CHAPTER 1
The ER had been quiet for most of the night which was unusual for a Saturday.
Trauma doctor Arizona Robbins was standing at the nurses' station with a couple of other doctors.
"It's so damn quiet tonight" one of the young male doctors by the name Karev said. He sounded slightly bored.
"Don't say that!" Arizona whined and hit him on the shoulder "You're gonna jinx it"
She was in a bad mood. It had been a bad year to say the least. Her girlfriend of 3 years had cheated on her which had resulted in months of Arizona going back and forth about wanting to be with Joann or not. She'd only recently come to the realization that she'd been a pushover, and that Joann was anything but good to and for her. They'd made a final split, and Arizona had moved out and into her friend Mark's place until she could find a place of her own.
She felt lost, and even though Joann hadn't exactly provided her with a sense of security in the relationship, she still missed her. And that made her mad. Mad at herself, and somehow mad at the world. She felt it. Her colleagues felt it. And today was a bad day. After a month of no contact Joann had suddenly sent her a message asking for everything back. Gifts, jewelry, photographs. As if she was trying to erase, to forget the last three years. Arizona somehow wanted to forget too. Looking back she knew that she more often than not had been worried whenever Joann was out on the town without her, and that she probably didn't love Joann as much as she simply liked the idea of having someone. And she had a really hard time accepting that Joann - the one who cheated - was now trying to call the shots on how the final stage of the breakup would happen.
She wasn't going to answer the message until she'd had some time to think. There wouldn't be time to think now though, because less than 5 seconds after Karev jinxed their night, a group of paramedics barged through the door with a man on a gurney. He had been shot in the stomach and was bleeding profusely.
The team of doctors immediately rushed him into an OR and started working on him. It took hours, but they saved him, and he was then brought to an IC room where he was to be kept under until he was completely stable.
Arizona was in the hall, jotting down her last notes regarding the case when she heard someone ask a nurse about her patient somewhere down the hall. She'd noticed a police officer hanging out in front of the OR and she figured it was because the patient had come in with gunshot wounds. There was often police present in the hospital, so she hadn't though much of it.
Then she suddenly felt a presence behind her. She didn't turn around and didn't lift her head even when she felt the presence move to her side. She was too busy getting the last of the medical information from the surgery down in the file.
"We need to speak to Sam Banner" a voice said.
"You can't. He's recovering" Arizona didn't look up from the file.
"No, you don't understand. We really need to speak to him"
Arizona looked up and saw a brunette showing her a police badge.
"Yeah, that's not happening" the blonde simply answered and returned to her file.
"Doctor...?" the other woman started.
"Robbins"
"Doctor Robbins, I'm detective Torres. We're investigating a case on multiple homicides, and Sam Banner is a suspect. We need to interrogate him. Now"
Arizona finally stopped what she was doing, put down the pen, and looked up at the woman in front of her. She'd often been interrupted by police officers who thought they could barge in and get unlimited time with near death patients. She understood that they wanted to solve cases, but she hated how entitled they felt. And she never wanted to know what her patients were being accused of, simply because she wanted to focus on being their doctor, saving their lives no matter what they had done. She had taken an oath, and she took it very serious. Besides, even if she was one of the best trauma doctors in the country, she wouldn't be able to make Sam Banner well enough to be able to talk to the police right then. He was in bad shape.
"Mr. Banner was hit by 5 bullets, three of which went through his spleen and liver, and punctured a lung. He barely pulled through. And now he will spend a few highly sedated days here in this hospital, under my care, without the disturbance of anyone"
Arizona was tired. And she was not in the mood to argue with someone who thought that a police badge would get them any- or everywhere.
"Now, if you want to question my medical assessment, please take it up with my boss" she then said, handed the file to a nurse, and started walking away.
"Doctor Robbins!" the detective said and grabbed the blonde's arm. The action made the doctor turn around with fire in her eyes "Sam Banner has killed 5 people!"
"That may very well be, but right now, he is MY patient, and that means that you will wait until I goddamn tell you that you can see him. Now back the fuck off!" Arizona hissed, and roughly pulled her arm out of the detective's grip.
Her words and action made the detective let go of a sigh and put up her hands in defeat.
