Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, all belong to Shonda Rhimes.
"Tests were good, stats are great, breathing on a system, he's going to be home by the end of the week," Arizona stated nodding her head, slightly looking at Callie.
"And he's been taken off the transplant list?" Callie questioned with a smile, already knowing the answer.
"Yep! Two weeks on your little plan, and his lungs have actually improved."
Callie let out a low chuckle as they turned to face each other.
Callie never really got the chance to work with Arizona, considering her schedule was so neurotic and unpredictable due to her kids. Plus, pediatrics seemed to get a lot more broken bone cases that needed assistance than it did for cardio. They would on occasion work together, but never on something as groundbreaking and exciting as this. This kid would have a normal life because of Callie's plan; because of the work her and Arizona did. She had to admit, they made a great team. She had enjoyed working with her, which if she were being honest with herself, surprised her. She usually found perky, cheerful people annoying, fake, and overbearing, but there was something different about Arizona. It was becoming increasingly aware. She hadn't really noticed before, really because she wasn't trying to, but Arizona truly cared for her patients. That was overtly evident today. Not just for her patients though, she seemed to have a wonderful understanding for people in general. Callie found herself getting lost in the cheerful, bubbly woman whose laughter and joy just seemed to radiate off of her and spread to other people. Her smile was contagious. When Arizona randomly hugged her after their success earlier, to say it threw Callie off would be an understatement. She wasn't much of a hugger. But for some reason, Callie not only let that hug happen, but returned it eventually and found herself not wanting to let go. There was something about this woman. And then Callie realized she hadn't said anything in response to Arizona.
"Well, good work today," she said reaching her hand out to shake Arizona's, needing some sort of physical contact with the woman.
"Ah, amazing work!" Arizona exclaimed, returning the handshake willingly, "And I didn't even want to do it!"
Callie laughed again at Arizona's obvious enthusiasm.
"It was amazing. You're amazing…" Arizona drifted off still holding a perfectly dimpled smile.
Callie's laughter died down as the tone suddenly became serious and it was then she realized they were still holding hands. That wasn't the part she found strange though; what she found strange was that she didn't want to let go of her hand, and also that she wasn't quite ready to leave Arizona's side yet. She was stunned for a moment as she stared into those bright blue orbs bearing into her own.
She glanced down quickly at their locked hands and reluctantly released saying, "Well-uh…we should uh-celebrate, sometime." Callie realized she was stuttering, but she couldn't figure out why. Or why her fingers felt tingly immediately after releasing her hand. She was completely comfortable around this woman, yet getting out those words were nerve-wracking.
Arizona didn't seem phased and replied, "Yeah, we should, we should get drinks. I mean this is…this is one to celebrate."
Callie nodded her head, not really being able to form words, then finally let out a breathless, "Yeah." She tried not to let her confusion show too much about the awkward situation that just took place. Well, awkward on her end at least.
Suddenly a little voice shouting, "Mommy!" pulled her out of her thoughts as she turned and smiled at her bouncing little girl. She picked her up with a mega watt smile saying, "Hi, baby girl! Hi…" She trailed off at the end when her breath caught in her throat as she turned to a beaming Arizona. She was smiling at Allegra in her arms, and Callie thought that smile could melt her heart. Allegra was smiling at Arizona too, obviously entranced by the bright woman before her as well.
"Okay, well…" Callie said starting to back away gently, "sometime."
"Yeah, yeah, sometime," Arizona said lightly with a slight smirk that still made her dimples pop. She stared after a retreating Callie.
"Alright, here we goo," Callie said in a sing-songy voice, obviously addressing Allegra now. As she pushed the stroller away, she couldn't help but chance one last glace over her shoulder and sent Arizona that mega watt grin that always seemed to appear in her presence, mouthing the word "bye" for good measure.
Arizona turned to look at her charts on the counter and realized she was still smiling like a giddy 12 year old. She quickly cleared her throat and glanced around to see if anyone had noticed.
Why was that last conversation so weird? She thought. Maybe it was only weird for me. She realized that it could be the fact that she had made things awkward for them, but she really tried to keep her "cool" about the whole thing. She had to admit, she loved working with Callie, which was very unexpected. Before, she had obviously noticed the beautiful Latina-who hadn't-but she had never really worked with her before, so she didn't know if she could trust such evasive and life-risky procedures. But Callie had handled the whole thing admirably, modestly, yet confidently. She worked well with Arizona and took her opinions into consideration throughout the process. And Arizona had been so wrong to doubt her abilities. Arizona never liked to admit she was wrong, and had a lot of trouble doing so, as any self-respecting surgeon, but she had no problem admitting to Callie multiple times just how impressed she was and just how wrong she had been to question Callie. Maybe she had over-complimented the Latina, because Arizona sensed a shift in the mood several times. She didn't want to make her uncomfortable, but maybe that hug earlier was a little too much of an invasion of her personal space. Ugh, and then I went on and on about how amazing she was. No wonder she was uncomfortable. Arizona didn't strike Callie as the person to shy away from a compliment though. Maybe it was too much. Arizona also realized she could be making a bigger deal out of this because she had a small little crush on the Latina. She brushed the thought aside though, because she really thought Callie would be an excellent friend to have around, and for the obvious reason that Callie was straight, married, with children. She'd had little crushes before and had no problem getting rid of them. Even as Arizona convinced herself of all these things, she found it harder to admit to her heart and deep down knew she was in for a challenging whirlwind of emotions.
