A/N a dear friend of mine is a huge soulmates fic fan. So I decided to do something a little lighter, a little less heavy and do a soulmates fic. A lot of timeline stuff is changed but it should be understandable here.
Enjoy!
/ /
Callie Torres poured herself a glass of red wine and walked from her kitchen to the couch. Tonight was a rare night off from the hospital where she was a second year resident. She could have worked in the pit for some overtime, but she had been flirting with eighty hours a week for weeks now and deserved a night off.
Once seated on the couch with the wine in her left hand, she looked down at her forearm. For the last few years, she checked it now and then to see if any messages had been written to her and so far no luck.
Her soulmate and she had either never touched or they weren't both twenty-seven. Which meant the warm tingle and dark ink on her skin had yet to appear. Even in the middle of the loneliest nights, she refused to believe her soulmate wouldn't try and contact her or worse married someone else already and forwent their bond. She couldn't bear to think they would.
She took a sip of wine and let the story she had been told since she was a little girl fill of her mind.
Everyone had a soulmate. Someone who could use a glass tipped pen to write on their skin and have it show on their soulmates. The soulmate had some control on how long the message stayed, so they could read it when they were ready, but it disappeared in seconds from the sender. A warm tingle is how her father always said it felt like when her mother would send a message.
Another drink of wine and Callie traced hello into her left forearm with her right index finger. It wouldn't do anything, but she couldn't help but smile at the idea that one day she would be able to send a message to someone. To feel her skin warm as they sent one back to her. She had her fun in college in Miami and in med school at NYU, even some the first few years in Seattle for her residency. She was ready for something deeper than fun now though.
Her soulmate needed to hurry up.
Finishing off her wine, she sat the glass down on a coaster on the coffee table. She grabbed the remote and flipped the TV on. There had to be something mindless she could watch to keep herself from thinking about work or her lack of an active soulmate.
Two and a half episodes of Friends later, she was fast asleep.
It was nearly four in the morning when she woke up. Her forearm was tingling in a way that made her think she fell asleep on it. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes before looking down with her right hand halfway to rub across it.
Her hand froze as two letters stood out in black against her skin.
*Hi.*
Her soulmate had finally written to her.
Scrambling off of the couch, Callie ran to her bedroom. She opened the bedside table on the side she didn't sleep on and pulled out a velvet box. An ornate and handblown glass tipped pen, about the size of a typical Bic, was inside. The body was made of twisted platinum with a sapphire at the end.
Allowing the greeting to fade, Callie pressed the pen to her own left forearm to write her greeting back.
*Hello.*
Her foot tapped against the hardwood floors as she tried to keep herself from pacing around the room. She had been waiting so long to get here. But now? Now waiting a few seconds seemed too long.
*Yesterday was my birthday. I've been waiting a long time to talk to you.*
Two lines of text appeared on her forearm with a slightly lopsided smiley face at the end. Her lips quirked up into a smile as she read them over twice before willing the words away so she had room to write back.
*I'm only about three months older. I've been waiting too. I might have checked my arm every morning to see if the day had come.*
She wouldn't have admitted it if she had to say the words out loud but writing it to her soulmate felt different. Like she could share anything with them. She could, couldn't she? They were a match made of the same stardust.
*I hope I'm worth the wait.*
She couldn't help but laugh at that. Of course they would be worth the wait, the sleepless nights, the anticipation. She picked her pen up again.
*I don't doubt you are. I have a million questions for you but it's also four in the morning where I am. So maybe not a million tonight.*
She didn't have to wait long for an excited reply.
*Oh! Me too! So we're in the same time zone? Go us!*
She laughed at the reply before letting her eyes linger over the way the letters were formed. This was written by her soulmate. Her soulmate with a little flourish in the e's at the end of words. A touch that struck her as feminine.
*We don't have time for a million questions tonight, but I have one that I'd really like to know before we go to sleep.*
She had to shift the words closer together and use a couple of lines to get it all in but she managed it. She wasn't sure why she was so nervous to have permission to ask a question she couldn't change the answer to.
*You can ask me anything.*
She breathed out before writing her message.
*Are you a woman?*
She held her breath as she waited.
*Yup. You are too, right? Because I'm a human rainbow.*
Something about the answer made a laugh bubble up and break some of the tension. She knew she was bisexual. She had been with women. But each of them were all one night stands. It never crossed her mind her soulmate might be one.
*I am. A human rainbow? That sounds very colorful.*
She pushed herself off the bed and went back to the living room. The pen tucked behind her ear as she folded the blanket she had over her. She walked the wineglass to the sink before she felt the warm tingle again.
*You have no idea. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Sleep well. - A*
She grinned at the mystery in the message. The person could have given their whole name. Their phone number. Whatever else. But they gave a single letter. It was romantic. It was just the kind of thing she ate up.
*I'm really glad I woke up to your message. Happy late birthday. Sleep well. - C*
Callie got ready for bed and slipped between her sheets. She couldn't get the smile off of her face even as she drifted off to sleep.
/ /
When Arizona woke up the next morning as her alarm blared, the first thing she did was check her forearm. She slept like the dead since starting her residency and somehow missed the tingle at getting a new message.
