AN: Longer chapter, after longer wait. This contains the Adams Foster stuff I mentioned in previous chapter. Took me a long time to figure out how to write it as I didn't want to jump POVs too often. Wanted to avoid causing too much of a mess. The text in italics is the kid retelling the story, to make it a bit clearer for you to read.

Also, unedited. Too exhausted to do it. Sorry. Maybe few days later will do that.

Hope you enjoy :)

Lena POV

My phone started buzzing some minutes after noon. When the screen light up, I recognized the notification as being from WhatsApp. If I saw correctly, it was from Mariana. I assumed it wasn't anything super urgent, at least nothing had suggested that something might come up. If it was, I was sure, Mariana would have been calling me right now, instead of messaging.

Being one foot out of my office, heading to meeting with the school board, I put my phone on silent/do not disturb mode so it wouldn't keep buzzing and the notification light wouldn't keep on going on and off. The message will have to wait for a while. Without thinking much about it, I went to the meeting.

Meeting lasted for over 2 hours. It was draining and exhausting. Having to argument each and every point we discussed, each penny spent, each decision we have made, each action we had taken etc. We were under a magnifying glass. But I felt rather confident we will get the budget needed and this school will remain standing for many years to come.

Now back in my office, I took out my salad that I had made in the morning, sat down at my desk, ready to finally eat my way overdue lunch. It was then, when I remembered about the message that Mariana had sent me. Not wanting to ghost her any longer, I took my phone out to see the message.

I was gathering the salad on my fork, when I had to do a double take on my phone, because I saw that I had 300+ unread messages. It got all of my attention all of a sudden.

After closer examination, I realized it wasn't a message from Mariana that I had seen. Well, in a way it was. But it was in a group chat. Jesus, Jude, Mariana, Cooper, Beth and I were all part of it. No Stef and Amy in the group. As they were both away for a week. They had been asked to attend a youth training camp as trainers.

Realizing that I can't possibly read it all, I jumped to the very end of the chat.

The last message was from Jude, he had written: Where is Amy, when you need her...

Not knowing what they are talking about I quickly typed a text myself: Just got out of meeting. What's going on? Short version please!

All of them suddenly appeared to be typing a response, except for Cooper. Which was not shocking, because I had assumed, work kept him busy and he could not spend all of his time on the phone. Same as me.

I think it will be faster and better to explain in person. When will you be home? Mariana had typed up a response the faster. All others stopped trying to conclude after that.

Three hours later I walked through the front doors of my home. Didn't need to look for anyone as I heard and saw them all gathered in the kitchen. Twins sitting on one side, Jude on the other. Frankie was sitting next to Jude, but was coloring. Not really paying attention to what was going on around her. I assume she wasn't really part of...whatever it was that was bugging 60% of my kids, Cooper and Beth.

"So, what's going on?" I asked no one in particular as I set my handbag on the island table

All heads turned to me first, before they all looked to one another. Silently debating with each other on who will do the talking.

"Anyone?" I asked walking over to the kitchen table and pressing my hands to the table "You were much more chattier on the WhatsApp."

Jude took one last look to the twins, before he spun on the chair facing me "We think, something is wrong."

"With?" I inquired

"Callie," Jude said with a heavy tone in his voice, his eyes sad, I could see the worry in them.

My mind instantly went to Callie and her addiction as it seemed to be the most likely scenario in my mind at the moment. Given the fact that I knew nothing about what was going on, before I know what they know, before I get some more facts and details, I did not see any reason to be worried. Last I saw Callie, she looked good. Talking, joking, laughing with others. She hadn't had an episode in almost two weeks. Callie hadn't act suspicious around me or draw any attention to her or away from her. All seemed normal to me.

"Okay," I dragged, not sure if there really is a reason to worry. Yet! "Can you explain?"

"I think it goes back about two weeks," Mariana spoke up this time, I glanced over to her "Please, just...promise me you won't freak out or get angry with her-"

"Mariana-" I sighed. This kind of talk, it was making me nervous. I would rather she just tell me what it is, so we can get on with it

"Mama, please!"

"Fine. I promise!"

