Fic: Honorable
puffy_wuffy
Pairing: Callie/Arizona, Callie/Jo
Rating: R for language and sexual situations
Summary: Jo does want to poke the Very Horny Bear, she really does
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.
Author's Note: I meant for this to be funnier and happier than it turned out. Oh, well
Wordcount: 2963
Jo wasn't accustomed to striking out. She wasn't chatty or super sexy or anything that women or men would fall all over. She gamed the odds and made simple advances and kept it easy and fun, but this time she definitely had struck out. None of what she had said worked. And hey, maybe she had ulterior motives, she wanted in on the awesome series of foot surgeries that were coming up, but Jo had rehearsed and rehearsed.
And she had choked. She had practiced physical touches of her hand, in her mind, on Dr Torres' hand, maybe a shoulder, maybe threading through long dark hair. Those dark brown eyes filled with emotion, expressions so easy to read, even from a room away. That calm, sumptuous voice, approving and unforgettable.
It kept Jo alert as she continued to pander to Alex all day. Eyes on the prize, Jo, eyes on the endless amount of cool foot surgeries prize.
It was almost worth all the work when she could hear Dr Torres over the intercom berating Alex's treatment of her. She didn't even hear the rest of the conversation, she floated back to the peds ward as quickly as she could, the anger warming her even more, taking over. The fucker who had fucked all of her friends, wouldn't even let her in single OR. And then he did. Or rather, he promised he would.
Two hours before she was set to scrub in, Jo realized she was way, way too frazzled to be in there, she was going to freak out. So she found an empty on-call room to use for her own purposes. By the time she got there, she calculated that she had about fifteen minutes.
Jo Wilson wasn't the kind of person who visualized someone she didn't really know while masturbating. She'd often reimagine things that she'd done, done with someone else. Actual experience, but now she was struggling to find an image. And then up one popped.
Torres: her lips, soft and full. Her beautiful face, lightly freckled, soft and tanned. "What would you do if the bear said yes?" Dark, straight hair floated softly to curtain over Jo's face.
In the dream world behind her eyelids, Jo said, "This," reached up to cup that gorgeous face and gave as good as she could get.
---
Jo has stopped thinking coherently around Dr Torres. Which was, kind of nice, kind of. The extra occasional shock of warmth when Torres walked by compensated for the slight chill of Alex's behavior. He's still using her for scut. Its clear that he thinks of himself as better than the current Chief of Peds. It means his surgeries are always difficult to get her in on. It means his caseload is nuts. All the time. It takes two weeks and then she's got the scut down to a science: the first day she finally cut was a revelation, made all the more exciting because she's got three days off after she finishes charting.
After setting aside her last chart with notes for Karev, she celebrated by going to find Torres. Sometimes she could start or end a day on a high note by waving to Torres and then scuttling away. Today, Jo went over to make idle chit chat. She ended up volunteering to pick up Sofia because the daycare is closing early and Torres has a surgery that should run past 5 pm. Torres smiled immediately after Jo offers. Jo mentally apologized to the pile of laundry stinking up her apartment.
"No problem, Doctor Torres." Jo felt a blush rising to her cheeks and she struggled not to stammer. "I just finished with an appy. Opened, cut and closed."
"Ah, so he finally let you?" Jo nodded. "See, he's not so bad. Let me call the daycare and make sure they know you'll come and get her."
While Torres was on the phone, Jo noticed a heart-shaped pendant on a silver chain around her neck. It calls attention to her clavicles. They are perfectly formed . . . like her hands and her lips. Like her shoulders.
"Jo?"
She forced her eyes back up to Torres' eyes. "Yes, Doctor Torres?"
"Call me Callie." Torres' face became the megawatt smile that Jo could not help but return. "Feel free to drop by the day care anytime in the next two hours. You can keep her there, and I'll be by around 7pm. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, Doctor . . . Callie." Jo ran away before she can say anything embarassing or start outright ogling Torres in public.
