Let Your Love Show - Part 2
Title: Let Your Love Show - Part 2
Pairings: George and Callie
Author: Sarah
Rating: this part is PG
Summary: the gang copes with the aftermath of the events of "Wishin and Hopin." I've tried to incorporate some of the other characters into this. People I don't usually write about/for. Fun stuff...
Part 1: http://community.livejournal.com/ga_fanfic/381053.html#cutid1
Meredith stretched out on the bench in the interns’ locker room, desperately hoping for some peace and quiet. She hadn’t slept well last night and she’d gotten up early to pre-round. Her head hurt. If she could just close her eyes for a few minutes and give the Tylenol a little time to work…maybe she’d be good to go. Just as she began to finally relax a bit, the locker room door slammed open and someone stomped inside.
“George didn’t come home last night.” Meredith opened her eyes to see Izzie standing over her, hands on her hips. “He never came home.”
“I’m sure he was with Callie,” Meredith started, not really wanting to get into this with Izzie.
“He’s been in Vegas with her for a week! He’s been gone all this time and he can’t even come home with us for one night? What’s that about?” Izzie was clearly furious.
Meredith sat up. This was not going to go well. Shit.
“Izzie.”
“What?”
“Callie is George’s wife. I think, clearly, he is going to stay with her. Every night,” Meredith finished cautiously.
Izzie flopped down next to Meredith on the bench. “I know she’s his wife. He made that pretty clear. But we’re his friends; we’re his family. We don’t get to see him anymore?”
Meredith sighed. Her friend was clearly not rational. Where was this coming from?
“Izzie, listen to me. Let me finish. George is our friend, and he’s been a good friend to both of us. He needs our support. He still needs our friendship. But our relationship with him is going to change because he is a married man. If you want to have George around, you are going to have to respect his wife and her place in his life.”
“I don’t like her. She isn’t good enough for George,” Izzie interrupted.
“You don’t get to make that call,” Meredith reminded her. “You don’t get a vote. You were pretty harsh about Callie yesterday, and I shouldn’t have laughed at the things you said. I shouldn’t have encouraged you. George is really happy and that’s what matters.”
“How do you know that?" Izzie sulked.
“He told me.”
“He told you?” Izzie sounded irrationally indignant and it just hit Meredith all wrong.
“Yes, and I’m sure he’d tell you the same thing if you asked him respectfully, instead of insulting his wife.” Meredith was getting frustrated with her friend. “Get some boundaries!” she finished, almost yelling.
The two friends sat in silence, the tension between them palpable. Izzie crossed her arms and legs and looked away from Meredith defiantly. Meredith just sighed, lying back down and throwing her arm over her eyes. When the locker room door opened and George walked in, Meredith sat back up quickly, laying a warning hand on Izzie’s arm.
It didn’t work. Izzie jumped up and stalked past George, spinning on her heel just before she reached the door. “You need to come get your shit out of the house if you aren’t going to live there anymore,” she spat, pulling open the door and slamming it against the wall as she exited.
George looked at Meredith in shock. “I’m kicked out?”
“No George, you aren’t,” Meredith sighed, taking his hand. “I’m sorry she said that. It didn’t come from me. Sit down.”
“Why is she so angry with me?” he asked. “This doesn’t have anything to do with her.”
“She’ll get over it” Meredith assured him. “Let’s talk about what you’re going to do. I’m sure you’ve already concluded that moving into the house with Callie could be a little…tense. Your wife’s grown up enough to say this herself, but just in case she doesn’t - I think that’d be really hard on her.”
George smiled at Meredith. She was such a good friend. She was considerate and kind. It touched him really; he knew that she and Callie had had their differences in the past.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do. I don’t have much money. I want to get a nice place for us to live, but man…poverty sucks.”
“George, I don’t think Callie married you for your money. She obviously has money coming in from somewhere. She’s been staying at that hotel for how long?”
“I know, but I feel like it’s my responsibility to take care of her.”
“You have no idea, do you? You don’t know how she pays for that hotel because you’ve never asked her,” Meredith laughed.
“No, I haven’t,” George admitted. “She does seem to have money though.”
“I think you need to ask her about it. I’m quite sure she’ll be fine contributing whatever she can to your housing costs. And besides, when you’re married you don’t keep score about who pays for what!”
“I know, I know. I just feel…inadequate.”
