Chapter 3

Stef twisted the doorknob along with the key as she opened the motel room door. Her and Mike were able to rent the room directly across from Callie's after a long disagreement with the man running the front desk at the motel.

"We're bad for business," Stef repeated sarcastically so that Mike would hear once she got the door open. "What a joke," she smiled as she shook her head. "You'd think the guy would thank us for wanting to camp out here. I mean, this is a crappy neighborhood as it is. How are having 2 cops around bad for business?"

"Eh, he's an idiot. What are you going to do?" Mike said casually as he shrugged his shoulders and walked farther in while Stef closed the door behind them. "I'm gonna go use the bathroom."

Stef nodded and walked over toward the window, beginning to open up the blinds so that she could get a better view.

Nothing, she realized which caused her to sigh out of impatience. Waiting was definitely not her strong suit.

Lena, she remembered suddenly. The blonde grabbed her cellphone from her pocket and clicked on her wife's name, bringing the device up close to her ear as she stared out the window again.

She listened to it ring once before she heard an answer.

"Hey, where are you?" Lena asked first. Stef was only a few minutes later than usual but this most often meant that she had to work later.

"Hey, Love. I'm sorry I didn't call before. I got distracted. You're never going to guess who I ran into," Stef answered as she placed her head on her forehead.

"Who?"

The cop wasn't entirely sure how Lena would react to the news, but she knew that it was important to at least tell her. "Uh..." Stef paused, "Callie."

Lena furrowed her eyebrows, silently wondering if she had misheard her wife for a split second. This was the last thing she was expecting today. They had barely spoken the name in their house since she left so the sudden sound of it coming from Stef's mouth caught her by surprise. "Um...Where?" The brunette wasn't sure how to even begin.

"You know, that's actually another thing I wanted to talk to you about and the reason why I'm going to be a little late tonight. Mike and I got a disturbance call from the Super 8 motel. When we knocked on the door, Callie was the one who opened it."

"A disturbance call? What kind of disturbance call?" Lena interrupted.

"Well, uh..." The blonde wasn't sure how to answer her wife's question exactly. She hadn't wanted to spring any of that on her right now, but she didn't really have much of a choice. "The people next door to her room reported shouting and things being slammed between Callie and a guy. She didn't want to uh... Speak to either of us so Mike and I are waiting here, hoping that the little prick shows up. They usually do."

Lena breathed in heavily, not wanting to go through this over again. It was hard enough for her when Callie refused to speak to them for months after she ran away, but now her wife wanted to invite all of that back into their lives?

"Oh..." Lena said simply as she held back what she really wanted to say. She hated how negative she was feeling but she couldn't do anything about that. It was how she really felt.

"What's wrong?" Stef gave in, in a defeated tone. The truth was she knew Lena hadn't exactly dealt with her feelings all that well after everything that had happened. But she honesty figured that after hearing that they found Callie, those feelings would dissipate and she'd come to her senses.

Lena thought carefully about what to say next. She hadn't wanted her wife to tell her that she was being ridiculous but she couldn't keep quiet and do this again. "...Stef, it's–" she paused and took in a deep breath before letting it out. "I don't want to go through this with Callie. Not again. Not now." The silence coming from on the other line, worried the brunette.

And Stef wanted to take in her wife's words with complete understanding but this wasn't the time. "You can't really be serious?" She finally asked. "Wha–"

"I am," Lena was quick to interrupt this time. "She left us, remember? After we took her in, after I brought her home, Callie left us–"

"Because she thought we had abandoned her," the cop defended.

"And she never gave us a chance to explain... She never gave us the benefit of the doubt, like we had done for her so many times, Stef." Lena shook her head as she spoke. "I brought her home, you let her stay after finding out she was in juvie, she called us that horrible word and we got passed all of that. We even told her we wanted to adopt her after everything and still... She left."

"I know that, Lena."

"But she didn't do the same," Lena told her. "After all we did for her, she couldn't even let us explain before she shut us out."

"Honey," Stef stopped her.

"No," Lena answered. "I lost Callie, then I lost Frankie... How can you even consider making me go through this again?" The woman asked in disbelief. She just hoped that the subject would never come up and now this happened out of nowhere. It was far from fair.

"I lost them too," Stef felt the need to remind her. "Do you think you went through all of that alone, Lena?"

"No, Stef. That's not what I'm saying. I just think I'm the only one who remembers everything... Everything you and I went through, Jude, Mariana, Jesus, and Brandon. Stef..." Lena sighed before continuing, "Please don't do this to yourself anymore. Don't do this to our family. Don't invite anymore hurt into all of our lives..."

Stef stood there stunned at her wife's choice of words and complete reaction. How had something Stef had wanted so badly been the same thing Lena was silently fearing? The realization confused her more and more as the seconds went passed.

"Just... Just come home," Lena finished...

To be continued.