A/N: No surprise you guys came through on the story. It is called "We Are Just The Same". I love it. It is happy and I need a bit of that these days. So, thank you all.
Someone messaged and asked if I was going to amputate Arizona's leg. Just like my other story there will be no amputation, no plane crashes, no cheating, etc. This story will have a bit of drama but all my stories are Calzona endgame.
I appreciate the love and reviews on this story. I am glad I decided to continue.
Chapter 10
"Ready Robbins?" Mark Sloan walked into Arizona's pre op room with a smile on his face.
"Dr. Robbins. And yes. I am ready Dr. Sloan." Arizona knew she needed to be nicer to him, but every time she saw him she wanted to punch him in the face.
"Right. You missed our pre-op appointment. I know you know the procedure, but do you have any questions?" Mark sat down on a stool and rolled himself over to Arizona's bedside.
"Nope." Arizona coldly responded.
"Arizona Robbins. Stop that right now." Barbara chastised her daughter. "I am sorry, Dr. Sloan. I do have a question about the possible complications." Barbara took out a notepad from her purse.
"Not a problem, Mrs. Robbins." Mark turned on his charm.
"Do not flirt with my mother, Mark. I will stab you with your own scalpel." Arizona watched as Mark visibly swallowed.
"Arizona!" Barbara smacked her daughter upside the head.
"Sorry, Mom." Arizona crossed her arms and pouted like a child.
Arizona listened as her mother asked question after question. They were all questions that Arizona and Tim had already answered. She knew her Mother was nervous. She hadn't had her two children together in 5 years and both would be in surgery at the same time. She tried to put herself in her mother's place and let her mother take up the last 30 minutes with her questions.
"Well. If that is all, I will see you in there Dr. Robbins." Mark smiled at her and walked out.
"Thanks, Mark." Arizona gave him a curt smile.
"Alright, I love you sweetie. Your Dad is with Timmy. We will see you both after okay?" Arizona's mother kissed her head and teared up a bit. She knew that if her daughter trusted these people, she should too. But still, this was her baby.
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"Alright, Torres. Here is the nerve from Blondie." Mark walked into Callie's OR with the nerve protected. He didn't trust a resident to deliver this. This was too important.
"Thanks, Mark. How is she?" Callie locked eyes with her best friend. He knew how much having Arizona I the next OR was weighing on her.
"She's a champ. Great nerves. I don't foresee any issues." Mark winked at Callie and headed back to his OR.
"Alright everyone, now is the important part." Callie took a deep breath, rolled her neck, and got to work.
Callie was in the process of cleaning up the few bone fragments left in Tim's hand. He was healing nicely in the short time since she had opened him up. She made sure the rods were still perfectly in place and that the rest of her work was clean. Once she was satisfied with the structure of the hand, she moved on to the nerve work. If it wasn't for Arizona, she knew Tim wouldn't operate again. As she worked to fuse Arizona's nerve into Tim's hand she had to admit, Mark was right. Arizona did have great nerves. The one Mark was able to harvest was more than long enough for what had to be done. Callie worked diligently while the rest of the OR was silent. She was walking Jackson Avery through what she was doing. He was Mark's protégé, so Mark asked if he could be in the surgery since it had to do with nerves. He was asking good questions and Callie had to admit, she was impressed. Mark was doing a good job with him. As she finished the last fusion she asked her scrub nurse, Colleen, to hand her the device that would allow her to see if what she had just done had worked. As she put the wand up to Tim's hand she requested it be turned up to level 1. She watched and waited for any sort of response, nothing.
"Level 2 please." Callie asked. She moved the wand over Tim's palm, fingers, anything. Still no response. "Shit" Callie mumbled.
"Level 3." Callie barked out. Repeating the same process, she watched as there was no response to the shock that was hitting Tim's hand. "Come on, Tim." Still nothing.
"Damn it." Callie stepped back and took a breath. She couldn't end a surgeon's career. No way. Not this surgeon. She had grown to really like Tim. Not only that, but this was also Arizona's brother. The brother she thought was dead for the last 5 years. Callie approached the open hand again and just stared….
"Dr. Torres…." Jackson Avery whispered after 5 minutes of Callie staring at Tim's hand.
"There!" She yelled. She took a pair of tweezers and removed a sliver of bone fragment that was touching the base of the nerve. Calling for the device again, she requested level 1.
