During the walk toward the bathroom, Stef could both feel and hear Callie's feet dragging along the floorboard, but she thought it best not to speak. She wasn't willing to risk making a comment or doing something that would get Callie to regress back to the defensive mode she encountered this morning or even worse. She never wanted to see that side of her again.

Callie was still walking beside her right? As long as she was complying, she wouldn't push her into saying anything she didn't want to. At least not until her burns were checked out first.

And after the most dreadful walk in Callie's life, they finally reached the small sized bathroom that always felt cramped. The downstairs bathroom appeared even smaller to Callie now that two people were in it. And with that, and the sudden pressure she was receiving from Stef to show her where she burned herself, she felt as if she was suddenly becoming claustrophobic and the walls were closing in on her.

Her breathing slowed and she was forced to watch as Stef flicked on the light and leaned down beside the sink to pull out the first aid kit. With the corner of her eye, the blonde kept her gaze on Callie the entire time which didn't help ease the teen at all. And although Callie was bothered by the sudden lack of trust, she couldn't help but think it was very much needed. Mainly because she did feel the urge to turn back around and try her luck with running.

But instead she took a deep breath, while she watched Stef stand back up with the small white box, placing it on the sink counter and immediately after walking back over toward her. Gently, she maneuvered the girl toward the top of the toilet seat so that she could sit but hadn't expected the sudden movement to cause Callie to flinch again and ball her fists. "Honey, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't…I didn't mean—"

"No," Callie interrupted, "It's not your fault."

Then whose fault was it? Stef thought to herself as she kneeled in front of her and noticed Callie staring off at the blue towels that were on the rack. Stef realized that Callie was trying so hard to hide from all of this by averting her gaze at all costs. But Stef also knew that by following her into the bathroom and admitting to the self-harm, she was willing to receive help from her, despite the fact that it wasn't as strong as the fear she still had that was evident by the way she still had her arms placed over her body.

Stef thought that she would take this slowly for Callie. And she promised herself that no matter how she felt, she wouldn't emotionally react towards the sight of the wounds… at least not in front of her. And she couldn't help but feel relief that it was her doing the aftercare than Lena, though she didn't know how she would explain all of this to her wife in general. But she felt grateful enough that she was experienced in hiding her emotions. As a cop, she had to do just that so often when being called to heartless crime scenes that involved complete strangers. But this was Callie. How did it seem both right and wrong to hide her emotions when it was obvious her daughter was hurting? she wondered.

Rather than quickly reaching for the teen's arms again like she had in the living room, the woman gradually took her time opening her glasses case and putting them on. The entire time she was doing this, she was avoiding making eye contact. She kept this slow pace as she stood up to wash her hands and then opened the white box to remove the sterile gauze bandages. She grabbed two, not even sure exactly how many she needed, before putting her hand back into the box and grabbing the other four that were left as well as the gauze tape and the Neosporin.

Stef knew that taking her time and avoiding eye contact would help he daughter feel more relaxed, but they couldn't prevent the inevitable. She knelt down again and felt Callie's eyes on her now, and she had to force herself not to look back up or make any hint of emotion as she reached for the girl's arms one by one.

She felt the teen still wanting to refuse the help by the heaviness of her arm as she pushed them away and the way her body was slightly trembling, while she watched Stef threatening to invade her privacy.

Callie wanted to stop the woman. She wanted to push her away, but knew that she couldn't keep up with the arguing for the rest of the day and she wasn't up for it. Had she gotten some sleep the night before, she might've tried but she was drained of all the fight she had in her. Allowing Stef to pull up her shirt up to her bra and reveal the 11 regular-sized bandages she had to use, she felt a flush of guilt rush over her. Stef shouldn't have to be doing this. She had tried to take care of it herself. Why did the woman have to get involved? She cursed herself for not locking both doors again. And before she even realized it, she opened her mouth after Stef lifted off the first bandaid. "It was a mistake," she said in a barely audible voice.

