Stolen Moments 7/? (Part Two)
Part One - http://thecon12.livejournal.com/5260.html
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When Callie woke up the next morning, she found herself alone in Erica’s bed. She headed to the kitchen to find the blonde pacing around in the kitchen already dressed. She’d worried that Erica had freaked out and changed her mind but the affectionate expression in blue eyes assured her otherwise.
They’d arrived at work earlier than needed; Erica honestly telling Callie she’d need a few minutes once they got there to steady her nerves before they went in announcing their relationship.
They were standing outside, silently looking up at the entrance to Seattle Grace Hospital. Callie turned her head to study Erica; her blue eyes were scanning over every inch of the building she’d worked in for the past year; as if she was reassuring herself that it wouldn’t come crumbling down around them once they were inside.
Callie turned at the sound of footsteps to see Troy and Cristina heading towards them; she muttered ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ to Erica who merely nodded her head; her eyes never leaving the hospital.
“What’s up with Hahn?” Cristina asked looking past Callie’s shoulder to take in the cardio surgeon staring up at the building, “Is she having a breakdown?”
Callie shook her head as she shot Cristina a look; turning her attention to Troy, “You should go talk to her,” he nodded and walked to stand next to Erica; his hand slipping into hers as he stared up at the building. Callie looked back at Cristina, “I need you to do me a favour,” Cristina raised an eyebrow, “Be my friend just this once, please?”
Cristina nodded, “Fine.”
“I need you to be supportive today; I need you to be there for me and I need you to be nice to Erica,” Callie gave a pleading smile.
“You ask for a lot Torres considering we don’t normally do the friend thing,” Cristina glanced at Erica and then back again, “Are you two like announcing your thing today?”
Callie nodded, “Yeah we are.”
“Okay, I’ll be supportive and I’ll even attempt to be nice to Hahn,” Cristina shrugged and Callie smiled at her.
Erica let out a shaky breath as she felt Troy’s large hand cover hers; giving it a gentle squeeze, “Big day?”
Erica felt his eyes on her face and turned to look at him, “We’re coming out at work.”
Troy gave her an encouraging smile, “If Callie makes you happy then she’s worth it E, just remember that.”
Callie and Cristina approached them and Troy gave Callie a warm smile before nodding his head towards the hospital; indicating for Cristina to follow him; leaving them alone again.
Erica felt Callie take her place back at her side and turned to look at her, “I need you to promise me again that everything will be okay Cal.”
Brown eyes locked onto blue, “I promise Erica,” she gave her a comforting smile, “I’m ready to take this step with you; it’s a complete leap of faith but I believe everything will be okay because I didn’t think I’d get a second chance after George and I did; you gave it to me; so I know that we can do this because I believe in you and that’s the only reassurance I need,” Callie held out her hand, “So I promise you everything will be alright; Trust me?”
Erica let her eyes fall to Callie’s outstretched hand; her beautiful caramel skin glimmering in the sun light and then back to her face; dark pools filled with overwhelming intensity meeting her own, “I trust you,” she slid her hand into Callie’s; their fingers enlacing. A smile appearing on her lips as they entered the hospital; knowing that they fitted together perfectly.
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The Chief lowered the file he was reading; looking over it as he listened to their confession, “So you two are a couple now? Like a more than friends’ couple?”
Erica saw Callie fidget uncomfortably in her seat; knowing that Callie wasn’t thrilled with her suggestion to officially tell the Chief, “Yes Richard, we’re a couple as in a more than friends’ way,” she answered dryly.
He coughed; clearing his throat, “Oh well…that’s…great…congratulations ladies.”
Erica raised her eyebrow and smirked as she tried to hold in her laughter at his obvious discomfort, “Thanks Richard.”
“Good, well now you know; so I’m going to head back to work,” Callie jumped out of seat and headed to the door.
“Wait a minute Dr Torres,” Callie turned to face him, “There’s one last thing,” he turned in his chair and opened up his filing cabinet; flicking through it until he came across the pages he needed; sliding them over the desk, “You need to erm…update your…erm…date and tell sheets.”
Callie felt her cheeks burning in an embarrassed blush; Erica pulled a pen out of her lab coat pocket and offered it to her, “Don’t forget to tick the ‘frequently’ box babe.”
Callie felt her mouth drop open as Erica smirked teasingly; the Chief cleared his throat again as she took the pen and scribbled in the blonde’s details on her sheet; handing it back to the Chief.
Erica did the same and then stood from her chair; lacing their fingers together again, “Thanks again Richard,” he simply nodded as she led Callie from the room.
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After they deposited their stuff into the locker rooms and changed into their scrubs they walked hand in hand to the nurses’ station; Erica leaned in to place a quick kiss on her lips before heading off to her surgery.
Callie shuffled uncomfortably as she flicked through her chart; she could feel eyes burning into her skin as the nurses watched her; leaning together and whispering. She flicked her chart shut and hurried into an empty patient room; leaning back against the wall and taking a deep breath.
