A/N: Erica's not done with her ass kicking. But first she and Callie are going to make up, 'cause it breaks my heart when they're not happy. Then Callie's going to do some ass kicking, because she needs to get her happy back too. Thanks for all of the reviews and encouragement!
Entering the intensive care unit, Erica could see Callie leaning over her mother, holding her hand. Her mother was still sedated. As she approached the bed, she could hear a snippet of Callie's one-sided conversation and she could tell she was crying. She hung back, giving Callie some privacy.
"I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I want you to know that I never meant for any of this to happen. I'm scared out of my mind because I'm afraid that I'm going to lose you and I'm not just talking about this heart attack. I know I upset you yesterday... but you... you upset me too. I told you about the person who makes me happiest in life, and you tossed me aside. You told me you were disgusted by me, and that's just not right. I'm your daughter and I…" Callie stopped and wiped some of the tears away before she continued. "And I… I honestly expected you to be happy for me, or at least try to understand. I love her and if you get to know her, you'll see why. We're really good together, mom."
Looking up, Callie realized she was being watched. "I thought you were supposed to be on bed rest," she said quietly, unable to produce a shred of anger because she was no longer angry.
Ignoring what Callie said to her, Erica sat squatted down next to the chair Callie was in and cupped Callie's face with her hands. "We are really good together. So good together in fact, that I'm terrified of losing you. And when I get scared, I say and do inappropriate things. I'm sorry for what I said to you this morning. It was very wrong of me. My only excuse is that you asked me to help you get your family back, and I really felt that leaving your father in a jail cell wasn't going to do that. I'm sorry I didn't see things from your perspective. But more than that, I'm sorry for yelling at you." Erica looked imploringly into Callie's eyes, hoping to see a glimmer of forgiveness. She was not disappointed.
"It's okay, Erica. You were right. I can't abandon my dad even though he abandoned me. I was going to go and get him as soon as I was done saying goodbye to my mom." Callie whispered, crying softly.
"Don't say goodbye to her. Your relationship with her does not end here. We're in this together and I am going to make sure that you do not lose your mother or your father." Erica paused, afraid of rekindling the argmuent from earlier. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "And I've already taken care of your dad. Sort of. I posted bond for him before I came here."
"You did what?" Callie asked, outraged. "He kicked you yesterday and you went and posted bond for him? You really do have a head injury, don't you! What if he jumps bail? You'll lose all of your money!"
"First of all, I really don't think he's going to jump bail with your mother here in the hospital. And besides, bond was one dollar, with the caveat that someone from his family bail him out. And I guess I must be family now because they let me bail him out. I take it the judge didn't like him or his attitude towards what he'd done very much." Erica said quietly. "I, uh, also need to apologize because I told him off. I told him that I don't like him very much for what he did to you and that he needed to grow up and behave when he comes up here." Erica hung her head low, embarrassed over the way she handled the father of the woman she loved.
"Oh?" Callie said, though she wasn't the least bit surprised. She'd have been surprised if Erica hadn't given her father a stern dressing down.
"I'm sorry for that, too." Erica said quietly. "I treated him pretty badly, but he gave as good as he got."
"Honestly, Erica, I wouldn't have blamed you if you'd killed him. But thank you. Thank you for being the bigger person and going to get him. Thank you for caring enough about me that you care about my family too, even though they were awful to you yesterday. And thank you for protecting me. I'm sure you had him squirming like a new intern." Callie smiled weakly.
"Sort of, yes." Erica smiled back, trying but failing to hide the pride in her smile. She had enjoyed making him squirm, even if it had been wrong of her.
"Where is he?" Callie looked around, the smile at Erica's attempt to hide her pride in sticking it to her father quickly disappearing.
"I told him that he had to wait until normal ICU visiting hours so he should use his time constructively, such as by thinking of a way to apologize to you." Erica said with a shrug of her shoulders. "That gives you two more hours of peace before he's allowed up here. I also told the charge nurse that you are not to be asked to leave at any time, but if your father shows the slightest loss of temper, he is to be escorted out by security. This way he can't tell you that you can't see your mother while she's here."
"Damn, Erica, I would have given anything to see that. My father is not used to being told what to do."
"Well, it's about time that someone started." Erica said with a smile. She stood and picked up the chart at the end of the bed.
"What are you doing?" Callie asked. "You're supposed to be off from work and on bed rest!"
"Just checking, Callie." And as if some sort of invisible, motion detecting alarm had been fastened to Callie's mother's chart, Cristina Yang materialized next to Erica.
