Title: Doctors don't make promises, do they?
Author: Nelfy
Characters: Callie Torres, Erica Hahn, Callica ship, slight mentions of Mark, Christina and Addison
Summary: This fanfic shows what happened during the season 4 finale and goes further to explore the relationship between Callie and Erica.
Spoilers: Starts with the season 4 finale
Rating: M
Disclaimer: Characters belong to ABC and Shonda Rhimes

Author's note: I finally kicked writer's block's ass – and I'm really sorry it took me so long! I hope the next chapters will be easier, this update is really long! As I mentioned before, I'm going somewhere, so please bear with me. There will be some drama, but I really think it's going to be interesting!! Comments, suggestions, ideas are appreciated, as usual!

Chapter Fourteen – You can sleep while I drive

The doctors went to bed and made love, slowly exploring the other person's body and bringing each other pleasure. After their first round they both instinctively stopped, their fight was still at the back of their minds and their love-making had showed them that there was a connection between them that was worth fighting for, but that they needed to talk about what had happened.

"You told me about the money, so I'm going to tell you about my family. Please let me explain everything before you interrupt or form your opinion." The couple lay cuddling on the bed, Erica propped up against the headboard and Callie propped up against Erica, her head resting on Erica's shoulder.

"Okay."

"The reason why I didn't tell you that Angie is my niece is because I didn't really want you to meet her. She's a great person and even though we are alike in some points, we are also very different. She's driven and smart like me, but she's also really sociable and generally gets along great with everybody. I didn't want you to meet her and realize how flawed I am."

"You're not flawed!" Callie looked up and saw the disbelief in Erica's eyes.

"I hurt your feelings and I didn't even realize it. I'm not good at relationships, any kind of relationships and these things were always so easy for Angie. You could have met her and realized how much better off you would be with her. She is so many things that I am, but also younger, better looking and generally easier to get to know."

"Erica, your niece is really nice but I'm not interested in her. Not in that way. I'm into you because you are the way you are. Don't you remember, we both don't like people. We're both not sociable. I can't deny it, Angelica is beautiful, but looking at her doesn't make my knees go weak. I wouldn't compare her to you, I don't do that. Where do you get that idea from?"

Erica sighed and it was clear that she was searching for the right words. "My parents… they loved me. But… but they compared us a lot. First, before Angie was born, they compared me to her mother, Julia. I was all the things she wasn't. Julia is a restless soul, she was a very difficult child and it just got worse the older she got. At 16, she went on tour with her band, but she didn't tell our parents, she just left a note and called from time to time. My parents adopted me because they wanted to have one child that would feel like their own, ironically, because I wasn't theirs. But I fulfilled their expectations, I was a mellow child and already smart back then. When Angie was born I had already skipped one class and I had been the perfect daughter. But then they realized that they had a responsibility towards their grandchild and so they convinced Julia to let Angie live with them, she was more interested in touring and music anyways and couldn't provide a steady life for her daughter." Erica sighed and thought about how to continue. While Erica had told her story, Callie had realized that she had lied. She had already compared Angie to Erica and it made her feel bad about her own thoughts. It didn't matter to her that Angie was easier to get to know, it was still Erica she was falling for. Falling for hard.

"You were ten, right? And Angie was three?" Callie hadn't wanted to interrupt Erica's flow, so she had just listened up to this point. She hoped her question would egg on Erica.

"Yes. It took me pretty long to get accustomed to the new situation. I just didn't know what to do with her. She was cute and all but I was so socially retarded. Angie would follow me around the house, watch what I did and tried to copy me. I learned to look out for her and we started to do everything together. On the rare occasion that a friend would come over, I still let her play with me and soon I found out that my friends liked her more than they liked me. She was so much fun, she laughed all the time, so I understood why they liked her but I didn't want to share my friends with her. I had to share my parents and all my toys, so I didn't ask my friends to come over anymore. Soon I lost most of the few friends that I had. I didn't blame her, though. It got easier the older I got, but I remember when I went away for college I was excited because I thought I would for once have friends that I didn't need to share with her. Turned out I didn't really have friends at college, because I only knew how to deal with my 12-year-old niece."

