Hey lovelies! I'm so sorry this update took so long to get uploaded. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do for this chapter.
As always, I don't own Grey's Anatomy. There would have never been a Calzona breakdown if I did, and it would be a lot gayer. Just saying.
lonelykid293 - Callie's hair is definitely going to grow back but we know how long that takes! haha
Calzonafan123 - We gotta remember, Callie doesn't remember four years of her life. That's four years of being best friends with Mark that she also doesn't remember.
BreatheSemperMea - OMG THANK YOU FOR READING! I LOVE your GA fanfics!
Beeex3 - Yes, she is, unfortunately. It's part of her TBI symptoms. There's going to be a lot of Mark and Callie issues in this fic because part of that four years that Callie lost is also her friendship with Mark. Just keep a look out for those clues hehe. One of them is in the other site.
What if life was a fanfiction - thank you for reading my story and appreciating it. I love reading reviews like this.
Gwenism - Thank you!
FFChik - Exactly. Four years worth of memories is a lot to lose.
to the guest who told me not to confuse the actor with the character - I never said I wasn't going to make Callie's hair grow back. It takes a loooong time for hair to grow back, we're barely anywhere in their recoveries.
Thanks for the continued support, loves! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 13: The one where Callie finds out
With the prospect of a previously unknown, almost forgotten innovation that Callie Torres could now perfectly remember and possibly do or maybe teach someone to do, the Latina's room became a revolving door of curious residents and attendings going in and out to question her about it. Tom Koracick had more than once gotten to the orthopod's nerves, by making fun of Arizona or making rude comments, to the point that he'd walked out of her room drenched in water or be running out to a string of angry Spanish and dodging whatever item the Latina had on hand at the moment. More than once, it would be a clipboard or a thick notebook because Callie had been advised by Arizona, Dr. She-Shepherd, Meredith, Derek, Bailey, Webber, and pretty much everyone who came into her room to "take some damn notes so you don't lose possible life-changing and Harper Avery winning ideas, you fool!" That one was courtesy of the great Miranda Bailey, her favorite general surgery resident, attending now, and friend. Apparently, Callie and Bailey stopped being surgical rivals who sometimes talked personal stuff somewhere down the road and actually became good friends. That was an interesting development for the ortho surgeon, and the absence of their other residency fellow survivor, Sydney Heron, was another. Callie wouldn't really miss the overly positive, "heal with love" quoting woman but it was another change from the life she could remember.
It was now three days after her initial scans, and Callie, and Arizona too, was getting antsy about her own spinal injury and kind of excited about seeing little Grey's scans. Amelia, Arthur, and a reluctant Tom had held off on showing Callie the scans with the reason that they wanted to evaluate all other options first before including her previously unknown and still thought to be a radical treatment method. She had been awake for barely a week but the Latina was growing anxious, especially with the status of her spine. If anything was seriously wrong, Callie was in for a life in a wheelchair, and that was not something she looked forward to at all. "Is it just me or are they seriously dragging their feet about my scans? I'm not crazy, right? They're purposely dragging this out?" Callie questioned the only other person in the room with her at the moment, Arizona.
The blonde shook her head. "You're not crazy, Calliope. They are definitely taking their sweet time with it, but I think they're doing it so that they can give you the best possible outcome so we have to stay positive okay?" Arizona smiled, being the voice of reason to Callie's current craziness. It seemed that it would be their routine for a while, Callie going crazy and Arizona calming her down. The Latina huffed but didn't say anything, just leaning back against her pillows. Arizona herself was sitting up on her own bed for the first time in days, and returned to playing some puzzle game on her phone, the loud commentary of the game being the only noise in the room for a few seconds before Callie spoke again.
"Where's Sofia? Shouldn't Meredith be bringing her here right about now?" Arizona looked up from her game and looked at the clock on the wall. It was indeed the start of visiting hours, and Meredith usually brought their daughter in around this time or one the parents. "Sofia went home with Mom and dad at the apartment yesterday, they might have stopped somewhere before coming here," the blonde offered as an explanation.
