A/N Now Derek, Callie and Mark are back in Seattle. Keep reading and reviewing.
Anxieties and Arrivals
It had been a month since Callie, Derek and Mark had returned to Seattle. Now Callie was two months pregnant. She was staying over at Mark's hotel room more than she was staying at her apartment. Neither of them had found a house that they liked, but they were still looking. They had just come back from another appointment with Addison a few days ago and everything still looked good. They were already getting tired of flying to LA every two weeks and Callie was trying to talk Addison into coming back to Seattle for at least the next seven months so they didn't have to keep flying to LA every two weeks to check on the baby. Plus Mark was struggling with the plane rides. Not that he would admit that to Callie of course, but Callie could tell. She knew that he had finally taken a Xanax when they flew to LA last time. Addison had told Callie that she would think about it. Callie had a feeling that her best friend was trying to avoid Derek Shepherd. Again Callie wasn't about to ask Addison about that.
When they had arrived home, Callie called her parents and they had told her that they were flying out to see her and to meet the boyfriend who had knocked her up. Today was the day that they were flying into Seattle. Mark was nervous and Callie was on edge. She had kicked Cristina out for the week so that her parents could have Cristina's room. Then Callie had cleaned Cristina's bedroom. Mark hung back and let Callie do all this cleaning that she felt was necessary.
Mark knew that his role for the week was doting boyfriend and he knew he could handle that just fine. He just wasn't sure what to wear to meet her parents. He didn't want to look like a slob when her parents arrived. He wanted to look polished and put together. He knew the fact that they were not married was already pissing her father off and Mark also knew that when they learned that he was not Catholic, they were probably not going to be very happy about their daughter seeing a man who was not Catholic. So Mark had to sell them on his personality and his devotion to Callie and the babies. Mark had never been good with parents. Fathers in particular had never liked him. He never really got along with the mothers either, even though he tried.
He had just taken a shower and now he was standing shirtless in Callie's bedroom looking through the shirts that he had brought over for the week. He couldn't decide if he should go with red or with blue. He felt like a woman right now because he was taking so much time getting ready to meet Callie's parents. He was thinking so much about the shirts, that he didn't even hear the vacuum turn off and Callie walk into the bedroom.
"I can hear you thinking all the way out there." Callie told him with a small smile as she stood behind him.
"Sorry. I'm just trying to figure out which shirt would look good on me." Mark told Callie as he turned around to look at her. Usually Mark oozed self confidence but not today. Today he was even more nervous than he had been when he went on his first date twenty-six years ago. Today he was second guessing himself and feeling like he wasn't good enough for Callie. Like she deserved better than him. Like their babies deserved better than to have him for a father. Mark Sloan didn't do insecurity, but today he definitely had insecurities.
"You'll look hot in whatever you wear." Callie told him. She knew that her increased sexual drive wasn't supposed to show up until she was about five or six months pregnant, but her sexual drive was definitely rising and she blamed it on the fact that Mark had impregnated her with twins.
"I don't want to look hot. I want to look nice. I want your parents to at least respect me." Mark told Callie seriously.
Callie hadn't seemed to hear what he had said. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Mark's torso. Mark had no idea what had come over Callie in the minutes since she had come into the bedroom talking about his loud thoughts. He may not have known much about babies, but he was almost sure that the sexual drive wasn't supposed to show up yet. Plus he wanted to start things with her the right way. He wanted her to know that he respected her and he needed to know that she respected him as well.
"Kiss me Mark." Callie demanded.
Mark wasn't going to kiss her. Even though he wanted to, he wasn't going to do it like this. Not when she was demanding that he kiss her.
"I am not going to Cal." Mark told her firmly. Mark was going to have to put his foot down about this and refuse to kiss her.
