trauma [m.s]

xxv.

- - -
once upon a time. happily ever after. the stories we tell are the stuff of dreams. fairy tales don't come true.
- - -

in joe's, mark is sat at the bar, his head slightly down, looking at the scotch swirling around the glass in his hand when callie takes a seat on the empty bar stool beside him.

"you look like you could use a drink," callie chuckles as she motions to order herself a drink, but mark doesn't respond. in fact, he barely even acknowledges her presence. "hey, are you okay?"

"i've had better days," mark sighs, momentarily turning his head to look at her before he reverts back to his previous position, and finishes what's remaining of his drink.

- - -
reality is much stormier. much murkier. much scarier.
- - -

"oh!" chloe gasped, cheering as she scored a goal in their small soccer game, before she jumped on owen's back. she wrapped her legs around his waist as he grabbed hold of them, and spun the two of them around in their victory. "whoo-hoo-hoo!"

"okay, break it up, break it up. break it up, you two," captain dan waved his hand at them. "we're only down by 3."

"oh, yeah, 'cause you suck," owen taunted, lowering chloe to the ground but pulling her back into his chest, his arm wrapped around her.

"insubordinate," dan's brow creased with false annoyance.

"oh, sir, you suck, sir," owen corrected himself, still smiling.

"i mean, dan. come on, it's true. you play like my grandma," chloe added and owen laughed.

"whatever," dan chuckled.

■ ■ ■

"owen, what are you doing here?" chloe asks.

"your hair is different," owen observes, deliberately ignoring her question.

"a lot of things are different," chloe says with a hardened expression. "what are you doing here?"

"what are you doing here?" owen counters. "you just pick up and leave everything- your friends, your family, the army? you had a life in baghdad."

"had," chloe reemphasises.

"and now you have a boyfriend in seattle," owen raises his brow.

"he's not..." chloe exhales deeply. "he's not my boyfriend."

"well, whoever he is, he seems... lovely," owen forces a smile and chloe rolls her eyes.

"what are you doing here, owen?" chloe asks once more, and much more forcefully.

■ ■ ■

"okay, chloe, it's time to start pushing," dr. helen carter instructed the blonde as she sat at the foot of her bed.

chloe's breathing began to quicken and she could feel her pulse racing as she turned her head to look at owen, panic and worry filling her eyes.

"it could take time, okay?" owen attempted to soothe her. "the chopper she was on is on its way back."

"she's not gonna make it," chloe shook her head, her eyes brimming with tears that she quickly tried to sniffle back. "it's okay. i can do this."

"okay, chloe. it's time to start to push. one, two, three..." helen counted her down until she began to scream, tightly gripping owen's hand. "we're gonna need a little more!"