Prompt: "Can you make something about another shooting at the hospital, with arizona being pregnant and the man pointing the gun at her belly in the OR while callie and other surgeons watch the scene in the gallery?"
AN: Hello guys! So I'm back with a new short fic. I got this prompt on tumblr and I found it really interesting so I decided to share it here too. As you will notice during your reading, this story wasn't written exactly how it was asked but the storyline is very close and I really hope you like it. Please notice that it is an AU and the shooting happened later on their lives.
AN2: I didn't use a beta reader for this story so you'll probably find some grammatical mistakes and I apologize in advance.
It's impressive how life can be so paradoxical. At one moment you're at home getting ready for another day of work, having breakfast with your wife and kid, and everything indicates you're going to have a perfect day ahead of you. At work, you do one of the most difficult surgeries you've ever performed without any complications during the course, you celebrate with your friends and run to tell one of the most important people in your life how you kicked ass in the OR and saved that kid's life... and that's where that paradox happens; you find yourself in a nightmare. A nightmare in which all your happiness and the success you got that day fades away and all you're able to feel is fear.
She had just found Callie in an exam room and was about to tell her about her surgery. She was in such state of ecstasy that she couldn't help the smile that plastered on her face.
That smile was soon mirrored by her wife as she heard about the surgery. Callie knew how worried Arizona was for this surgery and made sure to be by her side whenever she could to help her find solutions to all the cases and scenarios she imagined could happen inside of that OR.
But, that state of pure pure happines was interrupted by the sound of their pagers going off.
"Lockdown?" She remembered saying. "What does it mean? Do we have to stay here?"
"I have no idea," Callie answered, looking for her phone in her lab coat pocket to try and contact someone.
Callie was finally able to contact someone, Cristina, whom explained to her what was happening in the hospital with fear clear in her voice, fear that was soon plastered on Callie's face. Now they were at destiny's mercy, and it was up to it to decide what would happen to them.
"Callie, what is it?" Arizona asked worried, the expression on Callie's face already telling her that, whatever was happening in the hospital, couldn't be something good.
"Arizona," Callie said as she hung up the call. "I need you to stay calm, okay?"
"Callie, what's going on?" She asked again. She could already feel her heart beating faster in her chest, her breathing getting heavier and heavier.
"I... I don't know how to tell you this in a less frightening way."
"Just tell me." She said.
"There's a shooter in the hospital."
Arizona instictively brought her hand to her eight month pregnant belly, her eyes wide with terror. "What? Callie... no, we... it's not true. It must be a misunderstanding or, or, or they're just doing a training because that... that's not possible."
"I wish it wasn't true, honey, but unfortunately that isn't the case. We're locked here and the recomendation is that we stay where we are."
"Callie, no, I wanna get out of here. I wanna go home." Despair was already taking over her body, she had no control over it.
"Arizona, calm down, calm down." She softly said, grabbing Arizona's arms and pulling her closer embracing her in her arms.
"Is there... is there anyone hurt?" Arizona asked after a few minutes.
"Yes. We have people hurt and..."
"And?" Arizona asked, getting out of Callie's embrace so she could look at her in the eyes.
"Two people died."
"Oh my God..." Was all she managed to say.
They stayed there like it had been recommended. They prayed for this nightmare to be over soon so they could go home, get Sofia in their arms and spent the whole night together, all four of them curled up in their bed.
It didn't take too long for Callie to call Cristina again to learn more about the situation. Cristina told her about Gary Clark and all his history with the hospital; somehow, learning what they were dealing with helped her calm down a little. At least now they wouldn't be completely in the dark.
After telling Arizona everything Cirstina had told her, Callie decided to try and distract themselves a little, changing the subject to their unborn little girl's bedroom. Yes, they were having another girl and they were over the moon about it. They talked about the name and imagined if the baby would inherit Arizona's ocean blue eyes. But in the middle of this converstion was when Callie could see a figure in the corner of her eye. Her heart beat begins to speed up when she saw what the man had in his hand and her first impulse was to say: "I love you, Arizona."
The blonde was a little confused by Callie's sudden words, not that she minded. She would never get tired of listening the Latina telling her how much she loved her... but that was when her eyes fell upon the reason of Callie's words and that fear from earlier made itself known once again.
"Why are you doing this?" Was all Arizona could say. Her heart was beating so fast she thought that any moment now it would jump right out of her chest. "All those people... they were good people."
"They killed her." He said, drying his tears with the hand that was holding the gun. "I trusted them and they killed her."
"I'm sure they did their best to save your wife's life, Derek is a great surgeon and-"
"No!" He shouted at her.
"Arizona..." Callie whispered with terror in her voice.
