A/N: I was wondering how you all feel about the long chapters, like would you rather them be shorter and I miss out some of the descriptive stuff and just get to the point or do you like them long? I guess if they were shorter updates could be more frequent. Anyway, thanks for the favourites/follows/reviews.

To the guest reviewer who said about including how they found out about her being sick, I am on the fence about including that. Originally, I wasn't going to because it wasn't really what I wanted to wrote about, but I could feed in some flashbacks if some of you are interested. So, if you would like to read about how they found out Callie was sick, leave a review to tell me, and if you don't want to read about it, leave a review and tell me.

I'm not really sure about this chapter, especially the middle bit and I did get kinda stuck on it which is why it took so long, so sorry about that, but I hope its okay.

CHAPTER 2

Lena sat in her office at work staring at the computer screen. Yesterday at the hospital with Callie had gone well and, although she hated that her daughter was there, she was glad that both she and Stef were able to go with her. They had decided that Callie would attend an outpatient clinic which didn't specialise in children. Even though Callie was young enough to go to somewhere that was specifically for children, she hadn't wanted to and Stef and Lena were silently glad. They couldn't imagine seeing young children in the same position as Callie. However, when they were at the clinic they could see the pity looks in the eyes of the other patients. And she and Stef had tried to ignore it, but they could tell what they were thinking. That she was too young to be here, that she didn't deserve this. But neither did they, no one deserved this. And Lena really couldn't understand why Callie was sick. Had she not been through enough already, did she not deserve to be happy. It made Lena so angry.

Callie was at home today, as was Stef who was looking after her. She was having a hard time after chemo today and they were both worried about her. They knew it was going to be bad, they just didn't imagine it getting bad so quickly. They had been hoping that she would have it easy, the doctor had listed some rare side effects which they wanted to avoid and he had also stated that not everyone had a strong response to it. They wanted things with Callie to go as smoothly as possible. It would be so much easier on her, and she would be able to stay into school for longer, which is what she wanted. Which is why, against Lena's recommendation, they had decided not to inform Monte yet, Callie had wanted to wait until it was totally necessary for anyone to know and they didn't want to force her to talk about it either. But Lena was going to bring it up, Callie couldn't get away with staying at home all the time just because she was the vice principle, and Lena was worried about Callie. She hated that she couldn't be in school every day and it made her so stressed when she couldn't some in and all she wanted to do was catch up. And Lena knew that when Callie came into school she was tired and she couldn't focus. Her teachers had come to her, not because they were worried about Callie, but because they thought she wasn't paying attention just because she didn't want to. And that made Lena cross and it took so much control for her not to tell them that she was really sick and that she wanted to be here. They didn't understand.

Lena was drawn from her thoughts by Monte, who was stood in front of her desk. She looked concerned. And Lena couldn't blame her. She was always doing work, and was always smiling when she was at work. And here she was sat here looking completely stressed and doing no work. She looked shattered, and she had only just noticed it that morning. She hadn't slept well last night, she and Stef had been up with Callie when they had heard her in the bathroom vomiting and 1am. Stef had tried to force her back to bed because she had to go into work in the morning but she wasn't going to leave them sat on the bathroom floor all night while she slept. And even if she had gone to bed, sleep wasn't going to come easily at all.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" Lena asked Monte.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

That's not what Monte asked originally, but now she was worried. Lena wasn't acting like herself, she could tell something was wrong with her and her family and she wished that Lena would talk to her about everything so that she could help. She wanted to help, as she and Lena were friends and she hated seeing her friend like this.

"Yeah, I'm just tired, but everything's fine," she found herself saying.

And she wanted to tell her everything, but she couldn't. And that, she reasoned, was how Callie felt when she told them that she was okay. And that broke her heart. Because she wanted her daughter to tell her everything that was wrong and not feel like she had to hide it from them.

