Hello pretty people, first of all, Sorry for the delay…
Thank you for the reviews I was overwhelmed by the responses… I can see, you all loved that-finally, Penny is out of Callie's life… I enjoyed writing that too. Thank you for liking the "Arizona is high Part" … I liked that episode so thought of incorporating it in the fan fiction.
Disclaimer: I don't own the character… it all belongs to Shonda and ABC…. etc etc etc
Without further ado … here we go
"Thank you, Dr Goodwin, it was great having you in the OR today… Good work" Callie said to the Surgical Oncologist who was assisting in the bone grafting of a 27-year-old male suffering from bone cancer-specific to the tibia.
"Pleasure is all mine, Dr Torres…. I mean the idea of removing the infected portion of the tibia and replacing it with cadaver bone was ingenious… I have only heard that New York pres. had hired an Ortho genius… but now I have seen it myself."
Callie gave a robust laugh on this comment "It's no biggie, I have done this surgery before at Grey Sloan Memorial… so…"
"Still, it was an honour to be a part of such an amazing team and to work along with the Ortho Genius," Dr Goodwin said impressed
"Thank you, by the way, I prefer Ortho Goddess" Callie jested with a wink and everybody around them joined in with a laugh
"Duly Noted Dr Torres" Dr Godwin replied with a grin.
They walked out of the OR discussing a further treatment plan. After explaining the treatment plan and potential risks to the patient family. They moved to the attending lounge.
"Dr Torres, me and the team is planning to go to The Sefton for victory drinks… would you like to join us?" Dr Goodwin asked Callie
Callie took a few moments to think about it, "Should I go? Of course, I should, it's not like somebody is waiting for me at home… I am free now… I can be a little loose…yup, I should definitely hang out. After all, in the last 1.5 years, I never got a chance to befriend my co-workers. I always went home early to either be with Sofia or Penny… maybe it's time for me to make new friends."
When Callie dint respond for a solid minute Goodwin tried again "Dr Torres?"
"Huh? Yeah… sorry… I zoned out… yeah! Sure, I would love to join you all… Thank you Dr Goodwin" Callie replied
"Great, see you at the Bar then… and please call me Clyde" with that Goodwin left the lounge.
Dr Clyde Goodwin was new at New York Pres, he has moved from California to join New York Pres as the attending oncologist. This was his first-time meeting Callie and he immediately took a liking of her. He was well-received by his colleagues and it didn't take him much time to make friends in the hospital.
After the shift Callie went to the bar, it was not much crowded given that it was just Tuesday. Her eyes darted across the bar and immediately landed on Clyde sitting on the bar stool sipping his scotch.
Callie made her way through to him "hey!"
"Dr Torres!" Clyde said cheerfully "You made it"
"I think we have reached a point where you can call me Callie" Callie replied with a smile
"Okay! So, tell me, Callie, how long have you been a part of NYP" Clyde asked
"Almost 2 years now, I moved here from Seattle in 2016" Callie explained
"oh wow, that's good… I am from California… had been living there my whole life until 3 weeks back when I moved here" Clyde said
"Really? The whole life in California? You must really love it there… I am from Miami originally, my whole family lives there but when I got my internship, I moved to Seattle." Callie explained further.
It was the first time Callie was opening up to someone this easily. Since she has moved here, she had herself completely indulge in work, she didn't make friends, hardly ever went for parties, So much so that some of the interns and nurses had a nickname for her - Dr Grumpy. But somehow, she was finding it easy to talk to Clyde, he was a naturally handsome man in his 40s, with winter Gray eyes, tall and broad, perfectly toned physic and dark wavy hairs with the hint of silver.
"So, what made you move to New York" Clyde Questioned
A little tipsy Callie gave an emphatic laugh flashing her perfect white teeth "I… umm… I moved… because my Girlfriend got a Preminger's Grant here…so…"
"Preminger's Grant? That's great… that's really supportive of you to move for your girlfriend's Career" Clyde said encouragingly.
"Yeah, we broke up," Callie said nonchalantly and took a shot of tequila.
There were a few moments of awkward the silence between them, Clyde didn't know how and what to respond to that until Callie started laughing hard.
Clyde looked at Callie little confused "Why… why are you laughing?"
