A/N: A Bailey POV anyone? I debated whether or not to even put this one in. It is a bit of a far reach from the plot line and my initial typing of it started spinning off in confusing, OOC ways. However, it is here anyway. I do think having a look at Bailey's viewpoint is worth something. she is a great character and I always feel that there is so much more to her than we see. Anyway, here you go, enjoy as you will!
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Bailey ran a no-nonsense policy through her residents—or, she tried to at any rate. Seattle grace had an inordinate amount of personal life meets professional life drama which seeped through the pores of the hospital. Grey and Shepherd slept around with each other; breaking up the latter's marriage in favor for their relationship. Their tale was something of legend within the halls of Seattle Grace, serving as an example, a model, and a warning for the various staff members. Then there was the George-Izzie-Callie triangle of horror. Intern-George marries Resident-Callie on the drop of a dime—and against the wished and warnings of his very smart and very correct co-workers might she add. Then, Intern-George sleeps with Intern-Izzie who also just happens to be his best friend. Then, Resident-Callie divorces Intern-George and uses Attending-Mark as a sex therapy object. The list went on and on, each relationship becoming more and more entangled with the next. To put it bluntly, if the board ever dared to suggest a no-fraternization rule at Seattle Grace, the hospital would have about one employee left: Bailey.
Much her colleagues' ignorance, Bailey kept up on what the riffraff was up to. She didn't want to be a part of any of it, Lord knows, but she kept an eye on her residents. The group of them caused enough trouble to keep anyone working overtime. She heard the rumors—whether she chose to believe them or not was irrelevant. The point was, she heard them. Most of the rumors were old news, finally reaching their way full-circle through the hospital. Granted, as almost all the drama of the hospital could easily be traced back to her former interns, she had probably heard them already.
On the larger scale, Bailey didn't much care for frivolities like rumors. She preferred cold, hard facts. She didn't have time to wonder at whatever the hell those dimwits were "supposedly" up to. If they were causing mischief, she wanted to know and she wanted to know for sure.
But she kept an ear out anyway, no matter how utterly ridiculous the things she heard were. It was her job. She was the mother hen. And when the personal screwed with the professional, Mother Hen gave the chickadees the business.
So it was to her immense irritation when the secret relationship between the orthopedics resident Callie Torres and Head of Cardio Erica Hahn had found its way into the already chaotic halls of her work environment. Now it was all anyone could buzz about. Two weeks ago, no big deal. Hell, even yesterday is wouldn't have been that big of a deal. Once you came around to the idea of it, the sight of Erica and Callie together just made sense; you could see it. But, as it were, what with Erica Hahn's sudden disappearance, it was no surprise that Callie was immediately under suspicion. 'Had she driven her away?'; 'They say that they had a fight, but what about?'; 'Is she gay now?'; 'So, Erica is gone for good?'; 'Wait, Callie's gay?' All the whispers, the buzzing, the rumors flooded Seattle Grace's O.R.s, her Clinic, her E.R. It was like a virus and Bailey was sick of it. Couldn't they just let the poor girl be? Anyone could see she was taking the worse of the hit. Erica, wherever the hell she's run off to, was no doubt freely adapting to her new job, no gossipy nurses or interns to bother her. Bailey was an always had been a protector of her people, of her babies. While Callie wasn't normally considered one of those—Lord knows, the woman could protect herself—she needed it now more than ever. Bailey had gladly, therefore, taken it upon herself to threaten anyone who dared even mention the whole ordeal.
She figured, if she could deal, they could deal and that was that.
Sure, Bailey had had a hard time of it at the start. She had been shocked out of the water at Callie's abrupt confession of her date. Bailey knew as well as anyone how much keeping things inside hurt you, she got that. Still, it had been the last thing she ever could have expected to come from Callie Torres. Callie was the sort of person that Bailey knew very well to be a… very "loving" person. In the Biblical sense. Especially when it came to the male staff members of the hospital. Bailey had personally dealt with the irritatingly frequent sexual escapades of Callie and Mark Sloan as they commandeered the On-Call room time after time. And then, out of nowhere, it wasn't Callie and Mark. It was Callie and Erica, the aloof, impersonal cardiothoracic surgeon. Anyone who knew the two women separately would be dumfounded at the pair. They seemed to be such opposites. That was until you witnessed the looks Erica gave to Callie, the coy smile that played out across Callie's face whenever Erica walked in the room, the easy and casual joking way they went around the halls each day, neither taking a care in the world what anyone thought of them. No, having seen them together, Bailey doubted anyone could deny the mutual attraction. And hey, Bailey didn't judge. Black, white, Jewish, Christian, straight, gay; she didn't care either way.
Bailey's face softened as she remembered the panicked way Callie had faced her impending physical explorations with Erica. She'd been terrified. Bailey had had no choice but to help her out. She didn't have much personal experience with all the woman on woman sex… stuff but she figured, as a woman herself, she could try to look past that fact and give Callie the same pointers she hoped never to have to give to her son. She'd given her whatever skewed version of a generic first-time speech she could muster. Apparently, it had worked and for that, Bailey couldn't help but be a little proud.
But then Erica Hahn up and quit and Callie Torres came into work late with all the hopes and dreams of a dying animal. And she had retained that mood that could freeze hell itself for the better part of the day, so long as Bailey had seen her at least. The second she had spotted the broken woman, her Mama Bear complex kicked in. It wasn't her business, she knew that. She didn't know what kind of problems they may have been having and, to be quite honest, she didn't want to know. So she'd calmed the defensive airs despite her want of nothing else to do but shake the living hell out of Erica until she could come up with a good enough excuse for hurting one of Bailey's people. Bailey might not show it all the time but she cared about her people. They were, after all, her people.
"Speak of the devil," Bailey muttered as Callie rounded the corner in a considerably better-looking mood. She was still pale, still struggling but she was doing better. Bailey watched with a shrewd eye as Sloan cracked a joke, succeeding in winning a faint smile from Callie. One look told her that that had been his mission all along.
Good man, she thought to herself. She watched a while longer, noting the many consecutive attempts toward the same mission. You keep doing what you're doing, keep her going strong.
Bailey observed a lot each and every day she worked at the hospital. She saw the break ups, the fix ups. She saw the hook ups, and she saw the friendships. She witnessed them all; not commenting or interfering, simply witnessing. And she was pretty sure she liked it that way.
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A/N: Yes? No? Pointless? Poignant? Thoughts of any kind? Well, review then, silly!
