Grey's Anatomy - Choices (7/23)
Title: Choices
Chapter 7/23
Authors: Faith & Kye
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Rating: NC-17
Story Summary: Post-6x17 "Push" -- Arizona prefers chickens to children, and Callie isn't okay with that. Heartbroken and lonely, the two women try unsuccessfully to move on with their lives, only to find they really are made for eachother.
Chapter Summary: Callie gets emotionally involved, and Mark Sloan tries to "distract" 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.
Previous Chapters
Note: The role of Carmen has been cast as Sarah Shahi. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1083404/ , just FYI.
---
The next three days were some of the hardest in Arizona’s life. Not only were she and Derek at odds when it came to Danielle’s case and how soon they should go back in - or, according to Derek, if they should go back in - but Arizona couldn’t even avoid contact with Callie until the initial pain of separation wore off. They were working together almost every day on Anna’s case, and it was excruciating.
Lexi or Bailey were always with them, whether on purpose or by coincidence she had no idea. So it remained very professional and civil, but that didn’t make it any easier to be around one another.
Arizona pushed open the door to the small conference room they were working in, expecting to find Bailey still sitting at the table. She was focused on the sheets of paper in her hands. “Still no match from the Donor Registry, and if I call again they’re just gonna hang up-”
She stopped two feet into the room and blinked at Mark Sloan, who sat with his feet up on the table while he ate an apple. “Oh. You’re…not Bailey. Where’d she go?”
Mark smirked. “She went home.”
Arizona lifted an eyebrow in disbelief. “Home?” she repeated slowly. “Bailey has a...home?”
Mark chuckled as he took another bite. “I know. Twilight Zone.” He chewed, watching the blonde intently. “Y'know something, I'm proud of you.”
Arizona gave a wry smirk. “Oh?”
“Yeah,” Mark went on as he finally dropped his feet from the table to sit up in his chair. “It's been three days, and I haven't seen or heard anything...'inappropriate' from you or Torres.”
Arizona's smile faltered, and then slowly shifted into a frown.
The door behind her suddenly opened and a very animated Calliope Torres walked in. She had a cell phone pressed tightly against her ear.
“No, you don't understand,” she barked into the device. “I don't care if you don't have anyone else. Find someone!” She paused, listening to the voice on the other line. Her eyes widened and she threw a hand in the air. “How many have-” Her eyes widened even more. “Oh.” Her hand dropped back to her side.
Arizona winced a little for Callie’s sake when the brunette dropped the phone back into her pocket. “Hung up on you too, huh?”
Mark took another bite from his apple, flipping a page in his book without paying too much attention to it. “The guy probably has a wife at home nagging at him, I doubt he wants to listen to two bossy surgeons push him around while he’s at work.”
Arizona rolled her eyes and pulled out a chair for Callie, before sliding into the one next to it herself. “If they’d do their damn job,” she mumbled, snatching the book away from Mark. “Getting a three year old to sit still and be careful is damn near impossible. We’ve got a rotating shift of nurses keeping an eye on her so she doesn’t re-break something while we wait for a donor and her leg heals up a little more. The dad’s gonna have a helluva time once he takes her home.”
Callie was motionless in her seat, her eyes trained on the table in silence.
Mark took another bite of his apple as he looked over to his best friend. “What's with her?” he asked with a pause mid-chew. He motioned with the piece of fruit at the silent form.
Arizona looked over. “Calliope?”
“Fuck it,” Callie spoke up unexpectedly, smacking her hand down on the table. Arizona jumped a little.
“I'm getting tested,” she added after a moment. “Today.”
Arizona creased her browline. “But…you’re not AB negative.”
Callie shot her a look. “I am.”
Arizona’s eyebrow then shot upward. “Since when?”
“My guess?” Mark interrupted. “Since she was born.”
Both women shot him a dirty look.
Arizona looked back at her ex-girlfriend. “Are you sure about this?”
Callie smiled a bit shakily. “Sure I'm sure.” She swallowed back as she subconsciously rubbed at her arm. “It's just a blood test, right? No biggie.”
It wasn't the blood she was worried about. She was a surgeon, after all.
No, it was what would happen after. If she was a match.
Or worse. If she wasn't.
Callie just didn't think she could take any more disappointments in her life right now.
Mark and Arizona shared a look, but it was Mark who spoke first.
“Torres…” He watched her carefully. “You know that as much as you might want to…you can’t donate part of your body every time a patient needs it, right? Blood is one thing, but marrow and organs -”
“I’m not donating any organs, Mark,” Callie shot back angrily.
“I know.” He held up his hands in a surrendering gesture. “I know that. I just want to make sure you aren’t gonna start feeling responsible every time a patient in this hospital has a hard time getting a match on the list. These things take time, and if every one of us donated something every time we felt the obligation…there wouldn’t be anything more than a pile of limbs left in the end. There’s only so many times and things you can give until you run out of spare parts.”
Callie suddenly slammed her hand down onto the table again. “Mark, would you just...just...” She struggled to find the right word. “...shut up!” She took a moment to calm herself. Mark knew how much she hated being told what to do.
She was a big girl. If she wanted to get tested as a possible bone marrow donor, then, dammit...she would.
Besides, it wasn't just any patient. It was Anna.
Cute. Sweet. Adorable.
Helpless little Anna.
Callie knew it wasn't normal to feel so...attached. That was the good thing about ortho. No tiny little people to get attached to, for the most part.
The brunette dared a glance in her ex's direction. She really didn't know how Arizona did it day, after day, after day. She was kinda, maybe starting to understand why the blonde didn't want kids.
But only a little.
‘Cause with all the bad stuff...for every one you lose...
There's always one you can save.
Anna was one that Callie was determined she could help, one way or another.
Mark sighed. “Callie-”
“I think she’s made up her mind, Sloan,” Arizona cut in. She smiled softly at Callie. “You know as well as anyone there’s no way to change it.”
“Okay, okay, I get the point,” Mark caved with a sigh. “Sorry, I’ll shut up now. But if you start donating kidneys, we’re having an intervention.”
***
Callie's shoe tapped nervously against the foot of the transfusion chair as she glanced around. Her lab coat was off, discarded over the back as she held her left arm stretched out on the arm rest. Her sleeve was rolled up past her elbow.
“Are you really sure about this?” Arizona suddenly asked from her spot next to the brunette.
Callie's gaze shifted to her right. She smiled. “Have I ever lied to you?”
Arizona thought about it for a moment. “You...told me you weren’t scared of heights, and when I took you to Sky City for dinner you almost threw up on my shoes.” She fixed the reclined form with a pointed stare.
Callie laughed. “That was one time. And it so doesn't count. Besides, I got over that pretty fast.” She turned her attention to the approaching nurse and her smile faltered. On instinct, she reached out with her right hand to grasp the blonde's.
It's not that she was afraid of needles. She just really didn't like pain. In fact, she avoided it whenever she could.
Needles are sharp. Sharp against skin equaled pain.
Callie's hand squeezed around her ex's.
Arizona’s hand instantly squeezed right back, running her thumb soothingly along the back of Callie’s. “You’ll be okay,” she said quietly with a reassuring smile.
Her gaze flickered over to the young nurse, who was checking and rechecking her supplies. “Everything okay there?”
The young girl looked up with a nervous smile. “Yeah, o-of course. I’m just a little new at this, want to make sure -”
“Oh hell no,” Callie interrupted. “You’re not touchin’ me. Nooo sir. I want someone else.”
The nurse look a little crestfallen. “I can do it, I’m just…”
Arizona smiled to herself and stood up from her chair, giving Callie’s hand another reassuring squeeze before releasing it. “Here. I’ll take care of it.” She walked around to the other side of the chair. When her back was to Callie and she was facing the girl, she murmured beneath her breath. “For your own well being, run away.”
She knew Callie could be…ornery when she was scared.
The nurse finally relented and went to help the next patient, and Arizona grabbed a pair of latex gloves from the box on the table, smirking over at Callie. “You gonna be mean to me, too?”
Callie smiled as she nervously shifted in the chair. “I dunno,” she answered honestly as she watched her ex-girlfriend. She really hated pain. She swallowed back thickly when she saw the blonde rip open the packaging of the sterile needle. Suddenly, it occured to her that having an ex-girlfriend come at her with a needle might not be the smartest thing she had ever done.
“You know I still love you, right?” Callie suddenly blurted.
Arizona blinked in surprise and look back at Callie with a slightly raised brow.
It took a lot of willpower not to laugh at the adorably frightened look on her face.
“Yes, I’m aware,” she teased, setting everything up that she would need as she spoke, and then going on to disinfect Callie’s arm.
“You know, I do this all the time,” she said casually, trying her best to ease the woman’s fears. “Kids tend not to trust strange nurses that appear out of nowhere to poke them with needles, so a lot of the time I’ll draw their blood work myself. Which means I’m very good at it,” she added with a teasing smirk.
“Not the only thing you're very good at,” Callie mumbled as she slowly smiled to herself.
Arizona's hand suddenly froze and Callie realized she'd been caught.
“Uhh,” she stalled as she quickly jerked her eyes up to meet the blue gaze staring back at her. She swallowed back with a forced, tense laugh.
