A/N

Well hellooooooo, its a lovely sunny bank holiday weekend, I have three days off work and have spent two of them laid writing this fic haha. Here's another chapter for you all. More of a filler chapter before we get to the nitty gritty, Earl is about to be exposed but will he take it lying down or will he fight for his freedom.. you'll have to wait another couple of chapters to find out unfortunately but his demise is coming.

Another Arizona centric chapter here as she reaches out for help of the other doctors. will they give it to her though or will they follow protocol and put Callie in harms way even more? you'll have to read to find out lol.

Enjoy and as always please drop a review when you've finished reading, I love hearing how much you all hate Earl

AL

-oOo-

The next morning Dr. Miranda Bailey entered the hospital through the double glass doors a little hazier than normal. Last night had been a long night, she had struggled to get the slightly younger brunette off of her mind, she struggled to not internalize Miss Robbins words to her about being falsely accused and how she suspected it was Earl who was the cause of the vast and horrendous internal injuries and scarring in Mrs. Thompsons body, not to mention the patchwork of scarring and bruising on her skin.

The thing that had kept her awake all night was the haunting looks in everyone's eyes but Mr. Thompsons, no his eyes seemed void of any emotion which just served to add fuel to the accusation the blonde friend had offered. And then there were the accusations. Whilst Earl was very open in his dialogue about how concerning and dangerous the broken woman's family was and how they were to be kept away from his wife and how his wife wouldn't cope if she knew they were sniffing around, Arizona seemed more interested in Callie's safety. It wasn't about 'he did this to her, keep him the hell away from her'…. Like Earls accusations were, no her accusations were more 'I think its him, but It's wrong to point fingers without proof, either way right now it doesn't matter who did it, it just matters that she is recovering and is safe and in a position she can't be hurt any further' and the more the thoughts circulated in Bailey's head the more conclusive her thoughts seemed to be in Arizona's favour.

She glanced towards the direction the blonde had been sitting her vigil and wasn't really all that surprised to find her still sitting in the exact same spot as if she hadn't moved in the ten hours since she had left last night. She changed the trajectory of her walk and aimed herself towards the blonde, intrigued as to whether she can gain any further snippets of information which she can use to make her decision on who was harming the brunette, if they didn't work it out before Callie was discharged and Earl was the cause, the next beating Callie got could be the end of her, no that wouldn't do. Dr. Bailey would do what she does best, find out all the information and fix the issue, it was something she was getting damn good at, what with each fresh wave of interns being more problematic than the last, they certainly kept her on her toes. When she finally reached the blonde she realized that she was sleeping.

Kicking her foot lightly several times until the blue eyes opened with a start, Bailey couldn't hold in the slightly sadistic smirk at the initial panic she was able to cause with barely any effort. "Miss Robbins, did you move at all last night or have you cluttered my waiting room the whole time?" Bailey asked in a bid to inject a little humour to the clearly frazzled woman but was shocked when big tears filled the blue eyes and a strangled sound erupted from the blonde's mouth when she attempted to speak before her head shook in frustration at herself and her dull blue eyes sank to the floor in devastation. Clearly she had hoped it had all been a dream and waking up in hospital to Dr. Bailey made it all a reality once again.

She felt terrible, truly terrible. It was obvious that this woman genuinely cared and any traces of doubt that Arizona was the cause of Callie's injuries were swept away as the blonde buried her head in her hands and sobbed for several moments before rubbing harshly at her face in an attempt to remove all traces of her breakdown before she looked back up, almost shocked to find that Bailey was still standing there, waiting.

"I signed a contract when I was accepted into the program here. My hands are tied by meters and meters of red tape on what I can and can't do in situations like this, whether I agree with, or sympathize with your situation… legally and ethically, I am unable to do anything to help your cause" Bailey offered, knowing that just confirming to the blonde that she understood and agreed and would therefore be watching Earl like a hawk would mean more to the blonde than anything else right now. "I will find a way to subtly let Mrs. Thompson know that there is someone who cares in the waiting room but I'm bound by the same red tape to not being able to say who"

"Thank you… thank you Dr. Bailey. I know you can't pass along a message or anything of the sort but… I drew this last night" Arizona trails off as she grabbed a notebook which she spent half the night doodling and writing in, she finds the page holding the cartoon styled daisy that she knew Callie would recognize from the many, many copies of it that had been drawn over both of their school books and folders. Ripping it from the book she hands it to Bailey and remains silent whilst the short woman studies it for several moments before looking at the blonde questioningly and with confusion.

