When Stef finally got off on her lunch break at 12:10 pm she headed home to get her sandwich that she had accidentally left there that morning. She entered the house and walked straight to the kitchen where her sandwich was waiting for her in the refrigerator. The time on their clock read 12:20. She wasn't scheduled to go on duty until 1:30, so she had a long lunch. She walked into the living room when she heard a few footsteps on the floor above. "Hello?" she yelled throughout the house. Stef set down her sandwich and began a slow trek up the stairs. When she was about halfway she began to hear tears that were unmistakably Callie's.

Callie heard Stef yell through the house. Shit, she thought, Stef wasn't supposed to come home today. She looked down at the blood flowing down her arm to the Black Hand towel in the bathroom. She frantically tried to stop the bleeding, but it was at a loss. She sat on the edge of the tub and looked at the door, giving up.

Stef knocked on the door as she entered "Callie why are you… Oh, Callie" she quickly went to her daughter as the crimson river flowed down her arm. Stef opened the cabinet to the first aid. "That's pretty deep, Callie."

Callie sighed "And?"

Stef began to stop the bleeding as Callie winced at the pain. "And you could get an infection and that's really dangerous. What happened, love?"

"I cut, that's what happened." Callie looked at the wall and tried to hide her pain, both physically and mentally.

"You know that's not what I meant. Did something happen at school?" To her luck, the bleeding had stopped and she moved on to disinfecting and cleaning the wound.

Callie looked away from her mother "I was just thinking about things, okay?"

"What things?"

"Can we not do this now? I really just—I don't want to talk about it." Callie grunted as the disinfectant went into her cuts.

Stef nodded "Okay love, but you know you're not going to get anywhere with everything bottled up inside. Whenever you're ready to talk, we're all here"

"I know." Callie glanced at Stef and watched her wrap up the cut. They sat in silence for a while until Callie spoke up. "Am I in trouble?"

"For skipping school? Yes, but for cutting, no. Never, we'll just keep working on it Callie. Its okay, people make mistakes. Everyone has setbacks, even me."

Callie's eyes grew wide "did you—"

"I came really close, but no." Stef was still ashamed of that night.

Callie took a deep breath. "I'm glad, you're a lot better than that. You've been clean for so long…you deserve better."

"You know all of that applies to you too, Callie. Maybe it's time you start believing your own advice."

"No, I deserve it." Tears were welling up in her eyes, she knew she did.

Stef stopped what she was doing and looked directly into the teen's eyes. She was starting to cry as she told Callie "No Callie. You do not deserve this. At all, you don't. You are such a strong person, you deserve to feel better. You've given up on yourself, Callie, and it's really heartbreaking to see. And I really hope you don't blame yourself for all that has been happening to me recently. That is certainly not your fault, it's mine. I am responsible for my own life and I should have known better to tell Lena about my triggers earlier. Sometimes you just have to stop and let people take care of you. You need to fall back, and luckily you have a safety net. We're your safety net, Callie. It's gonna be hard, and it's gonna hurt like hell, but you can't let this control you forever. You're gonna get better, Callie. It may be stormy now, but it can't rain forever." She finished the bandages and looked at Callie

Callie didn't know what to say. "I want to fall back. I need everyone—you, Lena, and Sharon to come to a session and…I want to just talk about everything. I want to be able to tell you guys everything and not worry about anything else. Can we do that? Please."

Stef was crying now. She nodded "Of course."

Callie walked out and put the towel in the hamper. They went to the living room and sat on the couch. It was 1:00pm. She felt relieved. Scared, but relieved.

Stef sat in silence with Callie for a while but there was not much time left before it was time to go back to work. "Okay, I have to go back to work soon. How about I take you to my mom's until I'm off of work. I'll call Lena, then her, and you can go. Sound like a plan?"

Callie nodded. She was glad she wasn't being sent back to school. It was just too much to take now. "Yea, your mom is great."

"She is isn't she?" Stef smirked before she went to call the two.

Hey guys! I bet you're sitting there like "Where the hell have you been? I've been waiting 3 months!" and I truly apologize. I spent some time in a treatment center and I was just feeling really down. I hope you aren't too mad at me, and I hope you like it. I'll try to update more often now. I love you all so so much if you've stayed with me. You don't know what it means. Make sure to leave your reviews and suggestions!

Xoxo

Katie.