Disclaimer: This is AU. I do not own any of the characters from Grey's Anatomy. I just manipulate them to my will. Also, any line or phrase or setting that seems remotely familiar from any other show, movie or book, also not mine. I borrow…

AN: It's back! Though, in a slightly different sense. Now, you don't necessarily have to have read Parts 1, 2, and 3 to read this fic, but there will be some parallels drawn. And, to give credit where credit is due, the idea for this If/Then type fic comes from 'meanasurly15' here on FF. She suggested it and my mind immediately started to buzz. Not exactly sure how long this will be, but guessing around 20 chapters. So if you all are ready for another wild ride, saddle up. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Fate. That is a very complicated notion to grasp. To think that someone's life has already been decided, that whether a person succeeds or not is already written in the stars, and that everything a person does throughout their span of existence is just their way of fighting to a predetermined finish line, it's a lot to believe in. Some take comfort in the idea, believing it's their destiny to be happy. Find the person they can love and who loves them back. Get married. Have kids. Grow old. …It's in the stars, right? But what happens when that path veers off the blazed trail, can it recover or is that person bound to live a life of chaos and misfortune? Or, in the end, will they end up right where they are supposed to be?

The roaring of thousands of people packed into a small stadium is nearly enough to make cement vibrate, hot lights illuminating the tons of dirt spread over the floor, and the scent of animals is what Arizona calls home. From her perch, straddling a nearly thousand pound beast, she watches. She watches as daring soul after daring soul risk their lives for one thing. The ride. The feel of an agitated and extremely lethal animal kicking and fighting below them is what drives them. The bull's instinct is to buck its passenger, and more often than not man loses that battle.

And when that man falls to the dirt, defeated by a wild beast, it's up to Arizona to keep them alive. Years and years of experience have given Arizona the ability to read the situation, almost delving into the animals mind and feeling its emotions. She can tell just from the flick of a wide eye which way the bull will spin, when it will stomp, and who is in its crosshairs. It is this ability that has saved more lives than she can count, but it's all in a day's work.

A booming voice fills the air, announcing the next battle to come, and blue eyes cue on in on the chutes. From the years of holding her position Arizona has grown to know and befriend all of the riders on tour, but there are always a few who mean the most to her. While in the arena she can play no favorites, silently she roots right along with the crowd.

The next rider gives his nod and an instant later the gate flies open, the raging bull now released into the arena and begins its attempt to dismount its passenger. Arizona finds herself leaning with the moving animal, the horse underneath her responding to her almost unperceivable shifts. She urges the rider to hang on, to lean, to reach. She guides him, instructs him, and coaches him, hoping that he is able to hang on.

But the rider's grip slips and before he knows it he is flying through the air upside down. Adrenaline gets pushed into the blonde's system and Arizona urges her steed into battle.

"Come on boy." She whispers, racing towards the downed rider.

The bull zeros in on his prey and the rider looks up just in time to stare the animal in the eye. He tries to move in time but gets knocked sideways by a spinning flank and falls again. Arizona's heart starts to pound and she stares in horror as lethal hooves come down on the rider's legs.

An audible gasp is taken by everyone in the crowd and the rider cries out in pain, instinctively curling in on himself to protect his vital organs. The bullfighters and Arizona rush to his aid, the painted clowns trying to lure the beast away but it's not budging. The blonde directs her ride into the scuffle, smacking the bull in the rump with her wound up lasso, pissing the beast off just enough to gain it's attention.

"Bring it, baby." She goads the raging animal, leading it away from the hurt rider so tour trainers can jump into the ring and assess his injuries.

Arizona earns herself a round of applause from the crowd as she expertly handles the bull, taunting it and guiding it back towards the chutes and out of the ring. But she doesn't hear it because her attention is now focused solely on the scene taking place center stage. A group of identically dressed men and woman surround the injured person while everyone waits on baited breath for news.

