A/N – Here you go, Chapter 5 as well. This was a double update so go back to Chapter 4 if you haven't read it yet ;-)
CHAPTER 5
THE NEXT DAY
When Arizona woke up the next morning Callie had already left and Arizona felt disappointed that Callie wasn't there with her. The morning passed quickly with check-ups and a quick visit from Callie. She informed Arizona that her parents took Sofia on a boat ride since it was such a nice day, but she promised to bring her the next day. Callie was supposed to stop by for lunch again but she got called in by Derek Shepherd who was apparently freaking out about something. Arizona couldn't quite understand and follow all the info they were giving her about the people she didn't remember knowing, so she just decided to ask for clarifications when they had more time to talk. It was already afternoon when Callie, Amelia and a young male doctor came into her room.
"This is Dr. Alex Karev, he's one of the residents and has been working with you on a lot of cases," Callie explained.
"Well, looks like I didn't leave much of an impression when my mentor already forgot about me," Karev joked causing Callie to direct a stare his way.
Arizona laughed wholeheartedly, "Careful there, my wife is giving you quite a stare, but I'm guessing you already know that."
Alex nodded his head and laughed "Yep, but this is how you and I talk, so I figured it shouldn't change…"
Callie had stopped paying attention to Alex as the only thing on her mind was that Arizona called her her wife but Amelia's voice brought her back.
"And you are right," Amelia confirmed, "you need to behave exactly like she is used to, it can help her mind remember."
Alex nodded his head but couldn't hide his nervousness looking back at Arizona.
Arizona observed him for a while and then Amelia's voice caused her to look her way.
"So, we want to check some of the procedures you two did together, see how much of them you remember. And we also want to see about that girl you mentioned, who communicated with her mom with drawings."
Arizona nodded her head, "Okay, sure."
"We will show you a few photos of children, and you can tell us if you recognize her," Amelia instructed.
"Okay," Arizona agreed and looked at the photos they placed on the board in front of her bed.
She scoffed and looked at Callie and Amelia, "Really? That's Sofia's photo over there," she said with a bit of annoyance in her voice.
"Well we are just checking both long term and short term memory. So we also wanted to see if you would recognize Sofia," Amelia explained with a smile.
"Okay so the other photos, is any of them the girl from a year ago that you mentioned?" Callie asked.
"Umm, I don't know, none of the other ones look familiar..." Arizona explained and caught disappointment in Callie's eyes, "One of them is the girl?" Arizona asked.
Callie nodded her head, "Yes, the second one…"
Arizona shook her head, "I don't recognize her."
"Okay, so you remember having her as a patient but not her face...," Amelia stated and typed into the tablet in her hand. "Can you take us through the surgery, step by step, let's see if you remember what you did?"
Arizona nodded her head, "Sure, let's give it a try," she said as she started explaining the procedure and Amelia followed the notes in the patient's file while Alex looked at his notes.
Ten minutes later Alex clapped his hands and jumped closer to Arizona's bed, "You aced it Robbins!" he shouted and put his hand up for a high five. Arizona laughed wholeheartedly and hit his palm.
"Yep, that was perfect and it's great news!" Amelia said and Arizona saw the most beautiful smile radiate from Callie's face as their eyes met and Arizona blushed a little bit.
At that moment Karev's pager sounded and helped Arizona compose herself quickly. Alex looked at the little screen.
"Umm, I have to go, do you want to continue later or…?"
"No, maybe tomorrow we can do some more cases, but now we also need to test getting her out of bed, so that would be it for today," Amelia explained.
"Thanks Karev," Callie added.
"It was nice meeting you," Arizona said.
Alex shifted nervously at the last comment, "Umm, yeah, it was nice meeting, err I mean seeing you again, crap, this is confusing…" he commented.
Arizona laughed, "Imagine how I feel!"
"Right, sorry…" Alex mumbled nervously.
Arizona waved her hand, "It's fine, relax, don't worry about it, I'm kind of getting used to the confusion…"
Alex laughed, "Right, okay, so I'll see you tomorrow I guess."
"Don't be a stranger, stranger," Arizona said and laughed at her own joke, Callie shook her head as Karev laughed wholeheartedly and left.
"Someone's in a good mood," Callie commented with a broad smile.
"Yeah, well I feel good that I at least remember something from the past three years. How that's possible makes no sense to me, but at least it's something."
"Yes, this is great news!" Amelia confirmed.
"So does that mean my memory will come back?"
"We cannot know that, but we'll do more tests of your memory and see where we are at, but let's celebrate good news today!"
