(no subject)
Title: Ready For A Fall (22/?)
Author: Chelle Storey-Daniel
Rating: NC17 (but only vaguely)
Pairing: Addison/Mark, Callie/George, Callie/Alex, George/Izzie, Meredith/Derek
Summary: Sometimes it hurts to fall, but if you're lucky someone may catch you. And they may be falling, too.
A/N: Whew, this is a loooong chapter. ;)
Dedication: To the fans of this story who keep inspiring me with feedback and support. You are the driving force behind this fic and I appreciate you more than you'll ever know. ;)
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty One
*~*~*~*~*~
I have never let anything have this much control over me
I work too hard to call my life my own
And I've made myself a world and its worked so perfectly
But its your world now, I cant refuse
I've never had so much to lose
Oh, Im shameless
- Garth Brooks
*~*~*~*~*~
"Make sure she eats lunch."
"I will."
"And - and don’t let her parents stress her out."
"I won’t."
"And tell her that she -"
"Alex, go away." Addison pointed at the door of the nail salon. "Mark is not a patient man and he’s probably revving his engine hard enough to kill the valet guys with the fumes. It was hard as hell for him to get a tee time on such short notice. So go."
Alex looked back at Callie, who had been seated in a spa chair and already had her feet submerged in the water. "Just keep an eye on her."
It took five more minutes for a vacant spot to open for Addison and luckily it was right beside Callie. "Your boyfriend," she said, "is insane."
"Why? What’d he do?" Callie asked.
"He worries about *everything*."
"I know. Oh my god. This morning he checked my seat belt twice before he put the car in reverse. And he practically held me hostage in bed until I ate, actually, make that choked down, the French toast he had made. I think he forgot to put it in eggs."
Addison snorted. "Ew. What did it taste like?"
"Lard fried bread."
"He didn’t use butter?"
"I don’t think so. It was waxy."
"And you don’t care at all, do you?" Addison gave her a knowing smile.
"He cooked me breakfast in bed. It could have been shoe leather and I would have loved it." Callie leaned her head back against the seat, which was massaging her back and legs. "My parents are going to be intense. I can feel it. Are you sure you want to go with me?"
"I’m positive."
"Did I tell you Mom is making Alex pretend to by my husband?"
"He’s already acting like it." Addison shrugged. "Of course, Derek never checked my seat belt."
"I’ve never been with anyone who thinks of things like that. You know? He’s so over-protective and he gets jealous and pissed off at the dumbest thing, but it just seems to work. We argued *so* much on the boat and then an hour later we didn’t even remember what we were mad about." Callie smiled. "It’s just weird."
"Good weird?"
"Perfect weird." Callie looked at her. "So, are you going to be a happy girl tonight or is everything still red in the world of Addison?"
"The crimson wave has come and gone. It’s over. Totally and completely over. I am going to do things to him that he never, ever dreamed possible."
"Are you flexible?"
"What do you mean?"
"I’ll show you a little move later that will have him following you around on his knees begging for more."
"I’m suddenly scared." Addison picked up the polish she had chosen and said, "Do you like this?"
"You did wear salmon scrubs once. Why not paint your nails that color?"
"At least I’m not going *red*."
"My dress is red. I don’t want to clash." Callie studied her own choice of color. "Besides, red screams vixen."
"It also screams waitress. Or maybe pole dancer."
"I took pole dancing lessons for years," Callie replied. "It’s great exercise."
Addison simply shook her head. An hour and a half later they were manicured, pedicured, and waxed from the waist down. Sinking into the leather of her convertible, Addison said, "I can not believe I let you talk me into a Brazilian wax. Oh my god, this leather is *hot* on my ass."
Callie grinned. "Everything’s hotter when you’re hairless."
"I’m going to start writing down your one liners. I could make millions."
*~*~*~*~*~
Melana Torres paced the length of the Ambassador Suite and tapped her watch. She had been expecting her daughter all morning, even though Callie had made it clear that she would arrive at noon. She looked at Stavros, her eldest son, who was working on his laptop and then turned to Loukas, who was engrossed in a television program. They were the spitting image of their father and both were as useless as her husband when it came to calming her nerves. She sighed dramatically and earned a glance from Stavros for her trouble, but he turned back to the computer screen a moment later.
"What do I say to her?" she finally snapped, flipping off the television and glaring at Loukas. "What do I say when she gets here?"
"How about hello?" Stavros said when Loukas didn’t reply. He closed his computer. He knew his mother’s many moods and how to interpret the warning signs for an official tantrum. "And after that you can tell her that you missed her and you are glad to see her."
"I found four grey hairs this morning. Four!" Melana replied. "She’s going to be the death of me."
Loukas scratched the side of his head. "Mom? She’s happy. You heard what Cam said at breakfast. He said that this Alex guy seems good for her and that she smiled the entire time they were together. That’s a far cry from her trying to drink herself to death."
"I could strangle her for inviting Cam out to see her and not us. She didn’t even call me until this morning. She’s been back since Thursday! And she waits until Saturday, the day of the party that I have been working myself to death to plan, to call me. She’s a horrible person and -"
Someone knocked at the door and Melana practically leaped across the room. "Oh, she’s here! Callie, honey!"
Cam smiled at her when she opened the door. "Close, but not quite. Can we come in?"
"Yes, yes. Hurry up." Melana yanked him, then Blake into the room and peered into the hallway. There was no sign of her daughter yet so she closed the door, hard, and looked at Cam. "I was just telling your brothers that Callie is hard headed, self indulgent, impulsive and out of control. Your father is lying down right now in a state of nervous collapse over what she has done to us -"
"Dad is not lying down," Stavros interjected. "He’s trying to watch ‘The Incredible Hulk’ marathon."
"Whatever," Melana growled. "I know him better than you. I’ve been married to him longer than you’ve been alive and I happen to know when he’s upset."
"I’m not upset." Raphael came out of the bedroom and smiled at his sons. "I just can’t wait to see my little girl."
"All of you are blind to her faults. Every last one of you." Melana crossed her arms over her chest. "You wait. As soon as I see her I’m going to let her have it and I won’t stop until she’s trembling with heartfelt apologies to all of us."
"She doesn’t need to apologize to me." Loukas shook his head.
"Me either," Stavros agreed. "She’s Callie. This is what she does."
"It’s that attitude," Mel said, "that makes her think it’s okay to do this again and again. She ran off to Europe. She ran off to Mexico. She ran off to Australia. All before she was eighteen! And your poor father had to go collect her every single time!"
A soft knock on the door caused her to spin and yank it open. Callie stood on the other side and she looked at her mother with apprehension. "Hi, Mom."
"Oh, Calliope!" Melana tugged her into her arms, then held her at arm’s length. "You’ve lost more weight, honey! But you look so pretty! You’re skin is bronze and you’re cheeks are glowing and I was just telling your brothers that the past is the past and I’m just so glad that you’re back."
Callie looked over her mother’s shoulder. If the expression on Cam’s face was any indication ... her mother had most assuredly not been telling them any such thing. She handed Melana a small box that she pulled from her purse. "Souvenir."
Melana opened it and gasped when she saw the black mother of pearl bracelet. "It’s beautiful, sweetheart. Thank you."
"You’re welcome." Callie stepped past her, with an audible sigh of relief, and walked into her father’s arms. "I’m sorry, Daddy. I’m really sorry if I worried you."
Raphael held her tight. "It’s okay, kitten."
"Thanks for being the kind of dad who looks for me." She kissed him on the cheek. "And who knew to stop."
"I didn’t want to stop," Raph replied, kissing her forehead. "Your brother forced my hand."
Stavros and Loukas took turns hugging her, fretting over her weight loss, and threatening to kill her. Callie introduced Addison and saw that both of her eldest brothers puffed up like peacocks in an attempt to impress her. She left Addison sitting between them on the sofa and hugged Cam, then Blake. Her mother hovered, looking at the bandage on her arm, fussing over her hair, and finally Blake distracted Melana while Callie pulled her father into the bedroom and shut the door.
"Is something wrong, mija?" Raphael asked, sitting on the bed.
"No, nothing’s wrong." Callie sat beside him and pulled a book from the depths of her purse. "I hope you like it."
Tears clouded his eyes when he opened the leather bound cover of ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ and saw that she had written a note in it. He cleared his throat and read it out loud. "Daddy, you read this to me every night until I was old enough to read it to you. I never read it as well as you did, but I still have my dog eared copy and every time I open it I think of you. Just like the rabbit in this book, you made me real with your love. And I’ll always come back no matter how far I go. Always. I love you, Callie."
She watched him wipe his eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder. "I missed you."
"Oh, baby," Raphael put an arm around her. "I missed you, too."
"Thank you for taking care of the divorce stuff. I - I need to sign the papers. I want to do it before tonight." She sat up suddenly and glared at her father. "You gave him my *car*."
"I bought you a new one yesterday. Something that suits you better." Raphael kissed her and stood, gathering the folder that contained the papers. He took a pen from the desk and sat beside her again. "Are you quite certain this is what you want?"
