ITLE: Family (Chapter 7)
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.
Hours later, four adults sat around a dining room table, each with tired and frustrated faces. The kids had been treated to dinner by Diego who had returned with them to find Callie and Erica in an awkward kind of meeting with their lawyer and another woman he did not recognize. She was short, a little over 5 feet he guessed, with thin straight red hair that went just beyond her shoulders. She carried herself with confidence, but every once in awhile he saw her eyes flicker. It was a small thing, but he was an investigator and most of the job was learning how to read people. That small flicker said a lot. It said that she was not as confident as she was trying to present herself, that she worried about how others perceived her perhaps or maybe she wondered if she was doing a good enough job. The doubts flashed most often when Danielle or Erica spoke. They were naturals at taking over a room, taking charge of situations and that was when he saw that flicker. He did not see it when Callie spoke. When Callie spoke it was not without a lack of confidence, but Callie was more clearly on a reconnaissance mission. She was gathering information. That was how she operated. Danielle and Erica made judgments and decisions as they gathered information. Callie reserved judgment until the last possible moment and so in this room, she seemed like the more friendly face, a fact he was sure the redhead had picked up on.
He ushered the kids upstairs hurriedly, using a serious tone he rarely displayed with them, when they began protesting that they wanted to say hello to their moms. Kids were perceptive as hell and those two were both smart. They knew something was up. He pushed them up the stairs and sent them to play with toys, promising to send their moms up soon.
"So my father hired you to help me with a custody battle even I knew nothing about?"
"Look, Ms. Torres, I don't know anything about your relationship with your father and it's not my place to know. He hired me to take you on as a client. I'm trying to do that. He seemed to think your ex-husband..." she shook her head as soon as Erica straightened in her seat ready to pounce. She put up a hand hoping to stave off Erica's protests. "I apologize, I know, he's not your ex-husband. Your father seemed to think David Gentry and you were going to have a custody issue. The words "were going to" suggest something in the future. I don't know why he thought that, but he did. He hired me to make sure that whatever issue was going to arise came out in your favor. I'm trying to do that. I realize that you have a lawyer already, which says to me that you are also aware of a potential custody issue involving your daughter. I suggest we work together to make sure he does not gain custody."
"Excuse me, but we did not hire Danielle to settle a custody issue, but to allow me to adopt Allie. This issue with David is new, new as of today. You still haven't answered our question which is how you or whoever hired you knew that David was going to show up when we only knew about that situation today. I suggest you answer that question before you start barking out orders about what we should be doing," said Erica barely containing a sneer.
She sounded harsh. Even Diego shuddered at the tone, but apparently the short woman was not that easily intimidated.
"I've tried explaining that I don't know. I was hired yesterday and told to get on a plane. Danielle was listed as the attorney handling the legal guardianship issue, so I thought I would start by contacting her."
At the sound of her name, Danielle interjected.
"I think we're losing sight of the issue here. David showing up is an opportunity. It's an opportunity to get him to give up his parental rights which will open the door to Erica becoming Allie's legal parent. Let's try and focus on the positives here. He's here now. There's nothing we can do about that. Instead of wasting time trying to figure out who knew what when, let's try and find out what he wants and move on from there."
Erica sighed. She looked to Callie almost as if she was asking for permission to speak, a fact that surprised Diego as he stood observing and looking for an opportunity to inform them that he was back and that the kids were upstairs.
"I get what you're saying Danielle, but I still need to know how this all came about and I'd like Elaine to tell us," said Erica.
Diego had been afraid Erica wouldn't let that go. He took a deep breath, cleared his throat loudly and entered the lion's den.
"Um...I think that may be...my fault," he said somewhat reluctantly. Erica shot him a look. "You are responsible for this?" asked Erica pointing at Elaine.
"Yeah, see I think Dad might have gotten wind of David because of me."
"Because of you?" asked Erica incredulous. "You told him and you didn't tell us?"
He cringed. "Not exactly, but Mom asked me about the sudden move and I might have hinted that I was worried. She probably guessed the rest and I imagine she told Dad."