"Like I said, it happened the day Amy and mom drove out to the training camp-" Mariana started and I listened attentively

"Ooof," I slumped down in the booth next to Callie after dancing with a guy for what felt like 10 minutes. This was the first time in months, first time since her injury that Callie and I had gone out to a club together. It was still quite early, only about 9pm. The club night life was only just starting to heat up. Hour ago the place was almost empty, now it was starting to get full.

I had suggested this early time for clubbing for Callie. It had been too long since we had done something together. She was now almost back to being healthy and I just wanted to celebrate it with her. What better way to do it with an early night out to our favorite club.

We ordered some chips, few drinks. Callie got herself non-alcoholic mojito. I had drank a few margaritas already, staring to feel lightly buzzed and tipsy.

Callie was sipping her non-alcoholic cocktail extra slowly as she was watching the crowd.

Waving at myself as I tried to cool down, I reached for my half empty margarita and took a drink. While still holding on to the drink , I watched Callie. Something had changed while I was dancing with the guy. She no longer seemed happy, in fact she looked sad. Maybe it was time to call it day. Head home and just watch a movie and fall asleep together on the couch.

"Do you want to get out of here?" I leaned closer to Callie and said in a very loud voice. The music was loud in the club, I could barely hear my thoughts.

"We can stay if you want to," Callie replied without taking her eyes of the crowd of people

I placed my hand on her forearm, getting her attention. Once she was looking at me, I asked "I'm asking you."

This night should not be about me. If she wanted to leave, we could leave. The last thing I wanted was to force her doing something she doesn't want to. There was no need to overdue it. Besides, it's only fun if we are both having fun. At the given moment, it no longer looks like we're both having fun. Only me.

Callie looked to my eyes, studying me "You were obviously having fun with the guy, I don't want to-" she said waving her free hand at the direction of the guy I was with a minute ago

"That's it. We are calling the night," I interrupted her and drowned the last of my margarita. "Come on. Drink up and let's go home. We can watch some movie at your place."

Once Callie finished her drink we were on our way out.

Callie was the designated driver. We drove here with Amy's Volvo. As we were sat in and on our way to her home, I decided to speak up "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone dancing with the guy."

"Don't be absurd!" Callie protested back, not taking her eyes of the road

"This night was suppose to be a celebration to you. And I left you alone. I really am sorry."

"The guy was hot. He obviously liked you. And you liked him-" Callie said quietly as she stopped at a stop sign, she checked all directions, drove across and only then continued "You should not apologize about the fact that a guy found you attractive."

The road was quiet empty. Not a lot of cars or people.

Then it dawned on me, what might have really upset her. Over our stay at the club, three guys had come up to our table. I had rejected the first two, but had said yes to dancing to the last guy. It was the fact that they had all spoken to me, asking me to dance. None had paid any attention to Callie.

"Callie-"

"I don't want to talk about it!" She said in a harsher tone before I could figure out what to tell her, how to even say what I wanted to say to her. The margaritas were clouding my brain a little, making it harder to think straight.

Looking down to my palms, I sighed heavily "What do you want to do next?"

We drove for five seconds in complete silence, but then, Callie shifted the gear rather aggressively and pushed the gas pedal down "This!" The car sped up so fast, it was pushed back in the seat a little. Callie was definitely going over the speed limit. The houses and street lights went by too fast. Engine roared loudly.

With one hand I gripped the seat, while the other the door handle, my feet were pushed against the floor and my back into the seat "Callie, what are you doing?!" I shouted, starting to get scared "Slow down!" We wooshed by everyone and everything

I saw how Callie glanced down to the speedometer, but instead of pushing breaks, she pressed the gas down a little more and gripped the steering wheel tighter.

"Callie!" I shouted. For a moment I wanted to slap her arm, but then thought it probably wasn't a good idea to disturb the driver while we were racing down the street.

There was a light up the street. For now it was green. But I had a bad feeling that it will turn red.

"It will turn red!" I warned her, my knuckles were turning white I was holding on for dear life

"We will make it!" Callie replied concentrating on the road up ahead

My guy was correct, the light did turn. First yellow. We were still quite far from the crossroad. Then red! Now we were almost up to it. But it was too late for her to stop. If she did, we would end up stopping at the far end or middle of the cross.

