TITLE: Family (Chapter 2)
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.
It was one of those nice bright days, so rare in Seattle. One could actually feel the beginnings of summer, even smell it in the air. Birds were singing lovely songs of their own making, the wind provided a nice rustling background as it wound its way gently through trees. The neighborhood stood quiet as if posing for a portrait, decked out in its shiny best. The houses looked polished and clean. No roaming cars or stray children disturbed the scenery. It was almost surreal, this perfect neighborhood on this perfect day, seemingly void of humans. The houses stood still as if nothing was going on inside. But it was an illusion. Especially in one house, one brick house whose occupants or at least two of the occupants, were new additions to the neighborhood. In that house, two strong willed women stood face to face, entangled in some strange contest known only to them.
They stood, eyes locked, trying to stare each other down. Erica Hahn had never been good at this game with Callie Torres. She could stare down most anyone else, but not this woman, not this beautiful lusciously curvy woman with the warm brown eyes, who had so effortlessly burrowed her way deep into Erica's heart not to long ago. Still, Erica was making the effort because there was nothing else to do, but make an effort. She had already bought the damn thing.
The silent staring contest could have gone on much longer, but it was interrupted, much to Erica's delight, by Callie's brother, who barged into the house like he lived there, even though his official home, for now anyway, was across the street. Most days it irked Erica only slightly that he did that. Today she was grateful.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked walking through the back door, his preferred entrance.
He looked from one to the other as neither of them were moving.
"Okay," he said slowly.
Callie finally looked away and toward him. "What?" she asked.
"Just wondering what the plan was for Al's birthday?" he asked again in that slow deliberate tone.
"Apparently the plan is to spoil her until she becomes a little princess."
Erica rolled her eyes. "It's just a guitar, Callie. She likes to play and mine is too big for her."
"I know, but it's too much. What happens when she decides she likes flute better?"
"Then we get her a flute."
"No, we don't just get them everything they want, Erica. They can't get this idea that all they have to do is ask for something and they'll get it."
"Callie, we'll sign her up for lessons and make her go. This is no big deal."
"And when she decides she doesn't like it?"
"We'll just make her finish the lessons, I guess," said Erica. She really didn't understand why Callie was freaking out over this. It was a birthday present, a damn good birthday present in her opinion. But Callie was obsessed with setting limits and boundaries with both Lucas and Allie. They didn't fight much, but when they did, it was always over this, Erica going overboard and Callie holding back too much. That was okay. She understood where Callie was coming from and she thought Callie understood her point. They just needed to work out their different styles.
"At least it's not another toy," said Diego trying to be helpful as he pulled a bowl from the cupboard and started searching for cereal.
"Shut up," said Callie. "That's what you're having for dinner?" she asked him.
"No, snack," he said as he found the sweetest most sugar loaded cereal in the cabinet and poured.
He probably hadn't planned on it, but his comment made an impact. Erica saw Callie working it out in her head. The movement of the eyes, slightly out of focus, the biting of her lip, all signs of her brain working fast and furiously.
"Okay," said Callie. "It's not a toy, so she can't treat it like a toy. This gift comes with responsibility."
"Thank you," said Erica walking up to her and cupping her face. "We're okay?" she asked with a smile.
"Of course," said Callie returning Erica's smile. Their eyes held and Erica felt something pass through her. She thought Callie felt it too.
"Diego?" said Callie through a swallow.
"What?" he asked around a mouthful of cereal.
Erica smiled, positive that she knew what Callie would say next. She wanted to be sure and so she leaned in and pulled Callie's face toward her, kissing her softly and slowly. She loved kissing Callie like this. She started with a gentle caress to the face in her hands. Then came the good part, caressing those lips with hers so soft and gently that she felt Callie almost tugging at her to increase the pressure. Slowly she complied, putting light pressure on Callie's lips, making her intent clear. It usually drove Callie to murmurs and hisses that would ignite Erica, making her tingle and throb all over. She heard the beginning of those murmurs now as she pulled away.
"OUT!" said Callie looking briefly in Diego's direction. "Take the kids somewhere."
They didn't hear him respond. Erica thought she heard his footsteps or the clang of the cereal bowl, but she couldn't be sure. She went back to the kiss, continuing her actions until Callie's lips felt slick and swollen and her breathing became short. She heard commotion on the stairs and began to pull away.
She caught glimpses of Diego trying hard to shepherd the kids out of the house, but he wasn't having an easy time of it.
"Are Mom and Mommy coming?"
That was Lucas.
"Don't we need to say goodbye to them?" she heard Allie's voice.
"They're busy right now; let's just get our stuff together guys."
Erica pulled Callie close to her, felt Callie let out an uneven breath before hearing a whispered, "that was fantastic." She turned, but stayed in Erica's embrace letting Erica's arms settle around her waist..
"Listen guys, you shouldn't go in...there..." sighed Diego as he watched the kids race to the kitchen.
Erica heard little footsteps coming closer and then moved slightly to the left to see their bouncing figures making their way to the kitchen.
