A/N: Glad so many of you were glad that I decided to continue this story.

So sorry for the delay, I'm working a lot more and longer hours so writing has had to take a bit of a back seat, hopefully try and get on it a bit more now.

Arizona scrubbed out of her surgery; for the first time since the crash she'd been paged 911 in the middle of the night. The buzzing of her pager interrupting her sleep causing her to unwrap herself from the arms of her wife, place a gentle kiss on her forehead and leave a post-it on her side table. It had always been their routine to leave a message for each other if the other got paged in 911, particularly if the other didn't wake up, which was pretty much always the case when it was Arizona who got paged in; Callie sure did sleep through pretty much anything.

The page had been to a preemie, a massive intestinal blockage almost killing him before he took his first breath; luckily Arizona had been able to remove the damaged part of the gut and stabilise him and now he stood more than a fighting chance as long as he responded well on the vent. Glancing to the clock, Arizona sighed as she saw her shift hadn't even officially started yet, pulling out her iPhone, she couldn't help but smile when she saw she had a text waiting for her from Callie; 'Hey, sorry I didn't wake up last night...hope the surgery went ok. If you're finished in time do you fancy breakfast with me and Sof at that little coffee shop round the corner from the hospital? Need some downtime before the big op today! Love you xxx'. Deciding to call Callie back rather than reply, Arizona pressed the phone to her ear as she headed to her office to grab her jacket, after three rings, Callie's voice came from the other end, 'Heyyy.'

'Hey, sorry I only just got out of surgery...are you still at the cafe?'

'Yeah! We only just ordered, are you coming over? I can add something for you on the order?'

'I'm just grabbing my jacket, can you order me some pancakes with syrup?' Callie chuckled on the other end, 'What?!' Arizona asked.

'Nothing, you just ordered exactly the same as Sof though, you two are awful.'

Arizona laughed too, 'What can I say? Girl has taste! I'll be there in five.'

'Ok, no rush, take your time,' Callie replied. 'Love you.'

'Love you too,' Arizona replied, ending the call and heading out of the hospital. Telling Karev she would be back for the official start of her shift, she headed to the elevator and out of the hospital, soon making it to the cafe. Pushing the door open she smiled when she saw Callie and Sofia chatting away happily at one of the tables.

'Momma!' Sof's voice rang through the relatively vacant cafe, standing up on her seat, she bounced on her feet until Arizona arrived at the table, sitting down next to Sofia who immediately climbed into her lap.

Callie smiled at the sight, 'Hey, I got you a coffee.'

'Wonderful,' Arizona said, immediately reaching forwards and taking a large sip of the warm liquid. 'God I needed this.'

'What was the page for?' Callie asked, taking a sip of her own coffee.

'Bowel impaction in a preemie,' Arizona said. 'It all went well though so hopefully he should make a full recovery.'

'Good,' Callie replied. 'I'm sorry I didn't wake up when the pager went off.'

Arizona chuckled, 'You never wake up when the pagers go off Calliope, hence I have to push you out of bed when it's yours.'

Callie smiled sheepishly, 'I can't argue with that...have you been to see Tim this morning?'

Arizona shook her head, feeling slightly guilty, 'I was scrubbing out of the surgery when I got your text, I came straight over...didn't want to miss breakfast time with my girls.' Arizona said, ruffling Sofia's hair, who climbed off of Arizona's lap and continued with the crayon and paper she had been doodling on. 'I'll make sure I drop in before he goes to surgery.'

Callie nodded, 'I've only got a couple of patients to check in on this morning, then the rest of my day is just Tim, barring any emergencies.'

Arizona nodded, she too had ensured she had a fairly light schedule so that she could be around to check on Tim and how his surgery was going, although it wasn't a particularly risky surgery, no surgery was risk free; as a surgeon she knew that better than anyone. 'You feeling good about today?'

Callie nodded slowly, 'The operation will work...I just hope that it works well, that with therapy he'll get a full range of motion rather than be in a sling permanently or have limited movement.'

