CHAPTER 3

When Callie came back Arizona was fast asleep. Callie put down the water and observed her beautiful wife for a few seconds. She wished she could caress her cheeks and her hair and wrap her arms around her. God it's been thirteen days since I've held her in my arms, Callie thought as she closed her eyes and imagined sliding her fingers lightly across Arizona's face before placing a long kiss on Arizona's lips, imagining Arizona responding and wrapping her hands into Callie's hair, pulling Callie closer and letting their tongues touch. Callie reveled in the imaginary sensations for a few seconds and then opened her eyes. She looked at Arizona for a bit longer and then sighed softly before she quietly left the room with tears in her eyes.

She walked towards the neuro office to find Amelia who was sitting at the desk going over Arizona's last scans again.

"Hey," Callie simply said as she entered the room.

Amelia lifted her eyes and smiled supportively. "Hey, how are you doing?"

Callie let out a heavy sigh, "I have no idea… I'm so happy she is finally awake, my heart skips a beat every time I see her beautiful blue eyes… but when our eyes meet… my Arizona is not there, she's someone else, she is looking at me like I'm a complete stranger and I am missing all the things I used to see in her eyes… it's overwhelming…"

"Yeah, it's tough…, but it's possible she will start remembering so don't go into despair, okay? Let's just take it step by step. We'll get new scans and then we'll see what to do next."

"Okay, I need to brush up on some head trauma reading, I haven't read anything in a while. Can you send me some articles and studies over?"

"Of course."

"How do I even approach this, how much do I tell her? Am I supposed to tell her everything she wants to know or…"

"Well, we want her to remember things on her own so you give her a general overview of what she's asking but never the details."

"Hmmm…" Callie nodded her head pensively.

"Like for example, if she asks how you two met, you would say, at a restaurant, or at work, or in a park, but let her mind work out the exact details of the encounter."

"Got it, no details…"

"Don't overthink it, just try to give her the setting without revealing too much, like for example if you were doing a surgery and that's how you first met, it's okay to say at work, we did a surgery together. That way you give her mind direction instead of her trying to figure out if you met in the elevator, at the entrance, in the cafeteria… it's good to point her mind in the right direction because she will be trying to remember and it might be too overwhelming if she has nothing to help her trigger the memory."

"Okay… so, what's the plan for today? I called her parents and they will stop by a bit later, I told them she will have some tests soon."

"Yeah, we'll do the MRI in half an hour, and then I just want to ask her some more questions, could you be there because we need someone who knows her past and also it would be good to have someone she works with a lot, someone who would know about her cases."

Callie nodded her head, "Alex Karev, I'll talk to him."

"Okay, do you want to come with her to the MRI?"

"Yeah, I would like that."

"Okay, I'll come get her in half an hour."

Callie nodded her head and stepped out of the room. She started walking towards the peds ward to find Alex.

Alex was examining a baby in NICU when she found him. God it's so weird to be here, I keep on expecting Arizona to show up… Callie thought.

"Callie! Hey! I heard the great news! Oh I'm so happy she is finally awake, how is she doing?" Alex asked as he led them to the corner of the room.

Callie was still a bit lost in her own thoughts, looking around the NICU room as if her eyes were searching for Arizona.

"I know, it's weird without her here, I keep on expecting her to show up any second…" Alex said in low voice getting lost in his own thoughts as well.

"So how is she doing?" he asked again after a few seconds.

Callie sighed heavily, "Her memory has been affected…"

"Oh no… is it bad?"

Callie scoffed painfully. "She doesn't remember me, she doesn't remember Sofia, she doesn't remember anyone who she met in the last three years… we think… we are not sure about the timeline yet…"

"Crap!"

"Amelia wants to ask her some questions to establish what she remembers and what not. You are the one who knows most about her cases so it would be good if you were there to help us figure out if she remembers some things from her medical cases."

"Of course, no problem, but err… are you sure… we didn't exactly leave it on a good note, she was so pissed at me… I feel like I'm to blame because she suffered this injury, it should have been me…"

"Don't be silly Karev, shit happens, you did not bring that plane down, and if she is still pissed at you, I will be so happy to hear her yell at you because it would mean she remembers at least something."

"Well now I'm hoping she will yell at me when she sees me," Alex stated lost in thoughts a bit.

"Yeah, me too…" Callie whispered. "I'll page you when we are ready, probably in an hour or so."

