How can we heal these bitter divisions?
How can we reconcile our differences?
Callie swore out loud as she struggled to stay upright. With a few not-quite-graceful moves more suitable for a mosh pit than a parking lot, she finally righted her body and cursed herself for not telling someone to salt the lot before it got too late.
So, with a coffee still surprisingly still intact in one hand and her briefcase in the other, she slowly waddled to the door of the clinic. She got to the door and swore one more time once she realized that her keys were in her pocket. After an internal debate on which item was less important, Callie decided to set her briefcase on the icy ground.
After a few attempts and only a partial slosh of her coffee, Callie was soon stomping down the hallway to her office, slush falling slowly off of her briefcase. Once she got into her office, she shrugged her coat off and hung it over the chair in her office. Why she decided to come in during a week long snowstorm, she still didn't know.
All appointments had been cleared for the week due to inclement weather. But, the idea of a quiet office was kind of appealing. Even if there were no dislocated shoulders or torn ACLs roaming the halls and filling the rooms, it didn't mean she got to slack. Her contract was up in three weeks and she had been putting off talking to Grey Sloan until the very last minute. Miranda Bailey was terrifying, and as Chief of Surgery she was even more intimidating.
Not that Callie would ever say that out loud.
She opened up her junk drawer and pulled out a few starbursts, making sure there were no orange ones. She flipped her laptop open and began writing her official rejection of her contract extension. While she was horrible at public speaking, writing business-style passive aggressive letters was sort of a specialty. Something about using 8-letter words and long strings of passive prose just spoke to her on a spiritual level.
She put in her ear pods and flipped to the "90's Dance Party" station to pump her up.
A few hours later and she was finished and pretty satisfied with her official statement. She emailed it to her boss and looked down at her phone. It was 11am on a Wednesday, how busy could the Seattle hospital be? Well, soon she'd find out.
She left the office to grab another coffee from the machine in the hallway, pausing only to peek her head into the copy room to see if anyone else was here. With nothing left to distract her, Callie walked back into her office, locked the door, kicked off her shoes, and dialed the familiar number.
"Chief's Office."
"Bailey?" Callie sputtered like a school child. Not even three seconds into this call and she was tanking it.
"The one and only."
"Oh."
"O-kay, we're gonna have to do this the awkward way. To whom do I owe the pleasure of speaking to?" Bailey's voice was patronizing but Callie was so used to it, that it rolled right off of her.
"Oh, sorry, it's Callie. Torres. Callie Torres." she winced at how frightened she sounded.
"Oh, Torres! Did you need to speak to Robbins? Did something happen with I-"
"-No. Ah. Actually I needed to talk to you."
"Okay, well, if you're asking about how vajay-jays work again, I think google dot com could do better than -"
"I need a job." She really was doing a terrible job at this. "Sorry, uh, I've been managing a sports clinic in Iowa City and my contract's up in a few weeks…."
An awkward silence filled the call for a few seconds until the steady chirping of the Chief nearly broke the speaker on her phone. Callie recoiled and slammed the phone down. Even on the desk she could still hear Bailey's voice.
"DO YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN JUST CALL US AND HAVE US MAKE ROOM FOR YOU. WE DON'T BEND TO YOUR WILL TORRES. IF YOU RECALL YOU QUIT HERE WITH A 36 HOUR NOTICE AND, AND, AND I'M GOING TO HAVE TO CALL YOU BACK."
Shellshocked, Callie sat there for a few minutes until her phone vibrated on the desk. She looked at the message with wide eyes and chuckled a little bit.
I don't know what you said to Bailey but she is flipping SHIT in her office.
Alex's text message made her smile, she hadn't really talked to him in a few weeks. She texted him back some emojis and turned her phone over. When she felt the desk vibrate again she answered her phone without looking.
"-lo?"
"Torres, why is it that you know the exact date that your ex-boo thang chased off our Ortho attending. Did you two plan this!? I thought you lived in New York with whatever that wispy surgeons name was?" The Chief's voice was less angry than before.
"Uh, no. I don't know anything about that. I just decided that Iowa was just not for me." Callie offered. "And no, I haven't lived in New York for a while."
"You'll start on the First of February. Is that suitable for you? Since you attendings don't seem to care how your Chief feels!"
"That would be wonderful, have HR fax me the paperwork and I'll get it back to you soon."
"Goodbye Torres. And off the record, if I may? It would be nice to see a friendly face around these parts."
With a large exhale, Callie breathed out the anxiety that had wracked her. She'd secured a job, even if it was a few months off. Maybe, just maybe she could work this out somehow. Suddenly exhausted both physically and mentally, Callie got up and curled up on the burnt sienna couch in the corner of her office.
What seemed like many hours later, although after a glance at her phone proved to be only three, Callie woke up to a familiar onslaught of messages.
Bailey told me you called but she won't tell me why. Is everything okay?
