Callie hadn't been able to come home for Thanksgiving, much to Arizona's disappointment. The brunette had, instead, found herself drowning in a pile of textbooks and papers that she knew she could not put off any longer.
Arizona had played it cool the day after the kissing incident as she realized the kiss hadn't meant nearly as much to Callie as it had to her. And had the blonde been an actress, she would have won an oscar for the 'It's-totally-cool-and-I'm-not-weired-out' performance she had given. Arizona had been okay with kissing Cristina, but there were feelings when it came to her best friend. That was the difference. And somehow, when Arizona got on the plane two days later to return to Seattle, she shoved those feelings deep into her suitcase along with the rest of her belongings, determined to get the brunette out of her heart.
So as things go, the two remained the best of friends and life went on as usual. They kept in touch via text and weekly phone calls and chatted about everything and nothing at all, just as they always had. And in between, they would surprise each other with packages here and there. Last week, Callie had received a care package from Arizona a Joe filled with necessities for the apartment and letters from her old co-workers. The brunette expressed her gratitude by sending Arizona a gold and sable-colored Johns Hopkins hoodie. A note had been attached that read:
I know Seattle is getting cold, so you may need this. See you soon! -Callie
Arizona wore the hoodie to work almost every night. Though it wasn't easy to work in at the bar, it made the blonde feel closer to her best friend. One night, around the middle of December, Arizona found herself sitting at the bar of Joe's after she and Derek had cleaned up from a busy shift. They, along with Derek's girlfriend Meredith, took turns refilling each of their glasses of beer as they chatted.
"So Arizona," Meredith started. "Are you dating anyone?"
The blonde sipped her beer and smiled. "Negative. Thirty and single. Rather depressing."
"It'll get better, Robbins." Derek said, putting his arm around his friend.
"I'm not sulking."
"I know. But you're hot and there are girls in here lining up for you."
"This is true." Meredith chimed in. "I've seen it."
Arizona spaced off. "Well, I'm not really-. I'm just not available right now."
"Like I said, it will get better." Derek said as he down the rest of his beer.
Arizona smiled, knowing full well that her friend was referring to Callie. She didn't think confessing her love would ruin their friendship, but it had the possibility of making things weird. And Arizona didn't do weird.
The threesome enjoyed one more drink together before locking up the bar and parting ways. Arizona hopped over the two lanes of downtown street and made her way to the second floor where her condo awaited her. It had been a long day and the blonde was looking for getting some well deserved rest.
She unlocked her door and closed it behind her. After slipping off her jacket and shoes, Arizona went to her bedroom and retrieved a pair of comfy pajamas to change into. She was so tired that she hadn't noticed the unfamiliar bag that rested by the door or the strong smell of food cooking. The blonde was walking back out into the loving room when she noticed the brunette standing in the kitchen fussing over the stove. She took a double-take before rushing over.
"Calliope!" Arizona hugged her friend. "What are you doing here?"
"Whaaaat?" Callie playfully frowned. "Not happy to see me?"
"No, I am! I just-" She hugged her friend again. "I wasn't expecting you. You didn't tell me you were coming!"
Callie smiled. "Well, I wanted it to be a surprise. Especially because I remember that you like to have dinner after you get home from work, so I thought I would sneak in and make you something."
Arizona smiled as Callie handed her a glass of wine. "That's very sweet of you. I'm actually starving."
"Good then, let's eat and have wine over a movie. Your pick."
Arizona had been thrilled to death to learn that Callie had come back to Seattle early for winter break. Christmas was in two weeks and the girls didn't waste any time in getting ready for it. They bought a tree from a downtown vendor and brought it home to decorate. They donned the apartment with pine-scented candles and poinsettas while carols and jingles played in the background. White Christmas lights were strung and windows were frosted with fake snow. It was gawdy, but it was their favorite time of the year.
Between the holiday decorating and properly catching up with Arizona, Callie picked up a few shifts at the bar to help out and to make a little extra money. As it always had at the bar and with Arizona, the days flew by for the brunette. Before she knew it, Christmas Eve had arrived.
Joe closed the bar early on the 24th for a small holiday get-together for some of the serious regulars and his staff. They sipped on egg nog and exchanged small gifts for one another. Nothing huge, but rather intimate and a nice change from the chaos that was usually in there these days.
Callie and Arizona went back to their flat early in the evening to get ready for the next day. When in came to Christmas, the both of them were giddy twelve year-olds. Callie waited for Arizona to go to sleep before stuffing her stocking and the blonde woke up early to do the same. It had been decided earlier in the night, upon Callie's request, that the two of them would wake up at five a.m. to unwrap gifts.
And so they did. Arizona had just finished throwing candy into their stockings when Callie came running out into the living room. The blonde giggled at the sight and stepped into the kitchen to turn on the coffee pot to brew. The presents under the tree were light. Arizona had gotten a Callie a few thoughtful gifts and had left her small goodies in her stocking and Callie had done the same.
