Title: Dreaming
Author: gabs88
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Summary: Callie and Arizona are barely a month into their relationship. It's becoming everything they could have ever wanted. What could possibly change that?
Rating: T. Sorry.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to ABC/Shonda Rhimes. The story is mine.
Note: You guys are amazing. Thanks for the ongoing reviews :)

Chapter Twenty
Realisations

Callie giggled madly, Teddy's giggles weaving in with her own. They were both flopped on their backs, fully clothed, on Callie's bed and looking scarily crossed with manic and ready to fall asleep.

"Do we drink too much?"

Callie looked at Teddy like she was insane. Teddy rolled her eyes, "Yeah, okay, dumb question...what are you doing?!"

Callie was squinting at her phone, raised above her head, trying to tap in a number, "I feel like drunk calling someone...ow!"

She had dropped her phone on her face.

Teddy burst into hysterical laughter.

Callie picked her phone off of her cheek, trying to pout but failing as a smile broke through. She rubbed her face with one hand, "What, you've never done that before?"

"Oh, no, I have. But it's never been witnessed. And I've never seen it happen. It's hilarious!"

Teddy rolled flat on her stomach, still giggling. Callie rolled her eyes at her and raised her phone back up, closing one eye again to focus better, attempting to re-type a number in. Teddy looked at her with the eye that wasn't mooshed into the pillow, "Who are you drunk dialling?"

"Arizona."

Teddy's one visable eyebrow shot up, "Why on the spinning, dizzy Earth would you call your ex from over eighteen months ago?"

Callie shrugged, "It's been like..." she made a face as she worked out drunken, mental maths, "twenty months. And I feel like talking to her."

"Why?"

"Dunno. We haven't emailed in a while. Not spoken since the shootings. I wanna chat."

Teddy scrunched that one eyebrow down in confusion, "You're ex's."

Callie looked at her blurry eyed, "So?"

"Ex's don't really chat."

"We could chat. We could be chatty exs."

"But you aren't."

"Maybe just tonight then. Besides, we're kind of friends."

"Don't call your ex. Call one of your random date people."

"No." Callie sounded like a petulant five year old, "I want to talk to Arizona."

Teddy reached forward to grab Callie's phone, drunk Callie managing to be quicker than drunk Teddy, "No. My phone."

"Callie. You have a phone addiction."

"So does everyone these days."

"I don't."

Callie scoffed, "Your phone went of yesterday in surgery and you even contemplalat-contempalte-you thought about scrubbing out just so you could read it."

Teddy flushed, "How did you know that?"

"The hospital knows everything."

"You can't call your ex."

"Don't try and switch to my humiliatingly bad ideas."

Teddy just glared at her with one eye.

Callie sighed heavily, "Fine. I won't. Just don't take my phone."

Teddy looked at her skeptically.

"I won't!"

"Don't believe you."

Callie rolled her eyes, "I promise. I won't."

"Good."

Callie closed her eyes, "Sleepy."

She let her breathing even out.

Teddy looked at her skeptically, but drunk tiredness won and she closed her eyes. She didn't open them again.

Callie popped her eyes open, watching her closely for a full minute. A minute in, Teddy snorted, turning her head to bury it into the pillow.

Callie grinned, standing up and slipping out of the room. She flopped on to the couch and pulled her legs up. Focussing on her phone, it took a few goes to find the number she'd stored on her phone when Arizona had called her, then to press the right button to call it.

Drunk dialling was hard.

####

"Karev, you've been here seven weeks and you've already slept with two of the nurses?"

Karev raised his eyebrows at her, "And you haven't?"

Arizona gave him a stony look, "Still your superior, Karev."

He bit into an apple and continued to look at her, "Point stays."

She enjoyed working with Alex. He was fast mouthed and liked to push his luck, but she found they worked incredibly well as a team. And here, away from the other residents competition and drama, she found his attitude improved from what she'd seen, and from what the Chief had warned her of, and Callie's email had hinted at. He was good with the kids, though he didn't like to show it, and he had a knack with his gut feelings. He had a long way to go, but Arizona was finding she thrived off having someone to teach, and knowing that that someone was a person she's get to work with down the road, to continue to mentor.

She opened her mouth to retaliate when she heard the phone in her office ringing, "Go do post ops."

Sometimes he was far too smart mouthed.

She picked up her phone, "Hello, Arizona Robbins?"

"Hi!"

She instinctively pulled the phone away from her ear at the pitch of the greeting.

"Oh, sorry." The voice whispered now, "Sick tiny humans around. Gotta use inside voices."

