Lynx Book 4: A Callie Torres Story

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"Mommy!" the two little girls shouted as soon as Callie and Jada entered the suite.

Callie stepped around Jada and stopped her daughters from barreling into Jada. "Girls, Mommy hurt her arm. You have to be gentle with her."

Sofia and Riley nodded as Callie moved out of the way. "Mommy what happened to your arm?" Sofia asked as she wrapped her arms around Jada's hips.

Jada slowly bent down so she was sitting in her catchers stance as Riley came to join the hug. "I hurt it throwing the ball at the end of the game."

"You be okay?"

She nodded. "I'll be okay. Momma is going to fix up my arm."

"Mommy!" Riley said as she hugged Jada as well.

"Hi sweetie," Jada said and hugged her youngest daughter with her good arm.

"Is that your medal, Mommy?" Sofia asked upon seeing the gold medal in Callie's hand.

"Yeah it is."

"I want to wear it!"

Sofia bounded towards Callie who gave her the medal. "Be careful with it, Sof."

"I will Momma!"

Sofia, trailed closely by Riley, made her way around the suite to show everyone the medal her mom won.

"You alright, Jaelynn?" Michelle asked as she came to give her daughter a soft hug.

"I'm going to be okay," Jada replied after taking a deep breath. "I'm just pissed. My body is so messed up from all the years of doing this. I should've thought better."

"Try not to beat yourself up about it, honey," Michelle said. "You've dreamed about this since you started playing t-ball. Callie's awesome at what she does, she'll get you fixed up."

Jada hugged her mom with her good left arm. "I know... but."

"What, honey?"

"I just want to be a mom," Jada said softly as she continued to hug her mom. "I don't want to have any issues. I can't pick up my kids anymore. Callie and I were going to try to get pregnant after this. Obviously I can't with the surgery I'm going to need. I'm going to put so much on Callie because she's going to have to take care of the girls and me."

Michelle tightened her arms around her daughter after that ramble. "It's going to be okay, honey. I love you."

"I love you too, Mom."

•••

"What's going on?" Callie asked as she sat down next to Jada on their bed. She had hurried to get the girls to bed so she could talk to Jada. As much as Jada was saying otherwise, Callie knew something was up.

"Let's talk," Callie suggested. "You're saying that you're fine, but Jaelynn, I know you. You're not fine."

Jada unstrapped her sling from around her neck and slid it off her elbow. With her left arm, she whipped the sling across the room, narrowly missing Callie.

"I'm so fucking pissed!"

Once the sling hit the floor across the room, Callie shot a web, grabbing the sling and pulling it back to her. "You could've handed this to me."

Callie set the sling down on the nightstand. "Callie, just leave me alone," Jada said as she turned away from her wife.

"I'm not going anywhere," Callie replied sternly. "Babe, just talk to me. Don't shut me out."

Getting up, Callie walked around the other side of the bed and sat down beside Jada. "Talk to me."

"Callie, I don't want to talk right now."

"Why? Isn't this what we've been working on for years?"

Jada took a deep breath. "Yeah, I know... I just, I'm just not ready to talk right now."

Callie stood up, headed into the closet, and came back wearing a t-shirt and jeans. "Well, I'll be back."

Watching Callie walk out of their bedroom, her shoulders slumped, her body language screaming sadness, Jada spurred into action. She headed into the closet, changed into her own jeans, and was out the bedroom door after Callie.

When she made it to the garage, she saw Callie pushing the motorcycle out of the farthest small garage door. As she ran across the garage, she heard the engine start up. Grabbing her helmet, she ran outside just as Callie buckled the chinstrap of her own helmet.

Callie jumped in surprise when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Jada was standing beside her, wearing jeans, her motorcycle jacket, and had her helmet buttoned and ready to go.

Without saying a word, Jada threw her leg over the seat of the bike and hopped up behind Callie. The bike moved sideways just a bit before Callie's strong legs stabilized it. Jada found her footrests and tapped Callie's thigh, signaling she was ready to go.

Callie began to walk the bike forward, and Jada wrapped her arms tightly around her wife's waist. She leaned forward against Callie's back and rested her head on Callie's shoulder as she usually did when she rode behind her.

Jada's arms began to slowly tighten around Callie as they rode. She had no idea where Callie was going, and didn't really care. Jada wanted to be with Callie right now, but she wasn't yet ready to talk about her feelings regarding the injury. This was perfect. She had begun holding onto Callie for more than just keeping herself steady on the back of the bike, but for comfort as well.

She squeezed Callie tighter and closed her eyes. This was what she needed right now. She wasn't sure if Callie planned on taking her anywhere, or if they were going to return home, but Jada was ready to talk to Callie about everything.

Jada hadn't realized how hard she was squeezing Callie until she felt a tap on the thigh. "You squeeze me any harder I won't be able to breathe!" she heard Callie say from up front.

"We wouldn't want that to happen, would we!?" Jada replied back as she loosened her arms around Callie just a bit.

Hearing Callie's chuckle made her laugh. Even in times like this, with the shooting pain currently going from her elbow to her hand and shoulder, Jada was right where she wanted to be. She was ready to talk to Callie.