Chapter 14

Callie and Arizona arrive on the tenth floor just as transport is pushing Katie into her room to get her settled. When they arrive on the floor, Beth and Jeff somehow have arrived before them. Beth looks over just in time for Callie to let go of Arizona's hand and pull out her phone.

"I am going to call my parents really quick while they get her settled. I know they won't let us in for a little while so they can get her vitals and stuff. And... I need to run to the restroom. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Ok. I'll be right here," Arizona says.

Watching Callie walk down the hall towards the restroom sign, Beth makes her way over with Katie's chart.

"You realize you can't take your eyes off her, don't you?"

Looking over at Beth, Arizona rolls her eyes. "I know. I'm not even going to try to deny it and I can't do a damn thing about it. Do you know how infuriating that is for me? To just... be helpless. That's not me. But... she does this to me. Just being around her, there's like this invisible force just drawing me to her. And it doesn't do me any good to fight it."

Smirking, Beth starts laughing. "I think Arizona Robbins, MD, peds surgeon, has fallen in love and doesn't even know it yet."

"Beth, I told you... We just met. And we didn't like each other until the other day. And even then, it's way, waaayyy too soon. Way to soon," Arizona says, shaking her head trying to convince herself as much as Beth.

"Say what you want, but I'm calling it now. I want an invite to the wedding. I watched you date a lot of women while you were here, as well as... well... whatever you want to call your lady loving ways... But, Arizona, I have never seen you look at a woman like this."

"Beth, I can't even explain it. And to top it off, finding out about that little girl in there, just makes me have that much more respect for her. To do the things she is doing in spite of being in the position she is in..."

"Well, like I said earlier... if your feelings get in the way, you need to step back. Because this little girl needs you to be focused."

"I know. I actually think I'm more determined now than ever, if that's even possible."

Seeing Arizona's face light up, Beth knows she doesn't have to turn around to know who is coming up behind her.

"Hey, are they finished yet?" Callie asks, as she looks into the room.

"No. Not yet. Did you get ahold of your parents?"

"Um, no. I decided since it's so late, to call in the morning. I kind of forgot how late it is. I um, I texted Mark. He is going to try to come tomorrow."

"Oh, that's good. Support would be good right now." Arizona sees the nurse come out of the room and says, "I think they have her settled for the most part. Go on in and we will look over things and make sure we are good to go. Ok?"

"Ok..." Callie gives a small smile before she makes her way into Katie's room. Sitting by her bed, she reaches for her little hand. After a few minutes, she begins to talk to her.

"Katherine Juliana... I love you, so much. I feel like this is a turning point for you... and for us. I really hope that something good is about to happen. I need for something good to happen. We deserve this. We have had enough bad luck. We have been through so much and we deserve some happy in our lives right now." Right as she says that, Arizona clears her throat behind her.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we just wanted to go over a few things with you, if that's ok?"

"Oh, sure," Callie says, starting to stand up.

"No... Sit, please…" Arizona says, holding her hands out in a gesture for Callie to sit back down. "It's late, and we know you are exhausted."

"Very," Callie says, not even trying to hide it.

Jeff begins first. "Callie, I think that at this point, since she is back here, I am going to step away and let Beth take the lead. I will be here in the background, consulting if needed, and will stay up to date on her situation. If she comes back to us when she leaves here, I will obviously once again take over."

"That's reasonable," Callie offers.

"Callie, as you know from talking to Jeff, I am head of Peds here. Much like Arizona, I am a pediatrician turned peds surgeon." Callie turns to look at Arizona after hearing this new piece of information, and Arizona gives her a small, sheepish smile. "I like to think I trained her well while she was with us in her residency. She was one of the brightest we have ever had, which is why I asked her to consult on this with us. I am giving her full privileges here once again. She will have access to everything, including the OR room if need be. I am actually putting her as lead physician on the case for the time being, as long as you have no objections."

"Um, no. Not at all. I'm fine with that."

"Ok. Now... With both of you here... I feel a need to address the elephant in the room. If either of you feel, at any time, that your personal relationship... no matter what the nature of that relationship is... If you feel that is going to interfere with any decisions concerning Katie's care, you let me know and I will take over. I don't want either of you to be uncomfortable so please don't be afraid to say anything. We will handle it like adults and move on. We all want what is best for Katie

Looking at Callie, Arizona can see that her eyes are big, obviously not expecting someone to comment on their relationship status.

