A/N: Inadvertent Tumblr prompt (my favorite!)... I know, I know too many stories going now, but this one is short!
"You paged me?" Callie says when she sees Arizona standing outside of the trauma room.
"Yes, 32 year old female fell off a ladder getting down Christmas decorations, pretty sure she crushed her ankle," Arizona replies.
"Okay but why are you her doctor?" Callie asks confused.
"She's pregnant, I'm a fetal surgeon, that's kind of how this works Dr Torres," Arizona teases her, "Wilson get over here," she adds as Wilson shows up with the high resolution Doppler sonogram.
Entering the trauma room, the patient is on the phone. "Yes, I know but I wanted to do it today. Honey, the doctors are here now, I have to go." She says looking up at them. "My wife is a surgeon at Seattle Presbyterian, she wants to know who's treating me," she says holding out her phone.
Arizona takes the phone and introduces herself, then looks over as Callie already examining the patient's ankle, so she introduces her too. Then hands the phone back to the patient.
"Shayla, this is the high definition sonogram that I told you about, we just need to make sure your placenta wasn't damaged in the fall and check on the baby." Arizona explains as she sets up the machine.
"Dr Robbins, I'm going to go look at the x-rays. Shayla, this is a nasty break, you may need pins which will mean surgery, I'm sure that we can wait until your wife gets here and discuss it." Callie says before heading out of the room.
"She's really beautiful, I was nervous about meeting her," Shayla confesses to Arizona.
"I'm sorry, I don't follow." Arizona says glancing over to Wilson to see if she understands. Wilson shakes her head too.
"My wife used to work at this hospital and she and Dr Torres had a thing, it was a long time ago. I only mention it to you because I noticed how you look at her, are you two together?" Shayla asks as Arizona's face falls and she glances over awkwardly at Wilson.
"Wilson, would you go check on those labs?" Arizona asks sending her out of the room.
"Shayla, I'm not comfortable discussing my personal life with patients. Dr Torres and I have complicated history, let's just leave it at that." Arizona says hoping to put an end to it.
"Oh, got it. I won't say a word. It's just Dr Torres was my wife's first, so you know how that goes. And now that I've met her I can see why Erica was so hung up on her. She's got an amazing smile and everyone lights up when she walks into the room." Shayla explains.
"Um did you say Erica? By chance is your wife Erica Hahn?" Arizona asks.
"Yes, do you know her?" She asks.
"No, I came in right after she left. I never met her," Arizona replies carefully.
Stepping out of the room, Arizona calls Callie. "Hey, I'm going to admit her for observation, do you want her in Med/Surg or should I put her in Maternal Med?"
"Go ahead and put her on Maternal Med, I'll come up there in about an hour. Oh and I have figured out a way to fix her ankle without surgery." Callie says pleased with herself.
"Uh Callie, one more thing. Her wife is…" Arizona pauses, unsure about just blurting it out.
"A heart surgeon at Seattle Pres, I know. That's why I don't want to operate on her, if I don't have to." Callie interrupts.
"Callie, her wife is…" Arizona is about to just blurt it out when her pager goes off, "911, I've got to go, just find me before you go in to see her." She says rapidly.
"Uh, okay." Callie says confused slipping the phone into her pocket.
"Wilson, what's going on?" Arizona asks stepping back into the trauma room.
"Dr Robbins, she's spotting." Wilson points out.
"Shayla, how are you feeling?" Arizona asks, "Has anything changed in the past ten minutes."
"The pain in my back just got sharp, then it eased up." She admits.
"Okay, so Wilson get that Doppler back in here and let's take another look." Arizona says rapidly.
Arizona and Wilson are standing at the nurses' station going over Shayla's scans when Callie walks up.
"Hey, I came by earlier and she wasn't here yet. What's going on?" Callie asks.
"She's got a slight placental abruption, we may need to go in and repair it." Arizona explains.
"Oh well, so much for trying to avoid surgery. Okay, well keep me posted, is the wife here yet?" She asks.
"The wife is here, Dr Torres."
Callie freezes when she hears Erica Hahn's voice. She looks down at Arizona silently asking why she didn't tell her.
