Brallie Metropolis AU | In This Together

Chapter 8 | Resurfacing

It was a roaring school morning for the Adams Foster family. Everyone was twisting around the kitchen like tornadoes. Jesus, Jude, Callie, Brandon, Stef, and Lena were up and about around the table. Brandon and Callie were seated, trying to keep their heads down and eyes down.

"Moms, I need an extra apple for wresting practice after school." Jesus blurted.

"Uh, please and thank you would be nice, Jesus." Stef exclaimed while walking around Lena.

"Come on Mariana we're going to be late!" Lena shouted to Mariana, who was still in the bathroom upstairs getting ready for school.

Mariana comes running down the stairs, wafting the scent of hairspray with every step. "Mama, I keep telling everyone to hurry it up. I'm not late, they are." She said defensive. She leaned into the table and grabbed an orange from the bowl of fruit in the middle. "So what was wrong with the Brandon's car again?" She said trying to remember what her moms had said. There were looks glanced between Brandon and Callie, and between Lena and Stef, followed by an awkward pause. "Moms? Eh, never mind. Brandon, you were up really late slamming on yours keys. You know, most people like to sleep at night, and I can't if you bang on the piano until all hours of the night."

"Oh, B. What time did you go to sleep last night?" Stef asked.

"Don't worry, mom. I'm fine. Perfectly rested." Brandon responded quickly, lifting his head up to answer.

"Alright, gang. Time to go." Lena said looking at her watch, while she had a little bit of granola bar in her mouth.

"Bye, love. I love you." Stef leaned over and kissed Lena's cheek.

"I love you, too." Lena's voice faded away as she walked out the front door with the kids.

"Oh! Lena! Callie! Don't forget we have a meeting with the lawyer tomorrow!" Stef shouted.

Dinner that night was brutal. Brandon and Callie sat across from each other, coincidentally. There were several conversations floating around the kitchen. It was like Brandon and Callie were in there own bubble. They couldn't focus. The sound of the others speaking was muted. They kept their head down.

Callie and Brandon were the first to be excused from the dinner table. They walked to their rooms, silently, which had been usual behavior for them since they came back from running away together. They were feeling shame, guilt, failure, love, woe. They still loved each other, but they couldn't work. Mariana, Jude, and Jesus didn't seem to notice their behavior since the 'car broke down.'

They walked into their rooms and closed the doors behind them. Brandon and Callie both leaned against the back of their door. Longing for each other. Feeling sorry for all of the pain they have caused for each other. Finally understanding the truth of the matter. Only having three words running through their heads. The three words that get interrupted by four sad ones...it will never work, it will never work.

Callie woke up the next morning weary of what the day would bring, what bad news would come. Breakfast was the same as the day before, busy and quiet, in terms of Callie and Brandon. But busy and loud for everyone else. School was the same for Callie too, she cruised through the day and her classes. She made her way home, reluctantly, with her siblings. Mariana yacked everyone's ear off the whole time, as usual. The lawyer wanted to meet with Stef and Lena privately, without Callie, so when Callie got home, Stef and Lena were already there. Along with the lawyer.

The kids flooded into the house, each going to their rooms. Callie walks into the kitchen to find the lawyer, Stef, and Lena sitting around the table.

"Hey love, why don't you come sit down?" Stef said, motioning her to sit in the chair next to Lena.

"So you know how you said you wanted to find your birth father?" Lena asked, rhetorically. Callie nodded. "Apparently, he won't give up his parental rights. He owns some big company and doesn't want to do anything."

"So he won't sign the papers so I can get adopted, but he doesn't want custody either?" Callie tried to clarify.

"That's exactly right." The lawyer reassured. "Good news is though, when you turn 18, you won't need to have abandonment papers signed."

"What about the foster license? If that expires without our knowledge, Callie will be taken from this house until we can get it renewed." Stef questioned.

"That's not an issue, at all. Because you recently got it renewed and it doesn't expire for another two and a half years. Eighteen is only two years away. You're all good." The lawyer confirmed.

"What about emancipation? If I were emancipated I wouldn't need anyone's permission to be adopted." Callie interjected.

"Unfortunately, that's not an option. I was trying to build a case for emancipation to show all of you in case you were interested, I just don't think there is enough. And I wouldn't recommend emancipation for you anyway because of your history. If you were to get yourself into trouble with the law again-"

"Which she wouldn't," Stef interrupted.

"...and you were emancipated, you could be tried as an adult." The lawyer tried to be as nice as possible, but she just spitted it out.

"Ok, so we wait." Lena was disappointed. She looked at Stef and Callie for agreement. They both nodded their heads in disappointment.

"Eighteen isn't that far away, right?" Callie tried to reassure herself.

"Alright, Callie, why don't you get started on your homework while we finish up here?" Stef suggested. Callie trotted up the stairs, only to be stopped by Brandon in the hallway.

"Hey, so you're really just going to wait until you're 18?"

"Well, there isn't any other choice." Callie tried stepping around Brandon, he was blocking her way to the door of her bedroom.

"Of course there is, Callie! There's always a choice. Go after this guy and make him sign those papers!" He had anger in his voice that confused Callie.

"It doesn't work like that, Brandon." She spoke frustrated because she didn't know why he was using that tone. "Excuse me." Callie stepped around Brandon, bumping into his shoulder, before he had a chance to stop her, and slammed the door in his face as he turned around.

Brandon went to bed that night rethinking that conversation over and over again in his mind. He didn't understand why he was so angry that she couldn't be adopted. He tossed and turned the whole night, until he realized that the sun was starting to rise into the sky.