AU fic: Without you (12/?)
TITLE: Without you…
AUTHOR: sapphicwarrior
PAIRING: Callie/Erica
RATING: NC-1. warning: there is domestic abuse in this story!
DISCLAIMER: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libellous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
SUMMARY: This is AU, it’s been in my head for a while. A famous singer falls in love with a woman. It’s a love that is looked upon and has to happen secretly until something happens…
BETA: Thanks for my wonderful beta mar_chel !!
AUTHOR'S NOTE: When I had to write this part, I had no idea where to take the story. A serious writer's block hit me. But thanks to
punky_96 and
mar_chel I managed to get rid of the writer's block. Thank you so much for your ideas!!
AUTHOR'S NOTE 2: Just another warning that this is a dark chapter for Callie. There is abusing in this. Don't read if it upsets you.
Links to previous parts:
part 1: sapphicwarrior.livejournal.com/35601.html
part 2: sapphicwarrior.livejournal.com/36180.html
part 3: sapphicwarrior.livejournal.com/36754.html
part 4: sapphicwarrior.livejournal.com/37565.html
part 5: sapphicwarrior.livejournal.com/38211.html
part 6: sapphicwarrior.livejournal.com/39663.html
part 7: sapphicwarrior.livejournal.com/40086.html
part 8: sapphicwarrior.livejournal.com/40970.html
part 9: sapphicwarrior.livejournal.com/41401.html
part 10: sapphicwarrior.livejournal.com/42314.html
part 11: sapphicwarrior.livejournal.com/42829.html
NEW PART:
During the next 5 days Callie shut herself from everything and everyone. She had cancelled all her appointments. She didn’t want to leave the house. She only felt safe in the company of Erica. Erica was the only one she could tolerate right now.
She didn’t return Jason’s calls and she refused to speak to Carlos. She wanted to lock herself in her room, but Erica was having none of it.
“Cal, you made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. As long is it doesn’t happen regularly, it’s nothing bad. People make mistakes; it’s what makes us human.”
That made Callie feel slightly better, but after hearing a message on her cell phone from her mother, the good feeling was quickly gone. She ran down the stairs to search for Erica in the house. She found her in the kitchen, making some light lunch for the two of them.
“My mom is coming over”, Callie exclaimed to Erica.
Erica turned around. “Well, that’s good, right?”
When Erica saw Callie’s face change, she knew Callie’s mom visiting wasn’t good.
“Good? That’s not good, Erica. My mom is a good person, but she’s over protective and interferes way too much with my life when she’s around. Plus she’ll know immediately something happened between you and me when she sees us. She has this uncanny ability to see these things. I’m not ready for that. I don’t want my mom to visit me.. this is terrible…” she rambled.
“Well, maybe if you had picked up your phone when she called you during the last days, you might have prevented her from coming. She probably thinks something’s wrong because you are not answering your phone. Do you want me to leave the house when your mom is here? I can stay at my place.”
“No”, Callie quickly shouted. “No, I want you here, I need you here, Erica. Please stay.”
“I’ll stay if you want me to. Now, when is she arriving?”
“Too soon! Tomorrow morning! Her plane lands at 11am”, Callie groaned.
“I thought your mom lived in town?”
“No, she just visits periodically. She has to check on one of her companies. She stops by every chance she gets.”
“I’m sure the visit will go great. How long is she staying?”
“I don’t know, hopefully not too long. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom, but I just can’t be around her for a long time. She drives me crazy.”
“It will be fine, Cal, stop worrying. Now, sit down and eat. You have a meeting with Carlos at 1pm.”
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The meeting with Carlos went well. Erica could hear lots of shouting, but in the end, they talked things out. Erica didn’t know what Callie had told Carlos, probably not everything, because after the talk Carlos asked her to look after Calliope.
“If only he knew I am the main reason Callie got drunk”, she thought.
Now there was only one person left Callie had to talk to: Jason.
“When are you going to talk to Jason, Cal? You can’t keep avoiding him”, Erica asked on the way home.
“I called him this morning and he agreed to come over to the house around 5pm. I thought it safest to invite him to the house in case he gets mad. Could you stay in the house, maybe in your room and when things get bad…”
Erica put her hand on Callie’s. “I’ll be listening, Cal and the moment he tries to harm you, he’ll regret that.”
***************************************************************************
Erica had gone to her room like Callie had asked her to do. She was pacing in her room. She wanted to be next to Callie, not up in her room. She feared Jason would get physical with Callie again. Callie had refused to talk to him and the last time they had seen each other, they had fought and they hadn’t talked since. She wished there was something she could do instead of just sitting here and waiting until she heard Callie might be in trouble. She knew if Jason tried something with Callie, she wouldn’t be able to control herself and she’d beat the living crap out of Jason.