"Okay, see you later."

After the MRI scan Amelia was paged into an emergency surgery since she was temporarily helping out at the hospital after they were so suddenly left without six surgeons. So the memory tests had to be postponed. Callie took the opportunity to have Arizona's parents spend a bit more time with her, she was with them briefly but then she stepped out and let them spend some alone time with their daughter and she went to the nursery to spend some time with Sofia. After Arizona's parents left, she went back to Arizona's room to finally check her leg.

"You left me alone with my parents, my mom was much more normal when you were here," Arizona immediately said when Callie appeared in her room.

Callie laughed wholeheartedly. "She just got her daughter back, she's excited, can you blame her?"

"Hmmm, yeah, I guess it's okay… but it was a bit overwhelming…"

"More overwhelming than having me here, a complete stranger to you…" Callie said trying to joke her way out of making herself nervous with that sentence but not realizing that it would affect her more than she expected as the word stranger echoed in her own head.

Arizona looked at Callie and smiled softly, "Actually you don't really feel like a stranger, I feel like I know you, even though I don't, it's weird… but I'm really calm when you are around, I feel safe…"

Callie smiled and looked at Arizona who suddenly shied away.

Callie decided to ease the moment. "I should really check your leg…"

"Oh, okay, sure, how come I didn't even feel there was something wrong with it?"

"Probably the pain killers," Callie explained as she gently removed the bandages covering Arizona's thigh.

"It looks really good," Callie said as her fingers touched the skin around the wound.

Arizona gasped, her body suddenly reacting to Callie's fingers and she found it a bit harder to breathe.

Callie didn't notice Arizona's reaction as she was focused on inspecting her leg. "It's healing nicely, we'll see how it goes when we get you on your feet to test it but I think all should be great, you will not be able to lean on it fully for the first few weeks but it should be okay eventually."

When Callie's fingers touched her skin again Arizona closed her eyes as all sorts of sensations ran through her body.

"Are you feeling any pain?" Callie asked when she finally noticed Arizona's eyes were closed.

"No…" Arizona whispered, she opened her eyes slowly and looked at Callie.

When their eyes met, Callie's heart started beating faster. She saw the effect this moment had on Arizona, she longed to see this reaction in her eyes again. She looked at Arizona's lips and battled against the strong desire to lean over and get lost in them. What she didn't notice was that Arizona's eyes were focused on Callie's lips as well.

Callie cleared her throat to snap herself out of it as she started focusing on putting the new bandage on the wound.

"Let me know if it starts hurting at some point," Callie said, her voice shaky a bit.

"Okay," Arizona whispered while her eyes were glued to Callie's hands dressing the wound. The sleeves on Callie's coat were rolled up and her caramel skin was luring Arizona's eyes to just gaze at the beauty of it.

Arizona lifted her hand and touched Callie's forearm, "Your skin is really beautiful," she said as if she was in a haze.

Callie stopped breathing, a rush of heat overwhelmed her body and she battled hard to stop her feelings from overtaking her, but this time she was not sure that she would be able to prevent herself again from kissing Arizona.

Callie's pager sounded and Arizona quickly removed her hand as her cheeks blushed, suddenly self-conscious about what she was doing.

Callie cursed the damn pager and sighed. She took it and looked at it. "I have to go…" she whispered keeping her eyes intently on the pager, avoiding looking at Arizona's eyes because she was worried she would not be able to stop herself from kissing her.

"You can finally get some sleep," Callie teased as she started walking towards the door.

"Will you come back later?" Arizona asked.

Callie turned around and forced herself to look at Arizona.

"Yes, of course… if you don't mind…"

Arizona smiled, "I don't mind," she whispered as their eyes met and held the gaze for a few seconds before Arizona lowered her eyes and stopped at Callie's mouth.

"Okay see you later then," Callie said and exited the room leaving Arizona lying in bed, thinking about Callie's lips and wishing she had made the mistake of pressing them against her own again.

The page Callie received was from Mark and she rushed to the lounge on the neuro wing where he said he would be. I hope everything is okay with Lexie because I cannot take any more bad news today… she thought. When Callie entered the lounge Mark was already there, pacing the room.

"Mark! What happened? Did something happen, is Lexie okay!?"

"Oh, no she's fine! God sorry! I shouldn't have freaked you out."

Callie sighed with relief and sat down on the chair.

