"Come on Lex! Please!" Mark begged following behind his girlfriend as they entered the bar.
"Mark, you know we aren't supposed to," she shook her head refusing as she moved to sit at the counter.
"Derek. What about you?" Mark tried asking the already sitting man.
They had been going back and forth all day now. Mark coming up with reasons to do it and Lexie shooting them all done with different rules. No matter what angle Mark took, she had a rule that countered it. Finally, Mark decided to get help. Who better than his best friend? He was sure to agree, right?
"She's right Mark. Not in the rules," Derek didn't even bothering looking at either one of them when they sat to his left, just focusing on his own drink. He stared into the whiskey, swirling it, pensive. He wasn't have a good time following the rules either. How could he? His wife was down there, living on without him. And all he could do was watch from up here.
First he was pissed off about it when he found out all he could do was observe. Then he passed pissed and moved into being bitter about dying. It didn't take very long for him to pass that stage and move to being sad about all that he was missing. After the sadness followed twinges of happiness. Watching Meredith and his children always brought a light to his eyes and a smile to his face. If watching was all he could ever do anymore, well he had accepted the fact that it would have to be enough.
That didn't mean he wasn't tempted or that he didn't have days where he really just wanted to say screw the rules.
Because he did.
Saying he didn't would be quite possibility the biggest lie anyone had ever told. Ever.
"Screw the rules!" Mark retorted. He had heard enough about the damn rules to last him a lifetime- well an after lifetime.
Oh how Derek wanted to say and do that very thing everyday. He was frankly shocked that Mark, who had been there even longer than him, hadn't already done something against the rules in his time there.
It had to be Lexie. That had to be it. She was there first, maybe she was prepped extensively on the rules before they got there for this these very moments. She had been holding steady for years already. Surprisingly she had even managed to defuse Mount Saint Mark from erupting after the on call room storm incident. He had been ready to go and rip Arizona a new one himself. If it wasn't for Lexie, no doubt he would've. Which, while interesting, would've only ended badly.
Come to think of it, Lexie had to calm both of them down numerous times. When Meredith had Ellis. When Meredith was attacked. When Amelia broke down. Basically everything that happened between Callie and Arizona triggered Mark.
It also what happened to be the cause behind Mark's latest attempts at convincing them.
Arizona and Callie were now apparently going head to head in a custody battle over Sofia because they couldn't get their heads out of their asses long enough to actually talk to one another.
Marks impeding eruption started building the second they found out Penny had won the grant. He knew. He knew exactly what Callie would wine'd up doing even before she did and he didn't like it.
He hated it even more when he was proven right.
It was probably the only time in the entire time Derek had ever known him that Mark was more infuriated about being right than by being wrong.
If it was even possible, it only succeeded in getting worse. And this time his anger wasn't directed at Arizona but rather at Callie.
Lexie had to listen to him rant and rave for hours over how stupid Callie was being for choosing the 'red headed bimbo' over her love for Arizona. If Lexie hadn't seen his upset over Arizona's lash outs and cheating she'd have thought Arizona was his best friend not Callie.
Having been living with him, she was subjected to hearing about every single different variation of his plans to help his best friend and her ex-wife. Every single one. They had been living together for four years. Callie and Arizona's relationship started disintegrating even before he had even died. To which, it only got worse. For a time, it got better. They looked like they would hold fast and stay together.
Then came Lauren Boswell.
Mark had a bad feeling about her from the very beginning. He tried to tell her. He tried so many times. Constantly saying that she needed to go. That they needed to intervene. Lexie decided on having faith in Arizona and Callie's relationship. Boy was that a mistake. And she sure heard about it the second that on call room door closed.
The only talking Mark really seemed to do for weeks after was cursing Arizona to all hell. Lexie was sure he was going to snap and find some way to strangle her or pay someone to. When he didn't, to say she was amazed at his self control was an understatement. She loved him with all her heart, and she believed in and trusted him. But she also knew him. He was Mark. Eventually, he wouldn't follow the rules. Not forever. Not when Arizona and Callie seemed completely incapable of working their own shit out.
Since that didn't look like that was changing anytime soon, it looked like the damn was coming closer to it's breaking point.
Lexie knew it. Derek knew it. The rules probably knew it too. Unfortunately that didn't mean they would stop existing.
"Mark…" she started shaking her head, eyes searching his face. His eyes were pleading.
"We can't let them do this. It's wrong to just watch it happen! I can't just watch anymore!" He protested. After everything that happened to them he would always try to fight with them to break the rules. It never worked. He knew that. He also knew that regardless of what they said, this time he was going to go through with it with or without them.