"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. We get along great now, but I just don't mix family and friends."
"Don't you think that it would be different now?"
"Honestly, I don't want to give it a try."
"So if you didn't want her to meet me, why did you take her to the hospital with you?"

Erica snorted. "It's not like I had a choice. She threatened to fake a dislocated shoulder just to find you because I refused to give her your last name. Apparently, she met Sloan as well, but didn't tell him who she was."
"Did he hit on her? He told me that he wants to find one person to spend his time with, you know? Stop man-whoring around." Callie grinned and Erica raised her eyebrows.
"I highly doubt that. He talked to Angie, she said that he was very friendly, but didn't really hit on her. Wait. Why does he want to change his ways? Did he realize how great you are and wants you back?"

Callie furrowed her brows. "No, Erica. He said he wants what we have."
"You mean he wants in on what we have."
Callie rolled her eyes "Give him a chance. He wants to change, I really believe him. And I want you two to get along, okay?"
"I'll try. I'm still creeped out by how long he tried to get into my pants. But enough about him, I honestly don't want any part of him in my bed, not even the thought of him. Are we going to talk about what happened today?"
"Tomorrow. I'm too tired now. Thanks for telling me about you family."
"You're welcome."

They went to sleep, face to face, their souls touching even though their bodies weren't.

(Callie's POV)

'Mpf. Too early.' I heard the alarm clock and knew that I had to get up unless I wanted to be late for work. I patted the right side of the bed, trying to locate Erica and tell her to turn off the alarm, but the bed was empty. Grudgingly, I got up and went to the bathroom, disappointed when I found the room empty as well. I brushed my teeth and hair and put on my boy shorts and one of Erica's tank tops. As I stepped out into the hallway, I remembered the last evening. Why I always ended up naked in front of my lovers' friends was a mystery to me. All members of George's "family" had seen me in some states of undress and the humiliation of it wasn't quite erased from my mind yet. With Cristina it was actually her own damn fault because she barged in on me brushing my teeth naked, but it didn't stop her from checking me out. Just the thought of the incident made me laugh as I walked back into the bedroom and slipped in Erica's bathrobe.

When I walked down the stairs, I could hear Erica's and Angie's voices travel from the kitchen. They were talking animatedly and both laughed at something Erica said. I didn't want to intrude, so I said a loud "Good morning!" as I entered the kitchen.

"I hope you're fully dressed. Angie has seen enough of my girlfriend for my taste!" Erica said, but her tone and grin gave away that she wasn't really serious or mad. She kissed me in front of her niece which, to be honest, did surprise me. I enjoyed her kiss even more as she had just referred to me as her 'girlfriend'. She knew what she wanted and it felt good to be the one she wanted. It felt good to be wanted.

"You know, I really wouldn't mind. You don't have to dress just because I'm here, pretend that I'm not." Angie said in my direction and made me blush. Erica shot her a look that would make even residents duck but Angie seemed unimpressed.
"I'm using all of my aunt power to tell you to stop thinking about or even looking at Callie!" Erica getting all possessive about me was new, but I really liked it, even though we all knew that Angie was just teasing her.
"When I think of you as my older sister, it seems perfectly fine that I have a crush on your girlfriend." Angie drew out the word and winked at me. "But when I think of you as my aunt, which technically you are, my crush is kinda incestuously gross. No offence, Callie."
I laughed at her comment and so did Erica. "Callie is actually younger than you are." Erica said, a wide smile spread all over her face.

Angie looked at me, gave me what I would interpret as her 'winning smile' and asked "Want to ditch the old horse and run away with me?" Erica turned to me, brows raised, suddenly very interested in what I had to say.
"I'm very sorry to disappoint you, but this old horse has me captivated." Erica smiled at me and we kissed, this time I didn't care about Angie but let my tongue sneak out and trace Erica's lip.
"Damn! I think I might have to pick up that handsome doctor, Mark Sloan, right?"
"Oh god." Erica groaned and rolled her eyes. "You're just going to catch an STD."

I giggled and decided to push Erica's buttons a bit. "I can only recommend McSteamy's services. He knows what he's doing." I winked at Angie, who tried to hide the shocked look. Securing my place in Erica's bed, I added "Nearly as much as Erica does."