"She's a bit better… I think… they took her to a surgery and they wouldn't let me observe from above."

"Mark what the hell are you doing walking around the hospital, you need to rest!"

"Are you listening to me!? I'm freaking out Torres! Lexie is in surgery and I feel so helpless, they won't even let me watch from above!"

"Yeah, because you should be in bed!"

"I feel fine! Why are you so edgy?" he asked noticing Callie's restless fingers, and knowing her too well "I heard Arizona woke up, how is she doing?" he asked as he sat down.

Callie suddenly got up and she was the one pacing the room now, "She doesn't remember…"

"Doesn't remember what?" Mark asked with confused look on his face.

"Anything, Mark! She lost her memory, past three years… she doesn't remember me, she doesn't remember Sofia, she has no idea who any of us are!"

"No one? No one in the hospital?"

Callie shook her head, "She remembers Webber, and her former chief who died three years ago…"

"Surely she remembers me," Mark said and suddenly got up. He walked out of the lounge and strode towards Arizona's room.

"Seriously Mark!? You're gonna make this about you!" Callie yelled after him and hurried out as well.

Mark entered Arizona's room with a huge smile on his face.

"Robbins! Welcome back! It was about time!"

Arizona stared at him, trying to figure out who he was. Is he a doctor? But he doesn't have the white coat?

"Come on!" Mark said spreading his arms out. "You can't be serious! You have to remember this face," he said as he showed Arizona his profile. "Mark Sloan, the hottest doctor in the hospital!"

"Umm, I'm sorry but I don't recognize you," Arizona said.

Mark now toned things down and looked worriedly at Arizona.

"Come on Robbins, when we were still awake in the woods you told me I couldn't let go, you kept me going, you told me I had to go back to Callie and Sofia, you said that Sofia needed me, that Callie needed me, that you needed me as well. Don't you remember? You told me I couldn't die and I listened to you."

Arizona shook her head, "I'm really sorry but I don't remember any of that."

Mark sighed heavily and looked at Callie. "Where's Sofia? Where's my daughter?"

"She's upstairs Mark, I asked Arizona's parents to bring her here when they came."

"I'm gonna go get her, is that okay?" he turned to Arizona, "Have you seen Sofia? You should see her!"

Callie looked worriedly at Arizona.

"Mark…" Callie tried but he cut her off.

"I'll go get her!" he said and stepped out of the room.

Arizona followed him with her eyes, completely confused, trying to get a grip of everything he said.

"I'll be right back!" Callie said and rushed after Mark.

She had to run to catch up with him and managed to reach him when he was already at the elevator.

"Mark, what are you doing!?"

"I'm gonna get Sofia! She has to remember Sofia!"

"Mark!" Callie said putting her hands on his shoulders. "Stop! She's not ready! She might not be ready for this! I need to check with Amelia first, it might be too much too soon!" she said as she shook his shoulders.

"Right, right, crap you are right!" he sighed. "I just want something to go back to normal Torres, this is not freaking normal!" he yelled.

"I know," Callie sighed and placed her hands on Mark's face, "me too… but we can do this Mark, okay! We can do this, I'll be your rock and you be my rock, okay!?"

"Okay," he nodded his head. "I will go and check on Sofia, spend some time with her to at least feel a little bit normal… Go back to Arizona, go back to your girl, Callie," he said with a soft smile.

Callie closed her eyes and exhaled sharply before she turned around and went back to Arizona's room.

"Who was that man?" Arizona asked when Callie entered back into the room.

"Mark, my best friend. Sorry about that, he will not be bringing Sofia, he's been through a lot as well so he's a bit all over the place…"

"He said my daughter..." Arizona said, confusion evident in her voice and on her face.

"Umm, yeah, he is Sofia's father," Callie explained as she nervously ran her hand through her hair.

"So we did have an affair?" Arizona asked looking intently at Callie.

"What!? No! I was never with him, we were just, umm…, well friends with occasional benefits… We were together Arizona, you and I, we've been together for three years, we did have our ups and downs but we found a way to work things out. But a year and a half ago you got the Carter Maddison grant to go to Africa and we broke up over that, temporarily. I stayed here and I was sad, and he helped me get over the sadness and Sofia happened."

"So we were not together then when the plane crash happened?"

"Yes we were, you came back and we got back together, Africa was almost two years ago. The plane crash happened two weeks ago, we are married now, we have been married for a year."

