After All This Time
By Bella Taggart
Part 11/?
Five days after Maria's surgery, they were allowed to leave the hospital. Though Maria insisted on going to the Archfield as planned, Callie wouldn't hear of it. Not after almost losing her. She wasn't going to take any chances; as long as they were staying in Seattle, they would be staying in her home, where she could keep watch of her progress. This was not the reason she gave Maria of course. With her she simply used emotional blackmail.
About how little time they got to spend together, and didn't she want to see Callie as much as she could, or was there something more important she wanted to do cause Callie didn't want to stand in her way if there was…It was getting a little old, that one, but it always worked, so Callie figured she might as well use it until it didn't.
In response, Maria pursed her lips and met her father's eyes helplessly. Callie kept her smile hidden while her father attempted to make a comment about there not being enough rooms for the two of them.
To which Callie said, to Maria's great shock, "No problem, you two lovebirds can stay together."
Maria gasped and turned to look at Callie's father with wide, questioning eyes.
He closed his mouth which had fallen open, gave Callie a stern look and turned towards Maria apologetically. "It was time Amore."
"Santos." Was the only thing Maria was able to say after that.
"Don't give him a hard time Ria, he was sick with worry when he confessed his undying love for you."
"You didn't!" Maria gasped, covering her mouth with her palm, looking at him like she was in a dream. All the while her eyes glowed with something that looked a lot like happiness.
Callie's father nodded, smiling. "I did."
Then he got up, sat on the arm of her chair, took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. Maria was too shocked to say anything. She just sat there, her eyes filling with unshed tears as they stared into each other's eyes, emotion flowing through the air into each other.
Callie had to look away, feeling like she was witnessing too private a moment. She wasn't used to seeing this much love so openly on these faces. They had really kept it hidden much better than Callie had given them credit for. She had suspected that they were involved, that they loved each other in their own way but this was something else. This was real and raw and after all these years still so alive. She felt a sudden lump in her throat. After giving them another moment, she cleared her throat and announced, "Excellent. So, it's settled, you'll stay with me."
At first it had been strange seeing them together, as in together. And that first morning she had opened her door to see them coming out of their bedroom-their bedroom-had been kind of weird for all of them, she suspected. But it wasn't bad. It was just new. And she had made sure that they knew she was ok with it. They had looked at her unable to say anything, frozen in place. She had taken a step towards them and cheerily asked "Coffee?" and that was that. Things had settled to a routine after that and before she knew it a week had passed.
And then, they were gone.
All in all they had spent almost two weeks together. It had been years since she had spent so much time with her family in one time. And despite the circumstances she found that she had missed it; having people to come home to, to talk to, and to eat with. Having love around; it had been nice.
And now she was back at work, full time. She wasn't complaining though, as much as she enjoyed spending time with her family, she had missed the adrenalin of her job. Part time just wasn't enough.
That's because I love my job, she reminded herself. And she kept on reminding herself of that fact as she finished up bandaging the wrist of a teenage boy who had fallen off his bike, trying to impress his friends with his "signature move." That's what he had called it. Callie couldn't believe the nerve of these kids nowadays. The least he could have done was to wear some protective gear when jumping from the roof of one car to the next with his little BMX bike.
Seriously, where were his parents? He could have been badly hurt. She caught her line of thinking and chuckled humorlessly… She sounded like her mother. Perhaps she was getting older.
She was sitting by the reception area of the clinic, filling out the necessary forms for the idiot on wheels, when she heard the distressed voice of the woman standing in the exam room across from her. She looked up, curious.
"I'm sorry, she doesn't like doctors." The woman apologized, standing next to her young daughter who was sitting on the bed, hiding behind her.
By the looks of it Carev was having a hard time examining a little girl.
Callie smirked, shaking her head. Though Carev had turned out to have a special understanding of babies, the same could not be said of children.
After a few more tries, Callie decided to take pity on him and go help. The woman looked frustrated, the girl looked like she was about to cry and Carev looked panicked, about to flee the scene, even.
