A/N: This story has been plaguing me for sometime, so I finally decided to write it down.
Since I have no idea about how the publishing industry really works, or about the US government election procedures, there are bound to be glaring mistakes in the story. I would ask you to give me the creative license to play around. Also I do not subscribe to either of the political parties mentioned in the story, so no one should be worried that this is propagandist in nature. Also this is un-beta-ed so all grammatical mistakes would be mine.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Shonda, I'm simply playing with them.
Happy Reading!
Arizona Robbins continued to stare at the blinking cursor on her screen. Her eyes willed the blank page to produce words. Her fingers ghosted over the keyboard, from Q to P then over A to L and finally over Z to M. But some unknown power held her back from actually pressing down a key and thereby disturbing the blank beauty of the page before her. The continuously blinking cursor gave her a headache and so she slumped further in her chair and began rubbing her temples. Her eyes shifted from the laptop screen to the hourglass on the table. Yet another hour was slipping to an end. With a frustrated sigh, she leaned over and tipped it to a horizontal position. Satisfied she sat back, this time a little straighter. Giving her shoulders a shake and cracking her neck she dropped both hands over the keyboard. She waited, a minute, five minutes, ten minutes; she waited for the words to come to her.
Callie Torres was only half listening to the man speaking on stage. She was staring at the Party banner hanging right over the stage. She rubbed her eyes in exhaustion and the act caused her to see the elephant on the banner in 3D. She smiled the first genuine smile in three hours. She suddenly started thinking about Horton, the elephant. The one who tried to hatch an egg. Horton did indeed stand for strength, honour, stability and patience. Hadn't she read somewhere that Elephants stood for good luck? And what was it about the white elephant? Before she could complete the thought, she felt a nudge and she looked back towards the stage to see her father ascend it. She sat up straighter as she clapped enthusiastically.
Yes paper! Arizona smiled at her own ingenious idea. She unceremoniously slapped her laptop shut and pushed it aside. She then proceeded to take out fresh sheets of paper from the left top drawer and laid it out on the table. She first picked up a normal ball point pen from the stand, but rethinking the decision, she put it back and picked up an ink pen. She spent the next several minutes refilling it. Task done, she wiped her ink stained fingers on a scrap cloth before uncapping the pen and letting her hands hover above the first blank page.
With every passing minute Callie was becoming more and more nervous. She shifted her gaze from her father speaking confidently on stage to the sheet clenched in her hands. Her breathing was becoming faster and she was afraid her heart was beating so fast that it would break her rib cage and jump out. Did that even happen? She should have studied medicine instead of law, she shook her head lightly. She looked around the room and her mind failed to register a single face in the sea of immaculately dressed men and women. Oh God! So many of these people where going to judge her the minute she walked up on that stage. And that would be only the beginning of all the mayhem. She began second guessing herself. Was she ready for such a big leap? Before she could answer her own question she heard her name being called out. She blinked but did not immediately stand up till she felt a strong pair of hands taking hold of her right arm and pulling her up. From her left, Cristina Yang leaned in and whispered "Get over with it already Torres." Callie gulped hard. "No time to get nervous rockstar" Mark Sloan whispered from her other side. "Get up on that stage and give them a slice of what you got." He flashed her a smile that was meant to instil confidence in her. Callie stood up on her feet, and rocked a little unsteadily. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She was a Torres. Of course she could do it! With that she opened her eyes and fixing a smile on her face she began moving towards the stage as some people in the hall began to applaud.
Arizona leapt out of her chair and moved towards the window. For several minutes she stood staring at the empty little playground opposite her building. Even the pavements were relatively empty today. Turning away from the window, she walked around her table twice, observing every little detail in her room, before sighing audibly and walking towards her bookshelf. She randomly picked out a hardback from the second row and flopped down on the comfortable (and expensive) armchair she had bought from Europe a long time back. She aimlessly flipped through the pages before getting irritated and shutting it. How could they expect her to write under the stress of a deadline? Whoever did that? Apparently the kind that paid you big bucks and made you sign a three book contract. Her eyes drifted to the coffee table and on the book with a black and red front cover of her latest book Wish You Were Here. She was jolted from her thoughts by her beeping cell phone. Moaning, she shifted and drew it out of her pocket. Yet another message from Teddy Altman, her agent. Without even reading it she deleted it. After a hundred or so messages on the same topic, she could more or less guess the essence of Teddy's latest messages. As soon as she deleted the message another came. Giving in to her curiosity, Arizona read it-
I know you deleted my last message. And I know you know why I'm messaging. So stop procrastinating and set your pretty blonde head to work. – T
She switched off her phone before throwing her head back and shouting out in frustration. Coffee! Yes coffee! Coffee and some fresh air was sure to do the trick. She jumped out of the armchair and raced to her bedroom to finally shed her pyjamas and wear something appropriate for the streets.