"Okay. I'm going to go now and get ready for work. I want to go in early, so why don't you sit down and have breakfast, I made waffles. I'll see you at work then. And you-" She pointed her finger at Angie "-be good! I'll see you at night, I guess?"

"I'm always good. Bye."

Erica left the kitchen and I put two waffles on my plate, pouring syrup over them. I dug in and groaned at the great taste. Erica was a genius in the kitchen, something I envied as I couldn't cook to save my life. How she had found the time to learn to cook like that was a mystery to me, with work and research and generally being a cardio goddess.

"So, you've been with Mark Sloan? Erica said he's a manwhore."
"Well, he sort of is. But he's not just a playa, he's a good guy, he wants to change. But Erica and Mark, they don't get along well."
"He was friendly and charming, but he didn't hit on me. I have to admit I was surprised, men like him always hit on me. Could you play matchmaker a bit? Please? He's really my kind of guy, sexy and all." Angie looked at me like a sad puppy, a face that probably worked on most people.

"Isn't that going to get me killed by Erica?" I wasn't sure how protective Erica was over her niece and I didn't want her to get mad at me.
"No, she knows me. I can look out for myself and as I travel so much, I don't mind the occasional fun with some random guy. By the way, did Erica tell you about the concert tomorrow night?"
"No, she didn't."
"I have two tickets for the two of you, it starts at eight, do you have to work?" I thought about my schedule for a moment.
"No, I don't. What kind of concert is it?"
"It's the Seattle symphony orchestra and I play the solos. Vivaldi."
"So I assume you play the violin?"
"Yes, I do. Erica really didn't tell you anything about me, did she?" Angie didn't sound or look too surprised, which proved to me that Erica was being open with me, compared to her other relationships.

"We talked, last night." I didn't say more, but Angie knew what I meant. "You must be really good. Vivaldi has created some of the most difficult violin solos there are."
"I am. Are you interested in classical music?"
"Not that much, but my mum loved Mozart and Beethoven and she dragged me to enough concerts. She wanted me to play an instrument or at least become a professional opera singer, but I refused. I loved medicine and bones too much."

"Would you have had the talent to become a professional musician?" I shrugged, wondering how I could answer the question without lying. My mum had always made such a big fuss over my voice that I never told anyone about it because I didn't want to be a living record player. She would make me perform at parties and family gatherings until I pretended to have a sore throat.

When I didn't answer, Angie changed back to our initial conversation.
"So, I'm here till Sunday, how about we go out Saturday evening and accidentally meet McSteamy? Come on, I can't let a guy called 'McSteamy' just go like that." I smiled at her, her persistence reminding me of Mark's when he tried to seduce Erica.
"Okay, we can go to Joe's and accidentally meet him there. That should be easy to arrange. But I am in no way involved in this, in case someone asks."
"Of course. Thank you so much!"

While I drove to work, my pager went off twice. I wasn't on call or late, so something major must have happened. I rushed to change into my scrubs and met Cristina in the elevator.

"What happened?"

"Huge accident, the driver of a school bus had a stroke. Forty five and six-year olds. No fatalities up to now, but the kids just started coming in."

Damn. Children were generally the most difficult patients, medically and psychologically spoken. The ER was already bustling with activity, several children had already arrived that the hospital and Bailey was shouting orders. I rushed to the first patient, a small blond girl who looked completely terrified. She had a green triage sticker on her chest. I checked her extremities and her chest and asked her whether she was hurt. After making sure that she was not, I lifted her off the gurney

"Lexie. Take the girl to the clinic, she seems fine. The nurses will take care of her. Come back right away!" I handed Lexie the patient and took the gurney back outside to the next ambulance that was already rushing in. For the next few hours, patient after patient was rushed into the ER and treated. I worked with Lexie, partly because Cristina had vanished to scrub in and left her fourth intern behind and partly because I liked Lexie. She seemed very nice and showed some interest in orthopedics, something I secretly took pride in. There was a lack of good orthopedic surgeons as most surgeons looked down on my specialty. Every promising intern I could convince that orthopedics was not just 'carpentry' and brutal force was a small victory.

