First and most importantly, I Own nothing. All rights belong to the brilliant Shonda Rhimes and ABC. I am just visiting ShondaLand. Lol
A/N: I thought it might be interesting to see some things play out differently. I don't want to go into too much detail, because then why would you need to read the story? I should note that they are doctors in this story, but I don't plan on leaning too heavily on the medical aspect, I may be too lazy to look up all the medical jargon. Or we could just say I want to spend more time writing about the characters…Sounds better, right?
Chapter 1
Callie:
"Well, well, well." Enter Cristina Yang. "The phrase 'Look what the cat drug in' seems like it would be a compliment. You look like shit, Torres. "
I would say, Yang lets whatever she's thinking fly right out of her mouth, but that would imply that she has thought about what she is going to say, even for a second. I'm pretty sure her mouth works faster than her brain.
"Cristina, not today." I put my bag down and look for my pager. "Where is Meredith? Did everything go okay after I left?" I check my pager battery and pour a cup of much needed coffee. Drinking an entire bottle of wine as soon as i got to my apartment was not the best way to handle being angry. I grab my lab coat checking my pager one last time. I need to be out of the Attendings lounge and headed to my floor, before anyone realizes that I'm late or that…
The doors bursts open and a very tiny, very angry looking woman walks in.
"Callie Torres!" Miranda Bailey, usually just Bailey to us, is not a happy camper.
"Would you care to explain, to me, why the head of Peds and my Trauma Attending are nowhere to be found?"
Wait, what? Nowhere to be found? I snap my head towards Cristina who has instantly found a spot on the floor very interesting.
"Aww, Bailey! You look happy today, are you happy?" I have no real "out" here, so I'm trying flattery.
Cristina snorts, "Bailey is never happy, unless we have some new surgical toy, or some gross bugs have invaded and set up shop in someone's stomach." Cristina puts her stethoscope around her neck while chuckling, clearly amused by her own joke.
Bailey, however, is not amused. "Out Yang! Oh and when we finally locate our head of Peds you are needed for a consult. I know how much you love the children." Bailey just holds the door open with that look that says 'Please challenge me'.
"Tiny hearts mean tiny sutures. I will live in infamy, Bailey! And of course, I will be helping the poor, poor tiny.. people.. things. Bye Torres!" Cristina cackles and turns the corner leaving me and Bailey alone.
I can't help a small grin as I think back to when Yang was a resident and tried to get on a Peds rotation. I knew it was a horrible idea, but the sheer joy I got out of watching her make "Teddy Bear" voices, that terrified the kids, was so worth it.
Bailey turned on a dime and set her icy glare towards me.
"Why are you grinning like a fool? Never mind, I don't care. Torres, I hold you responsible and do not tell me it wasn't your fault, I already no it was. I'm Bailey, I know everything.' Unfortunately, this was true, it kind of makes you wonder if she has super powers or something?
Bailey straightens her lab coat out and continues, "Find them, preferably alive, and …"
Bailey softens a bit.
"…Please make sure the damn girl is ready. I'm sure you are feeling the pressure, it is an overwhelming thing and I know you have your opinions." I roll my eyes. "But she chose you, and she is one of our own. We take care of our own."
Bailey opens the door and pauses with a faint smile playing at her lips. "You know, these are our people, Torres. Even when they are acting like complete and utter idiots. They are our idiots."
Bailey walks out and two residents screech to a halt, barely missing her, and dropping their coffees in the process.
"Dr. Edwards and Dr. Wilson!" I immediately move closer to the door to see what's going on. " Just because you somehow were competent enough to make it as first year residents, does not mean I don't anticipate, every single day, that you will prove this program wrong, and kill innocent people. Either by scalpel, or apparently by running them down in the hallway!"
A good old fashioned Bailey rant always makes me smile, when I am not on the receiving end of course.
Bailey puts her hand up to stop their millions of excuses that were definitely on the way. Baby surgeons, they never learn.
"No, save it. I do not care what miraculous discovery you think you have made. I do not care what Dreamy doctor has given you a sense of entitlement by batting, his or her, dreamy eyes at you. And I sure as hell do not care who that coffee, that is now a safety hazard, was for!"