“Torres?”
Oh thank Jesus.
This was one time that Callie was actually happy to see Cristina Yang.
“Sloan told me what you're doing,” Cristina went on as she walked up next to the brunette. “Have you completely lost your mind?”
“No,” Callie shot back automatically.
“Yep,” Arizona spoke at the exact same time.
Callie whipped her head around to glare at Arizona. “What? You didn’t say anything downstairs when Mark was all ‘you can’t do this’!”
“That’s because I knew it was pointless,” Arizona replied with a wry smirk. “Doesn’t mean I won’t help him with his intervention banner if you start donating organs every time someone needs one.”
“It's not an organ!” Callie shouted in annoyance.
Cristina jumped a little. “Geez,” she grumbled as she glanced around. “What kinda juice they servin' in this place?”
Callie shot her a glare before turning her attention to her ex. “It's bone marrow, Arizona,” she explained as calmly as she could. “Not a kidney. Besides, we don't even know if I'll match.”
“I know,” Arizona replied softly, meeting Callie’s eyes with a warm smile. “For the record, I also think it’s unbelievably selfless, what you’re doing. You’re amazing, Calliope.”
Callie looked up and met Arizona’s deep blue eyes. They shared one of those long, lingering looks that had been happening repeatedly since their ‘official-official version two-point-oh’ break up several days before.
Or was it ‘three-point-oh’...she’d lost track by now.
While Callie had been distracted by Cristina, Arizona had disinfected and tied off her left arm. She took the opportunity of Callie being relaxed and calm to slip the needle easily into her vein.
“Take it easy,” she soothed immediately, her experienced hands expertly working the test valves and switching them once they filled up one by one.
Callie was still smiling, lost in the other woman's blue eyes. And the shine of her soft, blonde hair. And the sound of her sweet, soothing voice. And the way those dimples flashed whenever she smiled.
“Hm? What?” Callie murmured distractedly.
Yang rolled her eyes. “Oh, for...” She reached out to smack the orthopedic surgeon. “Stop making googley eyes for five seconds.” She pointed. “There's a giant needle sticking out of your arm.”
Callie's hazy eyes slowly shifted down, and then suddenly widened. “Holy crap!”
“Yang!” Arizona scolded when she felt her ex jerk in her grasp. “Get lost!”
Cristina sighed, rolling her eyes as she turned to walk away.
“You two deserve each other!” she called back over her shoulder as she reached out to snag a cookie from a passing tray.
Callie was panicking a little as she watched the latest vile fill up with her blood. The fingers of her free hand bit down against the armrest of the chair.
It wasn't the sight of blood. But more the sight of her blood.
“We’re almost done here. Just a few more seconds.” The blonde surgeon glanced down and switched the valves to the second last one.
“Calliope,” Arizona spoke sharply, tilting her head until she got the brunette’s attention back up on her. She could tell by the sudden extreme paleness and slightly nauseous expression on her face that Callie was not feeling good.
“Look at me,” she instructed firmly, but kindly. “Do you remember what else happened when we went to Sky City?” She was doing her best to distract the other woman.
Arizona really didn’t want to clean puke off of her only pair of clean scrubs.
Callie was still clearly panicked, but the sudden memory brought a quick smile across her lips. She nodded as her grip on the chair slackened. “Yeah,” she whispered softly as more of the memory came back to her.
Slowly, her entire body began to relax.
“We ate lobster and watched the city as the Needle spun for hours.” Her smile grew even softer, and a small laugh rumbled up from her chest. “Then we went bowling and ate nachos and drank really, really bad beer.” Her eyes met the soft blue gaze of the other woman. “Then you got really sick and threw up in the rented shoes.”
Arizona laughed, nodding as she remembered.
Callie's smile faltered. She suddenly felt a very new sensation overtake her body. “T-Then,” she went on, her voice much softer now. “Then we went home and had a two hour bubble-bath.” Callie cleared her throat, but never took her gaze from the other woman's. “Then we made love until neither of us could move...”
Arizona’s amused facial expression was completely gone by that point, replaced by a more nostalgic one. She hadn’t meant for that part of the story to come up.
Not that she had forgotten it had happened. That last part was something that was seriously impossible to forget. But she had been aiming to distract Callie with memories of their drunken bowling and nacho eating competition.
Not drag up painful, nostalgic memories of what was in the past, and not in their future.
“It was fun,” Arizona responded lightly after a few seconds of silence, purposely avoiding Callie’s gaze as she pulled out the needle and set about pressing a cotton ball against the mark. “Except for the part about the puke.”
Callie laughed softly. “Yeah, that didn't look very fun.” She sighed again, shaking her head as the many images of that night came flooding back to her.
Sexy images.
The brunette shifted a bit nervously in the chair as she swallowed and then cleared her throat.
Those were not the kind of thoughts she needed to be having at the moment.
The kind of thoughts that weren't exactly gonna help her head, or her heart, to finally accept that things were really and truly...
Over.
Thoughts that made her think about how much she wanted to kiss Arizona again, break up be damned.
Callie cleared her throat softly once more as she watched her ex place a piece of sterile tape across the cotton ball. “Thanks, Arizona,” she offered gently as she finally lifted her gaze to meet those soft blue eyes.
And she instantly fell in love all over again.
Dammit.
She was really bad at this.
“Any time.” Arizona didn’t let the look linger too long, because she knew where it would lead. She quickly labeled the tubes with the correct information and then stripped off her gloves. “We’re done here,” she informed the nurse. “I need you to make sure these results are fast-tracked, okay? And if the king of the lab has problems with that request, tell him it’s not actually a request and get him to call me.”
Arizona then grabbed a cookie and some juice from the passing nurse, and shoved them in Callie’s face. “Now eat. You’re starting to look even paler than me.”
Callie laughed softly as she reached up to accept the offered sustenance. “You're not pale,” she reasoned as she raised the juice box to her lips. ”You're just...'pigmentally challenged'.”
The juice was cold and tasted sweet. It was her favorite, apple.
Callie smiled, her tongue slipping out to slide along the straw as she thought about another taste that was...sweet.
“Gee,” Arizona deadpanned. “Just what a girl always dreams of hearing from her-” She stopped midsentence, fishing for a word. “-f-friend.” It sounded weird as it rolled off of her tongue. Of course she wanted to say girlfriend, but that didn’t technically apply anymore.
Technically.
Frowning, Arizona pushed Callie’s legs over a little so she could sit on the edge of the transfusion chair while the brunette ate her cookie. “We’re…friends, right?” She licked her lips, frowning thoughtfully. “I mean, it’s still…we’ve still got…but we’re going to be friends, right?” The blonde fixed her gaze on Callie intently.
Callie took a slow, calculated bite of her cookie. She pulled it from her lips, waving it a little with her fingers outstretched in the air. “This isn't gonna turn into one of those 'it wasn't you, it was me, so let's always be friends'...things. Is it?” She was smiling a little as she chewed.
Arizona sighed, but wore a small smile of her own.
“Yes, Arizona,” Callie supplied before the blonde had a chance to react. “We're always gonna be friends.” She reached out with her non-cookie-filled hand to place it gently on the other woman's knee.
It was a purely innocent, 'friend-like' touch. But the deep shiver that ran up the back of Callie's spine just confirmed what she already knew.
There was no way in hell they were ever gonna be 'just friends'.
No frikken' way.
***
“You two did it again, didn’t you?”
Arizona looked up to find Mark Sloan leaning against the door frame of the on-call room she was trying to have a nap in.
It felt like she never went home sometimes.
“Did…what?” She pushed herself up onto her right elbow, blinking tiredly over at Mark from her spot on the bed.
“You and Torres. You came back from her blood test looking all…cheerful. You played ‘dirty mistresses’ in a closet again, didn’t you?”
Arizona rolled her eyes. “I am not a dirty mistress, Mark,” she growled, her irritation only inflated by her pure exhaustion. “And no, we didn’t, for your information. We’re…friends. That’s it. No more on-call rooms or supply closets.”
Mark snorted as he pushed himself off of the doorframe to make his way into the room. “Please,” he smirked. “As if I haven't heard that one before.” He paused, frowning a little. “As if I haven't said that one before.” He shook his head again, sighing as he walked over to fall down heavily onto the bed next to Arizona’s. He propped his feet up as he reclined back against the wall, folding his arms behind his head.
“Yep,” he continued to muse. “I remember 'that one' well...”
A pillow promptly smacked him in the face and then fell into his lap.
But Mark was still smirking.
“You might have the self control of a two year old in a candy store when it comes to having sex with women, but I, I am much better than that, Mark Sloan. I can not have sex with women any time I want to. Specifically with Callie.”
Arizona groaned as she pushed herself up into a sitting position on the bed, since it was clear she wouldn’t be getting any sleep any time soon. “We officially…officially ended it, so…no more sex. Just…friend stuff. Like talking. And saying hi when we pass each other in the hall. And…taking blood samples when incompetent nurses incur the ‘Wrath of Torres’. Friend stuff, like that.”