One of the bullfighters approaches Arizona, patting the horse on his neck and giving the blonde a concerned look. "He'll be ok, Z. Let the doctors take care of him."

"Yeah…" Arizona breathes out, not really knowing what her friend said but getting the drift it was supposed to be comforting.

When the trainers gesture for a stretcher a cold sweat breaks out across Arizona's brow. In a single, smooth move she dismounts from her horse and races to the rider's side. She can barely make his face out between the moving bodies working on him, and she trails the pack of doctors as they carry him out of the arena.

But a hand grips the back of her shirt, stopping Arizona from following the group out towards a waiting ambulance. Blue eyes whirl around only to find one of the Tour's big dogs.

"You can't go. We don't have another barrel man." He says firmly, then nudges Arizona back out into the dirt.

"But-"

"But nothing. If you want your paycheck, Ms. Robbins, you'll get your scrawny ass back out there and put on a damned smile. Got it?" Her boss barks, cold eyes staring into blue.

Arizona weighs her option between following orders and telling this man to shove it where the sun don't shine. But her boss beats her to it. "He'll still be hurt after the show, alright? But right now you got a job to do, so do it!" He commands her, giving her one last firm shove out onto the dirt and swinging the fence shut.

The blonde has to contain herself since thousands of eyes are now watching her, so instead of cursing the man out and showing all sorts of inappropriate gestures she quickly mounts her steed and urges him around the arena towards the VIP section.

"Where they taking him?" She asks the man leaning over the railing, waiting for her.

"Hospital named Seattle Grace Mercy West. Apparently its only three or four miles from here." He answers quickly. "I'm gonna go ahead and go, make sure they don't cut off anything he needs." The man says, trying to inject some humor into the situation.

Arizona chuckles lightly. "Thanks Travis. Call me as soon as you know anything, ok? I'll be out of here as quickly as possible," she shouts over the voice now booming through the PA system, announcing the next rider up.

"Cody says she'll meet you at down at the trailers with your truck." He adds, shuffling his way up the stairs and towards his friend.

Arizona nods, and then calls "T!" Travis stops and turns, expressive grey eyes meeting scared blue. "Tell Tim that I said to man up, ok?"

"Will do, Z." He replies, sending her a wink before turning on his heels and racing out of the stadium.

Arizona watches her friend go but when the slamming of a chute fills the air the blonde shifts back into game mode. Her brother may have had his ride but there are plenty more riders left tonight that are relying on the watchful eye of barrel man Arizona Robbins.

"Dr. Torres, would you hold up for a moment?" A voice calls, making a busy Calliope Torres stop and turn to search out the person. She immediately recognizes this person as her Chief of Surgery and the Latina pulls out her best smile.

"Of course, ma'am. What can I do for you?" She asks, pushing down the feeling of being less than proficient that she always gets in the presence of the great Dr. Ellis Grey.

"The board and I have read over your proposal." Dr. Grey says evenly.

"Great! So as I said, I was thinking-"

The Chief holds up a hand, cutting her surgeon off mid sentence. "We've reviewed it, and we're going to pass." Grey adds.

"Wait, what? Why?" Torres asks, her bubble deflating immediately. "When I first came to you about it you said yes. You said that I just needed to make up a proposal for the board and then I'd be good. What happened? What changed?"

"What changed is that we absorbed a whole other hospital, Dr. Torres." Ellis answers, using a tone that one would use to talk down to a five year old. "Twice the staff, twice the budget restraints. We don't have room in the budget to fund your research. Not right now."

"And the two DaVinci machines that you just purchased for General were, what? Freebies?" Callie muses, knowing she's playing with the wrong woman but not caring at this point. She put her heart and soul into the proposal, eating up weeks of valuable time she didn't have, and she's pissed.

