A/N: So here it is, the new story has found its way out sooner than the epilogue for Trust Your Heart… A few things I want to mention at the beginning, I don't plan to make this one as long as my previous story. I have already laid out most of the chapters, and I have also written a lot of the scenes. I'm going to try to do this story differently, post shorter chapters (4000-6000 words) once a week because writing and then proof reading long chapters requires a loooot of time… but we'll see how that plan goes because I tend to write long chapters LOL ;-).
Anyway, without further ado, I leave you with chapter 1, curious to see what you will think of the new story...
Disclaimer: I own nothing, just my imagination ;-)
CHAPTER 1
Miranda Bailey was working the night shift, it was eleven days after the crash and everyone was still shaken up by what had happened. Considering the new situation, Miranda was appointed Assistant Chief to cover hospital tasks while Hunt dealt with bureaucracy, press and numerous Board meetings. It was 1 a.m. as Miranda walked the ghosted halls of the hospital checking on her star doctors, now her patients.
She passed through the psych ward and stopped at the open door to Cristina's room. Cristina was mostly staring at the ceiling, when she wasn't screaming and throwing things. She was sleeping now and Miranda's eyes lingered on the restrains wrapped around her wrists as she sighed heavily. She went down the stairs and into ICU, towards Lexie's room. Lexie was still in critical condition and they had already tried talking about the possibility of getting her off the machine support at some point, but Mark Sloan didn't even let them touch the topic.
"I did not profess my love to her so she could die on me! She will not die! I want to propose to her, I want to marry her! She will not die!" Sloan had yelled so loud that Miranda thought the whole hospital could hear him. That was two days ago, inside his hospital room. Miranda looked at the chart in front of her. There were no improvements but Lexie wasn't getting worse either. Small victories, Miranda thought to herself. She looked at Mark Sloan who was sitting next to Lexie, his head on the bed, asleep, holding Lexie's hand. Sloan was getting better and he was now spending more time by Lexie's side. They advised against it because he needed rest too, but there was no arguing with him. Miranda shook her head with worry and stepped outside. She took the elevator to another ward.
Derek's room had too much light coming out of it, "Why isn't he sleeping!" Miranda mumbled and peeked inside but he was nowhere to be found. Miranda's blood started boiling.
"That stubborn…" she started hissing when she saw him coming down the hall.
Miranda put her hands on her hips and watched him get closer.
"You are the worst patient I have ever had! You had surgery forty-eight hours ago, what are you doing walking around the hospital!?" she told him before her eyes started shooting daggers at him.
"I needed to take a walk to think more clearly, you need to call off the nurse guard, I want to be able to leave the ward."
He walked passed her and entered his room. He took several scans and directed them towards the light.
"You do know that you are not an ortho surgeon! That is not a brain and you will not find a solution by staring at it constantly. Torres has a plan, the plan is in motion, your hand needs to heal first, you need to work on your patience!"
"We don't have time for patience, there are so many things to do… so many things that I could do!"
"You only need to rest that hand! My God! You really are the worst patient ever!"
Derek put the scans down.
"How's Lexie?" he asked warily.
"No change," Miranda replied sadly, looking at his chart.
"And Arizona?" Derek asked, concern evident in his voice.
Miranda closed her eyes and shook her head slowly, "Nothing yet," she whispered.
"She should have already…" he started saying when Miranda's sigh interrupted him.
"We know…" she said as her head dropped worriedly. "Get some rest, that's an order!" she warned before she left his room and headed to another ward towards her last patient.
The door to the room was closed so she looked through the window and saw Callie in the same position as Mark, her head resting on the bed next to Arizona, holding her hand, asleep. Miranda shook her head and reminded herself to send Torres home tomorrow evening to get some normal sleep. She slowly opened the door and quietly walked inside. She checked the monitors and went through Arizona's chart. When she finished, she placed it down silently and looked at the scene in front of her, remembering the time when they were both in a hospital room like this before, Callie lying in bed and Arizona by her side, her head resting on the bed, asleep. She sighed and stepped quietly out of the room. Far too many of her doctors have ended up in those hospital beds as patients. Far too many… she thought.
