A/N

Good evening, I owe you all an apology. I took yesterday afternoon off to meet up with some friends for A drink, which turned into an all night sesh and I was too drunk to do the update I intended on. So im sorry for that.

We are getting closer to the show down between Arizona, Callie and Earl. I think its actually in the next chapter so not long to wait now and then you will see how it all pans out! im excited for you.

I just wanted to thank everyone for the kind reviews, Earl is a real POS and the fact that so many of you hate his guts just fills me with pride that ive managed to write him well. but soon he has to go... the title of the fic after all is GOODBYE Earl lol.

Enjoy this chapter, its more filler material which I hate writing, but now I have posted im off to read some more of Burlesque... if you havent read that fic yet i strongly recommend it.

AL

-oOo-

The next day Arizona was staring intently at the photos that remained on the light box, still in the office that Bailey had brought her to the day before. A hospital bed had been wheeled in and placed in the corner, still made up as she hadn't slept at all, too busy on her university laptop. She was doing research into the various injuries contained in the various image types, what they meant, and how she could prove who the cause of the injuries were. Bailey and Chief Webber entered the room with their keys before locking it again so no one else could accidently enter and discover the fact finding operation that they were all now a party to. Bailey placed a plate full of biscuits, a bowl of hot chips and a cup of fruit and jelly down before pushing it to Arizona and eyeing her challengingly.

"How are you going Miss Robbins?" Webber asked interestedly, staring at the masses of paperwork scattered around the desk covered in notes, many circled, highlighted and with question marks sat beside them and all Arizona can do is shrug dejectedly. "I'm sorry Miss. Robbins but this is extremely time sensitive, we need to bring the authorities into this, today!" Webber offers gently, despite the harshness of his words.

"I know, I'm sorry. It's just… I thought I knew a lot more about x-rays, CT's, MRI's and all these other tests than I actually do! I feel like I am doing an injustice as I have more questions than answers right now and it's frustrating. For every answer I get, three more questions pop up that I'm struggling to find an answer to" Arizona admitted sadly and missed the almost proud look that Webber gave her, impressed that she is willing to admit her deficits instead of trying to hide them and get the answers through some form of deceit. He fiddled with his pager and studied the images himself nodding or shaking his head as the questions he had himself began to overwhelm him.

A few minutes later a loud knock on the door startled Arizona and Bailey and interrupted every bodies silent studying. Webber excused himself, moved to the door and greeted a man in his fifties before motioning back into the hall and closing the door behind them in the hall.

"Dr. Chang. Thank you for coming so quickly! I'm going to take you into this room in just a moment but before we enter, I need you to be in complete understanding that what you are about to witness and discuss is to stay within that room" With a single nod of understanding, they both enter the room and Chang eyes Dr. Bailey and then Arizona with question and worry before spotting all the images lining the light boxes and his face unintentionally lit up in excitement at the array of injuries laid out like an all you can eat surgical buffet.

"Dr. Chang, this is Arizona Robbins, Miss Robbins this is Dr. Chang – the head of orthopaedics" Webber introduced as the two strangers shook hands before turning silently back to the black and white images of various bones within Callie's body. "Dr. Chang, Miss Robbins here is a surgical intern who is working on this case as a civilian and needs to ask you some questions in order to clarify some things that don't make sense or aren't adding up, I would like for you to provide her with anything she needs, and please remember that this conversation does not leave this room" Chang nodded, then looked to Arizona expectantly, silently informing her that he is ready for his quiz. And quiz him Arizona did on the various things circled, what they meant, how old they are and why are they still showing up. Chang in turn answered every question firstly in scientific terms but then in laymen's terms.

He asks for a sharpie and he begins to circle various other things that the Chief, Bailey and Arizona had missed and trying to be as neat as the current circles were. He then begins to write numbers down next to each circle before telling Arizona that the numbers correspond to approximate years or months since the injury occurred to the best of his knowledge based on what the images show. It wasn't exact but it was a guideline.

He also circled things that the general surgeon or general surgery resident wouldn't know to look for before making notes in the margins in neat and clear writing, Arizona quickly discovered that they were suggestions to the cause of the damage and what type of damage it was, break, fracture, dislocation, chip, degeneration from not being treated. When he was done over two hours later and chief was certain that Arizona had the answers to all of her questions, he dismissed Chang, thanking him and reminding him once again that what he just saw and discussed is confidential and not to be repeated to anybody, even hospital staff. With a nod, Chang hands Arizona his business card and tells her to call him if she has any other questions he can help with before he leaves the two doctors and the civilian alone.

