Slightly AU (well, more than slight, but whatever) only for the happenings of the hospital wherein Derek never loses his shit and leaves when that patient dies in 5x15 (or something like that) and Izzie never gets cancer. They're not relevant characters to the story, so it won't matter much.

Callie mashed her foot on the brake pedal only a moment too late. It was a ghastly winter storm – a blizzard of disastrous doom – to which she'd slowly been maneuvering her car through. It was brief.

But she hit the brake a second too late and suddenly could not see or breathe or even feel. She certainly felt the force of her body shooting forward, the flimsy seat belt that Mark had urged her to get replaced had ripped at the seams – the faulty duct tape tearing with the force of her body – the force of the impact.

She felt her head meet the glass of the windshield and suddenly, things were dark.

###

Two Days Ago

"Hey. Mind if I sit here?" Lexie Grey asked her, letting herself slide on the bar stool next to Callie.

Callie cleared her throat and said, "No, no. I'm just… overthinking," finishing her statement with a shot of liquor.

Lexie briefly glanced over at her and started to speak.

"…You think he'll tell him?"

"If he's not an idiot," Callie responded.

She sighed and shifted her glance downwards, lost in her own thoughts. Everyone around her seemed so content, so happy.

"Are you okay?" Lexie asked her.

"Uh… um, I don't- I'm fine," she murmured, the tone of her voice failing her words.

She got up from the stool and rushed to the bar bathroom, closing the door behind her. She felt the tears come in a rush. It was Valentine's day and she'd been so miserable. And everyone was happy – everyone she knew had something going on. She felt so empty – especially today did she feel the losses of her broken heart and recalled the man who cheated and failed to love her, then becoming a stranger – and the woman who left her in a parking lot, only to never look back. She vanished from her life – they all seemed to vanish. Like momentary happiness, everything had at once dissipated.

She wanted a savior – or something of the kind. Someone to lift her spirits, something to calm her down.

Her career wasn't moving – not much. She'd been too miserable to even consider furthering her interest in cartilage, her personal life had been such a wreck. So she sat in that dirty bar bathroom in Joe's bar and cried her eyes out.

She thought that maybe Lexie would eventually come in to inquire. She thought maybe someone would come in to use the bathroom that she'd been utilizing as an outlet for her tears.

But no one ever came.

###

Callie woke up the next morning with a resignation towards her personal life. She walked out of her room in a haze of melancholy, walking over to the kitchen to make some coffee. In the next room, she heard the silent chatter of Cristina and Owen, perhaps just waking up from slumber. She grimaced – she didn't want to be one of those miserable people that hated being around couples, but she only felt herself more prone to complete dismay over her friends' romances.

She decidedly chose to bury herself in her work, leaving for the hospital to start her day.

At work, her eyes briefly lit up at the prospect of her best friend bringing her coffee – but it wasn't for her. Neither was it for Addie. Mark scampered off towards Lexie with glee, his face falling when she'd rejected his offer.

"What a baby," Callie remarked, watching the scene from afar.

"He's enchanted," Addison told her.

"Uh-huh," Callie murmured, looking down at her chart.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she lied, walking off to allot herself some alone time.

After her rotations and some odd surgeries, she laid in a dim-lit on-call room and stared blankly at the ceiling, not thinking of anything in particular. She felt numb to any sort of emotional sensation – she felt as though her breakdown last night had been refreshing in the sense that she could no longer feel such treacherous heartache.

She simply laid there and stared and stared, immobile and sleepless.

###

"Were you here all night?" she heard behind her.

She briefly turned to look at Mark and then peered down back at her chart.

"Yeah. I worked the ER last night. I'm taking another shift today."

"You look like hell, Torres. What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing. I just feel like working the ER," she responded.

"Liar. You need to sleep. Stop pushing yourself so hard when you have no reason to."

"I have plenty of reason to," Callie scoffed.

"Look, let's just talk about it," Mark reasoned.

"No, no. Forget me and go on with your happy romance with Little Grey. I'll be fine, Mark."

"Callie-"

"I've gotta go," she said, dismissing him and pacing down the hall.

