Author's Notes: I just had to write something...not just something pertaining to the lovely Mark/Callie - ness on Grey's Anatomy, but just...something, in general! I'm gonna be posting more chapters for my Breakfast Club story in December, cuz I'll have more time then, because my winter break starts at the end of November.
...This site is also scarily deprived of Mark/Callie fanfictions, so I thought I'd make a contribution.
Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's Anatomy, or any of the characters...cuz if I did these two would OBVIOUSLY be together by now!
I Need You
Mark Sloan was tired.
There had been a huge house fire in the suburbs, which meant burn victims...which meant a long day for Seattle Grace's top plastic surgeon.
...Twenty - seven hours, to be exact.
So when he finally caught a break (after three remarkable surgeries, if he did say so himself) he had headed straight for the on - call room to take a nap.
...It wasn't until his head hit the pillow and he was seconds away from sleep, that he realized he hadn't seen Callie Torres all day.
Fifteen minutes later, the door to the on - call room banged open, and Dr. Derek Shephard, world - reknowned neurosurgeon and Mark's best friend (who had just become a pain in his ass), walked into the room.
"Oh, good, you are in here...!" he exclaimed, and slammed the door behind him.
"...OK, at the risk of sounding like Karev...dude, I'm tryin' to sleep here!" Mark grumbled, without opening his eyes. "So if I did something, or Meredith did something, or your mom did something..."
"...My mom? What's she got to do with anything?" Derek asked.
"Nothing, she's a lovely woman, just get out and leave me the hell alone for fifteen minutes!" Mark snapped, as he rolled over to face the wall.
Derek paused, and was actually about to turn back around and leave, when he changed his mind, walked across the room and sat down at the foot of the bed.
"I forgot Meredith's birthday," he said.
"So buy her roses," Mark mumbled "...in fact, go and do it now, no time like the present. Don't forget to close the door behind ya."
"That's not the point," Derek replied.
"Y'know how you're always complaining about how Yeng jumps into the bed with you and Meredith in the morning, and you always end up having to leave the room...?" Mark suddenly asked.
"Yeah, so?"
"Well, since you're so used to it, would ya mind doing it now?" Mark asked "...and even if ya do mind, just - !"
"Hey, Meredith is not the only one who should get to complain to about us to one of her friends!" Derek argued. "I have stuff to complain about, and you're the one I get to complain to!"
"Can ya save the complaints for about fifteen minutes?" Mark asked.
"No! I really can't!" Derek replied.
"Derek, I've been here for twenty - seven hours - "
" - Well, I've been here for nearly thirty!" said Derek.
"Twenty - seven is nearly thirty!" Mark pointed out, sticking the pillow over his head and clamping down on it.
" - But you haven't spent all of those hours hanging around your girlfriend, who's mad at you for forgetting her birthday, which isn't even for another three weeks!" Derek explained.
"OK...fine," Mark grunted, taking the pillow off his head and sitting up. "For the next two minutes, I will care about your pathetic little situation."
"Thank you!" said Derek.
"You're welcome, now...the issue seems to be that you forgot Meredith's birthday," Mark began.
"But I didn't because it's still not for another three weeks - !" Derek tried to argue.
"That's right," said Mark, "but for Meredith, it's still a problem because you still forgot when her birthday is. See, it's not like you completely missed her birthday, so luckily, you didn't forget when her birthday was, but you did forget when her birthday is."
Derek stared blankly at him for a second, then, as realization dawned on him, his eyes seemed to widen a little, and he turned his gaze to the empty space in front of him.
"...I forgot when Meredith's birthday is..." he mumbled. standing up.
Mark nodded.
"Roses," he said, "go for roses...it's the ultimate forgiveness flower. And if that doesn't work, go for something different, yet equally girly."
"Like what?" Derek asked.
"...I dunno, you've been dating her for a while now, shouldn't you know?" Mark asked.
"Yeah, I probably should..." Derek muttered.
"Maybe you could gift - wrap another organ in a jar, she seemed to love that last time," Mark suggested.
"...I'll think of something, thanks Mark," said Derek, as he headed for the door.
"No problem, just do me a favor...?" Mark called after him "...if your brilliant idea doesn't work, go to Callie. She's a girl, she knows about the girly stuff...I'm goin' to sleep."
Derek had just put his hand on the doorknob, but when he heard his friend's comment, he turned around and gave him a puzzled look.
"Torres? She's not here," he said, as if Mark was supposed to know that already.
Mark stopped re - fluffing his pillow and looked over at Derek.
"Oh, does she have the day off or somethin'? Cuz come to think of it, I haven't seen her all day - "
"- No, Mark, that's because she's not here anymore," said Derek "...she quit."
For a split second, Mark was frozen...then he stood up, suddenly not tired anymore.
" - The hell she did!" he exclaimed "...when?"
Derek shrugged.
"She gave her two weeks notice," he said.
"...When?" Mark asked again.
Derek paused for a moment before answering.
"...Two weeks ago."
"...That's bull," said Mark, as he moved past Derek, toward the door "...it's gotta be, she would've told me - "
"...The Chief said she was keeping it quiet, I thought you knew - "
"- I didn't!" Mark snapped, as he barged out of the room.
" - Mark, I'm sorry!" Derek called after him.
But Mark barely heard him as he practically jogged down the hall, searching for Chief Webber.
As he turned the corner, he looked up and saw the Chief talking to Christina Yeng on the second floor, near the railing.
"Chief - !" Mark shouted, trying to get his boss's attention.
