AU fic: Without you... (6/?)
TITLE: Without you…
AUTHOR: sapphicwarrior
PAIRING: Callie/Erica
RATING: NC-17 warning: 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: Lots of thanks to my wonderful beta
mar_chel !!!
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In this part it gets dark for Callie. Things between her and Jason aren't going well. But luckily there's Erica to protect her and bring out her "Special Agent Erica Hahn-stare"
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
new part:
They finished recording around 9pm. Callie had recorded two songs and she had sang a new song for the first time. And Erica, she had sat there, just watching Callie with her mouth agape.
They were just leaving the studio when Callie’s cell phone rang.
“Hello”, she answered.
Erica saw Callie’s face change. Ten seconds ago she had looked happy and carefree and now the radiant smile had been changed by an anger that burned in her eyes.
“Jason, calm the fuck down. If you had stayed calm yesterday, I would have had the chance to explain the situation to you”, Callie yelled to her boyfriend.
Erica could hear Jason yelling on the other side of the line.
“It has nothing to do with you! The locks were changed for a security reason. We thought it was best”, Callie tried reasoning with him.
Erica could hear more yelling.
“Yes, we; Erica and me. Erica is my bodyguard.”
This time Erica heard him loud and clear. “A bodyguard? A woman bodyguard? She’s probably working for free. I mean, who’d hire a woman bodyguard? And why the fuck do you need a bodyguard?”
Suddenly Erica couldn’t wait to tell him she was Special Agent Erica Hahn.
“If you don’t calm down, Jason, I won’t tell you. I’m not talking to you anymore when you keep yelling at me”, Callie said.
Erica couldn’t hear what Jason said, but she heard Callie ending the phone call saying they’d be there in 30 minutes.
“Guess you’ll be meeting Jason later”, Callie sighed, “and I had just wanted to ask you if you felt like grabbing some dinner together.”
“Dealing with Jason is more important right now. We can grab dinner any other night”, Erica said. Dinner with Callie seemed so much more appealing then meeting Jason.
The drive to Callie’s house was silent. They were both lost in their own thoughts. Callie was mad because she saw a perfect day being ruined by Jason’s phone call. She had just wanted to spend a quiet evening with Erica. Erica was such more pleasant company than Jason and more attractive too, Callie suddenly thought. She loved Erica’s golden curls that slightly bounced when she walked. Her eyes started twinkling when she was laughing and they got even a deeper kind of blue then. She was mesmerized by Erica’s eyes. Her lips looked so soft and suddenly she wanted nothing more than to feel the softness of Erica’s lips against her own and…
“Shit”, she murmured. Thinking about kissing Erica wasn’t good, not good at all.
Erica had noticed that Callie had been drifting off into her mind. She had seen some emotions crossing her face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“N…nothing”, Callie stuttered.
They arrived at Callie’s house. Callie let a deep sigh.
“I really wish that he wasn’t here, I don’t want to see him.”
Erica stopped the car. “You can always tell him to go home after you’ve talked to him. He doesn’t have a key anymore.”
Erica gently laid her hand on Callie’s arm. Normally she wasn’t all touchy, but when she was with Callie, she wanted to touch her constantly when talking. Callie’s breath got caught in her throat. Erica’s hands were so soft…
“You’re right. And when he doesn’t want to go home, you’re here to make him go home”, she smiled.
They got out of the car. Erica saw Jason coming towards them. He looked slightly different than the pictures she had seen of him. He looked even uglier in real, she chuckled.
Jason wanted to kiss Callie on the lips but at the last moment, Erica noticed that Callie slightly turned her head so that the kiss ended up on her cheek. She felt relieved, she noticed.
Callie immediately turned to Erica. “Erica, this is Jason, my boyfriend.”
“Jason, this is Erica, my bodyguard.”
Erica curtly nodded to him. She didn’t think Jason would appreciate if she shook hands with him; the way she had heard him talking about “a woman bodyguard” made it very clear how little he thought of her.
“Now I’d like an explanation, Callie, as to why you changed the locks without telling me”, Jason angrily said.
