Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, I just borrowed the name of the characters for entertaining, no intention to violate any copyrights.

Chapter 5

"Hey Cal!"

"Well well well, Dr. Sloan!"

"What? Why do you Dr. Sloan me?"

"You stood me up yesterday."

"I sent an alternative! The second best other than me."

Callie placed a scotch in front of Mark. "Actually she was much more helpful than you."

"So? What was the problem?" Mark took a sip of his drink. "Blondie told me she had a great time yesterday, apparently you two managed to spend 6 hours in furniture shopping, I am impressive, and glad I wasn't there."

"It was her fault! Except the bright red couch I picked out in the beginning, she disliked every other thing I chose, then suggested something else totally out of my style. When I ignored her ideas, she got the store clerks to yap about harmonious, tempered, geomantic craps with her, Mark. She even got a couple of customers in one of the store ganged up on me to make me buy a rosewood bed frame and matching chest." Callie said with a huge smile on her face when she recalled the time in the stores.

"Did you buy it?"

"Of course I did, Mark. You were not there, that woman is terribly persistent."

"Tell me about it. Once she invited herself to help me shop for suit for a meeting, "A" meeting. I ended up bought outfits for the next 10 years meetings. And from what you sounded, seemd you're not complaining." Mark grinned to his best friend, happy to see she was happy.

"No, I am not. She is fun to hang out with." Callie's eyes twinkled just by mentioning the name of the blond, and it wasn't unobserved by the man in front of her, and he remembered the last time he saw the same expression on the Latina's face.

Before he could started to say something to Callie, he saw his friend looked pass his shoulder and a broad smile, turned away and saw Arizona just entered and walked toward the bar, with a defeated look.

"Hi Callie, hi Mark." The blond sat herself next to Mark with a weak smile on her face.

"How was your day? I thought your shift ended 3 hours ago." Mark asked.

"I should be off about 4 hours ago, dragged into an emergency surgery, a 6 years old slipped off the ladder while climbing up to his tree house." Arizona answered and she was about to order her drink, surprise that Callie already put a Manhattan in front of her. "Hey you remember my drink." Full force dimpled smile plastered on her face.

"I'm a bartender, kind of my job to remember the habit of the usual customers." Luckily, Callie's blush was safely hidden by the dim light in the environment.

"So I'm just an usual customer, I thought we are friends." Arizona gave the barkeep a playful pout, took a sip of her drink.

"Yes we are friend, but you still have to pay." Callie said matter-of-fact, but Mark interrupted. "I never pay."

"Mark! Why can't you just keep you mouth shut for once?"

"I am just telling the fact." He shrugged and finished his drink. "I'll have a refill."

"So he doesn't have to pay for anything but I, the person who spent a day to help you decorated your home, have to pay for drinks, now I know where I stand." Arizona faked an anger look, and pretended to leave. Callie grabbed her hand over the counter top to stop her.

"Fine, you don't have to pay. You don't drink that much as Cristina, I won't go bankrupt from you anyway."

They smiled to each other for a second, until Mark cleared his throat and held his empty glass in the air. "Well, I hate to disturb but I really want to have a refill, and the guy over there is about to go around the counter to pour himself a glass. Where is Joe anyway, haven't see him the whole night."

Callie let go of the blond's hand and pick up a bottle to serve Mark. "Joe's boyfriend is coming in town, he'll take the coming few days off to help him settle. OK, I better get back to work." Then she turned her heels to the other side of the bar with a prefect business smile.

Arizona stared at her until he heard Mark was talking "You looked tired, everything's alright?"

"Well, the boy I was operated on, broke both of his tibias, a wrist and an elbow…"

"Huh, ortho work."

"Exactly, Colleen was there, I was able to stop the abdominal bleeding pretty quickly, but still we were in the same room over 3 hours. Believe me, it felt like a life time." Arizona picked up her glass for a big gulp, looked at Mark with a bitter smile.

"That bad? She tried to stab you with a scalpel? Or clamped your eyeball with a forceps?" Mark couldn't hold his amused smirk, Arizona just roll her eyes.

"Nope, she just… ummm… flirted with Dr. Chang the whole time." This time it was the kid doctor who couldn't help to smirk, especially when she saw the shock look on her friend's face.

"Dr. Chang? That dinosaur? Who would flirt with that guy?"

They both fell in a fit of giggles "Apparently, she tried to make me jealous," Arizona said while she swept a tear from the corner of her eye "by flirting with someone who is old enough to be her grandfather, and has a penis" Then there went another fit of giggles.

"She should come to me, that could be more convincing." Mark spoke between his laugh, earned himself a punch on the arm.