“I’m positive that Callie doesn’t think you’re inadequate. Look, Cristina told me what Izzie said to Callie about the ring, and George, it was totally out of line, what she said. She had no right. So if you’re thinking about that…just forget about it. Izzie’s wrong and you are perfectly fine. You’re an intern and if you spent a fortune on jewelry, I’d be questioning your priorities. The size of your ring doesn’t matter, the swankiness of your apartment doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are in love. And you’re married. It’s great, George!” she finished, rubbing his back.
He hung his head a little, smiling shyly at her. “You’re right. I needed to hear that. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now, let’s get to work. Bailey’s going to have our heads if we’re late.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The day was shaping up to be an interesting one. Bailey had a knack for the uncomfortable with her intern assignments. Meredith was with Addison Montgomery, George was working with the Chief, Alex was with Burke, Christina with Sloan and Izzie was with Callie.
“Great,” George thought. “Bailey must hate us.” He’d narrowed his eyes a bit at Izzie when he’d heard Bailey’s instructions. He hated the way her lip curled up in a little sneer at the thought of Ortho duty. But she was still ignoring him, so he wasn’t even sure she’d seen him. He knew Callie could more than handle Izzie on the job, but he couldn’t help feeling protective of his wife. As the other interns left, he’d lingered around a bit, trying to resist the urge to go and look for Callie.
“O’Malley!” Bailey was looking straight at him.
”Yes ma’am?” he asked meekly, busted.
“I know what you’re thinking. And don’t even say it. Everything is not about you. I put Stevens with Dr. Torres because, clearly Izzie needs to learn how to work with everyone, not just with people she likes. She’s the one with the problem, and I think Dr. Torres can handle it. You worry about yourself and don’t make it your problem too. Am I clear?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Good. Now move yourself. The chief wanted you in his office five minutes ago. Go!”
“His office…not up on the floor?”
“Did I stutter? O’Malley - get out of here before I send you to the ER to do rectal exams all day.”
Turning quickly, he made a beeline for the elevator, almost tripping over his feet. From across the corridor, he heard Izzie laughing at him as she organized Callie’s charts. Feeling about 12 years old, he stuck his tongue out at her and headed for the stairwell. He’d deal with her later.
A few minutes later George was knocking on the door to the chief’s office. “You wanted to see me, sir?”
“I did, O’Malley. Sit down son,” he said, patting the couch next to him. “I wanted to talk to you about your marriage.”
“My marriage, sir?”
“Yes. I should start by saying that there are certain professional things expected of you at this hospital. Your wife is one of our senior residents, and as such is still your superior, marriage certificate or not. I expect you to conduct yourself accordingly, and I think you will. That’s not really why I asked for you today.”
“It isn’t?”
“No, mostly I just wanted to tell you congratulations. You’ve married a fantastic woman. I’ve always considered Dr. Torres to be kind of a daughter to me, despite what assumptions you may have made when you discovered the two of us together in the basement,” Webber continued, cocking an eyebrow at George.
George blushed at the memory. “Callie clarified that for me sir.”
“I know,” he went on. “Marriage is a gift George, a precious gift. You need to make the most of it. It isn’t easy; it takes constant effort and if you aren’t willing to make the effort, you may find yourself without the one thing you care about the most.”
“I understand. Thank you sir.” George knew the Chief was going through a divorce. “Thank you for the advice.”
“You’re welcome. Now, I have several patients I need you to help me with today. Mrs. Lewis in 11-C needs to be prepped for a bowel-resection. Mr. Smith in 11-F is awaiting the results of a colon polyp biopsy and Angela Thompson will be coming in later to the surgical clinic for a consult on a possible elective procedure. It’s all in her chart. I’d like you to take care of the consult for me. You can page me if you have any questions. Get going, it’s going to be a busy day, but make sure you have lunch with your wife. Any questions? Good.”
“Thank you sir,” George rose to leave. “I’ll check back in later.”
“Very well,” finished the Chief. “Have a good day.”
“Thanks again, sir. For everything.”
“Good-bye, O’Malley.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Izzie immersed herself in the Ortho charts, desperately trying to keep busy. One part of her knew that she was acting like a crazy bitch, but that sane part of her seemed to be losing the battle for her mouth. Everything she said came out all wrong, she thought. She’d yelled at George that morning, been short with Meredith and had been rude as hell to Callie yesterday. “I can’t help it,” she reasoned. “I just don’t understand what George sees in her.”
“You told George last week to go be with Callie,” a persistent little voice in her head reminded her.
“I didn’t think he would MARRY her. I thought he’d just have sex with her. It’s too soon.”
“You were engaged to a man you never saw outside the four walls of this hospital,” the little voice goaded her.