---
Jo looked forward to the afternoons that Callie needs her to watch Sofia. Its an opportunity to chart, and she's always behind on paperwork. Okay, Callie has gotten and could get someone else, but its close enough. She looks up to Callie, who is nearly a single mother and a badass surgeon and an thoroughly lovely person. Every once in a while, Callie gives her a pep talk that makes things not so bad.
Finding her crying in a supply closet was unexpected. Jo wanted to run away when Callie screams at her to just go and leave her alone please. Jo waited next to the closed door behind her until the watch on the wall shows that its nearly time for the daycare to close.
"Callie." At the sound of a voice, Callie jumped, putting the tissues clenched in a fist over her eyes down. Jo walked forward slowly, kneeling down to where Callie is sat hunched over on the floor. "The daycare is closing soon." Callie dropped the tissues, begins to gather herself. "No, you rest. Take as much time as you need to." Jo placed her hands on Callie's shoulders. "I'll hang out with Sofia until you can come and get her."
"She needs me now, though." Callie's voice was so shaky, its not at all like herself.
"And you'll be there. Just take some time for yourself." Jo stood. "You told me that two days ago. And now its my turn to tell you." She squeezed Callie's hand once more before letting go. "Call my cell when you're ready to get her."
---
One of the daycare workers gets Jo during one of Bailey's chemo demonstrations. She's never been so grateful to be saved. Surgery has been really, really slow. She's been on The Observer's service. She does all of his surgeries while he observes, but at an average of one surgery every other week is rather disappointing.
The daycare is having a caretaker development halfday. Today is one of Callie's rare days off as an Attending, which begs the question why she would leave Sofia at daycare at all. Jo gets the address and begins to walk Sofia to Callie's apartment. She calls first, on the walk over, but doesn't get an answer. She's got enough to handle with Sofia's desire to ask questions about everything.
"Why sidewalk hard?" Sofia scuffs her feet.
"Because we need it to be, Sof-Sof." Jo swings their hands as they walk. "Why does Sofia ask so many questions?"
Sofia giggles, and then her face undergoes a rapid transformation. She stops walking and drops her chin to her chest.
"Sofia?" Jo glances up at the building in front of them. It should be where Callie and Sofia live, according to the daycare. It looks modern and much fancier than where Jo is living.
"No go in." Sofia shakes her head sideways, back and forth.
Knowing from experience that this could lead into a tantrum, Jo shrugs. She has her pager and it hasn't gone off all day. "Okay, we'll go to the playground."
They head back to the daycare's playground. Its weird being there with no other people around. Jo plays with Sofia. She calls Callie on her cell phone again when Sofia begins playing alone on the ground.
"Jo?"
"Hey Callie. Daycare had a halfday today, so I've been watching Sofia. They gave me your address, but I thought it would be strange if I just showed up, you might not even be there . . . so, yeah. Sitting in the playground watching Sofia."
"Oh, okay." Callie's voice sounds shaky, like she's been crying.
"It's not any trouble." Jo sighs. "I'm on Stevenson's service, so, yeah, really, really bored. I think I maxed out my time at the Skills Lab and I was falling asleep during Bailey's demonstration, so . . . "
"The Observer? God, that guy hasn't done a surgery himself in years."
"Yup, continuing the trend. My pager hasn't gone off in over 48 hours. The Pit will probably need people in about four hours or so. If you want to come hang out with us, I could hang out for a while."
"No, I, I should get Sofia."
"I could bring her over. If that's okay. If its not too weird."
Jo can hear noises in the background, some odd thumps that don't sound like construction and the unmistakable sound of Callie breathing slowly to calm herself.
"No, no, its not weird. Just use the buzzer and come on up."
---
Sofia doesn't complain this time and they ride the elevator up together.
Callie is there at the door to let them both in and she offers Jo water. Jo takes a seat at the bar and gratefully sips. Callie busily tidies Sofia's things away.
"Time for a bath, okay honey."
"Jo Jo no go?" Sofia walks up to Jo's knee and hangs on.
