Disclaimer: This is AU. I do not own any of the characters from Grey's Anatomy, this is purely imaginative writing most of the contents might not be true or match with how things work in reality bear with me this is just an imaginative work.
QOTS: The best relationships are built on love and understanding partners, but the greatest relationships are built from friendship.
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A bed that didn't feel like it had rocks in it, a shower that dispensed water that was actually clean, privacy and that feeling that all the space is your own—there's nothing as calming as being in your own space; knowing all the things in that space belongs to you. Callie was done fixing up her apartment, Arizona had done a lot to help the night before and she was very thankful the other day when Teddy joined her at an attempt to keep an eye out for the both of them, for some misguided reason she felt they were up to no good being around each other, Callie really didn't mind the fact that there were more hands moving boxes and setting up her apartment.
It was a Saturday and officially 3weeks since she started working in Seattle, three weeks since she started trying to be friends with Arizona, and three long weeks since she had laid eyes on her best friend; it wasn't the same hearing his voice over the phone, wasn't the same when she rolled her eyes at his dirty comments—she missed slapping him upside the head with a rolled up magazine.
She also ran into a person from her past besides Cristina; Derek Shepherd had been shocked to see her roaming the halls after their little past in New York when she took Mark's side after he slept with his wife, after that they all just seemed to break away from there, he wasn't exactly the most friendly at first but after Callie spread her "bury the past" spiel they at least tried to exist in a less hostile manner.
She sat in the cab taking in the Seattle walks and people on foot in the pouring rain, head leaning against the glass—she had thoughts about the dinner Arizona invited her to the day before, she had battles and protests in her head about saying yes but in the end those ocean blue eyes and dimples won the stare down, she hadn't seen Barbara or Daniel in 9 years and those people were practically her parents when hers really weren't acting like care-givers. They offered her a jacket in the cold, and home in the daunting darkness of the night. She owed them that much to show up for the dinner that night, so she was going in to work to hammer something, fix a bone; anything to keep her calm for the night ahead.
She walked in through the ER doors; clad in the usual charcoal jeans, leather boots and this time an actual sweater over her shirt, "someone is finding it hard to stay away from the hospital" Arizona said from behind her; she heard the approaching tap of her shoe heels on the ground. Callie turned around and smiled at the stunning beauty before her
"Look who's talking" she replied Arizona, catching her amazing shape in her outfit, but it wasn't her place to compliment on her outfit or the fact that her skirt exposed her amazing legs, the fact that her curled up hair looked endearing, her glossed pink lips were alluring, "okay, I know your patients are below 18 but who's the lucky kid?" Callie joked
"Ha…ha you funny lady, I'm picking up my mum and dad at the airport to get them settled in Seattle" she smiled softly watching Callie's face attentively, she knew when she invited her over for dinner with her parents it was a bad idea but she had already broken that dam, hard to stop the rush of whatever thoughts flowing through Callie's mind right after then. All she could do was try not to make the night discomfiting for her in any way.
"Do I need to bring something, Cobbler? People always have that in a tupperware whenever they're invited over" Arizona chuckled at the genuine fear in her face about dinner with her family, Callie knew it was inevitable for little memories from the past to get casted out innocently during the nostalgic haze, but that part is over and there's no one to blame; but things can't really be the same after so long, Would Barbara still treat her like her own?—would Daniel still remember much of her?
"Don't be a cliché American Torres, and I think that's casserole" she watched Callie roll her eyes, "You're here to get your hands dirty to relieve the tension?" Callie hated that one person would know what she was thinking, that was Mark's job and not someone she hadn't spoken to in ages—not someone she didn't know anything about anymore, not someone that reminded her that she was indeed an avoider.
Callie scoffed off the statement; she wasn't going to give her the satisfaction that she was right, "You really need to stop doing that Robbins, and no. Need to sign some discharge forms and some post-op instructions for my therapy patient" Perks on working in different fields; she could string up a bunch of irrelevant words that looked medical and she make it seem important. "So wine then? That's dinner 101"
"Just bring your delightful self"
"Oh, so we're admitting I'm delightful now, improvement" Callie said with a wide grin, she had her bright smile directed at Arizona
"Sucker!" Arizona murmured undertone but loud enough for her to be heard by the person standing right in front of her, "You have met them before countless times what's different?" there was it again—her little way of making their little banters about her 8years of playing runaway, or was it just Callie feeling everything was about that because deep down she knew her ways from back then had traces of spinelessness.