She walked down the hall lost in worried thoughts when Meredith appeared in front of her.
"What are you doing here?! It's the middle of the night, we discharged you to go home and rest Grey! What is wrong with all of you! You are all so stubborn!"
"I woke up with a nightmare and couldn't sleep any more. I can't sleep with Lexie hanging on by a thread, I need to be here, and I need to brainstorm with my husband about something."
"I have just told him to go to bed!" Miranda protested.
"I know, he texted me," Meredith said with a small chuckle. "Half an hour and I'll tuck him in and go to Lexie's room, I promise."
Miranda shook her head. "I'll have to come up with a new hospital policy, for stubbornness!" she said as she sighed heavily and walked towards her office.
Meredith sighed, grateful that Bailey didn't send her home. She knew that under normal circumstances she wouldn't have gotten away with it. She walked slowly through the ward and stopped at Arizona's room. She looked through the window and let out a sad sigh. She turned around and continued walking across the hospital towards Derek's room.
ONE HOUR LATER, 2:53 AM
Arizona opened her eyes, barely, slowly, she saw a female head resting on the bed… she could feel the woman holding her hand… she tried to move, but her head hurt, she let out a painful groan,
"Ooooow…"
The woman instantly looked up, "Arizona, honey, hey you're awake!" she heard, her eyes still half closed. She saw the woman's face come closer and suddenly she felt something soft on her lips, the touch sent an electrifying impulse through her body and a fluttering sensation developed in her abdomen. She felt a tender caress on her cheek, it felt nice, it made her feel safe. She tried to open her eyes again but they were too heavy, she was still feeling the light touch on her cheek as she gave in to the heaviness of her eyelids.
"She opened her eyes!" Callie said standing outside the room with Amelia, trying not to get overwhelmed. "I was asleep, and I heard her complain about the pain and then she opened her eyes briefly!"
"She spoke!?" Amelia asked.
"No, no, she said ooow, but she did open her eyes for a bit, not fully but they were half open!"
"Okay, well that's a good sign, her head probably hurts so I will up the painkillers a bit and let's see what happens."
"Shouldn't she be waking up fully already?" Callie asked looking worriedly at her wife lying motionlessly on the bed.
"We don't know what went on in that crash, maybe her body is still recovering from the whole psychological trauma of that, on top of recovering from the surgeries, give her a bit more time, be patient Callie, the surgeries were successful, now we just wait…"
"Right, okay…" Callie nodded her head and went back inside.
THE NEXT DAY, LATE EVENING
Arizona opened her eyes slightly, the room was half in the dark, there was light coming from the hallway but there was no light in the room itself. Her head hurt less. She managed to open her eyes fully and looked around, Okay hurts so much less, I can actually open my eyes… she thought.
She noticed Callie sitting in the chair in the corner, asleep. She looked closely at her. Her eyes glanced over Callie's face and stopped at her lips. She suddenly had a flash of those lips coming closer and pressing against hers. She remembered the sensation she felt and her whole body felt that touch again. She let her eyes follow down along Callie's body and they stopped at her hands that were resting in her lap. She noticed the ring glistening on her ring finger, Callie stirred and Arizona looked up. Their eyes met.
"Hey!" Arizona immediately heard Callie say as she saw her quickly toss the blanket aside and jump to get closer to bed. She felt her hand on her own cheek again and heard her speak.
"How are you feeling, are you in pain? God I'm so happy to see your beautiful eyes," she said and leaned closer.
And there it was again, that fluttering sensation in her abdomen at the touch of her lips.
"I'll get Amelia," she said and rushed out of the room.
Arizona's eyes followed her out and stayed focused on the door. A few minutes later Callie and Amelia stepped into the room.
"Arizona, how are you feeling?" Amelia smiled at Arizona and checked her body responses.
"I don't know… I feel so tired…" Arizona mumbled.
"Does your head hurt?"
