A heart made to be broken

Chapter 10

The drive back to Callie's was...well awkward. And silent. Which only caused it to be even more awkward. Callie's head was leaning against the cool glass and although she was silent Mark could still see her chest rising and falling heavily. He wanted to ask her if she was okay. But he wasn't going to risk the surgeon opening the door probably while the car was still running and rolling herself out of it.

Ok so maybe that was a bit extreme but he was pretty sure she'd at least demand that he pull over so she could get out. He wanted to ask her how long she had been running for and why she had in fact been running in the rain.

He knew it had been low, to threaten her with a call to a friend. And Christina Yang nonetheless. But it had only been that morning that he'd overheard Owen and Christina talking and had caught the name of the woman now sitting next to him, while he hadn't heard what they'd said exactly their tone hadn't been the lightest and he could see the worry on their faces a mile away. They drove for a good twenty minutes and it wasn't until Mark turned the car off that he turned towards her slightly, gathering up his courage to finally ask her a question,

"Did you run all the way from your house?" he asked gently not wanting to upset her but he cringed when he saw her eyes narrow and the only answer he received was Callie getting out of the car. Mark sighed and turned the car back on reversing while hitting the button to send his window down,

"No problem Torres" he yelled not even realising what he was doing. It was then that Mark received the second glare of the day, oh and if looks could kill. He'd have been dead a long, long time ago.

"I didn't ask you for your help Sloan" she bit back before she pushed the door to her apartment building open disappearing inside it. Mark let his head fall back against the head rest and hit the steering wheel with his palm several times.

Why was she so frustrating?

Callie collapsed exhaustedly on the couch sighing loudly as she threw the phone onto the cushion beside her. She'd only just hung up the phone after a horribly draining phone call to Chief Webber. And to say the man was not impressed was an understatement. He'd demanded to see her in his office at nine o'clock the next morning and Callie was already anxiously dreading the next morning. Was he going to fire her? He'd already demoted her when her marriage had crumbled apart, was this the final straw for the man? Callie sighed again; it wouldn't be that much of a surprise. Everyone else eventually gave up on her, why not him too?

She was late. Great start Torres.

She'd woken up on the couch in the same clothes as the day before, the plate she'd had her dinner on still sitting on the table along with a bottle of water and the TV still illuminated the room.

It was her phone that had woken her up and Callie had never been more thankful to Christina Yang in her life. Forgetting about the text she scurried around the house and thirty minutes later she had all but ran into the hospital and cursed her body when her side twinged painfully. Ducking into the elevator she almost cursed aloud when she saw George O'Mallie and Izzie Stevens their hands joined leaning lazily against the wall. George offered her a hesitant smile but she ignored it turning away from them before the doors closed.

Just great.

Two stops later Alex Karev already adorning the resident light blue scrubs joined the trio and Callie caught him visibly cringe at the group as he joined them. He threw her a small smile before standing next to her,

"Torres" she smiled lightly thankful that he was there,

"Karev" she greeted in reply,

"How are you?" she added,

"Started at four and just came from a lady with rather explosive diarrhoea" and if Callie had been hungry from her skipped breakfast she certainly wasn't now. She nodded her lips pressed together as her nose crinkled in displeasure,

"Thanks for that" he just laughed as the elevator arrived on the surgical floor,

"See ya later" she nodded as they exited the lift and she didn't care to turn back and see her ex shifting uncomfortably behind them.

Finally making it to the Chiefs office she sucked in a deep breath before raising a trembling hand to knock on the door. She heard the chief respond and she opened the door only to wish she hadn't.

Seriously, who was it up there that had it in for her? Obviously she'd done some serious wrong and Callie once again ignored the sharp pain that sliced through her chest as she was met with the sight of Derek Shepherd and Addison Montgomery in front of her.

"Well I think we're finished here, don't you?" she heard the chief say,

What had they been talking about? Surely it wouldn't….they wouldn't. Had they heard? Had Christina said something…Owen?

