Callie Torres

"The brain is the human body's most mysterious organ. It learns. It changes. It adapts. It tells us what we see, what we hear. It lets us feel love. I think it holds our soul. And no matter how much research we do, no one can really say how all that delicate grey matter inside our skull works. And, when it's hurt, when the human brain is traumatized, well, that's when it gets even more mysterious."

- Callie Torres

Calliope "Callie" Iphegenia Torres is an orthopedic surgeon and board member at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. She's married to Arizona Robbins, with whom she has a daughter, Sofia Robbin Sloan Torres.

Early Life
Callie grew up in South Florida. She was the one of two daughters in a wealthy family. In addition, she has described herself as "that girl that sits at the back of the class who eats her own hair", indicating that she was a social outcast in school. She had also admitted to Arizona Robbins that she was in the Peace Corps, and that is what had convinced her to go to medical school.

Car Accident
Callie and Arizona are in a car accident, when Callie is 23 weeks pregnant. Upon arrival at the hospital, Callie is presented with massive head and chest injuries, and internal hemorrhaging. She crashed in the ER, but her friends at the hospital were able to resuscitate her, and thereafter brought her into surgery. She had large epidural and subdural hemotomas, and severe internal injuries, which caused intensive hemorrhaging. Her pulse was unstable during the surgery, and the doctors agreed on a temporary abdominal closure, so she could become more stable. The question of whether or not to deliver the baby prematurely remained an issue, as cardiovascular stats could be improved by early delivery. After the first surgery, Derek performed neurological tests on Callie to check her neurological functions, but she didn't respond. Cristina opted for a percutaneous surgical procedure, as seen during a surgery with Preston Burke, but Dr. Altman rejected her suggestion. After Callie's pressure dropped, she was brought back in to surgery, during which Dr. Hunt agreed to Cristina's procedure as Callie remained unstable, and they were out of ideas. Pressure and pulse dropped again, causing Callie to crash. Dr. Richard Webber is initially unable to regain her pulse, and Addison was forced to deliver the baby early by C-section. The baby had no heartbeat upon delivery, but Arizona was able to get a heartbeat, and so was Dr. Webber, and both Callie and Sofia survived.

The baby is named Sofia Robbin Sloan Torres and she and Callie were discharged from the hospital 12 weeks later. ("Song Beneath the Song")

Plane Crash Aftermath
Though Callie wasn't on the plane that crashed in the woods, it had a huge impact on her life. Callie's best friend, Mark Sloan, died because of it and her wife, Arizona, had to have her leg amputated due to a severe infection. While waiting for the infection to get better (before the leg was amputated) Callie promised Arizona that she wouldn't cut off the leg. However, during the surgery in which Callie operated on Derek's hand, Alex came in, saying that Arizona was crashing because of her infected leg. Callie then ordered him to cut off as Arizona would die if the leg wouldn't be amputated.

Following the amputation, Arizona was mad at Callie for a long time. It got so bad that Callie slept at Mark's apartment. Callie stayed with Arizona and helped her whenever she could. Slowly, Arizona allowed Callie back into her life. Yet, Arizona couldn't get herself to have sex, which is why Callie spent months without having sex. Arizona also refused to let Callie help her when she had problems with her residual limb, because she wanted Callie to see her as her wife, not her patient. She finally got over that in Idle Hands, where she allowed Callie to massage the residual limb. At the end of that episode, they also had sex for the first time since the plane crash.

However, in the finale, Callie found out that Arizona cheated on her with Lauren Boswell. It turned out Arizona hadn't forgiven her for breaking her promise to not cut off the leg. Arizona also said Callie didn't lose anything. "Apparently, I lost you", Callie replied.

Personality
At SGH, Callie was somewhat of a loner until she met George. She began dating him but was disliked by his friends, especially by Izzie Stevens, George's best friend. Izzie thought Callie was too strange for George, and her point was further substantiated when Callie drowsily used the bathroom while a stunned Izzie and Meredith were still in it. Izzie subsequently harped on the fact that Callie failed to wash her hands after that. Although Callie did wash her hands later in the kitchen, she was disappointed that George initially sided with Izzie on the issue.

While working on a case together, Callie bonded with Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery, strengthened by the fact that both women had slept with Mark and regretted it later on. The two subsequently became good friends, and often confided personal problems to each other. After Addison's departure, Callie befriended Erica Hahn and Mark Sloan.

Although originally, she and Mark had a "friends with benefits" friendship, this led to a proper friendship and they became friends.

