Amy POV

February 9th

I was in the kitchen, opening myself a beer, as I was going to watch a game. You can't watch a football game without a beer in one hand and some snacks by your other. I couldn't wait till I can just relax, not worry about anything, just watch the game and time by time yell at the screen because I think I know how to play the game better than the professionals who do this for living. Fans are wired that way, we criticize other's who are running as fast as they can while we stuff ourselves with alcohol and greasy snacks.

Just when I opened the bottle, the front doors opened and slammed shut loudly, indicating Callie was back home. I glance to the clock, she was back way too soon. She left merely hour ago.

"MOM!" Callie called out sounding really upset and also bit of desperate. Desperate to locate me and to talk to me. I quickly grab the beer bottle and walk to the corridor showing myself to her "I'm here. You are home fast..."I ask making my way over to her "Everything okay?"

"NO!" she said, her face was filled with rage and anger "Some…fucking asshole has damaged our moms headstone! It is completely scratched! Like someone was smashing it with a shovel or something! It is completely ruined!" she was throwing her arms up and around, showing how just how upset she was

"What- are you serious!? Was her headstone the only one or were others vandalized too?" I have never understood the people who go to cemeteries to ruin other people resting places. I have done few calls like that, when families call in that sort of vandalism

"I saw few others vandalized too. It got Jude to tears!" she said and paced up and down the hall "What am I going to do now!? It is ruined! I don't have the money to repair it!"

I put the beer down on the small table by the doors "We will fix this okay, don't worry. But you don't have to worry about the money, Callie." I say pulling the girl that was in front of me in a tight hug stopping her from pacing in the hall. She let out a small sob as soon as I did, her hands pulled on the back of my shirt "Who would do that?" she cried out in my shoulder, burying her face to my neck

"Shh, it will be okay, Cal. Don't worry. We will fix it" I whisper back to her as I hold her and run my hand softly up and down her back, just soothing her.

Flashback – 10 months in fostering Callie

2012 August 5th

I was woken up this Sunday not because of my alarm or by Callie walking around in the house, but by a reminded I had set on for this date, few months back.

The first day we got a hold of her file, her thick file that had record of all of the mistakes she has made, all her former foster families, school records, first thing we looked for were the important dates.

Her birthday, the date she was placed in foster care, the birth date of her parents, and the date when her mother had died. Every important date that we saw, was put in our calendars as a reminder of how important this day is to her.

Today, sadly was the August 5th. The day her mother died.

I had no idea what to expect, how she was going to react to this date. Will she just shut off completely, not talk to me at all, will she just spent the whole day in her bed, silently grieving her mom's death, or will she be the grumpy kid, the kid who throws tantrums, the kid who is angry at the world.

With Aaron and Markus death so fresh in my memory, I fear this day not only for Callie, but for my sake too. I just hope I can keep my posture and be the strong person Callie can turn to, if she needs. I never expected that this day would come and I would be alone to handle it. I expected Aaron to be by my side, so we could face it together, help her together.

When I get to kitchen, first I put on coffee. As the water was heating up, I went grab the newspaper and check mail in the mail box. When I get back to the kitchen, the coffee is almost done and I start to make the pancake mix.

The pile of pancakes stand in the middle of the table, I am on my 3rd pancake and the newspaper segment about economics when Callie walks in. Just like me, she is still in her PJ pants, hair was still up in a messy bun, sleep still visible in her eyes. She has put on her big dark blue hoodie. On the sleeves I notice these small wet spots, she probably wiped her tears in her hoodie before she came down.

"Morning Callie" I greet her cheerfully, just trying to give her as positive morning as I can. She says it back quietly and makes her way to the coffee pot, pours herself a cup and walks to the table and sits down. In the meantime, I had grabbed her a plate and tableware for the pancakes and set it down opposite me.

The weight of the day is clearly visible on her face, she looks sad and lonely. Her face is also puffy from crying, eyes are red too, but not that she would ever admit it to me that she cried. She still is hiding her feeling and emotions the best way she can. Trying to protect me.

She takes one pancake from the big pile and places it on her plate. Grabs spoonful of the jam ,that was on the table next to the milk, spreads it out all over the pancake and without saying anything else starts to eat her breakfast.

After she is done with her first one, she takes the second one and then speaks up "Can I-" I briefly hold my breath, hoping she would actually come to me first, without me slightly poking her, just giving her a small push "-get the sports page?" I let the breath out "Sure" and hand her the sport page and offer her a warm smile, she places the paper on her left, reading it time by time as she eats.

After I am done with my third pancake, I have decided to just poke the bear a bit. Maybe something will come of it, and she will open up about today.

"So, you want to do anything special today?" I ask as I hold the glass of milk in both of my hands on the table. She looks to me, still chewing "What do you mean? Why?" she asks trying to play it cool, like this day doesn't affect her at all. Like this is just another simple day, that holds no meaning what so ever.

"Your mom" I say and watch her react almost instantly. She tensed up the moment I said that, she had stopped chewing "Her anniversary. It has been 4 years. I thought maybe you want to go visit her?" she shifts in her seat, looks down to her plate, cuts a small piece of pancake off as she continued to chew the last piece. It was like she ignored me.