"Okay. Is Callie alright? I noticed she was away again today and Jude hasn't been focusing in his classes all day," Monte asked.

"Callie's sick, Jude's just worried about her," Lena explained, hoping that would be enough.

"She's sick again?" Monte asked.

"We thought she was better, but it turns out that she wasn't. Stef's at home with her today, but she should be back in a couple of days," Lena told her.

She hoped that Monte wouldn't ask what was wrong with her, she had no idea what she could tell her, and seeing as she had been sick for longer than a week it would probably have been something that they would have needed to take her to see the doctor for.

Monte just nodded. She wanted to believe Lena, but she felt like there was something that she wasn't telling her.

"And I'll talk to Jude during lunch, just to make sure he's okay," Lena told her.

There was no doubt that at least one of the kids would come to her during their day needed some reassurance. They had all come to see her last week when Callie had been home to check if everything was okay, to make sure nothing had happened while they had been at school. Yesterday, and last week, when they had all been at the hospital, both her and Stef had got numerous texts from all the kids as had Callie. Lena knew how worried they all were about Callie and she didn't blame them, she was terrified and Stef was terrified.

Monte nodded, before leaving Lena's office and entering her own. When she had gone, Lena picked up the phone. Talking about Callie and how worried the other kids were made her realise how worried she was and how she wasn't going to be able to focus until she had heard from Stef. They had been texting that morning, and Stef had told her before she left for work that she would call her if anything happened but she hadn't heard anything for a while and it made her worry increase. She knew, logically, that Stef would defiantly call her if something happened, that she would find time and she would make sure Lena was informed but she was worried that if something had happened, Stef would be too busy worrying and talking to doctors to call her. So she called Stef instead.

She used the office phone to call her mobile, as she wasn't sure if they were at home and that would just waste time. It rang three times and Lena was getting more and more worried as she didn't pick up. Then, just as the fourth ring began, Stef picked up. Before Stef could greet her wife, Lena was already asking questions, not even giving time for Stef to answer any of them.

"Are you alright? Has something happened? Is Callie okay? Are you at the hospital?"

"Lena, calm down, nothing has happened, we're at home," Stef interrupted, knowing that her wife would get worked up quickly if she didn't start talking.

"Oh, and Callie is okay?" she asked.

"Yes, she's asleep at the moment. I wanted her to go to bed but she convinced me she was okay so she's on the couch."

"Is that why you're whispering?"

"Yeah, she's exhausted and I don't want to wake her."

"Oh, has she eaten?"

"Not much, but we managed to keep it down. Although, those anti-nausea pills aren't really doing their job."

"We'll have to talk to her doctor, there's no way she can keep this up. It's so hard on her" Lena said.

"We can talk to them next week or if it gets any worse before then I'll give them a call to see if we can set up an appointment to talk about it. How are the others?"

"I haven't seen them yet today, but no doubt that some of them will be along in a bit while on their lunch break to see how Callie is doing. And Monte has informed me that Jude hasn't been paying attention in any of his lessons today, not that I can blame him, I haven't been able to pay attention to my work either. But I do really think we should tell Monte about Callie."

"Callie wanted to tell Monte herself, she made us promise we wouldn't say anything. I don't think Callie is ready to talk about it yet, especially to someone who isn't part of the family."

"I know we promised, but there is no way she is going to be able to come into school every day like everything is alright and she can't keep missing school, without a reason. We can't keep telling her teachers that she's sick and there's no way she's going to be able to keep up with the work when she can hardly stay awake in class."

"I know love, but I think we should talk to Callie about it first, at least give her the option to tell Monte herself. If we tell Monte will she have to stay at home all the time, or can she come in for a few days a week and then have the work sent home? I think that's what she's worried about, having to retake the year."

"She won't have to leave, and even if Monte thought it best for her not to attend school, it really isn't up to her, it's up to us and to Callie to decide if and when, she should stay home permanently. But even if she did, I'm sure the others and myself could bring the work home so that she is still able to do it. And having to retake the year isn't the worse thing, in comparison to everything else that could happen, I just want her to get better and I don't think worrying about school work is going to help."

