Disclaimer: I do not own any part of "Grey's Anatomy," nor am I making any sort of profit from this story. I'm just borrowing them for a bit to indulge my imagination.
This is my personal perspective on the events between Erica Hahn and Callie Torres through the last few episodes of season 4. Yes, it contains romantic affection between two women. I'm ok with that, and I hope the rest of you are, too. Love is love, and it should be celebrated in every form.
Many thanks to DianeB for looking through this and pointing out some pretty big issues to me. She did a terrific job, and any remaining mistakes are my own.
A/N: I haven't written a story in about 5 years. If you choose to review, please be kind.
Erica Hahn was married to her work. It had been that way all of her life, from the time she began school at the tender age of five. Her teachers had typically described her as exceedingly bright, much more so than her classmates, but socially withdrawn. Her parents were torn between pride for her work and worry for their serious little girl, but how do you explain to a seven-year-old that perfection could possibly be a bad characteristic? For Thomas and Olivia Hahn, there was no easy way to have that conversation, and so Erica continued to shun the company of peers to meticulously complete every work assignment given to her. It wasn't that she didn't talk to anyone; she knew how to have a conversation, when it suited her. The problem was, she soon realized that her intellect far exceeded that of her classmates, and as they grew older, she found that she had less and less to discuss with them.
But that was ok with her.
Nothing changed when she entered college as a full time student. As she had always done, Erica excelled in every class. In the areas of science and mathematics, she did more than excel, she kicked ass. Her obvious intelligence and obsession with details made it seem only natural for her to enter medical school, and her choice as a surgeon naturally led her into cardiothoracics. Sure, neuro might have gained her a little more recognition or accolades, but there was a heady power involved with operating on someone's heart. That one vital organ, a battery for the body, worked night and day to keep the person alive. Erica found the challenge of cardio to be intoxicating, and she willingly traded an adult social life for one of scalpels and heart surgeries.
Erica Hahn was married to her work and devoid of romantic love. As such, she had never had much of a personal life. Though she shunned her peers as a child, she eventually acquired a few close friends in medical school. But typically, that was all it ever was. She didn't make friends easily, and she made lovers even less so. Erica was by no means a virgin, but her experience was more about release and the pleasure of the moment rather than real affection for the man or woman she was with.
That was another oddity about her, another mold she refused to fit. She chose her bed partners on the attractiveness of the person, and that tended to be her only criteria. Not gender, because for her, pretty was pretty. Not intelligence, because if she wanted conversation, she would call one of her few friends. But when she needed release, that ultimate, euphoric moment of bliss after a climax, she sought out an attractive and willing stranger.
Erica was married to her work and devoid of romantic love, and that was how she liked her life.
When she met Callie Torres, for the first time in her life, marriage to her career and pretty strangers were no longer enough.
Not even close.