Lexie must have known that too because shook her head looking away from him before biting her lip in indecision.
"What's your plan?" She gave in turning to face him.
No matter what he thought, it didn't just hurt him to see the turmoil the two woman had been going through. It killed her to see them hurting each other as they had been. When she was alive their love and resilience inspired her. So did her sister's and Derek's but in a different way. At times she felt that she had practically been in a four way relationship. A feeling she didn't realize she missed until it became to late to get back.
"What?" Derek's head snapped up from his glass to look at Lexie. She was nodding to herself trying to assure herself that this was indeed the right decision.
"Mark's right. Look at them," Lexie sighed. Against all of her hopes, the two woman had not been able to sort themselves out and move past everything else to get back to the love. "They're taking turns tearing each other and themselves apart. We can't just watch them do it any longer. This is too far."
"You were fine with just watching before," Derek pointed to which Lexie nodded sadly.
"This isn't something they can make it out of intact. Together or not. They can't go back from this."
"And they could go back from cheating?" Derek was skeptical. He watched them fall apart for a while before he left. While he tried to stay out of it most of the time, it didn't look like it was something anyone but them could fix.
"Yes. They could've. But they can't go back with a entire country in between them." Man she thought she was difficult to convince. Derek was pulling out entirely different arguments. The lost cause argument was not one she even wanted to touch on. Ever.
"You have a plan right?" Derek asked after a minute looking around Lexie.
"Oh course," Mark scoffed. Who did they think he was? Derek and Lexie shared a look. While they hoped he had a plan, they could never be sure with Mark. "We have to get them alone in the same room."
"Then?" Lexie prompted after a minute of silence.
"Then we lock the door and leave," Mark shrugged obviously looking between them. They couldn't tell if he was being serious or not.
"You really think that will work?" Derek looked at him incredulously with a raised eyebrow. Even Lexie was looking at him taken aback. Clearly she had believed he had a better plan than that.
Sensing their doubt, he shook his head slowly, "No…?"
"You've been pushing for this for so long and coming up with so many ideas yet you don't actually have a plan?" Lexie exclaimed. There was no way she had listened to all his yelling and muttering for him to not have an actual plan.
"Not one that doesn't involve planning an accident!"
"Mark I love you, I really do, but I will not help you plan a murder," Lexie stood her ground. That was where she crossed the line.
"I never said murder. I said accident. Who said anything about murder?" Mark frowned.
"The look on your face did," Derek agreed with Lexie. The word accident definitely sounded like a euphemism for murder.
"No! Dear God, who do you take me for? I want them together but I still value 'do no harm'." Mark shook his head in disgust at their assumptions.
"Okay, so we'll figure it out as we go?" Lexie shrugged noncommittally. Not going in with a plan wasn't exactly the best idea, but they didn't really have a whole lot of time to come up with one. In the world down below, a fundraiser was currently taking place at Grey Sloan. The next morning was the custody trial. If they wanted to make a move, it had to be tonight.
"That sounds like an awful idea," Derek commented before taking the last gulp of his whiskey and setting the glass down. "But apparently, we don't have a better one, so what do we have to lose?"
"A l-" Lexie started only to be cut off.
"Don't answer that," Derek held up his hand and shook his head. "Let's just go."
"Go where?" Mark questioned as Derek and Lexie stood from their bar stools and started walking towards the bathrooms.
"The crossover is the bathrooms. Weird I know, but t-"
"Wait, it's been right there the whole time? Right there?!" Mark demanded wide eyed in complete disbelief. Seriously? He had been so close to it every day and he had no idea that it was just that easy to cross over.
Ignoring him, Derek and Lexie continued towards the bathroom, not waiting for Mark to get over his moment of disbelief.
Walking through the bathroom room door, a white light engulfed the three of them. They moved forward, through it, to come out a few seconds later back in Joe's but this time, people were milling around.
"Now we aren't supposed to be here in the first place, so don't touch anything," Lexie ordered.
They were invisible to the people of the living but their touch would still send a chill down their spine.
Normally when they only observed, they would do it from above or from a different angle, now they were actually walking past people. They actually had limited contact with the people and objects around them.
Walking through Joe's careful not to bump into anyone or thing took a good few minutes but eventually they made it out to the street.
Not thinking anything of it, Mark walked out into the street not bothering to look either direction. He was hardly a handful of steps into the road when a car drove right through him. The driver froze up and swerved nearly knocking a motorcyclist off his bike before he shook it off and was back in control.