She stood up and just as she was leaving her chair behind the desk, she saw Erica walk in to the exam room. Callie felt her heart beat speed up, looking around making sure that no-one had noticed her breath hitching in her throat, she settled back down and started watching her as discreetly as possible.
"I'll take over here Carev, go next door and see if you can help Doctor Simmons." Erica ordered as she reached over for the file in his hand.
"Yes ma'am," he said, making a hasty retreat, looking relieved. "Thank you, ma'am."
Enough with the ma'am already Callie thought, rolling her eyes.
"Hello, I'm Doctor Hahn. What seems to be the problem?"
"Yes, well, my daughter has these headaches... but she's a little…" she turned down towards her little girl, trying to untangle her from her back "baby, if you'll just sit up, let the nice doctor look at you and we can go. I promise."
The girl just hung on more tightly to her, shaking her head. Straightening up, the mother blew out an exasperated breath, looked at Erica apologetically and than once again down at her daughter.
"Oh I see." Said Erica, and after a moment added, "anyway I can't examine her."
The mother's head quickly spun back to Erica's. "Why-why not?" She asked hesitantly.
"I couldn't examine her even if she wanted me to. I'm sorry, I just can't." Erica said very seriously.
Callie's eyes opened as wide as the mother's. What was going on here? She had never seen Erica refuse an examination before.
"Not before I do my ritual." Erica added, after a long moment.
"Hmm? Your..."
"Ritual. Yes." Erica said, reaching into her pocket. "You see, before I do anything today, I have to do this. So, if you don't mind."
The mother looked as puzzled as Callie felt, but Erica simply smiled at her reassuringly.
"It's a habit of mine, you understand, to start the day with some magic."
"M-magic?" the mother asked.
Callie could see the kid release her death grip on her mother's leg, a little bit.
Erica nodded, "Yes. Some call it a magic trick, but I assure you there is no trick. It's simply a matter of a coin" she held up a quarter, "like this one, disappearing into thin air."
"Oh."
"Yes…You must have heard of it Nurse Rachel?"
The chubby, pink-faced nurse jerked towards her in hearing her name.
"Ma'am?"
"My magical ritual of the disappearing coin?"
"Riiight." The woman said slowly, stretching the word, sounding unsure.
The child was still covering behind her mother. Erica shook her head dismissively at the nurse and tried for a new alliance.
"How about you Mrs. Potter, have you heard of the magical disappearing coin?"
The mother looked too stunned to move.
Before she could say anything Callie found herself stepping into the room.
"Excuse me? Did I hear correctly, Dr. Hahn, are you going to make the coin disappear?"
The kid's head poked out from behind her mother's torso for the first time, interest finally painting her eyes.
Erica seemed startled to find Callie there for a moment, than quickly recovered.
"Why yes. You heard correctly."
"Ooh, how exciting. I'd heard that some people are able to do that but I have never actually seen it done before, do you mind if I watch?"
"But of course, please have a seat." She said, adapting a foreign accent, and earning a giggle from both the mother and Callie in return. The little girl was a tougher crowd.
Erica held the coin in her right hand, holding it between her thumb and index finger.
"Now, please watch carefully. This coin will soon disappear from my hand and then re-appear on the most special person in the room. Here we go."
Looking like she was concentrating an awful lot, she brought her left hand to the right and took the coin into the closed palm of her left hand. Then holding out her fist she whispered. "Now for the most important part. For this to work, everyone has to blow on my fist and say 'abrah cadabra.' Can you do that?"
Callie went first, blowing and repeating the magical words. Then the mother, who had by this point caught onto the game, and finally-though a little reluctantly-the little girl.
Than Erica herself blew on her fist and said the words. When she opened her fist, the coin was nowhere to be seen. Surprised gasps filled the room. The little girl's eyes were now fully open, shining with interest, watching her every move.
Erica made as though she was feeling the energy around the room through her hands, first moving in front of Callie, than the mother than finally the little girl. She slowly reached towards the girl's ear, gently pulled on the lobe and than brought her hand back in front of her, where everyone could see it. This time between her fingers was the quarter that had disappeared.
Everyone clapped excitedly. "How did you do that?" The girl squeaked, too awed to remain silent.
