Chapter 3

Arizona quickly entered her apartment before she let fear make her run away again. Upon entering she smiled down at her baby girl who was playing in the living, making her way to the kitchen Callie's back was to her but she could tell the new revelation she received today was weighing down on her by the way the taller women's shoulders were slumped. Callie looked defeated, it was a look that Arizona had caused her many times over their relationship and she hated that she could do that to the woman she loved. Callie slowly turned around to place something on the table and jumped when she saw Arizona standing there. "Oh hey, I didn't hear you come in. Dinner is almost ready."

"Callie, can we please talk now? Dinner smells great but I can't wait another second to tell you this."

"Okay, let me turn everything off and I'll meet you in the bedroom." Callie needed a minute to try to prepare for whatever Arizona was going to say. They were finally picking up the pieces of their happy lives after the crash and she just wasn't ready for their pretty pick bubble to be popped again. After making sure everything on the stove was done and the fire turned off she quickly walked into her room where she saw Arizona sitting on the bed with a box of what looked like to be pictures. She slowly climbed on the bed careful not to startle her wife. "What's all this?"

"Things from my past that will help me explain." She tried to keep her voice calm but she knew Callie could hear the fear in her voice. "Callie, can you hold me?"

"Yeah, sure." Callie moved closer and wrapped her arms around Arizona's small waist pulling her close. She softly cupped her face in one hand making the blonde look at her. "Before you begin I want you to know that I'm not angry or upset with you. I'm confused as to how you could be Nadia. I've been trying to make sense of this all afternoon and I just can't. I'm hurt that you kept something like this from me and I feel like I don't know who you are. I don't know how I would have reacted if you would have told me in the beginning or if it would have changed things for us but you could have, no, you should have trusted me enough to tell me."

"I know, Callie I know. There were so many times I started to tell you but I just couldn't. I kept hearing her voice tell me how no one would help me or love me if they knew how weak and pathetic I am." Arizona paused to swallow the lump in her throat. "I know that this is hard for you and I'm sorry for that. I just hope that when I'm done explaining I'll still have you."

"Arizona, you aren't weak or pathetic. Who told you that?" Callie was angry that someone would say something so harsh to her wife. "I'll try to understand."

"I'll get to that. Just let me explain everything first and then I'll answer your questions." Once Callie nodded in agreement Arizona handed her a piece of paper that the brunette recognized to be a birth announcement. "I was born Nadia Allison Karella on May 2, 1979. Everything you know about my family is true except for their names. My mother was Jennifer and my dad was Frank. Tim's identity didn't change because he died before any of this happened." Callie continued to stare down at the piece of paper that confirmed what her wife was telling her as Arizona went on.

"In high school I dated a girl named Joanne which I have mentioned before." When Callie nodded showing that she recalled the blonde mention the name Arizona handed her several photos of the two as teenagers. Callie had never seen a picture of Arizona as a child or teenager before and she smiled at how cute she was. Her dimples popped in every picture, she looked so happy and carefree but Joanne looked serious, even though she was smiling she looked as though she held the weight of the world on her shoulders. "We didn't last past graduation because I didn't want anything serious then. I was off to college to major in Industrial and graphic design and just wanted to have fun. She understood and we went our separate ways. Art was my life then but I always loved science so I excelled at both, anyways when I was studying at California University Bette came on as Dean of the Arts and she had an opening for a T.A. position which I applied for. We worked on a project together to see how I would do; I was attracted to her though. We did end up hooking up one time but she ended it after that and I was crushed. I really liked her but I respected her decision and decided not to take the job. Once the semester ended I took a break from school and went home to visit my parents. While I was home I ran into Joanne again and after getting to know each other again we decided to go try again." Arizona paused to catch her breath and to study Callie, the brunette was looking back at her with a look she had never seen before. "Callie?"

