Readers. Oh, my dear readers. I am so sorry to keep you waiting for so long. I've been going through a ton of stuff lately (both good and bad), and I haven't had much time to write! Plus I had awful writers block for a while, and would just sit there, staring at my writing and not adding anything to it. But I finally came around and wrote the fourth chapter. I'm on a Calzona kick right now, so hopefully it's good and you guys like it! Please, please, leave reviews, they're what I thrive on. Love you all dearly~
"E-Erica?" Callie choked out, frozen in the doorway of the patient room. Her dark chocolate eyes were wide, hands curled around the edge of the binder so tightly that her usually tan fingers were a cream color. Arizona was standing in the middle of the room, right between Callie and Erica, looking as confused as a person could possibly look. "Erica Hahn?"
"In the flesh." Erica shot Callie her all-so-familiar smirk, gesturing for the brunette woman and Arizona to join her by the patient's bedside. There was another pink binder flipped open on the little table at the end of the patient's bed, neatly placed right in front of Erica so she could see it. "Why don't you and Dr. Robbins come over here so I can introduce our patient?"
Callie nodded awkwardly, shuffling over next to the taller blonde woman. Arizona sent a confused glance sideways in her wife's direction before joining Callie by Erica's side. Callie licked her suddenly chapped lips, trying her best to calm down and look somewhat professional. She smiled down at Arizona, hoping it looked serene and well-put-together, but she was afraid that wasn't the case at all.
"Alright, now that the other doctors are here with us, let me begin." Erica cleared her throat before motioning towards the small child in the bed in front of her. She was tiny, with extremely pale skin covered in cinnamon-colored freckles. On her head was a mop of fiery red curls, pulled back into two stubby pigtails. The hospital gown hung loosely on her frail body, sheets tucked tightly around her thin torso. "Haven Morse, six years old. Diagnosed with semi-severe scoliosis six months ago, which has caused damage to her heart. Doctors, how will we proceed?"
Callie cleared her throat, glancing down at the chart in her slightly shaking hands. She tried to locate the part that indicated their procedure for this patient, but Erica's name kept drawing her eye as if it was highlighted in bright pink highlighter. "Uh," she stammered, eyes scanning and re-scanning the paper. "We will…We will do two surgeries in one, moving the spine and straightening it out the best we can, and repairing the small puncture to her heart."
Erica shot Callie a snarky smile, picking up her binder and snapping it shut. "Very good, Doctor Torres," she cooed, combing her fingers through her wavy blonde hair. Callie grumbled under her breath, curling the hand that wasn't holding her chart into a fist. She couldn't believe Erica was here; she thought that when she dropped off the face years ago after they broke up, she would stay that way. And here she was, standing in the room with Callie and her wife, ready to work on the same case they were. "The surgery is scheduled for 6 o'clock this evening. Some doctors will be by to prep Haven for surgery around 5:30. We'll be back in to check on you in a little while, make sure everything's still progressing smoothly and that the surgery can still happen today. Make sure Haven doesn't eat or drink anything for the entire day, alright? Have a good morning, Morses."
And with that, Erica spun on her heel and exited the hospital room. On her way out the door, she brushed her hand against Callie's back, gentle enough to be accidental but most likely one-hundred percent on purpose, considering the circumstances. Callie gritted her teeth, shooting the Morse family a wide smile before grabbing Arizona's hand. She and her wife left the room together, wandering out of the room and down the hallway, back towards the nurse's station from which they had come.
"That was…weird." Arizona took the chart out of Callie's hand carefully, setting it down on top of the counter in front of her. She smiled softly at the nurse behind the counter, making sure she had noticed the chart before walking away from the station. Callie followed her, tan arms crossed over her chest as she walked behind her wife. "I've never seen that cardio fellow before. Is she new here?"
"She worked here from a brief while, a couple years ago, before we met. She came from Seattle Pres, when it was its own hospital." Callie sighed, slipping her hand into her pocket as she and Arizona walked towards the elevators. She could see Erica out of the corner of her eye, standing in one of the corners scrolling through something on her phone. Callie thumbed the pager in her pocket, running the pad of her thumb over the top of the black box, a nervous habit. "You were here, too. I guess you just never met because you were in different departments, and she was here for such a short time."
