A/N: Had my computer fixed. I was afraid my folder with stories would get deleted but it pulled through.
OOPS had to update because I wrote 'wife' instead of 'girlfriend'. I guess I just really want them to get married.
It was quiet. Too quiet. It was Arizona's second day back to work and her first day was mostly paperwork, consults and a few routine surgeries. But the second day was quiet since she got in at six in the morning. She checked the surgical board but didn't dare to say anything. Everyone around her knew something bad was going to happen. Callie saw Arizona leaning against the counter, staring at the surgical board. "What are you doing?"
"Waiting," Arizona replied. "I only have one patient today. A kid was operated on his bowel a few days ago and I'm just waiting for him to poop before I can discharge him today. No one else is getting sicker or weaker or coming in. Do you know how boring it is to wait for someone to poop?"
Callie laughed. "I do not. But I assume very. I had a dude with a sprained finger before. He sprained his tiniest finger. I couldn't even put a splint on him."
Derek found them staring at the board. He knew what they were thinking about. "We're waiting huh?"
"Yup," Callie said, popping her p letter. They were surgeons. They were paid to open other people up and fix whatever they had broken. But nothing good was going to come out of a day like this.
Arizona turned to Derek. "You know, I heard that you and Callie might be nominated for a Harper Avery. With the awesome robotic limbs and the trial was very successful."
Callie quickly covered her ears. "We don't talk about it. We don't want to jinx it and nothing official has been announced yet."
"So you're waiting," Arizona stated quietly. Their pit was empty. Well not empty, but nothing surgical. An elderly woman with a superficial cut on her finger. And a pregnant lady that was past her due date but her water still didn't break. "I feel like someone should say it."
Cristina walked by. "Say what?"
"The Q word," Arizona whispered. Maybe the surgical gods haven't heard her and she didn't jinx it.
And of course there was always a dumb intern that wasn't aware of what was happening around them. "Isn't it a little quiet in here?"
Arizona gasped and Callie and Derek glared at the woman. "What's your name?" Cristina asked.
The intern blushed. "Maya. Did I do something wrong?"
And then the phone rang. And then the second one. And a pager went off. "You never ever say the word quiet in front of the empty surgical board," Callie hissed and the intern stepped back with wide eyes.
Arizona laughed. "Good job baby."
Callie kissed her cheek before her pager went off. "911 to the bay. See you out there. It's probably going to be a war."
More calls. More emergencies. More pagers went off. But Arizona's stayed silent. That was even worse. "Doctor Robbins, we have a GSW to the chest on a 12 year old boy. His brother accidentally shot him. The ambulance is 3 minutes away," one of the nurses said after she answered the phone.
And there it was. Arizona sighed and rubbed her forehead. This is why kids shouldn't play with guns. "Okay." She put on her emergency gown and waited outside for the ambulance. Suddenly the pit was over flooding with people. The ambulance arrived and the gurney was lowered. "What do we got?"
"Jake Murphy, 12. Gunshot wound to the chest. From what I heard it was an accident. The pulse is weaker on the right side. His BP's low," the medic told her.
"Trauma room 3," Arizona instructed. They moved him to the trauma table when a gush of blood hit Arizona in the face and gown. She immediately stuck her hand inside of his chest, searching for the tear and holding it down. If she let go he would bleed to death. "Okay, hand a unit of blood. Fluids. What's his BP?" If only her interns wouldn't be so stupid. She groaned. "You," she said pointing to the girl that jinxed their quiet day. "Go find his family. Get as much as information as you can. And someone page cardio." It took them way too much time to get Teddy in her trauma room.
"I'm sorry, I'm swamped. What do you got?" Teddy asked as she snapped her gloves on.
"Boy, 12, GSW to the chest," Arizona explained.
Teddy eyed her. "You have blood all over you. And a hand inside of his chest," she stated.
Arizona nodded. "I know. I can feel a tear on his right lung and my finger's plunging it."
Teddy took his vitals. "His pulse is weak on the right side and his blood pressure's too low. If you remove your finger he'll bleed to death in seconds probably."
"I know," Arizona said, cringing. "Stupid intern jinxed our day by saying the word quiet. Let's book an OR 2 and move him quickly."
The nurse turned. "OR 2 is occupied."
Arizona groaned. That was her favorite OR. Not that they were all different but it was still her favorite. "What about OR 5?"
"Booked," the nurse replied.
They slowly wheeled the gurney down the hall, Arizona's hand was still and holding his bleeder down. She walked slowly next to the gurney into the operating table. The body was moved carefully and Arizona didn't twitch the entire time. She was being gowned while Teddy scrubbed in. With her hand inside of the boy's chest she couldn't scrub in but she was as sterile as possible.