“This is not about that! This is different!” Izzie looked around, worried that she might have spoken out loud. Great, Alex Karev was eyeing her. Fabulous!
“Izzie, Izzie, Izzie…are you talking to yourself again?” Alex sidled up to her, a crooked smile on his face. It was more like a smirk, actually.
“Alex, don’t you and Burke need to go cut someone’s heart out for lunch or something?” she snapped, hating the way he was looking at her.
“Burke and Yang snuck off somewhere together. I think they’re engaged too. It’s getting crazy around here. They’re probably bangin’ in the call room. So I’m all yours.”
“Fantastic,” she spat. “I’m busy.”
Ignoring her brush-off, Alex slid closer to Izzie. “O’Malley’s married. How’d that happen? Are you jealous?”
“Jealous? No, I am definitely NOT jealous. I don’t like Callie, but I’m not jealous of her.”
“Speaking of Callie, here comes the incredibly hot Dr. Torres right now. How’d O’Malley bag a woman like that? Mucho caliente…”
“You’re a pig, Karev.” Callie had heard him as she approached, even more charts in hand.
“I’m just saying, a woman like you… you’ve got needs. If O’Malley can’t take care of them, you know where to find me.”
“Did you really just say that out loud?” Callie looked at Karev in disgust, dropping the charts on the desk. “I’m a senior resident. You need to learn some respect. If I looked up inappropriate in the dictionary, I’m pretty sure I’d find a picture of you right now. Get lost.”
“All right, I’m out of here. Ladies, it’s been a pleasure,” he grinned as he swaggered away.
Callie shook her head in disgust. That exchange was bad enough; having it happen in front of Izzie was mortifying. She didn’t even want to look at the younger woman, but she forced herself to face her. She was the grown-up here. She was the senior resident. To her surprise, Izzie was looking at her with a gaze that almost appeared to be…compassionate.
“Alex is an ass.” Izzie offered, hesitantly. Callie hadn’t deserved what Karev had just said to her. Izzie felt awkward, fighting the urge to reach out and touch Callie on the shoulder. Callie look shaken up, but Izzie was afraid to reach out to comfort her, so she settled for restating the obvious. “He’s an idiot.”
“Yes he is,” Callie stated, flatly. “We can agree on that, at least,” she sighed, picking up a few charts. It was going to be a long day.
Pairings: George and Callie
Author: Sarah
Rating: this part is PG
Summary: the gang copes with the aftermath of the events of "Wishin and Hopin." I've tried to incorporate some of the other characters into this. People I don't usually write about/for. Fun stuff...
Part 1: http://community.livejournal.com/ga_fanfic/381053.html#cutid1
Meredith stretched out on the bench in the interns’ locker room, desperately hoping for some peace and quiet. She hadn’t slept well last night and she’d gotten up early to pre-round. Her head hurt. If she could just close her eyes for a few minutes and give the Tylenol a little time to work…maybe she’d be good to go. Just as she began to finally relax a bit, the locker room door slammed open and someone stomped inside.
“George didn’t come home last night.” Meredith opened her eyes to see Izzie standing over her, hands on her hips. “He never came home.”
“I’m sure he was with Callie,” Meredith started, not really wanting to get into this with Izzie.
“He’s been in Vegas with her for a week! He’s been gone all this time and he can’t even come home with us for one night? What’s that about?” Izzie was clearly furious.
Meredith sat up. This was not going to go well. Shit.
“Izzie.”
“What?”
“Callie is George’s wife. I think, clearly, he is going to stay with her. Every night,” Meredith finished cautiously.
Izzie flopped down next to Meredith on the bench. “I know she’s his wife. He made that pretty clear. But we’re his friends; we’re his family. We don’t get to see him anymore?”
Meredith sighed. Her friend was clearly not rational. Where was this coming from?
“Izzie, listen to me. Let me finish. George is our friend, and he’s been a good friend to both of us. He needs our support. He still needs our friendship. But our relationship with him is going to change because he is a married man. If you want to have George around, you are going to have to respect his wife and her place in his life.”
“I don’t like her. She isn’t good enough for George,” Izzie interrupted.
“You don’t get to make that call,” Meredith reminded her. “You don’t get a vote. You were pretty harsh about Callie yesterday, and I shouldn’t have laughed at the things you said. I shouldn’t have encouraged you. George is really happy and that’s what matters.”
“How do you know that?" Izzie sulked.
“He told me.”
“He told you?” Izzie sounded irrationally indignant and it just hit Meredith all wrong.