"Yes… less… than… earlier, but… it… still… hurts…" she whispered intermittently and closed her eyes again.
"This is good, right?" Callie asked standing outside the room, looking at Arizona sleeping.
"It should be good, yes," Amelia explained. "But we won't know for sure until she wakes up fully and we can actually have a conversation with her."
"You should go home and get some sleep," Miranda warned.
"I can't," Callie shook her head. "I need to be here when she wakes up, I don't want her to wake up all alone…"
"Callie, Sofia needs you too," Miranda tried.
"I've spent several hours with her this afternoon, when Arizona's parents were here. Sofia is fine, she has four grandparents looking after her, and besides she's asleep now, so I can stay here."
"You need to sleep as well," Miranda said sternly, crossing her arms on her chest.
"I will, when she wakes up," Callie replied in low voice, her eyes focused on Arizona.
"When she wakes up you will be awake to spend every moment with her! I'm definitely implementing new policy! Next week!" Miranda adamantly said as she resolutely walked away, starting to be really angry about the way Derek, Mark, Callie and Meredith were behaving.
"Let me know if anything changes," Amelia said before she left too and Callie quietly stepped back into Arizona's room. She sat down and watched Arizona's chest lift up and down with every breath, as her mind wandered to eleven days earlier.
###
**FLASHBACK**
"What's happening, I got paged 911?" Callie asked as she approached the Board meeting room. "I want to go home and wait for Arizona, they should be coming back soon," she added.
"I have no idea," Karev said as they both moved their heads to look inside the room and saw the Board members waving their hands, worry and panic spread all over their faces. Webber and Bailey were inside with Chief Hunt as well, and when Miranda turned around she caught their gaze.
"Something's wrong, like really wrong," Callie whispered as she tried to read Bailey's eyes and even though she couldn't quite get what was happening, she was sure those eyes were telling her something was terribly wrong.
Bailey appeared at the door and closed it behind her as she approached them.
"Callie, come with me please," she said and grabbed Callie's arm.
"Bailey, what's going on?" Callie asked, her voice starting to panic a bit.
"Let's go to one of the on-call rooms," Miranda suggested.
Callie looked at her, then at Alex as her eyes caught the commotion in the Board room again "Just tell me here!" she said feeling her heart rate increase as she sensed the news was bad.
Miranda looked at her, then at Alex.
"Just say it!" Callie exclaimed more loudly than she had intended, her nerves starting to get the best of her.
"The plane crashed," Miranda finally said, in shaky voice.
"Wh-at?" Callie whispered.
"The plane, that was flying them to Boise… it crashed…" Miranda tried to say in a calm voice but failed as she felt overwhelmed by the news as well.
Callie felt dizzy, she grabbed the counter behind her back. "Are they all de…" she started asking but her voice trembled and words got stuck in her throat.
"No, no, no!" Bailey exclaimed, "They are all alive…"
Callie sighed with relief and then noticed there was no relief on Bailey's face. "But…?" Callie asked worriedly.
Alex just stood there, not moving, almost not breathing, his gaze steady on Miranda, processing her words.
Miranda took a deep breath.
"Arizona suffered a head injury, massive bleeding, it… ummm… it looks bad Callie… Derek asked his sister Amelia to come from LA and do the surgery, she's probably already there.…"
"His sister…" Callie repeated as her brain processed the news, "Why not Derek? He's there…"
"Derek's hand has been crushed…"
Callie closed her eyes, "And the rest of them?"
"Mark and Lexie are both in critical condition. Cristina and Meredith seem less hurt, they are at the local hospital, being evaluated. I'm flying with Owen in an hour. Do you want to come with us?"
"Yes, of course!" Callie said and then shook her head, "I… uhhh…" she sighed taking everything in and ran her fingers through her hair, "I want to…, but I can't take Sofia with me… and normally I would leave her with Meredith…"
"Go, I'll take care of Sofia," Karev finally spoke.
Callie turned her head to him, she hesitated.
"She knows me, she'll be fine…" Alex assured.
