The Song Remains the Same

Chapter 1

Callie Torres wasn't an idiot, no matter what her husband Owen Hunt seemed to think. She knew that the lacerations on his hand weren't from a tray of instruments. She'd only heard whispers of what had actually happened, of course, because no one was stupid enough to mention the head of Trauma's... issues at full volume inside Ellis Grey's hospital. But Callie knew without having to overhear it from some gossipy nurses on the third floor. She knew even if she didn't want to know.

Knowing made it harder to go home to a loveless marriage. Oblivion was easier. If things were still working with her husband (they weren't) then she could ignore her crush on Arizona Robbins. Instead all she could think about was the invitation for a drink that she'd gotten today. It was trivial, just a polite thing people said, but she couldn't get it out of her head. For a split second she'd resented the nurse who'd brought her kids to interrupt their conversation before she could accept, before they could nail down a place and a time and give her something to look forward to besides returning to a silent house that grew more and more tense as Owen's fuse grew shorter by the day.

Working with Dr. Robbins, with Arizona, the last two weeks had been a revelation. She had always been a passionate person. Somewhere in the midst of her second pregnancy, when Owen had come home so very fractured and she'd been trying to deal with her position at the hospital, her two year old daughter, and carrying two active babies, she'd lost the passion she'd had for her life, complacent with simply keeping her department and house in order. But sharing a case with Arizona Robbins had made her feel excited about... everything again. Top of her field medicine, even arguing on a daily basis with her co-surgeon, it gave her a thrill that she hadn't felt in a long time.

Arguing with Owen simply didn't happen. They both had tempers but once his jaw clenched and his eyes clouded Callie had learned to back down before any more of their walls were subjected to the release of his frustration. The way whatever had set him off today had led to the broken window in the ER. Arguing with Arizona was safe, working her up without any danger of sending the other woman over the edge into violence. And after a week Callie couldn't deny that she'd picked more than one fight just to watch the flush rise up an alabaster neck as Arizona grew heated. And she had freckles dotting the top of her chest, and long, straight blonde hair that looked like it felt like silk and smelled like heaven, and her eyes – Callie had had to stop kidding herself by the second week of their case that she wasn't noticing the many appealing features of her co-worker. She was married though, and not a cheater. And she hadn't been with a woman in a long time.

There was nothing wrong with a friendly drink, however. What with her closest friend Addison currently caught up in the sticky web of her own twisted love triangle, she could use another friend. And Arizona made her laugh, made her smile, for what felt like the first time in years. A night away from the tension filled minefield that had become her house could only help her and Owen.

Allegra knew to stay close as she pushed the stroller with her brothers in it, one hand hanging tightly to the back of her mother's blouse as they left the hospital, the little girl chattering the whole time about her day in daycare. Owen's arm had slipped off Callie's shoulders as soon as they were away from Cristina Yang, affection a pretense they didn't bother with when they were alone.

“So, do you think you're good to keep the kids some night this week?” Callie asked as Owen held the door for her to push the stroller into the parking lot. They both knew what she was really asking, if he could pull himself together enough to be trusted alone with their children.

His heavy brow furrowed. They lied to each other about a lot of things but not about the kids. Their kids were the one thing they had in common anymore. “Uh, we could have dinner with my mom,” he said with a guilty glance at his bandaged hand. Cristina Yang was the only person in his life who had never been scared of him. It was a sobering realization. “Do you have a late consult or something this week?”