Predetermined Fate

So, this is my contribution to the 50 ways to reunite Calzona prompt… it's a little lengthy, but not nearly as lengthy as this journey that Grey's has us on.

Really hope you like it…

Part 1

I said If I got nothing else

I got memories of what we felt

I sit up laughing to myself, sometimes, about it

Those silly reasons we would fight

But no matter who was wrong or right

We were always right there

Sharing this love, sharing this life

'Cause we knew, said we always know

And no matter what would occur

That we were, meant to be

And it ain't gonna be easy

No matter what, baby we're meant to be

And we ain't never not know that we were always meant to be

Meant to be

~TLC

"Callie I can't do this anymore."

"It's about time you realized it. Grey's got you running yourself into the grave, and for what? You're not even working on any real cases. You're falling asleep all the time because she's got you running around like her little lap dog. I talked to Webber about it yesterday-"

"You- -you did what? You talked to Webber?"

"I knew you weren't going to do it." The taller brunette gesticulated as they made it through the door. "You're here to be taught and- and they're impeding on your chance to learn."

"I didn't ask you to do that. I can speak for myself." Penny tensely ran a hand across the expanse of her forehead attempting to reign in her irritation. "I mean gah! Callie you keep running around here 'speaking'" she notated with her fingers expressly. "for me. I get it, you think you're doing the right thing. But I can speak for myself Callie."

With a slight move of her head forward, Callie threw a hand in the air. "I don't get why this is an argument."

"Ugh. Exactly, you don't get it. You're running around all gung ho like I'm some kind of damsel in distress. I can speak for myself!" The fair skinned red head frantically paced back and forth not understanding why her plea seemed to continuously fall on deaf ears. "Everyone is looking at me waiting for me to fail and you're making it worse. You're going to people that already hate me for not speaking up and forcing my attending to do that damn CT. Now you're showing them that I need you to speak for me, not even as a concerned attending, but as my girlfriend. That's like- -like calling and telling my mother to come speak to the chief for me."

"So I'm mothering you? I try to have your back, but instead you feel like I'm treating you like my kid?" Callie was a little baffled at the words that had just fallen from her girlfriend's lips. All she wanted to do was be a supportive girlfriend, but somehow she wasn't even good enough at that. Sitting on the couch in the on-call room she readied herself for the words she could tell were burning to fall from the other woman. "You want to speak up for yourself, then do it-"

"I would, if you let me." Penny cut back in with force. "I was trying to talk and then you cut me off. I mean you're too busy trying to speak for me instead of listening to me."

"Oh, so I take it that's why you never got around to telling me that you were on Derek's case?" As soon as the words were released Callie knew she'd gone too far, but she couldn't stop herself. Her heart sank at the recoiling of the younger woman as pure unmitigated hurt past over her features leaving the crestfallen resident unsure of where to go from here. "I've given up all of my friends for you. None of them will even talk to me." Callie slammed her hand against her face in disbelief.

"I don't need you to fix me Callie. I don't need you to fix – this" she motioned at the space around them. "You messed up your relationships with your friends because you wanted to fix something that doesn't have anything to do with you. If I were any other resident you wouldn't be doing any of this."

"You know what? You're right. You want to go it alone, by all means, be my guest. But don't you dare come crying to me about Meredith putting you on scut." Callie challenged the resident as she looked up.

"Callie, I can't do this." Penny reluctantly looked up with the hurt still present in her features.

"What? What is it now? You wanted me to support you and I did. You want me to back off, and I agreed… so what is it now?"

Standing up from her perch on the coffee table, the woman took her lip in between her lips weighing what she wanted to say next. "Do you realize over the past three months that I've been here all we do if argue? I'm fighting at work but I keep pushing. Then I leave this place and I fight with you, and I come here and we fight more. I'm sinking at work and I'm sinking with you. I can't keep doing this- -we can't keep doing this. I- -I need some space… and I think you need some space to figure out what you really want."

With that Callie abruptly stood from her seat, pushing herself to move away from this woman that was breaking her heart. She thought she'd finally found a way to heal, someone that had actually gotten her. But here she was again being told that she needs space.

