*~*~*~*~

I used to think that happiness could only be something

That happened to somebody else

Everybody believed, everybody but me, yeah yeah

And I've been hurt so many times before,

That my hope was dying, so sick of trying

Everybody could see, everybody but me, yeah yeah

But then you came into my life, you opened up my softer side

And now I can see into your eyes

And suddenly, I realize

- Christina Aguilera

*~*~*~*~

Mark was sitting in his usual spot when Callie came into the locker room the following morning. Lost in thought, he didn't notice her at first and then he caught her familiar scent and sat up a little straighter. Instead of going to her locker, Callie sat down beside him and crossed her arms over her chest. He grinned and turned a little in his seat so he could look at her before he spoke. "How did it go with the kid after I left? He didn't eat much, but then neither did you. I confess, my pasta needs work."

"What did you mean?" she asked softly.

"What did I mean?"

"Waiting."

"Hmm?" His brow furrowed. "Care to be more specific?"

Callie's nostrils flared. "You already forgot that you said it!? You - ass!"

"OH!" Mark grabbed her arm as she shot to her feet. He pulled her back down beside him and held onto her. "Waiting! I said I'll wait! Right! And I meant it!"

She looked like he had just told her that the world was flat and the sky was pink. "Overnight. It completely slipped your mind *overnight*."

"No, baby! It did not sl-"

"I am not your baby!" Callie shoved his arm off and grabbed her bag. "I'm going to change with the interns. I don't know how I'll keep up since I'm not a toddler yet like they are!"

"That was an endearment, Torres!"

"Not coming from you! Ass!"

Mark had been yelled at for many things in his life.

But never for something as stupid as that.

*~

Forty minutes later, a very angry Callie was summoned to the OR to begin her part of a complex surgery on a trauma patient. Mark was standing at the sink scrubbing in and he glanced at her, but didn't speak. She moved beside him and said, "Why are you here?"

"Because I'm needed."

"Great!" She soaped her hands, scrubbing hard enough to remove all three layers of skin. "Don't talk to me."

"You're talking to me!" He turned the water off and backed through the door. "And I don't want you to!"

"Good. Because I'm done."

"Good. Me too."

"Stop talking!"

"I am."

"Shut up, Mark."

"Okay. *Baby*. Get the last word ... such as it is."

Callie snarled behind her mask and followed behind him. Chief Webber had already opened the patient and Callie moved across from Mark to begin working on the broken leg that required pins. The Chief greeted her warmly and inquired about Jack. Callie's response was clipped and her boss raised his brows. "Everything okay, Dr. Torres?"

"You should have stricter rules about who you hire, Chief."

Webber glanced up at the assembled staff in the gallery before he spoke. "If you have a complaint then we should talk about it privately."

"No," Mark snapped. He was working on the patient's face and even though she was at the other end of the table, his anger was surging through him as if they were toe to toe. "That would require maturity on her part and she's like a scared *baby* who runs from something that could be really, really great."

"Have scalpel. Will kill." Callie held it up to prove her point.

"Have bigger scalpel." He held up his own. "New York City Dart Champion three years running."

"You must be so proud," Callie mocked. "You should be even prouder of the fact that you have a lifelong star in the Male Asshole Hall of Fame!"

"It's only slightly shinier than yours over at the Chicken Shit Hall of Fame!"

"That's enough! I'm officially calling this a no speak zone!" Webber looked back and forth between them. "Zip it! Get your jobs done!"

They worked in silence for ten minutes. Several of the interns who had lined up against the back wall to observe were whispering, no doubt spinning the exchange in much juicier ways. When Mark rolled his neck to break some of the tension, he spotted George O'Malley in the gallery. He met the other man's eyes and the bastard actually *smirked* at him. Actually *smirked*. Mark was tempted to use him as a pin cushion for anything sharp in the vicinity.

"That's it!" he yelled.

Webber jumped and almost punctured the liver he was working on. "Sloan!"

Mark slammed his scalpel down on the tray, causing one of the nurses (who he had slept with once upon a time) to jump out of the way. He glared at her, then at the nurses who had assembled in the gallery. "You're all pissed at me, ladies, because I don't come around you any more. You're all mad that I don't return your calls and I don't sit with you at lunch and I clearly don't give a shit. What I give a shit about is that the person I do want to call and I do want to sit with ... doesn't want me to. She's making me pay for another man's mistakes and I alternate between wanting to strangle her and kiss her until she can't breathe. So, either way I win!"

"Mark-" Webber began, glaring at him over his mask.

Mark carried on, undaunted. "I've been done in by a woman who has everything I never knew I wanted and she's DRIVING ME INSANE! She's KILLING ME! And she -"

"Sloan, get the hell out of my OR! NOW!" Webber shouted. "Right now! Olivia, page Dr. Keegan to take over for him."

