Breakable

Have you ever thought about what protects our hearts?
Just a cage of rib bones and other various parts.
So it's fairly simple to cut right through the mess,
And to stop the muscle that makes us confess.

And we are so fragile,
And our cracking bones make noise,
And we are just,
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys.

You fasten my seatbelt because it is the law.
In your two ton death trap I finally saw.
A piece of love in your face that bathed me in regret.
Then you drove me to places I'll never forget.

And we are so fragile,
And our cracking bones make noise,
And we are just,
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys.

And we are so fragile,
And our cracking bones make noise,
And we are just, breakable girls and boys.

Callie sat on the king sized bed in the bedroom, white comforter over her head as she leaned over to plant kisses over Sophie's tummy, who wiggled, kicked and squealed with laughter as she was being tickled.

"You're getting so big--" Callie cooed, brushing the thick, slightly longer dark hair from the playful almost one year old's face, "--you going to NOT disappear in less than a second and take it easy on mommy today?" She had made it a habit to spend her entire days off with her daughter when she and Mark had different schedules. And on those days, the mornings always started with about an hour of tickling the riotous child to fits of laughter on their bed, while Mark got ready for work.

"Mommy." Sophie called, with a laugh that implied she had no intention on taking it easy on her mother. Callie leaned forwards again as Sophie reached up and with her tiny hands cradling her face, pulled her mother in for a kiss on the lips, which she delivered with an exaggerated pop, which made Sophie laugh even harder.

"You are SO not making my day a quiet one today, are you?" Callie said, pushing the blanket off of both of them, then climbing off the bed and picking Sophie up into her arms.

She balanced her on her hip as she walked up the hall and downstairs through to the kitchen, where mark was all but running around the island, preparing his coffee and munching on a piece of toast. Callie sighed and shook her head as he slipped, what she called his "man purse", over his shoulder, "Calm down. You're going to pull a muscle." She said, walking behind him and wrapping her free arm around his waist, for just a second to kiss his shoulder. She carefully placed Sophie in the high chair, then handed her a toy that had been lying on the table, "Fruit, Sophie?" She asked, then proceeded towards the refrigerator.

"I'm late." Mark said, carelessly kissing Callie and missing her eye for about half an inch as she grabbed a number of fruits from the fridge, "I have to go."

"Whoa! Hey!" She said, turning around as she kicked the fridge door shut, "Kiss the spawn, please."

"Oh--" He left a chaste kiss stop the baby's head, "--bye, Princess." To Callie he said, "I'll call you when I take lunch."

"Mh-hm." She said, disbelieving, as she started to chop fruit on the cutting board.

"I will!" He called, before shutting the front door behind him.

Placing pieces of fruit in a bowl, she looked up at her daughter and shrugged, "Can you say, 'daddy's an overworking ass'?" Sophie laughed in return, which made Callie laugh.

XXX

Callie sat in bed, file in hand as she scanned through it, pen in the other hand, mark sat beside her, working on his laptop.

"Don't forget to pick up the laundry tomorrow and the gift--" She said.

"What gift--and what laundry?" he asked, not bothering to turn his head from the screen.

She dropped the file on her lap and rolled her yes, "The laundry you didn't pick up last week from the cleaners that you promised to pick up, and the gift we're sending to your mother for her birthday."

"Oh." he nodded, "When did we get her a present?"

"You didn't. I did."

"Oh. Thanks."

"You're also picking Sophie up from Day Care tomorrow. Don't forget. I'm at the hospital all day, so…"

"Okay."

"Mark--" She warned, "--do not forget."

"I won't!"

The next day, Callie got a call. Mark had forgotten o pick up Sophie, and had to send Cristina to get her, seeing as how she was stuck in surgery.

She didn't' speak to mark that night.

XXX

"I think Mark's having an affair." Both Meredith and Cristina shot up from their tasks, filling goody bags with candy in Meredith's kitchen. Sophie played with a lollipop on Cristina's lap.

There was a long silence before Meredith spoke up, "Mark wouldn't cheat, Callie."

"Uh--this is Mark Sloan we're talking about here." Cristina corrected.

"Yeah, but--he's different now. He wouldn't." Meredith said reassuringly, "He wouldn't, Callie." She repeated, a bit more firmly than before.

"I know--" Callie said and sighed heavily, "--I know. It's just--he's always working. He's never around. He forgets EVERYTHING. He didn't even go shopping for Sophie's birthday present with me. And we haven't had sex in--forever. I don't know. Maybe it's all in my head. I'm traumatized. Right?"

"Yeah." Meredith said.

"Sure." Cristina said flatly and rolled her eyes, busying herself with Sophie, who reached for a handful of confetti.

"I need to find a decent looking cake by tomorrow. He forgot to order that, too."

"Ask Izzie. She'll do it for free." Meredith suggested.

Callie laughed nervously, "No. That's okay."

Just then, Izzie walked through the swinging door, smiling from ear to ear, "Morning. Hey, Sophie!" She said, stopping to baby talk before continuing her search for orange juice.