"I can't keep fighting with you Callie. It's like you're trying to make up for something that went wrong in a past life. But you're ignoring what I actually needed from my girlfriend. I didn't want you to go around picking fights with everyone on my behalf. I needed you to be supportive and listen, and tell me to stick with it… give me a massage when I need it. Instead of being my girlfriend, you turned into my HR rep that I didn't ask for."

An argument quickly rose on her tongue before it quickly died with the raising of the shorter woman's hand.

"I'll be by your place later to get my things." And with that the door opened and was closed before a response would slide down her tongue.

XxxxxxxX

"Oh, if you want we can hit up that bar tonight. I was supposed to have part two of dinner with Jackson but he had to cancel, so I'm free."

Arizona scrolled through the screens on her tablet before handing if off to the nurse. "We can, I guess."

"Are you having second thoughts about getting back out there?" April pressed the button for the elevator as the two women journeyed towards the cafeteria. "Arizona, it's time. You deserve to be happy again too."

"Not having second thoughts." Arizona swung around once they stepped into the nearly full elevator. "I actually went out last night."

"By yourself? Oh gosh, that's not fun."

"No, with Richard actually." A chuckle fell from slender lips at the realization of what she'd just said.

"Hmm, I didn't know DeLuca's name was Richard?"

"It's not. I went with Richard… Webber."

"The chief? You went out to a lesbian bar with the chief? That's like inviting the principal over for dinner."

"Oh come on… it was actually pretty great. Richard is an excellent wingman, you'd be surprised." Blue eyes danced around avoiding the shocked expression of the woman beside her. "Don't look so shocked. Besides, neither you nor Alex could make the time for me."

Before they could reach their desired floor the buzzing of multiple pagers cut off all attempts of conversation. "Must be a big one." Was voiced from somewhere in the back of the elevator.

"No…" Arizona checked her own page. "I was running late and missed breakfast this morning, I'm so hungry."

Reaching into her lab coat, April pulled a banana from her pocket. "Eat this, it should hold you over. And we'll talk about you missing breakfast later." Both women pushed through the elevator door as soon as it reached the ER, but before they separated the trauma surgeon smiled at her friend again. "I'm happy for you, it's about time."

Arizona offered a smile before taking off in the direction of her resident waving her over. April was giddy for herself and her friend. Not only did it seem that she and Jackson were finally making traction, but after weeks and months of trying to push her friend forward in her personal life… she finally took a step forward. But what April didn't see was how the smile didn't even reach the woman's eyes.

It wasn't that Arizona wanted to remain stagnant after her divorce. She had just been beating herself up so badly for messing up what she thought was her only chance at real love. She had it, she messed it up, and then she lost it… the only true love she'd ever had. And then she didn't think she even had reason to try again, there's no way she could ever find another love like the one she shared with Callie, right?

"Hey, what do we have here?" Arizona marched up to her resident, but before he could speak Chief Bailey cut in.

"We have about forty injuries en route. A school bus full of kids crashed into a train. We are the designated crisis center. Families will be instructed to come here to find their loved ones. We are activating surge protocol. Dr. Robbins is gonna be running the show. It's gonna be chaotic, you need to listen carefully. You need to stay focused. Do not contribute to the panic. Now get to your stations."

The group of medical staff jumped to attention to ready themselves for the onslaught that was preparing to hit them. "Dr. Karev let's clear any beds that we can… discharge or transfer."

"Okay 'weird intern' and 'fake attending' you're with me." The three males took off.

"Torres you'll be with Hunt. Kepner, set up the E.R. for triage. Wilson and Blake, I want you running the family center. You can take over the cafeteria. Edwards, blood bank."

"Dr. Robbins, we might need a candyman." Hunt called out, trying to help make sure she had all the bases covered.

"Uh, Dr. Webber will be our candyman. Let's be liberal with the pain meds for our victims… and sedatives for patients that we are moving. Uh, Avery, you can help him out. Let's move people."

