Hello, people of earth and beyond. I watched 13x23 on my laptop and, for a brief moment in time, I seriously considered throwing my laptop across the Atlantic Ocean to hit Shonda Rhimes in the face with it. But I didn't, and I want that noted.
So instead, I binge-wrote this at 3am during exam time. I've seen one or two similar to this one, but I wanted to add my own take on it. There will be a part two, I think. Maybe after exams, which end in a week. Pray for me. Or you know, wish for me to go to hell. I don't think it makes much difference at this point anyway. I'm screwed.
Anyway, rambling aside, I hope you enjoy! Happy Existing!
All she could smell was smoke.
For the second time in her life, all Arizona could smell was the stale, overwhelming smell of the smoke that cascaded through every crack in every door and through every particle of the air she was struggling to breathe. She could see, blurrily, the orange glare of the flames that danced on, refusing to be tamed, condemned to die into ashes.
How had the perfect day gone so badly?
She had started the morning in the arms of the woman, who, as she realised as she lay in the rubble, that she loved. And in that moment, despite her daughter being on the other side of the country, despite the secret nature of her relationship with Eliza, she had felt purely and blissfully happy. The kind of happy that made outsiders want to puke as they watched the cliché new couple moments roll on.
She had to get out of here. She knew she did. As a doctor, she could recite a lengthy list of all the prolonged effects of smoke exposure. Callie had recited the same list on the rare occasions that Arizona would hold a lighter to a cigarette and allow her stress to float away like the smoke in the night air. She was just regaining consciousness and she had no idea how long she'd been out.
However, as soon as she tried to move her legs, she realised that smoke inhalation was not her only problem. She glanced down at her left leg, which was sticking out at a strange angle where she knew the metal joint that replaced her knee was. It had completely popped out of the socket, and there wasn't anything that she could do about it. Her arm felt like it was on fire and she could tell she was going to be dealing with some pretty nasty burns.
Silently cursing the fact that the paediatric floor was the second from top, she began to ever so gracefully bum-shuffle across the floor, carefully avoiding the hot pieces of rubble that surrounded her. There was no sign of anyone- patient or parent or staff. She hoped with all her heart that they had made it out as soon as the call for evacuation had been sent out, because she had no time to stop. The physical exertion was exhausting her already.
She forced back the bile that was threatening its way up her throat, which was burning from lack of oxygen. She continued to pull herself along, her arms aching and her muscles screaming in protest. She needed to get to the nearest staircase- there was no way that the elevators would switched on. She felt a sickening stab of de ja vu- she remembered the day of the shooting, being able to do very little as Ruby's condition deteriorated, and they weren't allowed to move from the floor.
Reaching the top of the nearest stairwell, she stopped on the first step and took a minute to catch her breath. She held her hands out in front of her, using them as a focal point, trying to focus her blurring vision. Her breath was coming in uneven, ragged gasps. She felt as though she were back in the woods, when a clear breath had been a rare relief from the pressure in her chest. She knew she wouldn't make it to the bottom of the stairs, and out of the hospital. Not without two working legs and a sufficient oxygen supply.
She closed her eyes, laid her head in her hands, and prayed.
The chaos reigning outside was the utmost contrast to the almost silent roar of flames inside. People were screaming, crying for loved ones. Doctors were running around, barking orders at each other and firefighters were barrelling in to the burning building without a second thought about their own lives.
Eliza Minnick stood frozen on the spot, looking fearfully up at the explosion zone. From the outside, she could see that the explosion had taken over the third and fourth floors, but she could only imagine the damage that the force had caused, the smoke that must be spreading rapidly through the building.
She couldn't find Arizona. She had combed the crowds, scanning each and every single face in sight. She knew her efforts were futile- the explosion had been on the third floor, from what she could decipher from the rushed words of the fire crew, and she knew without a doubt that Arizona would have been in the NICU, on the fourth floor. She knew how selfless Arizona was- she would have waited until every single patient was evacuated, checking and double checking the floor to guarantee it was empty before she even thought about leaving. She knew it was probable that Arizona had been caught in the explosion.
Ever since she was a teenager, she never had much of a track record with relationships. Even after high school, all through college and med school, her focus had always been on her career. Sure, there had been casual dates and drunken one night stands with no strings attached, but getting her medical degree and pursuing orthopaedic surgery had always been at the forefront of her mind. Once she became a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon, sports medicine had taken her interest. And finally, after spending so much time learning all she could, she decided to focus on teaching what she had to teach. To give back.
When she came to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, she kept her mind focused on the task at hand- teaching the interns and residents, making improvements to the resident programme. She refused to be thrown off by the attendings, who were forming somewhat of an uprising against her. She understood it, they were trying to protect Richard Webber, but it wasn't her fault. She was just doing her job. So, she kept a smile on her face and went about her job, allowing nothing to stand in her way.
