Callie wasn't sure how much time had passed when Holden showed back up at the hospital room with a paper bag in one hand and a smile on his face.
"I come bearing gifts and good news," he announced, and Callie looked at him in confusion.
"I have a specialist flying in to look at Lady Arella in just a few hours. Not only that, but I went to the school and got some answers. I don't think they've given you the full story. I've reached out to more of my contacts and I'm getting that situation sorted as well. Best of all, I've brought you dinner!"
"I'm not hungry," Callie replied immediately.
"'Course you are, love. Whether you want to admit it or not. You need to eat or else you'll wind up in an adjoining bed. Come now. I got your favorite—Wendy's."
Callie bit her lip as she debated whether to accept the food. She felt guilty to think about eating when Ari was still unconscious, but Holden was right: she had to eat or else she would end up sick, too.
"When's the last time you ate, yesterday morning? Thought so," he said as her avoidance of eye contact provided the answer he needed. Holden plopped the bag in her lap, opening it up for her. "I'll feed you piece by piece if that's what it takes, love. You must eat."
Callie inhaled the smell of fries and chicken nuggets, her stomach growling immediately in response. She forgot about her hesitation and dug in, inhaling half of the fries and two packages of chicken nuggets before taking a moment to relax. Holden had pulled up a chair next to her and watched in amusement.
"Thanks," she said before devouring the rest of her fries.
"Anytime, my Queen, anytime. I'm at your service."
"Well, I really appreciate it. Thank you for the doctor, too, that's…I can't even express how thankful I am. And thank you for going to the school."
"Of course. Speaking of which, you didn't tell me that the FBI came by earlier."
"Oh! Yeah, it was so weird. The one didn't seem too bad—he was a giant! But the other one was kind of a dick. I don't understand why they were here. I mean, how did they even get involved? And how did you find out about them?"
"The school mentioned they stopped by just before me," Holden replied. "Apparently asked a lot of questions, wanted to look at the room where everything happened. As did I, which is why I'm convinced that they're holding back something."
Callie shook her head. "This whole thing is weird, and the FBI being here was weird, and the school lying is weird. Oh! I didn't even tell you the best part, with those FBI agents? It's going to sound crazy, but I swear it's true. I heard them talking outside the room about angels and witches. One of them said something about Purgatory! Isn't that insane?"
"Quite."
"That's all you have to say about it?"
"Well, my dear, what would you like me to say? It sounds completely mad."
Callie frowned, tilting her head a little in confusion. Holden didn't seem surprised by any of this information, but she figured she was just misreading things. He was worried about Ari, too, after all.
"Yeah. Crazy stuff," she agreed.
They both fell quiet, an awkward tension in the air. Holden's phone buzzed suddenly, and he looked at it before frowning.
"I'm so sorry, my Queen, I need to leave. The doctor coming in knows what room, knows your name, and knows precisely who Lady Arella is. I'm hoping to be back soon, but I might have to leave town again," he explained.
"Really? You can't stay?" Callie realized after she asked how desperate her voice sounded, and Holden must have heard it, too.
He stepped closer to where she was sitting, taking her hands in his and pulling her to her feet. She looked up the couple inches of height he had on her, meeting his intense gaze.
"Calypso," Holden said softly, and Callie shivered at his use of her name. "I will do everything I can for you and Lady Arella, even if I can't be here with you. I want nothing more than to remain at your side, truly. There are some things I must take care of myself, however. I beg for your understanding."
"Beg? You don't beg anyone for anything," Callie said with a hint of a smile.
"You've changed me, love. I'd do anything for you, both of you."
His gaze continued to pierce her, and despite everything going on, or maybe because of it, she was precisely aware of how close he was, and how warm her hands felt in his. He lifted one of his hands to gently thumb her cheek, and Callie felt her throat tighten. She watched as he bent slowly toward her, closing her eyes at the last moment as his lips touched hers. The kiss was gentle and sweet, and to her continued surprise, left her wanting more. When she opened her eyes again, she saw a small smile on his face.
"Anything," he said, his tone immediately cold, and Callie shivered once again for an entirely different reason.
Callie waited impatiently for the new doctor to arrive after Holden left. She wasn't sure exactly when the doctor would get there, but she was hoping it was soon. She didn't know how much more she could take with everything that was going on. It felt like Callie had been spinning helplessly for weeks, even though it had only been a couple days since Ari's accident.
If you could even call it an accident.
She managed to get through a couple more hours of waiting when a woman in a white coat came in.