Arizona reached across the table, placing her hand on tops of Callie's, 'Calliope Torres, you're outstanding...' Arizona stopped, the words stuck in her throat as she remembered the last time that she had said those words. That had been the last time she'd spoken to Callie before her amputation, suddenly she was at a loss of what to say. As her eyes found Callie's she saw that she recognised the words too; that she also had been taken back to that day. Neither knew what to say; whether to acknowledge the déjà vu or whether to totally ignore it.

They were saved from making that decision as the waitress brought over their pancakes, Sofia instantly tossing her colouring to one side as she focused on the stack in front of her. Releasing Callie's hand, Arizona turned her attention to her daughter, helping her to cut the pancakes into more manageable pieces. When she returned to her own, she looked across and saw that Callie was still sat in the same position as before, her pancakes untouched. Arizona took a breath and smiled, deciding that she needed to finish that sentence, 'You're outstanding and you'll rock this surgery, just like you rock all your surgeries.'

'Mami rockstar?'

Arizona smiled, 'Yes baby girl, your Mami is the biggest, bestest rockstar of them all.'

X

Arizona and Callie walked hand in hand from the day-care heading for the attending's locker room to pick up Callie's scrubs. It was the small parts like this of their normal routine that Callie had missed the most; the hand holding, the coffee dates in between surgeries; there were other things she missed too, but she knew that that would have to wait until Arizona was ready, pushing her too fast too soon would only end badly for everyone involved.

'What you thinking about?' Arizona asked suddenly, Callie looking sideways to find blue eyes scrutinising her; busted.

'Nothing...' Callie replied, a little too quickly. 'I mean...I was just thinking about the little things you know? How much I love just doing this...walking to work with you...it's stupid really.'

'No it's not,' Arizona said immediately, a small smile on her lips. 'I love them too...did you talk to Owen by the way, about us having a long weekend away?'

Callie nodded, 'He said that he saw no problem with it as long as we give him a week's notice and make sure that we've put cover in place.'

Arizona's smile grew, 'Sooooo we could go say next weekend? That gives Owen his week's notice, Tim's recovery will be well underway and...I just really want to go...'

Callie smiled, glad that Arizona was sharing her enthusiasm with the two of them getting away, 'I'll tell Owen then.'

'And I'll ask my parents, but as you said before, I very much doubt they'd say no,' Arizona said. They reached the door to the locker room, 'Are you heading straight to Tim after you've changed?'

Callie nodded, 'I was going to check in on him first why?'

'I'll wait for you to change,' Arizona said in explanation with a small nod as Callie turned and quickly headed into the locker room. Normally she would've invited Arizona in, perhaps they'd even have a quick consult of their own, but they weren't there yet. So instead, Callie changed as quickly as she could, heading back out to Arizona within minutes.

When they reached Tim's room, the both shared a quizzical look as they heard the distinct laughter of a woman along with Tim's. Peaking through the blinds, Callie looked towards Arizona mouthing, 'Teddy,' in explanation. Arizona just rolled her eyes, apparently her brother wasn't the only one who was a horny teenager. 'Shall we go in?' Callie asked, continuing to mouth her words rather than actually say them. Arizona nodded quickly, pushing open the door she smiled brightly, 'Heyy, oh Teddy I didn't realise you were in this early.'

Teddy looked very much like the kid that got caught with their hand in the cookie jar as she stammered to reply, 'I..um...I just wanted to check in...and um...I thought you'd be here...but you weren't...but now you are...'

'You need me for a consult?' Arizona asked innocently, playing along.

'What? Umm yeah, that's it,' Teddy said, her eyes avoiding Arizona's, standing abruptly she gave a look to Tim before she turned. 'I'll leave you guys too it.' Exiting quickly, Teddy gave a small smile to both Arizona and Callie as she fled out of the door.

Arizona turned, her arms folded as she gave Tim the glare. Callie just smiled, picking up Tim's chart and continuing with what she needed to do as his Doctor.

'What?!' Tim asked when he caught sight of his sister.

'What part of don't see my best friend did you not understand?!' Arizona asked.

Tim just laughed, 'In case you hadn't noticed, I'm the one in a hospital bed, it was she that came to me.'

Arizona narrowed her eyes at her brother, who just stared back with a stupid grin on his face, turning he ignored her as he focused on Callie, 'Everything in order Doc?'

'All looks good yeah,' Callie said. 'I'll get Rosie to come in and give you your pre-op checks, providing they all come back ok then the next time I'll see you will be in the OR.'