"I'll see you tomorrow Sofia. If your mom agrees, I can hang out with you for lunch." She looks up at Callie. "I can be here until my pager goes off or until I want to go to the ER, so I don't have to go anywhere."
Callie grins gratefully, then gently grabs Sofia's hand to lead her to the bathroom.
The ritual noises of a mom getting her kid ready for bed are soothing to Jo. A little bit of bickering and a little bit of storytime. What Jo can overhear is heartbreakingly normal. All told, Jo's probably been holding her glass of water for an hour before Callie comes back. She sits next to Jo and they both share a moment of silence and peace.
"Stevenson is killing me with boredom. And most of my friends, well, we're all trying hard just to keep up with our lives."
Callie looks tired, a bit like she's been crying. She's wearing the same clothes Jo saw her in yesterday after Callie's shift ended.
"This place is cleaner than my place." Jo sips her water.
"Spacious, lots of space. Lots of room to move between things. Its nice." Jo puts the waterglass down and gets up from her seat. "Callie? Should I go? Are you weirded out? I can go."
"No, its nice to have you here. And Sofia really likes you. Really likes you." Callie closes her eyes and shakes her head. "Never mind, I am weirded out, you should go." They both head to the apartment's door.
Callie gently shuts the door behind both of them, and places a hand on Jo's upper arm. "Its possible that you've heard rumors at the hospital about stuff that's going on with me and my family and . . . I'm really grateful that you are helpful even if you're not okay with everything."
Jo laughs. "I'd like to be your friend. And not just in a, I'd like to give you sexual favors way, just, you know, be your friend. And I haven't known any other way of doing it other than this stuff. Helping with Sofia. Its all on your terms because I'm trying to be . . . professional."
"I'm sorry?"
"I want to be your friend because being the thing I want would be unprofessional right now. Doing the things I want to do would be unprofessional."
Callie's jaw hung open and her lips were in an O of surprise.
"This is the moment where you lecture me about poking the horny bear, and I swear, I want to poke it. Or something more romantic than that." Jo indicated her shirt. "Look, I'm not wearing a v-neck instead of a scrub top because I think they're fun. I'm not wearing make-up because I wanna be fabulous. I'm hoping against hope that you'll think I'm pretty, because I think you're gorgeous. You are a bright light in the darkness that is my life."
Callie's eyes were wet. "Thank you."
Jo's right hand caressed Callie's face. Leaning forward slightly, Jo gently connected her lips with Callie's. Jo slid her left hand up Callie's torso. Callie moaned, a low and needy sound, before pulling her lips away. Forehead to forehead, they panted unevenly.
"We can't," Callie whispered, "I'm married."
"I know." Jo tapped Callie's wedding ring with an idle finger. "I know. I'm here, anyway. For anything. For Sofia. For this. If you need me. And I won't ever do that again. Unless you tell me to. Unless you want me to."
---
The bedroom door is open when Callie comes back into the apartment, which means that Arizona was probably awake and probably heard everything. Arizona is a lot more mobile with and without a prosthetic, so she could have been pressed up against the front door for all Callie knows. Callie pulls the bedroom door open anyway, and crawls into the bed. She's not going to run away from what could be either a completely flat, one-sided conversation or an awful one.
Arizona is on her back again, affixing Callie with a glassy, void-filled stare.
"Ready for bed? Want to go sit in the living room?" Callie isn't expecting any answers and she plows ahead, saying things that could be useful if Arizona really wanted to talk to her or with her for any length of time. "Sofia just went down for a nap and I'll wake her up in two hours. Would you like to go out and have dinner with us at the diner down the street? If not, I can ring the new home care nurse. Her name is Kerry, she's kind of butch, and she told me you can yell at her all you want." Callie lies onto her back, staring at the ceiling while continuing to make words. "Sofia has a playdate tomorrow with Anne's son. Do you want to go?" She waits the requisite time, assuming that silence is no. "Okay, I guess that means no?"
"Stop. Callie, Calliope, stop."
