Callie POV

We had been incredibly lucky. Jude and I managed to get two tickets to fly back. Our seats were not next to each others, as was expected. It cost a lot as well, but at least we were flying back. We still had a slim chance to see a small part of Brandon and Brooks play.

We got through the airport fairly quick, grabbed our bags and jumped in the first taxi that we saw. I told the driver to hurry, so he was driving through the city a little faster than it seemed safe. There were few sections, where he had really speed up and it felt like we were in a Fast and Furious movie, trying to escape or reach a destination before our enemy do.

Jude hasn't said a single thing to me during the ride. He seemed to be too deep in his own thoughts ever since we stepped off the plane. I had a guess as to what was going through his mind, I believe he was dreading to see everyone, talk to everyone after leaving in the middle of the night and dropped the bomb about the book.

I did found it odd, that I hadn't seen him use his phone. Not even to check the time. In fact, I don't even know where his phone was, because it certainly didn't look like it was in his pocket, where he usually kept it.

I pulled out my phone and saw a new message from mom: How far away are you?

As I had no idea, how far we were from the destination, I sent my mom a live location.

I had texted her the moment we had set foot in San Diego, I knew they were all worried about us, that we had left like that. I had informed mom that we were together and looking for a flight back. Kept sending her updates throughout the day. At least that way, they won't worry so much. Sure, they might still be angry, but at least their minds were going to be at ease that we were both ok, together and on our way back.

Some 15 minutes later we had arrived at our destination. The parking place was full of cars, so I assumed the play was still happening. We got our bags and made our way into the building. We were informed by the staff there, that the play was still happening and if we do intend to sneak in, to please do it as quiet as humanly possible not to disturb.

"Do you know where they are?" Jude spoke up "The hall or second floor, balcony?"

"Balcony," I replied and looked over to the stairs. He nodded and followed me to the second floor. When we reached the second floor, we walked to the center of the big hallway, looking for a seating number our family was in. Mom had sent it to me in a message not too long ago.

As we looked around, we saw Amy leaned back at the window sill on the far side of the hallway. She stood up straight, when we saw each other. She was dressed up, a black cocktail dress, heels, hair made up, holding a small black purse in her hand. It was hard to tell, but it looked like, her relief about seeing us was mixed with disappointment of how we left. And it was very understandable, I did not hold it against her.

She walked up to me and hugged me, then hugged Jude. Her hug with Jude seemed a bit more longer, it looked like she gave him the option to end the hug whenever he felt it. Jude needed it more.

Once the hug was over, she caressed his cheek softy. Her mouth parted, thought she was going to say something. But mom never did. I figured mom realized now it was not the time or place for whatever she wanted to say to him.

Instead, she took a hold of Jude's hand and looked to me "Come on you two."

She led us to the balcony and we walked in as quiet as possible. Everyone turned to look back at as, same as Amy they all had mix of relief and anger or disappointment written on their faces. We set our bags down by the wall and took the last two empty seats. For now we were going to enjoy the play and listen to Brandon's music.

Soon after we sat down, about 10 minutes or so, the first part of the play ended. Everyone, got up, saying they need to go bathroom, stretch legs or buy some cake and tea at the small cafe. Jude and I remained sitting, not sure what to do. The day had been so hectic, that I barely had drank any water or eaten anything. We bought some snacks in the airport when we waited for the flight back, but nothing else. The flight was so short, there was no meal on plane.

"Do you want to go grab something to eat?" I asked

"Not hungry," Jude replied shifting in his seat

"How about you come keep me company then?"

"Sure," He agreed

We went to the cafe, stood the line, not speaking. As we reached the cashier, Jude nudged me to get him a pastry as well. I brought a candy bar as well as I felt I needed the sugar. I ordered two pastries and two bottles of water. We ate the pastries in the cafe quickly. Then we set to head back to the balcony, but on our way there, we saw that our family were gathered in the big hall, talking. Laughing.

