Truth

Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, just what I have typed up here for everyone to read and enjoy.

Notes: The last episode The Fallout really struck a chord in me and I felt compelled to tell the story of what happened after the credits rolled. I'm basing this off of what we know so far in the show, last night's episode, and some personal experiences. I don't know if it will end up a Braillie story yet, but there will be a lot of Foster Family love involved.

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Lena and Stef lounged on their sofa, both still reeling over the day they just had. Who knew, when they woke that morning, that they would be spending their entire Saturday looking for the daughters ex-best friend turned their son's girlfriend. Thankfully the twins eventually convinced Lexi to come home and she was returned to her parents safe and sound; but both adult Fosters knew that their fight wasn't over with the Rivera's. Even though they helped them find their daughter, and now knew they were undocumented Americans, the Rivera's were not about to forget the fact that they knew Lexi and Jesus had sex and they supplied their 15 year old daughter with the pill.

They each took a sip of wine as they heard the front door close, signaling the return of the two oldest children in the house, Brandon and Callie. Finally everyone was home safe and sound and they felt that they could truly relax.

"Well, at least everyone's okay… for now," Stef said, closing her eyes momentarily.

"Hey guys," Lena said, looking over as Brandon and Callie came into the living room where they were lounging.

"Hey, where have you been?" Stef asked, turning to face the two 16 year olds. She was glad to see the two of them together and getting along, there had been some tension between the two for the past couple of weeks and she had been getting worried.

"Oh, I took Callie to group," Brandon said, gesturing to the girl next to him who clearly had a look of trepidation of her face. Without any preamble Callie started walking into the room, her eyes casted downward.

"Oh, that was nice of you," Stef commented as Callie came in front of the two women and sat down on an ottoman, facing them.

"Did you share?" Lena asked, hoping that her foster daughter had opened up a little tonight because the therapy leader had been worried about her. She hoped the conversation they had a couple of mornings ago helped her want to share with the group how things were going.

"Yeah, I did," Callie said, trying to smile but failing miserably.

There was a clear tension in the air, not between the two teenagers, but in general. Stef and Lena both felt something in the pit of their stomachs and realized that whatever was about to happen was going to change them, and their family.

"Well, I'll let you guys talk," Brandon said, turning to leave the room.

Callie took a deep, shuddering, breath before stopped Brandon by saying, "No, you can stay."

The two women on the couch shared a concerned look and both sat up a little straighter and turned their bodies towards their children. They could feel the seriousness of the conversation radiating from both Callie and Brandon.

Callie got herself more comfortable and Brandon came to stand by her, they weren't touching but his presence there soothed her and gave her strength to tell Lena and Stef what had happened at the Olmsteads.

"Um, I have something I need to tell you," Callie started, her voice wavering under her attempt to sound strong. "A little while ago I was living with another family, um, it was a pretty good situation. And they had, a boy, in the house with them, their son actually," Callie said, taking pauses throughout her speech. Everyone in the room could see how difficult it was for Callie to share this with them, both from her body language and the fact that she was gripping the seat cushion tightly. Stef tried to catch her son's eyes, hoping that they would give her reassurance that this wasn't the kind of conversation she thought it was, but his eyes were cast downward, refusing to meet her gaze. Lena also had a bad feeling about what this conversation as going to entail and she moved closer to her partner and grabbed her hand, afraid of what this young girl was about to tell them.

"He was, um, nice to me, really nice. Which was, you know, different than usual. Normally … Jude and I… we used to, um, do our own thing, No one, really, ever noticed. But, not him, he uh, he paid attention to me. He was older, like 19, I think, and since he could, you know, drive, he used to take me out for ice cream and stuff," Callie said, silent tears streaming down her face as her memories began to overwhelm her.

Brandon noticed and went to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, hoping it would help, but he saw Lena subtly shake her head, letting him know that Callie just needed to talk right now.

"He didn't pay a lot of … attention … to Jude, but, I ah, didn't notice that really. Not until later. He used to like, watch movies with me, my choice. But when he did, he would try to … um… touch me?" Callie said, her voice rising at the end, making it sound like a question. He voice waivered again and she took a quick deep breath to calm her nerves and get her breathing under control.

No one spoke for a moment, allowing Callie to gather her thoughts so she could continue. Lena gripped Stef's hand even tighter, knowing they were about to hear something horrible. Stef peeled her eyes away from Callie as she composed herself to look briefly at Lena, hoping she could keep herself together until they were in the privacy of their own room, and then to Brandon, who looked lost and on the verge of tears himself.

"I didn't say, um, anything to anyone about it. Because he was… well… nice to me. Sometimes, when his parents would go out, he would…" Callie paused a moment as she tried to force air into her lungs so she could continue. She choked out a breath so she could continue, "…he would convince them, to a, take Jude with them. Like to, um, the movies or something. But once they left, he would do other …things..with me," Callie said, her eyes darting from the floor to the walls to the ceiling. She refused to look at them as she told her story. She knew, deep down, that this may be the last night she spent in the Fosters' home. Despite what Brandon told her and assured her, she knew that this could get her labeled as a slut and thrown into a group home.

