Fanfic: Dependent
Title: Dependent
Author: elpmas03
Rating: PG
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
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.
Summary: I posted this story to a community here and completely forgot to post it to my journal (along with about four other stories that I will posting as well)
Sleep. As a doctor, I’ve learned to value the precious moments that involve nothing but deep breathing, dreams, and no stress. I absolutely love sleep…it’s possibly one of my favorite things in the world. But right now? It’s not treating me kindly.
I’ve been tossing and turning for the past twenty minutes in one of the tiny on-call room bunk beds and I, for the life of me, cannot doze off. The part that really frustrates me is that I know why I can’t sleep and there’s nothing I can do about it. Damn Arizona. Damn her and her perfect smell; damn my dependency on her to fall into peaceful bliss; and damn her for being a busy world class surgeon who’s too busy to come talk to me so I can finally get some rest.
I groan in frustration and rip the pillow out from under my head so I can press it over my face because for some reason I think that will help me. Just as I let out a frustrated sigh, I hear the door creak open and my annoyance immediately elevates; this better not be some stupid intern or worse...some random hook-up looking for a place to do the McNasty.
“Hey,” a voice whispers, a hint of amusement in her tone.
I quickly lift the pillow off of my head and inhale in relief to see her standing there. She gives me an affectionate smile and walks over until she takes a seat on the edge of the bed, resting one hand on the other side of my waist.
“Hi,” I exhale making my exhaustion known.
“Why aren’t you asleep?” she asks concerned, bringing her other hand up to tuck a stray piece of hair behind my ear.
“I’m trying,” I tell her, feeling instantly guilty for the annoyance in my voice.
She shakes it off, knowing I’m just exhausted and overworked.
“Weeeell, what’s the problem?” she smiles, trying to cheer me up a little with her playfulness.
I hesitate briefly, drawing a look of deeper worry in her eyes.
“Okay, promise you won’t laugh,” I whisper, darting my eyes away in embarrassment.
“Calliope,” she warns me playfully as if to yell at me for making such a stupid suggestion.
“It’s you…” I whisper, catching her confused look before bringing my eyes back to focus intently on the hem of her scrub top as I pick at it. “I can’t sleep…without you. I don’t know how or…when, but for some reason I can’t seem to fall asleep unless you’re here.”
I can see the smile dancing at the edges of her lips and it gives me reassurance that she doesn’t find this at all pathetic or childish, so I continue.
“If you’re paged and I wake up, I end up cleaning the apartment or alphabetizing the DVD collection, or…something ‘productive’ because I can never fall back asleep,” I confess, snorting to myself at what I’m about to say. “Sometimes…I even use one of your shirts and rub it on the pillow so it smells like you.”
It takes me a few seconds to gain the courage to look her in the eyes again and when I do, I’m met with the most adoring, affectionate, loving look I’ve ever experienced and I feel an internal wave of relief wash over me that she hasn’t reported me as a stalker or anything…yet.
“And I can tell by that look-” I start, referencing the stare she’s giving me. “-that you find this amusing and cute and all that, but…I haven’t slept in 24 hours-“
She finally lets the chuckle she’s been holding in escape while she starts stroking my cheek as she waits for me to continue.
“-and I would really like to sleep. Like, really would like to sleep, but I know that-“
My plea for her to help me is cut off by her lips gently brushing against my own, knocking the wind out of me for a brief second before she pulls away.
“I love you,” she sighs, an enormous grin etched across her face from my confession.
We stare at each other for a few seconds in silence, reveling in the intimacy of the moment before I start begging again.
“Good, now, rub your head on my pillow,” I order, handing over my white, fluffy friend in one quick motion.
She laughs and rolls her eyes, taking the pillow and placing it next to my head.
“How about…I do better than that,” she whispers, shifting her weight onto the bed while I scoot toward the wall to make room. “I have ten minutes before my next surgery, sooo…how has your day been?”
“Mmm perfect now,” I sigh contently, wrapping every one of my limbs around her and holding on for dear life. “How was yours?”
I can almost hear her smiling as I let out a long-awaited yawn and take a deep breath, inhaling every smell emanating from her.
“Well, I just got done working with Teddy on a little boy with a pretty serious heart condition…he was so cute, he got so excited that he was getting a new heart that he made us little cards to thank us for helping him and then tried to make me eat his pudding as a gift. Yang took it, of course…why do you live with her again?” I can hear her talking, but my mind is slowly drifting away just from the soothing sound of her voice.
“Mmhmm…pudding and…Yang…” I mumble quietly, letting out another yawn before my last word.
The last thing I remember is the light touch of her lips on the top of my head, her fingers stroking my arm soothingly, and her voice whispering softly in my ear before I fall asleep…finally