Erica already felt the anger rising within her, but she tried to remain calm.
“Let’s go inside, Jason, and we’ll explain.”
Callie wanted to give Erica a silent signal that she wanted her there when she discussed things with Jason. Erica had understood and nodded her head. She followed them inside. They took a seat in the living room.
“Is she staying here?” Jason said with much disdain in his voice while pointing to Erica.
“She has a name, it’s Erica, and yes, Erica is staying here”, Callie firmly said, “sit down, shut up and I’ll explain.”
Jason wasn’t used to seeing Callie so bossy, so he quickly sat down.
“Now, I haven’t told you this, but I haven’t felt safe lately. I think I might have a stalker so I asked Erica to check things out for a while”, Callie told Jason.
“A stalker? Why didn’t you tell me anything?” Jason worriedly asked.
“I didn’t want to worry you until I was sure.”
“You told a stranger, but you didn’t tell me, your boyfriend? I could protect you.”
“Erica’s not a stranger, Jason. I completely trust her. Also she’s qualified for things like this, you’re not.”
“Excuse me? Qualified?” Jason angrily got up from his seat.
Erica quickly went to stand in front of him. She was fuming. This man was worse then she had thought. He only thought of women as an object, something that listened to him and pleased him anyway he wanted. An independent woman with a mind of her own was something his little brain couldn’t get.
“I assure you I am very qualified for this”, Erica said in a cold voice, “I’ve been working as a bodyguard for years. I master several martial arts. Callie is perfectly safe when I’m around.”
Callie was watching Erica. The cold, angry Erica made her feel weird things inside her body. If she didn’t know any better, she’d swear she was turned on.
Erica left the living room, but stayed close by in case Jason tried hitting Callie again. After a while she could hear a discussion in the living room.
“No, Jason, you’re not getting a new key. Not until this stalker is found. No one has a key but me”, she heard Callie say.
“I demand a key, Callie, I can be here and I have a right to be here!”
“No, Jason, and that is final. If you want to come over, give me a call and when I’m home you can get in. When I’m not home, you can’t get in”, Callie angrily said.
Erica got closer to the living room. She felt it was getting out of hand. She expected Jason to get physical any minute now. And she was right.
“Jason, let go of me”, she heard Callie yell.
Erica ran to Callie and immediately pulled Jason off her.
“I believe Callie asked you to leave”, Erica said in the coldest voice ever.
If eyes could be bullets, he’d be dead. She took him by his arm and accompanied him to the door. Jason tried to get out of Erica’s hold, but the more he moved, the more it hurt.
“You’re hurting me, bitch.”
“Serves you right”, Erica muttered between her teeth.
She opened the door and pushed him out. “And a good evening to you”, she yelled before closing the door.
She ignored the bouncing on the door and the yelling. She quickly went back to the living room and saw Callie sitting on the couch, crying. Without thinking she took her in her arms and comforted her.
“It’s okay, Callie, he won’t hurt you anymore, I won’t let him, shh, it’s okay”, she gently smoothed Callie’s hair.
After a while the sobbing subdued, but Erica didn’t loosen her hold on Callie and Callie stayed right where she was.
***************************************************************************
During the next days Erica got to know the routines in Callie’s life. She also asked her more about Jason. She hoped that wouldn’t raise suspicion to Callie; but Callie thought nothing of it and told Erica everything she needed to know.
Erica learned that now and then Jason disappeared for a few days and that he couldn’t be reached on his cell on those days. The days before he left he was very agitated and when he came back, he was calm again. That raised Erica’s suspicion even more concerning the drug use. Callie also told her that Jason gave her very expensive gifts and that she wondered where he got the money from. Apparently besides some modelling jobs that didn’t pay well, Jason didn’t have an income. So indeed, it was curious as to how he got the money to buy Callie expensive gifts. Another reason to raise suspicion in Erica’s mind. She was sure that Jason was dealing drugs, now she only needed to prove it.
