"We gather here today to celebrate the life of Calliope Iphigenia Torres , who has now returned to her home with Our God ." The priest's voice was flying faintly into the blonde ears as she was standing alone under the tree , not too far but not too near from the service .

From there , she could see everything , everyone , every person that came to pay their last respects to Callie . Mark was there too , standing right behind all the Torresses . Judging by the crowd , most people would assumed that Callie was a kind hearted person when she was alive . Yes , she was a sweetheart to everyone that knew her , no doubt about it . And she was taken too soon from them , from Arizona . Shifting her sight from the crowds in front of her , Arizona stared into the cloudy skies , even the weather today seemed to be mourning Callie Torres . Closing her eyes for a few seconds as she tried to suck in the tears that were now struggling to fall down on her cheeks , she felt a little bit at peace . But when Arizona finally opened her swollen red eyes after a few moments , all she saw was a crowd of people in blacks and the casket . And she could hear the priest's voice clearly along with the sobbings .

Arizona didn't want to cry but yet , she was struggling to regain her composure , to keep it together . She had done enough crying already and she knew she shouldn't do it here . And .. just .. seeing Callie's mother sobbing into her husband's chest over there .. it was just too painful . Arizona had never met Mr and Mrs. Torres and she certainly never imagined to meet them this way , at their daughter's funeral , her girlfriend's funeral .

At the end of the service , if Callie's parents asked her to say a few words .. Arizona could only say that Callie was loved and cherished and that people around her were lucky to knew her , even if it only for a short time .. They were lucky . She was lucky …

There is an appointed time for everything ... and a time for every affair under the heavens . A time to be born , and a time to die . A time to plant , and a time to uproot the plant . A time to kill and a time to heal . A time to tear down and a time to build . A time to weep and a time to laugh . A time to mourn and a time to dance . A time to cast away stones , and a time to gather stones together . A time to embrace , and a time to refrain from embracing .

Arizona took a deep breath , hiding her hands in the pockets of her trench coat , the same one when she once surprised Callie at New York . She was shaking as she tried her best to held back the tears . Using the big tree as a place for her to leaned against , Arizona just stared at the people .. And also Mark , Arizona could see that Callie's mother was whispering something to him .

Mark turned his head and his eyes met with the blue colored eyes , he then whispered something to Mrs. Torres . A minute after that , he slowly withdrew himself from the large crowd , walking over to Arizona's direction .

"Arizona ." Mark firmly said using his army tone . Not wasting any time , he quickly told Arizona about the request from Callie's mother . "You need to leave ."

"I .. need to .. leave ? What do you mean ?" Arizona felt insulted but she tried to keep her voice down . It wasn't appropriate to argue and made a scene here .

"Mrs. Torres doesn't want you here . So , you can leave now . You can come here anytime you want after this but not today . Please , just leave ."

"Why .. why she doesn't want me here ?" Arizona wasn't satisfy with Mark's explanation . "I was the last person she ever loved ."

"Don't you get it , Arizona ? You are the reason Callie is now in the coffin . She was murdered by someone whom had a bad blood against you , clearly ! Having a connection with you costed her , her own life !" Mark cleared his throat as he noticed his voice was getting higher . "Enough is enough . Please go now or I will make you . Her family needs some peace and you being here isn't helping at all ."

"She loved me , she'd want me here . You can't ask me to leave !" Arizona yelled . She didn't care if she made a scene . Her family was not the only that needed to say goodbye , she also needed this funeral . She needed to say goodbye and she felt .. felt like being robbed when Mark told her to leave . But really ? Was she the reason Callie died ?


"No .. no you can't .. No ." Eyes were suddenly fluttered open and all Arizona could see was a man staring at her from the doorway . "Geez , O' Malley . How long have you been standing there ?"

Arizona then switched her gaze to Callie who was sleeping peacefully on the sofa that she had push earlier to be near her hospital bed . The Latina's chest was moving up and down , her breathing was so steady . And Arizona could only took a deep breath of relief . When Callie returned with bags of food few hours ago , she could only thank to God that nothing happened to her girlfriend while she was out finding some food for her . And ever since then , she had been trying to keep her eyes open at least until daylight . She couldn't fall asleep knowing that they weren't safe . And if she fell asleep , someone could just took Callie away from her .

