A/N: Thanks again to everyone who stuck with me through this entire story. Your reviews and encouragement were all wonderful! I leave you with this epilogue (with a twist) that I hope you'll enjoy. :)

The days following Erica's disappearance flew by. The house phone rang constantly with well wishes from Erica's rescuers. At first Erica felt sick with embarrassment, but with each call, she found herself relaxing. These people genuinely cared about her. They'd never do anything to purposely embarrass her. Even Mark Sloan was a perfect gentleman about it, and the dirty pretty man whore had seen her naked.

Erica spent nearly three hours on the phone with Dr. Wyatt, who called her from her cruise in Bermuda after her after hours call service notified her of Erica's near-death experience. Dr. Wyatt assured Erica she'd bill her for the ship to shore call. Erica didn't blink an eye at the cost, but she did embrace the therapy and Dr. Wyatt believed her when Erica said she was stable enough to not need another session of therapy until Dr. Wyatt returned two weeks later.

After lunch the next day, Richard Webber showed up at their front door. It took all of Erica's resolve to sit down with him at the kitchen table and not run and hide in another room. Richard apologized to Erica for trying to bring Preston Burke back. He proposed a plan to Erica that he felt would be beneficial to both Erica and the hospital. A week later, when Erica felt ready to return to work, she scrubbed in and oversaw Cristina Yang as she did her first solo valve replacement. Erica walked her through each step, and when it became necessary, she stepped in to correct a potential mistake. The surgery was almost entirely done by Cristina Yang, but under Erica's strict supervision. Every carido-thoracic surgery thereafter was conducted in that manner. Cristina was learning and Erica was fulfilling her duty as a teacher. And every once in a while, Erica got to hold the scalpel and make a precious cut or two. It wasn't full-time surgery, but it was better than sitting around doing consults day in and day out.

Two weeks later, Erica and Callie got dressed up in brand new Jason Warner dresses and painted the town red after a fantastic fashion show in downtown Seattle. Maria had helped them with their hair and makeup, and sat patiently and painted their nails for them. Maria happily chatted away about Callie's prom and her college formals. Erica realized for what would not be the last time how much she missed out on as a child and teenager, but with every little thing that Maria did for Erica, the hurt that had been caused by missing out was slowly repaired.

Six weeks after her last MRI and her adventures in the sea, Erica Hahn was finally cleared physically and emotionally to go back to full-time surgery. Callie and her mother planned a small surprise party for Erica at Joe's bar, and watched in amusement as Erica got mind-numbingly drunk and danced part of the night away with none other than Mark Sloan. And Mark Sloan, whose new leaf really had become his life, acted once again like a perfect gentleman. Callie and Erica celebrated the next morning when Erica awoke not only hangover-free, but free from any post-concussion, alcohol-induced headaches. Said celebration had included a lot of sex, and despite their efforts to keep it quiet, their celebration had sent Maria Torres for a long, long walk around the neighborhood.

Eight weeks after she came home from the hospital, Maria Torres was cleared by a tearful Erica Hahn for the flight back to Miami. Four days after that, they'd packed up Maria's belongings and brought her to the airport. They stood in the parking lot long after Maria's flight was scheduled to take off, simply because Callie wanted to watch her mother's plane fly away. Unsure of which plane was really her mother's, they watched the planes take off for nearly two hours before heading home. The days following Maria's departure were sad ones, lightened only by the frequent phone calls from Maria. Erica shined when Maria would ask Callie to hand the phone to Erica when they were done speaking. Callie hid her disappointment over the lack of communication from her father quite well, though Erica knew how much it hurt her and she did her best to take her mind off of him.

One year after their first kiss, Callie surprised Erica again with a new set of luggage and plane tickets. They were going back to the spa to celebrate their anniversary. Not to be outdone, Erica packed a surprise of her own, in the form of an engagement ring. Erica made sure to keep the ring in her pocket at all times, fearful that it would meet the same fate as their sex toys had in their luggage a year earlier. She needn't have worried about the luggage or Callie's response when she'd popped the question. Callie was so shocked and surprised that she almost couldn't speak, but when she did, her resounding "yes!" echoed through the same valley they'd overlooked a year before when they had tried to plan a way to tell Callie's parents about their relationship.