"Come on, Timmy." She whispered as she dragged the wand over his fingers. "There is stimulation." Colleen announced. Callie watched the monitor show clear readings of Tim's hand feeling what she was doing. She ran the wand over every square inch of the hand, wrist, everything. It was a strong reading.
Dropping the want Callie released a breath she didn't even realize she had been holding. "Great work, Dr. Torres." Jackson said. The OR clapped and Callie bowed her head gratefully. She went back to work and closed Tim's hand. The repairs were done. The rest was on him in PT.
Scrubbing out, Callie felt her eyes starting to well with tears. She didn't realize how invested she was in all of this. How attached she still was to the Robbins family, to Arizona. She finished scrubbing out and composed herself. She walked into the waiting room where she saw Daniel and Barbara Robbins waiting.
"Callie. Did everything go okay?" Daniel approached her.
"Yes, Mr. Robbins. Everything went really well. The nerve harvested from Arizona was perfect. We tested the nerve response in Tim's hand and I am really happy with the response. I am optimistic he will make a full recovery." Callie smiled as she said it out loud.
Daniel and Barbara wrapped her in a hug and cried. Both of their babies were going to be okay.
"Callie?" Daniel got her attention.
"Yeah?" She responded.
"It's Daniel. Not Mr. Robbins." He winked at her. She smiled back at him.
"He will be back up in his room in about an hour or so. Grab some lunch and then he should be up there." Saying her goodbyes and promises to be up to check on everything later, she headed to finish the post op notes on Tim's surgery.
Walking into the post-op area she noticed that Arizona was in the post-op room next to Tim. Callie peeked in on Tim and he was still out of it. His vitals looked good and she was content with his current status. She decided to pop into Arizona's room and read through her chart about how the surgery went. Mark was a lot of things, but he was very meticulous with is charts. So, it would be like she was in the OR.
Callie grabbed the chart and sat down next to Arizona's bed. Flipping through the notes she saw that the surgery couldn't have gone better. As she was finishing her reading she felt someone watching her. Looking up she was met with glassy blue eyes. Arizona was just staring at her.
"Hey." Callie smiled at her. She grabbed the cup of water and held it to Arizona's mouth. Arizona took a sip and smiled appreciatively at Callie.
"How you feeling?" Callie asked as she put Arizona's chart away.
"Greaaaat." Arizona was still feeling the effects of the anesthesia.
Callie just chuckled. She remembered post-surgery Arizona. The blonde had to have her appendix taken out when they were dating and she had been hilariously honest after her surgery.
"Ahhh, yeah. You always said they give the good stuff here." Callie laughed and sent a text to Barbara letting her know Arizona was awake and would be up to her room soon.
"Are you in any pain?" Callie asked.
"My heart." Arizona responded groggily.
"Wait, what? You are having chest pains?" Callie frantically looked at the monitor, her heart rhythm was normal.
"No. Not my chest. My heart. My heart hurts. I miss you." Arizona pouted.
Callie was shocked at the admission. She knew that she needed to leave this room, now. It wasn't fair to speak to Arizona when she was in this condition.
"Arizona. I am going to go. I just wanted to check on you." Callie started towards the door, but what left Arizona's mouth made her turn around.
"I had a ring. Remember when we said we were going to go to the Majete Wildlife Reserve? You and your strange obsession with elephants." Arizona laughed. "I was going to get us a private tour. A sunset tour. Just like you wanted. I was going to ask you to marry me. We were going to do the 3 years and then we were going to come back, get married, and start our life and start on those 10 kids." Arizona's voice was pained. She was staring out the window. It was like she was imagining it.
"You didn't want me to go with you, Arizona." Callie swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Yes I did, Calliope. There is nothing I wanted more. But I knew you didn't want to go. I loved you too much to let you come." Arizona looked at her. Callie saw the sincerity in her eyes.
"That wasn't your decision to make." Callie walked closer to the bed.
"Probably not. But, you never would have been able to do over there what you did here while I was gone." Arizona stated matter of flatly.
"What do you mean?"
"The artificial cartilage. I read about it when I was over there. It is genius, Calliope." The sound of her name coming off of Arizona's lips was pulling at her heart.
"You read about it?"
"Of course, I did. I know everything you did in your career while I was gone. You are a genius, but I don't think you could have made the cartilage out of dirt. Which is all we had over there." Arizona started laughing like what she said was the funniest thing in the world.
"Yeah, I don't think I would have figured that one out." Callie chuckled.