She heard Callie open the front door. If she were the kind of person who prayed, she’d be praying for things to go well for Callie.
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“Hi”, Callie greeted her boyfriend. She had never been more nervous in her life. She looked at him. He looked fine, not agitated or mad and not under influence of any drugs. She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
Jason entered the house. Callie motioned for him to come into the living room.
“You want something to drink?” she asked him.
“No, I’m good.”
They sat awkwardly in the sofa, each on a different side. Callie had no idea how to start the conversation. She had never felt such a distance before between her and Jason.
“I’m sorry I avoided you these last few days. I’ve been having a hard time dealing with it”, Callie apologized. She reasoned that starting with an apology might make him feel better.
“If you hadn’t drank yourself into a stupor, you wouldn’t be having a hard time now.”
Callie bit back a remark and forced herself to stay calm.
“I realize that, Jason, but it did happen and I have to deal with it. A little understanding from you might be nice”, she flatly said.
“Understanding?” Jason raised his voice. “You want me to understand why you chose to drink and drive?”
“Yes, I do, Jason. It’s not like you’ve never been drunk before. Every time we go out, you get drunk. So don’t go and play the saint in this, because you’re not!” Callie firmly said.
“How dare you speak to me like this?” He got up from the couch and got closer to Callie.
“How dare you be mad at me for being drunk just once when you are drunk every time you go out? You are such a hypocritical bastard. I invited you to my house to talk things through, but it’s impossible to talk with you. I want you out of my house… NOW”, Callie shouted at him.
“I’ll leave this house when I want, Calliope. And I’m not leaving.” Jason grabbed his girlfriend by her collar and pulled her closer to him. “You are my girlfriend and you’ll start behaving like my girlfriend. And that means obeying me and listening to me.”
“I’ll do no such thing, Jason.” She almost spat the words in his face.
“Oh yes you will.” He put his right hand around her throat and lifted her from the ground.
Callie felt her throat constrict and she couldn’t breathe anymore. She wanted to scream for Erica but no sound was coming out. She started kicking Jason, but barely touched him.
Breathing became nearly impossible. Suddenly she felt a force grabbing Jason from her. She fell to the ground and felt fresh air entering her thorax.
Erica had heard the shouting between Callie and Jason. By the time she got downstairs, she saw Callie hanging in the air, held up by Jason’s hand around her throat. An anger she had never felt before rose inside her and she jumped the last stairs and ran to them. She forcefully pulled Jason from Callie and threw him on the ground. She went to him and grabbed his arms. She turned him around so that she could take one of his arms and give it a pull. She knew that what she was doing wouldn’t cause any visible damage, no bruises, nothing. But it sure as hell would be painful. She put her knee in his neck and put some force on it. He was crying out in pain, but Erica didn’t care. If she wasn’t the professional she is, she’d beat the living crap out of him and the man would crawl out of the house with more than twelve bruise. But luckily being an FBI Agent for years had trained her to stay professional and force out the feelings of pure hatred she was feeling for him right now.
“You will leave this house… now”, she commanded him.
When he didn’t react, she pushed her knee harder into his neck and pulled on his arm again. He cried out.
“Do I make myself clear?” she said in a voice filled with hatred.
“Yes”, she heard him squeak out.
“Good.” She pulled him to his feet, all the while keeping his arm controlled and moved him to the door. She opened the door and almost threw him out. The moment she closed the door, she ran to Callie.
She found her on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. Her neck was already heavily bruised and had several shades of purple. Erica could clearly see where Jason had grabbed her neck. He had left a clear image of his hand on her neck.
“Oh, Callie, come here.” She quickly took her friend in her arms and tried to consoel her.
“He…he tried…. I… couldn’t… breathe… ”, Callie cried, “I was so scared.”
“I know, baby, I know. Shh, calm down, he’s gone now.”
They stayed together on the floor until Callie had calmed down enough to move her to the couch.
“Callie, I’m going to call Sergeant Sterchele. Jason went too far this time. You can’t let this pass again. It’s not the first time he abused you. You can’t let him continue doing this. It has to stop.” Erica didn’t care if this broke Callie and Jason up. In her opinion Jason had just tried to kill Callie and no way was she letting this pass again. Even if it meant jeopardizing the case and her undercover operation.
“To hell with that, Callie is more important”, she thought.
