After All This Time
By Bella Taggart
Part 8/?
Callie was sitting in front of her TV, buried under a heavy quilt on her gigantic couch in her sweatpants with her socks pulled high on top of them. With her huge mug of tea balanced on the bent knees she had pulled close to her chest, she flipped through the channels, in search of anything that could at least be considered watch-able. She wasn't looking for great television, not even good television; just something that didn't completely suck would be nice. Just something that didn't have something to do with thanksgiving would do.
But no-anything and everything on seemed to be just about that. From cheesy old movies to news about poultry sales to tips on how to throw a fabulous thanksgiving dinner; it seemed media was making sure that people remembered, prepared for and celebrated the most gluttonous of the holidays.
Thanksgiving was supposed to be about giving thanks, but when she looked at her life as it stood, she couldn't think of one thing to be thankful for. Other than the fact that Maria and her father were coming to Seattle to celebrate the holiday with her. And the fact that she had a roof over her head, made a good living, had a lot of money in the bank, her health, and a number of friends she considered family. Ok, so she had plenty to be thankful for. They just seemed to be hugely overshadowed by the suddenly obvious absence of love in her life.
An absence she had been blissfully ignorant about until a certain someone came back into her life that is.
"Just pick one already!" groaned Sloan, from his couch, throwing a piece of popcorn her way and getting her right on the forehead.
"Whaat?" She wined, "There's nothing on."
"I don't care, stop zapping, my head's starting to spin."
"Here," she threw the remote over, "you pick one."
He was lounging on the beige sofa to her left. His head cushioned by one arm of the couch, and his feet resting on the other, he barely fit, despite the supposed 3 person capacity of the couch. The red basket of popcorn balanced on his stomach, he tried to snatch the remote out of the air, but miscalculated and spilled fistfuls of popcorn all over himself.
"Nice." He grumbled, tidying up.
"So how many people are gonna be at Meredith and Derek's tomorrow night?"
"Well, Meredith and Derek obviously, Christina is coming alone since Hunt's not here. Sadie, she'll probably bring someone; there's another couple I don't know, which makes it," he counted with his fingers, "seven, and then just Lexie and I, I think, unless there are some last minute additions…It'll be an even twelve if you guys come."
"We won't," Callie replied, shaking her head with certainty. "but I'll stop by after I drop them off."
"You should. Lexie's making some tart-thing. She bought some cook book."
"Aww, so cute." She smiled, amused.
He rolled his eyes and said "I know; she's ridiculous." But his voice lacked spite, and his eyes held a glint of pride.
"Is she feeling better by the way?"
"What? Yeah, great. She's-She's fine"
"Good."
He looked thoughtful for a moment and then, suddenly turned towards her. "Hey, Cal?"
"Hmm?"
"Next month today is Lexie's birthday."
"Okay."
"We're having a party." He added.
"Oh great, that'll be fun."
"So you're coming."
That was an odd question to ask.
"Of course I'm coming. Why wouldn't I come?"
"No reason, it's…an important birthday and I just want to make sure that you'll be there."
"How old is she gonna be?"
"Twenty-seven."
"Twenty-seven is important? It's not even a round number."
"It is. It is. It's three years away from thirty…and..and...two years since we've been married and ahh-just be there will you!"
"O-kay." She said slowly, with raised eyebrows.
One thing about Sloan was that he wasn't good at hiding things, especially not from her- they were too close for that. And each time he tried, he looked, well, constipated. And he was obviously trying to hold something back here, but Callie figured she'd cut him some slack. When he wanted to tell her, he would.
"I'll be there." She assured.
"Okay, good."
"Where am I being by the way?"
"I'll let you know." He said, and turned his attention back to the television.
After flipping through the channels for a few minutes, he put the remote down and sighed,
"Let's put on a DVD."
Callie shook her head, rolled her eyes and smiling knowingly nodded.
She was pulled out of sleep by the insistent ringing of her cell phone. Cracking an eye open, she spotted the device on the coffee table next to her, reached over and picked it
up. A glance at the phone's screen let her know who it was.
"Hey Sade" she said sleepily and rubbing her neck, rotated her head. Falling asleep on the couch had not been the best idea.
"What are you doing?"
Callie looked up at the television with one open eye; the movie was long over, instead the screen showed the title menu of the DVD and kept on playing and replaying the theme music over and over again. She looked over at a completely out Sloan trying to find the remote, but feeling too lazy to move, quickly gave up on the notion of retrieving it.
"Nothing; watching the Horse Whisperer."
"That's nice, let's go out."
Resting her head on the back of the couch, she put a hand over her eyes, trying to block the bright lights. "I'm in my pajamas."
"Get dressed and I'll come pick you up."
"Ooh," Callie groaned, stretching, "aren't you Jetlagged yet?"
"Not yet, I think I might have skipped it this time."
"Or you'll be crashing by Friday."
"Or that. But at the moment I'm good to go, and looking forward to burning some energy with my favorite girl."
"I don't think so Sadie."
"Come on, it's Girl4Girl night at the catwalk tonight. You've got to come…it'll be good for you, we'll go out, meet new people, have some fun."
"Not in the mood, really."
"You haven't been in the mood for days now…Are you getting sick or something?"
"Maybe." She yawned, "I just feel a little…off."
"That's not good. You should-"
The soaring exhaust-like sound of Sloan's snoring interrupted her.
"What is that?" Sadie asked, her voice high.
"Mark's here, Lexie's shift is running late and he fell asleep."
"My God woman, that doesn't sound human. He's like an orchestra all on his own. "
"I know." She picked up a cushion and pressed it against her free ear, trying to muffle the noise. "Poor Lexie, right?"
