All Fall Down (1/?)
Title: All Fall Down
Author: investin_love (InvestInLove on fanfiction.net)
Pairing: Callie/Arizona, Callie/Erica at the beginning
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Summary: Callie is stuck in a loveless, controlling relationship with Erica Hahn, when a certain new PED's surgeon catches her eye. Will Arizona be able to save her before it's too late?
Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's Anatomy or any of the characters used in this fanfiction.
A/N: This story is update to 18 chapters now, but I'm just getting around to posting it on here. I won't post more than one chapter a day. Also, the timeline is a little off to get Erica and Arizona's characters in at the same time, so in this world Erica never left, but Mark and Lexie already broke up, so she doesn't live with him. Other than that, everything else is basically the same
Callie’s alarm clock always seemed to go off too soon. She glanced over at the empty space on the bed beside her. Maybe she’d get lucky. Maybe Erica would be gone already. She really wasn’t in the mood to fight.
No such luck. Erica walked out of the bathroom 5 seconds, fully dressed about to leave. “Hey! You’re up.” She said with a smile. At least she wasn’t trying to start a fight this time. “When do you get off tonight?”
“Um, 6 or 6:30, probably, depending on how busy I am.” Callie said. She hated never being sure, because that meant having to change plans, and Erica hated when they had to change their plans. Unless, of course, she was the one who had complications, then it was no big deal. It made no sense to Callie, but didn’t question it. She knew it would only start another fight.
“Perfect, I’m making reservations at that new Italian place for 7.” No, ‘if that’s okay with you,’ no ‘unless you already had plans,’ nothing. Not that she ever bothered asking Callie’s opinion about anything anymore. She made the plans, picked the place, the time, everything. And Callie never said anything, because she knew that it would start yet another fight.
“Kay.” She said, stepping around Erica to get into the bathroom. She locked the door behind her, then waited until she heard the sound of footsteps and the front door closing before walking over to the shower and turning it on, letting the hot water steam up the bathroom.
She looked at herself in the mirror, at the sunken-in circles around her now dark, empty-looking eyes. When had this happened? She looked like she had aged 10 years in the past 8 months. Eight long months with Erica, that had started out as something new, fresh, happy. Happy. She missed happy. She missed not being in fear every second, and not being able to do anything without worrying about what Erica would say, what Erica would do. How had her life come to this?
This, being the last of the fading bruises on her ribcage that she saw when she took her shirt off. It only happened when the fights got bad. It was just yelling at first. That in itself was a little shocking. Erica had never been the most optimistic, sweet person but the first time she blew up at Callie- for something that wasn’t even her fault- stunned her. She shrugged it off. People had bad days, it was understandable. And she had apologized. Callie had all but forgotten about it until it happened again.
And soon it was happening all the time. No matter what Callie did, and what she said, Erica could always find something to get mad about, something to yell about, something to put her down about. The first time she hit her probably shouldn’t have shocked her as much as it did, but it did.
She’d just stood there dumbfounded- they both did. That was when she knew that things were never going to go back to normal, that the “bad days” were more than just that.
And even now, it wasn’t like Erica hit her all the time. It was just every now and then, more often it was just some yelling, some put downs, and then she would leave. She always left afterward. Callie liked to think it was because she was too ashamed to look her in the eye. She didn’t know what Erica did when she left, and she didn’t really care to find out. Drinking was the big one, but Callie really wouldn’t be surprised if Erica had cheated at least a few times.
She knew she should break up with her, but she was in so deep by then that there was no reason to even attempt to scratch the surface- she was already drowning.
-----
Callie’s day passed about the same as it usually did- in a blurry haze of watching other people talk and laugh and live normal lives. She was rarely the jealous type anymore, not even about someone getting the surgery she wanted, but she was jealous of normal people. People who weren’t walking around all day in fear, wondering what was going to happen when they walked through the door that night when they got home. People who weren’t desperately trying to hide the latest bruises they’d gotten, people who didn’t feel like they had to avoid eye contact with people for fear of being accused of flirting. It was hard to believe that she’d been one of those people once. It seemed like another life.
Everything was running relatively smooth. She’d managed to avoid Erica except for a few passing words in the hallway as they were walking back and forth between patients. Luckily Erica had a surgery scheduled at lunch. She was able to sit with Mark and relax, other than glancing up at the door every thirty seconds making sure Erica hadn’t got finished early and decided to “surprise” her. Erica hated Mark, and Mark hated Erica. He didn’t know all the details of their relationship- at least, not the hitting-, but he’d comforted Callie after a few fights and given her speeches about how their relationship was “not healthy“. If only he knew the truth- the whole truth.
