(no subject)
Title: The Waiting 1/1
Author: elise50
Pairing: Mark/Callie, mention of others
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
For: modernxxmyth who has been waiting patiently for this.
Prompts: origami and secret Santa
Summary: Set five years into the future. Mark and Callie are at it again.
A/N: And a month later, someone gets her Christmas fic. I’m sorry this took so long Laura, school has been surprisingly hectic in its first couple of weeks. I had a completely different idea, but you know…Callie got pregnant :D and now that’s all I can think about. Thank you so much for being patient.
~*~*~*~*~
Mark chuckled as he lifted himself from the ground, three different colored crayons in one hand and a glue stick in the other.
Had anyone told him five years ago that his bachelor pad leather couch would one day be his daughter’s favorite hiding place, he’d have never believed them. Sure he wanted children, even dreamt about having them on occasion; he just never suspected that his daughter’s existence would come about in the way it had.
Everything was so complicated in the beginning; he was finally on the ins with Lexie, Arizona was finally showing a level of commitment and dedication to Callie that she hadn’t really been granted before, and then it all imploded.
The news of Callie’s pregnancy wasn’t so much of a shock to the hospital as it was a great gossip piece. It spread like wildfire, from floor to floor and room to room; Lexie was understandably angry, Arizona was unnervingly cheerful, and his and Callie’s elation hadn’t made things any better.
The incident wrecked their lives for a time.
Walking up to the kitchen counter, Mark frowned a little as he dropped the collected treasures on its surface.
He hated when his mind went there, but he couldn’t deny that it was how he felt back then; at least until the first time he’d seen his baby curled up inside Callie’s stomach on the ultrasound monitor.
From that point on he didn’t really care how the story played out.
Surprisingly though it had been a happy one for a good couple of years; he and Callie juggled parenthood well, and much to his pleasure and hers, Lexie and Arizona remained onboard for it.
Then when Lilliana turned two, everything began unraveling again.
Arizona’s nonexistent desire to have children had never really changed and as much as she tried to fight it, he knew part of her resented their baby for taking away some of Callie‘s attention. Arizona did love the little girl and she loved Callie twice as much, but she also loved living her life with a sense of control, and sometimes she couldn’t take not having full reigns of power over their situation. In the end, the whole twisted state of affairs (even as normal as it had become) got the best of her, and she regretfully walked away.
Lexie was the next to go. From the beginning, she had embraced the child, taking on the role of step-mom willingly. It was a sight to see, watching someone become so mature. But by the time his daughter could walk and talk and be the tumultuous and often troublesome kid he suspected she’d be (he was her father of course), Lexie was coming into her own, 27 about to be 28 and ready to break into the world as an amazing surgeon.
It was also around this time that he’d asked her to marry him; she accepted, sure that she could run with the life he‘d started creating for them. And for a while she loved it, but soon enough coming home to a fussing two year old became a constant reminder of the things she was giving up to stay with him. As much as she’d grown, she still wasn’t sure who she was; she didn’t want to cheat herself from living life and he didn’t want to hold her back. Eventually they both agreed, despite their love for each other, that it would be best for them to step back.
Losing their significant others had been hard, devastating even, but he and Callie worked through it together, focusing their energy and love on the little family they had fashioned. Now it was easy for her to think about Arizona and smile at the good memories, and he could watch Lexie and Avery banter as they walked around the hospital without feeling any sense of loss or betrayal.
Life moved on, and so did they.
A sudden loud knocking drew Mark away from his musings.
“Open up Sloan!”
Groaning as he heard the familiar voice, Mark slowly walked toward the door and pulled on the knob.
“What do you want Ya-”
“Daddy!”
Cut off by an excited greeting and his little girl crashing into his legs, squeezing them so hard that he couldn’t move; Mark smiled in surprise, bending down to retrieve his daughter. Scooping her into his arms, he held her tightly as she planted a kiss on his cheek.
“I thought mommy was going to pick you up from preschool today?”
“Callie got stuck in a last minute surgery, she asked me to bring monster here. Apparently she knew you’d be home because you lead a boring life.”
“Shut up Yang.”
“Oooooh, that’s a bad word daddy. I‘m gonna tell mommy on you.”
