Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, I just borrowed the name of the characters for entertaining, no intention to violate any copyrights.
A/N : Hi, it's me again. Thanks for coming back for this story. I... hmmm... cheated a little in this chapter. The last scene was a one-shot that I wrote a while ago on tumblr, glad that I could put this in the story, hope you don't mind.
And I hope you don't mind about the mistakes, too.
Chapter 11
"Yes, I followed your receipt, but she said it tasted a little different. I did... I did... oh, I didn't use garlic. I know, but she couldn't sleep after eating garlic, so I didn't... A little doesn't matter? Okay, I'll try it next time, Barbara." Callie was talking on the phone with the mother of her girlfriend, occasionally glancing at the blonde who was walking by her side down the hallway.
Arizona just smiled listening to the one sided conversation. Her parents had returned home over four months ago, but the distance between two cities did nothing to break the bond between Callie and Barbara. Whenever the mother called, she would ask for Callie after caught up with the life of her own daughter. And sometimes Barbara even seemed to have more to talk with Callie. But Arizona didn't mind, not at all. Actually, she was happy that the two important women in her life were getting along so well.
"She didn't say that she didn't like it. She just said it tasted different." Callie laughed into the phone, smiling sweetly to the blonde as they stopped by the door of the conference room. The call continued for a few more minutes until Derek passed by them entering the room. "We have to go, Barbara. I'll talk to you later. And say hi to the colonel for me."
"Bye mom." Arizona said into the phone before they ended the call. She chuckled while put the cellphone in the pocket of her white coat. "That woman can talk for hours."
"I don't mind. You know I like your mother." Callie put a hand behind the short woman's shoulder as they entered the conference to join their colleagues.
The two were the last to arrive. The seats around the table were all occupied so they just shifted to the back of the room, waiting for the chief of surgery to start the morning meeting.
"Good morning everyone." Derek smiled to his staffs, flipping open the folders before him. "Let's review the cases first. Cardio, Altman?"
It was the regular weekly attendings meeting. Different departments took time reporting their works, and sometimes complaints. Nothing special and it got boring very quickly and soon Callie pulled out her cellphone clicking around.
"What are you looking at?" Mark peeked at the screen in the brunette's hand. He was bored too.
"Checking our schedules." Callie shrugged a shoulder, and she added after seeing the question look on the man's face. "I mean, Arizona and mine."
"Why?" The blonde heard her name and asked.
"Our half year anniversary is coming. Both of us don't really have major surgeries planned in this month. I'm thinking maybe we can get a week off, going away for a little vacation." The ortho surgeon turned her cellphone, showing the agenda to Arizona. "What do you think?"
"Yeah?" Arizona nodded as she studying the schedule. Callie was right. They were pretty opened in the coming few weeks and a vacation sounded like a good idea. "I'd love that."
"Where do you want to go? We can go visit your parents, or to LA. You'd love the beaches in there. Or we can even get a 2 weeks holiday going to Fuji…" The brunette went on and on listing the places that she knew her girlfriend would love. However, her train of thought was disturbed by the chief's announcement.
"Okay, last item in this meeting. I'm pleased to tell you all that our hospital recently received a donation from the Torres Foundation." Derek looked around the room. Most of the attendings clapped their hands for appreciation, and a few of them who knew the fall out of the Torres father and daughter turned their heads to the back of the room, staring at the person who had the last name Torres.
"What?" Callie couldn't believe her ears.
"50 millions for Dr. Torres's robotic limbs research." The chief of surgery nodded his head at the ortho surgeon with a smile, and then he turned to the rest of staffs. "30 millions for improving the ER equipment, and 20 millions for the NICU."
"50… plus 30 and 20…" Arizona did the math out loud. She took a shaky breath before looked at her stunned girlfriend. "It's a hundred million dollars, Callie. And my NICU has a piece of it too. Do you know about that?"
"No, I haven't spoken to him since he left 4 months ago, and you know it." The brunette swallowed thickly, face pale liked a paper.
