Epilogue

July 1996


He dumped his bags, keys, and kicked the door closed. "Honey, I'm home." He ignored the red flashing light on the answer phone, flipped off his shoes and padded to the kitchen. Coffee gurgled in the pot, he noted the timer had been set to five minutes before he'd arrived home. "Cal?" He frowned and poured himself a coffee and leaned against the counter. Home, after a gruelling tour fresh from the two months in Europe, he was finally home.


Where on earth was she? All he wanted to do was crawl into bed and die but he needed to see her first. He wondered back through their expansive New Jersey home, medical text books were stacked high on the dining table like jenga towers. God, she never stopped. He chuckled, like he could talk. Callie was in her final stages of her residency and when she was done they were taking a long holiday where the words "hospital" and "tour" would be illegal.


He headed upstairs to their room and laughed, the blankets were rolled back and the curtains drawn. God, she knew him so well. She must have been still working, her hours were crazier than his tour schedules. He dressed down and sunk into the bed. Her scent was buried deep in the pillows, yup he'd missed her. He didn't remember falling asleep as the light of the en suite burned against his face. He squinted, "Callie?" He rubbed his forehead, sat up and groaned.


"Relax, lie back down, I'm joining you in two seconds flat, I'm dead." She was a vision even in her blue scrubs. Her dark hair that had been bleached by the sun tumbled low around her shoulders.


"Do I even get a kiss?" He reached out and hooked his arm around her waist, she squealed as they both tumbled back into the bed. He locked his hands at the base of her spine and he groaned as her soft body pressed against his.


"Jon!" She giggled and their noses bumped. He captured her mouth in swift kiss and tasted her. "How was the hospital?"


She sighed into his neck, "exhausting but good." He stroked her hair, she was amazing and she never complained. She was doing what she loved, and like him sometimes it came at a price. He'd learnt it the hard way after the New Jersey tour which reduced him to shreds. Callie had been there to pick up his sorry ass and kick him back into reality. She was his girl and after seven full years together he knew he was a lucky man.


"I'm done," she murmured. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the weight of her.


"Me too babe, I'm so ready for a break."


"No, I'm really done, it’s over. I'm officially a surgeon."


He grinned, "You are? He tipped her chin to meet his gaze. "Well shit, look at you, why are we still lying here? We need to celebrate!"


She buried her face back down in his chest, "too tired. Feet hurt. Brain-dead."


He sighed, "OK snooze first, then we go out."


She moaned, "OK. Can't we just order in?"


Jon chuckled, "alright let me take care of that, Dr Richards."


Jon reached for his phone, punched out a few texts and then wrapped his arms around Callie and joined her in a quick nap.


~


She blinked and rolled over, her head still heavy with sleep. "Jon?" Was it just a dream he'd been home? She squinted at the small white square he’d left on his pillow.


I’m downstairs.

J


"God," she raked her wild hair out of her face, sat up and stretched. She’d bled for the best part of five years in that hospital and finally it had paid off in ways she could only dream about. She had been offered a permanent surgical position as a junior surgeon. It was rare for someone so fresh and so quick out of their residency to secure such a thing, but she’d done it. She smiled, she couldn’t wait to tell Jon and had saved it for a moment when they were both fully functional.

They had a month off together to look forward to, as she made sure that she didn’t start till September, and god she couldn’t wait to do nothing. She couldn’t remember the last time that they both could do that. She scooped her hair back into a clip and went downstairs.

"Jon--I holy crap!" She smacked her hand against her heart as she rounded into their living room and their parents, the band and a few close friends stared back at her.

"Surprise!" Richie handed her a glass of wine, she blinked. Well hell. She didn’t quite expect this.

"What are you doing here? You just got home!" She looked down, "oh my god I'm still in my scrubs!" The room laughed and the skin up her neck flushed. She was going to kill him.

"We couldn't miss the news, you're officially a doctor now." He dramatically clutched his chest, "I think I need an exam--nakey." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Oh dear god Richie," she kissed his cheek. "It's good to have you guys home."

"It's good to be home, here he is!" Richie raised his beer in Jon’s direction.

Jon flashed a grin as he came back in from the deck, "and there she is! Nice digs babe," he ducked as she swiped his head. She fingered the arm of his navy blue thermal, “your note didn't tell me to get changed, I thought it was just you down here," she hissed.