"Maybe bring her flowers? We should probably go and at least take the old ones off, from the last time you visited her" she looked to me again, not saying anything. But I have a feeling something in the last sentence I said, stirred up something in her. She was now chewing the side of her lower lip, she was nervous.

"You haven't been to visit her, have you?" I ask going with my gut feeling. She confirms my thoughts with a head nod. Her gaze was going from one place to other, it went anywhere but to my eyes.

"You never been to visit her" I say quietly to myself, not understanding how it could be that way. 4 years and not one single visit. I put my both elbows on the table, left hand I place on the table, right is up to my face, I am running my hand up and down my jaw line

"No" she says quietly but then luckily adds something to the dry response "I never had the money to go there, nor to buy her flowers…"

"What…what about the funeral?" the look she gave me said it all "You didn't go to her funeral?" I ask her softly

"I wanted to, but my foster parents wouldn't take me. The Gerald's said it was too far, they won't ruin their Sunday to take me there and back. Also Benjamin said the gas money would come off the money they gave me for lunch and that would like leave me with almost nothing"

"So you never went to see her? Not even one time?"

"No. I lived on Jackson Hill Drive with the Gerald's, but mom was buried at Miramar National Cemetery. It was too far for me to go to by foot, I never had the money to go by bus, nor did I know how to get to there" she explains to me once again "The closest I live there, was with Anna and James Rask but it still was like 14 km from their house to the cemetery, that is like 3 hour walk if not more. And they didn't even know that it was the day my mom died, they didn't care. Actually no one ever cared, most of them just barely knew that I existed"

Her gaze travels to her hands on the table "You are the only one who has taken any interest in this and the first person I talk about it for real, not just…yell at me. You were the first person to remember my birthday are the only one who talks to me and doesn't ignore me"

I reach over the table for her hand, it takes 3 seconds, but she moves her hand and holds my hand back "How about…we go buy your mom's favorite flowers and then go visit her?"

"You would do that for me?" she once again questions my actions

"What kind of question is that, Callie? Of course I would. I will take you there every weekend if you like, to just get back the times you missed the important dates, honey. Of course I would take you. Don't ever doubt me like that again, Cal" I give her hand a firm squeeze and never take my eyes off her big brown eyes who

"I doubt there are flowers to take off. I don't know anyone but Jude, who would actually care and visit her" she thinks out loud

"Who's Jude?" I have never heard her mention that name. An uncle maybe, but if she had an uncle why hadn't he taken her in after Colleen died and Donald was sent to jail.

She tenses up again, she wants to take her hand back, but I hold on to her hand and don't let go. Instead I stand up and walks around the table and sit on the chair next to her, I take both of her hands in my hands, hold them in my lap. She is fully turned to me in her chair, still avoiding my gaze the best she can

"Please, talk to me." I rub my thumb over her palm. I readjusts the hold of her hands, now holding her both hands in my left as I take my right to her face. I move aside a stray of hair from that was covering her eyes and tuck it behind her ear "Callie, you can tell me…I will never hurt you, never, you know that. All I want to do is help you, I want to get to know you"

"You already have other things to worry about, you don't need my problems too" she says when she looks back at me "I caused enough trouble with Liam already. I cost you too much already. And everything you have been thought the past few months..."

"Your problems are my problems too. You are my priority, got it? You will always be my priority. No matter how big or small your think your problems are, you can always come to me. I will never send you away. I will always be all ears for you, you will have my undivided attention. So don't ever think about saying something as silly as you just did. And you don't need to worry about money, that is my field, not yours" she looks down to her hands in the middle of my small speech as she again couldn't hold her gaze

I know it is not possible but I can almost hear how much she is thinking about it. How her mind is running, trying to find other excuse not to open up to me. Opening up about Liam was hard enough, she got hurt again, so she doesn't want to put herself out there again and get hurt again.

"We can figure everything and anything out together. You don't have to face everything in your life on your own Callie. I am here for you. No matter what it is, we can face it together. We are a team, I will always be on your side"

Few seconds pass by till she speaks up "My brother" she says first and looks up to me only after she said it "You have a brother?" that is first time hearing about this. Nothing like that was mentioned in her file, that Colleen or Donald had another kid, that there was a brother. The social worker hasn't mentioned it too. I was shocked to say the least.

She nods back "Older?" I ask now thinking maybe he was older, out of the system, maybe living his own life on the other side of the USA, or Europe maybe. Far away from here, from her, distancing himself from his family.

"Younger" she says, and my stomach drops a bit, that meant he was in foster care also "he is 10" she adds and looks to my eyes with her sad eyes, worried face, she once again chews on her lip

"When was the last time you saw him?"

She shrugs at first "4 years ago" again this horrible, worst case scenario popped in my head, and what she adds next confirms my fear "the day after they told us mom is dead and dad is going to jail for manslaughter"

"You were separated when placed in foster care?" she nods back

"Have you heard anything from him? Anything at all? A letter? Phone call? Some e-mail form other family to your foster parents? A visit from your social worker anything?"