"Well, he has doubled his offer, and apparently the board has accepted it. He's gonna get whatever he wants." Mark looked between the women with concern. "Good luck."
Derek wrapped up the meeting shortly after that. Every one left to do their job except for Callie, who hung back in the room waiting to have a conversation with the chief.
"Chief," The ortho surgeon addressed her boss once the room was clear. "What does he want?"
"Who?" Derek looked up from his papers confused.
"My father. The last time he made the offer, you declined it and told me that I still have my job in here." Callie clenched her jaw tight. She thought the chief had her back but apparently a hundred million dollars was too much to refuse. "You have accepted his money. Do I have to clean up my stuff now?"
"Torres, your father made a donation, no string attached." The chief got up from the chair, looking at his head of ortho department with a frown. "I thought you knew about it."
"No, I don't. I haven't talked to him since he offered to buy me out the last time." The brunette shook her head. "Really? No string attached? And does he know a part of the donation is going to Arizona?"
"Technically the donation isn't going to Robbins, it's for the Peds department." Derek corrected her with a soft smile. "And yes, he knows. It was his idea of how to distribute the money. We gave him full details of each department's need, and he decided to put 20 million dollars into the NICU."
"I… I don't understand." The tall brunette scratched the back of her head. It didn't make any sense. Her father hated her for falling in love with a woman. And Arizona was that woman. Why would he donate money for her department?
"Frankly speaking, I had my reservation when he reached out to us two weeks ago reinitializing the discussion. Everything went smoothly and we have finalized everything three days ago." Derek fumbled with the folders on the table and picked up a piece of paper, handing it to Callie. "And we got the invitation this morning."
"Invitation?" The brunette took the paper and did a quick scan. "Torres Inc. 40th anniversary plus Torres Foundation fundraising party?"
"Since we're officially the recipient of the Torres Foundation, they want a representative to give a speech in the party. I figure that you'll be in the party anyway, I've told the Foundation that you'll represent us." Derek gave the ortho surgeon a smile. "You can talk about your research. And the board will be appreciated if you can also talk about the hospital. Nothing over the top, just... you know, what an excellent teaching hospital we are."
"What?" Raven head snapped up, looking at the man with horror in her eyes. "You want me to do a speech?"
"I wouldn't be surprised that Robbins would go with you, but the largest part of the donation is for your research, we agree that you'd be the perfect choice." The chief said matter-of-factly, oblivious of the look on the brunette's face.
"Hold on a second." Callie held up the paper asking the man with bulged out eyes. "You want me to go to a party where I don't even think that I'm welcomed. And on top of that, you want me to get on the stage, do a speech, with a microphone?"
"What do you mean you're not welcomed?" Derek squinted at his staff with a hand on his hip, looking a little bewildered. "You're a Torres."
"My father hasn't told me that he's holding a party, next week." The brunette glanced at the paper one more time. Her heart ached a little. The company was her father's other child and an anniversary party was a big deal, he didn't even bother to inform her about it. Twisting her lips, she returned the letter to the chief. "I don't think that he wants me there. You should find someone else. Besides, I don't do public speech."
Smiling forcefully, Callie turned to leave the room but the man stopped her.
"He didn't say anything when we pitched you as our speaker, Torres. If he doesn't want you there, he'd have said something." Derek took the few steps walking closer to the brunette. "I don't know how bad it is between you and your father, but I think, on some levels, he's holding out an olive branch."
"I don't know..." Callie wetted her lips pondering. A part of her wanted to believe that her father donated all those money for reaching out to her, but she tried not to toy with this idea. Especially, he hadn't spoken to her at all.
"You have no obligation to attend this party. If you really don't want to go, I'm not going to force you. But maybe this is a chance for you to mend the relationship with your father, Callie." Using the brunette's first name, Derek talked to her as a friend, not her boss. He handed over the invitation once again. "Give him a call, then you'll know."