"Of course," Callie finally says, with a slight blush.

"Now, Arizona, I'll let you fill her in on the rest. I am going to go get a few hours of sleep and I'll see you bright and early in the morning and we will try to get some answers."

"Thank you Dr. Tanner."

"Anytime, Callie. Arizona... Text me if you need me."

"I will," Arizona says, waiting until she leaves to pull a chair up beside Callie.

"How are you doing?" Arizona asks, as she sits down.

"I'm ok. Just nervous, I guess." Truth be told, she was a jumbled bundle of nerves on the inside. She didn't feel like telling her that though.

"I understand. Well, here's what we are going to do... They are going to come in here in a few minutes and draw some blood and we are going to run some labs. One of the labs we are running to test for a certain antibody, about 85% of the MG patients test positive for. But, there is 15% that do not, so even if that is negative, that doesn't rule out diagnosis. After labs are drawn, I am sending her down for some imaging on her chest. As you know, sometimes with MG, there can be a tumor present in the thymus. She hasn't had a chest image done since the accident. Nothing was present at the time, so no more chest images were done. However, it could be that there is a tumor that has shown up since then, and if there is... it is likely non-malignant, but we want to make sure. Hopefully the scans are clean so it is just a precaution. Then, she will be brought back here for the rest of the night. The test I really want to do is scheduled for nine in the morning... the edrophonium test."

"I can't tell you how bad I really hope she responds."

"We will do the best we can."

They sit quietly for a few minutes, not saying much, until the technician comes in to draw blood for labs. Within seconds of the tech leaving, transport comes in to take Katie down for her imaging. After giving Katie a kiss, Callie watches as her daughter is rolled away.

"How about a cup of coffee? If I remember right, Beth keeps a nice stash of expensive coffee tucked away in a bread crumb container," Arizona chuckles. "She imports it so it is delicious. What do you say?"

"Um, yeah. I could use a cup."

"Follow me, then." Arizona says, smiling and leading them down the hall and to the staff lounge. Walking in, Arizona heads to the cabinet and sure enough, way in the back is the bread crumb container. She opens it to the most heavenly scent and begins working on the coffee while she tells Callie to have a seat.

Once the coffee is ready, she heads over and sits next to Callie. "Here," Arizona says, holding the cup out for Callie. "Be warned though, this coffee will ruin you for any other coffee. Nothing in your life will ever compare to this right here, ever again."

Callie looks at her for a second and she can't help but think that statement will apply to more than just the coffee. She is almost one hundred percent certain that statement also applies to the woman sitting in front of her.

"Callie..." Arizona says, after Callie seems to space out.

"Oh. Sorry," Callie says reaching for the cup. "It's been an emotional day."

"I understand," Arizona says quietly. "Callie… I just want to say... I'm sorry if Beth made you uncomfortable earlier. You know… with bringing up the 'elephant in the room'. I didn't go running to her and blurt anything out, I promise. But... I guess I'm easy to read and she kind of pieced things together… on my end anyway."

"Oh. It's um... it's fine," Callie says, as she takes her first sip of coffee. "Oh my goodness... You were right, this is delicious. I needed this..."

Smiling at the brunette, really glad that she likes the coffee, she seems unsure of Callie's reaction to her bringing up what Beth said.

"Are you sure you aren't mad? I don't know you well enough to read you... obviously. Because the last thing I want to do is make you feel like there is this pressure here between us. Because there isn't. I meant what I said earlier... our talk can wait. And, I don't want you to think that just because she saw me making googly eyes at you, that we have to do this right now. Because right now our focus is on your daughter and I'm not trying to rush things and make you feel like you need to worry about this."

"Arizona... it has been a stressful night, and the last thing I need...

"I'm so, so sorry. You're right. This is the last thing you need and I should have denied anything she thought she saw. I shouldn't have involved my feelings in this at all and..."

Callie shakes her head and reaches over to grab Arizona's hand. "Will you let me finish?"

Furrowing her eyebrows, Arizona nods.

"It has been a stressful night. And the last thing I need on top of that, is for you to doubt whatever this is between us. You were right when you said this needed to wait, that Katie comes first. I have to focus on her right now. But... I won't deny this," she says, pointing to the two of them, "either. So... she can see you make 'googly' eyes at me... I'm ok with that. And honestly, she might see me make some too. And... I'm ok with that as well. I have nothing to hide, Ok?"