Erica wiggled her eyebrows. "Magic."
After that the check-up went much more smoothly.
Callie watched as Erica took care of the girl. She had never seen Erica around children before, and somewhere deep inside she felt a frozen part of her melt at the scene. She was so good with the kid, so playful. It was beautiful really, and annoying at the same time. If she kept on finding new things she liked about Erica how was she supposed to be neutral about her? Because that was the point, wasn't it? To be neutral; absent of animosity or longing so that they could be colleagues and then perhaps one day, friends. Yes that was the point, and yet she couldn't help but wish that this moment, where she was inadvertently allowed behind the usual front Erica put up, could stretch out and hold them there for as long as possible.
"Julie, do you know how to read?" Erica asked, turning towards the girl.
Julie was as talkative as all little girls who discovered they had an attentive audience, now.
"I can read
and write."
Erica opened her eyes wide, impressed. "Really? You must be very smart."
The girl nodded once again, looking proud. "I can count to 100." She said intent on listing all her accomplishments.
"Oh, wow, 100 is a big number. Can you, let's say, count to ten for me?"
She smiled like she had been waiting just for that and counted to ten in one long breath.
"Excellent." Erica praised and clapped. "You deserve a lollipop for that for sure." She looked back to the mother and asked "Can she have one before lunch?"
The mother nodded, smiling through grateful eyes.
Julie was beaming as she reached for her prize.
"What do we say?" the mother asked.
"Thank you" a tiny voice replied.
"You're welcome...now, let's see what else you can do, ahm" Erica pretended to be thinking. "Oh I know, although this is quite difficult…"
"What?" Julie asked excitedly, eager to prove that she could, whatever it was.
"You see this finger?" she said holding up her pointing finger in front of Julie's eyes. "Now I'm going to move it around, like this, but you have to follow it with your eyes, and you can't turn your head around, just your eyes."
Julie did as she was told.
"Well done,"
"That was easy." Julie said.
"Oh was it? Then let's find something harder." She said and carried on testing the child. After a short while they were done. Erica put down the leaflet she had been holding up and came to sit next to the girl on the bed.
"That was a lot of fun, Thank you." She said looking down at the kid.
Julie smiled up at her in delight.
"You know Julie, when I was little, I couldn't see leaves."
Callie had been standing on the other side of the bed, letting her mind wander, when Erica's word snapped her to attention. She felt herself straighten up and stopped herself just as soon as she had started moving; trying to avoid pulling any attention onto herself as Erica kept talking.
"When I went to a forest and looked up at trees all I saw were big green blobs. Can you believe that?" she asked in a sing song voice.
Callie couldn't believe what she was hearing. She thought back to the time she had first heard this story. How different it had sounded through Erica's tears; how profound a moment it had been. How utterly she had screwed it up. And now she was hearing it again, like she had heard it a million times in her head for months after Erica had left.
And yet, not like that at all.
Julie shook her head. "Why?"
"Because I needed glasses. But I didn't know I needed glasses. Than one day, after having headaches just like you, I went to a clinic just like this one, and a nice doctor in a white coat just like this told me that I couldn't see very well. That's why I had the headaches, she said and that's why I had to wear glasses, so that I wouldn't have head aches any more."
"And, and did you wear the glasses?"
"Yes I did."
"And then what happened?"
"And then, I could see leaves, and flowers and many other things that I didn't know existed."
"But you don't wear them now." Julie said.
"I don't any more, I had surgery..."
Callie briefly wondered if that was supposed to be some kind of a dig meant for her; if that meant that Erica was straight as an arrow now. Who knew? Anything could happen in the twilight zone, because that's where Callie had to be. What else could explain this out-of-this-world moment?
"But for many years I wore beautiful glasses. And I looked so cool, you should have seen it Julie."
"Big, thick ones like Grandma's?"
"No, small, colorful ones. There were many colors to choose from then; there are even more now-red, yellow, and pink glasses-Now you can have anything you want."
"And I won't have headaches if I have glasses too?"
"Exactly. You are a very smart little girl. Are you sure you're five? You must be at least seven."
