A/N: Hey everyone! So sorry it has taken me awhile to update this story. I've had a couple of crazy weeks...as usual...but these past couple have been really exhausting and I've been too tired to write. But here I am back with an update for you all. Thanks to those who comment the positive feedback every update, especially funkyshaz! Hope you all enjoy the update...this is more of a filler, but I hope you enjoy none the less! :)

xox hASHbrown

Chapter 10

"Hey, you." I said as I came into Callie's hospital room the next morning.

I came in with coffee and bagels for breakfast and I sat next to her in the chair next to the bed.

"Hey. Thank you for the breakfast." She said smiling to me. I could see in her eyes that something wasn't right.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"I just, I don't want you to feel guilty or feel like you have to stick around because I'm sick. I should have told you and I didn't. What happened was really cruel. I'm so sorry." I could see that she was starting to cry and my heart nearly broke. I could see in her face how horrible she felt that she didn't tell me. But I was in love with her. I was in love for the first time in a long time, and I was in love with her on a whole other level. I knew we were going to really have a discussion about it all, but in that moment, all I cared about...all I wanted was her.

" I don't feel guilty, I'm not staying because of guilt. I meant what I said last night. Despite it all, and we will talk about it when I take you home, this summer so far has been amazing because I found you."

She looked like she was going to say something back to me when a nurse came in with the discharge papers. Callie signed them almost instantly and once the nurse had left, she looked to me with a small smile.

We left the hospital and I drove her back home to her apartment. I set her up on the couch and went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water for her. I then walked over and joined her on the sofa.

"So, we're going to talk about it then." She said to me after taking a gulp of water from the glass I handed her.

"We are going to talk about it." I looked down into my lap for a moment trying to organize my thoughts and pick my words carefully. "I'm not mad anymore, I'm just saddened that you didn't tell me you were sick from the beginning. I guess, I just...I just want to know the whole story."

Callie nodded her head in silence to me and took in a deep breathe. "Well, like I told you yesterday, I found out a couple months before you and I had ever met. I was devastated, angry, scared. All those things. But then I figured that if I pushed it to the back of my mind and just carried on with my life that everything would be okay. That I would accept I was sick and that I'd die when it was my time to die. So went on living my life. Taking advantage of every adventure that comes my way."

I nodded and gestured for her to continue.

"When I met you, that day in the chapel when I asked you to take that day trip with me. You looked exactly how I felt when I found out. It was never my intention to fall for you. Never was it my intention to hurt you in any way. But I did. I fell in love with you so fast and before I knew it, I was already in real deep. I fell in love with you and I ended up hurting you." She looked down into her lap. I could see the hurt in her eyes and I knew she was sincerely hurting over her hurting me.

I just stared at her for a moment when it hit me. "You said it wasn't a good idea to fall in love with you. That's what you meant, didn't you?"

"That's exactly what I meant. I knew that I'd just end up hurting you. And I was right. I have. Saying sorry won't even begin to make things right. I'm so sorry." The tears were starting to run down her face and it nearly broke my heart. This woman helped me to see things in a different light. To look at things in a different perspective. She kept going on about how she hurt me and from one angle, she was right, it did hurt.

"Callie listen to me..." I said lifting her chin so that our eyes could meet. "...I was hurt at first. I'm not going to lie. But I also understand that you were trying to protect me. You didn't want me to go through with you what I went through with Joanne. But in our time together, you have showed me so much, taught me so much. You put me back together, and through it all you've seen me at my worst and been my rock. But sometimes the girl who's always there for other people needs someone to be there for them. I am not going anywhere because I am so in love with you and I want to spend the rest of my life telling you that." I closed the gap between us and pressed my lips to hers. Lingering in the feeling of her touch. Of our love that just kept growing as time went on.

A week later...

"Hey are you ready?" I called out to Callie who was in her bedroom grabbing something. In that second it felt like a deja vu. I had been in this position before nearly a year ago. Nearly a year ago. I couldn't believe that it was almost that long ago.

Callie came out of the bedroom and headed in my direction. "Yeah, I'm ready. Let's get this done with." It was the day of her first round of treatment to kill the cancer. The entire ride in the car I could tell that she was feeling on edge. I slid my hand to her thigh and squeezed gently to let her know everything would be okay.

Once we were at the hospital we headed up to the cancer ward and a nurse helped set Callie up for the chemo. I sat next to her the entire time and amazingly even though I knew she was nervous, she wore a smile the entire time. We sat like that for quite awhile just talking about anything when I got a text from Teddy.