Mark walked to the end of the bed and stopped in front of Callie. "I once told you to talk to someone instead of ruining your career. I guess now I see that when the heart is involved ... a person can't think at all. And my heart's involved, *baby*. So keep that in mind."

*~

After she finished the surgery, Callie went in search of Mark. People were talking about her. She knew that because every room she stuck her head in fell silent the second she appeared. How she managed to not have a stroke was beyond her. She had actually taken her own blood pressure just to make sure her heart was beating at all. She should have been mortified. She should have been pissed and terrified and *angry*.

But she wanted to hug him.

Mark was in the on call room, lying on his back, glaring at the bottom of the bunk over his head. She checked to make sure that bunk was empty before she sat down beside him, her back to him. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm really sorry."

"For which part? You have so many things to pick from."

"I want to be ready. I need to be ready, but - but I'm not yet. I'm just - not. Jack helped me heal after losing my baby. He can't replace it, but he made it better." She turned her head slightly, looking at him over her shoulder. "George is the first man I ever loved and I did love him. I loved him more than I ever thought was possible and he destroyed me. Jack can't fix that. And neither can you. I have to fix it. I have to heal. So, I want you to call me and sit with me. I want you to show up every Thursday with something to give my kid cavities ... and I want you to wait. Because I think I could be worth it if you did."

"Callie-"

"I was going to sleep with you a long time ago ... but then ... my heart got involved too and I -"

He sat up behind her and put his hand on her back. She turned and hugged him. "I don't have a right to ask," she said, "but will you please not give up on me yet?"

"I'm not giving up at all. I can't." He pulled back and kissed her forehead. He wanted to kiss her mouth ... no, every inch of her, but the small contact was enough for the moment. "So, we're having lunch today, right?"

"Yeah. So the nurses can kill me. Dead. You might as well put a target on my forehead."

"I've got your back. You're safe."

She put her hand on his cheek. "You've got more than my back. Keep that in mind."

"Our hearts are involved, but not our bodies. That's a first for me." Mark laughed. "And I'm not complaining."

"You complained really loud in the OR, Mark."

"Yeah, my ass will be chewed up and spit out by the Chief."

"Hmm, maybe he'll let me watch if I pay him."

"You're evil." His pager went off and he groaned when he lifted it. "Speak of the devil. Webber. See you later."

"I hope you're in one piece."

"Ha ha."

*~*~*~

At noon, Callie picked Jack up at the nursery and took him to the cafeteria with her. One of the aides had told her that he was withdrawn and sullen, refusing to play with Tuck or any of the other kids. He was on his best behavior in the lunch line though and the fact that he had one arm around Callie's leg the entire time they were choosing their food amused her to no end. When they sat down together, he moved his chair so close to hers that she had no elbow room, but she didn't mind in the least. "Jack?"

He laid his sandwich back down on his plate. Folding his hands in his lap, he said, "Are you taking me back to the group home today?"

"Sweetie, I told you last night that I'm not doing that."

"Things change."

"Do you remember the day that we talked to Judge McCormick and he said that you and I were a family?"

Jack nodded. He looked like he was going to cry so Callie lifted him into her lap and hugged him. "Family is forever. That means that you are going to live with me forever ... or at least until you go off to college and get married. I'm always going to be your mom and I'm always going to love you ... no matter what you say or do."

"Really?"

"Really."

Jack put his hand on her cheek. "I hate school. And girls are grody. I ain't going nowhere."

"I refuse to let you be that geeky guy who lives in his mother's basement." She wrinkled her nose. "Now give me a kiss and stop acting like such an angel."

"Mami said I'm an angel."

"That's because you snake charmed your grandma every time she came in the room." Callie put him back in his seat and opened his chocolate milk. "She'll be here for your birthday party, kiddo, and so will Papi."

"Yay!" Jack exclaimed, clapping his hands. "Will they swim with me?"

Callie nodded, grinning. "Your grandpa is so much fun in the pool. He used to throw me so high in the air I thought I could fly."

Jack ate most of his lunch, babbling about his party and his fervent hope that there would be a dog, a rifle, a race car, and a space ship for him as gifts. Callie enjoyed her salad and tried in vain to get Jack to try it, but he went so far as to hide under the table when she held out a bite for him. She would have to accept that fruit was as cooperative as he would go with healthy food and continue to hide vegetables in their dinners at home.

Mark set his tray on the table and peered under it. "Are we playing hide and seek?"

"You're it!" Jack called. "She's trying to make me kill myself."

"What are you doing to him, Cal?" Mark sat down and a second later Jack appeared beside him and crawled into his lap.

"She wants me to eat *that*!" Jack pointed at Callie's plate. "I'd rather eat a diaper. One that's been *used*."

"Nice visual for the lunch table, kiddo. Now come back over here and leave Mark alone."

"He's fine." Mark picked up an ear of corn and took a bite. "Mmm."

