(no subject)
Title: Better Man (1/2)
Rating: PG
Pairing: Mark/Callie eventually, Mark/Lexie, Callie/Arizona
Summary: “If I were a woman, I’d be insecure about you, too.”
You see me, love me just the way I am
I said, for you I am a better man.
-James Morrison
Lexie was exhausted. Two days of constant motion, constant work had left her drained, both physically and mentally. As she exited the elevator onto the fifth floor and down the hallway to the apartment she shared with Mark, all she could think about was falling into Mark’s arms and into bed, to sleep for hours.
Her dream was shattered as she heard gales of laughter from across the hall-Mark’s distinct laugh, followed by Callie’s, wafted into the hallway and she heaved a sigh.
Apparently, sleep would have to wait. Tentatively she knocked on the door, and plastered on a big smile when Cristina threw the door open.
Cristina rolled her eyes as she walked away, allowing Lexie to enter. “Sloan, your mommy wants you to come home,” she said to Mark with a snarky laugh.
Mark, who had been sitting on the couch with Callie, gave her a look as he stood to greet Lexie. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
“Callie made pasta, there’s some left over if you want some,” he offered.
“No, I uh,” she shifted her bag on her shoulder, “I just want to go to sleep. It’s been a long couple of days.”
Mark leaned forward and gently kissed her forehead. “You go get some sleep, I’ll be over in a bit.”
A wave of disappointment washed over her, but she forced herself to smile. “Okay.”
She let herself out, but the mention of her name made Lexie stop and listen at the door.
“I think Lexie wanted you to go with her,” Callie said.
“Yeah Sloan, your mommy wants you to come home,” Cristina said again, and this time Lexie heard Callie laugh.
“Shut up, Yang.” Mark’s voice didn’t sound upset. “I’ll go home when I’m ready…and that won’t be until I’ve kicked both your asses at this game.”
“Way to assert your manliness,” Callie said, grunting. “Me Mark. Me man!”
“Me autonomous! Me beat girl doctors at Scrabble!” Cristina chimed in, and more grunting followed until it turned into a gale of laughter.
To her dismay, Lexie heard Mark join in the laughter. “You two are mean when you’ve been drinking.”
“Shut up and play, Sloan, before your mommy comes back looking for you.”
Fighting back tears, Lexie walked across the hall to her apartment and fell into bed.
The post-it note was stuck to the mirror. ‘At Callie’s.’ With a sigh, she ripped it off the mirror almost violently and threw it into the trashcan.
This was getting ridiculous.
At first, she thought it was kind of cute how Mark’s best friend lived across the hallway, and how people seemed to drift back and forth between the two apartments. It had been nice, almost like college, and she’d liked being included. But now that she was on a totally different schedule than Mark, he was spending more and more time with Callie. Every time Lexie called he was with her-at Joe’s, at her place, at their place, in the cafeteria at the hospital.
As she shrugged into a sweatshirt and headed across the hall, she wondered how Callie’s girlfriend felt about them spending all of this time together.
When Arizona answered the door, she had her answer. “Dr Grey.”
“Hey, Dr. Robbins. Is Mark here?”
“Yeah, come on in.” Her smile was warm. “Callie’s making French toast, it’s the only way I could get Mark over here for a consult this early in the morning.”
“Oh.”
The apartment was abuzz with activity. While Mark and Arizona sat at the table discussing a patient with Owen, Callie was cooking something that smelled delicious.
“Dr. Grey,” Owen said, nodding his head at her. “Coffee?”
“N-no, no, thank you though. I just….I came to see Mark.”
“Sorry about the note,” he said, not looking up from what he was reading. “Arizona promised me breakfast if I’d look over this for her.”
“Yeah.”
Mark finally looked over at her. “Go back to sleep, Lex. You look beat.”
Tears pricked behind her eyes as she felt her emotions get the best of her. “Yeah, I am, and I was kind of looking forward to spending the morning with you. But I guess you have other plans.”
Mark’s brow furrowed. “Lexie…”
“Don’t…just don’t.” Lexie sniffed pathetically. “I haven’t seen you in weeks, and I thought it would be nice if we could actually spend some time together this morning…but I woke up and found you gone, and instead you’re here. You’re always here.”