"I just…there's so much I don't know about you." Callie couldn't wrap her mind around this tale Arizona was telling her. The thought of Arizona being an artist made Callie was to laugh because she'd seen the blonde color with Sofia and she did not show any artistic skills.

"You know the women I am now, the one I'm telling you about no longer exist."

"Please continue"

"Alright. Things were great with Joanne at first but she wasn't the person I knew in high school. When I returned to school she decided to move out to L.A. with me, the adjustment was really hard on her. She didn't know anyone besides me and even though I tried to make her a part of my group of friends she never quite fit in. She was there for three months with no job because no one would hire her, she was angry about that so she just withdrew from the outside world and chose to stay home mostly. When she got really down I would stay with her and do my best to cheer her up and before I knew it it had been months before I had gone out myself. One night I wanted to go out to celebrate a friend's birthday, Joanne got really upset that I wanted to go out when she didn't. I invited her to come with me but she said now that we should stay in and after a long fight I finally told her that I was going with or without her. " Arizona shuddered at the flashback and she couldn't help the tears that fell down her face as she told callie what happened.

"Fince, stay here in this lonely hell you're making for yourself but I'm going with or without you!" All of the patience Arizona had was gone ad she was pissed that her girlfriend was being such a bitch about her going out.

"No you're not." Joanne gritted her teeth. "We're staying in tonight, you're not going anywhere."

"Joanne-"Arizona started but was cut off

"I said no!" She knew she was being unreasonable but she wanted Arizona to want to stay with her tonight.

"I don't need your permission." Why is she being this way Arizona thought as she finished getting ready. "I'm going so deal with it."

Joanne was furious and there was no way she would let Arizona leave her tonight, especially in that dress so she stormed into the bedroom after her. "Are you screwing her?" She knew Arizona wouldn't cheat on her but she was too angry to think straight.

"What?! No!" Arizona's head snapped up as she searched Joanne's face to see if she really thought she was cheating on her.

The taller women looked away from the questioning blue eyes. "Then why are you so insistent on going to see her tonight?"

"Christy is my friend and I want to go out. I want to have some fun." Arizona sighed as she moved to stand in front of Joanne. "We've been hiding out in this apartment for weeks now and as much as I've enjoyed having you all to myself I've missed getting dolled up and going out." She smiled sweetly and took her girlfriend's hand. "I miss going out with you, I miss our bodies moving together on the dance floor. Is that really so wrong?"

Joanne let out an irritated sigh. "We can dance here, just me and you"

"No, please stop being like this and come with me" Arizona brought Joanne's hand to her mouth and kissed it before pouting.

Joanne quickly snatched her hand away which startled the blonde. "Being like what?! You want me to stop wanting you?" The red head blink away some tears that had surfaced in her hazel eyes before mumbling. "You've obviously stopped wanting me."

Is that what this is about? She thinks that I don't want her? Arizona began to feel guilty for wanting to go and contemplating staying in with Joanne to show her that she did want her. "I do want you Joanne, I love you."

She knew Arizona's resolve was breaking and she fought to hold back a simile, guilt always was her girlfriend's weak point. "Everything you're doing tonight is proving that you don't want me."

"That isn't true, baby please. I do want you but I also want to go out" Arizona studied Joanne's face for a minute and could tell that she wanted to smile. Realizing that Joanne was guilt tripping her to get her to stay infuriated her. "You know what? No. You aren't quilting me into staying anymore." Arizona walked towards the front door. "Don't wait up"

"Arizona!" Before the smaller woman could step out of the door Joanne grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the door and closed it. "You aren't going anywhere."

"Joanne let go of me!" The blonde wasn't scared but annoyed, she was already late enough.