"Because I broke up with the person I move across the country for. I left the place I lived for 13 years to be with my girlfriend with whom I broke up after a year and a half" Callie explained laughing hysterically. After analysing the situation and concluding that Callie was in fact, laughing genuinely Clyde joined in, they laughed till their stomach hurt and eyes watered.
After sometimes their laughter died down a little, they continued their conversation and placed their food order.
"I have never been to this bar before, it's quite nice," Callie said
"Never!? Not in 2 years? This is my 6th time in just 3 weeks" Clyde exclaimed
"Well! I guess I never had anyone to go to a bar with, plus I have a daughter, so I had to go home as soon as finish my shift…" Callie explained
"oh! you have a daughter? I have a son he is 13… how old is yours" Clyde asked excitedly.
"She is 7…" Callie replied with a smile "So where are your wife and son now?"
"Well my son is in California with my HUSBAND" Clyde replied emphasizing the last word "They will be joining me next month"
"Sorry I shouldn't have assumed" Callie replied coyly "My daughter is with her other mom, my ex-wife"
"you were married? "Clyde exclaimed.
"Yeah" Callie replied with a hint of sadness. Clyde realized there was more to that story but decided not to accentuate it any further.
After chatting for another hour, where Callie talked about her coming out to her family, and how her mother didn't attend her wedding and Clyde telling about his husband Stefan with whom he will be celebrating their 13th wedding anniversary in October this year; they both decided that it was time for them to go back home.
XXXXX
Ever since their conversation in Bar, Callie and Clyde were getting close to each other as friends. They would have lunch together, go to the bar and even make weekend plans for movies and outing together. Both of them found out that they were very much alike. They both loved the same types of movies and had a mutual love for dancing. They would talk about everything and nothing for hours. Clyde even took the role of being Callie's wingman whenever they would go to any gay bar. All in all, it was the start of a beautiful friendship which reminded Callie a little bit of mark because, in almost all aspects, Clyde was a sophisticated version of Mark and Callie enjoyed his company and vice versa.
One afternoon Callie walked into Clyde's office for lunch and found nose deep into something which looked like a research paper.
"hey! Watcha reading?" Callie said cheerfully
"hi!" Clyde replied without lifting his eyes from the paper "I found this very interesting research paper about female mortality rate in the USA by Dr Arizona Robbins"
Callie's head shot up hearing this name "What? Arizona published her paper already?" Callie asked astounded.
"You know her?" Clyde asked finally taking her eyes off the paper
"Know her!? …. She is my wif… ex-wife" Callie replied beamingly ignoring the obvious slip-up.
"WHAT!" Clyde's jaw dropped in surprise and shock "Your ex-wife is Dr Robbins? The Dr Robbins, who is one of the few foetal surgeons in the country and who is a double board-certified …. And, and, and wrote this paper?"
"Calm Down you weirdo, but yes the same Arizona Robbins" Callie replied with a smile, "aaand… she completed her foetal surgery fellowship in just 6 months" Callie added proudly.
"NNNOOOO!" Clyde said dramatically but seriously impressed. "…. I mean Torres! All this time you told me all these useless stories about Seattle, but it never occurred to you to mention that you The ex-Wife was Dr Arizona Robbins… I mean seriously ?!"
"I…umm" Callie tried to explain but got cut by Clyde's enthusiastic ramble
"OOOOO! Is it true that she was in a plane crash and survived but had her leg amputated"?
Hearing that Callie's expressions changed as a sudden wave of sadness hit her "Yeah…. It's true" Callie replied quietly.
Seeing Callie's reaction Clyde realized the sensitivity of the issue and mentally kicked himself for being so tactless "I am so sorry Torres; it was so insensitive of me… I shouldn't have said that… I am… sorry" Clyde said apologetically.
Callie took a deep breath to stable herself "NO!... no that's okay…never mind"
They didn't discuss that topic any further and the conversation slowly took the lighter route as they enjoyed their lunchtime together.
…
It was a Sunday morning; Callie and Clyde were doing furniture shopping in Ikea for Clyde's apartment as his husband and son were coming in 4 days. Clyde was telling the story of how he and his husband met which inspired Callie to tell him the story of her and Arizona. Callie moods dampened as she reached the part of their divorce and custody battle. Clyde listened intently as Callie described, how wonderful person Arizona is and how she let her take Sofia even after winning the custody battle.