Two days after Erica had thrown him out of the house, Jason had called Callie and apologized. Callie had accepted his apology and they went out to dinner that evening. Erica enjoyed a free evening in Callie’s house as she didn’t want to accompany them. Callie wouldn’t be in any danger from Jason in public as he wouldn’t be so stupid as to hit Callie while going out. She decided to take advantage to search the house for possible hiding places for drugs. Callie was unaware that her boyfriend was a drug dealer, so it would be the ideal place to hide any drugs, Callie would never go looking for it. But Erica would.
She decided to start in Callie’s bedroom as it’s a place Jason must have spent lots of time in.
She felt bad for betraying Callie’s privacy, but she knew it had to be done. She systematically looked through Callie’s room. She started with the wardrobe. Callie had a walk-in closet in her room. Erica opened the door and was dumbstruck. She had thought the wardrobe would have been completely filled with clothes, but only half of the walk-in closet was taken. She really didn’t want to do this, search through Callie’s clothes. In the few weeks she had known Callie, she seemed to have forgotten how to be Special Agent Hahn. Erica had taken over. She took a deep breath and forced thoughts of Callie out of her mind. She had to think of Callie as a suspect right now, even if she wasn’t. But she knew it was the only way she’d be completely focused on the task ahead: finding proof that Jason was indeed a drug dealer and put him behind bars.
She got completely immersed in the task and moved quickly through Callie’s personal belongings. After one hour the task was finished. She didn’t find any drugs or drugs related things in Callie’s room. She felt relieved. It would have given her a bad feeling if she had found drugs in Callie’s room.
She looked at her watch. One hour had passed. She decided she had enough time to look through another room. She decided to look some more in the bathroom. Experience had taught her that the bathroom was often a hiding place for drugs. She looked at the medicine cabinet first. There were plenty of pills in it. She took one out of each bottle and bagged them. She carefully wrote the name of the pill on the label. She would send them to the FBI lab here in LA and ask if they could check that they really were the pills that were supposed to be in the bottle. It wouldn’t be the first time that drugs was found hidden in a Tylenol bottle. She quickly put the bags in the safe deposit in her room. She had brought in her own safe deposit to put her gun in. She didn’t want it falling into the wrong hands, Jason’s hands that is. Just as she wanted to go back to the bathroom, she heard the door down stairs opening. She quickly went to sit on her bed and took the book that was laying beside her bed. She didn’t know if Callie was alone or if Jason had accompanied her. That question was quickly answered when she heard a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
The door opened and Callie was standing there.
“Can I come in?” Callie shyly asked.
“Of course you can. How did it go?” Erica asked, putting the book away.
Erica noticed the sullen expression on Callie. Normally women looked happier after a date with their boyfriend.
Callie went to sit beside Erica.
“It was okay I guess”, Callie sighed.
“Just okay?”
“To be honest, I can’t believe what I ever saw in him. He’s not good-looking. You can’t have a serious conversation with him. I tried broaching the subject of his anger and aggression, but he just changed the subject to the weather. Can you believe him? The same when I told him about my new album. I tried to tell him about some of the songs, but you could clearly see it bored him to death. Sometimes I think that I’m just some prize and that he’s only with me to show me off to his friends. He asked to stay the night, but I said no.”
“He didn’t get aggressive again, did he?” Erica worriedly asked.
“For a second I thought he would, but then he just went away. It felt so awkward being on a date with him.”
“What will you do now? Break up with him?” Erica had to know. If Callie broke up with him, it would be more difficult to get proof, but she wouldn’t talk Callie out of it. Callie’s happiness was more important for her.
“I will, eventually. I just want to wait and make arrangements that he can’t hurt me or my family afterwards. He has already threatened to do that. Changing the locks to the house was the first step. I think I’ll gradually lessen contact with him and then break things up. What do you think?” Callie looked at Erica. She marvelled at the intensity of Erica’s blue gaze. She was mesmerized by her eyes. Her eyes had never looked so blue.
Erica took Callie’s hands in her own. “I don’t know, Callie. You should do what makes you feel best. I don’t think I’m the best person to give you advice on this.”
“Why not? You are the only one I can talk to about it”, Callie wondered.
Erica thought for a moment. She couldn’t tell Callie the real reason.
