A/N: You didn't think their first interaction after three years would be pleasant did you?
It goes without mention that all of these characters belong to Shonda Rhimes. She is a genius and we all miss her dearly as the show runner of Grey's.
Happy Valentine's Day 😊
Walking into her brother's room she knew that today was going to be a long day. She would see Callie multiple times and her brother was going to be going into an extremely important surgery. She debated with herself all morning whether or not she should be here today. She needed Callie to be focused and she knew that seeing her was just going to piss the Latina off.
She was talking her parents through what she figured Callie would be doing that day when they heard a knock on the door. Arizona looked up as Callie walked into the room. Seeing the brunette in her Navy-Blue scrubs did little to calm her heart rate. She looked incredible. Her lab coat was rolled up her arms like she always wore it. There was no one who could pull off the scrubs and lab coat look like Calliope Torres.
"Arizona. Stop drooling." Tim whispered. She shot him a look and turned her attention back to the doctor.
"Good Afternoon, everyone. How are you feeling today, Tim? She politely smiled at everyone in the room. Unsure if Arizona had informed them of the night before.
"Better now that you are here." He smiled shamelessly.
"Mhmmmmm." Callie replied, smiling at Tim. She really did like him and she knew what he was doing and currently she was all for making the blonde mad.
"What is the plan for today, Dr. Torres?" Arizona stood up and crossed her arms in a defensive position.
Being taken aback at Arizona's tone and addressing her as Dr. Torres, Callie just stared at the blonde for a moment. She was met with an icy stare that told her Arizona had built her walls back up. "Well, we are going to start by opening up Tim's hand and trying to retrieve the rest of the bone fragments that I know to be there. We want to get them out as soon as possible to prevent them from causing any damage. The swelling has gone down greatly, so I think –" Callie was cut off by an incessant knocking on the door.
She turned around and saw a frazzled Dr. Kepner. "There you are! I have been looking everywhere for you." Callie barley registered what April said because in her arms was her crying daughter. Sofia's head was bleeding and the little girl was whimpering.
"Mama boo boo" Sofia whimpered.
"What the hell, Kepner?" Callie walked towards April, completely forgetting where she was.
"She fell at daycare. I tried to page you, but you didn't answer. Dr. Sloan is in surgery and so is Dr. Karev. After she needed that stitch in her finger last year her chart has very clear instructions. No one is to give her stitches except Dr. Sloan, Dr. Robbins – but you know, she is in Africa, or Dr. Karev because he learned from Dr. Robbins. It says not to let you either. Sloan says you are a carpenter." April rambled on and was met with laughter behind Callie. When she looked up she saw who was in the room.
"Dr. Robbins! You're back!" April smiled at Arizona. When she stepped to the side Arizona's heart dropped. In April's hands was a little girl, couldn't be more than 2 years old. She was a carbon copy of Callie. Callie had a baby. Without her.
"Hi Dr. Kepner." Arizona smiled, trying her best to reign in her emotions. Trying to go with humor she joked "Dr. Torres is actually who perfected my suture technique better than Hopkins ever could, so I assure you she is not a carpenter. I am happy to take a look though." She slowly approached the upset little girl. She glanced at Callie silently asking for permission. Callie nodded her head softly.
Arizona directed April to put Sofia down on the sofa in the room. Slowly dropping down to her knees she was face to face with the little girl.
"Hi, I'm Arizona. What's your name?" She cleared her throat trying to get rid of the lump that formed at the realization that Callie had a daughter.
"S-Sofia." The little girl cried.
"You have a boo boo?" Arizona grabbed some gloves from the wall and put them on.
"Me fall down." Sofia cried.
"I hate when that happens! Can I take a look?" She asked. She watched as Sofia nodded her head. Arizona examined the cut and determined that Sofia didn't need stitches.
"She is okay. Can I see your pen light for a second Dr. Kepner?" Arizona took the offered pen light and moved it in front of Sofia's eyes. She watched as her pupils constricted when the light hit them. Satisfied that the little girl didn't have a concussion. "I would just monitor her today. I don't think she has a concussion." Standing up, she walked over to her bag and grabbed a box out of it.
"Now, Ms. Sofia. I have a very important question for you." She watched as Sofia looked up at her. Her breath caught at how the brown eyes looking at her were the exact same ones she fell in love with over 4 years ago.
"What princess?" Arizona opened the princess band-aid box that she had.
"You carry princess band-aids in your bag…" Tim joked. She heard Callie chuckle as well. The Latina was not surprised in the least.
"Punzle!" Sofia clapped. This woman had princess Band-Aids and she looked like a princess!
