Prompt: A 15 yo Sofia got injured while she was skating but when she is under medical care, she refuses to tell her name (because she scared that Callie who's working in the hospital as a nurse or whatever, would find out and ground her) and somehow she bonds with her doctor (Arizona).
Disclaimer: This is AU. I do not own any of the characters from Grey's Anatomy. I just manipulate them to my will. Also, any line or phrase or setting that seems remotely familiar from any other show, movie or book, also not mine. I borrow…
AN: This was prompted a couple weeks ago. Sorry for the wait. Here's a fun little one-shot for ya'll. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
"I'm fine. Really! I don't need to go to the hospital. It's just a bump!" Sofia tried to sit up, but the swaying of a speeding ambulance didn't help her overcome the wave of nausea that hit her.
The paramedic pushed her charge back down onto the gurney. "And your arm?"
Sofia attempted to move flex her left arm. Her wrist moved barely an inch before a groan of pain ripped from her throat. "Just uh… a sprain. Please, I'm ok. Really. I don't want to go to the hospital. It doesn't hurt that bad."
"You're a terrible liar, and you're going. Just lay back and relax, honey. We're almost there."
The teenager closed her eyes and braced herself for the storm to come. "I am so dead."
The pit was quieter than most Saturday afternoons go, but Arizona Robbins wasn't complaining. It allowed her a few moments of peace. She could count on one hand the number of nice days she'd seen in the two months she'd been in Seattle. Not that it mattered all that much anyways; most of her time had been spent within the walls of Seattle Grace Mercy West. There was always something entertaining happening if you eavesdropped on the right nurses.
The sun was high in the sky, and Arizona could feel it's warmth against her face. She stood in the empty ambulance bay with her head tipped back. The warm cup of coffee in her hand went forgotten as the tired Attending started to drift away. It was peaceful, and quiet. Inside the hospital there was noise, but outside was only the howl of the wind and the soft lapping of an ocean off in the distance.
"Dr. Robbins?"
Her head snapped back down, and Arizona's peace was over. "Yes?"
"There's a bus about a minute out. Dr. Stark said you'd cover it."
Arizona suppressed the snarl at her boss's name. "No problem. Thanks, Jen." She spent the minute wait by downing the rest of her coffee. And when the bus rolled to a stop just outside the ER door, Dr. Robbins was ready for action. "What we got?"
The paramedic hops from the ambulance. "Teenaged female with fractured left arm and possible brain injury. Witnesses said she fell at the skate park, but patient remains uncooperative."
"I don't want to be here," growled Sofia. "You can't do this to me. I have my rights."
"What's your name, sweetie?" Arizona asked while wheeling her new patient through the sliding ER doors.
"I've asked her ten times. So far it's been Rachel, Sara, Julia, Rolando, and… Beyoncé." The EMT didn't even try to keep her irritation out of her tone.
"Beyoncé, huh? What do you know, we got a celebrity in our midst. You know what celebrities get? Their very own private room." Arizona smiled at the blush of embarrassment that raced across her patient's face. "Right this way, Ms. Knowles. Trauma room 3 has been reserved specially for you."
Sofia continued to scowl and grumble as she was rolled into the room and transferred from the gurney. Again she was asked what her name was, and that time she didn't say anything at all. It was time for a new tact. Passive resistance. If the doctors were going to work on her, she wasn't going to make it easy for them.
Arizona checked her patient's vitals and found them stable. "Alright, Beyoncé, if you would be so kind as to follow the light." Brown eyes remained frozen when shone with the doctor's pen light. Arizona tried again, and again her charge remained stubborn. "Alright, young lady, I'm ordering an X-ray for your arm, and a CT. I doubt it's more than a bump on the head and a very mild concussion, but I just want to be sure." She scribbled some notes down onto a chart and handed it off to the intern hovering nearby. "Go call and see how quickly we can get her in." Once the resident was gone, and Arizona excused the nurse still lingering about, she rolled a chair up beside the bed and sat. "Ok, it's time for you to talk now. What's your name?"
Silence.
"Ok… How did this happen?"
"I fell," Sofia said through pursed lips. Her gaze drifted over to meet icy blue eyes, and then quickly looked away.
"You know, I treat a lot of kids. Some a lot younger than you, some older. And the ones who hide their names are the ones who are hiding from something else. …Did someone do this to you?" That caught her patient's attention, and those brown eyes locked onto Arizona's. "You can tell me, sweetie. You're safe with me but I need you to tell me the truth. Did someone-"
"No!" yelped Sofia. "You're asking me if I'm being beaten?! No! It was an accident."
"I'm sure it was, but you have to tell me who did it so they can't do it again. Ok?"
"Oh my god." Sofia used her one good arm to cover her face. "Why won't you listen to me? It was an accident, ok? I'm not being abused, lady. I don't even have a Dad."
"Then why won't you tell me the truth?" asked Arizona.