Silently, Owen excused himself and left the table, heading into Cristina’s room.
Arizona shot Callie a look before hightailing it into Callie’s room, and Callie shot her a pleading look from her place in front of the stove.
Mark walked over to Lexie and put his hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes. “You are exhausted, and you need to get some sleep.”
“What I need is you, Mark. But you’re never around.”
“Don’t do this. Not now. Go get some sleep, and we’ll talk tonight.”
Lexie gave a very unladylike snort. “Right, like you’ll be around.”
Mark took several deep breaths before kissing her. “I will be. Go sleep. I will see you tonight.”
Lexie stormed off, slamming the door behind her.
Mark turned to look at Callie, who was the first to speak. “Wow. She is…angry.”
“She’s tired.”
Callie put the French toast on a plate and set it on the table. “You know she basically hates me, right?”
Mark laughed. “You flatter yourself, Torres.”
“Really?” Callie leaned her hip on the table. “Is that why she was all up in my face a couple of weeks ago about me changing in front of you and me barging in on you in the shower? Because she was tired?”
“She what?”
“Yeah.” Callie picked a piece of toast off the plate and began to tear it into pieces. “She was marking her territory.” She chewed thoughtfully. “She’s really insecure.”
Mark leaned back in his chair and gave Callie an appraising glance. “About me?”
“About…us. She thinks I’m a threat to your…whatever.”
“If I were a woman, I’d be insecure about you, too.”
“What does that mean?”
Mark gave a shrug. “You’re hot.”
Callie rolled her eyes. “I fail to see what that has to do with you and I and little Mary Sunshine.”
“Are you kidding me? Of course she’s insecure! You’re hot! You’re smart! You’re my best friend and former sex buddy and you live across the hall.” Mark gave Callie a look. “Tell me that if the situation was reversed and Arizona had a best friend who was hot, that you wouldn’t be just a tad bit jealous.”
“I have been down this road,” Callie replied. “With George and Izzie, remember? The difference is that I’m not telling you that Lexie isn’t good for you and that you should dump her. I’m not meddling.”
“Fair enough.” Mark went back to reviewing the file.
“That’s it? Aren’t you going to go and…I don’t know, make her feel better?”
Mark sighed and looked back up at Callie. “The insecurity is her problem. She needs to learn that she can trust me. And if I go and coddle her, it only feeds into her insecurity.” He smacked her hip with the file. “Now let me eat in peace, woman.”
Chuckling, Callie threw a piece of bread at him. “Pig.”
Callie was surprised to find Arizona sitting in her living room when she got home from work. The petite blonde was sitting in a chair, fidgeting with a lighter, a cigarette tucked behind her ear.
“Hey,” Callie said, tossing her stuff down. “You look upset.”
“I am.” Arizona’s lip trembled. “I was let go today.”
“What?”
“The downsizing…they let me go.” She sniffled. “The guy from Mercy West agreed to work for less money.”
Stunned, Callie sat down on the couch. “I just…holy shit. Did you see it coming?”
Arizona shrugged as she fought back tears. “Kind of. I knew they’d be getting rid of one of us sooner or later, I just didn’t think that it would be me.”
“What are you going to do?”
“One of my professors has an attending position open in his hospital, he said he’d be more than happy to take me.”
Callie brightened. “That’s great! Where is it? Seattle Children’s?”
“Not exactly.”
“Harborview?”
Arizona shook her head. “Boston.”
“As in Massachusetts?”
“Yeah.”
Callie sat for a moment before speaking. “You don’t do long distance.”
“I…not usually,” Arizona replied, her voice shaky. “But you’re worth it, so if you want to, we’ll do it. We can make long distance work.” She moved to sit next to Callie, taking her hand. “We can have long weekends, and vacations in sunny places that have little umbrellas in the drinks, and skiing in Vermont…we can do this.”
“No.” Callie turned to her, her dark eyes shining with unshed tears. “We can tell ourselves that it will work, and it won’t be that bad, but really we both know that the long weekends and the vacations…that it will be like putting a band-aid on a bullet hole.”