"Dr Hahn, how nice to finally meet you." Arizona says stepping around Callie and introducing herself.
"Dr Robbins? You must have come after me." Erica says abruptly, her blue eyes staring holes through Callie.
"Erica, Arizona and I have a daughter together," Callie says suddenly grabbing the blonde's hand and pulling her close. "We've been together, what 7-8 years now?" Callie says looking down at the blonde.
"Uh, yeah." Arizona replies a bit unnerved that Callie's just lied about them to her ex.
"I see, well where's my wife?" She asks.
"Right." Callie says looking over at Arizona and Wilson.
"You didn't tell me that our patient's wife was my ex-girlfriend?" Callie blurts out as soon as they are alone in Arizona's office.
"I tried, you interrupted me. And why did you lie to her?" Arizona asks.
"Arizona if I ever meant anything to you, please, please do me this favor and pretend that we are together in front of Erica Hahn. I can't let her know that I'm single and alone again." Callie pleads.
"Uh, our patient already asked and I told her that we had a complicated history." Arizona admits.
"Oh, well that's not necessarily a bad thing." Callie replies considering how to spin it.
"Look, can we just go in there and discuss the case and leave our personal stuff out of it?" Arizona asks.
"Of course," Callie replies, "We're surgeons, our patient totally comes first," Callie replies. "How long as she been back in Seattle, did she say? I mean obviously she hasn't been her this whole time, I'd have known right?" She asks.
"Callie stop, are you ready to go in there or not?" Arizona asks pulling her aside.
"I'm ready. Totally ready." Callie replies as Arizona eyes her suspiciously.
"Dr Hahn, your wife has a slight placental abruption which we are monitoring closely. There's a chance that it will resolve on it's own, but there is also a chance that we'll need to intervene surgically." Arizona begins to explain.
"How long have you been a fetal surgeon?" Erica asks, "No offense, it's just a new field and Nicole Herman was the best until she went blind, so if there's a need for surgery, we'd prefer to have Addison Montgomery. Is she still on staff here?"
"Uh, I completed my fellowship with Dr Herman two years ago, right before her surgery. And no Dr Montgomery isn't on staff here any longer, she's in private practice in LA and I'm not sure that you'd have time to get her here if this doesn't resolve. If you like, I'd be happy to consult with her, she and I work closely together." Arizona explains.
"Erica, Arizona is double board certified and she's done this procedure many times," Callie begins to defend the blonde.
"What Dr Torres is trying to say is, I would be happy to provide you some outcomes and statistics if that would help you get more comfortable with me." Arizona says glaring at Callie and warning her to back off.
"Yes, I'd like to see those numbers." Erica replies, curious about what's going on with Torres and Robbins.
As they leave the patient's room, Arizona takes Callie's arm and pulls her into her office. "Callie this is insane, we are not pretending to be together just because you're embarrassed to be single in front of an ex-girlfriend."
"But she's my first ex-girlfriend and I didn't even know I liked women until her. Look I'm sorry, you're right this is crazy. Besides it's just a matter of time before she finds out, anyone here could tell her." Callie points out.
They're interrupted by a knock on the door. Arizona goes over and opens it.
"We want to wait a few hours on the ankle procedure, if there's a chance that she'll go into the OR for the placental repair, we'd prefer that she get the pins in her ankle at the same time. No offense Dr Torres, we'd prefer a proven repair over one that you haven't tried before." Erica explains, insinuating that Callie's non-surgical solution isn't going to work.
Arizona can't believe this woman's nerve, and this time she reacts, "Dr Torres is one of the best Orthopedic surgeons and she is very innovative, her cartilage research has complete changed sports medicine," Arizona begins...
Callie pulls the blonde back as she moves towards the door to make her point, "I think what Dr Robbins is trying to say is that my outcomes are quite high, and I've pioneered a variety of new procedures, thirteen to be exact, all of them are published if you'd like to read about them." Callie asks sweetly batting her eyelashes.
Erica stares at them both for a minute and then says, "We're waiting," and walks off.
"Oh my god, she's infuriating. Callie, I want to punch her in the face, how on earth did you date her?" Arizona asks turning around to face the brunette.
"I have no idea." Callie says turning to sit in Arizona's desk chair.
