What happens now

CHAPTER XXXVII

Callie

It's been a blissful whole week for the both of us. No more fighting, more on planning. I'm glad that I finally convinced her that I really wanted to go. Sure, my thoughts still lingered once in a while but I strongly felt that I am meant to go with Arizona to Malawi. 

In 3 days, we are to leave for Malawi and I felt ecstatic. I couldn't shut up about how excited I was, which shocked Mark and the others. Though Arizona and I were totally good now, she has these moments when she just stares into space, deep in her thoughts, which bothered me. She tells me she's fine, but I don't believe her. I didn't push it, not wanting another argument. 

We were packing another box, when Mark arrived with beer. He kissed us both on the temples and dropped himself on the couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table. Arizona chuckled at him while I just shook my head and smiled.

"Do we pack this too?" Arizona said, holding up the waffle maker my abuela got me years ago. 
"YEAH! We never know, we might want waffles one day." I said and dropped my gaze again on the box I was packing.
"I'm done packing this box! Shall we pack another one?" Arizona said, cutting the tape, securing its hold on the box.
"How about you take a rest? We've been packing for God knows how long." I continued to place my cutlery in the box, making sure I had bubble wrapped them. She proceeded to sit beside Mark, grabbing the can of beer Mark had in his grasp and drank it as she focused her eyes on the TV screen. It was then my turn to chuckle at the expression that flashed on Mark's face at Arizona's sudden course of action. 

I finished packing and Mark soon left, leaving a snoring Arizona Robbins on the couch, the TV still playing the movie that came on a few minutes ago. I walked to the living room and stared adoringly at the blonde beauty. Damn was she beautiful. I continued to stare at her, memorizing the lines that were written on her face up to the freckles that painted her skin. Her perfectly plucked eyebrows, her cheeks that were tinted naturally with that pale-ish rose color that was just the perfect shade. 

"Quit the staring Torres. It's burning holes on my face." She muttered, her eyes still closed, a smile laced on her lips. 
"Well what can I say? I got myself a pretty lady." 
"Is that so? Can you please take this pretty lady to bed? I believe she told me she's beat from all the packing you guys have done today." She said, one eye popped open to look at me, or more so the reaction that she awaits.
"Okay. Can you tell her to stand?" I continued to play with her.
"She tells me she can't. She wants you to carry her."
"Hmmm, alright."

With that, her smile widened. I picked her up and we went to the bedroom.

We both laid awake, on our sides, staring at each other. Her arm draped on my waist while my fingers played with her blonde locks.  

"Callie?" Arizona whispered, her gaze landing on my eyes, staring right through my soul.
"Yeah?" I said, returning the same look she was giving me.
"Nothing. Just... I love you."
"I love you too." I smiled, a genuine one. 

xxx

I woke up to find Arizona's side of the bed empty and a bit cold. I rubbed both my arms as I stood up, to give me the slightest warmth as I make my way out the door to search for the damsel. The apartment was particularly chilly this morning, considering that it was actually 7am, usually not the time Arizona wakes up. 

The boxes in the living room were not how I left them last night, which I found weird. I finally found Arizona in the kitchen, in her tip toes reaching up in the cupboard. I sneaked up behind her and grabbed the item she was reaching for. The sudden contact made Arizona gasp, making her put one hand on her chest in surprise.

"Jesus Calliope! You scared me."
"You're up early. You making coffee?" I said as I rounded the counter to sat on a stool.
"Yeah, I needed to pee and I couldn't go back to sleep so I just packed some more and ended up here. Oh yup, was about to make coffee. Thanks for getting the mugs." She thanked me, and turned her back on me to make coffee. 
"Two more days till we finally fly to Malawi. Aren't you excited?" I was gushing again. The thought of moving again sure scared me but the thrill was just unbelievably giving me life.
"Excited too but not as excited as you, I guess. You haven't stop talking about Malawi since last week." She said, looking over her shoulder to check on me.
"Cause I'm that excited! I might do research there and maybe build bones this time, not just cartilage." I said as I drummed my fingers on the counter top.
"Here's your coffee you science dork." She said as she handed me the mug of deliciousness, filled to the brim.

