AN -
Sorry for the late update, I was on call at work all weekend and it zapped my energy and when I finally found time to sit down and proof read this chapter I got a work call which took over an hour to deal with and by that time it was time for bed. Needless to say im exhausted today, but didnt want to leave it any longer without posting.
Without further ado I give you chapter 15.
ALx
-oOo-
A week had passed and Callie had come on leaps and bounds. Her injuries were beginning to heal nicely and weren't bothering her too much, apart from her casted arm. Her panic attacks although still frequent were happening less and less. Today would be the first day that she would leave the house since arriving there from the hospital. She had spent most of her time in the back garden enjoying the sense of freedom, but today was her check up at the hospital and she was nervous about it all.
Arizona, having gotten her car from the impound and sold it, had purchased herself a new Prius and had offered to take Callie to her appointment. Lucia and Carlos had wanted to be there but didn't want to smother their daughter and knew she was in good hands with Arizona.
"Hey are you ready to go?" Arizona asked as she popped through the back gate and smiled softly at the sun bathing brunette.
"Not really but I have to go" Callie offered with a sigh before heaving herself from the chair she had claimed as her favorite spot to sit.
"Oh come on sour pus it wont all be bad, we get to see baby Torres today" Arizona grinned knowing this would cheer the Latina up.
"Yeah after I've been prodded and poked by every speciality in the hospital first" Callie grumbled.
"Don't forget that you will finally lose the cast today, that must be a relief" The blonde smiled. Callie had really come along way in the past few weeks, even more so in the three weeks since she had been released from the hospital. She was finally starting to show her grumpy side. A side which Arizona was very fond of having put up with it most mornings through their childhood and teenage years.
"Thank fuck for that!" Callie exclaimed, then blushed slightly at the use of a profanity. Earl would never let her swear, he claimed it was unladylike so now the word felt foreign.
"Hey, where did you go?" Arizona asked after a few moments of silence, seeing the darkness in Callie's expressive eyes gave her a clue as to where the brunettes mind had gone.
"He never liked me swearing" Callie admitted.
"Well fuck him" Arizona winked playfully. "Come on, say it again"
"Fuck" Callie murmured embarrassed.
"I can't hear you" Arizona coaxed.
"Fuck" Callie said a little louder but still quite subdued.
"You can do better than that Torres" Arizona smirked.
"FUCK" Callie yelled at the top of her voice causing Arizona to jump slightly. Both women began to laugh softly until the French doors behind them opened and Lucia popped her head out questioningly.
"What on Earth is going on out here, was that you swearing Calliope?" Lucia asked in a voice full of amusement as she took in the sight of the two fully grown women giggling like children.
"Sorry Mama" Callie offered as she sobered.
"Who was that swearing, was that you Arizona Michelle?" Barbara's voice called from over the fence before her head appeared.
"Nope that was all Callie" Arizona guffawed at the look of mortification on her best friends face.
"Well I expect that kind of language from you or your brother" Barbara winked at her daughter before turning to Lucia. "Morning Luce"
"Morning Barb" Lucia called back
-oOo-
Ten minutes later and the two friends were sat in Arizona's Prius on their way to the hospital, it was only a twenty minute commute but both women sat in a comfortable silence listening to the radio as they travelled.
"Still feeling nervous?" Arizona asked eventually when a song ended and the chat host began talking.
"A little. I'm still not used to being surrounded by lots of people" Callie admitted.
"You'll be fine Calliope, I know its an adjustment but you have to know how well you've been doing" Arizona glanced blue eyes towards her best friend who was sat staring out the front window with her bottom lip between her teeth as she worried against it.
"I have barely left the house apart from those walks you keep making me go on" The brunette sighed.
"Baby steps. And you love those walks don't deny it" Arizona smirked cockily.
"Meh they are alright" Callie said with a sigh as she saw the hospital come into view and knew it was almost time to face the music and be surrounded by people.
"You'll do just fine, try not to worry about it" Arizona said as she picked up on the deep sigh and the meaning behind it.
They found a parking space after just a few moments of looking, a feat in any hospital, and began the short walk towards the main entrance in a comfortable silence. Arizona noted that brown eyes continually scanned the faces passing them with anxiety and made a mental note to quiz the brunette about it after their appointments.
She guided the Latina into the hospital and checked in at the main desk before glancing around the room Arizona had once not so long ago sat vigil in as she awaited news on her best friend but before they could find a seat a booming "Torres" came across the room causing patients and staff members to glance at the source. There stood proudly was Mark Sloan who offered the two women a wide grin.
"Well are you going to stand around all day or shall we get this party started?" Mark asked as he motioned with his head for the two women to follow him. With a supportive dimpled smile they made their way through the corridors until Mark led them into a check up room. He offered Arizona a seat and motioned for Callie to take a seat on the bed.