It was about 4:30, and her last and only surgery of the day was scheduled for 5:00. It was a simple procedure, and she’d be done after an hour, or at the most, an hour and a half. It was a good day, things were going to work out. The date was going to start on time and run smoothly, everything was going to be okay.
At least, that was what Callie had convinced herself, and it was working out perfectly, until 20 minutes in to the surgery, the complications started. Why today, of all days? She asked herself. It was something she could handle, something she could fix, but it would set her back at least an hour. She knew surgery wasn’t something she could rush, because rushing equaled mistakes and mistakes often cost people their lives. Even in her current state of panic and fear, she wasn’t willing to risk a patients life.
The surgery seemed to drag on. She remembered the days of enjoying surgery, of feeling accomplished after she’d pulled through a really difficult situation. Now, she could care less, it was becoming part of her routine, like everything else was.
When she finally got out and glanced at a clock, her heart dropped to her feet: 7:45. She was supposed to be home over an hour ago, their reservations had been for 45 minutes ago. She was screwed, so completely screwed.
She practically ran to the attendings locker room, blindly throwing her regular clothes back on. She grabbed her bag and started searching for her phone as she headed to the door. She had just realized that she had eight missed calls from Erica when someone opened the door, hitting her across the forehead. “Ow!” She yelled, as the voice on the other end said, “Shit.”
“I am so sorry.” The door opened the rest of the way, revealing the face to Callie for the first time. Even as she was practically shaking in fear, imagining the ugly scene that would greet her when she walked through the door, she still noticed that the woman in front of her was beautiful.
“Arizona Robbins.” She held her hand out to Callie, who was rubbing her forehead with the hand that wasn’t still holding her phone. “I’m the new attending in PED’s.” She said after Callie just stood there, staring, for a few seconds.
Once Callie caught her breath, she held out her hand to Arizona. “Dr. Torres, uh, I mean, Callie.” She said awkwardly. “It was nice meeting you but I really have to go.” She tried to fake a smile, but the initial shock had warn off and she knew she had to get home before things got worse than she knew they already were. These were the times that living right across the street from the hospital was a really good thing.
“It was nice…” Her voice trailed off when she realized Callie had already reached the double doors at the end of the hallway, “Meeting you too.”
Author: investin_love (InvestInLove on fanfiction.net)
Pairing: Callie/Arizona, Callie/Erica at the beginning
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Summary: Callie is stuck in a loveless, controlling relationship with Erica Hahn, when a certain new PED's surgeon catches her eye. Will Arizona be able to save her before it's too late?
Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's Anatomy or any of the characters used in this fanfiction.
A/N: This story is update to 18 chapters now, but I'm just getting around to posting it on here. I won't post more than one chapter a day. Also, the timeline is a little off to get Erica and Arizona's characters in at the same time, so in this world Erica never left, but Mark and Lexie already broke up, so she doesn't live with him. Other than that, everything else is basically the same
Callie’s alarm clock always seemed to go off too soon. She glanced over at the empty space on the bed beside her. Maybe she’d get lucky. Maybe Erica would be gone already. She really wasn’t in the mood to fight.
No such luck. Erica walked out of the bathroom 5 seconds, fully dressed about to leave. “Hey! You’re up.” She said with a smile. At least she wasn’t trying to start a fight this time. “When do you get off tonight?”
“Um, 6 or 6:30, probably, depending on how busy I am.” Callie said. She hated never being sure, because that meant having to change plans, and Erica hated when they had to change their plans. Unless, of course, she was the one who had complications, then it was no big deal. It made no sense to Callie, but didn’t question it. She knew it would only start another fight.
“Perfect, I’m making reservations at that new Italian place for 7.” No, ‘if that’s okay with you,’ no ‘unless you already had plans,’ nothing. Not that she ever bothered asking Callie’s opinion about anything anymore. She made the plans, picked the place, the time, everything. And Callie never said anything, because she knew that it would start yet another fight.
“Kay.” She said, stepping around Erica to get into the bathroom. She locked the door behind her, then waited until she heard the sound of footsteps and the front door closing before walking over to the shower and turning it on, letting the hot water steam up the bathroom.
She looked at herself in the mirror, at the sunken-in circles around her now dark, empty-looking eyes. When had this happened? She looked like she had aged 10 years in the past 8 months. Eight long months with Erica, that had started out as something new, fresh, happy. Happy. She missed happy. She missed not being in fear every second, and not being able to do anything without worrying about what Erica would say, what Erica would do. How had her life come to this?
