It wasn't long before people at work began to notice that Callie and Erica were sharing more than sunrise yoga and the occasional bottle of expensive wine. They didn't hide it, nor did they advertise it. When two people were falling for each other, however, it was hard to conceal telling smiles and stolen glances.
At the end of a hard yet fairly ordinary day Callie slumped down beside Erica on the couch in the attendings' lounge.
"Hey," Callie sighed her greeting. "Good day?"
"Saved two, lost one and the jury's still out on the last guy," Erica replied more matter-of-factly than Callie knew she meant to appear. "How was yours?"
"Less eventful, but I drew a few tears from grown men, so altogether not unsatisfactory," she smiled and turned to face Erica. "Though, it did just get a whole lot better. I've barely caught a glimpse of you today. And I missed you."
"I missed you too," she replied with her first genuine, from the eyes smile of the day, "but I did actually get to watch you in surgery for a little while."
"You did?" She quizzed, a little bashful but not altogether averse to the thought of being admired from afar.
"Mhmm, that guy from the accident, the crush injury. The gallery was quiet so I sat for a few minutes," she met Callie's eyes, "and I just watched you work." Erica took a strand of Callie's hair and curled the ends between her fingers. "You know, you furrow one eyebrow when you're deep in concentration," Erica tried to replicate the gesture but failed, "something like that anyway, but just the one brow!"
They laughed easily together, as had always been the case, as friends or as lovers they could be at ease. Callie had always thought that really laughing, from the diaphragm with the head thrown back and tonsils in full view, was a sign of comfort in another's presence.
"And when things get tough in there, you're so composed," Erica continued, placing her hand casually on Callie's thigh, "you might think you take even the most stressful of complications in your stride," she paused and flashed another one of those winning smiles, "except for your hair."
"My hair?!" Callie returned in surprise.
"Your hair," replied Erica, "the strands that escape your scrub cap, they curl at the end. And I know that's one way your body responds to emotion."
"You know, do you?" Callie feigned offense in her reply.
"Yeah, I do," teased Erica, "because that's what happens when things get... heated between me and you," she pulled Callie in for a kiss that seemed to soften the day's collection of knots in both their shoulders, "are we going for food," she asked, lips still touching.
Callie pulled back, she held Erica's gaze for a while.
"Cal?"
"Oh yeah, sorry. Yes, let's go eat. I'm starving," she took Erica's hands, lacing their fingers together easily, "it's just nice to know that you look too."
"Look?" Erica tilted her head a little confused.
"I mean really look at me. I do it too," she exhaled slowly; "I see things I would never have noticed in anyone before you. I don't know if it's because you're a woman and what I'm looking at is that much more familiar, but I definitely look harder. I have a better eye for you than I ever remember having before," she paused and blushed at the smiling blue pools with which Erica held her gaze, "I mean, you have a tiny scar on the third finger of your right hand... just by the knuckle. And you have four beauty spots on your left shoulder. When you speak to a patient, or a family, you always remove your scrub cap because you know that it makes you more human to them." Callie sighed, a little embarrassed and a little relieved at having confessed.
"It surprises me," she continued, "because, you know, I could barely tell you if Mark Sloan actually has all 20 digits, let alone any specific anomalies," she smiled to herself, "other than the obvious of, you know, his personality!"
Laughing, they leaned in to embrace and held it for a long while, just breathing in each other's day.
"Something I've noticed," Erica broke the silence, "is that you like to meticulously read every item on the menu. Twice... so we should go unless you want to eat at midnight!"
Derek interrupted their embrace and laughter, unembarrassed but not unmoved by their obvious show of the affection they so clearly had for each other.
"Sorry ladies," he announced, "I'll be gone in two ticks, just leaving, grabbing my stuff."
"It's O.K, Derek," said Callie rising from the chair, breaking the embrace but keeping hold of Erica's hand, "so are we."