Conversation in the Stairwell

"You have to get me up to speed! I haven't talked to you since the last time I was here, which apparently was way too long ago," Arizona heard Dr. Montgomery say further down the stairwell. Not wanting to interrupt, she slowed down a bit and was about to take a side door, when she heard a far more familiar voice answer.

"Where am I supposed to start, Addison? Being left? Being the latest subject of gossip...again? The crazy stalker intern? Or the other thing?" Callie replied sarcastically.

"Erica. What happened? Mark didn't say much, which is surprising, to say the least. Did she really just leave without saying anything?"

"Yeah, I mean I've fought with boyfriends before, but this was so unexpected. I didn't even realize she was so close to her patient until later. When she said she was going to UNOS, I was shocked. We already dealt with that, I thought it should stay in the past. You were there, you know what happened, everything was so crazy and I was just on the fringe."

"You don't have to tell me. I was there when Stevens walked out," interrupted Addison.

"Mark helped a lot, with everything. I was so blindsided and there he was saying it was okay, it was good... Oh, he cut me off! Can you believe it? Mark said no to sex!"

"Oh my god, really? Mark—our Mark—said no? Someone really needs to congratulate Little Grey. Okay, now what's this about a crazy stalker intern?"

"Meredith's backpacking buddy from awhile back. She must have heard the gossip." Callie paused. "Christina was asking about Erica leaving and the whole twicebian thing came out."

"Twicebian?" Addison laughed.

"As you know she tells Meredith everything and Meredith tells Derek, and he asked Mark. So the whole hospital finds out. It was almost worse than George sleeping with Izzie during our fiasco of a marriage. So, Lexie started stalking Mark, Sadie started stalking me and it was driving me crazy. She's cute, but she seriously creeps me out, and like I told Mark, I cannot have another disaster of a relationship in this hospital. It's embarrassing," Callie groaned.

"Well, it can't get any worse, right?" Addison sounded hopeful. "You don't sound depressed, and believe me, Mark was insistent that you needed to get laid and even made a suggestion as to who."

Laughing, Callie replied, "He doesn't even know what she looks like and I don't think he cares!"

"Oh come on, he knows... I know you wouldn't be asking him to check her out unless you were interested and, like you said, really hot. She's good, I know that. I'd heard of her back in New York and watching her work today, she's steady. She knows what she's doing and I'm also grateful that she's very invested in getting Miranda into Peds. You should go for it."

Again Callie groaned. "I did! Apparently I'm a newborn with no experience. So tonight I told her exactly what experience I have and oh, yeah, I said all of this in front of her date! I wanted to go soak my head in the river. So no, I'm um, leaving it alone. She called me Calliope, Addison. How she even found that out is a complete mystery, but I liked it, I really liked it. So, I'm just gonna get my kicks breaking bones and putting people back together, and completely avoid Arizona Robbins. That worked with you, right? You're over Derek, you're happy, you still kick ass, right?"

"Well yeah, I think I am over him. Even when Mark told me about the proposal—"

"Derek proposed?" Callie was shocked.

"No, not yet, but soon I think. Anyway, I didn't fall through the floor. I didn't suddenly want to slowly roast her over the pit like before. I felt like the inevitable had come to pass, and that's it."

"Okay, so there's still hope! I don't need anyone, he or she. Just need to get back to being the badass ortho surgeon I was before George and Erica." Callie sounded very determined.

They went quiet and Arizona realized that here she was eavesdropping on the woman she had hit on in a bar bathroom, on an obviously private conversation. Appalled, all she could do was stand there because there was no way she could move without them knowing someone had been listening. So she stood there thinking that maybe she had been wrong about Calliope. She didn't sound confused, just upset and frustrated. Julie surely wasn't going to go on another date with her now and she really wasn't all that interested after hearing Calliope's speech.

"I'm leaving in a few hours and I asked Mark to keep as close an eye on Derek as he'll let him. Just keep trying to get him to talk to him, please. I don't know how long Derek will stay mad, but believe me it can last a long time." Addison sounded so somber that Arizona felt she must still care a great deal for both of them. "Oh, and keep in touch yourself. I want to know the second you hook up with your Peds surgeon!"

"Huh. That's not gonna happen."

"I don't know. She went through the trouble of finding out what Callie is short for and cared enough to try to cheer you up when she had never even met you before. I think your odds are pretty good, and if not, then she's too shortsighted for it to matter anyway." How the hell she had gotten a bead on her that quickly, Arizona didn't know, but the fact that she was right gave her pause. "I want to check on the baby so I'll say goodbye, and good luck, not that you need it. Take care, Calliope." She said the last bit teasingly and it obviously worked as Arizona could hear Callie laughing as the sound of a door opened. Her laughter faded as the door closed behind them.