New chapter. All mistakes are mine. Enjoy!
(Fast-forward 6 weeks)
Callie Torres rubbed the bridge of her nose, closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh. Once again, Arizona Robbins skipped her 5 o'clock appointment. She was indeed disappointed but definitely not mad. Throughout their sessions, Callie succeeded in forming some sort of connection with Arizona. They moved from staring at each other's for 90 minutes straight to some light conversations and banters. When her mentor, Dr. Webber told her about Arizona, Callie did some research on her and to be honest, she couldn't find anything wrong at first. Arizona works were impeccable and her patient's outcomes were great. And for a while, she was puzzled with the request. So she dug deeper and only to find out that Arizona moved to SGMW two months ago after losing her wife, Dr. Lauren Boswell in a freak car accident. The accident that happened near to the hospital where both Arizona and Lauren work had been ruled as a murder-suicide, although the murder appears to have been unintentional. A Ford Mustang driven by 45 years old man crossed the center line and slammed into Lauren's white sedan. Her wife couldn't be saved and died during surgery. Ironically, the man who had every intention to die that night survived. Personally, Callie was fascinated by Arizona so far. For someone who had been through hell and back, she was holding up pretty well.
She walked back behind her desk to grab her phone. She knew Arizona wasn't in the hospital or in surgery so she must be at her apartment. She dialled the number and silently hoping that someone would pick it up. Including today, Arizona had skipped her sessions for the second times. Out of habit, she tapped her fingers against the hardwood table. After the sixth ring, it went into a voicemail. Callie pushed the red button with a loud groaned. It was almost 6 o'clock now and since there was no sign of Arizona showing up in her office anytime soon she decided to call it a day. She placed Arizona's file into her drawer and locked it just to be safe. There was no way in hell Callie would jeopardize all the confidential information in that drawer by leaving it unlocks.
Arizona finished the whole bottle of white wine by herself. Today had been hard for her. She helped to deliver a premature baby by emergency C-section earlier today. The mom, Sarah a 17 years old kid was admitted into her care yesterday after she fell in the bathroom. So Arizona let her stay for the night just to be sure. She still recalled being paged at 4 in the morning when the young mom complained sharp pains on her lower back. She rushed Sarah to the OR and soon enough, an angel at 1 pound and 1 ounce was born. He was placed in an incubator, as his lungs and other internal organs hadn't fully matured. As for now, he was in NICU and on a ventilator to help him with breathing. Her staffs were congratulating her for being a fast thinker and a life saver. If only they knew the guilt, the anger, the defeat, the shame that had been lingering on Arizona's mind throughout the surgery. The more people patting on her back or giving her a thumb up, the more she felt suffocated and trapped so she skipped the rest of her schedule and headed to the nearest bar, Joe's bar.
3 hours later, and Arizona still in her booth, with her head resting on her crossed arms. At this point, she was so drunk and dizzies that she barely able to keep up with herself. She was teetering on the edge of sleep, but not quite gone from the real world yet. A dull pain slowly creeping in her chest as it tightens. She welcomed the pain as that kind of pain helped to distract her from reality. She tried to close her eyes but memories from her past kept on flashing without her permission making it impossible. Memories that she would like to forget. So she kept her eyes blinked heavily as the unshed tears soaked into her sleeves.
*Flashback*
Today was the first day for Arizona at a med school. Her parents dropped her off 2 hours ago. Since her classes started tomorrow, she decided to get herself comfortable with the areas around campus. Being late to class tomorrow just because she couldn't find it was inexcusable. Punctuality was her middle name. After 45 minutes of searching, she managed to find most of her classes. On her way back to her room, Arizona stopped to get herself a cup of coffee.
"Hi, I'm Lauren."
Arizona's head snapped around. "Um, okay. Hi, Lauren."
"No, I'm the Lauren as in "Lauren" on the coffee you way over-sugaring." She said as she let out a soft chuckled.
"Oh yikes… I'm-I'm so sorry. You know what? I didn't even look up there. I just grabbed it." Arizona stuttered.
"It's okay… Really it's not a big problem."
"Arizona… Here you go…" The serving lady called out as another cup of coffee placed in the counter.
"This is you?"
"Yeah…" Arizona began to nod her head slowly, a blush creeping up her neck and cheeks.
"Um… Well, now it's me." Lauren reached forward for Arizona's hand to touch it lightly. "See you around I hope." She sent Arizona a flirty wink as she turned to leave.
Arizona beamed her magic smile as she watched a perfect stranger leaving a mark on her.
"Arizona…?"
Swollen eyelids shoot open at the sound of voice. "Dr. Torres." Arizona whispered, her voice was hoarse and sounded rough.
Acted on instinct, Callie put her bag down and naturally put her arm around Arizona's shoulders. "Hey… Are you okay?" And luckily, Arizona didn't resisting this time. Taking that as a hint, she tightens her wrapped around Arizona.
"I'm not…" Arizona's voice was thick and she was forced to swallow the growing lump in the back of her throat. She made no effort in hiding out the tears. For some weird reasons, she felt different whenever she was around Callie. And it was a 'good' different not a 'bad' different. Unlike everyone else, Callie always was being patient with her. During her first two sessions with Callie, she was being a total pain in the ass and still Callie didn't lose her temper. Not once she forced Arizona to spill her guts or to change. There was no judging between them. Callie also let Arizona to set the tone of the conversation. And so far, Callie managed not to piss her off.
"Try to breathe through it." Callie repeated the words as she ran her palm along her Arizona's back. Callie somewhat stunned with the whole situation. Not once during their sessions Arizona Robbins cried or portrayed any real emotions other than occasionally smiling and laughing quietly. So Callie was being extremely impressed.
They both sat in silent for almost 15 minutes as Arizona finally relaxed her body into Callie's.
"You want to talk about it?" Callie whispered.
"I can't." Arizona answered weakly.
"Okay. We don't have to talk."
'I'm sleepy…" Arizona said as another exhausted sigh escaped from her mouth.
"Close your eyes." Callie coaxed gently.
Another moment of silence passed.
"Can we just stay here for a little while?" Arizona murmured drowsily.
"Yes, we can." Callie hummed in agreement. After a while, she closed her eyes and held Arizona in a soothing embrace. She knew that it wasn't exactly ethical or professional to hug a patient in an open bar, but to be honest, she couldn't care less.
