Where to start chapter 11/?
A/N I really hope I'll finish this story soon. I have two more chapters written already. Ok, 1 and a half becuese writing about sex is something I'm really not good at. I think maybe 4 more chapters and I'll say SAYONARA! :P
Anyway, here's new chapter where Erica says some stupid things :D What? We all are nervous sometimes. Even Dr. Hahn!
Also comments are welcome as always.
P.S. As always BIG THANK YOU to my wonderful cranky beta! :D
CHAPTER 11
Being busy was definitely one of Erica’s favorite pastimes. But even that had its own limits. The other day when she’d come back to the hospital from the cemetery, she ended up with two big surgeries. She had missed a call from Margaret. Later that night she listened to the message Margaret had left her on her voicemail. She wanted to call back, but it was too late even in L.A. The next day started with complications after an earlier surgery, which caused her to miss lunch. Angry at one of her interns, and clearly exhausted, she simply didn’t have the time to think about anything which wasn’t related to her work. When she finally ate and had a moment to clear her head, one of the residents came into her office saying that Dr. Adams needed her help with a trauma case.
Erica unleashed a quick rant about Kevin’s timing and went to the ER where she was called. She’d always liked the rush she felt when entering the ER area. People moving a lot faster than usual and being in their best shape, focused and sharp. She wished that all her interns and residents were like that. Erica liked it, because she didn’t have to think or do anything that wasn’t being done by someone else. At least it was like that there at Johns Hopkins. It had been totally different at Seattle Grace. Although she had to admit that after SGH she’d never met an intern or resident who was eager like Cristina Yang. Maybe it wasn’t eagerness, but simple lack of dignity? But then it was true what she had told Dr. Montgomery once; that Yang reminded her of herself. So yes, that was eagerness. After they finished in the ER and the patient was transported to the OR, Kevin caught up with her on their way there.
“Hey, I was thinking that if you’re not busy this evening maybe we could go and grab a drink?” He pushed the button when they stopped at the elevators.
Erica looked at him quickly and moved her gaze back to the elevator’s door. She was tired and she really wanted at least a half an hour just for herself. She put her hands into the lab-coat’s pockets. The elevator arrived and they entered the cabin. As they were waiting for the doors to close, she could swear that she heard Julia’s voice nagging her to go out with him. She mentally rolled her eyes and nodded. “Alright. My shift ends in two hours.”
Kevin smiled and shifted a little. “Great. That’s great. I’ll meet you after the surgery? The lobby?”
Erica smiled tightly at him and nodded as she started to walk out from the elevator. When they were working together on their patient she thought that that actually wasn’t that bad idea. She hadn’t talked to him in a long time and in some way she was curious as to what was going on with the tall doctor. She looked at him over the table and smiled under her mask. He noticed that in her eyes and returned the smile.
They sat at the small table near the bar enjoying their drinks and each other’s company. Erica noticed that Kevin was trying to keep their meeting as casual as possible, and that was why he was avoiding private subjects. Erica glanced at the clock on the wall behind the bar and shifted on her seat. “Kevin, I’m sorry would you mind if I go outside for 5 minutes? I need to make a call.”
Kevin smiled at her and stood up as she was doing the same. She grabbed her jacket and turned to him before walking out. “Thanks, I’ll be right back.” The blonde woman made her way outside (deleted) the bar and sat on the nearest bench. She took her cell out of the jacket’s pocket and dialed Margaret’s number. She waited a few rings and started to think that once again she had bad luck with calling the younger woman, and just as she was thinking about hanging up, she heard a familiar voice.
“If you’re calling because you need information about the weather and the road’s shape, please dial 1. If you’re calling because you want to hear a bad English joke, please dial 2. If you’re calling because you are Dr. Erica Hahn and want to tell me that you’re going to take me for a long walk and tell me all about your last few days, please don’t dial any number, just start talking.” Margaret’s voice was bright and made Erica smile. She took a deep breath and smiled even wider. “Hi Erica.” Margaret greeted her laughing.
“What if I’m calling to ask you if…” She paused and waited as the pair that had just left the bar passed her. “If you would like to go on a date with me?” She continued shyly. She heard muffled… giggling? And something being dropped loudly on the other end of the phone call. “Margaret, are you there?”
“Yes!” The younger woman answered a little too loud. “Sorry, I had a little accident here.” She laughed. “Well, in that case please dial nine.”
“Why nine?” Erica simply asked.
“It was always my lucky number.” Margaret answered her voice still bright with laughter. “So, how are you?”
Erica didn’t answer right away; she rubbed her forehead and straightened her back. “I… Margaret?”
“Yes?”
“Will you answer my question?”
There was a long pause before Erica asked again. “Margaret? Look if it’s a bad time, I can call later or…”
“No. Erica, it’s not that.” She laughed. “I’m sorry. I’m just a little…” She sighed. “Yes, I would love to go on a date with you.”
