hallway to open the doors. Nothing could have prepared me for who I saw standing on the porch.

AN: I hope I managed to give you a nice story surrounding the previous read flashback of Callie calling Amy mom for the first time, that some of you first read in "After the wait". Like I said before, just trying to connect everything.

Hope you enjoyed it :)