Chapter 14
Arizona woke up gradually but even though she was groggy she instantly realised that strong arms were still holding her like they had been when she'd gone to sleep. For the first few seconds she presumed Mark had fell asleep too and wondered how the hell he hadn't been called down to the ER that night. It must have been a really slow night if the Senior Attendant wasn't required. Then it dawned on her that the person behind her felt too familiar to be Mark and far too female. She inhaled deeply, recognising the scent as that of Callie and not of Mark Sloan's expensive aftershave. Callie always smelled of vanilla and cinnamon; something that had always reminded her of Christmas.
She wasn't sure at what part of the night that Callie had joined her and she certainly didn't remember it; but she wasn't complaining. If Callie was in bed with her then she wasn't in bed with Erica Hahn and that was comforting. Not that she'd thought that Callie would actually cheat on her but she couldn't help feeling scared.
She edged back against Callie so that her back was firmly pressed against the front of the brunette's body. She was a little surprised when her actions drew a response from what she had presumed to be her sleeping girlfriend.
"Hey" Callie whispered into her ear before burying her face in Arizona's neck and dropping soft kisses against the pulse point there.
"Hey" Arizona replied softly before moaning at the administrations of her girlfriend's lips.
Callie kissed her neck another couple of times before pulling back and running her fingers through Arizona's hair. The feeling of Callie's fingertips scraping against her scalp was familiar and relaxing and she couldn't help but completely relax against her.
"Were you confused when you woke up in bed with someone?" Callie asked softly. Her fingers continued to rake her fingertips through Arizona's hair which distracted the blonde from answering for a couple of minutes until prompted again.
"Arizona?"
"Yeah...actually I thought you were Mark Sloan for a minute" Arizona admitted, regretting the words as soon as they left her mouth. She had not intended to tell Callie about her break down on Sloan the night before.
"Huh?" Callie suddenly sat up and leant over her. Arizona found herself looking into the eyes of her confused girlfriend and she couldn't help but giggle. Surely Callie couldn't possibly think she'd actually have sex with Mark Sloan?
"I fell asleep with Mark Sloan in the same position you're in now" Arizona explained. "It's definitely nicer to wake up with you though even if he was a gem last night."
"He is when he wants to be" Callie agreed. There was a sad sound to the brunette's voice and she lay back on the bed so that Arizona could no longer see her. Arizona turned to face her; a hard task considering she was wedged between the wall and Callie on a very small single bed. After several seconds of shuffling she had rolled onto her other side and was leaning over the brunette. Callie's eyes were glossy and she was obviously fighting back tears. Arizona guessed that Mark had told her girlfriend about their conversation and began to feel guilty, even if Callie had caused her to hurt in the first place. She knew that her words from when they were in lockdown would be ringing in her girlfriends ears as it did seem like she didn't trust her. Yes Arizona definitely felt guilty.
"Arizona I love you" Callie's voice brought the blonde out of her reverie. Arizona eyes flickered to Callie's and she could see love and desperation in them.
"I know" she comforted her. "You just scare me sometimes because I feel like you would have the ability to emotionally crush me if you wanted to. I love you so much Calliope and..."
She didn't get the chance to complete her sentence because suddenly Callie's mouth had ascended up to hers and was hungrily kissing her. All rational thought seemed to leave Arizona's head due to the intensity of the kiss because even though they were in an unlocked on call room she had no desire to stop. Instead she pressed Callie back down against the bed and kissed her back, enjoying the way their tongues battled it out first in her mouth and then in Callie's. Somehow the brunette managed to manoeuvre her so that she was straddling Callie's hips...or perhaps she had moved there of her own accord. Either way Arizona found herself grinding her hips into Callie's whilst her hands roamed under the brunette's top. All the while they never broke their kiss which seemed to intensify more and more with every passing second.
"Erm..." suddenly there was a nervous cough from the doorway which caused Arizona to rip her lips away from Callie's and sit up in shock. The two turned their heads to see who had interrupted them; Arizona still straddling her girlfriend. She was relieved to see it was just Mark because even though he'd have loved the show at least he wouldn't gossip about it.
"I snuck in quietly because I didn't want to wake Callie but apparently you're already awake!" Mark commented. "I'm really sorry to have to do this but I have a child with inner ear pain in the ER who needs your attention Dr Robbins. It past six so you're technically the on call PED's attending."