This, being the last of the fading bruises on her ribcage that she saw when she took her shirt off. It only happened when the fights got bad. It was just yelling at first. That in itself was a little shocking. Erica had never been the most optimistic, sweet person but the first time she blew up at Callie- for something that wasn’t even her fault- stunned her. She shrugged it off. People had bad days, it was understandable. And she had apologized. Callie had all but forgotten about it until it happened again.
And soon it was happening all the time. No matter what Callie did, and what she said, Erica could always find something to get mad about, something to yell about, something to put her down about. The first time she hit her probably shouldn’t have shocked her as much as it did, but it did.
She’d just stood there dumbfounded- they both did. That was when she knew that things were never going to go back to normal, that the “bad days” were more than just that.
And even now, it wasn’t like Erica hit her all the time. It was just every now and then, more often it was just some yelling, some put downs, and then she would leave. She always left afterward. Callie liked to think it was because she was too ashamed to look her in the eye. She didn’t know what Erica did when she left, and she didn’t really care to find out. Drinking was the big one, but Callie really wouldn’t be surprised if Erica had cheated at least a few times.
She knew she should break up with her, but she was in so deep by then that there was no reason to even attempt to scratch the surface- she was already drowning.
-----
Callie’s day passed about the same as it usually did- in a blurry haze of watching other people talk and laugh and live normal lives. She was rarely the jealous type anymore, not even about someone getting the surgery she wanted, but she was jealous of normal people. People who weren’t walking around all day in fear, wondering what was going to happen when they walked through the door that night when they got home. People who weren’t desperately trying to hide the latest bruises they’d gotten, people who didn’t feel like they had to avoid eye contact with people for fear of being accused of flirting. It was hard to believe that she’d been one of those people once. It seemed like another life.
Everything was running relatively smooth. She’d managed to avoid Erica except for a few passing words in the hallway as they were walking back and forth between patients. Luckily Erica had a surgery scheduled at lunch. She was able to sit with Mark and relax, other than glancing up at the door every thirty seconds making sure Erica hadn’t got finished early and decided to “surprise” her. Erica hated Mark, and Mark hated Erica. He didn’t know all the details of their relationship- at least, not the hitting-, but he’d comforted Callie after a few fights and given her speeches about how their relationship was “not healthy“. If only he knew the truth- the whole truth.
It was about 4:30, and her last and only surgery of the day was scheduled for 5:00. It was a simple procedure, and she’d be done after an hour, or at the most, an hour and a half. It was a good day, things were going to work out. The date was going to start on time and run smoothly, everything was going to be okay.
At least, that was what Callie had convinced herself, and it was working out perfectly, until 20 minutes in to the surgery, the complications started. Why today, of all days? She asked herself. It was something she could handle, something she could fix, but it would set her back at least an hour. She knew surgery wasn’t something she could rush, because rushing equaled mistakes and mistakes often cost people their lives. Even in her current state of panic and fear, she wasn’t willing to risk a patients life.
The surgery seemed to drag on. She remembered the days of enjoying surgery, of feeling accomplished after she’d pulled through a really difficult situation. Now, she could care less, it was becoming part of her routine, like everything else was.
When she finally got out and glanced at a clock, her heart dropped to her feet: 7:45. She was supposed to be home over an hour ago, their reservations had been for 45 minutes ago. She was screwed, so completely screwed.
She practically ran to the attendings locker room, blindly throwing her regular clothes back on. She grabbed her bag and started searching for her phone as she headed to the door. She had just realized that she had eight missed calls from Erica when someone opened the door, hitting her across the forehead. “Ow!” She yelled, as the voice on the other end said, “Shit.”
“I am so sorry.” The door opened the rest of the way, revealing the face to Callie for the first time. Even as she was practically shaking in fear, imagining the ugly scene that would greet her when she walked through the door, she still noticed that the woman in front of her was beautiful.
“Arizona Robbins.” She held her hand out to Callie, who was rubbing her forehead with the hand that wasn’t still holding her phone. “I’m the new attending in PED’s.” She said after Callie just stood there, staring, for a few seconds.
Once Callie caught her breath, she held out her hand to Arizona. “Dr. Torres, uh, I mean, Callie.” She said awkwardly. “It was nice meeting you but I really have to go.” She tried to fake a smile, but the initial shock had warn off and she knew she had to get home before things got worse than she knew they already were. These were the times that living right across the street from the hospital was a really good thing.
“It was nice…” Her voice trailed off when she realized Callie had already reached the double doors at the end of the hallway, “Meeting you too.”