Webber then fiddled with his pager again and ten minutes later another doctor appears. The chief brings him straight into the room without the outside chat and introduces Arizona to Dr. Shepherd, head of neurology. Webber tells Shepherd to look, answer Arizona's questions and to keep his mouth shut outside of this room. Shepherd studies the scans and turns to the other three people before stating knowingly 'this is the Thompson case?' The three look at him surprised as they had made sure to cover up Callie's name and details in an effort to keep her identity secret and the specialists they were bringing in for consults couldn't gossip and put her at risk.

"Come now Chief... Bailey… you know you can trust me. And I would recognize these scans anywhere. They are slightly different from the ones I took, I'm assuming that you have taken these after my post op's, but I can tell from the amount of sustained damage that it's the same person, how exactly are you involved in this Miss Robbins?" Shepherd asks eyeing the blonde cautiously. Bailey explains that she's Callie's best friend and before alerting the police and giving Earl a heads up to destroy evidence they are helping Arizona build a case against him to supply to the cops so he can't hurt her again.

Derek nods thoughtfully, turns back to the scans and studies them a bit longer. He motions for Arizona to join him before he starts pointing out various things for her to take note of. She hands him a sharpie silently with a sheepish smile and he offers a supportive smile before making his own artwork of circles, arrows and notations over the pages.

Over the next six hours the heads of plastics, trauma and cardiology are brought in, each investigating the images, adding their own circles and notes and answering every question Arizona or the two general surgeons have. Finally done, Webber and Bailey leave for the night, imploring for Arizona to get some rest. She spends hours going over everything that she had been told throughout the day and converting the annotations on the scans into a program the university had been teaching her class to use. In this new software program she was able to input types of injury, approximate ages and notations about possible causes. She would then use her mobile scanner that her parents had bought her for Christmas to scan in the screens that weren't marked with notes and input them into the program and assigned them to each body part that the imagery showed.

By five in the morning she had all the 'bone and brain' damage filed and saved. She had set off the software to run and it was currently converting the x-rays, MRI's and CT's onto the body on the screen so she could study the injuries further. Basically, it took the images, and copied it onto the mannequin on the screen in a replica fashion, then you could zoom in and look at it from various directions in a 3D manner. Once that was done she set off for the software to scan through its database to establish connections between Callie's injuries and other injuries similar, this would give an idea as to what type of damage it was (sports related, assault related, bone crushed by something heavy, bone broken due to blunt force, whether the type of break correlated to a weapon or item having been used and if so a list of possibilities as to what they were) as she was reading through the results with a hand over her mouth Bailey entered with a red head and stared at Arizona in shock that she was still up.

After questioning if the blonde was ok, Bailey introduced Dr. Montgomery and then filled Addison in on what was going on and then brought out her own laptop before sitting it down in front of the two women and starting the file. It was an ultrasound from Callie's exam the day before, Addison begins to discuss with the other two women what she was seeing before stopping dead and glancing at them both before asking whose ultrasound it was.

"It's confidential" Bailey offers.

"Come on Miranda, you know I can't discuss this information without the patients consent, its not like either of the two of you are GYN's so we couldn't even claim it was a professional conversation" the two doctors stare down before Arizona asks "what if I said it was my ultrasound?" Dr. Montgomery looks around the room, taking in the various images still pinned up on the light boxes, the various files spread across the desk and the laptop that seemed to be running some kind of medical software before she eyed the blonde suspiciously with a pointed stare, but if the woman said it was her tape and she had no evidence otherwise, who was she to argue?

"Then I would be inclined to ask exactly how many miscarriages have you had because from the looks of this video, this pregnancy isn't your first and you don't exactly have the physique of a mother, and I don't see any kids hanging off of you!' Addison states pointedly as she focuses on the video, taking in the various signs being shown to her.

"Wait… pregnancy… she's… she's pregnant, how far along?" Arizona screeched in shock which caused Addison to whip her head around to face her in shock.

"Who's pregnant?" Addison asked knowingly, Arizona was falling into her trap and she would get the answers she wanted.

"You said that this pregnancy isn't the first… which means she's pregnant" Arizona asked as the blood drained from her face at the reality of what that could possibly mean, surely Callie wasn't the kind of girl who would willingly have an intimate relationship with a man who beat the crap out of her assumably daily for the last three years, and although she didn't know Callie all that well these days, not with three years of distance and radio silence, but the real Callie was in there still somewhere and that certainly didn't sound like something she would do, which could only mean one thing… that bastard must have forced her to have sex with him, he must had raped her, defiled her, abused her with more than his hands and words. Arizona could feel the blood rushing behind her ears as her anger soared at the realization.

