Ten Song Challenge:
1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.
2. Turn your music player on and turn it on random/shuffle.
3. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering.
4. Do ten of these, then post them.
AN: So I chose to use Callie. While she isn't the center of each, she is involved in everyone of the drabbles. Actually most are Mark/Callie.
1. Stitching Leggins-Kate Nash (Callie)
Failure.
It only takes one word for Callie Torres to sum up her life. The word's appropriate she thinks as she runs the past year through her head while she lies shamelessly on the cold pavement outside her apartment building.
It's raining and she may have twisted an ankle, but she doesn't really care. She stares aimlessly into the street. It looks cold, lonely and very much like somewhere she'd be, because misery seems to follow her. She sighs, ready to give up on the world, but as she turns her head slightly, she catches it. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the elderly couple waiting at the bus stop share a tiny kiss. Their fingers intertwine and that's her signal. Callie lifts herself from the ground, stepping lightly on her injured ankle. She straightens herself up and turns back just in time to watch them walk hand in hand onto the bus. As they disappear she smiles to herself because despite her disaster creating abilities, there are still things in the world that even she can't fuck up.
2. Hay Unos Ojos-Linda Ronstadt (Derek, implied Derek/Callie)
Her eyes are gorgeous and captivating. It's damn near impossible to stare into them and not fall in love. He knows that's going to be his biggest problem in the future.
It's not going to be that hair or that beautifully bronzed skin or that dazzling smile he can already see forming. It's going to be those eyes.
One look from Jocelyn Cassiopeia Shepherd and they'll be ready to die for her.
Just like daddy.
3. I Belong To You-Lenny Kravitz (Mark/Callie)
Somehow they always end up here. At the bar. With each other. But he doesn't complain because this is where it all began.
Mark can't recount how many times he's turned to find Callie chewing on a straw, with a fist under her chin, or sending Joe a buzzed giggle. Over time he's come to realize that this is where he wants to be.
"Joe, another round. And some nachos, give us an order of nachos."
Mark steps off his seat and reaches for Callie's hand.
"What are you doing?" She asks curiously.
"Wining and dining you." He says proudly as her empty glass is replaced with another Gin and Tonic and a basket full of over-cheesed nachos is placed in front of her.
"Why?" She raises a perplexed eyebrow.
"Isn't it what you're supposed to do on an anniversary?"
"Anniversary?" Her eyebrows knit closely.
"I'm offended." He retorts playfully, running a thumb through the crease in her forehead.
"What?"
"I thought you'd remember."
"Remember what?"
"A couple of years ago, I walked into this bar and picked up this very, very memorable brunette who does this really great thing with her…owe."
Callie pulls her arm back from having slugged Mark in the chest. "I picked you up that night."
"If I hadn't offered to buy you a drink, you would've never asked me to come back to your room."
"You don't know that."
"Are we going to sit here and argue or are you going to dance with me?"
She stares at his hand for a few seconds before smirking up at him. Grabbing her hand, he yanks her off the chair and leads her to the makeshift dance floor.
"I'm choosing." Callie roguishly shoves him aside and makes her selection. He groans expecting the usual no nonsense upbeat number that always has her dancing circles around him. But Mark smiles as the voice of a young Sinatra blares through the jukebox speakers.
"A crooning love song. Trying to send me subliminal messages?" He teases.
Callie rolls her eyes and walks into his arms, "you wouldn't be able to keep up with me if I'd picked anything else."
Mark glares at her, feigning anger. "Don't mock me Torres. My dance skills may not be-"
"Mark," she mumbles against his shoulder, "shut up and enjoy the moment."
He chuckles resting one hand on her lower back while the other gently grips one of hers. They fall into an easy rhythm and his eyes slide shut when she leans into him, resting her cheek against his. Mark's nose digs into her hair and he's sure this is where he belongs. Where she belongs. Where they belong, with each other.
4. A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes- from Disney's Cinderella (Mark)
"Honey I'm home!" The cheesy line echoes through the house and soon enough, Mark hears tiny feet pattering in his direction.
"Daddy!"
"There's my princess!" He bellows, lifting the energetic five year old into his arms. Before he knows it, he's engrossed in a longwinded tale about Sandra, a girl from Lily's class, and her puppy Chester, who she brought to school for Show and Tell. Somewhere in between the pleadings for another dog and his weakening refusal, Callie emerges from the kitchen.