Mark kept his smirk, his eyes trained on the ceiling. “Say whatever you want, Robbins,” he teased as his blue eyes shifted toward the other blonde. “But we all know it's just a matter of time before one of us catches you in the nearest supply closet.”
Arizona sighed as she adjusted her scrub top. “That was one time.”
“One time that you got caught.”
Arizona blushed and looked away.
Sloan laughed. “I knew it.”
***
“Why did I agree to get food with you again?” Arizona questioned with a pout as they walked down the hall toward the cafeteria.
Mark chuckled from his spot next to her. “‘Cause I'm ‘awesome’ and the only man you could ever love this much.”
Arizona’s automatic response was a dramatic eye roll. “Oh yes, of course, how could I forget.” She really, really wanted a nap, but Mark was annoyingly persistent, and she was not up for resisting today. Her mind was still on Callie’s test results and what they would show when they came back later in the day.
It was a long shot of a chance, a match between her and Anna, but if it was…well, Arizona didn’t know whether to be relieved for the little girl or worried for Callie.
“I’m tired,” Arizona pouted. “You suck for waking me up.”
Mark was just about to respond, with another smartass comment no doubt, when his gaze was suddenly drawn to the other end of the hallway. “Ooh,” he growled as he focused in. “Hello nurse,” he whistled low as he watched a woman walked in their direction.
A very hot woman. Who also happened to be a nurse.
And hot.
Mark's smirk widened as he watched her slowly coming towards them. He subtly leaned toward the other surgeon. “Those should be registered as concealed weapons.”
Arizona wasn’t paying attention to a word Mark said.
Her eyes were firmly glued to the brown-eyed, brunette beauty at the end of the hall.
A slow, lazy smile crossed her face. “She’s definitely new here.”
Mark didn’t take his eyes off the nurse, as he and Arizona both subtly stopped walking in the middle of the hallway and just kind of…watched. “How do you know?”
“I would’ve remembered those - er, her,” Arizona quickly corrected. “If I’d seen them - her before.”
Mark's smirk grew. “I like new things.”
Arizona nodded slowly. “New is good.”
Both surgeons were so distracted, that they didn't even notice when the nurse had finally made it just a few feet in front of them.
“Dr. Robbins?” The woman smiled as she reached up to brush a strand of brown hair behind her ear. “Dr. Sloan?”
Arizona was the first to snap out of it. She elbowed Mark hard in the side.
“Yes,” Mark suddenly replied. He cleared his throat. “Yes. I am him.” He paused a moment with a slight nod of his head. “I'm...Dr. Sloan.” He slowly smiled, his eyes raking over the nurse's form. “But you can call me-”
“I'm Arizona,” the pediatric surgeon suddenly cut in before he could finish that sentence. She didn't trust him not to embarrass them both.
He was Mark, after all.
The nurse smiled as she looked from one set of blue eyes to another. “Carmen. Carmen Rodriguez.”
“Nurse Carmen,” Mark repeated slowly, his patented sexy-Sloan eyes kicking in.
Arizona elbowed him again. “Hi,” she quickly cut in before Mark could say anything else. She stuck her hand out and shook Carmen’s. “Nice to meet you.”
Carmen Rodriguez shook the doctor's hand, looking back and forth from Arizona to Mark. “Thanks, you too. Both.” Her gaze turned back to meet Arizona’s more full on. “I just wanted to introduce myself to you, I’m going to be your new scrub nurse for the next few weeks. Chief Shepherd told me you were wanting someone with experience in peds surgery, which I did in Portland before moving to Seattle.”
“Oh, that was…good of him,” Arizona nodded politely, the side of her mouth twitching. She could feel Mark shifting impatiently beside her, and then realized that she and ‘Nurse Carmen’ were still shaking hands. Clearing her throat, Arizona dropped hers back to her side. “So, it was…nice to meet you. And I’ll…see you in surgery.”
“Definitely.” Carmen looked over at Mark with another bright, gorgeous smile. “Dr. Sloan, it was nice meeting you, too.”
With that, she continued on by them, unaware that both doctors pivoted on the spot to watch her go.
Mark's eyes glazed over as they dropped further down on the nurse's retreating form. He had just opened his mouth to comment, when Arizona cut him off in a low voice.
“Great ass.”
Mark's eyes widened a little as he slowly turned them to the woman standing next to him. “Robbins,” he chuckled. “I'm impressed.”
Arizona turned to him with a smug expression. “I’ve been a lesbian a lot longer than you, Mark,” she teased, before her attention was glued back on Carmen’s…back.
Both surgeons tilted their heads a bit until she disappeared around the corner.
“I am so getting her number,” Mark muttered under his breath.
Which made Arizona snort. “Oh, Marky Mark. I don’t think that’s happening any time soon. You see the way she was smiling at me?” She looked over at the taller man with a pointed stare. “I think we both know I have a much better chance at getting her number than you do. Not to mention she’s my new scrub nurse.” Arizona bounced a little on her wheely shoes. “Remind me to get Derek something nice for Christmas.”
Mark narrowed his eyes. “No way you'll get her number before me.” He turned to glance down the hall, but the nurse was long gone. “She didn't give off that vibe. How do you even know-”
“Oh, she was vibin',” Arizona cut in, smirking as her own blue eyes followed the nurse's path. “I was definitely feelin' those vibes.”
Mark was quiet for a long moment as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Bet me.”
Arizona arched a brow as she turned to look at the other surgeon. “What's that?”
“Bet me,” Mark repeated, his smirk slowly returning. “If you can get her number before me...” He trailed off as he tried to think of the best way to get Robbins to agree.
The pediatric surgeon was staring back at him in amusement. “You honestly think you have anything I wan-”
“Torres.”
Arizona's brow arched even higher. “What about her?”
Mark watched her carefully. “That picture of her I have in my bedroom. The one you've been bugging me to have for-”
Arizona's smugness faded as she reached up to brush back a strand of loose blonde hair.
Mark instantly realized his mistake. “I'm sorry, Robbins. It's my brain. It doesn't always connect with my mouth.”
Arizona shook her head. “It's okay.” Just the thought of Callie was enough to make her want to cry and scream all at once.
But that picture.
It was of Callie on the boardwalk, her hands draped over the railing as she stared out at the ocean. There must have been a perfect wind just as the photo was snapped, because her dark brown hair was blowing softly in the late evening Seattle breeze.
And she was smiling That Smile.
There really wasn't much Arizona wouldn't give to have that picture. Especially now.
A copy just wouldn't do the beauty of it justice.
“Okay,” Arizona finally relented. Her eyes narrowed at the other doctor. “And if you win?”
Mark’s smile was priceless. “You get back together with Torres and have babies.”
Arizona’s amusement instantly vanished to be replaced with a much more stern glare. “I am not agreeing to that. Seriously Mark. You’re asking me to bet on a child’s life? Really?”
Mark’s smirk faltered. “Um…”
The blonde woman continued to stare him down, her brow ticking. “You know damn well I’d be with Callie if I could, but I can’t, so…pick something else. Something doable.”
Mark started to open his mouth, but was cut off before he could utter a single word.
“No, you cannot watch at any point or time. Ever. Ever. Pervert. Now pick something else.”
Mark's expression fell. “You're not making this very fun.”
Arizona reached out to smack him in the chest.
Mark jerked away from the slap, laughing. He was quiet for a moment as he stared at the other blonde.
Arizona started to feel a little uneasy. “Sloan?”
“I got it,” Mark suddenly answered. “If I win, and I will,” he paused to add. “When I win, you have to kiss...” He glanced down the hall at the various people miling around, and his smirked widened. “Yang.”
Arizona gaped at him.
“What are you, eight years old? I get a photo, and you get to humiliate me publicly?”
Mark suddenly grinned wider. “Hey, in public. That’s now another requirement.”
Arizona groaned. “Fine.” Only because she knew she’d win. “But I get the photo and you have to kiss Derek. On the lips. In public.” It was her turn to smirk. “Also, no cheating and just outright asking her for her number, she has to give it up voluntarily, of her own will. Same goes for me.”
“No way,” Mark denied. “No frikken' way am I kissing Shepherd...anywhere. That's like kissing my brother.”
“Sorry, Sloan,” Arizona shot back, shaking her head a she released a breath. “That's the deal breaker. It's kiss McDreamy, or...” She trailed off with another slight shake of her head.
If Mark was gonna act like an eight year old, so was she. Apparently.
Mark whined as he shifted from one foot to the other.
Oh. This was too much fun, Arizona mused to herself.
“Fine,” Sloan finally, reluctantly, agreed. His smirk started to return as he extended his hand to seal the deal. “But I'm not worried. There's no way you're gonna get it before me.”
“Oh, you underestimate my charm,” Arizona pointed out with a confident smirk of her own. “I used to have the ladies lining for a ride on the Arizona train. Even the ones that thought they were straight. Which nurse McHotty is definitely not.”
“Key words, used to,” Mark shot back. “Meaning before you got…old.” He grinned once more. He was teasing, after all - Robbins was pretty hot. But he wasn’t about to tell her that and land himself kissing Derek.
Bleh.
Eyeing each other up for a tense moment, they shook hands.