Arizona sniffled. “Calliope…I wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
“I know.” Callie took a deep breath. “When do you leave?”
“Two days.”
“Wow, that’s…that’s soon.” Callie fought back a sob. “You should go, you need to pack.”
Arizona leaned in and gave her a gentle, tender kiss. “I will miss you, Calliope.” Giving her hand one last squeeze, she got up off the couch and left the apartment, quietly shutting the door behind her.
Callie wasn’t sure how long she’d been sitting in stunned silence, but a sharp, familiar knock on the door broke her reverie. When she opened the door and found Mark standing there, she broke into a sob and fell into his arms.
“Cal? What is it? What happened?” he asked, brushing her hair out of her face to get a good look at her. “Are you okay?”
“N…no.”
Mark furrowed his brow. “Callie, talk to me.”
“She…she’s gone. To Boston.”
“Who…Robbins?” Callie nodded. “What? Why?”
Callie sniffled. “They let her go.”
“It doesn’t have to be the end of the world,” Mark said soothingly, gently rubbing her back. “Boston is a great town, you can go on long weekends, do whatever it is lesbians do with their free time, like hating men and antiquing.”
Despite herself, she laughed. “I hate you.”
“Seriously, Cal…it’s not like she’s moving to someplace weird, like Canada.”
“Now you’re trying to make me laugh.”
“It’s working.”
She took a deep breath and extracted herself from Mark’s hug. “We decided that…long distance wasn’t for us. So…yeah.” Her lower lip trembled. “It’s over.”
Mark sighed and pulled her close, just as she began to cry again. “Go put on your jammies and come over, we’ll order Chinese food and watch Cops reruns on cable.”
“What about Lexie?”
“She’s working…I’ll deal with her, okay? You just go and get comfy and come over.”
She looked up at him. “You don’t have to do this, Mark.”
“I know.” He wiped her cheek with his thumb. “I want to.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“You’d order Chinese and watch Cops with Yang,” he replied with a wry smile. “Go. Change.”
Rating: PG
Pairing: Mark/Callie eventually, Mark/Lexie, Callie/Arizona
Summary: “If I were a woman, I’d be insecure about you, too.”
You see me, love me just the way I am
I said, for you I am a better man.
-James Morrison
Lexie was exhausted. Two days of constant motion, constant work had left her drained, both physically and mentally. As she exited the elevator onto the fifth floor and down the hallway to the apartment she shared with Mark, all she could think about was falling into Mark’s arms and into bed, to sleep for hours.
Her dream was shattered as she heard gales of laughter from across the hall-Mark’s distinct laugh, followed by Callie’s, wafted into the hallway and she heaved a sigh.
Apparently, sleep would have to wait. Tentatively she knocked on the door, and plastered on a big smile when Cristina threw the door open.
Cristina rolled her eyes as she walked away, allowing Lexie to enter. “Sloan, your mommy wants you to come home,” she said to Mark with a snarky laugh.
Mark, who had been sitting on the couch with Callie, gave her a look as he stood to greet Lexie. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
“Callie made pasta, there’s some left over if you want some,” he offered.
“No, I uh,” she shifted her bag on her shoulder, “I just want to go to sleep. It’s been a long couple of days.”
Mark leaned forward and gently kissed her forehead. “You go get some sleep, I’ll be over in a bit.”
A wave of disappointment washed over her, but she forced herself to smile. “Okay.”
She let herself out, but the mention of her name made Lexie stop and listen at the door.
“I think Lexie wanted you to go with her,” Callie said.
“Yeah Sloan, your mommy wants you to come home,” Cristina said again, and this time Lexie heard Callie laugh.
“Shut up, Yang.” Mark’s voice didn’t sound upset. “I’ll go home when I’m ready…and that won’t be until I’ve kicked both your asses at this game.”
“Way to assert your manliness,” Callie said, grunting. “Me Mark. Me man!”
“Me autonomous! Me beat girl doctors at Scrabble!” Cristina chimed in, and more grunting followed until it turned into a gale of laughter.