Callie knew as she stood on the stage beside her father that the people clapping and smiling, were not actually clapping and smiling for her. Rather it was for the old, seasoned politician Carlos Torres and because they choose to believe that the old man had applied some logic behind proposing his eldest daughter's name as a candidate for the upcoming gubernatorial elections. Callie smiled and waved, and nodded her head as she caught the eyes of some other veterans in the crowd. Her speech had gone off better than expected. She had appeared willing to learn and yet confident, showcased her Torres charm and at the same time infused a little humour (some of which didn't actually work) - on the whole, Callie was feeling good about it all.
She felt her father's hand on her arm and smiling at her, he nodded towards the mic. Callie smiled as she stepped forward and spoke "After that rousing encouragement and after the very tiring affairs of the afternoon I believe everyone is in mood for some refreshments. I request all of you to proceed towards the outer hall and I would be delighted to avail the opportunity of catching up with some of you personally. Yes Dick, don't runaway" she pointed to a short bald man in the corner of the room and he smiled and nodded his head in acknowledgment. "And Cathleen, you have yet to tell me how exactly your democrat date made a complete fool of himself" Most of the people in the hall, still listening, roared with laughter. As she stepped back from the mic, Carlos patted his daughter "Well done mi'ja" and kissed her. Releasing her father after a quick hug, Callie followed him down the steps and met Cristina and Mark in front of the stage.
"You only made 6 mistakes during your entire speech" Cristina observed dryly as the three fell in step and began walking towards the large oak doors.
"You were brilliant Cal" Mark pronounced as he wrapped her in a quick one arm hug. "Now remember to go out there and smile, and oh, don't forget to spend some time with Greene and Ashfield. Yang you are covering Scholes and Wagner. If Wagner tries getting nosy about our campaign strategy just…"
"start talking about how his wife is banging their gardener?" Yang smirked. "Yep got it Slo."
Mark simply shook his head. He had more sense than telling Yang what to do and how to do it. She was mighty smart. Even if she hated the fake social niceties that one had to engage in while involved in politics (really what else was there to it anyway?), she was genuinely interested in how she could use the power to do some good and change the system. Plus she was fiercely loyal to Callie and there was no way she would jeopardize her career just because she was in no mood to act nice (which, Mark added to himself, was always the case). So instead he focused on Callie.
"You handle the old bastards." Callie nodded her head. "Leave the women to me, I'll charm the brains out of them" Mark continued with his patent smirk.
Callie rolled her eyes before looking at her best friend and now campaign manager "Mark, remember, you are charming them to support me not charming them to sleep with you". With those final words, Callie took a glass of wine from the passing waiter before fixing up her smile and stepping into a chattering group of people.
Arizona walked around aimlessly in her neighbourhood as she alternately sipped her coffee and bit into her tuna sandwich. She nodded and smiled as she passed the faces she knew. Finally she stopped in front of the one shop, which she never crossed without entering- "Arcadia".
Arizona smiled as she entered the little bookshop. She was particularly proud of this place. It had started off as a useless little place, owned and managed by Alex Karev, a guy who looked more suited for a boxing ring than for a man selling books in a quaint little bookstore. In reality he was a comic-books enthusiast. But under Arizona's persuasion he had expanded the store from a comic book store to a store that sold rare literary works of all kinds. Arizona sometimes just walked in there, sat in a little corner, and leafed through the old books. Sometimes she read the personal messages that were inscribed within and she would imagine the life the original possessor of the book lead. Other times she would sit with Alex and help him catalogue the books or arrange them on the shelves. Most of all she just enjoyed inhaling the scent of old books.
"Hey Alex" she called out as she sat down on a chair shaped like a hand. "In here" a voice called out from the inner room. As she sipped her coffee, she bent forward and picked up the newspaper that was lying on the low wooden coffee table. Opening the paper, and perusing through the headlines, Arizona realized how out of sync she had been lately. Scanning the page from top to bottom her eyes stopped on a photo of a gorgeous Latina captured as she was coming out of the court. With interest Arizona read the name printed at the bottom of it- Callie Torres.
"Callie Torres" Arizona said it out aloud, testing the name in her mouth. She tried to figure what felt amiss. Giving it up, she began reading the article.
