A/N: I don't own Grey's Anatomy or the characters within.
Okay, a few words. There is no explanation for this fic. No answers as to the why things are happening. None. So go ahead and make up whatever you want. This is, after all, a random, out of left field one-shot.
The only thing I can tell you is that there is a reason I wrote this. Predominantly, I find myself writing fantastical storylines. Taking a 'straight' show and throwing in unrealistic plots. I've done this with Glee and Criminal Minds (which, no, if you've read that one, this one really isn't related). It's where my thoughts go first. So when I started writing for this fandom (this is, after all, the first thing I've written for Grey's Anatomy), I needed to get a fantastical plot out of my head before I could attempt a 'realistic' story.
So that's what this is. Myself throwing all sorts of unrealism into a Word Document to try to appease my wants and pave the way for future, hopefully more grounded, endeavors.
The bullet entered her head with enough force to send bone chips and gore splattering back against the muzzle of the gun. Slamming through her brain, bouncing around with violent, brutal intent, Arizona shouldn't have been aware of the carnage wrought within her skull. But she was. Which made her aware of what that meant for her.
Body crashing to the ground, crumpled on the floor of the OR, the warmth of life bled from her as she waited for it all to begin again.
When she awoke, there was too much activity pressing into her ears. Dull pain throbbing through reconnecting tissue, she couldn't stop the deep inhalation that bore her again. Feeling pressure moving back up the route the bullet had taken, she coughed and twisted, dropping her hand in a pool of coagulating blood to catch the now crushed piece of metal as it tumbled from her forehead.
Gasping, shivering as coolness fled her limbs, heat pushing away the numbness of death, Arizona blinked her eyes open just in time to see another bullet rip into her jaw and neck, a scream of terror preceding another searing pain in her chest as she hit the floor once again. Fist tightening around the first bullet as her body jerked in death throes, cold quickly rippled out from the torn muscle that had been her heart. Blood bubbled as she waited, once again, to die.
Another lungful of blood-tainted air swelled her chest, burning coughs barely background noise to the sucking impact of spent bullets impacting pools of blood. Able to roll over again, pushing herself up on weak palms, her fingers scrabbled to pick up the new rejects. Managing to catch the eyes of the shaking man hunkered back in the corner, gun trained on her as he mumbled incoherently into a phone pressed close to his face, she knew the second he realized she had started to shuffle towards him.
Screaming, "Get away! Stop! No no no no no no! Die! Die!" over and over again, he shot wildly in her direction, finally throwing the phone when a bullet splintering her collarbone only made her slump, Arizona using her uninjured arm to drag herself forward.
She was not going to die again.
Ignoring the phone skittering off to her right, Arizona gritted her teeth when another bullet hit her in the shin, more and more of them splattering the wall and equipment behind her as he barely succeeded in replacing clip after clip. Whoever the hell he was, it was obvious he had planned something incredibly horrendous, and renewed determination flared inside of her. Better for him to use up his weapon on her than anyone else. Still, "Stop!" she screamed back, regaining the use of her arm as her collarbone re-knit itself, voice trying to rise over his crazed shrieks, "Stop shooting! Stop trying to kill me!"
As his foot kicked out, catching her in the cheek before she could put her arm up to stop it, he lashed out with the butt of the gun, glancing off her forehead on his way to squeezing out another shot directly into her head. Trying to wrap her fingers around the gun, they were too slippery with her blood to get a secure grip, and another kick smashed into the side of her face.
Just when she had started anticipating dying again, the gun jammed.
When the police finally shoved their way in through the locked OR doors, Arizona was sitting with her back to the wall, covered in dark, sticky red. Staring at her, then switching their attention to the unconscious man in the corner, it didn't take long from the initial radioing out for Callie and Teddy and Mark and Bailey and too many other people to recognize to dash through the doors, sliding to a stop in front of her. Air leaving her lungs in a sharp bark, Callie dropped to her knees, reaching out a trembling glove-wrapped hand. Arizona's name a breath on her lips, her face crumpled when blood-caked fingers slowly wrapped around hers.
"I'm fine," Arizona whispered, voice soft and tired, "I'm fine." Falling into Callie, letting herself get wrapped up in the arms that trembled, that held her close and promised to never ever let her go, Arizona buried her head into a strong shoulder.
There were obviously going to be questions. Her pocket filled with crushed bullets guaranteed as much. The blood and ichor currently transferring to Callie guaranteed as much.
There were going to be questions, and there were going to be hard answers, but at that moment, clutching Callie as tightly as she could, body still thrumming with reawakening life and ebbing pains, Arizona didn't care.
"I love you." Callie's voice wavered, hands suddenly mapping Arizona's body, pulling her back so Teddy and Mark could start inspecting her as well, "I love you."
"Calliope," Arizona whispered, curling her arms around her shoulders, pressing a quick kiss to her neck before waiting for wet, dark eyes to meet her own, "I love you too."