Callie woke in the morning to the sound of her alarm going off. She groaned and rolled over looking to cuddle up next to her girlfriend. When she was on her side she realized that the side of the bed that should have been occupied by the blonde was empty and cold. Callie swiftly hopped out of bed in search of Arizona. Quickly making her way to the living room she found the PEDs surgeon cuddled on the couch with a blanket and book.
"Morning," Callie said softly as to not to scare Arizona.
"Morning," Arizona replied sleepily, barley looking up from her book.
As Callie made her way over to the blonde she took in her appearance. The bruise on her face had darkened, which was accentuated by the pale face and bags under the eyes. She was sitting almost perfectly straight, as to not jostle her ribs. Clearly she had not slept a great deal the night before.
"Did you sleep well?" Callie asked, but then decided to rephrase "No, don't answer that. Just looking at you I know you didn't sleep well. Why didn't you sleep?"
"I just couldn't sleep."
"Arizona, there has to be a reason for why you didn't sleep," Callie tried.
"I just –"Arizona started but was cut off as a sob escaped her throat. "It's just… I saw…"
"Shhhh," Callie soothed as she wrapped the blonde in her arms. "Its okay let it out baby. That's it" Callie continued whispering calming words into her ear until she calmed down.
Once she calmed down, Arizona slowly pulled away from Callie. The broken and distant look in her eyes almost broke Callie's heart.
"Calliope I, uh, I saw the tiny coffins again. This time Eric was there. He told me he missed his dad, asked why I didn't save him, and why I hadn't I tried harder. Then when I started explaining it I realized it was all my fault and that what happened had been my fault all along. I deserved what happened to me. Then I saw all the parents of the kids I didn't save and they were yelling at me and I tried to run away, but couldn't. When they cornered me they started screaming more. I don't know what would have happened from there, but you shifted in your sleep and hit my ribs which woke me up. I knew I wouldn't sleep after that so I just came out and started reading." Arizona explained then burrowed her head into Callie's shoulder and resumed crying.
The ortho surgeons' heart broke at what she heard her girlfriend had gone through in her sleep.
"Why didn't you wake me?"
"You looked so peaceful and I figured you worked today so you needed a good night's sleep, not deal with my stupid thing."
"Hey look at me," Callie said forcefully waiting for Arizona to make eye contact before continuing. "When you are in pain never, and I mean never, think it is stupid. You are the most important thing in the world to me and I am sure they could survive at the hospital without me if I stayed home with you."
"It is really not a big deal. I get them all the time," Arizona realized her slip and tried to quickly get away before Callie realized what she said.
"You get them all the time? Like all the time even when we are together?" Callie seemed hurt.
"Yea, but I never want to wake you up because I know you are dealing with you own issues and don't need me adding to them."
"What did I just tell you? You are the most important thing to me and if that means being a little tired the next day then so be it. I would do anything for you. Anything," Callie said. "Do you understand? Next time you're having a nightmare I want you to wake me up, I want to be there for you."
"Okay," Arizona said softly with face nestled nicely where Callie's shoulder meets her neck.
They sat like this for several minutes with Callie rubbing Arizona's back gently, slowly putting her to sleep. When she thought Arizona was asleep, she started to carefully lift her to carry her to the bed. Almost as soon as she had her off the couch Arizona stiffened in Callie's arms and lifted her head up.
"Sorry, I thought you were asleep and figured you would want to sleep in bed not the couch," Callie apologized as she slowly lowered her lover to the floor.
"No, its fine. I wasn't sleeping anyways," Arizona explained as she painfully lowered herself to the couch.
"Are you okay?"
"Yea, super."
"You're lying to me, we just talked about this, you can tell me anything. Are you scared to have a nightmare?"
"No, I uh…" Arizona trailed off.
"Is it your ribs? Are you in pain?"
Arizona nodded weakly.
"Have you taken anything for the pain?"
Arizona just shook her head no.
"Why don't you go lie in bed and get comfy, while I go get some painkillers and you can get some sleep," Callie suggested as she helped her girlfriend to a standing position, noticing the pain in her expression as she stood.
Without arguing, Arizona slowly made her way to her room to get in bed. That was how Callie knew she was in a lot more pain then she was letting on, she didn't argue at all and had broken right away when she asked what was wrong.