Chapter 53
'Alright people, let's look alive! Places! Aaaaand…. Action!'
Webber wanted to bring in as much publicity as possible to the new clinic. He was very excited for what it would do for the hospital and it's image. He hired a local film crew to document the opening. The local newspaper was there also to take pictures and to interview the doctors.
'Hi, my name is Arizona Robbins-Torres, and I am the pediatric surgeon here at CALA Prosthetics Clinic of Seattle. We are proud to be able to open this clinic. Our goal is ultimately to help as many people as possible. We want to help people in need of a prosthetic to get the absolute best care possible. Our team of well trained surgeons will make you feel at ease, and be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have. Along with myself, we have my wife, Orthopedic surgeon, Calliope Robbins-Torres, and our trauma surgeons Amber and Lexie Grey. We are family here and we will always treat you as part of our family as well. Let's take a quick look around.' Arizona said into the camera. 'How was that?' she asked the director looking up at him.
'Fabulous Darling. Absolutely fabulous.' Chaz, the director, told her. He was a very lively individual. He had so much energy for so early in the morning. The surgeons were all working on their third cup of coffee just to keep up with the energy this guy had.
'Next, I want to film some actions shots. Where are the patients? Ohhhhhhhh Paaaaaaatients? Let's go! Chop, chop!' Chaz said clapping his hands together.
'God, and I thought Arizona was a morning person.' Lexie whispered in her wife's ear. They had decided to go to the courthouse and have a small service. The lawyer had contacted them a few days after their engagement. The judge had approved the adoption and the children were officially Riley and Maci Grey. They wanted to be a complete family and just decided to do it. They would have a big wedding once life slowed down a little bit.
Amber chuckled and pulled her wife close to her. 'You didn't have a good enough wake up call this morning? It sounded like you did.' she asked softly. She pressed a kiss to her wife's temple.
'Oh, I most definitely did, but that amount of energy this early is still a bit… much.'
'Ok, you two. We get it. You're married. Deeply in love. Break it up. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get rid of the cameras.' Callie said. She had been dreading the cameras since Arizona had told her about the special Webber wanted to do. She hated public speaking.
The two women rolled their eyes and moved over to their new 'set.' 'Ok. Orthopedics, I want you to pretend that you are looking over Mr… Jones's leg. Have a conversation with him. We are doing a voiceover on this part so you can talk about anything. Just remember to SMIIIIIILLLLLLLEEEEE!' Chaz bellowed.
Callie sat down in the stool and pretended to adjust Mr. Jones's prosthetic leg. 'So, uh… how are you Mr. Jones?' she asked nervously.
The older man looked at the nervous doctor and smiled softly. 'You can call me Eddie. You don't have to be nervous. Just focus on me. Do you have any kids, Dr. Robbins-Torres?'
Callie's smile grew. Her children always brought a smile to her face. 'I do. Me and my wife just welcomed twins. A boy and a girl. They are three months old now. They're upstairs in the daycare. I can't wait to see them again.'
'That's beautiful. You seem like a loving family. I can tell from the way that your wife looks at you.' Eddie said.
'Aaaaannnnndd…. Cut! Beautiful. Gorgeous. Perfection! Let's take five. You know what? Let's bring the kids down here. We will get our family shots before they get too messy.' Chaz said as he fanned himself.
The four women spent their break walking up to the daycare together. 'What the hell is that guy on? He has more energy than all of our kids combined!' Amber exclaimed.
'I have no clue. I need a little bit of that pick me up though. I was so nervous about today.' Arizona added.
'Us too. We didn't sleep very much.' Lexie said.
They entered the daycare and were greeted by the daycare staff. It was well known around the hospital that the clinic was opening. Surprisingly, the donation did seem to remain anonymous and no one suspected that they were actually the owners of that part of the hospital. 'Mommy! Mama!' Maci ran up to her mothers and hugged them both tightly. Riley was running up to them soon after hearing his sister's excitement.
'Hey babies. We have to take some pictures. Are you ready?' Lexie asked.
Maci nodded enthusiastically. 'I am ready Mommy. I hope they get my good side.' Amber and Lexie busted out laughing.
'Where did you hear that?' Amber asked scooping Riley up into her arms.
'I don't remember. Let's go!'
Callie and Arizona made their way into the nursery area where their little ones were in the pack and plays. They were starting to sit up on their own. They were growing so fast. 'Where are my sweet babies?' Arizona cooed. Both Levi and Naya turned quickly at the sound of their mother's voice and smiled their big gummy smiles.
'Oh my big boy. I love you so much.' Callie said placing kisses all over her son's face.
'And my little lady.' Arizona said doing the same to her daughter.
'Ok, ladies. Group shot. Let's get those beautiful babies on display. Young lady, I want you to stand in front of Mommy there and smile really big, ok? Amber, hold young man. Ready aaaaandddd smile!' Chaz yelled. The photographer for the paper snapped away on his camera. They stood there for what seemed like forever as picture after picture was taken. 'Just a few more. Just the mom's this time.' Some of the production assistants were ushered in the hold the small children. 'Ok Mommies, ready? One…two…three…FABULOUS!' The camera went off again. And again. And again.
Finally, they were done with the pictures. They paged a few of the interns to take the kids back to the daycare so that they could finish filming.
'Next, we are going to shoot some scenes from the operating room and then we will get some shots with the amputee children.' Chaz stated.
'Chaz, they are not amputee children. They are children.' Arizona spoke up.
'I meant no offense, doctor. To the operating rooms! Awwwwwaaayyyyy!' the four women collectively rolled their eyes. Today was going to be a long day.
They got gowned up and walked into the OR. They had to make it appear that they were actually operating on the person lying on the table. Amber stepped up to the table. 'Hey guy. How are you?'