Cristina snorted from the doorway as a flash of genuine fear slid over his face. She had been there for Callie’s last blow up about Mark’s inappropriate language and Lily’s all absorbing mind. Shut up wasn’t nearly as bad as anything he’d uttered before, but she was sure he didn’t want to run the risk of having to go through that horrifying ordeal again.
“Hey princess I’ll tell you what, I’ll let you have a popsicle today if you promise not to tell your mommy.”
The little girl pursed her lips, looking far too much like her mother for Mark’s enjoyment; it wouldn‘t be long before boys started rounding the corner (he finally understood why Mr. Torres had thrown him against the wall upon meeting).
“Okay!”
Sighing his relief Mark moved to the fridge, resting his daughter on the ground he turned and grabbed a fudgesicle from the top shelf of the freezer. Tearing open the package, he handed the frozen treat to Lily, who grinned up in thanks before running to the couch.
“Yeah that’s going to keep her quiet. Your kid’s a bigger gossip than you and Callie combined.”
“I’m not a gossip,” Mark replied defensively, sauntering back toward the entrance to his apartment, “and neither is she.”
Rolling her eyes, Cristina folded her arms and leaned against the doorframe. “How do you think we all found out about your and Callie’s little slumber parties?”
“We watch movies, I fall asleep and then kiss her goodbye in the morning.”
“On the lips!”
Both turned as the chocolate mouthed four year old yelled her interruption. Catching the disapproving look from her father, the little girl giggled and swiveled back to the stack of papers she’d yanked from her backpack.
“It’s nothing,” Mark managed convincingly, or at least he thought so.
“Whatever,” Cristina dismissed his explanation, “tell baby Mama that Meredith wants you guys at her house by 7:30 so we can do that stupid secret Santa thing.” Dropping an arm inside the room, she knocked on the wall, grabbing the attention of the mischievous child inside. “Hey mini-Torres, I’ll see you around. Give your dad hell.”
Mark glared at her comment.
“Bye ‘steena!”
“I need to get Callie to stop letting her hang around us,” he mumbled, turning and shutting the door behind him.
Shaking his head, he moved to the table where Lily sat, now folding sheets of paper into unidentifiable shapes. Smiling at her focus and determination, he watched as she stuck her tongue out and up at the side of her mouth and tilted her body in the same direction as the paper in her hand.
“What are you doing?”
“Ormagami.”
“What?” Mark asked, scrunching his eyebrows in confusion.
“Ormagami daddy! Ms. Sophia teached us to do it today.”
Origami, he thought to himself, chuckling at her mispronunciation of words. Nodding his understanding, he lifted one of her creations from the table, it looked like some sort of deformed circle with one, maybe two lumps on its sides. Shifting it in every direction, he finally accepted defeat; moving it between his fingers, he looked over at the young girl. “What is this supposed to be?”
“It’s a heart duh.”
Mark reached over and pinched her nose, expressing with his actions displeasure for her response. Giggling, she went back to her work.
“Who’s heart is it?”
“It’s yours,” she answered without looking, using her hand brush away the curls falling on the side of her face.
“You’re giving it to me?” He asked, touched by the offering.
“It’s yours,” she answered again while she scribbled over a blank paper with her orange crayon.
“Well, I think I’m going to hang it on the fridge then,” Mark smiled, scooting forward as he readied himself to stand from his seat. But before he could make another move, Lily jumped up from her spot and crawled up to him, resting one hand on his shoulder and the other by his ear as she began to whisper. “I think you should give it to mommy.”
“You want me to give your heart to mommy?”
“Daddddyyyy,” Lily rolled her eyes and smirked, “it’s your heart.” Laughing again, she bounced back against couch and resumed her coloring.
Mark chuckled, running a hand from his cheek to the back of his neck. Who knew a four year old could be so astute?
The loud buzzing of his cell phone kicked him back to reality. Shaking his head, he reached across the coffee table and grabbed his phone, smiling at the name appearing on the screen.
“Hello beautiful,” Mark grinned, imagining Callie’s eye roll from the other end of the call.
Did Cristina drop Lily off at your apartment?
“Yeah, she’s here coloring. You know, we need to have a talk about letting Yang around our daughter especially wi-”
She loves Cristina.
“That’s what scares me.”