"Callie!"

###

Mark had texted and called, but Callie simply ignored it. She was finished with her shifts in the ER and finally decided to head home after Webber lectured her for the ridiculous amount of hours she'd worked for the week – without any sleep, at that.

It was snowing heavily – a blizzard was making its way into Seattle, the worst in years. Seattle never got terrible weather conditions, and it was rare that snow should fall so heavily on the city. It was prone to about two or three (& very light) snow storms a year, but nothing extravagant. It was a strange day, a strange time. In the middle of February, a terrible blizzard had consumed the city.

And Callie suddenly missed Miami. She stood in the snow, feeling the heavy flakes stick to her jacket and melt in her hair. She was cold. She thought that maybe she should go home and rest, but she was sure that Owen was staying with Cristina that night and she really didn't want to be around anyone at all – not even her notoriously reclusive roommate and her strange, but respectful boyfriend.

So she went across the street and started the engine to her aging car – it took a few tries to get it rolling, but she finally got it to start. She briefly cleaned the snow off the windshields while the car warmed up and sat back inside. She put on the wipers and watched as it meekly attempted to clear the windshield of wet blemishes. It didn't help much.

She struggled with her seat belt, pulling the loose material over her body and into its socket. She had to get them replaced. She had to get a lot of things replaced. She shifted her car and started to drive – her mind blank, her body fatigued, and her destination unknown.

It wasn't long before the blizzard had gotten worse. Callie hadn't even driven that far from the hospital and already, she could not see the road or distinguish it from any other streets – it was a blanket of sheer white. No one had expected this much snow, and the plowers hadn't been sent on this part of the street yet.

But Callie didn't mind it, despite the fact that she should have. She simply drove through it. And before she could realize it, her senses were scattered – the windshield was caked in white, her car went skidding, and she crashed somewhere on a street corner.

Her only hope was that she had not hit anyone in the impact.

###

They operated on her almost immediately. Luckily, someone had caught the scene and phoned the ambulance right away. When rushed to the ER, everyone was mortified to discover that the car crash victim was Callie.

Mark was frantic – everyone was. The OR was packed, with Derek as the lead surgeon. Callie had suffered extensive head trauma, she was at risk for brain injury. Derek worked diligently, careful in his methodology, careful not to screw anything up.

Everyone was praying. Dearly worried, channeling their thoughts to the unconscious Callie Torres. Mark cursed that crappy, godforsaken car of hers.

It took several operations in between two or three days. Derek was assured that she'd be fine to some extent – but there was no telling what her injuries were without having her first wake up.

But she'd be fine.

She'd be fine.

###

When Callie opened her eyes, she found herself staring into two bright blue eyes that were peering straight back down at her. They blinked momentarily, and for a brief moment, Callie felt that they were the most beautiful blue eyes she'd ever seen. She then felt the owner of those same striking eyes graze her forehead. Her fingertips were cool on Callie's hot skin.

"Hi. How are you feeling?" the woman asked her, pulling away from her.

"I feel like shit," Callie groaned, startled by the sound of her own raspy voice. It almost brought her back to her bleak reality.

She tried to sit up, but the woman simply put up a finger – indicating her to stop.

Callie acquiesced and watched as the woman pressed a button on the bedside, and then she felt the upper-side of the bed push upwards. The vision that had been obscured was suddenly no more and now she could see ahead of her. Callie observed the woman – she wore simple navy blue scrubs (so she was an Attending, then) and had wavy golden blonde hair that stopped just at her shoulders. Her eyes were of a bright & remarkable blue, eyes that seemed to send a curious chill down Callie's body. Callie noticed the dimples in the woman's cheeks when she noticed Callie's gaze upon her and responded with a smile.

"You were out for quite some time," the blonde woman told her.

"Was I?" Callie groaned, her head pounding.

She hadn't felt the need to question anything – reality was making its slow course back to her and trying to reflect upon the recent past only seemed to hurt her head.

"I need painkillers, stat."

"I'm not your doctor, but I'll get them for you in a moment," the woman told her.

"I would figure that Shepherd would be my doctor," Callie said.