Callie shrugged, "I miss her. Was I always this clingy towards our daughter?" She asked.
Arizona giggled, nodding. "We're all baby hogs but Sofia loves cuddling with her Mami. She loves being held in your arms when we go out. You and your mini-me are impossible to separate when our little miss feels like it. It feels like Mark and I just share time at home with her, she's pretty much glued to you otherwise." Callie's jaw clenched at the mention of Mark Sloan. She didn't remember being close enough to the manwhore yet other than their mistakes during her confusion about her sexuality and Erica, so her reaction was pretty much annoyance and anger over the fact that she'd probably committed another mistake with this man while in a relationship with a wonderful woman.
Callie looked down, lost in her thoughts and self reprimanding. She vaguely registered that Arizona had stopped giggling, going silent as well when she realized that the Latina wasn't as amused by the story. A hand on her arm made the Latina flinch, "Calliope? What's wrong?"
"Did I… I cheated on you, didn't I? That's why there's Sofia, and why Mark Sloan is the father and… God! Why are you still with me, why are we still married if I did that to you? I… I'm not a cheater, I hate cheaters ever since George did what he did… and then… Did I?" Callie inquired with a small voice, her tone becoming more and more distressed and breaking as tears started to form in her eyes.
A shift in the bed signaled that Arizona had moved beside her, and soon, Callie was engulfed in the warm, loving safety of the blonde's embrace. This pretty much broke the dam, and the ortho surgeon couldn't help but cry on her wife's shoulder. "Oh Calliope. Shhh… there's so much we need you to remember, but one thing you have to know right now is that you are not a cheater. You are the most loyal, loving, passionate lover and wife. You didn't cheat on me with Mark. He's more of… a sperm donor than anything, but he did want to be involved with Sofia so we agreed to co-parent our daughter so she grows up with a father. He's a wonderful father, he even started learning Spanish for Sofia because you insist that our daughter grow up bilingual." It was technically a lie, but Callie didn't need to know about the real circumstances of Sofia's conception yet. In Arizona's mind, this little lie would be enough for now and it wouldn't put too much stress on her wife or increase her confusion.
The sperm donor comment elicited a strained laugh from the Latina, finally helping her calm down. "So we're good?" Callie asked as she pulled away from the embrace enough to see Arizona's face but not enough to break the embrace. The blonde answered with her brilliant dimpled smile, making the Latina's breath catch in her throat at the sight. "We're good. So good in fact that we're the poster gay couple of Seattle Grace Mercy West. People have even come to us for advice," there was a playful quality in Arizona's voice as she said this and it made Callie smile.
"Poster gay couple huh? So the hospital doesn't look at me as the poster child of train wreck relationships anymore?" Callie teased. Arizona laughed and shook her head, amusement dancing in those ocean blue eyes. "You weren't a train wreck. No one even thought of you like that when I first got here four years ago. Didn't I tell you? The talk was good. They were all worried about you, and interested. I'm just glad I jumped the line and got to you first," the blonde replied, giving Callie a playful wink.
Callie's deep belly laugh echoed around her room, soon joined by the musical sound of Arizona's own laughter. The Latina definitely felt safe and lighter when she was with her blonde wife, the concept of having a wife itself becoming more and more acceptable the more time they spent together. The two continued to giggle over anecdotes and stories Arizona would tell about the times before they met, and Callie shared her own tales of living in the hospital basement and other shenanigans she had been doing when she was a resident. They were so caught up in each other that they didn't notice the door opening or the shuffle of feet and the squeak of wheels on the floor until someone cleared their throat.
