Callie POV
Saturday -March 15th
Time: 12:22PM
Driving with only one hand was easier than I thought it would be. The most difficult part is to switch gears from 2 to 3 and from 3 to 5. But that is why I managed to drive with only the first 4 gears. I honestly don't know what mom is so worried about.
"CAR! CAR IN FRONT! TURN…TURN!" mom called out as she was sitting next to me. With her right she was clanged on to the door handle ,with left she was digging her nails in my upper right arm, her body thou was pushed back in the car seat, like waiting for a crash to happen
"Ouch, mom…seriously! CHILL!" she removed her nails from my upper hand "My feet work just fine! I know how to break! And I can turn just fine with my left" I say as I make a slight turn
"Remind me how did you manage to talk me giving the keys to you?" she said with a horrified look on her face as she was watching how I drove
"I took them from you and you couldn't take them away because I was hiding them under my cast, by my palm and you didn't want to hurt me trying to get them back" I said as I make the last turn to their street.
"I am driving back!" she states "I will take the key and I will hide it in my bra if I have to, but I will not allow you to drive back!"
"You said it yourself, there is no law that says I can't drive. There is no such rule!"
"Why I don't have an automatic" mom says to herself, I just chuckle back and stop the car by the house.
She touches her face, her chest, her legs "Thank God I am alive and in once piece" she breathes out and then, with quick hands, she pulls the key out of the ignition as I was laughing at her
"Hey, not fair!" I call out as she jiggles the keys in her hand
"You laugh about mom, you lose!" she says and starts to get out of the car
"That's not how-" I start to say, but she doesn't wait for me to finish. The doors closes behind her and i am left alone in the car "-that's not how the saying goes. It's you snooze, you lose" I finish saying it to myself and then get out myself
Mom grabs the bag of food and snacks that we bought on the way here. We tried to buy healthy stuff, but we clearly failed as we got bunch of junk food instead. Although we did buy some fruit.
"Wait" she gets the bag out and looks to me as I walk around the car "You did checked in with Jude right?" she closes the backseat doors and then locks the car up.
"Yes, for the hundredth time. He said they are going to barbeque and we are welcome to come and join them" I say and mom catches up with me as we head up to the house.
Mom rings the bell, then looks over her shoulder to me as I stood behind her "You do ring the bell right? You don't just…barge in the house like in all the sitcoms the neighbors or the best friends do?"
"Sometimes I slip in thought the chimney, like Santa Clause!" Mom gives me unimpressed look back
"Yes, mother. I ring the bell!" I say back with a smirk
"Don't make me smack you or whoop your ass!" Mom turns to me after I called her 'mother'. She doesn't like when I call her 'mother'. She says it is cold and she only accepts the word 'mom'. I sometimes like to just tease her about it
"Mother, don't be silly. We both know you won't hurt a little unprotected hurt kid, would you, mother?" I ask her, teasing her further, showing her my big brown eyes, fake a whimpering lower lip and raise my right hand up to remind her of my fractured and broken bones
"Don't underestimate my powers. There are so many way I could hurt you without hurting you physical or leave any marks on you so others wouldn't see-" Mom said fake threating me, trying to scare me.
Shortly after she started this sentence, the doors behind her had opened. I peak from behind mom's body, mom looks over her shoulder to the doors, with horrified look on her face
The doors were opened not by any of the Adams Foster I knew. Mom quickly turns around to look at the older woman. She was shorter woman, red hair, colorful clothes. I am still leaned to one side, to peak at the woman.
"Check…the…house…number" Mom leans backward to me and whispers to me slowly. The older woman clearly heard that. I take few steps back, now standing on the steps that lead up to the house and look at the house number - 2330
"Right house" I say as walking back up to the two steps to mom.
Mom then quickly reacts "I'm not abusing her" she points over her shoulder with her thumb to me and laughs awkwardly
The woman just stands there, looking at us, not saying anything. I could cut the tension with a knife. I couldn't really read the older woman's face either.
There is a long silence till I speak up "Please don't call CPS" I say quickly trying to get us out of the situation we were in now
She is suddenly smiling at us, her eyes light up, then she speaks up "You must be Amy" the woman looks to me and then up to mom "and Callie"
"I'm Amy, that's Callie!" Mom corrects her quietly pointing back to me "but whatever…I can be Callie. Please don't call CPS!" mom repeats the phase I said few seconds ago, sounding desperate now
"Don't you worry doll" She said in such sweet manner "Come on in. I'm Sharon. Sharon Elkin" She steps aside letting us in "Stefanie has told me a lot about you"
"Ah" I share a look with mom as we both just realized it. There is only one person in the world who is going to call you by your full name "Stef's mom!" we exclaim out loud together as we step inside the house.