"It's Teddy, she wants me to come find her. But, I can tell her that I can't." I said looking to Callie.

"No, no. Don't mind me. Teddy is your best friend, go. I'll be okay. Or she can come here if she wants to. I don't mind the company." She said smiling brightly to me. I smiled back and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "I'll be back soon, I promise."

I left the ward and headed down to Cardio. I found Teddy standing by the nurses station. "Hey, how's Callie doing? We miss her around here." Teddy said as she greeted me with a hug.

"She's astonishingly doing quite well. Taking it in strides with a smile on her face. She's upstairs right now actually. Wanna come join us?"

"I wish I could but I have a triple bypass to get to in half an hour. But the reason I asked you to come here was because I want to know how you're doing. How you're handling all this."

"You know, I'm doing okay. I'm still a little scared but things are just so different with Callie. I have faith that she will beat this and interesting enough I believe that we're going to be fine."

"That's all I wanted to know. Tell her I said hi and I will come see her the first chance that I get. We all will." Teddy pulled me into another hug and then was on her way to her surgery.

I returned to Callie and we sat together for another hour before it was time to go. When we were heading to the car she surprised me.

"Do you want to go out for dinner tonight? Or, I can cook us something."

"Calliope, you just had a large dose of chemo go through your body. You should take it easy. Why don't we go back to your place, and we can order in and just curl up together on the couch and watch a movie?" I asked her. I was holding my breathe, hoping that she wouldn't protest.

Instead she just smiled at me and pulled me into her arms. "Okay, we can do that." She said as she kissed the top of my head. I smiled inside and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer.

I took her home and the second she stepped into her apartment, she went to the bedroom to change into sweats and a t-shirt. I set our stuff down and grabbed the phone off the kitchen counter. I placed an order for delivery and then sat on the couch waiting for Callie to reappear.

The night was relaxing and somehow despite everything that had changed in the last week, I was still unbelievably happy. I was curled up watching a movie in the arms of the woman I had come to love so quickly and so intensely and there was nowhere else I would have rather been.

The comfortable silence between us quickly became too quiet. I turned my head and titled it back to look up at her face. I smiled and lifted my hand to caress her cheek. A smile crept up on her face and she leaned down, taking my lips to hers. It started out slow and soft. It was just like a scene you'd see in a movie. The kiss soon turned more hungry and passionate and I found myself reaching behind her neck to pull her closer as her hand rode up under my shirt and rested upon my breast. I found myself letting out a guttural moan in her mouth as she took my breast in her hand and massaged it gently but firmly.

The more we continued to do this, the hotter and wetter I could feel it getting in-between my legs. Before I could even get my bearings straight, Callie had managed to somehow swoop me into her arms. She then got off the couch and carried me across the living room in the direction of her bedroom. Our mouths never stayed too far away from each other for more than mere fractions of a second, and our tongues completely entwined. I pulled away just before she got to the bedroom door and looked into her eyes that I could see were full of love and longing for me. "What are you doing?" I asked her. I knew what she was doing. It was as plain as day but I had to hear her say it.

"I'm taking you to bed." She responded with probably one of the most sexiest husk in her voice that I had ever heard.

"You sure, you're up to it? You had a pretty..." I tried to continue but she cut me off with a kiss and continued to walk through the door into her bedroom. "I'm sure." She whispered into my mouth as she kicked the door closed behind her.

The next morning...

I woke up next morning cuddled up in Callie's arms. She appeared to still be sleeping and she looked so peaceful. I placed a soft kiss to her cheek and she began to stir. Her eyes slowly opened and met mine with a smile. "Morning" I said softly to her.

"Morning." She said to me kissing me gently on my lips. She then flipped us over so she was over me and started to place feather light kisses down my neck and shoulders. "Mmm...you were incredible last night."

Stroking my hand up and down her bare back and smiling at her comment I replied. "We were incredible."

She pulled away and looked adoringly into my eyes. She brought her face down and kissed me gently but through that kiss I could feel all the love she had for me. When she pulled away suddenly I was a little sad at the loss of contact. Then I looked into her eyes and knew that there was something wrong. The expression on her face was not good. In a flash, she sprang off the bed and dashed into the bathroom and that's when I could hear her throwing up in the bathroom.

I jumped out of bed and followed her in. I grabbed a robe off the back of the door and covered myself with it, and took the second one, draping it over her shoulders. I sat on the edge of the tub and held her hair back, rubbing circles on her back as she emptied the entire contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl.