DISCLAIMER:: not mine. belongs to shonda and abc studios

A/N:: sorry, sorry, sorry. that word seems to be coming from my lips more often than not lately. between a seven month old, a full time job, and my agent's deadlines, i am one busy lady. normally my writing is the last thing to go but with a broken laptop and then a very long business trip to texas, i fear my fics have bore the brunt of my neglect. i have returned to my breezy west coast existence and though i still have the constraints of my job, i have found enough free time to start writing again and even to get a personal trainer. bye bye baby weight, hello upper body strength.


"Do you really believe that was the smartest move Eduardo?" Idola slammed the door behind herself as she entered her husband's in-home office.

He shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Idola broke her normally calm composure, her cheeks burning with heat as anger gripped her. "Eduardo Rafael Torres, do not play dumb with me! I will not tolerate it!"

Eduardo's own face grew red as he glared at his wife. "She is our daughter! She used to tell us everything about her life! Now, I have to wait until I see it on the cover of some magazine to know what is going on in her life?"

"I understand your… disappointment in our daughter. I am disappointed too, very much so, but do you truly believe that verbally attacking our daughter is the right way to go about voicing your feelings?" Idola sighed and sat down in an empty armchair. "You are a passionate man in everything you do Eduardo, that is why I fell for you. You are only so easily frustrated because you care, but you must learn when to reign in your temper. It will be the downfall of this family. Calliope may have much to answer for, but she is also going through a personal struggle and deserves our understanding, if only because she's our daughter."


Callie pushed herself forcefully out of Bastian's arms. "What do you think you're doing?"

Bastian reached out for her. "Please Callie, listen to me. We once had something so special, both you and I know it. Why can't we go back to how things used to be?"

Callie shook her head. "Because I'm in love with someone else. You had your chance once. I would have married you Bastian; I would have spent my life with you."

"You still can. I'm ready to make sacrifices now. I'm older, we both are; I know what I want."

Callie shook her head. "That's right Bastian, we are older. We've both grown up; we've gone down different paths. I am a different person than the girl you knew."

Sebastian took a step forward and she took one back. "Are you really so different Callie? Because I don't see it. I look at you and I still see a woman who looks at the world and wants to make it better. I still see the woman I fell in love with all those years ago and I'm not going to give up on her." He turned and left the room.

Callie took a seat on her bed and felt as if she might cry, but the tears didn't come.


"This city is not that big! Where are they?" Eduardo Torres was screaming loud enough for everyone in a fifteen mile vicinity to hear, as he had been all afternoon.

"I told Ariana not to come back until she had Erica with her."

"She's been gone for seven hours! Where'd she go to look? Seattle? The moon?"

Idola rolled her eyes. "Maybe Erica's just not ready to come back and deal with this. Calliope should have been free to tell Erica this herself and you had to ruin it."

"What do you expect when I have to find out of my daughter being pregnant from a magazine? I raised her to be honest with me!"

"Why should she when this is how you react?" Idola stamped her foot in anger. After a moment she sighed. "I don't want to fight with you Eduardo; it will do nothing to remedy the situation. But I think you should apologize to your daughter, and quite possibly to Erica once Aria returns with her. Calliope meant well, and she is your child. We are going to be grandparents, Eduardo, and Calliope needs our support, especially if she is not able to make things work with Erica."

"Ah, Sebastian, how is she?" Idola caught Sebastian at the bottom of the grand staircase. It was the first time she'd seen him emerge from the room all day.

"She's asleep." He was quick to lie, not wanting to mention their conversation. "I thought I'd take advantage of the moment and come down to get something to eat before she wakes up. Have they returned?"

Idola frowned and glanced at the clock on the foyer wall. "Not yet I'm afraid. Where could they be?" She lowered her voice so her husband couldn't hear. "Eduardo was worried and I told him it was nothing, to just calm down, girls will be girls and all that, but now I'm starting to get worried."


"You ready? It's dark out." Aria looked up at the darkened sky and then at Erica. They had spent the day getting to know each other. Time had flown by while they realized they genuinely enjoyed each other's company. They had covered much of each other's lives in basic details and much to both their delight managed to avoid the situation that had brought them there.

"You can go back. I think I want a couple more hours." Erica buried her feet in the sand and turned her gaze on the waves though Aria doubted she could really see the individual arcs of water in the darkness.

"You waiting for her to fall asleep?"

Erica frowned. "If I know Callie, she won't sleep tonight."

"You're probably right, so why delay the inevitable?" Aria's tone wasn't pushy, she was just curious.

Erica wrung her hands in her lap for a moment before answering. "She is going to expect an answer, some confirmation or rejection. I'm not ready to answer her questions; I have no answers. If I knew how I felt about all this, I'd tell her. But I don't know."

Aria shrugged. "If this didn't cause you to pause and evaluate, I would be worried. This isn't an easy decision. A baby… it's a lot to take in." She leaned forward so she could look up into Erica's eyes. "My sister is lucky to have you, very lucky. She knows that. I know it wasn't easy for her to make the decisions she's made and I'm certain that her love for you, as foreign as it may sound to you or I, is the reason she kept this from you."

Erica looked away. "That doesn't tell me what the right answers are."

"Nor is it meant to. But in my experience we tend to search for the solutions to life's problems here…" Aria put a hand to Erica's forehead, "when, more often than not, all the answers are right here." She then put her hand on the left side of Erica's chest. "Listen to your heart… does it still belong to Callie?"


"I never want to be a mom." Erica leaned against the doorframe. The house was silent, everyone already asleep, though somehow Erica had known she wouldn't be.

Callie looked up sharply, her eyes brimming with tears. "You came back."

"I never want to be a mom."

Callie felt her chest constrict. Somehow, she had found a little hope that things might actually work out if they'd just have the opportunity to talk but that prospect looked dismal with Erica's words. "I understand."

"But I also never wanted to be a wife." Erica shrugged but didn't move closer. "Things changed when I met you Callie. You turned my world upside down; everything that was impossible instantly became a possibility. I never though anything could get in the way of my ambitions, my career, my plans. Then you happened and in a moment I had new ambitions, new plans. That scared me to death… but that never gave made me run the other direction… until now."

Callie wanted Erica next to her. She wanted the safety of her arms, the security of her embrace, but she held herself back, knowing now was the worst time to press her luck. "I didn't ask for this. I don't want to put my career on hold and heaven knows what it'll do to my figure."

Erica almost let a smile escape her but kept it at bay at the last moment.

Callie sighed. "I didn't want this, not so soon, but it's happening. I have no choice now."

Erica finally stepped fully into the room and closed the door. The distance between them had decreased but not enough that they could reach each other and both women seemed depressed by the fact. Erica took a couple steps forward until she was within a few precious feet of where Callie sat on the edge of her bed. "I love you Cal, so much… but I can only promise to try."

Callie hung her head. "I und… Try?" She looked up, not quite believing her ears. "That's all I can ask of you."

Erica stared at Callie from her position four feet away. It took forever for her to respond. "Okay."

"Please don't tell me all this if you don't mean it." Callie hung her head once more, still prepared to hear Erica retract her statement.

Erica finally stepped up to her and put a hand under her chin, lifting Callie's face until their eyes met. "You own my heart Cal and I'd rather try and fail than give up and destroy the best thing in my life. Okay?"

Callie finally smiled and slowly nodded. "Okay."