'Awesome,' Tim replied, looking back over to his sister he groaned when he saw she was still stood in the same position. 'Seriously kid, can we get over this now, I'm a grown man and Teddy is most certainly a grown woman...we can talk if we want to.'

'Hmmm, it's what comes after the talking that worries me,' Arizona said.

'Come on kid, I'm bound to this room for the next couple of weeks, just let it go...I like her.' He added as an afterthought.

Arizona sighed, 'I just don't want to see either of you get hurt T, intentionally or not, just play nice?'

'I always play nice,' Tim said.

Before Arizona could retort, Callie cut in, 'Ok children, if you two have finished, I need to look at your shoulder please.'

Arizona bit her lip as she got her own look from Callie, pouting slightly as she obediently sat on the edge of the bed. Callie chuckled before she turned her attention back to Tim, pulling off the top of his gown, she cast an expert eye over the contours of his shoulder. Pulling it and twisting it to ensure that everything was still the same as when he first came in. 'God your labrum is a mess,' Callie said as she felt the familiar feel of bone grinding on bone where Tim's cartilage had totally disintegrated. 'It's a good job I did my trial when I did.'

Arizona looked up for the first time then, genuine concern taking over her want to slap her brother round the head, 'It is?'

Callie nodded, 'I'll be honest with you Tim, the amount of my cartilage I'm going to have to use in your shoulder is more than I've used in one single joint before...quite a bit more.'

'What so it won't work?' Tim asked, not fully understanding the medical stuff.

'I'm not saying that,' Callie replied. 'I'm just saying I'm stepping into new territory here, there's going to be a lot of artificial cartilage in your joint, I'm just saying, I'm concerned it won't be as strong as you hope it to be. Arizona's told me that you want to get back into work, possibly car mechanics, I'm just concerned that your shoulder won't be strong enough to deal with that kind of physical labour. I just want you to be prepared Tim.'

Tim sighed, 'Look, I'm not going to lie, I'd be bummed if I couldn't do stuff...but at the end of the day I shouldn't be alive right now...for three years I was dead, dead to my parents, dead to my sister...dead to myself and now I'm not. I'm alive and I'm an Uncle and I have a sister-in-law, and all of a sudden I have this life...or-r a chance at a life, the fact that I might not be able to lift a rig...that's the least of my worries.'

Callie nodded, accepting that Tim completely understood what she was saying to him, chancing a look to her wife she saw that she was sitting with unshed tears in her eyes, a look on her face that Callie couldn't quite figure out, 'Right, I'll leave you with the nurses until later ok?'

Tim nodded, 'I'll be on my best behaviour, promise.'

Arizona stood up too, knowing she really needed to head back to her ward, 'I've got to check in on a couple of patients, but I'll be back before you go down ok?'

'Sure thing kiddo,' Tim said, watching them both go as he rested his head back and closed his eyes. When he did, he couldn't help but let his mind wander to a certain cardiothoracic surgeon.

'You ok?' Callie asked as she leant against the ortho front desk, Arizona mirroring her stance in front of her.

Arizona nodded, 'I just wish that I could've been more like that...I mean you just told Tim that potentially his arm could be totally useless...a dead weight...and he just brushed it off because he realises what's more important in life...He's reacting how I should've...' Arizona laughed nervously, 'Damn my big brother always showing me up.'

Callie smiled softly, 'People deal with things in different ways Zo, and let's be honest, Tim's situation isn't exactly the same as yours.'

'No, he just had to pretend he was dead for three years...' Arizona said immediately. 'His hell just looked different to mine but he's still been there. I'm sorry I couldn't be more like that...positive and just...thankful that I was alive.' Arizona paused before she added, 'Because I am...so very thankful that I'm alive.'

'Exactly, you are now, you just had a harder time realising that...it did come of more as a shock to you...being a marine, getting taken as a POW is something Tim would've been trained for...being in a plane crash is something that no one could ever prepare for...something no one would ever imagine would happen to them.'

Arizona nodded, 'I know, I just wish I'd kicked myself in the ass sooner than I did...'

