Stolen Moments 10/?
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three (Part One)
Chapter Three (Part Two)
Chapter Four
Chapter Five (Part One)
Chapter Five (Part Two)
Chapter Six (Part One)
Chapter Six (Part Two)
Chapter Seven (Part One)
Chapter Seven (Part Two)
Chapter Eight (Part One)
Chapter Eight (Part Two)
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten - Stolen Moments
Have you ever woken up with that feeling?
The one where as soon as you blink open your eyes and adjust to the morning light you know something isn't quite right; everything’s the same and yet somehow everything’s different; something’s changed; something’s about to happen.
There are signs normally to this little pattern of madness...a restless night sleep followed by actually getting out of bed on the wrong side...being late somewhere even though you left early...that feeling follows you around; it sits in the base of your stomach and you know that inevitably you're waiting for the moment it'll explode; you’re waiting for something that may or may not happen.
“Hello Mija.”
Callie felt her mouth drop open and hurried to keep the shock out of her voice, “Dad…what are you doing here?” she stepped into his arms and gave him a hug.
“Can’t a father drop by and see his daughter every once and awhile,” he pulled back from their hug and looked at her, “Anyone would think you’re unhappy to see me Calliope.”
“Of course not, I’m always happy to see you Dad,” she reached out and touched his arm giving him her usual warm smile, “I’m just surprised, I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Obviously…” He regarded her carefully for a few seconds, “You haven’t called to speak to me or your mother in months Mija; we’ve been worried about you since your divorce to that worthless little man child…I should have kicked his ass when I had the chance.”
Callie let out a laugh, “Dad…” she shook her head, “George isn’t a bad guy; he just made some mistakes-”
“How you can defend the man who broke his wedding vows to you Calliope I will never know…life’s to short to make mistakes.”
Callie shrugged and gave him a small smile, “Mistakes are how you learn dad, and I’ve learnt from my failed marriage to George, so can we drop this now?” she watched her father nod his head although she knew he wanted to say more, “I’ve got a quick break now but if you want to catch up properly it’ll have to be later tonight.”
“Coffee now sounds great, but I’d love to take you out for dinner this evening when you finish your shift.”
Callie led him to the coffee cart; handing him a steaming cup as she joined him near the railing; his eyes taking in the busy hustle of the hospital life below, “How’s mom?”
He turned to look at her and smiled, “She’s fine, she’s still upset that you got married and didn’t tell us and then got divorced only a short while later,” Callie watched him sip his coffee, “She’s worried that you’re not happy Calliope.”
“I’m sorry, I know that I really should call more,” Callie gave him an apologetic smile, “But you can tell her that I’m really happy,” her brown eyes travelled around the people on the floor below; a smile creeping onto her face as she caught a glimpse of Erica in her polka-dot scrub cap; Yang at her side wheeling a patient towards the elevator. The sound of her father clearing his throat brought her attention back to his; a sceptical look on his face, “Seriously dad, you can tell mom not to worry; at this moment in time I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my entire life.”
He stared at her for a second and took another long sip of his coffee; his eyes glancing to make sure the elevator doors had closed, “I’m going to ask you something in a moment Mija and I want the truth; understood?”
Callie nodded her head; swallowing the nervous lump in her throat at his serious tone, “Yes sir.”
He nodded his head again, “When I arrived here I saw you standing with another female doctor; chatting,” Callie felt her face growing hot as her heart began to pound heavily against her chest, “I thought she must be a friend, but the way you were acting together…” he shook his head; averting her gaze for just a second, “Are you romantically involved with that blonde haired woman Calliope?”
Callie opened her mouth to respond but was at a loss for words; she hadn’t expected him to see them together; this wasn’t they way she wanted to tell her parents about her relationship with Erica, “Dad…I…” his eyes pierced into hers as he waited for an answer. Callie bit her bottom lip and nodded her head ‘yes’.
He shook his head and let out a deep sigh, “We should go somewhere private to talk… right now.”
“Okay,” mumbled from her lips as she hurriedly led him to one of the private rooms they used for discussing surgeries with patients and held the door open for him; closing it slowly as she took a deep breath to steady herself for the conversation that was about to take place. Her brown eyes locked onto his and she could see the flickering emotions crossing over his own, “Dad…”
He held up a hand to her, “Do not ‘dad’ me Calliope; explain to me right now how this happened; how you managed to get yourself into a relationship with a woman?”