Bailey is huffing and clearly about to kill someone. I step in to save these two before they get a chance to say something stupid, and send Bailey over the edge.
"Um, Wilson, Edwards…Walk away before the big bad wolf blows your very poorly made houses down."
The two residents give me a look that tells me one, if not both of them, has pissed their pants during this exchange. Ah, being in charge really does kick ass.
In unison they reply, "Sorry, Chief Bailey." And take off down the hallway.
I pat Bailey on the back as I move past her. "Its times like these I am deeply grateful I wasn't Webbers favorite." I smirk and head towards the elevator to find out exactly where my idiots are.
Chief Bailey. Who would have thought?
Two Hours Later..
"Hello! You have reached April Kepner. Sorry I missed your call, but leave your name, number, email, office extension, or …." I end the call. Only April would ask for every possible way to get a hold of someone.
I turn the corner doing my best over-the-top April impersonation "Or if you can remember the address of your childhood home, leave that at the beep and I will stalk you!" I love Kepner but she has to be taken in small, spread out, doses sometimes.
I walk past an empty room, and then backtrack and stop in the door frame. I look down and see the bottom of a black dress peeking out from behind the privacy curtain.
"You have got to be kidding me."
I pull back the curtain and the sight I am met with, normally, would be very comical. But the fact that I have just spent half of my morning looking for these two has made it significantly less humorous.
Arizona Robbins, or better yet, Dr. Arizona Robbins Head of Pediatrics, is laying face down on a gurney, clutching a bottle of Champagne. (Snoring louder than I would have thought humanly possible) She is still in her extremely expensive dress from last night, but is missing a shoe.
As if this wasn't bad enough, her partner in crime, April "I can hook myself up to my own banana bag" Kepner, is in the empty gurney beside her. April is sans dress, wearing only her bra and a pair of spanx. She is clutching the missing shoe, and has apparently, successfully hooked up her own IV to lessen her hangover aftermath.
I have to give her credit, I didn't think April would be the one to go rouge and use the banana bag. That has Robbins written all over it. She was not a good hung over person if there is such a thing.
I don't even know where to begin, I want to take a picture, but they both look like just having to be awake today will be torture enough. I look around the room for Kepner's dress and then I hear footsteps in the hallway.
"Oh My God! How did they? I don't even understand how this is possible. Where the hell are Dr. Kepners clothes?" Wilson was in the middle of a freak out and Edwards was holding two fresh cups of coffee, looking like she was two seconds away from bolting.
"Get in here, and shut up." I pull both residents in the room and close the door and blinds. "Great job spilling the coffee earlier. I said to find these two, give them aspirin and coffee, and to do it how?"
Both look toward their feet.
"Wilson, how did I say to do it?"
Wilson looked apologetic. "Discretely, you said to do it discretely, but.."
I cut her off.
"Nearly killing the Chief of Surgery, or at the very least, giving her 3rd degree burns is not discreet!"
I hear mumbling from behind me and see the two drunkards are starting to show signs of life.
"Shhh, this is a hospital!" Arizona lifts her head but still has her eyes shut.
Now April chimes in and is pointing at us with the stolen shoe. "Yeah, show some respect!" I wonder when she will realize that she has no friggin' pants on!
I look back at dumb and dumber. "If I remember correctly, I saw you two outside of the party. I proceeded to call a cab for the alcohol poisoned twins" I point at April and Arizona. "I gave you very simple instructions to put them in said cab, and get them to Meredith's house last night!" I looked at them expectantly but neither said a word.
"You guys made it through Med School, you made it through intern year, and you are, by the grace of God, making it through residency. How were my directions not impossibly clear?"
Edwards takes a deep breath and steps forward. "Dr. Torres we did, we put them in a cab after the party, but, but then we got a massive incoming from the bus crash. It was all hands on deck and, and, and we were right there across the street from the hospital, so we just..."
"They said they would be fine, they were in the cab!" Wilson had found her voice very quickly.
