Amy POV

When I run in the precinct, I saw Callie pacing in the lounge room. I didn't even think for a second, I just run to the room. The doors opened loudly, banging at the side of the wall, as the handle slipped from my hand. Callie jumped slightly when that happened. When she turned to me , her eyes that moment were full of fear. But when she realized that it was me, she breathed out "Mom" and then hurried up to me, pressed her head to my shoulder and warped her hands tightly around me.

"He is back" she said while she still was in my embrace, burying her head in my shoulder

"Liam?" I ask thinking the worse

"Matthew!" she said as she leaned out of the hug. She had silent tears streaming down her face as she looks to me. I was taken by surprise, I hadn't thought of that man for over a year, not since Callie and I run into their son last summer at movies. That day when we got back home, Callie told me all about the Malloc foster family.

I stutter with words for a second "H-He was in school? How…how is that possible?"

"He's the substitute. I can't take his class mom…I can't" she said back as another single tear run down her cheek. I put my right hand on the side of her neck and quickly pulled her back in a hug.

"I won't allow him to get close to you, I will home school you if I have to" I said softly in her ear. I needed to figure out how we are going to handle it. It was obvious that Callie wasn't handling the news very good. "It is going to be okay, Cal" I whispered in her ear as I felt her hands pulling tighter on my police uniform shirt "We will get thought this. Together. It will be okay." I soothed her and that was when she let out a small sob in my shoulder. I tightened the grip on her even more, running my left hand softly over her back

I know taking Callie back to school was a risk. He could still be there, but i wasn't ready to leave Callie alone for too long right now. But i also know that either Lena or the Sanchez will want to talk to her about this whole thing too. Callie wants this whole thing done as soon as possible, so in the end, it was a risk, we had to take.

Lena stood up the moment we walked in. She didn't get to say anything, as I wasn't going to drag this long.

"I need to talk you about the substitute teacher. I don't want him teaching Callie. I want him fired." I said bluntly. She was taken by surprise, she glanced to Callie by my side, then up to me "I'm…not in charge of-"

"Then I want to talk to the principal!" I pretty much demanded. She looked stunned "O-Okay…"

"Is he still in school, does he have class right now?" I ask next worried about Callie safety

"N-No, he had his last class for today. He left." She replies "Can Callie stay here while I go talk to the principal?" I ask her in much nicer tone, Lena nodded. Callie took the seat in the chair before Lena took me to talk to the principal.

Lena POV

Principal Sanchez has listened and dealt with many parents. But by the looks of it, she was about to lose this fight. I had never seen a parent so fired up about something.

Amy had stood up from the chair. The police uniform, gave her a clear advantage in this argument. Sanchez looked like she didn't know what to say to her. I was kind of speechless too. Amy had called him sadistic and controlling. But from the moment I met the substitute teacher, I liked him. He was well mannered, polite, quite charming even with his beard. He was funny and was easy to talk to. Principal Sanchez had no doubt that he was going to be a great substitute teacher till Mr. Fisher gets back on his feet. He was a good guy, at least we thought so.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard a loud bang. Amy had slammed her hand down on Sanchez's desk. Sanchez was clearly taken by surprise too "Demit! Are you even listening to what I have been telling you for the past few minutes?" Amy was speaking in raised voice, she looked and sounded pissed off. Amy was also very loud, but we all know, being loud, didn't granted that you will be heard. She had turned to this raised voice the moment Sanchez said that Callie was probably over-reacting.

"I have been listening, Mrs. Scott but you have no proof. And I have no reason to fire Mr. Malloc from his substitute teacher position!" Sanchez argued back, Amy stood back straight. She closed her eyes, placing one hand on her hip, with other she rubber her eyes and spoke slowly "I gave you the reason not 5 minutes ago"

"You are basically asking me to fire him just because you say so, Mrs. Scott. If you don't have some proof—" Amy's hand flew down from her eyes, she pressed it to her chest "MY KID IS THE PROOF!"