"I just hope this is finished." Arizona finished her drink with another big gulp. "I could use a quiet evening, I'm beat."

"So, no hot date tonight? It's barely 9." Callie turned back just in time to catch Arizona's plan of the night. "Another one?"

"Nah, tough day at work, should better call it the night, have some wine at home, a bath and a comfy long sleep."

"That is the thing every bar owner would like to hear."

"Sorry. Hey are we still up for clothes shopping? We could go to the shopping mall that I talked about, I might need a hair cut when we went there, and there have the best pretzel in the neighborhood."

"Of course I'm up for it, can't wait to have you dress me up." Callie answered the blond with a grin..

"Super, how about this weekend?"

"Deal!"

"OK, I really should get going, good night to you two."

After Arizona left, Callie and Mark kept the little chit chat on and off between Callie's bartending duty, eventually the place started to die down and the barkeep could stay longer with her friend.

Mark was debating to himself, he knew it wasn't his business but he knew he had to say it, for his best friend's sake.

"Cal, are you… having a thing for blondie?"

"Wh… what? Mark? No! I am not! I don't!" Callie shrieked her answer, with her eyes as wide as they could go.

"Callie, I can read you like a book, remember? What did your father said? Something about you wear your heart on your sleeve?" Mark cocked his head slightly look Callie in her eyes "I am not judging you, I just want you to be careful."

"Wh… what… why… what do I have to be careful of?"

Mark told a moment to compose his answer, after all, both Callie and Arizona were his friends. "I want you to be careful, not to hurt her, or being hurt by her. According to your track record, you fell for someone hard and fast, then end up miserable. You packed up and flee to another state, twice. What's next? Another continent? I really like to have you around, so just, don't do anything stupid."

"I just… It feels good to be around her, you know? I know it sounds crazy but the couple of times we were together, I felt carefree and simply delightful. Generally I don't like perky, the high pitch gives me headache, but her laugh was like music in my ears. And you know I am a sucker for dimples … She remained me of …"

"Callie, it had been years…"

"I know. And I made a promise, I am going to live my life." They both stayed silent for a couple of minute, Callie took out a shot glass and got herself a tequila shot. "I don't really know her, but is it so wrong that I like her? I mean that's the beginning of every relationship, right? You don't know someone, then spend time together to get to know each other and then fall in love happily ever after, right?" Callie looked at Mark with a pleading eyes, he opened his mouth about to answer …

"I know I know, she has a girlfriend, or dating someone, I know, I saw them the other night. I really shouldn't get myself between them, they looked happy together." Callie was more talking to herself at this point, remembering seeing Arizona and Colleen in the pub the other night, the night of Colleen's birthday.

Mark bit his lower lip to ponder the response he should give to the brunette, because he knew it well that Arizona was not seeing anyone, should he clear it out? Finally he decided better to just brush it off.

"Callie, listen to me, Arizona is a good person, she is caring, and yes she is extremely perky, she could pick up anyone from the lowest ground with her perkiness, believe me I saw that multiple times. I am not surprise you'd feel good around her because she is contagious, I just don't want you mistaken that as some kind of affection. Her track record was not any better than yours, I am not going to say anything behind her back, you just… be wise and be careful, OK?"

"I'll try."

Arizona set her tray down on the table and then sat down next to Teddy, the usual sunshine Peds surgeon obviously had a little bit of cloud over her face. She looked up from her food and said to her friend, "my lunch looks so sad."

Teddy looked at her and looked down to her own tray "we got the same salad, mine looks … neutral…?" The blond just gave her an eye rolling. "Come on, tell me what's going on? You're being cranky for a couple of days already."

"No I am not, just tired." Arizona poked at her salad pointlessly.

"If you say so. I thought you said you were going shopping with the friend of Sloan on Saturday, normally that could relax you. Or you had too much fun that burnt you out?"

"No, she cancelled, said that she had some errands to run that couldn't get away from the pub."

"So you girls rescheduled the date?" Teddy asked before shoving another forkful of salad in her mouth.

"We didn't, she didn't sound like want to pick another date, actually she was kinda pull back, I don't know what is happening." Arizona said without looking up from her nearly smashed salad.

"What's up, ladies?" Mark chose this moment to join his co-workers, slid in the seat opposite to his blondie, found she wasn't in her upbeat self. "Arizona, something happened?"

"Everything's fine, Mark."

"Your friend stood her up, Mark." Teddy said with a smirk in her tone, since she didn't think this was the reason that the woman was upset.