I motion to the two barely alive, barely dressed, surgeons sprawled out on hospital beds. "Do they look fine!?"
"Well, Dr. Kepner looks happy.." Wilson nervously points to Kepner who is now cuddling with Arizona's shoe.
How is this my day? "Out! Out, out, out, out!" This is why everyone still thinks of them as interns, I get it now. The future of medicine concerns me. I look over at the "present of medicine" and shake my head. Today is going to be rough.
Three Hours Later
"You know you could have just called me. I wouldn't have minded coming and getting them." Jackson Avery used to just be a pile of money with bedroom eyes and abs to me, but I've grown to see he has a good heart…somewhere in all of that..pretty.
"I know, but I was in charge of the bachelorette party. I really wanted everything to go well especially after all of the warnings Bailey was handing down to me. Plus, you guys had plans to hit strippers off of the roof or something…" I am standing outside of the makeshift dressing room I had the wedding planner throw together in one of the lounges.
"Golf balls, we were hitting golf balls instead of going to a strip club. You know, never mind. Saying it out loud is not really helping my case." Jackson nervously fidgets with his tie.
I sigh and straighten it for him. "I guess I don't fully understand why you two are going to such great lengths to appease your families. Is it really that hard to tell your mommy that you two eloped like 5 months ago?" I can't seem to pass up a chance to fluster Jackson, it's too easy.
"You have met my mother, correct?"
"Yeah. Bitch scares me." Jackson just nods in agreement, Dr. Catherine Avery really is not someone I would want pissed off at me.
The door starts to slowly open so I get Avery moving down the hall. "I know you are already married, but she will kill me if I don't take my "fake maid of honor" duties to heart. Go on."
Cristina pokes her head out to make sure the coast is clear. "They do know this is crazy for even our group of nut jobs right?"
"Yes. We have covered how insane this makes us all." I smooth my dress out.
Cristina moves a step closer to me, and lowers her voice. "Okay, before you start in on me, know this: Tequila was involved and I cannot be held responsible for my actions or lack there of." She waves her hand like she couldn't possibly be held accountable.
"Cristina! I had to leave and I specifically told you, and Mer, to go to her house and wait for them to get there. If you had done that, you would have realized they hadn't made it home and we wouldn't have had Bailey ready to murder us all, or have the bride and bridesmaid still wasted at work!" I shouldn't be surprised. When I left I did have to physically put my hands on Yang's shoulders, to stop her dancing long enough to relay my message.
Cristina suddenly perks up. "Well you practically flew out of there! I didn't have time to process, and then Roller girl came over and said she needed to be drunk, right away. Oh, oh! Then Kepner came over and for once her voice was at a normal octave so I let her drink the rest of my bottle, because I am a saint." Cristina smiled dreamily. "I really like the Double AA Batteries when they are full of tequila, a lot more fun." Cristina gets a curious look on her face. "More importantly, what exactly were you and Robbins fighting about? Trouble in paradise? Oh oh I bet that's why you left early."
I ignore the last part of her explanation. "So you just let them drink the entire bar and then mosey on over to the hospital, where they found the champagne that was being stored for today's reception?" Cristina just shrugs her shoulders. "They are fine, no harm done. You really have lost your edge Torres."
"Bailey hounded me for weeks about how I was to not let it get out of hand! The Avery's contribute an absurd amount of money to the hospital blah blah blah." I mimic the speech Bailey has told us all a thousand times for one reason or another.
Cristina is looking at me like she still doesn't see the problem, where is Meredith when I need her? "I'm still not sure I even want to see what they look like, not if it is at all like I found them this morning. God Catherine Avery is going to be front and center of this train wreck. If the bride and bridesmaid throw up at an Avery wedding, I will never live it down." I think it is very clear that I did not really want to be the maid of honor, I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time really.
The door clicks open behind us and I hear someone asking for me. I walk into the room the Wedding planner has set up, and see April standing alone surrounded by the fluffy fabric that was the train of her dress.
"Wow, you look. You look very beautiful April." The tears are welling up in both of our eyes. I know I really didn't see the point in them doing all of this, just for show, but seeing my friend in her wedding dress confirms why she is doing all of this. You do it because it's the love of your life. That simple.