"Son of ..." said Callie. "You knew about this Diego?"
He looked at his shoes as he backed into the doorway. "Callie I..." He nodded. "I just couldn't...I didn't want it to be true," he finally got out. He was expecting to get slapped or punched or yelled out, but she made no move to get up and instead turned her attention to Erica.
"So he tells me I'm an abomination and then sends me a freaking lawyer? What the hell?"
It was as if Erica had been given the go ahead.
"This is insane, Callie. He can't just continue trying to control your life. I know he's your father, but this is crazy. He doesn't control you and he doesn't control this family."
"I know that Erica," said Callie sharply. She paused. "I'm sorry, I didn't..."
"No, you're right. I was out of line. He's your father. I have nothing to do with that."
What Erica was saying sounded so rational, noted Diego. Her face however was expressing strong emotions that were not in line with the calm rationality she had uttered. He couldn't quite decipher it. It was like guitar strings, her face, taut and tight and getting wound up even tighter.
"You know that's not what I meant," said Callie reaching for her. Erica did not react. She didn't breath, she didn't move a muscle and she was not looking at Callie.
Diego shifted in his shoes. He wanted to leave. This was obviously getting to be something that should be private, something personal between his sister and her partner and he no longer wanted to be standing anywhere near them. Besides that he was afraid that his sister-in-law might accidentally on purpose try to cut his heart out. He looked at the other two women in the room who he sensed felt just as uncomfortable. Danielle's gaze met his. She gave him a questioning look for a moment before starting to gather her notepad. Elaine took her cue from Danielle and started gathering the few things she had laid out on the dining room table.
Erica noticed the movement and turned her attention to them. "Why don't we just discuss this another time? I think we need to get all the facts together before we make any decisions."
"I agree," said Danielle hurriedly. "How about my office, tomorrow afternoon? I have a motion call at 9:00 AM and a few meetings, but I can open up my afternoon."
"That's fine with me," said Elaine turning to Callie. "You're my client, Ms. Torres. For what it's worth, your father is not, so I'll be taking direction from you as well as giving you advice."
"He's paying you though, right?" asked Callie with a hint of sarcasm.
Elaine looked at her briefcase. "Yes, he is, but it doesn't change the fact that you are my client. He made that very clear to me. You're the boss here."
"Fine tomorrow afternoon is fine, but Erica what about your surgeries?"
Erica seemed to be surprised she was being asked anything. She looked up." I spoke to Yang before you got home. I've moved my major surgeries for early morning so I'm available in the afternoon."
For a few moments the only sounds in the room were the soft somewhat chaotic sounds of papers shuffling, bags zipping and clicking and coats rustling. Diego didn't know if he should stay or go. He looked at Erica, but her gazed was fixated on the table.
"If you want me there," she muttered.
Callie sighed. "Of course I want you there."
Yep, it was time for him to go. He glanced at Callie and then back to Erica. She looked doubtful, even as she acknowledged Callie's words with a small smile.
He watched everyone say awkward goodbyes and thought about where everything had stood a few days ago. A few days ago, they had celebrated Allie's' birthday. There was cake and good food and laughter, lots of laughter. There were snide looks from his sister at the gift he had gotten Allie and gentle teasing between her and Erica. A few days ago everything seemed perfect. His sister was happy. Today she was worried and scared and anxious and she was doing what she always did when she got that way. She was turning inward, digging deeper inside herself, trying to find that spot that she could hide in where the hurt would not find her; except she didn't have to. She was doing it anyway and in the process she was leaving him and Erica and everyone else that cared about her out. He had seen it before. When all the crap went down with David, he witnessed her retreat into herself. And when Allie was born, she delved even further. Eventually she felt confident enough emotionally to come back out, but it took her forever and he never quite felt that his sister had returned to him fully; until recently, until Erica and Lucas and Allie and her had made this family. It was only in the last few months that he felt her old self return. He didn't want to see another retreat. He sighed and made to join the crowd leaving.