And then along came Arizona Robbins, all blue-eyed and dimples-popping. The first time Eliza saw her, across the table during the first meeting with the attendings all those weeks ago, she knew she had to get to know this woman. This woman who was so fiercely loyal toward Richard Webber that it had been a challenge just to get her to agree to casual drinks. Arizona Robbins, who she could see was sad, and all she wanted to do was make her smile, and God, did she have a beautiful smile.
She found herself standing stock still, not able to move from that spot. Her mind was thinking the worst, it always was. That Arizona was in there, trapped, and alone.
"Dr Minnick?"
Of all the people she thought would approach her at a time like this, Richard Webber was not one of those people. She looked up at him, her eyebrows raised, before looking back up at the building. "Dr Webber." She greeted him, her words careful. She respected the older surgeon, she really did, although some of the other doctors at Grey Sloan would rather paint the image that she was a monster with no respect for the history that radiated off the hospital walls. According to Arizona, he had been warming up to the idea of their relationship, but he wasn't completely there yet.
"Are you okay?" He asked, and genuinely at that. He could see that the brunette surgeon had a war of her own going on inside her head. He felt what was the start of a newfound respect for Eliza Minnick- and if she made Arizona smile, then she couldn't be too bad.
"Do you care?" She spat, before bringing her hand up to her forehead in regret, turning towards Richard with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap, it's just…" She trailed off, at a loss for words to describe how she felt.
Richard nodded. "She's in there." He finished for her, looking up at the destruction zone. Who he now considered to be his best friend was in that building. There was a remote possibility that she could be outside, out of sight, but he knew that the universe wasn't that kind. "And you love her."
"I do." Eliza said softly, before straightening up, a look of surprise forming on her face, and then horror. "I do! Oh, my God, I do! She's in there!" She exclaimed, her voice rising. And before she knew it, she was running. Not away from the flames like any sane person would do, but head first towards the hospital. She barged past security guards, not listening to the words of warning that they gave.
Meredith Grey walked up to Richard, who watched Eliza run off without a further word. "Is she crazy? What the hell does she think she's doing?"
Richard shrugged. "Rescuing the woman she loves." He said simply.
Inside, Eliza held her breath as she ran. She needed to avoid breathing in as much smoke as she could. Her years on the track team at school were paying off, as she remembered her coach's breathing tips, on how to gain more oxygen when doing so seemed impossible.
Up and up she went, barrelling through heavy doors and hammering up the stairs, searching for any signs of the blonde surgeon whose presence she craved the most. It was beginning to become hard to breathe as her lungs were filled with smoke, but she powered on, refusing to leave Arizona behind. She pushed past rubble- pieces of wall and chips of stairwell- fighting, against all of her body's protestations, up more steps.
As she rounded the corner before the last lot of twelve stairs, she fought the urge to cry in relief when she saw Arizona sitting, slouched over, at the top. She could see from here that the blonde was unconscious, and that her prosthetic leg was completely out of place. She ran up the final stairs, grabbing Arizona's shoulders and shaking the foetal surgeon hard. "Arizona!" She yelled, but to no response.
Without a further thought, she carefully picked the blonde surgeon up and slung her over her shoulder in the fireman's hold. She knew her sudden strength was due to adrenaline.
The journey down was just as exerting as the journey up. Now with added weight and even less oxygen, Eliza found herself gasping for breath, her vision becoming hazy and her footsteps slowing.
"Over here!"
She turned on the spot to see a sight she had never been so thankful for in her life. A fireman, suited from head to toe in fire retardant gear and accompanied by a tank of oxygen, was standing by the door through which she had entered, and she realised, with a sigh of relief, that she had made it to the bottom.
"Oh thank God." She spluttered, almost falling into his arms. He carefully removed Arizona from her shoulders and allowed her to lean on him as he guided her the few short feet out of the building, and into the welcoming night air, which at that moment was the greatest thing she had ever experienced. Now free from the smoke and gas fumes, she took several long, ragged breaths before jumping into doctor mode.
"She needs oxygen right away, we have no idea how long she's been out! Get someone from plastics, she has what looks like some nasty partial thickness burns on her left arm, looks to be full thickness at some points. She'll need an ortho consult, I want that leg checked out!" She yelled sternly. She was fully aware that she was an orthopaedic surgeon, but she was currently having oxygen masks shoved in her own face so she wasn't exactly fit to help her herself.
However, she was cut off from barking instructions when a pair of arms engulfed her. She had no idea whose body was so close to hers, giving her a bone-crushing hug. She hesitantly hugged the person back even though she didn't know who it was.
Eventually, the person drew back and the relieved face of Alex Karev was revealed. Over his shoulder, she could see just about every one of the attendings that had been so avidly boycotting her over the last two months, all looking at her not with their usual disgust, but neutrally, some even surprised. "Thank you. We can't lose Robbins." He said plainly, looking over Eliza's shoulder at Arizona, who was being loaded into the ambulance. From what Eliza could see, she was one of the last patients left to be taken away.
