Author's Note: Sorry for updating so late. I would have done it sooner but I haven't had much quiet time to be able to sit and write. Thank you for leaving me such nice reviews. I really appreciate when you guys take the time to leave some feedback and comments. Once reviewer mentioned they would like an in depth description of Arizona's surgery. I don't know a lot about surgery so I can't go too in depth about things. Sorry that I won't be able to meet that request. Also, in response to another review, this story is mainly Calzona. I may mention some other couples but I don't think I'll go into depth like I do with Calzona. The only other couple I will be talking a little more about would be Slexie and I'm still not sure how much of them I may include. I'm still trying to figure all of that out.
Arizona is quickly pulled out of her reminiscing by a hot burning feeling in her leg and a sudden tightness in her chest. Feeling like the whole room is spinning, she looks around her empty room, searching for someone to help her as the pain starts to become too much to bear. Arizona blinks rapidly, trying to clear the black spots popping up in her vision as she looks for the button on her bed to call a nurse. Suddenly she's plunged into a world of darkness.
Chapter 3
Callie looks into the the OR as she scrubs out, nodding to herself as she replays the surgery in her head. The surgery had gone very smoothly.
Having been a little ahead of schedule, Callie had decided to stay a little longer to help Hunt after the ribs were repaired.
Drying off her hands, Callie leaves the scrub room and makes her way back to Arizona's room, a big smile on her face. The smile quickly fades when Callie enters the empty room. Double checking that she has gone to the right room, Callie spins around and practically sprints to the nurse's station a few a little way down the hall for Arizona's room.
"Where is she?" Callie pants, slightly out of breath. She looks at the nurse, terror taking over her whole body. The nurse looks up at her calmly before speaking.
"Dr. Robbins' vitals dropped and by the time we got to her room, she was unconscious. She has been brought into surgery a little earlier than planned." The nurse talks slow and with a calm tone, pronunciating her words. Her slow discription of what happened on infuriates Callie. "I can take you to the waiting area if you'd lik-" Callie doesn't wait for the nurse to finish her sentence. She takes off for the OR, not caring that she may be breaking some hospital rules. She needs to see Arizona.
"What the hell happened?" Callie yells as she enters Arizona's OR, covering her face with a mask. She looks around at everyone, her chest rising and falling quickly. "Why didn't anyone page me?"
"What do you think you're doing in this OR?" Dr. Bailey looks up from the surgery and looks over at the very worried and anxious wife. "Family members are forbidden to be in their loved one's O-"
"There wasn't time to page you." Dr. Webber cuts in. He looks over at the door. "We had to get her in here if she was going to have any chance at fighting." Callie looks at him then stares at Arizona's pale face. After a long tense pause Callie finally speaks.
"How… How is she?" Her voice is hoarse and raspy as she fights back her tears. Webber continues to look at her.
"I'm not going to lie to you. It's touch and go. We haven't gotten her to stabilize for very long."
"It's the damn leg." Alex growls, eyeing the bone saw.
"Don't you dare." Callie hisses, very protective of upholding her promise. "It's worse case scenario. It hasn't gotten to that point ye-"
Suddenly the room in filled with beeping machines as Arizona's BP bottoms out and her heart rate shoots through the roof. Callie closes her eyes and covers her mouth with her hand. After a few seconds she forces them open and looks at Arizona's monitors. "Come on come on." She whispers. "You can do it. I know you can. Don't you dare give up on me now."
To her dismay Arizona flat lines.
"Push one of epi." Bailey barks and grabs the paddles. "Charging to 100." She checks to make sure all hands are off the table. "Clear." Arizona's body makes a soft thud sound as it hits the table. "Damn it." Bailey growls and watches the monitor. "Charge to 200. Clear." Nothing.
"It's the leg I'm telling you!" Alex shouts. Bailey looks at him for a long moment.
"Scalpel." Bailey orders. "Karev, get ready with that bone saw."
"Wait." Callie yells, louder than she intended, her voice echoing faintly in the room. "Please. Just give her a second. Please. I promised her I wouldn't let anyone take her leg."
Everyone looks at the monitors. Hoping and praying for a miracle.
[]
Arizona looks around, everything around her having a slight glow look to it. It takes her a few seconds to get her bearings then realizes where she is.
"It's been a while. I've missed you."