Erica almost held him back. He saw her lift her head when he went to join the others at the door and stare hard at him. He thought she might ask him to stay, ask him to explain how he could hint at something so important to his mother who would most certainly tell his father without informing them first. She had a point and he knew it. Later he would explain his desire that the things he suspected not come to pass. How he had wished that he was over-reacting. Today, she would not be especially open to hearing that from him. He would go and let Erica and Callie re-establish their bond. They needed to re-group because he was convinced they would not survive whatever was ahead without each other.
The next day Erica was pouting and being a bit of a baby. She knew it. Callie knew it and so did Danielle. She couldn't seem to help it. At every turn she had started to feel cut out of this process. What should have been a happy thing that would make them a family had turned into a nightmare for her and it was only going to get worse. That little viper Elaine Knott was not going to give Callie good news. Anything that required her to step out of the room could not be good.
The woman who had shown up at Danielle's Office yesterday claiming to be Callie's lawyer had caused quite the confusion and despite the fact that everything seemed cleared up, Erica was still suspicious. As far she was concerned, they still didn't really know who she was. The woman had not been exactly forthcoming with Danielle. Ms. Knott had waited until she was in their home to tell them the whole story yesterday; how she was hired to help with the whole David problem by Callie's ever helpful father. He yells at his daughter, practically throws books and pamphlets containing all sorts of religious crap at her head, tells her he's cutting her off from the family and then just throws them the most unsympathetic, callous and cold lawyer he could find to "help" with the custody.
She paced outside the conference room trying hard not to let the ugliness that David Gentry had brought into her life get to her. He was just a normal person that had something she wanted. She just needed to find a way to get it from him. Finally tired of the pacing, she sat on a hard bench just outside the room where Callie was discussing something that should concern the both of them. It was a meeting she had fully intended to participate in, but had been asked to leave.
She had looked at Callie when Elaine asked her to step outside, wanting Callie to protest. Callie had, but it had seemed a reluctant objection to Erica. She squeezed Erica's hand as they heard Elaine ask again and then Callie relented to Elaine's suggestion and also asked her to step outside.
"Please," Callie almost whispered. "Let's just do this and get it over with. I'll tell you everything as soon as it's over."
At least the second sentence had not been whispered. She was pretty sure Elaine heard it. And so she had done as Callie asked. She looked at Callie and Callie only before bowing to the inevitable. She tried hard not to slam the door, but it closed forcefully just the same. And now she sat, elbows on knees, fingers laced together, trying hard not to be mad about being asked to leave. Callie promised to tell her everything, she kept reminding herself.
Finally, Callie flew out of the room. The door flapped open wildly and her face looked pale. She looked for Erica who had already risen from her seat.
"We need to go. I need... I just need to be somewhere with you."
Erica needed no other entreaty. She had plenty of questions, but didn't need another reason to take Callie in her arms and far away from cold walls and hard benches. Callie buried her face in Erica's shoulder and wrapped arms around her waist.
Danielle made a somewhat disheveled appearance, her coat hanging from her body, one sleeve off the other on.
"Callie, it's only an option. You don't have to do this. We can take our chances."
Callie lifted her head from Erica's shoulder. "I can't Danielle. I can't think about this craziness now," she said before laying her head back down.
"What the hell is going?" asked Erica loudly.
"It's the only option Callie. You can't win this fight with a gay lover standing by your side."
Erica instinctively pulled Callie closer. "What?" she snarled at the short redhead standing at the door. Of all of the three occupants that had walked out of that room, Elaine looked the most together. She had on an overcoat that was tailored to her small stature and looked neat and pressed. Erica wanted to squash her like a bug.
"Will you quit it!" said Danielle as she continued to struggle with her jacket. "Plenty of gay parents win custody cases in this state. This is what I do and I'm good at it, so quit the scare tactics."
"He could petition to remove. Allison wasn't born here. He doesn't live here. It's not unreasonable."
"It is unreasonable, Allie lives here," said Danielle turning her back on Elaine.
"Callie, let's talk about this."
"Not now, Danielle. I can't."