"Izzie--Callie needs a birthday cake for Sophie's birthday party tomorrow, you think you could help her out?" Meredith said, ignoring Callie's death glare.

Izzie gasped with excitement, "Sure! Oh, it's her first birthday! I know just what to do. By what time do you need it?"

"Two o'clock--" Callie mumbled, "--but you don't have to. You're probably busy."

"No! Don't be silly. I'm off tomorrow."

"Thanks--" She said with a tight smile, and thought to herself, she'd really love to strangle Mark.

"Just for the record--" Cristina started, "--I will help open a can of whoopass if he is--"

"He's not!" Meredith interjected, Callie sighed.

XXX

"Hey!" Derek called, catching up with Mark, who walked ahead of him, heading to an OR, "You're not done for the day?"

"No." Mark answered, "I've got another couple surgeries before I'm done."

"Well, we'll see you tonight, right?"

"Tonight--" Mark repeated, not quite knowing what Derek was talking about.

"Sophie, your daughters, birthday thing."

"Oh! Yeah. I'll be a little late, but I'll be there." Derek glared at him, disappointed and mark simply chuckled dismissively, "What? I'll be there. Callie's got it covered. Pink tutus and fairy wings is not really my forte."

"Mh-hm."

"I'll BE there." He said, finally, then slipped into the OR.

XXX

"I hate him." Callie mumbled furiously, stepping through the sliding door connecting the backyard to the kitchen. She dropped a dirty dishtowel in the sink and turned around to face Meredith and Cristina, who sat at the kitchen table as a number of kids laughed and played just outside, "I hate him so HARD." She said furiously, taking a seat next to Cristina.

"I will hate him with you--" Cristina offered, "--because I'm your friend."

"My friend--" Callie scoffed, "--my FRIEND wouldn't have invited my ex-husband to my home on my child's birthday."

Cristina's jaw dropped, "He tagged along! I shook my leg at him and everything. Plus, what are you bitching about? Look at him!" They turned towards the moon bounce outside, where George bounced around with a bunch of kids, "He's a freaking man-mother goose."

"I can't believe he's not here." Callie sighed and looked down at the table cloth.

Meredith shared a knowing glance with Cristina before clearing her throat, "I'm sure he's just running late. You heard Derek. He had surgery--"

"He's going to NEED surgery if he doesn't show up." She said as Derek walked in breathless, with Sophie kicking and giggling over his shoulder. Callie smiled up at him and her daughter, "What happened?"

"Princess Sophie needs a diaper change."

"Oh--" She said, starting to get up.

"No, I'll get it." He said, signaling for her to stay seated, "I've got this. I'm a surgeon. I've GOT this."

Callie watched, amazed as he carried Sophie away, and once they were gone, she turned to look at Meredith with the same look, "Is he by any chance, using my daughter for training?"

Meredith sighed and rolled her eyes, "He's been very obviously hinting that he wants to have a baby."

"Do YOU?" Callie asked.

"I don't know--" She shrugged, "--I'm entertaining the possibility." She smiled slightly.

"Ugh--" Cristina complained, "--I am drowning in a pool of domesticity. It's suffocating. Where's the alcohol?

"Right here!" Alex announced, walking through the kitchen and setting a six pack of beer on the table, while holding a large, pink gift under his other arm, "Your husband let me in--" He said to Meredith, then turned towards Callie, "--I don't know what she's into, so I just got the biggest, pinkest thing I could find."

"I'm sure it's great." Callie said with a grin, "Thank you. I'll take you out back--" She started to stand again.

"Oh, no--" He said, a halting hand up, "--you relax, I see Izzie."

"Okay." She said and watched as he met Izzie in the yard just near the cake area. She then turned towards Cristina, who had busied herself with a beer, "Did you invite him too?"

"I did--" Meredith said guiltily, then sat up defensively as Callie glared at her, "--you said you didn't know how to put up the thing for the clown. Alex knows how."

"Alex KAREV is here, and Mark is nowhere to be seen. I'm going to kill him."

"He'll show." Meredith said again.

Callie sighed, and waited a second before reaching out and taking Cristina's beer.

"Hey!" She exclaimed.

Later that night, Mark walked into the now dead quiet house, yawning from exhaustion as he locked the door behind him. He noticed Callie sitting on the couch, "Hey, baby--"

She simply raised her eyes at him, a hurt and angry look on her face. She placed the half empty glass of wine she had been drinking on the coffee table next to the baby monitor and licked her lips as she gathered her thoughts before standing up and walking towards Mark in the softly lit living room.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

She simply stood in front of him, crossing her arms over her chest, staring at him--trying to find the truth in his eyes. She trusted him. She had to trust him. But the past few weeks of inattention and disregard of both she and Sophie had felt like the most painful thing in the world, and she didn't know what else to think. All that came to mind was that, maybe the thrill was gone for him. Maybe he was bored. Maybe it didn't matter or make sense to him anymore--and maybe he had been looking somewhere else-- "Where have you been?" She asked, and he seemed taken aback at the question. Before he could even answer her, she felt the twinge in her gut in anticipation.

XXX