DISCLAIMER: Grey's Anatomy and its characters are the property of Shonda Rhimes and ABC. No infringement intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks so very much to Cabenson for setting me on the right path with those two. A very special thank you to Debbie for taking on the job of beta for this fic as well as the 22 others and especially for agreeing to write her specialty, Birds of Prey, as part of this 24 fandom series. Thanks, Deb, I truly do appreciate it.
CHALLENGE: Written for the first International Day of Femslash.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Seeing Is Believing
By Ann
Sipping on her white chocolate latte, an indulgence she rarely allowed herself, Cristina Yang leaned against the nurse's station and mindlessly shifted through the various patient charts, completely bored out of her skull. She'd ridden the wave of euphoria for a solid week after performing a pulmonary embolectomy on 'cement boy,' but what she'd always heard had sadly come true – there was nothing quite like hitting rock bottom after being at the top of the heap. Something had to give soon or she'd die from boredom.
A movement in the far corridor caught her attention, and she turned her focus from 'pneumonia guy' in 316 to the two women that had rounded the corner, stopping in a small alcove that branched off into separate hallways. Callie and Hahn appeared to be in deep conversation, and Yang moved around the edge of the counter to afford her a better view. With one eye on the chart and the other on her roommate and the attending from hell, she watched the conversation play out. She just wished she was closer so that she could hear what the two doctors were saying.
"So, what about Friday evening?" asked Hahn, keeping her voice low. Callie was still a bit paranoid about their colleagues finding out about them, and Erica was willing to wait until her lover felt more comfortable about sharing their relationship.
"Um, I'll have to check my schedule, but I'm pretty sure it's clear." Callie offered a smile. The two had been trying to make plans for dinner and a movie for the past week, but one or both of their schedules hadn't allowed it.
Erica grinned and quickly glanced around the semi-secluded area of the corridor. The coast was clear, except for Yang, and the younger doctor appeared to be engrossed in the chart she was reading. Taking advantage of the very rare private moment, she gave Callie a quick peck on the lips, before turning to walk away. In return, she received a swat on the ass and a wink from her lover. Both women laughed and then veered off, heading their separate ways.
Yang dropped both her latte and the chart on the floor.
In the locker room, Meredith had stretched out on the bench to try to work the kinks out of her sore back muscles and had just dozed off when Cristina came barreling in and almost knocked her to the floor.
"Wake up, Meredith! You're not going to believe what I just saw!"
"Damn it, Cristina; I've been on my feet for 15 hours straight." Meredith grunted, slowly easing into a sitting position. She vigorously rubbed her face with her hands.
Cristina took the move as an invitation to plop down next to her friend. Wildly gesturing with her hands, she relayed her story.
"Callie and Hahn just made out in the corridor on the third floor!"
Meredith removed her hands from her face and tilted her head in Cristina's direction. She patted the bench and started to rise. "Here, why don't you lie down? I think you need sleep more than me. You're seeing things."
Cristina grabbed hold of Meredith's arm and yanked her back down. "I'm not! They made out, and then Callie slapped Hahn on the ass!"
"Who, not in their right mind, slapped Hahn on the ass and lived to tell about it?" George said as he rounded the corner, having only heard the last bit of Cristina's statement.
"Um, your ex," offered Cristina, a smile threatening on the corners of her mouth.
"What? Callie?" George laughed. "No way; she doesn't swing that way."
"Who doesn't swing which way?" Izzie entered the room and moved in front of her locker, flipping the door open with a bang. "Oh, wait…you don't mean swing as in," she made air quotes, "swing, do you?"
Meredith filled in the blanks, but in a disbelieving tone. She hadn't believed a word Cristina had said, but that wasn't going to stop her from relaying the false information to her friends. "Cristina supposedly saw Callie and Hahn French kissing in the hallway of the third floor and then Callie grabbed Hahn's ass."
Twin 'Whats?' echoed in the room as George had to stop to pick his jaw off the floor while Izzie almost fell into her locker. Cristina nodded enthusiastically.
"It wasn't exactly a French kiss, but it *was* a kiss-kiss. And yes, Callie slapped Hahn on the ass."
"Whoa, where did this happen? And how did I miss it?" Alex joined the group, grinning from ear to ear; finally, some girl-on-girl action. He'd figured Izzie and Meredith would have gotten it on by now. Although, Addison and Izzie had been a good bet for awhile there as well.
"Callie did not kiss Hahn!!!" George moved into the center of his friends. "She's not like that! She wouldn't kiss another woman on a dare!"
"Hey O'Malley, Chief's looking for you." Mark Sloan strolled around the corner and smiled, watching the drama play out.
George glared at his friends and then stomped from the room, while Sloan just laughed and followed the doctor into the hallway. He'd neither confirm nor deny the allegations, deciding to let the gossip run amok. Seattle Grace was in desperate need of new fodder.