While dating and eventually marrying George, she became friends with his group of friends. While Izzie was reluctant to become friends with her, the others entered friendly terms with Callie. Following her marriage breakdown, Callie moves in with Cristina into Burke's apartment following her and Cristina bonding over them both being jilted by their husbands/fiancés, and later moved into a new apartment that was closer to the hospital with Cristina. Callie was witness to Owen's violent PTSD episode where he strangled Cristina in bed, and calls Meredith because Cristina needs somebody. Callie also helps Meredith keep Owen away from Cristina that day.

When Callie's father appears in Seattle to visit his daughter, he is angered by the news that George divorced Callie, initially throwing George against a wall, and then throwing Mark against a wall; and was angered even further by the fact that his daughter is now a lesbian. He attempts to take Callie home with him, but she refuses, and her father cuts her off financially.

When Arizona leaves to treat children in Africa, Callie gets back in bed with Mark and later finds out she's pregnant. In the episode Song Beneath the Song, she and Arizona have an accident, and while saving Callie's life, the doctors have to retrieve the child before the due date.

Arizona Robbins
The next day, Sadie Harris joined SGH and although she flirted with Callie, nothing happened. Callie continued her sex with Mark until he started dating Lexie and she eventually became interested in another doctor, Arizona Robbins. Arizona initially brushed Callie off, considering her to be a "newborn" as relationships go, but when Callie confronts Arizona at Joe's, she embarrasses herself and Arizona in front of Arizona's date, Julie. Arizona later finds Callie and admits she misjudged and asks her to dinner; Callie initially plays hard to get, saying she will check her schedule, but gives in quickly, sticking her arm to stop the elevator and accepting the date. They both have now entered a relationship. When George O'Malley died, Arizona kept bringing Callie donuts - because she thought it helps grief - which made her more upset.

After that Callie starts to work for Mercy West then comes back when both hospitals are being merged. During that time she and Arizona hit a rough patch, when she finds out Arizona does not want kids. They soon break up. They get back together in the season 6 finale when Arizona says she wants kids, but only with Callie. In season 7, Arizona and Callie move in together, but soon break up again when Arizona gets a job in Africa helping kids and leaves Callie at the airport, never looking back.

In episode 10 of the season, Arizona comes back because she misses Callie, but Callie slams the door in her face. For the next few epiosdes Arizona tries to get her back, but when she corners her in an elevator she finds out that Callie is pregnant with Mark's baby. Callie and Arizona get back together, but Arizona thinks Callie chooses Mark's side more than hers.

During the end of episode 17, This Is How We Do It, she and Arizona are on their way for a weekend away, Mark texts Callie when he finds out Lexie is in a relationship with Jackson and Arizona throws the phone in the back seat. They start to argue about Mark being involved in their life and Callie takes her seat belt off to get her phone. While arguing, Callie tells Arizona she is trying to do everything to make her, Mark, and the baby happy and will do anything for Arizona that will make her happy. Arizona takes a moment to think and then looks at Callie and says "Marry me," before Callie can answer she gasps and Arizona turns to see Callie is gasping at a truck that came out of nowhere and hit them. At the end of episode 18 "Song Beneath the Song", the musical episode, Callie wakes up and answers Arizona's question if she will marry her. She mumbles yes, but Arizona doesn't understand what she is trying to say, Callie then tells Arizona in a louder, clearer voice that she will marry her.

Later they get married during episode 20 entitled White Wedding. Callie's parents leave before the wedding because of her mother, who doesn't approve of her getting married to a woman and having a baby out of wedlock. Mark ends up walking Callie down the isle where she is worried she might trip, but as soon as she sees Arizona the worry goes away. Later during the reception there is a father-daughter dance which Arizona says she forgot to remove from the schedule, but Callie says she will sit out. Mark then dances with her only to have Callie's father cut in to tell her he's been looking forward to this day ever since he held her in his arms when she was a baby.

Arizona cheated on Callie with Lauren Boswell during the superstorm

George O'Malley
Callie first met George O'Malley when he dislocated his shoulder after falling down a flight of stairs. She recognized him as the intern who single-handedly performed open-heart surgery in a stalled elevator, saving the patient's life. Clearly interested in getting to know him better, she gave him her number. However, George could not summon the courage to call her, so she started to ignore him.



George eventually called her and asked her out, and began dating her shortly after. While looking for Callie one night, George stumbled onto her "home" in the hospital basement. She quickly explained that it was simply easier to stay at the hospital since she was always there, and defended that she wasn't crazy. He kissed her and the two proceeded to have sex.

Shortly before the hospital prom, Callie said "I love you" to George and later revealed that it was the first time she said that to a man. She was upset that George did not reciprocate her gesture, but he replied saying that he will only say it when he means it. The couple promptly made up after that although Izzie's strong dislike for Callie sometimes made it difficult.