Callie sits up to look into Arizona's eyes. "Okay. I have some journal articles to read, I'll be back later."
"No. Stay. Slower, ask slower."
"Do you want to go sit in the living room?"
"No, I want to stay here, with you."
"Do you want to go to dinner with Sofia and me at the diner down the street?"
"Yes. I showered myself today and I think that would be nice." Arizona sighs. "And the last question?"
"Sofia's playdate tomorrow, do you want to go?"
"Yes."
Its progress of a sort and it fills Callie's heart with hope.
"I want to go and, could you shut the bedroom door?"
As soon as Callie has shut the door, Arizona clear as day murmurs, "Jo Jo no go!" She's clearly imitating Sofia. Callie forces herself to relax and react calmly. "Was that a question?"
"You couldn't introduce Jo Jo to the cripple?" Arizona's smirk is villainous.
"Kind of difficult when you were asleep. Sofia had a bath before taking a nap." Callie tries to keep the hostility out of her voice, but she's not a saint. "And you're my wife, not a cripple. Of course I want everyone I know to know that you're my wife. Do you want to meet Jo?"
"Not really. Does Jo know that you're married?"
This rapid fire question and answer game is a lot less fun than Callie had anticipated. "Yes. Its the first thing people know about me anyway. The Ortho Attending with the wife and the kid is pretty much everything that describes me and all me related products. Well, this has been fun." Callie faceplants into a pillow on her side of the bed.
"Calliope. I heard everything. Well not everything, but a lot." Arizona looks pissed. "Are you leaving me for him?"
Callie starts to guffaw, real belly laughs that leave her nearly breathless. Flopping onto her back, she shakes her head, refusing to talk.
"Callie, I . . . don't laugh answer me." Arizona hovers over Callie, her arms sandwiching Callie's head, part of her body pressing Callie down into the mattress.
"I am not leaving you for her. For her. Whatever you heard, the answer is, I am not leaving you for anyone. You are my wife." Callie gently pats Arizona's jaw. "I love you. I don't want to upset you. What else do you want to know?"
Pairing: Callie/Arizona, Callie/Jo
Rating: R for language and sexual situations
Summary: Jo does want to poke the Very Horny Bear, she really does
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.
Author's Note: I meant for this to be funnier and happier than it turned out. Oh, well
Wordcount: 2963
Jo wasn't accustomed to striking out. She wasn't chatty or super sexy or anything that women or men would fall all over. She gamed the odds and made simple advances and kept it easy and fun, but this time she definitely had struck out. None of what she had said worked. And hey, maybe she had ulterior motives, she wanted in on the awesome series of foot surgeries that were coming up, but Jo had rehearsed and rehearsed.
And she had choked. She had practiced physical touches of her hand, in her mind, on Dr Torres' hand, maybe a shoulder, maybe threading through long dark hair. Those dark brown eyes filled with emotion, expressions so easy to read, even from a room away. That calm, sumptuous voice, approving and unforgettable.
It kept Jo alert as she continued to pander to Alex all day. Eyes on the prize, Jo, eyes on the endless amount of cool foot surgeries prize.
It was almost worth all the work when she could hear Dr Torres over the intercom berating Alex's treatment of her. She didn't even hear the rest of the conversation, she floated back to the peds ward as quickly as she could, the anger warming her even more, taking over. The fucker who had fucked all of her friends, wouldn't even let her in single OR. And then he did. Or rather, he promised he would.
Two hours before she was set to scrub in, Jo realized she was way, way too frazzled to be in there, she was going to freak out. So she found an empty on-call room to use for her own purposes. By the time she got there, she calculated that she had about fifteen minutes.
Jo Wilson wasn't the kind of person who visualized someone she didn't really know while masturbating. She'd often reimagine things that she'd done, done with someone else. Actual experience, but now she was struggling to find an image. And then up one popped.
Torres: her lips, soft and full. Her beautiful face, lightly freckled, soft and tanned. "What would you do if the bear said yes?" Dark, straight hair floated softly to curtain over Jo's face.