"We can discuss it tonight with Callie, if she's up to it and then we will all be able to talk things through with Monte so we have a better idea of everything. I know you're worried, I am as well, but Callie has so much more control over her school work than she does anything else, she can't control whether she's going to get better or not and she is terrified. At least when she's at school its some sort of distraction. And I think she is worried that if she has to retake the year she'll be letting us down. Brandon and Callie are both set to graduate next year and then go off to college, if she has to retake this year then it'll just be Brandon who's graduating, I think it would be different if it were only her who would be graduating but this way it's like a comparison. As if she feels we would be comparing her to Brandon because he graduated and she didn't. And it would be a comparison for her as well."

"You're right, I hadn't looked at it like that. I wish there was a way that we could show her it doesn't matter. Brandon's and hers circumstances are so different, there is no way we could consider comparing them. I don't know how we're going to get through to her, but we need to make sure that she understands so she doesn't start pushing herself."

Lena sighed. She really hated this. But she was glad that it had happened while Callie was with them. She couldn't imagine how different things would be if they hadn't bought her into their house and instead let her be taken to a group home. She didn't want to imagine how much harder everything would have been for Callie.

"We'll find a way, we always do," Stef reassured her, although, she didn't feel very confident in her abilities at the moment either. She was about to continue talking when Lena spoke.

"I have a visitor, I'm going to have to go. You'll call me if anything happens?" Lena asked.

"Of course I will, I love you."

"I love you too, always."

And then she hung up. And she smiled through the door way where she could see Connor's face looking in. She motioned to him and he opened the door wearily, as if he was scared about what he was going to ask her.

"Is everything okay?" Lena asked. She could tell something was wrong, and she had an idea what it was. Possibly something to do with his dad, or no doubt, something to do with Jude, after all they did have the same classes that morning and he probably noticed something was off with him.

"Is everything okay with Jude?" he asked hesitantly.

Lena had no idea what she was to tell Connor. She was so glad that Jude had found someone who was so worried about him when he wasn't acting himself, but she knew Callie didn't want anyone to know, and she was sure Jude would have told him if he was comfortable with Connor knowing what was going on with his sister. But he hadn't, which meant that Jude respected what Callie wanted and she was going to as well.

"He's fine, I think he's just worried about Callie. She's ill today," she explained.

It was what they had all agreed to tell anyone who asked, teachers and students, because it wasn't a lie and it was a reasonable excuse without giving away exact details of the real problem.

"Oh, okay. He's been acting weird for a while now though," Connor explained.

Lena had expected this, even at home, he stuck to Callie like glue at the moment, it was as if they had gone back to when they had first arrived and they were inseparable. Neither were acting like themselves and it was a reminder that everything was different. It had changed the whole dynamic of their family.

"I think he just needs a friend, I'm glad he has you Connor, and I know he is as well," Lena told him.

Connor smiled and nodded before leaving the office to go and find Jude so that they could sit and eat lunch together. Jude had taken a while to pack up his things after class while Connor had rushed out to talk to Lena before he ate his lunch.

Lena sat for a few minutes before there was a knock at the door. She had been expecting it, after all lunch had started 10 minutes ago. The door creaked open and Lena smiled when she saw Jude. He came every day, even when Callie was in school for an update and to check that Callie really was okay. Because Callie didn't tell him the truth as to not worry him, she had been protecting him for so long she didn't want him to see or to know how bad things were. But he wasn't stupid and he wasn't blind, and he had taken it upon himself to protect Callie as best he could like she had shown him to do while they were growing up in the system.

"Is Callie okay? Have you spoken to Stef?" he asked quickly.

He hadn't even entered the room properly yet and he was already asking questions. Lena stopped him from asking more, so he wouldn't get flustered, much like Stef and done for her when she had been on the phone.