"You can't tell me you didn't think I was going to let this go by quietly. I'm hurt, how well do you even know me?" His smirk reached his baby blue eyes, a fleck of golden honey hair fell across his face.

They met in a kiss and held it little longer, "well enough that we should be in bed having sex right now."

He bit on her bottom lip and groaned as she subtly slid her knee between his legs. "Oh, that's coming. Don't worry your pretty little head about that."

A sharp cough behind her tugged her away. "Mom, Dad- hey." God, how did he ever get her parents here? They were not the spontaneous type at all.

"Hi darling, we're so proud of you." Her mom kissed her cheek and Callie smiled as her Dad shook Jon's hand, then wrapped her in a hug.

"You did good honey." She blinked away tears, her father seldom showed his emotion but when he did, he meant it. He'd accepted she was becoming a doctor but it had taken time for them to become close again, it would never be like it was but she had his respect and that's all that mattered to her.  

"Thanks, I'm glad you guys could come. I'm going to murder Jon for letting me come down in these old things."

She chatted with her parents, Jon's parents, and their friends. Through the years her and Jon had entertained constantly this house, she could hardly remember when it was just the two of them but that's who they were. Jon had opened her up, in ways she would never dream were possible.

David refilled her glass, and they all looked up when Jon stepped up onto the Ottoman and tapped his glass. "Oh lord," she muttered.

"Ok, thank you all for coming. We're celebrating something special, my girl is a bonified doctor after years of slavery, I don't know how you did it Cal but hell, I know you worked your ass off, so here is to my girl. The Doc."

She smiled as they raised their glasses, "thank you," she mouthed back to him. He was full of damn surprises and always knew ways of keeping her on her toes, that was Jon. Expect the unexpected. He coiled his arms around her tight and she rested her chin on his shoulder , "I love you. God, I missed you."

He chuckled and gently soothed his hands down her back over her ass, cupping it firmly. "I missed you more, and you know I love you too."

No one stayed long, they seemed to know they needed their "we" time. S he had never felt so overwhelmed and loved in one night. She finally showered her day off and slid in between the sheets and sighed, "mmm so good." She stretched her legs out to soothe the pulsing ache through her body.

He rolled on his side and pushed up her Cami, drawing lazy circles across her belly. "Me too, we're sleeping till noon tomorrow and then we're deciding where to go on vacation."

Her smiled widened and she closed her eyes, "mmm Vacation," she purred. "Somewhere hot, where no one will ever find us."

"I was thinking Bora Bora."

She groaned, "oh yes. Bora Bora," she whispered sinking back into the pillows already imagining it was hot sand pooling around her. "You have my vote."

"I was thinking...." she cracked her eye open on his pause. "It could be our honeymoon."

Her eyes flew open, "our what?" They'd stayed content over the years, living in sin, hell they'd been too busy to do anything else. But now? She wasn't one of those girls that longed for a pretty white dress and millions of flowers, but now?

"How about it? I think it's time we got married."

"Jon--I..." words caught in her throat. It'd thrown her so off guard, like he always did she mused. Married? Now?

His eyes zeroed in on hers, and his lips twitched. "Go on you know you want to, I'm quite the catch."

She burst out laughing, "oh big ego have we? I don't know about that. You're hardly home, you're messy when you are, you can't cook, you don't clean..."

He rolled in, and pressed himself up against her, his lips millimetres from hers. "I just pay people to do all those things for us, so when we are home..." his fingers trailed down and ran along the elastic band of her scrubs. "We can be naughty."

She pushed his hair back and cupped his jaw, god love him. "I got offered the surgical contract, I start in a month." She'd been waited for the right moment to share it with just him, and the intimacy of the moment caught up with her.

His eyes widened, "you did? Already? Holy crap woman! That's amazing!" He kissed her squarely on the lips, "I'm going to marry a surgeon."

Their teeth clicked as she laughed, "I didn't say yes yet."

His kiss went sweet to hot, sizzling down her skin. "You will." She closed her eyes and arched under him and he laid claim to her, the joy bubbled inside her.

She nipped his chin and held him still, "yes."

He grinned, "yes," he whispered sealing the deal with a kiss. "I know just the place."

"Oh yea?" God, she was marrying him...it felt strange, but it felt right. He was her lover, he was her best friend and she knew he always would be.

He wiggled his brow. "Atlantic City baby."