Callie had maintained small talk with Stef for a few minutes, but her energy quickly dissipated as the medications seemed to take full effect. Stef sat, looking at her daughter lovingly, stroking away her hair that stuck to her sweaty forehead, and alternating between rubbing her thumb soothingly on her daughters hand and bringing it to her lips to kiss. She tried to drown out the quiet mutters of Dr. Roth and Amanda and just focus herself entirely on Callie and her needs. She felt terrible that they basically had to drug Callie, part of Stef felt they were taking her voice away, and so much had already been taken away from her that night. But Stef also knew Callie couldn't have gotten through the exam without it. She was in too much emotional duress and physical pain. And she knew Callie was appreciative of the aid, not resentful of it. Stef still just couldn't believe this is where they currently were.

Every few moments Callie's eyes would flutter open, looking directly at Stef, making sure she was still sitting in the same spot. Stef would greet her daughter's brown eyes with a smile each and every time, whispering "hi baby" and reaching to stroke her forehead and rub the lines of distress away. Callie would groan or mutter something unintelligible before her eyes would once again flutter shut.

The sound of the tear of the adhesive seal of the evidence bag where they deposited the nail clippings permeated the silence that had fallen over the room. Stef looked towards the sound and found herself looking into Dr. Roth's eyes.

"We're going to start collecting DNA from her torso. So first we're going to swab any abrasions, and take pictures, and then we will use the blacklight to see if anything is there, ok?" Dr. Roth quietly explained to Stef.

"Yes, ok. What should I do?" Stef asked.

"Can you help Callie take the front gown off? Then just keep on doing what you're doing, you're doing great." Dr. Roth encouraged.

Stef turned her attention back towards her daughter, slowly rubbing her hand up and down her arm, trying to stir her. When she saw her daughter open her eyes she continued to soothingly rub her shoulder, "Hey baby. You're doing so great! I'm so proud of you. They're already done with the first part of the exam and they're going to move on now, ok? So we have to take the front gown off for this next part. Do you remember what Dr. Roth explained the next part would be?"

"Yeah, I do" Callie answered back. She went to sit up on her own, but a grimace of pain took over her face, and she couldn't manage to sit up.

Stef quickly stood from her chair, not expecting her daughter to be so proactive. She quickly reached behind her back to support her when she saw the struggle and pain take over her face.

"Hey.. shhh, slow down. Let me help. I've got you". Stef slowly helped Callie sit up, and supported her back as Callie tried to remove her right arm from the sleeve of the hospital gown. Soon an anguished cry filled the room. "Shh.. Wait, wait. Let me help ok? Just sit, sweetheart." Stef internally panicked, why did that movement hurt. She didn't remember seeing anything wrong with Callie's arms or shoulders earlier when she was helping her change at the house. But then again, everything had been so rushed and muddled together, and Callie was in an immense amount of pain, that Stef was focused on getting her to the hospital and didn't do a large survey of her injuries.

"Here, let me help" Dr Roth whispered to Stef, after being alarmed by the painful cry that came from Callie. While Stef held Callie up with her arms around her back, Dr. Roth slowly tried to immobilize Callie's shoulder, while getting the gown down her arm. She had a feeling the pain had come from when Callie moved her arm, the root of it, probably being her shoulder. The shock displayed on Stef's face proved Dr. Roth's inclination had been right. Callie's arm was a dark purple, seemingly still swelling, and it looked like it had an added bump, ironically the size of a tennis ball, on it.

"Oh my god. What's wrong with it?" Stef gasped and then whispered in an attempt not to panic Callie.

"It's dislocated. From the looks of it, it seems it was already popped back into place. But if it wasn't done right, or with force, it could've torn a ligament. She's got to be in a hell of a lot of pain. Amanda, can you bring in a shoulder ice pack, lets try to stop the swelling, and let's give Callie a dose of morphine, there's no way what we gave her is dulling that kind of pain."

"I… I.. I don't understand," Stef choked on her words, "I don't remember it being like that. I mean we changed everything so fast, but I don't remember it being like that. Oh my god! Did I do that by moving her? Oh my god…" Stef choked as a few tears fell down her face.

"Stef, there's no way you did that. A lot of the time with dislocations the swelling and bruising aren't obvious until a few hours after its been set. Who knows what happened. Callie's body has so much trauma, that her body is slowly trying to catch up. I know this is a lot, but she is one tough young lady. And I know this looks ugly, and nasty, but I promise, physically she's going to be ok, and we're going to get her home really soon. Do you want to step out and catch your breath for a minute?" Dr. Roth asked sympathetically.