The door opened and Callie looked up in surprise to see Lexie, “Hey, I got your page to meet you in room 1245 but I saw you rush in here,” she looked around the room, “There are no lights on in here…Dr Torres, are you okay?”
Callie forced a smile onto her face, “I’m fine, there nurses were…I just needed a minute.”
Lexie nodded and came into the room, closing the door behind herself, “You should sit down for a minute,” she grabbed Callie’s elbow and led her to the chair.
“Thanks,” Callie let her eyes meet Lexie’s, “I’m sorry, I’ll pull it together in a minute.”
Lexie gave her a smile, “It’s okay Dr Torres; I understand. It’s not a nice feeling when you know people are talking about you,” Callie nodded her head, “I think it’s great though…you and Dr Hahn I mean…not the gossiping…you’re really good together.”
Callie smiled, “Thank you Lexie,” grateful for her approval and stood up, “Come on we need to tell Miss Hunter that she needs surgery to repair her leg and that you’ll be performing it under my guidance,” Lexie smiled and followed her out of the room; her confidence firmly back in place.
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Callie stood looking out at the surgical board; Lexie had preformed the surgery on Miss Hunter very well. Brown eyes trailed over the listed surgeries; her ears were burning in a heated red flush and she could feel a layer of perspiration covering her forehead and neck.
“Dude, you turned her gay,” she could hear Alex laughing.
“Shut up Alex! Callie’s not gay…we were married and she wanted babies…she’s not gay…it’s just a rumour,” George mumbled defensively.
“I wouldn’t be surprise if she was gay…She couldn’t keep you interested George, you had to sleep with me and even Sloan only used her for a quick fuck in the on-call room…but he sleeps with everyone so maybe he didn’t know,” Izzie reasoned, “What’d you think Mer?”
“I’m normally dark and twisty one…I had to have therapy to figure out my relationship with Derek…maybe she is gay,” she shrugged.
Callie could hear their voices drumming loudly in her ears; her heart was thumping rapidly against her chest and her mouth felt as dry as sandpaper; her lungs felt crushed under their accusations and she felt her breathing become ragged in response. She looked to her left to see a bunch of interns walking to her; their eyes were running over her and they were whispering discreetly before breaking out into laughter.
Callie turned as she felt pressure against the skin of her arm; her eyes finding Erica’s, “Hey babe,” Callie flinched away from her touch; making a questioning expression cover Erica’s face, “Cal are you okay, you look pale and sweaty,” she lifted her hand to Callie’s forehead.
“I’m fine,” Callie murmured; lifting Erica’s hand away from her face; her touch seeming to burn her skin.
Erica gave her a funny look, “What’s the problem Cal? Everyone already knows; we kind of walked in here this morning all loved up, with our hands entwined,” she gave her a smile and reached for her hand.
“Don’t touch me,” Callie hissed; dodging Erica’s attempt to touch her again; her eyes darting around to see who was watching them.
Erica pursed her lips and steeled her face; sadness creeping into her blue eyes, “You can’t be serious? Please tell me you’re not freaking out…Coming out at work was your idea Callie; you said you were ready.”
Callie could see the people stopping to watch them; her tongue seeming to expand in her already dry mouth, preventing her from answering.
“I’m the one who doesn’t mix their personal life with their professional; remember that?” Erica crossed her arms over her chest, “Why are you being like this all of a sudden? Are you ashamed of us? Of me?”
Callie couldn’t speak; her body seemed to have completely shut down; she was frozen in place and she wasn’t sure if she was glad at her lack of reaction or not.
Erica waited for her to answer and when her brown eyes dropped to the floor she knew she wasn’t going to get one, “Maybe you’re right Torres, we shouldn’t do this.”
Callie lifted her eyes to meet Erica’s; wishing she hadn’t as blue eyes stung with hurt; tears welling over their surface. Just as suddenly they were snatched away; and then she was gone, stalking off down the corridor without looking back.
Sometimes there are words that seem to tumble out of our mouths in an irrational haste; these words aren’t carefully chose, these words aren’t spoken in the correct thought out tone they should be; these words bring a painful reaction and those words we want desperately to take back.
And sometimes words let us down all together; they get jumbled in our minds and lost on the pathway to our mouths; leaving us with nothing; communication entirely broken into pieces.
Callie squeezed her eyes shut as a dull headache appeared in her temples; she opened them to find the corridors completely empty except for Bailey; who was staring at her with dark angry eyes, “What you just did Torres was stupid…it was idiotic and just plain stupid!”
Callie watched her walk away and realized she was now utterly alone; she lifted her fingers to massage her temples and knew that she wasn’t glad at her lack of reaction; Bailey was right, she was an idiot…a really stupid idiot who might just have threw away their future happiness.
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Callie opened the door to the attendings locker room and saw Mark and Derek turn to look at her; Mark indicated his head to the female toilets as he passed her and Derek gave her a sad smile; raising his hand to give her shoulder a quick squeeze.
