Author's Note: So as I lay in bed trying to sleep, I started wondering what story I could come up with for my beloved Grey's pairing and it got to the point where instead of instinctively trying to get some rest, I was planning little things like what facial expressions Callie would have if... you get the jist. This is what I came up with, enjoy and do review if you can so I know whether to continue this and how.. thanks!
"I don't understand why we had to come to this stupid convention anyway, right about now Avery is wrist deep in my patient's chest and to be honest, I fear for that poor woman's life, I mean—" , Yang's whisper wasn't as quiet as she first thought; earning an authoritative throat clearing from Chief Webber who is sitting behind her in the large theatre.
"Dr. Yang, if I were you, I would be honoured to be at this event, some of the greatest surgeons around the world gather here to display their cases and techniques." Webber raises his eyebrows to further his point but sighs when the words are clearly lost on Christina Yang, her face unchanged; Meredith begins to giggle at her side.
"I could be advancing my own techniques on my own cases right now, ground-breaking techniques. You may never get to know what miracles I was going to perform in the O.R today... Chief." She replies with her usual ego spurred quick wit, only encouraged by her best friends sniggering. Derek watches the exchange, thoroughly amused and nudging Mark who in turn nudges Callie – it was a much needed break from listening to, thus far, pretty boring presentations from the lesser attractive surgeons (as Mark put it nicely).
When Chief Webber leans in slowly to respond, it gains both Alex's and Miranda's attentions seated on the other side of him.
"Can you save a dying patient with nothing more but a scalpel, some twigs, tape and a suture kit, Dr. Yang? Maybe you'll learn how to, right here." Sitting back comfortably in his chair, Webber smiled and crossed his arms.
Christina looked dumbfounded albeit slightly (only slightly) impressed, as did most of the surgeons listening in on the whispered conversation.
"No, but I have to say that sounds pretty unsanitary even by Mercy West standards." The ruckus of hushed laughter amongst the Seattle Grace surgeons managed to make the current speaker pause and glare.
Callie looked mournfully at her empty cup of coffee and decided that once the lights shine up again, signalling for a break, she was going to get up and gallop out of the theatre before her mind implodes from sheer boredom. Only to refill her drink and return to her seat later but she wasn't thinking that far ahead, nor did she want to. She still can't believe Mark abandoned her, leaving for the break ten minutes early – his reasoning being "because I can" and fair enough, she respected him for that but she hadn't realised how bored she would be without him by her side. Up until now, they'd been pointing out surgeons that looked hot from behind or at least the backs of their heads, betting on it even added some thrill.
"Yes, thank go—I mean excuse me." She gets up and quickly shuffles through the row of seats as the lighting begins to slowly brighten. Bursting through the double doors into a room filled with free coffee and sugary snacks is enough to make Callie grin and take a deep fresh breath of air; she scans the room for Mark and spots him fiddling with a coffee machine, with that, she makes a beeline towards him before the crowd filters through.
"Excuse me! Sorry.. Dr. umm," Callie feels the sleeve of her dazzling black top getting a good tug at her side and swiftly turns on her heel to chastise whoever it is that's stretching the expensive fabric but the words get stuck in her throat.
"..Torres, Dr. Torres." A blonde excitedly reads her name badge, and waits for what looks like approval. Callie doesn't have much time to observe the surgeon but she quickly darts her eyes over to check the name in time to respond.
"Dr. Robbins?" She drawls out unsurely, but the creases in her forehead smooth out and an inkling of a smile starts when she notices how pleasantly surprised the other surgeon is when referred to by her name.
"Yep! Name badges are pretty cool aren't they?" Dr. Robbins leans in and whispers her opinion on name badges to Callie and for a split second, the Latina isn't sure as to whether she should simply turn and power walk to Mark or find out what this random woman wants. The blonde seems to pick up on the undecided demeanour and adjusts her behaviour just a touch.
"Sorry, I was just trying to get your attention because you dropped your necklace; it's stunning by the way." As if out of nowhere, Dr. Robbins lifts her hand and sure enough, Callie's amber pendant is sitting, looking vibrant as ever in the blonde's palm.
"Oh wow," Her hand flies up to her neck which is now bare and she begins shaking her head at herself.
"I don't miss a thing in my O.R and yet given the simple task of wearing a necklace one afternoon and I'm all over the shop," Callie laughs at herself whilst putting the rogue accessory back on, finally, adjusting her hair she settles and smiles genuinely at Dr. Robbins – who still looks terribly enthusiastic for no apparent reason.
