Falling slowly
By jtmalone70 (Edited by freakycalzona)
Disclaimer: We own nothing and borrow lots. No, really... lots. Like every other character past or present on Grey's Anatomy which are the sole intellectual property of Shonda Rhimes, Shondaland and ABC.
Ratings: Overall R
Story Information: This is Alternative Universe fanfiction. None of the characters have the occupations that Shonda Rhimes intended. We simply asked ourselves how career choices can change the directions of the characters lives, but not who they are as a person.
Summary: AU (Callie's POV) love comes when you least expect it
Editor's Note: All the credit to this fic goes to jtmalone70 of LE . com
Chapter 4:
The next morning, I walked downstairs to breakfast and found Sofia sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of cereal and reading the newspaper.
"Kate go home already?" I asked.
Sofia looked up and bobbed her head, as she chewed.
I opened the refrigerator and pulled out the milk.
"What time she leave?"
Still reading the paper, Sofia shrugged.
"Maybe half hour ago," she replied.
I walked over to the table with a bowl in one hand and glass of ice tea in the other.
While Sofia continued reading, I tried to think of a way to bring up the subject of Arizona. I reached over for part of the newspaper under her elbow, and she lifted it, still keeping her gaze fixed on the paper.
"Hey, I wanted to ask you something."
Sofia took another bite of cereal and looked over at me.
As I carefully opened the paper, trying to act very nonchalant about the whole thing, I asked if she knew Arizona's last name.
"Roh-bbins" she replied with a mouthful of cereal.
I tilted my head and cocked an eyebrow.
"Pardon?"
Sofia chuckled, wiped the milk that had drooled onto her chin, and swallowed.
"Robbins," she said.
Then she went back to reading the paper.
I tried to think of another way to ply her for information, but then she reached out for her glass of orange juice, and spoke.
"Why?" she asked.
"Why what?"
"Why'd ya wanna know?"
I shrugged, trying to feign innocence, which wasn't entirely contrived. It was a good question: why did I want to know?
"I don't know," I stammered. "She didn't mention it, and I didn't think to ask. Just curious."
Sofia nodded and took a long gulp from her glass, setting it down and continued reading.
I waited a few seconds, and then asked what she was like.
Sofia shrugged and turned the page.
"Nice, I guess."
I dropped my shoulders and sighed softly. That wasn't a very descriptive answer.
"So, she's a physical therapist?"
"Yeah... at the hospital."
Sofia worked part time there, so I figured that must be where they met.
I opened the newspaper and took a bite of my cereal.
"She seemed pretty nice," I said, fishing for Sofia to continue the thread, but all she did was shrug and give a curt reply.
"Yeah," she said. "She's cool."
I could see this wasn't going anywhere and decided to drop the subject.
For the remainder of the day, I tried to keep myself busy. It was a typical dull Sunday for me. I cleaned up around the house, tried to work in the garden, but still, I was bored to tears. Sofia had gone out with Kate somewhere, leaving me to my own devices. By 3pm, I was about at my wit's end. I couldn't take the silence and isolation any longer. I walked into the kitchen to the phone and flipped through the university directory looking for Arizona Robbins.
And then I found it.
I picked up the phone and was about to dial, but stopped. What was I doing? I hardly even know her. We only talked for, perhaps, a total of an hour and ten minutes. And now I was calling her, as if we were dear old chums? I quickly hung up the phone. No, I thought. Even I would think it a bit strange for someone I had only just met to do that. And then depression set in. I slowly trudged out to the living room and fell back onto the couch.
"I need to get out of here," I mumbled, running my hands through my hair.
A few hours later, after doing the laundry and folding it, attempting to clean Sofia's room, but immediately stopping upon finding a sex toy under her bed, aside from the usual clutter, she finally arrived home.
She was helping me fix dinner in the kitchen, when she nearly knocked my socks off.
"Guess who we saw at the mall?" she asked, while slicing a cucumber.
I was rinsing a head of lettuce in the sink.
"Who's that?" I replied.
"What's-her-name."
I chuckled.
"And who would that be?"
Sofia tossed a small slice of cucumber into her mouth, replying, "That, uh, Arizona chick. Arizona Robbins."
My heart instantly started racing, and all the blood in my body sank to my feet.
"Oh yeah?" I replied, trying to maintain some control and not seem overtly, even strangely, enthusiastic about this revelation.
I turned off the water and shook the lettuce in the sink, and then placed it in a bowl and began peeling it.
"And what did she have to say?" I asked with a nervous grin.
Sofia picked up the cutting board and scraped the cucumber slices into a bowl.
"Not a whole lot," she replied.
My sudden glee quickly evaporated.
Sofia set the empty board in the sink and turned on the water to rinse it off.
"Oh... Almost forgot," she said. "She asked what you were doing Thursday night."
I had just picked up the bowl of lettuce and was about to turn toward the kitchen table, when she said that. I gulped and glanced at Sofia, who thankfully wasn't looking, as I'm sure I was white as a ghost.
"Yeah?" I squeaked.
Sofia pulled the board out of the sink and began wiping it off with a dishtowel.
"Yeah, said she's having some friends over at her place and wanted to know if you'd want to come over too, I guess. I don't know... I wasn't really paying attention and she talks kinda fast, anyway."
Now I could feel my face turning red - red with anger. I wanted to toss the lettuce across the room and throttle my own flesh and blood. Instead, I forced myself to remain calm.
"Did she, uh... saying anything else? Any information? Like when and where?"
Sofia wiped her hands with the towel and turned to me. She seemed to be racking her brain, trying to remember, while I became more impatient.
"Umm... Oh, yeah," she finally said, and reached into her back pocket, pulling out a small slip of paper. "She wrote it down."
Sofia handed it to me, and there, scrawled on it in someone else's handwriting, obviously not Sofia's, was a name, phone number, address, and time. Below this were the words, "Dress casual". Next to that was a smiley face.
The blood that had boiled to my face now flooded back down to my feet.
"Gonna go?"
"Hm?"
I looked up and Sofia was staring at me. She poked her finger at the paper in my hand.
"Gonna go?" she asked.
"Oh... Um... Yeah, well, uh... Sure. Sure, I don't think I have anything going on that night, so, uh... yeah, you know, why not? Sure."
Sofia smirked.
"Yeah," she replied sarcastically. "You got a real busy schedule, huh?" Then she turned and walked into the living room. "A real social butterfly," she said. "That's you."