Callie nodded. “But I’m afraid. He’ll go crazy and… and…”
“If he tries to hurt you again, I swear to God, he’ll regret the day he met you and even more the day he met me. He has to be stopped, Callie. You have to stop him.”
“Okay, call Sergeant Sterchele.”
Erica took out her cell and called the precinct and asked for the Sergeant. A little while later, she got him on the line.
“Sergeant Sterchele, this is A… Erica Hahn speaking, Calliope’s friend.” She was so into professional mode right now, that she had almost announced herself as Agent Hahn.
“Ms. Hahn, how may I help you?”
“Could you come over to Calliope’s house, please? Something happened and Calliope would like to talk to you”, Erica vaguely said. She didn’t want to tell over the phone that Callie got abused by her boyfriend.
“Could you tell me something more specific?” the Sergeant asked.
“I’d rather not do this over the phone, Sergeant. It’s rather delicate. We’d appreciate it if you would come over. Some discretion is advised in this case as it’s a very personal matter.”
“I understand.”
Erica gave Callie’s address to the Sergeant.
“He’ll be here in 30 minutes, Cal. After you’ve given your statement, I’m taking you to a hospital. You’ll need a paper from the doctor anyway and those injuries look serious to me. It’s better to get it checked out.”
“Could you… will you hold me, please?” Callie asked in a small voice.
It broke Erica’s heart to see her Callie broken like this. It gave her even more determination to put that son of a bitch behind bars as soon as possible.
“I shouldn’t have made him angry, if I had kept calm…” Callie whispered.
“No, Callie, you will not do this. You will not feel guilty because he hurt you. He’s the one that is the suspect here, not you. You are the victim. You didn’t cause this. You are the victim, baby, you did nothing wrong.”
Erica was afraid this would happen, Callie blaming herself for Jason beating her up. She had seen it happen frequently with abuse victims. She would not let Callie feel guilty for that asshole. He had already done enough harm to Callie. And if she had any say in it, he wouldn’t lay a finger on Callie again.
Erica held Callie until she heard the door bell.
“I have to open the door, sweetie, I’ll be right back.”
She opened the door for Sergeant Sterchele.
“Sergeant”, she greeted him. “Thank you for coming. Please come in.”
“No problem, Ms. Hahn.”
Erica hated the “Ms. Hahn”, no one called her that anymore.
“Please, call me Erica. Callie is in the living room.”
“What happened?” Sterchele asked as he followed Erica to the living room.
“Domestic abuse”, Erica simply said.
“Cal, Sergeant Sterchele is here”, Erica said to Callie, who was still sitting in the same position Erica had left her two minutes ago. She resumed her place next to Callie and held her again. She didn’t care what Sterchele might think about her holding Callie. Only the well-being of Callie mattered to her at the moment.
Sterchele immediately noticed the hand imprint on Calliope’s neck and the purple bruises around it. Calliope seemed to be in complete shock about what had happened.
“Ms. Torres, what happened?” he gently inquired. Domestic abuse cases weren’t really his thing, but Calliope and Erica seemed to have faith in him as they called him here this evening. So he’d give it his best shot.
Callie looked up to see the worried face of the Sergeant. “He…we… we had an argument and suddenly… he…tried…to choke me”, she managed to say in between sobs.
Erica comforted her as well as she could.
“Who’s he?” Sterchele asked.
“My boyfriend”, Callie said.
“Jason Taylor”, Erica added with venom in her voice.
“Did you see what happened?” he asked Erica.
She shook her head. “No, but I did hear them fighting, so I got ready to intervene when necessary. Callie had asked me to stay close because she feared that something might happen.”
“This wasn’t the first time then?” Sterchele concluded. If Callie had asked her friend to stay close in case something happened, this must mean that something had already happened in the past, he reasoned.
“No, it’s not the first time. I know of 2 previous times, but there were more than 2 unfortunately.”
“Are you willing to give a statement, Ms. Torres?”
“Yes”, Callie simply said.
She gave her statement as best as she could. Erica filled in the blanks she left out. She felt relieved after finishing her statement, but also scared because of what Jason would do to her when he found out she had a report made against him.
“Do you need any protection against him, Ms. Torres?”
“No, I have Erica. She’s a martial arts master. I trust her completely to keep me safe.”
“Okay. Do you have any idea where he might be right now?”
Callie shook her head. “I don’t know, maybe at his place. Or at some bar with his friends. What happens now?”
“We’ll look for him and when we find him, he’ll probably get arrested for domestic abuse.”
“Arrested?” Callie cried out. “Oh my god…”
“He can’t get arrested”, Erica thought. “Damn it, how do I fix this?”