April wipes tears from her eyes. "I uh, Gosh I can't be crying already!" She lets out a tearful giggle. "I just want to thank you, for the party last night and for.." April motions around the room. "..just for being a good friend. I don't know what I would do without you and Arizona, I really mean that." I hand April tissues from the table.
"Speaking of which, is she alive?" I see the door crack open and know immediately that my best friend for the past 6 years is pulling her classic "You say sorry first" bit. I always lose at this game.
I walk in the bathroom, where I am met with Arizona in a matching pink bridesmaids dress. It somehow looks more eloquent on her, I think everything does though.
"Hi." She speaks so softly I have to strain to hear her.
"Hi, Arizona." I can't believe a few short hours ago this person before me was literally clutching a Champagne bottle passed out on a hospital bed. Now she looks more beautiful than I have ever seen her.
"So about last night.." She looks at me like she is expecting something, and I know what it is.
"I'm sorry okay." I couldn't ever really be mad at her, and the problem is she knows it.
From the first day she ran me over on her Heelys (aka death contraptions) I was a goner, even if I would always be held at arms length, as just a friend.
"I didn't mean to walk in on your conversation, Arizona. And I didn't mean to pick a stupid fight, it's not my place to tell you what to do. I am your best friend and I should just be over the moon happy for you. I think you should do whatever is going to make you happy."
Arizona tilts her head and squints her eyes. She always does this when she is trying to see if she should call bullshit, or if she should trust the information she is being given. It is completely endearing, but she is completely endearing, so I shouldn't be surprised.
"I don't want this to change anything between us. You are my best friend. I value that more than you could ever imagine." She is staring directly into my eyes, she hasn't even blinked. I know she means what she is saying.
"It won't, Arizona. I promise." I really want to mean this promise. I grab her hand and give it a small squeeze. "Ready to be a fake bridesmaid?"
"I just don't want to puke on an Avery, I really like being a doctor and I'm pretty sure the Avery's control all of medicine." She gives me a dimpled smile and pulls me out of the bathroom to join April.
"Bailey has really put the fear of God in us all, hasn't she?" I laugh and close the door.
The Next Day
Meredith hands me Bailey, and goes over to sit with Cristina who is intently playing with Zola. "The wedding really was beautiful Callie, you did a good job."
I shift the baby on my lap while he reaches for my heart necklace. "No, I paid a good wedding planner, but thank you Meredith." I kiss Bailey on the head, I never thought I would be holding Meredith Grey's baby, in Meredith Grey's dream house, but here I am.
"The food was the real highlight, and of course the open bar." Cristina never fails to enlighten us on what is really important.
Meredith silently nods in agreement. The twisted sisters, I never thought id be included in this friendship, but I am really glad to have them on my side. Most of the time.
Meredith hands Zola a toy from the couch. "Actually the talk after the wedding is what really surprised me. Is it true Callie? I mean you guys are best friends, you have to know right?" Meredith looks over at Cristina, who just shrugs and looks at me curiously.
I let out a sigh and snuggle Bailey a little closer. It is nearly impossible to keep secrets at our work, and by the time we all get back, it will be an even more elaborate tale than it was to start with, so I might as well be upfront. Arizona knows how the rumor mill is so I know she wont mind.
"Yeah it's true." I put on a fake smile.
"Isn't it a little, I don't know fast?" Meredith takes a sip from her mug.
"I would say a little young, but what do I know?" I try to keep my voice even, I don't need them to know I am in full disapproval, even though I am working very hard not to be. It's a work in progress.
"I say go for it. The young ones will keep our minds sharp for the OR." Cristina picks up a doll and says something that makes Zola laugh.
I smell cologne and look behind me; I didn't even hear the front door open. "What are you guys talking about?" Alex Karev walks in and throws his keys on the table. We really are one very big dysfunctional family.
"Your mentor is getting hitched too, it's in the water." Meredith gets up and takes his keys from the table. "This" She points to the keychain "Is a choking hazard." She walks over to the kitchen and puts the keys on the bar.