" Callie will know what that means and who it's from, if I'm right about Earl being the cause of this, I don't want to give him a reason to lay another finger on her, please just give her this discreetly… in fact no don't give her it because if Earl is doing this and finds it he could hurt her again just please show her it in a way that Earl won't see it." Arizona begs, and despite knowing that she is teetering on the edge of that line created by the legal department that work for the hospital, Dr. Bailey nods in understanding and leaves, after all it's just a picture of a flower, there are no words, in fact not even a single letter on the page. There surely can be nothing harmful or abusive associated with this picture.

Bailey changed into her scrubs and nodded at the various doctors and nurses who greet her as she makes her way towards her interns who are waiting patiently for rounds. The entire time she is with other patients she is thinking about what the blonde said, how sincere she was, how hurt and worried she seemed about Callie's safety. The whole time she fingered the piece of paper that was folded in her pocket and thought about everything and about whether she was doing the right thing for the patient by agreeing to show her this picture that could quite simply be a trigger for abuse for all she knew, but nothing seemed to add up here, the whole situation stunk and Dr. Bailey did not like for things to stink up her hospital. As they entered Callie's room for rounds, one intern began to spout off the facts of the case before Dr. Bailey focused her attention not on the interns that she asked various questions to quiz their knowledge of the case and the injuries and conditions but on Callie and Earl, their body language, Callie seemingly being submissive whilst Earl seemed indignant to everything around him.

Dr. Bailey took Callie's chart and stealthily moved the folded piece of paper to it and clipped it to the top before moving the folder into Callie's eye line but the brunette didn't even look up, her eyes were focused on her hands which were resting in her lap on top of the crisp, starched white hospital bed sheets and she nibbled on her bottom lip anxiously.

"Ok Mrs. Thompson, I just need to do a quick test on your eye function, I need for you to take a look at the picture on the chart and tell me what it is if you can, it's a standard test, simple but necessary" Callie looked up with eyes full of the weight of all the horror and pain she had endured over the past few years, but the second she looks at the paper and saw the simple line drawing of a daisy, her favorite flower, and in a cartoon style that she would recognize as Arizona's 'tag' from their school days anywhere, a sense of relief floods her eyes. She glanced to Earl who was picking his nails and looking pissed off at the inconvenience of having to be here with Callie instead of living his normal life so she looked back to Dr. Bailey who was watching her intently and nods in understanding of the doctor's silent message.

"It's a flower… a daisy" Callie offers with a smile, but her face remains unmoving, her voice empty of any emotion and the excitement that just erupted within her hidden slightly by her mask, behind her expressive eyes. She watched Dr. Bailey intently for any sign that this woman was trustworthy before her attention is grabbed by Earl clearing his throat obnoxiously.

"This is all great and fantastic, but do we have any idea when my wife will be discharged?" Earl offered a sweet smile and for the first time Bailey genuinely saw right through it, it was a mask meant to make her believe he was a good guy, but when she looked into his eyes she could see the evil just lurking there.

"Well Mr. Thompson, I understand your excitement to get your lovely wife home but she will need to be with us for a few more days yet to ensure that no infection is present in the surgical sites. Today is going to be a bit of a busy day for you both though, I have a shopping list of tests and images I need taking, this will make sure any other injuries are picked up and fixed immediately which will avoid prolonging your stay with us any further" Bailey offered her own sweet smile, determined to not let Earl in on the fact that she was on to him, if he suspected anything he could be a flight risk, or worse, he could think that he had nothing to lose and hurt not just himself but Callie too.

No, she wouldn't allow him that satisfaction, instead she would cross her t's and dot her I's and when she was confident she had enough proof to shed a light on Earl's activities, she would hand it off to the cops and they could deal with the piece of shit. She watched as Earl nodded, rolled his eyes and sighed all at the same time, clear signs of agitation and she couldn't help but guess that the longer they kept Callie with them, the more of his gives would appear, the closer he would get to slipping up and exposing himself, she just couldn't fathom whether that would be safer for Callie in the long run or not.

Leaving the room she ordered an intern to get a full medical history for the patient to her immediately, and she wants every result from every test and image taken yesterday, as well as any she has in her medical file to date. She wants fresh images taken today under the guise of standard testing after an open surgery lasting more than seven hours and she wants the results for each test brought directly to her, not to the case handler from the relevant department on Callie's case. The intern looked at her questioningly.

"Am I speaking Swahili? Get to it and page me the second you have anything!" Bailey barked and the intern runs, literally runs away in fear, chastising herself for even daring to question the Nazi.

-oOo-

Sitting in the waiting room and watching the goings on of nurses, doctors, medical reps, patients and visitors; Arizona nibbles on a granola bar she found in the deep abyss of her satchel. It is rapidly approaching the twenty four hour mark since she received the call from Jo, and still she is waiting. It's all she can do, but still she waits, even though she knows she has nothing to wait for now, she refuses to leave. Not if there is the slightest chance Callie may need her, not if there is the risk that if she leaves she may lose Callie for good this time. No, she will sit and wait.

