It really had turned out to be a good day for Callie. No difficult customers, and on top of that, her boss, Miranda Bailey, had bought a cake to celebrate the second year anniversary of her taking over the store. Even though it was Callie's turn to close that night, she felt like it didn't matter.

Right before locking up, Callie made sure everything was shut off, and put the money in the safe. She walked towards her car, but suddenly stopped, and looked around. She thought she'd heard a noise, but she couldn't see anything to suggest anything out of the ordinary. She was about to put her keys in the car door when she heard the same noise again, and looked up. This time she knew she hadn't imagined it. Thoughts started running through her head: what if it was some addict looking for money, or maybe someone who was planning on breaking in as soon as she had left. Or it could just be a cat, she thought. She walked towards the side entrance of the building, where all the garbage and containers were situated. The noise had sounded like something bumping into metal.

Callie felt a little nervous as she got closer, and decided if there was indeed someone dangerous around, she would be better off with a weapon of some kind. She looked through her bag, but somehow a chap stick, or a pack of mints didn't make up a good weapon of defense. She was scared but at the same time curious, so she decided to make her keys into pointy brass knuckles, like her father had taught her once. As she came closer it sounded like something was scraping against one of the containers.

Whatever she was expecting, she was not prepared for what she saw as she turned the corner. A person was half sitting up against the container, trying to use their one free hand to keep them from completely falling over. The other hand was positioned on the person's throat.

Callie dropped her keys, and she couldn't help letting out a noise of surprise and shock. The person heard the keys drop to the ground and looked up.

Callie put a hand to her mouth. The other person tried to get on their feet, but failed and fell to the ground. Callie's fear was suppressed by her empathy, and she ran forward to help this injured person who clearly was no threat to Callie.

"Are you OK?" Callie asked as she squatted down by the body that was now on the ground.

Now that she was close to what seconds ago had been more of a silhouette, she saw it was a woman. The woman's eyes seemed to have trouble focusing on Callie's face. Her shirt was stained with blood that had escaped from her throat.

"Oh my God!" Callie exclaimed. "Hold on, I'm going to call an ambulance."

At the word ambulance, the woman took a firm grip around one of Callie's wrists. Callie was surprised by the strength of the hold, considering the state of this woman.

"I need to call an ambulance. You need to get to hospital; otherwise you'll bleed to death."

The woman held her grip, and managed to move her head in a way that suggested she was shaking it; saying no. She then let go of Callie's wrist and pointed towards the store building, and subsequently at Callie.

Callie wasn't sure what the woman was trying to say, but then realized she wanted Callie to help her.

"No, no, I can't help you, you need a doctor!"

The woman grabbed Callie's hand and looked right at her. When Callie locked eyes with her, it weirdly had a calming effect on her, and she felt a strong urge to do exactly what this woman wanted her to do.

"OK, I'll be right back" She was about to say don't go anywhere, but that was sort of a given.

Callie ran back, fumbled with her keys, but managed to get the door open. She ran into the store, tried to think of what she needed. She was talking to herself as she ran down the aisles "Think, think, think. Towels. Scissors. Alcohol"

She stopped and looked at what she was carrying. "First aid kit!" She exclaimed. She ran back to aisle five, and grabbed a kit, and ran outside as fast as she could.

When she came back outside, the woman had managed to put herself back up in a sitting position. Callie put all of the material she had collected on the ground beside her, and opened one of the water bottles.

"I need you to let go of your throat so I can clean away all the blood; to see how big the wound is. Alright?!"

The woman let Callie remove her hand as she poured water on her neck. The blood was still seeping out and mixing with the steady flow of water. It didn't look like it was a very big cut, but by the looks of the shirt, it had been bleeding for some time. Callie grabbed a small towel "I'm going to press this against the wound to try to stop the bleeding"

As she was pressing the towel against the wound Callie had to support the woman's face so she wouldn't slide over. She had her eyes half closed, still conscious. Callie gently lifted the towel to see if the bleeding had stopped. It had decreased but not completely stopped. Callie figured it was little enough to put on a compress.

"I need to let go of your head now, so help me put you in a stable position."

The woman made an effort to reposition herself. Callie opened the first aid kit. She put a compress on the wound and sat down beside the woman. The adrenaline was subsiding and she started to feel an ache, in her knees and arms especially. She realized she had been on her knees the entire time, and her arms were stiff from holding the woman up. She looked at the woman again, but now her eyes were closed. Callie's first reaction was to be worried, but it seemed the woman was breathing normally; her chest was moving up and down in a regular pattern. But Callie had to be sure "Hey, can you hear me?"

The woman reacted to Callie's question, but she didn't open her eyes. That was enough to reassure Callie that she was OK. She looked around her at the bloody towel, and the other stuff she had brought with her outside "Now what?!"