The intern, Maya, came running in the operating room, the door swinging behind her. "The boy's father said that they stole their bazooka. The younger son shot him. He didn't know it was loaded."
Arizona's breath caught in her throat. She knew a lot about weapons. More than she would prefer but she grew up with her father a soldier and her brother a marine. "Did it explode?"
"I'm sorry?"
"When the ammo from bazooka entered this boy, did it explode?" Arizona asked slowly and loudly.
Maya shrugged. "I-I don't know. I can go ask," she stuttered nervously.
"Don't," Arizona replied. Because if it would explode there would be severe burns. More extensive injuries. The boy probably wouldn't even be in one piece. "I need you to leave. I need everyone to leave." She gulped audibly.
Teddy walked in the operating room and dried her hands but nobody was moving. "What's going on?" The boy just got under the anesthesia. "Arizona?"
"I think I might be holding a bomb in my hand," Arizona said shakily. "The ammo from bazooka explodes. It's one thing my dad taught me well. He has no burns on his body, no exit wound. It's still inside of him."
"Are you absolutely sure?" Teddy asked slowly.
Arizona nodded. "Call the Chief, tell him to evacuate the surgical floor. But don't sound panicky. That will just make others to panic. And when you're done I need everyone to leave this OR."
"We are not leaving you alone," Teddy said before picking up the phone and explaining to Owen what was going on. They've both been into army. They knew what were the chances. "Owen said he'll send a code black to everyone's pager. And called bomb squad. Arizona what do you need?"
"Right now?" Arizona asked and Teddy nodded. "To pee. I didn't pee this morning because living with Callie and two kids means I get no bathroom time unless I wake up before anyone else."
Teddy laughed. "That's all? Maybe you and Callie should move somewhere else. Somewhere bigger."
"I still have my house," Arizona replied, her eyes closing. She was so grateful for Teddy right now. She was making small talk and keeping her as calm as possible. "How's the kid doing?"
"He's going to be fine as long as you're holding down the tear," Teddy said. "You're preventing him from bleeding out or exploding."
Arizona nodded. "So if I remove my hand we all die," she said quietly. She wasn't going to remove her hand. There were nurses in the operating room. Anesthesiologist. Interns. And Teddy. "When's the bomb squad coming?"
"He said he didn't know," Teddy said. "You're doing great."
Arizona let out a laugh. "I'm not giving birth Teddy. One of my fingers is holding the tear while the rest of them are wrapped around a bomb. You really shouldn't say I'm doing great."
They small chatted for half an hour when the phone rang and Teddy picked it up. The Chief wanted everyone else but Arizona to leave. Bomb squad has arrived and would be there in a couple of minutes. "We're not leaving you Arizona," Teddy said almost angrily.
"You should. Anyone who has children in this operating room should leave. I can't force you to go but it's my ultimatum," Arizona said. A few nurses left. "Good."
"You have a child too," Teddy said softly. "And Callie. And if she finds out that I left you in here she's going to kill me. I mean she scares me, honestly."
"She scares me too," Arizona confessed. "I am intimidated by how good she is at everything. Cooking, cleaning. I mean our books are in alphabetical order. And everything is so clean. I mean I'm a neat person. I do my dishes, my laundry. I try to vacuum once every two weeks. But Callie cleans every Sunday. Like the big kind of cleaning. Even the bathroom." She was rambling about Callie but she was only trying to keep her nerves calm. "Is anyone else on this floor?"
Teddy took a step outside of the door. "No. You're alone. And some hot dude is coming. Probably bomb squad."
"Hot? We can all blow up and you think he's hot?" Arizona questioned her.
A man entered the operating room. "I am authorized to order all of you to leave this room. Except for you. What's your name?"
"Arizona Robbins. And I kind of can't leave the room since I'm holding onto a bomb inside of a 12 year old boy's chest. So do you have a plan that wouldn't involve me turning into pink mist?" Arizona questioned. She didn't really mean to be as rude as she sounded but there had to be something.
"Also, I'm Teddy. Teddy Altman. And she's my friend so I'm not leaving her," Teddy pointed out.
"I'm Dennis. Can you turn off the oxygen in this OR?"
Arizona nodded. "Okay, let's switch to manual ventilation." Her favorite and her best scrub nurse helped her with the manual ventilation while Teddy and the guy, Dennis, dragged in a portable x-ray machine to take pictures of where exactly the bomb is.
"We have a plan," Teddy announced when they returned.
Dennis nodded. "We do. My goal is to take the bomb out without it exploding and your goal is to save the boy's life. This type of bomb is very unreliable and unstable so you'll have to keep it level the whole time."