I have read the documents few times and the paragraph was pretty fresh in my mind - when siblings are separated when placed in foster care, the social workers give the two families contact information so the two kids could meet up. It doesn't matter how often - once a year, on birthdays, once a month, phone calls every few days, e-mails, letters - there was suppose to be chance for her and her brother to talk to one another, communicate. David hasn't told me anything, I haven't been contacted by any other family, I wasn't given this kind of information. This just showed how once again the system has failed, and just done more damage.

"No, nothing. But I doubt my earlier foster families would have cared that I have a brother. Even if there was a letter or phone call, I wouldn't have heard about it." she takes a small pause "David said he was adopted…like 4 months in"

"That means he was in a good family, yes? A caring, loving family who are keeping him safe" I tried to look on the bright side of it.

"I guess so" she says still thinking about it "Okay, so" I needed to set the priorities for today, a day plan "Finish your breakfast, go change and then we will make a quick stop at flowers shop before heading to the cemetery. When we get back, if you are up to it, we can talk more about your baby brother Jude and figure out what to do next. Okay, sounds good?"

She was biting her lower lip, nodded back to me. "Good" I say standing up, I place my right hand on the back of her neck, leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead, then pulled her in a little hug.

We had to go to the cemetery manager to fist just locate where her mom was buried. Turned out she was buried at this small hill on the left side of the cemetery. Not far from her place rested her parents and grandparents. The place she was buried at was reserved for one more people. Her husband – Donald. They had obviously thought about this, planned. It is possible that she also left a will, that she will be informed about when she turns 18.

Aaron and I thought about it too. He had his will written some 2 years before he died. You can never know what will happen to you in the next days. He agreed to have a will written for both of us, after one day I was injured on job. Nothing too big, just a bullet gazes my upper tight. But still it made us think about future, our son, what we leave behind and to whom.

When we finally make our way up the small hill we see a headstone that had her name, birth and death dates engraved in. Nothing much, it was simple but the headstone looked good.

Callie has this small, sad smile on her lip as she looks to the grave. She then takes the flowers, simple white roses, out from the paper and hands the paper to me and kneels down to place the flowers on the grave . I put the crumbled up paper in my hoodies pocket. Take the lid off the two candles and take the matches out of my pocket.

"You want to light them?" I ask her, she stands back up and walks up to me "I will hold them, you light" she takes the two candles out of my hands and watches me light them up. I place the lids back on and then Callie places them by the headstone. Her right hand then goes to her mom's name engraved on the headstone, she drags her finger over her name, then the date of death.

"I will give you a minute alone, okay. I will be just on the path down. Take as long as you need Callie" I say to her, she looks over her shoulder to me, she has tears in her eyes. Then out of nowhere jumps up and hugs me tightly, giving me a big squeeze "Thank you" she whispers to me after few second. I kiss her cheek before she lets go of me "Always, Callie, always"

Callie then turns back to her mom's grave as I turn and walk down to the path, giving her and her mom some time alone. I wait for her by the big oak tree that was by the path, just watching her being crouched down to her grave.

She walks down to me some 20 minutes later, she had tear strains still visible on her cheeks. Callie takes her hand out of her hoodie pocket, glances away and wipes the tear off her face. I open my arms to her and she doesn't hesitate to come to me in my embrace "I miss her" she says, her voice cracks in the middle "I know honey, I know…" I press my lips to her temple.

"All I have…is her necklace…I don't even have a photo of her…I'm afraid, that I will forget how she looks. How her voice sounds…or her perfume…how her touch feels…"

"She will always be with you in your memories, honey. If you afraid of forgetting a certain memory, you can try and write a journal, just write everything you remember about her. So you could read it after if you want to" i say quietly back to her ear, not letting go of her

"I didn't kiss her goodbye…I was mad at her…I didn't…I didn't tell her that I loved her, she died thinking I hated her" she cries in my shoulder

"She knew it. She knew you loved her, and she loved you. No matter what, she loved you! Trust me, moms love their kids even when we are disappointed, or angry or we have had an argument with our kids, we never stop loving. Never."

"I waited for her to come back….she never came back…" she was now sobbing in my shoulder. I tightened the grip on my hug. I let her cry it out. She hadn't dealt with her mom's death, that was pretty obvious. She needed to cry, she needed to deal with her emotions and feelings. This was a step to right directions.

End of flashback

We stand there, by the front doors for few minutes till she ends the hug. My mom once told me - when you hug a kid, never let go first, you can never know how long hug the kid needs. Keeping my moms advice in my head, i always wait till Callie pulls out of the hug first. I wipe away a stray tear from her cheek, offer a smile to her. When she smiles sadly back to me - I head upstairs.

Callie is on my heel walking after me "I will change quickly and then we will go back, I will call it in, it was clearly vandalism." i tell her as i make my way up

"You think you can catch whoever did it?" Callie asked standing now in the doorway as i walk in my room "I will do everything I can to catch him, Callie. That I can promise you" I change my pants and grab my wallet, phone and I grab my sweater from the chair and head back out "I promise you" I say as i stop by her briefly in the doorway "I know. I trust you" Callie says back and then follows me down and out to the car.