At the same time, Mark and Arizona started back in the direction they had been coming from. The direction this Carmen Rodriguez woman had disappeared to.
Gradually, both of their footsteps picked up, until they were jogging down the hall. A door opened and Mark nearly smacked into it, while Arizona kept going around the corner ahead of him.
The blonde caught a glimpse of Carmen at the end of the far hallway, but right then Callie appeared out from behind the admin desk and they literally smacked into each other.
Arizona stumbled and whirled around to face her ex-girlfriend, catching herself against the desk.
Mark was about to pass her.
Dammit.
In desperation, she stuck her foot out and caught him, causing him to trip forward and literally crash into Derek Shepherd.
This was going to be a long, hard-fought competition.
Derek steadied Mark by the arms, and then stared at him like he had grown a second head. “You two in a hurry somewhere?”
“No,” they both replied a little too quickly, at the exact same time.
Derek looked at Callie for an explanation, and then back to Mark. “Burn victim coming in. Gonna need your help right away.”
Arizona couldn’t fight the big grin she beamed at Mark. “Yeah, Sloan, you don’t wanna forgo your work duties. You took an oath as a physician after all. Shame on you for even thinking it.”
Mark lifted a finger in the blonde's direction. “She's got a kid on life support!”
Derek arched a dark brow as he looked from his best friend to Arizona, and then back again. “Is there something you two would like to share with the class?”
Callie was standing by, her eyes narrowed as she glared at her best friend.
Because she just knew Mark a little too well.
“Dr. Robbins?” Derek turned to the other surgeon when Mark remained silent.
Callie turned to stare at her ex as well.
Arizona narrowed her eyes at Mark, but still managed to smirk subtly at him. “Kid on life support means there’s nothing more I can do. You, you need to save a burn victim. Which means you need to leave. Nowish.”
She ignored the fact that both Callie and Derek were looking back and forth between the two of them like they were nuts.
Mark growled at Arizona. “This isn’t over, Robbins.”
Smiling brightly at him, Arizona stuck her hands in her lab coat pockets, turned on the spot, and wheely-shoed in the other direction.
Callie narrowed her gaze at her best friend. “It better not be illegal.” Whatever it was he'd gotten Arizona into. She didn't need to say that part, but they both knew she was thinking it.
“Arizona!” she called after her ex. “Wait up!”
Callie jogged a few feet to catch up with the blonde. She smiled as she reached out to gently grab her by the elbow. “What was that all about?” she questioned as her smile faltered.
Something told her she probably wasn't going to like the answer.
Arizona did a little wheel-about when Callie grabbed her by the arm. “Uh…”
She tried not to look guilty.
There was nothing to be guilty about. Right?
It was all just…innocent. Something to take her mind off of Callie. And a chance to embarrass Mark Sloan publically.
She glanced behind her to see that the hallway was now empty, and Nurse McHotty was nowhere to be found.
Sigh.
Arizona turned her gaze back to her ex-girlfriend, finding herself unable to tell the truth, and offered a shaky smile instead.
“It’s…technically top secret, so I can’t say, but…what I can tell you is that when I win, Mark Sloan is going to publically and oh-so-wonderfully embarrass himself, which is just...awesome.” She chuckled.
Callie's eyes once again narrowed at the blonde. “Arizona Robbins,” she warned as she dropped the other woman's elbow to cross her arms over her chest. She didn't say another word as she just...glared.
Arizona fidgeted nervously under it. Callie knew she didn't handle intimidation well. Or lying.
She was a really, really bad liar.
Callie finally relented with a sigh. “It's not illegal, is it?” she asked softly as her glare faltered. She didn't want to force Arizona to tell her, but that didn't stop her from worrying all the same. She was kind of curious, but still wanted to respect Arizona's right not to tell her.
It's not like she was obligated to or anything. Not anymore.
“No,” Arizona replied with a shake of her head. “Please, me? Illegal? I’m like the worst liar in the world. I couldn’t get away with smuggling puppies across the border, which is odd and probably harder than it sounds, but…no it’s not illegal. Just humiliating. For both of us, depending on what…”
Arizona bit her lip, suddenly dealing with a huge wave of guilt that came crashing over her. She knew that this whole thing was harmless, but telling your recent ex-girlfriend about your attempts to get another woman’s phone number just seemed…wrong. And it’s not like hot nurse lady meant anything to her, while Callie still meant everything.
If they were still together, Callie would have found it amusing, and probably would have joined in. But they weren’t, and now it could just get awkward.
She was trying to distract herself, and Mark was providing a decent distraction. That was it.
Clearing her throat awkwardly, Arizona glanced down. “So, did um…did your results come back yet?”
Callie didn't answer right away. Her eyes narrowed once again as she stared a hole through the other woman. “Hmm. Mm-hm.” She knew what Arizona was trying to do.
Avoid.
Which meant one of two things.
Or, both.
One, she really wasn't gonna like the answer.
And two, Arizona felt guilty about...whatever it was.
Callie pretty much didn't care for either.
“‘Mm-hm’ yes?” Arizona really hated being stared down like that, especially when it was Callie. She had no backbone when it came to the other woman guilt-tripping her. “Calliope, please. Did you get the results back yet or not?”
For good measure, she pouted to the best of her ability.
And threw in some sad puppy-dog eyes for good measure.
“Yes,” Callie instantly answered. “But that's not the issue right now. I don't wanna sound like the nosy, stalker-like ex-girlfriend here,” she started as she swallowed back. It was just killing her inside. “But what are you up to with Mark Sloan? You don't know him like I do, Arizona. That man should come with a warning label.”
Arizona did her best to hold up, but after a tense few seconds, she crumpled under her ex-girlfriend’s glare.
“Okay, fine,” she huffed, her shoulders slumping. “But promise you won’t judge me, and yes, I am aware that I’m rivaling the behavior of a twelve year old boy.”
Pouting some more, Arizona looked down and scuffed her shoe on the ground. “Mark and I bet on who can get a new nurse’s phone number first. But it means nothing, Callie, I swear to you. Mark is just being a giant ass and needs to be taken down a peg or two, which I plan to make happen when I get it first.” She started to smile, but stopped just as quickly when she once again remembered it was Callie she was talking to. “But it really, really means nothing. She means nothing to me. It’s just a fun…thing. A distraction. Okay?” She bit her lip and looked back up into Callie’s eyes, really hoping she wasn’t going to find them full of hurt.
But they were.
A little.
Callie was quiet for a long moment. “So you're gonna use your sexy, irresistible charms to seduce some poor, unsuspecting woman into your grasp, only to tell her it was all just a 'distraction'?” She was kinda smiling as she said it, but it was still killing her softly inside.
Arizona was caught off guard. She opened her mouth, let it hover that way for a long moment, and then closed it again, furrowing her brow. “Okay but…when you say it like that, it just sounds mean.”
Well, now she felt a little bad.
“Wait...” Callie frowned. “Who is she?”
“Um…” Arizona debated lying again, but knew that wouldn’t do her any good. “My…new…scrub nurse…that…Derek ordered…kind of…”
Callie's eyes widened. “Your new scrub nurse?” she repeated as she reached out to slap her ex's shoulder with the file folder that she was holding. “Unprofessional much?” she scolded with a slight scoff. She sighed, and then shook her head. “This. This is what I get for letting you hang out with Mark Sloan.” Callie shook her head with another sigh.
“I’m sorry,” Arizona whined, her shoulders slumping. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. I don’t know why.”
Stupid Sloan and his stupid ideas.
If she didn’t want that picture so damn badly…
“He started it,” she added sullenly, feeling very much like a scolded elementary school student.
Callie finally relented with a small laugh. She was still shaking her head as her gaze locked with the other woman's. “What am I gonna do with you?” On instinct, she reached out to brush her thumb along Arizona's bottom lip. Her eyes followed the path of her thumb.
Because that pout was just so damn cute.
Then, she suddenly realized her mistake.
Callie quickly dropped her hand away, blushing in embarrassment as she turned to glance down the hall. Her eyes narrowed.
She was gonna get Mark Sloan for this. One way or another.
On the contrary, Callie’s little touch made Arizona’s heart do flip-flops in her chest, and it made her smile. She could think of many, many things Calliope Torres could do with her.
None of which were appropriate to name out loud.
“Mark has to publically kiss Derek if-slash-when he loses.”
That made Callie look up.
Arizona smiled sheepishly. “That’s the part where I come out of this with the maturity level of a twelve year old boy, in case you were wondering.”
Callie laughed. Kinda loud. “Oh, that's priceless.” She turned her gaze to glance back down the hall where the Chief of Surgery was quietly talking with Owen Hunt.
“You shoulda made him kiss Hunt,” Callie smirked. “Ooh!” she squealed as she quickly turned her gaze back to her ex. “Or Yang. 'Cause that's just-” She stopped abruptly when she noticed the look on the blonde's face. Her smile vanished in an instant. “What?” she questioned, a little panicked. “Arizona?”
The other surgeon still didn't respond, only turned her gaze down the hall where Derek and Owen were still talking.
“Arizona!”
The blonde surgeon closed her eyes. “I hate Mark Sloan.”
