undeserving of you.

III

greys sloan memorial hospital
9:28 am.
valentina's POV
—
i keep my eyes on callie until the door to the stairwell closes. i now avert my full attention to doctor bailey. "well, what's to talk about, doctor?" i ask attentively. miranda sets her hands on her hips.

"oh, i don't know, maybe because you two had non-stop eye sex after she arrived here," miranda says. my eyes enlarge. my cheeks warm, and i bet my whole career that my cheeks are now tinted with a light pink. still, i decline. "what!? nah. i know callie is still getting over her precious significant other, and i don't want to immediately jump after her and be her next person, only for it to end up the same way." miranda raises an eyebrow. "cmon, val. we all know that's not the reason why she accepted to taking you on the hospital tour. i could've sent callie off to work and paged meredith, lexie, april — any of them — to show you around but i immediately saw callie giving you heart eyes so i allowed her to show you our hospital. i didn't put you two together for no reason. i immediately knew that callie would like you when you facetimed me last night about you showing up here tomorrow for your orientation day. you're her type, tina."

my chest tightens. what the hell am i suppose to say to that? i mean, i know callie might have a little crush on me. her looks literally scream bisexuality. and i don't know how she'll react if i tell her that i'm only into women. she'll probably hyperventilate. let's hope that doesn't happen, though. it sounds worse than you think.

i sigh. "what do you expect me to do? tell her that i'm crushing too?" miranda stares into my soul. "i mean, that's not exactly a lie, is it, tina?" she says sarcastically. i cross my arms. "i don't know, you tell me. am i crushing?" miranda's eyes descend to the back of her head. "you're BOTH crushing on each other. and besides . . ." miranda inches closer and her tone drops. "arizona—she meant the world to callie. losing her made her world crumble to nothing. until she saw you today. i could've sworn callie looked like she was about to run herself off a cliff before her eyes drifted upon you. then that classic callie glint sparked back into her eyes. you gotta accept it. callie needs you, especially now. she has like 99.9% of her heart missing, and you can replace most, if not all, of that missing heart. you need to do that, before the old vibrant and happy callie vanishes for good and there's nothing we can do to get her back."

i gulp. i guess this is the part where bailey says, "no pressure, though." i hate it when people say that. it just makes things worse. like why waste the time to say something that hardly anybody listens to? everything miranda just told me is a lot to sink in, and i let everything ponder in my mind. i know miranda is trying to let me know that callie is feeling alone right now without actually telling me that she's alone. and that i need to be the person to stand up for her, be her rock until she fully recovers. i look warily into miranda's eyes. i nod. "okay, alright. i'll do it. i'll admit to liking her either tomorrow or the day after. she needs me. i know she does. thanks, bailey."

miranda smiles the biggest, stupidest smile i've ever seen. "eeek! you're amazing. calzona was great, but now we welcome calentina." i shake my head. "you've even made up a ship name for us already?" miranda nods. "i'm basically the CEO of that here. i made up deluca, merder, slexie, amelink-"

"yep, yep, i get the memo," i say, cutting her off. we start walking towards the door leading back into the lobby. miranda has her hand on the handle before she turns back around and tells me, "i'm being serious here, valentina. callie's heart is made of the most fragile glass right now, and the last thing we want, all of us want, is for someone to pick it up and shatter it again. and if that does happen once more, callie's heart may never reappear again." i stare pointedly at bailey. "god, you make everything sound so dramatic. cool it down, will you, steven spielberg?" she laughs, and opens the door for me. callie is outside, patiently waiting and reading a people magazine. she hears the door open and puts the magazine down. she walks over to us.

"so, how was the mini therapy session?" she asks. miranda snorts. "you're funny, torres. it was mostly for sampino here, not vice versa." callie's eyebrows raise. "huh. interesting." miranda glares at callie. "alright, well, even though the day has barely started, i'm off to do my rounds. you two hug, say your salutations or whatever bullshit y'all still do." miranda lumbers off to the elevator and pushes the button. she gets in and as the doors are closing, she mouths the words, " ask her out!" i laugh and callie looks behind her but by then, the elevator doors have closed. she whips back around.

"so, uh, hey, i have to head back to my hotel room—i still have tons of moving to do. this was kind of a last minute thing. do you, by any chance, want to head out for coffee tomorrow morning before heading over here?" i ask callie. she blinks, and i'm afraid i'm being too obvious. she might think of this as a before-work date kind of thing. callie snaps out of it and nods. "sure, of course! we'll get to know each other better," she says, smiling. "yeah, definitely! well, um, i'll catch you later. remember, tomorrow morning!" i say as i walk away. she salutes army style. i giggle. then i remember something.

i turn back around and jog over to callie, who's waiting by the elevator.

"i almost forgot-" i take out a small white business card and hand it to her. she hesitates, but takes it. "that has my desk and mobile number on it. so, if you ever need anyone to talk to, you know who to contact. alright?" she finishes reading my card and looks up. she nods gratefully. "thank you, thank you so much, val." i nod. i lean forward and place a kiss on her cheek. her breath stops and her heart skips two beats. i cup her face with one hand and smile. then i walk away and out the hospital doors.

a/n — ahhh! i absolutely loved that chapter. i honestly think that this little talk with valentina and miranda will make a huge difference in this story. let me know what you guys think! love u all!!!💘

- angie <3

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