"This is all very confusing," Arizona admitted taking her head into her hands.

"I can imagine… I can slowly explain all our past when you feel like hearing it."

"Okay," Arizona nodded her head and sighed.

"Umm, so… Sofia has been asking about you… and I don't know what to tell her…"

At that moment Amelia came in.

"How's our patient doing?"

"Confused," Arizona said.

"I can imagine, any headache?"

"No, nothing hurts anymore."

"That's great, your scans are clean, everything looks great, we just need to check your memory to know what we are dealing with."

Callie looked at Amelia, "Sofia has been asking about her mama, how do we approach this? Should I bring her to see Arizona?" she turned her head to Arizona, "Would you like to see her? I have no idea if it would even be good for you… or for her…" Callie said pensively.

The word mama rang in Arizona's head. I have a child… a daughter... I am a mom… The thought frightened her but also made her swoon over it at the same time.

"Children adapt to circumstances much easier, I remember a patient I had once, a little girl, she was in an accident with her mom and the woman couldn't speak for two weeks because of a surgery on her throat. The girl simply adapted to the situation and communicated with her mom by drawings," Arizona explained.

Callie looked at Arizona with eyes open wide. "Arizona, that case was last year," she said and looked at Amelia.

"You remember a patient from last year?" Amelia asked.

"I remember the surgery I performed on her," Arizona explained and suddenly realized what she had said. "Oh, wow I remember!"

"Yes, you remember!" Callie said with a broad smile.

Callie looked at Amelia, "Is that normal? Does that mean her memory is coming back or that this part of her memories is not affected?"

"Could be either of the two, we'll know more after we do the tests. Now as for Sofia… like you said, children adapt, so she will be fine. I think it would be good for you to see her, and for her as well, she needs both of her moms."

Arizona nodded her head.

"So umm… would you like to see her?" Callie asked with hesitation.

"Yes… I guess…" Arizona said, "but in a few days… would that be okay? It's just… this day has been so overwhelming, I just... it's all a bit too much..."

"Yes, of course, we'll wait a few days..." Callie said with a reassuring smile.

"Okay, so since a lot of things have happened today already, let's just move the memory test to tomorrow, you need to get some rest and I want to close your room for visitations for the rest of the evening because it'll be too much. Only Dr. Webber can stop by because you remember him, but no more new faces."

Arizona nodded her head.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow, get some rest," Amelia said on her way out.

Callie looked at Arizona. "So, is there anything you need?"

"My memory back?" Arizona joked and Callie laughed.

"Well honey, I would like that more than anything as well," Callie replied with a smile.

Honey, Arizona repeated mentally in her head as her cheeks blushed slightly but Callie didn't notice as she didn't even realize the word of endearment she used.

"So…, soon I will have to go get Sofia and take her home but…" Callie stopped mid-sentence and started listening carefully.

"What is it?" Arizona asked.

"Umm, sorry I just felt like I heard Sofia crying… where was I…?"

"You said you have to take Sofia home but…"

"Yes, but I will come back lat…" Callie stopped speaking again as the crying came closer, "That really does sound like Sofia…" Callie murmured when Bailey popped her head into the room.

"Umm, Callie…, sorry…, she won't stop crying…" Miranda spoke intermittently, clearly uncomfortable showing up.

Callie turned to Arizona, a slight panic visible in her eyes, "Let me just… I'll be right back…" she quickly said and stepped out.

Arizona heard Callie speak softly to the child.

"Hey baby girl, what's wrong? Come here…"

Arizona tilted her head but could only see a bit of Callie's hair and a tiny hand holding onto her shoulder as the child continued to cry.

"I'm sorry, we've tried everything but she just wouldn't stop," Miranda explained apologetically.

"Yeah, she gets like that sometimes, it's been happening more often the past two weeks…" Callie explained as Sofia continued crying loudly, "Mamaaaa," Arizona heard the child cry out.

"Callie…," Arizona called shyly from the room but Callie couldn't hear her as she continued to rock the screaming girl in her arms.

Arizona saw Miranda Bailey trying to entertain the baby making funny faces and she called again louder.

"Callie!" but neither Dr. Bailey nor Callie heard her.

"What's wrong baby, does your tummy hurt, huh?" Callie asked softly as her hand rubbed Sofia's back.

