The girl in Erica's arms drifted in and out of consciousness as they waited

DISCLAIMER: not mine. shonda and abc's

The girl in Erica's arms drifted in and out of consciousness as they waited. Minutes ticked by like hours for the young blonde.

The girl in her arms was rail thin. Though she was bundled up more than believably necessary, her cheeks were pale and her face was ice cold.

She was never conscious long enough to give her name or say what had happened, so Erica just whispered reassuring words to her whenever her eyes opened for a second and sometimes even when they were still closed.

It was nearly four miles back to any sign of civilization and nearly another half mile to anybody who could possibly help. As if that wasn't enough, the snow would surely slow Kayla down. Even running the whole way, Kayla would be an hour at best.

After thirty minutes had passed the girl's eyes stopped opening completely. Not much made Erica Hahn panic. She was a naturally calm, cool and collected person. But Erica started to freak.

The girl was an ice cube and help was still at least a half hour away. Hopelessness began to creep in. If Kayla were here, she'd know what to do, Erica was sure of that.

So Erica did the only thing she could think of to help. She pulled her jacket off and wrapped it easily around the girl.

Then she devoted her strength to watching the puffs of air leaving the girl's lungs. She wasn't sure exactly what she was supposed to do when they stopped, but she knew she had to keep her breathing. She felt an overwhelming need to do this, to save her life.

An hour passed and the snow began to fall once again. She kept one eye on the rise and fall of the kid's chest and one on the ridge. Kayla had to be coming, but with each passing moment, Erica lost more and more faith. The girl's breath had become faint. She wasn't going to make it much longer. Erica felt helpless.

"Don't die. Please don't die. Breathe for me. There coming for us. I promise. A few more minutes and they'll be here. They'll be here." Erica was desperate. It was pointless to plead with the girl; she couldn't hear. And even if she could, who was Erica to give her hope when her own hope was dwindling.

Erica was started to feel the cold. Only a sweater separated her from the falling flakes, but she took solace in the fact that the girl didn't feel as cold, or maybe that was just because she herself was getting colder.

The girl's breathing all but stopped. Survival instinct kicked in and it occurred to Erica that she could run. She knew that in the end no one would hold it against her if she did. She couldn't possibly be expected to die for a stranger, to save a stranger when she barely knew how to keep herself alive.

"What would Kayla do?" Erica's sister was planning to go into med school, brilliant, top of her class. She'd do this. She'd be the hero. She'd know how to be the hero.

Erica frowned. "I'm not strong. I've never done this. I don't know what to do." She stood slowly, carrying the girl with her. Her weakened and sore body almost crumpled under the extra weight. "But I won't leave you."

The trip back around the lake was painful. Erica's limbs were frozen; she could barely move. Her mind was imaging horrible scenarios of why her sister never returned and what would happen to her and this girl if she failed. Maybe her sister fell in the creek. It was possible, those boulders were slippery.

She was ten feet from the ridge now. She only thought about each step as she completed it. She hadn't even thought ahead to how she planned to carry "B" (the initial was embroidered on the girl's scarf) down the hill.

And then she heard it.

"Erica! Erica, we're coming!" Her sister's voice was distant still, but Erica heard it clearly.

"See? Don't I keep my promises?" At that moment, Erica Hahn's body gave out and she collapsed. A white, snow-filled sky went black.

"Bailey!" Callie rushed up to where the petite resident was standing by the nurses' station. "Do you have any idea where Erica is?"

Bailey gave her an appraising look. "Wanna try that again Torres?"

Callie frowned. She wasn't, nor had she ever been, one of bailey's interns, but even she wasn't fully immune to the don't-mess-with-me attitude that got her so appropriately dubbed 'the Nazi'.

"Sorry…uh… I'm looking for Dr. Hahn. Have you seen her recently?" Callie waited patiently, silently hoping she had. Callie had searched high and low. Erica was nowhere to be found.

"No I haven't Dr. Torres."

Callie sighed in defeat. "Thanks anyway." She turned and started to walk away.