Walking away with the invitation letter in her pocket, Callie tried not to think about it but that little piece of paper weighted like a rock. Unaware of what her father had in his sleeves made her uneasy. Unfortunately, today was a quiet day in her department and she had no broken bones to distract her. Good thing that she had a lab to drown herself into.
With the tools and the model that she had been working on spread on the table in front of her, the ortho surgeon lost track of time until someone knocked on the door and opened it slowly.
"I know I can find you here." Blonde head poked in between the gap, and the door being pushed open wider by the people behind her.
"Hey, what are you doing hiding in here?" Mark passed by Arizona entering the room, with Cristina behind him. "We missed you at lunch."
"Oh?" Callie picked up her phone checking the time, indeed she had been in there for hours. "No wonder I'm hungry."
"And, I got you this." Arizona walked around the table, putting a box of salad and a soda in front of the brunette. And she got a peck on the lips in return.
"What are you doing here?" The brunette referred to the two extra persons being in her lab right now. Mark had visited her from time to time gossiping around, but Cristina rarely stepped foot in this room surrounded by skeletons and hardware.
"Just want to see the 50 millions worth magic." The young resident shrugged a shoulder while sitting down next to Mark on the other side of the table.
"It costs more than that. And I have received other funds and donations for all this." Callie rolled her eyes with a long face.
"Come on, you just received a chunk of money from daddy for your toys. Cheer up. We're going to celebrate this at Joe's tonight." Mark added with a sly grin. "Your treat, of course."
"Fine." Callie grumbled under her breath, a little offended by the man's tasteless remark. And her girlfriend saw the displeasure on her face and kinda had an idea of what caused the grumpy mood.
"So, what did Derek say?" Arizona asked acting as nonchalant as she could. She was curious, and understandably, a little worried.
"He said, my dad called him a couple weeks ago. Everything went through just before yesterday... or the day before, I don't remember." The brunette twisted her lips, poking at her lunch absentmindedly.
"Is there... did they make a deal or something?" The blonde asked the follow up question, and she knew that the other two set of ears around the table were listening.
"Nope, Derek said that he didn't ask anything in return." Callie shook her head.
"Really?" Couldn't hold her tongue any longer, Cristina exclaimed. "He didn't even request the hospital to fire anyone of you?"
"Cristina!" Arizona scolded at the resident, the woman just looked back at her innocently.
"What? We all knew how it went the last time."
"No, Yang." Callie glared at her former roommate with annoyance. "My father didn't ask to fire me or Arizona."
"But... does he know where the money is going to?" The blonde pursed her lips with eyebrows peaked. "I mean, 20 millions to my NICU?"
"Derek said it was his idea." The brunette turned the chair, facing her girlfriend with a helpless smile.
"Ooh... the plot is getting thicker." Mark leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table listening with great interest. And Cristina agreed with him with a matching enthusiasm.
"Why are you two here actually?" Callie squinted at the two with a deep frown.
"Come on, you know every one is curious about this." The man chuckled aloud. Of course he was the one that wanted to know the dirt about this. "Seriously, what did your father say?"
"I haven't talked to him yet. I don't know what he's gonna say and I just..." Letting out a sigh, Callie took the hand resting on her knee in hers. The last part was directed to the blonde sitting next to her.
"Darling girl, you've accepted my money, now you have to break up with your little girlfriend." Cristina said with a lopsided smile, waving a hand matter-of-factly. "Something likes that apparently."
"I didn't accept the money, the hospital did." The brunette corrected her.
"Same difference." Mark and Cristina said in unison.
"Why don't you give him a call?" Ignoring the nose parkers, Arizona suggested. "I'm sure that he wants to hear from you."
"Yeah, and just tell him that you two have already broken up. It's not like he's living here seeing you two every day. It can save you some troubles." Cristina prompted, swinging a screwdriver between the lovers casually. And Callie snatched it from her hand.
"I'm not going to lie to him."