"Yuck."

Mark winked at Callie, who blushed and looked away. "Jack, I will give you five dollars right now if you eat this corn."

"I only eat corn for twenty."

Mark pulled his wallet out and laid a twenty on the table. "For this much cash ... you have to try your mom's salad *and* eat the corn."

"All of the corn!?" Jack yelped. "It's poison! It grows on the ground and *ants* walk on it. Ants have germs!"

"Then I'll keep my money."

"No, no! I'll eat it! Give it here!"

Stunned completely speechless, Callie watched her son devour the ear of corn and reach for her plate. He finished off what remained of her salad and picked up the money, folding it carefully before he belched. "That was disgusting!" he pronounced. "I bet I ate bugs."

"Nicely done, Sloan." Callie gave him a thumbs up.

"I try," he replied, giving her the patented McSteamy smile.

Callie gritted her teeth when her pager went off. Sometimes being a doctor was a terrible career choice. It stopped her from doing what she really wanted and she wanted nothing more than to watch Mark Sloan finesse her son a little longer. She pulled her beeper from her clip and frowned, then looked at Mark. "Would you mind taking him back to the nursery?"

"Not at all."

"Thank you."

Jack accepted a kiss from his mother and watched her walk away. "My mom's real pretty, huh?"

"Yeah, she's real pretty. And you took my flowers last night so I couldn't tell her."

"You like her, huh?"

"I like her."

"If you wanted to kiss her goodbye ... you should have."

"What?"

"Just now."

"Jack-"

"You looked like you wanted to. When I watched those soap sud shows with Gertie, people would look at other people's mouths when they wanted to get kissed and you sure have been looking at her mouth a lot."

Mark pulled out his wallet and said, "Why don't you go buy yourself some cake or something."

"Anything I want?"

"Anything."

*~

Callie was finishing up a consult when her pager went off again. She groaned and glanced at Bailey, who was smiling at her knowingly. "What?" she snapped.

Miranda looked left and right before she spoke. "Now, I wasn't there to see it, but I figure since our kids have weekly play dates while we have coffee then I'm allowed to ask. Did Mark Sloan basically tell the nurses that he wasn't seeing them because he's seeing *you*?"

"He basically told *everyone* that he *wants* to see me ... which we're not actively doing, by the way. I'm not ready."

"Did he or did he not say that his *heart* was involved?"

"He did."

"You're a damn fool, Torres."

"It's called being *cautious*. Foolish would be to rush into something and -"

"Mark Sloan. Mark *Sloan* just figured out that he has a heart and he wants to give it to *you* and you're not ready because ..."

"Because he's Mark *Sloan*. And maybe it's not his heart. Maybe it's gas."

Bailey slapped her on the arm. "I hear a lot of things. The reason he said something to those nurses is because he's been brushing them off since right after your miscarriage and they're trying to break his defenses with strategic attacks. Mark *Sloan* has gone soft ... in all ways. Even down there."

Callie threw her head back and laughed. "Shut up! Seriously?"

"Seriously." Miranda wasn't laughing at all. "Callie?"

"Yeah?" Callie sobered when she saw Bailey's face. "Oh god, what?"

"Time matters. It does. When you're hurt ... it takes time for the wound to heal. When you're lost ... it can feel like hours before you find your way. And time if fleeting, too. Don't waste too much time waiting to be ready." Bailey took her hand. "Because I've scrubbed into surgery with Sloan several times the past few weeks and all he talks about is Jack. And you. Time isn't always the best thing in the world."

"CALLIE!" Meredith called, rushing breathless from the stairwell. "Jack. ER. Sick."

Callie sprinted past her and took the stairs two at a time.

Mark caught her around the waist when she stumbled into the pit a few minutes later. She was in the same shape that Meredith had been, completely breathless. "What happened?" she wheezed.

"It's my fault." He held onto her, looking terrified. "I gave him ten bucks and told him to go buy whatever he wanted for dessert and he ... he spent *all* of it on junk that he scarfed down while I wasn't looking and -"

"WHAT!?"

"I took my eyes off him for five minutes! I swear it was only five minutes and then I heard him throwing up and ... he's okay. He's fine. He's got it all out and ... god, I'm sorry." He put his hand over his face. "I was right all along. I would have made a horrible father."

"There's a lot of evidence to suggest otherwise, Mark." She grinned at him. "Where is he?"

Mark led her to Jack's room.

And he smiled like an idiot as her words replayed in his head on loop the rest of the day.

*~*~*~*~

The four weeks that led up to Jack's birthday found Mark appearing not only for spaghetti night, but for Monday's meatloaf, Tuesday's tacos and Friday's feeding frenzy. Anything went on Fridays, but Jack's gluttony scare had calmed his desire to indulge so he was content with anything ... even vegetables. He tried everything that Mark asked him to try except sprouts, which he spotted on the table on the Friday before his big birthday party and had a full blown tantrum over it.