"Ok," Arizona says, as she looks down to see Callie's hand holding hers. Callie notices and starts to pull her hand away, before Arizona senses it and turns her hand over to grasp onto Callie's. Giving her a small smile, she says, "Your daughter... she's absolutely beautiful. She looks just like you."

"Thanks. I hope you get to meet her one day soon."

Arizona nods, and says, "Me too." After thinking for a minute, she adds, "You know, if we are right, she will still have a long road ahead of her. We will have to find the right treatment and then she will probably have to learn to do some things all over again."

"I know. It will be a long road for her. But even as a toddler, she took after me. She is a fighter. I have to believe she can overcome this."

Looking at her watch, Arizona never lets go of Arizona's hand as she says, "we should probably get back. I know you are probably ready to get some sleep."

"I don't know. I think I have too much running through my mind, you know?"

"I'm sure you do. But... you need to try. We have a busy day tomorrow. Let's go..." Arizona says as she stands and holds her hand out to help Callie up. She reaches out and grabs Callie's mug, then heads over to the sink. She finds the dish liquid and washes them out, dries them, and puts them up. When she turns around, Callie is standing there watching her. "What?" Arizona asks, curious.

"Most people would have just left the mugs there in the sink."

"Yeah. They would. But, I'm not like most people though."

"No. You definitely aren't."

"Is that a bad thing?" Arizona asks, heading towards the door.

"No," Callie smiles as she turns to follow Arizona. "Not at all."

The women make their way back to the room to find Katie still isn't back. "Well, I'm going to make sure she gets back and settled. Do you want to stay here with her or do you want me to find you a room? They have physician's rooms with lockable doors and all that. You might sleep better..."

"No, that's ok. Thanks though. I just want to stay here with her."

"Ok. Well, I'll be right back then..."

Arizona heads down the hall and grabs a pillow and blanket for Callie. It's been a few years since she has been here, but she still feels like she is at home. She turns to head back to the room, but stops. She opens the door back up and reaches in and grabs another pillow and blanket. She stops behind the nurse's desk and grabs two bottle of water and lets them know she will be staying in the room with Katie and Callie.

"Arizona, is that you? What are you doing here?"

Arizona turns around to find Julie Snyder, the head nurse for the floor, walking around the desk. This is definitely not who she wanted to see tonight, but should have expected it. "Julie... it's um, good to see you. Beth called for me to consult on a case, so I'm here for a little while."

"Really?" Julie says, walking a little closer to Arizona and giving her the look that Arizona knows all too well.

"I'm here for work Julie, that's all."

"Arizona, we know you aren't all work and no play though..." Julie says, stopping closer than Arizona would prefer.

"I'm going to say this once and I won't say it again. I am here for a consult, and that's it. There will be no 'play'. Now... if you will excuse me, I have a patient to get to."

"Sorry," Julie says, holding her hands up as Arizona walks past her.

Walking into the room, she sees they are just wheeling Katie back in and getting her hooked up to the monitors, so she steps back out until they leave. When Beth called to get a room, she managed to request the private VIP room. It's a little bigger than the other rooms and has a couch that is wide enough to sleep on. Most patient rooms only have a reclining chair, but this has sleeping accommodations for two family members.

When the staff exit the room, she walks back in and hands Callie the blanket and pillow. "Oh, thanks. You didn't have to do that."

"No problem," Arizona says, as Callie watches her walk over to the couch and sit down, pulling her shoes off.

"Arizona, what are you doing?"

"I'm... getting comfortable?"

"Yeah... I see that. But why?"

"I um, I don't want to leave you here alone tonight."

A little surprised at the other woman, she says, "Arizona, you have gone above and beyond all night. You really don't need to stay."

"I know that. But... I want to. If, if that's ok with you. I mean, I guess I should have asked first. I shouldn't have assumed you would be ok with it. I should have asked. I'm sorry."

Wiping a tear that is now falling, once again touched by the rambling blonde. Callie says, "Yeah... It's ok. It's nice to not be alone tonight."

With that, Arizona gives her a small smile and finishes taking her shoes off. She lays back on the couch and covers up, as Callie does the same in the recliner. Little do they know, this is the first of many nights they will spend together.