Universally Speaking

I saw your face, elegant and tired
Cut off from the chase
Still I saw in my bloodshot your smile
Delicate and wild
Believe me she was style
Ripped right through me
The chance of a lifetime
Going to get her, I've got her on my kind
Nothing better the feeling is so fine
Simply put, I saw your love stream flow
Come on baby, cause that's name for--
Give it up and I got what I came for
Universally speaking
I take you back and you make me nervous
Nothing better than love and service
Universally speaking, I win in the long run

There was heavy breathing, sweating and the occasional grunt, and pounding. Except the pounding was the result of running shoes against the pavement and the heavy breathing, sweating and grunting were the cause of--well, running.

It was actually, physically painful for Mark to be running behind her, where he had full view of Callie's ass but no reason or excuse to touch it. Sweat trickled down his temple and he decided that he needed to speed up and catch up to her where he couldn't be tempted anymore.

Nope, running beside her did not help any. Her hair was up in a ponytail and he could see the sweat droplets sliding down her neck and disappearing into that stretchy, clingy shirt she was wearing, in between her breasts. That's how long they had been running. It was cold out and they were sweating bullets. But they kept running at full speed.

Then he heard it. She groaned and let out a throaty, breathy, tired laugh and that was about enough for him, "Okay, fuck this. It's not working." He panted as he ran across Callie's way, causing her to stop, dead in her tracks.

"What now?" She asked, perplexed, watching him walk off the trail and onto the grass, where he found a bench, "Mark, what?" She followed him and stopped to stand in front of him, her chest heaving up and down as her breathing returned to normal.

He leaned back, his legs crossed at the ankles, his arms behind his head, "Have you ever heard of blue balls, Callie?" She rolled her eyes but he continued, "It is physically impossible for me to run anymore. We've been running for about an hour now, and guess what--" He shrugged, "--I still want to pull you behind a bush and have my way with you. And hey, I get the whole waiting for the second coming until we have sex, but couldn't we find other--activities with less physicality?"

"We're RUNNING, Mark."

"It's the closest thing to sex, and you know it."

She placed her hands on her hips and stared at him for a long time. A smile formed slowly on her lips, "Do you really have blue balls?"

His eyes narrowed and remained in his seat for a while, then leaped from the bench and grabbed Callie by the waist, causing her to shriek as he pushed her against the nearest tree and he lost no time in claiming her lips.

XXX

Callie pushed a supermarket cart down the cereal isle, and wondered what why it was taking Mark so long to get pickles. She stopped and reached into her purse at the sound of her phone ringing. She flipped it open and held it to her ear, "Yeah."

"Hey, Meredith and I were wondering if you wanted to get a drink later." Cristina said from on the other end.

"Yeah, sure."

"Great. Oh, hey, one thing, could you BUY some liquor?"

Callie rolled her eyes, "You're annoying. But I'm at the sore already, so, yeah, I guess."

"It's your day off, you GROCERY shopping? Your'e such a housewife. It's scary."

"I have nothing in my fridge, and we got hungry."

"Oh, I see, WE got hungry. Is this McSteamy we're including in this 'WE'? Did you finally come to your horny sense and jumped him?"

"No. We were hanging out and--"

"Doing what?" Cristina enquired curiously.

"Just--watching TV."

"God--you are like…ninety years old. You're painfully boring. You're lucky you're hot."

"Hey! I am a riot. But--things are getting hard with no sex, and if you even think about making a joke about that one, I will strangle you."

"Ugh, it's too easy. So--what? Watching TV tames your frustrations?"

"I wish. We sat in front of the TV for an hour until we got hungry and so we came to the store to get some food." She sighed heavily, "I don't know what to do now."

"Um, you're an adult. Have sex."

"I am trying to tame this whore-beast, okay?! There needs to be an actual--hope for a relationship, or else…what the hell am I doing?"

There was a long pause before Cristina cleared her throat, "I thought you weren't taming him."

