Bailey rushed into the CT room and quickly removed Arizona from under the scanner. When Arizona came into view, Bailey noticed that her eyes were wide open and she looked alert.
"Arizona…do you know who I am? Do you recognize me?" Bailey asked, almost of out breath from the all the adrenaline pumping through her body.
Arizona scrunched her eyebrows together and looked at her. Fear ran cold through Bailey's body. She didn't remember her. She didn't know who she was. Bailey began to shake her head when Arizona finally spoke.
"Of course I know who you are Bailey. I want to know what I'm doing in here. What the hell happened? How did I get here?"
Bailey's jaw dropped and she resisted the urge to hit Arizona. She had just scared the hell out of her, looking all confused like that.
"You-you asked who I was. You said whoever is out there. What the hell were you thinking scaring me like that?!"
"Uh…I was in the CT scanner Bailey. I couldn't see a thing. I said whoever is out there because I literally couldn't see who was out there."
Bailey paused and realized Arizona had a point. She had still been in the machine so she had absolutely no way of knowing that Bailey had been the one running the test.
"Oh," Bailey responded. "Right."
Arizona laughed before grabbing at her abdomen, anguish flashing across her face.
"Ow," Arizona moaned. "Will you please tell me what the hell happened to me because now I'm the one who is scared. What is going on Bailey?"
Bailey pulled out her phone and sent a text message to Callie, informing her of the good news. She smiled at Arizona and grabbed her hand.
"Let's get you back to your room first and then I'll tell you everything."
Callie cradled Sofia in her arms and rocked her back and forth, trying to stop her tears. Sofia was confused and didn't understand and Callie felt like there was nothing she could do for her. It was awful to feel that way. So helpless to help her own child. So helpless to help her girlfriend. She felt so incredibly helpless.
Callie's phone vibrated and she planted a kiss on the top of Sofia's head as she pulled it out of her pocket. Her eyes scanned across the message on the screen and she almost dropped the phone out of her hand.
"Guess what baby?" Callie said excitedly, standing up with Sofia in her arms. "Mommy's awake!"
Callie basically ran to Arizona's room and rushed through the door. "Where is she?" Callie asked happily.
Daniel and Barbara looked at Callie, surprised to see her looking so chipper. "They took her for another scan," Barbara said. "We're waiting for Dr. Bailey to bring her back."
"Oh no," Callie said.
"Oh no?" Daniel repeated. "Why are you saying oh no? Is something wrong? What's going on? What did you hear?"
Callie quickly realized that she could have chosen better words in that moment. "No, I'm sorry. Nothing is wrong. Everything is great. Incredibly great actually. I said oh no because Bailey just told me that Arizona woke up and I thought she was with you guys. But she must have woken up by herself and I was hoping that when she woke up she wouldn't be alone."
"Arizona's awake?" Barbara asked. "Where is she? Is she okay? Oh my god Daniel, she's awake."
"Bailey must be bringing her back down now," Callie replied. "I just got her text a couple of minutes ago."
She set Sofia down and nervously poked her head outside of the room. She didn't see Bailey coming down the hall yet. She nervously tapped her fingers on her legs and shot a smile to Arizona's parents. Sofia walked over to her grandmother and climbed onto her lap. Daniel paced back and forth, running his fingers through his short hair.
Finally, Callie heard the sound of wheels coming down the hall and moved to the side as Bailey and a nurse maneuvered Arizona's bed into the room. She smiled as she caught a quick glimpse of Arizona's crystal blue eyes. Relief flooded through her body upon seeing those eyes again.
Sofia clapped her hands and squealed "Mommy awake!"
"Hi baby," Arizona said softly as she looked at her daughter. She saw her mother and father sitting with her and looked at Bailey with confusion. "What are my parents doing here?"
Bailey smiled and looked around the room. "We all need to clear out for a few minutes. Derek needs to come in and examine her."
"Of course. We'll get out of your way Dr. Bailey," Barbara said as she picked up Sofia and grabbed Daniel's hand. Bailey started to exit the room when Callie stopped her.
"Can I have a minute with her? Please. I-I just need a minute."
Bailey pursed her lips and looked over at Arizona. "One minute Callie. Derek really needs to take a look at her. The second he arrives, you're out."
"Understood. Thank you Bailey," Callie replied.
Bailey exited the room and Callie walked up to Arizona's side.
"Bailey told me she would tell me what happened to me when we got to my room. I need to know why I'm here Callie. I obviously suffered some sort of head injury if I can't remember why I'm here."
"We'll worry about that in a few minutes," Callie said. "Derek will examine you and then I'll tell you everything you want to know. Right now, I just need to look at you."
Arizona raised her eyebrows and gave Callie a strange look. "Look at me?"
"Yes. You're awake and that makes me happy. Is that so horrible?" Callie asked as she leaned forward and placed a feather light kiss on Arizona's lips.
Arizona pulled back and Callie cringed. "I'm sorry did that hurt?" she asked.
"Uhh.. a little," Arizona replied slowly. "But it was a good hurt."
Callie smiled and kissed her hand instead. "There...there's less bruising here," she whispered.
"I'm in really bad shape huh?" Arizona asked.
Before Callie could answer, Derek walked into the room.
"Hey Callie. Arizona…it's really good to see you up," he said.
"Hi Derek," Arizona replied.
"Can you give me a few minutes Callie?" Derek asked. "I just want to do a quick exam on her, see how everything looks."