Erica rubbed her forehead again, wondering what was really going on on the other end. “Listen if you don’t want to…”
“Erica, please wait. It’s not like that.” Margaret tried to explain, her voice bright again. “I really, really want to go on a date with you. That thing earlier… ugh… it was me… falling from bed because I was so excited when you asked me. And I hit the floor a little too hard and then my laptop did the same with my stomach.” Erica could hear that the younger woman was a little embarrassed.
The brunette cleared her throat quietly and continued. “I had an awfully long day and all I could think was how I would like to ask you on a date when I came back tomorrow. I even allowed myself to think that you would say yes and I planned it a little.” She chuckled. “But then you called and asked me, and I just… you just made my day a lot better, even if you ruined my plans for my date.” Margaret laughed, causing Erica to do the same.
“So, as I said earlier, my answer is yes.”
Erica smiled widely and stood up from the bench. “Great. This is great. So, I’ll see you soon?”
“I hope so. Have a good night, Erica.”
“You too.”
Erica came back to Kevin still smiling, not especially aware of that fact.
“Wow. Must’ve been a pretty good phone call.” Kevin acknowledged. “Do you want another drink or you wanna head home?”
Erica smiled at her companion and sat at their table. “Another drink would be good.” She waited as Kevin waved at their waiter to order. “So, I’ve heard that they gave you your own trial.” She said faking a nonchalant voice.
He laughed at her and nodded. “Yes. But it has its minuses.” He grimaced a little and took a sip of his beer.
“What do you mean?”
“The Chief said they want to do some kind of a crossover trial. It means that they will send me away, or send other surgeons from other hospitals here, to perform surgeries.” He sighed. “They haven’t chosen the other hospitals yet, but I think it’ll be a mess. I mean, one day I will have to go to New York and then if something happens, come back here and perform surgery here with someone that I completely don’t know, nor have any idea about how this surgeon works.”
Erica nodded. “I understand. Is that the Chief’s idea?”
“Well not mine, that’s for sure.” He shook his head. “I think a few other hospitals signed up for it, too. But the good thing is that it allows me to do what I wanted with my research, and I know that with the board’s permission, I’ll be able to fix a few patients that I couldn’t earlier. They will build the instruments I’d designed.” Kevin finished with a smile.
Erica knew Kevin was working on a few upgrades, so he could perform more complicated surgeries. She had always admired him for wanting to do more and be better than he was able to, because of the circumstances. They talked a little longer about what his trial could turn into, and how Erica’s was going to end soon. The blonde woman relaxed during their conversation and reminded herself that it used to be like that between the two of them and she had missed it a little.
Having a garden was a blessing for Erica. She had always enjoyed fresh air and it wasn’t like she didn’t have it enough now. She lived in Wetheredsville in Baltimore, and it was a little like living in the woods. She had had a garden in Seattle, but let’s face it, half the time she was able to spent some time there, it had been raining.
She closed her book and relaxed in her chair facing the sun. She was getting used to it so fast. Spending her free day just doing… well pretty much nothing wasn’t something she had enjoyed previously. After the last few days, she just wanted to sit quietly and enjoy being alone. Her mind wondered how being in her garden would feel like in summer. If spring made it look like that and she simply didn’t want to go back to her house, what was it going to be like in summer? She moved her head and opened her eyes. Looking around she noticed a little movement near the fence on the right of her porch. She focused her gaze and waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened. She jumped a little when her phone rang.
Erica picked up after the second ring, still focused on the little bush. “Hello?”
“I just saw the biggest three- month -old child, ever.” Margaret announced excitedly.
“I guess congratulations are in order.” Erica laughed.
“I’m serious Erica. This kid is bigger than… I don’t know… my chest... in length.”
“You have a very nice chest so…” Erica cut herself off quickly when she realized what she had said.
Margaret stood quiet for few seconds and then replied. “Thank you. It’s nice to know you’ve noticed.” She chuckled. “But seriously, maybe I should say corpus. Not chest, so you could imagine it better.”
“I think I have pretty good image of your corpus…” She shut her eyes and shook her head in disbelief at her own evident ability of saying stupid things. “What I meant is that I can imagine how big that kid is.” Damn that didn’t sound any better. “I mean, you gave me a good example so I could imagine what I need.” Oh God, please let it end. She grimaced at her own words.
Margaret tried to cover her laugh. “I take all of that as a nice compliment, Erica.”
“I’m not saying another word.” Erica grumbled.
Margaret laughed once again. “Ok, big kids aside, I’m calling because I wanted to ask you something.” There was a little shuffle in the background and a few voices were heard.
“What is it?”
“What are you doing now?”
Erica looked around her garden once again and propped her legs on the chair in front of her. “I have my day off and I’m in my garden.” She smiled when the sun came out from behind a little cloud and warmed her face. She heard another noise on the Margaret’s end. “Where are you?”