Ellis Grey's demeanor changes in a flash, going from authoritative to defensive instantly. Straightening her back, she glares up at the taller woman and says "I would suggest you mind your tongue, Dr. Torres. Don't be foolhardy enough to think you're irreplaceable around here. And besides, it takes more than just one vote to decide these kinds of matters." Callie immediately cues in on what her boss is actually saying and all the fight drains from her.

Taking the surgeon's withdrawal as a victory, Ellis straightens up and says "I'm glad we see eye to eye on this issue, Dr. Torres." The beeping of the elder woman's phone draws her attention, and after quickly scanning the message she sighs "Speaking of…" With a very poorly hidden roll of her eyes Ellis shoves her phone back into the pocket of her white lab coat and forces a smile. "I'll keep your proposal on the top of my pile, but I can't promise anything."

She doesn't even wait for a response before turning on her heel and heading off to her next appointment. Callie just watches her boss go, trying to breathe through the weight of being shut out again. When Ellis, and the board, chose Callie Torres for the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Callie was ecstatic. She thought she might actually be able to step out and push the boundaries a little, but she was wrong. Now she is even more restrained it seems than when she was just a lowly resident. And there's not a lot she can do about it.

An hour later Callie finds herself in her office, going through a stack of charts that have accumulated on her desk when a sharp knocking on the door draws her attention. She looks up to find a sharply dressed man stepping into the room and shutting the door behind him. Tall, dark, and handsome, this man just oozes wealth and prosperity. The glint of silver from his cuff links and wristwatch catch in the light, and the black stripped power tie around his neck only makes his brown eyes seem darker. Near raven hair is styled in a way that seems like it was effortless, though the products cost more than some families make in a week. He's that person that when he walks into a room it makes everyone else sweat and fidget, and Callie is no different.

Quickly hiding her hurt look, Callie smiles and stands. "This is a surprise." She says smoothly, rounding the desk to stand in front of him. "What a- what are you doing here?"

"Just some… issues that needed to be settled." The man replies.

"Budget issues?" The surgeon quips, testing a line she usually stays away from.

Dark eyes narrow and the man dips his head slightly. "Is there a problem, Calliope?" He asks in a way that's almost threatening, pronouncing the woman's name as if it were difficult for him.

Callie runs a hand through her hair and leans back against the front lip of her desk. "Why would there be, Max? It's not like my husband vetoed my research proposal. …Oh wait…"

Max Castillo holds his wife's gaze for a few seconds, not looking away until Callie flinches first, and replies, "It had nothing to do with you. …It just wasn't a smart investment."

"Trying to clone cardiac muscle that could, potentially, change cardiothoracic-"

"I'm not discuss-" Max tries but gets steam rolled by his wife.

"Which could shorten the waiting list of transplants and save hundreds of thousands of-"

"Enough!" Max shouts, his voice filling the office and even carrying out into the hall where more than a few nurses jump. Callie's eyes go wide in shock and the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as she watches her husband take slow and deliberate steps towards her.

Looking down into the eyes of his wife, Max says in a very low tone of voice, "I'm not going to say it again, this topic of conversation is closed." He lets his words hang, daring his wife to question him, and smiles when she doesn't. "Now, I'm needed back at the office. I'll see you tonight." He leans in and quickly kisses his wife on the lips, Callie returning the kiss obligatory, and then Max turns on his five hundred dollar shoes and leaves.

"God damn it, would you just-" Arizona huffs, a sweat breaking across her forehead as she continues to try and muscle her 800 pound horse into its trailer. "Come on! I don't have time for this." Normally she would treat her steed with the utmost love and care, because he is her baby, but right now the animal is the only thing standing between now and Arizona getting to the hospital to check on her brother.

Another pair of boots hit the metal floor beneath them and blue eyes peek over her shoulder to find a tall blonde walking towards them. "Give me a hand here." Arizona groans, her breath ragged from wrestling with the horse. The woman just stands there, looking like she's afraid to get her boots dirty, making Arizona snap, "You want to walk back to the hotel or you gonna move your ass?"