"Hi there, I'm Dr. Bydon," the woman introduced.
"Callie," she replied quickly, jumping to her feet and shaking Dr. Bydon's hand.
"Nice to meet you, Callie. I'm here to take another look at Miss Arella, of course."
"How long will it take?"
Dr. Bydon frowned thoughtfully.
"Well, I'll want to review what tests she's already had, along with the imaging. If I decide that we need more imaging, we'll go ahead and order it for her and get it done. Might be another six or eight hours before I can really gather my thoughts and work up a recommendation. Callie, when's the last time you got some rest?"
Callie started to answer before pausing, unsure of what the answer was. Dr. Bydon frowned, this time with concern.
"Why don't you go home, get some rest, and come back in the morning?"
"I can't leave Ari," Callie replied immediately.
"You aren't any good to her if you can't stay awake. Based on what I've been informed of, it's unlikely she would wake up while you were gone. If she does, I can have one of the nurses call you right away. Go home. Get some rest. Come back in the morning and we'll talk, okay?"
Callie hesitated, glancing at Ari as she debated. After a few moments, she heaved a sigh and nodded.
"Okay. Yeah, I'll do that. Thank you, Dr. Bydon."
"Of course. I'll see you soon."
The entire drive home, Callie debated turning around and going back to the hospital to wait. After all, Ari was all alone. It wasn't as though another parent or family member was there with her. If she woke up and Callie wasn't there, Ari would be terrified, especially after whatever happened at the school. The moment she walked through the door and went to her bedroom the debating stopped. Callie flopped down on top of the bed, immediately asleep.
Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz.
Callie inhaled sharply and opened her eyes, trying to figure out what was going on. She felt disoriented and panicked. She realized her phone was ringing, and then remembered everything that was going on.
"Hello?"
"Miss Richards? It's Nurse Alana from Cameron Memorial Community Hospital," a woman said.
"Yes? Is Ari okay? What's going on?"
"Miss Richards, she's awake and she's asking for you. We don't under—"
Callie didn't hear the rest of what was said. She ended the call and immediately raced for the door. She was still dressed in the clothes from two days prior and hadn't even taken off her shoes when she got home. Based on the time, she had about seven hours of sleep, which was more than enough.
Callie ran the entire way to Ari's room, dodging patients and visitors alike as she traversed the halls. She didn't bother with the elevator and instead raced up the stairs, unwilling to slow down unnecessarily for even a moment. When she ran into Ari's room, Ari was sitting up and laughing with a nurse at her bedside.
"Mommy!" Ari yelled, moving to get up.
Callie closed the distance before Ari could get anywhere and enveloped her in a tight hug.
"Oh, my sweet girl, oh Ari. I was so worried about you!"
"What happened? How come I'm in the hospital?"
Callie's relief was interrupted at that question. She wasn't sure if that meant Ari had brain damage of some kind or if memory loss was normal with whatever happened to her.
"The doctor is on his way," the nurse said as she stepped back, and Callie flashed her a small, grateful smile.
"Something happened at school, sweetie. Do you remember anything?"
Ari frowned before shaking her head.
"There was some sort of fight between you and a boy, do you remember that?"
Ari pouted her lower lip far out, frowning.
"Was it Darren? He's always so mean to me," Ari said sourly.
Callie almost smiled at her daughter's tone. It was incredible to have gone from not knowing if she would ever wake up again to watching her behave as if nothing had happened, sassy as usual.
"I think so. He got hurt pretty bad. They said that something happened between you two at school, and you hurt him. Then you fell, or something, it isn't clear what really happened. I was hoping you could tell me a little more, but maybe you just need some time," she replied.
Before Ari could respond there was a knock on the door frame.
"Hi there, I'm Dr. Carter," a tall man told them.
"Where's Dr. Bydon?" Callie asked, and Dr. Carter looked at her with confusion.
"I'm sorry, who? Dr. Bydon? We don't have anyone here by that name."
"No, of course not, she's a doctor that a…friend…of mine brought in to consult on Ari's case. I assumed I would be speaking with her?"
Dr. Carter continued to frown before pulling up information on a tablet he was carrying.
"I don't see anything in her chart about a consulting doctor. Are you sure about all of this?"
Callie stomped a foot and huffed air forcefully out from her nose.
"Of course, I'm sure. Dr. Bydon got in last night, I met with her, and we talked for a couple minutes about Ari and the plan! Maybe your notes aren't updated."