"No more dogs." She says firmly and with that, the subject is dropped . Mark chuckles as his daughter shrugs, asks to be put down, and trots happily toward the toy box in the corner of the room.
"You're waddling," he smirks, turning his attention to a potbellied Callie.
"Yeah well, I'd like to see you pregnant." She grumbles, continuing her easy pace.
"That's physically impossible," he counters slyly, stepping forward to plant a kiss on her lips. "How are my boys?" Mark beams proudly, gently resting one hand on her abdomen.
"Good." She wraps her arms around his neck as his hands slowly fall to her waist.
"Good," he replies back, pulling her in for another kiss, that slowly deepens. She giggles against him and swats at the hand lowering down her back.
"Stop it."
"Stop what?" He growls, lowering his head to kiss her neck, smiling as her fingers dig into his hair.
"Mark."
"Mmm."
"Mark."
"Mark," Lexie shakes Mark's shoulder roughly, "Mark!"
"What?" Mark grumbles angrily.
"I promised Ryan I'd help him study for the exam," she smiles innocently, sliding a hand over his bare chest. "I have to go."
"Okay." He grouses, ignoring the disdainful look she shoots him. After a few seconds of silence, Lexie drops a chaste kiss on his cheek and heads for the door. Mark the boyfriend says to go after her, to apologize, to give her a proper good-bye kiss. But Mark the dreamer, he says to lie back against the bed, to drift off to sleep once again, to dream.
After only a second of weighing his options, Mark burrows underneath the covers and presses his head against the pillow. He'll deal with the consequences of his decision later, because right now, his heart is telling him to sleep.
5. Fix You-Coldplay (Mark/Callie friendship)
"I love you."
Mark watches Lexie freeze, one arm dangling out of the brown cotton sweater she's wearing. She finishes pulling it over her head and stands awkwardly rubbing an elbow. She's not smiling or speaking or giving the reaction he expected.
Her eyes are slightly widened in shock. Mark shifts uncomfortably as her fingers shoot to her frowning lips while the other hand twiddles with one of the buttons on her abdomen. She looks like a child, one who's just done something terribly wrong. This is the first time he sees her innocence. While her life has been anything but easy, he wonders if she'll every be able to fully understand the difficulty of his.
"You ready Lex?" Meredith calls from the stairs. The words pull them from the awkward silence.
"Yeah, I'll be right down." Lexie calls back.
Wordlessly, she grabs her jacket and swings open the door. He brightens a little when she turns back to look at him, but her eyes are apologetic and she leaves without saying a word.
Mark charges through the house without hiding behind corners or avoiding loud voices. Ignoring the baffled stares of the other tenants, he goes out the front door and walks, following the path of streetlights along the sidewalk.
It's 1:39 and he's not surprised about where he ends up. He rings the buzzer once and doesn't attempt to ring a second time, the way he usually does. He hears clattering from behind the wooden door and soon the knob is turning.
"Mark?" Callie asks, hair disheveled, sweat pants and t-shirt wrinkled, eyes squinting.
She only takes a second to stare into his eyes before ushering him in. They walk steadily past the living room, kitchen, and bathroom to get to their destination. Callie opens the door to her bedroom and Mark walks in solemnly. He hears the door shut behind him, but he doesn't move.
"I don't want to talk about it." He says simply and she nods removing his jacket.
"Let's go to sleep." She suggests, pulling down the sheets.
He silently agrees, perching himself on the edge of her bed to remove his shoes. Finally he settles next to her, turning to face the opposite direction.
"Mark," she calls softly behind him.
That's all it takes, within seconds, Mark buries his face in her shoulder and wraps his arms around her waist. Callie's chin rests on the top of his head, while one hand rubs his arm lightly and the other fingers through his hair.
She doesn't know what happened, but she does know that he's broken.
And it's up to her to fix him.
6. In the End-Linkin Park (Derek, Callie)
"What's wrong with you?"
Derek pulls his drink away from his lips and cocks an brow at the curious Latina beside him. Narrowing his eyes, he stops to think for a second before divulging any information. "I proposed and she said no."
She looks unaffected and he can't understand it.
"I've been through hell. I walked in on my wife and my best friend having sex. I tried to start a new life, but they followed me and made things complicated. Then things got fixed and now, now when we're happy, she says no."