---
Chapter 7/23
Authors: Faith & Kye
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Rating: NC-17
Story Summary: Post-6x17 "Push" -- Arizona prefers chickens to children, and Callie isn't okay with that. Heartbroken and lonely, the two women try unsuccessfully to move on with their lives, only to find they really are made for eachother.
Chapter Summary: Callie gets emotionally involved, and Mark Sloan tries to "distract" 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.
Previous Chapters
Note: The role of Carmen has been cast as Sarah Shahi. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1083404/ , just FYI.
---
The next three days were some of the hardest in Arizona’s life. Not only were she and Derek at odds when it came to Danielle’s case and how soon they should go back in - or, according to Derek, if they should go back in - but Arizona couldn’t even avoid contact with Callie until the initial pain of separation wore off. They were working together almost every day on Anna’s case, and it was excruciating.
Lexi or Bailey were always with them, whether on purpose or by coincidence she had no idea. So it remained very professional and civil, but that didn’t make it any easier to be around one another.
Arizona pushed open the door to the small conference room they were working in, expecting to find Bailey still sitting at the table. She was focused on the sheets of paper in her hands. “Still no match from the Donor Registry, and if I call again they’re just gonna hang up-”
She stopped two feet into the room and blinked at Mark Sloan, who sat with his feet up on the table while he ate an apple. “Oh. You’re…not Bailey. Where’d she go?”
Mark smirked. “She went home.”
Arizona lifted an eyebrow in disbelief. “Home?” she repeated slowly. “Bailey has a...home?”
Mark chuckled as he took another bite. “I know. Twilight Zone.” He chewed, watching the blonde intently. “Y'know something, I'm proud of you.”
Arizona gave a wry smirk. “Oh?”
“Yeah,” Mark went on as he finally dropped his feet from the table to sit up in his chair. “It's been three days, and I haven't seen or heard anything...'inappropriate' from you or Torres.”
Arizona's smile faltered, and then slowly shifted into a frown.
The door behind her suddenly opened and a very animated Calliope Torres walked in. She had a cell phone pressed tightly against her ear.
“No, you don't understand,” she barked into the device. “I don't care if you don't have anyone else. Find someone!” She paused, listening to the voice on the other line. Her eyes widened and she threw a hand in the air. “How many have-” Her eyes widened even more. “Oh.” Her hand dropped back to her side.
Arizona winced a little for Callie’s sake when the brunette dropped the phone back into her pocket. “Hung up on you too, huh?”
Mark took another bite from his apple, flipping a page in his book without paying too much attention to it. “The guy probably has a wife at home nagging at him, I doubt he wants to listen to two bossy surgeons push him around while he’s at work.”
Arizona rolled her eyes and pulled out a chair for Callie, before sliding into the one next to it herself. “If they’d do their damn job,” she mumbled, snatching the book away from Mark. “Getting a three year old to sit still and be careful is damn near impossible. We’ve got a rotating shift of nurses keeping an eye on her so she doesn’t re-break something while we wait for a donor and her leg heals up a little more. The dad’s gonna have a helluva time once he takes her home.”
Callie was motionless in her seat, her eyes trained on the table in silence.
Mark took another bite of his apple as he looked over to his best friend. “What's with her?” he asked with a pause mid-chew. He motioned with the piece of fruit at the silent form.
Arizona looked over. “Calliope?”
“Fuck it,” Callie spoke up unexpectedly, smacking her hand down on the table. Arizona jumped a little.
“I'm getting tested,” she added after a moment. “Today.”
Arizona creased her browline. “But…you’re not AB negative.”
Callie shot her a look. “I am.”
Arizona’s eyebrow then shot upward. “Since when?”
“My guess?” Mark interrupted. “Since she was born.”
Both women shot him a dirty look.
Arizona looked back at her ex-girlfriend. “Are you sure about this?”
Callie smiled a bit shakily. “Sure I'm sure.” She swallowed back as she subconsciously rubbed at her arm. “It's just a blood test, right? No biggie.”
It wasn't the blood she was worried about. She was a surgeon, after all.
No, it was what would happen after. If she was a match.
Or worse. If she wasn't.
Callie just didn't think she could take any more disappointments in her life right now.
Mark and Arizona shared a look, but it was Mark who spoke first.
“Torres…” He watched her carefully. “You know that as much as you might want to…you can’t donate part of your body every time a patient needs it, right? Blood is one thing, but marrow and organs -”
“I’m not donating any organs, Mark,” Callie shot back angrily.
“I know.” He held up his hands in a surrendering gesture. “I know that. I just want to make sure you aren’t gonna start feeling responsible every time a patient in this hospital has a hard time getting a match on the list. These things take time, and if every one of us donated something every time we felt the obligation…there wouldn’t be anything more than a pile of limbs left in the end. There’s only so many times and things you can give until you run out of spare parts.”
Callie suddenly slammed her hand down onto the table again. “Mark, would you just...just...” She struggled to find the right word. “...shut up!” She took a moment to calm herself. Mark knew how much she hated being told what to do.
She was a big girl. If she wanted to get tested as a possible bone marrow donor, then, dammit...she would.
Besides, it wasn't just any patient. It was Anna.
Cute. Sweet. Adorable.
Helpless little Anna.
Callie knew it wasn't normal to feel so...attached. That was the good thing about ortho. No tiny little people to get attached to, for the most part.
The brunette dared a glance in her ex's direction. She really didn't know how Arizona did it day, after day, after day. She was kinda, maybe starting to understand why the blonde didn't want kids.
But only a little.
‘Cause with all the bad stuff...for every one you lose...
There's always one you can save.
Anna was one that Callie was determined she could help, one way or another.
Mark sighed. “Callie-”
“I think she’s made up her mind, Sloan,” Arizona cut in. She smiled softly at Callie. “You know as well as anyone there’s no way to change it.”
“Okay, okay, I get the point,” Mark caved with a sigh. “Sorry, I’ll shut up now. But if you start donating kidneys, we’re having an intervention.”
***
Callie's shoe tapped nervously against the foot of the transfusion chair as she glanced around. Her lab coat was off, discarded over the back as she held her left arm stretched out on the arm rest. Her sleeve was rolled up past her elbow.
“Are you really sure about this?” Arizona suddenly asked from her spot next to the brunette.
Callie's gaze shifted to her right. She smiled. “Have I ever lied to you?”
Arizona thought about it for a moment. “You...told me you weren’t scared of heights, and when I took you to Sky City for dinner you almost threw up on my shoes.” She fixed the reclined form with a pointed stare.
Callie laughed. “That was one time. And it so doesn't count. Besides, I got over that pretty fast.” She turned her attention to the approaching nurse and her smile faltered. On instinct, she reached out with her right hand to grasp the blonde's.
It's not that she was afraid of needles. She just really didn't like pain. In fact, she avoided it whenever she could.
Needles are sharp. Sharp against skin equaled pain.
Callie's hand squeezed around her ex's.
Arizona’s hand instantly squeezed right back, running her thumb soothingly along the back of Callie’s. “You’ll be okay,” she said quietly with a reassuring smile.
Her gaze flickered over to the young nurse, who was checking and rechecking her supplies. “Everything okay there?”
The young girl looked up with a nervous smile. “Yeah, o-of course. I’m just a little new at this, want to make sure -”
“Oh hell no,” Callie interrupted. “You’re not touchin’ me. Nooo sir. I want someone else.”
The nurse look a little crestfallen. “I can do it, I’m just…”
Arizona smiled to herself and stood up from her chair, giving Callie’s hand another reassuring squeeze before releasing it. “Here. I’ll take care of it.” She walked around to the other side of the chair. When her back was to Callie and she was facing the girl, she murmured beneath her breath. “For your own well being, run away.”
She knew Callie could be…ornery when she was scared.
The nurse finally relented and went to help the next patient, and Arizona grabbed a pair of latex gloves from the box on the table, smirking over at Callie. “You gonna be mean to me, too?”
Callie smiled as she nervously shifted in the chair. “I dunno,” she answered honestly as she watched her ex-girlfriend. She really hated pain. She swallowed back thickly when she saw the blonde rip open the packaging of the sterile needle. Suddenly, it occured to her that having an ex-girlfriend come at her with a needle might not be the smartest thing she had ever done.
“You know I still love you, right?” Callie suddenly blurted.
Arizona blinked in surprise and look back at Callie with a slightly raised brow.
It took a lot of willpower not to laugh at the adorably frightened look on her face.
“Yes, I’m aware,” she teased, setting everything up that she would need as she spoke, and then going on to disinfect Callie’s arm.
“You know, I do this all the time,” she said casually, trying her best to ease the woman’s fears. “Kids tend not to trust strange nurses that appear out of nowhere to poke them with needles, so a lot of the time I’ll draw their blood work myself. Which means I’m very good at it,” she added with a teasing smirk.
“Not the only thing you're very good at,” Callie mumbled as she slowly smiled to herself.
Arizona's hand suddenly froze and Callie realized she'd been caught.
“Uhh,” she stalled as she quickly jerked her eyes up to meet the blue gaze staring back at her. She swallowed back with a forced, tense laugh.
