Chapter 4

Callie's POV

After Arizona had left the cafeteria, Callie was left to explain to her son why she had behaved like that to another adult. But every time she tried to explain, there was nothing she could say that would make sense to the four year old.

The small child was growing frustrated with his mother for scaring off his new friend. They were having so much fun making jokes and eating cake that he was sure his mom would be happy to see him really smiling.

With one last sweep of the room the ortho surgeon could see pairs of eyes still looking at her or trying to be discreet as they stared in her direction. Now she was regretting her behavior. Callie had spent years keeping quiet on the life she had before Seattle.

The only person who really knew why she came to the rainy city was Addison and that was because she had offered Callie a place to stay. But even then the red head hardly knew the details of the two exes; she just knew that things became difficult for both wives so the Latina put an end to it. It had been a complete shock for Addison because the last time she had spoken to the ortho surgeon she was still happily in love.

Looking down at her son she could see he was mad with his arms crossed and a scowl etching its way across his face.

With one final sigh, "Come on Mikey let's go home Mami's tired," she said reaching for his small hand to take him to the locker room so she could change.

Shaking his head he said, "No. You yelled at my friend Mami and you always say we shouldn't scream at others, but you did that to my friend," Mikey was now close to yelling at his own mom if she didn't fix it.

"Mikey, Mami's sorry. But that woman she's not your friend you don't know her. She was just being nice, which adults are supposed to be with kids," trying to take a hold of his hand again the small boy moved away from her. "Listen Mikey we need to go home and I'm sure we won't see Dr. Robbins any time soon. She has a job and we cannot be bothering her."

This time the small boy looked into his mother's eyes with tears beginning to build, "But she's my super hero why wouldn't she want to save me?"

It hurt the mother to hear that her son needed saving. She thought that she was doing a good job at parenting Mikey, showering him with all the love she had. He was the reason she smiled every day and to know that he wanted someone else's help crushed her. Especially from a blonde surgeon, who from the last time she had spoken with her was not interested in having a kid to take care of.

"Listen mijo. There are so many people in your life now that love you that we don't need Dr. Robbins help. How about we go home now and Mami can order pizza. Then we can watch a movie and snuggle on the couch."

The idea that he got to be with his mother without Erica around seemed like a good distraction for the boy, "No Erica tonight just you and me?" he asked hopeful.

It looks like she didn't do a good job distracting him, "Well if Erica is there we can't kick her out so let's try to be nice to her today."

Mikey looked at his mom and knew he was not going to be able to fight her on this because Erica always won. So with a nod of his head he reached out for his Mami's hand and led her out the cafeteria.

#######

The weekend for both mother and son had been uneventful. It was spent with a lot of watching cartoons or going to the park. Callie had made it clear when she had Mikey that, weekends were her days off unless an emergency. The cardio surgeon never made an appearance so that saved the pair from having another argument with her.

Callie had just finished a knee replacement on a, 64 year old grandmother, who had suffered from osteoarthritis, where she had lost a good amount articular cartilage making it difficult to walk. The surgery was routine to her job requirement. But the Latina was tired and after seeing Arizona the Friday before she was worried that she'd bump into the other woman. She had even promised Mikey that she would apologize to the blonde and the ortho surgeon was finding the idea intimidating.

As she sat at the corner of the cafeteria picking at her sandwich the brunette didn't see the plastic's surgeon pull the seat next to her.

"Those thoughts of yours must be amazing. Care to elaborate," taking a bite out of an apple Mark waited for a response.

"Not everything I think is dirty I'm just a little distracted okay," Callie was not up for friendly conversation, but Mark was a good friend to her and he had always been there to watch after Mikey when she was busy.

Nodding he asked, "Does it have to do with Blondie 2.0? Because word on the street is you two had a cat fight here last Friday. And plus she's been MIA for the weekend so I haven't been able to grill her yet."

She had hoped that the people of the hospital would respect her privacy, but this place was worse than high school and gossip spread like wildfire, "I don't know, but can we not talk about Arizona I've had a long day."

"So you do know her? Did she try to move in on Erica's space? Because let me tell you I approve. Even Cristina said she was great with Mikey and when has Erica ever been nice to him you need someone who is going to love you and that handsome son of yours." All Mark wanted was to see his friend happy and he had no problem playing match maker.

