AN: Sorry about the wait again, like always, work is rather hectic.
A little side note, my lovely readers; one of my favourite authors has recently decided to take a break from writing, because although she has tons of followers, not enough people seem to be reviewing her work. Reviews are not my MAIN motivation, but they're a pretty awesome way to thank an author for working so hard on something you enjoy. I'm not just saying this for my own stories, but for the work of other authors you like too! Take a moment to hit that button and leave us all some love, even as a guest. Every review is appreciated.
Ok, enough babbling. Callie has her Boards to get through. Deep breaths!
Previously:
Callie gasped as she swung open the door. Instead of the friendly little Chinese man stood a gorgeous blonde flight attendant, wearing a smile that Callie could only describe as magical. She frowned in confusion.
"You're not my spring rolls…"
Arizona laughed, and the sound was music to Callie's ears.
"Surprise! Can I come in anyway?"
Chapter 10
The hotel corridor looked just like any other hotel corridor. Long and straight, the rooms situated on either side with a smattering of paintings along the walls and some potted plants in the corner. An unassuming hallway, but one that stood between Callie Torres and the dream that she had been working towards since beginning her internship. Other doctors, equally as talented and as nervous sat alongside her, fidgeting in their seats or whispering quietly to themselves as one by one their names were called.
"Calliope Torres."
The man looked nice enough as he extended his hand for her to shake, as did his female colleague as she gestured Callie to her seat. They explained the structure of the examination. Three thirty minute sessions. No retracting answers. No knowledge of if each individual session has been passed. No way to know if she had passed or failed until midnight.
"You will be assessed on your ability to interpret, diagnose, plan treatment and outcomes and apply your knowledge. We will also take into account surgical flexibility, handling of complications, ethics and professionalism. Are you ready to begin?"
Callie grinned again as she watched Arizona taking a bite of their now shared Chinese food.
"I can't believe you're here."
"You're happy about it?"
"Of course! I just didn't expect to see you until tomorrow, but you're a welcome surprise." Callie explained, taking another sip of her wine.
The blonde grinned as she finished off a spring roll.
She hadn't anticipated missing Callie as much as she had, and she hoped the surgeon felt the same.
Callie leaned closer, their faces now only inches apart.
"So how was Paris?" She grinned, pushing a lock of Arizona's hair behind her ear.
The flight attendant grinned, her lips grazing gently against Callie's.
"Romantic."
"Would you stop calling me?"
"I can't help it, I'm freaking out here!"
"You're not the one taking the damn test!"
"That's not making it any easier, Teds. She's in there, right now, with those meanie surgeon people grilling her, and I have no idea how she's doing."
"Meanie surgeons?"
"Shut up. Do you think I should text her?"
"I think you should let me go to sleep. I've got a flight in the morning and you don't want me to fall asleep and crash into a mountain, do you?" Teddy yawned, too tired to listen to Arizona's nervous ranting.
"You're so melodramatic. And no help. Fine, sleep, don't crash planes." Arizona huffed.
Teddy laughed tiredly.
"Bye. Text her."
Arizona sighed as she threw her phone back onto the bed. She didn't want to risk texting Callie, afraid that perhaps she had forgotten to switch it off and then she'd fail.
Arizona was in for a long wait.
Callie leaned into Arizona as she cradled her wine glass in her hand.
"You said you had some exciting news to tell me."
Arizona smiled.
"Oh yeah…I do."
"Well…"
"I'll be staying on American soil this week."
"What? No more Paris? Prague? Greece? That doesn't sound too exciting if you ask me." Callie smirked, stealing a kiss from pink pouting lips.
"It will be when you ask me where I'm going." Arizona promised.
"Ok, where are you going?"
"Chicago."
Callie's face blanked, and her brows scrunched.
"That's where I'm going."
Arizona nodded.
"We're flying with Éclat."
The blonde nodded again as comprehension suddenly enveloped Callie's features.