We talked for a tiny while then fixed a few things before leaving for work. As we walked to the hospital, I wrapped an arm around her shoulder as she wrote something on her notepad. 

"What are you writing?" I asked as I peeped to take a closer look on what she had written.
"Just making a checklist on the things we should pack and the things we have already packed. So far, we're close to completing the list. We just need to pick up a few things from the mall then we're ready to go." She said, not looking up and still writing on her pad.
"So I guess I'll see you later out front, then we'll go to the mall?" I asked as we had already entered the hospital, on our way to the attending's lounge.
"Yep. I'll meet you later out front." 

The day went on like usual, surgery, follow ups, and ER duty. I was in a trauma room, looking at the scans of the kid with an injured arm, when Teddy came bursting in, with panic painted on her face.

"THERE YOU ARE! MARK GOT INTO AN ACCIDENT!" She managed to get the words out, her breathing heavy from the running she had probably done just to find me. I tore out my gloves and followed Teddy out of the door. As soon as I was out, Mark was right across me, on a hospital bed, in the ER. I rushed to his side and checked for injuries. He had a cut on the side of his face, a bruise on his forehead and a busted lip. He winced the entire time Teddy and I examined him.

I smelled alcohol on him, which led me to the conclusion that he was drunk.

"What the fuck happened Sloan? Are you drunk?" I said as I dressed the other wounds he got. He wasn't answering so I pressed the cotton ball a bit harder on his wound to get him to talk.
"CALLIE! JESUS THAT HURTS." He yelped out in pain.
"Isn't it too early for drinks Mark? What were you thinking, you ass?" Teddy glared at him, making him look at me, his eyes begged for me to save him.
"Oh don't give me that look. There is no way you are getting off the hook. Why are you drunk?" I asked again, only to be answered by a sigh.
"Lexie broke up with me and at first I was fine, I got that she wanted nothing to do with me anymore. I was hurt, sure, that shit is normal. But hooking up with Avery in this very hospital? It just didn't occur to me you know. Damn you Avery!"  

His voice echoed the E.R. and everyone stopped on their tracks. Teddy and I looked at each other and turned our heads back to see Mark fuming and red from talking. It was obvious that he was enraged with this and we can't blame him. He's been chasing Little Grey for months and when they did end up together, he became a changed man. Little Grey did that to him, and Little Grey did this to him. 

"So what exactly happened? How did you manage to get into this accident? You're lucky you're alive Sloan." said Teddy who seemed to be quite civil and was just probably annoyed.
"I got slightly hit by a car as I was about to cross the road to reach my apartment." Mark mumbled like he was being scolded by him mom and just didn't wanted to worsen the situation.
"And look where your drunk ass got you? In the E.R., being taken care of by your best friends who are currently worried sick about your welfare." Teddy huffed, while Mark and I chose to keep silent since grumpy annoyed Teddy shouldn't be messed with.


The three of us fell silent, Mark feeling guilty and looking guilty as hell, Teddy doing her best not to show too much emotions, and me just doing my job and catering to Mark's medical needs. When Teddy was done, she immediately took off and left Mark and I to ourselves.

"What's up her in panties today?" Mark started, trying to joke.
"Mark just stop. Don't even start and make a joke out of this. You had us worried. You had me worried and I'm literally about to leave for Africa." I said trying to keep my cool when deep inside I wanted to scream at him, that this was a serious thing.
"You could've came in, in a much worse condition. You could've died on the spot. Mark are you hearing me? We lost Derek. We can't lose you too." My voice ended with a crack.
"Woah Cal, no need to get emotional here. I'm fine, okay? See? Just a few scratches and cuts. Nothing too serious." He referred to his now dressed wounds. 
"Did you bump your head? Where were you hit at exactly? Talk Mark." I said, as I continued to examine him to calm my raging anxiety that there might me something that I missed.
"I didn't bump my head. As I said I was only slightly hit and I was hit on this arm. It doesn't hurt. You've examined this arm earlier and it's fine. Callie, relax. I am fine. Now you go and attend to your patients while I go home and rest." Mark said trying to usher me away.
"Yeah no. You are going to be moved to a private room, where Teddy, Bailey, Arizona, and I take turns in checking up on you, until you really recover." I said squeezing his arm lightly.
"Callie, there is no need for that. I'm fine. Plus, you still have to finish packing."
"Oh will you stop? The packing can wait. I need you healed before I leave, so that I don't have to worry about you, you dweeb. Anyways, I'll get a nurse and have you settled. Consider this a day off, so might as well enjoy it." 

