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A/N: I know there are already lots of post-finale fics out there, but...here's another one! I don't know at this point how many chapters this is going to have, but it's going to be fairly long. There are bound to be some similarities between this and other fics on the same subject, but I promise I'm not copying or ripping anything off! This is going to be fairly angsty, but I love happy endings and sweet moments just as much as anyone else. :) Beta'd by the incredible and speedy and incredibly speedy englishstrawbie. Thank you so much!

Arizona couldn't stop laughing. The sky wasn't supposed to decide to spit out a plane full of people – doctors! – for no reason. Bones were for holding bodies together, not tearing them apart. Callie was supposed to be the one staring at bones, not her. Cristina was supposed to have both shoes. The whole situation was just utterly ridiculous and Arizona couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably.

Of course, that was before the pain registered. The pain of her body hitting the ground like a rogue tree branch, the pain of shrapnel cutting into her face, the pain of her broken femur slicing through her leg…and that was just the pain she didn't have to think about to notice. It was excruciating, and that was an understatement. She couldn't separate one ache from another. She was just acutely aware that everything hurt. Smoke and – oh, god, was that blood? – burned the back of her throat, mingling with the distinct taste of fear. Where was everyone else? Were they alive? Who knew they were here? Who would find them? Arizona could feel herself starting to panic. She wanted Callie. Callie would make everything better. She'd take her out of this awful place where planes fell out of the sky and mangled bones poked out of mangled legs and she'd take her home, where everything was warm and safe.

"Arizona!" Arizona turned her pounding head toward the voice. "Arizona!" Footsteps were hurrying toward her. "Arizona – Dr. Robbins – are you okay?" What a ridiculous question. Arizona almost laughed again before she realized that it was Lexie who had addressed her. Somewhere in the back of her head, she knew that Lexie was supposed to be under the back of the plane, slowly releasing her tenuous hold on life, so the fact that she was standing here talking was…odd. Who was under the plane? Not Cristina; she was still looking for her shoe. Meredith was looking for Derek, whose voice she could vaguely make out from deeper in the woods. Jerry, the pilot, was still trapped in the wrecked cockpit. Arizona could just make out the form of Mark in the distance, huddled next to the back end of the plane, talking to someone underneath it. But Lexie was right here, babbling about stabilizing the leg and preventing infection. So who –

Suddenly, the back of the plane appeared right next to her. It struck Arizona as strange, but it wasn't the strangest thing that had happened today. She turned her head and peered under the still-smoldering wreckage, coming eye-to-eye with the battered, lifeless face of – oh god.

"Callie!"

Callie's head jerked up at the sound of her name being screamed with more urgency than she'd ever heard it before. She wasn't sure when she'd dozed off, but when she had, Arizona was sound asleep. Now, wide, haunted blue eyes darted around the room and a soft, terrified voice was chanting her name through a flood of tears.

"Arizona?" Callie grabbed her hand. "Arizona, look at me. Look at me, sweetheart." Callie spoke gently but firmly. Still, it was the touch of her fingers on Arizona's face that brought her back to the present.

Arizona whimpered in relief at the sight of her wife's face and gripped her hand as hard as she possibly could. She struggled to sit up despite the pain that threatened to rip her apart, desperate to be able to feel Callie's arms around her.

She'd been on the good drugs for the first two days she'd been here. Between the drugs being used to treat her embolism, a heavy dose of pain meds, and antibiotics to make sure the infection she'd developed cleared up, Arizona had barely woken up. When she had, she wasn't lucid enough to know what was going on or who was around. Now, on day three, she was being weaned off some of the heavier stuff, and she was much less foggy. But in exchange, the nightmares had started and the pain returned with a vengeance. She squirmed, trying to position herself in Callie's arms.

"No, Arizona, stop," Callie said gently, trying to still her. "You need to stay still. I'll come to you." And she did, lowering her forehead to Arizona's.

"Callie," Arizona whimpered, still trying to get closer. With her free hand she grabbed onto Callie's shirt and held on for dear life.

"Shh," Callie soothed, her own tears of simultaneous relief and heartbreak burning behind her eyes. Her wife was awake, but she was so broken. She'd almost lost her. There was no way she could have survived that. "Shh," she said again, face touching Arizona's. "I'm here. I'm right here. I have you. You're safe now, Arizona, I promise. You're safe."

"The p-plane crashed," Arizona stuttered, still crying softly, breathing Callie in. After God only knew how many hours in the woods amid the putrid stench of warped steel, burning fuselage, and so much blood, the sweet, clean, warm scent of Callie was heaven.

"I know," Callie whispered, fingers dancing along Arizona's hairline.

Arizona hiccupped. "I was s-so scared."

