I should be updating my other stories, but I had been asked to do a take on the last episode and every time I watch the ending I keep feeling like I wanted something different to happen. So this is the result.

People always talk about playing with fire and they use it to reference taking chances knowing the risk of getting hurt, or getting burned. Callie had spent the majority of her life playing with fire within the foster system. Every new home was like sticking your hand in the fireplace and praying you don't get that badly burned. That thought crossed Callie's mind as she stood in the foyer of Girls United with thick smoke filling her lungs and the free space around her and the other girls. She heard Rita yelling at them to get out, while she went in search of Becca. The other girls left without any fuss, but Callie took one step toward the door and felt an all too familiar tug at her heart. Becca was her friend, even though neither girl really wanted that to be true it was and Rita…well Rita was the first adult outside of Stef and Lena that was willing to get into the gutter with Callie and pull her out. She looked at the wide-open front door and at the girls outside and savored the moment, knowing that what she was about to do could make this her last chance to see the freedom that door offered.

She followed Rita down the stairs of the basement and with each step the air became denser and Callie felt like she was breathing in nothing but dirt. She tried to shield her nose and mouth a bit as she raced toward the flames and to Rita holding Becca in her arms, in a position hat suggested that she was resigned to die in the fire just so that Becca wasn't abandoned yet again. Callie appeared at Becca's feet and before Rita could protest Callie grabbed Becca under her arms and with strength Callie didn't know she had she pulled the other girl up enough that Rita could wrap her arms around her waist and begin to slowly pull her toward the stairs. Callie helped with Becca's feet for a few steps, but as they reached the stairs the fire had spread and all Callie heard was a crack and then a loud crash before she was knocked off her feet by a supporting beam.

"Callie! Honey here grab my hand." Rita extended her arm as far as it could have possibly gone, but Callie knew there was no way the woman could save them both.

"Take her up the stairs while you still have a grip on her waist."

"Callie I am not leaving you down here."

"Yes you are, I can lift this off. I'll be burned a bit, but I'll survive. She will not if you don't get her out now. Go!" Callie knew it was a lie. Hell, Rita knew it was a lie. Callie couldn't have lifted that part of the beam from her level regardless of how hard she tried. Callie didn't know what she was thinking, but she knew what made sense; one life, in exchange for two was basic math and Callie was willing, as she had been so many times before to make the ultimate sacrifice for someone else. Rita tightened her grip and took another step up the stairs.

"I'll send the fire team in for you. Don't give up just yet Callie." Rita disappeared and Callie looked down to check how screwed she really was. The beam had trapped her left leg and Callie could fell that it was broken. The fire on the beam had just hit the part of the beam that was on her leg and Callie realized that slowly burning to death was not going to be painless. Her thoughts drifted to Jude, who was sound asleep, not aware that his big sister was in mortal danger. She thought to Stef who was on her way to pick her up and her heart almost stopped. She didn't want her mother to watch her die. She didn't want to die. Knowing that she would indeed get burned further Callie risked it and used most of her strength to push the beam off her leg so that she was no longer pinned underneath it.

She managed to army crawl up to the stairs and move her body up the first few steps. Callie looked up at the remaining stairs and realized it would be an honest miracle if she made it to the top. She dug in her jacket picket and found her cell phone that somehow still worked. She typed fast and deliberately, sending messages to only a few people. Somewhere in Jude's duffel bag Lena's cell phone buzzed. Brandon's buzzed while he was in the shower. And Stef's phone went off while she was sitting at a red light. She never usually checked texts and drove, but it was Callie's ringtone. Stef looked down for a second and read, 'In case you get here and it's too late, please know I love you. You were the first person since my mom died who I saw as a hero. You saved me and for that I'll love you always. Tell him I love him please.'

Stef's face blanched and she immediately started to speed down the road with her phone pressed to her ear.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up." She chanted as she took turns at twice the recommended speed.

"Mom?" Stef started to cry harder. She could hear Callie coughing and the fear in her daughter's voice was clear as day.

"Callie, baby, I'm almost there, what happened?"

"Fire."

"Callie where are you? Get out of the house." Stef barked into the phone and tried not to cry any harder.

"I can't….love you."

"Hey, none of that, no more goodbyes. I love you too, but I'm almost there and I will come get you myself if I have to."

"No…you live…for him…please."

"Callie." Stef almost whispered it.

"Love you." The line went dead and in the end it didn't matter because Stef could finally see the fire truck and ambulances in front of her. She threw the car into park and ran full speed toward the house only to be stopped by a firefighter.

"Ma'am, you have to stay out here. That house is dangerous."

Stef pushed and fought him as much as any mother could. "I don't care my daughter is still in there and I will not bring her home in a body bag. LET ME GO!" Stef's hysterics weren't helped when a loud crash echoed in the house.

"CALLIE!" The teenagers outside watched as Stef totally lost it on the front lawn. Rita finally broke away from Becca and stood next to Stef and they were forced to watch and wait, because regardless of that crash the firefighters were still in that house and hadn't given up yet.