Arizona freezes, her back to the speaker. She knew that voice. It had been a long time since she last heard it but she'd recognize it anywhere. Slowly she turns to look at the new comer. Arizona gasps, unable to believe her eyes. She tries to speak but it's as if her tongue is made of lead. She just stares, her mouth slightly open in her attempt to respond.
"Zona." They take a few steps closer, stopping and taking in her shocked expression, nothing but concern on their face.
Arizona continues to stare, lost for words. The new comer can't help but laugh softly, their laugh is music to Arizona's ears. They make their way over to the young blond and pull her into their strong arms, hugging her tightly. Only then is Arizona suddenly able to speak.
"Timmy." Her voice is barely audible. She looks up at her big brother, a big dimpled grin mirroring hers as she stares into the bright blue eyes she's missed for so long. "How… What… Where are we?" She stutters. The smile slowly fades from Tim's face.
"A place I never thought you'd be in so soon. A place you shouldn't stay." He whispers softly as he tucks a rogue strand of hair behind her ear. "How ever happy I am to see you, you shouldn't be here."
"No." Arizona nearly yells. "I'm not leaving without you." She knows in the back of her mind it's stupid but she doesn't care. "I can't leave you again. I just got you back." Tears threaten to spill and Arizona quickly looks away, ashamed of herself. "I just… I can't watch you go again." Tim gently lifts his sister's chin up with his finger.
"I promise I never left you." He says quietly, pressing his lips to her forehead. "Not for a second. I've been with you every step of the way. I was watching over you when you found out about me. I watched as you said your goodbyes to me at my funeral and cried yourself to sleep every night for nearly six months. I was there when you, mom, and dad packed up my room when you moved and then when you packed up your room to go to college. I was there when you got accepted into Johns Hopkins and finished the program top of your class. I was even there when you met Callie all those year ago in the bar bathroom. I've been there for all the ups and downs of your relationship. I stood next to you at your wedding and at the birth of your daughter, my niece. I watched you as the plane failed and crashed and I was there when you, Derek, Meredith, Lexie, Cristina, and Mark had to fend off the wolves as you waited for someone to find you. I have watched over you every second of every day."
Arizona wraps her arms around him tighter as he talks, closing her eyes and taking in his words. She buries her face into his chest as the familiar smell of her brother engulfs her. Arizona stands there for what could have been hours or only seconds. Time was meaningless. She finally looks up, matching blue eyes meeting one another.
"I don't know how to go back to a world where you don't exist… Where my best friend… My brother is dead. I don't want to go back." Arizona's voice is very small and soft, showing all of her fear and vulnerability in a way she never lets anyone see. Tim looks down at her and nods very slowly.
"I know. I'm so sorry but you have so much to look forward to. You have an amazing career, the best friends ever, the most adorable daughter, and a loving wife."
"Callie." Arizona mutters more to herself than Tim, having been too distracted with Tim's arrival. 'Oh my god. I can't believe I forgot about my own wife.' Arizona thinks to herself, momentarily forgetting about Tim.
"Zona, you are strong." Tim continues, oblivious to his sister's internal struggle. "The strongest person I know and will ever know. You're a good man in storm. Better than I ever was, better than I ever could be." Arizona opens her mouth to argue but he continues. "You survived a plane crash for christ's sake. Arizona Robbins. You. Are. Resilient." Tim looks his younger sister in the eye. Arizona's eye tear up. She takes a few deep breaths and finally nods her head.
"So… How do I get back?"
"I'm not really sure. I guess when you've seen and heard what you need to? I believe you came here for a reason and I guess until you've met it, you won't go back." Tim shrugs. "Until then, how would you like to explore this place with me?" Arizona grins. It had been forever since she heard him say that.
"I'd love to." Side by side the two walk inside the last home they shared before Tim was deployed. "Wow. It's just like I remember." She grins and looks at the various family and school photos hanging on the walls of their old living room.
"I still can't believe mom let me wear that shirt for the school photo." Tim chuckles and looks around their old house. He points at a very dorky photo of their family and laughs. Arizona grins and they continue to poke fun of their younger selves. After laughing themselves to the point where it's hard to breath, the two sit down on the couch and grin at one another.
"Why here of all places?" Arizona looks at her brother, her eyebrows knitting together as she frowns slightly. "I mean this is my subconscious right?" Tim nods. " So why did I dream up this place and not my current apartment or any of the other houses we lived in?"