Callie swallowed; trying to clear the dryness from her throat, “I…we didn’t…we were friends first, and for a long time that’s all we were…but there was always this unexplainable feeling…I didn’t know…we didn’t plan to start dating Dad…I just fell for her and-”
She watched as he lifted a hand to rub over his beard; a common gesture he did when he was deep in thought, “How long has this been going on?”
“We’ve been together for five months,” she watched him turn away from her; tears instantly stinging her eyes.
“This has to stop immediately,” he turned back to her; his eyes darkened with revulsion and his voice laced with disappointment. He moved closer to her as he saw tears flowing down her cheeks, “You are not gay Calliope…this is not something your family can accept; it’s wrong.”
Callie moved away as he reached out to touch her shoulder, “It’s not wrong okay…it’s just different…you just need to-”
“No!” Callie jumped as his raised voice reached her ears, “I am only going to tell you this one time,” he grasped her forearms; drawing her to meet his eyes, “I will not have this; your family will not accept this from you…we raised you better than this!” Callie felt her body tremble as a heavy flow of tears escaped her eyes, “You need to put a stop to this at once…you cannot choose to go down this path,” he lifted his hand to cup her cheek, “This woman…she’s just another impulsive mistake like your marriage to George was and you will regret this eternally if you stay on this path Calliope.”
Callie opened her mouth to speak; her pager interrupting her train of though. She unclipped from her scrubs; reading the message before looking back at her father, “I have to go…”
He cupped her face with both of his hands; the pad of his thumbs wiping away her tears as he placed a kiss on her forehead, “Your family loves you and I love you Mija; remember that,” he pulled back to look at her, “But you need to make a decision about this today,” Callie felt her throat tighten up as more tears pooled to her eyes, “We will finish this discussion later, you need to go,” he placed another kiss on her forehead, “I will meet you when you finish work; you need to have your decision by then Calliope. I mean it.”
Callie watched him open the door; his arm gesturing for her to leave the room first. She lifted a hand to her eyes; wiping away her tears and avoiding meeting his gaze. He watched her walk down the hallway before heading in the opposite direction; no more words needing to spoken between them.
“You paged me Dr Yang?” Callie accepted the chart Cristina was holding out from her and kept her eyes down; knowing that they were red and puffy, “Mr Darwin here needs to stay on medication overnight and then we’ll operate on his leg tomorrow,” she gave Mr Darwin a fake smile, “Everything will be fine once I fix that leg up; you’ll be riding on your motor bike again in no time,” he gave her a smile as he saw her eyes catch sight of his bright yellow helmet.
Callie kept her eyes away from Cristina as she handed back the chart and headed back into the corridor; here senses quickly allowing her feet to hurry into the nearest toilets; flinging herself over a toilet as a vile vomit rose to her throat and out of her mouth. She felt her eyes burning with tears again as her father’s words rang in her ears; her shoulders beginning to hitch as her few tears turned into sobs. Callie twisted her body to lean against the side of the cubicle; bringing her knees up to her chest as she buried her face in her hands.
Callie lifted her hands away from her face; surprised when she felt the pressure of someone’s grasp on her shoulder, “Here,” Cristina handed her a folded piece of toilet paper to dry her eyes; Callie couldn’t help but laugh as Cristina pulled a disgusted face as she wiped another piece of tissue over her mouth.
“Thanks,” she sniffled as Cristina leaned over her to flush the contents of the toilet away, “I’m sorry.”
Cristina gave her a pensive look; but Callie was able to see the concern in her dark brown eyes, “Don’t be sorry…do you want me to get Erica?”
“No! Please don’t get her,” Callie grabbed Cristina’s hand; stopping her from getting up. Her dark eyes filled with tears again, that just as quickly escaped down the soft skin of her cheeks as her mind flashed images of the blonde.
“Do you want to tell me what’s going on Callie?” Cristina watched her for a few seconds waiting for a response and when she didn’t get one she continued, “Look you can talk to me you know…I might not say much back but I’m a good listener…Hell if you’d heard Meredith go on about Derek all the time then you’d know that I’m good at the whole listening thing,” she gave a shrug when Callie smiled at her, “So what I’m saying here is that I could listen…you know…If you wanted me to?”
