A/N
So I took a bit of break from writing after I finished my last fic because, to be honest it's a bit of a knock to your confidence when people decide to anonymously post abusive reviews, particularly when you've put yourself out to finish a story that you lost your way with but don't want to be one of those frustrating people who leave things unfinished.
I've decided to let myself be guided by new muses, so this is my first Calzona fic. And it is Calzona endgame, I promise. A disclaimer, I have zero medical knowledge, so unless I can find something on google, I've made it up.
Arizona Robbins sighed as she checked her watch. Only five minutes later than the last time she checked, which meant there were still another 3 hours of her shift in the ER to go. It wasn't often that evenings in the ER were slow, and really she should have been grateful that the citizens of Seattle were seemingly keeping themselves safe for the night, but in all honesty, Arizona thrived on chaos.
She felt the tap of a clipboard against her backside and turned round to glare at the culprit. Her colleague, and begrudgingly she supposed, friend, Mark Sloan just grinned at her and gave her a wink.
"Don't you have some boobs to be enlarging or something?" she chastised him.
"Nope" he replied cheerfully, the veiled dig bouncing off him "the goddesses of Seattle are all getting their beauty sleep, hence I figured I'd slum it down in the ER with the mortals"
"Oh, how lucky we are"
"That you are Robbins, that you are"
"Seriously though, what did you do to get sent down here? Another patient threatening a sexual harassment suit?"
"I could ask you the same thing, blondie"
"Seeing as my patients are children, Mark, it's safe to say I'd be facing more than a lawsuit if I adopted your bedside manner"
"Touche" Mark raised his hands in mock surrender "Ok so maybe we have a patient in tonight who maybe agreed to go for a drink with me until her husband found out. It was politely suggested that I might find myself in a different part of the hospital until she's discharged"
Arizona laughed, unfortunately completely unsurprised by the explanation "See I'm just covering for April tonight. Some of us manage to keep it in our pants while we're at work"
"Oh I'm sure some people here do. You, on the other hand…" he smirked.
At that remark she grabbed the clipboard from his hand and swatted him with it. Before they could continue their teasing any further, Owen Hunt burst through the double doors into the ER.
"We got multiple gunshot victims incoming, at least two critical. The first ambulance is 2 minutes out" he called to everyone within hearing distance.
"What do we know?" Arizona asked, tying an apron around herself as she followed Owen out to the ambulance bay.
"Guy held up a liquor store, shot the clerk in the process. Cops managed to take him down but he got a couple of shots off first" Owen replied sternly.
"So we got cops with GSWs?" Mark asked, joining them outside.
"At least two" Owen confirmed.
The three of them stood in silence for a moment, contemplating. There was a kindred spirit amongst the emergency services, and they all felt it just a little more deeply when one of them got hurt in the line of duty.
Owen's pager beeped and they all looked at it expectantly.
"Damn" he hissed "the clerk died at the scene"
The doctors took deep breaths as they were joined by others on duty in the ER that night. There was a sense of unease as the first of the ambulances pulled in. The EMTs unloaded a cop on a stretcher, one of them holding a compress to stem the evident blood flow from a wound in his shoulder. A second cop stepped out holding his own compress to his arm.
"What we got John?" Owen asked the familiar EMT.
"Officer Ron Davies, GSW to the left shoulder. BP is 100/70, pulse 110, oxygen sats at 95%. Bullet was a through and through, 9mm shells and handgun recovered at the scene. And this is Sergeant Pete Robinson, bullet grazed his upper left arm, all stats are normal"
Owen indicated quickly for a junior doctor to take the Sergeant while he accompanied the injured Officer himself. While the injury didn't appear serious, the man was a cop and deserved the top doctor the ER had.
"So we get the perp?" Arizona turned to Mark once the others had moved inside.
"Yep" he exhaled.
"Oh boy"
They looked at each other with firm determination as the second ambulance approached. It was immediately evident that this patient was in a significantly worse condition than those in the preceding vehicle.
"Brad Mitchell. Two GSWs to the chest. BP is 90/60, pulse 130 and rising. Respirations are 15 and shallow. Only one exit wound that we can locate"
Arizona glanced away from the EMT as he was speaking to watch two female police officers disembarking the ambulance. The first was an attractive blonde who gave her a small smile as she stepped alongside the gurney. The second…their eyes met and Arizona swore that time stood still for a moment. The woman's hair was pulled back in a bun but stray waves had fallen to surround her face. And her eyes were so dark yet so full of soul that Arizona felt a tugging in her chest.
"I'm Officer Murphy and this is Sergeant Torres"
Arizona spun round to pay attention to the blonde officer as they began to wheel the patient into the ER, her moment with the brunette broken as she switched immediately back into work mode.