She doesn't stroke his ego like he expects, she doesn't offer a you don't deserve that, she simply raises a mocking eyebrow. He turns back toward the bar, he'd rather wallow in self-pity than try to get someone else to be empathetic.
"My husband cheated on me with his best friend," he looks back at her, "I was demoted, my first girlfriend left without saying a word, my now ex-girlfriend thinks we've drifted apart whatever that means, I lost one best friend to LA and other to your," she pauses, "to your whatever. But in the end, there are worse things in the world than our woes."
He tilts his head in understanding and looks up at Joe.
"Two more."
Once the drinks are filled, he slides a glass in front of her and half heartedly smiles. She takes it and he raises the mug.
"Bottoms up."
7. Apple Blossom-The White Stripes (Mark)
She's Callie Torres, dark haired ortho vixen, fiery ball of confidence who brazenly picked him up the night they met.
This frantic, worried woman stumbling through the hospital, it isn't her.
"Callie, are you okay?"
"A baby was lost on my watch. I am Chief Resident. I am responsible and the chief, he gave this to me and I blew it and now a baby's missing. So no I'm not okay."
"No. No you are not okay."
When she stops and turns slowly to face him, he knows that he's right, she's far from okay. And for the first time in his life, he wants to know why.
8. Canned Heat-Jamiroquai (Mark/Callie friendship)
"…and then she said it was nice to see us together, that father/daughter bonding nowadays was almost nonexistent."
Mark glares at Callie's failure to hold in her laughter.
"Shut up."
"I'm sorry," she chuckled, "I just, it's funny."
"It's not, it's awkward and weird and wrong and-"
"And not the first time it's happened." She says smirking.
"What am I doing?" Mark asks seriously, resting his forehead in his palm.
"What?" Callie furrows her eyebrows at sudden mood shift.
"She wants to dress as Danny and Sandy for Halloween." Callie fights to suppress her amusement while Mark continues. "She wants me to dress up for Halloween. I don't do that. I don't want to do that."
"So don't."
"What the fuck am I doing?"
She's never seen Mark so flustered or confused and she doesn't really know what to do. Giving him a hug and telling him everything's going to be okay doesn't seem fit, but sitting in silence while he deepens in thought doesn't feel like enough. Chewing her fingernails, Callie darts her eyes around the room in search of a solution to Mark's current state of depression. After seconds she finds it.
Wordlessly, she sidles up toward the entertainment center. Looking over her shoulder at Mark, who hasn't moved and clearly finds no interest in anything other than the patch of carpet directly in front of him, she powers the stereo and turns up the volume.
Her body finds the beat quickly. She dances for minutes before Mark finally gives in.
"What the hell are you doing Torres?"
"I'm baking a cake," she replies sarcastically, "what does it look like I'm doing?"
"I know what you're doing. I just don't know why you're doing it."
"To help you feel better I guess," she shrugs nonchalantly.
"It might work if you occasionally removed an article of clothing," he smirks and even though she shouldn't, she grins right back. Laughing she pulls him off the couch and begins to move.
"Come on Sloan." Finally his resolve breaks and she watches with adoration as he fumbles awkwardly along her living room floor. Callie smiles when she finds him laughing uncontrollably, almost dropping back onto the couch. She's not exactly sure when they became Cristina and Meredith, but dancing it out really does help clear someone's head of worries.
9. Crazy-Aerosmith (Mark/Callie in my mind, but really could be anyone)
It's unhealthy. No man should tolerate being left so many times by the same woman. By now he knows her game, but nothing can keep him from playing.
That's why he's here, lying in a large bed. Naked and alone.
They'd been going strong for weeks and he foolishly thought this time she'd stay. That this time when he told her he loved her, she'd say it back without running out the door the next morning.
But he was wrong, it was like any other time where he'd spend each minute subconsciously memorizing every inch of her, while she searched for any excuse to leave.
Sighing, he drags an arm underneath his pillow and his fingertips rub over a tiny bundle of familiar lace. Even in his current deserted loneliness, he can't help but grin as he draws the purple boy shorts from their hiding spot.
She'll be back; it's certain. And him, he'll welcome her with open arms. Why? Because she drives him crazy. Really, there's no other explanation for it.
10. End of the Movie-Cake (Callie)
Seattle hasn't been kind to her. Not in the least.
She's been humiliated, divorced, demoted, and left high and dry.
But she's still here and she'll be here for a while.
There's just no point in starting a movie if you don't see how it ends.