"Thank you, so much. This is actually one of my prized possessions." Callie rubs the pendant with affection and mulls over whether so much perkiness in another person is unsettling or comforting.
"I had a feeling it was a necklace with a story, amber is it?" The blonde replies whilst squinting at the precious stone with more concentration. Taken aback with the accuracy of the guess, Callie decides that the abundance of energy is comforting after all, which probably has something to do with the fact that Dr. Robbins is the first person to recognise the stone.
"It is actually, I'm impressed!" Callie begins to match the positivity exchange in the conversation whilst a knowing grin warms the blonde's features upon discovering she was indeed right. Callie's attention drifts as she hears huffs and puffs somewhere in the distance that are unmistakably Mark's, her head automatically turns to glance over and she absentmindedly tunes out Dr. Robbins who is talking about children and amber or something.
She snaps back when a silence settles in next to her - the blonde is now sporting a smirk and too, glancing at Mark.
"Checking out Dr. Jaw-Line huh?" Callie laughs and shakes her head, trying to dismiss what it looked like she was doing.
"No no, he's my best friend... though I do still check him out every so often." She grins and tries to place the keywords she missed in the conversation, something about Africa, amber and markets oh and children – she's not sure how they're connected but smiles as if she heard every word anyway.
"Well he is a very pretty man." Dr. Robbins nods and gives Mark another once over before peering down at her watch and pulling a face. Callie worries she's offended the blonde with her inability to pay attention and feels unexpectedly worse than she ought to.
"I'm sorry, I have to run and go through my presentation one last time before tackling the huge room of disgruntled surgeons soon… Arizona." The perky woman extends her hand and it takes Callie one second too long to realise that it's a name rather than some kind of geography-related Tourette's syndrome.
"Callie, Callie Torres." She takes Arizona's hand and realises that her moment of stupidity went unnoticed or maybe even ignored (which earns the blonde extra points in Callie's good-books, nobody wants to look like a moron; especially not a self-proclaimed ortho rockstar) so she offers a genuine ear to ear smile and tries to offer an olive branch.
"Good luck, and don't worry Arizona, I'll be sure to be the first to clap." She emphasises the blonde's name and the same excitement displayed on Arizona's face when Callie read her name badge just a minute earlier washes over her face once more. It's like being around a puppy, she thinks, it's endearing, she confirms.
With that, Dr. Arizona Robbins nods, says her thanks and vanishes faster than she appeared. Callie catches herself recollecting the sudden conversation with interest until Mark swaggers up to her side sipping his coffee and announcing his presence with a murmur of something surely unimportant.
"What?" Callie snaps out of her daydream, looks up at him and then back down at her sad, empty cup – the one she desperately wanted to fill until Dr. Robbi—Arizona distracted her.
"I said who was that hot blonde with the bounce in her step you were talking to?" Mark waggles his eyebrows in interest and starts to down his drink.
"Hah, no, she's too nice and excitable to be tarnished by the likes of you... let me have some of that." She snatches the cup out of Mark's hand and peers at what's left inside it.
"It's tea. I broke the coffee maker."
Callie rolls her eyes and pushes it back into his chest, muttering something in Spanish under her breath.
"I thought we agreed on the no foreign insults thing Torres, besides, maybe goldilocks can add a McBounce to your step instead of the coffee." His smirk spread across chiselled features ever so proudly (he'd managed to weave a 'McSomething' into his sentence after the two of them discussed his nickname and pondered what Callie's nickname would be earlier – for that, Mark gave himself a mental pat on the back, particularly since suggesting McBouncy had an effect on McSpanish, god there he goes again, "I'm on a roll" he thinks as he wistfully takes another sip of his wretched tea).
"I don't need a McBounce to my step and her name is Arizona." Callie half-heartedly glares up at him and watches him sputter on his mouthful when hearing what her name actually is. She knows his brain must be ready to explode with all kinds of jokes, mainly filthy ones so she runs off before he begins to string them together out loud. She takes two steps before the familiar call of "Torrrrrrres!" reaches her ears but she keeps walking.
"I hear it's sunny in Arizona…" She hears in the distance, then a hearty laugh – she keeps a straight face for about three seconds before cracking up to herself in search of another coffee maker. She's not sure what's funnier, how terrible the joke is, the fact that Arizona as a person is most definitely sunny or that the thought of sleeping with her was actually the first thing that went through her mind as she initially turned around at the incessant tugging of her top.
Now isn't the time to think about these things though, her cup is empty and if she doesn't find a working coffee maker soon she'll pummel Mark with her angry ortho fists.
Oh come on, you want to review.. yeah you do. Go on.