"Mark!" Derek and Lexie exclaimed simultaneously, glaring having watched the direct connection between the events.
"I wasn't thinking! I'll be more careful!" He promised.
Somehow they managed to make it across the street and into the hospital without any more mishaps.
From there they decided to split up under the impression that it would be easier to go about the hospital in search of their targets alone rather than all together.
Lexie went to the main lobby where the event was being held, while Mark set his destination to the scheduling board. There was the possibility that one of them was in surgery, which if that was the case, would throw a big wrench in the currently non-existent plan.
Derek on the other hand decided to just mill aimlessly around the hospital halls, looking for them.
Shimmying through the crowd of people in the lobby, Lexie looked around in search of Callie or Arizona. It was only when she spotted a flash of brunette hair walking in the direction of the elevator did she have any luck.
Lexie backed up and turned around running right through a catering waiter that had a tray full of full champagne glasses and an unopened bottle. The waiters steps faltered and he stumbled forward, pitching the tray forward. Reacting instinctually, Lexie grabbed the tray, catching it. Her hands didn't go through it either, they made contact as her hands grasped the tray.
"Oh my god I am so sorry!" Her words meant nothing though as they fell on deaf ears.
Her eyes widened realizing what she had just done in a room full of people and she flung the tray out of her hands in panic.
The force that she threw it with catapulted the glasses and bottle through the air further than the actual tray.
A loud shriek cut through the crowd as several of the glasses met a woman's head, dousing her in champagne and glass. The bottle crashed to the ground only a foot or so in front of her, soaking the floor.
Her friend, another woman, rushed to help her not taking into account the now wet floor. The woman's heels caught on pieces of the bottle and she fall forward, not being able to catch herself because of the slippery floor, right into the other doused woman knocking them both backwards and onto a table full of food trays, sending them and all of the food, straight to the ground below.
Lexie took in the damage, hand covering her mouth before she remembered the brunette. She hadn't seen her face but she knew it was her, she had seen her back enough times.
Looking around frantically, she didn't see her. Glancing back to the elevators, she noticed the doors beginning to slide shut. Getting around everyone as quickly as she could, Lexie ran, slipping into the elevator only seconds before it started moving.
Meanwhile Derek was still wondering the halls when he came across a sight that made his mind stop and his heart pound. Well it would've pounded if it could still do that.
Meredith had just exited the attendings lounge, Ellis in her arms, wearing a black dress oh so similar to one from what felt like forever ago. Derek smiled thinking back to the competition they had between them on the last fundraising party. Last time it was baby Bailey. Now it was baby Ellis and Meredith was clearly using the same methods he had years ago.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a head of blonde hair and navy scrubs pass the end of the hallway. The woman was followed only seconds behind by a tall ghostly man. Mark.
He knew he said he'd help Mark, but he just couldn't bear to look away from the seat in front of him. He had, without even meaning to, walked closer, coming to a stop less than two feet away from them. Mark had Lexie. Right now, he was exactly where he needed to be.
Derek took a final two steps forward, coming to stand right beside Meredith. Slowly, breathing shallow, he lifted his hand and placed it on her shoulder.
Meredith's breathe hitched as she closed her eyes feeling a chill wash over her.
In that moment, just that moment, he was there. He knew it and somehow, maybe she knew it too.
Mark slipped into the elevator right behind Arizona to find Lexie and Callie already there.
"This is perfect!" Mark exclaimed. They were together. In one place. Maybe this wasn't going to be as hard as he thought.
"How is this perfect? The ride is only going to last a few more seconds." Lexie pointed out. She was right, they were almost to the floor Callie had selected and aside from Mark and Lexie, the elevator was silent.
Mark gazed intensely at the elevator panel wondering if he could get away with hitting the emergency stop without the being aware. He didn't get to come to a conclusion as all of the elevator buttons lit up spastically before the entire elevator was drowned into darkness coming to a shuddering stop.
There was a pause for a few where no one moved. It didn't last though as the elevator dropped unexpectedly. Callie grappled back, grasping firmly onto the railing behind her to stand her ground. Arizona who had been standing closer to the door, didn't have anything to grab to steady herself. The sudden drop caused her to stumble back where she was met with Callie's body. A arm came to wrap tightly around her waist protectively.
The elevator only dropped a floor before the emergency lights came on and it came to a sudden halt throwing them of balance once again.
Lexie looked exasperated at Mark through the red tinted light. He stood wide eyed like a kid that had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Gulping, he met Lexie's gaze.
