Title: The Other Life of Arizona Robbins (4/?)
Author: Race122VE (Coll)
Pairing: Arizona/Callie
Rating: PG-13 - R (Just to be on the safe side. I don't do smut, but I can skim the border)
Summary: A figure from Arizona's past shows up at the hospital and brings with her a glimpse of the person Arizona used to be before she arrived in Seattle.
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.

Author's Note: This is my first time attempting this fandom/pairing, and my first time writing anything in quite a while, but I was inspired and figured I'd give it a shot. Takes place after 6.10 "Holidaze." Hope you enjoy, thanks!

Chapter 4

Arizona had been standing outside Katie's room for several minutes. There was too much going on in her head right now. She was more worried about Callie and what she was going to say, but at the same time she owed Katie an explanation as well. Arizona was just at a loss, and she knew that she had to do this before the surgery.

When she came up to the room, Lexie had told Arizona that she was getting an OR and they were going in soon, so she didn't have that much time. She thought she was ready, she even made a step towards the door, but then Katie looked out the small, rectangular window and locked eyes with Arizona. She froze again and watched as the green eyes shifted slightly to the right.

"We're taking her down in a few minutes," Callie said quietly, keeping her eyes ahead of her as Arizona looked to her left. "The scans showed that the break was worse than I initially thought, but she should be fine."

"I need to talk to her," Arizona told Callie with a firm nod. "And, I know we need to talk too, but I have to talk to her before the surgery."

Callie continued to staring ahead, trying to push all the emotions she was feeling aside. These weren't the thoughts that should be going through her head as she prepared for surgery, but this situation wasn't exactly like any other. "I have to get in there," Callie replied. "I have to get her down there as soon as the OR is ready."

"Please," Arizona barely whispered, turning away from Callie and looking into Katie's room. "When we talk, when I have the chance to fix this…I have to fix things with her to fix things with you."

"Fine," Callie sighed.

Before Arizona could think about something to say, Callie walked away. Taking a deep breath, Arizona walked the extra steps to Katie's room and entered. She had no idea what she was going to say, but saying it out loud made her realize that she was doing this to ultimately move on and fix things with Callie. Katie watched her shuffle, look around, open her mouth before closing it almost right away, and all the other things that Arizona did when she was nervous.

It was oddly comforting to know that the person she knew wasn't completely gone.

"Dr. Torres says I'm going into surgery pretty soon," she said, breaking the silence. "If you have something you wanna say…"

"I'm sorry," Arizona told her as she crossed her arms and shook her head in frustration. "I should've at least told you, but…that's all I got. I don't know what to say."

"You don't know what to say?" Katie asked incredulously. "You're kidding, right? We've known each other since high school, we fell in love, moved in together, and we were starting to plan our future then you leave. You may not know what to say, Ari, but 'I'm sorry' is not gonna cut it."

Her mouth hung open for a bit and a tiny spark of anger flickered in her eyes. Katie leaned back as those blue eyes turned a darker shade and bore into her harshly. "I…hate it…when you call me Ari," she responded slowly.

"What?"

"I've told you, so many times, that I don't like that," Arizona continued, finding it easy now to figure out what to say. "My name is Arizona, and I hate when you call me Ari. I had to keep telling you to stop, over and over, and I'm still doing it…

"That's why I left."

Katie's eyebrows shot up, "Because I called you Ari?"

"No, well…yes, but that's just part of it," Arizona began. "I dealt with it because I loved you, but I hated that you called me that and…you always talked during movies. You know, you'd ask what was going to happen when we were both seeing it for the first time. You're a terrible and very annoying backseat driver. You always made me drive, but you wouldn't ever…let me drive-"

"So, you're saying these little, trivial things," Katie paused to laugh, still not understanding what Arizona was saying. "They justify you leaving without a word."

Arizona shook her head, "I ultimately left because I was settling with you, Katie. I always had that fairytale idea of love. You know, that when you found the right person you would just…know. Then I grew up. I dated and dated and I lost some hope…until you finally told me that you wanted more from me."

Katie couldn't help but smile at the memory, "So what changed?"

"I thought it would work," Arizona answered honestly. "We were already friends…I thought that was the hard part, you know…I did fall in love with you, but there was always something...off. Getting that phone call…about Danny…"

The sound of Arizona saying her brother's name out loud caused her train of thought to derail. Katie didn't push. She knew it was hard for Arizona, even if she didn't see it for herself. She had been close to that family though for a long time and knew the mixture of feelings that surrounded the Robbins' household when Danny announced he was joining the army after high school.

"You left before I could ever tell you how sorry I was," Katie brought up, forgetting for a moment that anything bad had happened between them. "You're parents told me that…it was like a switch was flipped with you. It's something that I used to ultimately put the anger and hurt behind me."

Arizona nodded, "It was like a switch, Katie. I realized how short life was…that's why I left, and I don't regret it."

"You still should have said something to me," Katie sighed. "You can't shut out parts of your life-"

"I meant to call," Arizona cut in. "I did…and when I got here it was for work. You know, I didn't even start dating anyone for a while…I just focused on my career, and time passed and I didn't know what to say."