"Because I wasn't even supposed to be at the skate park, let alone on a skateboard that I don't know how to ride. And when my mom finds out she will actually beat me."
Arizona studied the girl for a beat, and found no traces of a lie. "What's your name?"
"Esmerelda."
An exasperated huff slipped from between Arizona's lips before she could control it. "Look, since you're underage I'm required by law to treat you. And I'm also required by law to keep you until your parents- parent can be notified. That's the way it is. So you can either tell me your name, and how to get a hold of your mother, or I can go outside and call the Police. …As well as family services. Now you tell me, would your mother want a call from you? Or from Child Protective Services?"
Awkward silence filled in the room while Arizona let the girl stew.
Finally Sofia cracked. "Sofia."
"Sofia what?"
"Sof-"
"Sofia Marie Torres." The voice roared with anger, and both Arizona and Sofia turned to the open doorway to find a fuming doctor in navy scrubs and white lab coat. Her sight was set on her daughter, and Arizona barely managed to roll out of the way as the mother stormed to the teenager trying to cower into the mattress. "What the hell is going on? I was up on my floor, working, when a nurse happened to tell me that she saw you down here. Care to explain why a nurse had to inform me my own daughter was being treated in my hospital without my knowledge?" Callie's gaze never flinched from her daughter's. After ten seconds of silence, she said, "Now would be a good time to start talking, young lady."
"I… I…" Sofia scrambled to come up with a story, but her mother's eyes seemed to kill each lie as they begun to form on the teenager's mouth. "Penny and I, uh… We got bored staying inside so we, uh… We went for a walk down to the park. And Justin was there. And, uh… and he had his skateboard."
"Justin, and his skateboard." Callie was well aware of exactly who Justin was, and more importantly, how much her daughter liked the boy and his stupid, dangerous toy. "How many times have I told you that I didn't want you on one of those things? How many?"
"A lot," Sofia answered flatly while avoiding her mother's burning gaze.
"That's right 'a lot'. And do you know why I don't want you on those things? It's because I can't count how many stupid teenagers I treat-"
"Stupid teenagers? You're calling me stupid now?" Sofia yelled back.
"Yes." Callie spat back, her glare never leaving her daughter. "I'm calling you stupid because a halfway intelligent daughter of mine would have put a helmet on her head before getting on a skateboard she didn't know how to ride. And you know how I know you didn't have a helmet on? ...Answer me."
A knock on the door interrupted the conversation. "Dr. Robbins? CT is free now. They said I can bring her right up."
Callie stepped back while the blonde doctor and young resident readied her daughter for transport.
As Sofia was being wheeled off to the elevators, Arizona hung back to talk to her patient's mother. "I'm having a CT done just to make sure. I'm certain Sofia doesn't have anything more than a bump on the head and maybe a very minor concussion. She did fracture her left forearm, and after an X-ray we'll get it reduced and casted right up. Good as new."
"Good as new…" Callie grumbled to herself, a hand raking through her hair. "That girl is going to kill me."
"She doesn't seem so bad," Arizona quipped. "She's uh… she's very… willful."
A bark of laughter erupted from Callie and she smiled for the first time since she heard word of her daughter. "If that's your nice way of saying my daughter is stubborn as a mule, thank you." That smile remained on her lips. "And I just know she's going to be on that damned skateboard next week, cast and all."
Both women shared a chuckle, and Arizona couldn't seem to stop looking at the woman in front of her. "You're Dr. Torres, right? Ortho?"
"Yeah. Yeah, that's me."
"Arizona Robbins. Peds, obviously," Arizona replied. The rest of the hospital swarmed around them, and Arizona found herself falling in step next to Callie. She assumed they were on their way towards the CT lab. After calling an elevator of their own, she stepped into the carriage after Callie.
Once the doors were closed, Arizona said, "I've heard a lot about you. …A lot."
Callie kept her eyes forward, trained on the slowly changing numbers. "Sorry to break it to you, but I'm sure any rumors you may have heard about me are probably false."
"Well, hopefully not all of them because that'd make what I'm about to do somewhat awkward. Umm…" Arizona smiled a crooked smile at Callie. "Would you like to get a drink with me? Not tonight, obviously; you have to tend to your daughter. But, maybe… Friday night? There's this cute little bar right across the street."
It took a second for Callie's mind to catch up. "Joe's." She supplied.
"Yeah, Joe's. It's close, not too fancy."
The elevator dinged, and opened up at their floor. They stepped off in unison, but Arizona didn't make an attempt to move after that. She just looked at Callie, with that cute little crooked, dimpled grin, and waited. And Callie found herself confused. It was obvious she had been out of the game a while because she couldn't cue in on this woman. Was this just a friendly 'coworker hanging out with coworker for a friendly drink', or was it something else?
"Uh, yeah. I'd, uh- I'd like that." Callie's voice didn't come as smoothly as she would have liked.
"Awesome." Arizona smiled. "It's a date then."
Any doubt Callie had was gone with the flirty wink of a blue eye.
