A/N: I'm not sure how I feel about how the Callie/Arizona confrontation played out but I wanted to get an update out before the busy weekend took over. Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter - I love all the feedback. Hope you enjoy and have a great weekend!
Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy and its characters are owned by ABC and not me.
…
Arizona was pacing around the waiting room when she saw her mom enter the room. She was too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice that Alex had been gone an awfully long time to just be getting coffee. Arizona stopped in her tracks as she saw her mother walk toward her. Her mother had no reason to be at the hospital that day. Arizona's mind immediately flashed to thoughts of another sick child. That was the only reason for her mother to be there. Barbara walked up to her daughter and quietly whispered to her. After a brief conversation, Arizona left the waiting room with her teeth clenched as she headed to the ER to find her lying husband and hurt child.
Some part of her realized that Alex was only looking out for her. Trying to protect her from more pain by not telling her that their other son was also in the hospital and injured. That rational part of her mind wasn't in control. Instead, Arizona was a worried mother with two children in the hospital at the same time. She tried to calm herself on the quick journey down to the exam room but that was impossible.
Arizona didn't bother knocking on the exam room door. She flung it open and her eyes immediately landed on her son who was leaning up against his father on the exam table. She rushed into the room and scooped her son into her arms and peppered his face with kisses, careful not to jostle his injured arm.
"Mama!" Eli cried into her hair as he was wrapped up in her arms. "I hurt Mama."
Arizona looked over Elijah's shoulder to make eye contact with Alex. "Going to get coffee? Really? Since when do you leave me in the dark when one of our kids is hurt?" She made sure she was using her calmest voice possible while chiding her husband after all she didn't want to scare Eli.
Alex started to explain himself but was quickly cut off, "Save it. You are in so much trouble, Alexander."
Arizona pulled out of the hug to take stock of her son's injuries. After all, he wasn't in the emergency room for no reason. "Eli bear, what hurts?"
"Arm. Ouchie. I felled," he whimpered with tears in his eyes. When Eli was sick all he wanted was his mother. She was the only one that could make him feel better and now that she was there he felt like he could finally let the pain out. Even though there was no genetic relationship between Eli and Arizona they couldn't be more alike and more bonded than if she had given birth to him herself.
Arizona's voice softened even more listening to the pain in the boy's voice, "Oh bubba, we're going to make you feel better soon."
"Who's the doctor?" Arizona directed her question to Alex, completely unaware of the doctor who was blending in with the wall behind her.
"That would be me," Callie replied as she pushed off the wall from where she had been watching the scene unfold in front of her. She had almost expected it to be Arizona that would enter the room as Eli's mother but expecting it didn't help the shock and hurt she felt at seeing her ex-girlfriend so clearly moved on in her life.
"Have you done x-rays?" Arizona swirled around to make eye contact with her son's doctor. She didn't have time to register the fact that Callie now knew about her family. The only thing that mattered at that moment was fixing her son and relieving his pain.
"No," Callie quickly answered the fretful mother. "Your son wouldn't let me do anything until you got down here."
"Well, let's get them done then so we can get him some pain relief." Arizona moved so that Alex could lift Eli into the wheelchair. "Dr. Callie is going to go take pictures of your arm, okay E?"
Elijah latched onto his mother with his good arm. He didn't want to let her go. "No, Mama."
Arizona crouched down so that she was looking eye to eye with Eli. "Dr. Callie has to take pictures so she can fix it. Just like when your tummy hurt, remember?"
"No, Mama," the toddler said more defiantly. "You fix."
"Baby, I can't fix you this time but Dr. Callie is the best doctor I know to fix your arm. I promise."
"Promise?' Eli asked in tears. He was hurting and he just wanted his mother to fix his broken arm. It killed Arizona to see her son in so much pain. He never cried unless he was seriously hurt.
"How about you come with us?" Callie suggested.
Arizona smiled at her ex-girlfriend. "Thank you," she whispered as they started to leave the room.