"Okay, so we're doing this." Arizona says turning around, "We're back together starting right now."
"Uh, okay." Callie replies unsure now what she's done.
"Is it true that Erica Hahn's wife is in our hospital?" Bailey asks bursting into Arizona's office.
"Yes, she's is. She fell off a ladder and broke her ankle, Callie and I are taking care of her. She has a slight placental abruption and we're monitoring it, she may need surgery." Arizona explains.
"Okay, just be careful, does she know about you and Callie?" Miranda asks suddenly.
"We may have let her believe that we're together, Callie was embarrassed..." Arizona begins to explain when Bailey cuts her off.
"Oh I get it, I can't blame her for that. Look, just take care of her as carefully as you can and let's get her out of here as quickly as possible. I don't want her disrupting my people again." Bailey explains.
"Is it true that Erica Hahn is here?" Meredith asks bursting into Callie's office.
"Yeah, her pregnant wife fell off a ladder and broke her ankle, so Arizona and I are working together on it, if you can believe that." Callie remarks.
"Does she know that you two were married?" Meredith asks.
"Uh yeah, but I sort of let her believe that we still are." Callie admits to her friend.
"Oh good, I don't blame you. She'd have a field day if she found out you were divorced and dating residents again," Meredith remarks.
"Uh thank you, I think." Callie says offended.
"Hey, it's not my fault that it's true." Meredith replies.
"This is crazy though, I mean why do I even care what she thinks?" Callie asks.
"Because she's an opinionated pain in the ass know it all!" Meredith replies, then asks, "How the hell did you ever date her?"
"I have no idea. She didn't seem that bad at the time." Callie explains.
"Arizona what is that? Is that your ring?" Callie asks noticing the ring pinned to her scrub top.
"Yeah, I asked Jo to stop and get it from my place on her way in. I mean we've got to sell this right?" She asks.
"Right," Callie replies, trying to think where she put her ring. She knows that she put it away, but now that she moved she'd not sure where it is. "So how is she doing?"
"I'm about to go back in and repeat the ultrasound, do you want to go with me?" She asks.
"Ugh, not really, but sure you may need back up or restrained, she's got a way with people." Callie remarks.
"Was she always this arrogant?" Arizona stops on their way to the room.
"Yep, hard to believe I thought it was attractive, isn't it?" Callie remarks.
"I don't understand anything about this," Arizona says before turning back around to enter the room.
"Addison, I need you to consult on a case for me. It's Erica Hahn's wife." Arizona begins to explain.
"Arizona speak more clearly because it sounded like you said Erica Hahn, as in Callie's first girlfriend and that's not possible, is it?" Addison asks.
"Oh Addie, it's possible. Our patient fell off a ladder and broke her ankle and she's 30 weeks pregnant and she's married to Erica Hahn." Callie explains.
Addison bursts out laughing and Arizona looks over at Callie as if to thank her for suggesting that they call Addison and let her know about the case ahead of time.
"Okay, Addison that's enough. She wants your opinion, before she'll agree to let Arizona operate." Callie informs her.
"Seriously, has anyone punched that arrogant bag of..." Addison asks before Arizona interrupts her.
"Not yet, but I'm sending you the file can you review it and call me back in 30 minutes. We need to make a decision soon." Arizona points out.
"Okay fine, I'll take a look and call you back," Addison replies, still laughing a little at the prospect of Callie and Arizona having to deal with Erica Hahn.
"What's the verdict?" Bailey asks sticking her head in to Arizona's office.
"We're waiting for Addison to review the file, but I've already reserved the OR, I don't think this will resolve on its own." Arizona explains.
"What did she say when you told her who the patient was?" Bailey asks curiously.
"You mean once she stopped laughing?" Callie remarks.
"Uh, you have to admit, it's a little bit funny that the two of you would end up on this case. And there's no one else I'd even consider putting on it either. So what's the wife like?" Miranda asks.
"She's younger," Arizona replies, "She seems fine, I just don't understand the appeal, that woman is infuriating, arrogant and..."
"Oh I know. I worked with her. Ask Torres here, she was under her spell." Miranda replies laughing again.
