Thanks again for reading guys, I'm glad you're liking it! Here's a new chapter, enjoy!
Callie made her way into the lobby of Seattle Grace carrying her bag and a travel mug full of hot coffee. After walking around the block a few times the night before, she had gone back to her apartment and slept soundly. It was a new day and Callie was feeling refreshed and a little anxious. Anxious mostly to see a certain someone she couldn't seem to get off her mind. After changing into a fresh pair of scrubs in the residents lounge she made her way out to the nurses station on the surgical floor. She didn't have to be in the OR for a couple of hours and had no patients to check up on so she was just going to kill some time until someone needed something from her.
"Good morning, Dr Torres," she heard as Dr. Mark Sloan made his way over to the nurses station.
Callie took a sip from her mug and let the hot caffeinated beverage make its way into her system. She needed the caffeine if she was going to have to suffer through a conversation with him.
"Good morning, Dr Sloan."
Mark Sloan was the hospital's plastic surgeon and known around the hospital as a bit of a ladies man. If he hasn't slept with most of female staff, he's definitely tried to. Callie didn't work with him often, and when she did she always thought he was a bit cocky, but a good surgeon nevertheless.
"How are things?" he asked.
"Um good, things are good…" she replied, not entirely sure why they were having this conversation. They weren't friends, they weren't even colleagues really.
"That's what I like to hear."
"Okay then…"
"Listen Callie, can I call you Callie?" Mark asked.
She chuckled a little. "No, you can call me Dr. Torres."
"Touchy, but if you say so. Dr. Torres, what are you doing tonight?"
Callie was just about to take a sip of her coffee, she was glad she didn't because she wouldn't have been able to swallow it. People don't ask her to do things, people rarely even talked to her unless it had something to do with broken bones.
"...Why?"
"I was thinking we should go grab a drink, maybe some dinner."
With a blank expression on her face, Callie simply looked at Mark. He must have not had much luck lately or he just knew nothing about her. If he did, he would know that she would not be interested. She was trying to come up with some clever response but instead decided to simply state the truth and be blunt about it.
"Okay one, I don't like you. And two, I'm a lesbian."
The look of surprise and maybe even shock on Mark's face told Callie that he did, in fact, know nothing about her. If there was one thing most people in the hospital knew about her, it was her sexuality. She was never one to hide that. He must not have ever paid attention. Callie laughed a little bit then took another sip of her coffee and smiled.
"Since we've cleared that up, have a good day Dr. Sloan," Callie said as she turned and headed in the opposite direction leaving Mark alone by the nurses station with the shocked expression still on his face.
Lunchtime rolled around and Callie found herself sitting at the table in the back corner of the cafeteria that she always sat at, alone. She glanced around at all the other people talking and laughing and being involved in conversations.
"Another lunch time spent with me, myself & I," Callie said aloud quietly.
Suddenly she realized she had spoken too soon. She looked up towards the cafeteria entrance and her eyes met with Dr. Arizona Robbins who instantly made her way over to where Callie was sitting.
"Callie, hi," Arizona said cheerfully. "Can I join you?"
Callie looked at the three unoccupied chairs situated around the table then back at Arizona. "It's not like there isn't enough room for you," she answered with a smile.
"Great!" Arizona said and took a seat across from her. "How's your day been so far?"
"Interesting," Callie said and put a forkful of salad into her mouth.
"Ooh, do tell."
"You sure you want to know?"
"…Is there any reason why I wouldn't?"
"Dr. Mark Sloan tried to, and failed might I add, ask me out on a date. Or what I think would be a date. He asked me out for dinner and drinks."
"Dr. Sloan is cute," Arizona replied as she took a bite of the sandwich that was on her plate.
Callie realized that Arizona didn't know she was gay either. She hadn't told her, the topic had never come up. She couldn't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe once Arizona knew, I would know where she stood with her sexuality, Callie thought.
"Dr Sloan is not really my type," Callie said.
"Not into the whole tall and handsome thing?" Arizona asked.
"Not really."
"Hmm, well what kind of men are you attracted too?"
Callie made the decision, despite what the outcome could be, to just get it out in the open right then and there.
"I'm not attracted to any man."
Arizona stopped chewing and looked right at the brunette sitting across from her.
"I'm gay," Callie said.
After swallowing her food, Arizona took a long gulp of water from the bottle on her tray. A somewhat amused expression was on Callie's face as she watched Arizona have some sort of internal struggle. In her head Arizona was cheering, she was ecstatic. She thought Callie was beautiful, incredible. Finding out Callie was gay was music to her ears, and the first thought she had was how badly she wanted to have Callie pinned against a locked door of an on call room right at that moment. Well, that had been one of her thoughts since she had met the brunette. But, all personal attraction set aside, they were friends, and Callie needed a friend. Callie seemed to desperately need someone to just listen to her and be there for her, Arizona didn't want her attraction for Callie to change any of that. Plus, she didn't even know if Callie liked her as more then a friend. She also didn't know if Callie knew she was also gay, and she wasn't going to bring it up. She was going to remain mute on the subject, no matter how much she just wanted to scream 'Callie, you're beautiful, please let me kiss you.'
