Chapter 17

Callie stands by the counter in Katie's room and looks over information about plasmapheresis. She signs her name at the bottom of the form and hands it to Arizona. She is then handed another consent form for the staff to put in a central line, making it easier to administer the plasmapheresis and not have to endure multiple iv's almost daily . Callie's daughter will undergo several sessions of plasmapheresis a week, with each session lasting several hours.

Once all the forms have been signed, Katie is taken down to the lab so that the line may be put in. Arizona lets her stay with Katie until they get there, then asks Mark to take her out to the waiting room.

"You will stay with her the whole time?" Callie asks Arizona, as Mark opens the door to the waiting room.

"I promise," Arizona says with a small smile, trying to encourage Callie. She seems to accept that as she turns to follow Mark out the door.

Arizona does as she promised, and stays with Katie to assist with putting the line in.

Out in the waiting room, Callie is sitting with her head resting in her hands as Mark brings her a fresh cup of coffee. "Here... you didn't get a chance to touch the cup blondie brought you. You need something."

Looking up, Callie takes the cup from Mark. "Thank you."

"Anytime. So, where did you and blondie run off to?"

"Um, you need to quit calling her that. We just went down the hall," Callie says, trying the coffee and making a face. "This is terrible," Callie says, holding it out to look at it.

"Yeah, not surprised. It looks like it may have been there for a while," Mark says, as he takes a sip of his. "That's some nasty-ass coffee," Mark chokes out.

Chuckling, Callie stands up, grabs his cup, and heads to throw both cups away, then walks over to the window. A strange mix of emotions begins to wash over her as she contemplates the past twelve hours. Thirteen hours ago, she was almost out of hope that anything could be done to help her daughter. But now, she is currently starting the process of what will hopefully be her daughter's journey to recovery.

Thinking ahead, she can't begin to imagine the possibilities... the what-ifs. MG has no cure... it can only be treated. Callie knows that even if the treatments work, Katie will always have to be on some sort of meds for the rest of her life.

As everything is really starting to sink in, Callie begins to go through a gamut of emotions. Relief she knows what is wrong. Hope that the treatments can work. Fear that they won't. Anger that this is all happening to begin with and she wonders why it's happening to her little girl. Upset that even when meds work, she has a lifetime of possible complications ahead of her. And then she hurts... she hurts because even if Katie might seem healthy one day, she still won't be. Her once perfect, healthy little girl isn't healthy anymore, and as a parent, there is really nothing she can do but be there for her. She can provide the best doctors and the best facilities... and sometimes, it isn't enough. It will never be enough. Because she wants to make it all go away, and she can't.

Mark makes his way over and puts his arm around Callie. "I'd ask if you are ok, but I already know the answer to that."

Shaking her head, she says, "Mark, I can't even begin to tell you what's going through my mind right now. Because, there are just no words."

"I know." That's all Mark could think of to say. He just needs to be here. "So… you wanna tell the pervy guy here what you and the good doctor were doing when you went and disappeared together?" He hopes to distract her at this point, because he understands she needs to think about herself too.

Shaking her head, she says, "Just talking Mark." She makes her way back to her seat in the vacant waiting room and sits down. Being late on a Sunday morning, it is deserted.

"About?"

"I told her I can't offer her enough and she needs to move on."

"I thought we talked about that?" Mark asks, confused.

"Mark, I will not be selfish and ask her to do this. I will be spending all of my time either at work, or in a hospital with Katie… at least for the foreseeable future. If Katie can hear me or open her eyes to see me, I will be with her. I am not going to give that up to worry about dating right now. My daughter comes first."

"Callie, people have sick children and relationships all the time. People make them work. You have to focus on yourself too. I mean, didn't you say you had already agreed to dinner with her?"

"I did... when I didn't really think Katie could hear me and could actually he conscious. When I didn't think she could hear me, I knew I could spend that time away. Now that I know she can probably hear me... I'm not going to leave her here every night alone. And those people that try to have relationships, it tears them apart, Mark. We saw that going through med school. This is a life that Katie and I didn't get to choose. We didn't choose this, at all. Arizona does get a choice, and she doesn't need this. She deserves someone that can give her more than this."

"Callie, if these treatments work, you will be able to take her home. She won't always be in a hospital. You are acting like this is a permanent situation. It's not. What did Arizona say?"

"Can we not talk about this right now?" Callie asks, standing up to be able to move away from him.

"What did she say, Callie?"

Callie shakes her head as Mark stands to follow her back to the window.

Sighing, Callie says, "She says she wants to wait. That she doesn't have a choice but to wait because there is something between us. That she doesn't care how soon it is, but she knows she wants us to try. That she would take muffins over dates, or something like that, if that's what it takes. And then... she kissed me."

"If we weren't having a serious conversation, I'd make a joke about her wanting your muffins. But I won't go there," he grins. How was the kiss?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Why? Because you don't want to admit that you enjoyed it? You need to let her decide what she wants and not decide for her."

"She doesn't know what this is like, so how would she know what she wants Mark? My own husband resented me and our daughter. Why in the hell would I expect someone I just met to do what my husband and her father couldn't even do?"

"For one, not everyone is a sorry ass like George was. He was out for himself from the beginning. It was always about him. But you can't think everyone else is going to be like him and walk away. That's not fair."

"Mark, what's not fair is for her to have to be with someone who can't give her what she deserves. She is a beautiful woman and she can have anyone she wants. I mean, women are apparently all over her. It's the perfect time to move on because we are nothing to each other right now... I,"

"Callie…"

Callie turns to see Arizona standing at the door, holding it open. "Um, the central line is in and she is ready to head for her treatment. If you are ready, you can follow me. We are just heading back to her room."