“I’m attracted to you and because of that I don’t want Jason anywhere near you.”
Erica’s breath hitched for a second. She had just admitted her attraction to Callie. Why had Max given her this assignment? It was becoming such a mess. She was involved way too personally in this case. But she couldn’t get out; she couldn’t leave Callie alone to deal with Jason.
“I’m prejudiced towards Jason for what he’s done to you. Therefore I don’t like him and can’t give you an objective advice”, Erica tentatively said.
Callie looked into Erica’s eyes. “If you could, what would you advice me?”
Erica felt her heart beating faster. Callie had scooted closer to her and she felt like her whole body was on fire. She was sure it was showing how she was feeling. No matter how much she wanted Special Agent Hahn to appear now, she just stayed Erica. Erica, who was falling fast for Callie.
“Break up with him”, Erica quietly said, “he doesn’t deserve you. He’s a fool for abusing you. You are a beautiful woman. You deserve so much better than him. You deserve someone who’ll treat you with respect, who’ll listen to you, who’ll love and just let you be you.”
Erica looked at their entwined hands. Their hands fit perfectly together. Callie’s caramel coloured skin was a big contrast to Erica’s white skin, but somehow, they fit perfectly together.
“You think I’m beautiful?” she heard Callie whisper.
“Yes.”
“Jason has never told me I’m beautiful. He always says I should lose some weight.”
“He’s a fool for not seeing the beauty that you are. You are perfect just as you are.”
There was electricity in the air. Both could feel the tension surrounding them. Callie’s heart was hammering in her chest. No one had called her beautiful before. And Erica found her perfect just as she was. It made her heart fill with a feeling she wasn’t ready to identify yet. And yet, she couldn’t ignore it either.
“Can I stay here tonight?” Callie softly asked.
“Of course you can”, Erica answered, even though it wasn’t a good idea to spend the night with Callie in the same bed, not with the way she was currently feeling. But Callie sounded so alone and vulnerable when asking, that she simply couldn’t refuse. Holding Callie was a marvellous feeling, even if she could only hold her as a friend.
.
AUTHOR: sapphicwarrior
PAIRING: Callie/Erica
RATING: NC-17 warning: 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: Lots of thanks to my wonderful beta
mar_chel !!!
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In this part it gets dark for Callie. Things between her and Jason aren't going well. But luckily there's Erica to protect her and bring out her "Special Agent Erica Hahn-stare"
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
new part:
They finished recording around 9pm. Callie had recorded two songs and she had sang a new song for the first time. And Erica, she had sat there, just watching Callie with her mouth agape.
They were just leaving the studio when Callie’s cell phone rang.
“Hello”, she answered.
Erica saw Callie’s face change. Ten seconds ago she had looked happy and carefree and now the radiant smile had been changed by an anger that burned in her eyes.
“Jason, calm the fuck down. If you had stayed calm yesterday, I would have had the chance to explain the situation to you”, Callie yelled to her boyfriend.
Erica could hear Jason yelling on the other side of the line.
“It has nothing to do with you! The locks were changed for a security reason. We thought it was best”, Callie tried reasoning with him.
Erica could hear more yelling.
“Yes, we; Erica and me. Erica is my bodyguard.”
This time Erica heard him loud and clear. “A bodyguard? A woman bodyguard? She’s probably working for free. I mean, who’d hire a woman bodyguard? And why the fuck do you need a bodyguard?”
Suddenly Erica couldn’t wait to tell him she was Special Agent Erica Hahn.
“If you don’t calm down, Jason, I won’t tell you. I’m not talking to you anymore when you keep yelling at me”, Callie said.
Erica couldn’t hear what Jason said, but she heard Callie ending the phone call saying they’d be there in 30 minutes.
“Guess you’ll be meeting Jason later”, Callie sighed, “and I had just wanted to ask you if you felt like grabbing some dinner together.”
“Dealing with Jason is more important right now. We can grab dinner any other night”, Erica said. Dinner with Callie seemed so much more appealing then meeting Jason.