"And she has lied before, her record shows-" and of course Sanchez had to mention the record. She knows about it, because Callie's file clearly states that she had spent 3 months in school that was in Juvenile Detention.

"Her record!? ARE YOU SERIOUS!?" Amy got fired up again, she laughed at that, it was clearly a fake and frustrated laugh, that just showed how pissed off she was. And this time for a very good reason, Sanchez had no right to use Callie's file. No right what so ever "Is this why you are not doing anything!? BECAUSE SHE HAS A RECORD?"

But this was it for me, I needed to go back and talk to Callie. She was in the middle of this whole thing and i needed to get to the bottom of this.

Callie hadn't moved from the spot. She was just sitting in the chair, looking at her hands. After she run out of school today, I didn't expect her to see her here back, not today at least. I thought she just skipped the class. She hadn't said a word when she was here with Amy. Amy did all of the talking. Which was a short talk actually.

Lately it seemed like Callie was not talking to me at all. Whenever she had come over to see Jude, she always spoke to everyone for few minutes, except with me. It was like she was avoiding me. Whenever it was just the two of us in the living room or kitchen, she just walked out, without saying a word to me. And even if she had to talk to me, she was being distant and only answered with one syllable words, or just a nod or head shake. It reminded me of the way Mariana used to me the first months.

I close the doors behind and make my way to the empty chair next to her.

"I know…that, you for some reason don't like me. And you don't want to talk to me, but I need you to tell me why did you run out like that today. Mr. Malloc said that he had barely started his class and you just took off. Why was that? Why does your mom want him gone so badly?" I ask and waited but she just kept running her index finger over her left palm. As she kept doing that, i noticed a small almost faded scar on her palm

"Callie, this is not like you, to act this way" I say softly to her, my eyes still on the small scar on her hand. But that was when Callie finally looked to me "Really? It is not like me to act this way?" she said harshly back to me.

"And how long do you actually KNOW me?" she kept on going "Do you even know one thing about me?" She answered that herself " You don't, so why don't you just leave me alone and stop pretending that you care or something!"

Okay – ouch. That hurt a bit, even thou there was some truth to it. But one thing she was wrong "I do care about you, Callie."

"Aha...sure!" she says back sarcastically "I know we haven't talked that much…and that everything I know about you, I found out from Jude, but that doesn't change the fact that I DO care about you Callie. You are Jude's sister, you basically are our family. And I care for our family"

"You do have a weird way of showing that!" she snapped back at me again

"What are you talking about, Callie?"

"Nothing…forget I said it" she said in a typical teenager manner and looked back down to her hands again

"You do not get to do this Callie. Say something like that and they just pretend you hadn't said anything"

She looked back to me "Oh, yeah? What are you going to do then? Give me detention again?"

Was the silent treatment because of the first detention? When I think back to it, I do remember the silent treatment starting sometime after the incident. I just never put the two and two together, I hadn't thought that Callie would be the one to hold a grudge for something like that.

"Are…Do you not like me because I gave you a detention?" I ask leaning back in my chair. She shot me an angry look back, telling me that I was right.

"Callie, I was doing my job" I reasoned back

"They you should have given detention to 10 other people in the class! BUT NO…you only gave me one! You know, I am not the only one with a smartphone! The stupid Talia girl is texting in all of the classes and no one has ever called her out for it! JUST ME!"

I am pretty sure Callie wouldn't have said anything at all to me if she wasn't so angry at me right now. Ant this whole substitute teacher thing was just adding more pressure to her. In a way, Callie was like a ticking time bomb, just waiting to explode when it will all be too much on her. Every kid and every adult has that kind of moment. When it seems like the whole world is against you. When the emotions and feelings are just too much. Head is spinning with so many thoughts you don't understand how have you have kept on going on this whole time.