The woman laughs lightly. Funny, how I have seen many photos of her on the walls, but I couldn't place her in real life, when I see her face to face.
"And you are the famous partner " she smiles looking to Amy, then she looks to me "and the famous long lost sister of Jude."
"MOM, don't smother them!" we hear Stef's voice from kitchen and then see her walking over
"Stefanie, it is called small talk. We were just chatting" Sharon said back to her as Stef walks up.
Stef smiled to both of us "Go on thought. We all are, well those who are home, at the backyard - grilling" Stef says and gestures thought the house "You are right on time"
"We bought some junk food!" mom said to Stef as she lifted up the bag "And fruit" I add quickly
"Awesome. The kids will love it! Just don't tell Lena" Stef chuckles as we follow her to kitchen.
"How's your hand Callie?" Stef asks as mom lifts the junk food bag on the table.
"Ok, I guess." I say looking at my cast "It is not good-good, but it's as good as we could hope"
Mom chips in and adds the details "We went to the check up yesterday" she says handing the stuff from bag to Stef, to help her put it out in the pantry "The bones are healing good. Doctor said three more weeks with the cast."
"Yeah…" I whine back "and then physical therapy for my hand…which sucks!" Mom gives me unimpressed look as I cursed in their house, I shrug back not backing down or apologizing "What? It does!"
"She is upset and frustrated that she won't be able to participate in the Spring Music School Competition" mom explains further
"Didn't Brandon say he was participating in that thing?" Sharon asked from the side, where she was leaning at the counter
"Yes, Brandon is going to participate in it" Stef confirmed looking to Sharon "Last year they competed against one another" Stef offers me a smile and then places the bananas in the bowl that was on the kitchen table
"Can we not talk about that thing where I can't participate this year. It is depressing to say the least" I say still upset about it as I look around the room, to the three woman
"Consider the conversation over" Stef said to me "You can head outside, you don't have to sit and talk with the old people" she nods to the backyard
I nod back and head outside the kitchen to the backyard, where Jesus and Jude were by the grill. Sharon followed me out. I didn't see Mariana and Brandon. They were probably out with friends. Lena was, surprisingly for me, playing ball with Frankie. It was so weird to see her like this. I have never seen Lena like this, I have mostly seen Lena in pencil skirts and I have never pictured her as a big sports fan. But I guess, if your kids wants to play ball, you play ball.
"Hi, everyone" I raise my left to them greeting them all. I hear replies back from all of them. Jude waves at me energetically and then flips the meat he was grilling
"Callie help yourself for a glass of lemonade or some snacks. The chicken will be ready soon" Lena called from the far side of the backyard, and then kicked the ball back softly to Frankie.
I walk to the table on the porch. There were three different salad bowls on the table. Small sandwiches with what looked like salmon on. There were also some salty nuts, pickles, pretzels. I grabbed few salty nuts and sat down. Sharon sat down on the opposite side of the table.
"Which one do you wish? Soda, homemade lemonade, Coca cola?" she asks me pointing to the three different drink choices in front of me
"Thank you, but I can get it myself" I say smiling back to her politely
"Don't be silly, with your hand—" she gestured to my cast
"It has been over 2 weeks, I have learned to do things with my left" I reasoned back "Plus, I drove here"
She leaned forwards, placing her elbows on the table "Really? I thought it was against the law! I had a broken hand once too, I was afraid that if I drive and I will be stopped by the cops…license caput! And then I would have to take a bus for weeks if not months, till i would get my drivers licence back…and you don't want to take a bus in Florida for too long of period of time, especially in summer...oh, the heat...just horrible!"
"N-No…well, my mom said it was okay. That there was no law against it." I say and then toss few of the salty nuts in my mouth
"So she allowed you to drive with broken hand?" she asked further, still in a bit hushed voice. I am not sure why she did that.