Callie scowled, hating that she was actually being rejected by the father of the babies that she was carrying. Callie wasn't going to give up though. She was going to kiss him and make him realize how much he wanted her right now. Callie leaned in and brushed her lips across Mark's lips. She didn't take her lips off of him. She kept kissing him lightly. Something inside Mark made him kiss her back. He tangled his surgeon hands in her raven colored hair and he kissed her back. Callie pushed him back onto the bed. Mark winced when he felt the metal hangers from his shirts dig into his back.
"Cal." Mark whispered, still noticeably wincing from the hangers. Callie let Mark move the hangers and the shirts onto the floor so he wouldn't be in anymore pain. When the hangers were gone, Callie reached for Mark's belt buckle. She was desperate to have him inside of her. She needed sex right now and Mark was going to give it to her.
"No Cal." Mark murmured against her lips.
"I need sex Mark." Callie protested.
Mark wasn't about to let her have sex with anyone else but him, but given that her parents were going to be here in a few hours made Mark not want to have sex right now.
"Your parents are on there way here right now Callie." Mark reminded her.
"I don't care. If they can't handle the fact that their daughter has carnal desires, then that's their problem. I want sex." Callie muttered.
"I don't want their first impression of me to be that I don't respect their daughter." Mark argued.
"So you would deprive me of sex until they leave?" Callie demanded. Mark nodded. He was not having sex with Callie's parents in town.
"Ugh I hate you." Callie grumbled as she got up off of the bed. Mark sighed. He knew that Callie didn't really hate him. He also knew that they would have to be a little more affectionate than they actually were.
"You know, I am going to have to kiss you when you parents are around." Mark told Callie as he too got out of bed. He needed to finish looking for that perfect shirt to meet Callie's parents in.
"I think I can live with that." Callie teased. She looked at Mark and for the first time realized how stressed out he actually looked. She had no idea how nervous he really was to meet her parents for the first time.
"Breathe Mark." Callie told him softly as she grabbed his hand. His hand was clammy. Callie was sure that he was close to having a panic attack.
Mark tried to follow Callie's advice, but it just didn't seem to be working right now. He had no idea that he was prone to panic attacks. Maybe this was just a stress induced panic attack. Brought on by an impending stressful situation like meeting the grandparents of your unborn children.
"Put your head between your knees now Mark." Callie commanded. Mark did as Callie commanded him to do and he felt better almost instantly. His breathing evened out and when he looked at Callie, Callie was smiling at him.
"Feeling better?" Callie asked him with a smile. Mark nodded as she kept his eyes on Callie. He knew that he had promised himself that he would not have sex with her today, but his resolve wasn't as strong as it was ten minutes ago.
"My parents are going to love you." Callie assured Mark. Mark wished that he felt as confident as Callie did. He was more worried about meeting her father than her mother.
"You are far too confident Cal." Mark told her with a rueful smile.
"And you worry too much." Callie informed Mark.
Mark didn't think that he worried too much but he decided not to respond to Callie's comment. Or they would just argue for the next hour and Mark didn't want to do that.
"I think you should wear this one." Callie told Mark as she picked up one of the shirts that had fallen on the floor while they kissed on the bed. The shirt that Callie now held in her hand was a navy blue. The color of the Attendings scrubs at SGH. Callie had never been able to resist Mark when he was wearing the navy blue scrubs.
"Okay. I will." Mark agreed as he put the dark blue button down shirt on his body. The way Callie was looking at him, made Mark really wish that her parents were coming tomorrow so he could give her sex just like she wanted.
"Callie don't look at me like that." Mark warned, his voice low. His willpower was rapidly slipping and he was close to just saying screw it and having his way with her.
"I wasn't looking at you like anything Mark." Callie insisted innocently. Mark knew that she was full of crap. He knew that she wanted him and he hated knowing that he couldn't give her what she wanted.
"You look beautiful Callie." Mark told her. Callie was wearing a pair of jeans and a green top.
"Unless that is followed by a suggestion of having sex right now, I think you should shut up." Callie warned with a glare in Mark's direction. Mark wisely shut up, but his slate colored eyes were still focused on her face. Mark was pretty sure that Callie was the most beautiful woman he had ever met.