"Conjecture… now whose video is this Miranda?" Addison asked, noticing the fury crossing the blondes face and wondering what the hell that was about before she turned her attention towards the normally by the books doctor in a look of warning, warning her not to lie or hide the truth again.

"It's a patient of mine, she's clearly been abused over a long period of time and we strongly suspect it's by her husband, Arizona here has asked us to help her build a case of information to hand to the police before the husband is made aware that he is under suspicion and is able to destroy any evidence that they may build against him over their own investigations that could keep him out of jail and able to get to the patient again" Miranda offered, knowing she could trust Dr. Montgomery, sure the woman may be a big gossip at times but when it came to something serious like this, her integrity was pure.

"And who exactly is this patient?" Addison asked as she turned back to the pictures lining the light box and studied them, absorbing the visual evidence of the abuse and reading the clip notes attached on the edges.

"Why do you need to know that?" Arizona asked defensively.

"Because this patient needs medical assistance, and I'm assuming because you have asked me here to look at this video that she isn't already seeing an OB/GYN?" The red head cast a glance at the blonde before returning instantly to the images.

"I doubt she is, from what I know her asshole of a husband has had her locked up in his house for at least three years while he beat the shit out of her, probably daily by the looks of the images! The only time I know of that he has let her out the house was to dump her body in an alley way thinking that he had finally gone too far and had killed her, which pretty much means right now he's pissed as hell that she's still alive and will be waiting for the perfect opportunity to do something to her to punish her for showing him up by rocking up in hospital half dead, so please forgive me if I don't actually give a shit about your ethics here and care solely about the safety and protection of my best friend!" Arizona snapped, the anger of her earlier revelation finally consuming her and causing an eruption against the first person to spark a flame around the gas that was her fury, and unluckily for Addison Montgomery, she was it.

"Whoa… ok let's call a truce here, we are on the same team… I'm assuming the chief knows all about this Miranda?" Addison offered after a few moments deliberation, she could see that the blonde had shocked herself by her outburst and was now pinching the bridge of her nose with her eyes firmly closed whilst she dragged in long deep breaths to calm herself down. She turned to Bailey who was watching the blonde worriedly.

"yes he is aware and involved also. We will be bringing the police in today to report the findings, but until then we have agreed to help Arizona try and find as much information as she can to help keep her friend safe" Bailey offered, glancing to Addison with apologetic eyes that she had dragged her into the room first thing in their shifts only to have her ass chewed out.

The red head offered a shrug, a silent 'don't worry about it' to which Bailey nodded her acceptance. This was one reason she enjoyed working with Montgomery, the fact that she was low key and was able to communicate with her silently and efficiently, because if there was one thing Bailey hated, it was people offering excuses and conversations that she didn't have the time or inclination for.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to yell, you're just trying to help.. It's just, it's been a really long few days! Four days ago I woke up in bed with my girlfriend in Baltimore and headed to uni for the day… fuck, I didn't even tell her I was going, and I haven't spoken to her in four damn days!" Arizona offered in a panic that overtook the calm she had just achieved.

"ok listen to me, when was the last time you took a shower, cause no offense but you kind of smell a little rank and you don't look too ripe just now" Addison offered a cheeky smile, hoping to calm the blonde back down.

"thanks!" Arizona scoffed humourlessly. "The last shower I took was the last time I spoke to my girlfriend, if she's still even my girlfriend anymore" she admitted with a groan when she realized just how badly she must smell.

"ok, where are you staying?"

"umm here" Arizona offered as she motioned over her shoulder to the small bed that had been brought in for her days ago and still sat unused. The few hours her body had slept had been in the chair, leaning over the desk where she had dozed off mid task only for her to awake from a nightmare and proceed with her work immediately to take her mind off the images swirling around her mind of all the torture and torment Earl had possibly put Callie through.

"where are your clothes?" Addison asked in shock as she glanced around the room in search for any sign of a suitcase, or at the very least a backpack.

"on my body or in my wardrobe in Baltimore, I didn't have much time to pack a bag in the thirty minutes between getting a call to say she had been found practically dead in an alley and jumping on the first plane to California, waiting for take off… I just dropped everything and ran, and I haven't even been allowed to see her, I mean Bailey says she's doing ok but… I don't know, I trust you Bailey, I do and I'm grateful for everything you have done and are still doing for me, but I just need to see her with my own two eyes and I've been stuck in this damn room and she is God knows where in this stupid hospital and I don't even know if she's really ok or if she is just ok as in, she is still breathing but is barely alive" Arizona sobbed as tears engulfed her eyes before erupting and streaming down her face, she hiccupped a sob as she raised her trembling hands up to her face to angrily wipe the tears away. She had no right to cry, Callie should be the one crying after everything she had been subjected to… what the hell right did she have to cry?