Callie showed no intention of hitting the break or even trying to slow down.

I closed my eyes as we were about the cross the street at red light. Praying that we won't cause a car crash and die. All I heard was cars honking. Callie' s laugh next to me "Woooo hoooo!"

"STOP THE FUCKING CAR!" I yelled at her, loosing my calm once we had crossed

This time, Callie did just that. Once the car stopped, I unbuckled and jumped out of the car. My stomach turned and I was very closer to throwing up. I leaned over, thinking I might, but nothing came up. It was just that sick feeling you get in your stomach.

"That was exciting!" I heard Callie say from over the car "Didn't that make you feel alive?"

I stood up straight, my legs were still shaking from the ordeal, heart facing three times faster in my chest, I was scared to death "You almost killed us!"

"It wasn't that bad-" Callie was not affected by it, so it seemed

"That bad?" I pointed to the crossroad we had just crossed "We could have hit someone. You just run a red light! We were racing down the street at what...50mph?"

"More like 60,"

"Callie!"

"Alright, alright! It won't happen again." She said, but in all honestly, I didn't really see or hear the sincerity in her voice. "Can you get back in the car, please?"

"This," I gestured to the street that we came down from "Is exactly how your mom died….how Amy lost her husband and her son! What were you thinking? You could have killed me, killed someone else or killed yourself! You know what that does to the people who love them!" I paused, seeing how Callie's features changed and it finally dawned on her what she had done, how she had risked everyone's lives for 5 seconds of excitement or adrenaline rush or whatever it was she wanted to gain from this

I watched her suspiciously, not entirely sure how I felt about it. Did I trust her, not to do it again?

"Please, don't do that ever again. I was really scared!"

This time, Callie took a moment to process what I had said. Finally, I saw some remorse in her features and heard it in her voice as well "I'm sorry. I don't know what came on to me. It's not going to happen again."

"Okay," I sighed out relieved "Thank you." We got back into the car and drove peacefully and within the driving speed limit back to the house, never speaking of it ever again.

"Has she done that again?" I asked once Mariana was done retelling the story

"Not with me in the car," Mariana quickly answered and glanced to her brothers. The boys both shook their heads. I knew for a fact that Callie hasn't been alone with Frankie, so at least I don't have to worry about Callie endangering the life of my youngest.

Hearing what Callie had done from Mariana, did make me want to have a serious talk with her. If she wanted to drive fast, she could also do it in a safer environment, like a race track. She would be driving a special race car, driving instructor would have given her a quick lesson, she would be wearing helmet, there wouldn't be other innocent people. In a race track, it would not be a crash waiting to happen.

Speeding through that red light like a maniac. She got lucky. Not to even mention to speed she was going down that road. She could have lost the control of the car. Tire could have blown. Someone could have walked on the street. There could have been oncoming car that had been trying to make a turn.

The possibilities for a disaster were countless.

Callie got lucky.

Simple as that.

"My story is not as dramatic as Mariana's but still," Jude spoke up pulling me out of my thoughts.

"I'm listening," I said turning my attention to Jude

Callie and I were walking down the street.

We had just come out of movie theater. The newest Marvel movie was out for the last month. I had wanted to see it ever since it came out. Usually I go with a friends from university. But this time, I didn't go along with them. Avoiding spoilers was hard. Especially because I use social media daily. People on the internet like to brag and share details about the movies without even thinking twice about spoiling stuff for those who still haven't seen it. I was being extra careful this past month and actually managed to avoid any spoilers. My friends had been kind enough to not talk about the movie while I spent time with them.

Now that Callie was good, I had wanted to go see it with her. There was no convincing needed. Callie was still not back to work, so she had the free time. She hadn't been to movies in a long time. To me she actually sounded excited about it, when I had first suggested it.

We both bought big packs of popcorn, I took big coca-cola as well. Got seats at the best possible spot. Went in the middle of the day, when I didn't have lectures. There weren't a lot of people in the movie theatre. Felt like the movie was playing specifically for us. That made us feel special, like we were some kind of famous people.