Danielle patted her shoulder and gave Erica a sympathetic look. Erica did not return it. She glared at Danielle and then turned an icy stare at Elaine.
"What did you do?" she asked in her most careful and controlled voice.
"I'll let her tell you, but mark my words. If you want to win Callie, get rid of the gay lover."
Elaine's words triggered a response and a number of things happened at once. Danielle, who had known Erica for awhile and guessed at what Erica's reaction would be to such a statement, slid in front of the much smaller Elaine. Callie's hands tightened around Erica's waist even as Erica was pushing Callie away and surging toward a somewhat surprised Elaine.
Erica had had enough. She'd had enough of some idiot drug dealing sperm donor messing with her life. She'd had enough of Callie's father upsetting her and she'd definitely had enough of stupid morons who matter-of-factly talked about her like she was something that could be easily brushed aside. Well actually, she just wanted to throttle people and this short little person was nearby. She let her emotions carry her until she was out of Callie's grasp and facing a determined Danielle.
"Seriously, let's just all back the hell off!" shouted Danielle her hands out in front of her, her body still in front of the visibly frightened Elaine who had instinctively moved closer to her reluctant protector.
"Get out of my way," said Erica enunciating every word clearly.
"Erica, please don't. I just want to go home. I don't want to be here anymore," said Callie a hand on Erica's back.
Erica felt them trembling. Those hands were as familiar to her as her own hands. She knew when those hands were trembling with fear and when they were trembling for more pleasant reasons. Shoulders slumped; she turned to Callie and cupped her face.
"Okay," she said placing a light kiss on dry lips that nevertheless melted into her. Without another word to either Danielle or the bitch she was standing in front of, she wrapped arms around Callie and led her to the stairs. They would work it out. They always did and she knew they always would.
The pen in her hand was flipping back and forth and up and down her fingers rapidly. Callie was staring at her nervously, trying to explain about Elaine's strategy. She had put it off for a day. No matter how many times Erica asked her, she had not wanted to talk about it yesterday. Instead, She snuggled up close to Erica and insisted on watching a movie with the kids surrounding them. She talked with them and laughed at their silly jokes and smiled at Erica and kissed her and told her she loved her.
It wasn't an act, but she was holding back a lot. That had been okay. Erica was not really that patient, but with Callie, everything was different. So she decided to enjoy the laughter and the snuggling. Callie would tell her when she was ready. And now she understood why Callie had been reluctant to discuss it yesterday, why she had been so upset.
"She wants us to break-up?"
"Pretend to break up, actually. She says I shouldn't even mention you to David at all and that even if he finds out that we were in a relationship, I could just say it was a phase or something. Just until he agrees to give up his rights."
"Did you say anything to him when he called?' asked Erica. He had called this morning while Callie was at the hospital, a fact that had put Erica on edge.
"No, I don't want to tell him anything about my life until I know what he wants. I'm not even showing him a picture of Allie, even though this is the first time he's asked to see one."
Erica raised an eyebrow at that. "He's never asked?" she asked incredulous.
"Never." Callie paused. "It did make me wonder. You know? Why would he ask now? Do you think it's possible that maybe a part of him is sincere? You know he's not a monster, despite what Diego says."
"No one is suggesting he's a monster," said Erica somewhat testily. No, he probably wasn't a monster, but he was also not a sincere good guy who'd had a sudden change of heart about wanting to be a daddy. She knew that much.
Callie moved closer to her on the couch. Diego had taken the kids for ice cream. "I know that and I know he doesn't have the best track record, but he is Allie's father."
Erica sighed. She wanted to say the right things. She wanted to not lash out about David in some irrational rant about how he'd never shown an interest in Allie except as a means to an end. She wanted to remind Callie that he hadn't been there for either of them and that he was not offering that this time either, that his motives had never been pure and that if past behavior predicts future behavior, his motives were most likely not pure now. She wanted to remind Callie that he was Allie's biological father but had never been a true father to Allie. But Callie knew all of that. So she sighed and kept her thoughts to herself.
"So what do you think we should do?" asked Callie.