She nodded and opened the file. George had obviously signed everything quickly. His signature was nowhere near the lines intended for him. She went through them, not bothering to read anything, and signed her name neatly and swiftly. When she finished, she closed the file and handed it back to him. "I feel fifty pounds lighter," she told him with a grin.
"If you were fifty pounds lighter you’d be dead." He put the folder behind them on the bed and said, "You and Alex?"
"We’re together. And if you could accept him with minimal carnage and get Mom to do the same thing that would be really great."
"You can tell a lot about a man by the way he touches a woman. I knew I liked him when I saw the way he held you in your hospital room, but when he said that he had saved your life ... I actually thought that I’d rather have him in the family than George. Your Alex knows how to make a first impression." He brushed her hair back. "All I ask is that you think of yourself first this time."
"I don’t have to. He makes me think of myself first. Daddy, he jumped into the ocean to save me from a great white shark. And this morning? He wouldn’t leave me alone until I ate and ... "
"Shark?"
"It’s not important." Callie shook her head. "Let’s change the subject. You remember when I told you about the ferry disaster?"
"Yes, but if memory serves I saw it on the news and had to track you down to make sure you were uninjured. You didn’t call me. I was frantic."
"Hello? I had surgeries all day. Doctor, here." Callie attempted to sound exasperated, but she couldn’t. "There’s a woman who was injured that day. Her face was destroyed so she had plastic surgery that completely altered her appearance. She was pregnant and alone and had her baby yesterday. It’s been on the news here, but no one has claimed her. I want to get her national coverage. I can get blood type, any scars or previous surgeries, and photos of her and the baby, but I need your help."
"You get the pertinent information and I’ll do the rest."
She hugged him. "Thank you, Daddy."
"If I ask you something, mija, will you be honest with me?"
"Yes, sir."
"Have you had anything to drink while you’ve been gone?"
She shook her head. "No. Nothing but water and juice."
"You promise?"
"I do."
Melana knocked on the door and pushed it open. She carried Gucci, who became frantic when he saw Callie. "Someone else wants to say hello."
Callie took the little monkey in her arms and kissed him. "What’s Addison doing?"
"Explaining for the fourth time that she has a boyfriend." Melana smiled. "Your brothers appear to be infatuated."
"I better go rescue her." Callie held Gucci like a baby and he seemed to enjoy it so much that he sucked his thumb. "We have to get our hair done in an hour."
"We’re going to order room service. What would you like?" Mel asked.
"Hmm." Callie shrugged. "Surprise me."
Melana and Raphael watched her walk out of the room, then looked at one another and smiled.
"She’s better," Raph said.
"She’s glowing."
"She said that she’s with Alex. They’re a couple."
"Did I not just say she was glowing?"
Raph’s smile faded. "You don’t think it’s because of - she didn’t have -"
"Oh, of course not. She didn’t have sex with him. She’s glowing because abstinence is very fulfilling."
He glared at her.
She blew him a kiss.
*~*~*~*~*~
Alex and Mark spent more time walking and talking to one another than they did golfing. They had more in common than an interest in plastics. Both had worked as caddies during their college days to make ends meet. Alex, who had always assumed that Mark had grown up wealthy and privileged, was shocked to learn that he had put himself through college and that it had taken him years to pay off his loans. He listened raptly as Mark explained that his father had been a millionaire, but his mother had been nothing more than a gold digger who had married the much older man for his money. And Mark was not allowed to touch any of the money his father had left him until he got married and stayed that way for five years.
Mark had, he told Alex, been an unplanned mistake that his mother regretted from the moment she gave birth to him. After his father died, she had blown through the money and lost the house, the cars, and the lifestyle she had grown to depend on. By that time, Mark was already away at college. She had tried to force him to marry someone, anyone, but Mark staunchly refused because to do so would have meant that his mother would hound him for money.
"Where is she now?" Alex shifted the set of clubs he had rented from one shoulder to the other. "Your mother."
"Who knows?" Mark shrugged. "I haven’t heard from her in years."
"You don’t wonder what happened to her?"
"She happened to herself. She made my father’s life a living hell and granted, he was a mean bastard, but she flaunted her men and her whorish ways in his face after he was bedridden. That’s not someone I want to know." Mark glanced at the other man. "What about you? Where are your parents? What’s their story?"
"My dad abused my mom. Physically. Mentally."
"Damn."
"I put him in the hospital when I was big enough. I kicked his ass and he never came back." He took a deep breath. "My mom was clinically depressed after that. She missed him. I stayed in Iowa to be near her. I had a full scholarship in New York, but I didn’t go. I didn’t want her to be alone."
"Where is she now?"
Alex shook his head.
Mark pressed. "Is she -"
"I don’t know."
"What happened to her?"
Alex stared out over the golf course. No one knew the truth. No one. He thought long and hard before he made the decision to tell Mark Sloan. He didn’t know if it was because he had admired Sloan as a surgeon for so long or if it was because he was still thinking about the dream he’d had the night before about Callie, but whatever it was, his tongue loosened before he could stop it. "She was on a lot of medication. Anti-depressants and stuff. It was like she became a different person. She just stopped working and stayed in the bed all day. I came home for the weekend and she was gone. She was just ... gone."
"Did she leave a note? Anything?"
"Yeah. She left a note on the front door saying that she needed to get away. She asked me not to worry."
"Did you look for her?"
"I did. That entire summer. I went through her address book and called everyone she had ever known. I tried to get the police involved, but they said that she had not been kidnapped and there was nothing they could do." Alex glanced at the other man. "I have her listed as a missing person online and I talk to our old neighbors every week, but she’s never shown up."
"Is this is why you’re so involved with the Jane Doe from the ferry crash?"
"I see a lot of my mother in her."
"Does Callie know?"
"She doesn’t know about my mother and I’m not going to tell her."
"Why?"
"Because she has enough baggage of her own and I love her."
"You love her?"
"Yeah."
"That was fast."
"Falling normally is. One minute you’re walking and the next you’re flat on the ground."
"When do you come back to work?"
"Monday."
Mark nodded. "I’ve got an interesting facial reconstruction coming in. Guy was attacked by a dog a couple of years ago and he’s finally got insurance that is willing to repair the damage. You want to scrub in?"
"Yeah." Alex smiled, relieved that the conversation had gone in a different direction. "I’d love to."
Mark glanced down at his watch. "I guess we should head back. It’s getting late."
Alex shifted his clubs again. "We didn’t really golf much."
"I never do. I just like the way it feels to carry my *own* irons instead of someone else’s."
"I know the feeling."
*~*~*~*~*~
Callie and Addison got ready on the yacht. They had spent far too much time at the beauty shop, but neither could complain about the results. Callie’s hair was curled in a sophisticated looking old-Hollywood style that cascaded perfectly over her shoulders. Her red dress had the same kind of retro feel. The flowing skirt hung just below her knees and was cut similar to Marilyn Monroe’s white dress in ‘Seven Year Itch’. The best part was that her back and sides were left exposed due to the dress’s cut out pattern. It was sexy. It made her feel invincible.
Addison had opted for curls as well and as she zipped her dress, she knew that she looked better than she ever had. Her dress was slinky, but also had a flowing skirt which Callie had assured her was required for dancing at Latin parties. She twirled in front of the mirrors in the starboard bedroom and nodded. Mark would definitely be eating out of the palm of her hand.
Both women gasped when they saw one another. They exclaimed over every last detail of the other’s appearance. Addison fell in love with Callie’s shoes, which were red leather with three straps that went around her ankle. Callie decided that Addison’s dress was the sexiest thing she had ever seen and they were still discussing fashion when Mark and Alex arrived.
"Oh my god," Alex said, looking Callie up and down. "You’re beautiful."
"Jesus, Addison," Mark dropped his suit onto the sofa and hurried across the salon, touching her hair. "We could skip the party and hang out here."
"No way! I’m all dressed up with somewhere to go!" She kissed him and then looked at Callie and Alex, who were standing in the galley, talking softly to one another. She was struck by how great they looked together. "You guys better get dressed."
"Whose car is that parked beside yours?" Mark asked Addison. "The Mercedes convertible?"
"Mine," Callie replied. "My dad decided I needed a welcome home gift."
Mark looked shocked. "That’s an AMG Roadster! They’re about two hundred grand. Especially one as loaded as yours."
"What’d you do? Look in the windows?"
"Uh, yeah."
Callie chuckled. "I wanted a Volkswagen Beetle. Green. Less than twenty thousand bucks, but my dad’s tastes are a little more extravagant than mine. The Mercedes does go a hundred and fifty five miles per hour, though."
Mark looked at Alex. "We will put a governor on it to top it out at seventy tomorrow."
"We’ll top it out at sixty." Alex corrected, looking at Callie again. "I think you should wear a different dress. This one borders on indecent."
"It does *not*," Addison replied before Callie could. "It crosses the border and that’s exactly what she needs to do."
Mark had finally taken a look at the yacht and he said, "Jesus, Torres. How rich is your family?"
Addison smacked him. "You don’t ask people that."