"That's not what I meant to do."
"Of course not."
After a minute of the elevator not suddenly plunging them to their deaths, Arizona looked back at Callie, who still was holding onto her waist with a death grip. Callie looked down at her, meeting her gaze. Their eyes locked, breathing slightly labored. Elevators in this hospital were supposed to be aphrodisiac not death traps. Maybe Derek was haunting them.
Breaking their lock, Arizona pulled Callie's arm from her body and stepped forward out of her personal space. Even after all of that time apart, being that close to Callie was still intoxicating.
"Arizona-" Callie tried. She wanted to talk and now seemed like their last opportunity.
"We shouldn't talk," Arizona cut her off stopping whatever she had to say from coming out. She didn't want to talk.
"Come on Arizona, this isn't what I wanted," Callie tried again when it became clear that Arizona meant what she said about not talking after a few minutes of silence.
"Yeah, being stuck with you in a square metal death trap isn't what I wanted either. But, well look where we are," Arizona remarked gesturing around.
Callie sighed and shook her head, "That's not what I meant and you know it." When Arizona refused to acknowledge her, she threw caution to the wind and continued on, "I never wanted this. It was never meant to go this far."
"How far was it meant to go then Callie?" Arizona snapped spinning around to face her in anger. "Did you think I would get roll over and let you take Sofia away? Just like that?" She scoffed in disbelief. If that was what Callie thought then it was a good thing they split up because Callie really didn't know her.
"Of course not. But I had thought you would at least talk to me! To me! Not to lawyers."
"Talk about you about my replacement? Yeah because that was really high up on my to do list." Her sarcasm was biting but beneath it her words sent a wave of confusion through Callie.
"Replacement? Who's replacing you? What are you talking about?" Callie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"Penny. She already replaced me in your life and now you want her to do the same in Sofia's. And I just can't le-"
"She will never replace you," Callie denied shaking her head vehemently, "not in my life and certainly never in Sofia's. God Arizona, she never could even hope to come close."
"Then why?" Arizona demanded. Why would Callie chose to move across the entire damn country?
Callie looked like she was at a loss for words. Well that wasn't entirely true, she had words that wanted to pour out, she just had been burying them for so long.
Mark leaned forward slightly in anticipation.
"Come on. You're so close Cal. Just let it in. Let it in. You always told me to let it in with Lexie. Now you have to do the same. Don't lie to yourself. Don't wait. You don't have forever. You might not even have tomorrow. Don't waste it. Don't throw it away when you don't have to." Mark pleaded.
He didn't want his best friend making the same mistakes he did. He had done the same thing she was doing right now. He buried his love for Lexie when things didn't work out and he tried to move on. He truly believed he did. Until he saw the truth right in front of him. You never move on from your true love. Even in death. For him it had been too late to do anything about it while he was alive, it took him dying to realize just how much he loved her. For Callie, that didn't have to be how the story played out. He didn't want her doing what he did. Not when life could be so short. Not when there wasn't always time to go back.
Come on. You're so close Cal. Just let it in. Let it in. You always told me to let it in with Lexie. Now you have to do the same. Don't lie to yourself. Don't wait. You don't have forever. You might not even have tomorrow. Don't waste it. Don't throw it away when you don't have to.
Callie closed her eyes tightly. If she opened them she knew they would be glassy and filled with tears. She could've sworn she heard it. The whisper of a voice she hadn't heard in so long. The voice she longed to hear everyday. She heard his voice in her head from time to time, imagining what he would say. But this wasn't that. This was real. Impossible too. But she would've bet everything on it. Because she knew that voice any day of the week even after all this time and it was one she would always trust.
Opening her eyes, she just stared blankly at Arizona. Arizona looked at her intently still waiting for an answer. The answer she got, well to say it was not what she was expecting was an understatement. That didn't mean it wasn't what she wanted though.
Callie's resolve snapped and let it in. For the first time in over a year, she let herself truly feel. She let herself be her again. Let herself be the woman that jumped in with both feet. Be the woman that thought with her heart not her head, regardless of that consequences. Surging forward, she slammed into Arizona, hands coming to cup both sides of her face. She paused for only a split second locking eyes, before she crashed her lips down on Arizona's unsuspecting ones.
It took her a few seconds, but slowly, Arizona's hands rose to rest on Callie's back as she pushed back with the same ferocity. She slipped her tongue out and prodded Callie's lips, who didn't hesitate to open her mouth allowing Arizona entrance. Their lips melded and their tongues fought. It was a familiar dance but at the same time a completely new one.