"I wasn't under her spell, I just had a relationship with her briefly." Callie explains.
"Uh, you were friends and none of us could figure that out, then you got together and that was even harder to understand." Miranda points out.
Finally the phone rings and Arizona answers it. "Okay, okay thanks Addison. We're going in now to discuss it with them, do you want to face time on my phone or web call from once we're in there?" Arizona asks her.
"Just web call from your computer, she'll ask a lot of questions and we should have a secure line." Addison points out.
"Dr Montgomery, thank you for joining us." Arizona says once they connect the web call, "In the room with us, is Shayla Mills-Hahn, her wife Dr Erica Hahn, Chief Miranda Bailey, Dr Calliope Torres and Dr Jo Wilson, my resident. Now you've had a chance to look at the file, is that correct?"
"Yes, I did and I agree with your assessment Dr Robbins, a surgical solution is the best option to resolve this minor abruption and any delay could further complicate what is now a straightforward procedure." Addison replies.
"What do you think about Dr Torres repairing the ankle at the same time that Dr Robbins is repairing the abruption?" Erica asks.
"It's not a risk that I'd take. Dr Torres has a non-surgical solution and I'd prefer to see that option, as any additional time in the OR could further stress the baby and cause additional complications." Addison points out.
"I see, but what if this non-surgical plan of Dr Torres doesn't work, then what?" Erica asks.
"I'm not an orthopedic surgeon, that's not something that I can advise you on. But I do want to point out that Dr Torres is the leading surgeon in her field and I'd take my chances with her plan." Addison replies.
"Well thank you for your opinion Dr Montgomery." Erica says dismissing her awkwardly and everyone just kind of freezes for a moment.
"You're welcome. Just let me know if you need anything further." Addison says before disconnecting the call.
"Miranda, you're Chief of Surgery now, what do you think of Dr Torres plan to fix Shayla's ankle?" Erica asks ignoring Callie's attempt to interject.
"Dr Torres is Chief of Orthopedic Surgery and I defer to her plan, if she says this is the best option, then it's the best option." Miranda replies not rising to the bait.
"Fine, then we'll go with it. Won't we honey?" Erica says finally asking her wife what she wants to do.
"Uh, yes. I wanted to do this an hour ago." She replies smiling at everyone as if to smooth over Erica's cutting edge.
"Yes, I know but we have to be sure we've explored all the options. Now when can you do this procedure?" She asks looking over at Arizona.
"I've already reserved an OR, there's no reason to wait, as Dr Montgomery pointed out, waiting could allow for complications," Arizona reminds her.
"Okay, I'd like a few minutes with my wife and then you can take her." Erica says and they all scramble to leave the room.
"Okay Wilson you prep her and move her downstairs to the OR, I'll meet you down there. I just need a few minutes to prepare." Arizona says before heading to her office.
Callie watches her go and then decides to follow her. "Hey are you alright?" she asks following her into the office.
Arizona turns around slowly and Callie sees that she's upset, so she wraps her arms around her, "Hey, what's going on?" She asks softly.
Shaking her head, Arizona stammers, "I just, for some reason, when she turned to her and asked for a few minutes, it just made me sad. I just, Callie I miss you. I hate this, even pretending to have you in my life is better than not having you in my life," Arizona says wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Arizona, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you to do this. It's too confusing." Callie says taking her hand and holding it as she keeps the other arm wrapped around the blonde.
Arizona closes her eyes and rests her head on Callie's shoulder a moment. And Callie looks down at her and without thinking she presses her lips to her forehead and Arizona opens her eyes and looks up and they kiss softly, gently exploring each other, then they pull apart.
"Wow, uh, I'm sorry. But I'm not, I kind of needed that." Arizona says pulling away. "I'm going to go now, will you wait for me to finish, I think we should talk."
"Uh yeah, do you want me to scrub in with you?" Callie asks, still unsure what just happened but pretty sure she needs to find out what it means.
"No, I've got Wilson and Bailey in there," Arizona points out, then reaching over she touches Callie's face and then lightly kisses her again before she leaves the room.
Callie covers her mouth with her hand, what the hell just happened she wonders sinking down into the desk chair.
