Hi there! I'm Pha and I do not own any Grey's Anatomy character.

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House 13 Tapas Bar

Chapter I

Being in the food and beverage business is not easy, a lot of people might think the only thing you need to know is how to cook, eat, drink and be able to stand on your feet for long hours, but this business is not just about that.

There's a lot of planning involved and I mean lots and lots of planning: "Where is it going to be?" "What is my business plan?" "Do I need a loan from the bank?" "How's my place going to be called?" "What's the menu going to be like?" "How many servers will I need to hire?" "How many cooks?" "How many bartenders?" "How much is food or liquor going to cost me and at what price should I sell them?" "What do I want the chairs and walls to look like?" and the list goes on and on…

Like I said, there is a ton of planning, sounds fun right? …No? Ok, I admit it! It might not sound fun but I love it, I love every minute of it. That's what I do, that's what my family does. We've been in this industry since I can remember, even before my Daddy and my Abuelo were born, our family has been doing this forever. We've open food and beverage establishments in almost every state in the country. Food trucks, pubs, bars, cafes, restaurants… you name it, we got it.

We are successful, yes, but it hasn't always been easy, we've had rough patches but we've being able to handle them. You see? Us Torres, we don't give up easily, we work hard and as a unit, sometimes maybe too united but we pull through.

"Mija!" the voice of her father calling for her pulled Callie out of her daydreaming.

She took a big calming breath. "In here Daddy!" the brunette responded.

Carlos opened the door to her daughter's new office "Calliope, what are you doing back here Mija?" he asked as he took a seat next to her on the sofa she was sitting at.

"Just checking some last minute details Daddy, some paperwork" I look around myself, not one single sheet of paper near me… "Paperwork" Really, Callie? Carlos gave her a stern look. Busted.

"Mija, it's the soft opening night, you cannot hide in here" Carlos said softly, taking her hands in his "Calliope, I know you're afraid of public speaking but our guests are already out there enjoying free drinks and food, they're having a great time and all they need left is your beautiful sight…"

"Daddy…" Callie interrupted, knowing where his words were going, but Carlos didn't let her finish.

"Calliope, this is your baby, you wanted to be the head of the project and I let you because I trust you and I know you're great and I'm so proud of you, you are the future of Torres Company and I know you will not disappoint me when you become the CEO once I retired…"

"Thank you Daddy" Callie managed to squished in the conversation because her father just kept talking.

"…but you need to overcome your fear of public speaking Calliope, you know it and so do I, and this night is an opportunity to do it. You need to go out there, have a tequila shot, give your speech and soon it will be over. No pain no harm, just a little buzz from the tequila." They both chuckle as they stood up and started walking to the door.

She inhaled deeply. "You're right Daddy, I need to do this. Thank you" Callie said and stopped walking to hug her dad.

"Anytime Mija" they broke the hug and Callie was about to start walking again when her father stopped her. "And Calliope, you look so beautiful tonight, well, you look beautiful everyday, you're the most beautiful of my girls but don't tell that to your Mamá or Aria" he added in a lower volume and they chuckle again.

"Thanks Daddy" she said and started to walk again. She really needed to go out of the office, away from what she knew her father was going to say next and right into that room full of people to give her speech before she lost her resolve. But of course her father wasn't done yet.

"Mija, this is not only an opportunity to overcome your public speaking fear but to put yourself out there. You are a beautiful and smart woman; I don't understand why are you still single, Mija. Don't you want to get marry? Don't you want to have kids, start a family? Don't you want…"

Here we go… I knew he just couldn't stop at "I'm proud of you, you're beautiful, let's go to give your speech and drink tequila shots" he had to go again about my love life. You see, when I said that maybe sometimes we are too united, this is what I meant. In my family, my big, huge Latin family if you're not married by the time you are twenty five and with a kid on the way, then there must be something wrong with you. And that's when it starts: The Love Life Nightmare, as I like to call it. In every, and I mean every opportunity any family member has to question why you are single, they do; and an incredible phenomenon starts to happen: friends and friends and more friends of cousins and uncles and aunts starts to pop out of nowhere and guess what? Apparently they all "want to me you"… Oh the horror of blind dates! I don't even want to think about it…

"Calliope… Calliope" Carlos shook her a little bit, pulling her out of her mind for the second time that day. Callie had space out while her father kept going, reciting the questions he always did. "You're not even listening to me, Mija. Is that it? You don't care I'm not going to be an Abuelo or that your Mamá won't be an Abuela? You're going to kill me Calliope, I'll die without grandchildren. I don't understand, you're so smart, brilliant at you job, the future of our company but why do you sabotage your love life? Why don't you settle down and…"

Oh there we go, The Guilt Trip, one of my father's favorite cards to play. Let's try to understand a little bit how my father sees the World. In hi's head, people need two things in order to be happy, one being Family, and the other being Work. So, in order to be happy and fulfilled in his eyes you need to be successful at your job (check!) and need to be happily married with a dog and 2.5 kids (not so check…) All this, of course, by the time you are twenty five, if you're missing one, then you're unhappy and lonely and there most be something terribly wrong with you, so he tries to "fix" you, hence The Guilt Trip. First he complements you because you're brilliant at your job but then he tries to make you feel guilty because you're single and apparently trying to make him die without grandchildren. See how that makes sense? No? Good, because it doesn't; but he's my Dad and I love him and I know now that all this nagging is because he loves me.