"Dr. Hahn?" She said quickly, desperately trying to hide the fear that she'd either done something wrong or that Erica was just going to march in and take over the care of Callie's mother without so much as even consulting with her.
Instantly sensing Cristina's unease, Erica replied: "Relax Yang. She's your patient. But as your teaching attending, I do have to review the chart." Erica said the words 'teaching attending' as if they tasted like vomit. "Tell me what we have here." Erica said, completely businesslike.
Cristina suddenly went on autopilot. It was like someone flicked a switch in her and she turned into a surgical robot. Callie couldn't help but laugh to herself. "Maria Torres, age sixty-one, suffered a massive myocardial infarction less than twenty-four hours ago. Efforts to resuscitate were immediately undertaken and surgical intervention was successful. A three-millimeter clot was removed from the right ventricle and quadruple bypass was performed after angioplasty failed twice. Stents were placed to prevent future clotting. She has been critical but stable under sedation, and will remain sedated for the next twenty-four hours before intubation is removed. Low doses of antiarrhythmia medication have kept her sinus rhythm stable."
"Treatment protocol?" Erica asked.
"Following the successful removal of intubation tomorrow, treatment will include continued doses of antiarrhythmia medication, anticoagulants and pain management as needed. Bed rest will continue until the patient is strong enough for limited ambulation."
"Well done, Yang." Erica said, truly impressed. "That being said, I'd prefer to see you medicate the patient with disopyramide instead of what you're using now. It's just safer. Otherwise, well done."
"Thank you, Dr. Hahn." Cristina said, eagerly taking the chart from Erica after Erica updated the orders and signed off on what she'd written. Cristina practically skipped back to the nurses station.
"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Callie asked, not missing the opportunity to point out that Erica had treated Cristina like a human. A human surgical robot, anyway.
"Don't start, Calliope Torres." Erica said, but put a smile on her face to lessen the bite. She still could not stand being near Cristina Yang, but circumstances dictated otherwise. She may as well try to be pleasant with her. Well, Erica Hahn pleasant, whatever that was. Erica sat down in the chair on the other side of the bed from Callie. Technically the chair belonged to someone visiting the patient in the next bed, but considering that visiting hours had not yet started and the patient was comatose, Erica figured no one would mind. "You look like your dad, but you have your mother's eyes." She said, glancing between Callie and her mother. "I'll bet that when she's healthy, she's beautiful. Just like you, Callie."
Callie blushed. "Thanks. She's beautiful when she's not angrily trying to disown me."
"Tell me what it was like growing up in Florida, Callie." Erica said, trying to bring up happy conversation. She reached across Callie's mother and took Callie's hand in her own. Callie eagerly laced her fingers through Erica's.
"Well, the weather there is so different from here. My parents have a big house on the beach in Miami and it took me a long time to get used to not being in the sunshine all the time when I came here. It doesn't rain as much there, and I do miss the sun a lot. Coming to Seattle was also hard for me because it meant leaving them on the other side of the country." Callie started talking and talking. And just like that, Erica learned about Callie's family life growing up. Erica was enraptured by it. She'd never had what Callie did growing up. Her parents were comfortable financially but they didn't live in a mansion on the beach, and they certainly didn't lavish attention on her the way Callie's parents had lavished it on Callie. She couldn't help but be amazed at the attention that Callie's family had doled out upon her growing up. They were still comfortably chatting away, holding hands and laughing over some of Callie's funnier childhood exploits when they heard someone clear their throat at the end of the bed. Turning towards the sound, both women realized that visiting hours had started more than twenty minutes ago and Jesus Torres wanted to see his wife.
Behind Mr. Torres an elderly woman stood, looking forlornly at the patient in the bed next to Callie's mother. Erica stood to allow the woman to sit down. She even went so far as to take the woman's hand and help ease her into the chair, because it would keep her from having to look at Callie's father. Callie stood up too, but didn't say anything to her father. She just stared at him, her hand never leaving her Erica's.
"Have you forgotten how to greet your father?" He asked her sternly.
"No, I know the proper way to greet a father. You, however, made a choice and stopped being my father yesterday. I do not have to greet you." Callie said back, her tone even.
"Mija, we don't have to fight like this. I know I raised you better than to act this way. Come home with us. We'll get you some help-"
Disbelieving what she was hearing, Erica turned back to face the two of them, her arms crossed over her chest, her mouth in a taught line. She gave Jesus Torres her blue-eyed death stare before speaking. "I trust that you haven't forgotten our conversation from earlier, Mr. Torres."
"I have not." He replied, the disdain he felt for both Erica and their earlier conversation evident in both his voice and his facial expression.