Callie let out a shuddering breath. "Oh, baby, I know you were." She herself had been absolutely terrified, but she knew that was still nothing compared to how Arizona must have felt. She couldn't even imagine. She pressed a kiss to Arizona's forehead and then, realizing what an incredible relief it was to kiss Arizona, began showering kisses all over her face. "I was scared too," she admitted, lifting her head to be able to look into Arizona's eyes. "When I saw you coming off the helicopter…" She trailed off. Arizona didn't need to know how bad she'd looked or how close Callie had come to passing out. "You're okay now."

"Lexie," Arizona said on a hitched sob. "She…she…"

"Yeah," Callie breathed. The loss of Lexie Grey was devastating. It hadn't even fully sunken in yet. She'd avoided thinking about it too much thus far, preferring to focus on her wife who, thanks to some kind of miracle, was here, safe. She'd only left Arizona's side to go to the bathroom and spend some therapeutic time with Sofia down in the daycare.

"Oh, god." Arizona jolted suddenly and then almost screamed at the pain it caused. "Mark! Is Mark…is he…"

Callie swallowed thickly. She'd almost lost her wife and her best friend; Sofia had almost lost two parents. "He's okay," she promised. "He needed heart surgery, but he's recovering. He'll be fine." As fine as someone who'd lost the love of his life could be.

Arizona sighed in relief. "And everyone else?"

Callie gave her the rundown, never moving her fingers from Arizona's face. "Meredith had a concussion, a head lac, and a couple bruised ribs, but she's okay. Cristina's arm is in a sling, but she's fine. We're…not sure about Derek's hand yet. We stabilized the breaks, but it's too soon to tell how extensive the damage is."

Arizona closed her eyes. A brilliant surgeon could lose his career. "What about Jerry?"

"Who?"

"The pilot."

"Oh." Callie sighed. "He…he didn't make it. He bled into his brain. I don't think he made it off the helicopter. I'm sorry."

Arizona's face crumpled and she let out a guttural sob. "I'm sorry!" she wailed. "I'm sorry. I tried!"

Callie's brow furrowed. "Arizona, what…"

"To b-be a g-good –" she hiccupped again. "A good man in-in a storm. I tried!"

"Arizona," Callie breathed, shaking her head incredulously. "You were. You were amazing. I heard about what you did out there. You kept Jerry alive as long as you could. You knew his name. You kept Mark calm. You splinted your own leg, Arizona! You were scared and in more pain than I can even imagine and you kept your head. You were a good man in a freaking category-four earthquake." She smiled down at her wife, her sweet, beautiful, perfect wife who had come home to her against all odds. "I am so proud of you."

Arizona sniffled a few more times before she groaned. "Everything hurts."

"I know," Callie said softly. "You got pretty hurt, honey." Arizona didn't say anything, but Callie knew she wanted the full report. The question was clear in her eyes. "You have a concussion and three broken ribs. You had some bleeding in your abdomen, which Bailey repaired. The embolism finally cleared, but one of your lungs is bruised. Jackson fixed up the cuts on your face and arms. And your leg…"

When Callie trailed off, Arizona followed her gaze to her left leg. She'd known it was bad; hell, she'd seen all the blood and her femur sticking out. But this was… the leg hadn't been cast yet and was braced in a cage of metal and wire that she recognized as support rods. The whole leg was swollen and adorned with black and blue bruises. Where her femur had punctured the skin, there was a long incision that had since been stitched, the skin around it dark and recovering from infection. Arizona gasped at the sight and felt her stomach churn. Her body heaved just as Callie thrust a basin in front of her. There wasn't anything in her stomach but she managed to throw up anyway, bile burning the back of her throat. She nearly fainted at the pain of having to lift her head and shoulders. The combination of pain and panic found Arizona gasping for breath, and the feeling of not being able to breathe made her panic even more.

Somewhere in her panic, Arizona registered Callie's hand rubbing at her neck and shoulders. Forcing herself to concentrate on nothing besides her wife's hand, she felt herself relax a tiny bit.

"Breathe, Arizona," Callie was saying. "It's okay. You're okay. Just breathe. Nice, deep breaths. There you go." Callie had nearly worked herself into her own panic when Arizona's heart monitors started going crazy, and she breathed easier now that they – and Arizona – seemed to calm down. Arizona finally inhaled deeply and let out a slow breath, slumping back against her pillows. "That's my girl," Callie murmured, and kissed Arizona's head. She grabbed a cup of ice from Arizona's bedside tray and held a piece to her lips. "Here, rinse your mouth," she said. "Are you thirsty?" Arizona just nodded weakly and accepted the ice, letting the cold soothe her burning throat. "I know it looks bad," Callie said. "But you're going to be okay. And no matter what, you're alive and you're here with me. That's what's important." Arizona exhaled shakily, not sure if she was going to like where this was going.