"Oh my God, together?!"
Arizona laughed, kissing Callie's smiling lips.
"Yes! God you're adorable when you're slow."
Callie reciprocated, leaning into the kiss as she felt the blonde smile back against her lips.
"That will really chill me out, knowing you're there."
Arizona beamed.
"I'm glad."
Callie took a deep breath as she waited for the water to run cold. The first session was over, but any indication as to how she'd done was not afforded to her. Satisfied that the water was cold enough, she held the pulse-point of her wrist under the water. It was something she'd learned in Botswana. It cooled her flushed skin instantly.
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph!"
Callie spun, relieved to see Miranda Bailey was the one to join her.
"Oh God, how's yours going?"
"The woman is a fossil, Torres. A fossil! I opted for a laparoscopic bowel repair and she nearly fainted. Oh God I'm going to fail!"
Callie chuckled, drying her hands before placing them on the shorter woman's shoulders.
"You're not. You're Miranda Bailey. You're going to kick ass. You are kicking ass. If she's too much of a fossil to realize that then it's not your problem."
The short surgeon sighed, taking a deep breath.
"You're right, Torres. I just have to show them what I've got." She smiled tightly.
"How're you doing?"
Callie shrugged, folding her arms across her chest.
"My guy seems nice enough but the woman is mean. She keeps just raising her brow whenever I explain my treatment plans. It's driving me crazy!"
Miranda nodded in agreement.
"Well, it's all gonna be over in a few hours, and then it's out of our hands."
"You seem way too excited about getting on a plane so early." Miranda huffed as Callie dragged her through SeaTac airport.
"What can I say, I just want to get going." Callie smiled. Miranda looked at the ortho surgeon suspiciously.
"Oh and this wouldn't have anything to do with a certain flight attendant that you've been getting freaky with?"
Callie swatted Bailey's arm.
"We've not gotten that far. Yet."
"But she'll be on the plane? I'll be looking for an air marshal to break you two up if you disappear into the bathroom together!"
Callie laughed.
"She'll be working, Miranda. I'll just get to look."
Bailey rolled her eyes.
"So I have to sit next to you and watch you make goo-goo eyes at Tucson for the whole flight?"
This time, Callie swatted Bailey's arm just a little harder.
"Arizona. And yes, you will. Now come on. She just text me saying we'll be at gate 25."
"A fifteen year old male is transferred to your care with osteosarcoma of the right tibia. Scans show that the tumor has invaded the healthy surrounding tissue in the leg, however the boy is a keen and talented ballerina. How would you proceed?"
Callie paused, aware that this particular question was delicate and that her examiners would be looking at skills in patient and family management, as well as taking into account the aspirations of the patient. A rotationplasty? Fibular grafting?
"The fibula?" She enquired.
"Also showing evidence of cancer cells."
Damn.
"I would remove the infected bone and replace it with a cadaver bone."
"A match could not be found within the time frame."
"In that case I would remove the infected area of bone, treat it with high doses of radiation, then insert the bone back into the leg."
The female examiner looked practically white at this suggestion.
"And risk putting cancer back into the body when there is no evidence that it has spread anywhere other than the leg?"
"Yes. It's riskier I know, but given the patient's career aspirations, amputation and a prosthetic would never give the same range and fluidity of movement, and since a cadaver bone is not an option in this case, I would recommend the patient and his parents to allow the procedure of placing his own bone back into his leg, and monitor the patient with scans every three months. If it returns, I would opt for amputation."
Both examiners glanced at each other, then at their clipboards, before speaking.
"Next scenario."
A knock at her door interrupted Callie from her last minute studying. Tossing her pen onto the desk, she made her way to the door and used the peephole. Arizona.
Smiling widely, the resident opened the door to find a more casually dressed flight attendant, now in leggings and a long sweater. Giving her the once over, Callie's smile quickly turned into a pout.