The drive to Callie’s house was silent. They were both lost in their own thoughts. Callie was mad because she saw a perfect day being ruined by Jason’s phone call. She had just wanted to spend a quiet evening with Erica. Erica was such more pleasant company than Jason and more attractive too, Callie suddenly thought. She loved Erica’s golden curls that slightly bounced when she walked. Her eyes started twinkling when she was laughing and they got even a deeper kind of blue then. She was mesmerized by Erica’s eyes. Her lips looked so soft and suddenly she wanted nothing more than to feel the softness of Erica’s lips against her own and…
“Shit”, she murmured. Thinking about kissing Erica wasn’t good, not good at all.
Erica had noticed that Callie had been drifting off into her mind. She had seen some emotions crossing her face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“N…nothing”, Callie stuttered.
They arrived at Callie’s house. Callie let a deep sigh.
“I really wish that he wasn’t here, I don’t want to see him.”
Erica stopped the car. “You can always tell him to go home after you’ve talked to him. He doesn’t have a key anymore.”
Erica gently laid her hand on Callie’s arm. Normally she wasn’t all touchy, but when she was with Callie, she wanted to touch her constantly when talking. Callie’s breath got caught in her throat. Erica’s hands were so soft…
“You’re right. And when he doesn’t want to go home, you’re here to make him go home”, she smiled.
They got out of the car. Erica saw Jason coming towards them. He looked slightly different than the pictures she had seen of him. He looked even uglier in real, she chuckled.
Jason wanted to kiss Callie on the lips but at the last moment, Erica noticed that Callie slightly turned her head so that the kiss ended up on her cheek. She felt relieved, she noticed.
Callie immediately turned to Erica. “Erica, this is Jason, my boyfriend.”
“Jason, this is Erica, my bodyguard.”
Erica curtly nodded to him. She didn’t think Jason would appreciate if she shook hands with him; the way she had heard him talking about “a woman bodyguard” made it very clear how little he thought of her.
“Now I’d like an explanation, Callie, as to why you changed the locks without telling me”, Jason angrily said.
Erica already felt the anger rising within her, but she tried to remain calm.
“Let’s go inside, Jason, and we’ll explain.”
Callie wanted to give Erica a silent signal that she wanted her there when she discussed things with Jason. Erica had understood and nodded her head. She followed them inside. They took a seat in the living room.
“Is she staying here?” Jason said with much disdain in his voice while pointing to Erica.
“She has a name, it’s Erica, and yes, Erica is staying here”, Callie firmly said, “sit down, shut up and I’ll explain.”
Jason wasn’t used to seeing Callie so bossy, so he quickly sat down.
“Now, I haven’t told you this, but I haven’t felt safe lately. I think I might have a stalker so I asked Erica to check things out for a while”, Callie told Jason.
“A stalker? Why didn’t you tell me anything?” Jason worriedly asked.
“I didn’t want to worry you until I was sure.”
“You told a stranger, but you didn’t tell me, your boyfriend? I could protect you.”
“Erica’s not a stranger, Jason. I completely trust her. Also she’s qualified for things like this, you’re not.”
“Excuse me? Qualified?” Jason angrily got up from his seat.
Erica quickly went to stand in front of him. She was fuming. This man was worse then she had thought. He only thought of women as an object, something that listened to him and pleased him anyway he wanted. An independent woman with a mind of her own was something his little brain couldn’t get.
“I assure you I am very qualified for this”, Erica said in a cold voice, “I’ve been working as a bodyguard for years. I master several martial arts. Callie is perfectly safe when I’m around.”
Callie was watching Erica. The cold, angry Erica made her feel weird things inside her body. If she didn’t know any better, she’d swear she was turned on.
Erica left the living room, but stayed close by in case Jason tried hitting Callie again. After a while she could hear a discussion in the living room.
“No, Jason, you’re not getting a new key. Not until this stalker is found. No one has a key but me”, she heard Callie say.
“I demand a key, Callie, I can be here and I have a right to be here!”
“No, Jason, and that is final. If you want to come over, give me a call and when I’m home you can get in. When I’m not home, you can’t get in”, Callie angrily said.