After some time Clyde said "Callie"
"huh?" Callie replied without looking up from the salad, she was absentmindedly poking with a fork.
"Why are you here?"
"Meaning?" Callie asked confused
"I mean, your daughter, your … family is in Seattle, you broke up with Penny… what are you still doing here… why wouldn't you move back?" Clyde enquired
Callie didn't know what to say, why was she here? This was not her home, every night she would go to an empty apartment, she didn't know the place or neighbourhood. Seattle, on the other hand, has her friends who were her family and her daughter and …. Arizona. So, what was she doing here?
Clyde waited patiently for Callie to reply
"I… I can't go back… I mean… I am in a contract with NYP for another 2 years… I can't leave that and…" Callie didn't end her sentence because deep down she knew that she actually has no reason to be here other than the contract which she knew she could break by paying some penalty.
Sensing Callie's internal struggle, Clyde decided to change the topic
"You know what… you can't live without me anyway… so you better stay here"
"oh really…is that so," Callie said sarcastically but smiled gently on his antics.
XXXXX
It was Wednesday night and Callie had just arrived from the hospital after conducting a 6-hour long surgery. all through the way to her house, she was dreaming of soaking in a hot water bath with essentials oils. As soon as she reached home, she filled her tub with bubbles, oils and salt and prepared herself for the bath. She was feeling so tired that in a few minutes she fell asleep in the tub until the piercing noise of a ringing phone brought her out of her trance.
"Ügh! Who is calling at this ungodly hour" Callie thought annoyingly.
She picked up her phone from the shelf next to the tub and sat up immediately upon seeing the name of the caller. It was Arizona.
"Callie! Hey… um… so I was thinking… um, and I think—I think that—I think Sofia should move back to New York with you" Arizona said in one breath.
"what? Move back? " Callie managed to reply
"Mm-hmm, yeah…" Arizona replied and after a deep breath, she added "and I think I need to move back with her"
Callie's stomach did a summersault hearing this but she didn't know whether it was because of fear of excitement "Arizona…I…I mean all of a sudden… wait…. you wanna come to New York… as in permanently?"
"Yeah!... um…" Arizona said weakly as tears were threatening to fall from her eyes.
It was not a good day for Arizona Robbins. Her whole life turned upside down in just one day. Her daughter was unhappy, so much so, that she stole the field trip money from the school so that she could buy the ticket to New York; which lead Arizona to decide that she needs to move to New York with Sofia if she wants to be with her daughter and just 30 minutes back she had to break up with Carina, after a long time, with whom she could see the future. So yes, it was a bad day for Arizona which left her feeling dejected and forlorn, to say the least.
Callie's heart was beating very fast, she was in the state of bewilderment "Arizona? Wha… can you please tell what going on? You are scaring me… please"
Arizona took a deep breath "Everything is okay Callie… it's just Sofia is not happy here… she is moody, cranky and sad all the time… I tried everything, I took her to work with me, took a day off to spend with her but she is still sad. She doesn't wanna go to school and… just… I can't … I can't see her like that… and today she…" Arizona stopped in between the explanation. She knew that she needs to tell Callie about Sofia's stealing, but she couldn't tell her, not today. After the day she had, she was already feeling like a horrible mother and she wasn't in the mood for a lecture from Callie implying the same thing. So, she decided to leave this topic for another day.
Callie was too busy wrapping her mind around the new information to notice Arizona's hesitation "Are you sure, you wanna do this?... you wanna leave everything and move here" Callie asked
"Yes, Callie… I am sure…. I can't… I can't lose my daughter for freaking Geography" Arizona retorted "I have made up my mind… I just wanted to ask you… if you are okay with this?"
"Okay?... Arizona! it would make me very happy to have you… ahem… and Sofia here" Callie exclaimed.
"Okay then, it's decided … I… umm… work out a few things after that, I will let you know the tentative date of our moving" Arizona replied
"Great!... please let me know whatever you need here… I'll make all the arrangements" Callie replied little eagerly.
"Okay, Thanks, Callie… I'll talk to you later"
"Yeah… sure… umm… thanks Arizona … for everything," Callie said warily.
"… Good night Callie"
"Good night"
Hope you enjoyed it!
Reviews are welcome with an open heart
Stay safe!