"Get them away!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Get it off the damn table!"

Mark, who had never witnessed Jack's wraith before, stood with his mouth hanging open as the little boy picked up the bowl and threw it across the room. Callie pulled him from the chair and told him to pick it up and Jack spun, hitting her in the stomach with his fists. Mark reacted before Callie could. He grabbed both of Jack's wrists and shook him one good time. "Stop it!"

Jack stopped yelling and became still immediately. Mark leaned down at eye level and said, "You don't hit girls! Ever! Apologize!"

"I-I'm s-sorry."

Jack's chin trembled and he tried to lean into Mark, but Mark held him firm. "Go pick up the bowl and put the vegetables back in it like your mother asked."

Callie watched as her son slumped his shoulders, dragging his feet as he retrieved the bowl and all the sprouts that had fallen from it. Mark stood and wet several paper towels and when Jack brought him the bowl, he handed them to the child and said, "Now clean it up."

Jack returned to the corner where he had tossed the bowl and got on his hands and knees to wipe up the juice. Mark turned and looked at Callie. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. And ... impressed."

"I don't mean to overstep my bounds, but he hit you and - has he ever done that before?"

"Once," she replied. "Right in the face."

"How did you punish him?"

"Time out."

"Why don't you make him stand in the corner tonight?"

"Why don't you make him?"

"I have no problem with that." Mark walked across the room and checked to make sure the floor was spotless. He squatted down so that he was face to face with Jack. "What you just did was wrong. You can't throw things or hit people. Especially not your mom because that hurts her and it makes *me* very angry. You -"

"I said I'm sorry!" Jack yelled. "So you shut up!"

Mark turned him around and nudged him into the corner. "You stand right there and think about how sorry you are and then when you're very, very sorry ... you can tell us again."

"I will not!"

"Then you'll be here for a while." Mark left him alone and walked back into the kitchen. He pulled out a chair for Callie and nodded at it. "Let's have dinner."

"Mark-"

"Sit down."

"But he -"

Mark moved around the chair and hugged her. Against her ear, he whispered, "If he thinks that we're having fun without him ... he'll make the connection that tantrums make him feel left out. He's a smart kid."

It only took four minutes of hearing the two adults laugh to break Jack. He cleared his throat and called, "Mark!"

"Yes, Jack?"

"I'm very, very sorry now."

"Are you ready to eat dinner?"

"Yes, sir."

Callie and Mark looked at one another and fought hard not to laugh. Jack had never been so formal with *anyone*. They took a moment to collect themselves before Mark told him he could leave the corner and join them. The little boy walked in with his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He walked to Callie first and hugged her, giving her a kiss before he turned to Mark and did the same. Mark put his plate in front of him and turned back to Callie, opening his mouth to speak.

Jack took a deep breath as he picked up his fork. "I'm still not never gonna eat those da ... uhm, stupid things. And I am *not* sorry for that."

After Jack was in bed ... Callie and Mark laughed until their sides ached.

*~*~*~

Callie's parents arrived the following morning before eight. They used their own key to enter and quietly crept toward the stairs, intent on sleeping for as long as they could in one of the guest rooms. Jack, who was trying to find something to put in the corner he had stood in the night before so that *he* could not be put there again, saw them and shrieked, "Mami! Papi!"

Alejandro leaned down to catch his grandson as the little boy raced toward him. He threw him in the air and caught him, causing Jack to scream with laughter, then he hugged him. "Happy birthday, Jack Attack!"

Jack kissed him, then reached for Marguerite, who happily took him from her husband and rubbed his back. "Where is your mother?"

"She's out back with the men."

"The what?" Al asked, stiffening.

"She got bouncy things for me." Jack pointed toward the back door. "They gotta be blowed up."

"I see." Al crossed the room and peered out the window. His daughter was holding court, talking to a group of workmen who were all dressed in matching shirts. He opened the door in time to hear her laughter and he narrowed his eyes, calling her name.

She entered a moment later and gave him a hug. "Hi, Dad."

"Why was Jack unattended in the house?"

"I didn't know he was awake yet." Callie shrugged and crossed the room, kissing her mother on the cheek and lifting Jack into her arms. "What's it gonna be, kiddo? You want chocolate cereal or the one with marshmallows?"

"Chocolate! And chocolate milk, too!"

"You got it." Callie walked into the kitchen, oblivious to the look that her parents exchanged.

A moment later, Jack carried his bowl into the living room and parked himself in front of the television on the floor to watch Saturday cartoons. Margie put a hand over her heart and marched into the kitchen. "Calliope!"

Callie jumped, splashing hot coffee on her hand. "Jesus! What?"

"Sugar for breakfast? And he doesn't even eat it at the table?"

"It's his *birthday*."