The movie was amazing. Marvel movies truly are spectacular to me. The comic book characters brought to "life", to the big screen. It helps that all of the actors are hot and extremely fit.

Now, we were walking down the street still discussing the movie, our favorite moments, the villains, the hero characters and their side kicks, the secret ending, what might come next.

I was in the middle of sharing my theory about the secret ending, when Callie just gripped my arm and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Ow!" I gasped a little and turned back to her "What?"

Callie pointed to the building that we had stopped by, more specifically to the Tattoo parlor "Let's get tattoos!" she exclaimed

"Um-" Before I could even managed to say anything, Callie was already on her way to the shop.

"Callie!" I called after her when she pulled the door open and disappeared inside, leaving me standing in the middle of the street alone

I followed her in as soon as my brain had caught up on what had just happened. She was already talking to one of the staff member/tattoo artist, who was behind the front desk. The guy was covered in tattoos himself. Hands, arms neck – that I saw. He probably had tattoos on his chest, back and legs as well. He was an older fellow. Maybe mid 40. The guy had long, dark brown hair, a few greyish strands, that was taken in a pony tail.

"Did you have anything on your mind? Maybe an approximate drawing, idea what you might like?" He questioned

"Um, no. Not really," Callie shook her head a little "I was just walking by and thought...why the hell not!" she threw her arms up a little and chuckled as if getting a tattoo was just like walking into a store and buying a gum.

"Callie, you can't just get a tattoo our of the blue!" I walked up to her and said quietly to her, hoping the guy wouldn't hear, but knowing damn well that he did "You need to think about it first. It will be on your body forever-"

Callie turned to me and quickly replied "What is there to think about? Life is short...I might not be alive after a month! Why wait? We're here, I might as well just get it now!"

"Callie-" I did not like what I was hearing

My sister turned back to the guy behind the counter. He looked a bit taken back, but at the moment, said nothing.

Callie rolled her sleeve up and showed the scar to the guy "I want something that could cover my scar. I have one on the side of my torso and leg as well. Can you do it?"

The guy scratched his head, he sneaked a glance to me. I shook my head, hoping he would get that Callie shouldn't make such rash decisions. He then leaned a bit closer and examined the burn scar on her arm.

After having a good look at it, he leaned back and put his hand out in a gesture that told me he wanted Callie to slow down a bit "One tattoo at a time, okay?" the guy smiled at my sister

"Yeah, sure," Callie rolled her sleeve down "But can you do it?"

"Yes, I can do it." He replied convincingly, making me think he will do it right here, right now. I was ready to protest, to continue to argue back about her making this out of the blue decision, but the tattoo artist spoke up "The burn looked quite fresh. How long has it been?"

Callie shifted a little and replied in quieter voice "Few weeks."

"Have you talked to your dermatologist?" He questioned

"No, why should I?"

"It's not recommended to do a tattoo over a scar...burn scars especially too soon. Because the skin is still healing and the skin might and probably will change a bit. Thus, it can ruin the tattoo or even damage the skin even more than it is."

Callie watched him. I had a feeling she did not like what she heard.

"It's what all of the tattoo artist will tell you," He said at the end even more sympathetic. Oh, thank god the guy had his senses. "At least the good ones. You can always get one in the cheep, shady shop, but then you might also get a bad infection and horrible tattoo in a shitty quality."

"How soon can I do a tattoo?" Callie wondered

"You should first talk to your dermatologist. But usually it's about a year,"

Callie sighed and shook her head, clearly disappointed by what she was hearing.

"Maybe by that time, you have figured out what you want to do," The guy reached for something and then slid his business card over to Callie "Once you do and once you have talked to your doctor about it, I'll be here. More than happy to help you get your tattoo."

Callie turned on her heal and stormed out of the shop, angry. I walked closer to the counter, grabbed the business car and mouthed "Thank you" to him. The guy only smiled at me. I ran out of the shop and went to catch up with Callie. She was walking fast pace down the street, hands in her pockets, head down.

I put my hand on her back "Don't be upset. While you wait, we will design the sickest tattoos!" I said trying to cheer her up. It helped.

Callie glanced to me, a quick smile passed her lips, before she bumped her right side gently into my "Thanks."