*Good morning, A. Have a good day. Write me when you can. - C*
She smiled down at her own forearm. She grabbed the glass tipped pen she got as a gift from her parents when she turned eighteen. It was silver with an engraved butterfly on the end of the barrel. While it was far from ornate but it reminded her of both of theirs. They had the same simple pens with a four leaf clover engraved in her mothers and a Marine's rifle on her father's.
*Good morning! I'm working all day today, but I promise to write when I can. I hope you have an awesome day. - A*
She watched the letters disappear on her arm as her message was sent. After a minute of waiting she knew she couldn't wait any more to get ready for work. She had rounds in thirty minutes, and she really couldn't be late.
In the middle of her shower, she felt her arm tingle and looked down at it. She grinned when she saw the message.
*Awesome, huh? Why do I get the feeling you are a perky morning person? Not that it's a problem that you are. I'm more of a night person, that's all. - C*
She couldn't reply until she she was out of the shower. When she was, she dried off and tossed on a simple pair of jeans and an old USMC hoodie over a tank top. She pushed back her sleeve, so she could write.
*With my job, my hours can be unpredictable. So, I'm up in the middle of the night a lot too. But yes, if I have it my way, I'm usually a morning person. - A*
She was halfway out the door when her arm tingled again. She didn't look at it until she was on the elevator heading down.
*What do you do? - C*
She paused before taking the glass tipped pen out. Would it be bragging to give her full title? They were soulmates, it couldn't be bragging, right?
*I'm a doctor. A surgical resident. - A*
She didn't have to wait long for a reply.
*Holy crap! I am too! I'm in my second year of residency. I took two years off before starting college which pushed things back. You'd be a forth year, right? - C*
Her eyes went wide as she unlocked her car before climbing in. She and her soulmate were both doctors? They were both surgical residents? This really was awesome.
*This keeps getting better and better. I have to drive now and then get to the ER to start my shift. Talk later. : ) - A*
Arizona grinned widely as she drove herself to work. Maybe all the times she laughed at the idea of a soulmate were about to bite her. And honestly? She was alright with that if her soulmate was as awesome as she thought she might be.
/ /
The next few days Callie and her soulmate traded off random messages to each other, asked each other basic questions, and left each other little messages of encouragement when they knew the other had surgery. It seemed they were both on the same page of taking this somewhat slow and not rushing into meeting or jumping into a relationship.
"What's up, Torres?" Mark Sloan, one of the forth year residents, sat down across from her in the cafeteria.
"I got to scrub in on a hip replacement this morning," Callie said with a bright smile. "I didn't get to do much but I assisted and it was so good."
"That's great," Mark smiled his wide easy smile. "Soon you'll be fixing ACL's and rebuilding arms and legs while residents look on in awe."
"I can't wait," Callie said before stabbing her salad. She brought the fork up when she felt her arm go warm. She smiled before shoving a bite in her mouth and pulling her long sleeve shirt back to see the message.
*How'd surgery go? I rocked my appendectomy this morning but I've been in the ER since. Finally getting food. - A*
"You found your soulmate?" Mark asked with wide eyes when he got a peek at the black ink on Callie's arm that disappeared when she looked up at him.
"Yeah, a couple of days ago," Callie admitted. "We're taking getting to know each other pretty slow."
"That's great," Mark grinned at her. "So, tell me what you know." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"Not much. I know they're a third year surgical resident on the west coast, but I don't know where. I know they're a morning person. Pizza is their favorite food; they work just as many crazy hours as we do. They like working with kids the most but are thinking they might lean towards general surgery, because the general attending is their mentor," Callie said before pausing and biting her lip. "I know they're a woman," she whispered in a quieter voice.
"Seriously?" Mark asked. "Good on you, Torres."
"It's not like I had a choice," Callie defended. "But I really like her so far, Mark. And I don't even know what she looks like."
Mark reached around the table to pat Callie on the back. "I'm happy you got what you wanted. And I'm glad I don't have any writing on my arm, so I can hook up all I want, guilt free."
"You'll get someone writing to you, one day," Callie said. She shoved a few more bites into her mouth when her pager went off. It wasn't 911, but she needed to head out.
"Joe's tonight? You're off at nine, right?" Mark asked.
"Yes and yes. I need some drinks, some dancing, and to kick your ass at darts," Callie said before standing up.
"Twenty bucks says I kick your ass at darts." Mark held up a twenty dollar bill with a smirk.
"Fifty says I kick your ass at darts," Callie smirked before walking away.
While waiting for the elevator, she took her pen out to write to a reply.
*Surgery went well. I got to do a bit of it. I knew you'd rock yours. You're awesome, right? Got to go but talk tonight. - C*
As Callie stepped on the elevator, she smiled at the other doctor. Arizona Robbins was leaning against the back wall of the elevator with a cup of coffee and a bagel in her hands.
"Hey," Arizona said without looking too closely at Callie.
"Hey," Callie said back before hitting the button for the floor the ER was on.
