TITLE: Grey's Anatomy – "You're My One"
SUMMARY: Having endured drama and heartache over the course of the past two years, Doctor Callie Torres finds herself lost and with no direction. Her only comfort is her three year old daughter and her work as a world renowned Orthopaedic Surgeon. Can she find the one element missing from her life, or is she destined to make the same mistake over and over while ignoring her heart's true desire?
PAIRINGS: Callie Torres & Arizona Robbins; Alex Karev & Jo Wilson; Owen Hunt & Amelia Shepard.
RATING: M for mature readers.
DISCLAIMER: The television characters are owned by Creator Shonda Rhimes, ShondaLand, The Mark Gordon Company and ABC Studios. I have merely taken them out to play and will return them unscathed once my Muse is done. All original characters belong to the author. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit is gained from this storytelling.
A/N: Please feel free to review, follow or favour. Much appreciation to the many that have already done so; the Muse is smiling. If you are wondering where Penny Blake is in all of this, don't. The Muse refuses to add her into this story due to the fact she doesn't like the storyline the show has taken. Really, what idiot (Webber) would hire one of the Doctors responsible for Derek's death because they didn't stand up to a senior Doctor and insist a simple test be done? To put such pressure on the Doctors of Grey Sloan and poor Blake is highly unprofessional and calls for a good old fashioned car parking. Anyhoo, on with this version of events; hope you enjoy it as much as I delight in writing it.
Chapter 12
Saturday 6th June.
Although it was against hospital policy to allow more than two people to visit at one time in the ICU; an exception was made for Doctor Arizona Robbins. Her parents, ex-in-laws and ex-wife were gathered around the end of her bed nervously waiting for her to come out of the medically induced coma.
Doctor Miranda Bailey stood on the right side of the bed while Doctor Amelia Shepherd was on the left. Both were preparing to assess the patient once she was conscious.
There was a silent vigil for seven minutes as everyone present chanted their own prayers and thoughts for a positive outcome for the much loved, well-liked and respected comatose blonde.
Callie was holding onto her mother's and father's hands, tamping down the tears that were threatening to flow from her eyes. She had had a restless night of sleep and her tiredness was only exacerbated during breakfast with her parents, her ex-in-laws and her daughter in her hospital room.
Sofia had persistently asked to see her mamma and when told no from her mother, she immediately dropped her bottom lip and sulked. Her bowl of cereal went untouched and once she jumped out of her chair and gathered her backpack for day care, the waterworks began. She had been inconsolable and it broke Callie's heart to have to drop her off to the crèche while she was still upset. Anna, one of the staff was understanding and quickly distracted her with one of the new reading books the Torres family had donated the day before.
Slowly, Callie bent over and kissed her child on the top of her head once she had settled down, "Mommy loves you and I promise to come get you when mamma is awake."
With sad eyes, Sofia looked up, "I love you too and I miss mamma. Do you pinkie promise?"
Smiling brightly for the first time that morning, Callie held out her left hand and twisted her little finger with her daughter's, "I pinkie swear."
Nodding, Sofia whispered, "Tell mamma I love her."
"You can tell her yourself later when you are allowed in her room."
"Okay mommy, bye."
Although it hurt, Callie leaned down for one more peck, "Bye sweetie."
Taking the lift to the upper levels, Callie rejoined her parents, Barbara and Daniel outside Arizona's room.
Her mother reached for her hand, "Did Little Miss settle down?"
"Yes, she became interested in one of the new books you and dad dropped off yesterday."
"Good, she is too young to be worried."
Callie was about to reply when Bailey exited the room, "Good morning everyone. Torres, I see you have completely ignored my instruction to use a wheelchair. "
"I'm feeling much better," fibbed Callie while adjusting the scrub top she commandeered earlier that morning when Cristina and Izzie visited.
There was a collective response from the others before the Head of Surgery continued, "I will ignore that blatant lie for now and speak with you later. Moving on, Arizona had a good night. The breathing tube was removed around midnight and she has been breathing on her own since then. Vitals are all stable and she should wake within the next ten minutes or so. Doctor Shepherd is just finishing up her rounds and will be here shortly."
-o-
Arizona's face grimaced twice while Callie squeezed her parent's hands. The patient's eyelids gradually prised open and dull blue eyes scanned the room. Taking her time to adjust to her surroundings, Arizona's lips curled into a smile when she spotted her parents, "Hey mom and dad. Oh Mister and Misses Torres, you are here too. It must be serious if you are all here. Hi Callie, do I have some broken bones?"