The Chief later found out about Callie's living arrangements in the hospital, and kicked her out because it was against protocol. She temporarily moved in with George at Meredith's, but he was uncomfortable with how quickly their relationship was progressing, so she left and moved into the Archfield Hotel. Callie made an effort toward reconciliation by inviting George to her hotel room one evening, but he stood her up to support Izzie in her time of need. Upset at how George was always placing Izzie and Meredith before her, Callie ended her relationship with George.

The same night, Callie went to Joe's, where she met Dr. Mark Sloan and invited him back to her room. After a brief fling, she refused Mark's continued advances, but also discouraged George from chasing after her out of guilt, even though she was still in love with him. However, Dr. Alex Karev overheard Callie talking about her fling with Mark, and informed George about it. George was furious that Callie had slept with another man, but was distracted when his father was warded for heart and cancer surgery. He decided to shelve his relationship problems, and placed his relationship with Callie on hold.

Callie provided emotional support in spite of her strained relationship with George, bonding with his brothers and communicating the seriousness of their father's illness to his brothers. George rejected her help initially, stating that they had already broken up, but with encouragement from his father, George gradually began allowing Callie back into his life and family circle. When it seemed that Mr. O'Malley's condition was taking a turn for the better, George kissed a confused and stunned Callie. After George's father died, Callie provided physical support as George dealt with his grief through sex, but she was still shocked by George's sudden proposal.

Callie accepted George's proposal, and the couple got married in Las Vegas, leading Alex and Dr. Sydney Heron to dub her “Callie O’Malley”. Although Addison was genuinely happy for Callie, Izzie was less than supportive of Callie's marriage. Callie eventually tired of Izzie's antagonism, and threw down the gauntlet saying that if it came down to taking sides, George would definitely side with her. For a while, it seemed like that might be the case - George moved out of Meredith's house and stayed with Callie in her hotel room, paying what he believed to be his share of the expenses - $200 a week. When Izzie insinuated to George that he made a mistake in getting married, he continued to avoid her at the hospital.

However, Callie eventually confessed to George that their hotel bill was much more expensive than she'd led him to believe, and she did not receive a discount through family friends, as she had told him. She confessed that her parents "had money", making her well-off as well, leading George to accuse her of concealing her wealth from him while using his money to tip housekeeping. Word of Callie's wealth spread among the other interns, and Izzie commented on it during surgery with Callie. Angry that George had told Izzie her secret, Callie confronted him that evening with her suspicions about Izzie's true feelings for George, ultimately throwing him out of their room for the night. Confused, George confided to Izzie about his relationship woes over alcohol, leading to a drunken sexual encounter between the two.

Callie reconciled with George at work the next day and survived a surprise visit from Callie's father - during which George impressed Callie by refusing to allow her father to help them financially - and George was allowed back into the hotel room. However, Callie was still unaware of his drunken one-night stand with Izzie the night before.

Callie became increasingly suspicious of George and Izzie after witnessing the two of them hanging out together on several occasions. Not knowing what else to do, Callie confronted Izzie in an elevator, begging her to return George to her. Subsequently, Callie decided to have a baby with George, a request to which he agrees.

Callie was informed later about George and Izzie's affair leading to George ending the marriage. Callie was angry at first and wanted to talk to Izzie about it and asked her to meet her in the hospital cafetaria, but Izzie thought that Callie actually wanted to beat her up. That day before lunch break, everyone knew about the "fight" that was going to happen. By acting as if the fight was really going to happen in front of everyone in the cafetaria, Callie was severly humiliated by Izzie.

Later on, Callie confessed to Arizona that she wished for Izzie to die when George left her to start a relationship with Izzie, but she deeply regretted this when Izzie was diagnosed with cancer.

Erica Hahn
Callie stayed single for a long time, before properly befriending Mark Sloan, they became friends with benefits but Mark eventually let her go after realizing that Callie was bisexual and loved Erica Hahn.

After a rough start, she and Hahn started going out but after a fight, Erica drove off into the night.

Alex Karev
Alex and Callie slept together after a big surgery involving reconstruction of a man's legs was successful in Season 2, when Callie was a 2nd year resident. No one knew at the time, but the relations were later revealed in the episode The Time Warp.

Career
Callie is first introduced as the orthopedic resident who fixed George's dislocated shoulder in the ER.

By season 3, Dr. Callie Torres was a fifth year resident. In Didn't We Almost Have It All?, Callie was named the new Chief Resident, over Dr. Miranda Bailey and Dr. Sydney Heron.