She had phoned Carlos and Lucia a few minutes ago for the eleventh time since they left to fill them in on the lack of information they had. They had all hoped after her conversation with Dr. Bailey last night, and this morning, that they would have heard something by now, anything at all, even if it were a 'piss off again' from Callie, but there had been nothing of any sorts. Just radio silence, and she took the old saying of 'no news is good news' as her new mantra, she refused to believe anything else.

At a little after three in the late afternoon, Dr. Bailey appeared and headed straight for her. Arizona spots her instantly and recognizes the look of determination in her face as she marches towards her and sits up straight, stretching out the kinks and knots in her aching muscles as she does. She watches the tight admiring smile grace the surgeons face as Bailey stops in front of her and tilts her head to the side in a silent question of 'still here?'.

"Miss Robbins, follow me please" Bailey offers without any trace of hint to the reason for the order, it wasn't a request despite the pleasantries and polite mannerism, it was very much an order. Without any thought, Arizona rose from her seat, grabbed her satchel and threw it over her head as she followed the shorter women towards a door which is labeled as a fire exit. Entering the door she spots the stairs and wonders why they didn't just take the elevators, but she doesn't question it, she simply follows. However Bailey had already seen the question in her eyes.

"Do you want someone to see you walking around the halls and have you removed from the building for having no permission to be back here?" Arizona shakes her head in agreement with the surgeons question and continues to follow Dr. Bailey until they reach a meeting room. Dr. Bailey orders her to sit in a chair she loosely motions to before moving to a side table and pours them both a coffee from a large silver pot that was waiting in the room before she sits opposite her.

"So you went to school with Mrs. Thompson?" Bailey finally asked to break the silence, having remembered the story of the daisy Arizona had told her that morning.

"I did, Callie and I met on my seventh birthday when she started school, she gave me a cake bar from her lunchbox as a present because she obviously hadn't known me before and didn't have a gift or card like the other kids in my class but she didn't want to not give me anything so she gave me her favorite part of her lunch, we've been best friends since. Turns out she was part of the family that had just moved into the house next door to my childhood home so we were instantly best friends who hung out every minute of the day that our parents would let us" Arizona offered, knowing instantly that Bailey was sizing her up and was fact checking everything she had told the surgeon so far. Arizona had nothing to hide, she would tell Bailey anything she wanted to know if it convinced the older woman to help Callie, and possibly herself.

"Why did you come here?"

"She's my best friend, we had a disagreement three years ago, it was our first and only argument and it was about her marrying Earl in a shotgun wedding without telling me before hand, it was bizarre for her to do that, so out of character and when I questioned her on it, she just… she lost her temper and was saying all this stuff that she would never normally say. After that I never heard from her again, she fell off the face of the planet. No one including her parents and sister knew where she was… she just… disappeared into the night until I got a call from a friend who saw her being brought in. She's in trouble and needs my help of course I am here… but even if the call had been that she was spotted in a coffee shop I still would have dropped everything and ran…I have tried so hard over the years to find her but nothing, it was so unlike her… I guess now I know why!" Arizona audibly sighed.

"I'm sorry I just don't understand why you care so much?" Bailey asked, eyeing the blonde suspiciously, she was saying all the right things, but she was listening to her body language more than anything, she wanted to see the truth in blue eyes, see the honesty or deceit in the pale face, and she did. Arizona couldn't hide anything from her scrutinizing look.

"I can't explain it I just do. Ever since she came into my life we have been joined at the hip. If it didn't feel weird to liken the two things, I would say that we are practically sisters. We had sleepovers practically every night. I view her little sister as my own little sister, and she sees my twin brother as her own brother and a second best friend, one that's a rough replica of me, still good but not as good" Arizona laughed humorously at their age old joke.

"We were meant to go to med school together but she only got accepted into Drew's, and our dream was Hopkins… I got in. When we realized Cal's acceptance wasn't coming she made me promise to still go and we would re-evaluate once internship came and try and get into the same program again… she dropped out a dozen weeks after I left for Hopkins and was never seen again by anyone… I think… I feel… I mean… god this is so hard because I don't want to wrongly accuse but my gut is telling me that Earl is responsible for all of this, including her dropping out… probably Drew's as well but I have no idea how the hell he would be able to orchestrate that, but I just…. Something is telling me that he is responsible for it, y'know?"

Bailey eyed her for a few minutes in a suspicious way that made Arizona feel like she is about to be burned alive, but instead the surgeon rises, moves to the door and locks it, securing the two women inside the meeting room. Next she moves to a sideboard that is holding the coffee pot and unlocks a cupboard with a key which she retrieved from her lab coat pocket. Grabbing a stack of files, she turns to Arizona and places the files on the table with a thump, despite them being placed with care.