Alex rolls his eyes and grunts. "You are such a mom, Grey." He walks over and bumps Meredith on his way to get a beer. Grey and Karev really are more alike than I had thought, over the years the two of them have really gotten a lot closer. It took us all a while to see past the very, very, tough and rigid exterior of Alex Karev. I would never admit it to her, but we all know Arizona had a lot to with making him a tolerable human being.
Cristina gets up and sits back on the couch by Meredith. "Just think, if you hadn't gone all Private Practice on us, you might be marrying Robbins, Karev. Well if you weren't Evil spawn, and a male I guess." Cristina clinks beers with Karev as he sits beside me.
"Gross, she is really going to do long term with Quadruple P?" Alex groans and chugs his beer. "Well not gross, because she is hot, but marriage? Gross."
I roll my eyes, but I kind of agree with the gross part. "Okay it has been long enough, you really can't keep calling her that." I don't really mind, but I feel the need to defend my best friends..choices. "Besides, Peds Prospect Polly Preston, is now Peds Fellow Polly Preston. Soon to be Robbins, I guess. Because you left to go be Jr. Butthole, and opened up a spot for her!" I hit Alex on the back of the head and Bailey laughs on my lap. "See even he knows it's your fault."
I try to keep it light, but in all honesty I'm not thrilled about this. Polly Preston (Better known as Peepee or Quadruple P, by surgeons nonetheless) joined our hospital last year and was immediately smitten with Arizona.
I thought it was just a fling but apparently I was wrong. It doesn't help that I have played the role as her best friend for 6 years, when deep down I know that I will always be in love with Arizona Robbins.
I know she only wants us to be friends, well I don't know that, but I assume that. I have every right to assume though, she has always seen me as a friend, and I can't blame her because she doesn't know any better.
I have become a master at hiding my feelings towards her; she doesn't even know I find women attractive, let alone that I have been harboring feelings for her since the day we met. I don't want to even chance losing her as a friend, so I have to accept that she may have truly found the person she is meant to be with. Karev is right, gross.
I'm brought back to the conversation that has been going on without me when Alex speaks up. "You know what the real funny thing is out of all of this?" He looks around waiting for an answer. "Now, Torres will have to be a maid of honor at another hospital wedding, what is it...always a hospital bridesmaid never a surgeon?"
Cristina laughs. "Oh Evil Spawn, how the mighty have fallen. That was lame even for you. I am starting to not loath you, for leaving anymore." Alex sits up. "Yeah, right you miss me you just can't admit it." Cristina throws a pillow at Alex. "I miss getting to scrub in on all the surgeries you botched."
Meredith laughs and rolls her eyes at the two friends. "That is true though Callie; Arizona is not picking anyone else in this entire world to be there for her at the wedding."
Cristina gets a very serious look on her face. "Oh God, you don't think Roller Girl will make us be in the wedding do you? I am not being a skating bridesmaid, in a wedding that will look like My Pretty Pony threw up all over. I have a reputation."
Meredith and Cristina start talking about all of the horrible things they expect to be at this wedding, and how they can get out of it. At on point Cristina says she will gladly stage Meredith's kidnapping, to get them excused from the festivities, because she is quote "her person".
While the twisted sisters think of ways to fake their deaths, Alex leans over and whispers in my ear. "Don't worry, I'll pack a flask, only way we will make it through." He pats my shoulder and takes Bailey off my lap.
I lean back on the couch and cross my arms. Realization sinking in that I will have to stand up there beside the woman I have been in love with for six years, and smile, while she marries some kindergartner. I will need more than just a flask.
**Well, there it is. I have more things in mind to do. This follows the show to some extent, but I took a lot of liberties with storylines. If there is any interest in this let me know. I look for this story to have a lot of humor, but of course there will be some drama. I always like stories that really show the journey of how people get to where they are. For me, because we know Grey's so well, it is a lot of fun to show things slightly different. Maybe a different pairing here and there, or a character we never really got to know much about. (I always wondered about Peds Prospect, Polly Preston) lol Okay, let me know if I should upload more.