"This is unacceptable," Al said, joining his wife at the island. "He was alone in the house. Anything could have happened while you were flirting with -"

"Here we go," Callie mumbled under her breath. "Always the same. I can't do a *thing* right. Ever."

"You've had him for months! You should have the hang of it by now," Margie scolded, her voice echoing loudly through the house. "Children need rules! And a better meal than what he's having right now, Calliope! I taught you better! I never forced you to eat boxed cereal!"

"I like my cereal." Jack had appeared in the doorway and he walked across the room and lifted his arms, waiting for Callie to pick him up. When she did, he looked back and forth between his grandparents. "Don't you yell at my damn mom."

"I'm *her* mother so I'm allowed," Margie said, then she processed his words. "Did he just say -"

"Moms don't yell," Jack said. "Mine don't. Never."

Callie shifted him on her hip and said, "Tell them what you usually have for breakfast."

"Fruit and *oatmeal*. She makes me eat oatmeal even though it looks like someone already freakin' did."

Margie and Al declared that they were going to take a nap a few moments and a few more of Jack's swear words later and Callie smiled at her son.

He actually *winked* at her.

Callie shook her head. Jack had been hanging around with Sloan *way* too much.

*~*~*~*~*~

Addison Forbes-Montgomery was not a children's party kind of woman. She just *wasn't*. On the off chance that she received an invitation from someone who didn't know any better, she would usually buy something online and have it sent to the address on the card. She never made apologies for not going and never RSVP'd, but Jack Torres was different. Callie had introduced her son to Addison via web cam and as soon as he flashed his dimples at the camera and called her hot, Addison was a goner. So, when the invitation arrived at the Oceanside Wellness Center, she had not only RSVP'd, she had picked up the phone and called Callie to thank her for the inclusion.

She knew that she was wrong about children's parties as she went down the huge air slide with Jack in her lap for the fiftieth time. When she landed at the bottom, it was Tuck's turn and he happily held up his arms. Breathless, Addison reached for him and gazed at the incline she didn't have any faith she could climb again. "This is worse than the elliptical," she told the grinning toddler.

"Want me to take over?" Mark asked her, appearing at her side.

Addison watched as he leaned down to tickle Jack. "We should be the square pegs at this party and we're playing harder than the kids."

Tuck pulled Addison's hair and pointed at the slide. "Go!"

"My 'go' is broken, Bailey Jr."

Mark reached out and took the squirming child from her arms, setting him on his feet. "Jack, why don't you take Tuck to get some cotton candy."

"Cotton candy!" Jack screamed, taking the smaller boy's hand in his and rushing toward the concession stand.

Addison smiled up at her ex. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with Mark Sloan?"

"It's been a long time, Addy." He shrugged. "People change. Who knew that you could get a tan and start dressing like a hippy?"

With a frown, she gazed down at her bare feet and denim shorts. "I do not dress like a hippy."

"Your shirt says 'Go Green'. You're a tree hugger, too, apparently."

"California is like a whole other planet." She leaned back against the slide and watched as several little girls gathered around Jack, each vying for his attention. "He's a great kid."

Mark watched as the little boy shared his cotton candy with all of his admirers. He saw Mark watching him and waved, grinning from ear to ear. "He really is."

"The Steamer has been dried up by a *five* year old." Addison said knowingly.

On the other side of yard, near where a clown was making balloon animals, Callie laughed loudly. Addison leaned forward to look at her friend, who was talking to an incredibly handsome man. "Who's the stud?"

The smile had faded off Mark's face. He leaned down and caught Jack, who had also spotted the man and was heading that way. "Hey, little man, who's that?"

"That's Ethan."

"Ethan?"

"He brought my bed from the furniture store."

Mark let him go and watched him rush toward Ethan and Callie. So *that* was the man who had asked Callie out. Ethan leaned down and caught him, then spun him in a circle. There was a tiger in Mark's stomach that was trying to claw its way out. Without speaking to Addison at all, he stalked across the yard toward the 'couple'.

Addison put a hand on her chest, stunned.

It wasn't Jack that taken the whore out of manwhore ... it was Callie.

*~*~*~*~*~

"Hey, Callie," Mark said, slipping an arm around her shoulders. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, hey. I was just looking for you." She smiled up at him. "Mark, this is Ethan. Ethan, Mark."

Mark begrudgingly shook his hand, mumbling a terse greeting. He listened for a few minutes as Ethan finished up a story that was probably supposed to be impressive and funny, and Callie *did* laugh, but Mark was visited with the urge to nudge the man into the pool. And drown him. He was as tall as Mark and was using every single move that Sloan had *invented*.

Callie knew that something was on Mark's mind so as soon as Ethan wrapped up his delivery story from Hell, she excused herself and walked into the kitchen to see how the caterers were doing. He followed her and she directed a few questions to the wait staff before she thanked them and headed up the stairs. In her bedroom, she shut the door and said, "What's wrong?"