"I'll just make myself useful and go check on Abraham," Alex spoke loudly at the retreating form of his wife. He knew she was still mad at him for not telling her about Eli being in the ER. He also knew that she was more upset at the fact that Callie had just discovered their secret. He wanted to make her life a little bit easier so he would take the time that they were in radiology to get an update on Abe's status so that he would hopefully have good news to report when she returned.
…
Arizona and Callie walked to radiology in silence. They arrived at the x-ray room and Arizona moved Eli to the x-ray table and got him settled so that Callie could get the images she needed to fix him. After many tears and a promise of ice cream, Arizona was able to leave the room so that Callie could take the x-rays. Arizona retreated to the imaging room next door where Callie was sitting at the computer waiting for the x-rays to load.
Arizona sighed as she leaned against the closed door and stared at Callie who had refused to look at her since they left the exam room. This was not how Arizona wanted Callie to find out. She wanted to be the one to tell her. As badly as Callie hurt her, Callie deserved to hear it from her and not as second hand gossip. "Callie…"
"It should only take a few minutes to get the images," Callie spoke. She just wanted to do her job. Fix the broken bone of a patient in her care and then move on to the next patient. She did not want to deal with her ex-girlfriend.
"This isn't…" Arizona started. She desperately wanted to talk about this with Callie. Now that it was out there it couldn't be avoided. "This isn't how I wanted you to find out." Arizona leaned her head against the door and closed her eyes saying the words more for herself than for Callie, "We didn't plan on anyone finding out."
Callie's eyes remained trained on the computer and gritted her teeth. She was losing her resolve to stay professional and just be the doctor in this situation. "Really, it should only take a few more minutes."
"Callie, please…"
"What Arizona?" Callie snapped and whirled around to look at the blonde. "Or should I call you Mrs. Karev? Dr. Karev? Whatever you're going by now? What could we possibly have to talk about?"
Arizona steeled herself against the door. She expected Callie to be angry but instead she was met with apathy. "Considering you just found out that I'm married with kids. Who I'm married to – I thought you might have something to say about that."
"I broke up with you. Remember? You're allowed to move on," Callie said coldly.
Arizona winced as Callie mentioned the breakup. "You're angry. I can see it in your eyes. You need to get your anger out because I really don't want my child's doctor to be pissed off while she's setting his bones!"
"Do you really think that little of me that you would think that I would take out my personal feelings on a patient?"
Arizona was exasperated with the Latina. "I've seen you do it! Do you not remember when you were pregnant? You took out all of your frustrations on your patients. You were more than happy to cause them pain!"
Callie remembered back to the day that she found out she was pregnant. She did enjoy putting her patient that day in pain. Part of her wanted that man to be in as much pain as she was. Callie shook her head no, "I would never do that to a child."
Arizona straightened her shoulders out and faced Callie head on. "I'd rather not take that chance. Eli has been through enough in his life. So just get it out on me. I can take it."
Callie couldn't bear to have Arizona's blue eyes staring at her. She turned around to face the computers again. "I really don't have anything to say to you."
"Just tell me what you're thinking," Arizona softened her stance to a less offensive one.
Callie scoffed. "I don't know what to think." She twirled around in her chair to face Arizona again and her voice rose, "You know what? I do want to know how the woman who once never wanted children now has three. You broke up with me because you didn't want children!"
"And you changed my mind about that. You made me fall in love with your child then broke up with me for no reason!" Arizona yelled back.
"So you decide to go ahead and have kids with the first person to pay attention to you – no matter what sex they are?"
"That's not how it happened," Arizona's voice softened again.
Callie rolled her eyes, "Then please, tell me how you married Alex Karev of all people and had kids with him. The same guy that spread syphilis around the hospital his intern year."