When I thought we had survived the income of little patients and could now work on the less urgent cases, Bailey called me over to a small boy who was just brought in.

"They had to cut him out of the wreck. This chest and abdomen looks clear, but his left leg looks pretty bad." I removed the blanket and heard Lexie gasp next to me. The boy's leg was mangled, broken in at least three or four places. I immediately knew that we had to get him into surgery as quickly as possible if we didn't want to loose the leg.

"I've got this, Bailey. What's the patient's name?"
"Tommy Cook."
I covered his leg back up and moved to his head, smiling at him. Tommy was clearly in pain and his lower lip quivered, yet he didn't cry.
"Hi Tommy, I'm Callie. I am going to take care of your leg, make the pain go away, okay? Does your tummy hurt?"
"N- no… just my leg." I ruffled his dark hair and smiled at him, trying to reassure him. The x-ray machine arrived and I took the picture, then sent Lexie to prep him for surgery. His shin was splintered, but the fractures were nothing I couldn't repair.

I went to scrub in and Lexie came to tell me that he was ready.
"Want to scrub in?" Lexie smiled, a sad smile but a smile none the less.
"Yes."
"Okay. But I will need you to help me in there, I can't fix his leg alone. So if you feel this is too much for you, it's better to tell me right now so I can call a second attending."

Lexie looked at me, a bit of fear and uncertainty crossed her face but then she smiled again.

"I'll do whatever you tell me to."

"Alright then. Let's save Tommy's leg."

The surgery went smoothly, but until I had repaired the chin, the knee cap and the ankle five hours had passed. When the nurse rolled him out of the OR, I was exhausted but knew that I still had some work waiting for me in the pit.

"Great job, Lexie." The younger Grey looked at me with pride in her eyes, obviously Cristina was still not praising her interns.
"Thank you. Also for letting me scrub in. I've never been allowed to help operate so much."
"You're welcome. You seem to have a talent for orthopedics. Don't let Cristina talk you out of it if you are really interested in it."
"She says it's carpentry, but what you did in here, you saved a boys leg! If it hadn't been for you, he might have never been able to ride a bike or run around and play ball."

We smiled, both happy that the surgery on Tommy had been a success. 'I have to let her scrub in more often. Cristina isn't going to encourage her to choose orthopedics as a specialty, that's for sure.'

"Can you monitor him for me? I'm going to check on him later, but I have other patients to see."
"Yeah, sure."

I went to the clinic to put some broken arms and legs in casts and by the time Bailey told me to go home, I hadn't eaten all day, had only sat down for about 20 minutes and had seen Erica for five short minutes. I decided to check on Tommy one last time and talk to his parents and then I would head home.

Lexie was in his room, charting.
"Hey. Has he woken up yet?"
"No. His vitals are stable and good, he stirred twice in the last half hour but he's didn't open his eyes."
"Ok. Where are his parents?"
"They are on their way, but they were on a plane to New York when it happened so they had to wait for the next plane to get back here."
"When does your shift end?"
"Tomorrow."
"Can you stay here with him? I know that the nurses can monitor him, but he's only 5 years old and he already knows you."
"No problem. I want to stay with him?"
"Take a break, I'll stay here for a while. Eat something and then come back."

Lexie left and I sat down next to the bed, looking at the small black-haired boy. He stirred again and slowly opened his eyes.

"Mummy?"
"Your mummy isn't here yet. Do you remember me?" I said softly.
"Callie?"
I smiled at him. "Yes, that's right. How's your leg, does it still hurt?"
"No. It feels funny."

Funny was always a good thing. It meant that the leg was still numb and the pain medication was doing its job.

"Good. You should go back to sleep. Your parents will be here in the morning." Tommy's lower lip started to quiver again so I moved from the chair to his bed.

"My mummy sings to me. I want my mummy." A tear ran down his cheek and my heart literally broke. I tried to think of a lullaby and the first song that came to my mind was "Summertime", a song my mum had often sung to me.

"Shhh, Tommy. Do you know summertime? How about I sing summertime for you?"
Tommy shook his head, but looked at me expectantly, so I started to sing.