"Fine." The woman sneers, emerald eyes rolling in their sockets. Arizona hands over the reins and steps around the beast, pushing it from behind to get it moving. With one last smack on the beast's rump, Arizona quickly sets up his food and water before shutting him in.

"Thanks for your help." Arizona sighs sarcastically, walking around the unhappy blonde who just leans against the side of the trailer.

Within ten minutes the two quickly slide into Arizona's beat up Ford pickup truck and head off in the direction of the hospital. It's old, nearly as old as she is, and it's worn. The paint has faded from the years of hard sunshine and heat its set in, and rust has slowly started to make its way up the trucks body. The engine runs rich, and the exhaust has been patched up with duct tape more times than Arizona can count, but it's hers. And it hauls. …And that's all Arizona needs.

The passenger sniffs at the air and then turns her green eyes to the driver. "You're not going to take a shower first?"

Teeth grind and Arizona takes a deep breath before replying, "My brother is in the hospital, Cody. Whether or not I smell like horse is the least of my worries right now."

Within a half hour Arizona has found her way through the maze of Seattle, then the maze of Seattle Grace Mercy West, ending up at the bedside of her brother. He's doped up beyond belief and he's enjoying himself. Tim, never being a shy character, has only grown more bold under the effect of morphine and gives not just his close family and friends a show, but any nurse within eye shot. Arizona looses count as to how many dinner dates her brother offers, and how many sponge baths he requests.

But finally his surgeon comes out to talk everyone through his surgery, and with one last good luck fist bump, Arizona watches as her older brother gets wheeled through a pair of double doors marked 'Medical Personnel Only'.

"So…" Travis sighs, sitting in the empty chair next to Arizona and slapping her knee. "Who won tonight?"

"Huh? Oh… Um, that jag-off Karev." Robbins answers with an eye roll.

"Awesome." The man sneers, shaking his head in disgust. "There's going to be no living with Sloan now. Since Karev's been on his hot streak Sloan has gone from being not bad to being a complete asshole."

"No," Arizona muses, sitting back in the stiff and uncomfortable waiting room chair. "He was born an asshole and just grew bigger."

"How long is this going to take?" Cody interrupts, barely looking up from a god-knows how old issue of some gossip magazine.

Travis catches Arizona's eyes, giving his lifelong friend a silent message before the blonde answers "I don't know, as long as it takes."

"Ok, got em!" Another voice calls, a woman moving slowly into view as she balances three cups of coffees between two hands. "T, can you-"

"Yep." Travis cuts in, quickly relieving the woman of two cups, handing one over to Arizona. "Thanks, babe." He adds, kissing his fiancée and wrapping an arm around her as she settles in next to him.

"Thanks Teds." Arizona says after a quick sip. She tries not to make a face at the stale, tasteless, molten hot hospital coffee because, after all, it is coffee.

A minute passes, each floating off into their own thoughts, when Cody flips the magazine closed and stands. "Let's go for a walk."

"Not really in the 'strolling' mood, Cody." Arizona sighs, taking another sip at her coffee but immediately regretting it. "But you have fun."

"Fine. Can I have your lighter, at least?" The woman asks, holding her hand out in anticipation. Blue eyes roll but Arizona stands and digs in her pocket to find her silver lighter. As she places it into Cody's hand the taller woman grabs it, preventing Arizona from pulling away. Instead the Australian woman tugs her closer and kisses Robbins softly, yet passionately.

"Don't be gone too long." Arizona says, catching green eyes with blue.

"I won't." Cody replies after one more peck, giving her girlfriend a wink before rolling her eyes at the other two and heads towards the nearest exit she can find.

Teddy and Travis have a quick and silent conversation, the woman naturally winning, and Travis clears his throat. "So… how long is this gonna last?"

Arizona, preoccupied by trying to see if there were any actual paint chips floating in her coffee, looks over and finds her two friends staring at her. "How long is what going to last?"

"You and Cody." Travis answers shortly.