"Why did you invite that smarmy bastard?"

"George is here?" Callie gasped. "I didn't invi-"

"Ethan!" Mark growled.

"What!? He is not a smar-"

"He asked you out! He's taking advantage of a single mother. He saw that you were just moving in and figured that you were lonely, beautiful, and *rich* so he made his move. That makes him a smarmy bastard and -"

Callie started to laugh. She laughed until she had to sit down on the bed and then she slapped her leg. "Are you serious!? Like ... you're actually standing there pissed at me because ... because you're *jealous* of a gay guy?!"

"A gay - what!?"

"Ethan and I go way back, Mark. He tore his rotator cuff a couple of years ago and we've stayed in touch."

"But Jack said that he called you pretty and asked you to the movies."

"God! Little pitchers have big ears! And even bigger mouths!" Callie chuckled. "He did call me pretty, but that's because I was saying that no guy would ever want to date someone with a kid and -"

"I think I've proven that theory wrong."

"We've never had a date. Which proves my point."

"Then maybe we should. I overheard Bailey saying that she's taking Jack tonight for a sleep over with Tuck."

"Big pitchers have *huge* ears."

He smiled and held out his hand. When she put hers in his, he pulled her to her feet and said, "You are pretty, by the way."

"You're about to kiss me, aren't you?"

"Yep."

"It's about damn time."

He took a step back instead of closer. "Did you or did you not tell me to *wait*?"

"Did I or did I not start inviting you over almost every day? Hello? That was a sign for you to make your move."

"You can make the first move, Callie! I've seen you do it!"

Callie closed the distance between them and put her hand on his cheek. "So, what are we gonna do tonight?"

"There's a carnival in town and - kissing you now."

The bedroom door flew open before their lips could meet and Callie's father stood framed in it, looking like a rabid dog. "Calliope Iphigenia Torres! What the hell are you doing?"

"Dad-"

"Your son is unsupervised. Again."

"He is not unsupervised! There are fifty people milling around in my back yard and -"

"YOU are his mother. YOU are the one who chose to adopt him so you need to get your ass downstairs and handle him instead of ... handling *this* guy in your bedroom."

"We were just talking."

"Yes, I saw." Al pointed toward the back yard. "Who are all these men? Jack knows them all by name and -"

"Am I only allowed to have female friends, Dad? Why don't you wrap me in a burqa and hire a chaperone!? Jack knows them all by name because he comes to work with me."

"Which is another mistake! You need to hire a decent nanny who can give him guidance and work on his manners and vocabulary instead of sticking him in a room full of other children who-"

Callie's eyes burned with tears and she shook her head. "Are you going to get off my back just *once* today? You have made it very clear that I'm a horrible mother several times now."

"Then change it!" Al shouted. "Before you lose him to your shortcomings. You don't raise your voice at him. You don't discipline him or correct him and you let him behave like a wild animal!"

"Whoa!" Mark, who had only spoken with Callie's father briefly, shook his head. "She is not a bad mother. You can't possibly come here and spend a few hours and think you're qualified to say something like that to her. You don't see her with him. You don't know anything about it. And just because you obviously have no problem yelling at your kids doesn't make it the only approach. Or the right approach. So leave her the hell alone."

Al blinked and started to turn away, but he paused halfway and said, "Your mother and I will be leaving now, Calliope. We'd like to stay for lunch, but I've had a gut full already."

"Oh my god." Mark realized, as Al stomped down the stairs, that he had just made a horrible, horrible impression on the man. "I am so sorry. I'll go apologize and -"

"Don't you dare!" Callie caught his arm, awestruck by the fact that Mark had not only stood up for her ... he had stood up to her *father* and lived to tell about it. "Thank you."

"For pissing off your dad? For making him leave?"

"No. For being *that* guy."

"What guy?"

"The one that I kinda thought existed, but wasn't really sure anymore." She squeezed his hand. "I would love to go to the carnival with you tonight."

"Really?" He smiled and moved a little closer. "Where were we?"

"I was about to kiss you," she replied, licking her lips. "But I think I'll wait."

"What!? NO!"

She smiled sadly. "It's time for lunch."

"One kiss. Just one."

"Nope." Callie sighed. "But I promise you'll get a good night kiss."

"Okay, you know how I announced to *everyone* that I wanted to choke you or kiss you? Now I just want to choke you!"

"You'll live. It's just a few more hours." She walked through the door and into the hallway, glancing back at him as she headed for the stairs. "Are you looking at my ass?"

"Yes."

"Like the view?"

He nodded. "Very much."

"I might even let you kiss *that* later." She watched him come to a screeching halt and instinctively glanced down. His pants had tented in the front and she gave him a knowing grin. "Nice."

He turned on his heel and wordlessly walked into the bathroom at the end of the hallway.