Callie nodded her head, "I'll call my dad to fly down here as soon as he can, because you'll be pretty busy at the hospital as well."
"Okay," Karev simply said, still trying to wrap his brain around the news… and the fact that he was supposed to be on that plane...
"I'll get her things ready, thanks Karev!" Callie said as she rushed off to her apartment to get everything she needed.
SEVERAL HOURS LATER
Callie was standing in front of the hospital room with tears in her eyes, looking at Arizona lying in bed, machines beeping in steady rhythm.
"She's stable," Amelia said, "we have to monitor her closely, there's a risk of heart attack as her body fights to reabsorb the clotted blood."
"Thank you," Callie whispered, "and the leg?" she asked another doctor.
"We have managed to stop the infection from spreading, it should be okay, already looks much better than it did when she came here."
Callie nodded her head. "Thank you both for everything you've done… Can I go in?" she asked in trembling voice.
"Sure," Amelia said, "Any change in the monitors let me know immediately, if something happens we have to react fast."
"Okay," Callie whispered and slowly walked into the room. She stood at the door for a few seconds, unable to move. The heaviness she felt in her chest was overwhelming, in a second everything had changed… one moment she was finishing a surgery, laughing with her favorite scrub nurse and another moment… it all felt surreal, it felt as if it was happening to someone else, as if her mind and her body refused to accept that this was real, that Arizona was lying here in front of her, motionless, unable to speak, barely alive…
How is this happening, Callie thought and closed her eyes, hoping that when she opened them, she would wake up… that this was all just a bad nightmare… but when she did, her ears were still faced with the painful sound of the machine beeping at the steady rhythm, reminding her that this was not a dream, this was not a nightmare, this was real life, hard and painful reality, and Arizona was still lying there, not moving, not even breathing on her own… Callie took a slow, deep breath and made a few shaky steps towards Arizona's bed.
She sat down and took Arizona's hand. She placed her left hand over it and caressed Arizona's forearm.
"Please come back to me," Callie whispered in shaky voice. "We still have so many things to do, and experience together. You said you wanted to give Sofia a sibling, I can't do that without you Arizona…" she said as her bottom lip trembled. She wiped her cheek off, "I can't live without you… you have to come back… please don't leave me… I love you so much…" she whispered as she caressed Arizona's hand. She then moved it to her lips and placed a soft kiss on it before placing it back on the bed, but not letting go of it, as tears streamed down her face. After a few minutes she let her head drop to the bed "We'll even get chickens, I promise…" she whispered caressing Arizona's hand as she closed her eyes and imagined Arizona and Sofia playing with the baby chickens and giggling happily, while tears fell down her cheeks.
A few hours later she was woken up by a hand rubbing along her back.
"Why don't you go and get some rest in one of the on-call rooms, I'll come get you if anything changes," Owen whispered.
"Thank you but I want to be here in case she wakes up…" Callie said, wiping her eyes off.
"Callie…," Owen whispered and then stopped unable to continue, but his eyes said it all.
Callie just nodded her head, "There's no way she would be waking up tonight…" she whispered, "Right, I'm a doctor, I should know this…"
"I'll get you if there's any change, okay? Go get some rest."
"I can't…" Callie whispered and shook her head. When I was lying in bed unconscious… I wasn't awake but I felt her next to me, and she was there almost all the time, I want to be next to her, I have to be next to her…"
Owen sighed and nodded his head, "I'll get you a blanket," he whispered and rubbed her back supportively.
TWO DAYS LATER
"Why isn't she waking up?" Callie asked worriedly.
Derek looked at her, supporting his injured hand with the other one, "We don't know," he whispered.
"Brain traumas are often a mystery, she could wake up any second or she could be like this for days," Amelia said directing her eyes at Arizona lying on the bed.
"But she should be waking up fairly soon no? That's what you always say post brain surgeries…" Callie asked.
"We just compare each case to other similar cases but sometimes there's no comparison and everything is different," Amelia explained. "Brain is complex and mysterious, and if Arizona is taking her time to wake up, it could mean that she is just giving her body time to recover. Her vitals are improving with each hour, she's breathing on her own, so that's good."
