Callie sat on the bed in her hotel room, desperately trying to stop herself shaking. She'd replied to Jo Karev's message the moment that she'd received it, giving the woman her phone number and telling her to call whenever she wanted. But now, an hour had passed and she had heard nothing. She'd spent the whole hour resisting the urge to call Arizona, knowing full well that the second she did, Jo would be sure to call her and she couldn't afford to miss that phone call.

She tried to distract herself, pulling out her laptop and gradually setting out a framework for her article, but she couldn't seem to focus for more than a couple of minutes at a time. If it wasn't the message from Jo, it was the money from her father. Her head felt like it was going to explode. Internal voices seemed to be talking over each other constantly, when all she wanted was a moment of peace, a moment to just gather her thoughts.

Picking up her phone, she took a deep breath, trying to centre herself. She tried to find the words to send a message to Arizona, knowing that a reply from her girlfriend was exactly what she needed, but had no idea how to fit the enormity of what had happened that afternoon into a short text. She found herself typing and then deleting her words over and over again.

As she attempted probably her fifth draft of a message, her phone rang. She almost dropped it in shock as 'Unknown caller' appeared on her screen. With a shaking hand, she answered the call.

"Hello, this is…umm…Callie speaking" she stammered.

"Callie, it's Jo"

There was a pause as Callie froze.

"Jo Karev" Jo added for clarity.

"Jo I…I'm sorry. I was going to say I wasn't expecting to hear from you, but that would be totally dumb because I sent you my number, so of course I was expecting you to call…or maybe that sounds too presumptuous because obviously it was always your choice whether to call or not…"

"Alex said you used to talk a lot when you're nervous" Jo interrupted with a light chuckle.

"I…" Callie paused before trying to reply calmly "right, I'm not sure I could argue with that"

"So uh, well, you reached out to me…"

"Yes, god I'm sorry. I'm really not making a great first impression here, am I?"

"You're doing fine. And honestly, I replied to you because I'm intrigued. Alex…he doesn't really talk about his past much. So when I heard from you…well, it didn't take much for me to want to call"

"Oh…" Callie felt herself begin to relax "does Alex know I messaged you?"

"Of course" Jo replied, as if the answer was obvious "there aren't many things I'd ask my husband's permission for, but this is one of them. I wanted to reply as soon as I heard from you…but if Alex hadn't wanted me to…well, we wouldn't be talking right now"

"Well…I'm glad you called"

"You don't sound so sure about that"

"Sorry I…I'm really nervous" Callie closed her eyes, mentally kicking herself for not sounding more welcoming.

"I promise, I'm nothing to be scared of. And why am I the one reassuring you here?" Jo laughed.

"Right, yes. Sorry. Ok. So, you said Alex doesn't talk much about his past. What do you know about his time in Newport? Just so I know where to start with the background here"

"I know he moved there at the start of middle school, and he never really fitted in until he started high school and made friends with you guys. I vaguely knew that he had a high school girlfriend, and never really thought twice about it to be honest. But when I told him that you'd messaged me, he said that you were the girlfriend that he mentioned once"

"Ok" Callie bit her lip "that isn't going to make this awkward, is it? Because I…"

"No" Jo interrupted with a laugh "I promise you, I'm genuinely fine with the fact that my husband dated someone when he was fifteen"

"Well, when you put it like that…"

"He has talked about you, you know?"

"He…he has?" Callie asked in surprise.

"Yeah, over the years, and always good things. But honestly, I was surprised when he told me that you were the high school girlfriend. Not for any bad reason, I mean, I don't know you at all, but more the fact that he talked about you and the others…Arizona and Teddy?...like you were more like sisters to him than potential girlfriends"

"I think…you know honestly, I think you've pretty much nailed it. When I think about Alex…that is kinda how I see him…we were so close. Whether any of us were like siblings…I don't know. I'd probably say that Teddy is as much of a sister to me as my actual sister…"

"But not Arizona?"

Callie scoffed "Erm no, not exactly. Arizona's my girlfriend"

"Oh….Oh!" the widening of Jo's eyes could be felt on the other end of the phone call.

"Yeah"

"Sorry, I now realise that I've now probably totally creeped you out by insinuating that two different people that you've dated have been like siblings to you"

"It's ok, I…Arizona and I were always…well, we were always on a path to where we are now. Alex and I…we were close. And there was a blurred line that we crossed at one point, and we dated. But when I think about him…honestly, I miss him. And not because we dated. That was…a brief exploration as we both tried to figure out who we were. And it was genuine, on my part at least. I truly liked him. But when I miss him, I miss my friend"

"I think…I think he misses you too"

"Really?"

"Yeah. Alex…he's not the biggest smiler. But when I mentioned your name…there was at least a brief smile, before he looked sad again"

"You said again? Like, he's sad a lot of the time?" Callie asked, feeling her stomach sink.

"He…it's complicated"

"I hate hearing that, you know? But I understand. Alex was always…stoic, around other people. But with us, the people that he really knew, he was free, and he was the sweetest guy you could ever meet. And he'd have your back in a second if you ever needed him to"

"He still would" Jo interjected.