He relished in her laughter, storing it in his box of wins for the day. “Oh the she-devil told me that Meredith wants us there by 7:30.”
We have few good hours until then, I’ll pick up something we can munch on.
Mark’s grin grew wide as his shoulders swayed arrogantly, she had to haven known what she was getting into when she made that statement. Smirking, he brought the receiver closer to his mouth, lowering his voice as he attempted to keep his words away from prying ears. “I‘ve got something you could munch on.”
Really Mark?
“What?”
Just be over in twenty okay.
Smiling, Mark dropped his head and chuckled as he heard the dial tone pop into his ear. He loved her feistiness, and her irritability, and her biting sarcasm; and her, he loved her with every fiber of his being.
Tilting his head, he stared down at the busy child in front of him and smiled wryly.
When he thought back on their relationship, it always surprised him that he hadn’t realized it sooner. She had been by his side for years, offering herself to him whenever he needed her. No other woman had been that selfless with him. He always told himself that it was because they were friends, but even Derek his proclaimed brother, held away in some instances.
He could have saved them both a lot of heartache if the light switch had just gone on a little sooner.
“Daddy?”
Glancing up, Mark eyed the little girl reaching over the table for the glue stick in her bag.
Maybe the timing was perfect, maybe they weren’t supposed to know until they’d gone through everything else, maybe it happened exactly the way it was meant to.
“Yeah pumpkin?”
“Can we have a kitty?”
Snickering, he grabbed the girl and sat her on his knee, wrapping his arms around her tiny body. Resting his chin on her bony shoulder, he mumbled his answer to her. “You need to live in a house to have a cat.”
She frowned and crossed her arms in obvious annoyance, but then smiled at him seconds later. “Then can we have a house?”
~*~*~*~*~*~
“She’s out cold,” Mark grinned at the small, immobile bump tucked underneath purple sheets as he slowly inched Lily’s bedroom door closed.
Turning, he folded his arms over his chest and stared at Callie, who stood across the way smiling.
“You know that whole secret Santa thing?” She walked up to him as she spoke.
“Yeah,” he tossed a smirk, raising an eyebrow as she moved closer. When she reached him, he opened his arms, looping them around her as his hands dropped to rest on her backside.
“Do you think I have to give my person their present while we’re at Meredith‘s?” She asked with a raspy edge, fingers strolling along the waistband of his pants.
Groaning, he leaned down brushing his lips softly against hers. “Depends on who it’s for,” lowering his voice he smirked against her mouth, “and if it’s naughty.”
Laughing, Callie pushed him back toward the bedroom, tugging at the hem of her blouse and unbuttoned her jeans as she walked in his direction. Mouth dry at the sight of her in a Christmas themed assemble, one that barely covered the parts of her body he now so desperately wanted to see, Mark quickly found his bearings and leapt to Callie, kissing her senseless as he flipped positions and playfully shoved her to the waiting bed.
~*~*~*~*~*~
“That was some gift Santa,” Mark chuckled, shifting on his side as he tried regaining control of his breath.
“Shut up,” Callie answered, sinking her head into the pillows behind her. Closing her eyes, she smiled and reached for Mark’s hand, entwining their fingers as she savored the post coital afterglow.
Moving, Mark propped himself up on one of his elbows and glanced down at her blissful expression. “I love you.”
Blinking her eyes open, Callie looked up and quirked a brow. “What did you do?”
Using his index finger to lift the sheet that covered them, he titled his head and let his eyes rove over her naked form. “Other than this gorgeous body of yours, nothing incriminating.”
“Mmmm,” Callie sighed out, snuggling into the bed.
Tapping her fingers with his own, Mark look down at their interlocked hands. Sliding his thumb over her palm, he took a large breath. “Remember when I asked you to marry me?”
“Yeah,” Callie snorted, reliving the memory in her mind. “You were hell bent on being honorable.”
Smirking, Mark rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. Seconds later, he turned away from her and reached over to pull something from the nightstand drawer at his side. Shifting back, he ran a hand between Callie’s thighs, nudging them apart before settling himself in their nook.
“I’m not asking this time.”
“What?” Callie tilted her head quickly, meeting Mark’s serious expression.