“Yes, and I’m sure he’d tell you the same thing if you asked him respectfully, instead of insulting his wife.” Meredith was getting frustrated with her friend. “Get some boundaries!” she finished, almost yelling.
The two friends sat in silence, the tension between them palpable. Izzie crossed her arms and legs and looked away from Meredith defiantly. Meredith just sighed, lying back down and throwing her arm over her eyes. When the locker room door opened and George walked in, Meredith sat back up quickly, laying a warning hand on Izzie’s arm.
It didn’t work. Izzie jumped up and stalked past George, spinning on her heel just before she reached the door. “You need to come get your shit out of the house if you aren’t going to live there anymore,” she spat, pulling open the door and slamming it against the wall as she exited.
George looked at Meredith in shock. “I’m kicked out?”
“No George, you aren’t,” Meredith sighed, taking his hand. “I’m sorry she said that. It didn’t come from me. Sit down.”
“Why is she so angry with me?” he asked. “This doesn’t have anything to do with her.”
“She’ll get over it” Meredith assured him. “Let’s talk about what you’re going to do. I’m sure you’ve already concluded that moving into the house with Callie could be a little…tense. Your wife’s grown up enough to say this herself, but just in case she doesn’t - I think that’d be really hard on her.”
George smiled at Meredith. She was such a good friend. She was considerate and kind. It touched him really; he knew that she and Callie had had their differences in the past.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do. I don’t have much money. I want to get a nice place for us to live, but man…poverty sucks.”
“George, I don’t think Callie married you for your money. She obviously has money coming in from somewhere. She’s been staying at that hotel for how long?”
“I know, but I feel like it’s my responsibility to take care of her.”
“You have no idea, do you? You don’t know how she pays for that hotel because you’ve never asked her,” Meredith laughed.
“No, I haven’t,” George admitted. “She does seem to have money though.”
“I think you need to ask her about it. I’m quite sure she’ll be fine contributing whatever she can to your housing costs. And besides, when you’re married you don’t keep score about who pays for what!”
“I know, I know. I just feel…inadequate.”
“I’m positive that Callie doesn’t think you’re inadequate. Look, Cristina told me what Izzie said to Callie about the ring, and George, it was totally out of line, what she said. She had no right. So if you’re thinking about that…just forget about it. Izzie’s wrong and you are perfectly fine. You’re an intern and if you spent a fortune on jewelry, I’d be questioning your priorities. The size of your ring doesn’t matter, the swankiness of your apartment doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are in love. And you’re married. It’s great, George!” she finished, rubbing his back.
He hung his head a little, smiling shyly at her. “You’re right. I needed to hear that. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now, let’s get to work. Bailey’s going to have our heads if we’re late.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The day was shaping up to be an interesting one. Bailey had a knack for the uncomfortable with her intern assignments. Meredith was with Addison Montgomery, George was working with the Chief, Alex was with Burke, Christina with Sloan and Izzie was with Callie.
“Great,” George thought. “Bailey must hate us.” He’d narrowed his eyes a bit at Izzie when he’d heard Bailey’s instructions. He hated the way her lip curled up in a little sneer at the thought of Ortho duty. But she was still ignoring him, so he wasn’t even sure she’d seen him. He knew Callie could more than handle Izzie on the job, but he couldn’t help feeling protective of his wife. As the other interns left, he’d lingered around a bit, trying to resist the urge to go and look for Callie.
“O’Malley!” Bailey was looking straight at him.
”Yes ma’am?” he asked meekly, busted.
“I know what you’re thinking. And don’t even say it. Everything is not about you. I put Stevens with Dr. Torres because, clearly Izzie needs to learn how to work with everyone, not just with people she likes. She’s the one with the problem, and I think Dr. Torres can handle it. You worry about yourself and don’t make it your problem too. Am I clear?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Good. Now move yourself. The chief wanted you in his office five minutes ago. Go!”
“His office…not up on the floor?”
“Did I stutter? O’Malley - get out of here before I send you to the ER to do rectal exams all day.”
Turning quickly, he made a beeline for the elevator, almost tripping over his feet. From across the corridor, he heard Izzie laughing at him as she organized Callie’s charts. Feeling about 12 years old, he stuck his tongue out at her and headed for the stairwell. He’d deal with her later.
A few minutes later George was knocking on the door to the chief’s office. “You wanted to see me, sir?”
“I did, O’Malley. Sit down son,” he said, patting the couch next to him. “I wanted to talk to you about your marriage.”
“My marriage, sir?”
