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Stef walked into the hospital emergency room and went straight up to the front desk nurse. "Hi, my name is Stef Adams Foster. Both my son and daughter were involved in the bus accident."

"What are their names?"

"Brandon Foster and Callie Adams Foster," Stef responded in a shaky voice. She was so anxious of what news she would receive. She hoped that they would tell her that her children are fine and are currently just waiting for either her or Lena to pick them up, but deep down Stef had a bad feeling in her gut. She could feel that something was wrong.

"Brandon Foster is still in the ER. He had a mild concussion and some minor scrapes and bruises. A doctor will be able to talk to you further about his condition, but he's not listed for emergent care."

"And my daughter? Callie?"

Stef could tell by the change in the nurse's face that something must have been wrong with Callie.

"Why don't I get one of the doctor's to talk with you? They'll be able to give you more detail on Callie's case."

"Just tell me. What's wrong with Callie?"

After a brief hesitation the nurse responded, "Callie was taken in for emergency surgery. She's still in surgery now."

"What kind of surgery?"

"I should really get a doctor to discuss Callie's…"

"What kind of surgery!?" Stef exclaimed frantically, interrupting the nurse.

"Neurosurgery. Callie had a subdural hematoma, which is bleeding on the brain. They had to perform a craniotomy to reduce the pressure on Callie's brain," the nurse quickly responded.

Stef didn't know what to say. Callie was having brain surgery. Stef may have not gone to college, but she knew that there were a lot of risks with brain surgery. She knew that there were risks with any surgery, but brain surgery had huge risks. Even if Callie made it through surgery, there was still a chance that she might have several disabilities. She might not ever be their Callie again.

"Mam, Callie is still in surgery, but would you like to see your son in the meantime?"

"Yes, please," Stef responded quietly. She was still in shock at the news she had just received. She didn't know how to act right now.

Stef was brought to the main exam area where Brandon was. He was currently lying down on a hospital bed, looking up at the ceiling.

"Brandon," Stef called out to him as she approached him.

Brandon looked to his mom as soon as he heard her voice. "Mom!" Brandon sat up and hugged his mom as soon as she reached him.

Stef was holding onto Brandon with all of her strength. She was so glad to be holding her son in her arms. She only wished she was holding her daughter with him.

"Mom, they won't tell me anything about Callie! I told them I'm her brother, but no one has said anything," Brandon explained to Stef frantically.

"Callie's in surgery, baby."

"What!? Why? She was fine after the accident," Brandon said confused.

"What do you mean baby?"

"After the accident, Callie was able to get out of the bus from one of the windows. She was going to get help, but that was the last I saw of her. She was fine though!"

"Are you sure baby? Maybe you're just confused about what happened?"

"No! Mom, Callie was fine! She was talking and everything. Callie was fine, mom!"

"Callie?" Tyler asked as he was brought back to his bed, which was right next to Brandon. He had been brought to CT to get a scan to make sure that he didn't have any further damage from his head wound. "You know Callie?"

Stef looked confused as to who Tyler was and how he knew Callie. "Yes, she's my daughter. You know Callie?"

"Yeah, well sort of. We just met today. I'm Tyler. I was in one of the other cars that were involved in the accident. How is she? I tried to find out but no one would tell me anything since I'm not family."

"Callie is in surgery right now," Stef responded.

"But, mom, I swear I know what I'm talking about. She was fine," Brandon assured her mom, still in denial that something serious was wrong with Callie.

"He's right. She was fine at first," Tyler told Stef as he got back into bed with the help of the nurse that wheeled him back to the ER. "She was better than me. All she had was some cuts and bruises. She kept going on and on about helping her brother, who I'm assuming is you."

"So, then what happened? What changed?" Stef asked, confused as to how Callie could go from walking around and talking to needing brain surgery.

"I don't really know. I had finally gotten a signal on my cell phone and called for help, while she was helping the family in the other car. When I told her help was on the way she wanted to go and check on her brother. She told me to stay with Samantha and Curren, but when she was gone too long I went to check on her. I found her passed out by the side of the bus."

"Did she wake up at all after that?" Stef asked.

"Yeah, in the ambulance. But she couldn't talk. She wanted to write something down, but she was having trouble holding the pen in her hand," Tyler told Stef sadly. "Do you know if she's going to be okay? Did they say it's serious, whatever it is that's wrong with her?"

"It sounds serious," Stef responded sadly.