"Okay," Arizona finally said.
"Okay?"
Arizona smiled. "Yeah, nothings wrong with that."
Callie didn't expect such a simple response, but it was good to know that Arizona didn't have a problem with her sexuality.
The sound of a pager going off startled them, even though they were both in the noisy cafeteria. In unison both surgeons reached for the devices attached to the waistband of their scrub pants.
"It's mine," Callie said. "I've got to go."
Arizona nodded and smiled, a genuine dimply smile that Callie loved more and more every time she saw it.
"I'll talk to you later?" Callie asked as she got up from her seat at the table.
"You will. Go save lives Dr. Torres."
Once Callie was gone, Arizona finished eating her lunch in silence. Her mind was swirling, she liked Callie, a lot, and in a very non-plutonic way. But, she also loved being friends with Callie. She had a choice to make, which was more important to her? She knew that having both was too good to be be true, so she would settle with friendship.
After a grueling few hours in the OR, Callie's patient ended up coding on the table. She was drained and losing a patient is always hard but it comes with the job. It was late evening and the bustle of the Seattle Grace hospital had died down. After scrubbing out she walked through the somewhat quiet hallways until she found an empty one. She sat with her back against the wall on a gurney and took off her scrub cap. Pulling her knees to her chest she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. It had been a long day, thankfully her shift ended in an hour and then she could go home.
Voices could be heard down the hallway by the nurse's station but Callie didn't look until her ears picked up a voice she recognized so turned to glance in its direction. She could see Arizona still wearing her pink scrub cap talking with someone. Arizona laughed a little and it brought a smile to Callie's face. She was content with observing the blonde doctor from a distance, but she didn't want to be caught staring so she looked away and focused on her hands. She focused on the hands who had just tried to help save a man's life, but weren't quite enough this time.
The conversation Arizona was having with her scrub nurse ended and she began scribbling some things down into a chart. She yawned and then looked around, there wasn't much happening tonight and most people were tucked away inside offices and patient rooms doing work. The pediatric surgeon looked down the hallway closest to the nurse's station she was at and noticed Callie sitting alone and looking defeated.
Arizona placed the chart in the slot next to other charts then made her way down the hall to Callie.
"Hi," she said as she stopped in front of her.
Callie looked up with tired eyes and a small smile. "Hey."
"Are you okay?" Arizona asked then got on the gurney and copied Callie's position, her back against the wall and her knees pulled up to her chest. She was close to Callie, their shoulders pressed against each other.
"I'm okay, I just lost a patient on the table. Coded."
The blonde could see the disappointment in Callie's eyes and face, she knew Callie was a dedicated surgeon and cared a lot about what she did, she also knew that losing a patient was tough on every doctor. It happened a lot, but that didn't mean it ever got easier. Sometimes for some reason, certain ones hit you harder then others and you never knew why.
"I'm sorry," Arizona said.
Callie nodded slightly. "It happens."
"We save more then we lose."
They stayed sitting in the empty hallway without speaking. Just having Arizona sitting with her made Callie feel better. She leaned to the left a little and rested her head on Arizona's shoulder. The blonde held out her hand and Callie accepted it and linked their fingers together. Neither questioned it, they just let it happen. Callie had never had a friendship before where they would be close enough to hold hands, she didn't even know if normal friends even did that. But, being with each other like this felt normal for both women. It was so comfortable just be to in the quiet, with the presence of someone who cared about you near.
"Callie?" Arizona asked quietly. She had noticed that the brunette's breathing had slowed and was softer. Arizona looked to the head that was rested on her shoulder and found closed eyes. Callie had fallen asleep on Arizona's shoulder. Instead of waking her so they could both go home, Arizona stretched out her legs in front of her and unlinked her fingers from Callie's hand and put her arm around her shoulders. Arizona sighed contently then closed her eyes, letting the drowsiness the long day caused to take over. Soon she was asleep too, her dreams focused on the women who was beside her.
Callie began to stir in her sleep then opened her eyes slowly. Her vision was foggy from slumber and it took her a minute to realize where she was. She looked at the watch on her wrist and saw the time was 2 a.m. Her shift had ended four hours ago and she should be at home asleep in her bed. She then remembered she wasn't alone. There was a warm arm draped over her shoulders and she could smell a sweet vanilla scent. Arizona, she thought. Arizona had come to sit with her and they had both fallen asleep. Somewhere between holding her hand and putting her arm around Callie's shoulders, she had pulled her even closer and was almost hugging her.
Callie smiled contently and reveled in their position. She closed her eyes and chose to leave the blonde sleeping, figuring there was no point in moving if they were both comfortable where they were.
Hours later the alarm on Callie's watch started to beep, successfully waking both doctors. Years of being on call had trained them to wake at any sound similar to their pager going off.
"Mmm," Arizona mumbled to herself in a half awake-half asleep state. She went to move and stretch and felt Callie next to her. Callie's right arm was draped over Arizona's midsection.