"No, no. Of course not. I promised her I wouldn't leave. I can't leave her. I'll be fine, I am fine. And she is a tough kid. She's the best. I just can't believe this happened let alone physically she's like this. She doesn't deserve this. And that's her serving arm, she's been recruited for tennis, and she wont be able to even play."

Amanda came back in with the morphine, quickly administering it, while Dr. Roth took the ice back from her.

"Callie.." Dr. Roth tried to get her attention, but the medication had her out of it, turning to Stef instead, "let's get her out of the other hospital gown now and we will cover her with the sheet. I don't want to keep moving her arm in and out of sleeves, we need to keep it destabalized. I'm just going to cut it off, can you keep holding her up by her back? I want to grab any pictures of her back we need to while she's sitting up now, so we don't have to move her up again. Amanda can you bring me the camera, and some swabs and evidence bags?"

Stef held onto Callie from her front, Callie almost morphing her way into Stef's chest. Stef softly shushing her when she moaned in discomfort. "Shh. I know love. Just hang onto me for a second and you'll lie right back down. Shhh. It's ok baby, I've got you. Mommy's got you babe."

Dr. Roth worked at an intensely fast pace to try to get Callie laying back down. She took photos of Callie's scratched up back, and bruising that was starting. She took pictures of the back of her shoulder, which was beginning to bruise to match the front. She softly poked the protruding lump, which caused Callie to let out a sharp cry.

Stef continued to lovingly hold her daughter, while trying to peer over her back. When she couldn't get a good view herself she asked Dr. Roth pointedly "how bad is it?".

"The back of her shoulder is going to look like the front. She's got some scrapes and bruises. One bruise that looks like a footprint. But I don't think it's anything compared to what her front is going to be. Her back will heal. There's nothing to swab here. So let's lay her back down, ok? Just lean down with her nice and slowly, ok?" Dr. Roth instructed.

"Sure. Yes, of course" Stef took a stronger hold on Callie, while rubbing her now bare back, before slowly lowering her back to the bed. Stef pulled the sheet over her daughters now naked body, trying to preserve some semblance of modesty for her, excluding her dislocated arm which Dr. Roth manipulated and slowly laid on top of the sheet.

"I'm going to lay this shoulder pack on her, it's iced inside, and should help with the swelling. After we finish with the rape kit, she will go right for X-rays and a catscan. Why don't you sit back in the chair and hold her hand, while we do the swabs and pictures of her abdomen".

"Mom" Callie softly got out.

"Yes, sweetheart? What? What do you need?" Stef immediately answered, eager to do anything to make her daughters current experience even remotely better.

"I feel nauseous and like sweaty. Like weird heat going through my body" Callie whispered

Before Stef could say anything, Dr. Roth answered. "We'll give you something to help with the nausea Callie. It's probably from the medications, and from the concussion you probably have. We'll get a cool cloth for your head too, ok?"

Stef immediately became concerned about the concussion and Callie drifting in and out so much. "Doctor, if she has a concussion, she shouldn't be sleeping right? Isn't that bad?"

Dr. Roth smiled, remembering she was dealing with someone who actually knew a thing or two about these kinds of things. "Normally if someone has a concussion, they cant sleep for more then a couple of hours at a time, so we can be sure nothing else is wrong. But, given the circumstances and the amount of medications she has, it's ok. It's not going to create any damaging effects. We'll be sure she gets a brain scan to confirm that there's nothing else going on up there. But she wouldn't be this alert and responsive if there was."

Stef just nodded. Placing the cool cloth on her daughters forehead while the clicking of the camera went off in the background as Dr. Roth began documenting and swabbing Callie's abdomen.

Stef had been looking forward to this weekend for weeks. The twins had their classroom overnight field trip to the farm, and Lena was chaperoning. She hated not being with her wife and two of her kids, but she was secretly relishing that it meant she'd have a night alone with just Callie. She had plans to pick her up from tennis practice after work, take her to Chuck E Cheese for some pizza, games, and her total undivided attention. Callie had been doing wonderfully since picking up tennis. She had been right, having the distraction of something she loved proved to be helpful when she was anxious or having a hard time, it was something for her to look forward to. It turned out with tennis, it also was something she could feel good about, because she was very good.