“Yes. I should start by saying that there are certain professional things expected of you at this hospital. Your wife is one of our senior residents, and as such is still your superior, marriage certificate or not. I expect you to conduct yourself accordingly, and I think you will. That’s not really why I asked for you today.”
“It isn’t?”
“No, mostly I just wanted to tell you congratulations. You’ve married a fantastic woman. I’ve always considered Dr. Torres to be kind of a daughter to me, despite what assumptions you may have made when you discovered the two of us together in the basement,” Webber continued, cocking an eyebrow at George.
George blushed at the memory. “Callie clarified that for me sir.”
“I know,” he went on. “Marriage is a gift George, a precious gift. You need to make the most of it. It isn’t easy; it takes constant effort and if you aren’t willing to make the effort, you may find yourself without the one thing you care about the most.”
“I understand. Thank you sir.” George knew the Chief was going through a divorce. “Thank you for the advice.”
“You’re welcome. Now, I have several patients I need you to help me with today. Mrs. Lewis in 11-C needs to be prepped for a bowel-resection. Mr. Smith in 11-F is awaiting the results of a colon polyp biopsy and Angela Thompson will be coming in later to the surgical clinic for a consult on a possible elective procedure. It’s all in her chart. I’d like you to take care of the consult for me. You can page me if you have any questions. Get going, it’s going to be a busy day, but make sure you have lunch with your wife. Any questions? Good.”
“Thank you sir,” George rose to leave. “I’ll check back in later.”
“Very well,” finished the Chief. “Have a good day.”
“Thanks again, sir. For everything.”
“Good-bye, O’Malley.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Izzie immersed herself in the Ortho charts, desperately trying to keep busy. One part of her knew that she was acting like a crazy bitch, but that sane part of her seemed to be losing the battle for her mouth. Everything she said came out all wrong, she thought. She’d yelled at George that morning, been short with Meredith and had been rude as hell to Callie yesterday. “I can’t help it,” she reasoned. “I just don’t understand what George sees in her.”
“You told George last week to go be with Callie,” a persistent little voice in her head reminded her.
“I didn’t think he would MARRY her. I thought he’d just have sex with her. It’s too soon.”
“You were engaged to a man you never saw outside the four walls of this hospital,” the little voice goaded her.
“This is not about that! This is different!” Izzie looked around, worried that she might have spoken out loud. Great, Alex Karev was eyeing her. Fabulous!
“Izzie, Izzie, Izzie…are you talking to yourself again?” Alex sidled up to her, a crooked smile on his face. It was more like a smirk, actually.
“Alex, don’t you and Burke need to go cut someone’s heart out for lunch or something?” she snapped, hating the way he was looking at her.
“Burke and Yang snuck off somewhere together. I think they’re engaged too. It’s getting crazy around here. They’re probably bangin’ in the call room. So I’m all yours.”
“Fantastic,” she spat. “I’m busy.”
Ignoring her brush-off, Alex slid closer to Izzie. “O’Malley’s married. How’d that happen? Are you jealous?”
“Jealous? No, I am definitely NOT jealous. I don’t like Callie, but I’m not jealous of her.”
“Speaking of Callie, here comes the incredibly hot Dr. Torres right now. How’d O’Malley bag a woman like that? Mucho caliente…”
“You’re a pig, Karev.” Callie had heard him as she approached, even more charts in hand.
“I’m just saying, a woman like you… you’ve got needs. If O’Malley can’t take care of them, you know where to find me.”
“Did you really just say that out loud?” Callie looked at Karev in disgust, dropping the charts on the desk. “I’m a senior resident. You need to learn some respect. If I looked up inappropriate in the dictionary, I’m pretty sure I’d find a picture of you right now. Get lost.”
“All right, I’m out of here. Ladies, it’s been a pleasure,” he grinned as he swaggered away.
Callie shook her head in disgust. That exchange was bad enough; having it happen in front of Izzie was mortifying. She didn’t even want to look at the younger woman, but she forced herself to face her. She was the grown-up here. She was the senior resident. To her surprise, Izzie was looking at her with a gaze that almost appeared to be…compassionate.
“Alex is an ass.” Izzie offered, hesitantly. Callie hadn’t deserved what Karev had just said to her. Izzie felt awkward, fighting the urge to reach out and touch Callie on the shoulder. Callie look shaken up, but Izzie was afraid to reach out to comfort her, so she settled for restating the obvious. “He’s an idiot.”
“Yes he is,” Callie stated, flatly. “We can agree on that, at least,” she sighed, picking up a few charts. It was going to be a long day.