"Callie I…" I had started to reach for her shoulder with my right, but then I realized she probably doesn't want that. I pulled my hand back to my lap "I own you an apology, Callie. I am sorry that I was so harsh on you that day. I know it doesn't change anything, but I was having a stressful day, and I realize that I may have put it out on you. It wasn't my intention to hurt you Callie, in any way. I should have just given you a warning because it was the first time you had ever gotten in any trouble. I would take it back if I could. I am truly sorry, Callie" I never took my eyes off her, and as I looked to her, I think I saw her features soften just a little bit. The angry looking frown she had on, was slowly easing up.

After some few seconds she finally looked up to me, she opened her mouth to say something, but there was a knock on my door, and Callie quickly looked back down to her lap. The timing is really bad, I have to admit.

"Come on in!" I call and next second Mariana shows up in my doorway "Oh...um…I can come back" she said when she saw Callie sitting in the chair next to me

"No, don't. Everything ok?" I ask and noticed that Mariana doesn't look that good actually "You feeling okay, Mari?" I ask standing up and walking up to her by the doors. I put my hand on her forehead to check if she had a temperature "I'm fine mom." She said when I did that "Cramps…do you have…anything?" she said quietly so Callie wouldn't hear

"I will check" I walk around my desk to my purse. When I go through its content, Mariana walked deeper inside the room, she was looking at Callie

"Hey, I thought I saw you run off today…on 6th period" she said to Callie. Callie looked over her shoulder to Mariana "Yeah, I…I had a thing" she replied

"You coming over today? I want to show you something…I was going thought this magazine, and I saw the perfect blouse for you…you should totally get one"

"Yeah, um…I don't know" Callie said back and run her index finger over her nose bridge

"You haven't even seen it yet! It would look so good on you!" Mariana didn't back down

"No, uh…I meant, I don't know if I will go today"

"Oh…" Mariana saddened a bit. I was checking each and every pocket in my bag but I guess I didn't have anything with me. "Maybe Saturday then?" Mariana said cheerfully

Callie scratched the back of her neck this time "I'm not sure…that I will make it on weekend too" It was obvious to me Callie didn't want to disappoint Mariana, but the look on Mariana's face told me that she did, just a little.

Mariana was kind of always looking forward to just chatting with Callie about fashion and some art stuff just for few minutes. She has said to me when she was 8 that she would want to have a big sister. Callie has kind of taken that place for Mariana - the big sister role. But I am pretty sure neither of the girls realizes that.

"Mari, sorry I don't have anything. I will write you a note and you can go get something from the nurse okay" I said reaching for my pen, but I stopped because Callie was now holding out a small med bottle for her

"It is Ibuprofen…" Callie said to her, when Mariana raised an eyebrow to her, wondering what it is

Mariana reached for the bottle and smiled to Callie "Thanks. You are a life saver. The nurse is so weird and makes me feel so uncomfortable, and the way she looks to me - judging me" she hands back the bottle and tosses the pill in her mouth. I was about to give the water bottle that was on my desk to Mariana to drink on top, but Callie once again was first, handing Mariana her half full bottle of water that was in her bag. Mariana took a quick sip.

"I will send you the link, to the website of the magazine to look at blouse when I get home"

"Okay..." Callie smiled back to her and took the water bottle back

"Cool. See ya. Bye mom" she said cheerfully and walked out of my office. I was smiling to myself, mostly because of how close these two had gotten. Callie was a good influence for Mariana. Mariana was looking up to her. Ever since Lexi left, Mariana has had trouble finding a real friend. She has Haley now, but Haley isn't nearly as good friend as Lexi was. I ,personally, was kind of hoping that Callie could slowly take over the spot.

Callie POV

When Mariana left, I looked back to Lena, who was now just standing behind her desk. She had this silly nice smile on her face as she was looking to me. I don't know what it was that made her smile like that.

She cleared her throat, the moment she saw me looking to her, and then walked back around the desk to sit down in the chair she sat before Mariana came in. The smile was gone when she sat down and her eyes were back to looking at me seriously, with a hint of worry in them.