Callie couldn’t help but smile as she saw a bunch of unsure emotions cross over Cristina’s face, “My dad was here earlier…”
Cristina nodded, “Well that must have sucked…I remember when my mom was here; she drove me insane…parents are only supposed to be seen on their days; you know like mother’s day...there’s a reason they assign them days…they should stick to them,” Callie let out an amused sigh, “And then to make it worse Burke’s mom...momma…well she came and made my life hell…”
“She took your eyebrows right?” Callie lifted her hand to Cristina’s face; her fingertips about to skim over her eyebrow in curiosity to whether they’d grown back or if the ones present on her roommates face were fake.
Cristina slapped her hand away, “Yeah she did…I looked like a mutant…Mer helped draw them back on for awhile…but they grew back; thank fuck,” she gave Callie a small smile, “What did your dad want?”
Callie felt her throat catch as her shoulders began to hitch again; her voice coming out in small gasps as she cried, “He saw…me and…Erica…together… and now he wants me to...I can’t do this.”
“Callie-”
Callie shook her head; pushing herself to her feet, “I can’t…oh god…I…I have to go,” Cristina stood just as quickly and watched Callie march towards the door; hurrying back to pull her into a surprised hug, “I know that we don’t hug but I need one okay?”
Cristina nodded and lightly tapped Callie on the back, “Okay…now get off me Torres.”
Callie pulled back and gave her a smile, “I know you don’t think that you are…but you’re a good friend to me.”
Cristina let out a chuckle, “Don’t tell Mer, she might get jealous that I’m becoming your person too; and I don’t think she’d like sharing me, she has too many issues.”
Callie gave her a smile, “I promise I won’t tell Grey that we’re friends…But I need to find Erica-”
“She’s in the attending’s locker room.”
“Thanks,” Callie wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and headed off to find the blonde. Her pager buzzed and she lifted to read the message ‘Don’t forgot to make your decision Calliope,’ her father’s message just a small reminder of the horrible feeling she’d had in her stomach since he arrived.
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Erica looked up in surprise as the door to the locker room burst open; Callie appearing before her eyes, “Hey babe-”
“My dad was here,” Callie ran her hands through her hair; keeping her eyes focused on the ground.
“Oh-”
“He…he saw us together,” She glanced in Erica’s direction quickly; seeing blue eyes glaze over in concern, “He saw us kiss-”
Erica got to her feet and took a step towards Callie, “Baby…”
Callie shook her head and stepped back from Erica’s touch and began pacing up and down; her eyes burning as fresh tears flooded her vision, “You can’t call me that in this moment Erica…”
Erica saw the pained expression across Callie’s face and reached for her again; grabbing her wrist and pulling her into her arms; Callie instantly sobbing on her shoulder, “Shh…It’s okay Cal…It will all be-”
Callie pulled out of her arms, “It won’t be okay Erica!” she shook her head and lifted the palm of her hands to run her aching eyes, “He said my family won’t accept it...” she let her flooded eyes meet blue, “Oh shit…they'd…they’d hate me…I didn't think about it…I didn't think about them at all…They'll never accept this; ever-”
“Cal, just breathe a minute...we need to talk about this calmly,” Erica swallowed the lump forming in her throat as she watched Callie pacing; her mind clearly in panic mode.
“There’s nothing calm about any of this...God I can't lose them…they’re my family Erica…they’ve always been there…they’re everything ....I can’t have them hate me…I'm so sorry-”
Erica felt tears burning her own eyes, “Don’t you dare say sorry to me Callie…you don’t have anything to be sorry about…I can reschedule my surgery and I’ll come with you, we can talk to your dad together and make him understand,” she lifted her hand to cup Callie’s cheek, “It’ll work out I-”
Callie moved away from Erica’s hand as her phone rang loudly; interrupting them; she lifted her eyes away from intense blue to the dull gray of the floor, “I have to go…” Erica lifted her hand under Callie’s chin; tilting her face to make their eyes meet; brown eyes unable to hold in the heavy flow of tears running from them, “I can’t…they’re family…I just…I am so sorry Erica.”