"Callie is fine, I was on the phone to Stef 10 minutes ago and she said Callie was sleeping," Lena explained.

Jude nodded and Lena carried on. "How are you?"

Jude shrugged, it didn't really matter how he was, he wasn't the one who was ill. "I'm okay, I just want Callie to be okay, to be like she used to. I'm worried about her."

Lena knew what he meant, but they had all changed since Callie had become ill. Her mind flashed back to yesterday when Callie, Stef and she were at the clinic. She and Stef were talking quietly but Callie was sat in silence. They had found that she hated it there, and that didn't surprise them, and so she stayed quiet and had her walls built up so that when she got home she wouldn't have to rely on Stef and Lena and she would be weak. But this week was different. There was another patient there who was younger than then others, he wasn't as young as Callie but he didn't look at her with pity, in fact he just smiled at her. And for the whole time he was there he smiled at everyone, and it was refreshing to see someone who didn't look so sad, it wasn't like he was constantly reminding them that this was a bad thing. He joked with the nurses and with the other boy who had accompanied him. And Callie had been so interested, and she couldn't stop watching him, to see if his smile would falter, to see if she could see any hint of pity when he looked at her. And then Callie had said something that neither Stef nor Lena were expecting. She told them that she wanted to be happy again and that she wanted to know how, because she missed it. And she told them she wanted them to be happy as well. Because she knew why they held back their laughs, they just didn't know that she knew. And they felt so guilty when she told them that. Because Callie wanted things to be normal, and they all know how different it would be but they knew that they could work on making it as normal as possible.

Lena looked at Jude. He had taken a seat and put his bag on the floor and he looked so sad. And it broke Lena's heart when one of her kids looked like that, because she was supposed to help them and she knew she couldn't at the moment.

"We all want Callie to be happy, we all want her to smile like she used to, but I don't think any of us are like we used to be and we have to find a way to make sure that we are doing the right thing. Because I miss Jesus' jokes and your laugh and the way Mairana giggles and Brandon smirks. And I miss the way Stef's eyes light up when she can't stop smiling. We are worried about Callie, but that doesn't mean we aren't worried about the rest of you. Just because one kid is sick it doesn't mean we forget about the others. Everything is changing and it would be weird if we didn't change as well. Sometimes it's just hard to find your place in the change and at the moment I think we're all struggling. And that's not a bad thing, because we will find it and things will be okay because we have each other," Lena said softly.

She wished everything would go back to the way it was and she wished she could make Callie better and she wished she had the power to make everyone happy again, because it was like a black cloud had settled over her family and there was nothing she could do about it and she hated that. But she knew that they would find their way out from under the cloud and they would help each other find their own places. Because something like this changed everyone, because it affected them all. But they had people who cared about them and who would help them when they couldn't do things themselves and Lena knew they would be okay.

Because they had to be.

A/N: This is for the guest who was talking about me plagiarizing. First of all, your review was pretty pointless as it didn't actually tell me whether or not you like my story, so, do you? Because if you don't I doubt you're even reading this, again proving how pointless your review was. Secondly, I'm not exactly sure what you were expecting me to do about what you said, because I haven't read it and I'm not going to say that I have just because you've told me that I'm pretending I've read it. I also already put in a disclaimer about it and have already been told it's like the book, so again, what you told me was pointless. But thank you for taking the time out of your day to type that. Thirdly, and finally, I am wondering what bit you are on about. Probably something from the first chapter, because my friend didn't say anything about the second chapter being like the book. And I was also wondering what you would like me to do about it, because I'm not about to change my whole story because one line is the same as something written in a book. I just want to know what you hoped the outcome would be while you typed your review or whether you were simply trying to call me out as a liar. Anyway, I hope you have a nice day and I also hope that you answer my questions and will let me know whether you are in fact enjoying my story or not.