~~~~**~~~~ Hello friends! Here is the next update, and please leave your comments :) I have a lot in mind for what's coming next, sorry for the delay in update. BUT from here on out, I will try to upload weekly. Thanks for the reads! Message me your thoughts or leave them in the reviews!~~~~~**~~~~~
Callie's heavy sighs quickly transitioned into sobs. The mention of her wife had cut the mood in one quick blow—harsh and defining. Vulnerability permeated throughout Callie's body and the walls of her past began to rapidly repossess her.
Staring blankly, Christina stood-by watching the scene unravel. She couldn't comprehend this degree of emotion and surely didn't recognize she was the cause of it.
Arizona, however, could grasp the sensitivity that surrounded the mystery of Callie's wife. Seeing the pain flush across the brunette's face was heart-wrenching, and Arizona was at a loss—she didn't know how to console Callie.
Pulling Christina by the arm, Arizona stepped for the door.
"Christina, we need to go." Though there would be no response from her dumbstruck colleague, Arizona didn't wait for one. She knew one thing: she needed to get Christina far, far away.
Looking towards Callie, Arizona longed to reassure her in any possible way she could.
"I'll be back," she softly spoke before exiting the room, Christina behind her.
Callie's mind continued its pitfall into memories…
The next thing Callie can ever remember is the ER. Doctors in white coats, just like hers, crowded around her wife's body. The lights were buzzing overheard, and in that moment, that was all Callie could hear.
It was never this bad. Sure, Susanna had her bad days…but she was never this bad.
Callie couldn't comprehend the depths of her wife's depression. Though she tried her best to trace it, the roots were far beneath any fathomable threshold. One day her wife was warm, bright—the woman she had fallen in love with…happy in every sense of the word. But on the bad days she was cold, distant, unresponsive.
The pills well, they were always there. In the beginning, they were for her "nerves". Then as more time passed and the barriers as strangers blurred, the pills became like any other habit—not a lot of attention paid to it.
They were so happy then, despite the every-so-often bad days. Every couple has its moods, Callie thought. She ignored all indications, because this woman she loved and so very deeply.
As the crying subsided, Arizona stopped before re-entering Callie's room. Catching her breath, she reasoned with herself to wait at least another thirty seconds. She tapped her foot against the tile floor, waiting for the time-test to pass.
Her phone rang. Hurriedly picking it up to silence the noise, she whispered into the phone.
"Hello? Who is this?" Arizona hissed. The unexpected call had caught her off guard and almost compromised her location to the patient at the other end of her countdown.
"Arizona, why are you whispering?" A husky voice laughed into the phone. "And you should know who this is…considering how many times you said my name earlier today." The woman laughed again, obviously pleased with herself.
Arizona's eyes widened at realization.
"Ohhhh…Colleen….Hi, um, hey what's up?" Arizona tried to mask her surprise.
"Well, I was wondering if you are ever coming back to bed tonight. It's getting cold and really boring here all by myself," the voice teasing in tone. Arizona's mind however was preoccupied by any possibility that Callie could hear the flirty exchange.
"Umm…yeah I'm sorry I had to leave. I probably won't be back tonight, so don't wait up." Arizona heard the breath of disappointment. "Sorry, babe. I'll call you later." She didn't wait for the other end to say her goodbye and quickly clicked the END button onscreen.
By now the thirty seconds had to be done. Even after the husky invitation Arizona had just received, her thoughts quickly refocused to Callie Torres. Quietly slipping into the dim-lit room, Arizona saw that Callie was now calm and rid of upset. Tousled curls framed her face, and her eyes were settled on something in-hand.
Carefully approaching the bedside, Arizona saw that it was a piece of jewelry.
"She gave it to me..." Callie whispered. Arizona froze in her steps. "She…I mean, Susanna gave it to me for our anniversary." Callie paused. Her fingers twiddled with the silver vestige, and then tightly closed around it. "She had it engraved for me before she left…..before it all."
Slowly, Arizona felt her body slump into the bedside chair. This time her hand at her own side.
"It says…" Callie choked. "To the one that shared my heart—I love you even in my darkest despairs. I'm sorry, a thousand million times."
The two women sat in silence—Arizona hesitant to cross a boundary and Callie knee-deep in her past.
Callie reached out and pressed the necklace into Arizona's hand squeezing tightly.
"Throw it away."