Jude and I both stopped and looked at one another. I knew we had to pull the band-aid off eventually, but looking at Jude, I wasn't sure he was ready for it.

"I'm going back to our seats," Jude said and walked away with his head down

I watched him walk away, then looked back at our family. They all looked so happy, I didn't want to ruin the moment for them. The big smiles on their face made me think they were all happy and proud of Brandon. Discussing his achievements. Praising him. Not even thinking about the mess Jude and I made.

All of a sudden I felt a hand touch my upper back, I turned my head and saw Rachel, Brooks's sister by my side. She looked kind of pale "Sorry, my head spun a little."

I quickly turned to her and held her by her arms "Come, you need to sit down." I helped her get to the nearest bench.

"Oof, what a doozy," she breathed out once she sat down, touching her face "That came on out of nowhere."

I crouched down next to her and pressed my fingers to her wrist, checking her pulse "Has this happened before?"

"No. This is a first," she lowered her hand down to her stomach and rubbed her belly "What are you doing to me Alice."

"Alice? That's a nice name."

Her pulse seemed normal, that I could tell. "Have you eaten anything recently?"

"I was just going to get something actually," Rachel replied and glanced towards the cafeteria "The line is so long. My feet hurt."

"Here, eat this. It's not much, but at least it's something. Might get your sugar level up." I said giving her the candy bar that I had been saving for myself to eat later

"Thank you," She said opening the candy bar up. She ripped it in half and offered me one half.

"No, you take it. You need it more."

I sat with her, while she finished the candy bar, then opened the water bottle and handed it to her "Drink some." She took it gladly.

"Dizzy spells are not uncommon in pregnant woman, but you should probably tell your doctor about this. They might want to do some additional test to make sure you and...Alice are both okay," I told her as she drank the water with small sips

"Today has been crazy. It might have been the stress and the chaos of today." I hated the idea that Jude and I caused all of the chaos and that it might have resulted in this. Deep down of course I knew that these things happen and it's no ones fault.

"Still, your doctor needs to know about it," I said as I took the now empty water bottle from her. I threw the bottle away in the nearest bin and walked back to her. We sat for a moment.

"Feeling better?"

Rachel nodded her head

"Let me walk you to your seat." I put my hand out, for her to take.

She placed her hand in mine and I helped her get back to her feet. Not letting go of her, afraid that she might faint, we walked towards our seats. She sat down and thanked me again. Jude looked between us, slightly worried about what had happened.

"I'll go get something from the cafe. Any preferences?"

"Anything is fine."

I smiled back and headed back out. As I was one step out of the balcony, I heard Rachel start talking with Jude "This paramedic life really suits your sister-"

"Hey!"

I almost bumped into mom, who had been coming back to balcony

"Hey," I said less enthusiastic,with my head down, not sure how she felt about me right now.

"Everything ok? I saw you talking to Rachel and she did not look well,"

"Yeah, no...everything's fine. She's okay, I think. Her head was dizzy. I helped her get back to her seat. I'm going to buy something she can eat and some more water for her," I said avoiding her glance, looking anywhere else but her eyes

"Oh," Mom glanced over my shoulder to the balcony with a worried facial expression

"I'm going to-" I pointed down the hallway, I said taking a step forward wanting to leave. I had a feeling soon the bells with ring, asking audience members to get back to their seats. I wanted to get back before those bells.

Mom placed her hand on my shoulder gently, stopping me "You are doing a kind thing."

"Yeah, well...I guess, it's the least I could do after causing the chaos and stress for all of you."

"I don't think that you and Jude leaving caused her head to be dizzy-"

"Well, you know..." I shrugged wanting to leave

"Hey, hey..." Mom stopped me again, by slipped her hand around my wrist softly "What's going on with you? You have barely even looked at me."

"I just know that you are mad with me and I would rather we not do this now. I don't want to cause any more drama, okay? All I want is for this day to be over."

"I don't want us to cause drama, but I would very much like to talk to my daughter. So, can we talk?"

I lifted my head up, breathed in and slowly breathed out, then turned to look at mom by my side "Yes, we can talk. But can we walk and talk?"