"Yay!" Arizona exclaimed and clapped her hands.
Callie laughed and looked happily at Arizona.
"Okay, and now for the less joyful stuff, we need to test getting up…," Amelia informed.
"Okay, sure let's do it," Arizona said as she swiftly removed her cover.
"Hold on!" Amelia warned. "You need to be prepared for this! You will most definitely experience dizziness, possibly nausea, and considering your leg still hasn't healed fully yet it will be even trickier, and you might not be able to stand at all, but I need to see what happens."
"Okay," Arizona nodded her head as her enthusiasm dissipated quickly.
"We will be standing next to you to catch you if needed," Callie explained and moved closer to the bed.
"So first try sitting up in bed with your feet down and tell me how you feel," Amelia instructed.
"Okay," Arizona nodded and moved her legs to the side and then down before she sat up slowly on the side of the bed. "Umm… it does feel a bit weird but I can't pinpoint why exactly…"
"Any dizziness?" Amelia asked.
"Umm, no, I don't think so."
"Okay, great! Let's do the leg test first, Callie?"
Callie nodded her head, "Okay, so don't get up, just try to slowly touch the floor with your left foot and try to shift weight on it but don't get up, stay seated, we don't want you to put too much pressure on it."
"Okay," Arizona nodded her head and followed Callie's instructions.
"Does it hurt?" Callie asked.
"Umm, yeah, I can feel pain, it's not insufferable but it is there."
"Do you think you could try and get up, but leaning normally on both legs?" Callie asked.
"Yeah, let's try."
"But slowly, okay," Amelia warned.
"Right," Arizona repeated and slowly got up, she managed to stand for a few seconds before the room slowly started spinning.
"Ohh," she managed to utter as her body started leaning forward.
Callie immediately stepped closer and wrapped her arms around Arizona's waist.
"I got you!" Callie spoke as Arizona's head leaned on her shoulder.
"Are you okay?" Callie asked worriedly and when Arizona moved her head, her neck was suddenly so close that it would have taken Callie just one more inch to press her lips against Arizona's skin.
"Yeah… I'm fine, just felt dizzy a bit," Arizona explained feeling like Callie's hands were burning her skin through the hospital gown as Callie's perfume teased her nostrils, and she was now not sure anymore if she still felt dizzy because of her head or because her body was enchanted by Callie's closeness, her breath on her neck and her perfume dancing in front of her nose.
Callie helped Arizona sit back on the bed and then she took a few steps back as her heart beat fast inside her chest.
"Did you feel any nausea?" Amelia asked.
"Yes a little bit, so what does this mean?" Arizona asked while she tried to catch a glimpse of Callie from the corner of her eye, still thinking about Callie's body so close to her own.
"This is normal occurrence post hemorrhage, your brain is still recovering, we'll go little by little, the most important thing is that you rest and sleep, sleeping helps the brain regenerate."
"Okay…" Arizona whispered sadly, she could not help but feel disappointed.
"Don't feel discouraged. Having parts of your memory intact is much more important. Even if you had only been in bed for two weeks without the brain injury, you would have still felt dizzy getting up, it's normal, in a few days it will be much better, so go back to being happy about our test, your memory test was a great success!" Amelia explained with a smile.
"Okay," Arizona nodded her head and smiled again.
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Thanks Amelia," Callie said and turned to Arizona. "Does your leg hurt more now that you put some pressure on it?"
"No, not right now, just when I was leaning on it."
"Okay, great, that's good, it's normal, you will need a bit of physiotherapy and massages after your leg heals a bit more."
"Is that something you do?" Arizona heard herself ask in a voice that she could swear sounded a bit flirty but she couldn't hear it again so she wasn't sure…, but when she looked at Callie and judging from the confusion written all over Callie's face she realized that it most definitely came out flirty.
Is she flirting with me? Callie thought, Am I imagining things? Yeah, I'm probably imagining things. Callie's thoughts were having a conversation in her head when Arizona spoke again and brought her out of it.
"When you were checking my leg, you touched it but I didn't feel any pain, so I think you have a magical touch," Arizona said and surprised herself by the ease she was suddenly flirting with.
Oh-kay, that was definitely flirting… Callie thought and looked at Arizona and in an instant decided to play along.
"Sure, I think we can agree on a few massages, what are you offering in return?"
Oh crap, I did not expect this, just great Robbins, did you think she wouldn't flirt back!?, Arizona thought and then laughed to cover for her sudden awkwardness, "Oh, hmmm, I need to think about that one, cause you know…, I don't remember what you like, so I have no idea what would be a good bargain for you."