Callie simply looked amused as she took Alex’s hand and led him into her bedroom. No, their bedroom. She had laid his suit out and sat down on the bed beside it. "How was golf?"
He kissed her, running his hands over her bare sides and back. "You’re going to kill me if you wear this."
She reached under his suit jacket and pulled out the Speedo she had purchased in Los Angeles. "You’re going to kill me if you wear this."
Alex took it from her, holding it between his finger and thumb like it was contaminated. "No, I’ll kill you if you *make* me wear this. I made it very clear that I wouldn’t be caught dead in it."
"Please?"
"Callie, these things are sperm killers," he replied, stretching the fabric. "This would ruin our chances of having a family one day and I was hoping for an even dozen."
The smile on her face faded and she looked at him with wide eyed wonder. "Did you just say - you didn’t mean -"
"What?" he asked, wadding up the Speedo in his hand. "Is that too many?"
"You like kids? I mean, Addison said you grumbled about the gynie squad all the time."
"I love kids ... I don’t like looking at vaginas all day." He reached up and touched a curl that was hanging over her arm. "Unless it’s yours."
"Wanna take a look right now?"
Alex glanced at his watch. "We’re running late and I think our friends out there would notice if we started rocking this thing like it was in a hurricane."
"We’re good at that."
"We are." Alex kissed her and let the Speedo dangle from his fingertips again. "Are you serious? You want me to wear this?"
"I’m serious."
"What are you wearing under that dress?"
She uncrossed her legs and slid her skirt a little higher. "One red garter belt that you’ll be taking off for the amusement of my family." She moved it higher still. "And because my skirt will billow when we dance, I have on lacy, red, tight panties that most people would think came with the dress. They’re very modest." She opened her legs. "But only you know that they’re crotchless."
"Fuck it. We’re gonna have to be late."
*~*~*~*~*~
They were late. Forty minutes late.
The party was in full swing by the time they walked in. Addison and Mark moved off to the side to talk to Cam and Blake while Callie’s extended family swarmed around her. And Alex. By the time they made it to the main table thirty minutes later, Callie was flabbergasted and Alex’s cheeks had been pinched so much they were bright red.
Raphael greeted Alex with a bear hug and Melana did the same, but she whispered, "I knew it. A mother knows these things. You said you were just friends, but I knew better."
"I didn’t lie. At that time we were just friends." Alex smiled at her. "I’m always the last to know, though, so you were right."
"Please, please, sit down and let’s eat. You don’t keep Greek people waiting on dinner and Calliope has no sense of time." Melana waved her hand at the waiters and the first of seven courses arrived. She looked at her daughter and said, "You *had* to wear something that showed off that hideous tattoo, didn’t you?"
With a nod, Callie said, "You had to put *pink* in the decorations, didn’t you?"
Melana wrinkled her nose as she stared at the centerpiece on the table. "It was perfect until Cambyses bought a truck full black roses and stuck them into all the floral arrangements."
"I think the black looks better," Callie replied.
"That’s because you’re evil, honey," Melana told her, patting her hand. "Perhaps you’ll grow out of it."
"Most of my panties have skulls on them, Mom. That’s never going to change."
Mel choked on her salad and shook her head. "Calliope, tell me that you are not going to embarrass me if your dress flies up on the dance floor."
"Let’s just say that everything matches and leave it at that." Callie shared a knowing smile with Alex and then listened as he talked at length with Cambyses about politics.
Callie looked further down the table at Addison, who was sitting next to Blake. Her brother’s boyfriend appeared thrilled at his inclusion at the main family table and was engaging Mark in a very lively discussion about God only knew what. One of her cousins caught her eye and waved and she smiled, lifting her hand. Looking to her left, she saw that Stavros and Loukas were seated side by side and there were three empty chairs that should have been filled by Ronnie, Jerry, and Louise.
Her fork clattered onto her plate and she pushed it away. She should have called Louise and explained everything. She should have spoken to Ronnie and Jerry. They were her friends. They had been her family and -
"Hey," Alex said softly. "You okay?"
"Excuse me," she said, pushing her chair back. She hurried out of the ballroom and into the large, spacious bathroom across the hall. Three female relatives stood at the sink and she forced herself to smile at them before she rushed into the stall. She listened to them chatter in Spanish and breathed a sigh of relief when they left the room.
She recognized Addison’s shoes a little while later. Her friend knocked on the door and said, "Are you sick?"
"No."
"Are you peeing?"
"No."
"Look, Alex is getting antsy. I told him to go back to the table, but if you don’t show up soon he’s going to throw caution to the wind and stalk right in here." Addison waited patiently for a few seconds. "I’ll crawl over. I have on a dress so I can hike my leg really high."
"I just need a minute."
Addison rattled the door. "Why?"
"Because Louise was always very good to me and she’s not here," Callie admitted.
"Do you really think Louise would want to be here to see you suck face with Alex?"
"Can you please try to feel my pain? She helped plan this party. She was excited for it."
"I’m sure she understands. I took George to her place while you were gone and she was so pissed at him that she wouldn’t let him stay."
Callie opened the door and peered out at the red head. "Really?"
"Really."
"I’m okay with not being with George, but I got really close to his family. Ronnie called me every Wednesday during trivia at the pub so that I could help him with the answers. And Jerry called me about the dumbest things in the world, but I didn’t mind. I’ll miss them, you know?"
"You don’t have to miss them. Call them tomorrow and ask them to lunch. Tell them that you still love them even though you’re not with George."
"Oh, I’m sure they’d love that," Callie replied, dripping with sarcasm.
"I bet they would." Addison pulled Callie out of the stall and hugged her. "I still talk to Derek’s sisters and his mother calls me all the time."
"Is it normal to feel ... good about losing one thing, but bad about losing the rest?"
"You haven’t lost anything that you can’t find." Addison took a step back and smiled at her. "I bet they’re going to be a lot happier to hear from you than you think. Now, come on. Alex is alone out there."
Callie walked to the mirror and refreshed her makeup. Taking a deep breath, she nodded at Addison and they walked back toward the ballroom. Callie was waylaid by her Uncle Kick, who lifted her off her feet and spun her around. She told him about her yacht and he decided that Addison was *required* to hear the story of how Callie and Cam had stolen from him. By the time he finished with his very exaggerated and hilarious tale, Addison was crying from laughing so hard and Callie had forgotten all about being upset.
When she finally returned to her seat, the fourth course was being taken away. Alex immediately felt for a fever. "Are you feeling sick again?"
She shook her head, aware that her parents were watching her closely. She pasted a smile on her face and said, "No, I’m fine."
Alex, who had seen her smile enough to know a fake one when he saw it, leaned a little closer and whispered, "Don’t do that. Don’t pretend that nothing’s wrong. What is it?"
"It’s not important." She squeezed his hand then made a face when the waiter put a heaping serving of steak pommodor and new potato salad in front of her. Her plate was close to overflowing and she knew that it had been intentional. Neither Alex nor her mother had enough food to feed a small colony. "What the hell?"
"You missed the four previous courses, sweetheart," Melana picked up a fork and held it out to her. "You can make up for it now."
"Gluttony is a sin." Callie took a bite of the potato salad and said, "Oooh, but it’s good."
She looked at Alex, ready to warn him about her Uncle Kick’s penchant for tall tales, when she saw that he was watching her with an expression she had never seen before. He looked angry. She quickly turned her attention back to her food, then looked back at him after a few seconds. His food was untouched. "You don’t like it?"
He leaned toward her and said, "No, I don’t like it. Something’s on your mind and it was obviously important enough for you to run out of here, but you don’t want to tell me what it was."
"I got overwhelmed for a second," Callie whispered against his ear, trying to look like she was sharing something special, because she knew that people were looking. "I have a tendency to run when I’m overwhelmed. You should be used to it. I took you with me last time. Now, please eat because not eating in my family is considered a felony and my mother is watching us like a hawk."
Alex picked up his fork and said, "You know what?"
"What?"
"You don’t fucking run anymore," he said it softly, but the conviction in his voice was unmistakable. "I don’t care how god damned overwhelmed you are."
She raised her eyebrows, shocked, and whispered, "What’s wrong with you?"
"You. Running. Flying."
"What are you talking about?" Luckily for Callie, a group of Latin singers were walking closer and closer, playing their violins and guitars and singing softly to the assembled guests so she was the only one who heard Alex’s response.
"It’s what you do. You just said it. You run. You fly. You can disappear if you want and I’m sick of you reminding me of that."
She forgot all about attempting to save face. Her mouth dropped open and her nostrils flared. "Are you actually trying to start an argument with me right now. Right now!?"
Alex glared at her and turned to Cam, asking him something about the lyrics of the song that was being sung. She listened to her brother explain and pushed her food around on her plate. She was tempted to knock her glass of water into her lap as an excuse to go to the bathroom again, but she refrained. Looking to her left, she saw that her parents were watching her play with her food and she sighed when her mother told her that she would hold up the sixth course until she was finished.
"Don’t," Callie replied. "I had a big lunch and I’m taking antibiotics that refuse to let me eat much."
