A/N Hey there, hi there, hello. Well, you know I just want to say that I'm extremely excited about this story. I already have the first five chapters written (because that was my deadline to myself) just to show how motivated I am, because I usually suck at updating or finishing stories. I hope you enjoy this story, it's kinda become my baby. And it's been a while since I've written. Ok, okay. Enough with the rambling, I know. :)
disclaimer: all characters belong to shonda except for alejandra. ale belongs to my friend, ale.
"Timothy Robbins, get your pretty boy ass here right now!" Callie screamed with a hint of playfulness and annoyance in her tone. Tim turned to face his friend and walked over to Callie, giving her puppy eyes. "No, oh no. Don't try that on me." She said, glaring at him. She walked closer to him and shook her head.
"But… I didn't do anything?" he asked, confused as to why she would be angry with him. Callie raised her eyebrow. "You told them my full first name, Tim." She said, pouting. Tim looked at Callie, and a smile slowly crossed his face. "They would have found out one way or the other." Callie glared at him, and gave him a playful shove.
"Yeah, well, let them find out on their own!" she all but yelled. He looked into Callie's eyes and gave her a smile that he knew she wouldn't be able to resist. Staring into his blue eyes and at his dimpled smile, she rolled her eyes and looked past him. "Whatever…" she mumbled, something in the distance catching her eye.
"Hey Tim, what's th-" Before she could finish her sentence the pop of the gun and the whizzing of bullets passing them could be heard. Instinct took over Tim, and before Callie knew what was happening she was on the ground. She heard Tim shouting orders to various people. Callie hadn't been a part of the action, being a doctor she was one of the most protected people in the platoon.
"Cal, you have to stay safe. Tell Arizona," Tim looked behind him to see people coming towards him. "Callie, hide. Go hide." He said, not turning to look at Callie. Knowing Callie hadn't moved, he turned, their eyes connected.
Before Tim could get another word out, a bullet flew by him and managed to hit Callie. "Callie! Fuck. Callie! Please be okay. Callie!"
"Callie!" she heard from her side and she shoots up from her bed before falling back down due to the pain in her shoulder. Her eyes scan the room as realizes that she's somewhere she hasn't been in months, maybe even a year. A real hospital. Her eyes dart about and she is unnerved by the sound of the beeping machine, recognizing that it was her own frantic heartbeat.
What happened? Why was she in a hospital? These were all questions that she wanted to get out but couldn't. Her mouth felt dry. The hand she felt on hers was off in a second as the person shot off the chair and through the door, the only thing she could see was the flash of dark brown hair as she walked into the hallway. She could hear a faint she's awake. She's alive. She's awake. Followed by a few sobs before silence.
Callie knew that voice, but she couldn't place who it belonged to. The silence was deafening, and she felt like it was hours before doctors came in. The doctors started checking her vitals, giving her the once over. "Hello Dr. Torres, my name is Dr. Fitzgerald. Do you know where you are?" the doctor asked. She shook her head and attempted to speak.
"Wa..ter." she managed to get out in barely above a whisper. Moments after she asked, she was being handed a cup and looked up to see who was handing it to her. Her eyes widened in shock as she noticed her best friend, and ex-girlfriend, standing there with a sad smile on her face.
Taking a sip of the water, Callie looked back up at her and a small smile found its way on her face. "Ale?" she spoke softly, her voice still not all the way there. "But… Why… What? Why are you here?" she asked, her face scrunching up in confusion.
"Well, I, uh… You… Were… Uh…" she started stuttering, looking up at the doctor for any help with the situation. Seeing this as a means to step in, Dr. Fitzgerald tried to regain Callie's attention. "You're at Selley Oak Hospital. There was an ambush where you were stationed, and you were hit. You took a bullet to the shoulder. The bleeding was severe and you were rushed here where you had surgery to extract the bullet. You have been in a coma ever since."
Callie took in the information as her eyes glazed over, she wasn't sure how she should feel. She dug through her thoughts as she tried to gather information as to what happened, but nothing clicked. "And my platoon?" she question, scared for the answer.
The doctor pursed his lips together, and looked back at Alejandra. "I'll… I'll tell her." She whispered. He simply nodded and gently squeezed Callie's foot. He smiled at her "I'm glad you're awake, Callie." He said softly before leaving the room.
After he left, the room was filled with silence, aside from the occasional beeping of monitors and machines. After a few minutes passed, Callie turned as much as she could and looked at Ale. "Well? Are you going to tell me?" she asked, being a little more harsh than she meant to.