Erica closed her eyes. "What do you want to do? Do you want me and Lucas to go away while you settle things with David?"
"No!"
"Then we won't."
"But...do you think Elaine has a point, that it might be easier if David doesn't know about us? It might be the fastest way to get him to give up his rights and then we don't have to worry about him anymore."
Erica's head had started pounding. She didn't want to be having this conversation. She never imagined she would be. She'd heard about Elaine's plan that they just break-up and not see each other while they sorted out the custody issue, to remove the whole gay problem. She'd heard all of Elaine's arguments from Callie. According to Elaine they needed to be able to threaten him with termination of his parental rights forcefully. Her plan was to offer him money in exchange for him giving up his rights and threatening him with termination if he refused. Elaine thought she could convince him that he would lose his rights regardless if he forced a lengthy trial where his drug use would be front and center and pitted against Callie's medical degree. No room for a gay lover in that scenario, which according to Elaine, would cause them to lose the moral high ground she would try to establish.
A gay lover would give him leverage Elaine didn't want him to have, so, she had proposed that they "break-up" and that Erica leave the house.
"Callie, either I stay or go. That's the choice here. What about Danielle? What's her position? Does she think we can win?"
"She thinks we have chance, but that there's always risk."
"Risk that we could lose? What would we lose?"
"He would get his rights, you wouldn't get to adopt Allie and more. Visitation. She thinks he won't want to risk it though because he would also be responsible for child support for all of these years. She thinks we don't need to deal with the gay issue. Doesn't think it will matter because, based on his past behavior, he won't want to pay out the money he owes, which regardless of anything that could happen he'd still owe."
"But if he wins full custody, he wouldn't have to pay, right?"
Callie paused. "Not sure, but Danielle says with his history he's unlikely to win full custody."
"Unlikely isn't a guarantee."
"Nothing is guaranteed, Erica."
Erica sighed again. She rubbed her head putting pressure on her temples with her fingers. She hated this. There were too many variables, too many things that could go wrong. She should be used to this. It was like surgery, a game of probabilities. If everything goes right, the procedure is easy and solves the problem it was designed to solve. But things hardly ever went completely the way they were supposed to. Machines and humans could not account for every variable, even combined they couldn't and so when things went left instead of right it throws everything off. She could handle that in surgery where she had confidence in her ability to deal with whatever came her way better than anyone. She knew when to swerve and when to duck in surgery. When to back off and when to push forward, how much time they had when things went wrong and the options they had to fix whatever problem occurred. But in this situation, she was not an expert. The legal system could be just as unpredictable as medicine. How many times had Danielle told her that? You make all the right arguments, line up all the right witnesses, get all the right experts and still you get a particular judge on a bad day and you lose. There were always appeals, but just like in surgery, in this it was families you were messing with, it was lives. It was Allie who would lose if things went wrong.
"I think you should do what you think is best for Allie," she said and frowned at how vague that sounded.
"What's best for Allie is to be with me and you and Lucas," said Callie.
"Then we have to do everything we can to make sure that happens," said Erica sounding resigned. She knew where this was headed; the safe route. Remove her from the equation. She looked at Callie who was staring at her with sad eyes and opened her arms. Callie crawled into them and let out her own sigh.
"It's going to suck. I don't even know how to go about pretending we're not together."
"Me neither," said Erica and realized, she really didn't.
Erica would find out soon enough. Elaine had a whole plan and as she sat in her living room and listened to this soft spoken woman calmly tell her she was going to have to move out of her own house as if she was telling her that they needed to get rid of the carpet, she didn't think she had ever disliked someone more. Sure David came close and some of her asshole colleagues were high on her list too, but right now she wanted to beat this woman upside the head. It was like Elaine was separating M&M's and not a family.
The anger was good though. It prevented the tears she knew would come at some point. She and Callie had decided to put their foot down when it came to Lucas. Callie didn't want the kids separated. They would be impacted already by Erica's absence. They didn't want them separated as well. It would be easier to explain Erica not being around as much then a complete separation. David didn't need to know or hear about Lucas and if he asked she would just tell him that he was a cousin's kid who was staying with her for awhile. So Erica would be bunking with Diego across the street. They would need to tell the hospital that they weren't together anymore in case David came around.
