AN: I wanted to explore the theory of Arizona's mental breakdown manifesting itself in the Lauren and Arizona cheating story line. I didn't like the cheating storyline, so I thought I would explore this theory instead.
For weeks now, the pain had been getting worse, it hit at the most inconvenient of times; in the OR, the shower, in the middle of the night…today had been a particularly bad day. Robbins had spent almost an hour in the store closet stabbing a scalpel into her prosthetic limb trying to stop it. But with the storm underway she was needed up on the PEDS floor, with an onslaught of worried parents and dozens of tiny humans to save in the middle of a super storm Arizona did not have time to contend with it, so she done what she had been doing for the last two weeks and ignoring it. She had too.
Arizona headed up to check on her post-op patient, the three month old whose brain, until a few hours ago was on his face, but Dr. Boswell had worked her magic and now all the tiny human would have was a tiny scar above his lip. It seemed that tiny humans were not the only ones captivated by Dr. Boswell, "Well, that's me now." Echoed in Arizona's head, maybe she was right. The blonde did hold a striking resemblance to Robbins, with the same almost cocky confidence Arizona had once had. But that was before. Before the plane crash, before she lost her leg. That was before and Arizona was very much living in the aftermath.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden searing pain in her absent limb. Phantom Limb Pain, they called it, but there was nothing phantom about it, the pain was very real. How can I have pain in a part of me that no longer exists? Owen had taught her control mechanisms to stop the pain, at first they had worked, but they were no longer affective. She hadn't told anyone she was still suffering from the condition; she couldn't tell her wife. They were only just beginning to get back to some semblance of normality. No, she wouldn't tell Callie. She could deal with this herself. Arizona headed up the stairs to the PEDS floor, the whole time her mind on Lauren. What was it about that woman that enchanted her so? Arizona tried desperately to push the thoughts of her mind. She was married to a stunning and breathtaking badass ortho goddess. Another woman shouldn't even be crossing her mind. Yet, despite her best efforts Lauren managed to creep back in.
"You're just like me, can't keep away huh?" Lauren smiled as Arizona walked over to her patient, their patient. Arizona faltered slightly, she could feel her cheeks warm as her eyes cast of the woman's face; she smiled back and replied, "Just checking in on my patient. Our patient." She corrected herself, nervously smiling at Lauren. Arizona couldn't help but wonder what those lips smiling back at her would feel like against her own.
"Well everything seems to be okay here. His stats are good, he's stable, the parents are happy. I think we're all done here." Lauren paused, "Arizona, do you think you could show me the on call rooms?" Lauren smiled, raising her eyebrows.
"Lauren…I'm married…" Arizona stuttered.
Lauren smirked, "Too sleep. I like to stay nearby my patients first night in post op. I know you're married. I met her, remember, tall, gorgeous, ortho attending. Yeah…I remember, Arizona."
"Sorry…I…of course, just follow me, and please, please forget I said that." Arizona replied stumbling over her words. Of course Lauren knew she was married. Of course she wanted to go to the on call room to sleep. After all, who could possibly be attracted to her? She only had one damn leg.
Arizona led the way to the on call room in silence, silently cursing herself for being so damn stupid. The on call rooms suddenly felt as if they were on the other side of the freaking country, Arizona couldn't recall it taking so long to reach them before, finally the two women reached their destination. Arizona opened the door and pointed inside, "well here they are. I'm just gonna go…I mean I have patients to get back too." Arizona said, again stuttering over her words.
Lauren smirked; it was cute, watching the blonde get so nervous around her. She was use to having that affect on women, but Arizona was married, she was forbidden fruit, and that made it all the more enticing. Lauren stepped inside the on call room and stopped, looking back at Arizona, "You sure, you can't stay for a little bit, everything's okay up there, Karev and Wilson seemed to have it covered."
Lauren watched as Arizona's mind fought an internal battle against itself, she wasn't sure if Arizona would crack, she was a control freak, just like Lauren, for her to lose that control and come into the on call room with Lauren would go against everything Arizona prided herself on. She was loyal. She was a good man in a storm. She wasn't a cheat. She loved Calliope. But that little voice inside her head was telling her against her better judgement to walk into that on call room.
Lauren raised her eyebrows at Arizona and smirked, "Arizona, its okay to lose control sometimes, you know."
"I…I can't, I'm married." Arizona said, in almost a whisper.
Before Arizona could even fathom what was going on Lauren had her lips on her, pressing Arizona up against the door of the on call room. Unfamiliar hands running over her scrubs. The lights in the on call room flickered, and with it Arizona's vision. She could feel Laurens hands sliding up the inside of her scrub top, where Arizona kept her wedding ring. Her wedding ring. She was married, what the hell was she doing in the on call room making out with another woman? How could she even do this to Calliope? These thoughts invaded her mind, yet she still could not bring herself to pull away from Lauren. How far was she going to let this go?
As that final thought passed the room went into complete darkness. Arizona's entire body felt numb, whatever was going on she had no awareness of, she remained still and unresponsive. She opened her eyes very slowly to realise she was not in the on call room. She had no idea where she was. It was dark, and cold and wet. Arizona looked around her, panic began to wash over her as the realisation of where she was hit her. What felt like moments before, she had been in the on call room with Lauren, and now she found herself on the roof of the hospital in the middle of a super storm. "what the hell?..." How had she managed to get from the on call room to the roof with no recollection of how she ended up there? She looked around, where the hell was Lauren? Slowly Arizona pulled herself up onto her feet, no sooner than she stood up a gust of wind knocked her back down. "Oh My God!" she screamed as she crashed to the ground. Eventually she managed to crawl to the elevator on the roof, the hit the button furiously, "dammit, dammit." She cried, as she waited on the elevator to open, she crawled inside and hit the button for floor 3. Ortho. She had to find Callie, she had to tell her what she had done. Arizona was disgusted at herself, tears streamed down her face as she sat on the floor of the elevator.
The elevator came to a stop and the door opened, stood in front of them was Callie, "Oh my god, what happened? Are you hurt? Oh God, Arizona, I was so worried." Callie said rushing into the elevator crouching on the floor beside her wife, "Arizona, where's your prosthetic? What happened, what the hell were you doing on the roof in the middle of a freaking super storm?!" Callie screeched, more in concern than anger. She had been worried sick about Arizona, the last anyone seen of her was Karev and that was hours ago.
"I…I….Calliope, we need to talk." Arizona managed to get out before collapsing in Callie's arms.