The procedure begins and Meredith stops by to see how it's going.
"So far, so good. She's repaired the placenta and repositioned it, the bleeding has stopped and she's closing up. God, I can't wait for this to be over." Callie exclaims to Meredith.
"Because of Erica or because of Arizona?" Meredith asks confused.
"Erica of course," she replies, "but something just happened with Arizona that was really confusing." Callie admits.
"What just happened?" Meredith asks.
"She was upset and I held her, then I kissed her." Callie replies, "I didn't even think about it. It felt like the most natural thing to do, something I've done before many times.
"What do you think it means?" Meredith asks her.
"I don't know what it meant to her, but to me it was miraculous. It's like I never stopped loving her and I just realized it. Meredith what if my big mistake was breaking up with her? Maybe I gave up too soon?" Callie questions.
"What did she say?" Did you talk about it?" Meredith asks.
"She asked me to wait for her, she wants to talk about it." Callie says still in shock, "What if she tells me it's a mistake? What if she just apologizes and it meant nothing to her?"
"Callie, did she look like it meant nothing to her?" Meredith asks.
"No," Callie admits. "Oh my god, what if it meant to her what it meant to me? Meredith, I still love her. I'm still in love with her."
"Don't tell me, tell her." Meredith says watching the OR empty out.
"Okay, yeah. I'm going to tell her." Callie says standing up to leave.
"How is she?" Callie asks entering the recovery room.
Arizona turns around slowly and smiles at her, "She's doing great."
Encouraged by her smile, Callie goes over to her and stands beside her. "I'm so proud of you, that was amazing. I still can't believe that you can do this." She says softly and Arizona turns to her and takes her hand and squeezes it.
"I still can't believe it either." She admits. "Uh, I need to go find Dr Hahn and update her on the procedure." Arizona replies as they step away from the bed.
"Oh Bailey's in the waiting room with her now." Callie informs her.
"I didn't know she was going to do that." Arizona replies concerned.
"Knowing Bailey she wanted to spare you from another barbed insult from Erica." Callie whispers softly to her.
Arizona looks away shyly, enjoying the feel of Callie's lips whispering in her ear, she closes her eyes and then realizes they are still holding hands.
Callie felt her shiver when she whispered in her ear and she it was like an electric current going through her body, she didn't know that they still had that effect on each other. She smiles broadly.
"Uh, Meredith is taking Sofia tonight. I think we need to talk." Callie says softly as they watch Miranda and Erica heading their way.
"I think that's a great idea." Arizona replies softly whispering in Callie's ear and smiling as she shivers from the sensation.
After answering all of Erica's questions and concerns, Arizona finally walks back to her office and is disappointed to find it empty. She pulls her phone out of her pocket to find out where Callie went, when she hears a soft knock at the door. Opening it, she finds Callie holding a pizza from their favorite place down the street.
"Hey, I figured that you'd want to stay here tonight, so I got a pizza." She says entering the office and closing the door.
Opening the pizza box, Arizona squeals in delight as she notices that Callie got her favorite. "Wait, it's not half and half, you're not eating?" She asks disappointed.
"I've always liked that pizza, I just got it half and half that one time and then you always got it that way after that." She confesses.
"Are you serious?" Arizona asks, "Callie why didn't you say anything?"
"I liked that you did it, it reminded me that you considered what I wanted. Dumb huh?" She says.
"No it's not dumb," she replies, "Callie I'm sorry for everything. And I hate that you ever felt like a failure because of our problems."
"I'm sorry too. I just hate not being able to figure something out and we weren't working, so I just needed to step back, in order to figure it out." She admits.
"What did you figure out?" Arizona asks.
"That being together is what's important and that we should figure it out together." She replies.
"I love that plan and I love you." Arizona replies setting the pizza down and turning to pull Callie to her and kiss her.
Returning the kiss, Callie says, "I love you and I love cold pizza."
Arizona pulls her closer and deepens the kiss, "I hate cold pizza, but I can deal with it." She says slipping her hands under Callie's scrub top.
"I'll make it up to you." Callie replies thickly, removing her pants quickly and maneuvering the blonde over to the couch.
"Hmm, I'll let you." Arizona replies thickly.