Alex gave her a sort of half smile and walked away from her. Eliza hadn't had many encounters with him before, but Arizona had told her the stories. Of how she taught him everything she knew, watched him become a great surgeon and person. Once he walked away, the rest of the attendings took the cue to disperse, some seeing to the remaining patients and some hopping in the back of ambulance to be transported to Seattle Pres. Meredith Grey, however, stayed back, looking Eliza up and down, taking in the other surgeon's presence entirely.
Eliza stood there patiently, as if waiting for the other surgeon to say something. When she continued to remain stoically silent, however, she found herself growing impatient. The rig with Arizona in it was leaving in a matter of minutes. "Can I help you, Dr Grey?" She asked, removing the oxygen mask from her face. She didn't need it anymore, really, but it was comforting to her.
Meredith took a few more seconds to appraise the other surgeon. Admittedly, she felt some guilt over being so quick to judge the other surgeon. Someone who was willing to run head first into a building to save who Meredith considered to be a dear friend was obviously not as bad a person as she had made her out to be. She was immensely grateful in that moment for Eliza Minnick, because this hospital could not lose Arizona Robbins. No one could.
"Do you love her?" She asked simply.
Eliza smiled, glad to be able to say it out loud for the second time that evening. "I do. I love her." She said, a thousand-watt smile spreading across her face.
"Normally, I would expect this to come from Alex, or Webber, or hell, even DeLuca. But I'm just gonna say it. Arizona has been through serious shit in the past few years. We were in a plane crash together, and it's just the two of us left here out of the six that got on that plane. She can't take any more loss. You hurt her, I hurt you." Meredith stated firmly, before walking away, leaving Eliza to stand there in wonder. She didn't contemplate, though, as she was ushered into the back of the rig that was starting to move.
The ride to Seattle Pres was uneventful. Arizona's vitals were stable, and although she remained unconscious, her pupils were both reactive and she was breathing on her own, even if it was laboured. Her left arm had been temporarily bandaged and her prosthetic leg had been removed. Eliza quickly threw the blanket over Arizona's exposed shortened limb- she knew how private a person the blonde was when it came to the leg.
She should contact Arizona's parents, Eliza thought, as they unloaded Arizona from the ambulance in a gurney. She walked alongside them, not letting her eyes avert from her girlfriend for a single second. She reached into Arizona's lab coat pocket and was glad to find her flower-case clad phone still intact, if not low on charge.
Once Arizona had been settled in to a trauma room, Eliza took up the spot beside her bed. She took Arizona's hand in hers and squeezed it tight, her heart aching at the thought of how close she had come to loosing this amazing person. Taking a deep breath, she copied her girlfriend's parent's number into her own phone and pressed call.
A friendly female voice answered within two rings. "Arizona, sweetie! How are you doing?" Barbara Robbins asked eagerly. Arizona used to call them every week and they would talk for hours, but ever since Callie had moved with Sofia to New York, Barbara had noticed that her daughter's phone calls became less frequent and more detached. She worried for her daughter, she truly did.
Eliza took a deep breath. "Mrs Robbins? I'm Eliza Minnick. I don't know if Arizona has mentioned me to you before…" She said, waiting for the other woman's reaction.
Barbara froze. Of course she had heard about Eliza. Arizona rarely had anything else to talk about. "Arizona talks about you all of the time! You make her very happy! But may I ask why you're calling?"
"Well, if you haven't already seen it on the news…" Eliza trailed off, building herself up to tell her. Realistically, she knew that Arizona would be fine, and that was what she would tell her parents, but she knew that these people had already lost a son. She didn't want to be the one to give them bad news. "There has been an explosion at the hospital."
She didn't get much more information out before Barbara burst out crying, her mind automatically thinking the worst. Eliza could hear the gentle voice of whom she assumed to be Daniel, Arizona's father, trying to calm her down, and there were a few muffled noises before the much more calm, stern voice of Daniel Robbins spoke through the phone.
"Eliza. What happened?"
Eliza felt her heart flutter. She had been nervous to talk to Arizona's mother, but speaking to The Colonel put the genuine fear into her. Arizona spoke of no one higher than she did of her father- the pressure was on to make a good first impression.
"There was an explosion at the hospital, the cause is still unknown. Arizona was on the floor above it and got caught in it. However, she's fine. She's unconscious right now, but she'll be fine. She's being attended to with a steady flow of oxygen and she had some nasty burns on her left arm, but everything is treatable. I wanted to get in touch with you before she regained consciousness, because I know she would try to convince you guys not to come, but truthfully, I think she could use her parents right now." Eliza informed him, and there were a few moments of silence before anyone spoke again.
"We'll be on the next flight out."
"I'll look forward to seeing you then, colonel."
"Oh, and Eliza?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Call me Daniel."