“Torres?”
Oh thank Jesus.
This was one time that Callie was actually happy to see Cristina Yang.
“Sloan told me what you're doing,” Cristina went on as she walked up next to the brunette. “Have you completely lost your mind?”
“No,” Callie shot back automatically.
“Yep,” Arizona spoke at the exact same time.
Callie whipped her head around to glare at Arizona. “What? You didn’t say anything downstairs when Mark was all ‘you can’t do this’!”
“That’s because I knew it was pointless,” Arizona replied with a wry smirk. “Doesn’t mean I won’t help him with his intervention banner if you start donating organs every time someone needs one.”
“It's not an organ!” Callie shouted in annoyance.
Cristina jumped a little. “Geez,” she grumbled as she glanced around. “What kinda juice they servin' in this place?”
Callie shot her a glare before turning her attention to her ex. “It's bone marrow, Arizona,” she explained as calmly as she could. “Not a kidney. Besides, we don't even know if I'll match.”
“I know,” Arizona replied softly, meeting Callie’s eyes with a warm smile. “For the record, I also think it’s unbelievably selfless, what you’re doing. You’re amazing, Calliope.”
Callie looked up and met Arizona’s deep blue eyes. They shared one of those long, lingering looks that had been happening repeatedly since their ‘official-official version two-point-oh’ break up several days before.
Or was it ‘three-point-oh’...she’d lost track by now.
While Callie had been distracted by Cristina, Arizona had disinfected and tied off her left arm. She took the opportunity of Callie being relaxed and calm to slip the needle easily into her vein.
“Take it easy,” she soothed immediately, her experienced hands expertly working the test valves and switching them once they filled up one by one.
Callie was still smiling, lost in the other woman's blue eyes. And the shine of her soft, blonde hair. And the sound of her sweet, soothing voice. And the way those dimples flashed whenever she smiled.
“Hm? What?” Callie murmured distractedly.
Yang rolled her eyes. “Oh, for...” She reached out to smack the orthopedic surgeon. “Stop making googley eyes for five seconds.” She pointed. “There's a giant needle sticking out of your arm.”
Callie's hazy eyes slowly shifted down, and then suddenly widened. “Holy crap!”
“Yang!” Arizona scolded when she felt her ex jerk in her grasp. “Get lost!”
Cristina sighed, rolling her eyes as she turned to walk away.
“You two deserve each other!” she called back over her shoulder as she reached out to snag a cookie from a passing tray.
Callie was panicking a little as she watched the latest vile fill up with her blood. The fingers of her free hand bit down against the armrest of the chair.
It wasn't the sight of blood. But more the sight of her blood.
“We’re almost done here. Just a few more seconds.” The blonde surgeon glanced down and switched the valves to the second last one.
“Calliope,” Arizona spoke sharply, tilting her head until she got the brunette’s attention back up on her. She could tell by the sudden extreme paleness and slightly nauseous expression on her face that Callie was not feeling good.
“Look at me,” she instructed firmly, but kindly. “Do you remember what else happened when we went to Sky City?” She was doing her best to distract the other woman.
Arizona really didn’t want to clean puke off of her only pair of clean scrubs.
Callie was still clearly panicked, but the sudden memory brought a quick smile across her lips. She nodded as her grip on the chair slackened. “Yeah,” she whispered softly as more of the memory came back to her.
Slowly, her entire body began to relax.
“We ate lobster and watched the city as the Needle spun for hours.” Her smile grew even softer, and a small laugh rumbled up from her chest. “Then we went bowling and ate nachos and drank really, really bad beer.” Her eyes met the soft blue gaze of the other woman. “Then you got really sick and threw up in the rented shoes.”
Arizona laughed, nodding as she remembered.
Callie's smile faltered. She suddenly felt a very new sensation overtake her body. “T-Then,” she went on, her voice much softer now. “Then we went home and had a two hour bubble-bath.” Callie cleared her throat, but never took her gaze from the other woman's. “Then we made love until neither of us could move...”
Arizona’s amused facial expression was completely gone by that point, replaced by a more nostalgic one. She hadn’t meant for that part of the story to come up.
Not that she had forgotten it had happened. That last part was something that was seriously impossible to forget. But she had been aiming to distract Callie with memories of their drunken bowling and nacho eating competition.
Not drag up painful, nostalgic memories of what was in the past, and not in their future.
“It was fun,” Arizona responded lightly after a few seconds of silence, purposely avoiding Callie’s gaze as she pulled out the needle and set about pressing a cotton ball against the mark. “Except for the part about the puke.”
Callie laughed softly. “Yeah, that didn't look very fun.” She sighed again, shaking her head as the many images of that night came flooding back to her.
Sexy images.
The brunette shifted a bit nervously in the chair as she swallowed and then cleared her throat.
Those were not the kind of thoughts she needed to be having at the moment.
The kind of thoughts that weren't exactly gonna help her head, or her heart, to finally accept that things were really and truly...
Over.
Thoughts that made her think about how much she wanted to kiss Arizona again, break up be damned.
Callie cleared her throat softly once more as she watched her ex place a piece of sterile tape across the cotton ball. “Thanks, Arizona,” she offered gently as she finally lifted her gaze to meet those soft blue eyes.
And she instantly fell in love all over again.
Dammit.
She was really bad at this.
“Any time.” Arizona didn’t let the look linger too long, because she knew where it would lead. She quickly labeled the tubes with the correct information and then stripped off her gloves. “We’re done here,” she informed the nurse. “I need you to make sure these results are fast-tracked, okay? And if the king of the lab has problems with that request, tell him it’s not actually a request and get him to call me.”
Arizona then grabbed a cookie and some juice from the passing nurse, and shoved them in Callie’s face. “Now eat. You’re starting to look even paler than me.”
Callie laughed softly as she reached up to accept the offered sustenance. “You're not pale,” she reasoned as she raised the juice box to her lips. ”You're just...'pigmentally challenged'.”
The juice was cold and tasted sweet. It was her favorite, apple.
Callie smiled, her tongue slipping out to slide along the straw as she thought about another taste that was...sweet.
“Gee,” Arizona deadpanned. “Just what a girl always dreams of hearing from her-” She stopped midsentence, fishing for a word. “-f-friend.” It sounded weird as it rolled off of her tongue. Of course she wanted to say girlfriend, but that didn’t technically apply anymore.
Technically.
Frowning, Arizona pushed Callie’s legs over a little so she could sit on the edge of the transfusion chair while the brunette ate her cookie. “We’re…friends, right?” She licked her lips, frowning thoughtfully. “I mean, it’s still…we’ve still got…but we’re going to be friends, right?” The blonde fixed her gaze on Callie intently.
Callie took a slow, calculated bite of her cookie. She pulled it from her lips, waving it a little with her fingers outstretched in the air. “This isn't gonna turn into one of those 'it wasn't you, it was me, so let's always be friends'...things. Is it?” She was smiling a little as she chewed.
Arizona sighed, but wore a small smile of her own.
“Yes, Arizona,” Callie supplied before the blonde had a chance to react. “We're always gonna be friends.” She reached out with her non-cookie-filled hand to place it gently on the other woman's knee.
It was a purely innocent, 'friend-like' touch. But the deep shiver that ran up the back of Callie's spine just confirmed what she already knew.
There was no way in hell they were ever gonna be 'just friends'.
No frikken' way.
***
“You two did it again, didn’t you?”
Arizona looked up to find Mark Sloan leaning against the door frame of the on-call room she was trying to have a nap in.
It felt like she never went home sometimes.
“Did…what?” She pushed herself up onto her right elbow, blinking tiredly over at Mark from her spot on the bed.
“You and Torres. You came back from her blood test looking all…cheerful. You played ‘dirty mistresses’ in a closet again, didn’t you?”
Arizona rolled her eyes. “I am not a dirty mistress, Mark,” she growled, her irritation only inflated by her pure exhaustion. “And no, we didn’t, for your information. We’re…friends. That’s it. No more on-call rooms or supply closets.”
Mark snorted as he pushed himself off of the doorframe to make his way into the room. “Please,” he smirked. “As if I haven't heard that one before.” He paused, frowning a little. “As if I haven't said that one before.” He shook his head again, sighing as he walked over to fall down heavily onto the bed next to Arizona’s. He propped his feet up as he reclined back against the wall, folding his arms behind his head.
“Yep,” he continued to muse. “I remember 'that one' well...”
A pillow promptly smacked him in the face and then fell into his lap.
But Mark was still smirking.
“You might have the self control of a two year old in a candy store when it comes to having sex with women, but I, I am much better than that, Mark Sloan. I can not have sex with women any time I want to. Specifically with Callie.”
Arizona groaned as she pushed herself up into a sitting position on the bed, since it was clear she wouldn’t be getting any sleep any time soon. “We officially…officially ended it, so…no more sex. Just…friend stuff. Like talking. And saying hi when we pass each other in the hall. And…taking blood samples when incompetent nurses incur the ‘Wrath of Torres’. Friend stuff, like that.”