"It was…it was pretty bad when you got here," Callie began, trying to push that memory out of her head for the time being. The image of her wife lying there broken, bloody, and deathly pale was…yeah. "We had to stop the bleeding and make sure you were stable before I could even look at your leg."

"You?" Arizona gasped. "You worked on my leg?"

"I did." Callie nodded. "I yelled at Owen until he let me. And I think he only agreed because he was distracted with everything and wanted me to shut up."

"Callie," Arizona breathed. "Are you…"

"I'm fine," Callie insisted. She wasn't. She'd almost lost her wife and her best friend, and she'd lost a colleague and friend. She'd held Arizona's broken bones in her hands and images of her barely clinging to life on the gurney and on the O.R. table would probably haunt her for the rest of her life. But Arizona didn't need to know all that, at least not now. It wouldn't help anything. Callie cleared her throat against the swell of emotion. "There was a lot of damage. Part of your femur had deteriorated from infection and lack of oxygen. I tried, b-but I couldn't save it." Arizona gulped. That sounded bad, but her leg was still there, so… "I had to replace it with a titanium rod." That was actually kind of cool. She'd always thought it was impressive when Callie used titanium to replace unsalvageable bones. "There was some muscle damage, but almost no nerve damage, so with a lot of physical therapy, you should regain full function."

"Okay." Arizona didn't make eye contact.

"You'll need the support rods until the bones all re-stabilize and the skin on your leg heals, and then you'll have a cast. You're going to have to stay in the hospital for six, maybe eight weeks." Arizona's face fell at that. She wanted to go home to her own bed and curl up, safe with Callie. She wanted to hold Sofia. She wanted her life to go back to the way it had been last week. She felt tears start to well in her eyes again and she silently cursed them. "Arizona, it's going to be okay," Callie said again. "We'll have you in Heelys again soon, I promise."

At that, Arizona burst into tears. Heelys were so normal. Lexie was dead. Derek might never be able to operate again. Mark had lost the love of his life. And she got to roll around the hospital on her Heelys? It didn't seem right; it didn't seem fair.

Callie started. This wasn't the response she'd expected. "Arizona, honey…"

Arizona shook her head. "I can't," she sobbed. "I can't. Everything's wrong and everything's broken and everything…everything…it's too much and I can't do it. I can't!"

"Okay," Callie soothed, leaning in close again. "It's all right." She cupped Arizona's face in her hands. "You can do it, Arizona. You can. And I meant what I said. Whatever you can't do, I will. But you can do it." Arizona shook her head to the best of her ability. "I know it's a lot right now. Let's just take it one thing at a time, okay? Right now it's just us. Just you and me. You and me here, safe, together."

"Just you and me," Arizona murmured feebly, trying to stop her tears. "Callie…Callie, I was so scared."

"I know."

"I hate the woods."

Callie chuckled despite the situation. "I know."

A beat of silence passed, Callie running her fingers along Arizona's bruised face in a soothing gesture. Arizona grunted in pain. Callie halted her motions. "What hurts?"

Arizona grimaced. "What doesn't?" Every fiber, every cell of her body was screaming in agony. She felt like she was being crushed. That thought immediately flooded her with guilt as she thought of Lexie.

Callie sat up and pressed the button for Arizona's morphine drip, and Arizona's face soon relaxed. "Get some sleep," she said softly. "You need to rest."

"Don't leave." Arizona's frightened eyes bore into Callie's, her tone belying desperation. "Please don't leave."

"I'm not going anywhere," Callie promised in the same calm, even tone she'd used the other day in the parking lot. "You sleep, and I'll be right here." She took Arizona's hand in her own and brought it to her lips, pressing a soft kiss to the back. "I'll still be holding your hand when you wake up."

Arizona felt herself getting foggy from the effects of the morphine. "Promise?"

"Promise," Callie said, almost sternly. She lowered her head to Arizona's one more time and laid a slow kiss on her lips. Despite everything Arizona was feeling – the pain, the devastation, the guilt, the grief, the fear – she kissed back. Nothing was better than the feeling of her wife's lips on her own, especially when she'd been so afraid she'd never feel them again. "I love you, Arizona," Callie said, her eyes a little misty. "I love you."

"I love you," Arizona replied. "Calliope, I…" Her eyes closed in a prolonged blink.

"Go to sleep," Callie murmured. "Close your eyes."

Arizona obeyed, too tired to argue. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."

Callie frowned. She had no idea what Arizona could possibly be apologizing for, but by the time she opened her mouth to ask, Arizona was asleep. Her face, while relaxed, wasn't completely peaceful; fear and sadness still adorned her features.

Arizona's hand still clutched safely in her own, Callie finally dropped her head and cried.