"When we got to Africa we were both so broken. I had just lost the person I thought I was going to spend my life with and my daughter. You shattered my world, Calliope," Arizona said thoughtfully as she stared into Callie's eye. "Alex was also lost after losing his best friends in Seattle. For the first year all we did was go to work and go home. I didn't even know what existed in Mzuzu outside of my apartment and the clinic. Working non-stop kept me from feeling the pain. Then, one day Alex and I delivered these babies from their dying mother. They were born so early. I didn't think they'd survive an hour but I wasn't going to give up on them before they had a chance to live. We threw everything we had into making sure they survived. We lived at the clinic for weeks only going home to get clothes. These two tiny miracle babies gave us a reason to live again. And as it turns out in Malawi you have to be married to adopt. So we got married so that we could bring our sons home and not have them go to an orphanage. The rest just sort of happened." Arizona paused to let the information sink in before countering Callie's attack on her husband. "And that man that spread syphilis around the hospital, has also saved countless children's lives including yours and his own. That same man holds our sons' hands as they undergo yet another surgery due to their premature birth. He comforts them when they're up sick all night because of the medicines they're on. He checks for monsters under the bed. He sings lullabies to our daughter before bed and makes sure he never leaves home without her favorite teddy bear. His locker at work is covered in masterpieces colored by his kids. That man is one that didn't want to tell me that one of our son's was in the ER with a broken arm because he was trying to protect me from worry – he knew that I was already too upset dealing with the fact that our other son is currently undergoing his fourth heart surgery right now. That is the Alex Karev that I married."
Callie sat in her chair stunned at the tongue lashing she just received from Arizona. It was enlightening to say the least. "Arizona, I had no idea…"
"You're right you didn't. Because you broke up with me without a single tear… without as much as a goodbye."
"I didn't deal well with everything at the time. I admit that. I know I treated you horribly."
Arizona coughed, "Is that an apology?"
"I'll never be able to apologize enough. I'm truly sorry," Callie forced Arizona to meet her gaze. "I guess it all worked out for you though. You get the happy family. The one that I still dream about having."
"You have Sofia and Mark."
Callie started to respond and tell Arizona that Mark isn't a part of the family that she wants when she realized they had been so distracted with their fighting that they missed Elijah's scans appearing on the computer.
"It's a simple break," she said after examining the x-rays for a moment. "I'll reduce it and cast it. Because he's so young it should only take three to four weeks to heal." Callie looked up to meet Arizona's relieved eyes. "Unless you want me to get someone else to do it?"
Arizona shook her head, "No, I trust you."
Callie gave the blonde a small smile, "Why don't you take him back to the exam room and I'll meet you there with the supplies."
"Thank you," Arizona whispered as she left the room to go get Eli.
…
Cristina finished the valve replacement Teddy asked her to do and headed toward OR 3 where Teddy should have been halfway through a Fontan procedure. She had just scrubbed in and was entering the operating room when she noticed the lack of action going on in the room.
"Someone needs to go tell the family," Teddy said solemnly to Emily who was standing next to her.
Cristina walked into the room and stood next to Teddy, "What's going on?" she asked as she checked out all of the machines which showed the patient was still stable on the table.
"Too much scar tissue from previous surgeries makes it impossible," Teddy answered. "You can help me close if you'd like, Dr. Yang."
Emily stepped back from the table, "I'm going to go tell the family."
"Tell Alex and Arizona we'll meet in my office in an hour to discuss the next steps," Teddy spoke to Emily as she worked to put the boy's chest back together before sewing him closed.
"I was just in the waiting room talking to Karev and I didn't see anyone that looked like this kid's family," Cristina spoke to the younger surgeon retreating from the room. "So what is the next step for this kid if we can't do the Fontan? Pretty hopeless, huh?"
Teddy's head snapped up, "He needs a heart. We'll get him moved to the top of the transplant list."
"You and I both know how hard it is to get organ donations for children. Parents don't like to slice their kids open."
