Brallie Metropolis AU | In This Together

Chapter 82 | Leaps and Bounds

Callie was sitting at the dinner table, finishing up a few emails for school while she watched Em and Colleen play together. She kept laughing at them because they both tried so hard to pull themselves onto their feet, but they failed every time. They also were having mini conversations, even though they were coherent words. But they're facial expressions were as if they were talking to each other.

Callie came across an email with the subject of Fost and Found. Before she got the chance to click on it, Brandon came through the door and the girls started instantly giggling from the monster noises he was making as he charged towards them.

"Hey, B! So how did the rest of your Monday go?" She asked with extra pep, remembering Brandon didn't have a good start this morning when he woke up late, his breakfast exploded in the microwave, he ran out of toothpaste, Em and Colleen were very rambunctious and screamed for most of the morning, there was an accident on the street outside so he had to take a redirected walking route to get to Juilliard, making him miss is entire first class.

"Enough about me. How was your day?" Brandon questioned with a smile as he marched by her with the girls in his arms. "Oh, this the mail." He set the pile of envelopes next to the laptop. "There's a letter in there for you.

"Good, actually. I just got a notification that Fost and Found reached 100, 000 users."

"Wow, Cal. That's great," he told with much enthusiasm. He was proud of her for creating such a great idea. It made him mad he didn't see it at the time. He bent down to look at the number on the screen, investigating it himself.

Callie clicked back to her email window, glancing at the three other emails before sifting through the mail and finding the one addressed to her. It was from a major corporation that deals with advocating foster care. She honestly had no idea what it was, but she would have never guessed it would be about Fost and Found. She ripped it open and scanned the words, instantly  becoming overwhelmed by business talk.

"Am I reading this right?" Callie asked in a high pitch voice, knowing very well she was reading the letter correct anyway.

"Greetings Mrs. Callie Foster," Brandon started reading out loud. "We have shown great interest in your domain, Fost and Found. We believe that Fost and Found can be taken to greater depths. Fost and Found has great potential and we would like to invest to further the growth. For your inquiries, 207-555-1920-9568."

"Wow, well-"

"What are you going to do?" He interrupted, amazed about the whole thing.

"I guess I'll think about it. I'll call tomorrow," Callie breathed as she dropped the letter back on the table and stood up, on a mission to the kitchen.

"Really? Well, if you're gonna call, just do it now," he followed her as she shuffled around the cabinets, searching for something to have for dinner. Callie gave him a questioning look as to why he was being pushy. Brandon let Em and Colleen roam on the floor. "I'm just excited for you. I mean, you want that, right? That was the goal?"

"Honestly, I don't know. But even if I did, I can't call now. It's past five and I'm sure everyone's out of the office or whatever."

"I guess you're right. But why wouldn't you- are you looking for something?"

"Yeah," she aggressively closed the refrigerator. "I'm looking for something to eat. I'm starving."

"We could order a pizza or something..." Brandon's words began to disintegrate when Callie froze, staring at the floor behind him. "If you want..."

"Brandon," she started calmly, trying not to make any sudden movements. "Turn around." He looked behind him to see Colleen on her feet taking short, small steps across the wood slowly. "Oh my god, she's- she's-"

"Walking," he smiled with faint laughs as they crouched down to their level. They watched Em, who watched Colleen, who watched them. "Come here," he encouraged her and threw his hands open while she made her way to him inch by inch. Right before she reached him, she fell over, leaving both Em and Colleen giggling, as well as Brandon and Callie.

"Wow, it feels like just yesterday I was in labor for 20 something hours," Callie grinned, sitting down on the floor to play with them.

"Where does the time go..."

"Soon they'll be getting their periods and dating and asking where babies comes from-"

"Whoa," Brandon warned, stopping her from continuing on about unthinkable topics. "We're not there yet."

While Brandon and Callie waited for the pizza to get delivered, they kept trying to get Colleen to walk again. They sat across each other on the floor, taking turns calling her name so she'd walk to them, but instead she crawled. They tried with Em also, hoping she'd take some solo steps too, but no luck.

Brandon, Callie, Em, and Colleen were sitting around the table, eating dinner. Brandon and Callie were munching on pizza while the girls were snacking on heavily chopped strawberries.

"Do we have a lemon?" She asked out of the blue close to the end of dinner.

"What?" He questioned just before his cell phone went off. Brandon jumped up and grabbed his phone from the counter. "Hello?"

Callie could faintly hear a man speak through the other end of the call. Brandon was pacing back and forth slightly, as most do when on the phone. It became harder and harder for him to understand what the man was saying because Em and Colleen were in a laughing match with the strawberries, and there was no stopping them. Brandon walked into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him to finish the call.

"What was that about?" Callie asked once he returned, not noticing the look on his face quite yet. He looked like he just saw a ghost. "B? You okay?"

"That was the head of Tanglewood," he breathed, standing frozen by the table.

"Tangle what?"

"Tanglewood. It's a music festival in Massachusetts. The Boston symphony plays and the audience sits under the stars. They always have like, tryouts or rehearsals for other musicians to perform."

"Okay, so..." Callie slurred as she stood up, wondering Brandon's role in all of this.

"That was a cordial invitation. No one ever gets invited. They want me to end the night."

"And that's...good or bad?" She felt a little guilty that she didn't know anything about this, but not too guilty because she has never heard Brandon talk about it before.

"Good. Really good."

"That's great, Brandon!" She wrapped her arms around him to give him a warm embrace after a quick peck. "That's so exciting! So you're gonna do it?"

"Well, I told him I'd have to call him back."

"What? Why?"

"Because of our schedules and stuff with the girls and everything. It's a four hour train ride," he told, walking into the kitchen to grab a wet paper towel to wipe Colleen and Em's hands and faces. They were covering in pink juice from the strawberries.

"Do you not want to do it?" Callie asked while Brandon cleaned the girls up, putting them on the floor afterwards, secretly wishing at least one of them would walk again.

"Of course I want to, but you can't be the only one making sacrifices for this family."

"Sacrifices? Your plausible career shouldn't be something to sacrifice."

"I know it's just, you-"

"What does that have to do with Tanglewood? Oh look!" She exclaimed, completely forgetting her train of thought we she saw both Em and Colleen wobbling around on two feet, holding hands to support each other.

"Oh wow, they're both walking now!"

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A/N- Hey guys! I feel like this was total garbage ;/ but everything is important for the future. I hope you all enjoyed. Thank you so so so much for reading! XOXO

P.S. I just want to make a formal apology about my updating schedule now. I feel guilty that I had an everyday schedule, then every other day, and now every few days. I don't want you all to think I've strung you along just to become flaky :( I will not become flaky! Just hang in there!