It's like my whole world stops turning. I don't register anything that's happening around me. It's not the first time that I've heard a gun go off but it's the first time that I've heard it after I saw it pointed at the love of my life.
I don't know how long it takes me to return to my body but the other person in the room is distracted by the sound of the commotion from downstairs. I push him off of me and run to the stairs, stopping dead in my tracks at the sight before me. Arizona is standing by the end of the stairs being body blocked by an officer.
"No you don't understand my girlfriend is up there with a predator!" She yells at him as she tries to push her way past him.
"Ma'am, you need to calm down." He orders her while grabbing her arms.
I take a few steps down before numbly saying, "Arizona…"
Her head snaps up with an expression that shows all of the fear, trauma, worry and sorrow that she must have been feeling. The officer walks up the stairs while asking, "Where's the offender?" I point him to the room that I last saw him in.
I walk down the stairs to where Arizona is frozen in her place. She just stands there looking at me with her mouth agape for a couple of seconds before she launches her arms around me, wrapping me in a bone-crushing embrace. I feel Arizona pull back but she doesn't let go of my arms. She looks me dead in the eye before asking, "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"
"I, I don't know. I don't think so." I answer. Arizona lets go of my arms and starts to examine my body. I see her body tense as she sees the bruises on my arms from the grab he had on me. "I'll kill him." She states as she begins to walk up the stairs. I grab her arm before begging, "Don't leave me." Arizona's eyes turn from full of anger to nothing but love and care. She immediately walks me to the couch before sitting next to me and wrapping her arm around me.
We sit in silence for a moment before Arizona says, "Don't ever do that again."
I turn my head to look at her. "He had a gun to your head, Arizona. He could have killed you."
"He wasn't going to pull the trigger." She argues.
"You don't know that." I cry, "I can't imagine my life without you. I don't want life without you."
Arizona wraps her arms around me as I burst into tears because of all the stress and fear of the day. I don't know how much time passes before we hear footsteps rush towards us. Arizona lets go of me as Addison falls on her knees in front of me.
"Are you okay?" She asks with concern all over her face.
"I'm fine. I have some bruising but I'm fine."
She gives me a look and I know her question without her asking me.
"He didn't get the chance. He was definitely going to but the noise from down here distracted him." I explain. I take a second to look around the room and I spot a pool of blood next to where Mark is standing. "What happened?" I ask.
Addison gets up from the floor and takes a seat next to me on the couch and Mark sits on the table in front of us.
He starts to explain, "Well after you went upstairs with that, uhm man, Arizona was still being held at gunpoint. I'm not sure how much time passed before we heard footsteps on the front porch and the police came in with their guns drawn. The guy who had the gun, raised it toward them and that's when an officer shot him." I nod as I take in the information but then a question pops up.
"But how did the police get here?"
Arizona and Mark look at me, clearly wondering the same thing. All of our eyes turn to Addison as she states, "It was me."
"What, how?" Mark questions.
Addison sighs before answering, "I triggered the silent alarm in our bedroom before coming back down stairs."
We all sit in silence for a moment, just trying to understand what we just went through. Our peace is interrupted as the officer drags the man down the stairs. He's resisting the handcuffs around his wrists as he's guided through the room.
"Baby, you'll always feel my hands on your body. I know you liked it, so I'll see you once I'm out again." He says to me as he walks.
Arizona immediately stands up and starts to walk after him but Mark stops her. "He's not worth it." He says looking straight ahead.
"No, but she is." She answers while her eyes follow the man until he's out of sight. Arizona turns around and comes back to her spot on the couch next to me. Two officers come in the room asking to take statements from both Arizona and I. She refuses to leave my side but they convince her to be interviewed on the other side of the room. That way she still has an eye on me but our statements aren't influenced by each other. The officer wants me to come with him to the station because my body is evidence. I refuse even though Arizona tries to convince me that I might want to press charges but right now I just can't handle it. They all decide to let it go and I finish talking with the officer.
