A/N: I own nothing.
Also, I've changed a few things to make this work. Just how I wanted it to go down.
Callie felt bad about calling Stef and asking her to bring another set of clothes at this time of night. But after talking with Rita, she realized that she hadn't only come here for community day. She used that excuse and she, herself, wanted that to be her excuse. But in all honestly, she still wasn't ready to leave, despite Devani's attempts to send her back home.
By the time she dialed Stef's number, she considered hanging up and trying Brandon instead. But the phone already started ringing and asking her "eventual" brother to grab some underwear from her drawer seemed a little awkward considering their past. And even not considering her past, it would still feel that way. But something about asking her foster-moms for things, still didn't feel quite right for Callie. Which was part of the reason she got a part-time job in the first place, though she wouldn't tell them that.
Stef answered on the second ring, "Hello?"
"Hey, Stef?" Callie asked stupidly and she suddenly remembered she called the woman's cell rather than her house phone.
Stef laughed, "Yes…Mariana?"
"No, it's Callie," the girl said in confusion.
"I know who it is, sweets. I have caller-ID," Stef answered jokingly. "What's up? Do you need me to pick you up from Girls United?"
"No…" Callie mumbled in a low voice, still contemplating on whether or not she should ask her. It's not like she wasn't used to being told 'no' but it still made her feel awkward, having to ask adults for things when she had planned to be on her own by now.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Stef asked in a more alert tone, as she sat up from her bed and began to pull the covers off and slip her slippers on.
"No, no. Nothing like that," Callie answered abruptly.
"Okay...Do you need me to bring you something?"
"Yes," Callie answered without hesitation and she couldn't hide the excitement from her voice that hinted, that she was glad she didn't have to literally ask her. "But you don't have to, you know…if you don't want to," Callie reminded her.
"Well, you are definitely not Mariana," Stef chuckled on the other line of the phone.
"Huh?"
"Mariana would purposely make Lena and I drive back and forth every time she slept over at Lexi's. I kid you not, at least 3 car rides until she got tired of calling…or fell asleep."
Callie smiled at the thought, "And you didn't get mad?"
"By the fourth time, yeah we got mad," Stef chuckled. "But we always knew that it was because she missed not having us around to drive us crazy throughout the night. Eventually, we only allowed Lexi to sleep over here, because it was getting to be a bit much."
"Oh," Callie answered on the other line, not wanting to cause for any more stress on the woman. "You know what? That's okay. I can see if Cole or Kiara can lend me something to wear for tomorrow. It's not a problem."
"No, Callie. I didn't mean…" Stef sighed trying to find the right words to say. Why was she always sticking her foot in her mouth with the people she loved? she wondered. "What do you want me to bring you?"
"No, noth—"
"Callie, I'm driving over there in about a minute, regardless. So you can either tell me now, so I can bring it to you or you can not tell me…but the if that's the case, you'll have to entertain me for a long time, just so I don't feel like I came over for no reason. It's your choice, so choose wisely…" Stef added sternly, as she furrowed her eyebrows on the other line, waiting for a response, but suddenly realizing that it was pointless because Callie couldn't see her from over the phone. "Hello?" she said when she hadn't heard a quick response.
"…Just some more clothes…not a lot, but just for tomorrow. I don't think I'm ready to come home just yet."
It didn't take long for Stef to realize that Callie just called their house "home," but she didn't want to make things anymore awkward between them or embarrass the girl if she didn't, herself, realize she said it. "Uhm, sure," Stef answered with a huge smile spread across her face. "Not a problem. I can't sleep and I'm sitting here all alone anyway, so I could use the distraction… Is that it?"
"Uhuh," Callie answered semi-honestly. She realized that she felt just like Mariana had when she called them from her sleepovers.
"Okay. I'll be right there," Stef answered as she waited for Callie to hang up before she squealed on the other end and called Lena's cell.
Callie had been the only one who had lain awake as she waited for Stef to get there. It wasn't very late at all, but the girls at Girls United always head to bed early since they had to be up before 6am. Callie glanced at her cell phone for the fifteenth time before she headed toward the bathroom, having to check the screen every once in a while because she had it on silent.
By the time she looked back up, she noticed Carmen walking towards the bathroom and they both paused when they noticed each other, "Hey, Callie. What are you doing up? I'm surprised you're still here."
"Me too," Callie admitted. "I don't know. I'm thinking that I'm going home soon. Stef's on her way, and I'm probably just going to go with her." She hadn't planned on it, but listening to Stef say she was alone and couldn't sleep, did make her feel guilty for some reason.
"You don't sound too sure?"
"No, I am. I am," Callie made up her mind.
"Alright," Carmen said as she pulled her in for a hug, "Don't forget to tell Rita."
"Uhm, I'll probably leave her a note though. We all know how cranky she gets when she gets woken up," she reminded her.
"That's a good idea. Thanks for the advice," Callie said.
"Are you going to the bathroom?" Carmen asked as she pointed toward the door.
"Yeah, but I'll use the one downstairs. It's not a problem," Callie answered. "Bye."
"Bye, be safe," Carmen added.
"You too," Callie finished as she walked back into her old room to grab her overnight bag.
"You're leaving already?" Kiara asked, as she sat upright at the sound that Callie made when she hit her foot on the bedframe.
"Yeah."
"It's not because of Devani is it? She really wouldn't be stupid enough to come back and do something. And if she did, I promise you that she will regret it," Kiara answered with an obvious attitude, which made Callie laugh.
"No, it's not because of her… I just… I think Stef needs me."