Stef had pulled into the parking lot and parked in front of the tennis courts eager to see her daughter and start their fun night. But she was surprised to see Callie sitting against the fence and not playing. Getting Callie to stop playing everyday was like pulling teeth. Callie was sitting with her small hands holding the side of her head, while her coach crouched in front of her trying to get her to take some sips of water. Stef immediately walked around the fenced and onto the courts to crouch next to the coach.

"What's going on? What happened bug?" She asked. Her eyes widening in surprise when Callie let out a moan, and rubbed the side of her head as if she had a migraine.

"The ball machine there was still loaded when Callie walked in front of it, plopped her in the head. She was pretty close to it, and those shoot pretty fast. It was a good bonk".

"Mommy I feel nauseous and all sweaty and everything is spinny"

"Yeah, I bet it is. Look at Mommy for a second." Stef instructed while gently taking Callie's hands from her head and into her own.

When Callie didn't budge Stef coaxed her again. "Hey buggaboo. Come on. Look at mommy for a second, I want to see what's wrong. ok?" Stef took one of her hands to raise Callie's chin, and took one look into her disoriented eyes that were glazed over to know she had a concussion.

"Where did the ball hit you?" Stef asked before Callie pointed to the right side of her head, right above her ear. Stef gently ran her fingers over her daughters head, before quickly feeling a huge lump. Deciding to try to lighten the moment and use her funny voice, she exclaimed, "wow! you've got a tennis ball stuck in your head! That bump is going to be so big, your brother is going to be jealous". She saw a small smile appear on her daughters face, before reaching forward and lifting her into her arms. "Come on my little tennis champ, let's go to the Doctor to check you out. Thanks Coach Bradley."

Stef got Callie to the doctor to have her diagnosis confirmed - a concussion. She was under strict instructions to keep her hydrated, make sure she ate alongside the medication she was given for the headache, and to wake her every 2 hours during the night to make sure she could answer questions and was coherent. Callie was feeling disappointed they couldn't go to Chuck E Cheese as planned, but Stef won her over with agreeing to having pizza and a little tv in bed instead.

Callie had gotten changed into her pajamas and was cuddling into the pillows in the middle of her moms bed. Stef smiled as she walked in to the room, Callie could never decide which side she wanted to be on. "Here bugs, I got your blankey and here's some gatorade. You need to keep taking small sips, ok? It's really important you don't get dehydrated, because that will hurt your head even more. And here's some ice for your bump, I'll hold it on for you for a few minutes, until it gets too cold, ok?"

"Ok Mommy" Callie answered while slowly sipping

"Come lean back on Mommy, so I can hold the ice" Stef said while gently pulling Callie to rest between her legs. With one hand she held the ice and the other she wrapped around the front of her daughter, holding her tight in a hug as Callie leaned back into her and continued to watch tv. "Only a couple more minutes, ok honey. The doctor said not too much screen time, it's not good for your head for tonight".

"It's ok mommy. We can turn it off now. I feel dizzy and tired. I'm all sweaty, like I feel hot inside and it's moving all over my body"

"Yeah, that'll happen when you get bonked in the head with a tennis ball and get a concussion my lovable goof" Stef joked much to Callie's amusement. "Here, lie down, and I'll put something cool on your forehead so you're not so hot".

"Mommy can you sing me a song?"

"Well I'm not as good a singer as Mama, but I think I can do that, as long as you don't tell me Mama is better!"

"Thanks Mommy. You're the best. I love you"

"I love you too, my baby. So much. I even love your big bumps. Now close your eyes and try to sleep ok, your head will feel better if it gets some rest. I'm going to wake you up a couple of times tonight to make sure you're ok, like the doctor told me to do, ok?"

"Yeah, ok."

"Ok, good. Now close those eyes peanut. I love you"

Stef started to sing 'You are my sunshine' and took a wet cloth and rested it on her daughters forehead, while she continued holding the ice for a few more minutes. With her free hand, she tickled her hand softly up her daughters arm, bending down to kiss her nose when she saw her eyes flutter shut.

Stef was diligent about waking up every two hours and making sure Callie was ok. After the third wake up call and Stef thinking she was hilarious in asking Callie who her favorite parent was, Callie caught on to her and cheekily answered, "depends which one is asking". Stef was mighty proud of her offspring, and rewarded her with Chuck E Cheese a few days later when her concussion was gone, and her bump had shrunk.