CHAPTER 12

Callie got up before the kids. She prepared everything for their day; lunch, clothes, and then she woke up both the little ones. It was still early, but she wanted to have a peaceful morning with them. And she felt a weird separation anxiety knowing that she would spend all day at work without them.

She left Mateo with the nanny and took Sofia to the hospital day care. Sofia was in a bad mood and didn't want Callie to leave.
Callie felt empty and had no comforting words to offer the little girl, so instead she just sat on the floor in a corner of the room, Sofia's arms around her neck and the girl's body pressed into hers for more than an hour.

"Sofia" she then finally said "Mamá has to go now. I'll see you real soon, baby"

Sofia pulled back and looked at Callie. She nodded and pressed her nose against Callie's.

"Did you talk to mommy about how many days?" she then asked.

"Aún no, mi amor"
(*Not yet, my love*)

Then Callie slowly got up and put her daughter down. One of the caretakers came over and asked Sofia to come and participate in a game. The little girl willingly went along, leaving Callie to go uptown for her first meeting of the day.

She had a busy day. She met with investors and went over budget reports with Eduardo.

At 4 o'clock she was wrapping up the day's work and getting ready to leave when Tim called her.

"Mrs. Robbins is gonna take the kids for the next couple of days and nights"

Callie clenched her jaw. Arizona had called Tim. Not her.

"Did she say anything else?" she asked.

"No"

There was a silence.

"Mrs. Torres?"

"Where is she?"

"I think she's at the hotel right now" he said.

Callie hung up, ran out of the building and into a taxi that took her to The Mazatlán in less than 10 minutes.

As she walked into the lobby of the hotel she saw Arizona talking to Tim. Eduardo was standing 10 feet away, holding Mateo and having a conversation with Sofia.

She quickly walked up to Arizona who was surprised to see her. The blonde clenched her jaw and didn't say anything.

Callie looked at her with desperation in her eyes.

"Please, don't take the kids away from me" she whispered in a broken and pleading voice.

They had never had any paper work drawn up regarding the kids. It was unlike Callie to not have her lawyers be a part of something that important, but she had not wanted her family life to be drawn up on a piece of paper. She had always trusted Arizona. And now she was afraid, that her own wrong doings would make Arizona take everything and run.

The fact that Callie looked completely broken mixed with the quiet desperation in her voice, softened the edge of Arizona's anger.

"I…Callie, I would never…I…we'll…work out a schedule" Arizona breathed out.

The look in Arizona's eyes and her words relaxed Callie. She knew the blonde was being sincere.

The latina nodded and looked down at the floor.

And then Arizona left with the kids.

Callie was alone for the next three days. She tried to call Arizona every day but never got an answer. On the third night she felt numb. She opened a bottle of wine and finished it in half an hour. And then she took a taxi to "The Boardroom".

She sat in the corner for hours, drinking. She never looked at the strippers. She had simply gone there for the alcohol. And to get away from the scene of her crime.

At midnight she was too drunk to get home on her own. Luckily the owner of the club knew her and knew what a broken heart looked like, so he called Tim who then picked her up and drove her home.

Tim held on to her arm as he guided her into the apartment. She hadn't said anything during the drive, but now she spoke.

"We haven't had sex in 5 months. Every time I approached her, she backed away. I...I thought I was losing her…"

"So you slept with someone else? You're an asshole!" he simply said.

His words surprised her. And their truth also penetrated her heart like a rusty nail.

She fell to her knees on the floor, clutching her chest.

"MY HEART, MY HEART, MY HEART! It's breaking, Tim, it's breaking" she sobbed, her whole body shaking with pain.

Tim helped her off the floor and into bed. As he pulled the covers over her, she whispered "I can't live without her"