Author Devylish
Title Aria and The Duet
Chapter Falling Apart 5/?
Fandom Grey's Anatomy
Pair Mark and Callie
Rating PG13
Words 1573
Warning/Spoiler/Summary None. None. Callie's sister Aria is in town, and she's about to mix things up. Response to Aclairec's wishlist request to see Aria in town with Mark and Callie during the holidays.
Disclaimer All publicly recognizable characters, settings, plot, etc. are the property of the creators of the TV show Grey's Anatomy. Any original characters, settings and plots are the property of devylish. devylish is in no way associated with the TV show Grey's Anatomy and no copyright infringement is intended. This work is an amateur fan effort and no profit is being made.

Callie woke up to find Arizona leaning on her side staring down at her.

She plastered a smile on her face, but she wasn't fast enough, Arizona saw the flicker of sadness cross Callie's eyes.

"What's wrong Cal?"

"Nothing." She sat up, running her hands through her spectacular case of bed head.

Arizona touched Callie's arm, a faint ghost of a touch. "Something is wrong. You've been non-existent for the past week. You had a headache last night."

"So a girl has to put out every night?" Callie went on the defensive and immediately felt guilty about it, she had feigned a headache last night, because, for the first time, she couldn't stand the thought of sleeping with Arizona. The idea, the thought, of having Arizona touch her had made Callie's gut ache. It wasn't an anti-Arizona pain, it was a 'she's not Mark' pain.

"No," Arizona bristled, "A girl doesn't have to put out every night, but, we haven't been together in over a week, and…."

"And I had a damn headache." Callie monotoned.

"And you never have headaches."

"And I have one and suddenly it's the end of the world?" Why am I doing this, why am I fighting with her – about this? There is something wrong. She glanced up at Arizona; locking eyes with her.

Arizona sat back in the bed, her head against the wall. "Shit." She took a deep breath, "Okay, spill, what's wrong?"

"Do you love me?" Callie asked the words but she didn't want to hear the answer. She didn't want to hear a yes.

"You're hard not to love." Arizona watched Callie's face; watched it drop and her body tense. Realization dawned on Arizona, "But you don't love me, do you?"

"I want to." Callie looked at her girlfriend. "I wish I could love you the way –"

"Is there someone else?"

"No. Yes. No." Callie played with the edge of the sheet. "I'm fucking things up again. Fucking things up big time. I want what I can't have. I don't want what I do have. And fuck! You're amazing! I mean, you're bright and beautiful and, and…"

"I'm not Mark."

Callie's face crumbled. Shit. Shit! "I don't want to want him."

Arizona closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. "Is it just want? If it's just lust, we, I can work with that, but if it's… if it's more than 'want'?"

Callie went silent.

"You love him?"

"I – I don't know." Something inside of her screamed 'yes'. "I…."

"Are the two of you sleeping together?"

"No." Callie looked Arizona in the eyes. "No."

A small smile flitted across Arizona's face. "But you do love him." It was said less as a question this time and more as a statement of fact.

"Want. Love. Who can tell?" Callie muttered as she threw herself back against her pillow.

"Okay…. Easier question. Do you want 'us' anymore?"

Callie felt tears well up at the edge of her eyes. "I don't want to hurt you."

Arizona snuggled down in the bed, lowering her head to Callie's shoulder. "I think that's unavoidable." Grasping her soon to be ex-girlfriend's hand and twining their fingers together she murmured, "I could have loved you for a long time Calliope Torres."

****

"Hey, glad I caught you." Aria pushed open the apartment door as Callie slid on her shades and picked up her keys.

Rolling her head back, Callie groaned inwardly, all she wanted to do is go drown herself in coffee. A vat of coffee if possible. She and Arizona had broken up, and she was alone. Alone and in love/lust with her best friend. Again. She didn't need to be dragged into an Aria scheme, or listen to an Aria lecture.

"Seriously Ari, now is not a good time."

"Yeah well, I'm leaving."

That brought Callie up short. "Leaving for?" Lunch? Vegas? Pluto? It could be anything with Aria.

"Miami. I'm going home to Mami and Papi."

"When? When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow, well, 3am so, tonight. Oh and yeah, I'll need a ride to the airport too, while we're on the topic."

"What the hell Aria? No warning?"