"Yeah, then tell him to his face in the party. See if he'll pull the donation." The resident's lips twisted in a contemptuous sneer.
"What party?" Two sets of blue eyes looked between them, and Arizona asked.
"How do you know about the party?" Callie squinted at the smirking woman.
"Derek told Mer."
"Of course." The brunette took a long puff of air. Not a surprise that Derek would tell his wife, and his wife shared it with her best friend. Slowly, she took out the invitation letter and handed it to the blonde. "Company party next week. They... I mean the Torres Foundation and the board of the hospital want me to attend as the representative of the hospital. But I'm not going."
"Why?" The blonde asked again, passing the invitation to the other two at the table.
"Why?" Callie chuckled with an incredulous look. "He cut me off because I'm in love with a woman."
"And it seems like he's trying fix it." Mark studied the content and added. "You're allowed to bring a plus one with you."
"Derek said the same, but you don't know my father. He's a stubborn old man that wouldn't bend for anyone, not even his own child." The brunette got up from the chair, striding to the tools rack on the other side of the lab. She wasn't looking for anything. She just couldn't sit still. "And why wouldn't he call me? I know nothing about the donation, and I know nothing about this party."
"Hey guy, would you mind to leave us alone?" Arizona asked her colleagues. They stood up to leave before handing back the letter to the blonde.
"Calliope..." Blue eyes followed the brunette's movement, knowing very well how frustrated the woman was right now.
"As Derek said, the donation came with no string attached. I don't have to do anything for my dad. And hell I don't have to be in his precious party." Still had her back to the blonde, Callie said between her teeth while her hands busy rearranging the tools on the shelves.
"Then why are you so upset?" Arizona asked softly.
"Me? No, I'm not upset." Swirling around quickly, the brunette pulled up an overly broad smile, and her pitch went up an octave.
"Calliope, you can talk to me." The blonde smiled sweetly as she walked toward her girlfriend. Taking the tools from Callie's hands and put them back on the shelves, she took the now empty hands in hers and looked deep into the brown eyes. "Why are you upset?"
"He didn't tell me." Looking down at their joint hands, Callie bit the corner of her lips and opened up to her girlfriend. "My mom always jokes that my dad loves his business more than us. It's the anniversary of the company and he's holding a big party, but he didn't tell me, his only daughter. I have to find it out from my boss."
"He didn't call you, but it's not like you have tried to call him." Blonde head leaned forward, trying to catch the brown eyes.
"Which side are you on?" And the brown eyes snapped up to glare at the blue ones. She wasn't so appreciate the smile on the blonde's face.
"I'm on your side, of course. Just..." Arizona wetted her lips, trying to suppress the smile but it was just too hard. "Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Calliope. You are just as stubborn as your father."
"I am not." Callie whined and tried to pull away, but the grasps on her hands tightened, pulling her even closer to the blonde. Finally, she gave in. "Fine... what am I suppose to do?"
"Give him a call. Ask the questions you have in your mind." Ivory hand reached up, caressing the olive face tenderly trying to ease the frown between the brows.
"I know what he's gonna answer..." The brunette murmured under her breath.
"No, you don't. You think you do but you don't. Let him talk, hear him out." Arizona couldn't hold back a chuckle. This woman was even more stubborn than she thought. "And if he says that he doesn't want me to go with you, you can bring Mark instead. I bet that he looks good in a tuxedo."
"I'm not going with Mark. If you don't go with me, then I'm definitely not going." Callie shook her head rapidly. "We can take the week off going to anywhere you want to go."
"Then I vote to go to Miami. We can start our vacation after you attended the party." One hand placing on Callie's cheek stopping her from shaking her head, Arizona kissed the other cheek before strode toward the table.
"I hate you." Callie called after her girlfriend with a pout.
"Because I'm right, and I'm awesome." Arizona picked up the cellphone on the table and walked back to the brunette with a dimpled smile. One that she knew Callie couldn't resist. Handing over the phone, she raised her eyebrows. "Call him now, before your crazy, stubborn head tells you otherwise."