"Mark I said I was not talking about this with you," the ortho surgeon was grateful for his helpfulness but this was the type of conversation one has over a stiff drink to help take the edge off.

As Mark was about to suggest they meet up later to talk, Erica stormed up to the group sitting next to Callie with a little too much force, "That PEDs surgeon is killing me. We have a six week old infant with congestive heart failure, but throughout the entire surgery she and Teddy would not keep quiet. Even Cristina joined in on all the cheerfulness. When has Yang ever been anything resembling perky?"

Erica had been surprised that Yang had taken kindly to the new surgeon. She was not a fan of the new blonde after their small altercation in the attending's lounge.

"No not you too, why are we talking about Arizona?" Callie just needed a moment to not think about the blonde surgeon. If her friends and now girlfriend were going to spend all day talking about her, Callie was going to have an aneurism.

The cardio surgeon continued, "Well I heard some nurses saying that another surgeon got her to cry. I wish I can find this person and thank them because I know she is going to do nothing but make working here difficult."

Callie scoffed at her complaints because she was already starting to hate working in the same hospital as the PEDs surgeon.

With a big grin on his face Mark cut in, "She's sitting right next to you. Our Callie was the one who duked it with the new surgeon."

Looking at her girlfriend Erica could see the sheepish look on the brunette's face, "What did she do to you Cal? Is it because of Mikey? Trust me I tried to get him to come home with me, but he's just as stubborn as you and wouldn't listen."

"Enough Erica it has nothing to do with Mikey, but I think my lunch break is over now," she quickly leaned over to kiss the blonde on the cheek before exiting the room.

#######

Most of the ortho surgeon's day went with ease as she only had one other surgery repairing a compound fracture of the humerus bone.

As she made her way to the hospitals daycare all Callie wanted to do was have a nice night with Mikey watching one of his movies.

She greeted the care takers at the front office before signing Michael out of daycare, "How was Mikey today?" she looked over at her son who was playing with Zola, the Shepard's daughter.

"Mikey was great Dr. Torres. He actually apologized to me for the little incident on Friday," stated the older woman.

Cringing at her son's temper, "I am so sorry about that. We had a talk the other night and I know he regrets the way he behaved."

"No need to apologize. I understand we all have bad days and Mikey is just a little more vocal with his," chuckled the older woman.

"Thank you again. We'll see you tomorrow Diane," walking over to the small boy and his friend, "Hey Zola. Mijo are you ready to go home?"

"Aha. I missed you Mami," Mikey looked up at the Latina with the biggest grin that can fill her full of love.

"I missed you too mijo," smiled the ortho surgeon.

Hand in hand they walked through the lobby, with a happy four year old making an account of his day.

"And then me and Zola stacked our blocks to see whose would be bigger and I-" the small boy stopped talking when he could see a familiar blonde woman talking with her resident, "Airzona!"

Trying to hold tight to his hand to keep him from running, Callie was too slow because now her son was making a mad dash to the PEDs surgeon.

Hugging her around the legs Mikey looked up into blue eyes, "Hi Airzona."

The blonde was shocked to see the little boy holding onto her. She knew she would probably bump into the small family eventually and hoped Mikey would have forgotten who she was, but it seemed like that would not be true as he sported a wide smile for the blonde.

"Hey little man," she had thought a lot about the little boy and knew this should've been their life, but the universe was cruel and they didn't get that chance.

"Can you still come over? I want to show you my toys," that was one thing Callie couldn't get Mikey to stop asking about was when the blonde would be able to come over.

She looked to Callie for help but the other woman just shrugged at her, "Oh I don't know Mikey. I think your mom would rather I not come over."

"No she's sorry right Mami? Say sorry to Airzona. You told me we need to apologize when we hurt someone. Apologize Mami."

Arizona smirked at the Latina who was glaring at her little boy for putting her in her place, "Yeah Calliope I think you should say sorry. You don't want to set a bad example to Mikey."

The ortho surgeon shook her head in disbelief but they were right she needed to be the bigger person, "Okay. Arizona I am sorry for yelling at you in front of our colleagues that was not fair on my part."

"Now you have to hug so she knows you really are sorry. That's how Ms. Diane knows I'm sorry," said the boy as he pushed his mom towards the blonde. This was proving to be difficult because she would not budge.

Arms wide open the blonde looked expectantly at the mother, "Come on Calliope are my hugs that bad?"