"I'm not really sure. Maybe the thing, or I guess person in this case… Is me. Maybe it's because you associate me with death and well… you're kind of on your way there. Maybe you have some unfinished business with death that you have to face before you can go back. I don't know. I know just as much as you."
"All of this… You, the house, everything, is just a symbol for my undealt feelings about your death and death itself?"
"That would be my guess." Tim runs his hands through his short blond hair.
"So what? I have to get over losing the best thing in my life?" Arizona's voice rises as her emotions start to get the best of her. "I was sixteen when you first got called to active duty. How was I supposed to deal with it? You left me. I had no one, Tim." Tears start to burn Arizona's eyes as she tries to hold them in. "Then you died two years later. You didn't even get to see me graduate High School." Tears start running down her face. She doesn't care anymore. All the hurt and pain she went through comes rushing back. She looks at Tim and shoves him. "You were the only thing I had and you fucking left me. You were never there for the big moments." Tim just stands there and takes her yelling. He grabs Arizona's hands and pulls her in for a tight hug, ignoring her attempts to free herself. "When I finished the program at Johns Hopkins, you were the only person I wanted to see but you were gone. When I met Callie, you were the first person I wanted her to meet. Every Time I needed my big brother, you weren't there." Arizona hits her hands against Tim's chest, her tears now streaming down her face. She opens her mouth to continue her rant but her body is shaking too hard to her to continue, holding onto Tim as if her life depended on it. Tim holds her, not saying a word. He runs a hand up and down her back soothingly.
The siblings stand in the middle of their old house for a long time, neither of them saying a word. The two are oblivious to the white fog that settles around them, starting at their feet and slowly filling the room. Only when the fog reaches their hips do the two separate. Arizona looks around the fog filled room then up at Tim.
"What's going on?" She looks around warily.
"I think this means you're ready to go home." Arizona shakes her head wildly. "This is a good thing Zona. You're finally working through all your pent up emotions. You've been so angry for so long about my death. However much I wish it hadn't happened, it was my destiny. Now you have a second chance to live yours."
"I'm not ready to leave you." Her eyes start to water at the idea of losing her brother again.
"Hey. Remember what I told you? I'm always there. I will continue to be there. I promise."
"I just wish we had more time." Arizona hold onto Tim's shirt. "So you could meel Callie. I'm always telling her how well you two would get along." Tim smiles.
"Me too. Me too." He gives her another squeeze. "Good luck out there. Stay safe." Arizona looks up at him, a sad little smile on her face.
"I think about you every day. I make sure to tell Sofia about you so she knows her Uncle." Tim nods and swallows a small lump in his throat when Arizona says that.
"I wish I could meet her but I know she'll turn out amazing 'cause she has the best parents." He gives Arizona a small smile. "It was really nice seeing you Zona. I'm going to miss you." They hug one last time. When they part, the fog surrounds Arizona. She desperately tries to wave it away to see Tim one last time.
"I love you!" She yells, unsure if he's there anymore. "I love you, Timmy!" The fog continues to swirl around her, making it impossible for her to see anything but white.
"I love you too, Zona!" Comes the faint reply.
The white fog thickens and speeds up, becoming whiter and harder to look at. With a bright flash of white, Arizona loses all sense of direction and without knowing it, she loses consciousness.
[]
Arizona's room is full of beeping monitors and a very tired and worried wife. Callie watches her wife's face, her heart sinking with every passing minute.
"What the hell was it? She was crashing one minute and the next it was as if nothing had happened." Callie's voice shakes slightly.
"I have no idea. Maybe it was the antibacterial medicine finally kicking in." Dr. Bailey looks at Callie. "Let me know if she wakes up while I'm gone. I have to go check on some patients." Callie nods, not really listening to Bailey. She squeezes Arizona's hand as she absentmindedly rubs circles on the back of her wife's hand. Too lost in her thoughts, Callie doesn't notice the pair of dazzling blue eyes looking at her.
Author's Note: Again, so sorry that this update took me forever to write. I was finally able to work on it so here ya go. Thank you thank you for all the lovely reviews! I really appreciate them and would love to keep reading them. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and continue to like this story. Keep the lovely reviews coming and feel free to message me with any comments.