Arizona turned to lead her troops before pivoting back. "One more thing people, let's remember these are kids. They will be scared, and their parents will be terrified. Let's try not to alarm the tiny human makers."

Amongst the sea of navy blue prepared to take off, Callie stood with a small smile threatening to make an appearance. The way Arizona could command everyone was magical, especially for someone with such an aversion to authority. Somehow her type A personality fit her almost as well as the soft pink shade of lipstick. But just as she thought her ex was going for her signature ''fairy dust in i.v. bag'' speech, the blonde turned on her heel pulling on a trauma gown.

It didn't take long for the distant sound of sirens to penetrate their portal as gurney after gurney was filled with young children needing the attention of a doctor.

"Ten year old, Kara Palomino, took a piece of metal to the leg and abdomen. Abdomen rigid, systolic seventy-five, last pulse one-forty-seven."

"Clear Trauma three, I'll take this one." Arizona looked down at the raven-haired young girl lying unconscious on the gurney, the small frame quickly sobered the woman when she felt like she could have been looking at her own small child lying there. "Second thought, let's get her in the O.R." Arizona took off beside the gurney as a team of nurses and residents swarmed the gurney leading it to its next destination.

In the OR Arizona moved quickly but carefully to remove the shrapnel in the young girl's abdomen. "This artery is in pieces. Vascular clamp" she called out. "Page Torres for me please, she's the only one I trust to save this leg."

"What do we have in here?" Torres called out when she entered the room.

"Ten year old, shrapnel to the thigh with comminuted femur fracture. Laceration to the superficial femoral artery." Arizona looked up from her place in the young girl's abdomen.

"What about her nerves? Are her nerves salvageable?" Dark eyes looked at the area getting a sense of what she was dealing with here.

"She was moving her leg before we put her under. They're in-tact." Blue eyes peeked over the rim of her eye loupes as she poured out the young girl's stats.

With her arms outstretched as gloves and a gown were presented to the brunette it only took a second to come up with a plan. "Well, I can put in a traction pin to stabilize the femur."

"Right?" Arizona agreed with glee at the quick thinking.

Callie looked up momentarily with a hint of a smile. "And then we can use a graft to restore blood flow."

"I knew I could trust you to come up with a fix. You're like her fairy godmother Callie."

Dark eyes noticed the genuine smile hidden behind the sterile scrub mask. Though the mask took up much of the woman's face, Callie had at one time taken great care of learning every detail of the woman across from her; she could tell there was a mega watt smile being directed at her.

For the first time all day red painted lips spread into a breathtaking smile as a mask was pulled into place over her face.

The two women worked as a cohesive unit to put the young patient back together. "We worked well together." Callie spoke up as the two women bent over the sink while scrubbing out.

Arizona wasn't sure where that had come from. It sounded like her ex-wife was talking to herself. But just to be sure, she offered a simple response. "Yeah. That was fun." The blonde dried off before making her exit, she wanted to get back to the pit and see where she could jump in.

Callie took a minute to lean against the scrub sink reveling in the positive vibes that still surrounded her. Arizona was right; this had been fun. And if Callie was being honest she'd missed the light banter that had bounced around the OR. She'd missed that over the last few weeks… more than she'd realized. Lately the OR was tension filled if she was accompanied by one of her fellow surgeons.

Reflecting on the past few weeks the Latina wasn't sure what the true culprit was that had been causing such discord in her surroundings lately. Was it that Penny was the resident on Derek's surgical team, or the way Callie had found herself fighting with just about all of her friends for equality on the resident's behalf?

'It's like you're trying to make up for something that went wrong in a past life.' The words from her girlfriend- or ex-girlfriend- she wasn't really sure which umbrella Penny was standing under at the moment… Is that really what she'd been doing? Was she trying to fix the issues of her past relationship in her new relationship?

She thought she was being supportive and doing what was right by standing up for Penny. But where was that getting her? 'Nowhere, and fast.' She answered her own question.