Had Stef not been so close to her, she wouldn't have heard the comment. At Callie's sudden attempt to communicate, the blonde raised her gaze to meet her daughter's, trying so hard not to reveal her confusion on her face. "What was a mistake?" she asked calmly as she glanced back down to remove another two bandages so that Callie could feel free to answer.

"The burns," she mumbled and then took a deep breath as she tried to take up a normal tone again, "I hadn't meant for it to get this bad. I didn't expect them to… They've never been like this."

"You've done this before?" Stef tried to ask casually but the thought of Callie burning herself ever since she got to her home was starting to really get to the woman. How many signs did she miss? How many times did she walk pass the bathroom, while her child was in there hurting, and didn't bother to check?

"No…not really. Not with the curling iron," Callie clenched her eyelids tightly revealing the embarrassment all over her face. Again, she wished she never lost the lighter. She would've been perfectly fine if she didn't dropped that one thing in the first place.

An immediate realization dawned on Stef. "…With the lighter?" she asked as she tried to keep her voice free of any emotion but she regrettably raised her eyes to meet the teen again.

Callie instantly opened hers as she gazed back at Stef. Why was she telling her all of this? she wondered. This wasn't what she wanted. Did Stef think she was doing this all for attention? That was the last reason why, but why was it that Stef was right in front of her, giving her just that? And why was it that she was letting herself receive this much it, from a woman she barely even knows? She obviously had better things to do, being at work for starters was one of them.

Callie felt the need to explain, the need to tell her exactly why she did what she did. She didn't want this much from her and Stef needed to know that. The girl nodded her head to Stef's question and found herself impulsively spilling her thoughts again, "I didn't do this for attention—"

"I didn't think you did," Stef interrupted as she completely forgot about tending to the wounds for a while.

"I didn't even mean to make any marks at all. It was really an accident. I was just… feeling so out of control and upset that I needed to forget about it. I needed to think about something else, do something else, feel anything else…" Callie paused as she felt her tears welling up again. She quickly reached over to grab some tissue so that she could stop them before they had the chance to fall, but Stef grabbed hold of her hand instead and cupped it in her own, bringing it right back to her lap.

"Hey, listen," she tried to coo, "You're allowed to cry."

Callie shook her head, "No, I'm not. I just told you that I'm not doing this for attention and I go ahead and…" She shook her head again not wanting to make things worse. Why had she ever come back in the first place? Why didn't fight to stay at Helen's?

"Because you're upset," Stef tried to reason in a comforting tone. "It's perfectly natural to cry when you need to. I cry sometimes too. Does that mean I'm doing it for attention?" Stef asked hypothetically.

Callie stared at Stef for a long time, as if she didn't really believe she ever shed a tear in her life, and the dreadful silence worried the woman.

"Do you think I'm doing it for attention?" she asked in an shocked yet accusing tone, but making sure to smile right afterwards. "What about your mama? She cries even more than everyone in the house combined. Does that mean she's doing it for attention?"

Callie couldn't help but chuckle a little at the comment, "I'm telling her you said that."

"Oh, you better not," Stef threatened playfully as she wiped a tear from Callie's cheek and took a deep breath. "…The point is, you shouldn't have to hide your feelings from anyone else. Bottling everything up is not going to help you. And this isn't good, Callie," Stef finished as she pointed to her burns.

"That's not why I did it," the girl answered abruptly. "…At least, not the main reason… I was doing fine when I had the lighter," she tried to convince the older woman, but she could tell that Stef was not buying it by the sudden change in her posture. Her eyes were no longer on Callie's, instead they were focused on the removing the rest of the bandages. "…The lighter was helping me. I know you don't believe me, but I felt so much better after using it. It helped me forget and it barely left any marks. I never had to use so much as a bandaid when I used it, Stef. Look," she said, as she raised her arm up and pulled up the sleeve to reveal the tiny and barely visible marks on her skin.

They were the same marks that Stef's eyes had completely over-looked when she had checked for cuts on her wrists. She felt herself wanting to cry at the sight of her daughter's arm even more so now, than the giant burns on her stomach. And the fact that Callie was justifying one method over another was just making her want to fly off the handle…