"Summertime, and the living is easy
Fish are jumping, and the cotton is high
Your daddy's rich, and your ma is good looking
So hush little baby, don't you cry.
One of these mornings, you're gonna rise up singing
You're gonna spread your wings and take the sky
But till that morning, there is nothing can harm you
With your daddy and mommy standing by "

I had to sing it three times until he finally fell asleep, but I stayed seated on his bed a little longer to watch his chest rise and fall and see whether he would wake up again.

(Erica's POV)

The day at work had been crazy, with so many little children being hurt in the accident. Luckily, I only had to work on the bus driver and the teacher. When the bus driver came in, all I could do was pronounce his time of death, as the stroke had done too much damage to the heart muscle. The teacher had a tear in her lung due to a puncture wound, but I was able to repair the damage and successfully complete the surgery.

It was nearing eight o'clock and I hadn't heard from Callie. I had told her to call me or let me know when she would leave, so I knew that she was still at the hospital. After unsuccessfully trying to call her, I decided to go and find her. Luckily, I met Lexie Grey, who had worked with Callie most of the day, in the hallway.

"Dr. Grey!" She ducked, seemingly surprised by my call. Maybe my tone had been harsh, but I somehow enjoyed the reaction I could get from interns, even though this was not supposed to please me.

"Dr. Hahn. Did I do something wrong?"
"No, I just wanted to ask whether you happen to know where Dr. Torres is."
"Yes, she's with a patient, Tommy Cook, Room 305."
"Thank you."

I made my way to the room, hoping that my girlfriend would still be there. Finding someone in the hospital wasn't exactly easy, a fact that I had proven many times by hiding very easily from whomever I didn't want to see or talk to.

As I approached the room, I could hear someone softly singing and I wondered whether a patient was watching "Porgy and Bess" on TV. I turned to enter room 305 when I realized that the singing was coming from this room. The door was ajar and I could see Callie sitting on the patient's bed, softly singing to him. Her voice sounded amazing and the same way her patient looked at her in awe, I did too. I had had no idea how well Callie could sing and I wondered why I had never taken her to karaoke. She would have kicked my ass, but it would still have been a delight. When she stopped singing, I still didn't enter, as I didn't want to interrupt her time with the little boy. He looked like he had fallen asleep, calmed by the lullaby. When Callie got up, she looked up and suddenly realized that I was standing at the door. She blushed and averted her eyes, straitening out her scrubs as she walked to the door.

"God, Callie, I had no idea! That was so beautiful, your voice is amazing!" I whispered as I didn't want to wake the boy but Callie still didn't look at me.
"Thanks. I thought you must have gone home already."
"I wanted to wait for you, see whether you might care to join me."

Callie turned and looked at the boy, checking whether he was still asleep and then saw Lexie Grey walk towards us in the hallway. I took a step back, not wanting the intern to see us standing so close but inwardly smacking myself on the forehead.

"He woke up and asked about his parents, but now he's asleep again. You might have to sing to him if he wakes up again, but he should be fine."
"Okay. I can stay with him until his parents arrive."
"Good."

Dr. Grey entered the boy's room and Callie carefully closed the door. She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the supply closet on the other side of the hallway. I stood there dumbfounded as she closed the door and leaned against it, still looking at the floor.

"I'm not going to make out with you in here, if that's what you want."

Callie's shoulders started to shake and I realized that she was crying. She started to sob and as much as I didn't know why, I opened my hands and said "Come here." She closed the distance between us with two small steps and wrapped her arms around my waist.

"Sshh, it's okay, baby. Everything's fine." Callie pulled me even closer and leaned her head against my shoulder.

"He's so little. He's just five years old and he is all alone and he's so little." I had a hard time understanding what she was saying, but I immediately knew what was wrong. Working on children was one of the most difficult things a doctor had to do, no matter how often we saw hurt kids. It never got any easier, even if the situation wasn't life-threatening.

I held Callie tight and rubbed her back, softly telling her that she did a great job and that he would be fine and all of the things I could think of in this moment. I felt Callie relax and she lightened her grip on me, simply leaning into my embrace.

