Title: Fixing What's About to Be Broken
Author: wbelisabeth
Summary: *Spoilers for "Push"* This is a pre-emptive strike on what I foresee as trouble coming for Calzona.
Pairing: Callie / Arizona, however there will be a little Mark / Teddy.
Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy is not mine, I do not own any of the characters, I am not making any money.
AN: I am assuming that since girls night it has been a couple of weeks. I am also assuming that Arizona's upfront personality allows her to form connections more easily than others, and that Teddy has let Arizona become a real friend to her. I know. A whole lot of assumptions.
Chapter 2.
"So how was it?" Teddy and Arizona were sitting at the table in Teddy's apartment, with a glass of wine. Teddy had invited Arizona over to discuss today's weird events. She had actually enjoyed Mark's company.
"First date standard… lots of backstory and getting-to-know you questions. I think I was wrong about Mark. He actually seems like a nice guy."
"Yeah he can be. He's always been a really good friend of Callie's. He even gave me a 'break her heart and I'll break you speech. He's a good guy." She hadn't thought about that. She wondered how quickly it would take for him to turn on her. Would this complicate things for Teddy? She got a little too wrapped up in her thoughts, when Teddy interrupted them.
"We are going out again, on Wednesday. Rock-climbing."
"Rock-climbing?"
"I used to do it a lot, before I left the states, so I figure I should get back into it. Plus it's something I will be able to beat him at." At that Arizona smiled.
"Did Owen come up?" Arizona asked, somewhat reluctantly, knowing that he was still an obstacle for Teddy.
"Sorry? What?" The question had had caught her off guard.
"Owen. Did Mark mention him? Did you mention him?" Arizona had been told about Owen warning Mark off and wondered if Mark would have mentioned it.
"Um… I, no he didn't. Wow. I went a whole afternoon without thinking about him."
"That's great." The peds surgeon smiled half-heartedly.
"What's going on? You've been a shadow of your scary-perky self."
"Nothing, I'm glad that you are getting out there." She took a sip of her wine, using it as cover. Her smile had left her face.
"You're not attracted to me, are you? I mean I know you and Callie are great, and you and me will never be…" The cardio god was in such a good mood it felt great to have a friend to talk to and joke with, but Arizona's eyes had clouded when the name Callie was dropped and she knew the next question to ask. "When did you break up?"
"Break-up?" She squeaked. She berated herself for being so transparent. "We didn't really break-up. We… came to a mutual understanding." She had said in such an unsure way that, she felt it needed a nod to confirm the words, were in fact the right ones.
"So you and she are… over?"
"Mmmhmmm." The mumble was followed by another quick nod.
"How do you feel about it?"
"Thank You for your concern, Doctor Wyatt." Arizona tried to cut off the conversation with a joke, but it came out a little too much out of character.
"Were you just sarcastic? Did you just… Oh…this is bad."
"Teddy, please can we talk about you and Mark?"
"Look, Mark and I can wait. You need to talk this one out. Why did you guys break up?" Arizona sighed. This is what she was trying to avoid. She didn't realize that it would be so easy for Teddy to read her.
"We want different things."
"Different things? Could you be little more specific here?" At the silence Teddy decided to do her thinking out loud and watched for her friend's reaction. "Callie didn't strike me as a commitment-phobe, nor do you…" She looks up to see no reaction and so continues with her external thinking "She seems pretty settled in Seattle, so I don't think this is about moving anywhere-" Arizona had decided to try and avoid of the subject and wanted to move the topic to the reason she was here, in her friend's apartment, drinking wine.
"So what did you and Mark talk about?"
"Changing the subject? I'll let it go for now, but as your friend you have to tell me sooner or later." Arizona nodded again, and so Teddy gave her the details she was looking for. "We talked about the hospital, about his reputation, about his daughter. We talked about Iraq. He told me straight up that he was dating seriously. That he wanted a wife. That he wanted to settle down. He wants some kids." Arizona's body stiffened involuntarily, Teddy noticed immediately, and stopped talking.
"Well that's good, at least you know now and not…" She took a deep breath. "…you know, in a year or two."
"It's about kids?" Teddy's voice had softened.
"Yep." Arizona looked into her wine and swirled it around, avoiding Teddy's concerned eyes.
"Torres doesn't seem the type not to want kids."
"Why does everyone assume I want kids?! I work with kids all day. ALL DAY. I see them crying. I see them screaming. I see some, some actually die. I understand the cuteness. Really, I GET it. They are little people and say things that are inappropriate and they have speech impediments. Really. I see the cuteness. The cuteness lasts for 10 minutes. When you have a child, you have it for life. It's the not-sleeping-until-the-thing-is-3, and then... Then it's the jumping off the roof when it's 7. The skipping school at 13 and then it's the lying teenager at 16, and it's all so huge. It takes its toll on the parents and they end up hating each other. They fight and fight and fight. Whose fault what is and whose responsible and you couldn't do this and you couldn't do that… The idea of having kids… its torture. I mean really? Just because I work in peds, I want kids? Argh."
"Whoa there. Breathe. I'm sorry for assuming. You just seem, so good, with the kids."
"It's my job." She snapped.
"Yeah, but I mean, I've worked with Peds surgeons. They don't have butterflies on their scrub caps and bears on their coats. They don't have those roller skate things on their feet."
"I don't want kids. I don't I never have."
"Not even as a kid, you didn't ever imagine?"
Silence. Arizona again found herself looking into her glass of wine for answers.
"You did want kids. When did you stop?"
More silence.
"Was it when you realized you were gay?"
No reaction.
"When you became a doctor?"
Nothing
"When you lost your first patient?"
Nothing.
"When you lost your first 'tiny human'?"
There it was. The flicker in the eye. It wasn't much but it was there and it told Teddy exactly what she wanted to know.
"Can we not talk about this? Can we just drink wine and talk about your date?"
She knew that the woman in front of her was hurting, she could relate. It was that thought that convinced her, that talking about Mark Sloan would be the best thing for both of them.
"We can do that."
"So did he kiss you goodnight?"