I did what I had told Mark. I told the nurse to do every test to make sure he was perfectly fine. When I was finished, I headed over to the Ortho floor and proceeded to do my paperwork. 
The day went on quickly. We were already on our 3rd rotation in checking up on Mark and he was doing well. His recovery was going to be quick and easy. Since Teddy was gonna be on call, she volunteered to stay in the hospital to watch over Mark, while Arizona and I finish packing and Bailey goes home to Tuck.

I met up with Arizona outside and we went over to the mall. We were in the grocery section, with Arizona holding up her list and walking way ahead of my, while I pushed the cart and followed her. We got to the chips aisle and I grabbed a bunch of chips while Arizona went to the other side to grab herself candies.

"So what exactly happened with Mark?" She said, putting her goodies to the cart, and turned around again to grab more.
"Let's see, Lexie broke up with him, he caught Lexie and Avery bumping uglies, he was hurt and got angry, he drank his miseries away and when he was heading back to his apartment, he got, he quote 'slightly hit' by a car and then he was brought to the hospital." I said as I reached on the top shelf for more chips.
"Little Grey? Wow didn't think she had it in her. And poor Mark." She said finally standing beside me and held up her list for me to see.

On her list were 'Stuffed Toys' which earned her an eyebrow raise that coming from me. I looked over at her to find her smiling sweetly at me, her teeth in between her lips in a very adorable manner.

"Why do we need to buy stuffed toys exactly?"
"I wanna get the kids there stuffed toys, and I want to leave out friends stuffed toys that kind of resemble us."
"That's sweet. Come on then, let's check these out and get toys." Her eyes sparkled with joy as I said those words. 

 She's really a kid by heart.


xxx


We were headed to the toy's section and she seemed very excited. She was skipping too much and kept on smiling at me, which I returned of course. 
The minute toys were in sight, she let go of my hand and grabbed a huge cart. I chuckled and just let her have her fun.
While she was doing her thing, I looked for the stuffed toy area to find stuffed toys to give to our friends. The store had a build a bear section and let's just say, I got excited over it. I looked for Arizona and pulled her to the build a bear area.

"WE CAN BUILD OUR OWN BEARS?!" She said, surprise and obviously ecstatic.
"Yeah! Now let's make bears."

We got help from the person in charge as we made our bears. We made our bears very different, but both were wearing scrubs, with scrub caps and a coat. We made bears for ourselves as well since we thought it would be cute. 

We paid for our bears, grabbed the rest of our stuff and headed home. We got in the car, and put the things we bought in the trunk, when my phone vibrated and said that I'm getting a call from Teddy. Confused, I picked up.

"Hey Teds, we just finished picking up more stuff. What's up?"
"It's Mark." She said, a hint of nervousness in her voice.
"Why? What's wrong with Mark?"
"I think there's something wrong with him."

There was beeping and shuffling in the background and Teddy screaming.

"TEDS? TEDDY?"

I looked over at Arizona and her face was as confused as mine. I hung up and got on the car.

"What did Teddy need?" Arizona asked, buckling on her seatbelt.
"She said something about Mark."
"What about Mark?" She asked.
"There might be something wrong with him, she said."
"Maybe we should get back to the hospital to see how he's doing."
"Arizona, we need to pack. I'm sure Teddy can handle it."
"It's better if we see for ourselves." She insisted. 
"Alright. To the hospital then."

She grabbed my hand that was on the gear stick.

"Everything is gonna be alright Callie. I promise."

I gave her a soft smile and proceeded to drive.


I just hope so.