Lynx Book 3: A Callie Torres Story

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"Callie?" Jada called as she bounded down the stairs. "Calliope?"

"Arizona, have you seen Callie?"

"She left a little bit ago," Arizona answered. "She said she wanted to do some running around and she took the girls with her."

"Did she say where she was going?"

"She didn't."

"Callie didn't tell me she was leaving," Jada said. "She always tells me when she's leaving and where she's going."

"She did seem mad this morning," Arizona admitted.

"That would probably be my doing," Jada sighed. "We got in a fight last night."

Arizona looked at Jada and didn't know what to say. "But she fucking took my kids without telling me!" Jada growled.

"Jada, sit down and listen to me," Arizona said sternly. "Callie and I used to battle all the time. Since I was home a lot with my leg she would leave and take some time to cool off. She wouldn't put Sofia and Riley in harms way, and I'm guessing she probably took them out to give herself some more time to cool off."

"She's never left on me like this!" Jada protested.

"What did you get in a fight about?" Arizona asked. "If you don't mind me asking?"

"I had a nightmare last night and Callie tried to help me calm down, but I wouldn't let her because I've been having so many nightmares and that was the first time she noticed," Jada rambled. "She never notices me anymore."

"I doubt that's true," Arizona was quick to interject. "You are her whole world."

•••

Callie was having fun going shopping with her daughters. The only thing that was ruining her day were the constant text messages and calls from Jada. Five minutes wouldn't go by without a phone call from Jada. And it got to the point where Callie shut her phone off. She was running on hardly any sleep and she was very annoyed.

Sofia was beyond excited to do a Build-A-Bear and hadn't stopped talking about it since she received her stuffed bear. Callie and Sofia had fun doing one for Riley and Sofia had already determined it would accompany her in her crib.

They went shopping for clothes and both girls got a few outfits. As much as Callie was still angry with her wife, she knew she was going to have to be over it by the time they got home. Sofia made it abundantly clear how excited she was to tell her other mother what they'd done.

"Hey, Momma," Sofia said from beside Callie at the table where they were currently eating in the mall food court.

"Yeah, Sofia?"

"Why is that boy staring at us?" Sofia asked and pointed.

If Callie was still interested in men, she would've found their admirer cute. As soon as Callie looked to see where her daughter was pointing, the guy who'd been looking at them shot Callie a teasing smile.

"Why's he being weird?"

Callie couldn't help but laugh at Sofia's comment while tilting the bottle up to give her younger daughter a break from eating. Making eye contact with him again, he started to giggle upon hearing Callie laugh.

"Because boys are sometimes like that," Callie said, not really wanting to go into an in depth explanation to her daughter. "You'll learn when you're older."

"But I want to know now!"

Callie raised her eyebrow, daring Sofia to take it even further. "Is he trying to look at you like Mommy looks at you?" Sofia asked.

"You could say that."

"Eww. We like Mommy more."

"We do, don't we?"

•••

The moment the garage door opened, Jada was on her way to the kitchen where she waited for her girls to come in.

"Hi Mommy!" Sofia yelled excitedly as she entered the house.

"Hey, Sofster," Jada replied as she knelt down to give her oldest daughter a hug. "What did you do with Momma?" Jada asked, really wanting to know what her wife and daughter were up to.

"Momma took us to make bears!" Sofia exclaimed happily. "Me and Riley made one. And then we went shopping. And then we ate. And a boy was staring at Momma. Cuz Momma kisses Mommy and not him."

Callie entered the house with Riley in her carrier. Jada hadn't noticed Arizona come up behind her until she was taking the carrier from Callie and taking Sofia's hand. "Hey Sof, let's go get changed and ready for bed."

"Okay, Aunt Arizona!"

Once she watched Arizona finish climbing the stairs after Sofia, Jada wasted no time laying into Callie.

"How dare you take my kids and not tell me where you're going! You didn't answer me at all! Do you know how worried I was!? I was ready to call the police on you, Callie!"

"Your kids?" Callie demanded. "Your kids!? How dare you! I don't want to hear you ever call them 'your kids' again!"

"You left without a word!"

"I needed to get away from you! Do you really think I would put Sofia and Riley at risk? Do you really think I would do something like that!? I would die before I let anything happen to the girls or you!"

"You-"

Callie was feeling inclined to let Jada know exactly how she was feeling. She immediately cut Jada off and continued. "I think you need help or something! Because whatever that was last night was absurd and uncalled for! You had a nightmare and I tried to help you! Then you spent that time berating me for trying to help you!"

"Callie, I've been having nightmares nearly every night and that was the first time you noticed! You don't notice me anymore!"

"There are two of us in this relationship! You need to be open and honest with me! I'm the one you should trust with things like this!" Taking a deep breath, Callie added, "I stopped using my powers to protect our family. It's going to take some time for me to get back into using them. I'm going to use what I learned to help you with these nightmares. But, you need to help me too. I can't do everything."

"You don't get it! You don't get anything unless it centers around you!"

"I have been nothing but loving and loyal to you!" Callie snapped aggressively. "Even when you weren't to me. I don't know why you're so scared to open up to me. When have I ever let you down? When have I ever failed you?"

Jada took a deep breath and stared into Callie's chocolate brown eyes. "You haven't," she said softly, so softly that she could barely hear herself. "I'm sorry, Calliope."

She didn't know what came over her, but suddenly her feet were in motion and she was charging towards Callie. Jada crushed Callie in a hug, so hard that she almost knocked Callie over.

"I'm sorry," Jada sobbed into Callie's shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Calliope."