TITLE: Family (Chapter 1)
Rating: PG-13
AUTHOR: rcruz
Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Note: This is a sequel to Just a Simple Love Story.
He drove carefully, unused to the curves and dips. The switchbacks that everyone else was taking with ease had him gripping the wheel, his white knuckles contrasting with the honey colored skin of smooth hands. He checked mirrors constantly, wondering for the hundredth time what had possessed his sister to move here. He was sure she had said something about residency programs being like the army - you go where they tell you to go. He didn't know if he really believed her. If he had learned anything from his father it was that there was always a way to get around rules, a way out of the "wherever they send you" crap. Loopholes were built into life. He sighed hating to think about the things he had in common with his father. Despite their difficult, oftentimes infuriating relationship, he had to admit to himself that in this area, he was very much like his father and so unlike his sister and mother.
They had always been resistant to the power that came with wealth. He had never shied away from it. One should not abuse it, but you used whatever resources where at your disposal, even if it gave you an edge over others. His sister was different. She didn't even like to talk about the family business to her friends. He remembered being perplexed that she preferred to work throughout college and med school rather than accept the allowance his father made available. He thought maybe he understood her better now, or at least he understood her reasoning. He understood now that accepting the money came at a price, namely his father's meddling. His money, his right to advise and sometimes dictate was how his father saw things. His sister had always known that. She had always been smarter than him. Unlike him, she had resisted the temptation of Dad's money and so had escaped the constant intrusions into her personal life from her father. As a result, she still had a decent relationship with him, while he and his father had bickered and fought about who controlled what until they couldn't talk at all. He hadn't spoken to his father in close to a year. Of course it could be that he was just nicer to Callie because she had given him a grandchild, but he wasn't about to get that radical and have one of his own.
He drove reciting the instructions to her neighborhood in his head. Two more miles and then a left, he thought pushing aside the fact that he knew he should have told his father that he was here and the reason why. Family came first. His father had taught him that. He was like his father there too. Family always came first. Somehow though, he knew his father would eventually figure it out on his own, figure out why he would transfer from a city and job he loved to this place. Only one thing could make Diego Torres leave his life in Washington and transfer to Seattle. David Gentry
He had hoped that he would never get that missive, but it had arrived a week ago in his email. David Gentry had disappeared from Massachusetts and was rumored to be heading out West. Diego had his contacts in David's world and he paid them a decent sum of money to keep him abreast of David's activities, so he had no reason to doubt the intelligence. Once he heard the rumors, he knew he had to go. So, he had sought out his father's powerful friends as well as a few of his own and facilitated a transfer to the Seattle office. It was the fastest transfer in the history of the federal government, he suspected. With his job taken care of, he had emptied his apartment, tied up some loose ends, packed a bag and finally bought a plane ticket.
And now he was pulling up to the house. No doubt his sister would be surprised to see him. She would have questions; an endless amount of questions that he needed to side step. He would need to explain the suddenness of his arrival as well as his desire to live in this weird rainy city. He needed something that would not raise her suspicions. It wouldn't be that hard. They had been joking for years that they should move into the same city. He would just tell he had finally decided to make the joke a reality.
He sat in the car for a few minutes and just stared at the house. It was a peaceful looking house that had a distinctly homey feel to it. It was brick with a well maintained lawn. It was picture perfect and he laughed at the chaotic character of the inside of the house, so very different from the serene outer shell. He thought he heard laughter and the faint sounds of high voices and stepped out of the car. He looked around carefully, noting the few cars that littered the street and the quiet lawns. He saw sprinklers going back and fro on lush grass, but no other activity. Nothing seemed out of place, but then again, he wouldn't recognize the strangeness in this neighborhood so different from the one he had just left. Nevertheless there was nothing immediately suspicious and so he continued to the front door.
He hadn't bothered to call and he knew he would need to explain that too, but that one was easy. Callie liked surprises and so he would say he wanted to surprise her. He thought about his story. He would stick as close to the truth as possible. He missed her and the kids, wanted to get to know Erica - all true things. After a few moments spent ringing a doorbell no one was answering he listened intently for the sounds he had heard earlier. He stepped off the front steps and started making his way to the back of the house following the sounds that carried on the wind. The closer he got, the more distinct became the voices, until he recognized his sister and Lucas and even Allie's small voice.
He turned the corner and saw them then. Erica was walking towards the grill with items that he could only guess at as she held them high above her head. Allie had gotten up from the picnic table where she been watching Lucas pretend to toss salad and reached a small little hand to one of the hooks on Erica's jeans. Either Erica was expecting the contact or she was used to it. She just placed a free hand on Allie's head and rubbed it affectionately.
"Stand back a little from the grill, sweetie," he heard Erica warn his niece.
She stepped back slightly but seemed reluctant to leave Erica who finished placing what he could now recognize as burgers and hot dogs on the grill. She wiped her hands on a nearby towel and then turned and swooped down to pick up Allie who squealed in delight. They both made their way to the salad makers. Callie was still chopping veggies as Lucas enthusiastically tossed salad, his small uncoordinated hands causing bits of lettuce and cucumber to fly right out of the bowl. Callie smiled as she watched him. He was so intent on his task, that he seemed oblivious to the stuff being tossed out of the bowl.
Diego leaned against a tree. He tuned out the sounds and just watched them for a while. The kids lingered at the table a while longer. Allie took a turn at tossing the salad as well and after a few words exchanged with their moms they jumped off the table and ran towards the playground set he had helped Erica pick out for the kids last Christmas, It was their gift from Santa. Callie had been pissed, calling the gift too extravagant, but since it was from Santa she hadn't grumbled too much. He turned his attention back to his sister and her partner who were calmly picking up the remnants of Lucas's enthusiastic salad tossing. They exchanged soft words he couldn't make out and then their hands were intertwined and they were just staring at each other. As if performing synchronized movements, their eyes shifted to the kids, still engaged in an adventure of their own making and then back to each other. He knew what was coming next, was prepared to interrupt their brief make-out session before it got started, but an unfamiliar feeling hit him square in the chest. For a moment, so quick and fleeting he might have missed it if he blinked at the wrong time, he was just a little jealous of his sister, a little jealous of what she had found in Seattle with Erica and Lucas. He tried blinking away the feeling as he saw their lips meet.
He had never felt that before. Sure he'd wanted and had plenty of girlfriends, but he had never thought beyond the immediacy of the next date, the next getaway, the next whatever. He did not share his sister's desire for that special someone that looked at you like Erica was looking at his sister. Not until this moment. He was taken back and had to shake his head to get that confusing thought to just disappear. They had separated now, but he was afraid to look at them. Instead he turned his attention to making his presence known.
He thought about how to approach them, aware of the fact that they weren't expecting him and wondering how he should make his presence known without startling them. Allie neatly took that problem out of his hands.
"UNCLE DIEGO!"
He heard her and turned towards her as she made a beeline for him.
In the few seconds it took her to reach him and leap into his arms, he had one brief thought. David Gentry was not going to mess with this. He couldn't let him do anything to break the fabric these four had woven together. He stretched out his arms, barely catching a glance of Lucas coming up fast behind his sister and also shouting "Uncle Diego, Uncle Diego" at the top of his lungs. He caught her as she leapt and felt Lucas crash into his legs almost taking them both down.
"Umph," he grunted as he felt both tiny bodies crash into his. He bent down and brought Lucas close to him as well, engulfing the both of them in a fierce hug, praying as he had never done before that nothing befall them, that all they know was the goodness surrounding them and not the forces that wanted to tear them apart.
Continued in Chapter 2