Chapter 2

As soon as Mike closed the door to the motel room, Stef's body remained still right behind it. Mike let out a sigh and looked up at his partner. "Stef, we need to go."

"I'm not leaving, Mike," she answered simply.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing from his partner. How could Stef really be so bent over caring for someone, who obviously thought nothing of her now? It had been years and Callie had only stayed with Stef and Lena for a few months. Why the hell was his ex-wife still so adamant to be a part of this girl's life again? he couldn't help but wonder.

"Stef, you heard her. The last thing we need is to lose both of our jobs because of this. She's probably still on the phone with them as we speak. Captain Roberts-"

"You can leave, Mike," she quickly interrupted him. "I'm not asking you to stay," she felt the need to point out. "But I can't just leave her there, wh-when the…guy who just did that to her could come back at any second."

It wasn't Stef's issue to deal with, Mike kept thinking to himself. "She's an adult, Stef. Remember? She's mature enough to make her own decisions."

Stef furrowed her eyebrows at him, "A piece of paper doesn't make her an adult," she spat and spoke in reference to the fact that Callie had gotten emancipated. That part, she knew by now. It was a matter of Callie staying long enough in one place that kept Stef from ever getting a physical address to go and see her.

Mike pulled her further to the side of the building, "She's not your daughter anymore. I'm sorry, Stef, but you're completely off base here. Think about what you're doing to yourself… and to Callie…"

"What am I doing?" she challenged. "I'm trying to bring my family back together," she chose to answer her own question, instead of having to listen to Mike put his foot even farther down his throat.

"Callie hasn't been part of your family is almost two years!" he yelled, causing for the blonde to glare at him with piercing eyes. He could tell that she wanted to hurt him for saying that but he needed to make her see that this wasn't her issue anymore. She should've moved passed this by now. "Look," he tried to voice in a calmer tone, in order to relax the both of them, "…You of all people know that you can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved. And from what I can see… Callie doesn't want to be saved. Least of all, by you right now. You keep holding onto this false hope that you can just get her back and it'll be so simple."

"No, I know it's not going to be simple," she retorted. "Nothing ever is with her," the blonde admitted. "But that doesn't mean I'm just going to give up."

"It's not giving up," Mike attempted to make clear. "It's accepting reality. You've been searching for Callie all this time and she doesn't even care. Stop putting so much effort into a relationship that's never going to be the same."

Stef shook her head and tried to draw out everything Mike was saying. Despite the truth some of his words held, none of it mattered to her at this moment. And it wasn't fair for him to tell her how to feel about all of it. "Mike, I know you don't understand and I'm not asking you to… But what I need you to realize is that I won't let someone else make this decision for me again. I've left her once because someone told me that I was doing the right thing… then...But I won't make that same mistake twice," she voiced sternly before she stood up straighter and stiffened up her belt. "…Now, you can take the car and leave but don't question me about how to feel about my own daughter," she voiced in a tone that left no room for argument. "Here," she said as she pulled out the car keys from her pocket and tried to hand them over to him.

Her partner looked at them for a few seconds as he thought about what she had suggested before looking back up at her. He grabbed them, causing for Stef to look away. He wanted so badly to walk away from this. He knew it would only get uglier if he stayed, but the last thing he was going to do was sit back and let the mother of his son get arrested.

Mike sighed. "I'll move the car somewhere she can't see it," he mumbled in defeat. "Just stay out here and keep an eye out."

"Mike, I mean it. You don't have to stay," Stef reminded him. The last thing she wanted was to feel guilty over Mike getting in trouble for standing beside her tonight.

"Yes, I do," he offered a short fake-laugh before beginning to walk away. He didn't have an option in his mind.

Stef swallowed hard as she watched Mike leave and turned to face the direction of Callie's room again. At the sight of it, she was forced to remember the look on her daughter's face. It was cold and distant. The expression on the girl's face was now glued into the woman's mind and couldn't be removed. The hate she felt radiating off of Callie's eyes onto her own pained her even more than she had ever imagined. There was more hate there than the cop had ever considered there would be.

And it was that hate which kept her from knocking on the door once more.

Callie hadn't wanted to even look out the door after they had left.

Would they still be standing there?

Should she have really called the police on them?

She only told them that she had just to get them to leave, but she hadn't actually figured that it would work.

Why would she really call them?

It's not like they ever took her side on anything before…

She shook her head and took a deep breath before walking over toward the edge of her window and pulling the corner of the curtain aside. The squad car was driving away, she realized. With that, she let out a deep breath and placed the phone back on the hook in order to stop the incessant buzzing from having the phone off the receiver for so long.

Stef knew where she lived now… Now, what was she supposed to do? What if she came back?

Callie needed to find another place.

She needed to find something now.

But she was too angry about that to think about how incredibly stupid her next move was. She pulled out her cellphone and pulled up the text message screen.

Deal's off she typed before pressing send.

To be continued…