AN: First of, I just wanted to say - thank you for reading (even after 49 chapters). It is actually hard to believe this story just reached 50 chapter, I never thought that would happen. So, thank you all for sticking with me and this story. Here's to another 50!
Also, to anyone, who's idea or suggestion I have used - the credit to the story line(small or big - doesn't matter), goes to you. THANK YOU for your ideas! I would not have written it if it wasn't for your ideas.
Now, this next mini-stroy idea, came from a reader named CriminalMindsLuver4ever and also PLLFan865 (who added to the idea). I'm sorry I made you wait for it this long, but on the bright side - it is finally here and happening. I hope you enjoy!
Cooper POV
July 26th
When I pull up Amy's house, the front doors are already open. Before I can get out of the car, I see both Amy and Callie walking out. Amy had her bag over her shoulder, but Callie was dressed in her running gear. Callie locks up the house while Amy and I meet on the lawn in front of the house.
"Didn't you get my message?" Amy says after she kisses me
"Umm…" I reach in my pocket to pull out my phone. I make few clicks and read the message she has sent me 10 minutes ago "I got it now"
"Captain needs me to go in. I'm sorry, but I won't be home till…uh...I have actually no idea when I will be home" Amy explains when Callie walks up to us. We greet each other like always.
"Bye mom, bye Cooper" Callie calls to us the next second and takes off running down the street
"Are you mad? I know we had made plans and everything..." Amy asks when taking my hand in hers
"No, I'm not mad. Don't worry about it" I reply quickly looking down to her "Go make the city safer. I will go back to my place…watch reruns for Friends"
"You could stay here…wait till Callie get's back. You two could do something together" Amy suggest
"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, Callie and I have never actually, what's the word- hang out – before"
"You need to start somewhere" Amy says with a smirk "This could be a good chance for that"
"How long does she run now?" I ask Amy when I look down to my watch on my wrist
"Little over hour. She should be back around 12" Amy says reaching in her bag for her set of keys. She takes my hand, palm up and places the keys in my hand.
"This is really happening" I mumble to myself when Amy leans up to give me another kiss, before she leaves
I had everything set for our 'hang out' session. After Amy left, I went to check what kind of movies they have. I realized I saw no LotR movies, so I decided to head to the city and rent the movie trilogy out. On the way back I stopped at a shop and bought few packs of popcorn, soda and chips.
The first movie was already in the DVD, popcorn was made. It was already 12, so I decided to call in and order pizza.
I had just hanged up the phone when Callie got home. She saw me in the hallway and stopped in her feet - surprised. Callie did a weird move and turned her right side towards me. Like she was shielding her left side from me.
"Your mom said I could stay and wait up for you. I thought we could hang out today. I set up a movie marathon. Lord of the rings. I checked with your mom, she said you haven't seen it" I explain to her, taking one step closer towards her
Callie briefly glanced to me. I was no kid expert, but something was wrong. Her body looked all tensed up, she was avoiding my look. I had a feeling I wasn't the problem, that something had happened on the run. She wasn't like this in the morning, before the run.
"I ordered pizza" I add watching her
"I will take a shower first" she says pointing up with her right hand
"Yeah, sure" I say tapping the phone to my palm. I was surprised she agreed, that she didn't try to avoid it...avoid me.
Callie run pass me to the stairs. Taking every second step, she made her way up the stairs fast. When I hear the doors to her room slam shut, I go sit down in the living room to wait for her. In minute or so, I hear her head to the bathroom.
In 15 minutes the pizza arrives – Callie wasn't out yet. I set the pizza box down on the coffee table and sit back down on the couch. I turn the volume back on and continued to wait for Callie.
Another 15 minutes passed, but she hadn't come out of the bathroom yet. I switched to another channel and kept patiently waiting for her.
After 20 minute, I was starting to feel uneasy. Something felt off. She has been in the bathroom for almost an hour. That felt too long.
I place the remote on the coffee table and slowly make my way up. Her bedroom doors were open, she wasn't in there. When I turned to look at the bathroom doors, I heard very quiet sobs. I stood still in my spot.
What was I supposed to do? Callie and I are not that close, I doubt she would tell me what happened. But I also knew I couldn't just leave her. Just because we are not close, doesn't mean I don't care about her. I had to try and find out what happened. I had to make sure she is okay.
Slowly I made my way to the bathroom doors. I raise my right hand up and pull it in a fist. I knock two times on the doors "Callie?"
The sobs instantly stop.
"Is everything okay?" I ask carefully through the doors
"Yeah" Callie replies and I hear a sniff afterwards "I'm fine!"
I release my hand from the fist and place my palm against the doors "Is there anything I can do?" I ask warily
"Is the pizza here?" She asks and I hear her walking around
"Yeah, it's here. It is still warm" I tell her lowering my hand down to my side
"Give me 5"
I took a step back from the doors "Okay, come down when you are ready"
Part of me wanted to call Amy and tell her, ask her what I should do. Ask for her advice, inform her about what had happened. Other part told me, that everything is okay, that I am just overreacting. That I was being paranoid.