Brown and blue turned toward the source of the noise to see Meredith, Derek, and Cristina staring at them. The three made for quite the sight, in Callie's opinion. Meredith was behind Derek's wheelchair, a diaper bag on either shoulder, a smile playing on her lips. Derek was wearing his McDreamy smile, though it looked kind of forced, while a stack of papers and a notebook were clenched in one hand over his lap. Cristina was the oddest sight of all for Callie. The ruthless cardio obsessed woman had a baby strapped to her chest in some sort of complicated-looking baby wrap, while she pushed Sofia in a stroller. Cristina didn't look scary at all, and her face wasn't even arranged in her signature scowl. No, Cristina Yang wasn't even paying attention to the adults in the room; the Korean woman was busy making silly faces at the baby strapped to her chest. The squeals of happiness from the black baby was the only sound for a good few seconds before Callie spoke.
"Who are you and what did you do to my roommate who ate children in the peds ward for breakfast?" The Latina blurted out. Cristina glared at the Latina but a small baby hand smacking her face effectively neutralized the glare, and this caused a chain reaction from everyone in the room. Arizona started giggling again, trying to hide her laughter behind Callie but obviously failing miserably as the blonde's whole body shook and small snorts and giggles kept coming out. It triggered Callie to laugh, not even hiding the fact as she laughed out loud. This caused Meredith to bite her lip, trying hard to contain her own laughter until Cristina turned her glare to the brunette, which caused Meredith to lose it as the baby on Cristina's chest once again reached up and this time grabbed at the Korean's lip. Derek, seeing this, also lost his composure and everyone in the room save for Cristina was laughing. Even the babies laughed along, pulled by the laughter of their parents.
Cristina scowled as she pried Zola's hand away from her face. "Laugh it up. I'm definitely turning my goddaughters into cutthroat cardio goddesses when they get older. Isn't that right, Zozo? Sof? You two aren't going to be lame carpenters, kiddie surgeons, or play with brains. No, you're both going to be hardcore cardio goddesses like your aunt Cristina," cooed the Korean as she unstrapped Sofia from the stroller and positioned her on her hip.
Callie shook her head at Cristina's antics. "Sofia barely speaks complete sentences, Cristina." This got the Latina a raised eyebrow from the Korean before Cristina turned to Sofia, the baby busy having a babbled conversation with Zola. "Watch this, Torres. Let's show your mommies what you learned, Sofibear." Cristina ignored the renewed snickering at her pet name for the little Latina. Cristina caught Sofia's attention and pointed to herself, "what does aunt Cristina do, Sof?"
The four other adults watched the little Latina as she scrunched up her face, her cute nose wrinkling as she thought about her answer. "Cardo s...s...shurden!" The little girl cheered as she remembered what her aunt Cristina taught her, clapping her hands as Cristina gave the little girl kisses on her face for a job well done, much to the shock of the parents in the room. "Good job, Sofibear! Now you, Zozo. What does aunt Cristina do?" The little girl on Cristina's chest giggled before answering. "Caryo shuren!" This exclamation was also rewarded with kisses from the Korean resident, something completely out of character from the normally almost heartless and blunt woman who doesn't want children.
Callie was thoroughly impressed, both by her daughter's intelligence and the humanity and care that her former roommate was displaying towards the children. This was something that she had never expected from the Korean woman, especially with how much she avoided the peds ward in the hospital. "Wow Cristina… you…" the Latina was suddenly cut off by a loud shushing from her former roommate.
"We're not done. Okay, Sof. What does your aunt mew mew do?" Cristina turned Sofia so she was facing Meredith and Derek. Again, the little latina scrunched up her face but seemed to be having a harder time pronouncing general surgery. "G...ge… gernal sur...surgy!" Sofia's exclamation was followed by Zola's "mommy geremal surgy!" This time, all five adults in the room praised them, making the little girls beam and giggle at the attention. "What about daddy Der? What does he do?" Cristina pointed to Derek, who beamed at the two little girls.
Sofia and Zola looked at each other before turning towards Derek. "Nuro surgy! Daddy/Unc Der!" This time, Sofia and Zola both spoke at the same time. This earned them another round of praises from the now proudly beaming parents. "And what about mama Zona?" Cristina turned her body so that both babies can look at the blonde peds surgeon. "Baby surgy?" Sofia asked while Zola said "peas surgy! Yucky peas!" This caused Arizona to pout, while everyone laughed. "Close enough, Sof. Zozo, aunty Zona does peds surgery. Not peas," Cristina explained. Zola nodded, though she still looked confused.