"You did not have a big lunch, Calliope," Melana replied. "You only ate half of it."
"That’s because you ordered me a foot long sub!"
"You’re ungrateful and picky."
Callie sat back in her seat when the food was cleared and stuffed crab was put in front of her. "Why the *hell* is there so much food?"
"Our family eats, honey." Melana passed her a bread basket. "Do you not like the menu?"
"It’s fine," Callie assured her. "Everything’s perfect. You did a great job and I’m *grateful*."
"Well, I didn’t plan it alone."
Callie handed the basket to Alex, who was still not looking at her. She pulled off a little piece of the bread and chewed it thoughtfully. "Mom, how is Louise?"
"Devastated." Melana looked at her daughter and shook her head. "She really does love you and she wanted you and George to -"
"Not going there."
Melana plowed ahead. "She wanted you and George to at least remain friends."
"We were never friends." Callie picked up her glass for lack of anything better to do and took several sips of water. "I’m going to call her tomorrow. You think - you think she’d be okay with that?"
"She wanted me to tell you that a divorce will not change the fact that you’re family."
Beside her, Alex stood and mumbled ‘excuse me’. It took Callie a second to realize that the musicians had moved away and she had been openly discussing her mother-in-law. Melana watched Alex walk from the room and said, "Honey, perhaps you should go and talk to him."
Callie nodded and caught up with him as he stalked across the lobby toward the front entrance. "Where are you going?"
"I need some fresh air."
She saw a gaggle of elderly aunts and grabbed his hand. "I know a better place to get it."
He followed her to the elevator, but pulled his hand from her grip as soon as the doors closed. "So, you’re going to call O’Malley’s mother?"
"Alex-"
"She’s going to beg you to take him back and plead his case and -"
"And I’ll tell her that I’ve moved on." Callie forced him to look at her. "And just for the record, I’m sorry for whatever I did to make you mad."
"Whatever you did? How can you not know? How can you not see it?"
The doors opened and she led him down a circular hallway and opened her purse, pulling out a key card. She scanned it and led him onto the roof, which was dotted with telescopes and viewing stations. They walked in silence for a few minutes and she finally leaned against the railing and gazed at the Space Needle in the distance. "I’ll miss coming up here. After a bad day this is what I would do."
"How many times did you think about jumping?"
She turned to him. "Never!"
"Do you know what I was doing while you were hiding in the bathroom? I was listening to your mother tell me that you like to vanish. She told me how you disappeared to Australia when you wrecked your father’s car. She told me that you had gone to Europe because you got mad at her for forcing you to have a coming out party. And she told me that you’re never going to stop running, Callie. And you said the same damn thing when you finally came back into the room!" He shook his head, his anger bitter in his mouth. "How do I hang onto you if I can’t catch you?"
"I’m not going anywhere." She reached for him but he sidestepped and moved away. "Alex, I don’t understand where this is coming from. I’m here. I’m with you. I - I want to be with you and -"
"You vanished for fifteen days. George was going insane. Addison was going insane. And then when you found out about George and Izzie you suggested that maybe you should get away again and I never questioned it because I was so excited about the prospect of getting you alone, but you would have gone without me because that’s what you do. You run. You fly away." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Do you have any idea how scary it is to know that you could be here today and gone tomorrow? That maybe you could get pissed off at me and just leave?"
Callie stepped back as if he had slapped her. "You don’t believe anything I’ve said to you. You don’t trust me or -"
"No! You don’t get to be the martyr! I’m asking you to think about how it feels, Callie, to know that the person you love, the only person you’ve ever loved, can’t be tamed. You put a bird on your back to remind you that there is no cage big enough to hold you."
"You just don’t get it."
"Then help me get it!"
"You’re the anchor. You’re *my* anchor. I knew I was dying in the parking garage of this hotel, but your name on my phone penetrated the alcohol and gave me a reason to live. I told you where to find me. I will always tell you where to find me because I love you." Tears rolled down her face, but she didn’t brush them away. "And do you really want to tame me? You’re forever responsible for that which you tame and the fact that we’ve had this conversation only proves that you’re not ready. Because you don’t trust me."
He reached out to touch her face, but she moved away. "I do trust you."
"No, you don’t," she said, her voice breaking now. "You think that Louise will talk me into going back to George or that I’d just up and leave you."
"Callie-"
"Am I really that bad at making you feel the way you make me feel? I don’t have to fly anywhere when I’m with you because you make me soar. And your arms are a cage that I never want to break out of." She sobbed a little harder and finally wiped at her face. "Tell me how to do this better and I will. I’ll do anything to make it okay."
"You just did." Alex pulled her into his arms and held onto her. "I’m sorry, baby. I just - I love you and it scares me."
Callie hugged him, her face against his neck. "I would never do anything to hurt you. You can trust me. You can."
"I know. I know, Callie." He clung to her, breathing in the scent of her hair. When he kissed her a moment later, he tasted her tears and reached up, drying her eyes. "Don’t. I’m pretty sure that if we show up in there with you looking upset there will be two lines, one Greek and the other Cuban, and after they finish ripping me apart they’ll probably dance on the remains."
She smiled a little. "That’s pretty accurate."
He kept her on the roof until she was laughing again and the redness had gone from her nose. Her eyes were a little puffy, but there was nothing to be done about that. She kissed him in the elevator and asked him to tell Addison to meet her in the bathroom. He did as she requested and watched the red head leave the room. The main table was vacant, save for Raphael so Alex slipped into the seat beside him.
Raphael glanced at the young man and said, "You look like you just experienced my daughter’s wraith."
"Yes, sir."
"Please call me Raphael." He patted him on the back. "I assume that your shirt is wet because she was crying."
Alex felt his collar, where her face had been, and nodded. "It kills me when she does that."
"Yes, I know." Raph cleared his throat. "I trust that the fact you provided her with a shoulder to lean on is an indication that everything is fine."
"It’s better than fine. Your daughter is an amazing woman."
"You seem to be quite fond of her. Not many men would masquerade as someone’s husband."
"I think any man who truly knew her would do anything to make her happy."
"And you know her?"
"I do."
Raphael nodded. "Then let me be the first to welcome you to the family, son."
Alex smiled so big that his cheeks hurt.
*~*~*~*~*~
"Mija, please! For my sanity."
"Daddy, I don’t want to sing! I don’t feel good," Callie lied. "I do have an infection."
Melana looked at her husband, clearly livid, and said, "This is the thanks I get for the blood, sweat, and tears that I put into this party." To Callie, she added, "You cannot say that you don’t feel well, Calliope. You have danced for over two hours straight! Now go and sing the song I requested before I crush your larynx."
"Do it, Callie," Alex told her, kissing her softly on the cheek. "I love to hear you sing."
Resigned to the fact that she was outnumbered, she nodded and followed her brothers onto the stage. Stavros sat at the piano, Cam picked up the guitar and Loukas picked up the saxophone. Melana hurried to the center of the stage to announce that her children had agreed to entertain them all and smiled at Callie before handing her the microphone.
Her brothers waited for her cue, but it didn’t come. Instead, she lifted the mic to her mouth and said, "The song that I’m going to sing is probably my favorite song of all time. We all grew up listening to the Rat Pack and songs from an era that just - they get inside you. I used to sing this every day and I didn’t know what it meant until I met Alex. I know what it’s like to love someone through all kinds of weather for the first time in my life though." Her eyes landed on Alex and she smiled. "So, this one is for you, Jock Boy, and I mean every word of it."
Callie lifted her hand and Loukas began to play the sax. Cam and Stavros came in perfectly and the opening strains of Billie Holiday’s ‘Come Rain or Come Shine’ were unmistakable.
"I’m gonna love you like nobody’s loved you, come rain or come shine," Callie sang. "High as a mountain, deep as a river. Come rain or come shine. I guess when you met me it was just one of those things, but don’t ever bet me ‘cause I’m gonna be true if you let me."
Alex watched her intently, his eyes never wavering from hers. A few people cat called and whistled and he felt someone thumping him on the back, but he never acknowledged it. The song and the intensity with which she sang it were worth more to him than anything in the world. It soothed his soul, erased his apprehension, and he fell even harder for her if that was possible.
"You’re gonna love me like nobody’s loved me come rain or come shine. Happy together or unhappy together and wouldn’t it be fine? Days may be cloudy or sunny. Were in or were out of the money, but I’m with you always, I’m with you rain or shine." Callie growled out a few riffs during the instrumental and then attacked the high notes with ease. "Yeah, the days may be cloudy or sunny. Yeah, we’re either in or out of the money. But, baby, I’m with you always, come rain or come shine."
As the song ended she hit a note that was high and clear as a bell. The music stopped and she grinned when everyone burst into applause. Bowing, she handed the microphone to the lead singer of the band her mother had hired and walked toward the steps. Alex met her halfway and kissed her in front of everyone. It wasn’t a chaste or innocent kiss. It was a kiss that combined the hearts and souls of two people.
It was a kiss that stopped any grumbling about an elopement and convinced the party-goers that a big wedding had not been needed at all.
