AUTHOR'S NOTE: sorry this took so long. Writer's block. And I'm still not satisfied with the end of this chapter, but I've rewritten it too many times, so I'll have to settle. More twists to come when the girls get back and confront Brenna. There's still a few holes left in the story of erica's past. stay tuned.
DISCLAIMER: not mine.
"Why did Michael and Brenna get a divorce?"
Callie was sitting on one of the stools in front of the counter in Gail's cheery kitchen, nursing a cup of hot chocolate as the woman baked cookies. Michael and Ben were away in Tahoe for the afternoon and the older woman had asked her and Erica up to the main house. Erica had respectfully declined, for which Callie was grateful. The air in their cabin had been tense to say the least. Erica had refused to elaborate on the comment she had made at Kayla's graveside and Callie refused to talk to her until she did.
Gail pulled out her first batch of steaming cookies and set it on a cooling rack before popping another batch in. "I don't know. I don't think they even know for sure. I have my suspicions though."
"What are your suspicions?"
"Brenna was never the same after Kayla's death. It tore her apart, understandably. Michael did everything he could to pick up the pieces, but she never fully recovered. She felt the only thing she could do that Kayla would have wanted would be to make amends with Erica. Michael was… reluctant. He was convinced she needed to find peace with what happened before she could understand. It drove a wedge between Brenna and him. Each year we saw them grow farther apart and then Brian died and they just crumbled. She saw us all through the loss with a brave face and then a few months later, she was gone, left without a word. Next thing Michael knew, he was getting served with divorce papers. He loves her, so he signed them without a second thought. He wanted to do whatever would make her happy. We get a letter every few months, but we haven't seen her since. Michael still resents Erica for tearing them apart, even though it was never her fault." Gail looked sad, truly sad, for the first time since Callie had met her. Callie realized she must feel as if her family was slowly perishing… Brylee, Kayla, Brian, Erica, Brenna… they had all left in one way or another. It was just Ben, Michael, and Gail now.
"What about Erica and Kayla's parents? She just mentioned her mom and dad lived in southern California, but she's never told me anymore than that."
"She wouldn't. She doesn't know much about them herself really. They were socialites, well… they still are I suppose. They had Erica and Kayla simply because having a baby was trendy at the time. The girls were just accessories to their lifestyle. They didn't even come to Kayla's funeral." The contempt was evident in Gail's voice and it mirrored the anger Callie felt. How could they be so heartless?
After both their tempers had substantially cooled and Callie had polished off the last of her hot chocolate, she cleared her throat. "Can I ask you something?"
"My my, you're just full of questions today, aren't you?" Gail chuckled.
"This is the last one today, I promise."
"Okay, shoot."
"Why does Erica think Brenna killed Kayla?"
"That, my dear, only Erica can answer." Gail's voice dripped with finality and Callie knew better than to press the issue.
A few hours later marked the boys' return and Callie, knowing Gail would never kick her out, made up some excuse about a shower with her name on it to give them some privacy.
When she entered her cabin she felt faint traces of the tension from the morning still lingering in the air. She wasn't looking forward to the inevitable fight, but she figured the sooner she got it over with the better off she'd be.
Erica was nowhere in sight. She ascended the stairs and pushed open the door to Erica's bedroom. The blonde immediately looked up from where she was perched on the bed, genuine relief washing her features. "You're back."
Callie's first inclination was to smile but she reminded herself that she was indeed still mad at the heart surgeon and the smile died before it reached her lips. She mutely crossed the room and lay down on the bed, her back to Erica.
The cardio queen placed a hand on Callie's shoulder. She ignored it and continued to ignore it as Erica's hand slid slowly down her side and then to her hip. Erica was testing her limits and she knew it. But she had no intention of giving in. The cardiothoracic surgeon could touch, grope, fondle, or whatever else she wanted, but Callie was not going to give up. She wanted to know and Erica was either going to tell her or suffer the silence.
With her hand still on Callie's hip, Erica brought her lips to Callie's neck, her ear, her cheek. She seemed thrilled that Callie wasn't pulling away. She grabbed Callie's gloved hand and pulled her glove off finger by finger and tossed it aside. She kissed the tips of Callie's ice cold digits.
"I'm sorry. You accept my apology, don't you?"
"No!"
"Ha! I got you to talk to me." Erica seemed pleased with herself, almost smug.
Callie frowned, pulled her hand viciously away, and resumed her silent fuming, her back to Erica once again.
Erica sighed. "This is really hard for me and you are really not making it any easier!"
Callie sat up so abruptly, her face was now less than a foot from Erica's. "Why'd you even bother to bring me here Erica? We are barely starting to test the waters beyond friendship and you bring me here to what… to confuse me? Cause that's all you've been doing lately! I don't know anything about you, but I want to! I want to so bad! But you just won't even let me in!" Angry tears streamed from Callie's eyes.
Erica's lips were on hers in an instant. She fought the kiss at first, pushing back against the intrusion but Erica persisted and within a minute all the fight left her and she switched gears, pulling the blonde closer. For several minutes they stayed attached at the mouth.
Finally, Callie broke away. "I'm still mad at you."
Erica kissed Callie's forehead. "I know."
Callie laid her head against Erica's shoulder and closed her eyes, trying desperately to let go of all the anger she was feeling. She knew it wasn't Erica's fault. She didn't make friends easily; she wasn't used to letting people in. And Callie knew she was trying; she could feel her trying.
She opened her eyes, lifting her head to look into Erica's eyes; they were endlessly apologetic.
"A compromise? I try harder to understand that maybe tearing down your walls is more difficult than I had originally anticipated and you stop laying this on me without an explanation. Now if you don't want to explain, then that's fine, but if I guess it, will you tell me if I'm right."
Erica nodded.
"Brenna was the drunk driver who crashed into Kayla." Might as well go for the obvious one first, even though Callie doubted that was true.
Erica shook her head.
"Let's see. You said Kayla was coming to see you because she wanted to make amends before the new year. That means the accident was before January. But she died late January, didn't she?" Callie shook her head. That didn't make sense unless….
"Oh my god. Brenna had her plugged pulled. Kayla was still alive, and Brenna removed her from life support." Callie didn't need a confirmation. She already knew she was right. That was the only answer that fit. Kayla hadn't even been under for a month and Brenna had the plug pulled, without Erica's consent.
Erica nodded, tears already brimming her eyes. She fell against Callie's shoulder and her body began to rake with sobs. A few silent tears slid down Callie's face too. Now that all the holes in Erica's past were being filled, she realized, that maybe she was better off not having filled them, not knowing.