"Do not make me regret this, understood?" Arizona nods without even looking at Dr. Bailey, instead she is staring at the folders and wondering what was in them and what this was about.

Bailey opens the first folder and removes several sets of x-ray images and puts them up on the huge light box attached to the wall opposite the door in the room before grabbing a thin nibbed sharpie from her pocket and making numerous tight and tidy circles on each of them, not messy circles but neat circles. When she is finished she motions for Arizona to join her, the surgeon watches as Arizona studies each image, firstly studying the contents of each sharpie circle before studying everything else in case the doctor missed something.

Twenty minutes later Arizona has finished and looks to Dr. Bailey with tears in her eyes. They stay silent but Bailey pulls out some more images and sticks them on the next light box. These ones are CT scans. Again she places neat circles in various areas, as she finishes on one page she moves to the next and Arizona studies the image she just finished with. Hours pass as numerous sheets of imagery is pulled out of folders and the two women study them and mark them.

"Do you understand why I have circled these pages?" Dr. Bailey asks and Arizona nods solemnly. Each one of those circles contains a sign of years of abuse at the hands of Earl, each circle another piece of proof of what he had done to her, the pain he had put her through, the injuries he had given her. The thought alone sickened the blonde, sickened her to her stomach at the visual proof of every blow or strike Callie must have taken, if not more, and how much pain she must have been caused.

"I searched her medical history, there is absolutely nothing from around three years ago up until the date she was brought into us just the other day, it's as if she doesn't exist… no traces of her having seeked medical assistance for any of these injuries at all, which makes me believe that she received them during those three years and as the only person who saw her during that time was Earl… it is an easy assumption to make that he is the cause of these injuries" Arizona could only nod, she wanted to say something… she didn't know what she wanted to say, but the urge to talk was there, she just didn't know how to as the information overloaded her and she couldn't piece together anything, so she nodded. Three years, three whole years without seeing anyone other than the abusive prick that was beating the shit out of you. No help, no medical assistance, no friends, no family, no one who cares, or smiles, or offers inane conversation… just Earl, and his abusive hands that clearly had been all over Callie in a bid to break her in every possible way.

"Do you understand what I now have to do with this information?" Bailey asks and Arizona breaks down with hearing those words, Bailey pats Arizona's pale shoulder awkwardly as she waits for the blonde to calm down and the shallow rapid breaths to even out as the initial shock and panic settled slightly and eventually she does as blue eyes are trained to the dozens of pages still stuck up on the light boxes.

"She needs to be in hospital for at least another seven to ten days at the best, providing that she doesn't get any infections or have any complications right?" Arizona finally breaks the silence but her eyes are still locked on the various images, never once turning to the other woman in the room.

"Well yes, that's standard protocol" Bailey offers, eyeing the blonde curiously as to what she was getting at.

"Don't say anything about this to anyone just yet, keep her here under observation where she is safe… give me a little bit of time to work this out, please" Arizona begs without shame, without embarrassment, with nothing but hope that she can convince the raven haired woman to her way of thinking.

"I know you're not even an intern yet but let me explain hospital policies to you…" Bailey starts but is instantly cut off by the click of Arizona's tongue, she watches as the blonde rolls her eyes in frustration.

"I know hospital policies and I get it, I do. But right now my best friend is in a room with a potentially abusive husband that did all of this to her, if we jump the gun he will have time to cover his tracks and get away with it. I want the bastard to burn on Earth and in hell if he's done this to her, but I need to not be emotional about this despite how easy it would be to let myself fall into those feelings… I want to make sure that everything is in order first, to make sure that it is definitely, undisputedly him and if it is, make sure he can't ever hurt her again not even once more only slightly, not even look at her. Please just give me some time, a few days so we can make sure we get this right for Callie and then you can follow your policies as much as you want or need, but in the mean time she's safely settled into a bed in a public arena where he can't lay his hands on her or hurt her if it is him, and I think we..."

"I don't do breaking the rules. I don't do policy bending… look, I get what you're saying, I can see how much you care… but if he is responsible for all of this then surely we need to get him away from her immediately"

"So he can go home and burn every shred of evidence the cops could use to nail him with? So he can be brought in, questioned and released cause the cops have nothing on him, so he can bide his time and probably kill her next time. Are your policies worth more than a person's life? I'm not saying forget the policies, I'm saying just wait a few more days so we can make sure that it is definitely him and make sure he can't get away with it whilst she's safe, please?"

"I can't make that call, let me bring the Chief in, plead your case to him, if you can get him on board I will do everything I can to help you"