Elaine wanted a total separation, complete with a mock fight in front of the hospital staff. Erica heard that and just looked at Callie. She wasn't sure how she should be reacting, so she was looking to Callie for guidance a lot. Callie responded to Elaine's suggestion with a stunned expression.
"Are you freaking kidding me? We are not doing that. Its bad enough we have to lie. I'm not staging a fight."
"It would go a long way towards giving your story creditability," said Elaine calmly.
"She said no," said Erica in a forceful voice. "Besides if we tried to fight, we would screw it all up and make-up right on the spot. No, it's better this way."
Callie intertwined her hands with Erica's. "It's not us. Besides we've had enough drama at the hospital as it is, I don't need Erica throwing things at me too."
Elaine looked from one to the other. "Look, I'm not trying to be mean. I'm being practical. Emotions can't come into this. I know it's hard, but try to leave your emotions elsewhere. They won't help you in this situation. Just play the role and leave feelings out of it." She looked at the papers in front of her and straightened them as she muttered: "People would be much happier if they left feelings out of most things."
"Really?"" said Erica letting her anger surface. "How's that worked out for you? Are you happy burying your emotions where no one can get at them? Because you seem pretty miserable to me."
Elaine turned to her and in that same calm voice in which she said everything, and responded. "I'm not miserable. You have to learn to shut yourself off from you emotions. It isn't easy, but it can be done. You just separate yourself from them and they don't control you."
"God, someone did a number on you, didn't they?" said Erica.
Elaine looked visibly uncomfortable. "Can we move on? This isn't about me, it's about you two and how you're going to pull this off. If you want to pull it off, you have to fight or at least stop talking at work. You have to sell it. I guarantee you that once David gets an idea of what we want, he'll start snooping or if he doesn't his lawyer will. You have to convince everyone that you aren't together and you better hope he doesn't snoop around too much and finds out about Lucas and who he really is. I still think that's a wrong decision."
"You've lost that battle already, lets not rehash it," said Callie. "He's my son and Allie is his sister and we're already disrupting their routine as it is. It's not up for debate."
It was the most forceful Callie had sounded in this whole process.
"Fine, but I think it's a mistake. You're thinking with your heart and not your head."
"She's thinking about what's best for Lucas," said Erica softly.
In the end it was all very simple. Erica would take some clothes and move into Callie's old house with Diego. Elaine predicated it would be at least a month, maybe longer before they were in a strong enough position to settle everything. It was not lost on Erica that not too long ago, she was having pizza in the house where she was temporarily relocating to, about to embark on some pretty amazing changes. That she had become a mother to Lucas and was on her way to becoming a second mother to Allie. That she had met the love of her life and that not too far into her future she would be welcoming Allie and Callie into the home Callie helped her find. Now they were going to be there and she was not. She tried not to think of that as she threw clothes in a bag. They agreed on having dinner every night if she wasn't at the hospital. She would still drive the kids to some of their activities, but none of it would make up for the fact that she would not be here.
She sat heavily on the bed, having no desire to pack anymore clothes. No, she would not. She was not moving. She was just temporarily relocating. She would still be here. So, even if it meant she did laundry everyday and wore the same two or three outfits to the hospital, she would not pack any more. She couldn't. This was her home. She had to be out of it for awhile, but it would remain her home. David would not change that.
Callie was nowhere to be found. She told Erica she couldn't really see her pack and leave their house and so couldn't imagine the kids seeing it either so she had taken them to the zoo. She would need to have a conversation with Lucas and Allie when they came back and she still hadn't worked out what to say to them. They were smart and old enough to know that when your parents don't live together, it's never good. They'd probably get mad at her. She lay back on the bed and tried to remind herself that this nightmare would not last forever. David would be gone at the end of all of this. That was the prize. She just had to keep it in her sights.
Continued in Chapter 8