"Okay, okay, okay," Callie started. "I have one more gift for you." She pulled a small package from the pocket of her Johns Hopkins hoodie that matched the one Arizona was wearing.
"Another one?" Arizona asked.
"Just something small," Callie eyed the blonde as she opened the small box and pulled out a small, folded-up piece of paper.
Arizona looked up at her friend with questioning eyes.
"Or something kinda big. Just read it." Callie said with a smile.
Arizona unfolded the paper and began to read. With every left-to-right eye stroke, her six a.m. sleepy face slowly began to turn into a big grin.
"Calliope?"
"Yes?"
"You're moving back?"
"Yes."
Funding had been cut at Johns Hopkins, of all schools, and the students had been all but forced to apply like hell to other programs around the country. With Callie's high marks and numerous credible letters or recommendation, the brunette had finally landed herself into a transferrred, yet accepted spot at the University of Washington. Cristina and Miranda had also been accepted. Mark had been denied and Lexi was still awaiting word.
"Oh my God, Calliope!" Arizona threw the letter aside and enveloped the brunette into a hug.
"So is my room here still open?" Callie asked.
"It's yours forever."
"Merry Christmas."
Arizona smiled. "Best Christmas ever you mean?"
Later that day, like every year for the past five years, Arizona and Callie hosted Christmas dinner for Derek, and now Meredith, along with Joe and the other employees of his bar. They shared the news of Callie's return to the good city of Seattle. After food filled them, the lot drank egg nog to celebrate.
Callie returned to Baltimore later in the week as she had one last semester to prepare for at Johns Hopkins University. That spring, she was to return to Seattle for the rest of her schooling and to resume the life she had missed for so long.
Things quickly fell into place once Callie moved back to Seattle. The only thing that was different now was that medical school, as opposed to undergrad, did not allow her the time to work like she did before. Actually, she didn't have time for much of anything but school and sleep.
Joe kept her booth open at the bar for her study time and she shared the spot with her classmates Miranda, Cristina, and Lexie, the latter of which had managed to get accepted into the coveted program at University of Washington. Over free food and the occasional nightcaps provided by Arizona and Joe, the foursome spent the next three years of their lives sleep deprived in that corner booth at the bar.
Some nights, when it was slow, Arizona would break from her bartending duties and quiz the group using flashcards that Miranda had made. During the week, the blonde would return to her apartment after work to find the lot of them huddled around a circle, fighting off sleep and memorizing the body part of the week. Sometimes she would bring Derek and Joe over to help them study. The three of them being bartenders with no education, save Arizona, respected the four of them for what they were doing and going through - the blonde especially, knowing where her friend had been just a few years before. Seeing Callie fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor meant the world to Arizona.
Their time in school went by painfully slow, yet it was stangely over quicker than they had imagined. On a sunny day in June, they found themselves walking across a long podium and shaking the hands of their mentors, their teachers, and each other as they received their diplomas from medical school. They were now doctors.
Callie's parents had not come and neither had any of her other family members. The brunette stood politely by her friends as they greeted their mothers and fathers in celebratory hugs and small chatter. Her sadness was only brief as it was interrupted by the same three that had seen her through her first graduation four years ago. Joe, Derek, and Arizona. The trio enveloped her in a congratulatory hug that almost suffocated the brunette.
"Torres!" Derek spoke up after they let up a little. "Congrats, girl. Hey, I have this pain in my neck. Can you tell me what it is?" The group laughed.
"I'm not a doctor yet, Derek." She looked between him and the other two in front of her. "Thank you guys so much for everything." She started to tear up. "I know I have said it a lot over the years, but I mean it. I would never have made it here without the three of you." Callie looked amongst her surroundings and at her other classmates and then back to her friends. "You are my family."
That night, Callie invited her fellow graduates to a bar party that Joe had, as was accustomed, thrown for her. Along with Derek, Arizona, and Meredith, the group of graduates enjoyed a rare night of easiness without worry of any tests that lay ahead the next day. They got to know each other, they had fun, and for that night, at least, the weight of school had been lifted from their shoulders.
Their care-free days were short-lived as they had to prepare for entrances into their residency programs. They had all, of course, applied to hospitals in and around the Seattle area so as not to have to move too far from where they had been - for Callie, especially, since she had donned Seattle her true home a few years ago. Arizona, of course, had helped the brunette with her applications, just as she had done before. Despite her feelings, she wanted Callie Torres around to be her best friend even if it could never be anything else.
In the end, it seemed all of their hard work had paid off. Callie and Cristina had landed jobs as surgical residents at Seattle Grace while Miranda and Lexie had acquired their respective stints at a neighboring hospital, Mercy West. Though the foursome didn't get their residencies together, none of them, as hoped for, had to leave Seattle at all.
In the early morning hours of a calm day in September, Callie peeked one eye open to silently curse at the alarm lock that had been hissing at her for the past half hour. She pulled herself out of bed sleepily and threw her clock on the ground. Though she was now techically a doctor and in a profession that demanded an early work schedule, the brunette still remained at war with mornings. Not much had changed.