"ok listen to me Arizona, this is what we are going to do! You are going to come with me and have a shower in the staff washroom and throw on a clean pair of scrubs from my locker, and you're going to put on lots and lots of deodorant and perfume afterwards, in fact take them and keep them and use them regularly while you're in this room because those pictures up there are not the only horrific thing in this room" Addison offered a small teasing smile to show Arizona that she was trying to inject a little humour into the macabre situation to ease the tension "then after that, I'm going to have Dr. Bailey bring your girl up to my department, you're going to remain out of sight while I give her an examination, you are on the list to not be in contact with her… so you can just be near her for a little bit and not have any contact – that's not breaking any rules. Then you will come back here and get some damned sleep because you look like death and I get the feeling you're going to need some energy for when the police have been informed and your friend needs you"

Arizona does as Addison orders, taking a long shower and scrubbing herself clean before dousing herself in deodorant and a bottle of Miss Dior before donning a pair of navy scrubs and braiding her hair and before long she found herself tucked away behind the curtain of the OB/GYN room. When Callie entered Addison went through a confidentiality waiver with her that the examination may be witnessed or reviewed at any time for Callie to sign.

"is there a specific reason you removed my wife from her room without consulting me first?" Earl asked as he stormed into the room without knocking, clearly his temper was fraying and his pleasant husband mask was beginning to fall. Addison couldn't help but be thankful that today was the day they were going to hand his ass over to the cops because from the sight of him, his dishevelled state, the evilness lurking in his eyes… he was a ticking time bomb and Callie would be the only one to get burned when he blew up and she wasn't sure if the battered and beaten body of the brunette could take one more hit.

"apologies Mr. Thompson, I had assumed a nurse had informed you that we would be doing an internal investigation following Callie's surgery and that you had disappeared as most husbands do, at the thought of ladies business" Addison offered a false smile as she lied before going through with the various procedures, making sure to not get in eye line of the camera attached to her monitor that was filming the entire room. Prior to Callie arriving, she and Arizona had realigned the bed to ensure Callie's modesty would not be captured, but every other tiny detail was being recorded with a time and date stamp. Addison began with a visual inspection, instantly noticing the fear in the brunettes eyes at being exposed, then she had taken a few swabs to be tested for various different things and then she started on an updated ultrasound.

"she had one of these two days ago, why the hell does she need another?" He was getting shorter and snappier as each hour passed that his wife was in hospital and being surrounded by nosy do-gooders.

"it's to monitor the fetal growth, the last ultrasound showed that your wife has gone through several miscarriages, likely at various stages of pregnancy, so it's imperative that we monitor the fetus meticulously, especially at a time that her body is under such duress" Earl glared at Callie before storming from the room and slamming the door behind him. Callie let out a shuddered breath.

"sorry" Callie offered as she stared at her feet, not daring to look up and see the disapproving and judging look in the emerald eyes that were trained on her, the same looks she was getting used to seeing in the eyes of anyone who had the pleasure of treating her in Earl's presence, the same look that was given after every doctor, surgeon, nurse, orderly or passer by gave after one of Earl's outbursts, and the longer she was kept in hospital the more frequent those outbursts were getting, it had been days now, four in fact, since Earl had released his frustrations on her and he was beginning to come apart at the seams.

"no apology needed, can I do anything for you?" Addison asked in a slightly chipper voice, careful to not display any form of judgement in her voice or on her face as she spoke.

"can you...umm how far along?" Callie asked nervously.

"looking at this I would estimate 3 weeks" Callie could only nod, she was neither happy nor unhappy at the news that she was pregnant. On one hand she had always wanted a family and who wouldn't want a baby, they were all tiny and cute and cuddly. Yet on the other, more sinister hand, who would want to bring a baby into the world with an abusive husband and to bring said baby into a house where it would witness its mother be beaten and abused on a daily basis, and the likelihood was that the child would eventually meet the same fate as her and end up as Earl's punching bag and that thought, the thought of watching her child be beaten daily, incurring the same injuries she did regularly, only to be unable to actually put a stop to it or help her child... no that thought sent a wave of revulsion and fear straight to her heart.