Mark kept his smirk, his eyes trained on the ceiling. “Say whatever you want, Robbins,” he teased as his blue eyes shifted toward the other blonde. “But we all know it's just a matter of time before one of us catches you in the nearest supply closet.”
Arizona sighed as she adjusted her scrub top. “That was one time.”
“One time that you got caught.”
Arizona blushed and looked away.
Sloan laughed. “I knew it.”
***
“Why did I agree to get food with you again?” Arizona questioned with a pout as they walked down the hall toward the cafeteria.
Mark chuckled from his spot next to her. “‘Cause I'm ‘awesome’ and the only man you could ever love this much.”
Arizona’s automatic response was a dramatic eye roll. “Oh yes, of course, how could I forget.” She really, really wanted a nap, but Mark was annoyingly persistent, and she was not up for resisting today. Her mind was still on Callie’s test results and what they would show when they came back later in the day.
It was a long shot of a chance, a match between her and Anna, but if it was…well, Arizona didn’t know whether to be relieved for the little girl or worried for Callie.
“I’m tired,” Arizona pouted. “You suck for waking me up.”
Mark was just about to respond, with another smartass comment no doubt, when his gaze was suddenly drawn to the other end of the hallway. “Ooh,” he growled as he focused in. “Hello nurse,” he whistled low as he watched a woman walked in their direction.
A very hot woman. Who also happened to be a nurse.
And hot.
Mark's smirk widened as he watched her slowly coming towards them. He subtly leaned toward the other surgeon. “Those should be registered as concealed weapons.”
Arizona wasn’t paying attention to a word Mark said.
Her eyes were firmly glued to the brown-eyed, brunette beauty at the end of the hall.
A slow, lazy smile crossed her face. “She’s definitely new here.”
Mark didn’t take his eyes off the nurse, as he and Arizona both subtly stopped walking in the middle of the hallway and just kind of…watched. “How do you know?”
“I would’ve remembered those - er, her,” Arizona quickly corrected. “If I’d seen them - her before.”
Mark's smirk grew. “I like new things.”
Arizona nodded slowly. “New is good.”
Both surgeons were so distracted, that they didn't even notice when the nurse had finally made it just a few feet in front of them.
“Dr. Robbins?” The woman smiled as she reached up to brush a strand of brown hair behind her ear. “Dr. Sloan?”
Arizona was the first to snap out of it. She elbowed Mark hard in the side.
“Yes,” Mark suddenly replied. He cleared his throat. “Yes. I am him.” He paused a moment with a slight nod of his head. “I'm...Dr. Sloan.” He slowly smiled, his eyes raking over the nurse's form. “But you can call me-”
“I'm Arizona,” the pediatric surgeon suddenly cut in before he could finish that sentence. She didn't trust him not to embarrass them both.
He was Mark, after all.
The nurse smiled as she looked from one set of blue eyes to another. “Carmen. Carmen Rodriguez.”
“Nurse Carmen,” Mark repeated slowly, his patented sexy-Sloan eyes kicking in.
Arizona elbowed him again. “Hi,” she quickly cut in before Mark could say anything else. She stuck her hand out and shook Carmen’s. “Nice to meet you.”
Carmen Rodriguez shook the doctor's hand, looking back and forth from Arizona to Mark. “Thanks, you too. Both.” Her gaze turned back to meet Arizona’s more full on. “I just wanted to introduce myself to you, I’m going to be your new scrub nurse for the next few weeks. Chief Shepherd told me you were wanting someone with experience in peds surgery, which I did in Portland before moving to Seattle.”
“Oh, that was…good of him,” Arizona nodded politely, the side of her mouth twitching. She could feel Mark shifting impatiently beside her, and then realized that she and ‘Nurse Carmen’ were still shaking hands. Clearing her throat, Arizona dropped hers back to her side. “So, it was…nice to meet you. And I’ll…see you in surgery.”
“Definitely.” Carmen looked over at Mark with another bright, gorgeous smile. “Dr. Sloan, it was nice meeting you, too.”
With that, she continued on by them, unaware that both doctors pivoted on the spot to watch her go.
Mark's eyes glazed over as they dropped further down on the nurse's retreating form. He had just opened his mouth to comment, when Arizona cut him off in a low voice.
“Great ass.”
Mark's eyes widened a little as he slowly turned them to the woman standing next to him. “Robbins,” he chuckled. “I'm impressed.”
Arizona turned to him with a smug expression. “I’ve been a lesbian a lot longer than you, Mark,” she teased, before her attention was glued back on Carmen’s…back.
Both surgeons tilted their heads a bit until she disappeared around the corner.
“I am so getting her number,” Mark muttered under his breath.
Which made Arizona snort. “Oh, Marky Mark. I don’t think that’s happening any time soon. You see the way she was smiling at me?” She looked over at the taller man with a pointed stare. “I think we both know I have a much better chance at getting her number than you do. Not to mention she’s my new scrub nurse.” Arizona bounced a little on her wheely shoes. “Remind me to get Derek something nice for Christmas.”
Mark narrowed his eyes. “No way you'll get her number before me.” He turned to glance down the hall, but the nurse was long gone. “She didn't give off that vibe. How do you even know-”
“Oh, she was vibin',” Arizona cut in, smirking as her own blue eyes followed the nurse's path. “I was definitely feelin' those vibes.”
Mark was quiet for a long moment as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Bet me.”
Arizona arched a brow as she turned to look at the other surgeon. “What's that?”
“Bet me,” Mark repeated, his smirk slowly returning. “If you can get her number before me...” He trailed off as he tried to think of the best way to get Robbins to agree.
The pediatric surgeon was staring back at him in amusement. “You honestly think you have anything I wan-”
“Torres.”
Arizona's brow arched even higher. “What about her?”
Mark watched her carefully. “That picture of her I have in my bedroom. The one you've been bugging me to have for-”
Arizona's smugness faded as she reached up to brush back a strand of loose blonde hair.
Mark instantly realized his mistake. “I'm sorry, Robbins. It's my brain. It doesn't always connect with my mouth.”
Arizona shook her head. “It's okay.” Just the thought of Callie was enough to make her want to cry and scream all at once.
But that picture.
It was of Callie on the boardwalk, her hands draped over the railing as she stared out at the ocean. There must have been a perfect wind just as the photo was snapped, because her dark brown hair was blowing softly in the late evening Seattle breeze.
And she was smiling That Smile.
There really wasn't much Arizona wouldn't give to have that picture. Especially now.
A copy just wouldn't do the beauty of it justice.
“Okay,” Arizona finally relented. Her eyes narrowed at the other doctor. “And if you win?”
Mark’s smile was priceless. “You get back together with Torres and have babies.”
Arizona’s amusement instantly vanished to be replaced with a much more stern glare. “I am not agreeing to that. Seriously Mark. You’re asking me to bet on a child’s life? Really?”
Mark’s smirk faltered. “Um…”
The blonde woman continued to stare him down, her brow ticking. “You know damn well I’d be with Callie if I could, but I can’t, so…pick something else. Something doable.”
Mark started to open his mouth, but was cut off before he could utter a single word.
“No, you cannot watch at any point or time. Ever. Ever. Pervert. Now pick something else.”
Mark's expression fell. “You're not making this very fun.”
Arizona reached out to smack him in the chest.
Mark jerked away from the slap, laughing. He was quiet for a moment as he stared at the other blonde.
Arizona started to feel a little uneasy. “Sloan?”
“I got it,” Mark suddenly answered. “If I win, and I will,” he paused to add. “When I win, you have to kiss...” He glanced down the hall at the various people miling around, and his smirked widened. “Yang.”
Arizona gaped at him.
“What are you, eight years old? I get a photo, and you get to humiliate me publicly?”
Mark suddenly grinned wider. “Hey, in public. That’s now another requirement.”
Arizona groaned. “Fine.” Only because she knew she’d win. “But I get the photo and you have to kiss Derek. On the lips. In public.” It was her turn to smirk. “Also, no cheating and just outright asking her for her number, she has to give it up voluntarily, of her own will. Same goes for me.”
“No way,” Mark denied. “No frikken' way am I kissing Shepherd...anywhere. That's like kissing my brother.”
“Sorry, Sloan,” Arizona shot back, shaking her head a she released a breath. “That's the deal breaker. It's kiss McDreamy, or...” She trailed off with another slight shake of her head.
If Mark was gonna act like an eight year old, so was she. Apparently.
Mark whined as he shifted from one foot to the other.
Oh. This was too much fun, Arizona mused to herself.
“Fine,” Sloan finally, reluctantly, agreed. His smirk started to return as he extended his hand to seal the deal. “But I'm not worried. There's no way you're gonna get it before me.”
“Oh, you underestimate my charm,” Arizona pointed out with a confident smirk of her own. “I used to have the ladies lining for a ride on the Arizona train. Even the ones that thought they were straight. Which nurse McHotty is definitely not.”
“Key words, used to,” Mark shot back. “Meaning before you got…old.” He grinned once more. He was teasing, after all - Robbins was pretty hot. But he wasn’t about to tell her that and land himself kissing Derek.
Bleh.
Eyeing each other up for a tense moment, they shook hands.
