As Callie Torres made her way from the battalion chief's office towards the open lounge and kitchen area, she looked at her unlocked cell phone screen for the umpteenth time that day, checking for messages from either Meredith or Malia's school, and from Arizona. Not hearing from the first two was a good sign. But her girlfriend and April had been called out to a scene over two hours ago and neither she nor the chief had heard from them since. At first she had tried calling her, then she had started to stare through the huge doors, hoping for the ambulance to pull in. When that did not happen, she talked to Chief Webber, who in turn called the dispatcher's office, creases of worry on his forehead.
It was nothing out of the ordinary, of course. Some cases took longer, some patients needed more attending to so they would not die under the blonde's hands. But something deep inside the Latina's guts told her that something was wrong. "Has anyone heard anything from either Arizona or April?", she asked into the big crew of firefighters, stopping some of them mid-chew.
"What's up, Torro?", Mark countered, standing in front of the counter, not looking up so he could keep piling food onto his plate, "got an itch?"
"Shut up, Mark, I'm serious." Callie knew that he was – in his sick, inappropriate way – only joking. She just was not having any of it. "They left the firehouse hours ago and have not returned yet. I tried calling them and after I spoke to the chief, they were not called to another scene and the first one was for a gun-shot-wound. How long can that take?"
Henry came up to her and squeezed her shoulder. "I'm sure they're alright. They both are just very thorough with their work and depending on where the patient was shot, it can take longer. Have you tried the hospital? Maybe they got held up with paperwork."
Shaking her head, the brunette replied, "I tried. They haven't been at the hospital today. Webber's trying to locate their ambulance but we all know how many service issues we've been having from the wind, the snow and the whatever reason they're trying to sell us." This did not feel right. Arizona was not one to just disappear. Well, except for that one night, but that was under totally different circumstances. "What if something happened?"
"Sit down and have some coffee", Owen said and stood up to free a seat for Callie to sit at the table. "I'm sure everything is just-" The lieutenant did not have a chance to finish his sentence, as it was overshadowed by multiple phones buzzing and chiming on the table. "What is that?", he wondered.
The pairs of eyes around her could just as well have been question marks, as everyone who received the same message seemed confused. But before Callie had even a second to think about it or click on the icon, she heard the same phones go off again when hers buzzed in her hands. "Something is up!"
The crew's sprint towards the garage was stopped abruptly by chief Webber's words. He needed to tell his crew that they were running against time, so he spoke fast, "Listen up, our paramedics called 911 and the call was directly forwarded to me. I was informed that both got shot and that Arizona Robbins has been in and out of consciousness, but she's fighting. They are at Colman Docks and apparently in some sort of a tank that's filling up with water, so we don't have much time. Now, go, go, go!" Everyone hurried to the vehicles and truck company 42 as well as squad 8 were on the street in under a minute. Battalion chief Webber was not far behind, he just had to make sure that the paramedics from firehouse 24 where also on their way out.
It felt like some sort of a déjà vu to Callie, she was running on autopilot just like she had when the fire had broken out in Malia's school. It brought back memories of her running into the fire to save her niece, the sting and pain on her back when they finally made it out. "How could this happen? And can't you drive any faster, Derek?"
"We'll find out", he answered as he cranked up the truck's siren. "We're ten minutes out. I can get us there in five." Pushing his foot down on the gas pedal, he crossed an intersection at almost full speed. The cars in his way pulled to the sides of the road as Derek was completely concentrated on not being the cause of a car accident. "Three minutes."
The closer they got, the more nauseous the brunette felt. What if they were too late? What if she could not save Arizona? She had promised to protect her, had vowed to keep her family safe and right now it felt like she was failing not only four months into the relationship. "Hold out, Arizona", she mumbled into the collar of her jacket. "I'm almost there."
"One minute", Derek announced and every member got ready to jump out of the vehicle the moment it stopped – which happened with a screeching noise after he rounded the last corner a little bit too fast.