Arizona lets out a groan of annoyance and slinks deeper into her uncomfortable chair, pulling her cowboy hat lower over her eyes to try and block out the lecture she knows is coming.

"Seriously, Z. …She's a bitch to you." Her friend adds.

"She's a bitch to everyone." The blonde fires back.

"And that makes it… ok?" The man asks sarcastically, ignoring Teddy's hand on his arm as a signal to calm down.

"T, I'm going to say this one time." Arizona replies is a low and even tone. "Back off. It's not like I'm going to marry the girl. We're… we're having fun. That's all. Alright? So just, please, back off my jock." Apparently Travis isn't in the mood to wrestle with a pissed off woman right now and he lets the issue drop. All that passes between the three friends is the ticking of the wall clock, signaling another passing second that their friend and brother is under the knife.

"So what are your plans for the weekend?" The surgeon who is currently reconstructing Tim Robbins leg asks, his eyes never leaving the open femur in front of him. It's been a relatively smooth surgery so far, and at about half way through the doctor can see no problems looming up ahead.

"Not much, maybe take in a movie or something." His assistant replies. The uneven beeping of a machine prompts both surgeons to look up. "His stats just dropped a bit, push 96% O2 and hang another bag of O neg." Tim's monitors stabilize and the duo get back to work.

But ten minutes later another beeping signals a drop, quickly followed by even more noise.

"He's crashing." The lead exclaims. "Get the paddles and page Cardio!"

While one of the scrub nurses immediately calls for back up, another races out into the hall to flag down someone she just saw.

Callie Torres, in the middle of a conversation with a less than happy babysitter, looks up from her phone to find a nursing racing towards her, a surgical mask still in place.

"Dr. Torres, we got a code blue in OR 3." The nurse says all in one breath.

"Damn it." Torres growls, then speaks back into the phone. "Lolita, I'm sorry but I have to go. …No, I under- Yes. Yes, I realize that you- Yes, thank you." The Latina hangs up just as she pushes into the scrub room, and pocketing her phone, the surgeon kicks on the water.

In a matter of moments since Tim's crash, Dr. Torres steps up next to him and quickly surveys the situation. "What do we got?" The ortho surgeon quickly fills her in on Tim's condition, and what happened. Dark eyes flick from monitor to monitor as the resident with them tries shocking the patient again.

"It's not happening. We need to open him up." Torres states, stepping into place and holding out an empty hand towards the scrub nurse. "Ten blade."

Five hours ago Arizona raced through a foreign city to be at the bedside of her brother before he was rolled into surgery. Three hours ago she sent Cody and Teddy back to the hotel, Cody's incessant whining wearing on the blonde's last nerve. It took a fight to get Teddy to go with the woman but it was either her or Travis go with the Aussie and, as much as the man will bend to his fiancé's wishes, Tim and Arizona are his family. So now it's just Arizona and Travis left in the dark and quiet waiting room, never really exchanging words but just comforting gestures. Her friend is well aware of Arizona's hatred of hospitals and his presence gives the blonde something to hang on to.

Just an hour ago a gowned surgeon came out from behind the double doors reading 'medical personnel only' and told them there was a 'complication.' Arizona's heart nearly stopped when she was told her brother's did. The surgical resident ensured Arizona that the best of the best was working on Tim, that the Chief of Cardiothoracic's was the one looking after him, but that did little to stem Arizona's fear.

So now they wait. Arizona chews her thumbnail down to the stub, barely feeling the sting when she bites too far and hits blood. Her body craves the burn of nicotine, the cigarette box in her pocket searing a hole into her flesh, but Arizona can't pull herself away from the waiting room. Any second someone could come marching through the doors and give her the worst news of her life. Just the thought of losing her brother makes tears streak from her eyes, and she prays up to a God she doesn't believe in to save him.

The blonde nearly jumps out of her skin when the double doors open again, the metal backing smacking the door stop and sending a sharp sound bouncing around the open lobby.

