Lynx Book 3: A Callie Torres Story

23

"So your girl runs this whole place?"

"Yes she does," Jada answered happily as she continued to show Grace around the hospital. "And she's the best."

"Callie is the Chief of Surgery, and the hospital CEO. Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd, two of the doctors here bought the place and it's run by doctors. Everyone on the board unanimously voted Callie in charge."

"Didn't she do orthopedics beforehand?" Grace asked.

"She still is an orthopedic surgeon," Jada answered her sister. "I might be a little biased here, but I'm going to brag about my wife. Callie's one of the best orthopedic surgeons in the world. People travel from all over to have procedures performed by her. She doesn't do them as much anymore but she'll always come down and help if they need it."

Grace giggled as they continued to tour the hospital. "How in the hell did you end up married to a surgeon with how squeamish you are?"

Jada shrugged. "I ask myself the same thing when Callie comes home and tells me about how some girl fell out of her treehouse she was living in and broke both her legs."

"What?" Grace asked incredulously.

"Callie came home one day and told me how she operated on this girl that lived up in a tree house. She would never come down. So she would lower the crap bucket to her friend who would clean it out and put food in it to send it back up. And then she fell out of the tree."

"What the actual hell?" Grace asked in astonishment.

"I'll have Callie tell you some of the stories later," Jada said. "She tells them a lot better than I do."

They continued walking through the hallway and up the stairs that would lead to the pediatric unit. "J, I'm sorry for how I treated you when you came out to me," Grace started.

"You don't have to apologize," Jada said quickly.

"But I'm going to," Grace protested. "I shouldn't have been hard on you and I shouldn't have said the things I did. I shouldn't have attacked you over it. I was so rude to you and Callie and I'm really sorry for that."

"It's okay," Jada said softly. "We're past it."

"I know, but I just really needed to say that. I shouldn't of been judgmental to you and Callie. Callie is great. I'm really happy you found her. I remember when I used to beat up the kids on the school playground who were bullying you. I guess part of me wasn't ready to realize that it's Callie's job to protect you now. I shouldn't of been a complete bitch to you and her. I always had a feeling you were gay and I'm sorry I reacted that way. You know I love you and accept you and I'm so glad you have Callie and Sofia."

"I remember when I decided to come out to mom. You had left for your first tour and I didn't know how you were going to react because you were still disappointed about the softball thing. I thought mom would accept me, but she really did. Then her and dad would fight about it a lot."

"I'm sorry about that too," Grace said softly as they continued to walk. "I know coach played you because you were the better player. Even though I didn't say it then, I really appreciated you trying to switch positions for me."

"Thank you," Jada said quietly. "But can we keep that in the past?"

"Absolutely," Grace replied.

"You should retire after your next tour," Jada said, switching the subject to Grace's military service. "Mom said you only have one more year before you can either re-enlist or retire. You've done so much and this is going to be your fifth tour. Come move up to Seattle and be with mom, Callie, Sofia, and I."

"I've been thinking about that," Grace said. "My military service would pay off college, and I was thinking about going to college for something."

"It should take care of your college," Jada said. "How many years?"

"13 years of service going strong."

"Yeah, you're coming home in a year because I said so."

Both Jada and her sister laughed as they continued to walk down the hallway. Jada stopped in her tracks when they turned the corner and saw the tall blonde she'd heard so many things about.

"Hey, you good?" Grace asked after seeing her sister abruptly stop and stare down a woman who was standing in front of a computer in the hallway in front of them. "J? Jaelynn?"

"I hate that fucking bitch," Jada growled under her breath.

"That blonde girl?" Grace asked. "Who is she?"

"Erica Hahn," Jada answered hotly.

"Who's she?"

"One of Callie's ex-girlfriends who was a complete bitch to her."