Long Road from Ruin pt 9
[It's been a long time coming, but we're finally getting some news from the search! Sorry it's taken me a while to write this, there's a part of this that has hit a bit too close to home for me when writing this chapter, and although I wanted to keep it in the story, I struggled with getting it written down. Anyway, as always, enjoy :)]
Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital:
Callie's pov
Callie had only just noticed that she was wearing a terrible outfit today. Sure, she wasn't usually the most elegant dresser, but she had never clashed colours this badly. Burnt orange layered over pink – ouch. It might not have been the most appropriate thing to be thinking about, but Callie thought she was just about at breaking point. Her nails were bitten down to stubs, a habit she thought she had kicked aged 8 when she had been allowed to wear nail polish for the first time, and she had paced around the room so many times she was beginning to feel dizzy. Karev had forced her to sit down, and brought her a coffee as well as a sandwich. Callie was starting to see how her wife could stand to be friendly with this guy.
Callie put her narcissistic worries aside, and looked at the clock, there were a couple of minutes until the call from the search team was due, and yet she was the only one in the conference room. She could understand that maybe Owen was caught up in administrative stuff, but it wasn't like Daniel to be late, and by proxy, Barbara either. Callie took to fussing over Sofia to try and calm herself down. Cuddles with her baby were the only thing really working in keeping her blood pressure down.
Callie didn't look up from the face of her angel until she heard the door open. Checking the clock, Callie saw that her parents-in-law were on time, with a minute to spare. She knew Daniel Robbins couldn't stand being late; it was all part of the military training. Callie also knew that Arizona had been raised with the same principles, with her seeing more and more parallels between her wife's behaviour and her father-in-law's.
Daniel had chosen a seat closest to the speakers for the call, to assume a position of dominance Callie supposed. She had heard from Karev about the speech Daniel had given Jenkins earlier today, and from that Callie knew there was no way Colonel Robbins was letting anybody but Colonel Robbins have any leadership in this matter.
In complete contrast to her husband, but probably completely in character for their relationship, Barbara hurried to take a seat next to Callie.
"Can I hold her?"
Callie passed a sleepy Sofia over to her grandmother, and felt a pang of hurt. Her mother had never even taken a second look at her daughter, all because she didn't understand Callie's love for Arizona. Sure her father had come to accept her marriage, and Callie had always been a daddy's girl, but there was something in losing her mother's love that made her feel torn at the soul. What kind of mother could hate her daughter for finding love? Callie almost found herself feeling guilty when she thought of her mother. She wanted to please her, and she had always been taught that you only get one set of parents, but that meant sacrificing her happiness. And when happiness meant having the most incredible woman in the world, and the most perfect baby, she couldn't give that up.
At least Sofia had one wonderful Grandmother who loved her. Callie's eyes began to water as she remembered the last time Sofia had been in the arms of her Grandmother like this.
"Hey, Sofie… Where's that gorgeous smile then?"
Seeing Barbara Robbins coo over her daughter made Callie smile so much her facial muscles hurt. Even Colonel Robbins had softened up around Sofia, allowing his military personality to slip for the baby. According to Barbara, the last time he had let his guard go was when Arizona was only a baby in arms. It made Callie's eyes well up with tears.
Arizona brought the coffee cups over, and set them on the coffee table. One look was all it took for her to be kneeling in front of Callie, who hadn't realised her teary eyes had been all that obvious.
"Honey, what's wrong? What can I do?"
Callie smiled, hardly believing how lucky she was.
"Please, just don't ever change."
Callie snapped herself out of her thoughts, to hear a lot of jargon being used between Daniel, now in full-blown Colonel Mode, and the disembodied voice coming from the speakers. Taking a glance at Barbara, she saw her mother-in-law shake her head slightly.
"I don't understand it either, not even after all of these years." Barbara sighed, "It's frustrating, but he is good at what he does, and it is best to leave him to negotiate directly."
Callie opened her mouth to protest, but not before Barbara spoke first.
"He'll explain it to us in simple terms. Just let him finish this."
Callie nodded, and the two women turned their attention to Sofia.
Barbara's pov
Seeing Sofia was the only thing getting Barbara Robbins through the agonising experience of hearing information which could potentially explain where her daughter was, but not understanding it. But, she reminded herself, she trusted her husband. Instead she turned her attention to Callie.
"How are you? I know upset is an obvious emotion in this moment. But I mean, really, how are you?"
Barbara watched Callie chew on her bottom lip, seemingly contemplating her answer.
"On a normal day, when I know Arizona is going to be there at the end of the day, I can tell you that I am doing amazingly well. Your daughter completes me, and without her, I feel like I'm crumbling to be honest…"
On seeing the sadness in her daughter-in-law's eyes, Barbara just had to hug her. She had always been very into hugging as a mother, maybe to compensate for her husband's military attitude, but sadness was always a sure way to get hugged by Barbara.
"You ever need anything," Barbara whispered in Callie's ear, "You know where we are."
Callie pulled out of the hug, looking horrified.
Callie's pov
Callie was dumbfounded. How could Barbara have sounded so morbid? Did she believe Arizona wasn't coming back? Was Callie letting her emotions get ahead of themselves again? Callie didn't know the answer to anything right now. Feeling Barbara touch her arm, ever so slightly, Callie looked up.
"I didn't mean anything by that," Barbara started, "It's just I know if Arizona needed anything from us she would never ask. I want you to know that if either of you two, or Sofie, needed anything, we're here. Don't feel you can't ask because we're the in-laws."
Barbara smiled, always knowing how to make someone feel at ease. Callie felt her anxiety levels drop a little, her pulse slowing. She took a few deep breaths, because in allowing her worrying to stop, she had noticed the conference call had ended. Slowly, she turned to face Daniel Robbins, who had been waiting patiently for Callie to be ready for this, and Callie appreciated it.
"Well," Daniel began, "To be as direct as possible, they haven't found any trace of anyone yet. The preliminary plan for tomorrow morning is to widen the search parameters, but they are going to be discussing the best direction in which to do that as I'm speaking now. They will call back tomorrow morning." He paused, and Callie could feel him studying her face. "We should all go and get some rest. If you'd wait for me, I need to see Hunt."
With that, Daniel left the room. His job had prepared him for dealing with these crises, whereas Callie and Barbara were in shock. There was no trace of her.
As a tear slid down her cheek, Callie found she couldn't breathe. She needed air. She needed Arizona.