"No...not really allowed. I just hid the keys from her…she had no other option than to let me drive" She laughs back lightly and leans back to the chair back rest
"How did it happen? If I can ask?" she gestures to my cast
"Oh, um…a thing…happened" I say looking to the doodles on my cast
"A thing happened? Darling, I hope you are a better liar than that. You realize that I raised that one!" she points inside the house to kitchen, where Stef was. It was weird that she called me darling. I just met her. But, she also called mom doll, so I guess that is her thing – being all sweet and loving, even to strangers she met 5 minutes ago.
"She was lying her ass off with me when she was in trouble. And she was in lot of trouble, never a dull moment with her. Don't really know how she turned out so good" Sharon chuckles and smiles looking inside the house to her daughter.
There is a small pause but then she continues talking as she looks back at me "I like to think that I have a pretty good radar on lying, thanks to her!" she said with a smile as pointed inside the house to Stef
I toss the last of the salty nuts in my mouth, clean my left hand by my pants, to which she again chuckles lightly. I rub my nose bridge with my left "A..A guy…twisted my arm" I say quietly
"Must have been a big and strong guy then" she says warily "Boyfriend?"
Now I let out a chuckle. Not because it was funny, but because the thought of Mr. Malloc as…it was just completely absurd "Sorry...no…definitely not a boyfriend. Don't have one"
"Mom, quit questioning Callie. I already told you everything you need to know about her!" Stef said as she and mom came out of the house, with single beer bottle in their hands. The comment Stef said, made me wonder, what have they told her about me?
"Mom, you…you are drinking?" I point to the bottle in her hand as she was coming over to the table. It looked like she has completely forgotten that she said she won't allow me to drive back.
Mom sat down next to me as Stef sat down next to her mom. She looked down to her beer as Stef took a sip of hers
"Ah, screw it…"she says and hands me back the car keys "I won't know the difference once I am tipsy enough" she takes another sip
"Moms! The chicken is ready!" Jude calls. Stef instantly looks over her shoulder. She places the beer down "Take it off!" she says pushing her chair back
"We don't have a plate!" Jesus calls back. Stef grabs the empty bowl that was just on the end of the table and walks over to the them to the grill. Lena and Frankie, meanwhile, walk inside the house, I hear Lena say to her "What do we always do before lunch?"
"Wash out hands" Frankie said as she was walking next to Lena with a little bounce in her walk. Smile from one ear to other.
"Hey, Callie!" Jesus came over as Jude and Stef were getting the chicken off the grill "hmm?" I look up to him
"Did you grab your camera?" he asks as he sits down other side of Sharon, then pours himself a glass of lemonade
"Mm-hmm" I nod back "Left it in the car. Glove department" I say back
"Cool! After dinner…right?" he asks looking really excited about it
"Yeah…okay" I smile back to him
"After diner what?" Sharon asks him, wondering what we are planning on doing
"We are going to the skate park. Callie is going to take shots of me while I skate! She has a real professional camera!" Jesus explains to his grandmother
"It's not professional" I chip in quickly but Jesus adds "Well, you don't use a phone and you have that big zoom and that pro editing program. She has some real cool stuff! You should see her photos, grandma!" Jesus said really excited and then looks back to the grill "Mom, come on! Don't waste day light!"
"Keep your shorts on, son! You could have done it yourself, but you run away!" Stef calls back, Sharon once again smiles. I think she just generally enjoys just simply spending time with her family, her grand kids. I mean who wouldn't if you would have a family like this. They probably don't have even one dull moment. 5 kids- something is probably going on all the time.
Jude came back and sat on next to me on the side of the table "I grilled it!" he beamed just as Stef put the bowl of the grilled chicken in front of us. It looked perfect golden color. The skin looked crunchy. It smelled prefect. I couldn't wait to dig in.
Lena and Frankie came back out and soon we were all sat down. The drinks were poured, whatever each of us was drinking.
"Dig in every body" Lena said as she again was sitting at the end of the table, just like she does by the kitchen table and dinner room table. She always sat at the end. Overlooking everyone. Clearly the head of the family.
Then she added "I want at least one of the salad bowls empty! I don't have space in the fridge for all of the salad bowls" looking around the table to all of us
"No problem mom" Jesus said as he put three big spoons of salads on his plate, emptying the bowl significantly.
Mom, on the other hand, took my plate, placed it on hers. Put one of the chicken on the plate and started to cut of the meat of it for me, because even thou I could shift gears, holding a small object in my hand, for example, a pen or a fork, came more difficult to me. I could to it somehow with only my left, but that would just make a really big mess. It would be acceptable at home, but not if we are guests.