"What about me, Sof? What does mami do?" Callie chimed in, her proud smile just as big as everyone else's. Sofia once again scrunched up her face while Zola smiled at Callie, "Mami Cawwie do or...or...orto!" It was Zola who answered first, using Sofia's term for Callie instead of aunty. The older Latina laughed and clapped her hands, praising the little girl. This caused Sofia to pout, shaking her head. "No! My mami! Not Zozo! MY MAMI!" Apparently no one else was allowed to call her mami except Sofia, because the little latina was now in the beginnings of a tantrum at the simple slip from her best friend. Callie, and everyone, was surprised at this. Cristina quickly walked over to Callie, and Sofia almost launched herself out of the Korean's hold. Luckily, Callie had been able to catch her. Sofia buried her face against her mother's chest, hands gripping the thin hospital gown as she sniffled and glared at the other child in the room, taking on an unusual possessive hold on Callie. "My Mami. Sofia Mami. Mami? Sof mami, otay?" Sofia turned her attention to Callie and tugged on the hospital gown.
"Of course I'm your Mami, mija, but we also have to share. That wasn't very nice, Sofia. Say sorry to your friend and aunt Cristina." Callie gently chided her daughter as she held her close. She did good right? Parents are supposed to do stuff like this? She sneaked a glance over towards Arizona, unsure of her action. Arizona was smiling and nodded encouragingly. Callie let out a relieved sigh. She did good with that one. Sofia whimpered and buried her face in her mami's chest before finally turning towards Cristina and Zola. "Sowwie Zozo, sowwie 'stina," Sofia mumbled before burying her face against Callie's chest again.
Cristina waved off the apology, handing Zola off to Meredith as she plopped herself down on a chair. "Sof must be having some separation anxiety. You didn't see you in over two months. She did the same possessive stunt with Arizona when we got discharged, wouldn't even let Arizona pick up Zola for the first week or so. Well… that just means I can't take Zola with me when I visit Sloan next door. Might have to have a tight hold on her, a flying baby to the chest might just kill him." Cristina stopped and asked "what?" When everyone went silent.
"Cristina… why is Mark next door?" Callie asked. The Korean looked around her, at the guilty expressions on Meredith and Arizona's faces, the contemplative one on Derek's, and Callie's confusion.
Something clicked in Cristina's head and she let out a puff of air. "Oh," though she didn't really look remorseful about her slip. "They haven't told you, huh? Sloan was also in the crash. It was you, me, Arizona, Derek, Meredith, Lexie, and Mark. We were stranded for four days, and you, Lexie, and Mark were critical, you and Mark especially. Mark had a massive hemothorax, and you had what we thought was a concussion until you collapsed and we had to drill a hole in your skull. Lexie was crushed under the plane but you found a way to free her, just like you freed Derek's hand over there. You set and splinted Arizona's leg. Really, you helped us a lot on our first day, and during the second before you collapsed. I'm not really sure who would be here if you weren't there… what?" Cristina frowned when a pillow came flying at her from Arizona, her story cut off as she caught the offering item.
"Retrograde amnesia, Cristina!" The blonde exclaimed. The resident scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I'm not stupid, Arizona. I didn't give Cal enough details for it to affect her memory recovery. Chill out." Cristina rolled her eyes again before throwing the pillow back at Arizona. She was right though, there wasn't really anything in Cristina's story that could confuse Callie. The recap was vague and gave just enough for the story to make sense but not enough to possibly give too much away. The Latina sighed, even though it was vague, it gave her some idea of what happened to them. Four days. Four days out in God only knows where, while everyone here was either going crazy or completely unaware of what happened, like the little girl currently curled up against her chest. Callie realized that if all three of them were in the crash, Sofia had almost been orphaned. This realization made her tighten her hold just a little bit, and she turned her gaze to Arizona's sad blue eyes. The blonde was also probably thinking along the same lines, and so were Derek and Meredith as everyone descended into silence. If the crash had gone differently, the two little girls that were cuddled right now against their own mothers would have been orphaned. That was a scary thought, even if Callie couldn't remember yet, it brought a sharp pain in her chest at how close two innocent children came to losing their families.