To her dismay, Lexie heard Mark join in the laughter. “You two are mean when you’ve been drinking.”
“Shut up and play, Sloan, before your mommy comes back looking for you.”
Fighting back tears, Lexie walked across the hall to her apartment and fell into bed.
The post-it note was stuck to the mirror. ‘At Callie’s.’ With a sigh, she ripped it off the mirror almost violently and threw it into the trashcan.
This was getting ridiculous.
At first, she thought it was kind of cute how Mark’s best friend lived across the hallway, and how people seemed to drift back and forth between the two apartments. It had been nice, almost like college, and she’d liked being included. But now that she was on a totally different schedule than Mark, he was spending more and more time with Callie. Every time Lexie called he was with her-at Joe’s, at her place, at their place, in the cafeteria at the hospital.
As she shrugged into a sweatshirt and headed across the hall, she wondered how Callie’s girlfriend felt about them spending all of this time together.
When Arizona answered the door, she had her answer. “Dr Grey.”
“Hey, Dr. Robbins. Is Mark here?”
“Yeah, come on in.” Her smile was warm. “Callie’s making French toast, it’s the only way I could get Mark over here for a consult this early in the morning.”
“Oh.”
The apartment was abuzz with activity. While Mark and Arizona sat at the table discussing a patient with Owen, Callie was cooking something that smelled delicious.
“Dr. Grey,” Owen said, nodding his head at her. “Coffee?”
“N-no, no, thank you though. I just….I came to see Mark.”
“Sorry about the note,” he said, not looking up from what he was reading. “Arizona promised me breakfast if I’d look over this for her.”
“Yeah.”
Mark finally looked over at her. “Go back to sleep, Lex. You look beat.”
Tears pricked behind her eyes as she felt her emotions get the best of her. “Yeah, I am, and I was kind of looking forward to spending the morning with you. But I guess you have other plans.”
Mark’s brow furrowed. “Lexie…”
“Don’t…just don’t.” Lexie sniffed pathetically. “I haven’t seen you in weeks, and I thought it would be nice if we could actually spend some time together this morning…but I woke up and found you gone, and instead you’re here. You’re always here.”
Silently, Owen excused himself and left the table, heading into Cristina’s room.
Arizona shot Callie a look before hightailing it into Callie’s room, and Callie shot her a pleading look from her place in front of the stove.
Mark walked over to Lexie and put his hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes. “You are exhausted, and you need to get some sleep.”
“What I need is you, Mark. But you’re never around.”
“Don’t do this. Not now. Go get some sleep, and we’ll talk tonight.”
Lexie gave a very unladylike snort. “Right, like you’ll be around.”
Mark took several deep breaths before kissing her. “I will be. Go sleep. I will see you tonight.”
Lexie stormed off, slamming the door behind her.
Mark turned to look at Callie, who was the first to speak. “Wow. She is…angry.”
“She’s tired.”
Callie put the French toast on a plate and set it on the table. “You know she basically hates me, right?”
Mark laughed. “You flatter yourself, Torres.”
“Really?” Callie leaned her hip on the table. “Is that why she was all up in my face a couple of weeks ago about me changing in front of you and me barging in on you in the shower? Because she was tired?”
“She what?”
“Yeah.” Callie picked a piece of toast off the plate and began to tear it into pieces. “She was marking her territory.” She chewed thoughtfully. “She’s really insecure.”
Mark leaned back in his chair and gave Callie an appraising glance. “About me?”
“About…us. She thinks I’m a threat to your…whatever.”
“If I were a woman, I’d be insecure about you, too.”
“What does that mean?”
Mark gave a shrug. “You’re hot.”
Callie rolled her eyes. “I fail to see what that has to do with you and I and little Mary Sunshine.”
“Are you kidding me? Of course she’s insecure! You’re hot! You’re smart! You’re my best friend and former sex buddy and you live across the hall.” Mark gave Callie a look. “Tell me that if the situation was reversed and Arizona had a best friend who was hot, that you wouldn’t be just a tad bit jealous.”