"Wine…that's definitely something to bring right? It's like a warm gesture, coming empty handed says; I didn't want to come and I'm a cold surgeon with no single direction to the wine store or cheap" Arizona raised an eyebrow informing Callie she's aware of the ignored question, it was Callie's idea to let the past remain blank but Arizona never consented to playing along
"Oh, by all means please over intellectualize the whole dinner, I dare you please" Arizona said with a sardonic deadpan stare, "Just my parents Callie not the president of Russia"
Their playful back and forth was interrupted when a slender figure; she was blonde but her hair was a shade darker than Arizona's golden blonde hair, she walked through the hospital doors and made a beeline to where Arizona and Callie were having their conversation, "Hey babe" Callie turned to the sound of the voice and saw the her arms stretched out for the person standing opposite her. Callie took a step back to create a reasonable distance between them; over the course of their conversation they had unconsciously taken little steps forward towards each other.
She hugged Arizona and placed a tender kiss on her lips before noticing they had company, "Oh…Hi" she smiled and looked back and forth from Arizona and Callie like she had interrupted a proposal or something important cause they both had a stock-still look on their faces, "Uhmm…Hi, I'm Heather Marin" she had her hand stretched to Callie.
Arizona snapped out of her frozen shock and finally pushed out her words, "Oh, uhmm…sorry, Heather this is Callie; my…" she paused for a little while not knowing which category Callie was in exactly, she stared at Callie who was also waiting to see where she was standing with the blonde, "uhmm…my colleague, and Callie this is Heather—my girlfriend" they shook hands and she flashed Arizona a smile at the word "colleague"
"Yes, I am Callie the colleague" Callie repeat while staring straight at Arizona, who just clenched her jaw like she was caught cheating
"You look very familiar" Heather said staring at Callie
"Well, if you read a lot of medical journals I would understand" Callie said playfully
"Feel free Calliope, blow your own horns" Arizona said mockingly shaking her head at Callie's comment
"Hush!" Callie said softly turning her gaze away from Heather who was evidently confused at their teasing and side stares even with the fact that she was standing right there, she scuffed her shoes against the ground which made a somewhat screeching sound for her presence to be appreciated.
"Well, babe we have to get going your parent's plane would be touching Seattle soon" she walked out of the door not exactly showing what she was thinking, but obviously her long time dating Arizona had rubbed off on her in so many way because she walked out of the doors with no trace of emotion, hard to tell if their rather too friendly ways offended her.
"If you read medical journals" Arizona said mimicking Callie's words with a high pitched tone, "show off" she huffed quietly at the smiling Latina
"Good luck telling your girlfriend how your…" Callie decided to air quote the word for emphasis. "… "colleague" knows your parents and why she's being invited to a family dinner"
"Oh…crap!"
"Yeah, good luck with that champ" she gave Arizona's shoulder a light friendly tap and walked by down the halls to her side of the hospital ready to cut something open for the tension; a hairline fracture or even a sprain she gets to put a bandage one would help her mind find some peace.
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Arizona stood leaning against the door frame watching her girlfriend rearrange their already spotless bedroom over and over again, redecorating the pillows and pulling off the sheets and laying it over again.
"There's a island called passive aggressiva, and you're their queen" Arizona said gently walking into the spotless room and sitting on the edge of the bed
"You'd be where I am too if you met some colleague from my office and suddenly hearing my parents talk about her on the drive to their hotel…" she paused half way through her blather and looked contemplative at Arizona, who just raised an eyebrow expecting something else, "she's the girl from the family picture isn't she? The one you said you don't talk to anymore?"
"She's an old friend of the family, that's it—please don't make this bigger than what it is, you want to fight about I can tell I just don't have the appetite" Arizona stood from the bed knowing the conversation was slowly taking a detour to the side of hostile, they had been having similar talks all week and the best thing Arizona knew how to do in that time was walk out of the door
"Walk away Arizona, that's a new skill you've picked up; when I talk about kids, marriage" Heather said with a rather snarky tone
"My parents are in town; maybe you can calibrate the attitude a little for the sake of their presence"
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_Dinner starts 6:30 Torres… my mom is so excited that you're coming. See you tonight_
Callie sat in her closet looking through her limited clothes; she had packed some dresses among other things but she hadn't expected she'd need to wear a dress this soon into her arrival to Seattle, she had thought of focusing on her work and fooling around with random girls and then a serious date that would require a tight, curve adoring, ass hugging dress, dresses that adorned her natural God given Latina curves but she wasn't going to get laid; she was going to meet Arizona's parents and they hadn't seen her in ages. She wanted to look very good for that moment and also didn't want to look overdressed, but as a girl that line between both is practically the hardest thing; finding a dress that wasn't an overkill and also made you look drop dead gorgeous. She picked a dress but the neckline was too low and the side slit was riding a little too high. Callie sighed running her fingers over each fabric as she pushed them over for another outfit that didn't seem to match, after minutes she decided she couldn't go wrong with Ann Taylor; she pulled out her tipped sweater jacket; it was a beautiful white ash color, jewel neck, ¾ sleeves, front hook-and-eyes closure, welt chest pocket with button, and it had a ribbed hem. She paired that with her amazing charcoal pants. She had pushed the thought that it was too casual but she wasn't worried about how she would appear to Barbara; deep down she saw flashed of Arizona's expression when she picked an outfit out in her head. She complemented the outfit with knee leather boots and had her dark, thick, shiny raven tresses in curls.