"Ohhh good choice. I would have gone with Jasmine. But Rapunzel is a good one too." Arizona grabbed the Rapunzel band aid and after applying some antiseptic cream, she put it on Sofia's head.
"There you go. Good as new."
"Tank you." Sofia smiled. She flung herself off the couch into Arizona wanting to give her a hug. Arizona caught her and returned the hug.
"Anytime."
Sofia ran to her mother and wrapped her arms around her legs. "Mama up."
"I-uh. I am sorry about this." She picked Sofia up and looked over at Arizona. She saw that the blonde was doing her best to stay composed. This wasn't exactly how she wanted Arizona to find out.
"Dr. Kepner, can you please hang on to Sofia? I have surgery right now. Can you bring her to Dr. Karev when he gets out of surgery? He owes me and he can monitor her until I am done here.
"Of course, Dr. Torres. It was great to see you Dr. Robbins. Peds misses you." Arizona watched as Callie whispered into Sofia's ear and handed the little girl off to Dr. Kepner. She watched as Sofia and April left the room together.
"Sorry about that. Where was I?" Callie turned back around ready to go through her surgical plan.
"Bone fragments and swelling." Tim chimed in. There was clear tension in his room. He was able to gather by his sister's body language that she didn't know Callie had a child. "Right. Anyway…" Callie continued to explain her plan for Tim's hand. She had a clear plan for his recovery and it would include 2 more surgeries and 9 months of physical therapy. She was optimistic he could be back in the OR after 6 months.
"Any questions?" She asked when she was done.
"No. Thank you, Dr. Torres. The plan sounds really brilliant." Tim smiled at her. Barbara and Daniel both nodded in agreement. Callie looked over at Arizona and the blonde refused to make eye contact with her. "Alright. Well, I will see you in there Tim. Dr. Robbins, can I speak with you a second?" She needed to know what Arizona was thinking.
"Um. Yeah. Sure." Arizona smiled at her brother and headed out the door with Callie.
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They walked down the hallway neither of them speaking.
"You said you wanted to talk to me, Dr. Torres?" Arizona stopped not wanting to go any further.
Callie opened the door of an on-call room and ushered for Arizona to step in. Reluctantly, Arizona entered the room. She walked to the other side of the small room and leaned against the wall.
"How can I help you, Dr. Torres?"
"Now it's Dr. Torres?" Callie folded her arms over her chest. She didn't want to fight with Arizona, but she needed to know what she was thinking. Truth be told she shouldn't care, but she does.
"Well, you are my brother's doctor and I am his family. You made it clear last night that was the extent of our relationship. I feel like we solidified the doctor/patient family relationship when I checked out your daughter." Arizona tried to hide the hurt in her voice. She didn't have the right to be mad and she knew it. She was honestly more hurt than anything.
"I didn't want you to find out like that." Callie whispered.
"What does it matter? She's cute by the way. Looks just like you." Arizona put her head down.
"Thank you." Callie sincerely replied. "It does matter to me, Arizona. I wanted to be the one to tell you."
"No worries. She is okay, like I said. Probably good to have her with Karev though. Just to be safe." Arizona pushed herself off the wall. She needed to get out of this room before she asked the question she knew she didn't want the answer to. As she walked towards the door, Callie reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Arizona. Please" Arizona froze. The electricity that she felt when Callie touched her was something she missed. Even right now, she felt it. By the sharp intake of breath she heard from the brunette, it was clear she felt it to.
"Please what, Callie? There is nothing to say."
"I am sure you have questions." Was all Callie could think to say.
"I do. But uh, you are about to operate on my brother and I don't really have it in me to hear the answers." Arizona pulled her arm away.
"Don't walk away, Arizona. Not again. Please" Callie pleaded.
Arizona stopped with her hand on the doorknob. She wouldn't walk away again, not if Callie specifically asked her not to. Every single day since she has been back she learned more and more what a mistake it had been to walk away the first time. Knowing what she had to ask she whispered her question. "Who is her father?" Arizona asked. In her heart, she had a feeling she knew.
When she was met with silence. She didn't need to ask again to know the answer.
"That is one of the questions. If you are not going to answer, I am going to go back to my brother." She wouldn't walk away but she needed to try to not make it obvious that if Callie said jump, she would quickly ask how high.
"Mark…" Callie whispered.
"I thought so." Arizona's voice cracked.
"Mark and I. Were just friends, Arizona." Callie wanted to wrap Arizona in her arms. She would never apologize for her daughter. She was the best thing she had ever done. But, knowing Arizona's insecurities about Mark during their relationship, it had to hurt.