Giggling into her palm, she headed into the basement to make sure that Jack's present still had plenty of food and water.

*~

Her parents had not only left in a huff, they had left without saying goodbye to Jack, who had to be reassured by Callie for five minutes that he had done nothing wrong. She made a mental note to have a tantrum of her own when she talked to her folks again and then she enjoyed plenty of food while she sat next to Addison and chatted about the red head's job in California. Ten minutes later, Mark came out of the house and took a seat on the opposite end of the long table, not looking in Callie's direction.

Addison innocently bit into her hot dog. "Lover's quarrel?"

Callie choked on hers. "WHAT!?"

"Look, I have to fly out of here in *four* hours. Don't make me have to dig this out of you."

"You're leaving already?"

"Tomorrow is Pete's mother's birthday and he invited me long before you adopted Jack. Plus ... I'm pretty crazy about him." Addison wiggled her eyebrows. "So, tell me. You and Mark?"

Callie took a bite of her pasta salad as she looked down the table at Mark. He had been watching her, but he quickly struck up a conversation with Ethan when she met his eyes. "He was the one who found me during the miscarriage and he stayed the entire night at the hospital with me. I felt like I was going to blow away in the tornado that was my life and he ... he held onto me. After that we started talking sometimes and then Jack happened and he found the lawyer and Jack eventually met him and insisted that he come to dinner and ... here we are. *Months* later and we haven't had sex or even *kissed*, but I've never felt so ... sated ... in my entire life."

"You haven't had sex with him? Why?" Addison looked appalled by that development. "Callie, he's Mark. If you don't do him he'll find someone who will and then you'll get your heart broken and -"

"He's not having sex either."

Addison's second hot dog fell into her lap and she scrambled to grab it before it hit the ground. "You believe that?"

"Yes."

"Are you insane?"

"He spends all of his free time at the hospital with me. Or in the nursery with Jack. I go by to peek inside and see them together every day. He has lunch with me, he's been having dinner with us almost every night, and then when he goes home he calls me to say good night ... and then he calls to tell me good morning." Callie looked down the table again and smiled at him, which he returned with fervor. "He says he's not and I believe him."

"I'm happy for you if he makes you happy, but be careful. I wasn't here to help you after George, but when I would talk to you, I could hear how hopeless and broken you were. I'd cry for hours after we hung up and -"

"Never visited," Callie cut in. "You'd cry for hours, but you didn't bother flying up to see if I was okay. You didn't even come when the baby died."

"I've apologized several times for that, Callie. I - I had just been told that I was probably never going to have a baby. I wasn't ready to come back here and see you like that knowing that you were so destroyed by losing something that I'd never have."

Callie reached over and took her hand. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to put you on the spot like that. I just - it was hard to have no one. I mean, I talk to Cristina Yang all the time and I guess she's a friend, but it's not like what we had. I missed you more in those weeks than I've ever missed anyone."

"Let's make if official then."

"I'm not marrying you, Addison. I'm kinda interested in the male physique. One in particular."

"Well, I'm crushed." Addy grinned. "What I meant, lesbo, is that we should officially get together once a month. I can Jack proof my house so that you can head down to see me with him and I can fly up here, too."

"What's a lesbo?" Jack asked, standing behind Callie and Addison.

Callie looked at her friend. "It's not your house that we need to Jack proof. It's your mouth."

Addison shrugged innocently. The two friends sealed their plans for Callie to fly out on her next long weekend.

Jack opened his presents a while later. The child had truly been blessed with generous friends for his fifth birthday. His bounty included many remote controlled cars, video games, and to Callie's utter horror ... an air rifle from Cristina. If the look on Callie's face wasn't enough to convince Yang that she was the world's biggest idiot, what happened next certainly did. Jack grabbed it and shot the slide, causing it to deflate with a sonic boom that startled the younger party goers so badly that the frightened wails were enough to make ears bleed three miles away.

When the mayhem cleared and Mark put the air rifle in the trunk of his car ... pending safety lessons that Yang agreed to pay for, Callie brought a German Shepherd puppy from the basement and handed it to her son. He promptly burst into tears, burying his face in the animal's fur as she tried to hug it and Callie at the same time. She gave him a kiss and asked him what he wanted to name the dog.

Jack dried his eyes, thought for a second, and said, "Sprout."

"Sprout?" Callie laughed at him. "Why?"

"Mark likes 'em. And this will make me 'member not to throw 'em no more."

"Happy Birthday, Jack."

"Thanks, Mom. Best birthday ever."

*~*~*~*~*~

Callie had not been to a carnival since she was a child. Even though the fun was incredibly G-rated (anything else probably would have shocked her into a coma) and there were children rushing left and right, she felt like she was on a deserted island with Mark. One that came with rides. And stuffed animals. Proving that he was very, very good with his hands, Mark had won so many large stuffed animals that they had already made two trips to his car to unload their arms. When he saw a game that he had not yet tried, Callie grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the bumper cars instead.