"Torres?"

She turned back.

"I heard Sloan talking about paging her for a consult about twenty minutes ago. You might want to ask him."

Callie's face lit up. "Thanks!" She ran off to find Mark Sloan, a slightly easier prey than Erica.

Dr. Bailey watched Callie practically run away. "People and their drama. Acting like a bunch of teenagers when they should be doing their jobs…"

"Ain't that the truth!" Lexie Grey handed a file to a nearby nurse and smiled in Bailey's direction.

Bailey graced the intern with one of her signature glares. Lexie immediately froze. "Right. On my way to save a life." She bolted.

"A bunch of teenagers…" Bailey shook her head.

"So, why peds?" Mark Sloan leaned against the counter and stared questioningly at the brunette.

"Excuse me?"

"Why'd you trade the OR for peds? Is it because you went all Fatal Attraction on Derek's hand? Which, by the way, not a good move… a surgeon's hand is as precious as his heart… can't live without it."

"Why are you a pompous ass? Is it because you decided to sleep with the entire nursing staff? Which, by the way, not a good move… they might refuse to work with you… oh, wait… they already did."

"Come on, Rose! I'm just curious. You shouldn't let Derek push you around like that."

Rose searched his face for sincerity. Mark didn't really seem like the shoulder-to-cry-on type. Especially not when the person she was hurt by was his best friend.

"Mark!" Callie made a beeline for them.

"Ah, saved by the girlfriend." Rose took the opportunity to escape Mark's questions.

"She's not my…" But Rose was already gone.

Callie stared after the nurse and then looked at Mark with a smirk. "Keep dreaming Fabio…"

"What?" Mark feigned innocence.

"Rose is the kind of girl who needs a knight in shining armor type like Derek. She doesn't go for guys like you."

Mark glanced off in the direction Rose had fled. "I don't know. I think she might have realized shiny armor ain't all it's cracked up to be."

Callie quirked an eyebrow nut didn't press the issue. "Bailey said you paged Erica for a consult."

"Turns out I didn't need her."

"So, you haven't seen her?" Callie was starting to get impatient.

"No."

"Shit!"

Before Mark could make some teasing remark about Callie's disappointment, Christina Yang passed by with a huge grin on her face.

"What are you so happy about?" Callie stared after her.

"Dr. Hahn has taken the rest of the week off. She pushed back the two surgeries she had scheduled on Friday and she left me in charge of her patients." And with that Christina hopped off, to spread her joy to Meredith no doubt.

Callie was speechless. Erica didn't take days off. And Erica most certainly did not take weeks off. Callie knew for a fact that the cardiothoracic surgeon hadn't taken more than a two day vacation in the better half of six years. Her life was her work. Whoever this mystery girl was, her presence was eating Erica up bad.

What should I do? The girlfriend thing to do would be to go be with her. Hell, the best friend thing to do would be to go be with her. But…I really don't want to push her away. This has been such a touchy subject with her. And with the resemblance… it must be hard for her to look at me and not be reminded of…

"What are you waiting for?" Mark interrupted Callie's thoughts with a hand to her shoulder.

She looked at him, eyebrows raised questioningly.

"Go ask the chief for a few days off. Go help Erica through whatever it is she needs to get through."

Callie tilted her head and contemplated the man before her. He looked like Mark, but he didn't sound like Mark.

As if reading her thoughts he shrugged. "Hey, she deals with hearts… I just don't want her to have a nervous breakdown because of unresolved issues while she has someone's chest open before her."

Callie wasn't buying it. She still studied him closely. Could he really be growing?

"What?" He gave her a self conscious glance.

"Since when did you become a good guy?"

He shrugged again. "Even armor that's covered in dirt, like mine, is still shining underneath."

Callie watched him saunter away with unbelieving eyes and ears.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: i'm really trying to incorporate all the characters a little bit… though I really don't think I do them justice… this chapter was harder to write than the previous ones and part of me is still not satisfied… I might edit it some…