'There's a lot of things I wish I could change in the past Zo...hindsight is a wonderful thing...but that's all it is, we can't dwell on the past otherwise we'll never move forwards.'

Arizona nodded again, knowing that Callie was right, she needed to stop thinking about the bad decisions she had made, the awful way in which she had acted, and just move on, focus on Callie, Sofia and her brother. They were her future; the fact that they were all here something that she would always be eternally grateful for.

'I've got to go on my rounds now,' Callie said reluctantly. 'You'll be ok?'

Arizona quickly nodded, 'Course, like I said, I need to check on some patients of my own, I'll come back down when it's T's time.'

Callie nodded, leaning forwards she placed a brief kiss on Arizona's cheek, 'Love you.'

'Love you too,' Arizona said, smiling as she watched Callie head off into the ward. Her hand came up to trace her fingers over the place that Callie had just kissed, surprised to find butterflies fluttering in her stomach as such simple contact with her wife. Licking her lips Arizona tried to push all those thoughts to one side as she headed up to peds, but the simple fact remained; as every day passed, with every touch and every kiss, Callie was waking something in Arizona that had been sleeping for far too long.

X

Callie looked down at the open shoulder on her table and sighed, Tim's shoulder was in worse condition than any of the scans had shown. The labrum was pretty much totally non-existent and several of his tendons had obviously been torn and, after being left for so long, had re-attached themselves and healed in totally the wrong positions. Taking a moment, Callie briefly looked up to gallery, wishing she hadn't when she saw Arizona on the front row looking down on her with wide, expectant eyes. Once again she had placed her full trust and belief in Callie, and once more it looked like she would let her down again. She'd failed Nick, she'd failed Arizona and now she was going to fail Tim.

Bailey stood opposite Callie, her eyes taking in the increasingly panicked face of someone she considered to be close friends with. She saw the plague of emotions cross through her wide eyes; the fear, the uncertainty, the self-doubt. None of the things she was used to seeing in Callie Torres' eyes, especially not when she was stood in the OR with her scalpel in hand. Noticing that Callie wasn't actually looking at the patient on the table, Bailey followed her gaze, seeing immediately that she was looking at her wife, and with that she understood. She'd been with Callie when they'd tried to operate on Nick initially, she'd been there to see the aftermath of Arizona's surgery and now here she was, seeing Callie once more being asked to operate and fix a loved one.

'Talk to me Torres,' Bailey said, knowing that she needed to say something to get Callie's mind away from dangerous territory.

Callie's shot back to Bailey, shaking her head slightly she said, 'I-i d-don't know B-Bailey...'

'Talk me through what you're seeing,' Bailey said calmly, knowing that the speaker wasn't turned on so Arizona wouldn't be hearing their conversation.

'There's no articular cartilage left in the shoulder at all, there's a complete 360 degree tear of the labrum...the biceps tendon has detached completely from the bone...it's so much worse than the scans showed Bailey,' Callie said.

'Ok...so the plan you had before won't work now?'

'I-I don't know...there's still the same issue of whether the amount of my cartilage I'll have to inject will actually hold...but with the tendon as well...I don't know...'

'Take a minute Torres, stop thinking about who this is, stop thinking about any parallels you might be experiencing, likening this to any other surgery...you can't exist in this career like that...this is an individual patient...separate and different from any patient you've seen before...now what are you going to do to save this man's arm function?'

Callie's eyes met Bailey, her mouth opening to admit defeat when a plan formed in her mind; how she'd not seen it before she had no idea. 'Anchors.'

'What?' Bailey responded, not sure what Callie was talking about.

'Anchors for the tendon...I mean we'd need more anchors than I've ever used in a shoulder repair before, but it would be possible I think...as long as my cartilage holds.'

'Torres, I need you to use more words,' Bailey said, still not fully understanding what plan Callie had just come up with.

Callie smiled beneath her surgical mask, gaining more excitement and belief in what she was planning, 'If I inject my cartilage to repair the tear in the labrum, then we can attach anchors from the end of the tendon back onto the bone, I mean it's going to hurt like hell and the recovery time will be longer, but at the end of the day he'll end up with more function than if I just removed the tendon altogether, then he'd be disabled for life.'

Bailey nodded along with Callie, following the plan and picturing the surgery in her head, 'You said before you'd need more anchors?'

