Erica had never really seen herself having kids. It just didn't figure into her life plan. Plus the fact she would have to have found herself a father for the kid.
That was until she met Callie Torres, and fell for her big style. Her sexuality was never something she had questioned till then, but after what she considered a thorough analysis (the dating and sleeping with Callie) she came to the conclusion that she was extremely gay.
It took a while for gay to have both its meanings with Erica, both a lesbian and happy. But after some forgiving and opening up on both sides, she and Callie managed to make a working relationship. A damn good relationship. Callie had helped to open Erica up to the wonders of what an active love life could do for your mood, and shown her that sometimes the simple things in life were the best, and deserved to be treasured.
Just as she now treasured their little girl, Jessica. It turned out that having a kid with Callie did figure into her life plan. It wasn't something she was pushed into by Callie, but something she found she wanted naturally with the beautiful Latina. It had come to a surprise to Callie, but she certainly wasn't adverse to it. From the moment the words had left the blonde's lips, Callie was as in love with the idea as she was with Erica. They didn't rush into anything, and made sure that at every turn they talked through each and every detail, keeping them both in the same page.
In the end, after Callie's pleading, they had used Erica's eggs. The Latina had appealed to the blonde's sense of reason, saying that her genes would live on through her brothers and her sister, whereas Erica, as the only child, only had one chance to pass her genes on. And supplying the much needed male component, the pair had decided to finally let Mark Sloan have his little fantasy of a threesome…only without the sex. He had willingly donated to their cause, surprised that Erica had let any part of him anywhere near her. Erica stuck with reason to explain her decisions, never once admitting to him her decision partly came down to the fact he did have pretty good genes, and that having gotten to know him through Callie, she did actually trust him, and after the whole little Sloan debacle, he deserved to see some happiness come out of him helping to create a child. The one aspect that was never up for debate, was who was to carry the child. Callie had always wanted kids, and Erica would never be the one to take that away from her. Besides, she not-so-secretly loved having Callie to dote over, and she never once complained about her heightened sex drive.
And seven years later, she still wasn't complaining. She had a gorgeous little blonde haired angel (although she could be a little devil at times). Everything had changed, and Erica Hahn was definitely one of them. If you asked Yang, now a practicing cardio attending under Erica, what happened to the Ice Queen, she would tell you she hadn't changed, and unless you seen the Head of Cardio with her daughter or her beloved bone-breaker, you would be inclined to believe her. If, however, you got a rare glimpse of the Cardio Goddess with her little girl balanced on her hip, or indeed anywhere within the immediate vicinity, you would swear hands down that the Ice Queen had melted completely and been replaced by a completely different woman.
The kind of women who, on a sunny day would take her daughter to the zoo so that she could tell her mom absolutely everything she had ever learned about the animals from all the animal documentaries she watched. Erica often swore that somehow Callie's genes got muddled up in their little girl at some point during those long nine months the amount the seven year old would ramble on. So many of the little girl's traits took after Callie, and Erica was glad. She loved seeing glimpses of Callie in her, hearing little bits of Callie in the way she spoke.
"And you know that giraffe's don't have loads and loads of bones in their neck, they just have some, but they're bigger so that's how they get their biiiiig necks," Jess informed Erica as she dragged her along, seemingly having had enough of the giraffes.
"Has your mommee been talking bones to you again?" Erica asked, laughing.
Jess shook her head, blonde curls bouncing. "Nope. Not this time. It was the man with the funny hair on the animal channel. He showed you the see-insides and everything."
Erica couldn't help but grin at her daughter's adorableness. 'See-insides' were in fact x-rays, but Jess found this a ridiculous name for them, when they clearly showed what was inside a person, so they should just be called see-insides. It was a name that had unfortunately caught on somewhat in their little households, and had left the doctor's in a few awkward situations when they had mistakenly asked interns who weren't in on the re-name for a patient's 'see-insides', only to be met with blank stares.
"Come on mom, I wanna go see the lions ROAAAR!" squealed Jess, pulling her along as she continued to do her best impression of a mighty lion. She came to an abrupt halt as Jess stopped about six feet away from the enclosure, her eyes wide as she looked on at the huge cats. They were somewhat of a fascination of the little girls, to the extent that her room was decorated with big cat posters and she went to bed every night with a little cuddly lion she had had since she was a baby.
It was then that Erica heard the scream behind her. She turned to the source of the sound; a woman catching onto the handle of a pushchair and quickly kicking on the breaks as she breathed a sigh of relief. Turning her eyes back to the front Erica froze. Jess wasn't in front of her where she had been. "Jess?" Erica stepped forward, looking for her closer to the enclosure, hoping to find Jess had just taken a few steps closer to her favourite animals. "Jess? Jessica?" She checked the entire way around the enclosure, still calling her name. She could feel her chest tighten every second her little girl was out of her sight. "Jess?" She was screaming now, frantically looking for her daughter.
She felt strong hands clamp her upper arms and silenced herself.
"Miss? Is there something wrong?" Erica took a moment to take in the uniform of the zoo before launching into her answer.
"My little girl, she was just here," she gestured with her hand to the spot right in front of her. "And now she's not, and she's not answering me, she was just here." Erica went on repeating herself until she could no longer breathe, and was sat down on a nearby bench by the zoo worker, who alerted all staff through his radio to be on the lookout for a little girl, giving the best description he could from what he had gathered from Erica, who sat hyperventilating beside him, tears trailing down her face as she continued to scan the nearby area for any trace of her little angel.
"Miss, I've put the radio call out, and I'm also going to call the police, just following our protocol. But likely, she'll have wandered off to see the zebras and we'll find her safe and sound."