She watched carefully as he used his pinky finger to drop a stunningly elegant but completely modest ring onto her bare chest. Gasping from both the coldness and the surprise, she glanced up at him. Grinning, he lifted his upper body and slowly moved his face down tot hers, keeping his lips hovering just above her mouth.
“We’re getting married.”
Shocked, Callie opened and closed her mouth, and swallowed a large gulp of air before thinking of a coherent answer. “Mark, we’re…no one else even knows we’re…how do you think it’d look if we-” Well, at least coherent enough for the moment.
“Forget about everything else and just think about what it‘d be like.”
Biting her bottom lip, she glanced around the room, surveying the area, in a way seeing their future. His belongings were always strewn everywhere, sometimes he was far too cheery in the mornings, he didn’t know how to cook, he couldn’t hold his tongue around their daughter; she could think of a million nitpicky reasons not to marry him.
But there was one that stomped all the insignificant things away; she loved him, as unlikely as it may have seemed to some, Callie Torres loved Mark Sloan; the man who’d given her the life she’d dreamed of (not in the way she imagined, but definitely as fulfilling), the man who stood by her when everyone else walked away, the man who had become her best friend.
Tearing up, Callie chuckled and shook her head, taking a moment to herself before leaning up and pressing her soft lips to his, eventually reaching for the back of his neck as she deepened the kiss.
“Is that a yes?” Mark laughed, rubbing the tip of his nose with hers when they both pulled away for air.
“I thought you weren‘t asking?”
Mark grinned at her as he reached behind their bodies, patting down the sheets, searching for the engagement ring that had gotten away from them during their heated make out session. Retrieving it, he pulled up and grabbed Callie’s hand, wasting no time in sliding the diamond onto her finger.
Staring at him, Callie smiled blissfully, “I guess we have to tell people we’ve been seeing each other now.”
Beaming, Mark dropped his fingers between them, skimming the skin of her belly affectionately, “they would have found out in a few months anyway.”
Eyes glistening again, Callie cleared her throat and looked at the clock. Sighing, she glanced back at Mark and frowned. They needed to be gone within the next ten minutes if they wanted to make it to Meredith and Derek’s house. Sitting up, Callie swung her legs over the mattress and onto the floor; as she moved to stand, she felt Mark’s hand enclose on her wrist. Sliding up behind her, he pushed her thick black curls away from her shoulder and kissed his way up to her ear.
“They can wait.”
Shivering, Callie turned and pushed him back onto the bed. Moving to straddle his waist, she leaned over and playfully nipped at the side of his jaw.
“They can definitely wait.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
“Why do you look so happy?” Derek narrowed his eyes suspiciously, studying his friend carefully. He was grinning ear to ear, it was both a relief and extremely annoying.
“Can’t a man just enjoy the holidays?” Mark answered merrily, laughing as he raised the alcoholic beverage in his hands to his lips.
“Would this have anything to do with why you were late? And why Callie and Lily conveniently came in right at the same moment you did?”
“No,” Mark answered coolly, trying not to reveal the events of earlier in the evening. Both he and Callie had decided to keep it quiet, at least for the night.
Derek nodded his head, tossing his friend a side glance as he dove into his own beer.
Moments later the rest of their small unlikely gang joined them; Meredith holding Ella as she snuck in beside Derek, Owen and Cristina at the other end, Callie sidling her way next to Mark, Teddy and her boyfriend Roger off to the side, Karev reluctantly finding his spot in the circle, Lexie and Avery rounding out the other end.
Annoyed by the measured distance between Mark and Callie, Cristina titled her head and narrowed her eyes. Callie was the only one not drinking, her mind raced and went back through the past couple of weeks (a few months even) and couldn’t think of any other times Callie had drank with them.
“You’re pregnant!”
All eyes turned to Cristina, shocked by her outburst and still slightly confused as to who she was accusing; at least until she decided to wave her hand in Mark and Callie’s direction.
Stiffening, Callie looked around at everyone’s inquisitive faces. Chuckling nervously, she ran fingers through her dark hair and shook her head in negation. “No I’m not.”
“I haven’t seen you drink in a while. Sloan give her some of your beer!”
“Shut up Yang,” Mark hissed back, glaring in Cristina’s direction.
“Oooooh daddy you said it again.”