They were arm in arm when they emerged and ran into Meredith and Derek. Grey looked uncomfortable and kept glancing behind her. Callie eventually realized that she was looking at George and Izzie, who were having a heated argument beside the Scrambler. Their voices carried over the swell of cheesy eighties rock music and Callie heard her name more than once. She rolled her eyes and Mark kissed her temple, telling the others that they were going in search of funnel cake and sno cones.

At the concession stand, Callie called Bailey for the third time to check on Jack. Miranda scolded her and reminded her that she was not a sixteen year old babysitter and told her not to call again. Callie laughed as she hung up. Mark, who was standing behind her, slipped his hands around her waist and leaned his cheek against hers over her shoulder. "I take it Jack's not in traction yet?"

"He's not in traction. I think she'd tie him up in the closet first." She leaned back against him. It shocked her that she could feel so at ease in his arms ... without actually having been in his arms for over a year. She was about to say something to him when Izzie appeared beside her with her hands on hips.

"It's not working," Stevens snapped, glaring from Callie to Mark. "You won't make him jealous enough to leave me."

Callie snorted. "You get that I've moved on, right?"

"Everyone knows that you two are just ... pretending. You're no Addison, Callie."

Mark tightened his grip on Callie's waist when she tried to move toward the blond. "You're right, she's not. I don't think you were ever threatened by Addison, Stevens."

"You think I'm threatened by *her*?" Izzie scoffed, pointing at Callie. "Please!"

Mark laughed, shaking his head. "Go away. You're embarrassing yourself."

George rushed up, grabbing Izzie's arm. "Oh, god. She's drunk and -"

"Stupid," Mark finished for him. "You must feel like a true dumbass, O'Malley. You traded the mansion for the shack and all you have to show for it is a public fight at the carnival and a girl who ..." He looked at Stevens, who leaned over and puked on a stroller that contained twins. "Is *that* charming."

Callie wrinkled her nose. "I don't want funnel cake now."

"Let's go, baby." Mark nuzzled her neck and gave George an identical smirk to the one that he had been given that day in the OR. "I can think of much better things to eat than funnel cake."

*~

"I don't get it," Callie said as they left the fairground and pulled onto the main road. "I divorced him. She won. What more does she want?"

"Don't think about them." Mark reached over and took her hand as he navigated through the traffic. "Think about the fact that I called you baby and you didn't kick my ass."

She leaned her head against the back of the seat and gazed at him. She had no doubt that she was giving him that look that always came with cheesy pop music in movies. "We've made such huge strides in our relationship, Mark."

"And you haven't even kissed me yet."

"I told you ... I'll kiss you good night."

"You also mentioned your ass ... so don't forget that either."

"What were you planning on eating that was better than funnel cake?" she asked, fighting hard not to laugh when his jaw tightened. "I can't think of many things better than funnel cake."

His erection had reached critical mass and he kept his eyes on the road. He knew if he looked at her and saw that same sexy, smoldering look that he had seen in her bedroom at the Archfield, he would embarrass himself by getting off right then. In his pants. "Callie, if you ask me to spend the night ... I'll show you what what's better ... all night long."

She squirmed at his words, at the silky, husky way he delivered them. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah."

"What would happen tomorrow morning if you stayed all night?"

"I guess you'd kick me out before Jack came home so he wouldn't know."

"What if I didn't kick you out?"

"Then I'd know there was a God."

Callie felt her eyes fill with tears. "Why me, Mark? If you're serious and this isn't you talking your way into my pants ... why me? I'm no Addison. I'm nothing like -"

"That's why." He looked at her, then back at the road. "I don't want another Addison. You lost your baby because your body couldn't sustain it for whatever reason and I lost mine because Addison *wouldn't* sustain it. You know, I've still got this Onesie that I bought. I keep it in my locker the same way you keep Jack's things, but a Onesie can't trace its hand or write me a note or hug me in the nursery."

"God, Mark, I'm sorry."

"Jack doesn't just make you feel better about the baby you lost. He makes me better, too." Mark massaged the back of her hand with his thumb. "And you ... you make me forget that *anyone* else exists. And if this was about getting in your pants ... well, I would have given up already. It's like Fort Knox over there."

She laughed, drying her eyes. "I prefer Fort Bliss."

"Oh, it's definitely that. I've been living off memories for months. Memories of pure bliss."

"You're getting laid tonight, Sloan. Don't keep pouring it on so thick."

The were silent for a few minutes. Mark broke it by saying, "I won't hurt you, Callie. You're safe with me."

"I kn-"

Tires squealed.

Mark's car spun and flipped, t-boned in the driver's side by a truck.

And Callie's words died with the lights on the dash as the Porsche came to rest on its roof in the middle of the busy highway.

*~*~*~*~*~