A/N: Italics denote a flashback

Callie

"Come on Callie…don't you love me? This is what people do when they love each other." He's too close and I can't get away. He smells bad, like he's been drinking or something. I strain to get out of his grip but he's too strong.

"No, Liam―"

He forces his lips onto mine. The kiss is painful and messy. I shove him in the chest and his hand shoots to my throat. I can't breathe. I start to cough and gasp as I try to suck in more air.

"Stop," he growls in a menacing tone, "I don't want to have to hurt you now." He moves the hand from my throat so that he can pin my hands above my head. With the other hand he begins to unbutton his pants.

I scream.

Stef

Callie's face is screwed up as if she is in physical pain, and she probably is: all that twisting around can't feel good on her battered body. Her knees are clasped tightly together and her hands are coming up to fight at something that isn't there.

I put my hand flat on her forehead, "Wake up, Callie. Come on." She whimpers and her hands come up to pull at my wrist but I hold strong.

"Come on, Sweets, wake up." I'm trying to wake her up as quickly as possible while also trying not to startle her.

Callie lets out a whimper, "Stop!" she breathes out as she continues to thrash.

"You're safe, baby. Wake up."

Callie's eyes finally fly open and she lets out a gasp. Her eyes land on me and she scrambles off the couch and to the other side of the living room with quick albeit lethargic movements. Her chest is heaving with the deep breaths she is taking and sweat beads on her forehead. I stand up from my kneeling position on the ground and slowly move towards Callie. She backs up until she hits the wall and puts her hand out in front of her as if to keep me back. Her eyes are wide and hazy and I see the confusion in them.

"Callie," I say quietly when I'm a few feet from her, "You're in the living room, honey. You're safe, okay? You're safe." I will tell her this everyday if that's what it takes for her to finally believe me.

Her eyes dart from me to the front door as if waiting for some imaginary assailant to burst into the house any minute now. She brings up a hand quickly to swipe at her cheeks and I realize some tears have escaped her.

"I'm sorry," she mumbles, head angled towards the floor but I can still see the blush in her cheeks, "I-I didn't mean to."

My heart tears a bit, "No, no Sweets. Don't apologize. It was just a nightmare, Honey; it's not your fault."

I don't think she hears me because she mumbles another, "I'm sorry."

I think to myself for a moment before grabbing a blanket off the couch and holding my hand out, "Come here, Callie."

She looks up at me and her brown eyes are filled with absolute fear. God, she probably thinks I'm about to yell at her; maybe even hit her. I'm asking a lot of her right now, to blindly trust me, but I just want to help. I lower my hand and adjust the blanket in my arms, "I'm going outside to the front porch and I'd love to have you join me." I turn around and head for the front door. If she wants to, she'll follow me. If not…well, I'll have to figure something else out.

Once I'm outside, I take a seat on the porch swing. California can be sunny and warm but at night it's cool. There's a light breeze that feels nice against my skin. I wonder what Callie was dreaming about: it looked intense. I wonder how often dream like that happen to her.

A few minutes later, Callie comes outside and stands in front of me. Her lip is caught between her teeth and she's gripping the bottom of her shirt so tightly her knuckles are white. I pat the seat beside me.

"Come sit." She hesitates but does what I say. She sits as far from me as possible, crossing her legs so that she takes up the least amount of space. I scoot closer and wrap the blanket around her shoulders before allowing my hand to simply rest on her back.

She's shaking.

I don't know if she's cold or scared or both. Probably both.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask quietly, rubbing random patterns on her back. Callie shakes her head vehemently as this.

"Okay," I say, "We don't have to talk about it." I keep rubbing her back as I turn my gaze to the sky. The moon is full tonight, and bright. It's a beautiful sight.

"I'm sorry," Callie whispers for the umpteenth time that night.

I sigh, "Please look at me, Callie."