Chuckles floated among them as Lily bounded to the circle smiling, reaching for a hand from both her mother and father.
“I don’t drink because I have a 4 year old daughter, who will go to preschool and tell her teacher that her mom got drunk, ran around half-naked for a while and finally passed out on the couch.”
Cristina smirked at that, knowing all too well that Callie’s explanation was ridiculously plausible. It was part of the reason she got looks whenever she was asked to pick the girl up from preschool.
“Okay,” Derek looked around, “now that we’re all slightly uncomfortable, why don‘t we exchange gifts.”
The crowd moved around each other, handing gifts to one another.
“Yang!” Mark yelled as he walked back into the room from the kitchen carrying an armful of assorted bottles, every type of her favorite alcohol. “Here.”
Stunned by her lack of hatred for his gift, Cristina mumbled a thank you and reached behind her. “Here, the big one’s for you Torres and the smaller one’s for monster! It’s a nightlight.”
The little girl gasped in delight at seeing the unwrapped package, tearing open the box, she grinned at the Wall-E shaped light covering. Smirking at Lily’s reaction, Cristina looked up and met the questioning eyes of the adults surrounding her.
“What? She kept telling me something about boogie men or ghosts or something.”
“Ghostes,” the little girl chimed in, hugging the present to her chest as she looked around at everyone.
“You see ghosts?” Derek asked slightly amused at the turn in the coversation.
“Nope,” Lily shook her head, “I hear them.”
Mark and Callie stared at each other in confusion; in all the nights they had spent together, their daughter hadn’t once come to the room, afraid of anything or wanting to be comforted.
“You hear them?”
“Yup.”
“What do they say?” Derek smiled, taking delight in the nonsense of the conversation.
“There’s a boy and a girl and they have the same names as mommy and daddy.”
“What?” Mark furrowed his brows, growing more confused as his daughter's story unfolded.
“How do you know that?”
“The girl’s always yelling ‘Oh God Mark!’”
Mark froze in place and Callie all but sank to the floor as their daughter mimicked the words groaned and yelled by both of them during the times they had believed her to be asleep.
“Oh please,” Cristina smirked triumphantly as she caught the mortified expressions on both their faces. “Like she’s telling us something we didn’t already know. You two have been banging for months.”
“Cristina!” Meredith chided, covering the ears of her own daughter.
Rolling her eyes, Cristina turned back to the embarrassed pair, “Nothing with you two would surprise me at this point.”
“We’re getting married“ “I ‘m really pregnant”
Mark and Callie’s simultaneous outbursts left the room quiet, no one really sure what they were supposed to say to the influx of news.
“And….” Lily looked around at everyone, “we’re getting a house so we can have a kitty.”
At that statement, Cristina finally blinked and scrunched her nose in disgust as she stared at the little girl‘s parents.
“A cat? Really?”
~*~*~*~*~*~
“So…now everyone knows,” Mark unzipped his pants and slid them down his legs before crawling under the covers and spooning his body behind Callie’s. Sighing, he wrapped an arm around her waist and snuggled into her.
“Now everyone knows,” Callie snorted, still slightly embarrassed by the earlier scene.
But internally she did admit, that it finally felt good to get everything out in the open, to finally be happy and not care about anyone else’s opinions.
“Did you ever think we’d get here? Me and you?”
Shifting in his arms, Callie turned and faced Mark. “No I didn’t.”
“I didn‘t either,” he admitted honestly.
“You know something though,” Callie glanced up pensively, “I’m glad it did.”
“Me too,” Mark leaned down and kissed her lips, “it could have happened sooner.”
“But the wait was worth it,” Callie counters, continuing the kiss.
“It was,” Mark agreed wholeheartedly, rolling their bodies so he hovered above Callie. “You know what this means right?”
“What does it mean?” Callie raised an eyebrow.
“It means we should get our house now,” Mark answered, gliding his fingers down between Callie’s legs, smiling as she moaned. “Preferably one with thick walls.”
Smacking his arm, Callie pushed Mark off her body and turned her back to him as she moved to sleep. Laughing, Mark repeated his earlier actions and spooned her, curling his body around hers.
“I love you.”
Kissing her temple, Mark entwined his fingers with hers and held their hands over her stomach.
“I love you too Torres.”