"One night," she paused to angrily wipe tears off her face, "one night he um, he came into my room. And he asked me to…you know?" she said, feeling her chest tighten up and panic rise within her. Her body shook forcefully with a shudder and she took a few shallow breaths to try and finish her story. "I…I told him I wasn't ready. He…he didn't care… he, uh, forced me… um, he forced me to have sex with him," Callie finished, her body vibrating with tiny tremors as she finished her story.

The other three people in the room didn't say anything; they didn't ask questions or ask for further explanations or details.

Very slowly, Lena pulled her hand from Stef's and slid off the couch and over to Callie. She knelt down next to the ottoman where she was seated and carefully, letting Callie watch her every move, placed a hand over hers. There was a visible reaction to the touch but she didn't pull away. Slowly, Lena uncurled Callie's fingers from the cushion and grasped it between her hands.

"This wasn't your fault," Lena said softly but reassuringly.

"No, I ah, I know," Callie said, nodding her head with a quick jerking motion. "Not…my fault," she whispered. And with those words the dam broke loose and the tears flowed freely. Lena took the opportunity to pull Callie towards her, almost situating her on her lap. She gently stroked her hair and whispered how everything was going to be okay and how she did the right thing by telling them.

Seeing Lena had Callie in her arms, Stef turned her attention to her son. She stood and walked over to him, clearly noticing the tears he had shed during the course of Callie's sad tale. No words were necessary; she simply took him into her arms and let him cry. Although he wasn't the one who had been hurt, he felt Callie's pain and wished there was something he could do to take it away.

"There's more," Callie whispered, her body not reacting the way she willed it to. She was trying to get the words out, trying to tell Lena about Sarah and how she was in danger but she couldn't. Her heart was beating wildly and her lungs left like they weren't going to inflate no matter how much she tried.

Lena, who was being very attentive to Callie, noticed the signs of a panic attack in progress. She carefully maneuvered Callie so that she was able to see her face and tried to get her to focus on her and not the situation at hand. "It's okay Callie, you are in a safe place," Lena said, getting her attention. "You are having a panic attack, that's why you can't breathe and aren't feeling well," Lena calmly explained catching the attention of both Stef and Brandon, who were immediately worried when they heard Callie was having a panic attack. "I need you to breath with me for a minute. We are going to breath in through our noses," Lena paused, breathing in deep through her nose and trying to get Callie to copy her, "and blow out nice and steadily though our mouth."

Brandon sunk down next to Callie, not touching her, and also began to copy the breathing technique, hoping that if she had two examples it would help her.

Seeing that Brandon was getting Callie to breath with him, Lena took a break from the breathing exercise to ask Stef, "Can you get me a cold wet washcloth?" Callie was sweating from the panic attack and the cool towel would help sooth and comfort her. Stef quickly went to grab what Lena asked for and watched as Lena helped Callie lean on her as she gently rubbed the washcloth over her forehead and neck.

"Feeling better baby? I know it's been tough, but we are going to get through this," Lena coached and slowly Callie's breath calmed down and she began to follow Brandon's pattern of breathing a lot easier than she had before.

"I'm okay," Callie said softly, not making any attempt to move aside from gently laying her arm across her stomach which was feeling a little queasy after the turn of events.

"Alright, well pizza is going to be here soon so why don't you lie down and relax in our room and we'll bring you some. This way you can have some time to calm down. One of us will stay with you, you shouldn't be alone." Lena said, running her fingers through Callie's soft hair.

"Okay," Callie said, allowing the moms to help her stand up. As soon as she was upright she felt the room spin and quickly closed her eyes. They quickly steadied her, and with Brandon's help, they moved her upstairs to Lena and Stef's room as quickly as possible so the rest of the house did not see her in such a vulnerable state.

Stef went to grab some pajamas from Callie and Mariana's room and Lena told Brandon to step outside and give Callie a moment to change and freshen up. Lena stayed in the room with her though, because she knew Callie shouldn't be alone after a panic attack like the one she just had.

Soon enough Callie was settled in bed with the TV on low. Brandon knocked softly before re-entering the room.

"How are you doing?" He asked, noticing his mom still on the bed with her, sitting close and offering comfort.

"I'm okay. Thanks," Callie said, not meeting his eyes and yet not wanting him to leave.

"Mama, Mom just went down to deal with the pizza guy, she said she would bring some up for both of you in a little bit. She wanted to get everyone else settled before though, so they wouldn't come up here asking questions or looking for answers," Brandon said, his eyes never leaving Callie's, who had finally met his gaze.

"Sweetie, would you be okay if I went down stairs for a moment, would you be okay if Brandon stayed with you?" Lena asked, wanting to be there when they told the rest of the kids that someone was going on, especially because she knew Jude wasn't going to be easy to handle once he knew something was wrong with his sister.

Callie didn't say anything, she just nodded.

Lena got off the bed, kissed Callie softly on the top of her head, and gently patted Brandon's shoulder as she left the room.

Brandon heard the door close behind him and knew, by looking at Callie, that it was going to be a rough night and that she would need all their love and support to get through it. He just hoped they would be enough.

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Could be a one-shot or could be continued. I felt so connected to the last episode that this had to happen. It may have to continue for the same reason. Let me know what you think.