"Uncle Diego's taking us to McDonald's!" said Allie.
"That's nice of him," said Erica although she sent a glare his way through the doorway. He merely shrugged as he stood just outside the kitchen, seeming fearful of re-entering it. They said hurried goodbyes and then the kids and Diego were off and it was just the two of them again. They didn't get a lot of alone time these days and so, although Diego annoyed her by continually barging into their house like he lived there, she was grateful for these times, when he would take the kids out of their hair and her and Callie could reconnect.
Diego had teased her about it in this very kitchen a few days ago. He told her he could always tell when they needed to be alone because they would start biting his head off. She had flatly denied it, but that made him practically spit out the water he was drinking.
"You're kidding, right? You so totally become Super Crank and my sister becomes Crank Overlord or something."
"Diego, we are mature adults. We do not bite anyone's head off just because we haven't been together."
"Yeah, well as someone who has experienced multiple bites, I beg to differ. You once told me to stop breathing."
"Well I probably had a good reason," she had said simply.
"I didn't say it was a bad reason," he smiled at her, "but usually people don't complain about me breathing unless they're bad guys."
"Lucky you," she had said sarcastically before throwing the towel she was using to dry her hands at his face, just as he was about to put a cookie in his mouth. She heard a somewhat muffled "Hey!" from under the towel and smiled as she walked away.
Maybe he was right. It didn't really matter. Right now he was giving them that very much needed alone time. She felt Callie's hands pulling at her shirt and luscious full lips on her neck and all thoughts of being horny and humiliated in front of her irksome brother-in-law went somewhere else. She gave herself over to Callie's ministrations and concentrated on the hands and lips travelling up and down her body and how much time she would let that go on before insisting they head upstairs.
They were in a much better mood later when the kids returned with sticky chocolate faces from the hot fudge sundaes Diego had fed them. Callie hadn't yelled. She hadn't even questioned what else they had eaten. She just hugged them to her and threatened to eat their faces until they squirmed and ran for the bathroom to wash up. Discussions of the guitar had shifted from: was it too much to talk of when Allie should start lessons. They discussed plans for birthday celebrations with Diego before he walked across the street to Callie's old house. Then shifted to Addison's arrival and the chaos that would ensue when half the hospital showed up for Allie's birthday in a few days. That was an event Erica was not looking forward to, but relationships meant compromise and this was hers.
They had even managed to not talk about the other constant conversation between them: Allie's adoption. Lucas's adoption had become official only a month before. The process itself had not been difficult, but it reminded them that Allie's adoption would not be as smooth. Erica worried. She didn't like that such an important thing seemed so out of her hands. She was hoping the meeting with Danielle tomorrow would alleviate some of the irrational fears she was beginning to develop about the whole thing. With Lucas it was just about her and Callie. With Allie there was the David Gentry problem, which in her mind did not seem to have a good solution. Her and Callie had talked about the possibilities of how to proceed, trying to guess at what Danielle would suggest, but they were no experts and so their wild ideas only fueled the speculation and for Erica, the worry that it wouldn't happen. She tried not to let that thought twist around her insides, but it was hard. She liked being in control and in this, not only was she not the expert, she would have no role to play until the end, when Allie's adoption was final.
Callie had pleaded with her to not view it like that, she reminded her that no matter what some judge said, she was Allie's second Mom, but Erica knew it mattered and she hated that something that mattered so much, was so out of her hands.
The next morning, Callie sat listening to Danielle, who she had to admit was doing her best to not speak in legalese. Still she hated this process. She hated the legal hoops they had to jump through to have the state validate their family. They were a family plain and simple. She had felt the same annoyance when they went through this with Lucas who was now officially her and Erica's son. But the process with Allie was infinitely more complex and unfortunately involved one more person. She sat straighter in her seat intent on not letting her mind wander, wanting to pay attention to the petite blond sitting in front of them. She reached for Erica's hand and instantly relaxed at the warmth she felt.
"The best option for right now is legal guardianship. Until we get Allie's biological father to consent, adoption is not a viable option. For an adoption the parents have to sign over their legal rights. The tricky part of this case is that paternity has never been established. David Gentry has made inroads in that direction, but has never actually done it. His custody suits were the first step, but he can't just sue for custody. Paternity needs to be established. In a case like this, the judge would order a paternity test and then establish paternity through court order. A case can't move forward unless paternity is established. David didn't do in Massachusetts or here. That's both good and bad. Good because without paternity we don't need him to consent to the guardianship which should be fairly straightforward."
"And the bad?" asked Erica.
"In Washington there is virtually no statute of limitations for establishing paternity. You can establish paternity up until the child turns 18. If he chooses to do so, Allie's father could establish paternity and then possibly challenge the guardianship at any time up until she turns 18."
"So basically if we pushed, David could push right back with the paternity thing and then we'd be screwed," said Callie, the frustration evident in her face.