Owen hunt was out first and he opened the door to have access to the tools with practiced ease. Callie stopped for a split second to grab a Halligan tool before running towards the tall metal door, noticing the chain that was pulled through the handles and locked together. "Fuckers", she cursed and then yelled "Arizona?" She used the tool to hammer against the door. "Are you in there?" There was no answer and Callie feared the worst. "I need a hand here!"
"What do you need?", Mark asked when catching up with his friend. The lieutenant of rescue squad 8 made the worst kind of jokes and had the most horrible timing for inappropriate remarks or jabs, but he would do anything for his friends and his crew.
Callie hooked her Halligan into one side of the chain and motioned for Mark to do the same on the other side. "One, two, pull!" A moment later, the chain burst and slid through the handles to the ground. The brunette kicked it out of the way when Owen and Mark opened the heavy door. Her instincts had kicked in when she had exited the car – as it usually happened – and she was about to head inside when her lieutenant stopped her with his hand on her upper arm.
"I go in first."
It did not sit well with the Latina, but she knew she had to listen if she did not want another one of chief Webber's lectures, so she nodded and followed the red-haired man. "Arizona?", she called out again after her eyes had adjusted to the darkness. "April?"
"We're here!" April's voice almost died in her throat, tears streaming down her cheeks. The paramedic had spent the last twenty minutes talking to the blonde to keep her awake and trying to keep her friend's head above water as best as she could while simultaneously praying that they would be found on time. The water had risen all the way up to her chin, she knew they were running out of time. "Oh God, we're here!"
Twelve people looked around, the same amount of flashlight-glow was moved through the warehouse when, finally, Alex Karev noticed some odd reflecting of the light. "Over there!"
The brunette firefighter quickly followed her fellow's flashlight, her feet already moving further into the building when the end of her light also landed on a head of red hair. "Arizona!" She was besides the tank in no time, reached into the water and tried to pull out her girlfriend as Avery had tried to do the same to his. "They're tied down!"
"Ropes. They used r-ropes", April stated, relieved that neither she nor Arizona would die today. "The w-water, it's s-still rising. Robs, she was sh-shot in her thigh, they got me in my c-calf. She... she lost a lot of b-b-blood. We were just trying to help and then they f-forced us t-to." She started crying and shaking again, disbelief, relief and pain causing a turmoil of emotions inside her.
"O'Malley, get me two axes, two serrated knives and see if the paramedics have arrived. Be quick, we don't have much time left" Hunt ordered before feeling around for the wound on Arizona's leg and pressed down on it when he found it right above her knew.
Callie kept the blonde's head out of the water and stroked wet strands out of her cold face. "I am here, Arizona. Can you hear me? I am here. I'm sorry I didn't look for you sooner." The brunette deeply wished she had trusted her guts more, she should have been more suspicious when they had not been back after an hour. Checking her girlfriend's neck for a pulse, the firefighter had trouble finding it at first, it was so week. "Don't die on me, do you hear me? You can't just leave me... or Malia. We need you."
A moment later, O'Malley came running back in, axes and knives in his hands. "The paramedics are just a few seconds out, the chief is waiting for them", he said, handing one of the axes to Henry and on the count of three – and with Derek keeping the flashlight on the outside of the tank – they cut holes into the sides of the tank. A couple of good swings from each of them was enough to let the water spurt out. "I brought blankets, too", he announced as he and Henry started to work on the ropes. "What kind of asshole does this to a person?"
It was exactly what everybody was thinking. What kind of person would do this do someone that was just trying to help other people. No one came up with a reasonable answer. To do something like this was so far from their minds, that none of them managed to think like the bad guys.
"Robbins is free", Henry stated when his knife came up from behind the EMT, the rope in his hand. O'Malley followed a few second later and both moved aside as the two women were lifted out of the tank.
Ice cold water was dripping from Arizona's clothes and Callie was sure that her hands had gone numb from the cold, but the Latina could not care less. After a blanket was draped over the unconscious blonde, she carried her out of the warehouse and put her down on one of the two stretchers that the EMTS had prepared. Avery was right behind her with a quivering April in his arms. Both firefighters stepped aside to make room for the paramedics. Callie felt helpless. "Is there anything I can do?"