'" I am sorry, Calliope. Sorry for hurting you. If I could take it back, I would like to say I would, but I wouldn't." That peaked Callie's interest.
"What?" Callie asked.
"I wouldn't change anything. You are doing everything you always dreamed of. You are the head of your department, you are on the short list for the Harper Avery for your cartridge, but most importantly you are a mom. A wonderful mother to a beautiful little girl. God, Callie she looks just like you." A lone tear streamed down Arizona's face.
Callie sat there speechless. She knew Arizona was right. Had she gone to Africa, there would have been no Sofia and that wasn't a world she would want to live in. As Callie got up to leave, feeling that there was nothing else to say.
"I am happy for you. I really am." Arizona whispered.
"Thank you." Callie smiled at her.
"You know, it would hurt so much if it was anyone else." Arizona laughed a self-deprecating laugh.
"What?"
"If anyone else was Sofia's father….it would hurt less. I know I am not allowed to be upset about it. I am the one who left. But I think it hurst so much because I never came first. It was always Mark's feelings over mine. I was fine with that because I got you. When he was sad, you ran to him. When him and I fought, you always took his side and defended him. You got mad at ME when I was upset that he walked in on us having sex multiple times. I just, I was never first. That hurt. I am not a jealous person, but I was jealous of Mark. So, for him to get to have a child with you, that hurts. But trust me, I know it is my own fault" Arizona rolled over ending the conversation.
Callie stood there and thought about what Arizona said. Really thought about what she was saying. She thought back to the times Arizona was illuding to and she realized that Arizona was right. Callie took Mark's side because it was easier than hearing him complain. She knew she could smooth things over with Arizona easier than Mark, so she just pacified him.
She walked out of Arizona's post op room and headed to the daycare. She needed to see Sofia.
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"Mami!" Sofia ran up to her mother and wrapped her arms around her legs.
"Me color!" Sofia ran to the table and grabbed the picture she had diligently worked on all day. Callie took the picture from her hands and studied it. Her daughter was not the best artist, but she did enough for Callie to know what it was.
"Wow Sof! That is beautiful!" Callie smiled.
"That Dr. Punzle." Sofia pointed to the yellow blob on top of the purple blob. "That me. Me boo boo." She pointed to the pink blob with a sad face.
"I love it!" Callie smiled.
"Write my name peez" Sofia handed her mother a crayon so that the art could be signed. She watched as her mother wrote her name "S-O-F-I-A. There you go."
"and Tank you!" Sofia pointed to the paper. Callie laughed. Her daughter was not afraid to tell you exactly what she wants. "Okay, there you go. Now what?" Callie asked.
"We see Dr. Punzle." Sof said like it was the simplest thing in the world.
"What?" Callie had hoped she misunderstood.
"Me give to her. Tank you!" Sofia explained.
"You want to give her this. Is this a thank you picture?" Callie asked.
"Si!" Sofia clapped that her Mom had figured out what she wanted.
"Sof, Arizona has a boo boo right now. She had surgery today. So, we need to let her rest." Callie tried to explain.
"Dr. Punzle boo boo?" Sofia's bottom lip started to quiver.
"Yeah, but she is okay sweetie." Callie wrapped Sofia up in her arms.
"Me kiss it?" Sofia asked.
"No sweetie. That's okay." Callie smiled at Sofia's love of the blonde already.
"No!" Sofia stomped. "Me kiss boo boo!" Sofia started to cry.
"Sof, how about tomorrow? She is sleeping right now." Callie tried to pacify the little girl, not realizing how strongly she felt about this.
"Morrow. Ok." Sofia wiped her tears and snuggled her Mom.
"You are something else, sweetie." Callie stroked Sofia's hair and was instantly calmer.
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Arizona woke up feeling extremely groggy.
"Hi sweetie. How are you?" Arizona recognized her mother's voice. She had dreamed she talked to Callie. Finally told her everything she was feeling.
"O-okay." Arizona coughed. She motioned towards the water pitcher and her mother held the straw up to her mouth.
"Ho-hows Timmy?" Arizona asked.
"He is doing great. He woke up about 10 minutes ago. Callie said she would transfer you up to the ortho floor and you guys can share a room. She said the surgery perfect for both of you." Barbara smiled her biggest smile. Her kids were going to both be okay.
"That's great, Mom." Arizona relaxed back against the bed. Secretly relieved that everything had gone well. As she closed her eyes she heard a knock on the door. When she opened her eyes, she saw Mark Sloan walking in with a chart.