Then it hit her… she'd been fighting so hard because deep down she hadn't really dealt with the fact that Penny had been a part of the team that didn't save Derek. Coupled with the dishonesty… Callie was deflecting. If she focused on everyone else as the problem, she didn't have to focus on the issue she was trying to fight within herself.

'I'll be by your place later to get my things.' "Whatever… if she wanted to end things, then so be it. If the ortho surgeon was being honest with herself she was actually feeling relieved. Things with Penny were supposed to be light, and fun and easy. But it turned out that things were as far from light and easy as they could get…

XxxxxxxX

"Excuse me… I'm not sure who I should ask… But, I'm one of the firefighters from the scene today. I helped a young girl, brunette, around ten. Said her name was, Kara I believe…"

Stepping out of the elevator blue eyes noticed the ER had somehow become even more congested than when she'd taken off for surgery. Looking around though, things seemed to be moving like a well-oiled machine. Stepping up to the nurse's station her interest was piqued when she heard a familiar voice. Turning in the direction of this voice she saw a figure adorned in the baggy yellow firefighter pants being held by red suspenders, and a fitted previously white cotton shirt.

Without her glasses, and in her work uniform it took the blonde a moment to realize the familiar voice being sounded from a few feet away was the woman that Dr. Webber had introduced her to last night at the bar.

"Your name please?"

"I'm sorry… Zoe. I know that there are laws about patient confidentiality and all… I just wanted to make sure she was in good hands. I believe her last name was something with an 'P'…"

The nurse scrolled through the patient list with this information. She had no intention of breaking any laws, but she could at least let her know that the patient had made it to the hospital.

"It's alright Marcy, I believe I can take it from here, thank you. And do you know if we have any more traumas coming in?" Arizona spoke directly to the practitioner, though for the past few hours she seemed more like a traffic director than anything else.

Noticing that Dr. Robbins' name was on the patients chart, Marcy quickly understood why the peds surgeon stepped in, or so she thought. "The last trauma came in about two hours ago, Dr. Hunt took him to the OR."

"Thank you, I'll check back shortly. Have me paged if anyone needs me." With that the surgeon turned back to the olive toned brunette beside her. "Zoe… I believe the patient you were asking about may be Kara Palomino?"

"Arizona… or Dr. Robbins I guess I should say." The woman slightly tilted her head to the side regarding the surgeon as her eyes danced almost imperceptibly. "I um, I pulled her out of the bus. She was so scared, so I wanted to come by and check on her, maybe show a somewhat familiar face."

Arizona's heart sped up ever so lightly at this. Offering a genuine smile at the brunette. She stood there considering her next move for a moment.

"Is this weird?" Zoe started to panic at the silence being offered from the blonde. "I swear I'm not stalking you."

"Yes, I mean no… but yeah it is a little, right?" Arizona quickly realized she'd been mute and how that could have been taken the wrong way as she pulled her bottom lip between perfect teeth along with modest squint. "Two worlds collide…" Two shoulders lightly bounced.

"Twice in less than twenty-four hours, yeah, I guess it is kind of weird. Honestly? In my defense, you never told me that you worked her. 'Dr. Robbins… ergh, Arizona'."

A genuine smile beamed through and Arizona turned on her heel, directing the other woman to follow her with a wave of her hand of her shoulder. "I can only imagine the chaos. Is it true that the kids were all from foster homes?"

The brunette followed unsure of the destination. "Yeah, I believe so. I guess they try to take the kids on field trips every so often. That's more so why I wanted to come by and check. It has to be mind boggling to be in these kids' situation and then to get into an accident like this on what's supposed to be one of the rare good days."

Arizona paused to turn and regard the firefighter again. "I'm sensing you are more in-tuned with this than you're letting on. But we can maybe talk about that later. So, since Kara doesn't actually have any family I'm going to let you in if she's up for it. But this stays between us." She motioned between herself and the brunette. "But unfortunately, right now she is still in recovery for about another hour."

"But she's alright, yeah?"

"Not to brag or anything, but of course she is… I was her surgeon, and I'm kind of awesome." Both women giggled at the self-praise.