Arizona felt a smile creep onto her face, "Callie?"

"Yeah! It's me!" Her voice was still an exaggerated whisper.

"You know, you're on the phone, you can talk normally, the tiny humans can't hear you."

"But drunk Teddy might hear me."

"Where on Earth are you?" Arizona couldn't get the grin off her face as she sat down to talk on the phone to, apparently, a very drunk Callie.

"My livingroom." Still with the whisper.

"And where's Teddy?"

"My room. Oh!" Her voice perked up, "She's passed out in another room. She won't hear me!"

"You should be in the clear."

"So, hi."

"Hey. Had a good night?"

"Had a very good night. Teddy and I, the only single people left on the planet, except Teddy's married, spent the night at Joes."

"Teddy's married!?"

"I'm insulted you aren't that surprised I'm single, but whatever." Her tone was entirely playful, "Ánd yes. Teddy got married."

"So, she's married? But still single?"

"Mhmm. She married a tumour man to give him insurance. But that is all. So she says. But she makes moon eyes at him. And he does at her. A lot. It's kind of gross."

Arizona leant back in her chair, "So she's single but not?"

"Yup. She's abandoned me. They'll end up in love. It's a pretty romantic story, really."

"It sounds it. Married for a good deed, then married for real? It's like a movie plot."

"Maybe I should write it in a book and make millions?"

"When do you have time to read a book, let alone write one?"

"I read!"

"Not trashy magazines or journal articles about crazy ortho procedures."

"...touche."

Arizona laughed softly, "So, it's what...two am there? You should be sleeping."

"Teddy made me do Jager Bombs. I'm all wired."

"Jager Bombs!? Wow, have you regressed, Calliope?"

"I've missed that." She could practically hear the grin in her voice.

"What?"

"Only you say my name like that."

"It's a good name."

"'S'not. Only sometimes. How is it with Karev?"

"surprisingly good. Well, not surprisingly, I thought he'd do great here. But he's transitioned well. He's still Karev, though."

"Good. I don't think I could handle him turning all saint-like."

"No chance of that happening."

Arizona had tried, really hard, to not contact Callie too much. They emailed, a fair bit at first, and then it had slowed down to every now and again. Catch up emails, really. Yes, she had called her when she had been absurdly worried. She figured that was acceptable. But she had tried to avoid, especially in the beginning, these kind of chatty calls, in the hopes it would make it easier to move on, for both of them. She had showed up on her doorstep, once, six months into it all and when she was vulnerable. Maybe not the fairest thing she'd done, for either of them. Other than that though, she had tried really hard.

And now they were chatting, she had trouble thinking of why they hadn't. Again, logically, she knew why. But chatting with Callie was so much fun. It was easy. Especially when she was drunk.

"How're the tiny humans?"

"They're good. Lots of new cases. We're treating osteosarcoma in a fifteen year old at the moment."

"Ooo. Surgically?"

"Trying to avoid that route, but it'll most likely come to it. I've put Karev on point."

"Nice move. That wouldn't happen here."

"Everything works kind of different in the clinic."

"You must just do things how you want to?"

"Kind of. We follow World Health Organisation guidelines of course."

"They're always a barrel of laughs."

Arizona smirked, "Oh, always."

"I did something bad."

Arizona furrowed her brow at the rapid topic change, "You did?"

"Yeah."

"What?"

"I lied to Teddy."

"Uhoh."

"I know. I broke a promise."

"Callie, that's even worse!" Arizona was using her best teasing voice.

"I'm a terrible person!"

She laughed, "I'm sure she'll forgive you. What did you do, anyway?"

There was a pause, "She made me promise not to drunk dial you."

"Yeah, you definitely broke that one."

"I didn't plan on it. The idea just popped into my head."

"Well, only you and I know. I won't tell if you wont tell."

"Really?"

"Cross my heart."

"Stick a needle in your eye?"

"I never really got how that helped."

"Me neither, it's actually kinda gross."

"Calliope?"

"Mmm?"

"I can hear you trying no to fall asleep on the phone."

"Am not."

She totally was. Arizona grinned, "Get some sleep, you."

"Fiiine." She could practically hear the pout.

"Good night, drunky. Drink a big glass of water before you go to bed."

"Teddy snores."

"So do you."

"True. Think we'll cancel each other out?"

"I don't think that's how it works."

"Damn."

"Night, Callie."

"Night, Arizona. Oh, Morning. Or whatever it is for you."

"Callie?"

"Mm?"

"It was really nice talking to you. Even if you won't overly remember the conversation."