"Shut up, Cristina. You are no help."

"Okay! God. Dramatic much? Well, keep at it--or DON'T keep at it. If Paris Hilton can do it, so can you."

"Did you just--" Callie stopped and pressed the phone closer to her ear, "--did you--am I on SPEAKER?!"

"Yeah. Meredith's right here."

"Thin of dead kittens, Callie!" she heard Meredith in the background, "Screw you guys. Buy your own damned alcohol." As she shut her phone closed, Mark came around the corner with a jar of pickles in one hand and an armful of numerous other groceries, "Did that come with the pickles?" She asked jokingly.

"You don't have pasta. I might want to make some sometime."

"Alright." She grabbed a couple of things from his arm and helped him set them in the cart. "This isn't just about sex, right?" She blurted out, receiving an obviously surprised look from Mark, "I mean--what--is this exactly? I know we've been joking around about the whole--waiting for the sex thing, but, I don't have time for this, or the patience and--if you're just going to take off after you get laid, then…" She trailed off as he crossed his arms over his chest and stared back, bemused.

"I--haven't had sex in two weeks. I've spent almost everyday for the past two weeks with you and actually enjoyed myself." he took a breath and smiled, mostly at the irony of the situation and the fact that, for the first time, he was actually being honest, "I'm in it to win it."

She smiled and averted her eyes, trying to fight the blushing that was emerging on her cheeks.

"I made you blush." He teased, leaning in close to nuzzle her neck, "That's okay. I have that effect on a lot of people."

She backhanded slapped his chest and moved past him and resumed pushing the shopping cart up the isle, "I'm in it to win it?" She asked with a raised eyebrow as she went past him.

"I don't care. You're still blushing." He retorted, following behind her, "But really--" He leaned in close, "How much longer? How many dates?"

"Well, I'd say--" She started, picking up a jar of olives from a shelf, "--forty-nine."

He stopped in mid stride and watched her turn a corner, "What?" he then remembered to continue walking and he finally caught up with her in the check out line, "WHAT?" He repeated as he helped her empty the groceries on the register.

"I don't know, Mark. It's not something you put a expiration date on. I think it will happen when it happens."

"But--if we're going on dates…we had like, thirty-three dates this week alone."

She laughed as the guy at the register scanned their things, "How's that?"

"Breakfasts. Lunches. Dinners. Waves when we pass each other at work."

"You consider those dates?"

"Baby, if we can't be romantic in our everyday lives, then the fire is going to burn out really quickly."

She smirked and watched him pay, not wanting to address the fact that he had just used a pet name for her for the first time. She usually was not very fond of them, but she was growing to like them.

XXX

Mark stood, leaning over the stair rail, looking down on the people coming in and out through the main doors, a bitten green apple in his hand. Once he lifted the fruit and took a large bite, he felt someone come to stand next to him. He raised his head slowly and looked over to his left, to find Derek leaning back against the railing with an idiotic smile on his face. The cast on his foot gone, "What?"

Derek chuckled, then looked over at him, "Celibacy is a funny thing."

"Is it?" Mark asked, suddenly standing up straight.

"Yeah. Especially when you're in an actual relationship and still not getting any. But, YOU know, right?" he finished off with a laugh, obviously entertained by Mark's sudden uneasiness.

"WHAT?" he asked again.

"I heard Meredith and Callie talking. That SUCKS for you!" he laughed wholeheartedly now.

"Shut up." Mark scoffed, annoyed, "It's called a relationship."

"Oh, look at you. You're practically a monk." mark rolled his eyes and leaned against the railing again, continuing to eat his apple in silence, and Derek shifted, as if seeing him in a different light, "You really are serious about this, aren't you?"

Mark glared at him for a second, then sighed heavily, "Yeah."

There was another long silence before Derek spoke again, "We should get a drink or something. Like--today after work."

Mark looked at him, suspicious at first, "Yeah, alright."

XXX