Pulling back only centimeters, breathing heavily, Arizona looked into Callie's eye. Callie's eyes had darkened a few shades to take on a look Arizona hadn't seen directed at her in a long time. It made what little air she had in her lungs leave. There was something else beside the lust that she found in Callie's eyes. There was determination. This wasn't heat of the moment, angry kissing. For a minute, Arizona knew that that's what it could've been. But now she knew it wasn't. This may not have fixed things. It most certainly didn't. What it did mean however is that they would have time to fix things, which is more than they had a few minutes ago. It was hope.
With renewed vigor, Arizona grasped the back of Callie's neck and yanked her back forward, connecting their lips again. Pushing forward, Arizona walked Callie backwards until her back hit an elevator wall. Moving her hands to Callie's shoulders, she grabbed the lapels of the leather jacket and pulled them backwards, taking it off Callie's shoulders. Working with her, Callie let go of Arizona momentarily to take the jacket the rest of the way off before letting it drop to the floor.
Now free of the jacket, she flipped them around pushing Arizona against the wall before she slipped her hands up the bottom of Arizona's navy blue scrub top searching for the tie to her scrub pants. Finding it, she tugged at it undoing the knot before yanking the pants from her hips letting them fall the rest of the way to the floor.
"Okay, I think it's time we go," Lexie grabbed Mark's arm and dragged him towards the closed elevator doors.
"It's just getting interesting!" Mark whined when Lexie pulled his ghostly figure through the doors, landing them right in front of Derek.
"Still value do no harm huh?" Derek quipped sarcastically.
"Shut up," Mark muttered. He didn't mean to break it. He didn't even know how he did. "They're working it out aren't they?"
"Well then I guess it's time we go isn't it?" There was a undertone of sadness in Derek's question, like he was hoping there would be some excuse for them to stay longer.
"I think so yeah," Lexie answered quietly looking back at the elevator. They had done what they came to. Surprisingly though, they actually did use Marks plan of just leaving them alone together in a room. Not to say even the simplest of plans didn't catch a few snags along the way, because it definitely did. You just had to go to the main lobby to see that.
It was hours later before the elevator lights came back on and the doors opened.
The doors opened to Miranda Bailey. With a raised eyebrow she took in the site in front of her. Both Callie and Arizona were asleep on the floor of the elevator curled around each other. Sure one of missing their pants and the other had nothing on their torso but a bra, but it still was a sight that warmed her heart. A small smile graced her face.
"It's about time, damn lovestruck fools," Miranda shook her head.
Crossing back over, they left the bathroom only to be stopped in their tracks. Ellis Grey was there, staring at them, arms crossed, with an unreadable expression.
"My office now." She ordered before disappearing into nothing.
Exchanging looks, the three gulped before quickly exiting Joe's and walking across the street towards Seattle Grace. It would always be Seattle Grace to them. It would forever be the heart of everything.
Ellis Grey stood from her desk, looking at the three in front of her.
"Just what were you thinking? Not only did you break the rules but you nearly caused a car accident in the process. That's not even mentioning the fact that you," She looked at Lexie, "managed to put not one, but two people in the ER." She looked back at Mark, "and the fact that you also almost killed two doctors with that elevator stunt," she spoke sharply.
"It was an accident," Lexie mumbled not looking up.
"I wasn't trying to break it. Just stop it," Mark tried to no avail.
"You shouldn't have even been touching it to begin with," Ellis snapped. Sighing, she shook her head, "Just get out of here."
Lexie was the first to shoot out of her chair, followed quickly by Mark. Derek had barely even stood up before Ellis was speaking again.
"Derek," she addressed him sternly. He turned to look at her slowly. "Next time, at least hold your daughter."
Taken aback, his eyebrows shot up, "There's going to be a next time?"
"Go!" She pointed to the door, taking slight amusement in watching him scurry out. She lowered herself back into her chair once the door was closed and focused back on her paper work.
"And people say there are no stupid questions. Yeah. Right." She muttered under her breath shaking her head.
So this was just an interesting idea I came up with when I was thinking about the movie The Parent Trap a few days ago. I know the reconciliation was unrealistic and easier than it really would've been but this was just a little one shot that I wanted to have a happy ending.
This story is now being turned into a one shot collection! I don't know how many it will be made up of, the one shots will be unconnected and will not be based off of the one before it. They will all cover different events that took place throughout the years.
If you have any requests on certain moments you would like to see some ghosts fix or just interact with, let me know in the reviews! I'll take it as a prompt and run with it.