"Not getting a heart is not an option," Teddy remarked coldly. "I'm almost done here so why don't you go find something else to do." Teddy couldn't deal with Yang's insensitivity any longer. Not when it was about her godson.
Cristina didn't know why she was being kicked out but took the opportunity to escape so that she could do some more snooping. She scrubbed out and was making her way back to the cardio wing when she walked by the waiting room. She glanced in expecting to see Emily informing an African family about how the surgery, or lack thereof, went. Instead, she saw Emily speaking with an older woman and watched as the two walked out of the waiting room and toward the elevator. Cristina kept getting more questions and no answers to solving the mystery about what was going on with Alex and Arizona.
…
Alex hadn't returned from trying to get an update about Abraham when Arizona returned to the room with Elijah. Arizona took a moment to explain to Eli what was about to happen. That Callie was going to fix his arm and put a cast on it. A few minutes later Callie rolled a cart into the room with all the supplies she'd need.
"Do you want me to administer some pain relief meds before we get started?" Callie asked Arizona who was sitting next to Eli attempting to calm him.
Arizona took in Eli's appearance. He looked pale and his skin was clammy. She knew he was in a lot of pain. She knew that setting the bone would put him in more pain. "I think you'd better."
Callie nodded as she slipped on her gloves so that she could give the little boy a shot. She moved toward Eli to prep his arm for the injection. She wanted to distract the little boy so that he wouldn't even notice she was giving him a shot. "What's your favorite thing to do, Eli?" Callie asked as she ripped open the alcohol pad to sterilize the injection site.
"'wimming," Eli answered as he watched the doctor intently.
"Swimming?" Callie asked. "Do you have a pool to swim in?" Callie was almost ready to administer the shot. She would do it when Eli answered her question.
Eli shook his head no, "Gramma has pool. We go 'wim all the…" Before Eli could finish his sentence Callie stuck him with the shot. He flinched but didn't cry. He picked up what he was saying after a beat. "We 'wim all the time."
"That is very cool, Eli. I wish I had a pool to go swimming in all the time," Callie cleaned up her mess and turned to Arizona. "We'll give that a few minutes then we can get started."
Callie continued to engage Eli in conversation as Arizona sat next to him. She was amazed that Callie could get him talking. Eli was the shy twin. He was very outspoken with those that he knew but not with strangers. As they were waiting for the medicine to take effect Alex returned.
"Did you get an update?" Arizona asked as soon as he walked into the room.
"Not really," Alex answered. "The best I got was that they were still working. Teddy and Emily couldn't get away to come talk to me. Cristina was about to scrub in when I left." Alex went to give Eli's head a rub, "What's the verdict for the little Evel Knievel?"
Eli looked up to his dad with wide eyes, "What's kne…knevil?"
Alex chuckled, "He's a dude who did rad stunts like you did by jumping off the monkey bars."
Arizona answered Alex's question, "Simple break. We're waiting on pain meds to work before Callie sets it."
"High five, little dude." Alex held his hand up to Eli's good hand. "Your first broken bone." Alex turned to Arizona who wasn't nearly as excited that their baby boy had his first broken bone, "First of many, I'm sure."
Arizona could tell the medicine was starting to work. Eli was starting to look tired and wasn't clinging to her as tightly as he once was. He was more amused by the cartoon Alex had loaded on his phone for him to watch than anything.
"Dad called while I was up with your mom. Apparently and I quote 'Daniella is an angel and I'm keeping her.'" Alex informed his wife about their youngest child.
Arizona scoffed, "We'll see if he's still singing that tune tonight when she doesn't let him get more than four hours of sleep at a time. He'll be calling us begging us to come get her."
"Not his precious namesake," Alex added sarcastically.
"The Colonel keeps a strict schedule, you know that," Arizona rolled her eyes as she realized she just referred to her own father as 'The Colonel.' "He won't know what to do when Della doesn't follow his six hours of sleep in a row plan." Arizona looked over to see Eli's head bobbing. She spoke up to Callie, "I think the pain meds are working."