Ale bit down on her bottom lip and avoided meeting Callie's eyes. "It's bad, Cal." She whispered. "Ten injured, three MIA and…" she faltered a bit on the last part. "And 29 dead." She said, softly. "Oh." Was all that came from Callie and she closed her eyes.
She tried to pretend that it wasn't affecting her as much as it was, but the heart monitor betrayed her true feelings. Tears fell out of Callie's eyes. But she felt as if she didn't deserve to cry. She lived. She lived. But the longer her eyes were shut, the more the memories of that day came. Suddenly, her eyes opened.
"Tim?" she said, her voice laced in pain. Ale closed her eyes and shook her head, taking Callie's hand in hers. "He's… He's MIA, Callie." She said, knowing how much Tim meant to her. "He's… He's missing?" she whispered, her voice cracking. She knew that if he was missing there was a good chance that he was being held and possibly tortured. Her eyes closed once again and she started to let out heart breaking sobs.
As the sobs calmed down, and she heard sniffling, she released Callie's hand and dug into her purse, taking out a plastic bag. "This was found on you when you were brought in." she whispered, biting her lip. Taking Callie's hand in hers once again, she slid the small plastic bag into her hand.
Looking at what was in her hand, Callie let out a whimper and shook her head. She couldn't do this. "Tim's dog tags?" she questioned. How did this get with her. This was supposed to stay with him, no. What was happening. She didn't understand. Opening the bag, she noticed a piece of paper falling out with the dog tags.
She scrunched up her face, trying to figure out when Tim managed to write this. She knew that he always was writing letters to people, but there was no reason for him to write to her. So she was surprised when she read on top of the folded piece of paper in Tim's scrawl "To Callie".
Taking in a deep breath, Callie looked over at Ale. Taking this as her cue to be anywhere but there at the moment, she got up, gave Callie a kiss on her cheek, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Callie, if you're reading this then I'm probably dead. You always laughed at me for writing this but I always knew that there would come a time when this might happen so I always carried this in my pocket. I need you to do something for me. I know it's probably not going to be fair to you but I ask that you find my sister. Arizona Robbins. Last I heard she was a Pediatric Surgeon at Seattle Grace Mercy West hospital in Seattle. I beg that you find her and tell her that I'm sorry. We… We had a fallen out when she found out that I was going to the Marines, saying that it was a stupid childish dream and that I was going to get myself killed. Look at that, she was right. But tell her… Tell her I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I left her in her time of need, and I'm sorry for the things that I said. I didn't mean them. And tell her I knew that she didn't mean what she said to me either, I know that she was just scared for me.
Callie took in a deep breath, trying to figure out when the note had a few water drops on it. She touched her cheeks and noticed that they were damp with tears. When did she start crying? She couldn't remember. She sniffled and as she went to fold up the letter, she noticed that there was something in the back of the page.
P.S. You're probably crying right now so think of my eyes and my dimpled smile that you can't say no to. I know you don't bat for my team, but I have you know that my sister bat's for yours… And who knows, maybe something good could come out of this. :p
Callie let out a laugh and shook her head. Only Tim would write something like this after writing about his possible demise. And of course he would be thinking about her, always thinking about other people first. Tearing up at the thought that thinking about other people is the reason why he's in this situation, she couldn't help but let out a string of curse words.
Folding up the paper and putting on Tim's dog tack, she wiped away the tears falling. "What the fuck did you do, Tim." she cried burying her head into her hands. Her body shook with the sobs. She was so distracted by her crying that she didn't even notice when Ale came back into the room until she felt an arm wrap around her and whisper soothing words to her.
Grasping at the smaller woman, she cried harder. Her platoon was gone. Her best friend was gone. And she couldn't help but blame herself. She was the reason why Tim was gone, and that thought scared her to the core. She should be dead. She should be the one missing. Not Tim.
6 months later
Callie took in a deep breath as she stood in the airport looking at the flight times. Her flight was in 2 hours and she couldn't believe what she was doing. "You have to check in now, Cal." She heard come from behind her. She turned around and saw Alejandra looking at her with a smile.
She grinned and moved over to her, pulling the smaller woman into a hug. "Thank you so much for everything." She whispered, her words laced with sincerity. She pulled out of the hug and smiled, shrugging. "No problem, Callie. You know I'll always be here for you." She said and winked.
Callie grinned and winked back at Ale before turning back. She sighed. "Why can't you come to Seattle with me." She whined, the nerves filling her body. Ale rolled her eyes and ignored the question, guiding Callie to the check-in. "Because this is something you have to do. I'll be a call away, you know that." She said and smiled.