Still pouting, the brunette unlocked her phone.
"Hi, daddy..."
"I still don't think this is a good idea, Arizona." Fingers drumming on the steering wheel, Callie glanced over to the passenger seat. "We can afford the tickets to Miami. We shouldn't take my father's private jet."
"He offered." The blonde reminded her girlfriend.
"I know, but... I'm telling you, if father Kevin hides in the plane, we're jumping out." The brunette held up a finger, saying with determination. "I don't care how high up on the sky we are, we're jumping out."
"Father Kevin?" Arizona asked.
"Our priest." Callie pulled her lips downward to a frown.
Arizona just shook her head and smiled. The brunette was on edge ever since the call with her father. It was civil, and short because Carlos was about to go into a meeting. Callie was ensured by the old man that she, and whoever she is going to bring to the party are welcomed. And he even offered to bring the women to Miami by his flight, and a suite in the hotel that carried their last name.
And that was what made the brunette puzzled. Her father was being nice to her and Arizona. Too nice. The closer she got to see her father, the more restless and uneasy she became.
Oh, and the speech. She had to give a speech in front of all the guests tonight. Just thought about it, she found herself hard to breathe.
"Cal, the check engine light is still on." Arizona looked over the dashboard of her girlfriend's 1957 Thunderbird. They were on the way to the airport and Callie insisted on taking her car.
"Yeah, I've forgotten about it. You know how hectic it was last week." The brunette took a deep breath. The light started flickering just a couple weeks ago, but it was not the priority in her mind.
"Then we should have taken my car." The blonde pursed her lips murmured under her breath. She loved that her girlfriend looked hot in this vintage car, and she knew how grumpy the brunette was in the last few days. But still, it was an old car. It didn't seem safe comparing to her much, much more modern Mercedes. "The check engine light in my car isn't on."
"It's gonna be fine." Callie rolled her eyes. She knew Arizona was right, but living so close to work meant that she didn't have many chance to bring her baby out for a ride. And sitting behind her beloved car could ease her nerves. She wouldn't miss it. And the car was running smooth so far...
Damn the Murphy's laws.
Callie pulled to the side of the street when her trustful car started making scrapping noises and wobbling.
"What's going on?" Arizona stared at the driver with uplifted eyebrows.
"I don't know..." The brunette held up her hands looking at the dashboard. She had had never heard her car grunting like that. After a few seconds of staring, she tried to start the car again. It grunted, shimmied, and then stopped.
"How can you don't know? This is your car." Arizona waved her hand around her surrounding. "You're driving around with an old car, Callie."
"I know how to drive the car doesn't mean that I have to know how to fix it. I fix bones." Callie grumbled between trying to start the car again. "It's not like you know anything about cars."
"Pop the hood." Sighing dramatically, Arizona ordered.
"What?" Brown eyes snapped up staring at the blonde as if she just grew another head.
"I said, pop the hood." Arizona said again before got out of the car. She stood by the door with a hand on her hip waiting for the brunette to do what she said.
Reluctantly and uncertainly, Callie pressed the button and the hood popped open. She followed her girlfriend to the front of the car.
"Please don't touch anything, Arizona." Swallowing nervously, she burst out when the blonde held up a hand about to reach into the maze of mechanical... stuffs. "This is not an abdomen of a person. You know nothing about..."
"I grew up with a brother, remember? He and our friend Nick spent a lot of time burying their heads under the hoods." The blonde titled her head to a cocky smile. She was proud to herself that she knew a little more than her girlfriend. "I knew enough about cars from them."
"But... I'm not sure, Arizona." Uncertainty gaze shifted between her girlfriend and her car. Callie wanted to trust the girl that she loved, but... she also loved her car. "It's okay, I'm going to call AAA. They can be here in about half an hour."