"Anything," Katie shot back. "Anything would have been better than nothing. We were planning a life together and then…"

"I'm sorry," Arizona repeated with a shrug. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything…I wasn't strong enough…to say anything, and I regret that. I do…but I'm not sorry I left."

"Because you came here and fell in love?" Katie scoffed.

"I didn't expect to meet anyone," Arizona told her. "I was just as surprised at the effect Calliope has on me. She's…amazing. She's a great doctor, an amazing person, and things aren't always easy. They didn't start easy, and we've been through so much already."

She watched as Arizona drifted into her own world at the mere thought of Callie. She wasn't lying when she said they had problems, they did, but she was in love. It was the love she wanted with Katie, the love she thought would come with time, but just ended up coming natural with Callie.

Now, it might be over. She started seeing herself through Callie's eyes. Arizona had lied, by omission, but still a lie. She had abandoned someone. It was going to take a lot of work to get through to Callie, to make her understand that she may have made these mistakes but she wasn't that person.

"I screwed up," Arizona said in disbelief. "I knew she had been lied to and left…I should have told her, and I should have told you so…I'm sorry."

Neither knew what else to say. Katie knew she should have felt satisfied because now Arizona's life was a mess, but she couldn't. She found some comfort in Arizona's explanation and apology, but she never expected to ruin her life. She knew the devastation that could be caused, and now she was unintentionally a part of it.

The door opened and they both watched as Callie stepped in. "We're ready for the surgery," she said quietly, keeping her eyes on the chart. Arizona kept watching her before looking back over at Katie. She took in a deep breath and gave a firm nod before heading towards the door behind Callie.

"Arizona?" Katie called out. This time both Callie and Arizona looked back at her. "I forgive you."

There was still a lot to deal with, but Arizona smiled despite the problems surrounding her. She cleared her throat loudly as she paused at the door and shifted her gaze to Callie. "Will you page me when you're done?" she asked softly.

Still not being able to look at her, Callie gave her a sharp nod and made her way towards Katie while Arizona reluctantly left the room. Katie let out a long breath as Callie began checking her vitals and preparing for the surgery. "So…should I be asking for a different surgeon, Dr. Torres?" Katie asked lightly.

Callie smiled despite herself, "Do you want another surgeon?"

"Well, according to Ari," Katie stopped herself, realizing that Arizona was right about certain things. "According to Arizona, you're a great doctor. I think you'll take care of me."

"I will," Callie said firmly. She opened her mouth before quickly shutting it again. The curiosity, she hated to admit, was getting to her. She should be focusing on the surgery, not what her girlfriend had said to her ex-girlfriend. Katie met her eyes and knew that there was more to say.

"You're dying to know what happened, aren't you."

This time, Callie allowed herself to laugh, "Can you blame me?"

"No, when I put two and two together, I wanted to know more about you," she admitted. "But, it wasn't really my place to ask…just like it's not my place to tell what happened. Arizona should do that."

"It's just…" Callie started; amazed that conversation was coming so naturally with this person. "I was lied to. I was left. In a lot of ways, she helped me come back from that. I never thought she could be that person."

"She's not," Katie told her honestly. "I was expecting this different person, but she's not. She just…made a mistake. I didn't come here to mess anything up for her, I just wanted to talk."

"And forgive her, apparently," Callie criticized. "I don't know if I could be that understanding with my ex."

"Time helps," Katie supplied. "For a long time, I thought that I would never get my answers…and I was OK with that. Then…everything just kind of aligned itself, and I'm glad that I got to talk to her."

"Yeah?"

She nodded, "Arizona may have gone about things in…the worst way possible, but she was ultimately right: we weren't supposed to be together. It's funny…we were friends for so long, and I've never…been with…a woman."

Callie's eyebrows shot up, "Really?"

"Uh-huh," Katie chuckled. "She always told me…she'd never date newborns, or whatever."

"Did she?" Callie asked, trying to sound nonchalant but not coming across that way. "Huh."

Katie didn't miss it, "Arizona was your first, wasn't she?"

"Second," Callie supplied with a laugh. "Not that it's any of your business…or appropriate doctor-patient conversation."

"I've come to accept that my stay at this hospital is going to be anything but appropriate," Katie played along. "Anyway, my point is to just…hear her out. She hasn't really changed that much, so, I know, from the way she looks at you and talks about you-"

"Yeah, I think it's time I get you down," Callie said, blushing slightly at Katie's words. She hadn't really known Callie for that long, but Katie could tell she was someone that wore her emotions on her sleeve. That's how she knew how much she loved Arizona. The hurt that was there from the lie, along with the hope that they could get past this, was written all over her face. Katie flashed a warm smile at her doctor.

It hadn't gone exactly how she wanted, or expected, but Katie had talked to Arizona and felt that closure she had yearned for. She could now, fully and freely, go on with her life. "You're the doctor," Katie pointed out. "You say jump, I jump."

"Bad analogy," Callie replied. "You're not gonna be jumping any time soon, but…I'm gonna take care of you."

Katie could admit to herself, when she put it together in her head, she didn't get them together. After talking to her for these few minutes and seeing that smile…she got it. "I don't doubt it," she told her as a few nurses and orderlies came into the room to help with the transport.