"You won't come back." Unconsciously Joanne tighten her grip on Arizona's arm, the only thing she could focus on was keeping Arizona from leaving. "I can't let you leave me again"

"Of course I'll come back, I fucking live here." Fear slowly started to come into Arizona as she felt Joanne's hold on her get tighter. She took in Joanne's appearance, her eyes were wild and her face was tight. Joanne was a couple of inches taller than Arizona and was by far stronger than the art major. There was no way Arizona would be able to defend herself against her girlfriend if it ever came to that. She knew Joanne would never hurt her until she heard the words coming out o her mouth. "Joanne, let go! Please, you're hurting me."

"I'm not letting you leave!" She shouted at the smaller woman while stepping closer to her.

"You can't make me stay." Ignoring he pain her arm Arizona ripped herself out of Joanne's grip, looking her in the eyes. "Now you're the reason I don't want to be here."

Before either of them knew I Joanne had slapped Arizona causing the blonde to lose her footing and fall, she quickly took advantage of the smaller woman's state of weakness and straddled her. "You're mine Arizona and you'll never leave me again." She softly stroked her girlfriend's cheek wiping away the tears. "Next time you try to leave it will be a lot worse."

Arizona was now shaking in Callie's arms, she was crying so hard that she could barely talk. Callie held her closer and whispered soothing words in her ear.The brunette had to push through her own anger and sadness to be strong for Arizona, she never couldn't have imagined that her wife had been through something so horrible. As she thought about Joanne and what she did to Arizona she vowed that if she ever showed up she would break every bone in her body. Turning her attention back to the sobbing blonde in her arms she noticed that all her walls were down and for the first time her wife was completely exposed. "Look at me." Callie waited for her to open her eyes and she smiled when she those beautiful blue eyes look up at her.

"I love you. I will never hurt you the way she did. You will always be safe with me and I am in awe of how strong you are. " Tears began rolling down Callie's cheeks as she continued. "I knew you were strong before but I never imagined you survived something like this."

"I'm not strong." Arizona turned away from Callie. "I couldn't stop her, I ran away like a coward."

"Baby, you are strong and you aren't a coward. You did what you had to in order to survive and that was both smart and brave."

"A year Callie!" Arizona's anger was rising and she knew she shouldn't be taking it out on her wife but she had held on to this for years and she had a right to be angry. "I let her abuse me for a year before I ran. She put me in the hospital so many times I lost count and each time I went back to her. I stayed because without her I had nothing and I was scared."

"But you got out Arizona, yes it took you some time but you got away from and started your life completely over. So many women wouldn't have done that, honestly I don't think I would have."

"Nadia died in a car accident or at least that's what she was told. My parent's and I staged my death and we all moved to Baltimore where we started over. I gave up art and attended John Hopkins."

"Arizona, we can finish this tomorrow okay?" When Arizona gave her a confused look she smiled gently at her. "Yes I want to know everything but I need time to process this all plus we left little miss Sofia to her own devices"

"Oh my goodness" Arizona sprung forward and looked towards the door. "Callie, last time we did that she drew all over the walls"

"I know. " Callie gently cracked up the door and took a few steps into the hall trying to see what Sofia was doing. Arizona was close behind her and stepped around her to see Sofia when heard Callie erupted in laughter.

Sofia was sitting on the table next to the bowl of spaghetti; she was eating it straight from the bowl with her chubby hands and had noodles everywhere. It was a perfect AFV moment. Arizona smiled over at Callie and smiled. "Looks delicious, let's join her I'm starving." Soon Arizona was right beside the little girl eating from the bowl too, "At least she's using a fork" Callie mumble as she went to join her girls.

If you or anyone you know is going through any type of abuse please, please get yourself or them away from their abuser. No one deserves abuse no matter what the situation is. Also, if you feel that you can ask for help alone you can private message me and I swear I will do all I can to help you.

You can call these numbers from help, everything is confidential.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233 | 1-800-787-3224 (TTY)

Child help National Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453)

To report or get help with an form of sexual abuse you can call 1.800. or visit the website.

/get-help/sexual-assault-and-rape-international-resources

Thank for reading. Please Review.

Peace and Love.