"Oh boy, and oh so modest too?" Both women chuckled again. "How about I go back to the house and get out of this whole get-up, and I'll come back in say, two hours? That should give you guys some time to do her check-up and such."

"Sounds great. I'm still on for another few hours, so just come up to peds and have someone to page me."

"Alright, I'll see you again soon then." Both women stood there awkwardly, not sure of what to do next until Zoe decided for them both when she moved in, wrapping her arms around the petite surgeon and left her with a quick kiss to her cheek. Her body had seemed to act on its own accord with the quick peck. Noticing what she'd done, she quickly turned on her heel and retreated.

"Dude, a chick firefighter? Spill."

XxxxxxxX

Last night

"A drink for the lady." The bartender slid the drink in front of the smoky eyed blonde as blue eyes attempted to bounce around inconspicuously in search of whom the drink had been sent. "Glasses, other end of the bar."

Arizona didn't want to play herself by seeming too eager so she tried to play it cool, ignoring the drink as she continued to sip on the bit that was still left in her original glass slowly looking over.

The woman that she'd been talking to for the past few minutes, courtesy of Dr. Webber's wingman skills… had to make a quick trip to the ladies room. After the two women had been introduced, the taller man made his exit after what he was sure to have been a job well done.

"So, I've been watching you… not to freak you out or anything. But you kind of stick out… the straight wingman, a little unsure of yourself, not sure about accepting a drink from a pretty woman across the bar… trying to get back out there I take it?"

Arizona was a little baffled at the way this mystery woman had read her. She thought she was playing it pretty cool, was she really doing that badly?

"Zoe." The woman offered her hand.

"Dr. Robbins… ergh, Arizona."

"You seem to be enjoying yourself, but just in case you get bored or you feel like a real night out." Zoe reached out for Arizona's hand, pulling her sleeve up ever so slightly revealing a fair skinned arm trickled with a breakout of goose bumps. Connecting her pen to the woman's skin, she quickly left her number imprinted on the pale area. "This way, you don't wash it off unintentionally, and your new friend doesn't see it. Call me, Dr. Robbins… Arizona."

And with that the woman was off, leaving Arizona in a bit of a daze. But with the return of her first acquaintance she didn't have much time to openly dwell on the baffling last two minutes.

The next hour and a half the two women talked, having a pretty enjoyable interaction, but in the back of her mind was first the mystery woman that had tagged her arm just out of sight, and secondly… would Callie be alright knowing that she was here 'getting her feet wet'?

Some how she still couldn't help but to be infiltrated by thoughts of the Latina. Callie had moved on and found Penny, and Arizona was happy for her… or she was trying to portray that anyways. Truthfully being out made Arizona feel a little guilty, and almost like it was a waste of time.

She'd found love; real true and genuine love… that kind of love that is supposed to last sixty or seventy, or even eighty years. That, 'I can't help staring at you all of the time love'. That love that all of your friends are jealous and envious of, but you don't even notice because you can't wipe the mega watt smile off your face long enough to notice. That love where you make a whole mixed tape for the other just because. She'd found it, and messed it up, and then she lost it. So now she really didn't think she was allowed to try to find happiness. Or really, she really couldn't fathom ever finding anything as magnanimous or eclipse like as being in love with one Calliope Iphegenia Torres.

Ending her night with a decent enough kiss, and possible 'I'll call you' Arizona made her way home. After tonight Arizona wanted a hot bath and a glass of wine to end her night. Divesting her attire and her prosthetic the blonde pushed herself up unto her crutches taking stock of the writing on her forearm. 555-3791 ~Zoe~

Her initial instinct was to simply erase the marking from her body. But on second thought… if Callie could move on, maybe she deserved at least a proper night out. Picking up her phone slender fingers quickly tapped against the screen before she could psych herself out, then placed the device back down before swiftly moving into the bathroom.

Sinking down into the steaming midnight pomegranate scented bath, the fair skinned woman laid her head back against the porcelain. Her fingers grazed over her cheek where Michelle, her drink mate, had kissed her good night. As slender fingers rested at the spot she couldn't help but to think of the last woman that had affectionately kissed her in the very spot… Callie.