At the same time, Mark and Arizona started back in the direction they had been coming from. The direction this Carmen Rodriguez woman had disappeared to.
Gradually, both of their footsteps picked up, until they were jogging down the hall. A door opened and Mark nearly smacked into it, while Arizona kept going around the corner ahead of him.
The blonde caught a glimpse of Carmen at the end of the far hallway, but right then Callie appeared out from behind the admin desk and they literally smacked into each other.
Arizona stumbled and whirled around to face her ex-girlfriend, catching herself against the desk.
Mark was about to pass her.
Dammit.
In desperation, she stuck her foot out and caught him, causing him to trip forward and literally crash into Derek Shepherd.
This was going to be a long, hard-fought competition.
Derek steadied Mark by the arms, and then stared at him like he had grown a second head. “You two in a hurry somewhere?”
“No,” they both replied a little too quickly, at the exact same time.
Derek looked at Callie for an explanation, and then back to Mark. “Burn victim coming in. Gonna need your help right away.”
Arizona couldn’t fight the big grin she beamed at Mark. “Yeah, Sloan, you don’t wanna forgo your work duties. You took an oath as a physician after all. Shame on you for even thinking it.”
Mark lifted a finger in the blonde's direction. “She's got a kid on life support!”
Derek arched a dark brow as he looked from his best friend to Arizona, and then back again. “Is there something you two would like to share with the class?”
Callie was standing by, her eyes narrowed as she glared at her best friend.
Because she just knew Mark a little too well.
“Dr. Robbins?” Derek turned to the other surgeon when Mark remained silent.
Callie turned to stare at her ex as well.
Arizona narrowed her eyes at Mark, but still managed to smirk subtly at him. “Kid on life support means there’s nothing more I can do. You, you need to save a burn victim. Which means you need to leave. Nowish.”
She ignored the fact that both Callie and Derek were looking back and forth between the two of them like they were nuts.
Mark growled at Arizona. “This isn’t over, Robbins.”
Smiling brightly at him, Arizona stuck her hands in her lab coat pockets, turned on the spot, and wheely-shoed in the other direction.
Callie narrowed her gaze at her best friend. “It better not be illegal.” Whatever it was he'd gotten Arizona into. She didn't need to say that part, but they both knew she was thinking it.
“Arizona!” she called after her ex. “Wait up!”
Callie jogged a few feet to catch up with the blonde. She smiled as she reached out to gently grab her by the elbow. “What was that all about?” she questioned as her smile faltered.
Something told her she probably wasn't going to like the answer.
Arizona did a little wheel-about when Callie grabbed her by the arm. “Uh…”
She tried not to look guilty.
There was nothing to be guilty about. Right?
It was all just…innocent. Something to take her mind off of Callie. And a chance to embarrass Mark Sloan publically.
She glanced behind her to see that the hallway was now empty, and Nurse McHotty was nowhere to be found.
Sigh.
Arizona turned her gaze back to her ex-girlfriend, finding herself unable to tell the truth, and offered a shaky smile instead.
“It’s…technically top secret, so I can’t say, but…what I can tell you is that when I win, Mark Sloan is going to publically and oh-so-wonderfully embarrass himself, which is just...awesome.” She chuckled.
Callie's eyes once again narrowed at the blonde. “Arizona Robbins,” she warned as she dropped the other woman's elbow to cross her arms over her chest. She didn't say another word as she just...glared.
Arizona fidgeted nervously under it. Callie knew she didn't handle intimidation well. Or lying.
She was a really, really bad liar.
Callie finally relented with a sigh. “It's not illegal, is it?” she asked softly as her glare faltered. She didn't want to force Arizona to tell her, but that didn't stop her from worrying all the same. She was kind of curious, but still wanted to respect Arizona's right not to tell her.
It's not like she was obligated to or anything. Not anymore.
“No,” Arizona replied with a shake of her head. “Please, me? Illegal? I’m like the worst liar in the world. I couldn’t get away with smuggling puppies across the border, which is odd and probably harder than it sounds, but…no it’s not illegal. Just humiliating. For both of us, depending on what…”
Arizona bit her lip, suddenly dealing with a huge wave of guilt that came crashing over her. She knew that this whole thing was harmless, but telling your recent ex-girlfriend about your attempts to get another woman’s phone number just seemed…wrong. And it’s not like hot nurse lady meant anything to her, while Callie still meant everything.
If they were still together, Callie would have found it amusing, and probably would have joined in. But they weren’t, and now it could just get awkward.
She was trying to distract herself, and Mark was providing a decent distraction. That was it.
Clearing her throat awkwardly, Arizona glanced down. “So, did um…did your results come back yet?”
Callie didn't answer right away. Her eyes narrowed once again as she stared a hole through the other woman. “Hmm. Mm-hm.” She knew what Arizona was trying to do.
Avoid.
Which meant one of two things.
Or, both.
One, she really wasn't gonna like the answer.
And two, Arizona felt guilty about...whatever it was.
Callie pretty much didn't care for either.
“‘Mm-hm’ yes?” Arizona really hated being stared down like that, especially when it was Callie. She had no backbone when it came to the other woman guilt-tripping her. “Calliope, please. Did you get the results back yet or not?”
For good measure, she pouted to the best of her ability.
And threw in some sad puppy-dog eyes for good measure.
“Yes,” Callie instantly answered. “But that's not the issue right now. I don't wanna sound like the nosy, stalker-like ex-girlfriend here,” she started as she swallowed back. It was just killing her inside. “But what are you up to with Mark Sloan? You don't know him like I do, Arizona. That man should come with a warning label.”
Arizona did her best to hold up, but after a tense few seconds, she crumpled under her ex-girlfriend’s glare.
“Okay, fine,” she huffed, her shoulders slumping. “But promise you won’t judge me, and yes, I am aware that I’m rivaling the behavior of a twelve year old boy.”
Pouting some more, Arizona looked down and scuffed her shoe on the ground. “Mark and I bet on who can get a new nurse’s phone number first. But it means nothing, Callie, I swear to you. Mark is just being a giant ass and needs to be taken down a peg or two, which I plan to make happen when I get it first.” She started to smile, but stopped just as quickly when she once again remembered it was Callie she was talking to. “But it really, really means nothing. She means nothing to me. It’s just a fun…thing. A distraction. Okay?” She bit her lip and looked back up into Callie’s eyes, really hoping she wasn’t going to find them full of hurt.
But they were.
A little.
Callie was quiet for a long moment. “So you're gonna use your sexy, irresistible charms to seduce some poor, unsuspecting woman into your grasp, only to tell her it was all just a 'distraction'?” She was kinda smiling as she said it, but it was still killing her softly inside.
Arizona was caught off guard. She opened her mouth, let it hover that way for a long moment, and then closed it again, furrowing her brow. “Okay but…when you say it like that, it just sounds mean.”
Well, now she felt a little bad.
“Wait...” Callie frowned. “Who is she?”
“Um…” Arizona debated lying again, but knew that wouldn’t do her any good. “My…new…scrub nurse…that…Derek ordered…kind of…”
Callie's eyes widened. “Your new scrub nurse?” she repeated as she reached out to slap her ex's shoulder with the file folder that she was holding. “Unprofessional much?” she scolded with a slight scoff. She sighed, and then shook her head. “This. This is what I get for letting you hang out with Mark Sloan.” Callie shook her head with another sigh.
“I’m sorry,” Arizona whined, her shoulders slumping. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. I don’t know why.”
Stupid Sloan and his stupid ideas.
If she didn’t want that picture so damn badly…
“He started it,” she added sullenly, feeling very much like a scolded elementary school student.
Callie finally relented with a small laugh. She was still shaking her head as her gaze locked with the other woman's. “What am I gonna do with you?” On instinct, she reached out to brush her thumb along Arizona's bottom lip. Her eyes followed the path of her thumb.
Because that pout was just so damn cute.
Then, she suddenly realized her mistake.
Callie quickly dropped her hand away, blushing in embarrassment as she turned to glance down the hall. Her eyes narrowed.
She was gonna get Mark Sloan for this. One way or another.
On the contrary, Callie’s little touch made Arizona’s heart do flip-flops in her chest, and it made her smile. She could think of many, many things Calliope Torres could do with her.
None of which were appropriate to name out loud.
“Mark has to publically kiss Derek if-slash-when he loses.”
That made Callie look up.
Arizona smiled sheepishly. “That’s the part where I come out of this with the maturity level of a twelve year old boy, in case you were wondering.”
Callie laughed. Kinda loud. “Oh, that's priceless.” She turned her gaze to glance back down the hall where the Chief of Surgery was quietly talking with Owen Hunt.
“You shoulda made him kiss Hunt,” Callie smirked. “Ooh!” she squealed as she quickly turned her gaze back to her ex. “Or Yang. 'Cause that's just-” She stopped abruptly when she noticed the look on the blonde's face. Her smile vanished in an instant. “What?” she questioned, a little panicked. “Arizona?”
The other surgeon still didn't respond, only turned her gaze down the hall where Derek and Owen were still talking.
“Arizona!”
The blonde surgeon closed her eyes. “I hate Mark Sloan.”
---