"How's my favourite patient?" He asked once she was settled.
"I'm ok" Callie said after a short pause.
"Good. Well my check up will be really quick I just need to take a quick peak at your incisions then I will have Dr Chang come in and make a start. would you raise your top for me please?" Mark said as he pulled on a pair of gloves, sat in the stool and wheeled it to sit in front of Callie as she began to raise her top with shaky fingers but if Mark noticed he didn't say anything.
He inspected her wounds and hummed and nodded as he prodded and poked at them softly.
"These look excellent, there will be minimal to no scarring at all in about a years time. I'm happy to sign you off my service if your comfortable with that?"
"Yeah that's great" Callie offered with a slight disinterest.
"Are you sure, is something wrong Callie you seem a bit distant" Sloan asked as he pulled off his gloves and motioned for the brunette to pull down her top.
"Yeah I'm ok... I'm just not used to being around so many people it's quite... daunting" the Latina admitted.
"Yes well I would imagine that it would take some getting used to. Listen me and some of the other doctors you know are heading to Joe's bar after work tonight, how about you and Arizona join us for a drink" Mark offered hopefully.
"I don't know. It's been a long time since I was in a bar" Callie admitted shyly.
"It's just this little place over the road us doctors like to frequent, you don't have to stay long, just come for one drink?" Mark put on his best puppy eyes before throwing a glare at his intern that guffawed at the look.
"Can I think about it?" Callie asked.
"Of course you can, the choice is yours but it would be great to see you" Mark said in a soothing voice. If truth be told he had missed his little chats with his favourite patient. She had messaged him her new number a few days after her release from hospital and they had exchanged the odd message here and there but it wasn't the same as sitting down and talking. Plus Callies messages always came across like she was holding back a bit or keeping him at arms length, which he completely understood. But he also knew it was important for Callie to have positive male role models in her life and he was dedicated to being one of those for her.
"Listen, I'm going to go get an intern to take you up for your x-ray and then Chang will be in to see you" Mark smiled warmly before ducking his head out of the door and calling for one of Arizona's colleagues to come into the room.
"Listen Williams, this here is a priority one patient, that means she jumps straight to the top of the queue for x-ray. Have her brought back to this room once you're finished and Dr Chang will be waiting for you" Mark ordered, throwing a wink over his shoulder he was gone to update Callie's chart and sign her off plastics service.
Williams threw a questioning glance at Arizona before motioning for both women to follow her. She led them through the many corridors and up in the lift to the x-ray floor before walking past several people in the queue. Arizona couldn't hide her smirk at the glares they were getting from the other doctors as they jumped the queue.
"Priority patient for Dr Sloan. Torres, Calliope" Williams said to the check in desk who nodded their understanding before shuffling away to rush the patient that was currently being x-rayed.
"So are you going to Joe's tonight Robbins?" Williams asked after a few moments of silence.
"I think so, I will see how things go but I hear Jo will be there so probably" Arizona offered a smile to her colleague. She was just about to say something else to break up the silence when Callie's name was called. She headed into the x-ray booth while Callie headed into the booth and got set up with Williams.
Ten minutes later and the two women had been escorted back to the check up room and left to their own devices while they awaited Dr Chang. They waited in almost silence for a further five minutes until the orthopaedic doctor arrived with a smile.
"Miss Torres" he started off "the various x-rays we took show that your bones are healing really well. You did a good job with resetting them yourself but as you know we had to reset several places in your left wrist and forearm in order to get the bone to heal correctly. The x-rays show that they are now doing well and you won't need another cast on your arm. I'd like to refer you to a physiotherapist however, just to help make sure that your muscularskeletal areas surrounding the various places you have broken or dislocated in the past give you the least possible problems in the future"
Callie glanced to Arizona asking silently what she thought about the suggestion. Arizona nodded along with the doctor before noticing that Calie hadn't answered him and when she glanced to the Latina she saw her looking at her questioningly.
"I think it's a great idea Cal, every little helps right?" Arizona said soothingly.
"Ok sign me up... when do I start?" Callie turned her attention back to Dr Chang who nodded approvingly.
"I will write the referral up and get you booked in, I'd like to give it another two weeks just to make sure all the swelling has definitely gone down. As you know your body has been through quite the trauma and sometimes it can take a little longer than usual for breaks to mend and for swelling to settle down but I think in two weeks your body will be able to handle starting to stress it a little bit at a time, how does that sound?"
"yeah it sounds good" Callie offered a little nervously.