Her eyes slowly move up my face until they meet mine. They're glossy with tears and my heart breaks even more, "Callie, it's completely normal to have nightmares. I'm not going to get mad at you over them; no one in this house will. I just want you feel comfortable here."

Callie brings a hand up to rub her nose a bit before dropping it to her lap, "Do you know if I woke anyone up?"

"Everyone was asleep when I came down," I answer with a small smile, "Probably still are. We have some heavy sleepers living here."

"Why aren't you?" she asks, "Asleep, I mean."

I shrug, "Good question. Probably too much on my mind."

Callie fiddles with the edge of the blanket. She looks so tired, but she doesn't look ready to go to bed just yet. She's too tense.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about your nightmare? It could help."

"How?"

"Well, we could figure out what it means―"

"No, how do I talk about it?"

Oh, Callie.

She's looking up at me expectantly, searching my face for an answer. Poor baby. I pick up the other side of the blanket and wrap it around my shoulders, forcing us to get closer. I slip my hand around Callie's shoulders, wait for her to tense up and relax before gently forcing her to lean back against the seat. She's shaking even harder, if that's possible. I wish I knew what to do to make her feel better.

"Well," I finally say, "Let's start with if it was real or not. Was it something that happened before?"

Callie nods her head, "Yeah, it was real."

"Okay," I say, fingers squeezing her shoulder so that she remembers she's here, and not in her nightmare anymore "Who was in it?"

I can see her closing in on herself, "My foster brother."

"And what was happening?"

Callie looks at me helplessly, mouth opening and closing as she tries to form the words. She lets out a frustrated breath and stands up, allowing her side of the blanket to fall into a pile next to me.

"I have to go to school tomorrow," she informs me as if I don't know; "I have to go to bed."

I sigh in defeat and stand up as well, gathering the blanket into my arms, "Alright. Let's head inside." Callie leads the way and I follow, locking the door behind me. "Come to the kitchen first," I say before she gets to the couch, "You should take some painkillers."

"I'm fine," she says, but nonetheless follows me into the kitchen. She waits as I grab her some pills along with a glass of water. I hand them to her and she tosses the pills back before sipping at the water. She's breathing better at this point and she looks a lot more relaxed.

"Can you lift your shirt?" I ask, "I'd like to see how those bruises are healing."

Callie nearly drops the glass when I ask this. She sets it on the counter and takes a step back.

"No."

Her answer has a sense of finality to it that I can't argue.

"Okay," I say, putting my hands up in surrender, "Alright. Ready to go to bed?"

She eyes me for a moment before nodding and heading for the living room. I follow close behind and watch as she settles herself beneath the covers. I reach over to fix them a bit and she holds herself rigid until I am done.

I move back, "Goodnight, Callie. If you need me, please come get me. No matter what."

She waves her hand dismissively and turns over so that she faces the back of the couch. I have an overwhelming urge to kiss her forehead as if she were one of my own children. Sparing Callie one last glance, I head for the stairs so I can get back to bed. All of a sudden I'm exhausted. I crawl into bed, wrestle my pillow away from Lena and get comfortable.

I need to get Callie set up with her group therapy tomorrow. I wonder what Captain Roberts would say about making this more personalized. Callie's issues run deeper than she leads on; the nightmare I witnessed leads me to believe that.

Lena snuggles up next to me and lets out sigh in her sleep. I press my lips to her forehead and pull her close to me. This will just have to wait until tomorrow.

I know I said I'd update Sunday but I couldn't wait! I had a stroke of inspiration and wrote like five chapters. I'm just nearing the end of Chapter 24, actually. I know some of you are gonna think "What? Chapter 24? Just upload them all!" I won't because often my chapters are just prototypes that I like to go back and change based on what I want to fix as well as what you guys want to see.

The main reason I wrote so many chapters ahead of time is because I start work on Monday and want to make sure I'm still updating on a regular schedule. Don't want to disappoint.

Please leave a review below!

-Liv