"Then I suggest you find something else to talk to your daughter about before I follow through with my promise and have you removed from this ward." Erica said, the chill in her voice making the temperature in the room fall a few degrees.
"Actually, Erica, we can go for now." Callie let go of Erica's hand as she started to walk towards the end of the bed, towards the exit into the main corridor. "He can stay to visit and then I can come back after visiting hours are over. Let's go home and try to get some rest. I could use a good home cooked meal and a hot bath." When Callie said the word "home" it was like someone had slapped her father.
"You… you live together?" He said disbelievingly.
"We do." Erica said, raising her eyebrows in a clear challenge to Mr. Torres.
"In-" The wheels were turning in his head faster than he could form the words. "In the same room? In the same bed?"
Erica answered for Callie again. "I don't think that's any of your business, Mr. Torres. I do not ask you whether you sleep in the same bed as your wife, do I? So why would you ask us if we sleep in the same bed together? Think about what I told you in the car this morning. I love your daughter. This is not some kind of experiment, some kind of fling. I love her and we are together. So draw from that whatever conclusion you want regarding our sleeping arrangements."
"That's sick. Calliope, what are you doing? Why do you not understand how wrong this is?" His voice was desperate. It dawned on Callie at that moment that perhaps her father would never truly grasp the fact that she loved Erica completely and that they were as happy together as any straight couple.
"Mr. Torres, I would suggest that you sit down and visit with your wife. Because unless the next thing out of your mouth is an apology for what you just said to the both of us, you will be leaving this unit." Erica rubbed her temples. Her headache was back, and she had Jesus Torres to thank for it- for a second time. How was it possible for someone to be so cold and cruel to their own child? Even her own father had never addressed her like that, even when he'd cut her out of his own life.
Seeing that Erica was starting to feel unwell, Callie walked around the bed and took her by the hand, again lacing her fingers through Erica's. "Let's go home." She said before she turned and addressed her father. "I'm disappointed in you. I never knew you could be so closed-minded and hurtful. Before today, when Erica and I talked about telling the two of you about us, I had been hopeful that you'd come around and understand just how happy I am. I thought that even though you wouldn't be happy at first, at least you'd accept it eventually. But you don't even want to know how happy I am. You're not interested in even getting to know Erica. You don't care about my happiness and I'm starting to wonder if you ever did. I think the only thing you care about is your image and how your family reflects upon that. I'm shocked and I'm disappointed in myself. I've known you for thirty-four years and I'm just now getting to see you for who you really are."
"Calliope, what about my happiness? And your mother's happiness? How can we be happy when you treat us like this? Look what you've done to your mother. Do you think she's happy, lying there like that? I know that we raised you to be different. We raised you to be a good girl. What happened to you when you came out here?" To his credit, Callie's father was not yelling. He actually sounded forlorn.
"I fell in love. That's what happened to me. Maybe you remember falling in love too? Or has your heart been stone cold for so long that you no longer remember what it was like to fall in love?"
"This is not love. It cannot be love. Maybe she's mislead you into thinking that this perversion is love, but it is not love."
"It's not? How is it not love? I love Erica. She loves me. And she didn't mislead me. As a matter of fact, I kissed her. I fell in love with her. Why is that such a big deal? She shows me how much she loves me every minute of every day and I try to show her the same. If you'd stop and look, you'd see that the love we have for each other is no different than the love that you and mom have. I think you need to reevaluate your position on what love is."
"You kissed her? That's-" He stopped, stuttering, obviously disgusted by the thought of his daughter kissing another woman. He stopped and changed tracks. "You're young; you don't know what love is."
"That argument may have worked on me if I were fifteen, but I'm thirty-four now. I'm an adult and I make decisions like an adult and I've decided that I'm not going to argue with you anymore. I'm finished with you and your disapproval. I really wanted to have you in my life so you could share in the life Erica and I are building together, but you've chosen to walk out of it by what you've said and done over the past two days. Losing you may be the hardest thing that ever happens to me, but I will not lose Erica. She loves me the way you're supposed to love me: unconditionally. Mom may have been the one who almost died yesterday, but it's the father I thought I knew that I'm going to mourn. I don't know what you did with him, but he's gone now and he's left nothing but a spoiled, judgmental shell in his place."
Jesus Torres was too stunned to respond. Instead, he sank down into the chair that Callie had vacated, leaning his elbows onto the bed, his face in his hands.
Erica grabbed their purses with one hand and wrapped her other arm around Callie's shoulder, burying her face in Callie's hair and kissing the top of her head. Arms around one another, Erica whispered comforting words to Callie as they walked away.