Leaning forward, Amelia went through a series of tests with Arizona before asking, "What is the last thing you remember?"
"I know my car was sideswiped while I was going to the airport. I don't have any memory of that, Georgia told me when I arrived in the ER."
A short sharp pain pierced Callie's heart, but she didn't comment.
"What else?" probed the Neurosurgeon.
"I remember my leg and head hurting and asking to be transferred to Grey Sloan. Georgia was telling me we were engaged, but I don't have any memory of that either. Apparently this hospital was closed to emergencies and I was told I needed surgery. I must have passed out and don't recall anything else. I gather I was moved here at some stage."
"That's good Arizona," praised Amelia, pleased with the response. "Do you remember what happened before the accident?"
Pressing a hand to her temple, Arizona's face contorted, "I was on my way home after spending Christmas with my parents, but I am confused. Georgia told me I was going to the airport when I was hit, I don't understand."
There was an audible gasp from Callie; realising Arizona still had a memory loss. Her father wrapped an arm around her shoulders and the tears began to fall.
Arizona's attention was drawn to the noise and she noted the IV stands next to Callie, "Oh my god, were in the car with me? Are you okay?"
Shaking her head, Callie replied, "No and I am fine. We can talk about it later."
Amelia concluded her assessment, "Arizona, you are suffering short term amnesia caused by impact trauma to your Hippocampus. A craniotomy was performed at Seattle Pres. You developed a clot between the Hippocampus and Amygdala and I was called in to do the second procedure. Also, your right femur was fractured and the top of your thigh lacerated, but didn't require surgery. You were brought here when your leg wound became septic. Jackson operated on you and the damage was only minor. You are doing well apart from the memory loss. That may be a temporary side effect and I will monitor you for improvement over the coming few days, but for now, I want you to relax and not think about it."
Reaching for her head, Arizona felt the bandages, "I suppose I lost my hair."
"You did sweetie," answered Bailey checked her blood pressure. "Amelia and Jackson did an excellent job and you are going to be just fine. We will see you again in two hours; your visitors are a little anxious to talk to you."
"Thanks Miranda and Amelia."
Once the doctors left, Barbara and Daniel were the first to approach the patient. They cried, Arizona cried and Callie continued to sob. She stood by as the others spoke with Arizona and was surprised when they offered to leave and give her some privacy with the blonde.
Blue eyes focused on brown and Arizona inquired, "Why are you hooked up to a PCA, saline and glucose and crying?"
"I am crying because I was scared shitless about you," the brunette answered while taking a seat beside the bed. "And I was shot while visiting you at Seattle Pres."
Blonde eyebrows rose, "What now?"
"Okay, this is all going to sound a little crazy, but when you arrived at Pres you were met by Georgia in the ER. She overheard the Paramedic's call to the hospital and took over from Jenny."
"I don't understand," remarked a confused Arizona. "Georgia is one of the theatre nurses for my department. I don't see why she was at Pres."
"I know you don't, but it will all make sense soon."
"Georgia left Grey Sloan and returned to Pres as Head of Nursing in their ER. She was on duty and sent Jenny off to do menial tasks while she altered your medical records. She omitted your next of kin and substituted them with her name. She also insisted you stay at Pres and not come here."
"Shit, really?"
Nodding, Callie went on, "She deceived you by making up the story you had proposed to her the night before you were due to fly out to Miami."
Arizona's face scrunched up, "Hang on, I proposed to her?"
"She went through your property and found a diamond ring."
"A ring?" queried an even more stunned Arizona.
"Yes, there was a ring in your handbag and she used it to convince you about the engagement."
"How do you know that she was lying, maybe we had been dating for the past five months?"
"Because you and I decided to work on our relationship and were supposed to have a date last night. Only a few people knew we were back together including my parents and Cristina."
"As in Yang?"
"Yes. I went to Zurich to see her then the two of us went to New York to speak with Izzie Stevens."
With a gentle eye roll, Arizona asked, "Why would you do that?"
"You and I both wanted closure on why the pair of them hadn't been in contact with Meredith."
"We discussed that?"
"Yes we did along with the fact we were still in love with each other."
"Oh my god, I don't have any recollection of any of that. I mean I know Meredith has been acting wacky and all, but the rest is a non-event for me."