“I have been down this road,” Callie replied. “With George and Izzie, remember? The difference is that I’m not telling you that Lexie isn’t good for you and that you should dump her. I’m not meddling.”
“Fair enough.” Mark went back to reviewing the file.
“That’s it? Aren’t you going to go and…I don’t know, make her feel better?”
Mark sighed and looked back up at Callie. “The insecurity is her problem. She needs to learn that she can trust me. And if I go and coddle her, it only feeds into her insecurity.” He smacked her hip with the file. “Now let me eat in peace, woman.”
Chuckling, Callie threw a piece of bread at him. “Pig.”
Callie was surprised to find Arizona sitting in her living room when she got home from work. The petite blonde was sitting in a chair, fidgeting with a lighter, a cigarette tucked behind her ear.
“Hey,” Callie said, tossing her stuff down. “You look upset.”
“I am.” Arizona’s lip trembled. “I was let go today.”
“What?”
“The downsizing…they let me go.” She sniffled. “The guy from Mercy West agreed to work for less money.”
Stunned, Callie sat down on the couch. “I just…holy shit. Did you see it coming?”
Arizona shrugged as she fought back tears. “Kind of. I knew they’d be getting rid of one of us sooner or later, I just didn’t think that it would be me.”
“What are you going to do?”
“One of my professors has an attending position open in his hospital, he said he’d be more than happy to take me.”
Callie brightened. “That’s great! Where is it? Seattle Children’s?”
“Not exactly.”
“Harborview?”
Arizona shook her head. “Boston.”
“As in Massachusetts?”
“Yeah.”
Callie sat for a moment before speaking. “You don’t do long distance.”
“I…not usually,” Arizona replied, her voice shaky. “But you’re worth it, so if you want to, we’ll do it. We can make long distance work.” She moved to sit next to Callie, taking her hand. “We can have long weekends, and vacations in sunny places that have little umbrellas in the drinks, and skiing in Vermont…we can do this.”
“No.” Callie turned to her, her dark eyes shining with unshed tears. “We can tell ourselves that it will work, and it won’t be that bad, but really we both know that the long weekends and the vacations…that it will be like putting a band-aid on a bullet hole.”
Arizona sniffled. “Calliope…I wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
“I know.” Callie took a deep breath. “When do you leave?”
“Two days.”
“Wow, that’s…that’s soon.” Callie fought back a sob. “You should go, you need to pack.”
Arizona leaned in and gave her a gentle, tender kiss. “I will miss you, Calliope.” Giving her hand one last squeeze, she got up off the couch and left the apartment, quietly shutting the door behind her.
Callie wasn’t sure how long she’d been sitting in stunned silence, but a sharp, familiar knock on the door broke her reverie. When she opened the door and found Mark standing there, she broke into a sob and fell into his arms.
“Cal? What is it? What happened?” he asked, brushing her hair out of her face to get a good look at her. “Are you okay?”
“N…no.”
Mark furrowed his brow. “Callie, talk to me.”
“She…she’s gone. To Boston.”
“Who…Robbins?” Callie nodded. “What? Why?”
Callie sniffled. “They let her go.”
“It doesn’t have to be the end of the world,” Mark said soothingly, gently rubbing her back. “Boston is a great town, you can go on long weekends, do whatever it is lesbians do with their free time, like hating men and antiquing.”
Despite herself, she laughed. “I hate you.”
“Seriously, Cal…it’s not like she’s moving to someplace weird, like Canada.”
“Now you’re trying to make me laugh.”
“It’s working.”
She took a deep breath and extracted herself from Mark’s hug. “We decided that…long distance wasn’t for us. So…yeah.” Her lower lip trembled. “It’s over.”
Mark sighed and pulled her close, just as she began to cry again. “Go put on your jammies and come over, we’ll order Chinese food and watch Cops reruns on cable.”
“What about Lexie?”
“She’s working…I’ll deal with her, okay? You just go and get comfy and come over.”
She looked up at him. “You don’t have to do this, Mark.”
“I know.” He wiped her cheek with his thumb. “I want to.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“You’d order Chinese and watch Cops with Yang,” he replied with a wry smile. “Go. Change.”