I pulled the stool out from underneath the table and sat down.

Callie was clearly having a phase. Not sure what kind just yet, but it definitely was a phase.

Making rash decisions that are permanent, without thinking twice about it. That is clearly not a good sign. To add up, what she had allegedly told Jude about life being short – it might just be the way how she sees living. Living each day like it's the last. Doing all the things that she had wanted without hesitation. That can lead to some bad or dangerous decisions. It's like never being able to tell "No".

We all have a bucket list. And it's okay to do those things on the list. But you can't just do them all at once and rush into doing them, without fully considering it or planning it. In way doing things on your bucker list can be freeing. And it can bring great memories and stories to tell and just amazing experiences. But there there is a chance you might regret it, like getting a tattoo, if you haven't really thought through it.

Grown up Callie never did thing without thinking about them. This is a crass change of her personality. A complete 180. Given how recent it happened after the trauma she went through, I would 100% say it's connected.

"That's not all," Jesus said when I had sat down and barely processed what Jude had told me

"Just tell me," I said, not wanting to wait any longer. Hearing the stories from Mariana and Jude was hard enough, but still, I needed to hear what Jesus had to say as well.

"When Callie was here earlier, in the morning," Jesus said reaching in his pocket and pulling out his phone "we were sitting in the living room. I was setting up the game console. We were about to play Mario Kart," he tapped the phone couple of times, searching for something "There were these commercials going on the TV. All kind of random stuff. In one of the commercials, the local Skydive San Diego commercial come on and-"

"Don't tell me." I had a feeling I knew were this was going "She made a reservation?"

"Yeah," Jesus nodded and put his phone on the table and slid it over to me "She called the second the commercial ended. Reserved it for two people people, me and her technically. She didn't...exactly...ask me if I wanted to, she just called and….yeah. See for yourself," He pointed to the screen of his phone "Lucky for us, someone had just cancelled."

I picked up his phone and read what it said. It was an email about the reservation. The date was tomorrow. Noon. Soon. She was not wasting any time. Skydiving was definitely a high adrenaline experience. One that would definitely make her feel "alive" as she would put it in her own words.

And just as I thought it, Jesus said it "She said nothing would make her feel more alive than jumping out of a plane at 5km above ground level!"

"Has there been anything else I should know about?" I asked, handing Jesus back his phone

"Apparently, Callie almost picked a fight with some biker dude at the store the other day," Jude said as he scrolled through his phone. He showed me the same WhatApp group chat only some earlier messages.

"The dude had 'pushed' her, but Beth said it was more like he was just walking by and just brushed his shoulder with hers unintentionally and had apologized" Jude explained while I read over the messages Beth had sent containing the same information

"And Cooper said she was looking up bikes yesterday. Even asked about going with her to look at one this weekend," Mariana added "It's also there in the chat...somewhere!"

"Jesus," I said handing the phone back to Jude "Forward me that email, please."

"Sure thing," Jesus replied without any hesitation and tapped his phone again, working on doing just that "What are you planning to do?"

"I'll have a chat with Callie tomorrow at-" my phone buzzed, I had received the email from Jesus "Skydive San Diego."

Callie POV

I was in the parking lot of the Skydive San Diego, sitting in the car, waiting for Jesus to arrive. Tapping my fingers at the steering wheel as I listened to the music. It also served as a release for my anxiety, because Jesus was suppose to be here already. We needed to check in soon. If we don't in time, our reservation will be cancelled and our money wasted. There is a whole process that happens before they actually would take us to the plane.

The song on the radio stopped and the radio DJ announced "It's 11:45 and a beautiful sunny day here in San Diego. Here is our next 00' throwback song from Destiny Child! Sit back, listen and relax!"

Survivor started playing on the radio, when I saw a familiar car drive in the parking lot "Finally! Cutting it close, Jesus!" I huffed as I turned off the radio and got out of the car as Jesus parked two cars down from my car. Jiggling my keys in my hand, I headed towards it.

I stopped in my tracks, when I saw Lena in the car, instead of Jesus.

When Lena got out of the car, I asked as I resumed walking towards her "Did he chicken out?"