"Uhuh," Kiara answered in complete disbelief. "Stef needs you. That's why you're leaving. You're just trying to be a good person everywhere..."
"Kiara," Callie whisper-yelled.
"I'm just saying. Don't be gettin' all soft on me all of a sudden."
"I'm not," Callie assured her as she stared at her bag as if she'd change her mind.
"I'm just playin' with you, girl. Don't you know how to take a joke? Geez, you're too easy."
Callie laughed, "Thanks."
"I'm really happy for you, Callie. You have a family who loves you and cares. And you're really doing really good. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise…especially not Devani's sorry-ass."
"I won't," Callie smiled. "I'm going to miss you."
"Girl, just because you got a family doesn't mean you can forget about us," Kiara explains, "You better visit," she says in a harsher tone.
"I will. Next weekend. I promise."
"Imma hold you to it," Kiara threatened. "Now, stop making all that damn noise and get outta here," she continued jokingly as she pulled he covers over her body. "A girl gotta get up at the crack of dawn in this mothaf—"
"I love you too, Kiara," Callie interrupted as she grabbed her duffel bag from the table and walked toward the door. "Tell the other girls I said bye, for me. I don't want to wake them if they're still asleep."
"Yeah… This weekend," Kiara repeated.
"You got it," Callie answered as she closed the door behind her and shook her head.
As soon as she got to the foot of the stairs, Callie began to notice a strange smell in coming from around there. At first, she thought about ignoring it, assuming that it was probably nothing, but she glanced at her cell once more and noticed that Stef still didn't call, so she followed the faint smell out of curiosity.
After realizing it was coming from the basement, she remembered that there had been some underground stuff going on and her first instinct was that it was Cole.
She opened the basement door and turned on the light and walked down, having already done so a billion times, every time she had to turn the power back on in the house.
And when she got to the bottom, she noticed the smell getting stronger and stronger. And when she followed it, she hadn't expected to see Becka hiding in between a couple of cardboard boxes. "Becka? What are you doing?" she asked in confusion.
"Shit, Callie! You scared the crap out of me. I thought it was Rita," Becka said as she started to stand up and walk toward the stairs.
That's when Callie saw the crack-pipe in the trash and she realized what was going on. "Becka, wait!" she yelled as she followed her up.
"Lower your voice," Becka whispered-yelled as she held stood at the doorway at the top of the stairs.
"Where is it?" Callie asked in a stern voice, holding up her hand for Becka to hand it over.
"Where is what?" Becka answered innocently.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Just give it to me. Don't make this any harder than it has to be."
"I really don't."
"Oh really? Hm, okay... Then why don't I go wake Rita and ask her if she can tell what the smell is?"
"Damn Callie! Fine! Here!" Becka yelled as she handed Callie the bag that was in her pocket. "Are you happy now?"
"Empty the other one," Callie ordered.
Becka rolled her eyes and handed her the other two small bags that were in her other pocket.
"Is that it?" Callie asked her.
"Yeah."
"Why would you do this? You were getting so much better, Becka. You were going home..."
Becka let out a frustrated sigh, "It was a mistake. I'll never do it again, okay? Just please don't tell Rita. I don't want one stupid slip to be the reason I don't get to go home."
Callie stared at the desperate look on Becka's face and she could tell that she didn't look all that different. Maybe she hadn't gotten high at all, and maybe she was telling the truth. But she knew that arguing with her now, wasn't going to do any good for either of them, especially if Becka was actually high.
"Just go to bed," Callie said as she pointed the girl towards the hall.
Becka hesitated before she glanced down at the bags in Callie's hand.
"I'm going to flush them," Callie admitted. "Go," she instructed as she watched Becka walk away but not before she mumbled a 'thank you' from the other side.
Callie rolled her eyes before she made her way towards the bathroom, making sure she closed and locked the door behind her, just in case Rita came in. She dropped her duffle bag onto the ground and glanced down at the three bags of crystal in her hand. She couldn't help but wonder why Becka would choose to ruin everything for this crap.
She wanted to believe Becka when she spoke, and she knew that there was a chance that it was probably only a slip.
But she also knew that if it was that easy to have a slip in this house, it would be ten times more enticing for her to mess up all of her progress out there in the real world.
She had to tell Rita, but it was going to be hard for her. Becka wasn't ready to leave, Callie convinced herself.
Maybe that's why Callie, herself, came back here and that's how she knew it wasn't Becka's time yet. Maybe Callie wasn't ready to leave either…
Callie opened the plastic baggies and emptied their contents into the toilet bowl and watched as all of the rocks span in circles as she flushed it. She grabbed some toilet paper and wrapped the bags around with it, making sure that it wouldn't be seen by any of the other girls or Rita.
She turned on the sink and stared at the running water for a while, as she washed the smell off of her her hands. By the time she woke from her daze, she began hearing the fire alarm going off.
"What the hell?" she mumbled as she took a deep breath and shut off the water and dried her hands with the hand towel. At first she didn't think much of it, since the fire alarm went off quite frequently in the house whenever they cooked, especially whenever Becka cooked. So she assumed that it picked up on the smell of the smoke. A little late, Callie thought to herself and shook her head.
Rita would surely wake up and she'd have to explain the whole situation to her, so that all of the girls didn't get in trouble. But Callie wasn't ready to glance at the look of betrayal on Becka's face just yet.
She needed to gather her thoughts first…
Kay guys. I promise things will get more interesting next chapter and this WILL be a Stef/Callie story. But all of these things needed to happen beforehand to make it work.