The Aftermath of Callie and Arizona

Love Isn't Always Easy Part III

Arizona's POV:

As I was laying awake in bed the Saturday morning after Callie came home drunker than I'd ever seen her, I began to hear a low moaning coming from the baby monitor app. 'Great,' was all I could think, 'she's up and in God knows what kind of shape.' 

After two minutes of listening to what sounded like a trapped and snared, wild, animal dying, I decided to check on Callie to make sure she was physically okay. While I knew she was suffering from ethanol (alcohol) detoxification, I needed to make sure she didn't need medical help. Even though I already suspected she was fine by this point.

It was already getting close to 9 am, so I got up and quickly got dressed before venturing across the hall to check on Callie's status. As I opened the cracked door, I was overwhelmed by a menagerie of foul odors. For anyone that has encountered a drunk a few hours after they have passed out, you know what I am talking about.

The air in Sophia's room smelled like a mixture of vomit, body odor, and alcohol breath. It was pungently overwhelming to say the least given the five hours Callie had been passed out and the door being mostly closed. 

I tried to quietly open the door to look over Callie, when she heard me hit a creaky floorboard on the hardwood flooring in the hallway and half opened her bloodshot eyes. She somewhat resembled a mole that had just come out of it's dark hole and back into the daylight for the first time in a couple days, by the way she was squinting at me. She immediately started grabbing her head and then her stomach with opposite hands, as she begin to rock back and forth on her back and start moaning even louder.

I could tell I wasn't hiding my contempt for her hangover or my anger over what happened the previous day and night. While she struggled with her pain and nausea, I walked over and checked her carotid pulse. Her heart rate was slightly elevated, but nothing extreme. It was probably just a product of trying to mitigate her alcohol-induced pain that morning.

"Arizona, I'm so very sorry for what I did last night." Callie's voice was very gravelly and an octave lower than it normally was thanks to all the stomach acid the back of her throat had endured while she was throwing up. She was also talking at a fourth of the speed she normally would, probably due to fatigue, her mental status and pain she was experiencing in that moment.

"Calliope, I only came in to make sure you were still alive, which it turns out, you are. Since you can take care of yourself, you're on your own from this point on."

"Arizona, please let me talk to you and apologize. I am sorry for handling things inappropriately yesterday."

"Callie, I am done watching over you this morning and am leaving. Good luck taking care of yourself today." I walked through Sophia's bedroom door and slammed it shut and headed towards the garage door. On the way to my car, I grabbed my purse, my coat and my keys. That's when Callie stumbled into the open doorway of the front room, just before I left.

"Arizona, please don't leave, we need to talk about this." Callie had tears running down her cheeks and had started loudly sobbing, as she pleaded with me not to leave.

"Guess you should have thought about that last night Calliope, before you decided to go on a bender. I was up most of the night and morning looking after you and now I'm done."

"Arizona, nooo! You can't leave this way! Please stay so we can talk!" Callie was trying to talk between sobbing and gasping for air.

I looked at her one last time, before opening the door to the garage and slamming it shut. Within seconds, I had opened the electric garage door and started up my SUV. As I was pulling my car out, I saw Callie standing in the house door to the garage, still begging and pleading with me. While I couldn't hear anything she was saying, I could tell that she was asking me to stay and apologizing at a frantic pace. All this while she continued to cry and her eye make-up, that hadn't been removed from last night, streamed down her cheeks in scattered black lines.