"Johnny," she said directed at the police officer behind her and without breaking eye contact with Arizona "make sure to keep the squad here. I want all eyes on the door to that room. We'll be back tomorrow"
The police officer received the orders, and then the detective turned around, and left Arizona standing in the hall, boiling with rage. It had been a bad day, and now it had officially hit rock bottom. She knew she had been a bit to stand-offish with the detective, but at the same time she couldn't help but feel extremely protective of her patient. It was lodged in her that she had to protect her patient's best health interests no matter what.
Next day Arizona walked into the hospital with her head held high. She hadn't forgotten about what had happened the day before, but she felt somehow more relaxed. She'd gotten a good night's sleep and had managed to push the thought of Joann's message back in her mind. She even managed a small smile at some residents as she put her clothes into her locker in the changing room.
5 minutes later she stopped in her tracks as she spotted detective Torres standing at the nurses' station talking to three police officers.
Arizona pushed herself up against the wall of the hall in hopes that they wouldn't see her. She didn't know why, but she needed to collect herself before being ready to meet the detective and the officers again.
As she stood there she studied detective Torres. The woman was beautiful. Tall, tanned, curvy, and she had the most amazing almost black wavy hair. She was probably the most beautiful latina Arizona had ever laid eyes on. And the suit she was wearing, the leather strap of her gun holster that were barely visible underneath her blazer and her assertiveness was pretty hot.
Arizona hadn't had eyes for anyone but Joann for years, but during the last few months of being single she had been surprised with how much she'd looked at and wondered about other women. She took it as a sign that the breakup was meant to have happened at some point. And she took comfort in the fact that even though she'd been cheated on, she wasn't completely emotionally and sexually wrecked. She was still able to feel attraction.
She took a deep breath, and then she slowly walked over to detective Torres.
"Doctor Robbins" the latina said with firmness but enthusiasm "Good to see you. We were just discussing when would be a good time to start interrogating Sam Banner"
Arizona blinked.
"Come with me" the blonde said and started walking down the hall. The detective looked around questioningly, and then followed the doctor.
Arizona stopped in front of a large window, covered by a curtain.
"Mr. Banner is in no condition to talk to you" she simply said and pulled the curtain aside to let the detective look through the window.
On the other side of the window was an IC room with a hospital bed in the middle. And in the bed was Sam Banner. His eyes were closed, and he had tubes and wires going in and out of every possible place.
"The nurse..." Arizona continued, referring to the nurse who was right then holding a large syringe to a tube coming out of Sam Banner's abdominal region "...is emptying his bowel for excess fluids that keep collecting in the affected areas"
The detective swallowed.
"We're keeping him asleep for that part. Among other things" the doctor then concluded dryly.
"When...uh...when do you think he'll be...I mean, an estimate?"
"A week"
"A week?!"
"At least" Arizona nodded.
"Shit!"
Arizona raised her eye brows at the detective.
"Please, detective. This is a hospital"
Detective Torres gave her a defying look and then stepped very close to the doctor. The slight height difference and the growling of the detective's words made Arizona feel slightly awkward.
"There is a woman out there. Caught somewhere. And we can't find her unless we talk to this man. So 'shit' is the word I decide to use. Now, I expect to be informed of any change exactly when they happen. When he wakes up, I need to know immediately"
The detective didn't get an answer, which was answer enough. She nodded at Arizona, turned around and left.
And so the next few days passed. There was a constant police presence around the IC room, and every day Arizona had to answer questions from the detective. It was annoying, but it gave Arizona something besides Joann to think about.
Five days after Sam Banner arrived, Arizona was having lunch with Mark in the hospital cafeteria.
Arizona was going on and on about how annoying it was to constantly answer questions about Sam Banner, and how she felt her work was being disturbed by detective Torres' mere presence in the hospital. Mark didn't seem to think the police presence was as big a deal as Arizona did.
"If the guy is a killer, I think it's pretty cool that they take it this serious. They're looking for a woman, you know. A teenager" he said, shrugging his shoulders.
"I know. And I agree. It's just…I…"
"You're a bit pissed off these days and you're taking it out on detective Torres"
"Wha…"
"I know you Robbins. And seriously, it's time you pack away the venom. Towards people here. And towards the detective and her guys. She's just doing her job. Besides, your venom doesn't really work as intended when you spend half the time checking out her ass"
"I do not!"
"You do! Don't try to deny it or I'll kick you out of my apartment"
"I hate you" the blonde retorted in mock seriousness.
"Well, I love you" he said and got out of his seat "See you tonight. You're cooking"