"Well, she's got to be okay. I mean I know I've only known Callie for a few hours, but already I can tell that she's a fighter. She was great out there trying to make sure everyone else was going to be okay. She has to be okay, too," Tyler said determinedly.

Stef didn't know Tyler, but she did know that he was right. Callie was a fighter; is a fighter. She had to be okay. "You're right, Tyler. Callie is a fighter and she's going to be fine."

A nurse that had worked on Callie when she first came in came over to Stef, Brandon, and Tyler. "You're here for Callie Adams Foster, correct?"

"Yes, I'm Stef, Callie's mom," Stef introduced herself.

"Hi, I was one of the nurses that worked on Callie when she first came in. Can you please come with me?"

Stef could tell by the grim expression on the nurse's face that she had news about Callie and that it wasn't good news.

"Is Callie okay?" Brandon asked worried.

"If you could just come with me please, Callie's surgeon wants to speak with you in private."

"Brandon, I'll be right back baby. You and Tyler can keep each other company while I'm gone. I'll let you know how Callie's doing as soon as I get done talking to the doctor," Stef promised with a slight smile. She knew something was wrong, but she didn't want to upset Brandon right now. She was trying to put a strong face on for the sake of her son.

"Fine," Brandon finally gave in.

Stef kissed Brandon's forehead before following the nurse down the hall toward the elevator. They entered the elevator and made their way to the ICU floor.

Stef could feel the butterflies rising in her stomach. She knew that in a few minutes she was going to get bad news. News that would destroy her family forever.

The elevator stopped on the ICU floor. Stef followed the nurse out of the elevator and down the hall until they got to a small conference room. They entered the room and saw a doctor already seated at the table. The doctor got up as soon as they entered the room.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Gallagher. I'm the neurosurgeon that operated on your daughter," Dr. Gallagher introduced himself as he shook Stef's hand.

"I'm Stef."

"Please, take a seat."

Dr. Gallagher and Stef sat down at the table as the nurse stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her.

"How's Callie?" Stef asked right away even though she was afraid of what the answer would be.

"Callie came into the ER with what's known as a subdural hematoma, which is bleeding in the brain. Hers was quite severe. It was already causing loss of verbal skills as well as numbness to part of her body. As soon as she came in we ordered a CT to get an exact picture of what we were looking at before we went in. We confirmed the diagnosis and took Callie in to surgery right away. We performed a craniotomy to relieve the pressure on her brain. The surgery went well, but unfortunately because of the amount of time it took to get Callie into surgery and given the size of the bleed, Callie was left with permanent damage to her brain."

"Okay, what does that mean? Is she going to have limited abilities? What?" Stef asked trying to get a clear understanding as to what Callie's life would be like going forward.

Dr. Gallagher took a moment to continue. "Ms. Adams Foster, after Callie's surgery we administered a complete neurological examination. Callie failed every single test. We wanted to be completely sure so we ordered an EEG to measure her brain wave activity. There was very minimal brain wave activity, hardly any."

Stef stayed quiet as she let what the doctor was saying sink in. Stef needed to hear him say it. She needed to hear him say that her daughter was basically dead. "What does that mean exactly?"

"I'm saying that your daughter is brain dead, Mrs. Adams Foster. Callie is brain dead."

Tears started flowing down Stef's face as Dr. Gallagher started explaining their options. Stef was listening to the doctor, but none of what he was saying was really registering with her. She heard him say that they have the option to transfer her to a permanent care facility and hope for a miracle or to have them pull the plug and let nature take its course, let Callie die.

"Mrs. Adams Foster?" Dr. Gallagher pulled Stef from her thoughts.

"Yes?"

"I asked if you would like to see her."

"I…I have to speak with my wife. She's on her way. She had a lot of worried parents to calm down back at the school in Mission Bay. She's the vice principle. I still have to tell her about this. She doesn't even know about this yet."

"Mrs. Adams Foster, I understand that you still have to discuss this with your wife. But, I asked if you wanted to see her."

Stef didn't know if she wanted to see her. Did she want to see what her daughter looked like right now? Stef knew she wouldn't look like herself. She wouldn't smile at her like she always did when she walked into the room. But, she had to. She had to be there with her baby, no matter what might happen next.

"Yes, I'd like to see her."

Next chapter we'll be back to where the prologue left off. I know it's looking bad for Callie right now, but have faith! She could still have a chance.

All feedback is always greatly appreciated and welcomed! If there's any ideas or anything you'd like to see happen, let me know. Always open to ideas.

Thanks for reading :)