She knew there was only one solution to that. She got up and called Sterchele.
“Sergeant, do you have a second?”
What she was about to do, might blow the entire investigation, but it could also save her investigation. She guided him to the kitchen, she had to be out of earshot from Callie.
“You can’t arrest Jason Taylor, Sergeant.”
“What?” Sterchele confusedly said. “Why?”
Erica took a deep breath. “I will tell you something that has to remain a secret. If you tell anyone, actions will be taken, not by me, but by my superiors.” That wasn’t entirely true, Erica doubted McKinney would do something if Sterchele told anyone what she was about to tell him. She’d be the one to take the blame if things went wrong, not Sterchele.
“Your superiors?”
“Yes, my superiors. Jason Taylor is currently under investigation from the FBI. I can’t tell you why. But it’s imperative he doesn’t get arrested or it will blow the investigation. So I suggest you don’t find him or give a twist to the file so that he doesn’t need to be arrested. He can just be questioned about what happened and let free again. That happens all the time in domestic abuse cases.”
“You’re an FBI Agent?”
“Yes.”
“And Calliope doesn’t know?”
“No, she doesn’t know and it has to stay this way”, Erica firmly said.
“Oh this will go wrong, so wrong”, Sterchele thought. “Erica’s here for some investigation, wins the confidence and maybe more of Calliope, but when Calliope finds out about Erica’s true occupations, there’d be hell to pay.”
“I understand. This is quite a risk you are taking here.”
“I know, but Callie’s safety goes first. I can’t let Jason keep abusing her. I can’t do anything myself giving the nature of my presence here.”
“I’ll do everything I can, but I’ll do need to question him.”
“I understand that, just don’t let him get arrested. Try not to find him this evening. Like Callie said, she has no idea where he’ll be. I don’t think he’ll be at home. Most likely he’s in a bar and there are many bars in LA.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“I appreciate that. Thank you.”
After the Sergeant had left, Erica helped Callie getting ready to go to the hospital. Callie put on a turtle neck because she didn’t want the bruises to be visible. They had agreed that until they’d be in the privacy of a doctor’s office or an exam room, Erica would play the wounded one. They hoped that this way, if Callie got recognized by people, they wouldn’t make a big deal of Calliope being in a hospital if it looked like her friend was the wounded one.
No one in the hospital paid any special attention to them so they were able to get into an exam room without any problems. A female doctor came into the exam room.
“Ms. Hahn, I’m Dr. Caleb, what seems to be the problem?”
“I’m not the one who’s hurt. We used that as a decoy so we wouldn’t attract any attention to Ms. Torres”, Erica explained. “She hurt her neck.”
Dr. Caleb turned to look at the woman she had recognized as Calliope, the singer. Slowly Callie took off her turtle neck and revealed her bruised neck to the doctor.
“We hope you can be discrete about this, Dr. Caleb. This is already very painful for Ms. Torres. I don’t want it to get worse by the press getting any word from this.”
Dr. Caleb looked at the bruised neck. It looked heavily bruised and swollen as well.
“I am a doctor, Ms. Hahn, I don’t discuss my patients with others if not relevant for their case.”
“Can I have a look, Ms. Torres?” she asked the Latina woman.
“Yes, it feels a bit swollen. It hurts to swallow.”
Gently Dr. Caleb examined the neck. “Do you have trouble breathing?”
“No. It just feels swollen and painful, that’s all.”
She continued her examination.
“Well, besides some swelling and some bruising, everything’s fine. You don’t need any x-rays. I’ll prescribe you something for the swelling and the pain. Your neck will be painful for some time, but it will heal alright.”
“Thank you, Dr. Caleb.”
“If the swelling gets worse, come back and we’ll take some x-rays.”
They left the hospital and quickly went home. Even though they had agreed not to sleep together anymore after their “break-up”, they got into the same bed without questioning it. It seemed like the most natural thing to do.
They curled up against each other. Erica had her arm draped across Callie.
“How do I face my mom tomorrow? The bruises won’t be gone”, Callie worriedly asked after a while.
“You can wear a turtle neck. And if she should see the bruises… well, we’ll deal with that when it comes to that.”
Callie had heard the “we” and it brought tears to her eyes.
“I can’t tell you enough how grateful I am for you being here, supporting me, caring for me.”
Callie snuggled closer to Erica.
“Now sleep, my sweet Callie, it was a long day”, Erica said, giving a gentle kiss to Callie’s head.
Shortly after Erica noticed that Callie had fallen asleep. Sleep didn’t come easy for Erica though, it was almost light when she finally fell asleep.
.