Arizona held tight to her coffee even as her forearm tingled. She wanted to see what her soulmate wrote back, but she was on her way to an on-call room. She'd have to wait three or so minutes.
"Bye," Callie said as she went one way while Arizona went other.
"Bye," Arizona said.
Once she was in an empty on-call room Arizona pulled out her bed and checked her forearm. She grinned at the message before writing one of her own.
*That's my girl. You and I are BOTH awesome. I'm on call tomorrow night but there should be some down time. Would it be lame if we both got food and ate while talking? Like a date? - A*
Arizona had been asleep for almost an hour and a half before she felt her arm warm and pushed her lab coat back to read.
*I'm on call too. But that sounds like the best idea I've heard all week. How about ten? Late enough things might be slow but not too late? - C*
With a bright grin playing on her lips, Arizona wrote back.
*Perfect. Talk to you then. 3 - A*
Out in the ER the chief resident, Addison Montgomery looked at her best friend with a raised eyebrow. "What is that smile for?"
Callie looked up as she ran her hand over her arm to clear it away. Telling Mark was a huge step, but she wasn't sure she wanted to tell everyone in her life yet. Keeping it to herself somehow made her more special right now.
"Just looking forward to Joe's tonight," Callie gave a shrug.
Addison narrowed her eyes but a little bit let it go as one of the attendings walked over to get them to prepare for an incoming trauma.
/ /
Arizona was not friends with Mark Sloan in the sense that she liked him very much. But she was friends with him in the sense that she was nice to him in hopes of getting in on cool surgeries, and he thought she was nice to him, because they were friends.
Mark was the kind of guy that Arizona didn't ever really want to be around by choice. He stared at her boobs when they talked. He could be condescending to women. And he slept with every woman who gave him so much as a wink. When she slept with women, at least she learned their names first, and she made sure they had an awesome time, and she made sure to walk them to the door before she went to sleep and send them away with a smile. It was called being a gentlewoman after all.
"Robbins!" Mark greeted when she made her way over to one of the high tops at Joe's where a group gathered.
"Hi, everyone," Arizona said as she looked at the assembled group.
Owen Hunt, a third year, was sitting at the far end, Addison was next to him with Derek Shepherd at the end, both fifth years. On the other side were Miranda Bailey, Amelia Shepherd, and Callie. Bailey and Callie were a second year, and Amelia was an intern from what Arizona remembered.
"What's your drink of choice, Robbins?" Mark asked from the other end of the table. "I'm doing a bar run."
"Gin and tonic, please," Arizona slipped into the seat at the end between Callie and Derek.
"Heard you did an appendectomy all by yourself today, Arizona," Owen said after Mark and Derek went to get them all drinks. "How'd it go?"
"I did," Arizona nodded with a wide smile. "Dr. Webber oversaw it but start to finish he let me handle it. It was on a twelve year old so she was all smiles afterward."
"I can't wait to do more than suction," Amelia said with a smile.
"It'll come," Addison said with a warm smile.
After Derek and Mark returned with drinks, the group started to chat about the usual; what cool surgeries they got to work on; who was hooking up with who, and what field they wanted to go into.
"You have to go into trauma," Mark said to Owen while the others nodded in agreement. "You bark at people like a Marine drill sergeant."
"That's Army," Arizona corrected him from the other side of the table. "Marines have drill instructors and the Army has drill sergeants."
"You know the military, Robbins?" Mark asked.
"Yeah," Arizona said after taking a drink. "My dad is a Marine Colonel and my brother is an Army Ranger."
"I thought of joining, but I wanted to finish my residency first," Owen said with a shy smile. "But maybe I'll join after."
Amelia gave Arizona a grin. "Do you know any hot soldiers?"
"Amy!" Derek protested.
"She's a big girl, Derek," Addison laughed from beside him. "You know she dates."
"Oh, I don't plan to date any of them. Just try on their uniform," Amelia said with a wink just to get under Derek's skin.
"As fun as it is to hear the Shepherd siblings squabble," Bailey slipped off of her chair. "The pool table is open, and I believe I committed to take some of Sloan's money."
"You wish, Bailey," Mark laughed as they headed over.
After a moment Addison, Owen, Derek and Amelia headed to play darts. Callie and Arizona were left at the table as neither made a move to leave.
"You weren't named for the state, were you?" Callie asked.
Arizona raised an eyebrow as she looked over at Callie. "How'd you figure that out?"
"You have a father in the Marines and a brother in the Army," Callie said with a shrug. "The USS Arizona was hit during Pearl Harbor, so if you're from a military family it makes more sense than naming you Arizona for some other reason."
"My dad's dad served on the Arizona. He saved 19 men before he drowned," Arizona answered with a solemn nod. "My dad talks about being a good man in a storm because of what his father did. It's how he raised me."
"To be a good man in a storm?" Callie asked with a playful smile.
"Yup," Arizona smiled.
Callie looked up and saw Mark already paying Bailey, as she sent the eight ball into one of the pockets. "Come on, I'll play you. See if growing up on bases taught you anything about pool."
Arizona slid off her seat and followed Callie. Tonight was turning out to be one of the more relaxing nights she had in a long time.