Once Callie and Owen got settled down with the kids at home, Callie allowed her mind to wander back to her conversation with Arizona. Why had that been so weird? It was almost like she was a school girl trying to ask a boy out, except that this wasn't that at all. She was just casually getting drinks with Arizona, someone who could potentially be a great friend. Then why did she have these butterflies in her stomach? It was because she hadn't made a new friend in a long time, she decided. She shoved down any other possibility to the contrary aside because she couldn't deal with that. Because if she was really being honest with herself, besides her children, working with Arizona was the happiest and most alive she'd felt in a long time.
After cleaning the dinner dishes and putting the kids to bed, she wanted to talk to Owen about his hand. She knew something was off about his story, and it wouldn't surprise her if he was trying to cover it up.
"Owen?"
No response. She continued to call and search around the house until she saw the basement door unlocked. She took a deep breath deciding if the conversation was really worth going down there tonight. Owen often went down there when he wanted to shut the world out, when he knew his PTSD symptoms were bad. She rarely bothered him or questioned him, understanding that he needed space. For some reason though, she felt compelled to go down there tonight. As she descended down the stairs, she could hear Owen almost talking to himself. When she got to the bottom step and softly said, "Owen," he quickly shut his laptop and swiveled in his chair to face her.
"Hey," he said nervously, "What's up?"
Callie eyed him for a moment, "Were you just talking to yourself?"
"Uh…yes. Yes I was."
"May I?" she asked pointing to his closed computer.
He gave her one nod, and when she opened the laptop his skype was opened.
A woman with blonde hair was on the screen and had yet to notice Callie since the video signal was down. "I was wondering what the hell happened, you were in the middle of telling me about your so called 'terrible life' when the screen just blacked out and—Oh. Hi," the woman on the other end stopped mid-sentence as the video turned back on and she noticed Callie.
Callie raised her eyebrows and smiled a bit too cheerfully and said, "Hi. Who the hell are you?"
Owen tried to interject but Callie quickly put her hand up, not turning her attention away from the screen.
"Teddy," the woman said in an obvious tone, like Callie should know who this gorgeous woman talking to her husband was.
Callie kept up the obviously forced cheerful façade and said, "Ohh, you're Teddy. Okay." With that she shut the laptop again, leaning on the desk glaring at Owen.
"I…uh," he stuttered, "I told you I skyped with some of my army buddies. Keeps the PTSD down to a minimum."
"Oh, and it never occurred to you to tell me something about your little friend Teddy, like, oh I don't know, her gender?!" Callie could feel heat coursing through her body, and not in a good way. If she weren't so angry in this moment she's sure she would be crying.
"I didn't think it mattered," he stated simply.
"You didn't think it mattered?" she asked incredulously, "It didn't matter that every time we talked about Teddy and the army buddies that I referred to her as a he and you never corrected me? You didn't think little detail was something you should tell me?"
"It shouldn't be a big deal," Owen said trying to shrug it off.
"The fact that you didn't tell me and purposefully left out information tells me that it is in fact a big deal. If you lied about this, what the hell else are you lying about?"
"Nothing!"
"What really happened to your hand, Owen?" Callie was yelling now. Luckily the basement walls were thick.
"I told you, I-"
"What really happened to your hand?" She interjected.
He didn't say anything.
"Who did you hurt this time?" She asked, sounding defeated.
"I didn't hurt anyone, I just punched a window."
"Oh, just a window. Well that's okay then," she said sarcastically.
"Don't start with me, Callie, alright? It was an accident."
"An accident that you didn't tell me about! And had, who, Dr. Yang fix? Unbelievable!" She shouted, pacing the room.
"You're making this worse than it needs to be."
"I'm making it worse? I can't believe you just said that. You know what Owen? I'm done just pretending that everything is fine with you and with us, because I'm just lying to myself and it's not helping you get better. You need help. As in, professional help to get through this."
"I told you, I'm fine!" Owen shouted, his anger getting the better of him as he stood quickly, knocking his chair over in the process and standing an inch away from Callie.
"No, you're not," she whispered on the brink of tears. She spun around and marched up the stairs.
"Where are you going?" he asked angrily as he followed.
"I'm calling the neighbors. They won't mind watching the kids…again. I don't want them in this environment until you've gotten better."
"I would never hurt my own children," he said reaching to grab the phone from Callie.
"That may be true, but that's not a risk I'm willing to take. And I need to clear my head. So, I'm calling them."
"I can watch my own damn children," he muttered under his breath as he struggled to get the phone from Callie. Finally he snatched it and threw it across the house. Callie looked at the broken phone in utter shock, before marching next door.
After Callie took the kids next door, she started driving as she furiously wiped her tears. She didn't really have anywhere else to go besides the hospital, so she chose that as her destination. She needed someone to talk to. Outside of her family, she didn't have many close, dependable friends, considering her busy schedule. She couldn't go to Bailey-the poor woman just got fired. She found out from Addison that her married life wasn't as perfect as she'd led on, and she didn't want to bother her with her own drama. Arizona. That was the next thought that popped in her head. Once she thought it, she knew that's exactly where she was going. Just thinking about Arizona made her feel slightly warmer.