Both the Chief and Christina looked down at the sudden noise.
"...Can I help you Dr. Sloan?" the Chief asked, slightly irritated, as Mark came running up the stairs.
"Dr. Torres..." Mark breathed, winded from the run up the stairs.
"What about her?" the Chief asked.
"Where is she?" Mark asked.
"Well, she no longer works here anymore, Dr. Sloan, so it's not no longer my responsibilty to keep tabs on her whereabouts," the older man replied.
"Why didn't anybody tell me she was leaving?" Mark demanded.
"It was her decision to keep it quiet, Dr. Sloan - "
"But somebody should've - somebody could have told me she was leaving...!" Mark argued "...Damnit, no one here was closer with her than I was!"
"...Hahn was close with her," Christina quietly pointed out.
Mark glared at her.
"Hahn left," Mark retorted, his words dripping with venom "...she deserted Callie, and this hospital...and I don't really give a damn about her right now, I just wanna know about Callie!"
" - Calm down, Sloan!" ordered the Chief.
"...Can you at least tell me where she's going?" Mark asked.
His boss sighed, because he'd seen that look on Mark's face before...on Derek, when he was concerned about Meredith.
"...She mentioned something about a job in Boston that she was considering," the Chief told him.
"Didn't Dr. Hahn get transferred to Boston?" Christina asked.
...And that's when it clicked.
"Did Torrez mention when she was leaving?" Mark asked the Chief, his voice steady and even...and kind of freaking Christina out.
The older doctor nodded.
"...She said she was catching her flight on the sixteenth of this month," he replied "...when's that?"
" - Tomorrow," both Christina and Mark answered.
"I gotta go," said Mark. With that, he turned sharply around and started back down the stairs.
"...Hahn sucks," he grumbled, to no one in particular, as he reached the bottom of the stairs and headed straight for the locker room.
Forty - five minutes later, someone was pounding on Callie and Christina's door.
Groaning loudly, Callie reluctantly got out of bed and trudged toward the living room.
" - For God's sake, Christina, I saw you grab your keys this morning - !" Callie began, but stopped when she opened the door and saw Mark Sloan standing in her doorway.
"OK...you're not Christina," she said.
"Nice observation, can I come in?" Mark asked, as he walked past her into the apartment.
"Uh...sure," Callie muttered, as she closed the door behind him."What do you need, Mark?"
That was when Mark turned around to face her. He was standing a few feet away, but the lamplight caused her to see the look in his eyes pretty clearly.
...And his eyes did not look happy.
"Hahn sucks," he said.
Callie sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.
"OK, if we're gonna argue, can ya just gimme a minute to put some pants on?" she asked, as she headed into her bedroom.
"She sucks, Callie!" Mark called after her "...and yet,you're still going after her!"
Callie then came back into the living room, wearing an old pair of dark red sweat pants to compliment her black tank top.
"Mark...this isn't about you," she said.
"It's not about you either," he replied. "Erica left. She left. She didn't even say goodbye to you, remember? She just up and deserted you. She left the great job she had at a great hospital because she's stupid and stubborn and someone who clearly doesn't deserve you!"
"Mark, don't do this..." Callie pleaded, her voice just louder than a whisper.
Mark didn't listen, instead, he took a few steps toward her.
"She left and you cried in the OR, you remember that?" he asked."You sobbed your heart out and I held you for like, twenty minutes until you stopped crying, and I did that because I care about you...and the woman who had the sobby little "revelation" after having sex with you hasn't even called."
"How do you know she hasn't called?" Callie asked.
"...Because you've been wearing the same look on your face for the past three weeks," he told her,"and that look says ' she hasn't called'."
Callie opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, trying find something to say in response.
"I just - I have to go find out, Mark..." she said. "I have to go find out if - "
" - If what? If she still cares...?" he asked "...did you hear anything I just said to you? She hasn't called, she hasn't e-mailed, she hasn't sent any kind of message in any form that would imply whether or not she's dead or alive! She's cut her ties with Seattle, Callie, she's done here, she doesn't believe that she needs you anymore!"
"Well, maybe I need her!" Callie fired back, her eyes tearing up and her emotions running high. She then turned and began to head back to the bedroom.
"Just stay out of my business, Mark...!" she ordered.
"I can't!" he shouted.
"Why not?" she asked, as she wheeled back around to face him.
Mark didn't answer her at first, he just silently walked over to her and put his hand on the side of her face, running his thumb up and down, over her cheek.
"...Because your business, is my business, Callie," he told her "...because I care about you, because I need you. Erica doesn't need you, I do....who else am I gonna deflect Derek on when he's got his petty little girlfriend problems?"
Callie just stared into his eyes, not saying anything at first.
"...Bailey can do it," she finally said.
"Bailey's too harsh, you can let him down easy while helping him at the same time," he said "...y'know, so I don't always have to do it."
Callie smirked.
Mark then let his free arm wrap around Callie's waist, pulling her just a little bit closer.
"...Stay for me," he said "...instead of leaving for someone who doesn't care, stay for someone who does. I can be there for you Callie. I can protect you, I can listen to you, I can be selfish with you...just promise you'll stay with me."
Callie stayed quiet, just staring into Mark's eyes for what seemed like the longest time, before she said -
" - OK."
Mark smiled, then leaned in to kiss her.
It only took a few seconds for the kiss to grow more passionate, and for Mark to have her up against the wall.
Suddenly, Mark broke the kiss and gave Callie a curious look.
"...What?" she asked.
"Callie...when's your birthday?"
:P
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- IGottaFindYou