"I see." Arizona nodded, pausing by the closed elevator door. She leaned against the wall next to her, sticking her hands in the pockets of her lab coat and smiling up at Callie, who had stopped right in front of her. She had to shift slightly, trying to make her prosthetic a little more comfortable, as it had been shoved on very quickly earlier. The top of the prosthetic had been chafing against the nub of her thigh slightly when they were standing in Haven's hospital room. "Well, she's an odd one. Did you guys know each other before? She was acting strange around you, babe."
But before Callie could answer her, Arizona's pager went off, signaling that there was somewhere she needed to be urgently. She gave Callie an apologetic smile, rising up on her toes to peck her wife on the cheek before rushing off in the opposite direction. Callie chuckled, turning towards the elevator doors, which were opening at that very moment. Arizona could be so cute sometimes, Callie just couldn't handle it. Callie stepped into the elevator, smiling to herself as she waiting for the doors to close. They were just about to when, all of a sudden, a hand appeared, holding them open.
"Wait! Hold the door!" Erica rushed into the elevator at the last moment, the silver doors clicking shut behind her. She was panting, blonde hair windblown and normally pale cheeks flushed pale pink. She still had her pink binder under her arm, even though it was supposed to be back at the nurse's station. Erica shot Callie a smooth smile, sliding over beside the Latina woman. "Hey, there. Haven't seen you in a while."
Callie bit down on her bottom lip almost painfully, discomfort flooding through her. Erica was much closer than she should've been, close enough that Callie could smell her vanilla-scented perfume. She was grinning at Callie, waiting expectantly for her to say something.
"Yeah," Callie grumbled in irritation, side-stepping away from Erica a little and leaning against the left wall of the elevator. "You left, remember? Broke up with me and then fell off the face of the Earth? Any of this ringing a bell, Erica?"
"Geez, someone's in a bitchy mood today." Erica rolled her blue eyes, wrinkling her large nose. She was still smiling, however, although now it was more of an amused smirk. She knew she'd struck a nerve in Callie, and she was happy about it. "Come on, babe, I'm a different woman now. I'm not the same Erica you knew before. Give me a chance."
"Like hell I ever would," Callie spat, crossing her arms over her chest in irritation. She shot an annoyed glance in Erica's direction, practically bristling with anger. "And I'm not going to believe all this crap you're saying about being a new person, either. I know you, Erica, unfortunately, and I know that you're always going to be the same Erica Hahn you were years ago. I was actually in a perfectly fine mood before you decided to come in here and screw it up."
"I see someone's still got her feisty personality." Erica backed off a little, leaning against the other side of the elevator wall. But she was still gazing at Callie, blue eyes lit up with excitement and interest. "You're still as sexy as you were when we were together, Torres. I liked that a lot, you know."
"I have a wife," Callie blurt out suddenly, pushing herself off the wall and stepping towards Erica again. Her arms were still crossed over her chest, mocha eyes glaring at the other woman. "You know, the perky little blonde one you saw me kissing moments ago? The one who happens to be with us on our service, actually, Arizona Robbins. We've been married for almost two years now, so you can just fuckin' back off, Hahn."
Erica's light blue eyes widened, red lips opening into a surprised O. She blinked in astonishment, pale eyebrows frozen high on her large forehead. Callie thought she was going to drop her chart from how in shock she seemed, just standing there gaping at the shorter woman. Callie couldn't help but smirk; she had finally gotten Erica to shut up, and she had done it in quite an amusing way.
"Well," Erica said meekly, folding her hands over each other in front of herself. A light pink blush flooded through her pale cheeks, although she looked more intrigued than embarrassed. "I figured you two were an item because of the sucking face, but I never guessed you were married. Damn, good old Torres is married. I'm surprised."