Despite what they'd originally said to Jessica and Amanda, the two women decided to marry in California and not Canada. Addison hosted a beautiful ceremony and reception for them at her house on the beach. She cried when Callie asked her to be their maid of honor. Callie cried for most of the morning when just her mother had arrived for the wedding, but she'd known all along that her father would not be there. By the time the ceremony was ready to begin, Erica had calmed Callie and the two of them looked absolutely radiant. Callie's mother walked Callie down the aisle; Mark Sloan had gotten the honor of escorting Erica up to the justice of the peace. Jessica and Amanda had taken the news about not having the wedding up in Canada very well, and were pleased to have been invited down to California for the event. They enjoyed several days exploring Los Angeles after the wedding was over. Erica and Callie spent six weeks touring Europe for their honeymoon. They returned to Seattle exhausted and elated. They spent days regaling their coworkers with stories from their trip.

Two years into their marriage, Callie finally broached the subject of children with Erica. Erica knew the conversation had been coming- Callie had been watching Meredith Grey waddle around Seattle Grace for weeks as she carried Derek Shepherd's baby. What Callie didn't know was that Erica had been spending a lot of time watching the babies in the nursery, wondering herself what it would be like if she and Callie had a child of their own. She was surprised to realize that she really wouldn't mind it at all, that she actually looked forward to it. After much discussion, they decided that they would harvest eggs from both Erica and Callie and implant them in Callie after they found a suitable donor. They decided they wanted their children to be exactly that- their children. Not just Callie's child. Callie's willingness and outright excitement at the prospect of carrying a child still puzzled Erica, but she was happy that they were taking this step in their lives together.

Addison happily came to Seattle and performed the egg harvest on both of them. She explained that while it was feasible that an egg from Callie and an egg from Erica would reach full term, it was likely that any children produced as a result of this procedure could be all Callie's or all Erica's and that once they were implanted. Addison would have no way of knowing which baby was which. Addison laughed when the two responded in stereo that it was a risk that they were willing to take. The two of them spent the day following the egg harvest as roommates in their own hospital room, jokingly bitching to one another at just how painful the experience had really been.

Days later, the two women sat in the lounge and leafed through a catalog from a sperm bank. They had so far been unable to find a donor they felt was suitable. They wanted a donor whose physical features matched one or both of them, but who also appeared to be intelligent and healthy. Mark Sloan overheard them when he had entered the lounge to grab a can of soda. Erica almost fainted when he offered to be their donor. It was true that he'd become a good friend to both Callie and Erica in the years since Erica had stolen Callie right out from underneath Mark, but Erica felt that his offer was crossing the line. Callie on the other hand, knew about Mark and Addison's aborted baby and how much Mark had really wanted to be a father. It took another several days of discussion between the three of them before they were satisfied that Mark could be the donor if he agreed to take a largely hands-off approach to the child's upbringing. He could be Uncle Mark if he wanted, but not Daddy. Mark was okay with that, and within days they had the legal paperwork drawn up by an attorney.

It took all of Erica's resolve to be strong and not cry with Callie the first time they implanted the fertilized eggs into Callie but she failed to get pregnant. The second time the procedure failed, Erica's resolve failed and she cried right along with Callie as they looked at the negative sign on the home pregnancy test. Two weeks after Callie's third and final attempt at implantation, Callie woke up alone. Erica had been called into the hospital during the night for a trauma and she hadn't returned. Feeling hopeful, Callie stopped at the lab at the hospital on her way into work and took another pregnancy test. Afraid of what the results would be, she didn't stick around to find out. She headed off for her shift, hoping for a distraction to take her mind off of what could possibly be her last chance at motherhood. Callie got the distraction she was hoping for when the Chief called her into his office later that day and made her head of orthopedic surgery. At the end of her shift, Callie returned to the lab and picked up her file. She had been walking on air after she'd gotten her promotion, but the news she read in her file had her gripping the counter at the lab with white knuckles.

