A/N:

The last chapter - Callie's perspective, followed by Hahn, and then…

Chapter 4 – How It Ends

Callie Torres knows that everybody knows.

Everybody knows, because Christina knows. Callie could hide from Erica, from Sloan, from everyone – but she couldn't hide from her roommate. She tried, at first, to play the angry music at an acceptable volume, to cry only when Christina wasn't home, to scream at the top of her lungs only when Christina was singing in the shower – but eventually, Yang was pounding on her door.

"NO MORE SOUNDGARDEN!" Yang insisted, knocking on the not-quite-closed door and causing it to open completely. Callie sat on her bed, hugging her pillow, eyes bright red. "OR I AM GOING TO…" Callie buried her fact in the pillow before Christina could notice her tears and muttered, "Just turn it down yourself then."

"Callie. Callie, are you okay?" It had been over a week, and Christina was just now catching on.

"I'm fine. Seriously."

"You don't seem fine." Yang flopped onto the bed and Callie immediately stood up and dropped the pillow.

"Okay, so I'm not fine. But it's my own thing, none of your business. Just let me be."

Christina stood up, too, understand finally the agony and the realization of the cause dawned on her. "This is that Hahn thing, isn't it? See, I told you. She's heartless, Callie. Absolutely she's the heart surgeon with no heart and –"

"Who told you?"

"Told me what? About the kiss? That's all over the hospital – you had to know, right?" Callie started to cry again. "You didn't know. Okay, I can see that now. I'm so sorry, but a bunch of interns saw it and the rumor mill – well, you know."

"I…I didn't think that anything could be worse than what George did to me," Callie sobbed. "But I think I have finally found something. And I did it to myself."

Callie never broke down at the hospital; she found a brave face to wear and pretended like she didn't hear any of the whispers. It was easier during surgeries, where she could hook up her music and jam loudly while drilling bones. Granted, some of the interns missed out on learning techniques, but she really didn't care about interns. Interns were part of the problem, acting like a bunch of teenagers, gossiping.

Lunch became a challenge, on days when Sloan wasn't around. Since the night when Erica turned on her heel and left Callie standing alone on the sidewalk, she had not seen the heart surgeon. Callie knew Erica was there – but it was as if Hahn had an invisibility cloak. Every time Callie walked into an area where she knew Erica could possibly be, no one would be there but Callie imagined the air was a little heavier, like the surgeon had just quickly left the room. Not possible, Torres. She isn't just around some corner – she's hiding on purpose.

Callie wasn't quite sure if she wanted to find Erica, anyway. She had completely and totally misread their friendship and ruined it. There was no miracle cure for that kind of mistake. In the cafeteria, though, she thought if she could just catch a glimpse of the blonde hair to make sure that Erica was at least alive – that might be a good thing. So, on days when she ate alone and didn't have an afternoon surgery, she'd sit with her tray, jamming to tunes loudly on her iPod and wait.

She waited and waited until she couldn't wait anymore. She had imagined what she'd say if given the chance. Start with an apology. Make a joke, tell Erica that Izzie offered to kick Callie's ass in front of everyone for Hahn, if she wanted. Apologize some more, tell her it was a mistake and it would never happen again. No big deal, people would forget. She vowed not to dwell on one basic fact – and that fact was that Erica had kissed her back. It wasn't one-sided; something had clicked that night – something wonderful and unique and new and scary and awesome. But Callie would not mention it. She'd just keep that to herself, which would be difficult for her to do. She had no choice. Her sanity required it.

Erica Hahn also knows that everybody knows.

She also knows that she pushed it all too far – counting on Callie to continue being Callie, even though everything she'd done up until the kiss in the parking lot had led Callie on. Erica wasn't shocked. She wasn't tormented. She wasn't sorry, either. It had been such an amazing ride; she forgot how fun pure flirting could be. What Erica Hahn was, though, was scared.

After the parking lot, Erica had struggled to walk to her car, her knees weak and her head aching. The tears she'd shed after Richard dressed her down in front of Yang resurfaced, this time accompanied by violent shaking. She was too old to be feeling like this, like screwing up one relationship was the end of the world. But she felt so empty. She cried herself to sleep.

The next day, she didn't have any surgeries. She arrived at the hospital extra early and slipped into her office unbeknownst to anyone. And she stayed there all day, reviewing the pile of journals that had been building up over the past few weeks. And she enjoyed it so much, she did the same thing the next day. And the next. The exciting thing about being a heart surgeon was that innovations were being made on a daily basis, and she found that if she could concentrate on the straight facts and science, she wouldn't be tempted to wonder if Callie was at the hospital that day, and who she was eating lunch with.

On Thursday, when she got paged in for a surgery, she took the back stairs and did her work as quickly and efficiently as possible. She barely registered the stares of various interns, but Christina Yang was a particular problem. She must know, Erica thought, since she's not saying word on to me. Yang was not one to be quiet. And her eyes were like daggers as Erica finished sewing up the chest cavity. Christina waited until they were alone in the room.

"Dr. Hahn?"

"Yang."

"Look, I'm not a cheerleader. I'm not going to take sides here, but we both know what is going on. Callie is – well, Callie – look, we're not friends, she and I – but we have found a common ground lately. What I am trying to say is –"

"Just say it, YANG!"

Christina looked down at her feet, thinking, and then suddenly, eyes blazing, she met Erica's towering gaze. "She needs to talk to you. That is all."

Erica had a close Callie call, about a week later, in an on-call room. She had decided to take a break, untie her shoes and relax between consults when she heard Torres in the hallway – she couldn't miss that voice, it was haunting her – and the voice kept getting closer. The door opened but Erica had quickly retied her shoes and hid in a shower stall. She didn't even consider how ridiculous it was for the attending cardiothoracic surgeon to be hiding from her best friend in a shower stall, fully clothed.

Callie paused when she entered the room, but quickly went to her locker to get her bag, and left. Erica breathed a sigh of relief and exited the shower. She busied herself at her locker, planning her escape route back to her office – she figured if she waited a few minutes, she could dash to the bank of elevators down the hall and hopefully not be seen. She turned on her heel toward the door, and ran smack into Callie Torres, blocking the door with crossed arms and a lineman's stance.

"Erica," Callie said, lowly. Erica met her gaze after regaining her balance.

"Callie!"

"Were you…hiding from me?"

"No! No, I was just…shit. Okay, I was hiding. I – "

"I knew it! Look, I just want to apologize, this whole thing is my fault. If I had just - "

Callie's eyes did this thing when she was truly sorry, softening around the edges and becoming a little watery – Erica could barely stand it. It was the same look she'd had way back when Erica warned her about being an honest friend about Mark Sloan. It was something Erica could not resist.

Erica grabbed her hand, intertwining her fingers. "No, it's not your fault. I want you so badly, you have no idea. All these little flirting games, it's all my fault. Callie, I have never felt this way – and I'm violating my rules all over the place because of you. Of us. It's just going to take me some time, time to figure out how I can live in both worlds and not go fucking crazy."

Callie sat down on the bench, her body slumping forward in relief.

"I have time," she said. "I just need to know we are in this together, Erica. I was so scared, I was ready to let it all go and pretend it never happened."

"We don't need to pretend. We're not anything but human, it's just going to take me a little while to get used to the idea that I am human, and that I love another human."

Erica leaned down and tugged Callie's hair back, slowly kissing her lips. Callie eagerly reciprocated, biting lightly on Erica's lower lip and moaning. When the kiss broke, Callie leaned back and smiled her million-dollar, irresistible grin.

"Love," she said. "I can do that."