AU: I own nothing!

This is the short first chapter of what (I hope to be) a nice long juicy story. I hope anyone who reads enjoys it as much as I enjoy writing it. Rated Mature for later chapters.

Chapter One: We Found Each Other In The Dark

When I looked into her eyes, I knew – in that moment my life would never be the same. The way she held her scalpel and the way she leaned over the patients abdomen to ensure every cut was clean, I knew she was mine. I watched her with interest, my focus on the language of her body, the act itself, and everything that I had felt before flooded back with such force that it rendered me completely dumb. This was my baby. She was fully grown with almond shaped eyes and staring with such great pleasure into the cavity of a man she wanted to save. She needed to. I knew it, I saw it, she loved it. Because of you she loved this life.

I gave her away to you. You watched her blossom, you saw her first steps into this adult world, and you watched her rise into being a beautiful young woman. A smart young woman. I couldn't let myself feel that joy with you while in the back of our minds you would be judging me, abhorring me and pushing me so far away. Out of sight, out of mind. I loved you so much, but we couldn't withstand that storm. Our edges frayed and weathered, our castle fell, though we had tried, truly tried, to mend everything. Because we are doctors. That is what we do – we fix, we aim to heal.

Giving you our divorce papers tore my heart to shreds. It sickened me, it made me feel lesser than, and it made the promise I made to you look like nothing more than a silly pipe dream. We had been so sure, so certain in our progress, that when it happened it became such a shock. There was nothing left to do but falter. But, still, I love you. Do you realize what that means? Nineteen years and I still feel the remains of our marriage etched into my soul, my very being, like the essence of myself – what makes me 'me'.

Yours,

Callie Torres

"I know you." Calliope heard from behind. She turned toward the doorway of the doctor's lounge with surprise etched into her thin mocha features, a pen still hanging loosely in her hand. An athletic looking girl stared back at her with familiar eyes, her own eyes it seemed, filled with confusion and exhaustion, nearly sunken, in the dim light of the lounge. The girl was still in her scrubs and looking disheveled, though she didn't seem to care much of her appearance. The door slipped from the young doctors hand and closed with a dull thud, the gentle click of the lock followed. Callie's expression relaxed, minutely.

From the beginning she knew it was going to be hard. The second the realization had struck her it seemed like an impossible situation. So she had waited. She wasn't going to approach the girl she barely knew and confront her with the facts that had, possibly, been hidden away from her since before she could even remember. Sofia wouldn't have been able to remember her – or so she thought.

"You know me?" The older woman asked in a gentle tone as she leaned back against the table she had previously been standing at, pouring herself over the blank piece of white printer paper. She watched Sofia stand her ground, still as stone, staring at her with investigative tear filled brown eyes.

"I know who you are. Do you know me?" Sofia stepped further into the doctors lounge toward the older raven haired woman. She looked tired, as though she hadn't been able to take a single rest throughout her long shift, but there was still a spark there. Something to drive her onward. It made Callie more concerned than she felt she had the right to be. The soft buzzing of the snack machine called upon her attention and she looked toward it, in hopes that perhaps it would grant her a moment to gather herself.

"Sofia, you need to understand that this is really out of the blue..."

"It's a yes or a no question, Dr. Torres." There it was. The fire that made it ever clearer that Sofia wasn't going to take an excuse. She was a Torres. She had passion. And when she wanted her answers nothing would stand in her way. Callie was cornered. Her gaze bounced back to peer at the young woman standing feet away with her arms folded over her chest. It was an image of herself.

Callie had every reason not to engage Sofia further. She didn't know her life. Her past. She hadn't spoken to Arizona since she had left and she didn't know if Arizona had ever even mentioned her. She simply didn't know a thing. From the moment she'd landed in New York she had made it a point to try and forget, try to forgive, everything. She had made a life for herself, found a few friends, had a few parties. She had made the most of her knowledge and taught her interns how to be great doctors. She had even found love. What could anyone have expected from her? To be miserable? Callie didn't know what Sophia would think. Yet, she decided to give in.

"You're my kid. You're my only kid. I know who you are and I knew you existed for your entire life." Callie's voice was strong as she gazed into her daughter's eyes, watching the pain cross quickly over her angular features. Sofia's lips parted. Her soulful brown eyes fell from Callie and landed somewhere along the navy carpet. She stared at nothing at all, her face betraying the racing thoughts that threatened to spill out of her mouth. Callie made her move. She pushed off the table and walked toward Sofia, the short distance closed within mere moments, and then she lifted her hands to the other woman's shoulders.

"You knew," Sofia's voice rang out loudly, angrily, then Callie felt two foreign hands on her arms, pushing her away. "You knew this entire time?!" The pen dropped to the floor, forgotten, as Callie's fingers curled around Sofia's, she grasped at her hands as the girl began to turn away, possibly to run.

"Sofia, you have to listen to me, I was protecting you. Protecting our family. You don't know the whole story, if any of it." Callie tumbled over her words, her own emotion getting the better of her as large tears began to well in her eyes. God damn it! She thought. Then hands tightened around her own. She looked up from them to see Sofia fighting back a sob. There was a second of clarity and it became apparent that her plea had been registered. Sofia wasn't going to run. She was going to want the story.

"There's a story?" The flood gates opened wide as the young girl crumpled like ash in her arms. Calliope sank with her and softly shh'd as the girl cried. She imagined Sofia cried for many reasons, but they had still to be said. Could it be that this could become a new start?

TBC...