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ACT ELEVEN: EXPLANATION OF THE OTHER SHOE DROPPING
Nick is escorted into our home as he takes a seat on our sofa and I rush to check on Callie and Sofia. Once my girlfriend and I make our way back into our living room I hear Callie ask astonishingly to the new man in the room "Mr.…Mr. Cunningham…is that you"? I ask Callie perplexingly "You know this man…how do you know Nick, Callie"? My girlfriend turns back in my direction and says "I don't know anyone named Nick…Arizona…but this gentleman was my consult this evening and he is why I did not make dinner tonight with you and your father and brother and Sofia. Who is this man to you Arizona"? Nick begins to interject some of his off handed humor when we all hear him begin to say "Phoenix and I" but I stop him by placing my index finger in the air and waving it about when I say "No…no Nick…this is not funny…and my name is Arizona". My father takes a seat next to our childhood friend as he shakes his head "No" and Nick suddenly becomes quiet.
While everyone in the room is listening and hanging on every word that Arizona is telling me about her and Tim's childhood friend, I begin to see signs of distress in the guest that is now occupying my living room. I listen contently to the playful banter between the three people involved in this conversation but I am paying close attention to the man I thought was an ortho consult earlier this evening. I watch as he moves about in his seated position trying to find a comfortable spot to relax in but then I catch him flinching every once in a while during his movements. While the conversation begins to have a wider view when Daniel begins to partake in the storytelling about this stranger in my house I notice that the man named Nick begins to sweat profusely and I can only imagine it is because he is in excruciating pain and has not told me truthfully the extend of his back injuries. That is when I decide to make a suggestion to my girlfriend about her childhood friend.
With Daniel and Tim agreeing to stay at my home to keep an eye on my daughter Arizona and I help Nick to his feet and we take him to Seattle Grace to do a full work up on why he is in so much pain. After I get him admitted I ask my girlfriend if she can get me a cup of coffee to which she does not hesitate to do or even ask any questions. Once Arizona is clearly out of sight I say to Nick "So you want to tell me what I am going to find when I run all of these tests because clearly this back problem of yours has been going on for quite some time…and not for the six months you told me earlier tonight"? Nick tries to get comfortable in the thinly padded hospital gurney while we wait for CT to open. Then I hear him clear his throat and say "You are going to find cancer…that by now has probably spread to my bones…my hips…and into my spine…and probably throughout my body".
I listen to this handsome and funny man tell me that he was diagnosed about six years ago and first thought it was a good idea to have a holistic medicine man from Tibet help with his disease. Nick told me at the time he was working for The National Geographic Society as a photographer and was filming a documentary about Sherpa's that help people climb majestic mountains all over the world. On one such journey to Nepal Nick was there to film a group of climbers as they journeyed up the great Mt. Everest when the pain in his back became so excruciatingly painful that he was taken to the medicine man immediately by helicopter. Nick continues to tell me that he stayed in Tibet for six months while the holistic medicine man nursed him back to health. That was three years ago and a month ago was the first flare up he has had since then and that is why he came to see me.
When I surprisingly ask him "Me…how did you know about me…I'm sure my name has not been mentioned in and around the National Geographic Society circle of friends…so how did you find out about me and my profession as an orthopedic surgeon"? Nick just laughs and says "Yuma would not stop talking about you in her voice mail message to me about six months ago. When I emailed her where I was and how I was doing she again could not stop talking about this amazing woman that she met a medical conference in New York City. I bet she went on for two…no…it had to be at least three pages…about this hot Latina she met and the week you both spent together. Must have been some week…Sedona never gushed like that with her other female lady lovers before". I smile proudly as I listen to his comments about my girlfriend when I curiously ask "Sedona, what's that all about…you calling Arizona by city names from the state of Arizona"?
The drugs I prescribed to Nick before the CT scans I am about to take begin to take affect when he laughs loudly and says "She hates it when I do that…I mean since we all were younger I have been doing that prank…and she fucking hates it". Just as Nick's laughing continues at my expense Arizona walks out of the elevator and back down the hall with my hot cup of coffee in one hand and a small sack in her other hand just as Nick yells at the top of his lungs "Tempe…where the hell have you been? Your hot and sexy lady Latina lover and I were just getting to know each other". By now my face is wearing a shocked look on it by what Nick just pronounced when Arizona meets my gaze. Then my girlfriend and I both begin to hear snoring of her childhood friend because he has just passed out and the CT tech call out Nick's name when I say to myself "Not a moment to soon".