Mom smiled at me, then nodded. She turned around and we walked towards the cafe.

"So, how much did the tickets cost you?"

"All three were like twice what we paid to get here."

"Ooof," Mom shook her head.

"Yeah," I agreed, the cost of the tickets put a good hole in my savings. But I guess, that's what I get for doing what I did. As we turned the hallway, the first bell rang.

"You should have come to me, you know. You didn't have to leave in the middle of the night, without leaving a note, without telling everyone about it."

"If I had come to you, then I wouldn't have made it to the airport in time. He would have flown back on his own. We wouldn't have talked, started to...heal...fixing whatever damage his book had done. I hadn't had managed to talk him into flying back. He would have missed his brothers big play. I couldn't let him leave again."

We stood at the end of the line of people to the cafeteria. Some 10 people were in front of us. The place was buzzing with chatter and some soft, instrumental music was playing from the speakers in the place.

"Let him leave again?" Mom raised her eyebrow at me "When did you let him leave the first time?"

I sighed and licked my lips "When the CPS came. I let him leave and I didn't see him for years. I couldn't let that happen again. I wasn't going to make that same mistake again."

Mom was having trouble figuring out what to say back. She stuttered a few times before "No one was taking him away Callie. He chose to leave. He was heading home. You know where his home is."

"But it hurt just as much. Watching him carry his bag. Getting in the car. Looking back. Driving away. It felt, like I was losing him all over again," I glanced to mom. She remained silent. Just listening to me.

I pressed my finger to my chest two times "Both times I drove him away. The first time, because I was scared and now because I was angry." If I closed my eyes, I could remember the night vividly, how Jude looked back at me, when the CPS took him away. And it still hurt, tears whelmed up in my eyes, but I was determent to not let it show. I cleared my throat and looked briefly up and blinked.

Once the tears were gone, I looked back at mom and found her watching me closely. Her head was lightly tilted one way.

"I have never regretted anything more in my life. I know how much it must have upset and worried you that I left in the middle of the night without saying anything or leaving a note and I'm sorry about that, I really am mom, but...I would do it again. In a heartbeat. I'm never going allow Jude to leave. Not again. I don't want to lose another 6 years of his life. I'm not!"

Mom wrapped her arm around my back and pulled me a little into her side.

"I'm not going to lie, those few hours when we didn't know where you or Jude were, were one of the most hardest hours for me. But it's over. I'm not mad anymore. You both are here. You both are OK. I know how important Jude is to you. And I understand how painful it was to miss out on so much of Jude's life. So, I understand why you did it." She leaned in and kissed my cheek "I want you to know, that we are good. I'm not angry with you anymore."

I smiled warily at her.

"But you still need to apologize to-"

"Yeah, I know."

"They pulled the security camera video to see what happened to the two of you. It was rude, how you just left. Not just at the night, but at the dinner. If we ever want to be invited back there-"

"I'll apologize to them once we get back to the house. Trust me, it's on my to do list. I never wanted to leave that...bad of a first impression. You raised me better-" I smirked at mom

"I sure did," Mom tilted her head up a little "Are you and Jude good, like you were before the whole book thing?"

"Work in progress. We're both willing to talk about the book, he has agreed to fix the things that I'm not happy with. I think...we'll be okay. I'm starting to slowly accepted that he wrote a book. About us. About our life. Not fully there just yet, but...maybe in a few more days or weeks." I said as the second bell rang out.

"That's what I like to hear." Mom said right before we got the cashier. I ordered some more pastries, got another candy bar and a bottle of water. Mom helped carry the food for me.

When we got back to our seats, everyone else had already gotten back. Stef and Lena were turned back in their seats, facing Jude and they were talking. Mom went to her seat next to Cooper, while I gently tapped on Rachel's shoulder. She looked up from her phone, that she had been scrolling through and smiled at me. Her mother and father glanced to me as well, as I handed her the food and water. Rachel thanked me and the third bell rang. I took my seat.