"You'll understand that we need to accompany Mr Mitchell at all times"
The husky voice that came from behind her sent a shiver down Arizona's spine, but she immediately shook off the feeling and focused on what she was there to do.
"Not a problem officers, just so long as you give us some room to work our magic" Mark gave them his most seductive smile.
"Don't worry, you won't even notice we're here" the brunette replied.
Mark looked back at her and winked "Oh, I highly doubt that"
Arizona shot him an angry glare, not that he noticed.
"Can you tell us anymore about what happened?" Mark asked as they were joined by nurses who quickly connected the patient to the necessary equipment to monitor his vital signs and help with his breathing.
The officers were true to their word, and stayed as out of the way as was possible in the small bays of the ER.
"We were just about to finish our shift when we got the call about an armed robbery in progress at a liquor store on Main Street" Officer Murphy started.
Arizona glanced at the brunette in the corner, who remained stoic as her officer explained how their Lieutenant had given the order to storm the store, and before they had managed to take down the perpetrator he'd fired off the two shots that had hit Davies and Robinson.
"You don't have to work too hard on him, you know" Officer Murphy finished.
Arizona raised an eyebrow, her hand deep in the young man's chest as she tried to locate the remaining bullet "We're doctors, we don't care who's on the table, we're just here to save lives"
There were no sounds other than the steady beeping of the monitors as they fought to stem the bleeding from the wounds in the patient's chest, but nothing seemed to prevent his blood pressure from falling.
A continuous beep from the monitor drew all eyes in the room to it.
"Shit, he's coding. Pads please" Arizona ordered.
A nurse handed her the pads from the defibrillator and she placed them on the man's chest.
"Clear"
She shocked him, watching the monitor as she did, but got no response.
"Charging to 300"
"Clear"
The continuous beep remained unbroken.
"Again" Arizona ordered.
"Charging to 300"
"Clear"
"Damn" Mark shook his head as the monitor showed no signs of improvement.
"We lost him" Arizona replied quietly.
"You calling it?" he asked her, for once the look on his face sincere.
Arizona checked her watch "Time of death 21:44"
The room emptied quickly, except for Arizona, who took her time removing her apron, and the nurse with responsibility for disconnecting the machines and preparing the body for collection. When the blonde stepped outside of the cubicle, she found Sergeant Torres stood staring into the distance.
"You ok?" she asked softly.
"Huh?" the brunette jumped slightly as she noticed the smaller woman beside her "Oh, I just…I guess I shouldn't feel bad seeing as he killed a guy and shot two cops, but…he was just a messed up kid. And now I got to go tell one of my guys that the shot he took ended a kids life, so…"
"It's ok to feel conflicted you know"
The movement was involuntary, but Arizona found herself reaching out to place a hand on the brunette's arm.
"I guess that happens to you a lot, huh?" Sergeant Torres asked.
"Me? I mean, I generally operate on kids, so not so much. But for doctors in general? Yeah. But the way we see it, a life is still a life"
"Not sure the other guys in my department see it that way"
"I guess that makes you one of the good guys then"
The two women smiled at each other as Arizona reluctantly ended her grip on the brunette's arm.
"I'm Callie" the Sergeant held out a hand.
"Arizona"
As they joined hands, Arizona bit her lip to prevent her face from revealing the tingling sensation that was spreading through her body.
"I…erm, I need to go finish up my notes on this case" the blonde stammered.
"Sure, I have to report back to my Lieutenant anyway"
"Hey, Sergeant Torres!" Mark's voice boomed as he approached the women "You ok?"
"I'm fine"
Callie smiled widely at him, and the sight almost made Arizona forget how to breathe.
"Seeing as your shift probably ended hours ago, and I get off in like ten minutes, what do you say we get a drink and try to forget all about tonight?"
The blonde's eyes narrowed. Damn you, Mark. Here I am having some kind of moment with this woman and there you go with all your Sloan charm just barging right on through.
"Um, sure" Callie nodded in agreement "I just have a few things to sort first"
"How about the four of us go for a drink?" Officer Murphy suggested as she appeared beside Mark, her eyes focused on Arizona.
"Perfect, you in Robbins?" Mark gave her a look that said she had little other option.
"Why not"
"Great" Officer Murphy beamed.
"Let's say half an hour at Joe's down the street?" Mark suggested.
All three women nodded in agreement, and headed their separate ways to deal with the follow up to the death of Brad Mitchell.
Arizona purposefully took her time in the locker room, knowing that Mark was probably waiting outside for her. When she decided she was finally ready, she opened the door and found him leant up against the wall.
"Never known you to be one to dawdle when there's a hot woman waiting, Robbins"
"Shut it, Mark"
"What?" he protested "I got us both a hot date, what more do you want?"
She rolled her eyes and followed him towards the exit. What more do I want? Your date, Mark. That's what I want.