Arizona nodded. "So I just rip it like a bandage? Quick?"
"Quick isn't necessary. Just keep it level."
Arizona licked her lips. "Teddy can you call Callie first?"
"You're not dying," Teddy argued. "There's no way to call her now when you can tell her all about it later."
"Well I want to talk to her now. Teddy, please." Teddy released a shaky breath and picked up Arizona's phone from the tray where surgeons left their pagers and phones and dialed Callie's number.
Callie answered only after a few rings. "Arizona? They said you're in surgery but the whole floor was suppose to be evacuated. What the hell happened?"
"I might have my hand inside of a boy's chest that was shot with a bazooka and I'm holding onto the bomb, keeping it from exploding," Arizona explained quickly and briefly. "I just need you to know that if-"
Callie interrupted her. "No, no. You're not going to die. You're not dying. There will be no tearful goodbyes over the phone. Because once we stood in front of a shooter and it was okay. So now you're holding onto a bomb. And it will be okay."
Arizona gulped. "Okay," she whispered. "Callie?" A hum came over the phone speaker. "I love you."
"I love you too. But you're not going to die. I'm just saying this because I mean it. You'll be walking out of the hospital just like you did yesterday and just like you will tomorrow," Callie said in a demanding tone but she sounded like she was panicking.
"Callie?" Another hum. "We're out of yogurt. And if something was to happen to me today I just want Josh to stay with you. Because you buy yogurts and sugary cereal."
"We'll get the yogurt after work okay?"
Arizona closed her eyes as her eyes blurred with tears. "Okay." The call disconnected. She wasn't going to cry. And she wasn't going to panic. Her hands did start to shake a little though and that was not good. She wasn't going to die like this.
"We'll work this slowly. Are you ready?" Dennis asked.
Arizona looked at Teddy who held a scalpel in her hand and then turned back to Dennis. She nodded. Teddy enlarged the incision. "You know Derek and Callie might be nominated for a Harper Avery. I mean it's Derek's name but on the article he published Callie's mentioned to."
"So you're dating a Harper Avery nominee huh," Teddy teased. "Okay, the wound is enlarged."
"I want you to take the bomb out as slowly as possible," Dennis spoke in a low tone. Now there were only three people in the operating room. Arizona, Teddy and Dennis. The rest of the bomb squad was outside of the operating room, just down the hall.
"And keep it level," Arizona spoke for him. "As soon as I remove my hand he'll start losing a lot of blood and his BP will drop and his heart rate will speed up."
Teddy nodded. "The second your hand is out of his body I'll press a towel to keep him from bleeding out and when you're back we'll stitch him up. We have two more units of his blood hanging on. His anesthesia won't wear off for another hour. We've got this."
Arizona's grip on the bomb tightened. She wasn't going to drop it now, that's for sure. She pulled it out, keeping it level and turned to her side. She didn't look at Teddy but from the corner of her eyes she saw the other woman was already working on saving the boy's life. She made a step. And then another one. She was still alive. And then another one. And the bomb was placed in Dennis's hands. And she watched him leave the operating room until she ran back and helped Teddy. She pressed on the tear. "Too bad there's no interns for suction huh?" she joked.
Teddy laughed, her eyes filled with tears. Arizona helped Teddy with suction and handed her the bovie. It took them an extra half an hour to stop the bleeder and to stitch the boy up. The bomb didn't hit any other internal organs so he was lucky really. He could have exploded. They left the operating room and used the elevator to get to the lobby. Arizona was suddenly feeling drained. Her pink scrub cap was still on and Teddy just pulled her hair out of a ponytail. Arizona pushed herself off the elevator wall as it opened and they walked out. Everyone was staring at them. Arizona felt like she was on display and it wasn't a good feeling. But they lived.
She walked towards Callie and Callie embraced her. "I'm so glad you're alright," Callie said. "You are alright, right?" She quickly moved her eyes over Arizona just to make sure she was still alive and well and that this wasn't just a part of her imagination.
Arizona nodded. "I'm alright. I have to notify my patient's family though."
"Did he pull through?" Callie asked.
"He did. There was some damage done to his right lung but it shouldn't be a problem. I'll have interns watch him over night and be available on pager. But he should be okay," Arizona explained. She inhaled Callie's perfume and enjoyed her warmth and the feeling of safety before pulling away. She walked to the waiting room. "Jake Murphy's family?" A tall man stood up with a younger boy who seemed scared. "Your son's surgery was successful. We pulled the explosive out of his chest. He suffered some damage to his right lung but we fixed it."
The man nodded. "I am terribly sorry. My wife died a couple of years ago so it has just been me and the boys. I didn't know they took the gun. I'm sorry for all the inconvenience."