"look, while it's just us ladies… if there is anything you need, anything at all… just says the word" Addison offered kindly.

"what does that mean?" Callie asked defensively.

"exactly what I said, no judgments or expectations, just say the word when you're ready. So can you tell me, how many miscarriages do you know about?" The redhead sensed the defensiveness and knew that the brunette was too closed off and pushing her would just drive a wedge of distrust between them, so she backed off and changed the subject.

"three I think, there could be more… I guess my body just doesn't want to be pregnant" Callie offered with no emotion.

"possibly, there are many factors that can cause a miscarriage, your uteruses' health is of course the first, but emotional trauma, stress and hormonal stress is second, physical trauma of course… there are lots of things that could be a cause" Addison corrected her softly.

"What exactly are you implying?" There it was again, that defensive tone that had Arizona smiling behind the curtain that the brunette at least had some of her spunk left, even if it was a greatly distilled amount to what she was used to.

"Nothing at all, I'm just providing you with the facts. Now, have you seen a fertility specialist about these miscarriages and have they given you any insight into what they think the cause may be?" once again she changed the conversation, allowing the brunette the chance to build some trust in her that she wouldn't be railroaded with accusations which she wasn't ready for, if the brunette wanted to ask for help she would have to do just that, ask.

"No… no specialists. I'm a bit of a recluse, I don't really like leaving the house" Arizona had to hold her hand over her mouth to muffle her scoff at Callie's admission, the Latina was anything but a recluse, the Callie she knew was full of life and the very life of the party.

"Ok, would you like for us to start the examinations to try and determine the cause? I should warn you that the examinations would require for us to do several small procedures which would provide a very good insight to the health of your reproductive and sexual organs. They are the similar kinds of tests which would be used on a woman who has been raped so that any internal damage can be recorded to be used in the prosecution of the offender. The tests may also show any historical injuries that you may not be aware of, and should you ever need this information and evidence, it will be securely held on our servers and a simple court order which you can request is all that's needed. I really recommend that we do these tests Callie if at the very least to make sure that there is nothing sinister going on in there and to give this bub the best chance they have"

Arizona sat silently behind the curtain listening to the conversation and basking in the sound of Callie's voice after so long as various procedures were done and the conversation was kept light and airy, Addison didn't push too much, she knew that very soon Earl would be away from the brunette and she would be safe in the company of one blonde spitfire who very clearly cared for her.

Finally Callie left and Arizona moved the curtain over and offered a sad smile to the redhead who returned it. Addison disconnected the camera feed and filled the blonde in on her findings so far and informed her that she will be sending a copy of the ultrasound and tests to a friend who is a sexual assault forensic specialist for her to review and provide a report on, there is no longer any doubt for anyone that Earl is the one who caused this, the rapist, the abuser, the almost murderer, it was all at his hands and Arizona was determined that he would pay for his crimes one way or the other.

To say that Arizona was furious was a gross understatement, she broke down into angry tears as Addison grabbed her into a tight embrace and hugged her as she sobbed, stroking the braided scalp and whispering words of comfort and promise that they would make the bastard pay and that they would take care of Callie and she would be ok in the future, in time she will heal and this will all be a distant memory and they would help her through it.

When the blonde had finally calmed, Addison placed her scrub cap and a surgical mask into her hand in case she needed to hide her face as they made their way back to the meeting room and it was a good job that she did as several steps from the door Earl shouted out to Addison.

"where the hell has my wife been taken now and why the hell do you people insist on moving her without my consent?" his tone was laced in annoyance, frustration and the undertones of anger, he was holding on to that very loose thread with a tight clasp, but both women could tell that it was slipping from his hold and his anger would surface eventually, and likely sooner rather than later.

"an orderly just picked her up a few minutes ago, she should be back in her room by now Mr. Thompson" Addison offered in the kindest voice she could muster up despite her absolute loathing and hate for this man, and despite the fact that her heart was hammering in her chest that he could recognize the blonde stood next to her.

Earl eyed Arizona suspiciously as she stood holding a face mask over her face and looking at Earl with wide blue eyes filled with fear and hatred.

"Mr. Thompson, I apologize for my colleague's unusual behaviour… Dr. Robb...erts here seems to be coming down with the flu and the preemie ward is just beside the GYN ward, as a ped's doctor she's a little paranoid about spreading germs so close to the tiny babies, sadly she's not paranoid about looking ridiculous and scaring the adults in the hospital" Earl grunted his acceptance of the strange doctors behaviour and stormed away, marching towards Callie's room.