"…and walk you down the aisle Mija, and dance with you at…" Carlos was on a roll.

"Daddy" Carlos didn't listen "Daddy!"

"What?" He looked at her surprised.

"We've talk about this before; I do want to get married someday and…" Callie was interrupted by her Mamá, who came walking toward them in a fast pace.

"There you are! What were you doing back here?" Lucia asked "We've been thirty minutes into the soft opening and it's time for your speech Callie"

"She wants me to die without grandkids, Lucia" Carlos accused, sounding more like a child than a grown man.

"Daddy!" Callie looked at them wide eyed, while her Mamá gave a stern look. "There's no need to be so dramatic, I've told you that I do want to…" but Lucia interrupted her, again.

"Mija, why would you want that? I want grandkids too. Oh! And a big wedding…" Lucia continued with a glint in her eyes, for sure imagining the ceremony. "Oh! You'll look so beautiful Mija, white dress, hair down, radiant smile, and a handsome man or a beautiful woman waiting for you down the aisle…"

Yes, you heard that right. My very traditional Christian family is so obsessed with the idea of marriage and children that, years ago, when I came out to them as bisexual all they had to say was "Is there still a chance of a wedding and kids?" I have to laugh at the memory, they are so crazy and annoying sometimes, but I love them.

"Mamá, Daddy, please stop it, we've talk about this before; and right now we need to focus on the soft opening and guests and the food and drinks and see what goes wrong so we can fix it by the time the grand opening arrives, ok? Please? Can we just focus on something other than my love life? I'm feeling a little ambushed here"

Carlos looked a little embarrassed "Alright Mija, I'm sorry" Carlos said kissing her cheek and reassuming the walk to the main floor of House 13 Tapas Bar. Lucia also kissed her and followed her husband "…but this conversation isn't over!" he added from the end of the hallway.

Oh I know, apparently it never is.

Callie closed the door to her office and walked down the hall to the main floor of the bar.

The place is packed, that's good, but then again who says no to free food and drinks? Nobody, that's who. You see, in a soft opening the owners invite friends, family and people from the community to a free tasting of the menu; it cost you some money, yes, but it's great publicity and allows you to see how the place functions, it lets you see errors in time to fix them before the real paying customers arrive on the grand opening day. The soft opening gives you information and that is invaluable.

"Hi Cris, can I have a tequila shot, please?" Callie asked one of her bartenders as she leant on the bar.

"Got it" she said while pouring the hard liquor into the shot glass. "A little liquid courage?" she teased and put the shot at the bar top, Callie drank it in a second.

"You know it" They've been friends for years, Cristina was quite aware of the brunette's fear of public speaking and her love for tequila, the liquid that brought them together. Callie eyed the now empty shot glass "Maybe I should do another…"

"No" Cristina interrupted and took the shot away from Callie.

"Ok, I guess I won't." Callie chuckled. "I can fire you, you know? Denying me service! To your own boss, how dare you?!" she teased in mocked offense.

"But you won't, because you love me and I make kick ass cocktails" Cristina said while pouring rum in a shaker. "Plus you don't want to have tequila breath while speaking to guest"

"Yeah… yeah… God, I hate this speech thing, Cristina. Can you just say it for me?" she said while looking around, people looked pleased with the food, servers weren't lost at wrong tables, music wasn't too loud and people were able to have a conversation. So far so good.

"Cal, just do it. You just had your liquid courage; you look hot, you know your shit, just get it done. It's just a bunch of stupid words" Cristina said a little annoyed.

"Nice pep talk"

"What more do you want from me?" She shrugged and poured the finished cocktail from the shaker to a tall glass; a server came and took it to a table.

"Nothing. Those were beautiful words Cris, thank you, very inspirational" Callie said before making her way to the DJ where there was a mic waiting for her.

Ok, time for this stupid speech.

Hi again!

So what you read was the first chapter of my first story, please let me know what you think, did you like it? Hate it? Should I continue or not? If the answer is yes, awesome!

I'm looking for a beta because English is not my native language so I need a little help, also I'd like to bounce some ideas about the upcoming chapters, so if you're interested please send me a private message here or Twitter: phanomas.

Thank you for reading!