Callie's POV
Today's the day that Brandon and I are planning on telling Stef and Lena about us. It's been two months since we got back together, and it's time to tell them. Even though I don't think it's a good idea to tell them, I know they need to know, and we can't keep hiding this from them. They'll end up finding out before we can tell them, and I don't want it to be like that. They won't forgive us if they find out before we can tell them. "Are you sure about this?" I ask as Brandon's walks into my room. "No, but it has to be done," he replies, wrapping his arms around my waist. "How are we going to tell them? I've been trying to come up with the right way to tell them, but I can't think of anything," I say. "There's no right way to tell them," he replies. "We just have to tell them and deal with whatever happens next." "They're going to hate us," I reply. "Hey, we can back out at any moment. You know that," he says. "Back out of what? Us? No way. I'm invested in this relationship, no matter what they say when we tell them," I reply. "I meant back out of telling them," he says. "Oh. Well we can't do that either," I say. "Alright then. I guess it's now or never," he replies. I rest my head against his chest and listen to his heartbeat. "Everything's going to be okay. No matter what happens, you'll always have me," he says. I feel his hands trail up and down my back lightly, and it feels good. My breathing starts to slow down, and I try to relax against his chest. "What's going on?" Mariana asks from behind us. I turn my head so I can see her, and she crosses her arms at me. "We're telling Moms about us today," Brandon says. "Seriously?" she asks. "Yep," he replies. "Are you sure now is the best time to tell them?" she asks. "There's never going to be a best time to tell them, so it has to be now or never," I say. "What about Jude?" she asks. "I don't know," I say, shaking my head. "I want to tell him, but I don't think I can handle telling the three of them all in one day." "I'll tell him," Brandon says. "No. I can't let you do it alone," I reply, shaking my head at him. "It has to be me. It's better if he hears it from me. I'm the one who stole his sister from him, and the least I can do is tell him about our relationship myself," he replies.
Brandon's POV
Before Callie and I go to moms with our news, I have to tell Jude. He'll never forgive us for telling him before moms know. Hell, he probably won't forgive me for taking his sister away from adoption again, but he needs to know. The first time Callie and I were together, he didn't find out in an ideal way, so I need to make this up to him. I need to tell him in person this time. I just hope he doesn't tell moms before Callie and I can. I walk into Jesus and Jude's room, and I find them both sitting on Jesus' bed playing a video game. "I need to talk to Jude," I say, looking over at Jesus. "Can it wait? We just started the game," Jesus says. "It really can't wait," I say. He meets my eyes and I nod my head at him. "Oh," he says, a knowing look coming across his face. "We'll finish this later buddy." I wait until he gets off the bed to sit down next to Jude. "Good luck man," Jesus says as he walks out. "What's going on?" Jude asks as he shuts the game off and looks up at me. "I need to tell you something, and I need you to promise me that you won't freak out," I say. "You're dating my sister again, aren't you?" he asks. "How did you know that's what I was going to tell you?" I ask. "I know the two of you. I know when something's up. Every time Callie has a setback with the adoption, something happens between the two of you. It's a known fact. I knew something was up on the camping trip, and she's been acting different ever since we got back. She's seems happier, and only you can make her happy when she's down. So I know that you guys are dating again. I was just waiting to see how long it took you to tell me about it," he replies. "I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you," I say. "I wanted to wait until we decided to tell moms before we told you." "You're telling them today?" he asks. "We're planning on it, yeah," I reply. "But I wanted you to know before we told them. I wanted to know that you're okay with it." "I'll probably never be okay with the fact that my sister will never be adopted. I'll never be okay with the fact that we'll never have the same family. But I can be okay with the two of you being together; you make her happy, and that's all I want for her. I want her to be happy. She's taken care of me her entire life, and she always made sure that I was happy. Now it's my turn to make sure she's happy. So I'm fine with you guys being together, but please don't hurt her. If you hurt her, I'll have to hate you, and that'll be hard considering you're my brother," he says. "I promise, I won't hurt her," I say. "But you were wrong about something." "And what's that?" he asks. "You said that you can't be okay with the fact that you and Callie will never have the same family," I reply. "But you're wrong. You do have the same family. Callie is still part of this family, but not in the way you always thought she would be. She doesn't have to be adopted to be part of this family." "I never thought about that before," he says. "Trust me, I've had a lot of time to think about this. I used to push her away because I knew she wanted to be adopted. Hell, I knew adoption was probably the best option for her. But I love her so much, and I'll never be able to look at her as my sister. She's my soulmate, Jude. I can't let her go. I realized that she'll always be part of this family, and she'll always be part of me. Family isn't about blood or a piece of paper; it's about the people who care about you and accept you for who are. You accepting Callie and I for who we are, and for accepting our relationship, is what family is all about." "Really?" he asks. "Really," I say. "And who knows? Maybe one day I'll make her my wife, and then the two of you will finally have the same last name."