'I'm fine now that I have a pretty doctor about to operate on me.'
'Oh my goodness. You are too much.' Amber laughed. 'What's your name Romeo?'
'You can call me Romeo if you want to. What am I calling you later?'
Lexie stepped forward. 'You can call her Mrs. Grey. She's married…to me.'
'Oh a lady lover. Even better.'
'Alright, dial it back Romeo. I'm happily married. Better luck with someone else.' Amber said winking at her wife. She could tell by the lines on her wife's face that she was smiling wide.
Chaz bounced his way into the room. 'Everyone in place? Excellent. I want you to use the fake tools here and act like you are slicing into his arm. There is a fake blood capsule attached to it. It should rupture and give the appearance that he is actually bleeding. Same with the stitching. OK. Action!'
By the end of the day, the four women were completely zapped. Chaz was still zooming around the clinic like Sonic the Hedgehog. 'Oh my God. He's still going. I'm tired just watching him.' Callie grumbled.
'I know, but at least our day is over. We did it though. We opened the clinic. Now the real fun begins.' Lexie said.
The special aired a week later on the local news channel. It seemed to do the trick. The clinic was jam packed with appointments already. They had hit the ground running. They had been on a marathon for three weeks now. There was no sign of slowing down either. They actually had to call in some help from the hospital. Jo and April were running around with them today. For some reason, either clerical or whatever, the clinic was overscheduled. People were everywhere. They were working as fast and as diligently as they could to control the flow of patients.
Larry, the security guard was patrolling around. He was a gentle older man who the women simply loved. He was one of those people that just made the day better with a smile. Larry walked up to the reception desk where Amber was finishing up the chart for the patient she had just seen. 'Dr. Grey, there's a man here. Says he's your husband.'
'I don't have a husband Larry, you know I'm married to…' she trailed off as she saw who was standing next to the security guard.
'Please escort him out of the building Larry. He is not welcome here.' Amber said. She tried to get away from the reception desk, but as luck would have it, everyone seemed to be crowding around them at that time blocking all exits.
'Amber, let me talk to you.'
'I have nothing to say to you Tyler. Leave. Now!' she tried again to leave. She had work to do.
'My parents saw you on TV. Nice of you to use our kids to help the hospital.' he said.
She thought about it for a minute and ushered the man into her office. Once the door was shut behind them she turned to address the idiot she was once married to. 'OUR KIDS? There's no OUR kids anymore.' Amber said raising her voice getting the attention of Lexie in her office. 'They are NOT your kids. You made that perfectly clear with the papers you filed. You signed your rights away. Do not stand there and say that I am using OUR kids to help the hospital. MY kids were standing with me and my wife to promote OUR clinic.'
'You're married? Now you're using someone else to get what you want? You're still the pathetic woman that I left. Nothing has changed.' Tyler sneered.
Lexie entered the office through the door that connected the two rooms. 'Hey…Buddy. Yeah you. You don't get to talk about her like that. That's MY wife. A woman who had to continue on when she found out that you had another child with someone else. Someone who had just had your freaking kid herself! A freaking miracle worker. There is nothing pathetic about her. It was her idea to open this clinic. She made it happen. She didn't need me or Callie or Arizona or you. She's far from pathetic. She's Wonder Woman and I want to thank you for not seeing that. Because I see it every single day.'
'What the hell are you talking about? She made it happen?' Tyler asked.
'Tyler… what you fail to understand is that I am not some idiot chick that just fell to your feet. I always had dreams. I am a surgeon for crying out loud. Do you understand what that means? I have people's lives in my hands every day. I need to make sure that people are able to walk out of here. I have dreams to help people. Did you even look at the side of the building? Do you know what CALA stands for? Callie… Arizona… Lexie… and Amber. I own the building, Tyler. I own part of this hospital. And I did it without you. And now you come up here in MY building saying that I am using OUR kids to promote the hospital. No… they are not your kids. They are Lexie's. They have two mothers that love them. They have two mothers that would never ever leave them. I had mine and Lexie's kids stand with us to promote OUR clinic. Now please… for the love of all things good, leave my hospital and don't you ever come back.'
Tyler opened the door and stormed into the lobby. 'I want everyone in this room to know something. Your doctors are jokes. They use people to get what they want. They…'
'TYLER, get out of my clinic! I will not tell you again. We are divorced. We have nothing tying us together. Just leave, and don't you ever cause a scene in this hospital again.' Amber said firmly.
'You hear that Tyler? You aren't anything. You're nothing. Have a nice life…cousin.' Arizona sneered. Her and Callie had come out of their appointments after they heard the raised voices in the lobby. They stood behind their friends with their arms folded across their chests.
'You own the clinic' he scoffed. 'That's the biggest bunch of crap I have ever heard in my life. Mr. Torres was right…You're toxic. You're still nothing. This clinic will fail and when it does, don't think that I won't be there to rub it in your face.'
'Just go. You're making yourself look bad Tyler. I hope I never see you again.' Amber said.
Larry escorted the man out of the door. Once he was back inside, Amber called for him. 'Larry, I don't want that man in this building again. If he shows up, I want you to call the police.'
'Understood.' Larry turned and continued his patrol. 'Alright people, nothing to see here. If you all will just find a seat, these lovely ladies will be right with you.'
Jo and April came up to the reception desk. 'You guys own this place? You were the $20 million donation that Webber was talking about?' Jo asked.
'Yeah, Jo. We were. That's not important. Let's get these patients seen, ok?' Lexie said. 'Wait, did he say Mr. Torres?'
Thanks for reading. I really appreciate everyone who reads the story. I cannot say it enough. So Mr. Torres... what could he possibly have to do with anything?