"Great. What color would he want for his cast?"
"Green," Alex and Arizona answered in unison. Arizona laughed softly and clarified, "When they were newborns we put them in blue and green hats so that we could tell them apart. Since then, Abe is always wearing some kind of blue and Eli is always in green."
Callie laughed along with the blonde, "Wait until they're older and realize they can easily switch places by switching the colors up."
"I'm sure it won't be too much longer until they figure that out. They already love trying to trick people that don't see them enough to learn how to tell them apart."
Callie was set up to pop the bone back into place. She only wanted to have to do this once. "Ready?" She asked the blonde who was holding tight to the little boy around the waist. Alex was hovering nearby with his cell phone out. He wanted to document their son's first broken bone in video for prosperity.
Arizona nodded and Callie quickly snapped the bone back into place. Eli cried out softly when she moved it but his tears stopped by the time she removed her hands from his arm. The pain that had been taunting him all day had all but disappeared. Callie noticed that Arizona still had a firm grip on her son and was holding her breath. "It's okay Mom, you can breathe now."
Arizona was broken out of her trance and released her tight grip on the little boy. She leaned over to kiss his head. "That wasn't so bad was it Eli bear?" He shook his head no. "And now, you get a cool cast that everyone can write on."
As Callie started getting the fiberglass casting ready, the door to the exam room opened and in walked Barbara and Emily Robbins. Arizona immediately looked at her watch. She noticed that it was a little after one in the afternoon. Abe's surgery was scheduled to last at least until two. Her mind jumped to very dark places until Emily walked over to her and told her that he was okay. Arizona wanted to ask more questions but knew better than to discuss such sensitive matters in front of Eli who was too smart for his own good.
Barbara moved to give her grandson kisses. She noticed that he was in much better spirits than when she left him. Emily also moved to visit with her nephew.
"Auntie Em! I broked my arm!" Eli exclaimed with a smile to his aunt.
Emily smiled widely back at her nephew, "I heard you did, buddy. I want to be the first person to sign that cast. Don't let anyone else sign it first, okay?"
"I won't," Eli answered not really understanding what his aunt was asking of him but realizing that the proper answer anyway.
"Does it hurt?"
"Yes," Eli whined. He was looking for sympathy from everyone even though he wasn't really in that much pain anymore thanks to the pain medicine.
Emily glanced at Callie who was still working away at setting the cast on the little boy's arm. She turned her attention back to Eli. "That's too bad Eli. I have to go back home to Boston tomorrow and I was planning on having a date tonight with one of my favorite guys. I was going to have ice cream for dinner and then watch all of the Cars movies until I fell asleep. Since Abe is playing with Aunt Teddy today I guess I'll have to find someone else to join me."
"Me! Me!" Eli yelled as he hopped up and down on the bed trying not to move his arm so that his doctor could do her work on it.
"But you're sick. You can't do all of that if you're sick."
"It don't hurt, Aunt Em. I promise."
"You sure?" Emily questioned.
"Promise! Mama can I go with Aunt Em?" Eli turned his attention and flashed his big brown eyes at his mother.
Arizona pretended to be deep in thought. "I don't know E. If you're hurt you really should just spend the rest of the day in bed."
"Daddy!" Eli exclaimed trying to get his father's support.
Alex continued to play with the little boy's emotions. "Mama has a point, bud."
"I promise I'll be good!" Eli whined.
"Hmm. I guess you can. But only if Aunt Emily makes sure to feed you a nutritious dinner before you eat your weight in ice cream." Arizona glances up at her sister who nods her head.
"Yay!" Eli cried and Emily joined him in his celebration.
"Okay, now before we can get our fun night started, I need to talk to your mom and dad for a bit. Maybe while we're gone Gramma will tell you all about how your Mama broke her arm when she was little," Emily smirked at Arizona.