"Gotta go where the wind leads me baby." Aria sat down on the couch. "But before I go, I need to tell you something."

"You took the $50 out of my purse Sunday night?"

"Well, yeah, that was me, but no… that's not what I wanted to tell you."

Callie plopped down next to Aria, keys still in hand, glasses still on. "No offense, but can we keep this short? It hasn't been a good day. And it's only 10am."

"Oh honey, it's about to get a hell of a lot worse."

Callie turned to Aria. "What?"

"I've got cancer. Inoperable."

Callie's body snapped to attention and felt her lungs tighten. "What?!" She pulled off her glasses, staring at Aria and trying to read for signs of this being some sick joke.

It was when Callie pulled off her glasses that Aria noticed her red rimmed eyes. "Callie what's wrong sweetie?"

"What?!"

"You've been crying."

"What?! Wait, no! You can't ask me about my problems when you just dropped a bomb like that. What do you mean you have cancer?" Callie sat up, "what kind of cancer? How do you know it's inoperable? Have you seen specialists? Do mom and dad know?"

"Too many questions." Aria searched through her purse, and pulled out a sheet of paper that she read from, "Small cell lung carcinoma, malignant, non operable." She folded the paper back up and shoved it into her purse. "I've been to three doctors, including one here, and they all say the same thing. 'So sad, too bad'. Only they say it much more politely than that." She smiled resolutely at Callie. "Apparently, smoking does cause cancer."

"That's not funny Aria." She hopped off of the couch and began to pace. "This isn't funny! Jesus Christ. Jesus fucking Christ!" She swung around and faced Aria. "There are some great doctors out here, or in other states… we can get you to see them," she rushed to her purse, pulling out her cell phone.

"Sloan already offered."

"What do you mean 'Sloan already offered'? Mark knows you have… you have…." She skipped saying the actual word. Avoided the thought. "How does Mark know?"

"Now, don't get pissed, he found out by accident a couple of days ago."

Callie remembered the evening Mark had marched into her apartment and dragged Aria out for a talk; she'd assumed it was because he wanted to bitch at Aria about the whole naked shower thing, but apparently…. She shook her head and tried to clear it. She'd deal with Mark later.

Callie walked over to Aria and dropped to her knees in front of her; staring at her sister – infuriating, exciting, beautiful, intelligent, pain in the ass sister – still hoping that this was just some sort of horribly mean joke. Reading nothing but resignation and honesty from Aria's dark eyes, Callie held out her arms.

They hugged each other, memorizing scents, and touches; the little/big things that people wish they'd noticed more of after someone has been taken from them.

****

Callie used her key and pushed into Mark's apartment. She nodded at Sloan who was seated on the couch watching television, before turning into the kitchen to corner Mark.

Without bothering to say hello, she marched up to him and punched him on the bicep, hard. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Geez, fuck! Torres! What the hell!?"

"You should have told me Mark!"

His mind flitted through the things he should have told Callie, the naked picture he had of her on his camera? The break up? And then it hit him… Aria. "Sloan, go to your room, please."

"I'm an adult! I'm a pregnant adult; you can't 'send me to my room'!"

"Yes you are an adult," he walked past the pacing Callie and peered out at his daughter, "That's why I added the 'please' to the request." He eyed Sloan, who with a groan pulled herself off of the couch and headed down the hall to her bedroom.

"Thank you!" Mark yelled down the hall. He only cringed slightly when she slammed the bedroom door shut.

Taking a deep breath he turned to face Callie, who chose that moment to center on him and poke him in the chest with her finger. "You. Should. Have. Told. Me!"

"Stop hitting me woman!" He grabbed her wrists and held them in one of his hands. He looked down at her; she'd been crying… a lot.

He pulled Callie close to him, released her wrists and wrapped his arms around her frame. "I'm sorry Callie, baby, she made me promise."

Callie rubbed her nose against Mark's chest until she found her regular spot and settled her head into the crook of his shoulder. "You should have told me Mark."

He kissed the top of her head. "She made me promise."

Callie tilted her head up and looked at Mark, "For future reference, you are on strict orders to deliver all pertinent information to me regarding my family members… or my friends, even if they make you promise." She buried her head in his chest again, taking strength and warmth from his body. He even made her feel better when she was angry at him. "Got it?!"

"Got it." He held her closer still.