"Mamaaaa!" Sofia cried again and Arizona felt like her heart was being ripped apart. She gathered her strength and called one more time as loud as she could but it seemed whenever she tried to call, Sofia screamed even louder. Arizona finally gave up trying to get Callie's attention and started getting out of bed. Callie rocked Sofia and moved to the right thus making it possible for Miranda to see into Arizona's room.

"Arizona!" Bailey called in panic and rushed inside.

Callie turned around and saw Arizona trying to get out of bed. She rushed into the room and shouted "Arizona! What are you doing!?"

"I just…, I called but you didn't hear me. I felt this strong urge to get to her. She's asking for me, isn't she?"

Callie nodded her head as Sofia saw Arizona and screamed even loudly, "Mamaaaa!"

Miranda helped Arizona get back to bed and Arizona leaned back onto her pillow.

"Hand her to me," Arizona said and stretched her arms out.

Callie hesitated for a few moments, "Are you sure…?" she whispered.

Arizona nodded her head and Callie placed sobbing Sofia into Arizona's arms.

"Hey baby…" Arizona said softly as Sofia wrapped her little arms tightly around Arizona's neck.

"Mamaaaa," she cried out through loud sobs.

"Yes baby girl, mama is here, everything is fine," Arizona cooed, rubbing Sofia's back tenderly.

Callie watched with tears in her eyes as Sofia started calming down.

Miranda quietly left the room and let them share the family moment alone.

"Everything is fine…" Arizona whispered caressing Sofia's hair and placing a few kisses on her temple. She looked up and when she saw Callie's misty eyes she swallowed hard as emotions overwhelmed her.

Callie stepped closer and placed her hand on Sofia's head, "Come on sweetheart, mama needs to rest," she said softly, worried that this was too much for Arizona.

Sofia wrapped her arms even tighter around Arizona's neck and wouldn't let go.

"It's okay," Arizona whispered, "Let her be…" she said as her palm rubbed Sofia's back.

Callie sighed and sat down on the chair. She looked at the beautiful embrace in front of her and watched Sofia's body still tremble from occasional sobs. Suddenly her singing filled the room and made Arizona open her eyes wide. Arizona turned her head and looked at Callie in awe while her body reacted to the vibration of Callie's voice. She felt Sofia's sobs dissipate even more and her grip on her shoulders loosen up as Callie's voice lulled her into calming down. Arizona continued caressing Sofia's hair softly as Callie continued to sing the soothing lullaby. After a few minutes Sofia's breathing evened out and Arizona felt Sofia's body completely slump into her arms.

"I think she fell asleep?" Arizona whispered and Callie got up to check. She leaned behind Arizona and nodded her head, "Yeah, she's fallen asleep, here let me take her," Callie said putting her hands forward and slowly took Sofia from Arizona's arms. Arizona watched as Sofia's head rested on Callie's shoulder, tilted to the side, her mouth open as her hand dangled loosely over Callie's left arm. She smiled at the scene and wished she could touch Sofia's cheek and caress her hair again.

"I should take her home and you should get some rest," Callie said caressing Sofia's back.

Arizona nodded her head.

"I'll come back later," Callie whispered.

"Oh, but you don't have to, I'll be fine, you should stay with her…" Arizona said softly.

"She usually sleeps soundly after a crying episode like this. It wears her out. My parents will stay with her. You just woke up today, I want to be here, is that okay?"

Arizona smiled, "Okay…" she whispered.

"See you later then," Callie said with a smile and Arizona watched her leave with Sofia asleep in her arms.

When they left Arizona lifted her right hand and looked at her palm, the palm that was caressing Sofia, my daughter… Arizona whispered still feeling the sensation of Sofia's soft hair between her fingers… she closed her eyes and her nostrils sensed the baby smell that still lingered on her hospital gown as her brain remembered Callie's voice singing the lullaby. She slowly drifted off to sleep, Sofia's sleeping head with open mouth dancing in front of her eyes.

A/N: Since I'm reading a lot of fanfics myself as well, I've noticed that a lot of writers are using mommy for Arizona, but I have decided to stick with the original version because the first time they mentioned it on Grey's, Sofia was calling Arizona 'mama' and then later they changed it to 'mommy' which I found so weird, I mean come on, do some continuity work! They probably changed it because they figured mama sounds more Latin so it would make more sense if Sofia used it for Callie but in my book Grey's should have thought of that earlier and not have Sofia call Arizona 'mama' in the first place… anyway… sorry, needless rant LOL.