Prompt: (AU) Arizona still loses her leg and is married but not to Callie. Callie is her new physical therapist and sparks fly.
A/N: An accident changes everything about Arizona Robbins' life, including her marriage and when sparks fly with her new physical therapist she struggles to figure out what is right and what is wrong.
I had fun with this, AU Grey's is something I haven't had a chance to explore in a while. Hope you all enjoy!
-Maisie
Arizona Robbins was not a patient person and yet, when the devastatingly attractive PT walked out into the waiting room and called her name with the same slightly amused twinge that everyone did, all her anger and irritation vanished. Maybe it was because the last time Arizona's wife had looked at her the way this PT did (if it was only for a moment) was before the accident. Or maybe it was the fact that Arizona was so damn sick of everyone staring at her and treating her different just because of her leg (or lack there of) that to have the PT just look at her like she was normal, it was like a breath of fresh air.
"My name is Callie" the PT said, not offering to wheel Arizona over to a table (something the blond was very pleased about) "and you're going to want to take a left up here, we're going to have our own room today."
Arizona nodded, and noted that the prospect of being alone with, uh, Callie shouldn't have made her as happy as it did. Although these days it was all about the little victories "I'm Arizona" Arizona supplied "Although you already know that."
"I do, but it's always nice when the patients introduce themselves. It's appreciated." Callie moves to the close the door behind Arizona, watching the way the blond navigates the table and the chairs with skill "So" she says, taking a seat "Why don't you tell me about what happened, as much as you remember, or as much as your comfortable with."
"Don't you know all of this already?" Arizona asked, leaning back in her chair and surveying Callie with disconcerting blue eyes.
"Sure" Callie replied "I've got the file from your doctor right here, it has the EMT's report and the police report and his own notes on what happened. But all of that" she indicated by holding the file in the air "all of this doesn't mean a whole lot to me. I'm here to help you adjust. All this file tells me is that you don't have a leg and let's be honest, I don't even need the file to tell me that."
Arizona bit her lip "I was driving home from work and I got side swiped by a drunk driver. Car flipped over the concrete barrier and into the oncoming highway traffic. I don't remember much after that but there are flashes where I remember being upside down, someone was talking to me, telling me it's going to be okay and all other sorts of lies. But my first real memory after flipping over the highway is waking up in a hospital bed with searing pain in a leg that wasn't actually attached to my body anymore."
Callie noted the flippant tone with which her patient talked, it was an indication of many things, but Calliope didn't figure herself for a psychiatrist "So you have phantom pain?"
"Yes."
"How often?"
"Everyday."
"How bad?"
"On a scale of 1-10?"
"Sure"
"Rounds out at about a 6 every day, but the full range is 2-8."
The lapsed into silence, awkward or comfortable based on who you were. Arizona trying her hardest not to notice how her pulse was racing under the Latina's scrutinizing gaze, and Callie trying to get a solid read on her patient that didn't involve her very limited gaydar shouting "LESBIAN"
"Alright." Callie said, writing down a couple of things before looking back at her patient "I'm going to assume that you want to try and get back into some semblance of a normal life."
Arizona paused and in a brutal streak of honesty said "I don't know what normal is anymore."
There was a broken, dejected tone that struck Callie, struck her in a way that she hadn't felt in a long, long time. For just a moment Callie felt the brokenness of the woman sitting across from her, read the sadness that she let slip from behind cornflower blue eyes "That's okay." Callie responded "That's what I'm here to help you figure out."
Arizona's gaze locked with Callie's, and she felt that tug, the one deep in her abdomen, the one that brought shame and burned her ring finger. But at the same time made her feel like a person again, that brought her hope, not to mention that the honesty with which the physical therapist was speaking to her with was refreshing. It was nice, finally, to have someone telling her the truth, as much as it hurt and she didn't want to hear it. And maybe it was the honesty, maybe it was the immediate connection that Arizona felt, but the blond found herself wanting to know more about Callie, and not just in a physical therapy way.
She wanted to date the woman.
And that was perplexing, especially for a woman was married.
"So how do I start walking again?" Arizona asked, tearing her gaze away from the Latina's.
Callie coughed, looking down at her file "Today I would like to take a look at the surgical site, see how everything is healing. I'd also like to talk about what you want."
"What I want?" Arizona asked, confused.
"Yeah" Callie said "What do you want to be able to do? You have a choice here Arizona, how much of your old life do you want to chase. You can spend some of your time in a prosthesis and some time in a wheelchair" Arizona scoffed "Or you can learn to not just walk, but run and be active again. I'm not going to force you to pick either way, but it's time for you to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life."
Arizona sat in a stunned silence "You're the first person to ask me what I want."
That didn't surprise Callie in the least; so many amputees found themselves being told what to with little regard for what they actually wanted. "Can I take a look at the surgical site?"
Arizona hesitated "It's-it's fine." She said, obviously uncomfortable "The doctor says it's healing just fine."
Callie nodded "I know Dr. Karev and I don't doubt his word, however I would like to get a look at the site myself." Her patients hesitation was written across her face and Callie debated for a moment before slipping off the sweater she was currently wearing.
With the sweater gone she was left with only the thin straps of the tank top, which did little to cover the pucker marks and scarring around her right shoulder "When I was still a resident at Johns Hopkins a shooter came and went on a rampage. I was in surgery when he came into the OR, my colleague was the doctor on the shooters wifes case. The wife slipped into a coma and she was on life support until the shooter took her off it. He shot my colleague, the nurse and myself." She explained, pausing for a moment and taking a deep breath "I was the only one of the three who survived."