Calling bomb squad wasn't really inconvenience but she accepted the apology. "The police will need your statement. It's a common protocol during gunshot wounds. But your son will be okay. He's in the PICU if you'd like to see him." She showed him the way to the PICU and where his son's room was. She nodded her goodbye and turned around. She just wanted to go home, take a shower and lay down with Callie and the kids. Home. When she thought about she didn't see a building or her house. She saw her family. Maybe she and Callie really should officially move in together and in her house. Or another house if Callie didn't like that one. Hell they could even build a house as long as they're together. Arizona returned back to the main floor and searched for Callie.
"Hey," Callie said, gently grabbing Arizona's hand. "So I was planning on going earlier but I have an emergency surgery but it shouldn't be too long. You can go home or you can wait."
Arizona smiled. "I'll watch you from the gallery. Which OR?"
"Three," Callie said and smooched her on the cheek. "I love you. You're the best."
Arizona didn't really mind. Beside watching Callie work was an art itself. Whenever she had to drill into a bone or work a saw. And she was always so incredibly focused while operating. It was a turn on for Arizona. So she sat there and watched her girlfriend operate for nearly 3 hours. Some interns were there. But whenever Callie turned her head to the gallery Arizona could feel her dark eyes on her. When Callie started closing the patient up she left the gallery and went in the scrub room to wait for her there. Once the adrenaline from holding a bomb wore off she felt nothing but exhausted.
Callie scrubbed out. "Are you okay?"
Arizona just nodded. "Tired. And we need to go buy yogurt."
"We do," Callie replied softly. They changed out of their scrubs and left the hospital. They came with Arizona's car in the morning. "Do you want to drive?" Arizona shook her head.
They made a quick stop at the grocery store and while Callie was pushing a shopping cart with one hand while Arizona held onto the other one. Or well, both of Arizona's hands were wrapped around hers. Arizona was rarely clingy. It happened when she was either feeling sick or when she was extremely tired. Callie was guessing it was the latter. She kissed Arizona's cheek before reaching for the yogurts. With two kids in the house milk, cereal, bread and ham disappeared extremely quickly. While shopping they didn't talk, just enjoyed each other's company. It wasn't until they reached the checkout counter that Arizona held onto Callie's hand with just one hand and crated some space between them. Since Callie was putting groceries back in the cart Arizona paid. They were in sync even if they weren't communicating with words. Callie drove them home where Liz was with kids. They were watching a movie on the TV with Oreo after running around the park for a few hours. Arizona immediately went to the bathroom and Callie paid Liz.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Callie asked, following Arizona to the bathroom.
Arizona was already naked. "I need to shower. I haven't showered in the morning."
Callie took off her clothes and joined Arizona in the shower. Not for sex, no. For comfort. She set the water temperature to hot without being it too hot and then gently washed her back and hair. She gently kissed Arizona's freckles on her shoulders and massaged her scalp applying conditioner after she rinsed the shampoo.
Arizona leaned back into Callie, sighing. "I'm in love with you." Her words sounded like a whisper under the shower spray.
"I'm in love with you too," Callie whispered in her ear.
"Let's move in together. Officially," Arizona said, turning around and facing Callie.
Callie's thumb stroked Arizona's cheek. "Are you sure? Because we only have one shower here and I know it drives you crazy." Of course she knew. "And you've been living with us for quite some time now."
Arizona blushed. "Okay, so not move in here. Because I really do feel like we should have more than two bathrooms. I mean once they're teenagers they're going to hog both of them. But I just want to live with you and Sofia and Josh and that annoying cat that sleeps all day."
"You still have your house," Callie stated.
"I do," Arizona said with a nod.
"We could move into your house. You do have three bathrooms there," Callie pointed out with a smile. "And a backyard."
Arizona smiled, leaning in and letting their lips brush together as she spoke. "That's all true. And I don't want to pay the bills and not actually use the very incredible house that I own." Her hands came to rest behind Callie's neck as she pulled her down for a kiss. "So will you? Move in with me?" she murmured against her lips.
Callie only nodded, deepening the kiss. "Let's get out of the shower and snuggle up with Josh and Sof."
"Only if we'll watch something else beside Phineas and Pherb," Arizona begged. Because to her it seemed like she's seen every episode at least twice. And they just kept replaying the same episodes.
Callie laughed, passing Arizona a towel. "Deal."
A/N: Quick explanation on how I imagined season 6 finale even though Callie and Arizona never got back together in this story: they were together with the little girl and everything Callie said to Arizona happened but afterwards they never talked to each other after ambulances left. Each went in her own direction. In case any of you were confused.
