Prompt: Start your story with a character struggling to remember the date because every day is like the last one.
The story:
Arizona sat in the hospital canteen poking at the salad. Truthfully, she wasn't hungry, she just felt tired.
April and Richard joined her at the table, both with trays laden with food
"Hey how was your date last night?" Richard asked excitedly,
"Date?" April questioned raising an eyebrow,
"Uh huh hot brunette, a schoolteacher, great smile" Richard listed, recalling the woman from their trivia night. Arizona stopped eating, trying to recall her,
"Well?" Richard asked eagerly,
"I don't know" Arizona replied, her face screwed up in concentration,
"I thought you went on a date with the red headed nurse from Neuro?" April asked, again Arizona didn't confirm.
"That was a lunch date, I think, I'm not seeing them again" she commented, they knew more about her dating life than she did.
"What? Why?" April asked, Arizona sighed deeply,
"I honestly can't remember the dates, I mean I've been on 8 dates this week, thanks to you and Richard letting everyone know I'm single, and every date is exactly the same. It's exhausting, we meet make small talk and all the time I can tell they are dying to ask me how I lost my leg, every date, sometimes it comes up quickly, others it's at the end. All I can think is that they seem very nice, but they are not Callie. When I see them, my heart doesn't miss a beat, my breath doesn't catch, I don't suddenly feel hot and flustered like a schoolgirl with a crush. I did with Callie from the first moment I saw her I was crushing. I felt like I could do anything, she made me a better person, she made me want to be a better person. I don't, I haven't, I'm never going to have that again" Arizona sighed, feeling more despondent.
"I'm sorry, I know you came for fun stories of dating, but I had the love of my life, I found my soul mate, and I blew it, there is nobody left out there for me. Nobody compares to Callie" Arizona moaned she stood, "I need some air" she commented, "Sorry" she left the canteen, not knowing their conversation had been overheard.
Callie sat drinking her milkshake 2 tables away, the canteen had been unusually quiet, and she had overheard the whole thing. Now she had to work out why she had felt heart broken at the thought of Arizona dating and why Arizona announcing she was her true love made her heart sing. Afterall she was happy with Penny, so what did Arizona matter? At least that's what she told herself repeatedly all day.
That night Callie found herself with Meredith in her lounge, getting progressively more and more drunk. Sofia was with Arizona, and she didn't care where Penny was.
"Arizona still loves me" she told Meredith,
"I know" Meredith replied, Callie's eyes widened in shock,
"How?" she asked puzzled, Meredith laughed,
"Have you seen how she looks at you? She never stopped loving you, she didn't want your relationship to end, you did. You moved on she didn't" Meredith revealed, "Seriously look at the dinner party and how drunk she got, she had too to try get through it, and she did with a lot more grace than I would have if it was Derick." Meredith pointed out,
"She seemed fine" Calle commented, Meredith laughed again,
"She was so lonely she went to trivia with Richard and had DeLuca move in, she lives with an intern because it's better than being alone" Meredith pointed out,
"She cheated on me" Callie defended. "She broke my heart first" and that was the crux of the matter, Callie didn't trust her. Cheating was the one big no, nearly everything else she could forgive but cheating Arizona knew how she felt about that.
"I know, and I get it, Derick cheated on my before he died, I mean it was one kiss but still he cheated" Meredith revealed. "And I was mad, but I knew there was only one person I would ever truly love and that was Derick, and he was coping like I was with the crash."
"It all comes back to the crash" Callie moaned.
"It all comes back to the crash" Meredith agreed glad she was drunk, "I had a screwed up life but that was the worst thing I have been through and the only thing that made it better was Derick was there."
"Was it that bad? I mean I know Lexie died but what happened?" Callie asked the tequila enabling her to ask the question she had wondered for years.
Meredith began laughing hysterically, "Was it bad? Was it bad?" the laughter turned to crying "The plane engine failed, the pilot told us to brace, then the side ripped open, one minute I'm holding Derick's hand the next he was being ripped out the back of the plane. I thought we were going to die, and all I could think of was that Zola was going to be alone again, Derick, I, Cristina we were all going to die and my daughter was going to be alone. That I was going to miss her first day of school, that I'd never see her smile again, or meet her first boyfriend. Then there was an almighty bang and I was falling." Meredith started tears rolling down her face. Callie held her friend's hand tightly.
