Just a little dittie inspired by last night's premiere. I don't own these characters, and as long as Shonda continues to make things all better, I won't try to take them in a hostile takeover. Kinda Callie/Alex-ish…mostly just friendship, though.

Alex walked into Joe's to see Callie sitting alone at the bar, her shoulders hunched, her posture screaming defeat. Venturing toward the bar stool next to her, he said, "Hey. This seat taken?"

"No," she muttered. "Why would you want to sit there?"

"Thanks, Joe," he said to the bartender who placed a bottle of beer in front of him. Turing his attention back to the woman on his left, he said, "Because I can separate work and not work."

Callie guffawed. "Seriously? You expect me to buy that? We work in the most incestuous hospital ever. There is no separation between 'work and not work.'"

Alex sighed. "Okay. How 'bout that I really don't hate you, I just think you need to work on your management skills."

She looked at him, her expression conveying her surprise. "Does that mean you have some advice, Evil Spawn?"

"Hey!" he cried indignantly. "Unless your name is Christian Yang, that's off limits. But yes, I do have some advice for you."

"Well, don't keep me in suspense, O Wise One."

"Stop trying to be Bailey. You're not the Nazi."

"Yes," she observed dryly. "So I've noticed. But I think you're confused. That seems to be the problem."

"No," Alex corrected her. "The problem is that you think it should have been Bailey, too."

"What?"

"Look, Torres, I think Chief Resident should have gone to Bailey, but you can't. You have to be in charge. You, not what you think we want, even if it really is what we want. Even if you think you shouldn't have gotten the job, and even if you think we all resent you for it, you better start acting entitled to this job. Because otherwise, everyone's gonna roll over you."

"Thanks, Alex. That makes a lot of sense."

Taking one final swig of his beer, Alex stood up. "Sure thing, Chief. I'm going home. If I see your good for nothing husband, I'll kick him out and send him your way."

The next morning found all of the residents, from first years on up, in the conference room. Izzie flopped down in a chair toward the end of the conference table, sighing dramatically. "Why did her royal highness summon us?"

Christina rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Barbie."

Callie walked into the conference room with an air of confidence about her that had been missing the day before, shutting the door behind her. "Good morning, everyone. I know we've all got things to do, so I'll make this quick. Some of you don't particularly like me, and that's fine. Some of you think I don't deserve this job, and that's okay too. But we need to get one thing straight. You don't have to like me, but you do have to respect me. I don't want to make your lives hell, and I don't want to make work suck for you. But I have a job to do, and part of that job is making sure you do your jobs. Assuming you can do that, we will have no problems. I'm not trying to be a dictator. I really don't want to be a dictator. So just…work with me. That's all."

As Callie turned to walk out of the room, she glanced toward the back corner of the room, where Alex was standing against the wall. He winked at her, returning her grin, and she laughed as she walked out the door.