Wounded; A Brallie Fan Fiction *EDITING*

Prologue 1

Callie's POV:
I remember the day the Fosters were supposed to adopt my little brother Jude and I. I was so happy that day. The entire atmosphere was perfect, all better somehow. I was so blissful, so satisfied with the way everything seemed to be falling into place somehow.

And then, just like always, something happened. It was always something. Anything that could happen to prevent my adoption was sure to happen. It was one thing after another. But Jude was adopted, which made my inflicting heartache feel at rest. It was bittersweet.

I knew, when my moms told me that Donald wasn't my birth father, I knew everything was only going to get harder. And I also knew that it'd be quite some time before I would actually get adopted. Of coarse, Stef and Lena were still my moms; Jesus was still my brother, and Mariana was still my sister. And Brandon- . . . Well he would always be Brandon to me. Blood doesn't bind a family together, love does. Stef and Lena taught me that with every ounce of how much I know they love me.

And I don't need a piece of paper to be an Adams-Foster, now do I? No, I don't. So why do I feel so lousy every time I'm denied that piece of paper?

We've come so far since that day, the first time my adoption was denied. All of us have. Stef and Lena gained and lost a baby; Mariana gained a little sister, and lost her virginty, despite the downfalls of the person it was with. We almost lost Jesus, thank God we didn't, and now he was away at a prestigious wrestling school. Jude was with Conner now, officially. Brandon was so far successful at Idylwild, and was now dating Lou . . . And me? I'm in the exact same place I've been in for months now.

The most recent reason for my adoption having been denied was because a social worker found some old files that were not, in fact, expunged, despite our best efforts. Those papers held the record of when I was in Girls United for the first time, and Moms took a restraining order out on Brandon, my foster brother, due to us having kissed at their wedding.

Who knew that this would be the thing to come back and bite us?

The social worker claimed that it was inappropriate for me to be in Stef and Lena's care until she further investigated my relationship with Brandon. If you ask me, though nobody does, this whole thing was ridiculous. We'd lived under the same roof for months now, and nothing had happened. What did she think we were going to do, make a porno? Have kids? Yeah, 'Hey, Moms, I'm having a baby with my brother, your son, hope you can make it to the wedding, kisses.' I mean, really. I was over Brandon and he was over me. He was every bit as much my brother as Jude and Jesus, and I was every bit as much his sister as Mariana. Moms knew that. They wouldn't let us live together if they didn't.

But insignificant little Callie never has a say in anything when it comes to the system, so I bit my tongue and kept my mouth shut, and I let the social worker interview me. I was honest. Well, for the most part. I didn't tell her that Brandon had been my boyfriend and that we violated the restraining order while I was at Girls United, and I didn't tell her that I kissed him at the fundraiser. There was simply no need to. But I told the truth about the day we kissed at Moms' wedding, and I told the truth when she asked if I had been in love with Brandon. Because that just wasn't the kind of thing I couldn't lie about. The way I loved Brandon . . . That could never be something I could ever mask with a lie. Never.

And if you had asked me before that interview if I loved Brandon still, I'd say no. I'd tell you that he was one of my three brothers, and there was nothing more to it.

But after the interview? Well, that's different. Because after reminiscing what Brandon and I used to be, it made me miss him in the saddest parts of me, and everywhere else. It made me think about the way his blue eyes used to reach for me, how my stomach used to scream when he was around. And I began to remember his soft, magical kisses, and the way he had the ability to make me feel like a rose in a damn garden of weeds. And I began to wonder, am I over him? Will I ever be over him? Will he ever be just a brother? Or will he remain just another 'almost' on my list of things that broke my heart?