Stef called the bus depot and found out that the next but to New York left in half an hour at ten-thirty. The last one left over five hours ago so Callie obviously hadn't gotten onto that and the one after the next would only leave the following morning. Now Stef had to just make it to the bus depot within the next half an hour and hopefully she could catch Callie before she disappeared, that was assuming she was actually heading on the New York bound bus.
Stef explained what she'd learned to Lena and Jude and then with Mr. Diaz's permission, told them to stay in the store and called Mike to come and get them. She didn't have the time to drive them home first and she didn't want them finding their own way back. She also didn't want to take them with her in case she had to rush around. Dragging Jude through it all might just slow her down or upset him even further. The best thing was for them to go home and wait while she found out whatever she could.
After calling Mike, Stef took off as fast as she could hoping like hell she didn't run into any traffic along the way. It would take her twenty minutes to get across town on a good day but if she got stuck anywhere then she'd really be cutting it close. She wished she had one of the police cruisers so she could start the sirens but all she had was her own GMC Terrain. Stef stepped on the gas and wove through the traffic, receiving several abuses along the way she was sure - but right now she didn't care - her sole goal right now was to get to Callie before she had a chance to run away and if she managed to make it out of the state, or even the city for that matter, it would be a hundred times harder to find her.
Jude hadn't let go of Lena's hand for hours now. He basically clung to her like she was the only thing left and Lena wasn't sure what to do. She couldn't keep promising that everything would be alright for the simple reason that she didn't know. She could promise that they would do all they could to find Callie and she could promise that they would keep him safe but she couldn't do much more than that.
Mike had come to get them from he shop and then driven them home and Lena had had to sit in the back with the boy for he had just attached himself to her. At home the three kids also tried to engage Jude in some activity or the other to try and keep his mind off things but Jude just couldn't be consoled. Jesus suggested video games and Mariana suggested they watch Despicable Me. Even Brandon had pitched in and brought down an armful of games for them to play but within a few minutes of each activity Jude would find his way back to Lena and ask her once again what was going to happen now.
Each time Lena thought about it she wanted to tell him that he'd stay right here. She just didn't have the heart to send the boy away if, god forbid, they didn't find his sister. She knew that Stef would be okay with it - maybe a little worried at first about how they would manage but eventually she would come around for she had grown just as close to these two kids as Lena had. But it was the system that Lena didn't trust for time and time again they had put spokes in wheels that were turning beautifully. What if they weren't allowed to foster Jude for whatever stupid reason or what if they decided Jude required a group home because technically, whether it was his decision or not, he was a runaway. And the worst was what if they couldn't be all that Jude needed them to be. He had basically now lost every single person in his life and he was only nine years old. What kind of damage did that do and would they be enough to help him.
"We are going to get into pajamas and start the movie up again and wait for Stef." Lena said with a sad smile for she had no other more permanent answer for the child.
Jude's face sank as he was once again told less than he was hoping for. All he wanted was for someone to say that everything would be okay; that they would find Callie and that they would go back to their regular lives; that tomorrow, when he woke up, this would all just be a horrible, horrible nightmare.
"Come on, the minions in this movie are adorable." Mariana offered with a smile as she hit play on the DVD. "I guarantee that they will have you laughing your guts out in no time." She said with a smile, hoping that she could get Jude's mind off his worries even for just a short time.
But it didn't really work for as the movie played on, even though silence had filled the living room, Lena could feel Jude's body shudder every-so-often as he cried quietly into her side.
"COME ON!" Stef yelled as she banged her hands against the steering wheel in frustration when the line of cars in front of her just wouldn't move any faster. She had been moving at under ten miles an hour for the last five minutes now and she had no idea why. "I could walk faster than this." She mumbled to herself as she tried to change lanes, hoping, but knowing she it was futile, that the next lane would move a bit faster.
Slowly, much too slowly for Stef, the cars moved on and after another two or three minutes Stef came to the cause of the back up - an eighteen-wheeler had broken down and they had tried to tow it to the side but it was just too heavy and as a result it was now standing across two of the three lanes and so all the cars were bottlenecked into the one remaining lane.
Stef finally got her turn through the narrow passage and the moment she was on the other side she sped off down the road, well over the speed limit, to make up for the lost time. If a cop stopped her now she would really be screwed but, thankfully, luck was on her side and there were no red and blue lights flashing behind her. She quickly but carefully wove her way through the cars and at exactly ten-twenty-three she could see the busses lined up at the depot. She was barely two minutes away from her destination but the nearer Stef got the more nervous she became for if this turned out to be a dead end then she was back to square one and this time she would have absolutely know idea where to start over.