While all that was happening outside, at the same time inside Callie had managed to get half way up the stairs before he body just wouldn't do any more. Her arms weren't burnt and were even more injured from pulling her up the stairs. Her leg screamed with every single movement her body made and her lungs were full of smoke. Callie realized it was over and rested her head against the stair railing. Roughly two minutes later, just as she was about to pass out completely she felt strong hands grab her under her arms and pull her up, eventually she was being held, or so she guessed. She felt as though she was being cradled in someone's arms. There was a huge crash that had been the result of the basement staircase totally giving out. Callie didn't know what was going on, but she hoped whoever was holding her was real and not an angel of some kind. She felt cold air and before she lost consciousness she grabbed her rescuer's jacket and said in a firm tone, "not today."

Stef watched the front door and did something she didn't do often; pray. She prayed hard that soon a firefighter would come out of the fire with her daughter in toe. Her prayer was interrupted by Rita shaking her arm and forcing her to look at the door closely. Stef did and could make out one firefighter walking out and he was shouting orders at the EMT's and before Stef could try and understand what he was telling them, she saw one more firefighter walking through the doorway and he was in fact holding Callie in his arms. This time the let Stef through as the tall man laid Callie on the stretcher. Stef watched as the EMT's scanned her body fast to assess the injuries. They were mostly concerned about her leg and her lungs. They assured Stef that the burns on her hands and arms were not as serious and wouldn't require skin grafts, just time to heal. They quickly loaded Callie into the ambulance and Stef climbed in with her. The whole ride Stef didn't know what to do with her hands. She wanted to hold her child, but couldn't. So instead she watched helplessly as the EMT cut off Callie's jacket, shirt and began cutting through her pants when they pulled into the ER. The door of the ambulance swung open and Stef could see a team of roughly 12 doctors waiting to take Callie. She was allowed to follow them for a while, but as they entered the trauma bay she was once again held back and forced to deal with not knowing what was going on.

When Stef finally made herself sit down in the waiting room it was all too easy to start crying again. Stef was usually the level head when the kids got hurt, but Lena was god knows where and this time it wasn't a broken arm or a bump on the head. Her daughter had been caught and trapped in a fire that burned her skin, broke her leg and filled her lungs with smoke. So yes Stef was crying because for the first time she was sitting in an ER waiting room because of one of her kids and this time she had no guarantees that Callie would be alright.

Her phone buzzing stopped the flow of tears and she sniffled before answering in as even as a tone as she could.

"Hey B."

"Mom, what the hell is going on. I just checked my cell and Callie sent me some weird message saying she loved all of us and to tell the twins goodbye. Where is she? Where are you? I thought you were picking her up?"

"Brandon…no B, she isn't ok. I'm at the ER and they just took her back." The line was fairly silent as Brandon let that news sink in.

"What happened?"

"There was a fire. I'm not sure the cause, but your sister decided to help save two other people and in the process got pinned under a beam. The firefighters got her out just before the stairs collapsed."

"But she'll be ok right?"

"I don't know Brandon. I wish I did, but I have no idea. Listen to me though. I'm not leaving here until they give me some good news so Callie is safe now and is being cared for. I need you to help me."

"Ok."

"Call your dad and have him go pick up my car from the scene and then call Mama. I know her phone is on silent, but call it non-stop ok B? Keep your brother and sister there and I'll call the second they tell me anything."

"Alright."

"I love you Brandon."

"I love you too mom." Stef hung up the phone and rubbed her hands over her face a few times before she set about making other phone calls. She called her mother, Lena's parents, she called her boss to call in all her sick days and paid vacation and just as she was about to try calling Lena, a doctor came out calling Callie's name.

"I'm her mother." Stef stood up and the doctor walked over and shook Stef's hand.

"Mrs. Foster, I'm Dr. West, I'm lead on your daughter's care and I'm the head of the burn unit here."

"How are the burns?"

"I know in the field they must have looked awful, but she was luckier than you realize. The burns on her leg are mostly 2nd and 3rd degree burns. The ones on her hands are mostly all 3rd degree, but the damage doesn't appear to be severe enough to require skin grafts. They will take time to heal, but they'll heal. As they heal, we can have a plastic surgeon take a look at them and minimize the scaring."

"Then if the burns are treatable then why did she pass out?"

"A combination of severe pain, adrenaline spike and crash and her lungs took in a dangerous amount of smoke."

"Define dangerous, what does that mean for her?"

"It means that we have intubated her to get that out of her lungs and replace it with pure oxygen. Once her levels come up she should wale up on her own and we'll remove the tube soon after that and put her on a mask. They are fixing her leg in surgery now. Once she is out, she'll be in the burn unit until she wakes up and then we'll move her to the ICU. Then it's up to her body when she can go home."

"Look I know doctors hate this question, but I've got four other kids at home, one of them is her baby brother and my wife will be running in here any minute now asking if she will be ok, so please answer me this, is she going to make it out of this?"

"All our tests point to yes Mrs. Foster. She'll be hurting and breathing will hurt for a while, but you tell her baby brother that his big sister will be back home eventually and she'll be back to her old self when she gets there. Her brains cans were clear so the major concern is her lung functioning. I need to get back there, but the second she is in a room I'll come get you." Stef let the doctor go and she sat back down, finally letting go of the breath she had been holding in. Her phone rang and it was Lena so she took one more deep breath and answered.

Ok, I didn't mean for this to be long, but it's gonna be like two or three chapters, but be patient because I have other stories that REALLY need my attention. Let me know what you think.