Title: Home Life

Pairing: Callie/mark

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

Summary: "If you're not crying later, you want to have sex?"

I think I'm gonna stay home
Have myself a home life
Sitting in the slow-mo
And listening to the daylight
I am not a nomad
I am not a rocket man
I was born a house cat
By the slight of my mother's hand

I think I'm gonna stay home

I want to see the end game
I want to learn her last name
Finish on a Friday
And sit in traffic on the highway
See, I refuse to believe
That my life's gonna be
Just some string of incompletes
Never to lead me to anything remotely close to home life

I can tell you this much
I will marry just once
And if it doesn't work out
Give her half of my stuff
It's fine with me
We said eternity
And I will go to my grave
With the life that I gave
Not just some melody line
On a radio wave
It dissipates
And soon evaporates
But home life doesn't change

Home life
You keep the home life
You take the home life
I'll come back for the home life
I promise

Mark hated when his shift ran long. Especially this one particular day, when Callie had insisted she could handle Sophie on her own. He had taken a few weeks off, and now, yawning as he opened their door, his pre conceived notion was proven right by the jarring cries of his daughter filled the entire house. He dropped coat and suitcase on the backrest of one of the couches as he passed the living room and climbed up the stairs.

"Cal?" He called, pushing the door to the nursery open, where Callie stood with baby in arms, failing miserably at quieting her down.

She turned around, a frantic look on her face, "She won't stop crying! She's not hungry and her diaper's clean--"

"Let me try." he said, taking the child from her, and not two seconds later, she was silent.

"She hates me." Callie cried, tears quickly followed.

"She does not hate you." he reassured her.

"Yes she does!" She sobbed.

He cradled Sophie in one arm while embracing Callie with the other and kissed the top of her head, "No, Callie. She just knows that you're nervous with her. That you're agitated."

She hiccupped, and through sniffles she shook her head, "I am not nervous. I am exhausted. What kind of mother can't stop her child from crying?" She wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Here--" He said, trying to hand her over, "--relax. Take a deep breath--"

She did just that and took the baby back. She smiled when she didn't cry, "She's not crying!"

"See? You're Mommy."

And just like that, the moment of silence was gone and the child started to cry again. Callie looked at mark like someone had just skinned a puppy before her eyes and she started to cry as well, "She so fucking hates me." She gently put her back in Mark's arms and turned on her heel.

"Callie, come on--" But she was gone. He then looked down at Sophie and shook his head, "Are you trying to kill your mother? You're not supposed to mess with her until your teens."

The baby only snuggled against his chest and lifted her thumb to her mouth.

About twenty minutes later, once Mark had settled Sophie down, Callie walked back into the room, a calm smile plastered on her face, which apparently, she had washed because her hair was tied back and out of her face.

"Hey--" He greeted, "--you okay?"

"Yes--" She said, nodding a little, "--I'm fine. It's hormones. My hormones are all out of whack. I don't know what's wrong with me. But I'm good. I'm good."

"Good." He said, and met her halfway before enveloping her in a tight hug before kissing her lips gently.

"She's asleep huh?' She said, curiously looking over his shoulder.

"Yeah--" He looked at her attentively--the way her face kind of fell, "--Cal…you okay?"

"Yeah." She said, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a second, sniffling a little, "I'm good. I just have to shake it off."

"Okay." he kissed her again, "I'm hungry, did you have dinner yet?"

Her face scrunched up and she tried to blink back the tears, "No. I didn't have time to make anything, I'm sorry--"

"No--" he tried to reach for her as she slipped from his hold and turned around to leave, "--I wasn't--I was going to make something for the both of us, Callie--" he sighed into his hands as she left the room again.

He took a deep breath and followed her soon thereafter.

He walked into their bedroom and saw her laying on her side, with her back to him. She was still sniffling and he simply toed off his shoes and climbed on the bed behind her, wrapping one arm tightly around her waist, while nuzzling his nose in her hair.

"I know you're having a hard time--" He said quietly against her hair, "--I can't imagine what you're going through right now, but I get it. I know its' a shock, but I'm trying here, Cal. I know you're bouncing off the walls right now, and that's okay. You and I--we're far from perfect." She felt her ease against him and he cuddled in closer, "And I don't expect you to be perfect. You're perfectly imperfect. And I love that. You need to believe that, and you need to meet me half way because I cannot take care of two crying women on my own."

She laughed and twisted in his arms until she was facing him. She wasn't crying anymore. "I'm sorry."

He simply leaned forward and kissed her, "You hungry?"

She scrunched up her nose and sighed, "Yeah."

"Pasta?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." he moved to get up but the grabbed his shirt and pulled him back, kissing him, a little deeper this time, before letting him go, "What was that for?"

"For being such a charmer." She said teasingly.

"If you're not crying later, you want to have sex?"

She threw a pillow at him as he left, "Ass!"