Callie laughed, "Okay, you think about it and we can revisit the topic some other day."
Hearing Callie laugh, Arizona suddenly felt braver again, "Will you help me figure out what I could offer?"
"If you ask the right questions, I might," Callie teased making Arizona smile.
"Hmm, a game, I like this…" she said as her eyes stopped at Callie's lips and her energy immediately changed.
Callie caught Arizona's eyes and felt the rush of blood through her body. For a moment, for one blissful moment Callie felt like she was looking into the eyes of the woman who knew her. In her head she kept on telling herself to cool off and slow down but her body didn't listen as she felt her back lean forward and just as she was about to move even lower and so very close to Arizona's lips, her pager sounded and the magic moment was gone in an instant as Arizona's eyes escaped her gaze. Callie closed her eyes and quickly brought herself out of the daze. She looked at the pager.
"Shepherd again," she sighed. "He probably has some new crazy idea about his hand, he won't stop so I should go find him."
Arizona nodded her head.
"I'll stop by later tonight."
"Why don't you stay with Sofia? And when was the last time you slept in a real bed?" Arizona looked at Callie half questioningly, half worriedly.
Callie chuckled, "Who's the one who needs to rest?"
"You need to rest too, you've been sleeping here for God knows how many nights, I'll be fine, okay? I'll probably be sleeping a lot too, go home and rest. There is no point in you coming here and watching me sleep."
"I like having you close…" Callie whispered.
"Well, you can come back tomorrow evening but please go home, spend a nice evening with Sofia, have a bubble bath," Arizona made herself react to the mention of bubble bath, "Oh please tell me we have a bathtub?"
Callie laughed out loud, "Yes we do have a bathtub."
"Oh thank God!" Arizona commented, "So imagine a nice and warm bubble bath, a glass of wine on the side, candles, some nice music…" Arizona mused as she imagined the setting.
"Well, now when you describe it like that, I can't wait to get home and relax in the bathtub."
"Yeah, I wish I could join you," Arizona said and quickly started correcting, "umm no, I mean, not join join you, I just wish I could… have… a bath… too…"
Callie laughed and placed her hand on Arizona's arm, "It's fine, I know what you meant."
Arizona looked at Callie's hand before Callie removed it, "So promise me you will get some rest tonight," Arizona said as her eyes sought Callie's face.
"Umm, I will think about it," Callie teased with a smile.
Arizona laughed and observed Callie. She's suddenly so relaxed, and cute, and she's so gorgeous when she smiles…, she thought and then considered something for a few moments. Ah what the hell, I'm married to her, she thought and then spoke again.
"How about this, if you relax in the bathtub tonight, then the next time you decide to take a bath, I'll rub your back in exchange for those leg massages?" she blurted out and held her breath.
Callie's mouth dropped open as her mind processed the words she heard and all she could think about was how much she wanted to kiss Arizona, kiss her for hours and not let go. She debated for a second if she should get closer or not and then her pager interrupted her thoughts.
"Dammit Shepherd!" she voiced in frustration, He's got the worst timing ever! she thought and lifted her pager up to Arizona.
"I have to go… but that is an offer I cannot refuse, so it's a deal then."
Arizona smiled even though her stomach was doing somersaults. "Great, it's a deal! Have a nice evening."
Callie smiled, "Thank you, you get some rest, because tomorrow I'm coming back for our evening chit-chat!"
Arizona laughed softly, "Looking forward to it."
When she was at the door Callie turned around "Oh and Arizona," she called.
"Hmm?"
"You have magical hands too," Callie said and stepped out leaving Arizona with mouth wide open and thinking about trailing her fingers along Callie's beautiful caramel skin.
A FEW HOURS LATER
It was late in the evening and Arizona couldn't sleep. Her head was overwhelmed with everything. She was sitting up in her bed, playing with her wedding ring when Alex popped his head in.
"Hey, you're not sleeping?"
"I can't, too many things on my mind… Alex, right?"
"Yeah," Alex confirmed and smiled, "Good memory," he joked and Arizona laughed.
"What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you go home?"
"We're short on staff, I've been pulling long hours a lot lately and I have two babies in critical condition so I'm sticking around."
"You seem like a good doctor."
"You taught me well," Alex said and smiled.
"So you are walking around the hospital with patient files?" Arizona asked nodding her head towards the files Alex was holding in his hands.
"Umm, yeah it helps me think, it's been really stressful lately with everything that has happened so I change lounges and try to look at the cases in new surrounding with some fresh eyes."