Erica got closer to the living room. She felt it was getting out of hand. She expected Jason to get physical any minute now. And she was right.
“Jason, let go of me”, she heard Callie yell.
Erica ran to Callie and immediately pulled Jason off her.
“I believe Callie asked you to leave”, Erica said in the coldest voice ever.
If eyes could be bullets, he’d be dead. She took him by his arm and accompanied him to the door. Jason tried to get out of Erica’s hold, but the more he moved, the more it hurt.
“You’re hurting me, bitch.”
“Serves you right”, Erica muttered between her teeth.
She opened the door and pushed him out. “And a good evening to you”, she yelled before closing the door.
She ignored the bouncing on the door and the yelling. She quickly went back to the living room and saw Callie sitting on the couch, crying. Without thinking she took her in her arms and comforted her.
“It’s okay, Callie, he won’t hurt you anymore, I won’t let him, shh, it’s okay”, she gently smoothed Callie’s hair.
After a while the sobbing subdued, but Erica didn’t loosen her hold on Callie and Callie stayed right where she was.
***************************************************************************
During the next days Erica got to know the routines in Callie’s life. She also asked her more about Jason. She hoped that wouldn’t raise suspicion to Callie; but Callie thought nothing of it and told Erica everything she needed to know.
Erica learned that now and then Jason disappeared for a few days and that he couldn’t be reached on his cell on those days. The days before he left he was very agitated and when he came back, he was calm again. That raised Erica’s suspicion even more concerning the drug use. Callie also told her that Jason gave her very expensive gifts and that she wondered where he got the money from. Apparently besides some modelling jobs that didn’t pay well, Jason didn’t have an income. So indeed, it was curious as to how he got the money to buy Callie expensive gifts. Another reason to raise suspicion in Erica’s mind. She was sure that Jason was dealing drugs, now she only needed to prove it.
Two days after Erica had thrown him out of the house, Jason had called Callie and apologized. Callie had accepted his apology and they went out to dinner that evening. Erica enjoyed a free evening in Callie’s house as she didn’t want to accompany them. Callie wouldn’t be in any danger from Jason in public as he wouldn’t be so stupid as to hit Callie while going out. She decided to take advantage to search the house for possible hiding places for drugs. Callie was unaware that her boyfriend was a drug dealer, so it would be the ideal place to hide any drugs, Callie would never go looking for it. But Erica would.
She decided to start in Callie’s bedroom as it’s a place Jason must have spent lots of time in.
She felt bad for betraying Callie’s privacy, but she knew it had to be done. She systematically looked through Callie’s room. She started with the wardrobe. Callie had a walk-in closet in her room. Erica opened the door and was dumbstruck. She had thought the wardrobe would have been completely filled with clothes, but only half of the walk-in closet was taken. She really didn’t want to do this, search through Callie’s clothes. In the few weeks she had known Callie, she seemed to have forgotten how to be Special Agent Hahn. Erica had taken over. She took a deep breath and forced thoughts of Callie out of her mind. She had to think of Callie as a suspect right now, even if she wasn’t. But she knew it was the only way she’d be completely focused on the task ahead: finding proof that Jason was indeed a drug dealer and put him behind bars.
She got completely immersed in the task and moved quickly through Callie’s personal belongings. After one hour the task was finished. She didn’t find any drugs or drugs related things in Callie’s room. She felt relieved. It would have given her a bad feeling if she had found drugs in Callie’s room.
She looked at her watch. One hour had passed. She decided she had enough time to look through another room. She decided to look some more in the bathroom. Experience had taught her that the bathroom was often a hiding place for drugs. She looked at the medicine cabinet first. There were plenty of pills in it. She took one out of each bottle and bagged them. She carefully wrote the name of the pill on the label. She would send them to the FBI lab here in LA and ask if they could check that they really were the pills that were supposed to be in the bottle. It wouldn’t be the first time that drugs was found hidden in a Tylenol bottle. She quickly put the bags in the safe deposit in her room. She had brought in her own safe deposit to put her gun in. She didn’t want it falling into the wrong hands, Jason’s hands that is. Just as she wanted to go back to the bathroom, she heard the door down stairs opening. She quickly went to sit on her bed and took the book that was laying beside her bed. She didn’t know if Callie was alone or if Jason had accompanied her. That question was quickly answered when she heard a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
The door opened and Callie was standing there.