I am lying in an on call room bed with my girlfriend as we both try to take a nap while I am waiting on the rest of my scans and x-rays to be developed. For the last six hours I have run Nick through every test imaginable to make sure I have a clear picture of what we are dealing with before I meet with Teddy and Miranda for a consult later this morning. Arizona is softly snoring on my chest and I think back to what Nick said earlier about the voice mail message and email my girlfriend sent to her childhood friend…about me…and our first week together. I guide my right hand inside the back of my girlfriend's scrub top softly moving up her back while my left hand finds its way inside Arizona's scrub bottoms. I place Arizona's body onto mine and she begins to stir under my touches. Without saying a word my girlfriend wakes up enough to strip her scrub top off along with her bra and I inhale her left breast while my hand massages her other breast…and the moaning begins.
Now mind you the hospital on call room is not the sexist place I would prefer to make love to my girlfriend…but when the mood hits you…you do not necessarily think so much about where you are…but more about who you're with. Arizona's scrub pants come off in one swift motion of my right hand as I concentrate on removing my scrubs and making love to this gorgeous creature. This single twin bottom bunk bed is quite the feat to maneuver around in especially for two women…but with the way our bodies contour and mesh together in the heat of passion…neither of us seem to mind the oddity of our sexual bedding…at this very moment. After a series of three orgasms each…and three different and very peculiar sexual positions we have just acquired…and accomplished…Arizona is right back where she started this glorious morning as she is softly snoring on my chest.
My Vocero goes off as the charge nurse tells me that my scans and tests are ready to be viewed. I thank the nurse just as Arizona wakes up during my conversation. During our shower together my girlfriend asks me "How about I go and get Sofia ready for school so that I can relieve Tim and dad and they can come and see Nick". I kiss Arizona deeply as we share a round of shower sex and then she changes into her street clothes while I find a pair of fresh scrubs. I kiss her again before she leaves and tell her "I'll see you after my meeting with Teddy and Miranda…probably around nine…or you could just come by the exam room when you get back". Arizona kisses me again and says "I'll see you soon".
The x-ray and CT viewing room is completely filled wall to wall with electrified pictures of every angle of Nick Cunningham's entire body. Teddy, Miranda and I are going over every illuminated picture inch by inch to see if we can save this man's life…this childhood friend of my girlfriend and her family. Each of us woman are marking down on our individual clip boarded sheets of paper what our possible game plan is to rid Nick of this awful cancer that has infested his entire body. After about forty five minutes of writing different scenarios down on paper and just before we are to start our discussion Arizona walks into the viewing room. The four of us along with Dr. Richard Webber, the chief of surgery, devise a plan of action to begin tomorrow morning if the patient in question agrees. The only stipulation is the suggestion that Dr. Webber makes when he says to the four of us "Callie, in order for Dr. Altman to do what she needs to do with the heart surgery…she is going to needs another pair of hands in there with her…and with Dr. Bailey and I helping you with Mr. Cunningham's lower body and extremities…might I suggest a certain doctor to help out…I hear she is still in Seattle…helping out with a heart patient at Seattle Presbyterian…may I give her a call…I guess what I am asking…is may I call Dr. Erica Hahn"?
The moment the words came out of Dr. Webber's mouth…the viewing room empties and the room falls silent with Arizona and I just staring at one another. I am the first one to take a seat and say to my girlfriend "If you want us to find another heart specialist…another cardio thoracic surgeon…to help us perform these tasks…these surgeries at hand…then just tell me Arizona…and I will start looking right away". I realize that I am not talking to my girlfriend anymore when the next words out of her pretty pink lipped mouth asks "Is she the best surgeon…the best heart surgeon for this surgery Callie…because I only want the best for Nick" and I realize that I am now talking with Dr. Arizona Robbins...Pediatric Surgeon. I take my girlfriend's hands in mine and lead her to the chair opposite me as she methodically sits and I say "Next to Christina Yang…Erica Hahn is the best heart surgeon I have ever seen…Teddy will attest to that fact…And since we cannot get Christina here in time…my next best choice would be Erica". Then with a nod of Arizona's head I silently let Dr. Webber know our answer.
A week after Dr. Bailey and me along with Dr. Webber performed abdominal and hip surgery on Nick where Dr. Bailey performed Seattle Grace's first hot chemotherapy wash, it is now time for Nick's heart surgery. I along with Dr. Karev performed a surgery that removed Nick's cancerous hip bones and replaced them with non cancerous cadaver bones. And after seeing and reviewing all of the scans and x-rays today our surgeries are a success. But now I am sitting in the gallery looking down upon both Dr. Teddy Altman and my former girlfriend Dr. Erica Hahn beginning to perform open heart surgery on Nick. I am sitting in the gallery with my current girlfriend as we both watch these two extraordinary women begin this pain staking surgery that could cost Arizona's childhood friend his life.