She took a deep breath and walked the space across the locker room to the toilets and pushed the door open; her eyes scanned around quickly and settled on the locked cubicle door at the far left.
Callie lifted her hand and knocked on door, “Erica?” The door opened and Erica pushed past her to the sink; her eyes never looking at her. Callie took a deep breath and moved behind her, “I’m an idiot…a really really big fucking idiot! I’m so sorry; I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Erica turned to face her; her eyes narrowed her jaw set tightly, “This is the attendings locker room Dr Torres; you have no right to be in here so I suggest you leave.”
Callie frowned, “Okay, I deserve that; I know I do,” she reached a hand to cup Erica’s cheeks, “But I trying to apologise here, so can you not be Dr Hahn right now.”
Erica moved away from Callie’s touch, “I have to go; I have a surgery. I don’t have time to socialise with you Dr Torres; I suggest you find another colleague to be friends with.”
Callie tried to read the expression in the blue eyes she’d come to know so well but found that the hurt that was there earlier had been replaced by something else completely, “Erica don’t leave; you have to talk to me or yell or something but don’t just walk away,” she pleaded.
Erica pursed her lips together, “I have no reason to yell at you Dr Torres; you made it perfectly clear that our relationship is strictly professional,” she saw Callie’s eyes fill with tears as she pulled the door open and headed into the locker room.
Callie hurried after her, “Erica wait,” she grabbed her hand and twisted her around to face her, “I’m really sorry; I know what I did must have hurt you but I-”
“No you don’t; you have no idea,” her nostrils flared as her voice filled with anger; snatching her hand from Callie’s grip, “I don’t want you to apologise to me; I don’t want you to explain to me…I just want you to leave me alone; give me some space.”
Callie knew she was crying now but she didn’t care how pathetic she must have looked, “But you need to hear what I have to say or you won’t be able to forgive me; I won’t be able to fix this!”
“The only time I want or need to hear what you have to say to me is when you page me for a consult Dr Torres; so I suggest you stick to doing your job and I’ll do mine; that way we won’t have anything to fix,” Erica pulled open the door and hurried off down the hall leaving Callie to deal with her mistake alone.
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Callie had gone to Erica’s apartment that night and knocked on the door; she knew Erica was home but she wouldn’t let her in. She stayed sitting outside for hours, every so often rattling her knuckles on the door to remind Erica that she wasn’t going anywhere.
When the door had opened well into the early hours of the morning Callie looked up from her position against the wall to see green eyes; he held out his hand and pulled her to her feet, “Come on Cal, I’ll give you a lift home.”
Callie shook her head, “I’m not going anywhere until I’ve spoken to her; I need to tell her I’m sorry; I need to explain.”
Troy gave her a small smile, “She’s not going to let you in Callie; she wants you to go home,” he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, “You should let me take you home, there’s nothing more you can do tonight…Erica just needs some space.”
Callie let him drive her home and walk her up to the apartment; he placed a kiss on her forehead and pulled Cristina into the kitchen; telling her to take care of her for him; she nodded and he gave her a hug and then left.
Callie felt the couch dip as Cristina sat down next to her; she held out a glass of water and waited for Callie to take it, “Let me guess you’re as giddy as your friends about my relationship with Erica and how much I royally messed up.”
Cristina gave her a stern look, “You did mess up; what the hell were you thinking?” Callie gave her an irritated look.
“They were all talking about me…I know I shouldn’t care but it made me feel claustrophobic…and then your little friends made sure to get their digs in. I could hear Izzie Stevens talking about me-”
“Izzie’s a dumbass Callie…she fell in love with a patient and then slept with your husband-”
“Exactly! George thinks that it’s his fault; he thinks him sleeping with her had something to do with my relationship with Erica and it doesn’t! I am not gay!” Callie jumped from the couch in anger.
Cristina watched her for a minute, “Is that the reason you’re freaking out? Because Bambi and Barbie called you gay? It’s just a word Torres, it doesn’t mean anything.”
Callie turned to look at her and sighed, “When I’m with Erica we’re just us; we’re crazy about each other and she makes me happy…I never gave any thought to whether it made me gay or not…it just felt right…but now everyone thinks I am gay and I don’t know how the hell I’m supposed to feel about it.”
“Why didn’t you just tell Hahn that? You’re a moron if that one words makes you want to run screaming from her…love’s love Callie; who cares what people label you as; it won’t change what you’re feeling.”
Callie flopped back down on the couch; closing her eyes as a deep sigh pushed past her lips, “I know you’re right; I have no problem with gay people at all…it just feels different now that I might actually be…gay; you know?”
Cristina gave her an attempted smile, “I say be gay…Hahn’s way hotter than Bambi ever could be,” Callie laughed, “Embrace it Torres, or you’ll loose out on your chance with her.”
Callie smiled sadly; Cristina was better at the girl talk thing than she gave herself credit for, and she was right; she needed to embrace it; who cared what people labelled her. She just hoped to hell that it wasn’t too late to salvage her relationship with Erica.