Callie took deep breaths, ran her hand through her hair twice adjusted her sweater, more deep breaths finally index finger pushing against the doorbell, welcoming veranda; Callie generally wouldn't have picked Arizona as a town house, door bell, brunch and crudités type of person but they had both grown, she was just starting to know this familiar stranger again.
Arizona pulled the door open fully clad in a plain white tee; thigh length with her black leggings and flip flops, "Well, you look really nice" Arizona said with a dimpled grin that showed she was completely excited that Callie had showed up
Callie mentally skipping in her head she didn't overkill with the tight dress; thank you Ann Taylor. "Thank…" she heard a familiar fading voice from behind the grinning blonde
"Sweetie is that Calliope, honey is she here?" Barbara said from within the house
Callie stretched out the bottle of vintage French Bordeaux wine, "You brought that for my parents, you brownnoser now you're going to be their favorite" Arizona joked. "Come on in"
The house was warm, homely and smelled like cinnamon; that was Barbara's signature pastry when she was around anywhere; the house had windows which was intended to bring light into the rooms and give it have a certain glow, but it had gotten a slightly dark which dimmed the room a little, furniture didn't have a definite design; it was eclectic, playful and colorful, for some reason Callie recognized this room so much, the colors were free but they matched and brought the entire room together, the ocean blue drapes making it beautiful. Callie passed through a narrow passage before entering into a huge kitchen,
"Calliope sweetheart, oh, how you have grown—come here" said a woman in her early 50s with her blonde hair neatly slicked back with an Alice band pulling Callie into a tight hug, it felt so common, so comfortable like it was something she had been doing all her life; she fell deep into the hug with her eyes closed, taking it all in, "there's barely any of you left to hug, you're definitely staying for dessert"
Arizona leaned against the kitchen entrance scaffold with a huge smile; it was a nostalgia filled evening, watching Callie and Barbara forget that she was even in the room and started talking like they had been doing this for a long time, their occasional laughter echoed off the kitchen walls. Callie and Barbara had started their dinner ritual, they always found this joy in cooking together even 9years ago; they would experiment with several recipes and Arizona's palates were the judge. Callie pulled her sleeves to her elbow and started pulling open drawers like this was where she had been before, they flowed freely through the kitchen sharing memories and giggles of funny moments.
"Arizona where is your pasta?" Callie asked the blonde lost in a numberless amount of thoughts sitting on the kitchen stool, she had moved from leaning against the doorframe for a better view at their banter, Arizona walked over to get it for her and looked over at everything that had been put together within Callie's arrival
"Need any help?" Arizona asked
"Oh no sweetie, you're good for grabbing groceries but not cooking. Calliope honey remember the time she helped during thanksgiving?" Barbara said playfully
"Who wouldn't, didn't know it was possible to have a salty salad but Arizona here is pretty talented" Callie replied
Arizona had her mouth open and her eyes wide, that was a long time ago and the fact that it was a weapon at her culinary skills at a recent time was rather shocking, "just like old times, go on, gang up against me—dad always has my back"
"Speaking of your father, get out of those house clothes he would be here soon along with your girlfriend and Teddy" Barbara said. "Calliope and I would finish here" Callie flashed Arizona a soft smile
"Can I at least frost the cake for dessert?" Arizona volunteered. "Feel bad putting our guest to work"
"Calliope is never a guest here, she's practically home; sweetie get out of those slacks and be back to set the table" Barbara said to Arizona like it was 8 years ago again, Callie felt warmth in her heart and some regret that she missed a lot of this. She never got this when she was home; there was nothing like a family dinner where anyone cared what anyone wore, after she got accepted into a remarkable program in New York she packed her bags and didn't look back and her parents never made the trip over the waters to her. But the Robbins were nothing like that; they made the trip, they called, they cared and she couldn't believe she let that go for something that seemed to trivial now. Only if she knew then what she knew now.