'I'd need about ten...if not more,' Callie said, 'Usually I'd just use five or so; that's why it will be more painful in the short-term...in the long-term as long as he puts in the work in therapy then he'll regain far more function.'

'And will he put in the work at therapy?'

Callie nodded immediately, 'He will.'

'Then let's stop talking and get on with it,' Bailey said, holding her hand out for the suction. Callie smiled once more, looking up her eyes met with confused blue; giving a firm nod and a wink, Callie took the scalpel and focused back on the surgery in front of her.

Arizona breathed a sigh of relief when Callie nodded at her and immediately reached for the scalpel; the confidence in her movements suddenly very evident. She didn't know what had happened momentarily, but Bailey had obviously talked Callie down from whatever cliff she had been running towards. Arizona had thought about going into the OR with them, but had decided against it, not wanting to put any more pressure on Callie then she already had. The parallels between when Nick had been in the hospital and now Tim were too frequent already. Even though Arizona knew that Tim's condition wasn't life-threatening, that didn't stop her from finding her thoughts being dragged back to thinking about Nick.

She'd never really had time to process losing Nick; never had time to mourn him, she'd been too busy mourning her own leg. Her own pig-headedness resulting in her never giving Nick a second thought whilst she dwelled in her own self-pity. Along with the way she had behaved and the things she had said to Callie, not being with Nick was the thing she regretted the most post-crash. Shaking her head, Arizona tried to push those thoughts to one side, she needed to focus on the present; focus on the fact that her brother was alive and more importantly on the fact that her and Callie were making leaps and bounds in getting their relationship back on track. Arizona was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice Teddy take the seat next to her until she spoke.

'How's it going?' Teddy asked simply.

Arizona couldn't stop herself from smiling at the forced nonchalance in Teddy's voice, 'Good I think, they've just started the main part of the surgery...I thought you had surgery yourself?'

'Got cancelled,' Teddy said simply. When she turned she saw that Arizona was just sat there with her eyebrows raised at her, rolling her eyes she explained, 'Patients white count was too high ok?!'

'Yeah, yeah,' Arizona said, her eyes turning back to look down in the OR. Arizona bit her lip, unsure of whether to broach the subject of exactly why Teddy was there.

'Just say it,' Teddy said, her eyes also fixed on the surgical field below.

'Say what?' Arizona responded.

'You know what.'

'I have no idea what you're talking about,' Arizona replied again, her eyes turning back to Teddy to gage her reaction.

Teddy sighed dramatically, she felt like a teenager telling her parents about her latest crush at highschool, 'Ilikeyourbrotherok?!'

Arizona couldn't help but laugh at the way the words came tumbling out of Teddy's mouth, shaking her head she simply said, 'I know.'

'What do you mean you know?!'

'Oh come on Teds, I'm not blind!' Arizona said, a playful tone in her voice. 'You're not exactly the best at hiding it.'

Teddy groaned dramatically, 'Did I seriously make it that obvious?'

'Um...in a word? Yes,' Arizona said simply, laughing when Teddy just groaned again.

'Does Tim know?'

'I think he has a fair idea,' Arizona said, debating whether she should reveal that Tim also liked her in return.

'And you don't want to hurt me?'

Arizona laughed gently, 'I'm not going to lie it's a bit...weird...but if you two like each other than I'm sure nothing that I say will stand in the way anyway..I love you both and I just don't want to see either of you get hurt and me get left in the middle sat on the fence.'

'I know...' Teddy replied. 'I mean, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves here, I've spoken to the guy three times.'

'Three?'

'Um...I may have been back to see him after you and Callie had left,' Teddy said, mentally cursing herself for revealing that piece of information.

Arizona just laughed, shaking her head, 'Oh God...look Teddy, I don't want to feel like you have to sneak around me...or that you can't talk to me...I'm your best friend and I've missed out on being that for the last few months...I mean obviously I don't want to know every detail...but you can talk to me.'

Teddy eyed Arizona for a second before a sheepish smile came across her face, 'I really like him...he's funny, grounded and not to mention seriously hot...I just can't rush into anything you know? That wouldn't be fair on me or on Tim.'