"I am not mad that you run off, Callie. I don't care about that, but if there is anything, anything at all, that you could tell me about Mr. Malloc, that would help me understand, why your mom, wants him gone from this school, please tell me" she spoke slowly, her voice was soft.

"He's not...a good guy" I get out stopping myself for saying anything else. The way she spoke, the way she looked to me, how understanding and caring she seemed right now, she was pulling me in, trying to get me to open up. I wanted her to know about Mr. Malloc, without her really knowing - I know it makes no sense, but I don't want people, except for my mom, to know about the bad stuff that I have been though. There had to be way of telling her enough about it, without saying too much about me. Without compromising myself, so she wouldn't have to pity.

"Okay. Can you tell me why?" she asked further in the same tone of voice. I rub my bridge of the nose quickly. What do I tell her? How much do I want her to know? How much do I want to open up? Her stupid sweet look is killing me now, if she could just look away from me…but she doesn't.

"Not…a good guy" I repeat still thinking of way of letting her know

"You already said that Callie" she said still softly and now she reached for my left hand. She took it in both of hers, rested it in her left palm and then run her right index finger over the scar on my palm

"Did he do this?" she asked as she traced the scar with her finger once again. I bit my lower lip and I looked to my lap, away from her look and her brown soft eyes.

Flashback – foster home #5, Matthew and Marci Malloc: 2010. Jan – Aug

One month in

I was walking out of the school with my grade card in my hand. Jeremy was their son who was 2 years older than me, thin looking kid, bit taller than me, dark brown short hair, hazel eyes. He was waiting for me in the school yard till I come out of my class. I was supposed to only walk home with him. I hated it and he hated it even more. I hated it because I know the way back by now, I can walk on my own, but he hated it because he was put in as a babysitter for me.

I walked up to him as his friends walked away. He saw the grade card in my hands and peaked in "How bad is it?"

"Mostly C. Is that bad?" His face dropped at once

"Shit" He grumbled under his nose and jumped down the table he was sitting on "Okay, um...new plan, what do you say about going to park? We could hang out there for a while?" he said and already started walking out of hhe school yard

"Won't your parents be mad?" I ask as I follow him.

"They will be more mad when they see your grade card. We will just hang out in the park, today is the football game. We will head back when it starts, so my dad will be busy and maybe will forget about the grade card"

"Is C that bad grade? I just transferred here, it is hard to get used to new teachers. And in math…I hadn't even covered the material in my previous school"

"Yes, it's bad" he said as he tossed a gum in his mouth, offered me one, I refused. "The only grade you should get is A or A+. You need to study more and get up to the level. You will have to take first physics class with him next year, you need get better!" if I will even make it that long with this family

"But…I have never had A+ or A. I mostly have C and B" I said and glanced down to my card

"Then I suggest you hit the books at night. I don't care. You need to get your grades up Callie. You don't know how mad he gets. In his eyes if you don't have A or A+ you are nothing. And you don't want to know what he does to someone who in his eyes is nothing. You will be a disgrace in his eyes."

We got back to the house shortly after 6. The game was already on. Marci was in kitchen making something, but Matthew was sitting in front of the TV, watching the game. When we closed the doors behind us, he automatically turned off the TV and stood up turning to us.

Marci was afraid of him. I noticed that the first day i was here. She was this petite woman, thin, short, weak looking woman, light hair. Whereas Matthew was a tall, fit guy. His beard made him look even more scarier. Yet, whenever I had seen him walking in the school, he looked so happy and always was smiling left and right. Two different people, two personalities.

"Where the hell were you!?" he addressed it to both of us but Jeremy answered "She was with me. We went to park, worked on our homework. It was a nice weather, we thought fresh air would be good for us."

He pulled on his pants. The big belt that was around his pants, wasn't apparently doing its job to hold them up.

"Hand it over!" he said and extended his arm. Jeremy pulled his bag to front, dig through it, then handed him the grade card and a pen. "Good…good. But work on your Biology, I want to see an A+ by the end of semester" he said and signed the paper. Then he turned to me "What are you waiting for?" he said in his low voice. I reached in my bag and got the card out.