"Ok well I will get an appointment made and send you a letter out in the post with a date and time, if it doesn't suit you for any reason there will be a number on the letter for you to call and rearrange. Other than that I am happy to sign you off my service but if you need anything else please don't hesitate to give me a ring. Miss Robbins here has my contact number but as far as I'm concerned your no longer an ortho patient" Dr Chang offered a warm smile. Just as he was standing from the stool a knock on the door caught his attention, he invited the visitor in and smiled at Dr Shepherd who had ducked his head around the door.
"Are you ready for your Neuro consult or do you need a few more minutes?" Derek asked with a kind smile.
"We had just finished up Derek, please come in. Miss Torres, call me if you need me" and with that Dr Chang was gone to book in the physio appointment and Dr Shepherd took a seat on the stool.
"Busy day today with all of these consults" Derek mused politely as he studied his patient who seemed to be extremely nervous. He glanced to Arizona and she offered him a supportive smile. "Right well I wont hold you up long. Your scans look great, and from what I have read on your file you have been having no recurring problems since the accident?"
"No" Callie smiled weakly.
"Right well I have no problems with signing you off of my service. Keep doing what you're doing and if you have any questions Arizona knows how to get hold of me or just come into the hospital and ask for them to page me.
"Ok"
"Callie, it's understandable for you to be cautious about being around men considering the trauma you have been through, but it's clear to me that you are more than cautious right now, if you're having fears around being around men I think you need to raise it with Dr Warner And she can give you some tools to help you combat that fear"
"Sorry... I'm just... nervous I guess" Callie admitted in a small voice.
"And that is completely understandable and acceptable. There really is no need to apologise. I just... I'm invested in this case. I helped Arizona out when she was compiling the information for the police and I obviously worked on your case when you were brought in that day. I want to see a happy ending for you and that means talking about the uncomfortable and scary stuff with your psychologist. I want to see you get better for yourself"
"Ok I will talk to her about it" Callie offered him a small smile.
"Now Mark tells me that he invited you to Joes for a drink later on, i hope you'll be able to join us" as he finished his sentence his pager began to beep, glancing down at it he saw that it was a 911 to the pit. "I have to take this, sorry ladies. I will sign you off my service and I hope to see you tonight"
After he was gone the two women sat in silence for a few moments before Callie meekly asked "is it that obvious how uncomfortable I am around men?"
"it's in your eyes Calliope, they are so expressive that it gives you away" Arizona smiled softly to show that it wasn't a complaint or a critisism.
"Earl used to say that. He told me that I could lie to him but my eyes told the truth" Callie admitted sadly.
"well there's something me and that piece of shit actually agree on. You have beautiful expressive eyes"
"what if in never comfortable around men again, how am I meant to live my life scared of every guy that comes near me" Callie asked with a slight sob.
"You won't. Speak to Dr Warner about it and she will help you and in the meantime you surround yourself around positive men that will help you build your confidence in men back up like Carlos, Dad, Timmy... hell even Mark and Dr Shepherd. They are good men and the more time you spend around them the better. How do you feel about going to Joes tonight? Test the waters?" Arizona asked lightly but with hope in her voice. Obviously, Callie wouldn't be drinking with her being pregnant but being in a social situation surrounded by faces she knew slightly could only be a good thing.
"I'm going to speak to Dr warner about it later and see what she thinks, if she thinks it's a good idea then I'm willing to give it a go... I can't promise I will actually make it inside the bar but I will make the effort to go"
"ok well if you do decide to go I will drive us there, that way I'm sober so if you need to leave in a hurry we will be prepared" Arizona offered.
"You don't need to do that, you should be letting your hair down and enjoying your down time with your new friends... not babysitting me" Callie pouted adorably and Arizona couldn't contain her smile.
"I'm not babysitting you, you Duffus.. I'm hanging out with my best friend" Arizona nudged her shoulder softly eliciting a soft laugh from the brunette.
"Well you two look happy" Addison announced her presence as she entered the room and caught the tail end of the conversation and the soft laughter from the woman she had become quite close to.
"Addie Hi!" Callie smiled softly.
"How's my favourite patient?" Addison asked softly as she grabbed the ultrasound machine and began wheeling it into position.
Arizona sat back and watched as the two women chatted like old friends about the gossip going around the hospital until Addison was set up. She got Callie to lie on the bed and pull up her top and undo her jeans. She squirted some gel on the very slightly distended stomach and began her examination. First getting a look at the baby before turning on the volume so they could hear the heart beat. Arizona stood by Callie's side, holding her hand and beaming at the sound and grainy picture on the machine.
After printing some sets of pictures off for Callie, and Arizona, Addison bid her farewells and left the two women to clean up. Deciding they had some time up their sleeves before Callie's appointment with Dr Warner they made their way to the cafeteria where they each selected the lasagne, based on Arizona's recommendation and found a table to one side to eat in peace.