"I'm leaving now. Talk to you soon, Calliope" She teased. Callie glared at her ex-girlfriend. "You know how I feel about my name, Alejandra!" She called after her as she made her way out of the airport. She just waved her hand in the air, brushing off Callie. Shaking her head, Callie rolled her eyes and laughed. Some things never changed and she was happy about that.
A few hours later, Callie found herself off the plane and in another airport. Having gone through time zones, she thought that it was three hours later than it was but she was determined to get to Arizona. She was happy that Arizona had a unique name, as it wasn't as hard as you thought to find a Pediatric Surgeon named Arizona Robbins in Seattle.
Though finding out where she worked was easy, finding her where she lived was a different story. But Callie not being one to give up easily found the address a few hours after she got to Seattle and though she felt like she was borderline stalking this Peds surgeon, she felt as if she had no choice.
She drove up to the small apartment and got out of her car, choosing to take the stairs in order to gather her thoughts. What if she wasn't there? What if this was the wrong person? What if- and before she knew it she came face to face with the door of the apartment.
Taking in a deep breath, she raised her hand to knock on the door. Hesitating a bit, she softly knocked on the door and waited. "Coming!" she heard from the other side and within a matter of seconds the door was being opened and out stepped a woman with blue eyes that she thought she'd never see again.
Callie let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. "Arizona? Arizona Robbins?" she asked, her voice strong contrary to how she was really feeling. Arizona nodded slowly, looking at the raven haired Latina who was wearing a uniform she wasn't expecting on seeing.
"I-I'm Arizona." She said, stuttering over her words. Callie stood straighter and looked into the blonde's eyes. "My name is Dr. Callie Torres, I was… I served with your brother Timothy."
Arizona stared at the woman who just showed up on her door step claiming to have known Tim. Was she supposed to invite her in? Was she here to tell her more information about Tim? Did they find him? She had so many questions. And Callie Torres. Why did the name seem so familiar to her?
And finally, it all started piecing together. It all started to make sense. This was the infamous Calliope Torres that her brother has told her so much about. The one who was tough as nails. She studied her closely. The description Tim gave her did no justice to the beautiful Latina standing in front of her.
"Would you like to come in?" She offered, moving to the side to allow her entry. Callie simply nodded and walked pass her and into her apartment. Glancing around, she saw pictures of Arizona, Arizona and Tim, and the whole Robbins Family.
"Could I get you some water? Coffee? Tea?" she asked, interrupting Callie who was deep in thought. Callie turned around and studied Arizona's appearance. She looked a lot like Tim, the same blue eyes and blonde hair. She didn't doubt that if she smiled she would have the same dimples as him as well. A pang of guilt and sadness went through Callie as she realized what she was here for.
Callie shook her head no, and they stood around in Arizona's apartment, neither one wanting to make a move. Five minutes passed, and Callie sighed, taking in a deep breath, brown eyes met blue. "Doctor Robbins…." She started off before she was interrupted by the blonde. "Call me Arizona. Really. It's fine. Any friend of Tim is a friend of mine." She said, chancing a tight lipped smile. Callie smiled back and looked down at her hands before looking back at Arizona.
"Okay. Ari-Arizona." She stated, a little hesitant in her tone. Aside from Tim, it had been a while since she referred to someone outside of their last name. "Tim… Your brother… He is a great guy. He is an amazing guy." She started off, her eyes glazed over as she thought of the many times that she shared with him.
Arizona nodded, getting lost in memories of the past. She didn't miss how Callie spoke about him in the present tense and couldn't help the spark of hope that ignited in her body. "He's… He's alive? You found him?" she spoke, trying to keep her tone leveled. Callie's eyes shot back to Arizona's in shock and as another wave of guilt passed through her.
"No… I'm sorry. He was an amazing guy." She said sheepishly, and couldn't help but notice how the light that was in Arizona's eyes a few seconds ago diminished completely. She heard a faint oh coming from the blonde and the sound nearly broke her heart. She knew she would have to watch over her words from this point on.
"I was… I was with him. The day he died. I was with him." She said, tears filling her eyes. But she wouldn't cry. She didn't deserve to cry. Not now. She wasn't here to cry, she was here to deliver the information that Tim wanted her to get to his sister. And that was what she was going to do. "I'm the reason why he's missing."
All mistakes are mine, I don't have a beta, yada yada yada. (: Okay. I hope you guys liked. ^.^