"Who was taking care of Sofia before we were rescued? How's Mark doing? And Lexie?" Callie inquired, leaving the question for anyone to answer. Arizona once again scooted closer to Callie, one arm wrapping around her waist while her other hand rubbed circles on Sofia's back. The blonde didn't speak, just wanting to be closer to her family. "Bailey was taking care of Sofia for you when we were gone. Mark is… he lost one of his lungs to an infection, dr. Hahn has been monitoring him closely for complications while they wait for a donor. He's still weak right now but he's been asking for Sofia, and Lexie…" Meredith sighed. "Lexie is paralyzed from the waist down, and Dr. Sheen had to amputate one of her legs. She's alive, but she's slowly losing that spark that makes her Lexie. She was our optimist during the days in the forest, and I just… can your hypothermic method really help her walk again?" Callie can almost feel the desperation in Meredith's question. How hard it must be for her friend right now, a paralyzed sister and a husband who could possibly lose his career.
"I have to see the scans. I've been waiting here for three days now but none of the doctors have come back with anything. I can't make a plan if I don't know what I'm working with," Callie explained. She really couldn't say anything definitive if she didn't know what Lexie's spine looked like, and she also wanted to see her own scans for the possibility of using the treatment on herself. Callie was determined to walk again, to feel something below her waist again. Right now, she was in the same boat as Lexie. Confined to a bed and for all intents and purposes, crippled and unable to go anywhere without a wheelchair and assistance. It didn't feel good at all. Meredith nodded in understanding, "I'll see what I can do, Callie. I just want to do everything we can to help Lexie."
Derek took the pause in the conversation to say his piece. "Callie, do you think you can take a look at these? These are the scans of my hand, and the notes are research notes that a resident found in your lab regarding a new technique in hand surgery that you had been working on. The orthopedic surgeon on our cases is refusing to do the surgery, saying it's too new and risky but I think he just doesn't know how to do it." Meredith pushed Derek closer and the man handed over the stack of papers to Callie. Handing over the now calm Sofia to Arizona, the Latina studied the stack of papers and the copy of Derek's hand x-ray. "This is my handwriting. I developed this? Wow. This will definitely work for your type of injury, especially with the nerve damage. It doesn't use synthetic nerve grafts, though. We need a family member to donate the nerves to help with the connections here. Why is Dr. Sheen refusing to do this? It's not a difficult surgery, you just need steady hands and a complete knowledge of hand anatomy and the nervous system." Callie continued to read over her notes, switching between that and the X-Ray film of Derek's hand.
Derek looked relieved at the news. He had been hoping that Callie would be able to help with this since Dr. Sheen was refusing to do the surgery. "So you can do it?" Derek asked. Callie sighed and took her eyes off the papers, shaking her head. "In my current state? I can't. My scalpel hand needs intensive physical therapy before I can operate again." Callie holds up her hand and shows Derek the limited movement that she could do right now, which is a very shaky barely closed fist. Derek physically deflated when he saw this. Callie was his last hope to regain his hand function. "I'm sorry, Derek. Maybe we can ask the chief if we can request another orthopedic surgeon to take on your case? He found Erica, maybe he could get another orthopedic surgeon who isn't a wimp about trying new surgery techniques? And we need a good plastic surgeon to help with the nerve grafts too," Callie suggested. She hoped she was right that they could find someone willing to do the surgery because waiting even a few weeks for her to finish therapy on her hands would risk permanent damage to Derek's hand.
Derek nodded, sighing. "We'll see. Thanks, Callie." With that, Derek and Meredith walk out of the room, heading for the next room where Mark and Lexie were, leaving the small family and Cristina in the room. The notes still clutched in Callie's hands.