After finally being released from the hospital, Callie finds herself struggling to fit into a family - especially one as loving as the Fosters. It's up to Stef and Lena to teach Callie how to accept her place with them and to believe that she's worth it.

(Sequel to Girl Next Door.)


Callie opened her eyes and stared up at the blank ceiling. She found it strange when she didn't see the bright, industrial lights and the ceiling panels of the hospital that she was now so used to, but instead the early sunlight streaming through the leaves outside the window. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly; today was a whole new day and with it came a whole new chapter in her life.

"Good morning love." Stef said as she poked her head into the room that Callie now shared with Mariana, and found the girl's eyes open. "Sleep well?"

Callie nodded but didn't look away from the ceiling. It was almost as though the blank white paint was giving her answers that she'd been searching for.

"How about some breakfast?" Stef questioned, knowing that the girl would need some time to get used to her surroundings and feel comfortable. "Lena's making cinnamon buns and the kitchen smells heavenly." She smiled, hoping to entice her new guest.

"Okay." Callie said softly as she began to sit up, using the help of her hands to get her healing knee to the edge of the bed. It was still sore and stiff and and though Callie was able to get around a bit, she still needed a lot of help and support.

"Up you go." Stef said, putting an arm around the girl and helping her up despite the dull ache of her own injury. "We'll get you downstairs and then hang out there for the rest of the day - it's going to be just you and me." She smiled gently, hoping that Callie would feel just a little less awkward with the thought that it was just the two of them like it was back in the hospital.


Callie slowly made her way towards the kitchen but she may as well have been entering the circus - Lena and Mariana were arguing about Mariana's choice of outfits while Lena was simultaneously having a conversation with Jude; Jesus was teasing Mariana about why she'd chosen this particular outfit in the first place and Brandon was struggling to finish some homework that he'd put off until the last minute.

"I don't care, it's too revealing." They heard Lena say. "No one needs to see that much of your body.

"Except Chase." Jesus teased his sister who was newly crushing on the star of the school play.

"Wait, Chase Dillon? That guy's a douche." Brandon added his two cents, half listening to the conversation as he tried to get his trigonometry homework done.

"Don't worry, it'll be okay." Lena said to Jude, ignoring the bickering of her other children.

"Maybe, but he's Mariana's douche." Jesus teased in a flirty voice. "That's the only reason why she even joined the school play.

"Shut up." Mariana snapped at both her brothers before turning back to her mother. "Mama, this is totally in right now, all the girls are wearing it." She said, pointing to the black boob-tube that her mother was so against.

"That can be in as long as you stay in." Stef announced as she and Callie made their way towards the table. "Put something more appropriate on or don't leave this house, take your pick." She ordered.

"Aah, you guys are like nuns." Mariana grumbled but left the table and headed upstairs to change.

Stef glanced at Lena and shared a private smile at the fact that they were slowly getting their daughter back. She still tended to have moments of guilt, but for the most part she was back to her old self.

"It's just the basics. It's not a major test." Lena said to Jude as she offered him another cinnamon bun.

"What test?" Callie asked with a frown as Lena set a plate in front of her as well.

"Jude has his placement test for Anchor Beach this afternoon." Lena explained.

"Doesn't he just, like, get in, because he lives in the area?" Callie asked.

"No." Lena said. "That's only public schools. He needs to take a placement test and score at grade level to get in." She explained.

"Aren't you like the vice principal or something?" Callie pointed out, wondering why Lena didn't just wave a magic wand and get him in.

"It doesn't work like that here." Lena smiled in amusement at what Callie was implying.

"Well, so what does he have to do?" The young girl questioned defensively.

"Just basic general knowledge, history, grammar, and math." Lena said, brushing it off as no big deal. The last subject caused the two siblings to glance nervously at each other.

"Does it have to be today?" Callie asked, hoping to buy her brother some time. "Can't it wait?"

"For what?" Lena asked in surprise. "He has to start school."

"He can start when I start." Callie offered, knowing she had a while before she would be cleared for school.

"Honey, it's going to take you weeks, maybe even months, before you can go to school." Lena said gently, realizing that separating the kids again, even for just a few hours, seemed to agitate them both.

"Well, what happens if I don't get in?" Jude questioned, knowing that there was a good chance of that happening with his math skills.

"We put you in the public school" Lena answered easily. "It's a good school too, just not the same school the other kids go to."

"Don't worry baby, if you do go to public school, I'll join you there." Callie offered with a gentle smile as the two older women looked on.


"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Stef questioned when Mariana reentered the room in a slightly loose, long sleeve top.

"What?" Mariana questioned, avoiding looking directly at her mother as she quickly grabbed her backpack.

Everyone at the table looked on curiously as they wondered what Stef was talking about. Mariana was much more appropriately dressed so there was nothing they found wrong.

"Go upstairs and change this minute." Stef said firmly, giving her daughter a look that told her she wasn't messing around.

Mariana finally looked at her mother, trying to gauge just how sure Stef was of her hunch and when it became apparent that Stef wasn't going to back down she huffed one more time as she dumped her bag back down. "How the hell do you always know?" She questioned rhetorically as headed back upstairs, pulling off the new top to reveal the same boob-tube she had on earlier.

That was the first time that Callie had ever truly seen Stef in the role of a parent. Through their time in hospital, though Stef had taken on a more protective, guiding role; she had always been a friend but now she began to realize that that Stef and this one weren't the same.