Kryptonite | PG13 | Grey's Anatomy
Title: Kryptonite
Prompt: care/comfort Caddie
Fandom: Callie/Addison, Grey's Anatomy
Requested by: burningeden
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 1332
Disclaimer: Not mine. Wish they were. Please don't sue.
Author's Note: I wrote this at burningeden's request. I hope this doesn't channel painful triggers or come across as presumptuous or insensitive. If it helps her to feel better in any way after what she's recently gone through, then I'll have done my job. I hope it helps, hun. *hugs*
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For a medical professional accustomed to dealing with trauma on an everyday basis, Addison Montgomery was ill-equipped to face it when it forced its way into her personal life. She had seen horrible things throughout her career, things that scarred her soul, but she had never been rendered more helpless or terrified as when Callie Torres was released from the ICU into her care.
Addison was a woman of action when she was in her lab coat and scrubs. She felt like a superhero sometimes. Callie had even joked about her being Super Gynie and drew a logo of a vagina wearing a cape on a paper napkin that Addison kept in her desk at the practice.
Addison wasn't up on her superhero facts and didn't know one way or the other what the deal with kryptonite was. That was Callie's realm.
Addison was pretty sure that she'd found her kryptonite.
Callie had decided to make an impromptu visit to California to visit her at the practice. It was expected to be five days of sun, surf, and shopping. Addison had assumed that the biggest problem would be figuring out which restaurants to take her to.
When she got the call that Callie had been brought into the hospital after an altercation with a group of men, Addison thought her life had ended. By the time she reached her and found her bruised and broken, the police had finished their interrogation and she had been discharged.
Addison didn't even really know what happened. She just knew that Callie's spirit had been stolen and her body littered with bruises.
She put her to bed immediately upon reaching home.
She busied herself in the kitchen, stirring unnecessarily at a pot of boiling ramen noodles. She mixed in the seasoning and frowned at the 30 cent concoction. Why had she never learned Grandma Forbes's recipe for homemade chicken noodle soup? She hadn't exactly been prepared for this...who stocked their kitchen with excesses of care foods?
When she turned off the oven, she ladled the soup into a large bowl set atop the breakfast tray and placed an ice cube on top of the steaming mass of noodles. She frowned at it. It was one of the most pathetic looking attempts at a meal that she'd ever made.
Plucking a flower from the vase of fresh flowers that she picked up to liven up the place for Callie's visit, she snipped the stem and placed it in a long cylindrical shot glass she retrieved from the cupboard. She arranged two chocolate chip cookies on the tray and a Hershey kiss for good measure. Deciding this still was not enough, Addison poured a glass of apple juice, a glass of water, and heated up a mug of cocoa.
When the crowded tray groaned under the weight of its contents, Addison carefully picked it up and inched her way to the master bedroom.
The room was dark, as she had left it a few hours ago. Callie's back was to the door. Addison watched her for several long moments, her heart breaking again at the reality of the situation. She hit the light switch with her elbow and watched as Callie's shoulders bunched together.
"Sweetie? You ready to try to eat something? You shouldn't have your meds on an empty stomach"
Callie groaned but slowly turned over, pushing herself up to lean back against the headboard.
Addison's gut clenched and twisted painfully at the sight of Callie's blackened face. The bruises across her eyes and jaw swelled painfully, telling unspoken stories of what transpired.
Addison forced a cheerful smile. "How you feelin'?"
"Like three guys beat the hell outta me," Callie croaked, her throat dry. She reached for the glass of water before Addison had even set the tray around her lap.
Addison winched at the remark. "Do you want to--"
"No."
"Fair enough, Cal." She sat, watching as Callie stared at the tray. "Are you hungry?"
"Not really. I just want to sleep."
"Well, have a few bites of soup and then you can go back to sleep, okay?" She picked up the spoon and scooped a bit of the broth. "Open up for the airplane?" She attempted the airplane sound but gave up when she realized she sounded like a dying motor.
Callie slowly opened her mouth and leaned her head forward. She accepted the spoonful of soup and swallowed it. After several more bites, Callie turned her head away.
"Want some cookie? They're chocolate chip," Addison asked enticingly, reaching for one.
"Chewing hurts," Callie replied, scooting her body with a grunt of effort until she was lying down again.
Addison bit her lip. "Okay. Sleep now. I'll leave the water and the cocoa here on the nightstand if you want it, okay?"
Callie merely nodded, her eyes resolutely closed.
Addison picked up the tray and headed back towards the door. "I'll be back in a few hours when it's time for your medicine."
Callie did not respond.
Two hours, one and a half cans of Pringles, one trip to the corner store, and seventeen botched games of Solitaire later, Addison reentered her bedroom. Callie was awake this time, nestled amongst the downy folds of the comforter and staring into the darkness of the room. She blinked at Addison as she came to sit beside the bed. Addison was pleased to see that the cocoa had been drained.
She placed the giant bag she'd been carrying on the floor and reached into the pocket of her sweater for the prescription pill bottle. She shook two of the pills into her palm and held them out for Callie, watching as the dark-haired resident gulped them down with a wince.
Addison covered Callie's hand with her own, careful not to upset the scratched, reddened knuckles. "How ya feelin'?"
Callie said nothing and only burrowed deeper into the bed.
"Well, I brought you goodies." Addison picked up the bag and began sifting through it. "I bought you just about every magazine in the drug store. And I rented seasons one, two, and four of Buffy. They didn't have season three but I figured by the time we got through one and two that it might be returned at the store." She shuffled in the bag. "I got candy, a trashy romance novel, sudoku, coloring books and crayons…"
Callie put her hand over Addison's. One of her nails was chipped and jagged. "I don't need this stuff, Ads."
"I just…" Addison exhaled, putting the heavy bag back on the floor. "I just thought you might like a few distractions."
"Distracting me isn't going to change what happened. It's not gonna make it go away."
Addison blinked away the welling tears. "I know this sounds pretty stupid compared with what you went through, Cal, but I'd never been more scared in my entire life. I thought…" Addison began to cry. She kept herself in check and wiped her cheeks with her sleeve and took a deep, bracing breath. "How can I make it better?"
"I don't know…" Callie looked away, her dark eyes vacant. Lost. "Just don't go anywhere."
"Never," Addison said. She carefully climbed over Callie's body and snuggled beneath the blankets. She eased a careful arm around Callie's shoulder and pulled her into her body. "You don't have to go through this by yourself."
Again, Callie was silent. She just allowed herself to be held until she began to cry.
Addison stroked her fingers softly through Callie's hair and cried with her. She felt completely helpless in that moment. She wanted nothing more than to be able to take it all away from her friend, to make the pain disappear. Addison knew she couldn't fix this. She couldn't make it go away. She couldn't heal Callie's wounds or erase what had been done to her.
All she could do was be her friend. All she could do was hold her hand while she climbed out of this darkness.
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