*~*~*~*~*~
Author: Chelle Storey-Daniel
Rating: NC17 (but only vaguely)
Pairing: Addison/Mark, Callie/George, Callie/Alex, George/Izzie, Meredith/Derek
Summary: Sometimes it hurts to fall, but if you're lucky someone may catch you. And they may be falling, too.
A/N: Whew, this is a loooong chapter. ;)
Dedication: To the fans of this story who keep inspiring me with feedback and support. You are the driving force behind this fic and I appreciate you more than you'll ever know. ;)
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty One
*~*~*~*~*~
I have never let anything have this much control over me
I work too hard to call my life my own
And I've made myself a world and its worked so perfectly
But its your world now, I cant refuse
I've never had so much to lose
Oh, Im shameless
- Garth Brooks
*~*~*~*~*~
"Make sure she eats lunch."
"I will."
"And - and don’t let her parents stress her out."
"I won’t."
"And tell her that she -"
"Alex, go away." Addison pointed at the door of the nail salon. "Mark is not a patient man and he’s probably revving his engine hard enough to kill the valet guys with the fumes. It was hard as hell for him to get a tee time on such short notice. So go."
Alex looked back at Callie, who had been seated in a spa chair and already had her feet submerged in the water. "Just keep an eye on her."
It took five more minutes for a vacant spot to open for Addison and luckily it was right beside Callie. "Your boyfriend," she said, "is insane."
"Why? What’d he do?" Callie asked.
"He worries about *everything*."
"I know. Oh my god. This morning he checked my seat belt twice before he put the car in reverse. And he practically held me hostage in bed until I ate, actually, make that choked down, the French toast he had made. I think he forgot to put it in eggs."
Addison snorted. "Ew. What did it taste like?"
"Lard fried bread."
"He didn’t use butter?"
"I don’t think so. It was waxy."
"And you don’t care at all, do you?" Addison gave her a knowing smile.
"He cooked me breakfast in bed. It could have been shoe leather and I would have loved it." Callie leaned her head back against the seat, which was massaging her back and legs. "My parents are going to be intense. I can feel it. Are you sure you want to go with me?"
"I’m positive."
"Did I tell you Mom is making Alex pretend to by my husband?"
"He’s already acting like it." Addison shrugged. "Of course, Derek never checked my seat belt."
"I’ve never been with anyone who thinks of things like that. You know? He’s so over-protective and he gets jealous and pissed off at the dumbest thing, but it just seems to work. We argued *so* much on the boat and then an hour later we didn’t even remember what we were mad about." Callie smiled. "It’s just weird."
"Good weird?"
"Perfect weird." Callie looked at her. "So, are you going to be a happy girl tonight or is everything still red in the world of Addison?"
"The crimson wave has come and gone. It’s over. Totally and completely over. I am going to do things to him that he never, ever dreamed possible."
"Are you flexible?"
"What do you mean?"
"I’ll show you a little move later that will have him following you around on his knees begging for more."
"I’m suddenly scared." Addison picked up the polish she had chosen and said, "Do you like this?"
"You did wear salmon scrubs once. Why not paint your nails that color?"
"At least I’m not going *red*."
"My dress is red. I don’t want to clash." Callie studied her own choice of color. "Besides, red screams vixen."
"It also screams waitress. Or maybe pole dancer."
"I took pole dancing lessons for years," Callie replied. "It’s great exercise."
Addison simply shook her head. An hour and a half later they were manicured, pedicured, and waxed from the waist down. Sinking into the leather of her convertible, Addison said, "I can not believe I let you talk me into a Brazilian wax. Oh my god, this leather is *hot* on my ass."
Callie grinned. "Everything’s hotter when you’re hairless."
"I’m going to start writing down your one liners. I could make millions."
*~*~*~*~*~
Melana Torres paced the length of the Ambassador Suite and tapped her watch. She had been expecting her daughter all morning, even though Callie had made it clear that she would arrive at noon. She looked at Stavros, her eldest son, who was working on his laptop and then turned to Loukas, who was engrossed in a television program. They were the spitting image of their father and both were as useless as her husband when it came to calming her nerves. She sighed dramatically and earned a glance from Stavros for her trouble, but he turned back to the computer screen a moment later.
"What do I say to her?" she finally snapped, flipping off the television and glaring at Loukas. "What do I say when she gets here?"
"How about hello?" Stavros said when Loukas didn’t reply. He closed his computer. He knew his mother’s many moods and how to interpret the warning signs for an official tantrum. "And after that you can tell her that you missed her and you are glad to see her."
"I found four grey hairs this morning. Four!" Melana replied. "She’s going to be the death of me."
Loukas scratched the side of his head. "Mom? She’s happy. You heard what Cam said at breakfast. He said that this Alex guy seems good for her and that she smiled the entire time they were together. That’s a far cry from her trying to drink herself to death."
"I could strangle her for inviting Cam out to see her and not us. She didn’t even call me until this morning. She’s been back since Thursday! And she waits until Saturday, the day of the party that I have been working myself to death to plan, to call me. She’s a horrible person and -"
Someone knocked at the door and Melana practically leaped across the room. "Oh, she’s here! Callie, honey!"
Cam smiled at her when she opened the door. "Close, but not quite. Can we come in?"
"Yes, yes. Hurry up." Melana yanked him, then Blake into the room and peered into the hallway. There was no sign of her daughter yet so she closed the door, hard, and looked at Cam. "I was just telling your brothers that Callie is hard headed, self indulgent, impulsive and out of control. Your father is lying down right now in a state of nervous collapse over what she has done to us -"
"Dad is not lying down," Stavros interjected. "He’s trying to watch ‘The Incredible Hulk’ marathon."
"Whatever," Melana growled. "I know him better than you. I’ve been married to him longer than you’ve been alive and I happen to know when he’s upset."
"I’m not upset." Raphael came out of the bedroom and smiled at his sons. "I just can’t wait to see my little girl."
"All of you are blind to her faults. Every last one of you." Melana crossed her arms over her chest. "You wait. As soon as I see her I’m going to let her have it and I won’t stop until she’s trembling with heartfelt apologies to all of us."
"She doesn’t need to apologize to me." Loukas shook his head.
"Me either," Stavros agreed. "She’s Callie. This is what she does."
"It’s that attitude," Mel said, "that makes her think it’s okay to do this again and again. She ran off to Europe. She ran off to Mexico. She ran off to Australia. All before she was eighteen! And your poor father had to go collect her every single time!"
A soft knock on the door caused her to spin and yank it open. Callie stood on the other side and she looked at her mother with apprehension. "Hi, Mom."
"Oh, Calliope!" Melana tugged her into her arms, then held her at arm’s length. "You’ve lost more weight, honey! But you look so pretty! You’re skin is bronze and you’re cheeks are glowing and I was just telling your brothers that the past is the past and I’m just so glad that you’re back."
Callie looked over her mother’s shoulder. If the expression on Cam’s face was any indication ... her mother had most assuredly not been telling them any such thing. She handed Melana a small box that she pulled from her purse. "Souvenir."
Melana opened it and gasped when she saw the black mother of pearl bracelet. "It’s beautiful, sweetheart. Thank you."
"You’re welcome." Callie stepped past her, with an audible sigh of relief, and walked into her father’s arms. "I’m sorry, Daddy. I’m really sorry if I worried you."
Raphael held her tight. "It’s okay, kitten."
"Thanks for being the kind of dad who looks for me." She kissed him on the cheek. "And who knew to stop."
"I didn’t want to stop," Raph replied, kissing her forehead. "Your brother forced my hand."
Stavros and Loukas took turns hugging her, fretting over her weight loss, and threatening to kill her. Callie introduced Addison and saw that both of her eldest brothers puffed up like peacocks in an attempt to impress her. She left Addison sitting between them on the sofa and hugged Cam, then Blake. Her mother hovered, looking at the bandage on her arm, fussing over her hair, and finally Blake distracted Melana while Callie pulled her father into the bedroom and shut the door.
"Is something wrong, mija?" Raphael asked, sitting on the bed.
"No, nothing’s wrong." Callie sat beside him and pulled a book from the depths of her purse. "I hope you like it."
Tears clouded his eyes when he opened the leather bound cover of ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ and saw that she had written a note in it. He cleared his throat and read it out loud. "Daddy, you read this to me every night until I was old enough to read it to you. I never read it as well as you did, but I still have my dog eared copy and every time I open it I think of you. Just like the rabbit in this book, you made me real with your love. And I’ll always come back no matter how far I go. Always. I love you, Callie."
She watched him wipe his eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder. "I missed you."
"Oh, baby," Raphael put an arm around her. "I missed you, too."
"Thank you for taking care of the divorce stuff. I - I need to sign the papers. I want to do it before tonight." She sat up suddenly and glared at her father. "You gave him my *car*."
"I bought you a new one yesterday. Something that suits you better." Raphael kissed her and stood, gathering the folder that contained the papers. He took a pen from the desk and sat beside her again. "Are you quite certain this is what you want?"