Raising her left hand, Callie gripped Arizona's right, "I know all of this is hard to take in, but you and I had just begun a new journey when the accident occurred. You were going to Miami to spend a couple of days there with Sofia and my parents before coming home and picking me and Cristina up from the airport."
Squeezing the brunette's hand tightly, Arizona's eyes started to glaze, "Crap Callie, my head really hurts."
Letting go of Arizona's hand, Callie reached for the nurse's call button and pressed, "I'm sorry babe, I probably caused that be bombarding you with all this news."
"Probably," responded Arizona as Bailey and a nurse rushed into the room.
Getting up gingerly, Callie moved out of the way, "She is experiencing a headache."
"We'll take care of her Callie. Go back to your room; it's time for you to rest too."
Without protest, Callie did just that and waited for Miranda's arrival.
-o-
A smiling Bailey entered Callie's room and immediately checked her surgical site, "How you feeling?"
"I am a little tender."
"So you should be with all that walking around. If you want to visit Arizona, you are to be pushed up there in a wheelchair. No more stoic bullshit, got it?"
"Yes mom."
"Don't you "yes mom" me," taunted a still smiling Chief.
"Don't make me laugh."
"Okay and speaking of mothers, yours went down and picked up Sofia so she could spend a little time with Arizona."
Beaming, Callie confided in her friend, "I am so pleased, but at the same time I am frightened Arizona will not remember us reuniting."
"Have a little faith. After all the challenges you two have been through, this will not defeat you. You just have to give her time to heal and don't be trying to push her to remember."
"I understand and how long before I get to go home?"
"If you follow my advice for the next two days, I will discharge you Monday."
"Thanks and yes, I will behave."
"Good, and Arizona will be moved into your room this afternoon. Her pain medication has been adjusted and she is feeling much better."
The smile on Callie's lips widened, "Oh god, I am so happy to hear that."
"Thought you would be, now close your eyes and rest. Oh before I go, thank you for getting Yang and Stevens here. Grey is a crying mess, but laughing at the same time and has stopped scaring all her Residents and the Interns. Webber is beside himself having the two of them on hand in the pit for consults and has a spring in his step. So thank you for making that happen."
"You are more than welcome Bailey; I only wanted Grey to wake up and find herself again."
"Well you my friend have achieved that. I'll speak to you later."
"Will do, bye."
-o-
Callie woke to the feeling that someone was watching her. Opening her eyes, she saw a grinning Arizona in the bed beside her, "Hey there, when did you get here?"
"It was about an hour ago. Mom and dad visited with Sofia then I was brought down."
"How are you feeling?"
"Not too shabby once they upped my pain meds. How are you?"
"I'm great now you are here," replied Callie with a cheesy grin.
The coy smile didn't go unnoticed, "I'm sorry I don't remember us."
"It's okay, don't worry about it."
"Your parents told me all about how excited they were for us and I have to say, I was shocked by their show of support."
Giggling briefly, Callie's eyes filled with tears, "Yeah, you were the first time around."
"It was so weird listening to them tell me and not remembering. I am really sorry I am putting you through this Calliope."
"Don't apologise, it's not your fault."
"Okay and you never did finish explaining how you were shot."
Taking her time, Callie told Arizona everything, including her own injuries then finally allowed her pent up tears to flow once she was done.
"Shit," mumbled Arizona. "Georgia is fucking out of her mind if she thought I would ever be with her let alone propose. She is so far from being my type and what I do remember of her, she was way too pushy."
"Exactly Ari," agreed Callie.
"So where do we go from here?"
"We wait for you to heal then we go on our first date," suggested Callie with the brightest of smiles.
"That sounds good to me and dad told me I bought a house."
"You did and it's amazing. You told me you wanted room for Sofia and her friends, more children and chickens."
With a titter, Arizona yawned, "From what your mother told me, those children involve you."
"Yes they do and how about you get some sleep. You must be worn out by now?"
"I am, but I am enjoying our time together."
"So am I, but you need to get better so I can sweep you off your feet again."
"I look forward to that and thanks for being patient with me."
"Hey, I have waited two years to come to my senses where you are concerned babe, so a few more days are no big deal."
"It's nice when you call me that, I just wish I could recall our reconciliation."
"You will one day Ari, sweet dreams."
Closing her drooping eyelids, Arizona slipped into slumber and it was now Callie's turn to watch her sleep.
-o-