Callie wanted nothing more than to be held by the PEDs surgeon and she was okay with whatever the small contact opened up for the brunette.

As the taller woman embraced her past lover she could feel the sob that wanted to make its way through. The shuddering breath she released caused the smaller woman to hold on tighter.

Arizona didn't want to move from this embrace, "I've missed you Calliope, so much."

"Hey Cal. Ready to head home with the rugrat?" Erica did not like the way this woman was hugging her girlfriend. It was too friendly to her for someone who seemed to be angry with the PEDs surgeon hours ago.

Letting go of Arizona she nodded, but to what she was unsure of. Of course she missed the smaller woman yet admitting it was something she could not do now. She needed to focus on what she had now not her past.

She gave the PEDs surgeon a small smile before holding both hands out for Mikey and Erica to take. Walking away from Arizona, the Latina was starting to wonder if she made the biggest mistake of her life five years ago.

#######

The following day Callie had been paged to the PEDs ward. She was not sure what to expect so she went straight to the nurse's counter to question who needed her skills.

"Hey Beth I was paged do you know who it was from?" she asked the nurse behind the desk.

With a smile Beth answered, "Hey Dr. Torres. If you could just wait a minute Dr. Robbins is in with a patient, but she said she needed your help on an ortho case."

Callie knew at some point she would have to work with her ex-wife she just hope it wasn't after the hug and confession that came from the blonde.

As she leaned against the counter, Callie could see into the room the PEDs surgeon was in. The way she interacted with her patients caused the brunette to smile. Arizona was always good with kids and watching her with them always made Callie fall in love with the woman even more.

She shook her head, she should not be thinking about the blonde in this way. Erica loved Callie and she loved her back or at least that's what she told herself.

The blonde was making her way out of the patient's room looking over the chart before looking up at the Latina. When she saw her for the first time today she couldn't help but give her a dimpled smile. When they were newly-weds this was how they wanted their future to be. Working on cases together and being awesome surgeons in general.

Setting the chart at the nurse's station Arizona pulled an x-ray folder for the other surgeon to look at and jumped right into explaining the patient's history, "I have this patient with an osteosarcoma of the tibia. He has received multiple treatments of radiation that have helped control the cancer from spreading, but it has yet to go away. His last option is amputation and I can't help but think there is more that we could do for him. That's why I paged you here in case you had a better solution for the patient."

Callie looked over the scans and could see the area affected by the cancer and knew the patient's best option was indeed amputation, but she couldn't disappoint the blonde.

"I've read some experimental treatments where the cancerous bone is removed and treated in a solution of radiation and put back in place or cadaver bones are used to take the place of the infected bone," the ortho surgeon liked the idea of a challenge but at the risk of this kids life she didn't know if this was too much of a jeopardy to make.

This was not the PEDs surgeon's specialty and could only hope that if she followed Callie's plan that it was a success, "Alright well let's go and tell Jake's parents that we plan on saving his leg," responded the blonde.

#######

The OR was quiet of chatter and the only noise that could be heard was the beep of the heart monitor and the ortho surgeon's bone saw.

Arizona appreciated sharing the space with the Latina as she watched her perform the operation. They had just removed the infected piece of the tibia and were waiting for the radiation solution to rid the bone of cancer.

The blonde wanted to fill the silence with some sort of noise; "Is this where you completed your residency?" she looked over at the other surgeon who had been staring at the bone in the solution.

Callie looked into the other woman's sparkly blue eyes with a nod, "Yeah, Addie used to work at the hospital so I figured I could come here and finish. She moved a short while after I arrived though so it got lonely for a bit."

"I am guessing no other surgical fields ever interested you then?" the blonde could feel the ease that was still there when she talked to Callie.

Smiling behind the surgical mask, "Actually I dabbled in cardio for a while, but bones have always been my thing. Did you ever try another field?"

"No, I thought about it but I felt at home working on PEDs cases. Plus the kids can make the job really satisfying," replied the blonde.

There was a break in the conversation before curiosity won out for the brunette, "How is your family? I really miss your mom. Remember how heart-broken she was after we came home from Canada and we were already married," Callie chuckled at the memory of Barbara Robbins after they broke the news to her. She had cried a whole week saying she could never forgive Arizona but it was soon forgotten when she figured now she could convince them to give her grandbabies.