She nodded and opened the file. George had obviously signed everything quickly. His signature was nowhere near the lines intended for him. She went through them, not bothering to read anything, and signed her name neatly and swiftly. When she finished, she closed the file and handed it back to him. "I feel fifty pounds lighter," she told him with a grin.
"If you were fifty pounds lighter you’d be dead." He put the folder behind them on the bed and said, "You and Alex?"
"We’re together. And if you could accept him with minimal carnage and get Mom to do the same thing that would be really great."
"You can tell a lot about a man by the way he touches a woman. I knew I liked him when I saw the way he held you in your hospital room, but when he said that he had saved your life ... I actually thought that I’d rather have him in the family than George. Your Alex knows how to make a first impression." He brushed her hair back. "All I ask is that you think of yourself first this time."
"I don’t have to. He makes me think of myself first. Daddy, he jumped into the ocean to save me from a great white shark. And this morning? He wouldn’t leave me alone until I ate and ... "
"Shark?"
"It’s not important." Callie shook her head. "Let’s change the subject. You remember when I told you about the ferry disaster?"
"Yes, but if memory serves I saw it on the news and had to track you down to make sure you were uninjured. You didn’t call me. I was frantic."
"Hello? I had surgeries all day. Doctor, here." Callie attempted to sound exasperated, but she couldn’t. "There’s a woman who was injured that day. Her face was destroyed so she had plastic surgery that completely altered her appearance. She was pregnant and alone and had her baby yesterday. It’s been on the news here, but no one has claimed her. I want to get her national coverage. I can get blood type, any scars or previous surgeries, and photos of her and the baby, but I need your help."
"You get the pertinent information and I’ll do the rest."
She hugged him. "Thank you, Daddy."
"If I ask you something, mija, will you be honest with me?"
"Yes, sir."
"Have you had anything to drink while you’ve been gone?"
She shook her head. "No. Nothing but water and juice."
"You promise?"
"I do."
Melana knocked on the door and pushed it open. She carried Gucci, who became frantic when he saw Callie. "Someone else wants to say hello."
Callie took the little monkey in her arms and kissed him. "What’s Addison doing?"
"Explaining for the fourth time that she has a boyfriend." Melana smiled. "Your brothers appear to be infatuated."
"I better go rescue her." Callie held Gucci like a baby and he seemed to enjoy it so much that he sucked his thumb. "We have to get our hair done in an hour."
"We’re going to order room service. What would you like?" Mel asked.
"Hmm." Callie shrugged. "Surprise me."
Melana and Raphael watched her walk out of the room, then looked at one another and smiled.
"She’s better," Raph said.
"She’s glowing."
"She said that she’s with Alex. They’re a couple."
"Did I not just say she was glowing?"
Raph’s smile faded. "You don’t think it’s because of - she didn’t have -"
"Oh, of course not. She didn’t have sex with him. She’s glowing because abstinence is very fulfilling."
He glared at her.
She blew him a kiss.
*~*~*~*~*~
Alex and Mark spent more time walking and talking to one another than they did golfing. They had more in common than an interest in plastics. Both had worked as caddies during their college days to make ends meet. Alex, who had always assumed that Mark had grown up wealthy and privileged, was shocked to learn that he had put himself through college and that it had taken him years to pay off his loans. He listened raptly as Mark explained that his father had been a millionaire, but his mother had been nothing more than a gold digger who had married the much older man for his money. And Mark was not allowed to touch any of the money his father had left him until he got married and stayed that way for five years.
Mark had, he told Alex, been an unplanned mistake that his mother regretted from the moment she gave birth to him. After his father died, she had blown through the money and lost the house, the cars, and the lifestyle she had grown to depend on. By that time, Mark was already away at college. She had tried to force him to marry someone, anyone, but Mark staunchly refused because to do so would have meant that his mother would hound him for money.
"Where is she now?" Alex shifted the set of clubs he had rented from one shoulder to the other. "Your mother."
"Who knows?" Mark shrugged. "I haven’t heard from her in years."
"You don’t wonder what happened to her?"
"She happened to herself. She made my father’s life a living hell and granted, he was a mean bastard, but she flaunted her men and her whorish ways in his face after he was bedridden. That’s not someone I want to know." Mark glanced at the other man. "What about you? Where are your parents? What’s their story?"
"My dad abused my mom. Physically. Mentally."
"Damn."
"I put him in the hospital when I was big enough. I kicked his ass and he never came back." He took a deep breath. "My mom was clinically depressed after that. She missed him. I stayed in Iowa to be near her. I had a full scholarship in New York, but I didn’t go. I didn’t want her to be alone."
"Where is she now?"
Alex shook his head.
Mark pressed. "Is she -"
"I don’t know."
"What happened to her?"
Alex stared out over the golf course. No one knew the truth. No one. He thought long and hard before he made the decision to tell Mark Sloan. He didn’t know if it was because he had admired Sloan as a surgeon for so long or if it was because he was still thinking about the dream he’d had the night before about Callie, but whatever it was, his tongue loosened before he could stop it. "She was on a lot of medication. Anti-depressants and stuff. It was like she became a different person. She just stopped working and stayed in the bed all day. I came home for the weekend and she was gone. She was just ... gone."
"Did she leave a note? Anything?"
"Yeah. She left a note on the front door saying that she needed to get away. She asked me not to worry."
"Did you look for her?"
"I did. That entire summer. I went through her address book and called everyone she had ever known. I tried to get the police involved, but they said that she had not been kidnapped and there was nothing they could do." Alex glanced at the other man. "I have her listed as a missing person online and I talk to our old neighbors every week, but she’s never shown up."
"Is this is why you’re so involved with the Jane Doe from the ferry crash?"
"I see a lot of my mother in her."
"Does Callie know?"
"She doesn’t know about my mother and I’m not going to tell her."
"Why?"
"Because she has enough baggage of her own and I love her."
"You love her?"
"Yeah."
"That was fast."
"Falling normally is. One minute you’re walking and the next you’re flat on the ground."
"When do you come back to work?"
"Monday."
Mark nodded. "I’ve got an interesting facial reconstruction coming in. Guy was attacked by a dog a couple of years ago and he’s finally got insurance that is willing to repair the damage. You want to scrub in?"
"Yeah." Alex smiled, relieved that the conversation had gone in a different direction. "I’d love to."
Mark glanced down at his watch. "I guess we should head back. It’s getting late."
Alex shifted his clubs again. "We didn’t really golf much."
"I never do. I just like the way it feels to carry my *own* irons instead of someone else’s."
"I know the feeling."
*~*~*~*~*~
Callie and Addison got ready on the yacht. They had spent far too much time at the beauty shop, but neither could complain about the results. Callie’s hair was curled in a sophisticated looking old-Hollywood style that cascaded perfectly over her shoulders. Her red dress had the same kind of retro feel. The flowing skirt hung just below her knees and was cut similar to Marilyn Monroe’s white dress in ‘Seven Year Itch’. The best part was that her back and sides were left exposed due to the dress’s cut out pattern. It was sexy. It made her feel invincible.
Addison had opted for curls as well and as she zipped her dress, she knew that she looked better than she ever had. Her dress was slinky, but also had a flowing skirt which Callie had assured her was required for dancing at Latin parties. She twirled in front of the mirrors in the starboard bedroom and nodded. Mark would definitely be eating out of the palm of her hand.
Both women gasped when they saw one another. They exclaimed over every last detail of the other’s appearance. Addison fell in love with Callie’s shoes, which were red leather with three straps that went around her ankle. Callie decided that Addison’s dress was the sexiest thing she had ever seen and they were still discussing fashion when Mark and Alex arrived.
"Oh my god," Alex said, looking Callie up and down. "You’re beautiful."
"Jesus, Addison," Mark dropped his suit onto the sofa and hurried across the salon, touching her hair. "We could skip the party and hang out here."
"No way! I’m all dressed up with somewhere to go!" She kissed him and then looked at Callie and Alex, who were standing in the galley, talking softly to one another. She was struck by how great they looked together. "You guys better get dressed."
"Whose car is that parked beside yours?" Mark asked Addison. "The Mercedes convertible?"
"Mine," Callie replied. "My dad decided I needed a welcome home gift."
Mark looked shocked. "That’s an AMG Roadster! They’re about two hundred grand. Especially one as loaded as yours."
"What’d you do? Look in the windows?"
"Uh, yeah."
Callie chuckled. "I wanted a Volkswagen Beetle. Green. Less than twenty thousand bucks, but my dad’s tastes are a little more extravagant than mine. The Mercedes does go a hundred and fifty five miles per hour, though."
Mark looked at Alex. "We will put a governor on it to top it out at seventy tomorrow."
"We’ll top it out at sixty." Alex corrected, looking at Callie again. "I think you should wear a different dress. This one borders on indecent."
"It does *not*," Addison replied before Callie could. "It crosses the border and that’s exactly what she needs to do."
Mark had finally taken a look at the yacht and he said, "Jesus, Torres. How rich is your family?"
Addison smacked him. "You don’t ask people that."