"Friends who share a daughter." Arizona turned around. If Callie wanted to do this now, they would do it now.
"It was one night Arizona. I was drunk and heartbroken." Callie was actually a little annoyed she felt like she had to justify it.
"How old is she?"
"A little over two." Callie replied.
"Didn't wait too long." Arizona replied with venom in her voice.
"No. You do NOT get to do that. You do not get to judge me. When I met you, I thought I had found the person that I was going to spend the rest of my life with. I was done, so all the stupid relationships, shot gun weddings, who cared? Because I was done. You left me! You chose Africa! I'm all glued back together now. Sofia did that. I make no apologies for how I chose to repair what you broke. You don't get to call me a whore." Callie was right in Arizona's face. They were chest to chest at this point.
"I hope you are happy; Callie I truly do. Once Tim's surgeries are done I am gone anyway. You live your life; I will live mine. You clearly moved on. I refuse to be the woman pining after the unattainable." Arizona turned and walked out the door.
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Arizona walked back into her brother's room. She had composed herself. The last thing her family needed to see was her broken down after talking with Callie. Tim needed to be confident in Callie.
"You okay?" Tim asked.
"Oh, yeah. I'm good. She just had some questions about strategy. We had a kid with a similar injury a few years ago." Arizona lied.
She felt the scrutiny of her family's eyes on her.
"Seriously. All good." She smiled at them. A smile that seemed to get the job done.
Shortly after she entered the room a few residents had entered to take Tim down to pre-op. Barbara and Daniel both kissed their son goodbye, something that pained them more than they could ever imagine. They didn't like the idea of him being out of their sight after the last 5 years. As Arizona walked over to hug her brother he pulled her in closer. "Tell me she is the best and that you didn't piss her off. This is my entire career Arizona. I will always be on your team, but I need Callie's head in the game." He wouldn't admit how terrified he was that he would never get to operate again.
"Don't worry. Honestly, Callie is the best you will ever find." She knew how true that was. Both as a surgeon and a girlfriend. Arizona hugged her brother and watched as was pushed past the doors into the surgical area.
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Taking a deep breath Callie walked up to the operating table. "How's my favorite patient?" She smiled at Tim trying to calm him. A surgeon's hands were their most prized possession. His future rested in her hands and it was something she didn't take lightly.
"I bet you say that to everyone." He winked at her.
"I do. But I actually mean it this time."
"I am good. Arizona says I am in the best hands out there. So, I understand your hesitation to fix mine. I wouldn't want to fix a better surgeon's hands either." He laughed as Callie feigned hurt.
"Seriously though, thank you for not just cutting it off. I know others probably would."
"That was never an option. Even before I found out you were some sort of secret super spy surgeon." She winked at him and watched as he visibly relaxed after their banter. "I will see you when you wake up, okay?" Tim just nodded. She gave the okay for them to administer the anesthesia.
Callie started the surgery at 2:15pm. Turning on her playlist she settled in for what she knew was going to be a complicated task. She slowly worked her way through Tim's hand collecting small fragments of bone where she found them. She inserted rods in his fingers and started the methodical process of rebuilding a fellow surgeon's hand. As she worked she noted that his nerves were more damaged then she had thought. Looking at her scrub nurse, Colleen, she asked a question she knew Arizona would hate "Can you please page Dr. Sloan for me?" Colleen nodded and proceeded to page the other doctor. Shortly later, Mark entered the OR.
"What's up Baby Mama?" Mark smiled behind the surgical mask he was holding up.
"Don't call me that." She was deep in concentration.
"What can I help you with, Dr. Torres?" He replied sarcastically.
"Can you come look at these nerves? You don't have to scrub in. I just want your opinion." She watched as Mark inspected the nerves in Tim's hand. "Those are shot." He replied.
"Shit." She threw her instruments down and stood up. Stretching her body, she knew she had to go update the Robbins family. "What's the problem?"
"This is Arizona's brother. He is a surgeon. I need to be able to fix his hands, Mark." She watched as Mark processed the information Callie just gave him.
"Wait…GI Joe is Robbin's brother?! I thought he was dead."
"Yeah…so did she."
"Woah…" Mark felt bad for Arizona. He knew how much her brother meant to her.
"Yea. He was out there playing hero and I can't even fix his hand."
"Let's talk through this. I know you can figure it out." Mark sat down next to Callie and listened as she rattled off ideas. After shooting down about 10 suggestions he began to think, maybe she couldn't save it. But then he watched as a lightbulb seemed to go off in Callie's brain. "What if we harvest a live donor nerve? We can use it to repair the nerves in his hand.