When Callie gets back down after 5 minutes, I instantly notice the red, puffy eyes. Also I notice that she was wearing her shorts, but she had a long sleeved shirt on. It was the middle of the summer, it was hot outside. That seemed odd. But I don't comment on either of the things, I just let her be. I don't want to upset her and push her for answers. I know she wouldn't just tell me.
I reach to the pizza box and open it. The pizza was now just slightly warm. I turn on the movie.
"Lord of the rings – prepare to be amazed" I say smiling to her, trying to light the mood
Callie fell asleep at the 3rd LotR movie, about halfway in the movie. I got the blanket from behind the pillows and placed it over her. Before I continued watching the movie I cleaned up the mess we made.
When the 3rd movie ended, I turned off the TV. For the past hour, Callie has been mumbling in her sleep, she has tossed and turned non-stop. Her blanket was kicked off in the process.
I walked up to the couch, to put the blanket on her, up to her shoulder. My hand touched her arm softy, but it was enough for her to jolt awake. She screamed out in fear, I assume.
Her face was a mix of anger and fear. Callie hit my arm away and yelled at me "Don't you dare fucking touch me!"
I took a step back and raised my hands up. My lower legs, hit the coffee table side.
"I wanted to put the blanket back on you" I tell her and nod to the blanket her in her lap
Callie doesn't take her eyes off me. She scoots to the end of the couch and stands up, the blanket falls down to ground.
"Don't come close!" Callie tells me with grinned teeth, her right index finger was pointed to me, to my face "Don't fucking touch me!"
"I'm not, I won't…I'm not going to" I said softly taking a step back from her "I'm sorry"
Without turning her back to me, keeping her eyes on me, Callie was stepping backwards. I stood still, afraid to do something else that upset her.
"Don't touch me" she repeated before she run up to her room.
I slowly lower down my hands once I hear her bedroom doors slam shut again.
Amy POV
I get home little after 10. Cooper's car was still here, I saw him sitting in the living room, the TV was off. The other light that was on, was in Callie's room, on the second floor.
When I got inside, Cooper still hadn't moved from the couch. I drop my bag by the doors to living room and head inside to see him.
"Hey" I announce myself and only then he turns to me. He looked like he was lost in his thoughts "How was your day with Callie?" I ask sitting down next to him on the couch
"I don't know what I did. She was fine one moment…and the next…I don't know what I did to her" Cooper sounded very confused. His eyes aren't on me, he was looking somewhere on the ground, to his feet.
My body tensed up the moment I realized he was talking about Callie. I reach for his hand and wait till he looks to me "What happened?"
"You did nothing wrong" I comfort him, once Cooper was done telling me about his day, about what had happened
"I barely touched her!" Cooper tells with a lot of emotion in his voice "I just wanted to put the blanket back on her…she looked so frightened of me"
"Cooper" I place my free hand on his cheek "It's okay, you did nothing wrong"
"Are you sure…I feel like I did something" Cooper said looking guilty
"No" I shook my head back "It wasn't your fault" he nods back in acknowledgment after few seconds
"I will go talk to her" I say standing up, giving his hand one last squeeze before I walk up
"I will go" Cooper says standing up as well
"You don't have to go. You can stay" I turn back to him
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I just need a moment with Callie and then I will come back down"
"Okay" He says sitting back down "I'm sorry…for" he points upstairs to where Callie is
"Not your fault" I kiss his cheek and head upstairs
Before I head to Callie's room, I walk into my room to lock up the gun, put my bag and phone down. After that I make my way over to Callie's bedroom. The doors to her room are closed. I knock softly three times.
"Can I come in?" I ask when I hear her move around on the bed
When she gives me the green light, I open the doors and step inside her room. Callie was laying on her bed, curled up in a ball, on her right side, there were tear strains on her cheeks. She was indeed wearing a long sleeve shirt, just like Cooper had said. It was indeed strange for the summer that we are having this far.
I close the doors behind me and head up to her bed. I kneel down by the bed and softly run fingers through her hair.
"Cooper said you had a rough day" Callie closed her eyes and right when she did that, one tear run down her cheek
"Can you tell me what happened on the run?" I watch her features closely
Callie sucks in her lower lip, eyebrows move lower and closer together. When she opens her eyes, to look back at me, they are full of tears. Callie moves her left hand with her right she pulls up the sleeve.
On her forearm, there was bruise. In the form of hand. You could tell where the fingers were placed, when someone had grabbed her hand. My fingers softly traced the bruise on her arm. Anger was starting to grown inside me, I wanted to get, whoever did this.
"Who?" I ask looking at the bruise
"Liam" she said barely above whisper. I look up to her, when she says his name. I opened my mouth to ask about the incident, but Callie continued on her own. Callie sat up, pulled down the sleeve she had rolled up and moved backwards till her back hit the wall. She pulled her legs up, wrapped her hands around her legs.
"I ran into him in the park" Callie said when I moved to sit on the bed next to her "I was running, when a flying disk landed right in front of me on the path. I picked it up and wanted to throw it back to whoever threw it, but I froze when I saw Liam coming up. He was there with his friend..."