"Sounds like a good idea…" Arizona commented.
"Umm, so I was thinking… would you maybe like to try and bounce some ideas? Occupy your mind with something else? I mean, it seemed like you have had to face quite a lot of heavy stuff these two days and I figured maybe you would like to feel like your old self for a bit? And also, I could use some help…"
"Oh, that would be great, I really need something else to think about…"
Alex smiled seeing a spark in Arizona's eyes.
"Great! So there's this baby and I can't figure out what's wrong with her. I've been going back and forth and I just keep on ending at the same road block."
"Show me her file," Arizona said and stretched out her hand.
Miranda Bailey had just rounded the corner and was looking through the window at that exact moment and she shook her head and stood at the door with arms crossed.
"Dr. Karev what exactly do you think you are doing? And Dr. Robbins, you just woke up yesterday, do you really think it is a good idea to dive into a case?"
"Well she needs to feel like herself again," Karev started firmly, "Can you imagine having all these strangers coming up to you saying they know you but you have no idea who they are and they are supposedly your friends? We are doctors, we feel like ourselves when we deal with medical cases, plus this could be a good way to test again if her brain is working well, you know."
"Yeah, maybe we will realize that I should start thinking about another career…" Arizona said sarcastically.
"Crap, I didn't even think about that," Karev stated with a tad of panic in his voice.
Arizona laughed, "I was joking but hey it's a possibility so let's just see what we are dealing with," she looked at Bailey. "One case?" she said in a pleading voice, "I cannot get out of bed because I get nauseous and dizzy, there's nothing to do but stare at the ceiling or at my wedding ring and try not to freak out again about all the sudden changes in my life…"
"Mhm," Bailey grumbled, "Okay, but I'm staying here and after that one case I am kicking him out and you are getting some rest!"
"Okay…" Arizona accepted and smiled as she stretched out her fist to Karev who fist bumped her and smiled broadly.
One hour later Miranda looked in awe as Arizona continued to bounce off ideas with both Karev and herself.
"Arizona, this is amazing, your brain seems to work perfectly medically, all your ideas are valid," she said with excitement.
Alex smiled "Yeah, I don't think you have to worry about changing careers."
"Yeah, at least I have that… now if I could only remember that I know you two, or my wife and my daughter…"
"You'll get there," Miranda encouraged and got up, "Okay, let's call it a night, you need to rest."
Arizona nodded her head and gave Alex the file back. "Thank you for this, I didn't even know I needed it."
Alex smiled, "I miss working with you, I hope you come back to work soon."
Arizona thought for a second and then looked at Miranda, "Dr. Bailey… is there a chance I could go back to work at some point, not too soon I guess but, I mean even if I don't remember my personal life…?"
"Umm, well it's a strong possibility, if your medical expertise hasn't been compromised I am sure the Board would agree to let you go back to work, we would have to do all sorts of procedure tests of course…"
"Yes, of course…"
"How about you focus on getting better physically first and that means a lot of rest. Karev, out!" she jokingly added.
Arizona smiled, "Okay. Thank you Alex, I really enjoyed this."
Karev nodded his head, "I can stop by again, and you can help me get fresh eyes when I'm roaming the hospital lounges."
"Deal!" Arizona said and watched them leave, smile and excitement covering her face.
In the apartment across the street Callie let her body relax in the bathtub as she leaned back and closed her eyes. The warm water caressed her body as the scent of perfumed candles filled the bathroom. This was a good day, she thought. I heard her laugh again, I saw her happy again, and she flirted with me, Callie thought and smiled. She was enjoying the relaxing moments until her playlist ended and another one started, the playlist that they always listened to when they were in the bathtub together… and the first song was a nice slow song they had recently danced to, when everything was normal… Callie felt pressure in her chest rise up and her eyes watered as the scenes of her dancing with Arizona in the living room flashed in front of her eyes, slowly swaying to the rhythm, embraced tightly as their hands roamed along the body of the other. Mid song they started kissing and very soon ended up in the bedroom, where they made love all night long. Callie sat up in the tub and pulled her knees closer as different scenes now started flashing in front of her eyes. The moment when she found out about the plane crash, the moment when she saw Arizona in the hospital bed in Boise, the moments when she sat next to her hoping she would open her eyes, the moment when Arizona told her she didn't know who she was, and all the moments when she desperately wanted to kiss her...
"I just want you back," she whispered as a wave of sobs hit her body, a wave that suddenly rushed out and she couldn't stop it any more. Her body shook as she embraced her own knees and finally allowed herself to cry.