Eighteen hours and forty two minutes later both Teddy and Erica walk out of the operating room and into the scrub room. Arizona and I are standing at the back of the scrub room when the two women enter and we hear them laughing and joking about some similar case they had both worked in their past. Teddy begins by saying to my girlfriend and me "What ever that powdery white grainy substance was that Owen FedEx'ed from Switzerland seemed to do the trick Arizona. Dr. Hahn and I were able to control all of our intentional operating procedures from the start and place some of that substance on the other procedures that had to wait for our attention…but in the long run…everything turned out just fine". Then Erica states firmly "I want to…I mean Dr. Altman and I…want to give Mr. Cunningham some time to rest before we run some more tests to see if all of our hard work has paid off". My girlfriend stutteringly asks "You…I mean…Dr. Hahn…you…you are staying…you're staying here in Seattle…longer than expected"?
I along with Teddy and Erica stand in the scrub room to stare at my girlfriend when she blatantly asks my former girlfriend if she is staying in Seattle when Erica just snorts out a slight laugh and says profoundly "Why yes Dr. Robbins…I have a heart patient at Seattle Presbyterian that I have been attending to…so yes…I will be around Seattle for a while. Is that going to be a problem"? Arizona just glares at my former girlfriend without saying a word and the tension builds inside the scrub room until Teddy says "Well Dr. Hahn, I don't know about you but I am famished. What do you say that we go to Joe's and have a drink and get a bite to eat? Arizona…Callie…would you like to join us"? Teddy being the always polite best friend knows that Arizona is going to decline but she just wants to cut the tension in the scrub room and the best way she can think of to defuse the situation at hand is to separate my current girlfriend from my former one by her and Erica leaving the room.
After Teddy and Erica walk out of the scrub room chattering away I hear Arizona defeatingly say "You know you can go with them…to eat dinner I mean…if you really want to…I am not going to stop you". I take my girlfriend in my arms and make her look at me when I say fiercely "What ever is the matter with you right now…right this very minute…you need to stop…this protective…and jealous…paranoia about me and Erica…it has to stop…I do not want to go and have dinner with them…I love you…now why don't we go and check on Nick in CICU…and then go talk to your father and brother". Arizona takes my hand in hers as she snuggles her face into my neck all the while kissing my jaw line and neck then eventually finding my awaiting lips. Once our kiss breaks my girlfriend whispers in my ear "I'm sorry babe but she just makes me so crazy when she looks at you and smiles while she is supposedly talking to me. I think she may still have feelings for you". I back Arizona up against the scrub room wall while I kiss her hard…hard enough to make her understand that I do not give a shit if Erica is still in love with me…I am in love with Arizona Robbins.
Nine months and thirteen days after the night that I found out it was Nick that was stalking me, Callie and Sofia and I are saying goodbye to my old childhood friend once again. Nick has had to have two more surgeries on his back and six months of rehab because he had to learn how to walk again, but today is the day that he goes back to work for The National Geographic Society. During his rehab stint Nick has been staying with us in Callie and Sofia's home but tonight he flies off to Belize to begin filming a documentary about a group of surfers and their wild and crazy lives. He will follow them all over the globe…filming their exploits and their competitions…along with their private and personal lives. He promises Callie and Teddy that he will return to Seattle in six months time for his checkup. And he promises me that he will keep in touch with me and Tim throughout his journeys around the world. Then as he says goodbye to the three of us Nick grabs me intensely in his arms and kisses me passionately. Once the kiss breaks he says to me playfully "Goodbye my wife" to which I say sternly "Goodbye my husband". Nick sees the look of astonishment on Callie's face when he mischievously smiles and says to my girlfriend "Ah ha…Flagstaff never told you she was married to me…did she Callie…well she is…since she was ten…and I was eleven…just ask Tim…because he officiated the ceremony".
I just stand there in the middle of Sea-Tac airport and laugh at my friend as I watch him walk down the runway without the use of his cane to his awaiting plane. The tips of my fingers trace over my bruised pink lips that were just kissed by a man…the only other man that has ever kissed them…and I smile. I hear my girlfriend clear her throat and that sound brings me back to reality when I turn to see her adorable face. I jokingly say "What" when Callie forcefully takes me in her arms and says "What was that all about…you let a man…a man…kiss you Arizona"? I peck her full lips with a quick kiss and say "It was a long time ago…a lifetime ago…and now my heart belongs to someone else…two someone else's…Calliope…my heart belongs to you and Sofia". Callie still holding me close to her body says "Good answer…very good answer baby" while she kisses me deeply and passionately and I feel the remembrance of Nick's sudden and playful kiss…evade my thoughts…now…and forever.