Callie raised a dark eyebrow, pursing her plump lips perplexedly. "Surprised? What's that supposed to mean?" She glared at Erica, still pretty angry with her. "I love, her, Erica. A hell of a lot more than I ever loved you, to be honest. We have a daughter together. I'm actually happy. And I don't need you coming in here and screwing it all up."
"A daughter?" Erica asked, as if that's all Callie had said. She was blatantly ignoring the rest of her sentences, just focusing on something that was apparently so surprising. "Torres has a daughter too? Wow, I guess you really are in deep, babe. It's too bad, you're a really hot MILF."
"You know what, I'm done with this." The elevator came to a creaky stop, and just seconds later, the doors began to slide open. Callie stepped towards them eagerly, angrily stuffing her hands into the deep pockets in her lab coat. "I'm glad we broke up, Erica. You're kind of a bitch. I'm happy with the family I have now, and I sure as hell can't wait until you get out of this hospital and go back to wherever you came from. Let's hope this case is over soon."
She stormed out of the elevator, not even bothering to check if Erica was following her. She wasn't; she had to get off at another floor, and even after the elevator doors had closed, she just stood there with an awestruck look on her face. Callie let out an angry puff of air as she marched towards the nurse's station on that particular floor. She had to check her schedule for the day and see what new cases she had been assigned. There were probably some interns she had to boss around as well, since she didn't have any of her own this year.
Just as she was reaching the little counter at the end of the hall, Callie's pager went off in her pocket, vibrating violently and letting off a sharp ringing sound. Callie pulled the small black box out of her lab coat, glancing down at the buzzing device. Flashing across the grey-green screen were the words, "INCOMING ER: URGENT", so Callie shoved the pager back into her pocket and took off, heading for the elevators again. She skidded to a stop in front of the huge metal doors, repeatedly jamming her finger onto the down arrow button between the two elevators. Finally, one opened, revealing an empty pink-walled cubicle. Callie rushed into it, quickly pushing the button for the first floor once she was inside and then waiting for the doors to close.
Minutes later, she had arrived on the ground floor, sprinting out of the elevator the second the doors opened. She ran down the long hallway, shoving her way past doctors and nurses in order to get to the ER doors. Once there, she grabbed one of the yellow scrub robes off the hooks next to the door, throwing it on as she made her way through the large sliding doors. She tied the robe behind her back and then grabbed a pair of gloves out of the pocket of her lab coat, moving to join the other doctors' sides in the waiting area outside.
"What is it?" Callie asked, the latex of her right glove snapping against her wrist as she put it on. She was standing next to April, who was bouncing around excitedly, practically bumping into Callie and Owen, who was standing on the other side of her. "What's coming?"
"I don't know." Owen leaned over April's body so he could speak to Callie, his blue eyes watery and clear as he looked at her. The wind was blowing outside, brushing up tufts of his strawberry blonde hair. "All we know so far is that it's a trauma, with definite orthopedic injury. We'll have to wait and see what it is exactly until it comes in."
"Alright." Callie nodded, pushing a lock of dark hair that had blown into her face behind her ear. Her wedding ring scraped against her cheek through her glove, leaving a tingling feeling on Callie's flesh. Her ears picked up the sound of a faint ambulance siren, getting louder by the moment, and then it was there, speeding into the lane in front of the doctors. "Here it is!"
As soon as the ambulance doors opened, all three doctors rushed forwards, grabbing the gurney from inside the large vehicle and pulling it out so they could rush the injured person into the ER. While they were doing so, the paramedic helping them out told them that the patient was an 18-year-old male with definite injuries to his legs and pelvis, and possible injuries to his spine. The doctors thanked her as the hurried the gurney on its wheels through the double doors that led to the ER.
Callie made sure put her patients above anything, always. It was part of the non-official rules of being a surgeon; the patient came before anything else, especially your personal life. And Callie was sure to follow this rule, most of the time. But even as she ran through the crowded ER, pushing a gurney with a critically injured boy on it, she couldn't help but notice what she saw out of the corner of her eye. Erica was standing over in one section of the ER, chatting with no one other than Arizona, and both women looking like they were enjoying it.