As of Physical Attraction... Chemical Reaction, Callie was demoted, and the position of Chief Resident was given to Dr. Miranda Bailey.

Almost a year later, Callie put in a request to be made attending as she was the go-to orthopedic surgeon and basically ran the department anyway but because Dr. Cheng was putting off his retirement the chief couldn't promote her. Callie quit and became a surgeon at Mercy West.

In season 6, Still in George's surgery, Derek stops working and after a moment Owen asks if anyone knows if George was a donor. George is declared brain dead and Callie stumbles backwards and starts hyperventilating and Owen tries to calm her. Later in the scrub room Lexie joins Bailey and Callie who look at George and Lexie says the man is too tall to be George. Everyone goes to Meredith to ask her how she knows and not satisfied with her answer, Callie walks into the John Doe's room to see if he has a freckle George had on his hand (shaped like Texas) that Callie used to tease him about. She checks his hand and starts sobbing silently, confirming it is him. Callie and Bailey talk about how it doesn't seem real when George's mother approaches Callie and tells her that it will be too hard for her to decide what happens to George's organs and because in God's eyes Callie is still George's wife then Callie should decide, Callie accepts. She goes to Arizona in the pit for comfort and Arizona advises her to cry, scream, and eat donuts. Callie then decides that she shouldn't choose alone because George loved someone more than her, even while they were married.

Callie tries to convince Alex to tell Izzie what happened to George so she can help decide what should happen to his organs and so that she can say goodbye. After Izzie is told, Callie and Izzie go through the forms and decide George would want to give everything. 9 days later, Callie walks into the chief's office and asks her about her application to become an attending but he says that Dr. Cheng is still putting off his retirement so it won't happen. Callie complains that Cheng is just a figure head, she is the one who does all the work and is primarily paged and he is just a dinosaur, but the chief yells that he is too. Callie leaves, telling Richard he'll regret it and she deserves to be an attending because she is a superstar. Callie storms into an elevator with Bailey and suddenly breaks down crying. 4 days later, Mark hammers on Callie's apartment door and she comes out sobbing about losing George, having to get a new job and not seeing her friends again and that Arizona keeps bringing her donuts. Mark comforts her and then gets the idea of moving in to the same building as Callie. -Good Mourning

Callie goes into the hall and asks Mark for some wardrobe advice for het first day at Mercy West. After he gives his opinion, she changes in front of them leaving Lexie awkward and shocked. Later at work Callie meets Richard who was admitted after an accident and after confirming there were no big injuries, he just needed sutures, she passed him on to her inter, only on his 8th day of work. She is later approached by Arizona's old patient and her mother that in which Arizona asked her to perform a scan that she had said Mercy West could perform. When she gets home she gives out to Arizona but tells her she did do the tests although nothing abnormal came up. 35 days after George's death, Callie walks into Mark's apartment and into the shower she asks him to find out if the chief is going to take up work at Mercy West because that would be bad for her and he tells her he'll try and find out. She goes to leave but Lexie asks her first how gay she really is on a scale 1 through Gay because she and Mark live next door and Mark is very hot and she just walked on him while he was taking a shower but Callie relaxes her by saying that ever since Mark met Lexie, Callie's breasts were not the first things he looked at when he saw her. After her work day she goes to Joe's bar and relaxes with Arizona.

Notes and Trivia

 * Callie had a pet ferret for nine years.
 * Callie speaks Spanish fluently.
 * She dislikes sandwiches and salad, but she likes pizza.
 * During her brief marriage with George, she was referenced to as "Callie O'Malley". Even after the divorce and George's death, Louise O'Malley still considered her to be part of the family.
 * She did sunrise yoga with Erica.
 * Callie's apartment number is 502.
 * Callie suffers from glossophobia, the fear of speaking in public.
 * Her intern exam flash cards are legendary; her fifth year study method for the American Board of Surgery holds the same reputation.
 * Callie's dream (other than ortho) was to be a mom. This dream is fulfilled now that she has Sofia.
 * Everyone calls her Callie, except for her father and Arizona. They call her Calliope.
 * Her blood type is A+.
 * While her first appearance is What Have I Done to Deserve This?, it is shown in The Time Warp that she was at the hospital earlier than that.

Notable Episodes
These episodes are Callie-centric or are otherwise very informative about her life.
 * Scars and Souvenirs
 * My Favorite Mistake
 * Freedom, Part 1
 * Freedom, Part 2
 * Brave New World
 * The Time Warp
 * Song Beneath the Song
 * It's a Long Way Back
 * White Wedding