And that was her biggest fear .

But she failed anyway . She was too tired . Emotionally and physically .

"Long enough to witnessed you having a bad dream ." George replied as he walked to the side of Arizona's bed . "How are you feeling , Miss Robbins ?"

"Please cut all the formality crap , George . We are not in the office and this isn't a work matter . It's really personal ." Arizona glanced at Callie , making sure that her girlfriend was still asleep . "I trust you like Joanne's father trusted your whole family . Someone is after me and Callie , he will probably go after my family too . I don't think the threat is just an empty one . A life is certainly on the line . And I need you to be more than a worker this time ."

"There's a box under my pillow , you just need to pull it out .." Arizona cringed in pain as she tried to move her body .

"It's okay , I got it ." George said as he quickly pulled the box out . After that , he began scanning the item inside of the box along with the threat letter . And for George , he didn't take this thing lightly . Never ever he saw Arizona being as desperate as this , so this really wasn't a drill . "I will gather my people in Seattle . We will set up a base here . I will provide a maximum security for your family in Baltimore and also for your residence in Seattle along with Callie's . We will protect you , while we find the real culprit behind this thing . Whoever did this , he's gonna pay for it ."

"I trust you , George . I need to know that you have my back ." Arizona laid against the pillow , she was obviously tired . "What happened last night wasn't an accident ."

Coming back with the bags of foods in her hands , Callie had ask a lot of question such as just why and how the brake didn't work during the crucial time . And the blonde had to lie to her own girlfriend . If only Callie asked those questions before she saw the bloody keys .. It would have been so much easier . Lying to Callie wasn't easy and she hated it . But Arizona knew lying was the best option . The blonde knew the truth and it was terrifying and scary . The brunette didn't need to feel all those feelings too and she should be left out from the threat , Arizona thought to herself . It was making her angry when she thought about it all over again . If anyone had a problem with her , take it all out on her . Not on her girlfriend or the people around her . "No one should know about this threat letter , you have to do it and figure it out as quiet as you can . The problem starts with me and it will only ends with me ."

"It certainly isn't an empty threat . You made a right decision to called me up about this . And I'm honored that you trust me . I will handle this ." George said after he observed the small letter for a few minutes . "I will call in my men in New York . You just rest , okay ?"

Arizona sighed heavily . "I can't turn my mind off . I'm afraid the second I fall asleep , someone would grab her away from me ." Arizona was now eyeing the sleeping Latina . "And even if I was awake if that happen , I can't do anything . Just look at me . Very pathetic ."

For her whole life , Daniel Robbins had taught her to always protect the thing or person that she loved . And the thought of her possibly couldn't do anything to protect Callie if something bad happened was very disturbing . She should be able to provide safety for her loved one .

"Just go to sleep . We will discuss more about this when the time is right ." George looked over to Callie . They shouldn't be talking about it now if Arizona really didn't want her girlfriend to know about this . "I will be guarding the room until my men got here , aight ?"

"Okay ." Arizona sank her back into the pillow , she was too tired so she just simply held George's wrist and whispered to him one last sentence before she drifted back to sleep . "Did you bring it ?"

She was referring to the firearm that George always carried around .

"Of course ." George gave a hard smile . "Don't worry , just sleep ."


Callie had finally left her bedside two hours ago . And it was only after many times of forcing had to be done by the blonde to got her girlfriend out of the hospital as apparently , the brunette didn't want to leave her bedside . Trust her , Arizona didn't want Callie to leave too but after seeing the woman slept uncomfortably on the sofa last night , Arizona thought that the brunette needed to get her own few hours sleep on a real bed . And while Callie doing that , she could use the alone time she had to discuss something with George .

Poor Callie , Arizona thought . She still could see the fear in her eyes when Callie repeatedly said she didn't want to go home , that she was fine being here . And Callie just seemed to be different to Arizona , she was more scared and more worried . And after what happened last night , it would be damn if Arizona just let Callie's a little bit weird behaviour went unnoticed . She must figured out why Callie was feeling jumpy and worried or .. was her girlfriend been threatened by someone too without her knowledge ?