"I woke hearing Arizona scream, I had to pull a large piece of metal out of my leg, then relocate Cristina's shoulder. Arizona wouldn't stop screaming, so we shouted, we couldn't think. I went searching for Derick but found Lexie, she was dying, there was nothing we could do, we tried, and when she died I left to look for Derick, Mark and Cristina stayed with Lexie, at least until Mark died the first time."
"Arizona was on her own?" Callie asked tearing up, "She had an exposed femur fracture and you just left her alone?"
"She had Jerry" Meredith defended, "And I was concussed, and Cristina traumatised, we weren't thinking we were surviving"
"Who set the leg, it was splinted, who did it?" Callie asked desperately,
"Initially she did it herself but as it got infected, Cristina reset it"
"She reset her own leg?" Callie questioned, that was horrific, to do it yourself would be unimaginably painful. "Why?"
"Because Lexie was dying, then Mark was dying, then Derick's hand needed closing, and then Mark refused to leave Lexie and we didn't want to move him, but then it began getting dark, so we dragged him to Arizona" Meredith explained, "But she wasn't alone she had Jerry"
"The pilot, you left her with the pilot?"
"Initially, then we left her with Jerry and Mark, we had to search for food and water, we had to try find shelter and a way to communicate. We didn't want to go through another night"
"Why what happened at night?" Callie asked unable to stop herself, this was the first time any of them had discussed the crash.
"The animals, we heard the animals, they were fighting over Lexie, over" Meredith stopped, "I can't, I'm sorry," She apologised, "The nights were bad, really bad. We all knew when they'd finished, they'd come for us, we found some water and tried to give it to Mark and Arizona, they'd lost the most blood. The hunger and thirst were really bad, I've never felt anything like it. Cristina even drank the engine fuel trying to find something to wet our mouths with. Then there was the smell, Arizona's rotting leg, Lexie, at least what was left of her, the engine oil, the smoke, our own waste which we drank. We had to look for supplies, so we left Arizona in charge of Mark and Jerry she was conscious enough at that point, and Mark died so she was screaming, and he died again and again. Then Arizona got feverish, and she was coughing up blood and hallucinating, Cristina had to pick the bugs out of her leg. Then the animals, and the night," Meredith took a big breath, "We knew, she knew, they'd come, and she knew when they did, we wouldn't be able to fight them off, we could have initially but then we were so weak, and there were so many animals."
Callie sat listening her heart breaking, she knew it had been hard but hearing Meredith discuss it was awful.
"All Arizona kept saying was Calliope and Sofia, we need to get back to Calliope and Sofia, she needs us Mark, she needs us both. Sofia needs a family. Except on the last day, she didn't say it on the last day, that's when the infection was really bad. We thought we were going to lose them both. She didn't think she was going to make it, she told us to tell you, that she loved you, that she loved Sofia, that if she died, she died thinking of you"
"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Callie asked devastated, hearing her ex-wife's dying words.
"Talking about it, its hard, really hard, I didn't need to, my best friend and my husband were there with me, they knew exactly what I'd been through, but Arizona she had it harder, she didn't have you there. She was left alone a lot, and I think she resented us, for leaving her, even when we got back, Cristina was too traumatised, and I had to focus on Derick." Meredith reflected. "it got easier for us, Derick operated again his hand healed, my leg healed, but for Arizona, she is reminded of the crash every time she wakes up, every time she takes a step," Meredith sympathised.
"But she still cheated," Callie came back too, the unforgivable act,
"And you can't forgive her then why are you sat here? Why do you still care? Why did you want to hear about the plane crash?" Meredith pushed,
Callie sat the realisation hitting her,
"I still love Arizona"
"It's about time you recognised that" Meredith smirked,
"I need your help, I have a plan" Callie grinned. This was going to be amazing.
Any ideas on the plan?