"No, not really." Lena said meeting me at the hood of her car

"Anyway, this is going to be fun!" I said excited. It didn't really matter who joined me. She may look strict, by the books, but Lena has her fun and adventurous side as well. She's the one who knows how to surf after all. "We should go and check in, before it's too late." I pointed to the hangar behind me

"Callie, I'm not going."

"Why?"

"I know what you are doing."

I chuckled, but not because I was laughing. More so because I was utterly baffled by what she was referring to be. I wasn't doing anything. Just trying to have some fun. I felt amazing. Something inside me had woken up and I felt like I was finally starting to live my life. As it should be. "What are you talking about it?"

"Callie, honey," Lena took a step closer, she was speaking softly "You can't go from high to high."

"I'm not-" I shook my head, wanting to protest

"Now that you know you're going to be okay, you want to...experience it all. Do all the things you were always scared to do. Before it can all be taken away from you."

I shifted from one leg to other

"Does the food taste different? Better? Does music speak to you more: every beat, every string sound, every note, the lyrics? Does it makes you feel more alive? Or the sky-" Lena raised her arms up pointing to the light blue sky up above our heads. I tilted my head to look at it.

"Does it seem...different," I looked back at Lena "somehow?"

I related to all of what she had just said. My heart started to beat fast and a lump formed in my throat. Hated when the adults could read me like that. It was a skill that Stef, Lena and Cooper had all picked up on over the years.

"And you-" Lena looked at me and did a little head nod towards me, I licked my lips and briefly averted my look down "Do you feel like there's nothing that you couldn't do. Almost as if you are invincible somehow?"

We stood in silence for a moment as I had no idea what to reply to her. So far, everything she said was true.

"Sooner or later you are going to realize, why you did all those things. Speed through city, wanting to get a tattoo, looking into buying a bike, almost picking a fight with a guy twice your size-" Lena threw her arms up and gestured to where we were now standing "Skydiving!"

My head snapped up "I'm celebrating."

"Celebrating what?" Lena questioned

"Being alive!"

"Maybe," Lena did not seem so sure about that being the main reason

"What other reason there might be," I wondered, not sure what she was getting at

After a pause, Lena said "You are doing all of this, because you are scared, love. Scared, because you almost died." I let out a shaky breath, tears whelmed up in my eyes the next moment, so I looked sideways, away from Lena's soft gaze.

I finally managed to swallow the lump in my throat. Felt my chin quiver a little as I struggled to keep the tear from falling.

"Was I right about anything?" Lena asked, taking a step closer to me

I tilted my head up, to look at her. Forced a small smile as I whispered as I slowly nodded my head "Yeah, I did think that I was going to die," I bit my lip before admitting the whole truth "Only...I wasn't scared Lena. I was terrified!" A single tear fell down my cheek and I quickly wiped it away. Lena reached out and placed her hand on my upper arm, gently rubbing up and down, soothing me.

"At the park, after mom had found me. As I was laying on he ground…I was sure I was going to die," Lena was quiet, she only watched and listened to me

"I would have been okay with dying then and there. Mom would have been the last person I would see. She was holding me. Talking to me. For a moment I felt at peace," Two more tears fell down my cheek, this time I did not wipe them "Until I didn't. Because my life didn't stop there. I remember waking up briefly before my operation. Felt nothing but cold. Everything felt...somber. Shivers run through my body, even thought part of me was burning up. Maybe it was the operation room, or the fact that I was laying on the table naked and exposed. Surrounded by people, but feeling completely alone. Death seemed..." I shook my head a little "like the only way to go. And I have never felt more terrified of it."

Lena decreased the distance between us and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me close to her chest. With my ear pressed to her chest, I focused on her heartbeat, that was steady and calm. I had strength to raise my arms up only to Lena's waist. More tears fell as Lena held me.

"You need to slow down a little," Lena moved her palm up and down my back over and over again while she spoke "Otherwise you will burn out or you will hurt yourself. Okay?"

"I'll try," I said in between sniffing

"Everything's going to be okay, love," Lena whispered to me while her hand kept running soft circled all over my back "You'll be okay," she kissed the side of my temple and continued to hold me.