"Teddy! It wasn't like that, she just had to cancel because she was busy. And stood me up was a strong word, we just talked about go shopping together, 2 friends spend some time to hang out, I don't even know we are friends or not, I barely know her and she doesn't know much about me. And she clearly is very busy in this moment since she just moved to here, and the new business is going to take up a lot of her time, she probably has to deal with the vendors and …"

"Robbins! Breathe!" Mark had to shake her shoulder to stop the rambling, according to the experience, she may go on and on for hours if no one stopped her.

Arizona pursed her lips a little and then took a deep breath. "I thought Callie wanted to befriend with me, but it seems it was my own wishful thinking."

"Ummm… what are you talking about?"

"We talked about spend the Saturday in the mall, she texted me the night before said that she couldn't get away from the pub, that was fine because she has a business to run after all. But since then she was kind of distant when I went to Horizon, I don't know how to say it but it was just like… she didn't want me there, she didn't talk to me much."

"Did you do something to offense her?" Teddy asked.

"Not that I could recall of."

"Did you… come on too strong to her? I mean, you are friendly, sometimes too friendly that may mislead people to the wrong direction …." Teddy said with an uncertainty on her face, hoped this won't annoy her friend more but this is the only reason she could think of for the moment.

"I don't know. Did you feel the same? When I came to you said that I wanted to be your friend, did you think I was hitting on you?"

"Well, I didn't know you were gay at that time, and I lived like a man in the desert with soldiers for 2 years, couldn't even remember what was it like to be hit on."

Arizona pondered for a while, then turned to the surprisingly quiet Mark "Was it the reason? She has a problem of being friend with a lesbian? Or she thinks I want a piece of her?"

"It really is not my place to say anything." Mark held his hands in the air. "Listen, I can ensure you that she doesn't have any problem of you being a lesbian, don't even think that. But about the rest, I don't know anything, I haven't seen her in the last couple of days, and I really don't think I should give any comment, just drop it." Mark took a bite on the apple and glanced to his pager "I have to go, just… don't over thinking. You can't force someone to be your friend, we're not in 5th grade for crying out load." With that, he said goodbye to the ladies and ran out of the cafeteria as fast as he could, not that he had someone needed to be saved in somewhere, but to try to stay away from his best friend before he said something more than he should.

Back in the cafeteria, Teddy was watching the restless blond closely, she really was just joked about Arizona got upset because of Callie, but seeing the way she kept stabbing the salad, something kicked in places.

"Arizona, are you having a crush on Callie?"

"What? First Mark said I forced someone to befriend with me, and now you said I am having a crush, seriously you guys think I'm twelve? I work in peds doesn't mean I think like a kid."

"But you do act like one."

"Fine, I like her, I want us to be friends, that doesn't mean I want something more, OK? I am not some kind of animal that want to jump every women crossed paths… anymore." She said it when the eyebrow of Teddy's almost raised to the top of her forehead, then threw a tomato toward the green-eyed surgeon. "I hate you."

Teddy giggled and bent down to pick up the tomato from the floor, "Whatever you say, Arizona. So what are you going to do? Are you going to woo her?"

"No Teddy, I am not going to woo anyone. I just thought we could be friend, because we both are good friend of Mark's. But if she thought otherwise, I am not going to urge her. As Mark said, we are not in 5th grade, there had no teacher in the playground made us to shake hands and shared a candy bar." Arizona stood up to dispose her tray, she really had no appetite, better to go get an on-call room for a little nap before the afternoon started.

Teddy followed suit, they walked down the hall side by side, and before entered the elevator, she held her friend's arm stopped her from stepped in the metal carrier, narrowed her eyes and cocked her head liked she smelled something, that made Arizona froze and tried to sniff the surround, but it was nothing abnormal.

"I know what we can do! Let go to the pub tonight and you can take the chance to talk to Callie!" Teddy exclaimed to Arizona's face.

"Teddy you scared me, I thought there was a bomb or gas leak or something!" Arizona relaxed a bit when they finally made it to the elevator. "No I am not going, not in the mood of drinking, or talking."

"Come on, this is so out of your character that you don't want to sort things right. Besides, I need a night out, a lot of drinks to take my mind away from my sad lonely nonexistent love life."

"How about a girls night in? We could pick up some Chinese and head to my place, oh oh oh we could watch the movie that Lexie talked about the other day."

"Did I mention my sad lonely nonexistent love life? I need to see people and I need to see people who are not in their scrubs, or patient gowns."

"Fine, but you are buying." Arizona rolled her eyes and released a dramatic sigh.

Teddy returned with a satisfied grin and then stepped out of the elevator when it arrived in her floor "Yay, girls night out!"