"You should put a sock in his mouth, I'm serious."
"Mark." Callie called out trying to wake him. "Marrkk!" Nothing.
"I swear, if I dropped a bomb in the room, he'd sleep through it."
"You know I read this article that says, statistically speaking, six women out of ten say that their husbands snore."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yep. Isn't it a huge number? Let's say I get married one day, I mean the chances are- I might just have to kill him. Can you imagine, 'hrrrrra, khroarrr', this alone is reason enough to swear off men altogether."
Callie chuckled, "Women don't snore?"
"Hmm hmm, half though. The ratio of man to woman is about two to one."
"Interesting."
"Hmm…so you're not coming out?"
"Nope."
"You should take a couple of Echinaforce."
"Maybe."
"It works wonders, I'm telling you. Take two before bed and you'll feel as good as new tomorrow."
"Yes doctor." Callie said, mockingly.
"You'll thank me tomorrow."
"Yes doctor."
"And you'll come out with me tomorrow."
"Can't girl, my dad's coming."
"Boo-you're no fun."
"It's thanksgiving."
"Excuses, excuses." Sadie snorted.
"Sorry."
"Fiiine." She said, sounding like she was sulking.
Callie couldn't have that, so she made her voice go all sing-song and said, "I think you're weally pwetty."
"Hah." Sadie chuckled.
"And vewy smart."
"Aha."
"And sooo hot, extwemely talented. Gift of God to humanity-"
"Yeah, yeah…call me if you change your mind about tonight."
"All right."
"Kissy, kissy."
"Bye, babe."
Callie hung up and stood up.
"Mark."
She patted him on the shoulder, but he kept on sleeping peacefully. She made a move to take the remote out of his hand but just as she was pulling it out, his hand tightened around it and he mumbled almost incoherently, "I'm watching."
Callie straightened amusedly, "Oh yeah? What are you watching?"
He cracked open an eye, "Huh?"
"What are you watching?" she repeated motioning towards the TV.
He sat up and looked around blankly, trying to get his bearing. "What time is it?" He asked looking at his watch.
"It's time to go home, I'm going to bed."
He nodded and stood up a little too quickly.
"Come on." She linked her arm in his to steady him and led him towards the antré. "I called your name like five times, trying to wake you up, didn't you hear me?"
"You did?"
"Yeah, how do you hear your pager normally?"
"My pager vibrates, and I keep it in my pocket, that wakes me up."
"Figures." She smiled, shaking her head.
He opened the door and kissed her on the forehead, "Thanks, beautiful."
"Anytime."
She patted his shoulder as he walked out. "Say hi to Lexie," she said and then shouted after him, "Drive carefully."
He turned around, and saluted. "Will do."
Callie woke up early, and spent her day running errands. After tidying up the house, picking up her dry-cleaning and flowers from the florist and finally buying groceries, mostly fruits and vegetables- an effort to Convince Maria of her healthy eating habits- she was almost done with her to do list for the day before her dad and Maria arrived.
The caterer had delivered the food for dinner earlier in the morning and all she had to do was take it out of the fridge and heat it up in the last minute. She would set the table, after taking a quick shower. And then she would transfer the cold starters out of their aluminum cups and into more appropriate serving dishes.
All things considered, she was doing a good job of scheduling her day. A quick glance at her watch let her know that she had about 3 hours before she had to be in the airport.
Plenty of time to get ready.
The quick shower turned into a long bath, and when she got out her fingers and toes had turned all wrinkly and prune-ish. She quickly pulled on a pair of grey sweatpants, and an old favorite green UPEN sweatshirt. Putting a towel over her shoulders, she left her hair down to let it dry on its own and going over to the dining room, picked up the guest table set from the buffet.
In less than half an hour she was done and she had to admit that her living room really did look lovely with the table all made up. The burgundy tablecloth with its subtle embroidery looked chic and elegant under the layers of patterned porcelain. The contrast of the intricately detailed burgundy dinner plate in between the silver accented bigger white china and the smaller white salad plate would have made her mother proud. The newly polished silver flatware to both sides of the plates shone crisply and the pair of crystal glasses-one for the red wine, the other for water- transparently towering over the individual settings made for a perfect balance. And not to forget the mirror center piece, quite possibly her favorite, which had taken a little longer then anticipated but looked well worth the effort with its reflection through the silver tea-lights and the red and white rose petals.
It looked festive, stylish, and beautiful. Although a part of her knew that a three place setting didn't really do the long mahogany table justice. Perhaps one day she would be able to host a thanksgiving dinner for a larger family, one of her own making even. She hoped so.
Until then though, she decided, she would start throwing dinner parties for her friends.
She was pouring the salad out of its plastic container and into the crystal bowl on the kitchen counter when her home phone started ringing. She picked it up on its third ring and stuck it between her shoulder and her chin, her hands continuing with their task.
"Yellow."
"Calliope."
Her brows knitted in confusion. It was her father, and they should have been in the air by now. Hell, she was supposed to pick them up in less then an hour.
"Dad, don't tell me that your flight is delayed."
"No. We are in Seattle."
"What? What are you talking about? "
"We took an earlier flight. Maria wanted to surprise you." He said calmly.
"Oh my God I can't believe you guys. Why didn't you tell me?"
"Mija, we're in the hospital. At Seattle Grace."
"Daddy, I told you I wasn't working today, just come to the house-you should have told me you were coming earlier, I would have picked you-,
"Callie-no-we're in the hospital. It's Maria. There's been an accident."
That was the last thing she heard before she was out of the door, and running.
Continued...