Callie and Mer. Set post-11x18ish.
Meredith spotted Callie from across the cafeteria and made eye contact with her.
Callie nodded back in acknowledgement, then hurriedly paid for her food and strolled over to sit beside Meredith.
"What's up?" Callie greeted as she sat down. "Where is everyone?"
"Alex is in surgery and Maggie had a consult," Meredith offered between mouthfuls.
"Mmm," Callie replied, biting into her apple. "Hey," she said after a minute, looking up.
Meredith stilled, French fry in hand.
"You and Derek have loved each other for, what? Eleven years now?"
Meredith shrugged. "Give or take."
"HOW?" Callie laughed, marveling. "Seriously! How have you made it work, despite everything?"
Meredith made a face, shoving the fry into her mouth. "Are you going back to Arizona?" she deadpanned.
"What?!" Callie asked. "No! No way. I was just wondering," she said defensively.
Meredith narrowed her eyes at her friend, and guiltily, Callie insisted, "Seriously."
Finally, Meredith replied, "We promised each other that we'd love each other, even when we hate each other. Neither one of us gets to walk out when things get hard."
Callie snorted. "That explains where Arizona and I went wrong. We're the queens of walking out."
Meredith gave her a slight pity smile.
"But promising to love each other even when you hate each other, that really works?"
"Yeah," Meredith admitted. "Because even when one of us makes a mistake, we know each other well enough to know that there was a reason that we did what we did. Or we fix the problem."
"What if it can't be fixed?" Callie asked, genuinely curious.
Meredith pursed her lips. Usually, she was of few words, and when she did speak, it was rarely about something so personal. "So far, with a lot of work, everything's been fixable."
Callie sighed, working to return to her usual, more playful demeanor. "I wish I hated Arizona."
Meredith smirked. "Even if you did, you'd still love her."