Callie woke with a start, she was breathing heavily and her body was soaked in sweat. Nightmares were always worst when she was sick. Even though she new she was safe in her room at the Fosters, she couldn't shake the feeling of Liam's heavy weight on top of her. She tried to get up but realized it was a bad idea when she became dizzy and nauseous, forcing her to lie back down.

She started feeling tired on her walk home from school and by the time dinner rolled around she had a headache and was nauseous to the point of not eating.

Because of her experiences in other foster homes, Callie was able to make it through dinner without anyone asking any questions. But now curled up in bed trying to breath through the nausea, Callie knew she couldn't keep up this rues for much longer.

Stef rolled over and looked at here alarm clock. 3am. Something was wrong she could feel it in her gut. Ten years on the force and sixteen years as a mother has taught her to always trust her gut instincts.

She checked on the boys first all were sound asleep in their beds. Well Jesus was so tangled up in his sheets that he was about to fall off his bed, but lately that's how she always found him. Opening the girls' door she looked for Callie in her bed but all she saw was a mountain of blankets. At first Stef thought that she had gotten up to go to the bathroom, but before she could shut the door she heard a moan come from Callie.

She sat softly on the girl's bed and pulled the comforter back. Callie looked up at her with glazed eyes.

"Stef?"

"Callie, sweets what's wrong?" Stef gently placed her hand on Callie's forehead, checking her temperature.

"Nothing, I'm fine." Callie answered with her go to response.

"Really? You want to tell me then why you are covered in enough blankets for a snowpocalypse and you have a fever?" Stef was met with silence as Callie just pushed her face further into her pillow.

"Callie talk to me I know your stomach is hurting and your nauseous. I saw that you hardly even touched your dinner tonight." Callie looked up at Stef surprised that the blonde mother paid attention to her eating habits.

"I know that some foster families can get upset if one of their kids get sick. But I think you should know by now that we are not like those other foster families. You need to trust that we will never kick you out, especially for something you have no control over."

Callie saw the genuine concern in Stef's eyes but because of her years of fear conditioning, she didn't even know how to begin letting other people in. The universe decided to help her push this discussion to a latter date when a sudden pain shot through Callie's stomach.

"Aaah!" Callie grimaced and wrapped herself up into a protective ball. She wouldn't let Stef see the tears that uncontrollably rolled down her face as the waves of pain crashed over her body.

Stef knew that Callie must be in a significant amount of pain if she showed 'weakness' in front of her. "Ok Callie girl you're going to be ok just breath. That's right just take deep breaths and this pain will pass, I promise."

Gathering the young girl into her arms she began gently rocking Callie. And with the pain slowly subsiding Stef felt her daughters breathing even out as she relaxed in her embrace.

All the commotion woke the bedrooms other resident. Mariana moaned and rolled over to see her mother and foster sister curled up in bed, lite by the hallway light.

"Mom? What's wrong, is Callie okay?" Mariana's concern for Callie was touching and Stef hoped that the girls would only grow closer over time.

" She's not feeling too good love. Could you go get mama for me?" Stef replied with a calming smile hoping her face didn't show the fear she felt. She hated when any of her babies were sick but because she had never seen Callie sick before it was like it was the first time. She didn't know what her medical history was, what she liked to eat when she didn't feel good and she wasn't sure if cuddling was helping or hurting her.

Just as she was about to pull herself away from Callie, Lena came through the door with a wet washcloth and the thermometer.

Lena took one look at her daughter and knew she was really sick. "Oh my…how is she?"

"Well she hasn't said much but from what I can tell she has a fever and a stomach ache. I'm pretty sure she was nauseous earlier, she hardly ate anything at dinner."

"Yeah I saw that too. I was hoping she just wasn't hungry." Lena said as she placed the wet cloth on Callie's forehead, rousing her slightly. She placed her hand on the young girl's shoulder trying to keep her conscious enough to figure out if Callie was hospital sick or lay in bed for a week sick. Both moms really hoped it was the later.

"Callie, sweetheart? I need you to wake up so you can tell us what's wrong."

"Nothings wrong….mmh just really tired…going back to sleep now." Callie must have forgotten or just didn't care that she was currently curled up in Stef's lap.

Stef decided it was time to play bad cop, "No no no, Callie you have to stay awake and talk to us. When did you start feeling sick?" Stef shifted Callie in her lap so that her back was leaning against Stef's front, making it harder for her to fall back to sleep.

"I don't know what your talking about I'm not sick." Callie was starting to get irritated with both women. She began to fight Stef hold on her and managed to escape and stood up beside the bed.

This of course went about as good as the first time she tried to get up tonight. The room began to spin but before it could go black, both moms had her lying on the bed. This was definitely not a lie in bed for a week kind of sickness.