Disclaimer: This is AU. I do not own any of the characters from Grey's Anatomy. I just manipulate them to my will. Also, any line or phrase or setting that seems remotely familiar from any other show, movie or book, also not mine.

AN: So…I left yall hanging. I could torture you guys but… I'm nice. So I'm posting one last chapter tonight. Enjoy!

Chapter 37 – The Decision

The cold. It cuts me to the bone. I am immersed in freezing waters. Anyone else…they would go into shock and die within a matter of a minute. But…I've been ending my showers with stunning my body with icy water so I have learned to breathe through the pain and the shock. …focus. Focus Robbins. You've been through worse. You've survived worse. Concentrate on Callie. You need to make it through this to find her. As the cabin fills with water, the pressure outside the car equals the pressure inside the car and I can finally open the car door. Pushing myself from the vehicle, I let out a small breath of air and see which way the air bubbles travel. Following their path up towards the surface, I break the through to precious air.

"Jesus…" I gasp out, the burn of fresh air shocking my lungs. …Get out of the water. Get out of the water. The temperature of the lake is almost freezing which means I have a little under three minutes to get out before hypothermia takes hold and I lose control of my arms and legs meaning… I'll drown. I reach the edge of the ice and try to pull myself up but it just breaks. I try again, and again it breaks. …fuck. Think Robbins. Think. ….I wasn't trained for cold and snow and hypothermia. I was trained for hot and sand and heat stroke. I've lost sensation in my skin but I have to keep pushing. …Callie. Just remember Callie. That's who you need to survive for. So you can hunt those fuckers down and save her. Remembering something my dad told me years ago, during our one hunting trip that ended disastrously, I move to the edge of the ice again and instead of pulling myself out of the water, I slide onto the ice, distributing my body weight over a greater surface area. Rolling away from the edge, I curl in a ball, finally free of the water.

"F-f-f-fuck!" I gasp out, teeth chattering badly and my body shaking. "Get moving, marine. Off-f your ass-s-s and on your f-f-feet." Using every ounce of strength I have, I push myself up and towards the incline that leads back up to the road I just drove off of. Looking towards the road, I see a man standing at the gaping hole in the guard rail, waving me down. The truck driver I swerved to avoid is watching me, guiding me off the ice. He meets me at the bottom of the hill.

"Jesus Christ! ….Are you alright? Come on, let me help you." He takes my hand and helps to pull me up the hill and back on solid ground.

"Ph-ph-phone…" I say as he leads me to the cab of his truck.

"Let me get you warmed up…" He opens the passenger's side of the cab and pushes me up into it. The heat is blasting and it feels like a million needles piercing my skin. He runs around to the other side and hops in. He pulls a blanket from the back and wraps it around me.

"Phone." I demand as firmly as I can. He reaches into his pocket and hands me a cell phone. I try to punch in a number but my fingers won't cooperate. Handing it back to him I say "911."

"I already called-" The trucker starts but I cut him off.

"Call again." I say. He punches the number in and hands it back. I hold the device up to my ear and wait. Soon, an operator answers.

"911. What is your emergency?"

"This is Su-su-supervisory Special A-agent Ariz-z-zona R-Robbins-s, FBI. I-I-I need a s-s-state wide ba-BOLO out for a dark A-American m-make SUV. License plate number Three Five Eight Romeo Zebra Golf." I recite the license plate that I engrained into my mind during the chase. I can hear the typing of keys and a dispatcher in the background calling over the police radio. I continue "Approach with extreme caution. Suspects are armed and extremely dangerous. They have taken a federal witness hostage and are on the move. …I repeat, hostage is present and extremely valuable. If vehicle is spotted, approach with extreme caution and backup." I hang up and not thirty seconds later, the crackling of the truck drivers police scanner announces the state wide BOLO.

The truck driver tries to get me to go to the hospital but I don't allow it. Instead I have him drop me off outside my dad's house. He tries one last time, but by then I am through the front door. I am greeted by a mass of bodies laid out in the center of the room. My dad is going through the pockets of the dead men, trying to find anything we can use. He hears footsteps on the hard wood and spins, shotgun raised.

"Woah… it's j-just m-me." I say, my body still trembling. He sees my soaked clothes, my blue lips, and my frozen hair.

"What the hell happened to you?" He asks, raising up and coming towards me.