"Then we're going to miss our flight, Calliope. And you know how much I hate to be late. Really, Tim taught me an emergency fix." Blue eyes searched over the sea of wires and mechanical parts, Arizona exclaimed seeing what she was looking for. "Here it is."
"What is that?" Callie asked seeing the blonde picked up a thick wire that had a few smaller wires connecting to several places.
"That, my friend, is the wire that connects to every trouble." Arizona turned her head to the brunette, explaining it just liked the time her brother taught her. "This is the master wire. Whenever there's something wrong with any part of the car, this it the wire that sends the signal to the engine. You just have to disconnect it then the engine will start again."
"If it's that simple then why would..." The brunette couldn't finish the question as her voice choked in a gasp. Arizona just yanked off the said wire.
"See? Just like that." Arizona gave the still jaw dropping brunette a triumphant glance whilst pulling the hood back down. "But this is just a temporary fix. You still need to bring it to the garage later. Now, get back in and try to start this old junk again."
"What is the problem?" Callie asked to the guy in the jumpsuit, who was currently examining her baby. She and Arizona, and her car were in the same spot in the past 40 minutes.
"Hard to tell, ma'am. I'll need to take it back to the garage for a thorough checkup." The mechanic finally stood up, wiping his hands on his pants. "Probably the engine. And your horn wire is torn."
"What wire?" Big brown eyes blinked up at the AAA guy.
"This." The man picked up the disconnected wire, showing it to the two women. "The wire that connected to the horn. It looks like someone just pulled it out."
"Really? The horn wire? "Slowly turned her head to the woman standing next to her, Callie didn't even bother to hide the smirk on her face.
"Umm... Steve," Not ready to admit her mistake, Arizona cleared her throat before asking. "Would it be possible, maybe, that is the master wire? You know, the one that could disconnect the malfunction parts to the engine? Oh wait, maybe it's the one next to it..."
"Ma'am..." At this point, Steve the mechanic had a pretty good idea who did it. Keeping his expression neutral, he answered the blonde woman. "There has no such thing. There is no master wire. If the structure of car is that simple, I'd be out of my job a long time ago. I think you... well... whoever pulled that wire, has got punk'd. The only thing that'd happen after this is silencing the horn."
"You broke my car." Callie sang out. She knew that she should be mad or upset about her beloved car, but this was just too hilarious.
"Oh shut up. I broke your horn." A red flush spreads from the blonde's face to her neck. Silently cursed her brother who was no longer with her so she couldn't punch him in the arm, she glared at the smirking woman. "Your car has already broken."
"The horn wire is not a big deal. I can easily weld it back. But if the damage of your car is as I suspected, we may have a problem of getting the parts to fix it. I'll let you know." Steve wrote down the details on the note pad and then handed the receipt to the car owner. "Do you need me to call you a cab?"
"It's fine, my friend is on the way... Oh, there he is." Callie pointed to a black Audi just pulled up behind them. They had called Mark to pick them up. After transferring the luggage from one car to another, they watched the tow truck driving away with the thunderbird in the back.
"What's the problem with her?" Mark asked after settling in the driver seat, seeing from the rearview mirror that the blonde in the backseat was pouting with arms across her chests.
"C'mon, don't tell me you're still mad about the horn wire." Callie turned from the front seat, couldn't help to tease her girlfriend.
"No, it's not." Arizona twisted her lips glancing sideward. Of course she was. "I'm mad that we are late."
"We're late but it's not like we're gonna miss the flight. It wouldn't leave until we're there." Callie smirked and turned to her friend on the driver seat. "Really, Mark. You have no idea how well that Arizona knows about cars."
"Calliope!" Arizona scolded at her girlfriend, and that just made the brunette laughed even louder.
"And seriously, I'd really love to know everything that your brother had ever taught you."
Hearing the laughter from her girlfriend, Arizona couldn't help to turn the pout to a smile. She had made a fool of herself, but at least the brunette had forgotten what might be waiting for her in Miami.