Right by your side

The next day

Callie sat down at the table. Her hands still damp and her face bruised and battered. There was another person sitting at that table. One she hadn't seen earlier. A boy. Brown wavy hair with brown eyes that reflected light calmly.
"Who's this?" He asked looking down at the broken girl like she was the rarest of beauty.
"Oh. This is Callie." Lena began. After that the words became twisted and broken. She could now feel the pain in her chest and the Rock of the ambulance. The sound of sirens and the sight of a clean ambulance roof with Stef's fuzzy figure appearing.
Morning broke over San Diego and the world became light.
But even as the stars vanished and shadows appeared, as the people awoke and as the ocean twinkled with light. The world of the Fosters was very much dark.
Stef by her side, holding her hand and crying as the blood stain widened.
It was like her world was finished. She blamed herself for what had happened to Callie and she couldn't deny the fact that she could've done more to prevent her from the situation that was unfolding before them.
She looked up at Stef through her slightly parted eyelids. She was to weak to open them any further or even do anything for that matter.
"Stef..." She mumbled in a silent whisper.
"Hey, baby." She cried. "It's gonna be ok, you're ok."
Stef's eyes were full of tears and her skin the colour of paper.
Callie once again closed her eyes as she felt Stef's fingers run across her cold forehead.

"I don't know where they are." Lena said through her cell phone as she stood in the kitchen nervously. "She wasn't working early?..ok...well give me a call if you hear anything. Thanks mike." She pulled the phone away from her ear and placed it down on the kitchen table.
She breathed out loudly. Her wife and her daughter both missing. It was a panicking situation.
"You ok?" Brandon asked as he entered the kitchen. His brown locks still messy from sleep.
He set himself down at the table and reached for the cereal.
"Yeah. Just.. Do you know where Callie is? Or mom for that reason?"
He looked up at her confused.
"No, why?" He said as he poured milk into a bowl and added it to his cereal.
"When I woke up mom was gone, and Mariana said that Callie was gone too. But she doesn't know where."
"Well I don't know either." He said as he spooned a mouth full of cereal I to his mouth. "They could just be out...shopping or something."
Brandon hadn't talked to Callie lately. Things were still kinda weird between the two of them. It was just a few weeks ago that he fully admitted that he didn't trust her too her face and that it was finally over between the two of them.
"Good morning." Mariana sang joyfully as she walked into the kitchen.
She stopped as she looked at the serious faces pulled by the two of them.
"Who died?" She said sternly as she shrugged a little.
Brandon smiled with a mouth full of cereal.
"No, no one. Just mama and Callie are missing." Stef's voice was worried and nervous.
"They probably just out shopping." Marian said sitting down across from Brandon.
"That's what I said." Brandon replied in a small laugh. "People do go shopping you know."
A small time later Jude walked in. His caramel hair combed across his head and he wore a clean shirt.
"Oooo, where are you going?" Mariana said curiously as she smirked at him.
"Oh just Connors." He replied. His voice calm and collected.
He sat down next to Brandon and reached out for the cereal.
The clock hit just past 9:24am as Lena's cell phone rang.
She quickly reached out and picked it up in a matter of seconds.
They all watched as her body loosened.
"Oh, Stef. God, where are you?" She asked.
Her face dropped. "What's wrong?"
The three kids looked up at her worried face.
They watched as her face turned plaster white and as she raised we hand to her head in shock.
"Oh my god. How bad is it?.... Which hospital?"
By now the kids hearts, as well as Lena's, pounded. They didn't know what was happening. Why someone was in hospital or why they weren't home.
"What's wrong?" Mariana said as Lena put the phone down and bowed her head.
She took a deep a breath, still very much shocked by the news she had been given.
"Callie... She's been shot." Her voice quaked.
They all froze.
Brandon's face dropped and his eyes were wide with fear.
Jude didn't do much. How could he. His sister had just been shot. His face was horrified by the news, eyes terry and his hole figure was like a statue.
"What?" Mariana said in an almost whisper. Her mouth was open and her eyes didn't leave Lena's shocked body.
There was not a sound.

Callie laid in the hospital bed as Stef sat by her side.
She was stable now. Fluids and medicine by her side, thin tubes connected to her hand and nose.
She wore a oxygen masked and as she breathed out it fogged up a little.
Her eyes slowly opened and the sight of the plastered hospital roof came into view.
She turned her head slightly to see Stef sitting in the chair next to her. Her head resting on her hands looking down at the ground.
"Stef-" she began.
Stef shot her head up to Callie. Her eyes red from all the tears. Her face still white and her hair fizzy and untamed.
"Hey, love." She replied back in a hushed tone with a small comforting smile.
She reached up to her face and tucked a piece of hair behind her hair.
Callie closed her eyes feeling the sensation of hope and love trickled down her face.
She swallowed painfully and licked her lips which were stuck together with saliva.
"How you feeling?"
"I've been... Better." Callie replied. Her charismatic charm still alive and working.
Stef grinned.
The sound of a door led by many footsteps hurried in.
Callie shifted her eyes to see Jude staring down at her.
"Hey buddy." She said as she watched him hold back tears.
His bottom lip shivered as he let out a small happy smile.
Her eyes shifted to behind him. Her eyes shifted to Brandon.
He stood at the back of them all. His lips slightly parted and his eyes shiny and wide.
He looked at her. To him she was still beautiful. Even with the messy hair and the darkened eyes.
He swallowed and his lip trembled in horror.
Callie nodded a little with a smile trying to tell him that she was ok. That she was alive, and that she was still here.
"So how does it fe to be shot?" Mariana asked breaking the silence.
"Mariana? Really?" Lena snapped back
Quietly.
"What?" Mariana shrugged.
A small smile rose upon Callie's face and the comment didn't even matter.
"It feels...great." She replied.
They all smiled even Brandon.
The doctor walked in and walked over to Callie.
"How ya feeling, Cal?" She asked in a strong American accent.
Callie nodded a little looking away from her family to the nurse.
She gave a little smile then spoke.
"Ok, well she needs some rest so you can come back later. Aye."
Stef sat up from her seat and leant over to kiss Callie's forehead.
"By love." She whispered.
They all left the room and silence crept in again.
She had never really been in a hospital before. Not like that anyway.