"I…I lost them…I lost her…." I say, trying to keep the tears in check. "I was about to PIT them then this fucking truck came out of nowhere. …I swerved and ended up nose first into Devil's Lake." Counting the bodies, I see there are five men. …five, plus the two outside. Three took off with Callie. …Ten men. Fuck. Who the hell sends ten men to do a snatch and grab.

"Go get out of them clothes. Warm up. Then we'll figure out what to do." My dad says, reading the thousands of questions circulating through my mind. Taking time is the last thing I want to do right now. I want to get moving, do something…anything. But I need to warm up. So I hurry upstairs and peel off the icy clothes and hop in the shower. Using up all the hot water, I quickly change into new clothes and hurry downstairs, my lips still alittle blue and my fingers numb, but they'll warm up eventually. Walking back downstairs, I see we have a visitor.

"Joanne…what are you doing here?" I ask, moving to the line of bodies in the living room.

"Your dad called, saying the Trips needed some emergency attention. …And I remembered what happened a couple days ago… Thought I should come as soon as I could." She says, looking at my battered face and the bodies of the floor. I go through all of the men's pockets. Nothing but cigerettes, lighters, and a whole pharmacy of illegal drugs.

"Fuck." I growl, running my hands over my busted face. My finger finds the gash at the back of my head and comes back with blood on it.

"Jesus… Ari, what the hell happened here?" Joanne asks after she looks at the three dogs. Jack and Jim are just waking up after their nearly lethal dose of horse tranquilizer, and Johnny has a broken leg that will need to be operated on, but other than that, they were lucky. She comes up behind me and parts my blood stained hair, her newly gloved hands examining my head wound. She pushes me down on a blood stained chair and moves behind me.

"We were ambushed. …Two of them were outside. I was fighting them off while three of them stormed my Dad and Callie. …Then five more come blazing up out of no-Fuck!" I flinch as she applies an alcohol swap to my head.

"They got her?" She asks softly, pulling out a pair of tweezers and a suture kit from her bag. I just nod, tears threatening to fall again. I sit still, eyes squeezed shut as the needle pierces my skin over and over again as she stitches up my wound. Finishing up, she walks around to face me. A finger under my chin and she lifts my gaze to hers. "So what happens now?" She asks.

"Now…I find her." I say, looking her square in the eye. Grabbing my dad's cell phone, I flip it open and punch in a number. Pulling it to my ear, I wait. Its early morning and he won't be happy, but I need to call him.

"This had better be good." His sleep filled voice barks into his phone.

"Karev… It's Robbins."

"Holy shit! …Boss! Where…where are you?"

"Look, I need you to get crime scene clean up team sent to Devil's Lake, Colorado. …And a jet." …I need to get back. I need to get to my team and figure out how I'm going to get her back.

"Why? What happened?"

"The M3…they found us. …And now they have her." A single tear streaks my face. …I let her down. I promised her they would never find her. They would never hurt her. I need to get her back.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find her. And I'll need help." And I hang up.

Twelve hours later, I'm walking into the FBI Headquarters in Quantico, Virginia. Showing my ID to the guard, I move through the building and straight into Yang's computer room. I'm in the same clothes I threw on after my little dip in the arctic waters, gun strapped to my hip and ankle, credentials in my back pocket. I had called Yang on the plane ride up and had her start putting together some information for me so I can start working as soon as I got back to the Brick.

"Tell me you got something." I say as I storm into her office and shut the door behind me.

"Nothing yet on the BOLO. …The listening device was bought from a tech shop in Miami. No name or credit card." She says, not even looking up from her screens.

"Fuck." I pace back and forth in the small ten foot space. "So what do we have… Miami. M3. The drugs. …Nothing. We got nothing. I don't even know if they are taking her to Miami. They may be keeping her somewhere else." Yang looks up for the first time.

Turning to face me, she asks "How...how do we even know she's still alive?" It's the same question I've asked myself a hundred times, but I always come up with the same answer.

"If they wanted her dead, they would have done that already. …They took her to use her against her father. If they killed her, he wouldn't back down. …She needs to be kept alive if she is going to be of any use to them." I say, hoping beyond hope that I'm right. …hang on Calliope, I'm coming for you. I got something up my sleeve, but I can't pull it out. Not yet. …Not when I'm still unsure if the leaks have been fixed. A clanking coming down the hall makes me turn towards the door, and in limps Alex using crutches.

"Holy fuck…" He says, taking a look at me. My face all busted up. "…so it's true? …I heard that there was some…crazy ass shoot out in Colorado but… I never would have thought…." He says, coming up behind me and parting my hair, taking in the nasty gash. "…shit." I bat away his hand and turn to face him.