Erica felt tears running down her cheeks as her throat clenched tightly; her shoulders hitching in a silent sob, “Cal-”
Callie moved towards; lifting the palm of Erica’s hand to her face; placing a delicate kiss there; their eyes meeting again; both drenched in unspeakable pain. As Callie’s lips touched her skin she squeezed shut her eyes; savouring every detail and when she opened them again the brown eyes that had been looking back at her with every emotion possible had gone…leaving her completely alone.
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Erica couldn’t concentrate; her mind had been on Callie since their brief encounter in the locker room and the raven haired woman had avoided her at all costs for the rest of the day; avoiding any pages, announcements, phone calls and requests for her assistance. She stood looking down at the entrance lobby; hoping to catch a glimpse of Callie so that she could help her through this messy situation with her father; the words Callie had spoken to her earlier not registering with her brain; in fact she flat out decided not to believe them; they could do this; they’d get through this together and prove the Torres family wrong.
“Hey,” Troy placed a hand on her shoulder getting her attention; his green eyes filling with alarm as her saw blue, “E what’s going on? Did you and Callie have another fight?”
Erica shook her head and leaned into him as he slung his left arm around her shoulders’; drawing her in. It was a simple act, but the slightest touch from him always brought her comfort, “Callie’s dad arrived out of the blue today; he’s freaked her out big time…she told me she can’t do it.”
Troy pressed a kiss to her temple, “She’s probably just worried about her family’s opinion on your relationship; from what she’s said they’re pretty traditional…it must be hard for her dad to suddenly find out that his perfectly straight daughter of thirty odd years has spent the best part of this year with a woman.”
Erica pulled back; creating enough space between them for their eyes to meet, “I know that…I mean we didn’t even talk about telling them…we should have; it’s just things with us have been complicated and-”
Troy nudged her with his shoulder, “And what E?”
Erica kept her eyes glued on the level below; shrugging Troy’s arm off her shoulder and hurrying down the steps. Green eyes scanned quickly and caught sight of Callie; an older looking man with his hand pressed to her back; guiding her out of the hospital. Troy watched them head out of the exit; his eyes catching the dark blue of Erica’s scrubs whipping through the door closely behind them. His own legs kicking into action as he hurried down the steps; they might need all the help they can get.
Erica felt the cold wind brush against the skin of her face as she reached outside the hospital; stopping briefly to let her eyes scan left and right; looking for the direction they’d gone it. Catching sight of two figures in the distance her legs took off again; her voice calling out, “Callie!” getting their attention as they both turned to look at her.
“Calliope,” Callie heard his deep tone and her eyes drifted back to him as he gripped her arm. Her eyes glanced back to see Erica moving closer to them; her feet coming to a stand still. She took in the distraught look covering Erica’s face and then turned back to her father; hating how she seemed completely stuck in the middle between two loves in her life. Callie bit her lip; making her mind up, “I need to say bye Dad…I deserve to say goodbye to her.”
He studied the expression of desperation in his daughter’s eyes and nodded his head, “Hurry,” he let go of her arm and she followed his eyes passed her head to see Erica staring at them; shuffling unsurely.
Callie hurried towards her and was grateful that Erica was taking steps towards her as well. As soon as they were in touching distance of each other Callie felt Erica’s tight grasp on her forearms; her blue eyes welling with tears, “Don’t do this…please don’t do this to me; to us!” Callie felt tears build up in her own eyes as Erica’s fingers tightened on her arms, “We had to fight through so much to get here, to get to this very point and I know we can get through this…I know we can Cal,” tears were freely falling down both their cheeks as Erica continued to beg; her voice breaking over her words, “Your family will come around, it just takes time…they just need to adjust-”
“Erica-”
“No, we can get through this Callie…I believe we can…I know we can,” Callie lifted her hands to Erica’s arms; her thumb running lightly over her skin; shaking her head as she watched Erica stumble with her words; her eyes overflowing with tears as she became more and more frantic, “So I’m begging you to not do this…don’t walk away…not now…not after all we’ve been through Cal…Please don’t do this…please…I promise it’ll be okay…please Callie…please stay,” Callie pulled Erica into her arms; her hands running up and down her back; her lips pressing into the crook of Erica’s neck as she held her tightly. She felt Erica’s body stop trembling. The blonde pulling back to rest their foreheads together; lifting her hand to cup Callie’s cheeks; the pads of her thumbs wiping away the tears. Their eyes stayed closed; both enjoying their intimate position.