Arizona changed into something more formal for the evening, and stepped down the stairs to see Callie in the living room, she had an expression Arizona couldn't quite place.
"What are you looking at?" she glanced down the hall, heard no sound of pans or anything being moved and the scene before her was lacking a blonde woman in her 50s. "Where's my mother?"
Callie casted her eyes to her watch, "She said Daniel would be here soon so she went to get all gussied up" she said still staring round the room
"Even after over 30 years they still look good for each other, do you think we'd be like that?" Arizona asked, she watched for Callie's reaction closely, Callie furrowed her brow trying to understand where exactly her answer could direct the comment to, it could just be a simple question but this didn't seem simple considering they had been in a place where she thought Arizona felt something and she was wrong, so it was wiser to play clueless or make it less vague.
"You mean when we meet people we love? You have Heather right?" Callie said with a smile
"Right Heather, yes her—I do" their gaze caught on each other for a moment more than necessary, the room suddenly started to feel smaller, the cooling system became faulty, the walls were closing in; those blue eyes stared like they were searching for something, silent moments between them seemed to become a flash of latent emotions, but what kind of emotions?
Callie snapped them out of their silence, "This room looks familiar, why?" Arizona smiled and walked past the well set décor, to a book shelf and pulled out a picture; she handed it over to the brunette
"This is our apartment…you…recreated the pattern, I knew I recognized something" Callie shook her head in surprise, Arizona had done things to get her thoughts strung up in vines but this was by far the most amazing thing she had seen yet. "You never let things go do you Robbins"
"Not when I value it, you on the other hand seem to have let it all go—thought you'd recognize it" her smile said she didn't mind that Callie didn't remember, almost like it wasn't even a bother but Callie really had let too much go while Arizona kept a lot from then, the fact that she left wasn't hurting as much as the aftershocks Arizona was hitting her with. The doorbell saved her the agony of coming up with a reply to that.
"Arizona that is your father" Barbara's soft voice echoes off the passage walls from the kitchen
She stood there in the room, memories of when she had her best friend, she had flashes, low screams of her words to Arizona that night she didn't remember how they got there but it's never been so clear that they made a mistake; she stared at the picture and back at the room, those days aren't coming back because they had grown so that was their reality.
A pinched looking thin lady with a darker shade of blonde made her way into the kitchen, followed closed by Teddy and Arizona; Heather wasn't too pleased with Callie's presence but she was obligated to smile and place a tarp on her unfriendly feelings so she hugged Barbara while Arizona and Teddy set the table. Daniel was pleased to see Callie; he pulled her into a full body hug wrapping his arms around her, Callie's head resting gently on his chest, he placed a kiss on the top of her head.
"Good to see you again kid, you'd have to tell me about those crazy adventures that kept you away all these years" Daniel said with a genuine smile. "Something smells good"
Arizona could feel the burning stares from her girlfriend in the corner of the room, she had never really gotten that much warmth from Daniel, he was firm and smiled once in a while but had flashed a smile the Latina's way thrice in one night. "All thanks to Callie's sauce recipe" Barbara said as she began setting the food down in the middle of the table in the room
"Shall we eat?" Daniel said pulling out a chair for Callie right beside him, he took his respected sit at the two-armed end chair with his wife on the right and Callie on the other side, Arizona right beside Barbara and Heather beside Arizona, and on left Teddy sat close to Callie.
Heather whispered to Arizona while food was being served and passed around the table, "she cooked, brought the perfect wine, and has your parents eating from her palms…Gee—sure hope she's not planning to propose soon" her tone dripping of scorn and jealousy, Arizona clenched her jaw and dismissed her impending outburst with a sigh.
"So Callie, Arizona told me you work in the same hospital now? That's amazing" he took a sip of wine and took hold of his cutlery again
"Yes, started 3 weeks ago" Callie answered politely
"When these two knuckleheads started their silent treatment had a bet they wouldn't last long, sure showed me huh?" Barbara smiled. "Damn near inseparable" she smiled again at the both of them. Teddy saw just how uncomfortable Arizona was becoming thanks to Heather leaning heavy on the table staring at her like the whole conversation was Arizona's fault
"Just how close?" Teddy asked sending a smile and a wink Arizona's way
"Really close, could have sworn they showered together" Teddy busted into laughter snorting wine out of her nose, Arizona cradled her head in her hands, in that moment she was mercury and Heather was the sun, the jealousy was radiating from her.