"-talk about it when we get back to the house," I heard Stef say to Jude right before Stef and Lena turned back around.

Jude typed something on his phone. He nudged me to check my phone. He had sent me a message on Whats-app saying : Moms are so angry with me. So glad they can't ground me anymore :D

I typed back: they care. everyone cares. It sucks right now, but this will pass.

The lights turned off and the second part of play started.

I saw Jude type back quickly and soon a new message appeared in our chat: I know. Thanks for following me and getting me back here

We put our phones down and looked to the stage.

As we got back to the house, Theodore or Caroline had arranged for champagne and some appetizers, while the grand meal was being prepared. The glasses all stood on the table, three bottles of champagne stood on ice next to them. I assumed one was non-alcoholic for Rachel, Mike and Frankie and whoever else did not want alcohol.

Theodore, Mike and Cooper opened the bottles and poured everyone their drinks. Once everyone had their drinks in their hands, Caroline said a toast, praising both her daughter Brooke and Brandon, for their talent, hard work, how proud everyone was with them and that we all looked forward for their journeys as professional actors and composer. We took photos, in different compositions and then it was like any other party.

After a while of celebrating, everyone dispersed a little. Maybe tired of the day. Jude and I sure were, we sitting in the armchairs in one of the living rooms. My brother had even closed his eyes, I think he was having a quick nap. He would say he was resting his eyes. Neither one of us has slept the last night. It was now getting close to 8pm. I don't think I have ever traveled as much ever in my life as I have traveled today. Lots of flying and driving for one day. I was exhausted and my head was being strange as well, as in, I had a feeling a headache was on the way. I felt this pressure between my eyes and I felt my temples pulsing.

I drank the last of the champagne in my glass and set the glass down on the nearby table. Glancing to Jude, I figured, I would leave him rest for a while I go mingle again. I slipped out of the room quietly and navigated the hallways towards the kitchen area, figuring I might need a cup of coffee to keep my own eyes open till the main dinner. I heard laughter coming from one of rooms I passed. Recognized one of the laugh as Stef's.

I stopped and took a few steps back, now standing in the doorway to what looked like a small library, reading or office room. Sure enough, I saw Stef. Lena stood next to her wife, smiling, an arm wrapped around her waist. With them, was Theodore and Caroline. They stood next to a big bookshelf.

They must have heard me walk in as they all looked towards me. The laughter dimmed down. I swallowed and clasped my hands together in front of me. Rubbing my right hand thumb against my left palm I prepared myself for the talk I needed to have with all of them. Talking to mom was the easy part, now it was time for the hard part.

"I hope I didn't interrupt anything," I said, suddenly realizing, they might have been talking about something in private. Not sure what it could be, but there was a chance of it happening. Maybe Stef and Lena were thanking them for inviting the whole family over or for looking out for Brandon or something.

"No, dear. You aren't," Caroline smiled at me, I didn't get the feeling that she or her husband might be upset with me, but I barely knew them

"The dinner will be served shortly. Micah, our chef, said 5 more minutes." Theodore added

"That's...thank you. But that's not..." I took a tentative step towards the four of them

"Oh, and thank you for looking after Rachel. She told us, what you did. That was very kind of you," Caroline quickly added. By the reaction of Stef and Lena, they did not.

"Oh, don't mention it. That was nothing," I felt my cheeks blush a little. Despite the fact that helping people is what I do for a living, it was nice when you were recognized, appreciated. This was a small act of kindness, one that everyone would have done if in my place. But still, it was nice hearing people say those words.

I cleared my throat and spoke up, when I saw that Stef and Lena were about to leave "Actually, I wanted to talk to you. All of you. If you have...a minute," Stef and Lena both turned towards me, their faces telling me I got their full attention.

There was no need to drag this out. I needed to rip that bandage off.