After a warm shower, she dressed and made her way to the kitchen to make coffee, only to find that a fresh pot was already waiting for her. She looked down to find a travel mug and note sitting on the counter.
Calliope,
I came in late from the bar. I was awake and thought you may need a pick-me-up for work today. Hence, the coffee. No worries, it is the strong stuff - just like you like it. Have a good day. See you soon.
Always,
Arizona
Callie smiled down at the note and sleepily began to pour herself a mug of coffee. She and Arizona's friendship slash relationship had not gone further than the kiss they had shared some three years and some change ago, but it had gotten quite intimate, even for a best friendship. There was a love that they shared that neither one of them understood. They had movie nights, they snuggled in bed together after shitty days and notes, like the one Callie had just received, were written with love. They knew each other to the core and love each other even more. And they just went with it. It seemed natural.
The brunette blinked through her sleepy eyes and grabbed her coffee. She threw on her jacket, snatched her keys and fleed the apartment in fear that she would be late. Today was her first day of work at Seattle Grace Hospital.
Callie was told within the first hour of her shift that she would be working for the next 48 hours. Straight. 'Eat when you can, sleep when you can' was the motto. Thankfully, for her, she had the familiar face of Cristina throughout it all. They would meet in the basement of the hospital where they could freak out on each other and swap stories about their day. It was hell, for sure, but that was the life they were about to know, live and breathe.
In the last hour of Callie's first two-day stretch, something came in to push it another four hours. The brunette had been told by the attending on duty to wait outside with two of her other fellow residents for an incoming trauma situation.
"What are we waiting out here for?" Cristina asked Reed, another resident that was told to wait with them.
"We are waiting for whatever is coming. Ambulances I think?"
"Saweeeet! I love guts. I hope it's a bad one." Cristina said as she rubbed the backsides of her arms with her hands to fight off the chilly Seattle air.
"That's kinda morbid, Yang. Don't ya think?" Callie said.
"Maybe. But I'm weird, so I'm allowed."
"That, you defintely are, Cristina."
Dr. Burke, their attending, emerged through the double-doors of the emergency room. Another doctor was behind him, helping him tie on his yellow trama gown. He threw one to each of the girls. "Get ready, ladies. We have a lot of work to do."
They yawned as they threw on their gowns.
"Now's not the time for tiredness. Travel bus ran a light in downtown. At least a dozen will be sent here - the other hospitals have taken all they can."
"Yes sir."
Five minutes later, the trio found themselves knee-deep in trauma. Reed and Cristina were already inside in bay number two with Burke and a nurse working on a set of siblings that had been ejected from a car that had been hit by the bus. Callie remained outside waiting with another doctor to bring in the last of the victims from downtown.
A medic opened the rear doors to the ambulance and handed the doctor next to Callie a chart. "Minor lacerations on the face and arms, one severe on the abdomen. Vitals stable."
"The doctor looked over the chart and handed it to Callie. "Let's get this one to bay five, if there is room."
Callie nodded as she looked over the chart, pretending to know what she was doing. She didn't, so she tried to familiarize herself as much as she could with the patient. She noticed the name and her eyes darted immediately to the handsome male that was on the stretcher, flirting hopelessly with a female medic. "Mark?" She asked.
He looked over. "Torres!" He winced slightly as he shifted. "How the hell are ya?"
"I'm, well it's my first day. Wait, what are you doing here?"
"Ahh, took a bus up from Missouri to visit Lexie. Was a surprise kinda thing."
"Ahh, I see. We miss you in the hospital. Grey told me that you didn't get into any of your choices."
"Yeah, sure didn't. Guess good looks don't get you everywhere in life."
"That, they don't." Callie laughed.
"But hey, it's okay. I'm a paramedic and I like it good enough." He looked back at the medic who was wheeling him in. "Which, by the way, you're not good."
"Mark, be nice."
Callie checked him over, under supervision of course, once they were in the bay. "You have some nasty cuts, Mark. You're going to need many, many stitches."
"Use glue where you can. Less scarring."
"Will do, Dr. Sloan." The brunette giggled, thankful for a friendly face among the chaos that her last two days had been. They chatted for a while as Callie observed the doctors working on him. They caught up and talked about their old times at Johns Hopkins.
Mark was still being sutured up when things died down enough for Callie to leave her shift. She peeked in to say goodbye. He was to be in town for a week and she promised that, schedule permitting, she would call Lexie for a get-together before he left.
Callie barely made it home without falling asleep. Never in her life had she ever been as tired as she was right now. Once back to the apartment, she used the last bit of energy that she had in her to change out of her dirty scrubs and into something that she found in the dryer in the laundry room next to the kitchen. Her body wouldn't let her go any further than the living room. The brunette was so tired that she fell onto the couch without realizing that Arizona was fast sleep on the opposite end. She was asleep within minutes, but not before wrapping her arms unknowingly around her roommate's legs to cuddle.