“Ha! That’s a good question. I’m lost somewhere between the candy store and a parking lot.” Margaret sighed.
Erica squinted her eyes slowly as the sun shone harder.
“Anyway, I assume that the weather is great, then.”
“Yes, it’s really warm.” Erica had no idea where that conversation was going.
“Ok, so would you like to go for a walk with me this evening? Let’s see… around seven?”
“Today? I thought your plane was landing around seven.”
“Like I said; I got lost between the candy store and a parking lot.” She chuckled. “On Baltimore Airport. We landed 20 minutes ago. Oh, God. Finally!”
“What?”
“I’ve found my car. Listen, I’m going home. I need to change and do a few things and then if you’re up for it, I would really like to see you.” Margaret sounded unsure and Erica noticed that.
“I’d be happy to see you today.” Erica took her legs down from the chair and sat up straight. “Do you want to go eat something or just take a walk?”
“I don’t know yet. But a walk is what I mostly had in mind. And maybe some good coffee would be great. Can we meet at Jasper’s?”
“Sure. I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye.”
Erica shut her cell, took her book from the table and started to read again, her smile never leaving her face. Not longer than twenty minutes later, her mind unconsciously left her book somewhere behind and went in a totally different way than Irving Shaw’s “The Young lions”. A certain brunette kept her mind occupied for the next couple of hours.
It was definitely easier to think clearly when Margaret wasn’t around. Erica was able to sort a few things in her head. Firstly she wanted to talk with the younger woman about what was going on and what Margaret was thinking. Then she just came with the solution that the best was to leave it that way. Margaret was a woman who would tell her if something was wrong or was bothering her. Erica wasn’t being quite fair with her and wanted to give her some credit as well.
Ah, yes. Being fair and honest. Something Erica was avoiding lately. She didn’t say much about her relationship with Callie. As far as Erica was concerned, Margaret thought it wasn’t the only relationship with a woman that Erica had had. The British woman had jokingly mentioned a few times that Erica was more experienced and she got herself a newbie. Erica was scared during those moments. She wanted to tell Margaret that she’s a “newbie” herself, but then she noticed that it was easier for the younger woman to cope, if she thought Erica had been around the block more.
Erica entered Jasper’s and noticed the beautiful brunette right away. She slowly walked towards her table and stopped a few steps before it. Margaret was sitting with her left side toward the entrance; her head lightly propped on her left hand. Erica smiled at the view. Suddenly the smell of freshly brewed coffee filled the coffee shop and caused Margaret to raise her head. She closed her eyes and smiled. At this view Erica’s stomach flipped nervously and she suddenly felt heat rushing down her body. She was so enchanted by the view in front of her, that she didn’t see or even heard a young boy standing behind her and trying to make his way to his table. After another loud “Excuse me!” behind her back, she flinched, turned around and stepped away. “Sorry.” She said quietly and turned back to the younger woman.
“Are you alright?” Margaret asked smiling.
“Hi. Yes, I’m sorry I just…” She paused not sure what to say.
Margaret blushed and stood up, so she could greet Erica as she came closer. Both women stood near each other not sure what to do next. Finally, Erica smiled and mover closer to the smaller woman and kissed her cheek. Erica could feel Margaret smile when her lips touched soft skin. They both smiled awkwardly and sat at their table.
“So how was L.A.?” Erica asked after a few seconds.
Margaret grimaced and sighed. “It was fine until I had to spend more time than I had to with a woman who was driving me crazy with her every single word.”
Erica’s brows rose in a questioning expression. Margaret noticed that and explained. “She’s a producer who really likes to show other people that she’s great at what she’s doing. And the truth is that she’s not. Half of the time she spent with me, was filled with her yelling at people for no other reason than just to show some power. And her basic knowledge about any technical thing that was needed was nonexistent. She was of no help, and her legs looked like a beaver wrapped in a newspaper.” She leaned back in her chair watching Erica silently, who after a few seconds started to laugh.
“I’m sorry, but how exactly does a beaver wrapped in a newspaper look like?”
Margaret looked around Jasper’s, hoping that maybe she’d a find perfect example for Erica. She turned back to the blonde and waved her hand at their surroundings. “There’s no one here with legs like that. Probably because only stupid and arrogant people have them. Baltimore is full of nice, smart and not annoying people. We’ll never find legs like that here.” She smirked at Erica.
They were talking some more before they decided to go for their walk. After a while, Erica caught herself carefully watching Margaret. Her every move and step. But what she liked the most, was Margaret’s laugh and the fact that she, Erica Hahn, was causing this laugh very often. They were walking side by side. Erica looked down at their occasionally touching hands and delicately took Margaret’s hand. The brunette looked at their joined hands and moved her gaze up at the woman who was slowly taking her heart, too.