August 16th, 2003

I took a deep breath and started to sprint. I was approximately fifty meters from the finish line. Naomi was a few paces behind me, but she too had kicked it into sprint mode. I bore down hard and put everything I had into my running. Derek was waiting at the finish line with all of our friends. Callie was running alongside me and Arizona was somewhere between the two of us and Naomi. I was surprised Callie was keeping up with my sprinting. I was giving it everything I had. Finally I stumbled across the finish line. I jogged over to where all of our friends were waiting with Callie. I sipped the water Derek offered me while we waited for Arizona and Naomi to pass the finish line. They were almost across the line when Arizona tripped and went down hard. Callie and I dropped our waters and ran over to her. Everyone else had to stay where they were since they weren't registered racers. Callie and I knelt down next to Arizona as Naomi ran up beside us. Arizona was holding her ankle and biting her lip.

"I'm fine." She protested when Callie made to look at her ankle. Callie shook her head.

"She is most definitely not okay." Naomi remarked. Arizona glared at her.

"Come on babe. Just let me look at it." Callie pleaded. Arizona shook her head.

"I'm fine, just help me up." Arizona insisted. I shot Callie an unconvinced look before taking one of Arizona's arms and helping her up. As soon as she went to take a step she screamed and almost fell. Callie supported Arizona across the finish line and then immediately over to one of the benches near the finish line.

"You have to let me look at it babe." Callie insisted. Arizona sighed but relinquished her hold on her ankle and let Callie take a look at it. I could tell just by looking at it from afar that it was not okay. "Arizona this is broken." Callie told her after looking over it a few minutes.

"No. You've got to be kidding me!" Arizona cried in frustration.

"I'm sorry babe, but I'm not kidding." Callie told her sadly. Arizona groaned.

"I'll take some pain killers then." Arizona joked. I rolled my eyes. She was going to be just fine. Derek offered me Ella to hold, which I gladly did. Then he bent down and picked Arizona up in his arms.

"Can you do everything you need to do at the practice?" Derek asked Callie. She nodded quickly.

"I just need to run an x-ray and then cast it." Callie told him. Derek nodded and started carrying Arizona in that direction. Thankfully the practice was only a block down the road. Derek made it there with no problem, despite the total lack of arm muscles he possessed. At this point Arizona's face was tear stained and she was trying desperately to keep herself from screaming.

"Hold on, we're almost there." I promised her and unlocked the front door to our office building. It was a Saturday so the practice was closed. Derek took the elevator with Arizona and Callie while the rest of us took the stairs. Ella giggled with each stair I climbed. The movement of my hips made her bounce up slightly and she was simply loving it. By the time we reached the floor the practice was on, my knee was tingling unpleasantly. I had been fine the whole five-k, but now my knee was definitely not doing well. Once we reached the top of the stairs I immediately made for the couch in my office and plopped down on to it. I sat Ella down on the cushion next to me and propped my leg up.

"Ma." Ella gurgled. I smiled and picked her back up.

"Hey Ella bug, are you going to run five-k's with momma when you grow up?" I asked her. Ella nodded.

"Go." She told me. I smiled. Derek poked his head into my office. He grinned when he saw me.

"How are my two beautiful girls?" Derek asked.

"My knee actually hurts a bit." I confessed. Derek nodded.

"I figured it probably would. Do you want Callie to take a look at it? Help you stretch it out? They're waiting on Arizona's x-rays to process right now." Derek suggested. I shrugged.

"She could help me stretch it out." I decided. Derek smiled and took Ella from me. I slowly pulled myself up off the cushions. I half walked and half hobbled after Derek as he led me down the hall to Callie's office. Callie was sitting behind her desk and Arizona was laying down on Callie's couch with her ankle elevated on a mountain of pillows. I smiled sympathetically before knocking on Callie's door frame. Callie glanced up at me and smiled. Her smile quickly turned into a frown when she noticed that I was balancing on one foot.

"Is your knee bothering you?" Callie asked. I nodded.

"I was hoping it wasn't obvious." I joked. Callie rolled her eyes and got up from her chair. She walked around her desk and came to over to look at me knee. She knelt down in front of me while I was standing and placed her hands gingerly around my knee. She poked and pushed on various places around my initial injury. It was sorer than anything when she touched it.

"Come on over and sit down. I need to do some motion tests. I'm pretty sure it's just strained, but I want to be sure." Callie instructed and helped me over to the arm chair. I slid down into it and offered my leg to Callie. She knelt down in front of me again and started to look it over. "Does it hurt more when I do this?" She asked and massaged an area directly below my knee cap. I winced and nodded.

"Just a bit." I told her. Callie sighed.

"I was hoping you'd say no." She groaned.

"Why? What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means we need to take a MRI." She responded. I groaned. "I think you need to find a different way to work out. Why don't you try yoga?" Callie asked as she helped me out of the chair.

"I hate the whole concept of inner peace. It's bull crap." I complained. Callie chuckled.

"I'll be right back Zona." Callie told Arizona. Arizona nodded and waved. Callie rolled her eyes and helped me down the hall to the x-ray room.

Three Hours Later

Arizona was fast asleep in the Lay-Z-Boy recliner with her recently confirmed broken ankle propped up on nearly every pillow in the Brownstone. She was conked out from all of the pain killers Callie had given her. Everyone else was scattered around the living room watching TV. I was currently laying against Derek with my knee propped up on a single pillow and wrapped in cooling blankets. I had some serious Runner's Knee going on, and it was extremely uncomfortable but thankfully only required me to stop running for two weeks to fix it. I was still allowed to do anything else I wanted though. Mia was laying on her stomach on the floor playing with some dolls. Ella and Noah were upstairs taking naps. I sighed deeply and relaxed into Derek even more.

"I love you." Derek whispered in my ear. I smiled and nodded.

"I love you too Der." I whispered back. Derek smiled and nuzzled his chin into my neck.

"When can we have another one again?" Derek asked. I smiled and shook my head.

"Soon." I promised. Derek grinned.

Hey guys, sorry for the brief break in updating. College is CRAZY. Anyways, I hope everyone is having an amazing Easter, Christ is Risen! Drop a review and let me know what you think of the chapter!