Jeremy was watching me closely. I walked up to him and handed him the grade card. He looked at it for few seconds and then looked to me "Is this a joke?" he hit the piece of paper with his left as he was holding it in his right

"No" I say back not taking my eyes off him

"You have a D in math, many C's and one B! Don't you know what a BOOK is!?"

"I do, I have read books" by his response I figured I shouldn't have answered that. It just made him more angrier.

"Have you EVER opened a SCHOOL book before?" he still was speaking in raised voice, talking to me like I was some sort of idiot. His tone was mean. I remembered Jeremy's words – you don't want to know what he does to someone who in his eyes is nothing – they now sounded 10 worse now.

"Yes" I say quieter, i was not getting a good vibe from him. Marci had stopped making whatever she was making, she was now just watching this whole thing evolve, standing quietly in the kitchen area. Jeremy was standing just next to me, holding his breath, looking scared as hell.

"Why do you have such BAD grades?" he asks raising his voice holding my grade card up "Haven't I bought you all the books you need!? Notepads to take notes in! Give you time and space to study? HUH?! Are you trying to humiliate me in front of other teachers? My colleagues!?"

I have a feeling he will explode soon and I will be in the center of that so I try and explain it "I just transferred here, I need time to get used to a new school and the teachers. I hadn't covered many materials in previous school, I need to-"

"You think I care about your STUPID EXCUSES?" he snaps back and got more angrier. I swallow back a lump in my throat "YOU HAD TIME! A MONTH! AND YOU ARE STILL DUMB AS A ROCK" he crumbled up the paper and tossed it at my face, didn't react fast enough so it bounced off my face and fell to the ground. He did a quick move, unbuckled his belt and in one quick swift move he pulled it out of his pants and hold it by his side in his right hand. It hung all the way down to the ground.

This was the moment I realize the belt wasn't made for holding up his pants, it was made for punishments. And I am about to receive one. My heart started to beat faster and adrenaline was starting to pump thought my veins.

My first instinct is to run or hide. My only chance now was to get to bathroom and lock the doors. I went for it, but he was too fast and grabbed me by my shirt, stopping me. I fell backwards to ground hard, losing the grip on my bag that was in my hand.

"DAD no!" Jeremy tried to stop whatever was coming. But as I looked to him, his dad just pushed him aside like he was nothing. He felt backwards too "She was trying dad! She was trying!" he yelled at him "Give her some more time!"

He stood over me, I was crawling backwards – trying to get away from him, he raised his hand that had the belt in. There was this sound, this sharp sound that the belt made in the air, and then another one when it made contact with my hand as I had raised it up to protect my face

"Ahhh" I screamed out in pain as the belt hit my left hand hard, I pulled my hand close to my body. It stung so bad, it was like this burning pain. But also it felt like my skin was pulsing. But my scream didn't stop him, I even think I saw a smile on his lips as I did scream. He raised his hand with the belt up again and then came another sound. The belt made contact with my side this time hurting even more than before.

"DAD NO! I WILL HELP HER STUDY!MOM DO SOMETHING!MOM!" Jeremy once again yelled and tried to get him off of me, with one hand he again pushed him aside "THIS DOES NOT CONCERN YOU, SON!" he said in raised voice. He raised his hand up again, I pulled my legs up, as close to my body as I can, shielded my head and face with my hands. Just second before I shielded my head, the belt hit my side again. And in second it collided with my back. And he just kept going, again and again and again. I only thing heard now, laying on the ground, was the whip lash sound.

End of flashback

"Callie, please, talk to me…" Lena repeated herself "I can't help you unless you give me something"

"He is pretending, it is an act…he is not the good guy you think he is" I say and that should be enough. She has fostered kids before, she should understand what I was saying to her. If she is as good as Jude and the other siblings says she is, she has to understand what I am saying.