Callie only heard one ring when she held the phone up to her ear, before Stef snatched it from her palm. The sudden action caught the teen by surprise.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Callie asked the blonde as she tried to wrap her mind around why she was behaving this way. If she wanted to leave, she was going to leave. They weren't going to force her to stay where she didn't want to.
Stef glared at the girl angrily before pressing the red button on the screen to end the call and bringing the phone to her side. "You don't get to do that."
"Do what? Call my social worker? Yes, I can! It's against the law to keep me from calling him, Stef! You of all people should know that!"
"I don't give a damn if it's against the law!" Stef snapped, not caring if she did in fact get in trouble for refusing the phone to her. "You don't get to use him as an out, Callie. It doesn't work that way. And you're not going to threaten me with wanting to leave just because—"
"Threaten you?" Callie asks sarcastically. "Don't you mean do what you wanted in the first place?" the girl spat back as she tried to reach for the phone in Stef's hand but the blonde quickly withdrew it back from her giving her yet another look.
"What?" Stef asked in an exasperated voice, finally getting some insight as to what had been bothering the girl. The only difference from not knowing before was that the small bit of information didn't put her at ease as she had thought it would. "Love, what are you talking about? You know I would never want you to leave. I—" Stef paused and sighed as she glanced away from Callie for a second, trying to understand why she would think that, but not being able to come up with an explanation at the moment. She took another deep breath before continuing and noticed Callie completely avoiding her gaze and shaking her head slightly as if she didn't believe a word that her mother was saying. But the welling of her eyes deceived her and gave her true feelings away. "…Sweets, why would you even think that?"
Callie crossed her arms over her abdomen in full defensive mode, not willing to allow Stef to break her down into talking or seeing the evidence from her burns either. That was what was most important above all else, making sure that she kept her mouth shut and didn't show anyone what she had done.
Stef immediately noticed the gesture but didn't give it much thought, since she was so focused on what to say next, "Callie, we can't fix any of this if you're not willing to talk to me."
"Who says I want to fix it? I'm perfectly fine with leaving it alone. I want to call Bill," Callie said in a practically emotionless tone.
"Sure, take the easy way out..." Stef started, hoping that the sudden comment would cause for some debate and get Callie to talk even more.
"Fine," Callie responded as she began to walk toward the door to use the house phone downstairs but Stef continued talking.
"You'd really leave your brother, and your entire family behind just because you're afraid? Is that it? …Running away again because you're to scared to open you mouth and talk to me?"
Callie turned her body around before she got a chance to walk out the door, just as Stef had suspected she would, "You don't know what you're talking about, Stef."
"Maybe I don't, but I'm the only one that's actually saying something aren't I? You cannot honestly tell me that I'm wrong when you're doing nothing but proving me right. Are you really okay with leaving Jude again? Forget about everyone else for a second. Do you not realize what that would do to him?"
"You and Lena already adopted him. While I was gone, Mariana took my place just fine from what I can remember. Jude will be okay," she finished as she began racing down the stairs with Stef following closely behind her.
"Because he's adopted?"
"Yes," Callie responded quickly and sternly without even realizing she had probably revealed too much until a few seconds later, "…No. It doesn't matter! Just don't!" she yelled as she turned around when she reached the bottom to glare at the woman. She hated her even more now because she knew that she was trying to pull more and more information out of her and Callie was giving in.
"Don't do what baby?" Stef pleaded.
But Callie couldn't understand why she was making this so difficult. And why she still felt like crap for being the cause of Stef's own tears welling up in her eyes. Her mind kept darting back to the blue lighter that had made her feel so much better before and she wanted nothing more than to have it in her hands to give her the strength to get through the rest of this conversation without saying another word.
The focus on what she could do later when this was all over would've been something to look forward to, something to keep her mind off of everything that had gone on.
"Don't do what?" Stef repeated, trying to maneuver her position so that Callie would be forced to look her straight in her eyes.
"This," Callie croaked as she gestured toward the older woman's stance and tried to turn around and keep walking but Stef immediately grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer, locking her in a tight embrace. But rather than breaking down or fighting back like Stef had suspected she would, Callie began yelling in pain from the sudden pressure being placed on her wounds…