In the dream world behind her eyelids, Jo said, "This," reached up to cup that gorgeous face and gave as good as she could get.
---
Jo has stopped thinking coherently around Dr Torres. Which was, kind of nice, kind of. The extra occasional shock of warmth when Torres walked by compensated for the slight chill of Alex's behavior. He's still using her for scut. Its clear that he thinks of himself as better than the current Chief of Peds. It means his surgeries are always difficult to get her in on. It means his caseload is nuts. All the time. It takes two weeks and then she's got the scut down to a science: the first day she finally cut was a revelation, made all the more exciting because she's got three days off after she finishes charting.
After setting aside her last chart with notes for Karev, she celebrated by going to find Torres. Sometimes she could start or end a day on a high note by waving to Torres and then scuttling away. Today, Jo went over to make idle chit chat. She ended up volunteering to pick up Sofia because the daycare is closing early and Torres has a surgery that should run past 5 pm. Torres smiled immediately after Jo offers. Jo mentally apologized to the pile of laundry stinking up her apartment.
"No problem, Doctor Torres." Jo felt a blush rising to her cheeks and she struggled not to stammer. "I just finished with an appy. Opened, cut and closed."
"Ah, so he finally let you?" Jo nodded. "See, he's not so bad. Let me call the daycare and make sure they know you'll come and get her."
While Torres was on the phone, Jo noticed a heart-shaped pendant on a silver chain around her neck. It calls attention to her clavicles. They are perfectly formed . . . like her hands and her lips. Like her shoulders.
"Jo?"
She forced her eyes back up to Torres' eyes. "Yes, Doctor Torres?"
"Call me Callie." Torres' face became the megawatt smile that Jo could not help but return. "Feel free to drop by the day care anytime in the next two hours. You can keep her there, and I'll be by around 7pm. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, Doctor . . . Callie." Jo ran away before she can say anything embarassing or start outright ogling Torres in public.
---
Jo looked forward to the afternoons that Callie needs her to watch Sofia. Its an opportunity to chart, and she's always behind on paperwork. Okay, Callie has gotten and could get someone else, but its close enough. She looks up to Callie, who is nearly a single mother and a badass surgeon and an thoroughly lovely person. Every once in a while, Callie gives her a pep talk that makes things not so bad.
Finding her crying in a supply closet was unexpected. Jo wanted to run away when Callie screams at her to just go and leave her alone please. Jo waited next to the closed door behind her until the watch on the wall shows that its nearly time for the daycare to close.
"Callie." At the sound of a voice, Callie jumped, putting the tissues clenched in a fist over her eyes down. Jo walked forward slowly, kneeling down to where Callie is sat hunched over on the floor. "The daycare is closing soon." Callie dropped the tissues, begins to gather herself. "No, you rest. Take as much time as you need to." Jo placed her hands on Callie's shoulders. "I'll hang out with Sofia until you can come and get her."
"She needs me now, though." Callie's voice was so shaky, its not at all like herself.
"And you'll be there. Just take some time for yourself." Jo stood. "You told me that two days ago. And now its my turn to tell you." She squeezed Callie's hand once more before letting go. "Call my cell when you're ready to get her."
---
One of the daycare workers gets Jo during one of Bailey's chemo demonstrations. She's never been so grateful to be saved. Surgery has been really, really slow. She's been on The Observer's service. She does all of his surgeries while he observes, but at an average of one surgery every other week is rather disappointing.
The daycare is having a caretaker development halfday. Today is one of Callie's rare days off as an Attending, which begs the question why she would leave Sofia at daycare at all. Jo gets the address and begins to walk Sofia to Callie's apartment. She calls first, on the walk over, but doesn't get an answer. She's got enough to handle with Sofia's desire to ask questions about everything.
"Why sidewalk hard?" Sofia scuffs her feet.
"Because we need it to be, Sof-Sof." Jo swings their hands as they walk. "Why does Sofia ask so many questions?"