Arizona rolled her eyes and Barbara Robbins laughed in the corner as she thought about the memory. "I'm not sure he needs to hear about the dumb things his Uncle Tim made his Mama do when she was little."
Barbara shook her head, "All the more reason for him to know – so that he doesn't try to do the same to Della."
Arizona, Alex and Emily moved to leave the room as they overheard Barbara begin the story about how Timothy convinced Arizona that she was a superhero like Wonder Woman and convinced her to test it out by jumping off of the top of their tree house.
…
As soon as the door was closed Arizona was firing questions at her sister. "Why are you done so early? How is Abe? What happened? What went wrong? Is he okay?"
Emily grabbed her sister by the wrists, "Calm down, Zona. Take a deep breath."
Arizona took several deep breaths. Breathing in from her nose and out from her mouth. Alex was standing next to her with his arm around her waist. When Emily thought that they were sufficiently calm, she decided she had to break the bad news to her family.
"We couldn't complete the procedure. There was too much scar tissue to make it work. Teddy's closing up now."
After hearing that the one procedure that could give her son more time failed, Arizona's eyes welled up with tears. She couldn't stop them from rolling down her face. She was speechless. Her mind was racing and she couldn't stop thinking about how she was going to lose her son.
After taking a moment to let the news sink in Alex broke the silence. "What do we do now?"
"Teddy wants to have a meeting in her office in an hour." Emily gazed between Alex and Arizona who both looked defeated. "We're going to figure this out. I'm going to go check on Abe who should be in the ICU soon. Tell Eli that I'll pick him up from the hotel at four." Emily leaned in and gave her sister a quick hug and kiss on the cheek as she left the devastated parents standing in the hallway.
Arizona found herself enveloped by her husband's arms. There weren't any words to be said between them. They both knew what the failure of the surgery meant for their son. They knew his last chance was to get a new heart. They held on to each other as if they were the only lifeline they had. After a few minutes, Alex pulled out of the embrace. Abe wasn't their only child and he knew they needed to get back to Eli. Alex wiped his tears and gave himself a moment to compose himself. He didn't want Eli knowing that anything was wrong with his brother. He knew Arizona needed more time to herself so he didn't push her to going back in with him. He gave her another squeeze and kiss before walking back into Eli's treatment room with a fake smile on his face. After taking another few minutes to compose herself, Arizona returned to see Callie finishing the cast on Eli's arm. Callie looked up when she heard the door open and could tell that something had happened out in the hall. She could tell that Arizona had been crying even though she was giving her best smile to her son.
"All done," Callie told the little boy after lifting his arm gently into a sling. Callie ripped off her gloves, "I'm going to go get his discharge paperwork. I'll be right back."
"Pretty cool cast you have there, Eli." Arizona stated to a lethargic Eli. She could tell that he was fighting off the effects of the painkillers. "I think it's time for you to go take a nap with Grandpa and Della."
"I wanna stay with you and Daddy!" the little boy protested.
"If you stay here with us, you won't get to go play with Aunt Em later," Alex tried to pacify his son's forthcoming fatigue induced tempter tantrum.
Eli thought about his options for a moment. Ice cream dinner did sound a lot more fun than spending the day at the hospital with his parents. "Okay," he huffed.
"Okay," Callie entered the room and handed Arizona a piece of paper to sign. "Ibuprofen as needed for pain and he'll need to have it checked in about a week. If you're still here I'll be more than happy to do it." Callie leaned down to Eli, "No more falling off monkey bars, okay?"
Eli nodded and grabbed his grandmother's hand. Arizona had signed the paperwork with a flourish and handed it back to Callie before bending down to say goodbye to her son. "Be good for Grandma and Grandpa. We'll call you before you go to bed, okay, baby?"
Eli nodded and leaned in to give his mother a kiss goodbye. He repeated the process with his father. As soon as their son was out of sight, Arizona turned into Alex's arms and fell apart.
…