"I'll remember. Bits of it."

She chuckled, "Night."

"Night."

####

They were having a rare quiet day in the clinic. Arizona stood at the nurses desk clicking her pen over and over. One of the nurses sitting at the desk writing in a chart looked at her with raised eyebrows. She stopped clicking it with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry."

The nurse, Tracy, new to the program, laughed, "No worries. It is painfully quiet today."

"It's my fault, I didn't book enough through for this afternoon."

Alex turned the corner, "Seriously, Robbins? This day is dead."

Arizona sighed and leant her head on her hand, "It really is."

He leant heavily against the counter, "Three months in and I'm bored."

Arizona raised her eyebrows at him, "Bored?"

"Uh. Today. Today I'm bored."

"Were you bored yesterday with your hands in a thirteen years old chest, their heart in your hands?"

Alex tried not to look sheepish. He was too cool for that, "No."

"Would you have gotten to do that in Seattle?"

"No. Big no."

"Want to say you're bored again?"

He walked around and sat next to the Tracy, who was looking from Arizona to Alex, delighted, "No. I'm charting."

"That's what I thought." She smirked, self satisfied.

A crying sounded down the hallway. Tracy went to stand. Arizona stood straighter, "I'll go. I'm going stir crazy."

Tracy shrugged and went back to her charts, "No worries."

Arizona wandered down the hallway, following the hiccuppy cries. She entered one of their twin rooms, two cribs set up. One of the tiny humans were fast asleep, curled under a light blanket, the other sitting up and looking around tearfully. Arizona threw the tiny fifteen month old her best child friendly smile.

"Moni, Zee."

The teary boy blinked up at her and held his arms up. She reached down and lifted him up, smiling softly as he stared at her with big, watery brown eyes. He sniffled.

"Muli bwanji?" She kept smiling, swaying him softly as he sat on her hip, "You all good?"

He opened his little mouth, "Moni."

Her smile widened, "Moni. Hi, little one."

His lips played with the idea of a smile.

"Kudya?" She asked.

He shook his little head.

"Hmm. Not hungry. Kugona?"

He shook it more emphatically. She poked him in the tummy, tickling him gently, elicting giggles, "Well, I didn't really think you'd be sleepy."

She turned slightly, thinking of wandering out with Zee to the nurses station to entertain the staff, and saw Karev standing in the doorway, leaning casually against the door frame.

"You right there, Robbins?"

She looked at him blankly, "Uh, yeah?"

He looked at Zee, then at Arizona, "Dude. Just adopt one already."

"What? I don't want kids." She replied automatically.

Alex's eyebrows shot up to his hair line, "Could've fooled me."

Arizona scrunched her eyebrows together, looking baffled for a minute as something ran through her mind. She looked from Zee to Alex and back again.

"Walk away, Karev."

Alex smirked and wandered off.

Arizona sat down heavily in one of the chairs for visitors and looked down at Zee, who looked up at her happily, tears gone.

"Huh."

####

Mark eyeballed Callie over their take away coffee from the coffee cart.

"You've been on, what, six dates?"

Callie screwed he eyebrows up, "You've kept track?"

Mark leant back in his chair in the Attendings Lounge, empty at two am, and continued giving Callie 'the look', "Six dates or not, Callie?"

Callie rolled her eyes, "Yeah, we've been on six dates."

"And no sexy time?"

"'Sexy time', seriously?"

"No love of the lesbian nature?" Her spoon hit him on the cheek, "You know, you throw an awful lot of things at me. Terrible housemate etiquette."

"So is drinking all the milk and not replacing it. We all have our faults."

"You do that, too."

Callie sipped her coffee, lifting her feet up onto the coffee table, "Child."

He narrowed his eyes, "Don't you try and change the topic. Sex. Yes or no?"

"Why is it always about sex with you?"

"Ah. We've had this conversation before. That means no." He looked at her closely, "Yup, no coy grin you're trying unsuccessfully to hide. That's a no."

"Okay, no. No sex."

"Kissing?"

"Am I being interrogated?"

"Yes. Kissing?"

Callie opened her mouth as the door opened and Teddy wandered in and flopped on the couch next to Callie, leaning back, putting her feet next to Callie's and closing her eyes with a heavy sigh. Callie looked at her, confused.

"You're not meant to be on dreaded nights like Sloan and I."

Teddy didn't even open her eyes, "Stuck in a triple A. Spent hours and hours in there. He died."

"Oh, Teddy, I'm sorry." Callie leant her hand on Teddy's leg, "Did you want me to call your husband for you." The smirk came through in her tone. Mark snorted into his coffee.