And there went her night relishing over her one true love, the only one that was ever meant to be.

XxxxxxxX

"I was just going in to check on our patient. Have you been in yet?" Callie had just entered the pediatric wing of the hospital.

Looking up from her tablet, Arizona smiled at the Latina. "Uh, no not yet. Mind if I join you?"

"Let's do it." The two women fell in step beside one another. "Did I hear right, were all of those kids orphans?"

Sadness quickly passed through fair features as she was reminded. "Yeah… they're all foster kids. The state covers a few outings a year for them; this was supposed to be their trip to Wild Waves." Arizona bit the inside of her cheek, shaking her head. She was sure these kids had more than she could even imagine against them, and now many of them had lengthy healing times ahead of them and some even had additional surgeries to face.

"I think Jo is running around to get some of the kids pro bono services because the state only covers so much. Let's check on our kid and see if we can't give her some good news at least." Callie ran a hand down the shorter woman's arm, hoping to console her. It always caused a constriction in her heart at the empathy the woman shown towards her small patients.

As soon as the touch connected neither woman thought the spark could still be there in such a simple touch. A tanned hand pulled back abruptly stuffing itself into her coat pocket, unsure of what to do.

"We- -uh, we should get in there." Callie spoke up again.

"Yeah- -uh, yeah, let's do it." The two women entered the room still in a bit of a haze from the startling touch. "Hey, Kara… I'm Dr. Robbins, and my friend here is Dr. Torres. How are you feeling?" Arizona moved in closer to the young girl.

"Everything hurts." The reply was so small neither woman was sure they'd actually heard it.

"I know you don't feel very good right now. We're going to get you some more pain meds. You were nothing short of amazing through surgery. We just need to check your incision's." Callie stepped up to the opposite side of the bed, taking the young girl's hand to offer support.

"So, I hear that you like to play soccer…Dr. Torres over there is somewhat of a superstar; she fixed up your leg."

Callie offered a face splitting smile to the woman on the opposite side of the bed at the praise. "Don't sell yourself short… Dr. Robbins is pretty amazing herself; the best kid doctor there is in fact. I'm going to check this, let me know if you feel any discomfort."

"Are my friends okay?"

"Your friends from the bus? Yeah… I was checking on some of them before I came in here. They all seem to be doing pretty well. Once you're feeling a little better we can maybe get you up and you can visit. How does that sound?"

"Thank you." The shy little girl lying in the bed battered and bruised sobered both women.

"I'm going to send the nurse in with some better pain meds, and I'll be back soon to check on you again." Arizona massaged Kara's hand before both women moved toward the door.

Catching the longing look back towards the gurney, Callie felt a pang in her chest at the sorrow in cloudy eyes. "Hey, she's going to be okay. I may have done some of my best work in there, if I do say so myself." The small chuckle that she got from the shorter woman and adorable eye roll tugged at the corners of her lips.

"I have a few more kids to check on, are you busy later?"

The question made the brunette consider the thought of returning to an empty home after work to face the sincerity of her…ex? Penny's promise to swing by to collect her things. "Uh, no, not really. Did you need me to keep Sof tonight? I know you would rather stay with everything…" she motioned around them.

"Oh, yeah, that would be great. But are you sure? I don't want to intrude on any plans that you may have had with Penny for the evening. I'm sure I could ask April, or Alex… I wanted to at least still take her for dinner. I promised her a pizza night soon, and with everything today it's kind of made me just want to go hold my own kid." Arizona quickly rambled.

"Are you guys going to Guida's?" Callie opted to bypass any possible conversation about her current relationship status.

"Like she'd let me take her anywhere else." The two women continue walking along.

"Ugh, I haven't been there in way too long. Maybe I can get Sof to save me a slice."

"Are you trying to call me greedy?" Arizona faked offense.

"Need I remind you of the night when four slices mysteriously disappeared before I came back from the shower?"