When the door opened and Lexie Grey entered the closet, I jumped away from Callie, leaving her standing there completely on her own. I regretted my reaction immediately, but it was too late.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I, I just need a blanket. Tommy's cold, I wanted to get him another blanket. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Lexie. I'll get him one." Callie snuffled and wiped her face with her sleeve, then took one of the blankets from the shelve next to her and left the room. Lexie stood there and looked at me for a moment, but then had the flash of insight to turn and leave. I trailed after her, afraid what Callie would make of my reaction. We waited outside of the patient's room and to not let any uncomfortable silence arise, I decided to strike up a conversation.

"Dr. Torres told me you did a good job today in surgery and that you are considering orthopedics as your specialty." 'Great. Using Dr. Torres won't make her forget what she just saw. Really fucking great.'

Grey beamed at me, a smile lit up her face that made her eyes sparkle.

"Seriously? She told you about our surgery? Yeah, she let me help operate and it was amazing, we saved Tommy's leg. Well, she did, but I helped!" Grey was obviously proud of her skills, in a childlike manner, but proud none the less. As if she hadn't believe in her skills before the surgery.

"Don't let Yang disencourage you. Orthopedics is an important field of medicine, even if most surgeons look down on the specialty. Take Dr. Torres as an example, most surgeons in this hospital compete for her service on their patients. As long as you are great in what you are doing, the specialty isn't of great importance. It's better to be great at orthopedics than mediocre at general surgery."

Lexie looked at me as if she had just seen a ghost. She had probably never thought that I was able to be nice, especially nice to an intern. Luckily, Callie saved us from any more awkwardness.

"He's asleep again. I gave him some more lidocaine, so he should be good for the night. I guess it would have knocked him out anyways, even the low dosage would make him drowsy."

"Okay. Good night, Dr. Torres. Dr. Hahn." Dr. Grey nodded at us and entered the boy's room.
Callie sighed and started to walk towards the elevator. Halfway through the hall she asked "Why did you wait for me? Your shift ended at least two hours ago."
"I did some charting and research and I just wanted to check whether you were okay. See if you might want to come home with me."

"I'm tired, I just want to go to bed." Callie still wasn't looking at me and I felt guilty for having behaved like an idiot. I didn't want to hurt her, but somehow I just couldn't help myself. I had no intention of becoming the latest news item on the gossip mill of Seattle Grace.

"My bed is way more comfortable than Yang's couch. Besides, you shouldn't drive, you're too tired." I nudged her shoulder to lighten the mood but didn't get any reaction, apart from a sigh.

"Okay. I need to change." We rode the elevator in silence and I followed her to the residents lounge. I'd never been there, but when I saw Yang sitting inside I decided to keep it that way. Grey seeing us together had been enough for me, I didn't need an encounter with Yang as well.

When Callie had changed and left the lounge, we finally drove home in my car. She fell asleep after five minutes and as much as I hated waking her up, I had to as she was too heavy for me to carry up the stairs. I lead her to the bedroom and I helped her out of her cloths, replacing her shirt with one of mine. While I changed and brushed my teeth, Callie fell asleep on the bed again, so I simply pulled the covers over her body and spooned her back, pulling her closer to me.

I was used to sleeping alone and on the rare occasions that I had slept with a man, I had hardly stayed the night. Other people breathing next to me or touching me in my sleep made it impossible for me to relax and I hated being woken up by some noise every half hour. At the hospital, I was used to being woken when necessary, so I relished eight hours of uninterrupted, sound sleep. With Callie, things were different. I had gotten used to her sleeping in my bed after our first night together, so much that sleeping alone felt strange to me now. I missed her when I went to bed alone, even though we hadn't spent that many nights together yet. It wasn't even necessarily the sex that I was missing, even though the sex was pretty amazing. I had never realized how big and cold my bed was, until I shared it with Callie. Callie seemed to fill every void in my life without me noticing that it had been there. But when she wasn't around, I suddenly noticed how quite the house was and how much I wanted it to be filled with life.

So even though we just slept that night, I was still glad that I had been able to convince her to come home with me. I hoped that I could put her mind to rest the way she did with mine.