Arizona knew she just had to figure it out without asking directly to her girlfriend . What if she just bluntly asked the brunette while the truth , Callie had no idea of what was happening ? Arizona couldn't risk the possibility of revealing something as big as this to Callie . Especially with Arizona herself didn't have any clue of just what this person was capable of .

Without she realized it , the thought was making her cringing . Arizona ain't used to this kind of danger and uncertainty feelings . And whoever this person was , she or he surely got balls to caused these mixed feelings on Arizona . The blonde glanced toward the window of her room as her eyes caught George and his men who were talking in front of her room , she could only be grateful to have a loyal employee like George . But she couldn't help it but felt regret of not listening to her late father in law's advice . The old man , he had told many times to Arizona and Joanne to get another bodyguard to replaced George . But Joanne refused that idea . She said they didn't need one and that their lives weren't in danger at all .

But actually it was good to at least take a precaution . Because bad things , they oftenly came without warning . And there was also a saying in medical stuff , that a prevention was always better than a cure .

Oh how Arizona wished she listen to James's advice . Back then , she just agreed with Joanne that his advice was paranoid much .

Now when in time like this , luckily she still had George by her side . Someone that she knew for a very long time for her to trusted on him in this time of need . And the only reason she felt safe to let Callie went home was George's men were already here . Two men were guarding Callie without the Latina's knowledge right now , that was considered as quite safe , right ?

"I need you to take off your lab coat , doctor ." It was an order and it was loud enough that it caught Arizona's attention immediately . There was a little drama in front of the room 502 .

"I am her friend , for God's sake . And also her doctor ." Alex glared at those bodyguards , including George . "I ain't stripping down for you weirdos ." And with that , Alex pushed the dressing cart into the room .

"Sir !" George lunged forward to stopped the young attending .

"It's okay , George . He's a friend ." Arizona said , quickly managed to control the tense situation . Bodyguards , letter of a threat , it was bringing a little headache , Arizona sighed heavily .

"God , what was that ? Why do they gather in front of your room ?"

"Business thingey ." Arizona explained shortly .

"You okay ?" Alex smoothed his lab coat that was recently pushed by the bodyguards in suits . "You need to take it easy , Robbins . Please , your face looks so pale ."

"Give me lots of sleeping pills and then I will have nothing to think about ." Arizona was only joking but her joke seemed not to be so funny and she ended up sighing to herself .

"I'm serious . Minnick won't let you out if your blood pressure keeps hitting the roof ." Alex scanned Arizona's chart . "I've known her for quite a long time , I know her ways of treating her patients ."

"My BP isn't that bad , come on ."

"Yeah , but it isn't going down as it supposed to be ." Alex pulled the dressing cart closer . For a few moment , he was just looking at Arizona who was now closing her eyes , resting . "Are you worrying about this ?"

Arizona's eyes fluttered open . Instantly , she felt like one or two bricks on her shoulders were being lifted . The burden on her shoulders , it just went away . Never blinking her eyes , Arizona quickly snatched the small dark blue box away from the hand of Alex Karev . That was the important item that she had been looking for since last night .. "How .. How did.."

"I found it in the ambulance . The coat was a total mess , so I had to search for anything important in the pockets and I figured .. This is what you were looking for ." Alex took a new set of sterile bandage along with a few other items to changed the one on Arizona's shoulder .

"I thought this is supposed to be a nurse's work ." Arizona quickly said as she felt Alex's hand on her shoulder .

"Yeah , but I am free . Don't worry , I will be gentle . It will only hurt a little . You can clawed on my arm if it hurts , kiddo ." Alex mocked Arizona , he was using the 'voice' . The one that he always used on kids to calm them down . Arizona taught him that .

"Glad that you still remember what I taught you ." Arizona gave her dimpled smile before her eyes felt again on the dark blue box with the HW logo , admiring the ring she had chosen for Callie . The diamond was beautifully placed right on the centre of the ring . The medium sized diamond shine outstandingly .