"Callie Torres, eldest daughter of Washington Governor Carlos Torres, is rumoured to be bracing herself to step out of her role as assistant attorney general and is touted to fill in her father's shoes as he steps back from active politics in view of his recent health concerns. It is widely expected that at today's party meeting Carlos will be officially presenting his daughter as his alternate. Carlos as it is known…" The article went on to talk about Carlos and his term in office and Arizona quickly lost interest. She skipped right to the last paragraph as she caught Callie name again. "It is to be seen whether the younger Torres will be just a pawn in her father's hand or will actually be able to hold her own." Arizona looked at the photograph again. The Latina had a determined look on her face as she was obviously trying to walk away from the press. But she wasn't frowning. In fact Arizona could detect a faint smile on her lips. It just seemed that the Latina had better things to do than hang around and give interviews to a couple of journalists. Arizona didn't doubt Callie could hold her own.
Arizona was unconsciously smiling as Alex entered the room. "Hey dude, what's got that loopy smile on your face?" He asked as he wiped his hands on his trousers and pulled a box crate towards Arizona's chair and sat down on it.
"Nothing" Arizona replied easily as she tossed the newspaper away. "I'm blank Karev. I'm stuck. I need inspiration" she stated her problem right ahead.
Alex gave her a bemused smile "Go get drunk" he stated simply.
"That's your answer to every problem!" Arizona groaned as she dropped her head into her hands.
"Because it is truly the only answer to every problem" he continued as he crossed his arms across his chest. "Besides, isn't that what all your Romantic poets did? And the Pre-Raphaelites? Follow the way they show!"
Arizona looked up to meet his eye. Realizing that he was actually serious, she looked at her watch. "It's not even 4 p.m."
Alex got up as he replied. "Help me with the store. Then we can down to Jackson's and catch at least what's left of the Superhero Movie Marathon. After that we go get drunk. How does that sound?"
Arizona smiled, her dimples out on full display. "Does superhero mean V for Vendetta?" Alex shrugged his shoulder "Yeah, I think I saw that on his list"
"And does getting drunk include you not allowing me to do stupid things and getting me back home before I'm completely wasted?"
"Don't I always?" Alex drawled.
"Okay" Arizona said jumping up. "I do the accounts, you do the heavy lifting. Hut-Hut Karev!" She hit him on his bum before scampering away from him in full speed towards the cash counter.
It was almost late evening now, and Callie was tired. She caught Mark's eye across the room. He understood the look on her face and so excused himself from the redhead he was talking to and began walking towards them. Callie's attention was drawn back to what the man was saying when she heard the name "Robin" fall from his lips. She instantly began to focus on what he was saying to her. "…it's still a surprise how no one knows the author's identity. I mean, with all the technological advancements, I thought it had become virtually impossible to protect one's identity. But here is this person, who churns out one bestseller after another and yet no one knows his real identity."
Robin was Callie's favourite author. And one of the reasons why she loved Robin's writing so much was because of all the mystery surrounding the author's real identity. Personally, she thought, Robin was a woman. But that could be because she felt as if she was the protagonist in each of Robin's books.
"It's also pretty unusual for someone to shy away from all the fame and adulation." Callie noted. "If I was a bestselling author, so loved by everyone, and with sites and sites of fan fiction dedicated to one's work, I would hardly have been able to keep my identity under wrap. It is difficult to willing walk in the shadows."
Before the man could answer Mark was by their side and with a convenient lie he was able to pull away Callie from him.
"Can we leave now? My jaws are hurting with all the smiling" Callie complained as Mark laughed and put his arm around her shoulders.
"Yeah, yeah. Your dad's also leaving. We can follow." Mark downed the last of his wine.
"I'm hungry, Mark. I need proper food." Callie told him seriously.
"Of course you are hungry, you haven't eaten all day. I told you there was no reason to get so nervous. I thought lawyers were supposed to be fearless. Did they just give you your law degree and the office because of your father?" Mark teased her.
Callie hit him on his arm. "I run the show in the court." Callie said proudly. "I actually studied law. Politics, well that's…"
She was cut short by Cristina who came up to them, looking as if she was about to explode. "If I have to listen to Middleton talk about his new car, or his darling son for yet another minute, I will throw up" she finished throwing up her hands dramatically.
Mark laughed as he drew Yang on his other side. "Let's go get something to eat"
"And then we go get something to drink." Cristina added without missing a beat. "Wine is just expensive water. I need something strong."
Callie laughed. "Yeah I could do with drinks to bring the day to a close."
What Callie didn't realize then was that "drinks" could also be a start to something entirely new.
Now this is where I wait for YOUR response. If you want me to carry on let me know. How does the first chapter sound? Good, bad, i should change this or that, leave it in a review, and make my day :)
Also NTP will be updated soon. I just had to get this out of my system first.
Lots of love- G :)