"What if a few more days pass and she still doesn't wake up?" Callie asked and before Derek or Amelia could answer she added, "The doctor to doctor version, please," she said her eyes focused on Arizona.
Derek took a deep breath, "Then it could mean that she is slipping into a coma, and we would not be able to tell when she would wake up, if ever…"
"But, we are not there yet!" Amelia quickly added. "As soon as she is stable enough I want to move her to Seattle. You have better machines there, there might still be something wrong that this equipment here can't show us."
Callie nodded her head, "Do we have a window for that?"
"Two days," Amelia said, "If she's stable, I want to move her the day after tomorrow."
"Okay," Callie whispered and closed her eyes before she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"Mija," Carlos said as he appeared with Lucia walking next to him, holding Sofia in her arms.
Callie broke down in tears when she felt her father's arms wrap around her body, squeezing her tightly.
"Mommy," Sofia spoke as her little arms stretched out towards Callie. Callie took Sofia in her arms and kissed her cheek several times affectionately.
"Oh my baby, I've missed you so much," she said through tears and then let her mom hug her.
"Mom…" she whispered, "thank you for coming… I did not expect you to come after…"
Lucia gently caressed Callie's back, "Shhh, mija, none of that matters right now, you need us and we are here…"
Callie sobbed as Lucia squeezed her even more tightly.
**END OF FLASHBACK**
###
PRESENT TIME
Callie buried both her hands in her own hair and sighed heavily. I need to stop thinking about that, we're home, she's getting better, she'll be fine... Callie pulled her chair closer and took Arizona's hand. She moved it to her lips and kissed her fingers softly before she pressed it gently against her own cheek caressing Arizona's arm with her left hand.
"You'll be fine…," she whispered as her eyes watered again.
NEXT MORNING
Callie was pacing the room, impatient for Arizona to open her eyes again. She has to wake up, she thought, this was not just a moment of her regaining consciousness briefly… she stopped and looked at Arizona. Please wake up honey, she thought looking at Arizona's closed eyes, trying to wish the ocean blue eyes open and look at hers again. Callie stood there, holding her breath, her eyes fixated on Arizona's closed eyes for what seemed forever. The minutes passed but Callie kept her gaze and then it finally happened. Arizona's eyes opened and Callie was staring at the most beautiful color blue she had ever seen.
"Hey, baby," Callie softly said and quickly walked closer.
"Water…" Arizona mumbled as her dry throat made it hard to swallow. Callie poured some water and moved the cup with a straw closer to Arizona's mouth.
"Thank you," Arizona whispered and closed her eyes again. Callie put the cup down and took Arizona's hand. She looked at Arizona and sighed trying to be happy that she opened her eyes again, but wishing to talk to her, wishing she would wake up fully and talk to her. Callie reached out and caressed Arizona's cheek. Arizona opened her eyes again and Callie withdrew her hand quickly, afraid that she might have woken her up.
"Sorry, I just… I miss seeing your gorgeous blue eyes, I didn't mean to wake you up… how are you feeling?"
"You didn't wake me up…" Arizona spoke in weak voice, "It's just… my head hurts… and it hurts more if I keep my eyes open…"
"I should go get Amelia to come check you up," Callie said as she tenderly tucked Arizona's hair behind her ear. Arizona looked up and into Callie's eyes trying to process everything she was seeing inside of them. Her eyes then moved down and observed Callie's hand that was resting on the bed. She reached out and touched the wedding ring.
"You are married?" she said in a questioning tone.
Callie looked at Arizona with her mouth open. She stayed like that for a few seconds processing the words she heard, trying to will her mouth to say something but before she could say anything Arizona spoke again.
"Are we… are we having an affair?" she asked.
Callie's eyes went wide and her mouth finally managed to form words.
"Arizona…, do you… do you not know who I am?" Callie asked in trembling voice.
Arizona shook her head lightly, "I feel like I know you… but I don't really know who you are..."