Arizona crawled off Callie and out of the bed, pecking her on the lips as she brushed past her. She could see Callie checking the time on her wrist watch as she put her shoes on. The brunette groaned and turned over to face the wall again.
"Somebody page me at quarter to eight so I get up for my shift" she instructed. Mark snickered slightly and Arizona leant over the bed and kissed her cheek before following the plastics surgeon out the room and into the corridor where she came face to face with someone she really didn't need to see right now.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
"Robbins, Maaaaark" Erica Hahn drawled, "not a pair of doctors I'd expect to see creeping out of the on call room together...Shouldn't you be in the ER Mark?"
Arizona felt every muscle in her body tense and her hairs bristle at the words and the way that Erica Hahn spoke to them. She wasn't exactly Erica Hahn's greatest fan anyway so being spoken too like a naughty child and a cheat was always bound to royally piss her off.
"I've just come to collect Dr Robbins for a consult," Mark didn't seem remotely flustered by Erica Hahn's mocking tone. That was a good thing considering Arizona wanted to kill her because if Mark lost his temper too then who was going to stop her wringing Hahn's neck?
"Is she incapable of making her way to the ER on her own?" Erica's tone had lost none of its nasty edge.
Arizona was tempted to tell Hahn that she was considering putting her in the ER and would need no assistance in doing so. Common sense prevailed though and she kept her mouth shut, leaving Mark to deal with the irritating blonde.
"She's perfectly capable" Mark replied politely, "I just didn't want to wake her sleeping girlfriend by paging her."
"I thought Dr Robbins was dating..." Erica's voice trailed off into silence.
"Callie...yes she is" Mark finished the sentence of for her. It was obvious Hahn was confused about what was going on because the confidence and authority had left her face and her emotions seemed pretty unmasked.
"But...Dr Torres is in her apartment...I saw her..." Erica stumbled over her words.
Arizona had just started to relax a bit because Mark was definitely winning the battle with Hahn but these words made her bristle again. If it was possible then she felt even angrier than before.
"She may have been earlier but she's definitely in the on call room now" Mark replied smugly. It was obvious that he was taking quite a bit of pleasure out of seeing Hahn on the back foot. Arizona couldn't control her face muscles as realisation hit Hahn. The temporary chief looked a little crushed and jealous and it brought a smile to Arizona's face which she just couldn't control. She usually didn't take any pleasure in other people's misery but Hahn seemed to be an exception.
"Right well I want to see you in my office after you've finished shift Sloan" Erica's tone was snappy but she was clearly steering away from the awkward conversation. They all knew they were going to get dragged in for a 'routine meeting' and Arizona couldn't wait to see how hers would go with Callie's bitter ex.
"Robbins I'll see you now" Hahn added. Obviously she was about to find out right now; suddenly she felt like she really could wait after all.
"I have a boy with inner ear pain that Dr Robbins is needed for" Mark pointed out. Erica had begun to turn away but swung back around to glare at him.
"Isn't there a PED's resident you could bother instead?" she replied irritably.
Mark bristled a bit at her tone of voice and stepped closer to her so he was almost standing of against her.
"I would but the main PEDs resident is lying in a hospital bed with a gunshot wound and the other resident is currently busy in the PEDs apartment" he practically growled at her.
As much as Arizona was enjoying Mark standing up to Hahn she remembered what Derek had said about Hahn causing trouble to get her own way. Erica Hahn hated Mark Sloan and would be delighted to get him into trouble with the board so Arizona had to calm the situation down.
"Actually Mark there is someone you can page" she spoke up, placing her hand on Mark's chest and gently pulling him away from the temporary chief of surgery. "I know she's not a PEDs resident but Dr Lexie Grey had been working with me a lot recently and she'll be able to hold the fort for me."
Mark gave Arizona a knowing look and backed away, giving Hahn her space. He made no verbal comment and just turned and walked away with his pager in hand. This left Arizona stood in a deserted corridor with Hahn which felt pretty damn uncomfortable. Hahn wasn't stood still for long and began to walk away towards the direction of her office. Arizona followed but allowed herself to lag slightly behind so she didn't have to speak to the woman she really wanted to hit with a scalpel right now.