"Unlikely, seeing as I'm the doctor who's been on all night. My shift's over in about thirty minutes, and I didn't see any other doctors here, nor did any doctors request patient files."
Callie paused. She was having trouble understanding what was happening. She was sure Dr. Bydon must have done something that allowed Ari to wake up.
"Is this a neurosurgeon?" Dr. Carter asked, and Callie nodded briefly. "Well, I do see a Dr. Bydon who's a neurosurgeon, but he is a doctor at Johns Hopkin's. I would be surprised if he was consulting on the case."
"But that doesn't…I mean, I don't…" Callie trailed off as Dr. Carter stared at her.
"Ari, would it be okay if I take a look at you?" he asked, and Ari nodded after a glance at Callie.
Callie did her best to stay calm as the doctor examined Ari. He seemed happy with her responses, and not worried by the lapses in her memory and her confusion about what happened to precipitate her collapse.
"Ari, it's been a pleasure talking with you," he said kindly, and Ari giggled. "I'm going to speak with your mom outside for a few minutes, okay? We'll do our best to have you back home as soon as we can."
Callie followed Dr. Carter into the hall, nervously biting her lip as she glanced at Ari. Holden said he was having a friend come in, but Callie didn't understand why there would be no record and why the only Dr. Bydon was listed as being male.
"From everything I'm seeing in my exam, she seems to be doing perfectly well," Dr. Carter said.
"Really? What about her memory loss of the incident? Is that normal? Will she ever remember what happened?"
"It will probably come back to her in bits and pieces, but it's hard to say exactly when. The brain is tricky. I don't see any indications from her scans or her cognitive abilities that indicate brain damage. She has a concussion that she's healing from, but beyond that, everything looked great. She should take it easy for the next couple of weeks, and have her follow up with her pediatrician and a neurologist. If anything changes in the meantime, like she starts vomiting, complaining of head pain, having other memory issues, come back right away. At this point she's good to go home," Dr. Carter finished.
"But you…I mean, you don't even know what happened. How can you release her when you don't know what happened? What if it happens again?"
Dr. Carter nodded.
"I understand your concern, Miss Richards, I do. Unfortunately, sometimes we don't get easy explanations with brain trauma. The neurologist you follow up with will be able to explore more about causes, but at this time there's no reason for us to keep her here."
Callie frowned and looked back again at Ari, who had turned on the television in the room and found Paw Patrol on one of the stations. Ari was engrossed in the episode already, smiling as if it were any other day.
"Well…okay. I guess that makes sense."
"I'll have all this printed up in her discharge instructions. We'll have you out of here in the next hour or so, just sit tight. Remember, any worsening symptoms, come back to the hospital. It's going to be okay," Dr. Carter reassured her, and Callie gave a faint smile.
As she waited at Ari's bedside, Callie thought about the issue with Dr. Bydon. Holden never said where the doctor was from, so maybe it was a different Dr. Bydon. It had to be, she decided. She sent a quick text to update him, letting him know Ari was awake, Dr. Bydon was gone, and they would be home soon.
Wonderful news, love.
Callie wasn't sure how to feel about the moment she and Holden had the prior night. She was exhausted, she was lonely, scared, and so much more. There were plenty of reasons that contributed to her part in that situation. She hadn't expected to feel the way she had when he kissed her. She hadn't expected to feel anything at all, but there was something there. Something beyond the desperation and loneliness and fear. She realized that while she never considered Holden a candidate before, now she was…considering him.
"Mommy, when's Holden coming over?" Ari asked, startling Callie from her thoughts.
"What? Why? What makes you ask?"
Ari gave her a strange look.
"You said he was here before but had to go. When's he going to come over next?"
"Oh. You're right. I'm just tired, and so relieved you're okay. I'm not sure when he'll be over next. I know he can't wait to see you again, though. You had us so worried."
Ari smiled.
"I really like him, Mommy."
"I know you do, sweet girl."
"I think Daddy would have liked him."
Callie froze, unsure of what Ari was thinking.
Could she know about the kiss somehow?
Ari was still absorbed in the show, watching Chase and the Paw Patrol save the day. She wasn't looking at Callie, her attention fixed solely on the TV. Her part in the conversation seemed passive, not an accusation or anything of the like. Callie knew she had to respond even if Ari wasn't paying full attention.
"I hope he would, Ari. I'm sure he would have loved how much Holden cares about you."
"And you," Ari said, this time with a glance at Callie.
Callie swallowed and nodded with a small smile.
"And me."
