AN:No real warning or comment other than the one I posted to the previous chapter, it definitely applies here.
"I am having the best day!" Arizona announced as she rolled into the attending lounge causing Baily and Callie to stare in complete bewilderment.
"What? Why does everyone keep staring at me?" Arizona begged. She got it, she really did, they were all expecting Peggy the peg-legged pirate and instead she's back to her normal self, save for a few scars that would only be noticed if she ever chose to wear shorts again. But seriously, the staring had to stop, she was beginning to feel violated.
Callie couldn't concentrate she saw those things on Arizona's feet and her mind went blank. For a moment she and Baily shared a knowing look and then Callie just let it out.
"Take them off" She ordered a perplexed Arizona.
"Take what off?" Arizona shot back "Honey, Baily's still in the room this is not the time for…"
Callie was not amused by Arizona's bubbly sarcasm. "I am serious take those things off your feet now Arizona"
Callie was staring down at Arizona's wheelie sneakers with an unprecedented level of disdain.
"Okay fine, but you're just being paranoid" Arizona declared while kicking her shoes off. "This leg has your scalpel magic all over it. It's solid, I can feel it!"
After she changed her shoes and grabbed her lab coat Arizona skipped out of the room humming to herself.
Callie didn't know what to think, that was just odd, even for Arizona that was odd.
"She's too peppy right" Callie inquired of Baily "Even for her that was way too much pep."
Baily tilted her head as if giving it some thought, then shook it off with the standard Baily logic.
"She just cheated death, seems like a good enough reason to be peppy to me."
~~~~XX~~~~
Meredith was happy to be back at the hospital, really she was, but possibly less happy that Owen had been pressuring her to give a return date for Derek. Dr. Nelson was a great surgeon but people expected Derek. Derek, who kept insisting that his hand wasn't ready. Meredith knew better. This wasn't about his hand, this was about Lexie. He had convinced himself he was responsible for Lexie's death. She was only on that flight because Derek thought it would be a good learning experience for her. Meredith could plainly see his hand, Callie had worked a miracle on it. Derek could be in the hospital if he wanted to, he just didn't want to.
She pushed the prep room door open to see that Arizona was bracing herself against the sink
"You okay" Meredith asked trying like hell to hold eye contact even though Arizona's face wasn't exactly welcoming at the moment.
"I'm fine" Arizona's voice was calm but cold, she really wished people would stop asking her that. She left the prep room pushing her hands over her head the way she'd learned to after years of jogging. She and Meredith had an hour long surgery ahead of them and she really couldn't deal if she was going to be stared at like a bearded lady the entire time. She pushed her way out of the prep room and back out to the hall. Pulling her pill bottle out of her pants pocket, Arizona shook her head, she was disappointed in herself. This would be pill number seven for the day. Technically, she could take up to eight a day according to the bottle. But, according to Callie she only needed six so, yeah she was disappointed. She downed the pill, dry no less, then pushed her way back into the scrub room.
Meredith was beginning to see a pattern with Arizona, just because she said she was fine, it did not actually mean she was fine. And she so clearly was not fine right now. They met up again in the OR where Meredith tried to level the tension with polite small talk.
"Derek really misses Sofia" she started "He bought her a dress"
Arizona's eyes shot up in amusement "Derek Shepherd bought a dress?" she questioned, completely baffled.
Meredith paused for a second while trying to recall the memory of seeing Derek coming home from the mall with two Nordstrom's bags in hand.
"A little black and blue thing with butterflies" Meredith explained.
"black and blue? Callie would approve" Arizona quipped. Arizona paused for a minute to consider her words before asking the question she was sure Meredith had been getting all day for at least a week now. She watched Meredith's hands move skillfully resecting the patient's large intestine as if the surgery had been hardwired into her.
"Do you think he'll come back?" Arizona finally asked.
"I don't know" Meredith admitted "I don't know anything anymore."
They didn't speak for a while, they just moved between observing and cutting until it was finally time to close. Meredith really wasn't a resident anymore, she handled everything without even once asking Arizona's input. It was impressive given the difficulty of any surgery involving the large intestine.
"Derek" Arizona spoke up as they were closing. "He's just having a moment, he'll snap out of it eventually."
"I know" Meredith assured her. "Moments are okay to have sometimes."
Meredith said that last part in a way that let Arizona know she was talking about her.
~~~~XX~~~~
"You did this!" Callie screeched while shaking a piece of paper in Owen's face. Her words leveling an accusation that Owen had been preparing himself for all day.
"You did THIS!" Callie repeated, her hand smacking against the paper still angered and still seeking an explanation.
"Torres, you did the impossible. You deserve all the accolades being thrown at you." His words were kind but dismissive as if there were no real issue at all. Callie thought over his words and decided that he really meant the hospital deserved the accolades and not necessarily her.
"Get me off this list Hunt" Callie demanded.
The list she was referring to? It was a newly published short list for the Harper Avery Award. Sure, Callie wanted to win a Harper Avery, what surgeon didn't, but not for this surgery; not this way. She ran her fingers through her hair trying without success to get away from the feeling of being hopelessly trapped in a lie.
"Arizona is my wife, they are going to figure that out and then…" Callie could barely get the words out before Owen jumped in happily throwing Callie's own words back in her face.