Arizona sighed, 'Can I be frank?' Teddy nodded. 'It's been a year and half since Henry died Teds...and I know you'll never forget him, you'll always love him...but maybe it's time to put yourself out there again...maybe the only way you'll really be able to start moving on is by letting someone else in...letting someone help to fix things...fix you.' Teddy nodded, Arizona's words hitting true with her own internal battle. 'I know it's not the same thing, but when I found out Tim had...supposedly...died, I struggled to get over it, part of the reason I took the job here was because I knew that I needed to change something...but even during those first couple of months, I just...I still couldn't shake the nightmares, the hurt...none of it. Then I met Calliope,' Arizona's eyes turned to fix on her wife, lost in the work she was doing. 'She fixed me after Tim...and yet again she's fixing me now...I suppose I'm saying, sometimes you have to let someone else help you with the tape and glue?'

Teddy nodded again, 'I know when we were out in Iraq, the only thing that got me through losing comrades and friends were the people around me, Owen, Chrissy, Bigs...all of them. I guess sometimes it's hard to know who to let in? Who to trust with the tape?' Does that make sense?'

'Perfectly,' Arizona said.

'Did you ever have any doubt, in the begging, with you and Callie?' Teddy asked, having not been at the hospital when they first got together, she knew limited bits of information about the beginnings of their relationship.

Arizona couldn't help but chuckle at the memory that filled her head, 'Yes you could say there was doubt.'

'Seriously?'

Arizona nodded, 'You know I kissed her in Joe's bathroom?' Teddy nodded, 'Well, Callie avoided me for a couple of days, which was fine...anyway, then when she did approach me she rambled on and on and basically revealed that she was what I would call a newborn in the lesbian world...finding out that I would be only the second woman she'd been wife totally freaked me out...so I bolted...'

'Oh my God, how have I never heard this before?' Teddy asked incredulously.

'Well, it wasn't exactly our most memorable moment,' Arizona said laughing.

'Well then how did you two actually get together?!'

'I was on a date with... Julie I think her name was...Callie came up and basically gave me this speech about her having life experience...anyway the next day I got my ass handed to me by Karev on a peds case...I don't know...I suppose it made me realise that sometimes experience means absolutely nothing...I asked Callie out and that was that.'

Teddy smile, the romantic in her resurfacing, 'You know you two could totally sell your story to Hollywood...it would make one hell of a movie.'

'It really would,' Arizona said, laughing as she turned back to look into the OR. When she did she was surprised to see Callie was looking straight at her, obviously pausing in her work she had caught sight of hers and Teddy's animated conversation. Even though she was wearing a mask, Arizona could see the curiosity in those eyes, smiling she just nodded, knowing that Callie would understand that she would be filled in later, she nodded and returned back to her work.

'So you promise me you're totally cool with...whatever may or may not happen?'

'Yes Teddy,' Arizona said. 'Just spare me the sordid details ok? And...don't hurt my brother.'

Teddy laughed, 'Or you'll break my face?'

Arizona nodded, a glint in her eyes, 'Precisely...and don't worry, I'll give him the same talk.'

'Not that you need to,' Teddy said.

'Of course I do,' Arizona replied. 'It's what best friend's do Teds...I've got your back.'

Teddy smiled, although Arizona's attention was fixed firmly on the OR below them, she could still hear the sincerity and emotion in her voice. Taking in the Arizona sat next to her, she truly couldn't believe how far she had obviously come in such a short space of time; the arrival of her brother and obviously the continued support of her wife had finally started to bring the old Arizona out of her shell. Teddy knew that Arizona would never be the same person again, that none of them would ever be the same again, but if shootings, car crashes, losing her husband and now plane crashes had taught her anything, it was that they were a special brand of people at Seattle Grace. A resilient bunch of friends, that would stand up and protect each other whenever it was required. They were fighters. Survivors. A unique brand of people that Teddy was proud to call her family and as she looked between Arizona and Callie, she had even more hope. The two had always been her aspirational couple, even through their Africa break up, through everything, they had survived and it was evident that they were slowly becoming stronger than ever.

'You alright in there?' Arizona asked when Teddy had been quiet for too long.

'I'm good,' Teddy replied honestly. And for the first time in a long time she actually, one hundred percent, meant those two little words.