Callie simply looked amused as she took Alex’s hand and led him into her bedroom. No, their bedroom. She had laid his suit out and sat down on the bed beside it. "How was golf?"
He kissed her, running his hands over her bare sides and back. "You’re going to kill me if you wear this."
She reached under his suit jacket and pulled out the Speedo she had purchased in Los Angeles. "You’re going to kill me if you wear this."
Alex took it from her, holding it between his finger and thumb like it was contaminated. "No, I’ll kill you if you *make* me wear this. I made it very clear that I wouldn’t be caught dead in it."
"Please?"
"Callie, these things are sperm killers," he replied, stretching the fabric. "This would ruin our chances of having a family one day and I was hoping for an even dozen."
The smile on her face faded and she looked at him with wide eyed wonder. "Did you just say - you didn’t mean -"
"What?" he asked, wadding up the Speedo in his hand. "Is that too many?"
"You like kids? I mean, Addison said you grumbled about the gynie squad all the time."
"I love kids ... I don’t like looking at vaginas all day." He reached up and touched a curl that was hanging over her arm. "Unless it’s yours."
"Wanna take a look right now?"
Alex glanced at his watch. "We’re running late and I think our friends out there would notice if we started rocking this thing like it was in a hurricane."
"We’re good at that."
"We are." Alex kissed her and let the Speedo dangle from his fingertips again. "Are you serious? You want me to wear this?"
"I’m serious."
"What are you wearing under that dress?"
She uncrossed her legs and slid her skirt a little higher. "One red garter belt that you’ll be taking off for the amusement of my family." She moved it higher still. "And because my skirt will billow when we dance, I have on lacy, red, tight panties that most people would think came with the dress. They’re very modest." She opened her legs. "But only you know that they’re crotchless."
"Fuck it. We’re gonna have to be late."
*~*~*~*~*~
They were late. Forty minutes late.
The party was in full swing by the time they walked in. Addison and Mark moved off to the side to talk to Cam and Blake while Callie’s extended family swarmed around her. And Alex. By the time they made it to the main table thirty minutes later, Callie was flabbergasted and Alex’s cheeks had been pinched so much they were bright red.
Raphael greeted Alex with a bear hug and Melana did the same, but she whispered, "I knew it. A mother knows these things. You said you were just friends, but I knew better."
"I didn’t lie. At that time we were just friends." Alex smiled at her. "I’m always the last to know, though, so you were right."
"Please, please, sit down and let’s eat. You don’t keep Greek people waiting on dinner and Calliope has no sense of time." Melana waved her hand at the waiters and the first of seven courses arrived. She looked at her daughter and said, "You *had* to wear something that showed off that hideous tattoo, didn’t you?"
With a nod, Callie said, "You had to put *pink* in the decorations, didn’t you?"
Melana wrinkled her nose as she stared at the centerpiece on the table. "It was perfect until Cambyses bought a truck full black roses and stuck them into all the floral arrangements."
"I think the black looks better," Callie replied.
"That’s because you’re evil, honey," Melana told her, patting her hand. "Perhaps you’ll grow out of it."
"Most of my panties have skulls on them, Mom. That’s never going to change."
Mel choked on her salad and shook her head. "Calliope, tell me that you are not going to embarrass me if your dress flies up on the dance floor."
"Let’s just say that everything matches and leave it at that." Callie shared a knowing smile with Alex and then listened as he talked at length with Cambyses about politics.
Callie looked further down the table at Addison, who was sitting next to Blake. Her brother’s boyfriend appeared thrilled at his inclusion at the main family table and was engaging Mark in a very lively discussion about God only knew what. One of her cousins caught her eye and waved and she smiled, lifting her hand. Looking to her left, she saw that Stavros and Loukas were seated side by side and there were three empty chairs that should have been filled by Ronnie, Jerry, and Louise.
Her fork clattered onto her plate and she pushed it away. She should have called Louise and explained everything. She should have spoken to Ronnie and Jerry. They were her friends. They had been her family and -
"Hey," Alex said softly. "You okay?"
"Excuse me," she said, pushing her chair back. She hurried out of the ballroom and into the large, spacious bathroom across the hall. Three female relatives stood at the sink and she forced herself to smile at them before she rushed into the stall. She listened to them chatter in Spanish and breathed a sigh of relief when they left the room.
She recognized Addison’s shoes a little while later. Her friend knocked on the door and said, "Are you sick?"
"No."
"Are you peeing?"
"No."
"Look, Alex is getting antsy. I told him to go back to the table, but if you don’t show up soon he’s going to throw caution to the wind and stalk right in here." Addison waited patiently for a few seconds. "I’ll crawl over. I have on a dress so I can hike my leg really high."
"I just need a minute."
Addison rattled the door. "Why?"
"Because Louise was always very good to me and she’s not here," Callie admitted.
"Do you really think Louise would want to be here to see you suck face with Alex?"
"Can you please try to feel my pain? She helped plan this party. She was excited for it."
"I’m sure she understands. I took George to her place while you were gone and she was so pissed at him that she wouldn’t let him stay."
Callie opened the door and peered out at the red head. "Really?"
"Really."
"I’m okay with not being with George, but I got really close to his family. Ronnie called me every Wednesday during trivia at the pub so that I could help him with the answers. And Jerry called me about the dumbest things in the world, but I didn’t mind. I’ll miss them, you know?"
"You don’t have to miss them. Call them tomorrow and ask them to lunch. Tell them that you still love them even though you’re not with George."
"Oh, I’m sure they’d love that," Callie replied, dripping with sarcasm.
"I bet they would." Addison pulled Callie out of the stall and hugged her. "I still talk to Derek’s sisters and his mother calls me all the time."
"Is it normal to feel ... good about losing one thing, but bad about losing the rest?"
"You haven’t lost anything that you can’t find." Addison took a step back and smiled at her. "I bet they’re going to be a lot happier to hear from you than you think. Now, come on. Alex is alone out there."
Callie walked to the mirror and refreshed her makeup. Taking a deep breath, she nodded at Addison and they walked back toward the ballroom. Callie was waylaid by her Uncle Kick, who lifted her off her feet and spun her around. She told him about her yacht and he decided that Addison was *required* to hear the story of how Callie and Cam had stolen from him. By the time he finished with his very exaggerated and hilarious tale, Addison was crying from laughing so hard and Callie had forgotten all about being upset.
When she finally returned to her seat, the fourth course was being taken away. Alex immediately felt for a fever. "Are you feeling sick again?"
She shook her head, aware that her parents were watching her closely. She pasted a smile on her face and said, "No, I’m fine."
Alex, who had seen her smile enough to know a fake one when he saw it, leaned a little closer and whispered, "Don’t do that. Don’t pretend that nothing’s wrong. What is it?"
"It’s not important." She squeezed his hand then made a face when the waiter put a heaping serving of steak pommodor and new potato salad in front of her. Her plate was close to overflowing and she knew that it had been intentional. Neither Alex nor her mother had enough food to feed a small colony. "What the hell?"
"You missed the four previous courses, sweetheart," Melana picked up a fork and held it out to her. "You can make up for it now."
"Gluttony is a sin." Callie took a bite of the potato salad and said, "Oooh, but it’s good."
She looked at Alex, ready to warn him about her Uncle Kick’s penchant for tall tales, when she saw that he was watching her with an expression she had never seen before. He looked angry. She quickly turned her attention back to her food, then looked back at him after a few seconds. His food was untouched. "You don’t like it?"
He leaned toward her and said, "No, I don’t like it. Something’s on your mind and it was obviously important enough for you to run out of here, but you don’t want to tell me what it was."
"I got overwhelmed for a second," Callie whispered against his ear, trying to look like she was sharing something special, because she knew that people were looking. "I have a tendency to run when I’m overwhelmed. You should be used to it. I took you with me last time. Now, please eat because not eating in my family is considered a felony and my mother is watching us like a hawk."
Alex picked up his fork and said, "You know what?"
"What?"
"You don’t fucking run anymore," he said it softly, but the conviction in his voice was unmistakable. "I don’t care how god damned overwhelmed you are."
She raised her eyebrows, shocked, and whispered, "What’s wrong with you?"
"You. Running. Flying."
"What are you talking about?" Luckily for Callie, a group of Latin singers were walking closer and closer, playing their violins and guitars and singing softly to the assembled guests so she was the only one who heard Alex’s response.
"It’s what you do. You just said it. You run. You fly. You can disappear if you want and I’m sick of you reminding me of that."
She forgot all about attempting to save face. Her mouth dropped open and her nostrils flared. "Are you actually trying to start an argument with me right now. Right now!?"
Alex glared at her and turned to Cam, asking him something about the lyrics of the song that was being sung. She listened to her brother explain and pushed her food around on her plate. She was tempted to knock her glass of water into her lap as an excuse to go to the bathroom again, but she refrained. Looking to her left, she saw that her parents were watching her play with her food and she sighed when her mother told her that she would hold up the sixth course until she was finished.
"Don’t," Callie replied. "I had a big lunch and I’m taking antibiotics that refuse to let me eat much."