"I think that he is."

"You think?"

"I guess he is, I don't know."

"Okay…" Callie murmured.

"So, can you tell me what happened?" the woman asked, curiosity in her bright eyes.

"I'm tired, maybe later," she muttered.

The blonde woman just narrowed her eyes, but made no complaint of Callie's decision.

"Can you just get me those painkillers, please?"

###

"Good to see you awake," Derek told her, nodding his head while reviewing her chart. He had the typical group of residents with him – Meredith, Alex, Cristina, Lexie – even George and Izzie (much to her dismay).

"Mmm, you could lose the company, though," she told him.

He nodded and politely turned to them, watching as they hurriedly scuffled out of the room, leaving the two alone.

"How are you feeling?"

"A little better after those pain killers."

"You were already awake?"

"I was."

"Who prescribed your pain killers?"

"That blonde doctor."

Derek watched her with confusion etched on his face. Callie thought it was probably a useless thing to say – but she hadn't remembered to ask the woman's name and it wasn't a big deal, anyway. She was glad for the pain to have subsided, that's all that seemed to matter at the moment.

"The accident wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We managed to breach the damage before anything got worse. The only thing I was concerned about was brain injury. Do you remember what happened?"

"I do."

"Then-"

"I do, but I'd rather not talk about it right now."

"Callie-"

"It was an accident, that's all. And I'm fine. I don't feel terrible and I remember things just fine."

"Alright. I'll come back to check on you later," Derek told her, as he turned to leave.

"Derek?"

"Hm?" he asked, turning back to look at her.

"Thank you for saving my life."

###

The dreams that Callie had were of snow. Blankets upon blankets of snow, piling down on the still, desolate streets of Seattle. She found herself standing on that road – she saw a wrecked car, caved in – not recognizable for it seemed to be utterly destroyed. A woman was standing beside the crashed car. She walked towards her, the snow crunching under her feet. The woman turned to her and Callie stopped in her tracks – immobile from the blue eyes that seemed to freeze her in place.

And then she awoke from her dream to find that same woman in the midst of switching her IV bag. She blinked slowly, opening her eyes again and studying the other woman's movements.

"I was dreaming of you," she started.

The woman simply looked down at her, as if she had expected her to be awake, as if she were awake the entire time.

"I know," she responded, with a kind of half-smile.

"How do you know?"

"You didn't seem so surprised to see me."

"You're making that up," Callie retorted.

"Maybe I am," she said, finishing the necessary adjustments.

"You're not a nurse. What are you doing?"

"Just making sure you're well taken care of."

"Why?"

"Shh, drink this," the woman told her, offering her a cup of water.

Callie didn't ask anything, she simply took the cup and drank it as the blonde eyed her intently. Then she felt the woman reach out and stroke her cheek, her fingertips lightly grazing against her chin. They were cool, almost frozen.

"What are you doing?" Callie asked.

"Making sure you're alright?" the woman responded.

"You sound like you're not even sure."

"I'm really not, Calliope."

Callie narrowed her eyes at the woman's calling of her name. She'd clearly read her chart – she was taking initiative and manhandling the situation in a strange way…. Was she an intern or a resident pretending to be an attending? What exactly was she doing?

"Who are-" Callie started to say.

"I have to go now," the woman told her, hurrying off before Callie could inquire.

She frowned, but her joy was immediately roused again when she'd noticed her best friend standing at the door.

"Cal! You're awake!"

###

"Is that blonde doctor new? I haven't seen her before."

"Who? A new doctor?" Mark asked, confused. He hadn't heard anything about any new doctors. He knew that the former Head of Pediatrics had died, but the vacant status was quickly replaced with another doctor who was renowned in his field as one of the best surgeons in the country. Mark had met him already. He did not, however, recall a new blonde female doctor.

"Yeah. I didn't ask her name."

"Is she hot?"

Callie thought for a moment – there was no doubt in her mind that the woman was attractive. She was definitely attractive. Callie felt herself watching her whenever she'd been in the room, her eyes were glued. Callie couldn't determine much from the navy scrubs she'd been wearing, but she was definitely beautiful.

