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Up In Flames

"Take me back to your house." She demanded, "I can't be here. Not without Jude."

"Sweetie, I told you. I'm going to handle all thi--"

"You don't understand, Stef. This isn't about getting him back. This is about needing him." She took in a deep breath of air and blew it out, "I can't handle crowds. I've never been to a real school, even when my Mom was around. She homeschooled me because she knew I couldn't deal with that without having a panic attack. Jude was the only person who could calm me down. Having him by my side made crowds much more bearable. But I couldn't go to school since we were in separate grades." She explained.

"Why didn't you tell us this earlier, love?" Stef asked, turning the engine on, surprising Callie. She had expected the cop to say no and force her to go to school.

"I... I guess I just thought you weren't going to send me to school."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm just temporary."

Stef gulped and looked down, "Callie..."

"It's fine. Just drive us to your house, please."

Stef nodded, "Alright. Just let me call Lena." The cop dialed in her partner's number, and when she didn't answer the blonde left a quick voicemail.

"Alright love let's head home." She put the car in drive and made their route to thee Foster house, when suddenly a voice echoed from inside the car.

"We have a 10-73 in progress, a smoke report. The address is 4230 Airfield Rd."

Eyes wide with panic, Callie straightened up her back and stared down at the radio.

That was Jude's house.

"This is Officer Foster and I am on my way with a ride-along." The blonde announced, eyes softening when she saw the fearful girl, who was shaking in her seat.

When they arrived at the scene, Callie jumped out of the car, past the burning building and stopped in front of Melanie and her husband.

"Where's Jude?" She asked quickly.

"We don't know." The woman said honestly, "We-we were in a panic. We didn't mean to leave him behind..."

"You left him inside?" Callie shouted angrily, running away from the two and into the burning house.

"CALLIE!" Stef shouted, watching the girl jump into the house.

The brunette began to cough as she walked, not caring if the flames would hurt her, "Jude?" She called out.

"JUDE?" Callie shouted again, her ears perking up when she heard a terrified 12-year-old shout her name.

Running through the fire, she found the poor boy. He was crying and coughing at the same time. Scooping him up in her arms, Callie ran out the door as quickly as she could.

The brunette set Jude down on the ground and wrapped him in a tight hug, "Honey are you okay?"

He nodded in response, never letting go of his sister. Crying tears of her own, Callie kissed Jude on the head and held him tighter, ruffling his hair.

Stef wanted to talk to Callie about all this, about how she could've killed herself walking into that fire. But watching the two siblings embrace, she knew there was no way the brunette would be ready to talk. She was just happy her brother was safe.

Melanie marched over to the siblings and pulled Callie off him, "What the hell are you doing here? You aren't supposed to be within a hundred feet of him."

"Y-Yeah, I know but I was with Stef an—"

"You brought her here?" Melanie shouted at the police officer, "That is a violation of your job! I will be reporting this!"

"By all means, Ma'am I had no intention of getting Callie into any sort of situation like this. I was simply driving her home when a call came in about the fire."

"Bullshit!" The woman shouted, surprising Stef, "Tell me the truth, what the hell were you thinking?"

"What the hell were you thinking?" Callie shouted, holding her brother tighter.

"Excuse me?"

"How could you do something like this to me? I am his legal guardian." She spat, earning a curious look from the police officer.

"No, we are." Melanie's husband said matter-of-factly, "You lost all your rights when we adopted him. He's our son now."

"No, I'm not!" Jude shouted angrily, "You aren't my parents! You'll never be! Callie is my family."

"Sweetie..." Melanie soothed, getting closer to him. He glared at his so-called parents, "I don't want to be a part of this family anymore. I want you to reverse my adoption and lift the restraining order! I want to be with her!"

"Sweetie, that's just not doable. We want you to be happy, Jude. We just don't think it'll be safe with your sister. She's made some really bad decisions in her life, you know."

"Yes." Jude confirmed, "I do know. But the only reasons she did those things was to protect me!"

"Baby..." Callie whispered, kissing him on the cheek.

"I'm sorry Jude, we can't." Melanie said, not an ounce of guilt in her monotone voice.

Bawling, he ran back over to his sister and squeezed her tight. She ran a hand through his hair as she soothed him.

"Jude." She said softly, gently lifting his face up so she could meet his eyes, "Jude, I need you to listen to me, baby. I am going to figure a way out of this. I will get you out of this house, I promise. I will get you. You'll be fine."

"W-What about you?" He squeaked, "Is it true? A-Are you homeless?"

"Not now, at least. See that police officer over there?" She pointed at Stef, and he nodded, "She's letting me stay in her house until I get you back."

"A-And you will, right?" He stuttered, "Y-Y-You'll get me, a-and then you'll be my g-g-guardian, right?"

"Yes, baby, absolutely." She kneeled down and smiled at her brother, "And in the meantime I am gonna get a job. Because when you get out, we're going to buy a nice apartment and I'll send you to a good school. Doesn't that sound good?"

He nodded meekly, hugged his sister tighter. Stef was so transfixed by the love Callie had given Jude and the promises Stef knew that Callie would surely keep. Thoughts kept running through Stef's head as to how she could fulfill her end of the promise of getting Jude out of that house and into Callie's arms again.

"Um..."

Shaking her head, Stef looked down and smiled at the twelve-year-old. He smiled at her shyly, "Thank you for taking care of my sister."

The cop smiled at the boy, "Absolutely. You just hang tight, bub and we'll getch'ya out of this house as soon as we can, okay?"

He nodded, "Just please keep her safe."

Stef nodded and watched the siblings hug once more before finally parting for good. This whole situation was heartbreaking in the mind of Stef. Placing a hand around Callie's waist, she led the tearful brunette into the car and back home.