"You did not have a big lunch, Calliope," Melana replied. "You only ate half of it."
"That’s because you ordered me a foot long sub!"
"You’re ungrateful and picky."
Callie sat back in her seat when the food was cleared and stuffed crab was put in front of her. "Why the *hell* is there so much food?"
"Our family eats, honey." Melana passed her a bread basket. "Do you not like the menu?"
"It’s fine," Callie assured her. "Everything’s perfect. You did a great job and I’m *grateful*."
"Well, I didn’t plan it alone."
Callie handed the basket to Alex, who was still not looking at her. She pulled off a little piece of the bread and chewed it thoughtfully. "Mom, how is Louise?"
"Devastated." Melana looked at her daughter and shook her head. "She really does love you and she wanted you and George to -"
"Not going there."
Melana plowed ahead. "She wanted you and George to at least remain friends."
"We were never friends." Callie picked up her glass for lack of anything better to do and took several sips of water. "I’m going to call her tomorrow. You think - you think she’d be okay with that?"
"She wanted me to tell you that a divorce will not change the fact that you’re family."
Beside her, Alex stood and mumbled ‘excuse me’. It took Callie a second to realize that the musicians had moved away and she had been openly discussing her mother-in-law. Melana watched Alex walk from the room and said, "Honey, perhaps you should go and talk to him."
Callie nodded and caught up with him as he stalked across the lobby toward the front entrance. "Where are you going?"
"I need some fresh air."
She saw a gaggle of elderly aunts and grabbed his hand. "I know a better place to get it."
He followed her to the elevator, but pulled his hand from her grip as soon as the doors closed. "So, you’re going to call O’Malley’s mother?"
"Alex-"
"She’s going to beg you to take him back and plead his case and -"
"And I’ll tell her that I’ve moved on." Callie forced him to look at her. "And just for the record, I’m sorry for whatever I did to make you mad."
"Whatever you did? How can you not know? How can you not see it?"
The doors opened and she led him down a circular hallway and opened her purse, pulling out a key card. She scanned it and led him onto the roof, which was dotted with telescopes and viewing stations. They walked in silence for a few minutes and she finally leaned against the railing and gazed at the Space Needle in the distance. "I’ll miss coming up here. After a bad day this is what I would do."
"How many times did you think about jumping?"
She turned to him. "Never!"
"Do you know what I was doing while you were hiding in the bathroom? I was listening to your mother tell me that you like to vanish. She told me how you disappeared to Australia when you wrecked your father’s car. She told me that you had gone to Europe because you got mad at her for forcing you to have a coming out party. And she told me that you’re never going to stop running, Callie. And you said the same damn thing when you finally came back into the room!" He shook his head, his anger bitter in his mouth. "How do I hang onto you if I can’t catch you?"
"I’m not going anywhere." She reached for him but he sidestepped and moved away. "Alex, I don’t understand where this is coming from. I’m here. I’m with you. I - I want to be with you and -"
"You vanished for fifteen days. George was going insane. Addison was going insane. And then when you found out about George and Izzie you suggested that maybe you should get away again and I never questioned it because I was so excited about the prospect of getting you alone, but you would have gone without me because that’s what you do. You run. You fly away." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Do you have any idea how scary it is to know that you could be here today and gone tomorrow? That maybe you could get pissed off at me and just leave?"
Callie stepped back as if he had slapped her. "You don’t believe anything I’ve said to you. You don’t trust me or -"
"No! You don’t get to be the martyr! I’m asking you to think about how it feels, Callie, to know that the person you love, the only person you’ve ever loved, can’t be tamed. You put a bird on your back to remind you that there is no cage big enough to hold you."
"You just don’t get it."
"Then help me get it!"
"You’re the anchor. You’re *my* anchor. I knew I was dying in the parking garage of this hotel, but your name on my phone penetrated the alcohol and gave me a reason to live. I told you where to find me. I will always tell you where to find me because I love you." Tears rolled down her face, but she didn’t brush them away. "And do you really want to tame me? You’re forever responsible for that which you tame and the fact that we’ve had this conversation only proves that you’re not ready. Because you don’t trust me."
He reached out to touch her face, but she moved away. "I do trust you."
"No, you don’t," she said, her voice breaking now. "You think that Louise will talk me into going back to George or that I’d just up and leave you."
"Callie-"
"Am I really that bad at making you feel the way you make me feel? I don’t have to fly anywhere when I’m with you because you make me soar. And your arms are a cage that I never want to break out of." She sobbed a little harder and finally wiped at her face. "Tell me how to do this better and I will. I’ll do anything to make it okay."
"You just did." Alex pulled her into his arms and held onto her. "I’m sorry, baby. I just - I love you and it scares me."
Callie hugged him, her face against his neck. "I would never do anything to hurt you. You can trust me. You can."
"I know. I know, Callie." He clung to her, breathing in the scent of her hair. When he kissed her a moment later, he tasted her tears and reached up, drying her eyes. "Don’t. I’m pretty sure that if we show up in there with you looking upset there will be two lines, one Greek and the other Cuban, and after they finish ripping me apart they’ll probably dance on the remains."
She smiled a little. "That’s pretty accurate."
He kept her on the roof until she was laughing again and the redness had gone from her nose. Her eyes were a little puffy, but there was nothing to be done about that. She kissed him in the elevator and asked him to tell Addison to meet her in the bathroom. He did as she requested and watched the red head leave the room. The main table was vacant, save for Raphael so Alex slipped into the seat beside him.
Raphael glanced at the young man and said, "You look like you just experienced my daughter’s wraith."
"Yes, sir."
"Please call me Raphael." He patted him on the back. "I assume that your shirt is wet because she was crying."
Alex felt his collar, where her face had been, and nodded. "It kills me when she does that."
"Yes, I know." Raph cleared his throat. "I trust that the fact you provided her with a shoulder to lean on is an indication that everything is fine."
"It’s better than fine. Your daughter is an amazing woman."
"You seem to be quite fond of her. Not many men would masquerade as someone’s husband."
"I think any man who truly knew her would do anything to make her happy."
"And you know her?"
"I do."
Raphael nodded. "Then let me be the first to welcome you to the family, son."
Alex smiled so big that his cheeks hurt.
*~*~*~*~*~
"Mija, please! For my sanity."
"Daddy, I don’t want to sing! I don’t feel good," Callie lied. "I do have an infection."
Melana looked at her husband, clearly livid, and said, "This is the thanks I get for the blood, sweat, and tears that I put into this party." To Callie, she added, "You cannot say that you don’t feel well, Calliope. You have danced for over two hours straight! Now go and sing the song I requested before I crush your larynx."
"Do it, Callie," Alex told her, kissing her softly on the cheek. "I love to hear you sing."
Resigned to the fact that she was outnumbered, she nodded and followed her brothers onto the stage. Stavros sat at the piano, Cam picked up the guitar and Loukas picked up the saxophone. Melana hurried to the center of the stage to announce that her children had agreed to entertain them all and smiled at Callie before handing her the microphone.
Her brothers waited for her cue, but it didn’t come. Instead, she lifted the mic to her mouth and said, "The song that I’m going to sing is probably my favorite song of all time. We all grew up listening to the Rat Pack and songs from an era that just - they get inside you. I used to sing this every day and I didn’t know what it meant until I met Alex. I know what it’s like to love someone through all kinds of weather for the first time in my life though." Her eyes landed on Alex and she smiled. "So, this one is for you, Jock Boy, and I mean every word of it."
Callie lifted her hand and Loukas began to play the sax. Cam and Stavros came in perfectly and the opening strains of Billie Holiday’s ‘Come Rain or Come Shine’ were unmistakable.
"I’m gonna love you like nobody’s loved you, come rain or come shine," Callie sang. "High as a mountain, deep as a river. Come rain or come shine. I guess when you met me it was just one of those things, but don’t ever bet me ‘cause I’m gonna be true if you let me."
Alex watched her intently, his eyes never wavering from hers. A few people cat called and whistled and he felt someone thumping him on the back, but he never acknowledged it. The song and the intensity with which she sang it were worth more to him than anything in the world. It soothed his soul, erased his apprehension, and he fell even harder for her if that was possible.
"You’re gonna love me like nobody’s loved me come rain or come shine. Happy together or unhappy together and wouldn’t it be fine? Days may be cloudy or sunny. Were in or were out of the money, but I’m with you always, I’m with you rain or shine." Callie growled out a few riffs during the instrumental and then attacked the high notes with ease. "Yeah, the days may be cloudy or sunny. Yeah, we’re either in or out of the money. But, baby, I’m with you always, come rain or come shine."
As the song ended she hit a note that was high and clear as a bell. The music stopped and she grinned when everyone burst into applause. Bowing, she handed the microphone to the lead singer of the band her mother had hired and walked toward the steps. Alex met her halfway and kissed her in front of everyone. It wasn’t a chaste or innocent kiss. It was a kiss that combined the hearts and souls of two people.
It was a kiss that stopped any grumbling about an elopement and convinced the party-goers that a big wedding had not been needed at all.
*~*~*~*~*~