Once in Sheppard's office (Arizona refused to think of it as Hahn's) Hahn sat herself down behind the desk and stared at Arizona. As she hadn't been offered a seat Arizona stood rigidly behind the empty chair waiting for Hahn to speak. She was well aware that people could see into the office from the walk way and several staff members were glancing her way as they walked past. One of which included Teddy who pulled a funny face behind Hahn's back and gestured to knife her. Arizona had to try very hard not to laugh but her amused facial expression seemed to wake Hahn out of her reverie.
"Lexie Grey?" Hahn finally snorted, seemingly unimpressed with Arizona's choice of back up. Not that Arizona really expected her to be impressed by anyone other than herself...and Callie of course.
"She's going to be an excellent surgeon" Arizona felt the need to defend something and as she couldn't really start yelling about her and Callie then Lexie seemed like the next best thing. "She could honestly go into any of the specialities although I think she's destined for plastics. Oh and she's a great teacher and very patient with the interns."
Hahn chuckled loudly and Arizona couldn't see what was so funny. She knew Lexie had been seen as a bit of a joke at first because she'd been very nervous but ever since she'd been at the hospital Lexie had been a hardworking and quickly progressing young surgeon. If Hahn was even going to be permanent chief of surgery at any hospital then she needed to learn to respect people.
"Okay so I find you creeping out of on call rooms with Sloan and fighting Lexie Grey's corner" Erica remarked, "Is there anyone in this hospital you're not sleeping with?"
Arizona couldn't believe what Hahn had just asked her. She wasn't sleeping with anyone bar Callie and it was just a totally unprofessional thing to say. She'd been told to not let Hahn get to her though and she was damn well going to stick to that plan. Giving up on the idea of Hahn being polite she plonked herself into the empty chair in front of the desk.
"Other than you...No" she replied sarcastically. "We're all at it...it's the Seattle Grace gang bang frat club or whatever."
Erica leant back in her chair and laughed. It was actually a genuine laugh rather than the nasty or sarcastic chuckles Arizona had heard her from her so far.
"Not just a pretty face then" Hahn commented before leaning forward on the desk to look Arizona in the eyes. "That's a pity I was hoping you'd have nothing interesting about you but I can see why she likes you now."
Arizona felt her eyebrows quirk in response to Hahn's observation. Staying silent was probably the safest option right now or she really end up hitting Hahn with something hefty of the desk like the thick medical journal or industrial stapler. She could staple Hahn's lips together, that would be satisfying, she'd be sacked of course but it would still be satisfying.
"I've been reading through the information on you and you're an excellent surgeon" Hahn shifted the topic to work finally as she leant back and away from Arizona. "I don't feel I need to discuss your department so all I really need to ask is whether you would like counselling or not? The board have decided to bring in a specialist councillor and although everyone will have to speak to him once I need to prioritise people who would like to talk over the events of two days ago first."
It wasn't a surprise that the hospital would bring in a psychologist after the shooting, PTSD was common in victims of violence and the events in the hospital had certainly been violent. She had seen the gunman yes, but she didn't feel the need for counselling and she certainly wasn't a priority. Plus she was lucky enough to have Callie to talk to as they had both survived the experience together.
"I think it's an excellent idea Dr Hahn but I'm good thank you" she replied politely. It was killing her to be so nice but she was doing an awesome job at it even if she did say so herself. Hahn seemed to find her super politeness irritating too and was scowling at her.
"Fine" Hahn muttered, "go!"
Arizona felt something boil inside her at the way Hahn had just dismissed her. She really did hope Erica Hahn had been nicer the last time round because she had no idea how on earth this woman could convince anyone they were gay unless the person in question was male. She stood up and made her way to the door but she knew she couldn't leave without saying something.
"Dr Hahn I know this must be hard for you but I make no apologies for who I'm in love with" Arizona stated. Hahn looked like she was going to say something but Arizona began speaking again before the older blonde could remark. "However, I am an attending here and I should be spoken to as such. Next time you just tell me to 'go' I shall sit there until you address me properly whether you're the temporary chief of surgery or not."
Hahn was silent...stunned to silence; so Arizona smiled sweetly and walked out the office. She was extremely pleased with herself for standing up to her and she actually wanted to run to Mark and tell him. He'd tell Callie though and she didn't really want her girlfriend to know about the way Erica was behaving. It wasn't fair on Callie and it wasn't her fault. Besides, Arizona was a big girl and she could deal with Hahn on her own.