"You did your part, let us do ours."
"Hey, there you are", Callie smiled at her girlfriend who was stirring, slowly awakening from her slumber after being committed to the hospital seven hours ago. Malia was curled up on her lap, she had refused to go with Meredith after she was told what had happened.
The blonde had suffered from hypothermia and a high amount of blood loss when they had found her, so the doctors had provided infusions and blood transfusions. The bullet that had still been in her thigh when she was brought in, had missed the femur bone by an inch, but pierced a vein which had caused the profuse bleeding. And yet, thanks to the icy water, Arizona had not bled out. Surgery had gone according to plan, but the EMT's low body temperature had been the cause for a longer recovery time afterwards. "How do you feel?", the brunette asked, holding the straw to the paramedic's lips so she could have some water.
"Tired", the blonde rasped out after having a few sips. "Like I got shot. A little cold. But not wet anymore, which is nice." She tried to lighten the mood, not wanting to think about the events in the warehouse or remembering how she felt when a gun had been held to her head. She could forget the names they were called, but not how her hands trembled when trying to stop the bleeding while fearing the same would happen to herself. Ironically enough, it did. And it was horrible. Slowly reaching for her girlfriend's hand, she tried to squeeze it, but was still too weak. "How are you?"
The firefighter quirked an eyebrow, "How am I? Arizona, you... I almost lost you today. You almost died." Her words were spoken in a whisper so she would not wake Malia, but she realized they came out harsher than she meant to. Callie was not mad, because how could she be mad at Arizona for something the blonde had no control over. "I'm sorry, that came out wrong. I'm just... I'm just really, really happy you're still alive and at the same time I want to go out and punch my hand in the faces of whoever did this to you."
Arizona nodded. She understood. She wanted to do the same. And if the roles were reversed, she would most likely feel the same way. Still, the paramedic did not want to think about them, or the warehouse, or the tank, or anything else that could be linked to her memory of today. It was exactly the material her nightmares would be made of. "How is April?", she asked instead.
"A little shaken up, but other than that, she seems alright", Callie answered. "She has a flesh wound, so I guess in a sick way, she got lucky. Avery wanted to take her home, but they're keeping her here overnight for observation. She should be ready to save lives again in about a week, though. Her case of hypothermia wasn't as bad as yours, due to losing less blood than you did." The brunette carefully stood up and put Malia down on the chair, the girl was plum tuckered out from the day, she didn't even resist the grown Latina's movements. "I don't know what I would have done if we had been too late, Arizona. I had a bad feeling, but I- how was I supposed to know?"
Moving her hand from her girlfriend's grasp up to her cheek, she wiped at the tears that had began to fall from her favorite brown eyes. "You couldn't know, Calliope. It is not your fault. You are not to blame and neither am I", Arizona said firmly, trying to be brave. She needed to be, otherwise she would start crying and that was no help to anyone. "Thank you, for finding me."
Callie choked on a tiny chuckle. "It was all you, Arizona." Although she failed to understand how her girlfriend had sent a cry for help with her hands tied back. "How did you even sent that message and your location?", she wondered, leaning into the blonde's hand and covering it with her own.
Now it was Arizona's turn to giggle, which earned her another raised eyebrow from the firefighter. "Hey Siri." Right on cue, her phone chimed from her belongings on the night stand next to her – the waterproof phone case she had bought before the first snow had fallen did not disappoint. Averting her eyes from her girlfriend and to the pile of clothes, she whispered, "Thank you, Siri."
AN: I know it's been a while, I needed to get a new laptop first, those don't grow on trees. And there's always so much work and so few hours to get some sleep.
Anyway, I'll try to get back to my monthly updates for either of my stories... no promises though, except for that, that I will finish my stories.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this update, albeit a little shorter than my usual chapters. Thank you for sticking with me and my stories.