"I wanted to apologize. First for the dinner. The conversation you started, it just struck a nerve..." I said, but then felt the need to explain as it had sounded wrong, I looked to Caroline "Not that it was your fault. It wasn't. You didn't know. Jude and I were in a bad place in our relationship. Had been for a two days. I'm so sorry that we ruined the dinner. We never intended to do that. The dinner was lovely," I put my hand on my chest "Please, forgive us for how we acted and behaved. You caught us at the worst moment. That wasn't us. Our emotions got the best of us."

I saw Stef and Lena exchanging a glance. Wondering if they were going to say anything, I paused, just briefly, to give them a chance to speak up. But they never did. So I decided to continue.

"And I would also like to apologize for leaving in the middle of the night like that. Without leaving any note or informing anyone. Our behavior was inappropriate and there is no excuse for that. I know we caused a lot of trouble and stress for all you. I'm deeply sorry for all the trouble that we caused."

"Thank you, Callie. Apology accepted," Theodore said after sharing a look with Caroline

"Brandon had spoken very highly of you," Caroline added "And now we know why. I feel like we have finally seen the person that Brandon had described to us."

"Oh, um...that's..nice," I doubt anyone heard what I said. Felt my cheeks flush again. I had no idea what to say that. An awkward silence set between us.

"I think we need to go gather everyone. Dinner will be set soon, please join us shortly in the dinning room," Theodore said before he and his wife left the room

Stef waited till they were out of our earshot and then set her glass down on the big oak desk that stood by the window as she asked me "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" I stuttered back, confused, glancing to see if Lena was with me on this one or with her wife.

"Apologize in Judes place?" her voice was a bit more stern this time.

"I-I didn't...I didn't...I did?"

"We ruined the dinner. How we acted. Our behavior. We caused..." Stef recounted to name a few examples

"I didn't realize I was doing that," I said now thinking back to it and looked down to the floor

"He needs to own up to his own mistakes, Callie," Stef continued to explain "You don't get to make any excuses for him. He made his own choices. His sister should not be the one that apologizes for him! Not to us, not to your siblings, not to Brooks family."

I nodded, agreeing and understanding what they meant "You're right. Yeah, you're absolutely right. I shouldn't have. I wasn't thinking straight...it's been a long day and I'm exhausted and I'm starting to feel a headache coming and...I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, love, it's okay," Lena said stepping up and opening her arms to give me a hug. I leaned into her hug, closed my eyes for a moment, and felt Stef join the hug, kissing my temple three times.

"It's all right, love," Stef said right before I leaned out of their hug "I shouldn't have lost it on you like that. I'm sorry as well."

"We should probably go to the dinning room," Lena said "Those 5 minutes are probably going to be up soon."

The three of us walked together and when we arrived, we realized we were the last 3 there. Jude was already sitting at the table, between Mike and Cooper. We took the last three seats that were saved for us. Stef and Lena sat opposite Brandon and Brooke, meanwhile I had a seat at the other end of the table between Mariana and mom.

A roast was carried in and set on the table the following moment. And the dinner began. Conversation poured just as the wine. Given how many of us were there, it was no wonder that after an hour or so, there were 4 empty bottles of wine. This time, no one made a scene, no one pushed their chair and stomped away angrily. This time, everyone behaved properly and we got a nice redo of the whole dinner.

Rachel leaned a bit closer towards me over the table "I finally figured it out."

"Figure out what?" I asked

"Where I have seen the two of you," Rachel said and picked up her phone "It came to me, when we were at the theater. When you helped me get back to the seat and then went out to get me some food and water." her eyes bounced between the screen and looking up to me and mom

"You had just left the balcony and you bumped into each other," Rachel said tapping her phone "And then...boom. It was like deja vu. Seeing the two of you like that. And I figured it out...where I had seen you!"

"Everyone here said I was crazy!" She laughed looking at her sister and Brandon on the other end of the table

"You can't possibly have seen them before," Brandon reasoned from the other end setting his elbows on the table "You have never crossed paths!"

"That's where you are wrong!" Rachel pointed out "because I have met them...just...not in person. I saw them on the internet!" she turned her phone towards me and mom.