"He killed her. I trusted him and he killed her... he said she was going to be fine but he lied. He failed. Because of him I lost the most important thing I had in my life. He has to pay... just like the people that are like him. Just like you." He said, liffiting his gun and pointing it to Arizona, who automatically brought her hands up to protect her belly to try and keep the life that was growing inside her safe.
"Please." Callie said approaching Arizona and placing her hands upon Arizona's around her belly in a gesture of protection. "I-I can't say that I know how you must be feeling or how it must be a hard time for you to live without you wife, but... please, this is my wife... and she's carrying our child. A child that I can barely wait to hold in my arms. She hasn't even been born yet. She deserves to know her mommies and to be loved by them and by her sister who's waiting for us at home, please... leave us alone. Let us go." She finished.
"Let you go? Why should I let you go?" He asked with disdain. "Because... it isn't fair. Why should I let you go and be happy with your family when my life is a living hell? I didn't have anyone to be sorry for me, doctor, or even to have compassion. Why should I have compassion for you if when I needed it, I didn't have anyone? The hospital said they'd help me financially for as long as I needed but what about my loss? You doctors really think money is everything, don't you? You think you can play with people's lives? You like to play God. But here's the truth, doctor, there's no God. Not anymore."
"We don't play God. We are not God." Arizona said with a shaky voice, the child growing inside of her starting to get agitated. "We suffer when we lose a patient, we get sad... our pain doesn't get even close to the family's pain but we feel it too."
"Don't try to compare your suffering with mine!" He shouted once again.
"Please, Mr. Clark, try to calm down a bit." Callie says.
"Do not tell me to calm down!" He says, shaking the hand holding the gun in Callie's direction.
"Please put the gun down." Callie asks with her eyes already filling up with tears. She had never been through such a terrifying situation like this before; she was afraid of something bad happening to her, Arizona and their baby, the affliction of not being able to do anything to take her wife and kid out of that nightmare was eating at her bones. "You're hurt. Let me help you." She offers, leaving her hold on Arizona and going to the nearest shelf to get him some gauze.
"Don't move!" He exclaims pointing the gun to her direction once again, scared with her sudden moviment. "What are you doing? Don't move!"
"Callie!" Arizona said. Breathing was getting harder and harder inside this small exam room.
"Easy, easy..." Callie said, trying to calm Arizona and the man that held their fate in his hands. The anguish written all over her face made Callie's heart hurt. "Arizona, everything is going to be fine, sweetie.. Mr. Clark, it's just gauze, press them to the wound and it will help to stop the bleeding."
"Please, get the gauze and go. Leave us alone, please." Arizona begged, not being able to hold back her tears anymore.
"The best you can do now is give yourself in. The hospital is surrounded by police cars by now, you have no escape. You've already caused too much damage today, many innocent lives were taken, families destroyed... please, please... go, I'm begging you." Callie said, putting herself in front of Arizona to protect her since the man in front of them was getting even more agitated.
"Give myself in? Why would I do that? They'll kill me as soon as I step outside."
"And what do you think is going to happen when they encroach the building? Won't it be worse?" Callie questioned.
"So, I'm going to die anyways, right?" He concludes.
"They won't shoot you when you leave." Callie says.
"How can you be so sure of that?" He asks.
"I'll go with you." She firmly says.
"Calliope, no!" Arizona says right away. "Please, don't do this, please!" She begs, her tears now running freely down her face.
"Hey, hey..." Callie says, calmly, at least as much calm as the situation would allow her. Turning to Arizona, she takes her face in both her hands and says, "Everything is going to be fine, I promise." She places her lips softly upon Arizona's and repeats her words, "Everything is going to be fine."
"Enough!" The man impatiently says. "You come with me," He takes Callie's proposal.
"You let her go first. She's eight months pregnant and under a lot of pressure right now. She needs to be monitored and so does the baby; we need to know that this isn't affecting the baby in any way."
He watches the two of them for a second. Why did I agree to give in? He wonders. But inside, deep in his heart, he knows why. He came here today with a plan, a goal, and he was sure that he wouldn't let anyone or anything get in his way. The goal that he had accomplished until he found those two inside this exam room. There was something about them that made him feel a little bit of warmth in his heart. A heart that had become as cold as an ice cube since his wife's death...there was something in them that made him think of his wife. The way they were protecting each other made him remember how he used to feel with his wife and for a moment he remembered the man he used to be. Ashamed... your wife must be ashamed of you right now, wherever she is, shame is the only thing she could feel about you in this moment... what did you have in mind? What was this unhealthy hate you had inside your heart and head? The answer to those questions he would never know. He was furious. What he now knew, was that seeing how Callie and Arizona protected each other, how much they loved each other, and the fear written on their faces at that moment because of him, made him feel... he didn't know what. He just felt...something that hadn't happened in months. For the first time since he became a widower, he was capable of feeling something.