"Super hot. She's been coming often and taking care of me."

Mark whistled at her remark.

"Taking numbers while bedridden? Way to go, Torres."

"I think she's an intern or a resident pretending to be an attending or something. Maybe even a nurse."

"How's that?"

"She's been doing such menial work and I'm not even her patient."

"She definitely wants to get into your panties."

###

Callie thought she'd try to sleep – the door to her hospital room was finally shut so she could allow herself some sleep. She briefly closed her eyes and lost herself in her thoughts – what had she been thinking, driving off in the middle of a snow storm? She shouldn't have gone to such extremes to get away. She shouldn't have worked herself so hard.

"Aaargh!" she exclaimed.

"Calm down," she heard.

Her eyes shot open and she sat up and looked towards the window where the woman had been sitting and watching her. She'd brought a tray of food that sat there next to a bundle of lilies.

"I-I didn't hear you come in," she muttered, but the woman only laughed.

"I brought you some food. You haven't eaten all day."

Callie narrowed her eyes as the woman sat up to bring her the tray.

"Are you going to tell me who you are, or are you going to keep pretending that you're my caretaker?" she asked.

She pulled the hospital bed table over to Callie and placed the food tray on top of it.

"Eat."

Callie noticed that the woman was wearing a lab coat this time – Perfect, she thought, and pushed the hospital bed table away, pulling on the woman's lab coat instead. She pulled her close enough so that she could read the name on the coat.

"Arizona? Your name is Arizona?" she asked.

"Yes, my name is Arizona."

"That's a weird name."

Arizona pulled her coat from Callie's grip and moved back to the widow side, fixing the lilies in the vase, dismissing any further conversation about her name.

"Sorry."

"That's alright."

"Did you bring those for me?" Callie asked her.

"I did. It's bright and white like the snow, don't you think?"

"It is."

"It's been a long time since it's snowed like this," Arizona told her, staring out at the snow falling through the window. The storm had since subsided and the streets were mostly clear. All that was left were some light snow flurries spread throughout the weeks.

"I don't even remember the last time."

"Of course you wouldn't. It was years ago."

"Then you wouldn't, either."

Arizona only smiled at her remark, and turned around – watching her from the window.

"So why are you taking care of me if you're not even supposed to be in this department?" Callie asked.

"I was curious."

"About?"

"About you."

"Okay…" Callie murmured, thrown off by her suggestiveness. Was she flirting? She didn't seem to be – she actually seemed genuinely curious.

"My case is not that strange, you know," Callie continued.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Arizona watched her with an air of calm, her wide eyes curious and engaged. Callie thought it wouldn't hurt – why would it? This woman was only being kind to her, so why not share her history?

"I've just… been miserable. It's hard picking yourself up after a failed marriage where your husband cheats on you and a relationship where you're not good enough. I am not going anywhere, especially now. I'm stuck as a resident, I've just struck a lot of failures. It all mounted up. Somewhere, I started sinking. And then I lost myself in that and decided to go drive into a blizzard with a half-dead car which almost led to me being fully dead," Callie explained.

"So it sucks," she laughed.

"Sounds like it," Arizona said, plainly.

"Uh-huh. But it must be great having your status. I'm almost flattered being taken care of by the head of a department. You must have worked hard."

"I wouldn't say so."

"But it's true. Yet no one seems to know you?"

Arizona didn't say anything, but simply watched her.

"No one knows me," she said.

"You don't know Karev?" Callie mused.

"The angry guy?"

"I guess so, yeah."

"He's a bit punkish, sure. But I can see the promise in him."

"It says that you're the Head of Paeds," Callie guessed that the new guy had already been replaced with her, "so how do you not know your residents?"

"I don't really know anyone here."

"Did you just transfer?"

"No."

"I just don't get why you're hanging around here all the time."

"That's because you're the only one that knows I'm here."

"Then introduce yourself to other people, Arizona."

"I can't really do that."

"And why is that?" Callie groaned.

"Well, because I'm dead."

No, this isn't Izzie/Denny Calzona style.