"The thing is" Callie took a deep breath "I need something from him now. Or at least, I want something from him. And I'll be totally upfront with you about my motives. I've got the green light for a piece for the New York Times. I'm writing about some of the horrendous things that men get away with, particularly in High School…"

"Hang on, are you saying that Alex did something bad in school…"

"No" Callie answered quickly "god no. I'm saying that…something happened to him. Jocks made him leave Newport, and I'm trying to shine a light on that culture, not to drag up the past, but to try and stop it happening in future"

"Something…happened to him?"

"That's what I've come to know, yeah. And that's what I wanted to talk to Alex about. That, and…well, I wanted to say sorry"

"But you didn't do whatever this thing is to him, did you?"

"I didn't. But apparently I married the person who did"

"Wait…I thought you said Arizona was your girlfriend?" Jo asked in confusion.

"She is. God…this is probably a long story. But a lot of stuff went on back then. In Newport. And I…I wasn't aware of it. But it made Alex leave, and it made Arizona leave to. And it's recently that I've become aware of what happened, and this is my one chance to try and put things right"

"This sounds…deep"

"It is" Callie sighed "and that's why I hesitated to reach out to Alex. Because if he's happy now, I don't want to dredge up the past…"

"He is happy" Jo cut in "but I also know that there's things that he's holding back. And so if you're doing something that might be able to exorcise his demons, then I'm all for it. But I'm totally confused about the whole thing about you being married?"

"I was…married, that is" Callie said sadly "to a guy from Newport. He was a jock. The kind of guy we all rolled our eyes at in high school. But we grew up, and I thought I was doing the right thing. Only I've come to realise recently that I was just completely unaware of what went on, and actually, my husband was an awful, awful person who did terrible things to get rid of anyone that I cared about"

"Including Alex?" Jo asked quietly.

"Yeah. And I had no idea…none of us did. And so now that I do know, I want to bring him down. But not just him, the entire culture that lets high school footballers act with impunity and effectively get away with felonies"

"So what do you need from me?"

"You…you're on board with this?" Callie asked nervously.

"Hell yeah I am. I don't even know what happened to Alex, but at this point, I don't care. Whatever it is, I want to help you"

"I need to know if he'd be willing to talk to me about what happened. About what my ex husband, Eduardo, did to him. Obviously, I'd like him to talk to me on the record. But I'd take him doing it anonymously too. Because whatever happens, I'm writing the article"

"I understand. I…I guess I need to talk to him, huh?"

"I'm sorry that I'm putting you in this position" Callie said honestly.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure you can"

"If someone asked you to talk to Arizona about something bad that happened in her past, would you do it?"

"Yes" Callie replied instantly.

"Then there's your answer. We do what we have to do, to try and understand the people we love. To ultimately try and make things better for them"

"Yeah…yeah I guess we do"

"I'll talk to him, ok. I can't promise that he'll be willing to talk to you, not about that…whatever that is, anyway. And if he isn't, I'm going to have to ask you to respect that"

"I understand" Callie found herself nodding "and I promise, I'm not trying to be a pushy reporter type here. If Alex doesn't want to talk, then I'm ok with that. I'll still write the story, because I have no other choice. I owe it to all the people that have been hurt by men like my husband"

"He really hurt you, didn't he?"

"Me…in a way, I guess. But what he did to me was nothing compared to what he did to the people that I care about. And so now that I have the chance to try and make amends for all of that, I have to take it"

"For what it's worth, I'd do the same thing. So I'll talk to him, and whatever happens, we'll be reading"

"Thank you…I…just, thank you"

"You're welcome Callie" Jo replied with a smile "and if it's ok, I'd like to call you again some time, regardless of the outcome of my chat with Alex. I'd really like to hear more about what he was like as a teenager...although we can probably skip the stories about the time the two of you dated"

Callie laughed "I can assure you, the extent of mine and Alex's relationship history makes for very unexciting reading. But I would totally love to talk to you again…and obviously, Alex, if he's willing. Even if it's just to say hi, I'd love to hear from him"

"I'll be sure to tell him that"

"Thank you…and I'm really glad he found you"

"I'm glad too" Jo replied with a chuckle "and good luck with your article"

"Thanks. Take care, Jo"

"You too Callie"

As she hung up the phone, Callie could finally feel the nerves leaving her body. Regardless of whether Alex ever got in contact, she felt like a tiny part of her that had always been worrying about what had happened to him could finally rest easy.

She decided that she should text Arizona, not wanting to wait and blurt out the entire contents of her day the moment the blonde arrived at the hotel that evening, so she tried to sum it up in one message.

C: So, crazy day. I spoke to Karev's wife (!), and she's gonna see if he'll talk to me re: my article. And then my father has given us $300k. I have processed entirely none of this but wanted to tell you, and also to say I can't wait to see you x

Moments later, she received a response. Or two, to be precise.

A: What?!

A: This totally isn't a text conversation, but are you ok? X

As she'd predicted earlier, just seeing Arizona's name on her phone screen made her instantly relax.

C: Yeah, I'm ok, just processing and honestly just in need of a night with you x

A: Totally understand. And I'll be there soon baby, for whatever you need x

Callie smiled to herself, setting all other thoughts aside and focusing on her evening with Arizona. Because if one thing was certain, she was going to be getting precisely everything that she needed from her girlfriend in a few hours.