"It's quite dangerous , you know .. To carry that kind of weapon around you . Especially if you are planning it to be a surprise ." Alex began cleaning the old antibiotic which made Arizona slightly gasped . "You are not going to do the proposal here , right ? In a hospital . 'Cause Kepner's ex fiancee pulled it of two years ago at the emergency bay parking area . Look at just how 'well' it turned out ." There was a hint of sarcasm in Alex's voice at the end of the sentence .

"I actually heard about it . That poor … some Matthew guy , right ?" Arizona chuckled . "April .. She's always meant to be with Jackson ."

"So , Callie … She's the one , huh ?" There was something weird in Alex's tone when he uttered the question .

"And just what does that supposed to mean ?" Arizona asked with a sharp frown on her face .

"Chill down , it was supposed to be a rhetoric question ." Alex maintained his cool attitude .

"I was your teacher and I know that you have a tone , Karev . The kind of tone when you are doubting me and my decision ." It was true , Arizona known Alex too well . In medical fields , it was good to had another pair of eye that could give another advice , another view and another perspective because the doctors themselves , they did make a mistake sometimes . And a young doctor or intern usually kept them on their toes . But now , it was regarding her personal life and the young man's opinion had Arizona intrigued and it wasn't intriguing in a good kind of way .

"It had always been you and .. Joanne ." Alex carefully said . "People thought true love , soul mate or whatever you call it — only comes once in your life . And your story made me realize something … That true love happens once , twice , thrice ."

Arizona stared at the clean wall in front of her . She was left pondering on Alex's words for a good fifteen seconds .

"Same like me . Everyone thought that Izzie was the only one for me , they thought I would never find another after her . But they were wrong , I did find another in fact you did too . And that's something to toast , I guess ." Alex smirked . "I'll see if I can sneak in a bottle of wine ."

Arizona let out a small chuckle . Her mind was obviously thinking about other thing . And as if he understood the blonde's sudden silence , Alex kept his mouth shut while his hands carefully cleaned Arizona's wound .

Five minutes after that , Alex was almost finished with the dressing . He tried to do as fast but gentle as he could as the blonde's facial expression seemed to be moody . She looked like she wanted nothing but to be left alone .

Alex then quietly began to withdraw himself from the room while Arizona just looked at the young doctor . And slowly , she opened her mouth . "Is it okay ?" The blonde asked .

Alex stopped midway . "What okay ?"

"To have more than one love story ?" Her voice was filled with confusion .

"Arizona , you are allowed to be happy . Joanne would want you to find love again . She would always want the best for you ." Alex pulled the chair next to Arizona's bed and he slowly sat down .

"You think she's the best for me ?" Arizona's eyes shot up . "Callie , she's the best ?"

For a brief moment , Alex just stared at Arizona , finding his words . "She made you speak again with us , after those five years of silence and disappearance . So , I guess .. That's something , isn't it ?"

"She's something else ." Arizona managed to put a smile on her face . It was a hard smile but eventually the smile came naturally as the image of Callie smiling hit her brain . "Definitely something else ."

"I am so happy for you , dude . Hey , have you met her parents ?"

"Should I ?"

"Should you ? Of course you should ! You are planning to propose her , right ? You would want to meet your future parents in law ."

"Before the proposal or after it ?" Arizona's forehead was wrinkling .

"To me , either way is okay . It's up to you ." Alex replied . "Dude , you were married before . Don't act like you don't know a thing. "

"It was different between me and Joanne . I knew her parents for a very long time by the time I proposed to her ." Arizona looked at her ex student . "So , you ! You are red and in love again . Who's the lucky girl ?"

Alex had a little grin on his mouth as he wasn't sure if Arizona would be pleased with what she was going to hear in a few seconds . "She is a resident at here , actually . She's … Dr. Wilson ."

"Dr Wilson ? As in the last night Dr. Wilson ?" Arizona was surprised at first but then she laughed . "I yelled at her a lot last night , Alex ."