"Oh, sorry" Lena said watching how mom placed the plate back to me "We should have made something without a bone."
"It's fine…really. Don't worry about us" Mom smile back to her. Lena gives me a sad smile back and then does the exact same thing that mom did for my chicken for Frankie chicken. And with that the lunch at Adams Foster household started.
Officer Kate Marrow POV
Flash-forward to later that same day
Time: 7:39PM
I walk from the bathroom back to the front desk. But as I pass the vending machine, Officer Hernandez stops me. "Hey, Kate, can you help me out?" he calls as he was now holding 4 sandwiches in his hands
"S-Sure…" I say slowly and takes the sandwiches from him. He then tosses more coins in the vending machine and gets out 4 water bottles.
"Are you preparing for a doomsday or something? Or are you bringing this back to your family as take out?" I teases him as I hold the sandwiches. He stand up with the 4 water bottles in his hands.
"No. But you will love this…follow me" He say with the biggest smile I have ever seen on his face. I, of course , follow him, we make our way thought the precinct to the back, where the holding cells are.
He walks up to the first holding cell and stops, smiling at whoever was in there. As I am walking up to him, I look to officer Damian, the cop who processes whoever gets taken in by the back and put in holding cells. He also has this big smile on his lips.
I stand up next to Hernandez. I give out a laugh as I see the 4 of them sitting there. They all looked miserable, guilty and by the looks they already knew they were all going to be grounded for year if not more. We all knew Stef kids and Amy's kid pretty good. They have all been in the precinct few times, not arrested, just visiting their mom's or waiting for a ride home. But everyone in the precinct knew their kids well.
Jude was sitting between Jesus and Callie, holding his left arm close to his body. Jesus had a small gash on his cheekbone, he was looking at his bruised knuckles on his right hand and then looked up to me with his sad eyes.
Callie, who now had slightly black eye, was holding Frankie on her lap, to her left side. Frankie's right arm had clanged on to Callie's shirt, head placed on her chest, she was sleeping peacefully in her arms as Callie was softly tracing her right hand over her back.
"What did you guys do?" I asked amused by the look of the four of them
"Nothing!" The three oldest said together as the little one was still sleeping. Obviously they did something, otherwise they wouldn't be here in the first place. "Does your parents know you are here?"
"I called them 10 minutes ago. They are on their way" Hernandez replies to this on "Jesus, come grab the food" He says to the oldest of the boys. He stands up and walks to get the water and sandwiches from us.
"Why are you keeping them here? You could have taken them to the lounge room, Frankie could sleep there. I could get her pillow and blanket" I look up to officer Hernandez
"Amy wanted to leave them here till they get here. And I told them that too about Frankie" He nods to the 4 of them " but Frankie didn't want to leave her brothers nor Callie. Also she said I am a stranger and that she can't follow strangers or talk to them, even if I offer candy. Stranger danger!" Hernandez explains as Jesus opens the sandwiches for Callie and Jude. Then hands the sandwich to Jude, still holding out the one for Callie
"Should I wake her?" Callie asks quietly to Jesus. He looks to her younger sister "No. She is probably tired. Let her sleep" he said it with so much care, it melted my heart, then handed the sandwich to Callie.
"Well, your moms will probably be here soon" I say looking at them thought the bars "You need anything more?"
Callie places her sandwich on Jude's tight and looks to me "I know that you…took our stuff and all that…but I really need my pain meds" she said giving me the puppy dog eyes
I turn to the officer behind the desk, he clearly heard what she said. He walked sideways few steps, leaned down, picked up plastic bag from behind the desk. He placed the bag on the desk and went thought it. There were two wallets, some dollar bills and coins, outside the wallets, ice cream sticks, two set keys, also a camera, with a broken zoom and a bottle of pain medication.
He hands me the bottle, I take out one pill. Jesus stands up and takes the pill for Callie, then hands it to her. She pops it in her mouth and drinks the water on top.
"I will go wait for your moms to get here" Hernandez says and walks out of the room.
I looked back to the kids. Jesus looked to his brother with a miserable look "We are so screwed" Jude and Callie only nod back and all three of them take a bite of their sandwiches, then all three of them chewed slowly, looking down to the floor with doomed look in their eyes.