"Morning, Dr. Robbins. Everything went great. Your nerves were fantastic and there was more than enough for you brother. Your surgery was perfect. You should be up and moving in about 3 days. I can discharge you tomorrow. We just want to keep you tonight for observation. Any questions?" Mark was all business.
"No. Thank you, Mark." Arizona sincerely thanked the fellow surgeon.
"No problem, blondie." He winked at her and walked out of the room.
"Arizona?" Her mother got her attention.
"Yeah?"
"Who is that and why do you not like him?" Barbara knew her daughter very well. There were few people she didn't care for and that man was clearly on that list.
"That is Mark Sloan. Plastic Surgeon. Father of Calliope's daughter." Arizona stated.
"Ahhhh." Her mother responded like that was all the answer she needed.
"Yeah…" Arizona closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing. The pain in her leg was bearable but it was still uncomfortable.
"Are you okay sweetie?" Barbara asked concerned.
"I'm good, Mom. Just a little pain. No big deal." She smiled at her Mom. The two sat and chatted for a while. Arizona told her Mom all about Africa and some of her favorite patients. About an hour later a nurse showed up to take her up to the ortho floor to be with her Dad and Tim.
"Dr. Robbins. It is really good to have you back." The blonde nurse smiled at her. When Arizona looked at her clearly trying to place the woman, the nurse laughed. "You wouldn't recognize me. I started about a week before you left. My name is Andrea. But the change in peds was noticeable as soon as you left." The nurse laughed.
"Okay, I was worried. I make it a point to know all my nurses. I look forward to working with you." Arizona smiled at the woman. She knows that the nurses keep the hospital running and it was a good idea to have them on your good side.
Barbara and Andrea chatted back and forth about everything from the weather to where Andrea went to school. Barbara never met someone that she didn't quickly make friends with. When they arrived at the ortho floor, Andrea pushed Arizona's bed into her brother's room. Seeing he was awake and well made her relax for the first time since she woke up.
"Hey! There you are." Tim smiled.
"Hey, how's my nerve feel? Bet you your hands are steadier now than they ever were before." Arizona joked.
"Yeah right. I am going to have to double up on my PT to compensate for this weak nerve." Tim quipped back.
Laughing together their parents couldn't help but smile at the banter they had missed so much over the last 5 years.
"Seriously though, Zo…." Tim cleared his throat.
"There was never a question." She winked at her brother.
Hearing a knock at the door the Robbins family turned their attention to the visitor.
"Hey, I just wanted to come in and check on you all." Teddy entered the room to see her best friend and her brother.
"Hey Teds. I am doing okay. I want you to meet my family. This is my mother, Barbara my Dad, Daniel, and my miraculously resurrected brother, Timothy." Arizona smiled at her best friend meeting the most important people in her life. "Guys, this is my very best friend Dr. Teddy Altman. Cardiothoracic extraordinaire."
"Nice to meet you all, especially you Tim. I can't tell you how great it is to hear you made it back." Teddy smiled at Tim.
Shaking Barbara and Daniel's hand Teddy was invited to join them all for dinner. After being assured that she would not be imposing at all Teddy sat with the Robbins family for dinner. Enjoying their company, she vaguely mentioned her time in Afghanistan and that immediately piqued Tim and Daniel's interest.
"You served?" Tim asked.
"Yeah. Two tours. I was a surgeon. Army." Teddy smiled proudly.
"Well, we have another soldier in our midst. Daniel smiled fondly at the taller woman."
Teddy was immediately welcomed into the Robbins family. She was sad to admit she didn't have a relationship with her parents, but Arizona's family made her feel like home. After promising to return tomorrow she said goodnight and headed out. Rounding the corner, she bumped into Callie doing her evening rounds.
"Hey Cal, how are you?" Teddy asked.
"Doing okay. Were you coming out of the Robbins room?" Callie asked glancing over Teddy's shoulder.
"Yeah, they invited me to stay for dinner. They are really nice."
"Oh yeah. Barbara and Daniel are the best. Tim is really growing on me too."
"And Arizona…?" Teddy pressed.
Rolling her eyes Callie couldn't hide her smile. "Yeah, she's okay too."
"Did you two talk?" Teddy asked.
"Well kind of. She said some things when she came out from under anesthesia. But I don't know how true they are. Plus, I feel I kind of violated her privacy by even sticking around to hear it, ya know?"