"I'll get out of your way," Callie said as she let go of Arizona's hand. "I'll wait right outside."
Callie walked out of the room and joined the rest of the family. She suddenly realized Alex and her father had no idea that Arizona was awake yet. They were off in some other part of the hospital. So she pulled out her phone and dialed Alex's number, ecstatically relaying to him the good news.
Derek closed the door and turned back toward Arizona. He gave her his signature smile that he pulled out when he wanted to comfort patients and she scoffed.
"Don't try that on me Derek," she said. "I'm starting to get really annoyed because no one will tell me what is going on, so just give me my exam so I can find out."
Derek laughed and approached the side of Arizona's bed. "Right to the point," he said.
"Yep," Arizona replied. "The sooner this is over the better."
Derek went through a series of tests with Arizona to check her reaction time, her ability to move her limbs and her memory. She knew who she was, where she was, what her job was, who her friends were, who the current president was and other things of that nature, so everything seemed to be checking out. Then Derek asked her if she knew what the date was.
"Uh…I'm not exactly sure. I don't even know how long I've been in here," Arizona said.
"Just give me your best estimate," Derek replied.
Arizona thought for a minute and shook her head. "I don't what day it is. Whatsoever. But I know it's June."
Derek sighed and scribbled something down on her chart.
"What?" Arizona asked, noticing the worried look on his face.
"It's not June, Arizona."
"It's not?"
"No. It's November. In fact it's almost December. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving," he replied.
Arizona looked shocked. She couldn't believe it was November. Where had the time gone?
"I've been in the hospital since June?" she asked.
"No. You were brought in this morning," he responded. "But it appears that you aren't able to recall any events since June. This isn't abnormal. With traumatic brain injuries, memory loss is quite common."
"Is this going to be permanent Derek?" she asked. "Am I ever going to remember the past six months of my life?"
"I have no way of telling you that Arizona. You know that. But you just woke up so we shouldn't assume that this is going to be a bad outcome. Your memory will likely restore itself. You just need to give it some time."
Arizona nodded and tried to ignore the pit in the bottom of her stomach. Derek checked her stats one last time before flipping her chart closed.
"I'm done here. Do you want me to send your family in?" he asked.
"Uh..can you just send Callie in please?" she asked. "I need to talk to her and I don't want a bunch of people hovering."
"I can do that," Derek replied. "Just try to take it easy. I'll be back to check on you tonight."
Derek stepped into the hall and saw Callie, Carlos, Alex, Sofia and Arizona's parents crowded together in the hall.
"Pretty much everything checked out," Derek said. "I'm going to keep monitoring her, but you are all welcome to visit. However, she did ask that just Callie come in right now. She wants to see you all, but she wants some one on one time with Callie first. So I ask that you please respect her wish. I'll be back to check on her tonight. In the meantime, if you have any questions just give me a call."
"Wait…what do you mean pretty much everything checked out?" Alex asked.
"She'll have to tell you herself Karev," Derek replied. "I'm not too concerned though if that helps put your mind at ease."
"Not really," Alex muttered.
"I'll go in and see what's going on," Callie said. "Don't worry. I'm sure she's just fine."
Arizona was looking out the window when she heard the door open and close again. She turned her head and saw Callie walking in the room, a gorgeous smile adorning her face.
"Derek said you look really good," Callie said. "I'm so thankful. You gave us all quite a scare."
Arizona gave Callie a small smile and sighed. "It'd be great if I knew exactly how I did that," she said.
Callie sat down and tucked her hair behind her ears. She took a deep breath and laid her arms on Arizona's bed.
"There was an accident Arizona. A car accident. You were involved in a single vehicle rollover crash and suffered several significant injuries. Your arm is broken as you can see," Callie said, pointing to Arizona's left arm. "You also had a lacerated liver, internal bleeding, and a serious head injury obviously."
"Jesus," Arizona whispered.
"You're okay now though," Callie said, grabbing Arizona's hand. "You're okay and you're here and that's what I prayed for."
"Yeah, except I've apparently lost the past six months of my life," Arizona said as she bit her lip, trying to hold back her tears.
"What?" Callie asked. With the way Derek had been talking she thought maybe the past couple days were fuzzy for Arizona, not the past six months.
"That's why you asked Bailey why your parents were here," Callie said slowly, piecing it all together. "You don't remember them coming."
"No I don't," Arizona replied.
Callie looked at their intertwined hands. She couldn't believe Arizona had absolutely no memory of the last six months. This meant she didn't remember some bad things, like Brooke and the Hendricks boy passing away, but there were also so many good things she didn't remember either.
"I can't believe this is happening. I'm really happy that you came though," Arizona said. "Considering everything."
Callie was confused by Arizona's words at first, but then her heart sank as she quickly did the math in her head. She and Arizona had reunited four months ago, but Arizona had no memory of the last six. That was why she had reacted so strangely when Callie had said that she needed to look at her and when she had kissed her lips. Because she didn't know.
Arizona had no idea that she and Callie had gotten back together.
Soooo I couldn't have Arizona just wake up and be completely fine because that is pretty unrealistic. Brain injuries are very significant and almost always have some sort of harmful effect. Luckily memory loss isn't always permanent but for the time being, Arizona has no idea that Callie and she are a couple again. She will have to deal with trying to recover her memory along with juggling the crazy members of their family. How will she be able to handle it all? Stay tuned to find out!