"Oh, come on that's not fair. I had just gotten over that virus. I had finally gotten my appetite back." Her bottom lip stuck out ever so slightly in a nearly imperceptible pout, though it wasn't lost on the Latina standing beside her. "You should come with us, you know? That way you cold just carry Sof with you after."

"I don't want to intrude on your time together."

"You won't be intruding, trust me. After all, I think I'm the one intruding on your evening really." Arizona paused her conversation momentarily to speak with one of the social workers before returning to Callie. "So, we'll meet you there at six. Don't be late." Arizona checked her phone, noticing she was being summoned back to the pit.

"Guess I'll see you guys at six." Callie spoke to herself.

XxxxxxxX

"So, I know you I was supposed to meet you up on the floor. But gah… this place is kind of massive." Arizona had barely made it to the desk before she noticed the freshly changed firefighter standing there.

"Yeah… I've gotten turned around a time or two myself." Blue eyes took in the new ensemble of the woman before her. Arizona may have been on a hiatus from the dating scene, but she was far from blind. The olive toned woman was adorned in another fitting cotton v-neck shirt, dark nearly painted on jeans hugged long slender legs with tan fashion boots matching her tan cargo jacket that stopped just at her waist. "You're right on time. Kara should be waking up about now for a snack."

Arizona turned to lead the way, with Zoe stepping in line. The two women made a quick stop by the cafeteria where the surgeon picked up a chocolate pudding before they made their way upstairs.

"I know that you've likely seen some very gruesome things in your line of work. But I still feel compelled to say; it all looks worse than it is. So we try to school our expressions as not to panic the kids. I'm going to step in a let her know you're here."

After a quick introduction Arizona stepped out, giving Zoe and Kara some time. By the time she'd checked in on another few patients she noticed Zoe stepping out of the room. "She's tired. I told her she should get some sleep, and I would come back to check on her again tomorrow."

"Yeah, at this point she should collect on any rest that she can. Once PT starts it's going to be pretty vigorous." Arizona stopped to give a nurse a few directions before returning her attention back to the brunette.

"Do you know when her social worker will be coming by? I just wanted to make sure me visiting isn't a problem… with her being all alone and all." Blue eyes met the vulnerable chestnut orbs as the woman spoke. "I don't want to overstep or anything. I volunteer at a few of the homes when I can and I know the workers are more than a little territorial… rightfully so, I'm sure. But I don't want Kara getting attached just for the worker to come in and shut it down."

Arizona tilted her head slightly as a gentle smile caressed her features. It warmed her heart at how much this woman genuinely cared. "Some have already come in, I believe over the next day or so Kara's worker will make it in… they're a little swamped with so many kids being involved."

The women talked a little longer about Zoe volunteering, and visiting with Kara until Arizona checked the time realizing it was nearly time to pick up Sofia. "You coming to visit… its a good thing, so thank you."

"No need to thank me… you did the hard part, kept her alive." Zoe reached forward running her hand gently down the other woman's arm. "I guess I should get out of here… I'm probably keeping you from saving some kid's life somewhere."

Arizona momentarily thought about informing the firefighter that she was nearly off, but had dinner plans with her daughter and her ex… but, not even being out of the game for two years would have fooled her on how heavy and complicated and so very unnecessary that offering would be right now.

But Zoe picked it back up before Arizona had to think of a response to offer. "So… leaving you my number last night didn't work… Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but I honestly couldn't look myself in the mirror if I didn't try again. So, tomorrow… would you be free to join me for lunch?" Hazel eyes quickly found the linoleum to be the most interesting canvas.

"Lunch… tomorrow…" Arizona thought about it, but before she could psych herself out she decided to go ahead and jump. "Yeah, I should be free around one."

"Yeah?" Zoe was a little skeptical about the labored response, but was a little relieved when she received an affirmative nod. "Okay then… So, I'll meet you in the lobby then?"

Arizona offered another cautious affirmation. "I'll be there."

"So, I'm going to go before you get the chance to change your mind Dr. Robbins." Leaning in, the woman delivered another quick peck to the blonde's cheek before turning to step into the elevator.