Callie looked around the table, at the innocently joking family and glanced the Arizona who mouthed "help me" soundlessly to her.
"Barbara you were telling me about your new collection of quilts" Barbara loved her job which also happened to be her hobby; she had a store of coverlets, fabrics and helped with matching of furniture, she had a strong passion for interior design, she could go on and on about her quilts for hours, talking about every type of stitching that was used to keep the material together. She could talk about her hand knitted blankets for days without pausing for a breath and that was Arizona's salvation, the dinner was smoother when Barbara started making jokes about her customers that couldn't recognize a type of fabric.
Dessert rolled by and Callie got her compliments on the frosting, she was sure to give Arizona credit for putting it on the cake; Callie didn't think she needed another skin piercing stare from Heather that evening. Not that there was a speck of intimidation to be felt but no matter how at home she felt around Arizona again, she was still the guest and she wasn't ready to start moving things that had been in place around.
"Dinner was good, secret recipe to making pasta that good I'm not aware of?" Heather's feeble attempt to make small talk didn't seem to hide the jealousy still strapped tight to her face
"Boil some pasta, make some sauce, mix it all together" Callie replied with a smile, this was Arizona's girlfriend—she was Arizona's friend she didn't have to like her partner all too well but she was trying, Barbara had Arizona and Teddy at the dishes; that was their way of making up for skipping dinner preparations while Barbara and Daniel settled in front of the TV for some old movies in each other's arms
"Look, I know we just met and we haven't gotten the best vibe from each other for a while but we have a common thread; she's your colleague and my girlfriend, we could try to get along" Heather proclaimed placing emphasis on the possessive tone
"Sounds good" Callie wasn't exactly sure if this was her marking her territory or extending an olive branch; the idea behind her approach was cloudy to Callie but she wasn't a bit bothered by Heather's insecurities. Her and Arizona had moments when she felt that something was behind those blue eyes, or sometimes she would say some things that would make her think that some words were being held back, thoughts collecting dust in Arizona's mind about them; things she would like to say to Callie but felt scared, was scared the word? She wasn't sure anymore what was floating between them, but she wasn't going to ruin it again by having feelings. She had to be smarter this time.
Teddy had seen them from down the hall in the kitchen and made a beeline over, "Hey Heather, everything okay?"
"Yes, was just inviting Callie for drinks this Thursday" Callie looked at her surprised at the sudden invitation, considering a moment ago she was setting up barb wires around Arizona
"Oh you should come, its dart night" Teddy said a little excited mixed with effects of alcohol that hadn't completely taken her thinking faculties but had taken some off. "Its date night and dart night"
"Guess I will be there" Callie said, she turned to Teddy and said "Ready?" she got a weak nod from the blonde. They were out of the door and hailing cabs home. Teddy had opted to be taken to the hospital but she wasn't in the right frame of mind to be practicing medicine or anything healing related.
Callie got home and fell heavy into her chair; her thoughts were streaming out anything Arizona related, she needed to think about work, surgeries, cartilage and random hot girls and not a taken, hot blonde with gorgeous eyes and wonderful smile; if she didn't stop those thoughts she would need alcohol. She turned on her TV and decided to watch her recorded shows, she nestled deeper into her couch with her pillow clutched to her chest and tuned to Suits, but Harvey's long string of law jargons was interrupted when she heard knocks on her door.
Wrapped her fingers around the knob wondering who that would be, "When you text a man an address be sure to put your apartment number, kid" a deep husky voice boomed from a 6foot tall man with gray hair and a dark brown beard
"Mark Everett Sloan, what the hell are you doing here?" Callie lunged forward wrapped her arms around the taller and much bigger man
"Missed you and figured it was time to see Seattle first hand, Lexie said it was okay since the wedding is in a month" he said pulling his best friend tighter to his chest. "What are you all dolled up for?"
"Was at dinner at my ex best friend—now friend's house and her girlfriend peed on me" Callie summarized in a nutshell
"Isn't she house broken?" Mark asked jokingly grabbing his luggage deeper into the apartment
Callie let out a laugh and shrugged, "Missed you buddy"
"Missed you too, kid—now tell me about this ex-best friend"
"Arizona Robbins"
"The Arizo…" Callie interrupted him with a nod, "wow! This should be fun"
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Sorry for the delay, sister had her wedding so I couldn't get to finish it within that time. But I can promise there won't be a delay on this next chapter.