Arizona looked around the operating room at the many eyes that curiously looked at the pair to see what else would be shared amongst the ex-lovers. She was going to have to deal with the gossip because she did not want to end this moment with the other surgeon.

"My parents are good. Dad picked up golfing, which my mom was thankful for because she said he would follow her around the house he was so bored." The blonde even missed her parents. She was so used to seeing them at least once a week but now they were separated on opposite sides of the coast.

"And Tim?" Callie could see why the PEDs surgeon and he were great friends. He was a great brother to Arizona when she had first came out to her family and continued to support her throughout her life.

A few months after Arizona had been left by her wife she had received news that her brother was killed in action over sea and it left the blonde with no one. She truly thought she had done something wrong in a past life to deserve this injustice in her life.

"Uh he passed away almost five years ago now," muttered the blonde.

If Callie hadn't been paying attention she would have not heard the other woman, "Arizona I'm so sorry," sighed the brunette.

"I don't think you need me here to complete the surgery so I'll see you when you're ready to inform the parents of his condition," she couldn't be around the Latina and have her feel sorry about her brother. If Callie had stayed around then maybe coping the loss of Tim would have been bearable.

Callie just looked at the retreating woman and felt the loss of both Tim and her once wife. She hadn't known him her whole life like Arizona did but every time he visited them he always made Callie feel like another sister and she appreciated the love of not just him but of all of the Robbins family.

It was another half hour before she was able to close up the young boy's leg and head out. The ortho surgeon needed to see the blonde and if her ex-wife was the same she knew exactly where she would be.

The cool Seattle weather hit her straight in the face and wrapped her lab coat tighter around her body as she stepped onto the roof of the hospital.

"Would you let one of your patients smoke?" it had been a bad habit that Callie disliked of the PEDs surgeon.

"Well they are usually too young to purchase a packet of cigarettes so I'm not too worried," Arizona sharply replied. She should have known that Callie would come after her. Especially after she was hurting the brunette always liked to hold the smaller woman and whisper words of comfort.

"Arizona I really am sorry about everything. I should have been there for you and I'm sorry I wasn't. I wish you would have called."

"Oh I had called the months before he passed away because I was worried where my wife left off to, but you must have not cared enough to be there for me then when I needed you." Arizona couldn't help but feel anger towards Callie now. She had the audacity to say she would have been there and the blonde knew it was shit.

"I… I don't know what to say Arizona what do you want me to say? That I should have stayed in a big empty house all by myself, with a constant reminder of what we lost there. I couldn't even sleep in our bed where it happened and my fucking wife wouldn't even touch me afterwards." Callie knew the tears were coming and there was no way in stopping them now.

Turning around Arizona dropped the cigarette to the ground before using the heel of her foot to put it out. As she stepped closer to the ortho surgeon she could smell the familiar perfume and scent that was all Calliope fill the air around her.

"Calliope I am so sorry, but I never stopped loving you. I was just so sad and I messed up by not going to my wife to make me feel better."

Tears slid down a caramel cheek at the blonde's confession. "God, Arizona I needed you so much," she could feel her body begin to give out at the crippling pain that was taking over her body.

Quickly holding her from falling Arizona wrapped her arms around the taller woman's frame. "Hey I'm here now and I'll be whatever you need to be, but Calliope I can't live without you."

She pulled back to look into those ocean blue eyes and could see all the love that the other woman still held for the Latina. As both women looked each other they were both trying to figure where this left them.

With one glance to pink lips all Callie could do was lean down to feel the familiar caress of the other woman's lips. That small brush of lips called a fiery desire to build within the ortho surgeon. She had only gotten this feeling from the blonde. Even Erica didn't have the ability to make Callie's knees turn weak to putty like the PEDs surgeon could so easily do.

The moan that escaped from pink lips caused Callie to pull apart, "I can't do this. I'm sorry I need to go," she quickly fled back through the door she had come through before the blonde could stop her.

Callie felt that same desire to be kissed and loved by the other woman come back with a force, but she couldn't leave her girlfriend who she was really trying to make things work with. She wished it was simple decision to just leave the cardio surgeon and she would have if Erica hadn't been one of many people to put Callie back. But dammit that kiss finally made her feel whole.

AN: Thank you to all those who have followed, favorite, and reviewed this story. It really helps to write a lot faster. Again any suggestions to the story are always appreciated.