The last police car drives away about an hour later and we all settle in the kitchen. It's been hours since we sat down with our drinks around the coffee table and it's well past midnight by now.
"Well, I'm beat but I don't think that I'll be able to sleep anytime soon." Mark admits.
"I feel the same way. How is your head?" Arizona asks.
Mark lifts his hand to the cut while answering, "It throbs a little but I didn't want to go to the hospital before I knew that Callie was okay."
"We'll go get it checked in the morning. You are surrounded by doctors after all so I think you'll be fine." Addison says.
I watch the group chat with each other as they prepare some food for us to eat. I've been quiet since giving my statement and I know that they all have noticed but they're trying to give me space. Arizona moves to stand behind me and wraps her arms around my midsection while resting her head on my shoulder. Mark and Addison see us and move to the dinning area to give us a little space. I feel Arizona sigh and she hugs me tighter before asking, "Do you want to talk about it?".
My body tenses up at the questions. I don't want to think about what I went through or even worse, what could have happened hadn't the police gotten here. The doctor in me knows that I need to talk about it but I don't know if Arizona is the right person to talk to. I don't want to have her have those images in her head. She's the kind of person that will try to spin this a way so that it becomes her fault. How do I tell her what he did to me?
"I can't right now." I answer.
Arizona kisses me shoulder and says, "That's okay for now but you need to talk about it at some point, with someone. It doesn't have to be me babe but you need to speak with someone."
"Okay."
Arizona and I are getting ready for bed about half an hour later. She's fixing the sheets as I brush my teeth in the bedroom. I walk into the bedroom and look at the bed. The bed that I was just pinned against by a freaking monster.
"I can't sleep in here." I state.
Arizona stops what she's doing and looks up at me. "That's okay. Do you want to sleep downstairs in the guest room?" She asks. I simply nod and she starts to carry the fresh sheets down to the guest room. I haven't moved when she reenters the room. "Callie, are you sure you're okay? Are you in pain?" She asks.
I haven't really paid much attention to my body since the assault but now that Arizona asks if I'm in pain, I start to feel my body more. My thighs are hurting, my arms are hurting, my ribs are hurting, everything fucking hurts. I feel my knees give in and I land on the carpet below me. Arizona is by my side right away as I sob for the second time tonight.
"I'm here, I'm here. You're safe, Calliope." Arizona continuously whispers to me as I shake in her embrace. I'm crying so hard that I start to have trouble catching my breath but Arizona just keeps whispering comforting things to me. I feel my body start to tire out and my cries start to die down. I'm completely spent after the day and I'm not sure if I'll even be able to stand and walk down the stairs. Arizona simply asks me, "Are you ready?"
I take a deep breath before answering, "Yeah."
She moves to stand and pulls me up with her. I feel her wrap an arm around me before she leads me to the downstairs guest room. There's fresh sheets on the bed and Arizona has lit a candle on the nightstand. Arizona guides me to stand by the foot of the bed before she asks me, "Can I help you out of this clothes?".
I look in her eyes and see nothing but love and safety. "Yes, you can." I answer.
Arizona helps out of my clothes and into a new pair of shorts and a tank top. Her face tenses up as she sees the bruises on my thighs and ribs. "Callie…" She sighs as she touches a particularly bad bruise on my left side.
"I'm sorry." I say.
Her head snaps up at me, "For what?"
"For this. That you have to see this."
"Callie, none of this is your fault. Do you hear me? You have nothing to be sorry about." She states before helping me with the rest of the clothes. I gently lie down on the bed with a little help from Arizona. My body is aching from head to toe and I just want to go to sleep because then it'll all go away. I'm laying on my side, facing the wall as I feel Arizona scoot up against me. She wraps her arm around me and nuzzles into my hair.
"This okay?" She asks.
"Yeah, you make me feel safe." I sigh before drifting to sleep.
I will not apologize for taking this long to update but I will apologize for leaving you with a cliffhanger like that. I promise that if I ever leave you with another cliffhanger, I will have another chapter already written to post after.