Dark eyes roam the dark and quiet waiting room, there not being many loved ones waiting at this time at night, and she immediately cues in on a couple sitting together in a corner. At first glance Callie balks at what the woman is wearing, blonde hair tucked under a worn cowboy hat, a patterned and typical 'western' collared shirt tucked into shapely blue jeans, topped off with a silver belt buckle and muddied boots while the man is dressed in a similar, if not more muted, fashion. This is not a normal sight here in Seattle, but neither is a man coming into the OR because a bucking bull crushed his leg. …Now that little tidbit through Torres for a loop when the orthopedic surgeon told her.

"Are you with Timothy Robbins?" Callie asks softly, drawing teary blue eyes up from the floor.

Arizona immediately perks up, and says "Yes, yes, we are. I'm Arizona Robbins." She stands, Travis quickly jumping to his feet as well behind the shorter blonde, and the two give the surgeon their full attention.

Callie gestures for them to sit again, and takes the empty seat on the other side of the blonde. Ignoring the faint smell of animal she catches, she starts "I'm Dr. Torres, I'm the surgeon who was called in to assist with Timothy's complication." Blue eyes stare back at her, and Callie knows this woman is waiting for the most important piece of information. "He's alive."

"Oh God…" Arizona sighs, a fresh stream of tears falling down her cheeks while her hand reaches over to the man next to her and grasps his larger one. "He's ok? He's… He's going to be ok?"

"That's… The next 48 hours are crucial." Torres replies professionally, noticing how the man moves a bit closer to Arizona, trying to comfort the woman.

"What happened? Was… was it the leg? Did that somehow-"

"His injury had nothing to do with the attack. Tim had a highly stenotic left main coronary artery, often referred to as a 'widow maker'." Callie explains. "It's called that because this condition will pop up in the blink of an eye, strike, and give that person very little time to find help. The fact that Tim was already in the OR, already under, when this happened is… well, I can't even compute those odds. Because we were right there, his chances of recovering from all of this are significantly higher, but it's not a sure thing."

"So…" Arizona's brow is screwed up in confusion, trying to keep up with all the medical jargon. "He had a heart attack?"

"Of sorts, yes." Callie answers, allowing the blonde to process at her own speed. Torres chances a glance to the clock on the wall, finding it well past midnight, and internally groans. She was supposed to be home nearly three hours ago and she knows the Max is not going to be a happy man when she sees him next.

She's shaken from her train of thought when the deep, rough voice of Travis asks, "When can we see him?"

"My team and I are still working on the repair of his left coronary artery, which could take anywhere from two hours to six depending on the amount of damage there is. Once he's stabilized, we will evaluate how well Tim is doing under anesthesia, and if he is not showing signs of distress the orthopedic surgeon will continue his repair." All she gets are empty stares back, and she adds, "If everything goes as planned, no more complications, it'll be another five to eight hours until he is out of recovery."

A slight weight lifts from Arizona's shoulders as she finally hears that Tim is doing alright, but then she falls deeper into her chair out of sheer exhaustion. It's not that she has been waiting nearly six hours at this point, nor that she's been up and working for twelve hours prior, but it's the stress of waiting to learn her brother's fate that has exhausted her.

Callie notices how weak and pale the woman appears, stress marring what are still beautiful blue eyes, and she says "I would suggest you get some rest, Ms. Robbins. It'll be a while before you can see him." The Latina stands, giving Arizona one last look while placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

A warmth radiates from the Latina's touch, and Arizona stares up into rich brown eyes. Something about her makes Arizona feel… safe? Can you feel safe with someone who you just met, yet don't know. But something tells Arizona to trust her, and not just because Callie is a doctor. So she does. And with a forced smile, blue eyes watch the Cardio surgeon walk back through the double doors to tend to her brother.

AN2: What the hell is happening? Are you ready? I know I am. This is going to be fun!