"No, we would just face some challenges. Right now there are a lot of factors in our favor for legal guardianship: no paternity has been established, he is a known abuser of drugs, and he has not been a part of Allie's life. Those are all reasons the judge will look at when he sees our petition. David doesn't have to give consent for the judge to grant a petition for legal guardianship to Erica. The downside of course is that David can challenge the guardianship at any time. His consent isn't required because he still retains his legal rights as a parent and as such one of his rights is to challenge the guardianship, but that doesn't mean the court will just rule in his favor in a challenge."
Danielle looked from Callie to Erica and then back to Erica. "But before all of that, he would need to establish paternity. It won't be a cake walk for him to challenge the guardianship."
Callie imagined Danielle could read the both of them very well and knew they were uncomfortable with all of this. Danielle had been able to read them from the beginning, had seen things Callie had not been ready to see or face.
"Look ladies, I'm not saying this isn't complicated. It is very complicated. He has a history of at least attempting to gain custody, so we need to deal with him. The best we can do is be upfront about everything. Just because paternity has not been established yet does not necessarily give us free reign to go ahead. Besides, I would hate to move forward with the petition for adoption without informing him because that puts us at risk. If he challenges us, he could accuse us of trying to deny him his rights. Family courts like nice heterosexual families and they virtually bend over backwards to keep kids with their biological parents. We want to do this by the book, even if it means establishing paternity in order to get him to give up his rights."
Erica cringed. Callie knew she was struggling with Danielle's strategy. It seemed illogical to her and she had not hesitated to voice her opinion often and loudly since this process began.
"It just doesn't make sense to me, Danielle. If he doesn't have rights now because paternity has not been established, why can't we just go ahead? Why do we have to grant him rights only to turn around and beg him to give them up? It makes no sense," said Erica letting go of Callie's hand and leaning forward.
"I've gone over this Erica. You'll just have to trust me on this. Just because paternity has not been established does not mean we get to do whatever we want. He can still demand that paternity be established. Do you understand what that means? That means he can do it at any time and then we get into a legal mess we don't want to be in. Trust me on this. We could do the adoption right now if you want, but he could challenge it. There's case law on this. We could lose, Erica. This is not some absent father that has not been in contact with the mother. This is someone who has twice tried to get custody. A judge will take that into consideration if he challenges the adoption."
Erica put a hand to her head, a sure sign; Callie knew that a headache was developing. She got up from her seat and stood behind Erica. She had recently discovered that stress, induced headaches in her beloved and thankfully, she had also discovered that an easing of tense muscles helped immensely. She set fingers on strong shoulders and started a slow rubbing motion. It had taken her a few tries, but she finally had it down now. She needed to start with slow movements, rubbing tense muscles and warming them with deft fingers. Then she would slowly increase the pressure, loosening up the tightness until she felt Erica completely relax. She had loved making that discovery, loved knowing she could do something when Erica got tense.
She let her fingers find their way and focused on Danielle, trying to remain cognizant that despite the intimate touch, they were not alone.
"So what do we do?" she asked.
"I don't know him. You do. What are the chances he would give up his parental rights?"
"I don't know."
Danielle pushed forward. "I'm advising you to establish paternity. Paternity is not just a perk. It gives you certain rights but it also imposes obligations. He would owe a heck of a lot of child support. Do you think the obligation to pay would induce him to give up his parental rights?"
Callie sighed, but continued her gentle message of Erica's shoulders. "Every time he's shown his face, it's for money. Maybe if we threw more money at him he would give up his rights, but I worry that's he's treated Allie like some sort of cash cow, always using the threat of taking her away to get money from my family. He gives up his rights, he's giving up his access to easy cash, so I don't know."
She was concentrating on the muscles under her fingers and not on the words. She couldn't concentrate on the words and the things they were discussing, things that made her just as tense as they were making Erica. But the motion of her fingers on Erica's shoulders, the movement of her hands down a strong back were surprisingly also relaxing her, letting her focus on the positive, on the woman in front of her and the family they had made and not on the problems that lay ahead. She needed that, needed to keep everything in check, needed to remember what they were trying to achieve.
"Then I suggest that you stop giving him money to go away," said Danielle leaning back in her chair and clicking her pen absentmindedly. She leaned forward after a few seconds.
"Look Callie no judge is going to give him custody. Not with his record of drug abuse. At most they would probably give him supervised visitation. Stop giving him money and he loses the cash cow anyway. We threaten him with child support and he might decide it's not worth the trouble and sign over his rights and obligations. If you are both agreeable, which I think you are," she said smiling, "I think we should move forward with the legal guardianship. We don't need to resolve the David problem to proceed with that and that gives Allie some protection."
Erica and Callie both nodded.
"I'll draw up the papers for that, which should be straightforward and simple. The next steps are figuring out the David situation, but let's not worry about that just yet. We have time. He hasn't been in contact in years, right?"
Callie nodded again.
Okay, well there's no reason to think he'll show up tomorrow or something. Let's just take some time to think about our options."
Callie looked at Erica. There was still worry there, but she seemed a little more relaxed.
"Okay," she said looking at Callie and smiling. It wasn't her full 'everything is great smile', but it was a smile nevertheless and for that Callie was grateful.
Continued in Chapter 3