Inside the locker room, Meredith turned her full attention on Cristina. "You really shouldn't make up things to upset George." With a loud tsk, she slid to her feet and walked to the door.
Izzie showed her disappointment by slamming her locker closed and glaring at Cristina. Alex simply shook his head sadly; he'd been so close, too. Together, the two doctors added their own tsking sound and left Cristina, sitting on the bench, alone.
"I saw them!!!"
"Quit staring, Cristina," ordered Meredith, taking another bite of her salad. Yang had spent her entire lunchtime staring at the corner table where Hahn and Callie were eating and chatting away.
"They keep smiling at each other," Cristina repeated for the third time since the four of them had sat down. "Don't you think that's weird?"
Izzie spared a glance at the two doctors and shrugged. "I don't see anything out of the ordinary, Cristina. You're still seeing things. People actually smile on occasion, you know."
Even Alex, who truly wanted to see sparks fly between the two doctors, hadn't picked up on any vibes. "She's right, Yang. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on your part. Or maybe . . ." He leered at Cristina. "Which one do you have your eye on?"
"Yeah right, Karev. I asked Hahn out, and she turned me down as she kicked me out of her OR." Cristina barely allowed time for her snarky comment to sink in, before she vehemently defended herself - again. "I saw them kiss, damn it!"
Izzie gathered up her tray and stood. "Yeah, sure you did."
"Why won't you believe me?" Yang looked from friend to friend to friend. Alex and Meredith pushed to their feet and grabbed up their tray as well.
"Probably because Callie's been banging Sloan in the on-call room every chance they get." Alex glanced over to see Sloan, sitting alone at another table and watching Hahn and Callie, and smiled. He knew exactly what the other doctor was fantasizing about.
"Alex is right. You've lost it, Cristina." Meredith shook her head and walked away. Alex and Izzie only waited a moment before they followed.
Cristina never saw her friends leave as she'd already turned her eyes back on the corner table just as Hahn stood and lovingly rubbed Callie's shoulder as she walked by.
"Did you see that?" Cristina smugly twisted in her chair, only to find no one there.
"Damn it!"
"So, what's new, Cristina? Hahn and Callie having wild monkey sex on the operating table yet?" Alex laughed and hooked his arm around Yang's shoulder. Meredith and Izzie gathered around the pair and chuckled. Cristina wasn't at all amused.
Casting Alex's arm aside and stepping out of his grasp, she said, "Yeah, go ahead and laugh. They *are* a couple, you'll see." Picking up her pace, she left the rest to follow at a much more sedate pace as she strode from the hospital and turned to the left. Her eyes almost popped out of her head when she rounded the corner.
There, just up ahead, were Hahn and Callie, and Cristina was pretty sure there was a French kiss involved this time. The two doctors broke apart with Hahn heading toward the parking garage and Callie walking toward the side entrance of the hospital.
"Did you . . ." Cristina started, only to stop her words. She looked back to see her friends finally come into view. Once again, she was the only one who'd witnessed the kiss.
"Jeez, you look like you've just swallowed a sour pickle." Izzie stepped up next to Yang. "C'mon, Cristina, give up on the Hahn/Callie kissing thing. We know you've been bored and that you don't like Hahn, but what's Callie ever done to you?"
"I saw them." Cristina held firm to the various encounters she'd witnessed. "If you people would just pay closer attention, you'd see, too."
"You're like that little boy that cried wolf, seeing things that aren't there. Why don't you come have a beer with us? I'll even let you borrow my sparkly pager tomorrow." Meredith reached into her pocket and held the shiny pager out in front of her.
Cristina's eyes were immediately drawn to the front row ticket to every surgery and trauma to come through the doors of Seattle Grace. She bit down on her tongue, deciding not to point out that in Aesop's fable the wolf ended up being real in the end. It was enough that she knew the wolf had actually been real the entire time. She snatched the pager from Meredith's hand.
"Okay, who's buying the first round?"
Alex slapped Yang on the back. "You are."
The foursome laughed aloud and started down the sidewalk, three believing that they'd finally stopped Cristina from spreading her tales and one just waiting for the moment when someone else would see firsthand what she'd seen all along.
Inside the hospital, a figure stood in front of a large glass window that overlooked the area where the four doctors were walking away, their laughs made silent by the thickness of the glass. It truly didn't matter though. The observer wasn't really seeing them anyway; his mind was still replaying the scene he'd watched a few moments ago.
Callie had kissed Hahn – on the lips. There hadn't been any mistaking the intent from either woman. Even a blind man couldn't miss the intense passion each woman had poured into the kiss. It hadn't been a first kiss; it was a kiss of familiarity.
George continued to stand unmoving as he looked out into the night. Cristina had been right - seeing was believing.
The End