"Callie," Arizona whispered quietly.
"Sleep," Callie managed to say in response.
Arizona laughed a little bit then lightly shook the brunette. "Callie, your alarm is going off. I think it means you've got to wake up."
"What?" Callie asked as she opened her eyes and looked around and up at a smiling blonde. She looked at her position then quickly removed her arm from Arizona's waist.
"Sorry," Callie said as she sat up.
"You have nothing to be sorry about sleepy head," Arizona said as she rubbed her eyes then ran a hand through her hair.
"Sleeping while sitting all night is not the best thing for the back," Callie said and chuckled a little as she got off the gurney and stretched.
"I agree," Arizona said as she followed suit and also began to stretch. "But it's okay, I didn't mind."
"Thanks for sitting with me last night."
"No thanks necessary, it was nice."
Callie smiled again, "Yeah, it was."
"Well I should go get cleaned up a bit," Arizona said. " I have rounds in," she looked at her watch, "a half hour."
"Yeah, I should go clean myself up too."
"I'll tale to you later then, hope you have a good day," Arizona said.
"You too."
After watching Arizona head down the hallway, Callie sighed then turned in the opposite direction. She needed coffee and she needed it now. After grabbing a cup at the coffee cart she went to the residents lounge to brush her hair and her teeth. Then made her way to the pit.
"Morning," she said to one of the nurses as she leaned up against the nurses station in the emergency room. It was still pretty early so there wasn't much happening. She was exhausted so she was enjoying the quiet while she could.
In the pediatrics wing, Arizona was also leaning against the nurse's station drinking coffee and enjoying the quiet. She had a slow day surgery wise and planned to catch up on paperwork because the few previous days had been busy. The only thing on her mind though was a certain brunette who had spent the night beside her. She had all these growing feelings for Callie, and she couldn't help it. 'We're just friends, she just needs friends. Don't be an idiot Arizona,' she told herself. It was no use, Callie's brown hair and big brown eyes, her wide beautiful smile, the way she took charge in surgery, the way she walked, the way she talked, Arizona liked all of it. And she definitely liked all of it as more than a friend.
After doing her morning rounds and finishing a complicated surgery, Arizona found herself on a bed in an on call room. For some reason she was exhausted, and when she started coughing and sneezing she realized she was getting sick. And she hated being sick. Her head hurt, her throat hurt, her body was achy. She had to go home, she was no use to anyone in this state. She reluctantly pulled herself up off the bed and squinted when she opened the door to the hallway. It was extremely well lit compared to the dimness of the on call room.
"Dr. Robbins," she heard someone call from behind her. She turned to find Dr. Bailey.
"Yes?"
"I have a surgery in 30 minutes on a 9 year old boy with a pretty severe bowel obstruction, I would love for you to scrub in."
Arizona sighed, the doctor standing before her seemed so eager this morning. Normally she would scrub in, but right now she felt like she could pass out and sleep forever.
"I'm sorry Dr. Bailey, but I'm actually," she paused to sneeze into her arm. "I'm on my way home."
"Oh," Dr Bailey replied. There were few surgeons she actually liked, few she wanted to learn from. Despite her perkiness, which Bailey usually found annoying, Arizona Robbins was one of them. She was disappointed that Arizona was turning down her offer.
"It's not because I don't want to," Arizona said. "It's just I seemed to have come down with quite the cold and I'm really not feeling too well at all."
"No problem, Dr. Robbins. Just thought I would ask. Hope you feel better soon."
After clearing a few days of her schedule and making sure she had coverage for her absence she headed home for a long nap. Arizona had worked a crazy amount of hours the past couple of weeks, so getting a few days off to get better was not a problem with the chief.
The next afternoon Callie stood by the surgical board and looked over all the assigned surgeries for the day. She noticed that nowhere on the board did it say Dr. Robbins. It must be her day off, but Callie wanted to say hi to her if she was in the hospital. The chief, Doctor Webber, came up beside her and admired the board.
"Good afternoon, Dr Torres," The Chief said.
"Dr. Webber," she said, acknowledging him. "It's a nice looking board."
He nodded in agreement. "Yes, it is. I see your not listed for the rest of the day, are you heading home?"
"I just have to check on a few patients and then yes, I am heading home."
They stood there in silence until Callie spoke again.
"Sir, is Dr. Robbins around today? I'd like to speak with her about something."
"Dr. Robbins will be away until the end of the week. She came down with a pretty bad cold and flu so it's taken her out of commission for a few days."
"Oh," Callie replied.
"Did you need to discuss something important? I'm sure the pediatric fellow on call could consult with you if needed."
"It's nothing that can't wait for her return."
"Alright then, have a good day Dr. Torres."
"You too sir."
The next thing Callie knew, she was standing outside Arizona's apartment door. It was like her instinct took over, she wanted to see how Arizona was doing and if she needed anything. She also hadn't seen the blonde in over 24 hours and she needed to see her. She was questioning herself while standing there; she didn't know how Arizona would feel about her just showing up. 'Just knock, Callie' she told herself. So she did.