Callie felt the bile rise in her stomach as Derek nodded standing up quickly,

"Thanks Richard" he said and Addison offered the Chief a large smile before turning gracefully on her heel and heading out the office without so much as a glance in Callie's direction. Derek on the other hand stared blatantly towards her and it was Callie who didn't return his gaze,

"Take a seat Dr. Torres" she sat carefully and swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat,

This was it.

"I understand that you left work early the other day; care to explain?" he asked and she couldn't help but cast her eyes downwards. After a few seconds the chief spoke once again,

"Callie is there something going on that I need to know?" he asked and this time she could hear the curiosity in his voice as well as the annoyance his first question had exuded. She shook her head in response,

"No chief it's fine" but even she had to admit that she didn't sound very convincing,

"You've had the last couple of days off without notice Callie….Look I don't know what to think" he sighed,

"You have patients relying on you. Doctors and the rest of the surgical staff were mixed up as well as the board and the patients. You didn't answer my calls…no one had any answers for me. So what is it that's going on?" he asked firmly and Callie felt the guilt well up inside of her,

"I….." She didn't know what to say. Why hadn't she already thought of this? She cursed her own idiocy once again,

"I …chief I was in hospital" she finally blurted out and caught the man in front of her sharply turn back to look her way,

"I'm sorry?" Callie gulped,

"I was admitted into Mercy West the day before yesterday and I was in there overnight. I was out for most of it otherwise I would have called…I just…." She trailed off not knowing how to finish,

"Why….uh..are you okay?" the chief finally asked and she nodded automatically,

"Fine"

"May I ask what happened?" he then asked more softly,

"It was nothing I just …..it was nothing" she finished lamely. She was not about to tell the chief of surgery that she had collapsed from exhaustion. He would suspend her from surgeries in a heartbeat. And she needed to work. If nothing else, she needed to work.

"Why did you go to Mercy West?" the chief asked curiously,

"I mean why not here, you know we would have looked after you" Callie nodded hearing the slight offence in his voice.

"I was …I passed out, ambulance took me there" she responded hesitantly and it was then that the chief leant back in his chair and she could feel his gaze on her,

"Callie….should you be working?" he asked,

"Yes I'm fine, they cleared me there. They didn't particularly know why it happened. Bloods came back fine, everything was fine. They kept me in for obs and all of that was fine too. I'm fine. Better than fine" she had never said the word fine so many times in one sentence. Or in one week. She was starting to hate the four letter word.

"Exhaustion? Working too hard, I mean you have been taking some long shifts lately, stress?" the Chief guessed but Callie shook her head adamantly not allowing him to travel down that path,

"No Chief, it's not really…I've ..everything's fine" there it was again. After several moments of silence finally the chief answered,

"Alright take the rest of the day off and come back tomorrow if you're feeling well enough. If not give me a call" Callie looked up sharply at the Chief,

"Really?" she asked and his brow creased slightly,

"What were you expecting?" he asked. She felt herself flush and shook her head,

"No…nothing. Um ..okay ….I could work today..if you need me, I'm fine" but the chief shook his head and looked at her,

"Not today, go home catch up on rest, get a good meal into you and come back ready to start tomorrow. Callie, you know that I'm here….if you need anything" Callie felt her throat tighten and she gulped again clearing her throat,

"Thanks Chief" she said and nodded before standing up. She knew she couldn't stay in the room any longer. She had to get out of there. Had to leave before his concern overwhelmed her and she was reduced to some blubbering mess in front of her superior. The chief at that.

Yeah that would look great.

Once he'd bid her farewell she didn't hesitate to scamper out of the office and head back towards the elevator. She wanted to head the other way. To the locker rooms, to change into her scrubs and to walk into the OR and save someone. She wanted to cut. Nothing more. She wanted to work.

But not today. After all she was just thankful that she still had a job.

Derek Shepherd leant back on the chair pushing the charts away from him and letting out a loud sigh.

What was happening here? He'd had a great couple of last days with Addison and he'd walked into work that morning with a large smile on his face. Their date had gone flawlessly and Addison had spent the night with him in the trailer.