Sofia giggles, and then her face undergoes a rapid transformation. She stops walking and drops her chin to her chest.
"Sofia?" Jo glances up at the building in front of them. It should be where Callie and Sofia live, according to the daycare. It looks modern and much fancier than where Jo is living.
"No go in." Sofia shakes her head sideways, back and forth.
Knowing from experience that this could lead into a tantrum, Jo shrugs. She has her pager and it hasn't gone off all day. "Okay, we'll go to the playground."
They head back to the daycare's playground. Its weird being there with no other people around. Jo plays with Sofia. She calls Callie on her cell phone again when Sofia begins playing alone on the ground.
"Jo?"
"Hey Callie. Daycare had a halfday today, so I've been watching Sofia. They gave me your address, but I thought it would be strange if I just showed up, you might not even be there . . . so, yeah. Sitting in the playground watching Sofia."
"Oh, okay." Callie's voice sounds shaky, like she's been crying.
"It's not any trouble." Jo sighs. "I'm on Stevenson's service, so, yeah, really, really bored. I think I maxed out my time at the Skills Lab and I was falling asleep during Bailey's demonstration, so . . . "
"The Observer? God, that guy hasn't done a surgery himself in years."
"Yup, continuing the trend. My pager hasn't gone off in over 48 hours. The Pit will probably need people in about four hours or so. If you want to come hang out with us, I could hang out for a while."
"No, I, I should get Sofia."
"I could bring her over. If that's okay. If its not too weird."
Jo can hear noises in the background, some odd thumps that don't sound like construction and the unmistakable sound of Callie breathing slowly to calm herself.
"No, no, its not weird. Just use the buzzer and come on up."
---
Sofia doesn't complain this time and they ride the elevator up together.
Callie is there at the door to let them both in and she offers Jo water. Jo takes a seat at the bar and gratefully sips. Callie busily tidies Sofia's things away.
"Time for a bath, okay honey."
"Jo Jo no go?" Sofia walks up to Jo's knee and hangs on.
"I'll see you tomorrow Sofia. If your mom agrees, I can hang out with you for lunch." She looks up at Callie. "I can be here until my pager goes off or until I want to go to the ER, so I don't have to go anywhere."
Callie grins gratefully, then gently grabs Sofia's hand to lead her to the bathroom.
The ritual noises of a mom getting her kid ready for bed are soothing to Jo. A little bit of bickering and a little bit of storytime. What Jo can overhear is heartbreakingly normal. All told, Jo's probably been holding her glass of water for an hour before Callie comes back. She sits next to Jo and they both share a moment of silence and peace.
"Stevenson is killing me with boredom. And most of my friends, well, we're all trying hard just to keep up with our lives."
Callie looks tired, a bit like she's been crying. She's wearing the same clothes Jo saw her in yesterday after Callie's shift ended.
"This place is cleaner than my place." Jo sips her water.
"Spacious, lots of space. Lots of room to move between things. Its nice." Jo puts the waterglass down and gets up from her seat. "Callie? Should I go? Are you weirded out? I can go."
"No, its nice to have you here. And Sofia really likes you. Really likes you." Callie closes her eyes and shakes her head. "Never mind, I am weirded out, you should go." They both head to the apartment's door.
Callie gently shuts the door behind both of them, and places a hand on Jo's upper arm. "Its possible that you've heard rumors at the hospital about stuff that's going on with me and my family and . . . I'm really grateful that you are helpful even if you're not okay with everything."
Jo laughs. "I'd like to be your friend. And not just in a, I'd like to give you sexual favors way, just, you know, be your friend. And I haven't known any other way of doing it other than this stuff. Helping with Sofia. Its all on your terms because I'm trying to be . . . professional."
"I'm sorry?"
"I want to be your friend because being the thing I want would be unprofessional right now. Doing the things I want to do would be unprofessional."
Callie's jaw hung open and her lips were in an O of surprise.