"Thanks for sending the jet." I say. "Good to see you up. …You alright? …I know having to shoot your own team member can be…"

"I'm fine. She was a fucking mole and deserved what she got. …She shot me first anyways." He grumbles in reply. "So what's the game plan?"

"I'm going to Miami." I state.

"How do we know that's where she is?" Avery asks, having just walked into the small office.

"I don't know where else they would take her. That's where their ring is. That's where their leaders are. And that's where the trial is." I say, still doubting myself but having no other option, I keep pushing it. Yang tosses me a new phone, having destroyed my other one weeks ago to go off the grid.

"Numbers are already programmed." She says flatly.

"Thanks." My mind is racing. "Yang… make the BOLO nationwide. Find any contact that might have taken place between any of the leaders of the gang in the last twelve hours." It's a stretch, I know…but at this point I'm grasping at straws. A knock on the door and an unknown agent pops his head in.

"Robbins?" He asks, I just nod. "The Director wants to see you." I nod and turn back to my team. Before I can speak, he adds "Now." Then slips back out. Turning back to my team, they all give me a look like 'glad it's you and not me'.

"Fuck…" I groan out. "You two… just… work. Find me something…anything." I plead to my two remaining team members. Turning to Yang, I say "Make my phone untraceable." She turns and gives me a questioning look.

"Umm…that's against-"

Slipping the phone in my pocket, I cut her off "I know it's against regulations, but do it. Alright?" She gives me another blank stare but then finally nods. Leaving the office, I make the long walk to the big man's office. My stomach is rolling. My head is throbbing. My face is pounding. My heart is racing. A mixture of anxiety and fear is mixing together and it's making me sick. …Callie, it's all about finding Callie. …Man up Robbins. Walking right past April Kepner, the receptionist, I knock on the door and enter, not waiting for him to answer. As the door clicks closed behind me, he looks up from a file he is reading.

"Director." I greet him coolly, standing in front of his desk, hands clasped behind my back in the military 'at-ease' pose.

"Do you know what I want to do with you?" He asks, staring into my soul. It makes my knees shake but I stay strong. …don't show weakness, Robbins. I don't answer, just stare straight ahead. "I want to put you in the deepest, darkest cell this country has and leave you to rot." Again, I don't respond. I just stare straight ahead. "I just got the report from the crime unit in Colorado. …I don't know how you survived. And you certainly fucked the bureau over. Do you know how much flack both I and this branch is going to take from this incident?" He throws the thick file onto the desk. It has picture and reports of all the happenings in my dad's house. He knows that 7 men are now dead because of me and my father. Taking a deep breath, he asks. "…So what happens next-" He starts but I cut him off.

Thinking he is going to be giving marching orders about how to get Callie back, I start explaining my own game plan. "I'm going to need a team of four and Yang to-"

"You will stand down, Robbins." He cuts me off.

Shocked, I try again. "Sir… Callie is-"

"Is no longer your problem, SSA Robbins. You will keep clear of this case if you know what's good for you." He says in a tone that makes my stomach knot but I push past it.

Walking up and leaning over his desk I continue "Director… The M3 have her which means-"

"I know what it means. And we have a huge taskforce working on this case. …But you are hands off from here on out." He rises up out of his chair, coming face to face with me. "Because of your decision to take the doctor out into the fucking wilderness of the North, we are now nearly 12 hours behind in tracking the movements of these kidnappers. …If you were anyone else… if you weren't the one who pulled my son from that upside down, burning humvee in Iraq, I'd have you tossed from this building with nothing but your skivves. But because of what you have done…because you have the bronze star with V for Valor… I will give you the benefit of the doubt." He too was in the military and respects my service to this country. Plus his son served under me and was one of the men I pulled out of the humvee.

I step back, shocked and confused. "Wait so… so you're saying if I try to track down Dr. Torres…if I help with this case…you'll-"

"If you interfere with this case again, you'll not only lose your job, but you will be arrested for interfering with a federal investigation, the aid of kidnapping a federal witness, and the murder of seven men in Devil's Lake, Colorado." He says coolly. Sitting back down in his chair, he brings his hands together and rests them against his lips. "So Robbins… what's it going to be?"

AN2: So? What's going to happen? Will Arizona accept that she isn't allowed on the case? Or will she go rogue and track down Callie by herself?