"Makes sense. You know she still loves you right?" Teddy and everyone else in the hospital were rooting for the two to get back together.
"I know. I still love her too. But…it's just not that easy, Teddy." Callie gave a half-hearted smile and told Teddy goodnight.
She finished her evening rounds leaving the Robbins for last, secretly hoping Arizona would be asleep. Finally, 20 minutes later she gently knocked on the door.
"Come in." Tim called.
"Hey, how's everyone feeling?" Callie looked around at the full room. All 4 of the Robbins were in the same room. Being a parent, Callie knows she would be like Barbara and Daniel. There would be no way she would leave Sofia's side if she were in there shoes.
"Feeling good." Tim smiled. Callie looked over at Arizona and was met with a halfhearted smile and nod.
"Good. Well, Tim you are going to be in this cast and elevated for a few days. Then we will switch casts and you will be able to just rest your arm. I am thinking you can be discharged in about a week. I want to keep you close just to make sure everything is healing nicely." Callie wrote a few notes in Tim's chart.
"Arizona, Mark said you can be discharged tomorrow. Just take it easy and no stairs for a few days. Will that be a problem where you are staying?" Callie asked innocently. She wanted to know where the blonde would be.
Arizona just nodded, not that is wouldn't be a problem. She was really tired and exhausted emotionally.
"Thank you, Callie." Barbara and Daniel smiled at the brunette.
"Of course. If you need anything, just have them page me okay? I am headed home for the night." Callie said her goodbyes and walked out of the room.
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Laying in bed that night Callie couldn't help but think of the things Arizona said earlier that day. She couldn't believe that she had been so blind to the fact she constantly put Mark's feelings above Arizona's. She could remember specific instances and she immediately regrated her actions in the past. Arizona had been so patient and tried to express her frustrations without fighting about it, but she just wouldn't hear it.
Flashback
"Calliope. He walked in on us AGAIN. That is not okay. I don't understand why it is so hard to just knock or just I don't know not come in first thing in the morning." Arizona was trying to keep her cool, but Mark Sloan had just walked in on them in the middle of a very good morning.
"I told him that we would have breakfast with him." Callie laughed as she put her shirt on.
"Yeah…but it is 7 in the morning. Did you give him a time?" Arizona leaned back against the headboard.
"I told him before work. Which we all start at 9 today." Callie was going about picking out clothes for the day"
"That's two hours from now!"
"I told him in the past he can just come whenever." Callie rolled her eyes at the blonde.
"At least someone can…." Arizona rolled over and pulled the blanket over her shoulder.
"Oh, come on, Arizona. Stop." Callie was getting irritated.
When Callie was met with silence it furthered her irritation. She didn't understand why Arizona got so bent out of shape about this.
"Now you're just going to ignore me?" Callie walked over to the side of the bed.
"I am just going to go back to bed for an hour. I was hoping to have a nice relaxing morning with my girlfriend since we both go in late. But now I am just going to get some sleep." Arizona rolled over and closed her eyes.
"You are being a bit ridiculous. You seriously are not going to join us for breakfast?" Callie huffed.
"I am NOT being ridiculous, Callie. Mark has barged into our bedroom on 5 separate occasions. All 5 of them we have been either about to or in the middle of having sex. HOW is that okay?" Arizona was now up.
"It hasn't been 5 times…." Callie walked into the bathroom to get ready.
"Yeah…yeah it has. Oh, and let's not forget when he barged in during our video session when I was at the pediatrics conference." Arizona followed Callie into the bathroom.
"You need to stop. It isn't that serious." Callie gave Arizona a look that told her to stop.
"Whatever." Arizona grabbed her clothes and quickly dressed. "I will see you at work." She walked out the bedroom door and through the apartment.
"Hey Blondie! You finish in there?" Mark wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"Nope." Arizona walked out the front door.
End flashback
Think about the fact she had just completely dismissed Arizona and allowed Mark to do that multiple times, made her skin crawl. She can't believe how dismissive she was to the blonde. Rolling over she looked at the empty side of her bed. The side that use to be taken up by a beautiful blonde that held her heart. She knew in that moment that she wanted that spot to be filled by the blonde again. Was she still angry about Africa? Yes. But what Arizona said earlier in the day was true. She didn't want to go to Africa. At the end of the day, she was grateful that Arizona left her in that airport. It gave her Sofia. She was going to work on building the trust back, catching up. They were different people now. But she knew that the love was still there.