Teddy kept her eyes shut, "Not. Funny. He is. Not. My husband."

"Well, he is."

"Not in that way. " Teddy cracked one eye open, to glare at Callie, "Ass." She shut it again.

Mark was grinning, "Never mind her, she's trying to deflect from my prying about her dates."

Teddy lifted her hands behind her head, nestling back and getting comfortable, looking asleep, except for the fact that she spoke, "You mean Mel? The chick I caught her making out with against your door last week?"

Callie groaned and flopped back, throwing her arm over her eyes. Marks grin grew.

"Making out. excellent."

Callie didn't remove her arm, "Seriously, Sloan. Why are you so invested in my love life?"

"I'm involved. I have to live through you and your single life." Callie breathed out a laugh from under her arm. "So, how did you meet this 'Mel'...if that is her real name."

"You're ridiculous. Jaime introduced us. She thought we'd hit it off."

"Oh, and hit it off you did!"

Teddy's voice suddenly chimed in, "Like I hit it off with your mum?"

Both gawked in silence at Teddy, who they had assumed had fallen asleep.

Callie slowly grinned, "Oo. 'Ya mum' burn. Nice."

Teddy grinned, eyes still shut, "I try. It is stupidly late."

####

Arizona's desk was cluttered. Actually, cluttered was a nice term. It was messy. And she was not coping with it. She was a Type A. Her desk needed to be ordered, neat. Yet somehow, it was a chaotic mess and she couldn't even find her pen.

She was drowning in paper work. The surgeries the clinic had to do never let up in a country in which she was one of the only sources for this kind of health care. They were constantly backed up with potential patients, the day a month ago where they'd been quiet one of the only ones Arizona could think of. There were so many pediatric surgeries to do, and with the extensive post op care some of them needed, it led to a constant back up of cases. Sadly, many patients stayed longer than usually required, orphanages unable to provide the level of care some of the kids would need after surgery, further backing up the clinic.

She was lucky that she still had enough staff, volunteer programmes and international rotations largely staffing them, while some of the higher ups came purely out of their desire to make a difference. And her clinic was truly making a name for itself, its mission statement and achievements catching eyes. Charities and grant boards practically threw money at the clinic, especially with the various programmes it had introduced, including the immunisation programme and HIV outreach.

But at times, she felt like they needed fifty clinics for the amount of surgeries that existed, and more were appearing every day. The waitlist was long, and she hated that.

She leant back in her chair, glaring at her desk, when she heard someone clear their throat behind her. She swivelled around to see Karev hovering in her doorway.

"What's up, Karev?"

"Ah, can I have a word?"

She raised her eyebrows, "Yeah, come in."

He walked in and took a seat.

He was nervous. Something she rarely saw with him anymore. He had become confident in the OR and with the staff, and around her, while still maintaining respect for her as his superior. He was still a massive douche at times, but he was getting there. He was good in paeds.

"Whats up?"

"I, ah, I had an idea."

She looked at him expectantly.

He swallowed, "Well, I know we're always backed up with surgeries. We do as many as we can as often as we can with our recourses, but sometimes it's not enough, yeah?"

She nodded.

"Well, I was thinking. I head back in a month. What if we took a bunch of some of the sickest kids, the ones that would need the longest post op care and follow up, and they came to Seattle and we fixed them there?"

Arizona tilted her head at him, thinking for a minute. He sweated in his chair, "It's a great idea, Karev. But have you got any idea about the money involved in something like that? And the red tape-it's incredible how hard it is to take kids from one country to the next for medical care."

Alex nodded, "I thought of that. I know that Webber wanted to create more of a, kind of, link, with the Clinic? What better way to do it? If he funded some of it, sorted out pro bono OR time and surgeons, helped with the red tape?"

Arizona nodded slowly, "You think he would be on board?"

"Webber is desperate to bring some positive media to the hospital. Guys drowning in bad press."

"Pro bono and OR time wouldn't be enough."

"I think he would provide some money, he seemed committed to the affiliation crap. And you were saying the other day, that there are grants out there, all the time, to apply for?"

"There are. And everyone seems on board with the clinic at the moment."

Alex had stopped looking nervous, he leant forward, suddenly eager, "If we bought them over, say, a month after I left, I could have everything over there ready. I could take case files and prep the teams."

Arizona grinned slowly. This could actually work. "And it might help with the Chief Resident position?

Alex shrugged, not at all concerned she'd figured out that would be a factor, "Maybe."

She nodded, "Alright, Karev. Let's make this happen."

####