“Can I come in?” Callie shyly asked.
“Of course you can. How did it go?” Erica asked, putting the book away.
Erica noticed the sullen expression on Callie. Normally women looked happier after a date with their boyfriend.
Callie went to sit beside Erica.
“It was okay I guess”, Callie sighed.
“Just okay?”
“To be honest, I can’t believe what I ever saw in him. He’s not good-looking. You can’t have a serious conversation with him. I tried broaching the subject of his anger and aggression, but he just changed the subject to the weather. Can you believe him? The same when I told him about my new album. I tried to tell him about some of the songs, but you could clearly see it bored him to death. Sometimes I think that I’m just some prize and that he’s only with me to show me off to his friends. He asked to stay the night, but I said no.”
“He didn’t get aggressive again, did he?” Erica worriedly asked.
“For a second I thought he would, but then he just went away. It felt so awkward being on a date with him.”
“What will you do now? Break up with him?” Erica had to know. If Callie broke up with him, it would be more difficult to get proof, but she wouldn’t talk Callie out of it. Callie’s happiness was more important for her.
“I will, eventually. I just want to wait and make arrangements that he can’t hurt me or my family afterwards. He has already threatened to do that. Changing the locks to the house was the first step. I think I’ll gradually lessen contact with him and then break things up. What do you think?” Callie looked at Erica. She marvelled at the intensity of Erica’s blue gaze. She was mesmerized by her eyes. Her eyes had never looked so blue.
Erica took Callie’s hands in her own. “I don’t know, Callie. You should do what makes you feel best. I don’t think I’m the best person to give you advice on this.”
“Why not? You are the only one I can talk to about it”, Callie wondered.
Erica thought for a moment. She couldn’t tell Callie the real reason.
“I’m attracted to you and because of that I don’t want Jason anywhere near you.”
Erica’s breath hitched for a second. She had just admitted her attraction to Callie. Why had Max given her this assignment? It was becoming such a mess. She was involved way too personally in this case. But she couldn’t get out; she couldn’t leave Callie alone to deal with Jason.
“I’m prejudiced towards Jason for what he’s done to you. Therefore I don’t like him and can’t give you an objective advice”, Erica tentatively said.
Callie looked into Erica’s eyes. “If you could, what would you advice me?”
Erica felt her heart beating faster. Callie had scooted closer to her and she felt like her whole body was on fire. She was sure it was showing how she was feeling. No matter how much she wanted Special Agent Hahn to appear now, she just stayed Erica. Erica, who was falling fast for Callie.
“Break up with him”, Erica quietly said, “he doesn’t deserve you. He’s a fool for abusing you. You are a beautiful woman. You deserve so much better than him. You deserve someone who’ll treat you with respect, who’ll listen to you, who’ll love and just let you be you.”
Erica looked at their entwined hands. Their hands fit perfectly together. Callie’s caramel coloured skin was a big contrast to Erica’s white skin, but somehow, they fit perfectly together.
“You think I’m beautiful?” she heard Callie whisper.
“Yes.”
“Jason has never told me I’m beautiful. He always says I should lose some weight.”
“He’s a fool for not seeing the beauty that you are. You are perfect just as you are.”
There was electricity in the air. Both could feel the tension surrounding them. Callie’s heart was hammering in her chest. No one had called her beautiful before. And Erica found her perfect just as she was. It made her heart fill with a feeling she wasn’t ready to identify yet. And yet, she couldn’t ignore it either.
“Can I stay here tonight?” Callie softly asked.
“Of course you can”, Erica answered, even though it wasn’t a good idea to spend the night with Callie in the same bed, not with the way she was currently feeling. But Callie sounded so alone and vulnerable when asking, that she simply couldn’t refuse. Holding Callie was a marvellous feeling, even if she could only hold her as a friend.
.