"You," He says with a shaking voice, pointing to Arizona. "Go."
"No," She says shaking her head. "I... no."
"Arizona, go." Callie says pulling her into a tight hug. "I'll meet you out there, please go. I need you to be strong, okay? I need you to be strong for the both of us, can you do that?"
"Callie, I'm not leaving you."
"Arizona, Sofia needs you. This baby," She says, placing her hand on Arizona's belly, feeling her unborn baby girl's move. "needs you. You go, and you'll look for an ambulance and tell them to take you to Seattle Presbiterian. Call Mark and talk to Sofia... I need you to tell her how much you love her and that you can barely wait to go home and give her a bear hug. You tell her that I love her too, okay?"
"You're scaring me, Callie, you're talking as if... promise me you're goning to be fine, please."
Callie took a deep breath before saying, "I promise." and gave Arizona a kiss.
"I love you." Arizona said with a weak voice, her forehead resting against Callie's.
"I love you, too." She said giving her another kiss and pushing her towards the door.
Before she left, Arizona looked at Callie one last time and took a deep breath. That was the last image of Arizona Callie had.
"So, Mr. Clark, it's you and me now." She said turning to him. "Are you ready"?
"I am." He said. "Come here." She approached him, fear taking over her body. She was unable to stop her body from shaking. "turn around." He ordered, Callie obeying immediately and turning her back to him. She could feel him get closer, the cold edge of the gun being pressed against her head. "We're walking slowly, understood?" She nodded her head in confirmation. "If they make any sudden move I'll pull the trigger."
She felt a tear run down her face and all she could answer was "Understood."
They walked around the empty hallways of the hospital, he had his gun pressed to her head and she had her heart almost jumping out of her chest. When the elevator's door opened they could see the a big pool of blood on the floor. Callie had never felt nauseous because of blood; she was a surgeon after all, a damn good surgeon, so she was used to that bright red liquid. But, in that moment and knowing the situation, seeing that pool of blood made her sick to her stomach. She could feel the chicken she had had for lunch dancing inside of her. She hesitated to get in for a moment but then the man pressed the gun harder against her head and made her give a step into the mechanic box that would lead her to the end of this nightmare.
Arriving at the lobby, they soon saw the agents already waiting for the man that had caused a day of horror at SGMW. She found that it was weird, but then she remembered Arizona had left first and had probably told them about their plan.
Gary's hand started shaking when he found himself surrounded by all those cops and for a minute, he regreted it... he didn't regret killing those people, no, he regreted letting himself be convinced to give in because everything he had done would've been in vain and now he'd spend the rest of his life in jail.
"Do not get close or I'll kill her." He said, pulling Callie closer to him.
"Mr. Clark, put the gun down and release Dr. Torres." A cop said.
"Why? So you can shoot me?" He questions.
"Nobody is going to shoot you, sir." The cop affirms.
"Liar!" He shouts, getting nervous again.
"It's okay, it's okay." Callie tells him. "They won't shoot."
"Shut up!"
"Sir, please, let's stay calm. We don't want to cause more deaths, right?"
Clark nothing said.
"Release her and put the gun on the ground." The cop said once again.
"That's it, Gary." Callie said. "This is the moment you can repent. This is the time to do what is right, to make your wife proud of you wherever she is. It's time for you to show her that you're not a monster, that you're human and you make mistakes...mistakes that unfortunately you won't be able to undo but you can repent and pay for them. Make your wife see the man she married. Do it for her."
After saying those words, Callie closed her eyes and prayed, prayed that he would release her and that she could go home to the safe arms of her wife and daughter. She prayed that she could meet her baby that wasn't even born yet, that she already loved so much. She, at that moment, had images in her head of a happy future with her family, and it was all she wanted at that moment. God, please, help me. She kept repeating in her mind.
"Mr. Clark..." The officer's voice echoed around the hospital's lobby and that was when she felt the man holding her loosen his arm. The gun that was pressed to her head was not there anymore. That was when she finally opened her eyes again and took a deep breath, a small smile on her mouth and tears of emotion in her eyes. She couldn't believe that nightmare was over. She then started walking towards the cop already waiting for her. She was taking large steps and she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. It was when a loud sound echoed in the lobby followed, seconds later, by a very similar sound. The pain of a thousand knives pierced her body and the darkness of a night without the moonlight invading her mind was all she could feel.
I see you guys soon! Please let me know what you think and if you'd like to keep reading it.