After a moment Callie leaned back slightly; letting her eyes open to find the intense blue ones she’d so easily let herself come to drown in; her voice cracking as she pushed out the words she knew she had to speak, “I can’t…I wish that I could…but I can’t; it’s not that simple,” she felt Erica’s breath hitch against her lips and knew that those beautiful blue eyes would soon be filled with tears again, “My family will never accept us…they’ll never forgive me if I stay and I can’t lose them Erica…I just can’t; they’ve always been there,” her own eyes lost their battle with new tears as she saw felt Erica’s body tremble in her arms, “I don’t want to walk away from you…or from us…I just can’t…I’m so so sorry,”
Callie lifted her hands to cup Erica’s cheeks; their noses brushing as their lips came together. Tongues traced over lips before meeting in a passionate dance; teeth nipped and pulled and their tears mixed together as they sealed their pain of their looming departure. Pulling back Callie nuzzled Erica’s cheek, their arms wrapped around each other; holding each other as close as possible. Callie swallowed the lump in her throat; her voice choking out of her mouth as a murmuring whisper against Erica’s ear, “Do you believe in fate?” she felt Erica’s fingers run up her back; caressing along her neck and took that as her answer, “Because I believe we were supposed to meet when we did…I believe that I was supposed to kiss you that night Erica, and I believe that we had to go through so much to finally be together, so that we would know to never settle for anything less than magical when we actually fell in love” Callie felt Erica sob against her; her body shaking, “And I do love you Erica, so much...I just never thought I’d be saying it like this,” she nuzzled the side of Erica’s face again; the wetness of the blonde’s tears tingling against her skin; their noses brushing as their eyes found each other, “I wish I’d known to tell you sooner,” Callie reached up; pulling one of Erica’s hands from her neck and placing over the left side of her chest; her hand staying on top; holding the blonde’s in place, “Feel that?” Callie watched as Erica merely nodded, “It still beats just for you Erica…my heart will always belong to you…and every time it beats it reminds me how in love with you I am.”
She watched as Erica opened her mouth to speak through her river of tears, “Cal-”
“You can’t say it back...because if you do I won’t be able to walk away and I really have to,” Erica felt Callie pull away from her body and immediately reached down to grab her hand in a tight grip; her mouth opening but loosing the battle to form any words; her blue eyes conflicted with emotion and tears, “I’m sorry,” Callie walked backwards; letting Erica grip her hand for as long as possible; until they couldn’t stretch anymore
Once their fingertips were no longer touching Callie turned away; letting her own pain take her over; tears swimming her vision; her chest tight and aching, making her breathing heavy. She barely saw her dad step forward; his arm going around her and leading her to his car; opening the door and placing her inside as if she was an incapable child.
Erica stood frozen to the spot; watching Callie’s dad seat her in the car before getting into the drivers side; throwing her an evil look before reversing out of the space and heading out of the hospital; the bright tail lights the only sign left of the destruction he’d caused. After a few minutes she felt her body shake; the whimpering sound of harsh sobbing escaping her lips as her feet stumbled backwards; dropping her down onto the ground.
Troy turned as a hand entwined with his; Cristina’s face covered in a sad expression, “You should go get her,” Troy nodded; placing a chaste kiss on her lips before heading towards his best friend.
He knew there was nothing he could say and knowing that there was nothing he could do to soothe her pain for the first time in years; he did the only thing he could think of. Troy bent down and scooped one arm under Erica’s legs and another around her back; lifting her into his arms he walked over to the nearest bench and sat down; cradling her in his arms as her tears soaked through his scrubs; the sound of her sobs making his chest ache.
Callie rested her head against the cool glass of the car window; her eyes shutting as she hoped to ease some of the pain away from her head and her heart. Her father not speaking a single word to her during the drive; his expression neutral and unaffected by her loud blubbering.
Callie wanted nothing more than to start this day over...wanted nothing more than to wake up without that feeling settling in her stomach...she never understood how you could go from having everything you've ever wanted, to loosing it all in a single fleeting moment.