Julie smiled shyly and when Erica reached to tickle the bottom of her feet, she giggled and laughed out loud. Both her mother and Erica joined in on her laughter. Callie stood there, watching, still in shock, trying to snap herself out of it.
"All right, here is what we will do. I have a very special friend, Doctor Johnson" Erica explained.
"Like the shampoo?"
Erica met Callie's eyes, her own eyebrows mirroring Callie's raised ones in surprise, and chuckled. The kid really did have a quick connective mind.
"Right, like the shampoo. He is going to come here and take you guys inside, where you're going to play a few more games. Okay? And then afterwards, you and your mom can go to the shop and pick any pair of glasses that you want, " She bent down to whisper the rest to her ear, though it was more a stage whisper at best. "and just between you and me, I have it on good authority that if you are a good girl, you can get another lollipop out of this deal, if you know what I mean."
Julie's eyes opened in excitement and she nodded eagerly.
Erica winked at her conspiringly and stood up.
"Thank you. Thank you so much Doctor." The mother came to shake her hand.
"My pleasure. You have a very bright kid right there."
"Thank you."
"Dr. Johnson will be right in." She said, taking a few steps towards the curtain and holding it open she turned back to Callie, "Dr. Torres shall we?"
Callie blinked once. "Right." She quickly crossed the room, smiling to the girl and the mother on her way out.
"Say bye to the nice doctors Jules." The mother instructed.
Julie waved. "Bye to the nice doctors."
"Bye." Erica smiled, and followed Callie out.
* * * * *
They came to a stop by the nurses' station. Looking at each other and looking away, back and forth a few times between quick strained smiles, both stood around awkwardly, silently. It seemed now that they were alone; they had forgotten how to speak again.
In truth, despite wanting to prolong being near Erica, Callie couldn't think of anything to say to her. She was still trying to process hearing the leaves story. Could Erica have forgotten telling her about it? It didn't seem possible. Not when Callie remembered every word, every tear, every moment of that awful morning. Awful, because she had left her in that bed, weeping. And for what, so that Sloan could ease her panic? God, she had been so stupid. How many times she had relived that morning in her head. Doing things differently each time. Getting into bed with her, kissing away her tears, making love to her until neither one could even remember ever being upset. She had done it all, anything that would have stopped Erica from leaving. Of course reality was a different matter.
"You were…" she mumbled, before she could think better of it.
"Hmm?" Erica looked up to meet her eyes.
Callie cleared her throat, smiled and tried again. "You were really good in there."
"Oh, thanks…Thanks for coming in when you did."
"Sure."
She took a deep breath, "So it was just glasses she needed, after all." Callie squeaked, her throat tightening as she said it, her heartbeat tripling up and worst of all, her cheeks burning.
Erica looked at her for a long moment, her face indecipherable. Giving no clue as to what she was thinking; a long moment that kept on stretching and stretching, until finally she sighed and nodded once.
"Yeah."
Callie's hands had gone clammy. She blinked once and swallowed. Another moment passed in trying silence and then, words left unsaid weighing heavily on her, she cleared her throat and aimed for lighter grounds.
"I didn't know that you knew magic tricks."
"It's not a trick. It's a ritual." Erica said, dead on.
"Ha…right." Callie laughed and then smiled, too spontaneously for it to be strained.
And to her great surprise, Erica's eyes widened and before she could help it, she smiled too. Just a little bit. With just the tiniest curve of her lips and just the shine in her eyes, she smiled and Callie felt herself warm up. Like a ray of sun had just fallen on her.
Before she had the time to feel bad about feeling good because of Erica, some intern interrupted them.
"Chief?"
"Yes?"
"Dr. Connor needs you in the pit."
"Right…Dr. Torres." she said, nodding once to Callie, as she started walking away.
"Dr. Hahn." Callie nodded as well, watching her leave.
Things were nowhere near great, she was still going through a range of uncontrollable emotions each time she saw her. But looking back at the little kid, sucking on her lollipop, Callie thought, at least they had reached some kind of truce for today.
For now, it was enough...
It was a start…
Continued...