"This is the moment where you lecture me about poking the horny bear, and I swear, I want to poke it. Or something more romantic than that." Jo indicated her shirt. "Look, I'm not wearing a v-neck instead of a scrub top because I think they're fun. I'm not wearing make-up because I wanna be fabulous. I'm hoping against hope that you'll think I'm pretty, because I think you're gorgeous. You are a bright light in the darkness that is my life."
Callie's eyes were wet. "Thank you."
Jo's right hand caressed Callie's face. Leaning forward slightly, Jo gently connected her lips with Callie's. Jo slid her left hand up Callie's torso. Callie moaned, a low and needy sound, before pulling her lips away. Forehead to forehead, they panted unevenly.
"We can't," Callie whispered, "I'm married."
"I know." Jo tapped Callie's wedding ring with an idle finger. "I know. I'm here, anyway. For anything. For Sofia. For this. If you need me. And I won't ever do that again. Unless you tell me to. Unless you want me to."
---
The bedroom door is open when Callie comes back into the apartment, which means that Arizona was probably awake and probably heard everything. Arizona is a lot more mobile with and without a prosthetic, so she could have been pressed up against the front door for all Callie knows. Callie pulls the bedroom door open anyway, and crawls into the bed. She's not going to run away from what could be either a completely flat, one-sided conversation or an awful one.
Arizona is on her back again, affixing Callie with a glassy, void-filled stare.
"Ready for bed? Want to go sit in the living room?" Callie isn't expecting any answers and she plows ahead, saying things that could be useful if Arizona really wanted to talk to her or with her for any length of time. "Sofia just went down for a nap and I'll wake her up in two hours. Would you like to go out and have dinner with us at the diner down the street? If not, I can ring the new home care nurse. Her name is Kerry, she's kind of butch, and she told me you can yell at her all you want." Callie lies onto her back, staring at the ceiling while continuing to make words. "Sofia has a playdate tomorrow with Anne's son. Do you want to go?" She waits the requisite time, assuming that silence is no. "Okay, I guess that means no?"
"Stop. Callie, Calliope, stop."
Callie sits up to look into Arizona's eyes. "Okay. I have some journal articles to read, I'll be back later."
"No. Stay. Slower, ask slower."
"Do you want to go sit in the living room?"
"No, I want to stay here, with you."
"Do you want to go to dinner with Sofia and me at the diner down the street?"
"Yes. I showered myself today and I think that would be nice." Arizona sighs. "And the last question?"
"Sofia's playdate tomorrow, do you want to go?"
"Yes."
Its progress of a sort and it fills Callie's heart with hope.
"I want to go and, could you shut the bedroom door?"
As soon as Callie has shut the door, Arizona clear as day murmurs, "Jo Jo no go!" She's clearly imitating Sofia. Callie forces herself to relax and react calmly. "Was that a question?"
"You couldn't introduce Jo Jo to the cripple?" Arizona's smirk is villainous.
"Kind of difficult when you were asleep. Sofia had a bath before taking a nap." Callie tries to keep the hostility out of her voice, but she's not a saint. "And you're my wife, not a cripple. Of course I want everyone I know to know that you're my wife. Do you want to meet Jo?"
"Not really. Does Jo know that you're married?"
This rapid fire question and answer game is a lot less fun than Callie had anticipated. "Yes. Its the first thing people know about me anyway. The Ortho Attending with the wife and the kid is pretty much everything that describes me and all me related products. Well, this has been fun." Callie faceplants into a pillow on her side of the bed.
"Calliope. I heard everything. Well not everything, but a lot." Arizona looks pissed. "Are you leaving me for him?"
Callie starts to guffaw, real belly laughs that leave her nearly breathless. Flopping onto her back, she shakes her head, refusing to talk.
"Callie, I . . . don't laugh answer me." Arizona hovers over Callie, her arms sandwiching Callie's head, part of her body pressing Callie down into the mattress.
"I am not leaving you for her. For her. Whatever you heard, the answer is, I am not leaving you for anyone. You are my wife." Callie gently pats Arizona's jaw. "I love you. I don't want to upset you. What else do you want to know?"