But now all he felt was …hollow….guilt. And before he could help it his mind flew to the horrible expression he'd seen on Callie's face that morning. Callie. He hadn't spoken a single word to her since that night. He hadn't heard from her, asked for her. He swallowed as the guilt built up inside of him. The neurosurgeon sighed again and jumped slightly as Mark walked into the room, Owen following close behind him. Both men in dark blue scrubs stretched their limbs tiredly,

"You okay man?" Mark asked catching the movement and Derek shrugged.

"How was the surgery" Derek asked and Owen smiled,

"Went off without a hitch" he nodded, impressed, he'd seen the films.

"So what's going on?" Mark asked as he collapsed into a chair beside Derek while Owen flicked on the automatic coffee machine,

"What nothing, why?"

"Cause you've got that..the whole world just blew up in my face and I don't know what to do look going on again" Derek just rolled his eyes at his friend and shrugged but like usual he was quick to give in and Mark looked up curiously when Derek began to explain,

"I saw Callie this morning….she looked..I don't know" Mark frowned thinking of the day before and Owen who still faced away from the other two frowned lightly,

"She looked sick or something I don't know…do you think I should talk to her?" Mark shrugged but before he could answer Owen turned towards Derek,

"Is she back at work" the men had discussed only the day before of Callie's sudden disappearance and Owen had been caught up on the whole story. He hadn't however let the two old friends in on the fact that Christina had been baby sitting a discharged Callie from the Mercy West emergency room the day before. He didn't think Callie would appreciated that much.

He'd felt instantly bad after hearing the story and groaned as he remembered pulling Christina onto his lap and kissing her right in front of Callie the night before. He wondered why Christina hadn't said anything or pushed him away at all. It didn't seem right. He was pulled out of his thoughts by the shrill sound of Derek's pager as it went off. Derek sighed and stood quickly before he answered,

"I'm not sure I saw her heading into the chiefs office, I gotta take this can you put those back for me" Mark nodded when Derek gestured the charts spread out on the table and Derek thanked him before leaving the room. Once the door had swung shut the plastic surgeon turned to Owen and the man raised an eyebrow in question,

"I…uh I kind of ran into Callie yesterday" Mark said and Owen could hear the uneasiness in Marks' voice. He wasn't quite sure where the man stood when it came to Callie. From what he'd heard Mark and Callie were sworn enemies and he hadn't heard the surgeon say anything exactly nice about her since he'd arrived in fact usually it was the downright opposite. But Owen knew concern when he saw it and it was painted on Mark Sloan's face,

"What do you mean, was she here?" Mark shook his head and Owen's curiosity peaked,

"I was driving home yesterday…she was out running" Owen eyes widened now,

"Yesterday" when Mark threw him a questioning glance before nodding Owen shook his head hoping that he'd hidden his surprise and was relieved when Mark continued,

"She'd obviously been running for a while. I don't know she was out of it, there's no way she would have made it home. So I….well I threatened to call Christina if she didn't get in the car" amusement caused Owen's expression to change this time,

"And did she?" he asked. Mark nodded,

"But she was not one happy chappy" when Mark's pager went off a moment later he sighed getting up,

"Do you think we should do anything?" Mark asked him in the same concerned way Derek had before. And Owen simply shrugged,

"I don't know" he admitted honestly,

"I thought you hated Callie?" he asked and it was Marks turn to shrug,

"Well…yeah I don't like her …but you know…I have to work with her and all and I'd rather avoid having to fix her mistakes if she can't operate properly" he said and Owen nearly smirked at his rushed and lame explanation.

"Reckon you can put those back?" Mark said nodding at the charts deflecting the attention away from his pathetic excuse. Owen did laugh this time and nodded. Once the door had closed for the second time Owen felt the frown from before fall back onto his face.

What exactly was going on here?

What was going on with the famous orthopaedic surgeon he'd heard so much about?

Hii, hope you guys are still there : ) I decided I really want to get back into this one. After my computer crashed and I lost all my plans and half the story I kind of lost all my motivation but here's another chapter and I really hope you guys like it.

Please review and let me know what you think (prettttty please : )

Thanks for reading,

Nina xx