"I'm going to go brush my teeth again." Mark told Callie. He didn't want to have bad breath when he met Callie's parents. He didn't want to give them any ammunition against him. Callie looked at him strangely as Mark walked into the bathroom and brushed his teeth for what seemed to Callie to be like the ninth time today.
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An hour later, Mark was sitting on the couch flipping through a Sports Illustrated. It wasn't that interesting, but it was better than him suggesting that he and Callie take a shower together. Sure Mark had already taken one today, but he needed to be with her. He just didn't want her to know that he planned to make her his wife someday. They weren't even officially dating, but he knew that he wanted Callie. He just hadn't told Callie yet.
Callie walked into the living room and sat down beside Mark. She needed to talk to him about this whole fake boyfriend thing. She still wanted him to do it, but they needed to practice being affectionate with each other or her parents would figure out that the boyfriend thing was a total sham.
"Kiss me Mark." Callie told him softly. Mark put his magazine down and he looked at her. He was surprised at how soft her voice was. He had a feeling that this was not about sex.
"Why Callie?" Mark asked curiously.
"Because we have to be able to fool my parents into thinking we are an actual couple and we can't do that if there is awkwardness in our kisses." Callie explained. Mark knew that she was right. But he also knew that there had never been any awkwardness with their kisses. Mark pressed his lips to hers and Callie kissed him back and her hands ran down his back. Mark pulled her body closer to his. Somewhere this kiss had turned from practice to something that they both wanted. It was clear to Mark that kissing Callie was something he wanted to do for years to come. When Callie pulled away from the kiss, she was smiling. Kissing Mark was something amazing. Callie didn't want Mark to kiss any other women ever again. Of course she didn't want Mark to know how she felt about him just yet.
"I don't think we have any awkwardness." Callie told Mark with a blush rising in her cheeks.
Mark cupped her face in his hands and he smiled at her. She was right. There was no awkwardness in their kisses.
"I would say not." Mark told her with a smirk.
"I would suggest that you stop blushing though." Mark added. Callie knew that Mark was right. Couples who had been together awhile didn't blush when they kiss. Callie stared into Mark's slate colored eyes and she willed him to kiss her again. Mark did. He brushed his lips over hers gently and Callie pressed her lips against his a little harder than she had meant to. Mark ran his tongue along her lower lip and Callie parted her lips so Mark could push his tongue inside of her lips. Callie pushed her own tongue into Mark's mouth. She ran her hands down his back, pulling him closer to her body.
Neither of them heard the front door open. They were both too involved in what they were doing. Nothing else mattered to them at this point.
"Calliope!" Esteban's voice rang out in the apartment. Callie and Mark immediately broke apart. Callie was blushing profusely and Mark was mortified. He had wanted to make such a good impression on Callie's parents and then this had happened. Mark had a feeling that Esteban was not going to be all that happy with him.
"I hope this is the boyfriend Calliope." Esteban commented.
"Yes Daddy." Callie assured her father. Callie quickly sidestepped her father and enveloped her mother in a hug.
"Hi Mama." Callie greeted her mother with a smile. Mark was still facing Esteban and he felt sure that he was going to have another panic attack.
"So you are the one who knocked up my beautiful daughter?"
"Yes sir." Mark answered.
"Do you make it a habit to display your affection so publicly?" Esteban demanded. Mark wasn't sure what to say. Callie intervened and introduced Mark to her mother.
"Hello Mrs. Torres." Mark greeted her politely.
"Call me Maria." Maria told Mark with a warm smile. Mark felt better instantly. At least Callie's mother liked him. That was a huge relief. Callie went to the kitchen with her father and got some coffee poured for her parents and Mark. She was nervous and what her parents had walked in on hadn't exactly soothed Mark's nerves and Callie was well aware of that. She sat down with Mark at her side and her parents on the other couch and they started to catch up. Maria and Esteban had a lot to tell their pregnant daughter about the goings on at home.