Later that night, Mark sat up in bed, laptop in front on his lap, when a beaming Callie just about skipped into the bedroom and hopped on the bed. He looked over to her and raised his eyebrows in question when she removed the laptop and placed it on the nightstand before climbing on his lap, "May I help you?"

"I--" She started, kissing his cheek softly, "--just put Sophie to sleep. Do you know why? Because I'm Mommy." She smiled and kissed his neck repeatedly.

"Not for nothing. 'Mommy' really agrees with you." he said, his hands on her hips as she moved tighter against him and nibbled on his ear. He froze when she pulled away suddenly and stared at him like she had just drowned a box of kittens, "What?" He asked worriedly.

"Shit Mark--we're PARENTS. We have a child. She's HERE."

"Yes. Just down the hall where you left her."

She stared at him for a while as her eyes started to softened gain and a tear fell as her lip quivered.

"What's wrong now?" He asked rubbing her side reassuringly.

"I curse too much. WE curse too much, Mark." She answered, accusingly, "Our kid's going to have a filthy mouth and then she'll never get into college."

"Oh GOD, how long are these hormones going to last?"

"It is not hormones! We're messing her up already!" She cried.

"How?"

"Little people have big ears!"

"Well, if she wakes up cursing in the morning, we'll send her straight to boarding school."

She ignored his remark and sighed heavily, "Are we going to be any good at this?"

"Do you want me to put her back in and try again?'

"NO!" She smacked his shoulder, "Be serious!"

He laughed, "I can't. No one is good at this, Callie. Is anyone we know a well-functioning human being? I mean, look at the godmother, for god's sake."

"That's true." She said thoughtfully.

"Yeah. It's in the job description. Turn your children into emotionally inadequate people." Seeing the worried look on her face, he smiled, "We're going to be fine. One step at a time."

"Okay." She said and nodded, "Okay."

Just as she leaned in to kiss him again, Sophie started to cry and mark groaned, "I'll get her."

"No." She said, her hands on his chest, "I'll get her." She hopped off the bed and turned around at the door, smirking, "Super Mom."

XXX

"Morning." Callie greeted Mark entering the kitchen, bouncing baby in arms.

"Morning." he answered back with a smile from where he stood at the island counter.

She approached him and kissed him hello, "Mmm--" She said smacking her lips together, "What did you eat?"

"Fresh fruit." He said, handing her a bowl before leaning over to kiss Sophie's cheek, "Morning, birthday girl."

Callie sighed as she moved to sit Sophie in her high chair and placed a tiny bowl of cheerios in front of her, "Mark. It's not her birthday. She's six months old.

"It's her half birthday. Sit down and eat. I didn't see you rest one second yesterday."

She did as was told, taking a seat at the table next to Sophie, who leaned over to feed her mother a cheerio. Callie let her feed her gladly, "Thank you. I don't know why she loves that damned cereal so much."

"It's healthy." He assured her, sitting on Sophie's opposite side, handing Callie a hot cup of coffee.

Callie's eyes beamed as she sipped from her coffee and hummed, "Oh, you're so good to me."

"You talking to me or the coffee?" He asked, lifting a spoonful of Gerber up to Sophie's mouth.

"Sometimes I'm talking to you." He glared at her and she smiled flirtatiously.

"I sent your dad's birthday card, by the way."

"Oh! I had almost forgotten to do that. Thank you."

"Sure." he sighed as Sophie refuse to eat the Gerber he was trying to feed her, "Okay. She's over the Gerber. All she eats is cereal."

"It's healthy," She echoed mockingly, "Stop spoiling her and take away the cereal."

"I can't. I feel like we're starving her." He frowned, standing up and disappearing into the living room for about two minutes.

Callie watched carefully with the mug cradled in her hands as Mark placed a birthday hat over Sophie's head, who sat oblivious to the whole thing in her high chair, eating the cheerios her father wouldn't deny her.

"There we go--now it's a party, Sophie." he said, his hands proudly on his hips as he looked down at the gurgling child.

"Don't you think it's a little unsettling that you're celebrating your kid's birthday…when she's six months old?" Callie asked, sipping from her coffee.

"It's her half birthday." He repeated.

Callie stood up and walked over to them, lifting the baby up from her seat, "Come on, sweetheart. Let's get you dressed. Mom and Dad are late for work." She kissed her cheek and Sophie laughed din her arms as Callie turned toward mark, "I didn't think I'd lose you to another woman so soon." She leaned over and kissed him, "You better be careful, or when she's sixteen, she's going to mop the floor with you."

"I'd let her." he said, stealing another kiss from Callie before letting her go, "Day Care today?" He asked.

"No. Cristina's watching her!" She answered as she turned the corner towards the stairs.

"I got her a new Mariners jacket! Sophie, not Cristina. She can wear that today!" He called.

"Okay!" Callie answered from upstairs.

He heard her laugh aloud not two seconds later, "What?" he called again.

"She just spit Gerber all over your jacket!"

"Ah shit! I told you she hates it!"

Callie laughed again. Mark smiled.

XXX