"I liked your earlier outfit."
Arizona laughed, letting herself in.
"I thought you might, but shirts, skirts and pantyhose are not that comfortable Calliope."
"Yeah, yeah." Callie smiled, pecking the blonde's lips in greeting.
"I thought maybe you'd like to join me for dinner…?" Arizona offered, glancing at Callie's very busy looking desk.
The surgeon followed the gaze of the blue eyes before making a face.
"I'd love to…I just, I really need to go over some last minute scenarios."
The blonde nodded in understanding. She remembered the last night before her aviation exams. Whilst not such a life and death job, last minute exam stress looked the same on everyone.
"Well you need to eat something. Do you want me to order room service or just run across to the Burger King on the corner?"
Callie smiled appreciatively, handing Arizona her room key.
"Burger King sounds amazing. Get me the biggest cheeeburger they have!"
Arizona returned a short time later to find Callie once again engrossed in her study material.
"Hey pretty lady…I have the biggest burger in the world for you. If you want I can just leave it on the desk and get out of your hair?" Arizona asked, placing a hand on Callie's back.
Callie turned, smiling at Arizona.
"No! No you can stay, I don't mind. As long as you'll ask me some of these questions?"
Arizona nodded, taking a seat on the bed and looking over the study questions as Callie began to devour her cheeseburger.
"Ok, 58yr old male with open fracture of the ulna…"
"Well, that concludes our sessions, Dr. Torres. As I'm sure you're aware, we can't inform you of your results, but they will be emailed to you at midnight. Thank you for you time." The man stood first, with Callie and the female examiner doing the same.
"Thank you both." Callie smiled, pushing her nerves to the bottom of her stomach as she shook the hands of both examiners again before she was shown the door. In the long corridor again, a sense of relief descended over her. It was done. Finished. She had done everything she could and the results were now out of her hands.
She walked on shaky legs towards the elevator that would take her back to her room before taking her phone out of her purse. She scrolled through her recent calls to Arizona's number, but then smiled, deciding against the call. Instead of hitting floor 12, she hit 14 and waited as the elevator descended.
She made her way down the hall to the flight attendant's room and knocked on the door, only waiting a few moments before the door was opened just a crack. A blue eye peeked through the crack before the door opened fully.
"Hey! How did it go?"
Callie giggled, taking in the sight before her. The blonde had her hair loosely tied back and was wearing her pajama shorts, a sweatshirt, and on her face was a mint-green facemask.
"Am I interrupting something?" She smiled, stepping in and carefully kissing the blonde's lips. Arizona smirked, nudging her nose forward and bumping it against Callie's, transferring the still-wet mask onto the surgeon's nose.
"Hey!"
"No, I was just relaxing. So how did it go? Do you think you've passed? I mean I know you've passed, but when do you find out?"
Callie smiled tiredly, rubbing the green goop from her nose.
"They'll email me at midnight."
"Well, let's do something tonight, just have dinner or something and take your mind off it until you find out. What do you think?" Arizona offered. She had a little surprise up her sleeve for the stressed-out resident.
"That sounds amazing. I think I'm going to go soak in my tub for a while. When do you want me to be ready for?"
"Is 7pm ok?" Arizona asked.
"Perfect."
There was a knock at her room door as Callie finished off applying her lip-gloss. Running a hand through her hair, she made her way to the door, and was rendered rather speechless at the sight of her date.
Arizona's hair was pinned up, and small tendrils framed her face. She wore a tight, navy blue cotton dress that stopped just above her knees.
"Wow…"
The blonde grinned as she eyed Callie. After her lengthy soak, Callie had slipped into a black skirt and fitted red blouse.
"I could say the same thing. You look amazing." Arizona grinned, reaching for Callie's hand.
The brunette took it, letting Arizona lead her down the hall.
"Where are we going?"