"A live donor…meaning?" Mark asked.
"Yeah, I have to ask Arizona. Her parents won't work. It has to be her." Mark nodded. "I think it's a brilliant plan, Torres. I doubt Blondie will refuse."
Callie smiled, satisfied with her plan. The nerve would have to be harvested if Arizona agreed. Callie finished cleaning up the rest of the bone fragments and putting in the hardware necessary. She was satisfied with how everything looked. Deciding it was the right time to close, she took a deep breath. Once she was done closing, she scrubbed out and headed to the family waiting area.
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Arizona was pissed. It had been 5 hours and Callie hadn't come out to personally update them. She sent a scrub nurse out to say things were progressing nicely at 2 hours in and then again at 4 hours. But, Arizona felt Callie should have come out herself. Knowing she was being irrational, she sat down and pulled out her phone. Again, she was met with the photo on her background. Deciding she needed to change it, she went to her settings. Right as she was about to delete the picture, the door to the waiting area opened. She looked up and saw Callie. She still had her scrub cap on. A scrub cap Arizona had taken off many times. Sometimes after a tough surgery, other times after an extremely successful surgery. She would rip it off and run her fingers through the brunette hair as they celebrated in an on-call room.
"Callie. Did everything go okay?" Barbara rushed over to the brunette.
"Yes. This surgery went as well as it could have." Callie smiled.
"Thank goodness." Daniel chimed in.
Arizona knew Callie. Could read her like a book. "What was the complication?" She asked.
Callie looked at Arizona and gave her a tight smile. "The nerves in Tim's hand were damaged much more than I thought. At this point, he doesn't and won't have full range of motion in his hand with the current state of his nerves." Callie was talking directly to Arizona.
"What's your plan to fix it?" Arizona challenged Callie. She knew that Callie wouldn't come out here saying things went well without a solid plan in place.
Felling as though she was being challenged by the blonde, Callie felt a shiver run through her body. An aggressive Arizona always turned her on. Arizona didn't miss the reaction Callie had at her challenging her. She felt good knowing she still had some effect on the brunette.
"I want to replace the nerve." Callie replied with confidence.
"Cadaver?" Arizona asked.
"No. I want to use a live donor."
"I'll do it." Arizona didn't even need to think twice.
"You know the risks, Arizona." Callie couldn't help but worry.
"Can you two stop talking to each other and explain what is going on?" Daniel Robbins interrupted them.
Callie and Arizona explained the plan that Callie had developed while in the OR. They explained how a live donor was the best option, because it increased the chance of it successfully taking. It was the best chance Tim would have at getting back to 100%.
"You said there were risks, Callie. Can you talk to us about those?" Barbara spoke for the first time since this all started. She looked over to Arizona. "She risks chronic pain, loss of sensation, infection, to name a few. Not to mention she would have to go through surgery to harvest them. All surgeries carry their own risks." Callie looked at Barbara.
Before Barbara could protest, Arizona chimed in. "This is Tim's best chance of getting back to the OR. After everything he did, I have to try. He would do it for me. Plus, it would be done by a very talented surgeon." Arizona pulled her Mom into a hug. "I am doing this, Mom. Okay?"
"Who would perform the surgeries?" Barbara asked.
Before Callie had a chance to reply, Arizona chimed in. "Callie would be placing the nerves into Tim's hand while Dr. Sloan harvested the nerves from my leg." The thought of Mark Sloan performing surgery on her made her want to vomit. But he was talented and there was no one who could do it cleaner. It would give her and Tim the best chance of minimal complications.
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"Are you okay?" Callie caught up to Arizona once Barbara and Daniel headed to go get some dinner.
"Yea. Why wouldn't I be?" Arizona sat back and took a deep breath. The emotions of the day washing over her.
"We both know that there are very real risks to having your nerves harvested. Plus, recovery time."
"There are no other options. I have to do this. You and I both know that. I will be fine. I don't have a job, so time to recover isn't really an issue." Arizona laughed. She hadn't been unemployed since she was 14.
"Rumor has it Webber offered you peds back…."
"Yup."
"Are you going to take it?" Callie silently hoped she would.
"I don't know. I don't think I can. I can't be here without you, Calliope. I can't see you every day. Watch you date other people. Watch you be a mother. All the things I ruined when I walked away. I don't deserve you, but I can't watch you live a life that doesn't have me in it." Arizona confessed.
Right as Callie was going to reply, her pager sounded. "Tim's awake." She whispered.
"Let's go see him." Arizona got up and walked away.
A/N: I know nothing about medicine. So just go with it.