Callie? Are you alive?
Listen, I know we didn't talk about the conversation a few days ago but I didn't think we needed to. I'm really loving where this is going between us. We never got a chance to just date.
Okay? Are you really that busy? I thought you said you were going to be closed today?
Callie please call me, I'm really worried.
Those, along with three missed calls actually made her smile. She'd spent so long convincing herself that no one cared that she'd left, that to see the opposite happen was endearing. Still warm and comfortable on the couch, Callie tapped the FaceTime icon on her phone, holding the device against the arm of the couch as she waited.
After a few rings a frazzled, yet adorable Arizona answered the phone. By the scenery behind her, Callie figured she was in the hospital Cafeteria.
"CALLIOPE. I WAS SO WORRIED!"
Callie winced at the blonde's volume, which had surely gotten the attention of a large portion of the busy room.
"Sorry, I was napping! I called Bailey and it was stressful, so I took a power nap!" Callie raised her eyebrows and nodded slowly. Surely any surgeon at Grey Sloan would understand.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I overreacted. Usually I'm the cool one, but damn Callie. I really thought you'd ghosted me."
"No, no! I promise I won't do that. You don't deserve that. I'm sorry if I scared you. I honestly didn't think you'd call me. I know our last phone conversation took a strange turn and I was letting you lead."
Arizona looked stunned for a moment and looked above the phone for a minute. After a second, Callie saw the hallway passing and quite enjoyed the ride-along to Arizona's office. When the view stabilized, she faced the wall with all her ex-wife's accolades and recognitions.
"I'm not good at this Callie. I've lost my game." Arizona flopped back into focus, this time sans her white coat. It was definitely a sight she had missed.
"Your game?" Callie questioned, snuggling further into the couch.
"Yes! I haven't messaged you because I don't have a game plan. I used to be so good, I used to be HOT! I've lost my touch!"
Callie frowned, "What makes you think that?"
"I don't know what to do back! You one upped me. I got so...unsettled by seeing you in a bathrobe that I lost my game. I'm stuck!"
Slowly, a smile spread across Callie's face.
"You're a doofus - a cute doofus. I can't believe that was your reason. I thought I scared you off."
"Oh no. Oh no, no, no. Not at all," Arizona started. "I was definitely not scared. I just may have said something brash that I would not normally have said. I blame it on the craft beer and the fact that you were wet and naked." She blew at a blonde strand that fell in her face.
"Well, it's refreshing to know that I'm not some repulsive bog demon. Your message actually made my heart flutter - as lame as it definitely motivated me." Callie admitted.
"To do what?" the familiar twinkle was back in Arizona's eye. She looked positively mischievous and ready to play this game they had started.
"To buy batteries for my sad, dead, vibrator."
Arizona's eyes went wide and she blushed. Callie inwardly chucked at how uncomfortable she looked.
Was it cruel?
Probably.
Was is ridiculously sexy?
Definitely.
"I didn't realize that you still had one that took batteries. Last I knew, you prefered to use gravity, silicone, and that leather harness that you just had to have because it was holographic."
Callie's breath caught in her throat as the blonde in front of her winked and looked up over the phone. A hand covered the camera and mic as Arizona spoke to someone else. Well, Callie was competitive, stubborn, and really turned on. She set the phone on the table in front of her and used the stand on the back of her phone case to prop it up.
Callie turned to the coat rack and pulled off the gym clothes that hung there in case of emergencies. With patience and skilled movements, Callie peeled the white coat off of her body and turned to look at the phone. The shadow in the camera, was fluttering - signalling end of Arizona's conversation.
Quickly Callie turned back around and threw the coat on the couch. With deft fingers she started unbuttoning her blouse.
"Callie, I - oh!"
The change in pitch of Arizona's voice made Callie smile devilishly. She turned around the face the phone while her fingers continued down her shirt.
"Sorry, I decided that I was going to go downstairs to the gym but I didn't want to be rude and hang up. So, I thought I'd change in here. She eased the blouse down her shoulders and down past her waist, bobbing her head in a steady rhythm. Her eyes flicked up to the computer screen where Arizona sat, mouth open.
"Arizona? Do you need to go?" Callie bent over in a simple black bra and leaned into the camera.
The blonde open and closed her mouth a few times, looking pretty similar to a goldfish. The site alone sent a flush down Callie's body. Eventually, she picked the phone up and winked at Arizona.
"Goodbye Arizona. Try not to think of sweaty me lifting heavy things and grunting a lot!"
The only response she got was Arizona's eyelids fluttering as she rolled her eyes back.
Callie disconnected the call and finished changing. Her office was now plagued in darkness, making her sleeping once again. After some digging she found a pair of headphones and grabbed her badge. The only way to work off this sexual tension was to break a sweat at the hospital gym.
Maybe she'd stop at the store later and pick up more wine and...perhaps more batteries.