"Not far." Arizona smirked, leading Callie towards the elevator. The surgeon watched as the blonde pressed the button for the lobby, and followed her as she left the hotel. She didn't have to look far, as a small restaurant came into view at the end of the street. Arizona held the door open for Callie and as they stepped in, the smells made Callie's mouth water. The place was small and cozy, and also empty.
"The owner is the wife of one of our pilots at Éclat. I called in a favor, so we've got the place to ourselves." The flight attendant explained.
"Wow, you're serious?"
"Yeah." She blonde smiled as she and Callie took a seat.
"It's beautiful." Callie smiled, thanking the waiter as he handed them both menus.
"This is where I always come to eat when I stay in Chicago."
Callie began to browse the menu, but to be honest everything sounded amazing.
"I think I could eat everything on here. What's best?"
"The risotto is to die for. So is the beef bourguignon. Those are my two go to when I'm stuck."
They decided on the beef and the risotto, and a bottle of Pino Gregio recommended by the waiter. Wine and conversation flowed as they waited for their food.
"Did you always know you were gay?" Callie asked curiously.
Arizona chucked.
"Oh yeah. Ever since I became aware of Cindy Crawford's existence I knew".
"When did you realize you liked women?"
Callie sighed softly.
"Honestly, only last year. And it wasn't women. It was one woman. And one guy from work as well. Then experimentation with some other women…and then my friend again…I was pretty confused."
Arizona reached her hand towards Callie's and took it in her own.
"It's ok to like both, you know that, right?"
Callie nodded, squeezing Arizona's hand in response.
"Yeah, it took me a while, but I know that now."
"Does your family know?"
The brunette chuckled bitterly.
"Yeah, I had a momentary lapse in judgment recent and decided to tell them. They're Catholic. Let's just say I'm going to hell."
"Seriously?"
Callie nodded.
"I'd just been to visit them when I met you. That's why I was so upset on the plane. Who the hell else orders wine that early in the day?"
Arizona's heart went out to Callie. She'd been lucky enough to have very understanding parents.
"They'll come round. They just need some time."
Callie sighed. She wasn't as sure as Arizona.
"Who was the first person you came out to?"
The blonde stayed silent for a few moments, before a soft smile spread across her face.
"My brother."
"Are you two close?"
A familiar lump formed in Arizona's throat and tears misted her vision.
"Best friends. Growing up together and always getting moved around meant that we usually only had each other. But he uh…he was killed in Iraq four years ago."
Callie tightened her hold of Arizona's hand as tears quickly sprung to her own eyes. She wasn't particularly close to her sister, but if anything were to happen to her…
"Sweetie I am so, so sorry. I can't imagine what that must have been like."
Arizona nodded, squeezing Callie's hand and offering a watery smile.
"It wasn't the best time of my life, that's for sure. I think I lived on tequila, donuts and denial for three solid months."
As their food arrived, they reluctantly dropped their hands.
"Wow, I didn't realize how hungry I was until now." Arizona smiled, taking a bite. She glanced at Callie, who was still holding her fork above her plate.
"Calliope?"
"I hate the thought of you being alone. Especially when something like that happened…"
Arizona frowned in confusion.
"That was a long time ago now, Calliope."
"I know, I just…I hate the thought. You're so sweet, and caring and just…awesome. And I don't want to just be someone who dates you. I want to be with you."
Arizona grinned as she watched Callie's face change from certainty to shock.
"Ok I'm not sure where all of that came from."
"Funny…that's why I wanted to bring you here tonight. You're incredible, Calliope. You're so giving, and thoughtful, and I don't want to be someone who just dates you either. You kind of stole my thunder." She pouted.
Callie's smile widened with every word Arizona said.
"You mean you want to be my girlfriend?"
The blonde nodded.
"You don't think it's too soon?" She asked nervously.
"I mean we haven't even…" She trailed off as Callie grinned wickedly.
"There's plenty of time for that. Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes."
Let me know what you think! Did she pass...?