And at the same time , the younger doctor's pager went off . "I knew . Umm , I gotta go . 911 . Talk to you later , eh ."

"Sure ." Arizona smiled as she just watched Alex left the room to do the thing she used to do .

And that was .. saving lives .

Saving lives .. Did she miss her old occupation ? Sometimes , yes . It was a very honorable job . To had a chance to serve for the people out there . But there was a bigger question for the blonde . Would she become a surgeon again ?

Arizona thought for a few seconds . Getting into a retraining program wasn't an impossible thing but her priority was still on what Joanne had left for her . And now with the new life she had discover with Callie , she didn't want to let Callie down too as she always had a feeling that she did let Joanne down when she was still alive . Staring at the beautiful diamond ring , the blonde found herself lost deep into her own thought .

"Miss Robbins ." A voice interrupted her thought . It was George's .

"Just Arizona , please ." Arizona said , quickly hid the ring under the pillow . "You got any news regarding what happened last night ?"

"Me and my team tried our best but there's no lead , nothing at all Arizona ." George stopped for a few seconds , it was still weird to call his boss using her first name . "We watched the CCTV at the pizza shop you stopped by yesterday . We saw no one getting near to your car . And Miss Torres's coffee shop didn't have a CCTV . Could the brake started to leak even before you entered this city ? Maybe a business rivalry ?"

"I was driving back to Seattle from Portland and the brake was perfectly fine ." Arizona disagreed as soon as George voiced out his theory . "I doubt that this thing has any connection with my business rivalry . I have been in this industry for five years already , why now ?"

"It's not impossible . You were closing a big deal in Portland yesterday , right ?" George wouldn't let that possibility go . "Did you encounter any out of ordinary incident yesterday ? Any names of people that might holds a grudge against you ?"

Arizona's mind quickly went back to what happened yesterday . "Actually , yes . I argued with someone yesterday . Her name is .. Echo .. Monaghan . It was a small argument but I don't really know much about her and her capability ."

"That really helps . We will keep an eye on this person ." George nodded , he had a new lead , at least . "If she is really the person that started this and really serious about the threat , she will strikes again anytime soon ."

"That doesn't make me feel better at all ." Arizona sighed , staring at the ceiling . "Please add more security in Baltimore ."

"Don't worry , Arizona . We are ready . Nobody can hurt you or your family ." George never blinked his eyes . He was dead serious about this . His job was to protect his employer . And the Robbins and Sullivan weren't just his employer , they were like his family already . "The local council sent a letter just now , though . Probably asking some money for the metal barrier that you crashed ."

"Wow , that was fast . I requested for them to repaint the blurry road lines to Joanne's house and they don't even reply to my fucking email ." Arizona scoffed . She could easily afford the cost to repaint the road lines but it wasn't a private road . So it fell onto the council's job .

George chuckled as the intense conversation they had earlier slowly disappeared . "You should run for mayor next year ."

"Thanks but no , politic is just yikes ." Arizona laughed .

"Hello , stranger . What's up with all those commotions outside your room ?" Callie suddenly stepped into the room with a small bag in her hand . She just looked at the two people inside the room who were laughing together . "What's funny here ?"

"Miss Torres , Miss Robbins here wanted to run for mayor next year ." George secretly winked at Arizona .

"How am I not aware of this ?" Callie's eyes fell on Arizona's tired blue eyes . She was smiling right now but Callie knew that her girlfriend was still tired and probably deep down still shocked with what happened last night .

"He's just kidding . I've got lot of things on my plate right now ." Yep such as planning a perfect proposal for her girlfriend . It gotta be perfect , right ? Arizona grinned from ear to ear as she thought about it again , she didn't even have any plan on how it was supposed to be .

"Good , because all you need to do right now is rest actually . You look so tired , honey ." Callie placed the bag on the table by the bed . "And Mr O' Malley , I know that you are her worker from the New York's branch . And you guys probably have some business things to talk about but Arizona needs her rest time . So I am ordering you and all of your guys to get out of here ." Turning to the blonde , Callie asked … "Can I do that ?"

