Forever (and ever, and ever): BRALLIE

Chapter 3

Jude had slept over at Connor's the night before, and Mariana was still upstairs, probably in the shower, so for once, there was actually a chance at privacy in the Adams Foster household.

The four of them—Stef, Lena, Callie, and Brandon—situated themselves in the living room as they prepared for their conversation. Stef and Lena sat in two chairs in front of the coffee table as Brandon and Callie sat on the loveseat opposite them. They tried to distance themselves, not sitting too close together.

Not that it would matter, soon enough.

Stef looked at the two of them expectedly, as Callie chose to begin.

"So, um, please don't be mad..." That sentence alone was enough to make the moms immediately worried. When someone tells you 'don't be mad,' odds are, what they tell you is probably going to make you mad.

"But I've been doing some thinking, and...I've decided," she took a shaky breath, and her eyes began to water, "I made the decision that, um...I might not want to be adopted, after all." Brandon discreetly reached for her hand, sensing that she needed the comfort.

"Oh, Callie..." Lena said, as her heart was breaking, "Why? After all this time. Why, honey?"

"I, um, I want to get to know Robert and Sophia better. They're my family too, and I feel like I'm being unfair to them by not letting them get to know me." It wasn't a total lie.

Though upset, Lena seemed to be accepting and understanding. Stef, on the other hand, having noticed Brandon and Callie's clasped hands, wasn't so sympathetic.

"How about that's bullshit." She was furious.

"Stef!" Lena exclaimed, shocked not only by her wife's choice of language, but also how quick she was to assume Callie was lying.

"I can't believe this. I knew it! I knew you two were back together, but I thought maybe, just for a second, that I was wrong. I thought that I could trust you two. Unbelievable."

"Brandon, Callie?" Lena asked, slightly calmer than her counterpart, "is this true? Are you back together?"

Intimidated by the angry environment, and the moms' impatient stares, the best they could do was nod weakly.

"I don't know what's worse. The fact that you decided it was okay to get back together, or the fact that you lied to us, Brandon." Stef said, having calmed down, even if only slightly.

"When did I lie?"

"Just last week. After your interview with the social worker, you told us there was nothing to worry about between you two."

"And there wasn't—not then."

"So what changed?"

"It was at the same time as Rita's accusation," Callie interjected. "I had, um, a voice recording. Of Carmen. She admitted that she lied. But she told me that if I told anyone she would out me on what happened at GU..."

"And what exactly happened at GU?" Shit. She had forgotten the moms didn't know about that.

"Brandon came to see me."

"Well, duh. Everyone knows that. Why do you think we took out the restraining order?"

"No, Mom. After that." Brandon admitted, and Stef's anger and suspicion returned. "I broke the restraining order. Several times, actually. Callie and I, we started a kind of secret relationship. We fell in love."

"We broke up at Frank's funeral. I told him I needed a family, and I did. I do. But it was so hard, believe me. I had to look at him every day thinking about what could have been and it made my heart ache. I was still very much in love with him, and seeing him with Lou killed me." Brandon looked at her sympathetically, so sorry that he ever been the cause of her pain. "What killed me the most is watching them sing together. Hearing their voices blend so beautifully, on a song that never should have been hers. You know the one. Outlaws. I mean, just listen to the lyrics. Is it really that hard to guess who it's about?"

"So we kept our distance," Brandon took over, "We never slipped up." He faltered, remembering the kiss at the Girls United fundraiser, "Well, we almost never slipped up. We tried so hard to put ourselves into those separate brother-and-sister boxes , but it just never worked—and it never will. Something always brings us back together, because we're too deep in love to reverse the damage we've done."

"Well get over it, Romeo and Juliet." Stef snapped, still not quite understanding how in love they actually were.

"We can't. Not now, anyway. It's a little too late for that," Callie admitted nervously, knowing the big reveal was inevitable.

"What do you mean it's—"

"We had sex. That night in the cabin at Idyllwild." Brandon interrupted, wanting to get the secret off his chest.

"You had sex. Well isn't that just great." Stef said, her tone laced with a deadly level of sarcasm. Lena just put her head in her hands, sighing.

"What the hell are we supposed to do now!" Stef was fuming. She paced up and down the carpet, comprehending what she just heard. Not wanting to say something she might regret, she removed herself from the situation. "If you would please excuse me, I need to have a chat with your father, Brandon."

Lena got up and joined Stef in the kitchen, where she was on the phone. "Hey, Mike...No, no, everyone's fine. Well sort of, anyway. We're fine physically, but we have a bit of a...family emergency. Do you think you could be here, soon?...Ok, great. Thank you, and we'll see you."

Not more than fifteen minutes later, there was a knock at the front door. Mike soon joined the family in the living room, where Callie and Brandon remained, all the color drained from their faces.

"Care to tell me what happened?"

"What happened, Michael, is that your son needs to keep it in his pants." Wow, Stef's anger really hadn't subsided.

"Elaborate, please?"

"They've done it again. Only this time, they've actually done it. Brandon slept with his sister."

"She's not my sister,"

"I'm not his sister." The two answered at the same time.

"Hate to break it to you, Stef, but it takes two to tango. Don't put all the blame on B." Mike cast a glance over at Callie as if to say, 'sorry for throwing you under the bus, kiddo.' She cast one of equal value back at him.

"He's right, Stef. They both made this decision, they both have to face the repercussions." Lena finally spoke.

"And, not to touch on a sensitive topic, but Callie is a rape victim. They're both rape victims." Mike added, referring to the Dani fiasco that had taken place a few months prior. Stef's face softened, a bit.

"And not to say I condone it," he nodded at Brandon and Callie, "but for both of them to be able to reach a place where they are comfortable enough with each other for physical intimacy is a beautiful, important, and powerful thing, and I don't think they should be punished. I know my son, and I'd like to think I know Callie as well," he smiled at her, "and I truly think that a moment such as this could only have come from love. And I'm not mad."

"I wish I could say the same," Stef interjected, but with a gentler tone than before. "But I am mad. I'm mad that we got so close to having Callie as our daughter, but didn't get to achieve it." Her voice cracked, and Lena cradled her in a hug.

"However, what's done is done, and we're going to have to accept that and move forward."

"We'll work it out, love. We always do," Lena reassured Stef, and then directed her attention back to the two teens.

"But for the love of God, please tell me you used a condom."