That night, when Callie returned home, Erica was standing in the kitchen with a bottle of champagne. Erica grinned at Callie as she popped the cork, congratulating Callie on the promotion she'd known was coming for weeks but had been made to keep silent about. When she poured two glasses of bubbly and went to hand one to Callie, Callie just grinned at her and shook her head. Puzzled, Erica asked her if she wasn't happy about the promotion. Beaming, Callie replied that she was happy about the promotion but even happier about her pregnancy. Erica dropped the glass she was holding and let it shatter on the floor as she pulled Callie into her arms and kissed her. The champagne and the broken glass in the kitchen remained forgotten as Erica and Callie celebrated in their bedroom instead.

Callie's pregnancy had been rather uneventful, and they were thankful for it. At Callie's first ultrasound, Addison (who had once again flown up to care for Callie) detected two strong heartbeats. Callie was having twins and the news caused both women nothing but elation. Callie and Erica spent the remainder of Callie's pregnancy speculating over the babies' genders (both wanted to be surprised) and whether the babies would look like just one of them or both of them.

In Callie's ninth month, Addison flew up to Seattle and stayed. Callie had gotten as big as a house and Addison knew that Callie could deliver early. The babies were healthy and already in position for birth. Erica, Callie and Addison were sitting in the hospital cafeteria one afternoon when Erica's pager went off. A trauma was rolling in and she had to take care of it. She leaned over and kissed Callie on the cheek, promising her she'd try to be home in time for dinner. When Erica left, Addison looked at Callie with narrowed eyes and asked her how far apart her contractions were. Callie was surprised- she hadn't said anything to anyone because her contractions were still so far apart and her water hadn't broken. Sensing Callie's question, Addison said that she made her living delivering babies, and that she'd just had a feeling she'd be delivering Callie's babies that afternoon.

When Richard Webber and Cristina Yang barged in to Erica's operating room two hours into the delicate trauma surgery that had interrupted her lunch, Erica knew something had to be wrong. Richard beamed at Erica and told her to scrub out. Callie was in labor and asking for her. Without hesitation, Erica handed the reigns over to Cristina Yang. Cristina had, indeed, turned out to be a fine cardio-thoracic surgeon.

Erica arrived in Callie's room just as Eric Torres-Hahn entered the world. He fussed and wiggled, but didn't cry much. He bore a striking resemblance to his blond-haired, blue-eyed mother. Minutes later, Sloane Torres-Hahn made her worldly debut, kicking and screaming. There was no mistaking the attitude: it was all Callie. If the attitude hadn't given away the fact that Sloane was definitely Callie's child, the fact that she looked exactly like her brown-haired, brown-eyed mother certainly did. Later, the two women snuggled on Callie's bed and held the sleeping infants while they cried silent tears of joy. Mark Sloan stopped by, having gotten the news earlier that day but staying away for a while to respect the privacy of the new mothers. He too shed tears of joy when he found out that one of the children that he'd helped to bring into the world had been named in his honor.

Erica knew that with each milestone that passed in their lives, Callie regretted not being able to share it with her father. Maria Torres had come back to Seattle to see them often, and she spent the first six weeks after the babies were born helping the two younger women ease into motherhood. Callie asked about her father often, and Maria kept her replies brief and general. She didn't tell Callie very much because she knew that each detail she shared with Callie hurt her because she'd missed out on it.

Two weeks before the babies' first birthdays, Erica caught them on videotape laughing hysterically at faces Callie was making at them. Erica emailed the video to Maria Torres, hoping it would brighten her day as much as it had brightened theirs. When Maria opened the attachment to the email, the unmistakable sound of Callie's voice and the raucous giggles of two babies met Jesus Torres' ears. Curiosity got the better of him and he watched the video over Maria's shoulder. Maria pretended she didn't notice he was standing there as she replayed the video over and over again, laughing along with it.

The Saturday after the twins turned one, Erica and Callie threw a first birthday party and invited all of their friends from the hospital. Maria Torres was flying in that morning. When the doorbell rang hours before the party was slated to begin, Callie beamed because she knew that her mother had arrived. She handed Eric over to Erica, who was already balancing Sloane on her other hip. When Erica heard Callie gasp after opening the door, she raced as fast as she could to see what was wrong. She nearly dropped both babies as she watched a beaming Maria Torres follow a hesitant Jesus Torres into the house.

"Hola, Mija." He said quietly, and Callie wrapped her arms around him in a tearful hug.