Arizona had a big smile on her face . "Yes , you can . But he can only leaves the room , not the hospital . Because , we both have a lot to discuss eventually ." Arizona gave a secret look at her head of security .

"I will get out of your hair . But I will be nearby to continue umm .. our discussion later ." George left the room , he was a terrible liar obviously .

"What kind of discussion actually ? He seemed nervous ." Callie commented . She opened the food container . A brocoli soup mixed up with carrot .

"You wouldn't understand even if I explain . We are upgrading the security system in Seattle ." Arizona inhaled deeply , quickly changing the topic . "Smells nice , what's that ?"

"I made special soup for you . Come , I will feed you ." Callie grinned .

"I asked you to go home because I wanted you to rest . Not for you to cook for me ." Arizona shook her head repeatedly . "You are such a stubborn little kid ."

"Look who says that . I am feeding you , now who is the real kid ?" Callie replied . "You are the one who needs to rest , Arizona . You look awful . You look like a panda ."

"A very cute panda , I guess ?" Arizona willingly opened her mouth waiting for Callie to feed her . The blonde always loved the intimacy of looking deep in Callie's eyes while her girlfriend put the food into her mouth . Be it a soup or just a spoon of ice cream , Arizona loved it . She just loved being spoiled by the Latina , especially when she was sick .

"A very cute hungry panda ." Callie said as she watched her girlfriend chewed the vegetables hungrily . "I love you , Arizona . I will always want to take care of you when you are sick . I will cook food for you to make you feel better . That is just who I am ."

"I know ." Arizona stared into her girlfriend's brown eyes . "That is what making you .. the one for me . We completed each other worlds . Even when I said no , you will still do it . Because you love me ."

The afternoon quickly passed by with the two women lazily watched television together . Nothing seemed could go wrong . Arizona was finally feeling 'full' again . Her life was fulfilled with love . She was cherished . For a few hours , she felt like she wasn't fighting the guilt war alone . But the guilt of surviving and living , it would always be with her .. in the blonde's heart . Whether she let the guilt eats her or finally let it goes away , it is really up to her …

And for Callie , she had never feel lucky in love . But for this one time , she felt like she had found the person she was looking for ever since she was a loner teen girl . And the person .. just happened to be Arizona Robbins .


Me : Sorry , just gotta make a little drama and suspense in the first few paragraphs of this chapter , I just couldn't help it = ) I have read all of your sweet comments , giving me advices not to give in to depression , thank you so much for the warm welcome back wishes .. And vickyvicky , appreciates it that you are satisfied with the fact that Arizona is back in the hospital eventhough only as a patient , haha ! And yayy to Hinana , yep you were my first reviewers in the last chapter . Guys , please keep in mind that this is just a fiction story .. Don't take it too personal (I received one hate review actually) But I will just ignore it .

And a little ramble on my personal life ... (you guys can skip this if you want)

Yes , I am recovering and feeling much better than last year , and I hope that this will continue on throughout 2018 .. One of the reason of my sudden disappearance last years was to focus on my newly added job scope (I got promoted end of last year , yayyy) and so far , it is tiring but relaxing at the same time.. Less tiring on the body parts but so much stress on the brain and eyes .. But I still love it as for everyday , it teaches me new things . Will end my 3 months probation by the end of February , I really hope this year brings me luck !

The downside to it .. (actually , I don't know if it's a down side or an upside) my ex has started to contact me again after half year of silence between us ( I unblocked her number last month on purpose) . I blocked her at the first place because I have been wanted to ended the relationship that to other people around me .. it was a really toxic relationship . I tried to really end it a few times before that but I was hesitate and gave in too easily that it ruined me for several times (this was one of the main reason I fell into depression last year . And last month , I unblocked it for the sake of the new year's spirit .. I don't know if that was the right thing to do or if soon there will be problem because of my 'kind hearted' decision .. I don't really know .. Anyone want to say anything regarding this ? Feel free . I'm open to listen to any advice . But please , don't ask me to block her again :D . That would be too cruel , and it will only makes me look emotionally or decisionally (is that even a word :O) unstable lololol .


Monday

5 February 2018

0200AM