"I don't know, is she?" He questioned raising an eyebrow. "Seems like a nice little gray area to me."
By lunch time Callie was in a full on panic. Awards meant publicity, and press, and speeches. Beyond her general aversion to public speaking, an aversion which was already causing her stomach to turn in on itself, Callie was mostly afraid of the press and attention it would bring to Arizona. Arizona, the beautiful perky blond doctor with no idea at all what Callie had done for her. She seriously thought Callie had found some impossible way to save her leg using what was there. But there was nothing there, nothing at all. Now, their little science experiment seemed to be working, but it hadn't been tested. There was no telling what might happen next, Arizona was the beta test, the first prototype and they were all watching her with anticipation waiting for her leg to randomly disintegrate in front of their eyes.
"You gotta tell her" Alex insisted, slamming his food tray onto the table and causing everyone else's food to bounce and roll from the vibration.
"I know" Callie reluctantly admitted.
"Maybe you won't win" Cristina offered. She grabbed the now crumpled piece of paper away from Callie. "See look, Preston Burk, Colin Marlow, Maggie Stone, and then there's you." Cristina went back to sipping her tea satisfied with her observation.
"They're clearly going for Cardio, you're just on there for diversity" she added.
Alex had more self-satisfying motives in mind.
"look, you being on that list, means I'm technically on there too. You know what that sort of thing could do for me?" Callie watched and waited as Alex took an angry bite out of his apple. His brown tufts of hair sticking out in some random order that served to highlight his careless mood.
"Tell Robbins, she'll bitch about it at first but so what, she's always bitchy."
"Hey!" Callie protested in Arizona's honor.
Secretly, she knew Alex was right; she needed to just tell Arizona everything and hope for her standard reaction, which while off-putting generally amounted to a blast of sound and fury signifying nothing at all.
~~~~XX~~~~
After her surgery with Meredith, Arizona decided to call it an early day and spend the rest of her day bonding with Sofia. It seemed like, in the months Arizona had been locked away in a hospital room, her little girl had grown so much. But the minute she finally saw her that first day Sofia's face lit up like a candle glowing with joy. She recognized her right away and let out a stream of excited baby-babble which Arizona decided to translate as "I miss you".
As they approached the door Arizona felt Sofia squirming and shifting in her stroller. Callie warned her that had been happening, but she didn't think it would go on this long after the fact. Sofia wanted her daddy, the little girl didn't understand why she couldn't just hop across the hall any more. Arizona bent down to greet the little girl's eyes. She had Callie's eyes, and Callie's hair. But that face, everything about Sofia's face said Mark Sloan. She lifted her keys and moved her fingers over the spare Mark had given her for just-in-case purposes. He was gone, but Arizona figured this qualified.
"Come on Sofia, let's go see daddy" she declared shifting the stroller so that Sofia was no facing the threshold of Mark's door.
They walked in and Arizona was immediately overwhelmed with memories, some good and some not so good. She paused at a spot on the floor.
"This is where I helped your sister give birth" Arizona smiled at the memory of the look on Mark's face holding his grandson, even if it didn't last long. "You haven't met her yet, but maybe someday you will."
They walked over to the dining table and Arizona had to take a breath at the sight of Sofia's high chair. Mark had rearranged his entire apartment so that he could have space to eat dinner and breakfast with her. She guessed that morning he'd been feeding her Cheerios because they were still scattered about her feeding tray and Arizona could just make out where Mark had taken a few cheerios and spelled out "I Love You". She got it now, why Callie was having so much trouble approaching this subject. She was supposed to be the strong one and she could barely keep it together by now.
"Damn it Mark" she sighed. "you were supposed to be here".
Sofia crawled her way over to a counter where Mark had placed a picture of them sleeping together. Arizona picked it up.
"Your daddy loves you, he's not here to tell you anymore but I want you to know it. You were the best thing that ever happened to him."
Arizona picked the picture up off of the counter and placed Sofia back in her stroller. She moved back toward the door, taking in the apartment one last time.
"Say bye to Daddy Sofia" Arizona instructed and then watched her daughter lift her hand and wave bye to an empty room.
"goodbye Mark" she whispered closing the door behind them.
Back at their apartment Arizona placed Mark's picture on the dresser next to Sofia's crib. Here, she could see her dad whenever she felt like, or at least that's what Arizona hoped. She put Sofia down in the living room and watched her crawl around occasionally using the coffee table to brace herself so that she could take a few steps. When did this happen? They'd been told, because of the circumstances of her birth, Sofia might experience some developmental delays. So, when she wasn't walking by twelve months, they all took it in stride. Arizona tried to remember if she'd ever seen Sofia do it before, nothing came to mind.
""Oh, my sweet girl" Arizona cheered. "You are full of surprises today" she declared before picking her daughter up and kissing her cheek.
They were relaxing into the day now, and Arizona felt relieved to just be with Sofia, the one person who seemed not to be putting any pressure on her. But then the phone rang, she should have known it was too good to be true.
"Arizona?" Callie's voice called from the other end. "We need to talk."
AN: Thanks again to anyone who is reading. I really enjoy your comments and feedback.