Callie lowers her head to my shoulder when I wrap my hand around her back "I couldn't move…I froze. I could have run, I should have run…he is still limping, I could have outrun him…I don't know why I didn't run. He came up to me and grabbed my hand...we exchanged few words before he let go of my arm"
I pressed my lips to her temple. I whispered to her as I continued to hold her"It's okay, Callie. You are safe now..."
After some 20 minutes, we were both laying down in the bed. Callie was pressed up to me, her head to my chest. I was running my hand gently over her head as I continued to sooth her.
"I didn't mean to snap at Cooper" Callie said barley above whisper. She tilted her head so she could see my face "I had a nightmare about Liam and then I felt Cooper touch me-"
"Don't worry about it" I sooth her
"I will apologize to him…" Callie says back, I could tell she felt guilty that she snapped at him
"You don't have to"
"No…I will. He didn't do anything bad. Cooper looked pretty worried about me...he came to check on me..." She says and shifts in my arms to get more comfortable
Callie falls asleep after some 5 minutes. I wait for 10 more minutes till I move out of her bed. I pull the blanket up to her shoulders and place a kiss to her forehead before I leave her room. I leave the doors slightly open, so I would hear better if she has another nightmare.
When I get down to living room, I see Cooper watching night news. He turns off the volume when I enter and turns to me "How is she? Is she okay?"
"She will be okay, she's sleeping" I said stopping at the couch. Cooper was concerned about Callie. More than I thought he would be.
"So what happened? Did something happen? Or was I just…paranoid?" He asked me back, he was tapping his fingers at his knee
"You were right. Something happened. Callie ran into someone from her past while running in the park. Left a bruise on her hand, that's why the long sleeve shirt" I rubbed my forehead "Safe to say I won't allow her to run alone ever again"
"Can I ask, who it was?" Cooper asked shifting in the couch "You don't have to tell me if—you don't want to. I just…I hate that I couldn't help her. I hated that I didn't know what I did to upset her…but you don't have to tell me"
I stood still for a moment, looking down to Cooper. I was thinking over my options.
"Come with me" I say holding out my hand. Cooper took it when he stood up. He didn't ask me anything on the way up. We walked in silence.
We got to my room and I told him to sit down on the bed. I closed the bedroom doors behind me and headed to the closest. I put in the code for the safe and pulled out a file that was under the gun. I get in the bed, legs crossed under me. Coopers moved from the side of the bed to the middle of the bed. I place the file between us.
"I'm going to tell you something, that is very personal. No one else beside me knows, what I am going to tell you!" I said very slowly to emphasize how important and serious this talk is going to be.
"I'm listening" Cooper replied seriously. I have never seen him look more serious than he does look now. All of his attention was on me. I had no doubt in my mind, he won't tell anyone else. Cooper was trustworthy. I trusted him.
I place my hand on the file. It was a very thin file. It had just 3 pages in. I opened my mouth thinking I would start to tell him about Liam. But I said nothing. I wasn't sure where to even start. Cooper didn't urge me to talk faster. He sat quietly, looking at me, waiting till I start on my own pace.
"It happened almost 3 years ago, in mid-august, when Callie was living with her previous foster family…" I started and looked down to the file and opened it "She was 14 when she was raped by her foster brother"
"No" Cooper breathed out in disbelief and shock "Oh my gosh..."
I looked up to him, his right hand was over his mouth. He was shaking his head slowly. Cooper looked the exact same way I did, when I learned about Liam. The two main things that were visible in his face, his eyes was hurt and anger.
"This is him" I pointed to the photo I had of Liam. I turned the file around so he could have a better look at him "Liam Olmstead. He was 19 at the time"
Cooper reached for the file and lifted it up. His eyes were fixated on his photo "After Callie told me, we reported it. There was a trial, but…we lost. Because it was his word against hers. There was no evidence. No witness. Callie had a record, she was a foster kid. He was a college kid with no arrests, not even a parking ticket"
"So…he got away, because…Callie is a foster kid and no one believed her?" Cooper asks when he looks up from the file
"Basically…yes" I confirm it nodding my head "We got an restraining order, which he broke today"
Cooper looked back down to the file and pointed to his photo "Callie ran into him today?"
"Yeah" I nod back "Callie got frightened by you, when you touches her, because she had a nightmare about him...about what happened"
"You said you got a restraining order…don't we have to like…report it?"
"There is no use. The judge won't believe her anyway. And the friend, he was with ,will vouch for Liam. He will tell the judge that he was someplace else, not where we claim he was" I say knowing how these things goes
"But you are a cop…can't you do something - anything?"
"How do you think I got the restraining order?"
"So there is nothing we can do?" Cooper asked desperate, in a louder voice. I saw that the anger inside him had grew as we talked. Right now, I could tell the anger took over the hurt.
The words he used didn't slip by me. I noticed that he said the word–we- instead of just indicating to me. I didn't show it, but I was smiling in the inside at that little thing.
"We…just need to make sure she is as safe as possible. Show her that we believe her and that we have her back, no matter what"