Arizona sat in a stunned silence, taking in the story, the scars and the confidence with which Callie shared her story "When I moved to Seattle I could barely move my arm, I had ignored the physical therapy I was supposed to do and wouldn't let anyone see the scars. I thought they were ugly, hideous even, but an old friend of mine told me that by hiding my scars I was holding onto the past. He told me 'yeah, you got shot and that's traumatic, but you moved across the country so you could get away from that part of your life. So do what you came here to do, and move on.' So I'm telling that to you Arizona, you want to move on from your accident, but you can't do that if you're embarrassed about your scars."
More of that honesty.
"Fine." Arizona said relented, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Okay." Callie said, grabbing the crutches that were leaning against the wall and handing them to Arizona "I would like to have a look on the table if you don't mind."
Arizona gripped the crutches and closed her eyes as she pulled herself into a standing position. She stood uncertainly for a moment, swaying on her foot and praying that she wouldn't fall over. After a few moments of steady standing Arizona opened her eyes and her breath caught in her throat.
She was acutely aware of Callie's presence behind her, hands ready to catch her if it was needed and it was the close proximity she was sharing with the Latina that confirmed Arizona's suspicions about her own emotions. Her pulse was racing now, and it wasn't because she was standing (although the adrenaline rush from that had certainly helped). There was just something about being in this close proximity to the Latina that made Arizona feel like her entire body was on fire, the nerves she thought were about her leg were morphing into nerves of another being entirely. She was-wasn't allowed to-but god it was just…it was different. Refreshing.
One, slow, cautious step at a time Arizona made her way to the examination table. Her teeth were gritted as she swung her way to the table and after a precarious moment she was seated, hands gripping the edges of the table until she was white knuckled. Letting out a long breath she let go of the table with on hand and worked on moving the already rolled leg of her trousers. Callie resumed her seat, rolling across the room so she was directly in front of Arizona, her fingers already playing across the scars.
Arizona dropped her hand back to the table and took to watching the way Callie was examining her leg. It was with a gentle precision that the Latina started to massage the tissue around the scars, dark eyes flitted from the leg to Arizona's face, reading her patients expression. The contact hurt, the deep massage breaking the scar tissue that Arizona had mostly ignored "Part of your pain is because of the scar tissue build up, you need to keep massaging this or else the pain isn't going to get better." Callie said, continuing the massage even though Arizona had tossed her head back and her teeth were gritted in pain.
Arizona moaned in pain as Callie kept poking and soothing the skin and the tissue beneath it "I know this hurts but you'll feel better for it."
"Right." Arizona said through her teeth "I'll believe it when I feel it." She said and after a moments hesitation she added "Although I think you're enjoying this too much."
Callie smirked gently as she rolled back from the table for a moment "Not enjoying it, more like waiting for tomorrow when you come in and thank me."
"You seem quite sure" Arizona noted wryly as she repositioned herself on the table "of your self."
"I've been doing this a while." Callie said simply "And there's a reason Karev sends his patients to me."
"So you're good." Arizona said, more comment than question
"I'm a physical therapy god." Callie said, one hand working up the remainder of Arizona's thigh, watching the blond swallow and her eyes flutter closed.
"And so modest."
"Alright, you've got sass." Callie grinned up at her "What do you do for a living?" Callie asked, dragging her hand back down Arizona's thigh, getting a feel for the tissue build up and muscle reactivity.
"I'm a equine vet, working for a group of stables just outside of Seattle that offers programs for underprivileged kids." Arizona said "Or at least I was, before this whole mess. Now I'm not sure."
"Horses huh?"
"All that explanation and you get horses?"
"I don't like horses!" Callie said, grinning up at her patient "Got kicked on vacation when I was eleven and haven't gone near one since."
Arizona laughed "I'm sure the horse had good reason."
"Mmmm." Callie replied, shaking her head "Cool bruise though, good story to tell all my friends."
"I'm sure. You should give them another try though, not all horses are over worked vacation toting creatures."
"You make me sound like the bad guy."
"Maybe you were."
"So much faith." Callie said "I hope you trust me more with this PT than you do around horses."
"Maybe." Arizona said as Callie glanced up at the clock "Maybe not"
"Well" Callie said "Here's to hoping that you don't kick me too."
"I won't make any promises." Arizona said, heaving herself back onto the crutches, eyeing the wheelchair she was so reluctant to head back to.
Callie saw this, saw the resigned look that flashed across Arizona's face "When you come back we'll get you fitted for the prosthetic." She said "If you can manage it, I'd like to see you three days a week."
"It's fine." Arizona said, perhaps a little to quickly, then added with a harsh laugh "It's not like I have anything else to do."
Callie paused, mulling over that information. What she wanted was wrong on so many levels but ever since the fiasco at Hopkins and all that she'd left behind there, she'd been empty. She'd been emotionally frozen, but now, this married woman, her patient, comes into her life. And of course, she has to start falling for her "You could come in four days a week, my schedule is still kind of open and it would give you something to do." She says, hoping that her eagerness doesn't betray her.
Arizona jumps at the chance, lying to herself, telling herself that it's okay. That this is all in the name of getting better, getting back to her old life. But even as she's telling herself this, she knows the words are false, knows that her intentions are twisted, mixed with the loneliness that's consumed her since the accident. She shouldn't be saying yes to Callie's offer but the words are already slipping from her mouth before she can stop them. As she wheels herself out into the hallway, talking times and hours and what's next with Callie, Arizona is betrayed by the hope she's feeling. This is wrong, she knows it is, and yet for the time since losing her she feels like she has the reins of her life back. And she's hard pressed to turn it away. So this, this is the beginning of a road Arizona knows she shouldn't travel down. But she's been drowning for so long, been alone for so long, that this light, the life raft that's been thrown, she's clinging to it and she's refusing to let go.