"Arizona…"

"They are waiting on us," Arizona says, shaking her head, stopping Callie. This isn't the time to get into a discussion. "I thought you would want to walk with her."

"Um, of course," Callie says. It would figure that Arizona would walk in right at that moment. Wondering how much was heard but not about to ask, she looks at Mark then follows Arizona back to where Katie is.

Not wanting to make things more awkward than they currently are, Arizona is relieved when they reach Katie, then begins to walk Callie through what is about to happen.

"So, we have special rooms set up for this, kind of like the chemo rooms. In this case though, we are bringing it to her. Today, we are going to treat her for about five hours. Usually, it's only about three, but I think we are going to use extended sessions this week."

"Ok."

"We will monitor her carefully. This can cause a fluid imbalance in her system causing nausea, so we are going to give her something for that before we even start. We are also going to start her on fluids because that can help prevent nausea with this too. About an hour into it, we will give her a dose of Tylenol, because headaches can be common as well. Hopefully, we can keep her comfortable. We will also monitor her BP frequently as this can sometimes lower it."

"Will you be there the whole time?" Callie asks, as they approach Katie's room.

"Um… I will probably be in and out."

Seeing the women might need a minute, Mark says, "Hey, I'm going to grab some coffee and maybe bring back something to eat. You want anything, blondie?"

Looking at him, Arizona shakes her head. "I'm good, thanks."

"Suit yourself. Callie, I'm bringing you something whether you want it or not."

"I'm not hungry Mark."

"I don't care. I'll be back."

The women watch him leave as a few nurses walk past them with supplies into Katie's room.

"Why aren't you going to stay? How will you keep an eye on her if you aren't in there?"

"Callie, I will be in and out, all day. I'm not leaving. I just have some research I need to do. New things are being discovered all the time. I want to make sure we are doing everything we can for her."

"Ok," Callie simply says.

Nodding, Arizona heads into the room to make sure things are getting set up. Once the machines are hooked up and started, she monitors everything for a few minutes while Callie watches quietly. When Arizona is satisfied Katie is ok for now, she decides to head back out to the station. Looking at Callie, she walks around the other side of the bed and stops next to her. "Everything looks good for now. I'm going to go do a little research and I'll be back in about a half hour."

Arizona turns to leave and is stopped when Callie turns around, calling after her. "Arizona… about what you heard earlier…."

"Callie… It's ok. Let's just focus on Katie. That's more important than anything else right now."

"Arizona, I,"

"Ladies, I have some food," Mark says as he comes walking in, holding a bag with food and a coffee carrier with three coffees. "Here blondie, I know you said you didn't want anything, but at least take a coffee," he says, holding the carrier up for her to grab one.

"Oh, you didn't have to do that. Thank you though," Arizona says as she takes it from Mark, careful not to knock the other two in the carrier over.

"I'll be back in about a half hour," Arizona says, quickly looking at Callie then heading out the door, as Callie watches her leave.

"I interrupted something didn't I?"

"I am pretty sure she heard me say that we were nothing. I tried to explain and she said we would just focus on Katie. So… she won't talk to me about it."

"Well, that's what you wanted," Mark tells her as he pulls food from the bag out and hands it to Callie.

"I can't eat Mark. I feel sick to my stomach right now."

"You for sure will get sick if you don't. So eat," he says as he pushes the container at her.

Callie finally takes it as she opens the container. "If I'm doing the right thing, what does it feel so crappy?"

"Maybe because it isn't? You did what you think is right and that's admirable to a point, but sometimes you don't know what is right for everyone else. She didn't hear your reasons why. The only thing she heard you say down there, was that you two are nothing. That's not true and you know it."

"No, it's not true. But maybe her thinking that will help her move on."

"You know… you can try to keep this up if you want, but any idiot can see the way you look at each other." With that, Mark sits back in the extra chair that was brought in and begins to munch on his apple. "And you know, she is kind of an idiot too if she believes you think that. Has she not seen the way you look at her?"

"Mark, she isn't an idiot. But, I am sending a lot of mixed signals, which goes back to my point that this isn't fair to her."

"Well, you need to get your head out of your ass, or she will end up in an on-call room with someone else and you will be too late."

Over the next several hours, Arizona comes in, just as promised, to check on Katie. She always asks if Callie needs anything, but never offers to stay. Instead, each time she makes her way back to the nurse's station.

At the end of the treatment, Arizona comes in with some nurses and unhooks Katie from the machines, and pushes the equipment back out of the way. After the nurses leave, Arizona watches the monitors for a few minutes. She can feel Callie's eyes on her, watching, but not saying anything.

Finally, after being content with what she is seeing, she turns to Callie. "Um, we have surgery scheduled for nine in the morning. My plan is to do a robotic thymectomy to remove the thymus. We make a few very tiny incisions and normally, someone coming in would possibly get out the next day, so we expect no complications from this. We will give her twenty-four hours after surgery, then we will start her IVIG therapy, where we will give her some good antibodies to help her fight this."

"So, how long will the surgery take?"

"Because she is so small, we will proceed slower than with an older child. I would say two hours at the most, but probably closer to an hour."

"Ok. I just, wasn't sure."

"I'm getting ready to go grab something to eat. I can bring you back whatever you want, if you are hungry?" Arizona asks. She herself hasn't stopped to eat today, even though Mark offered to grab her something, and she is starving.

"I'm good. Thanks though."

"If you are sure," Arizona says, and Callie nods. Neither taking their eyes off the other. Arizona looks at her for a few more seconds before she says, "Well, I'm going to go grab something. Mark, what about you?"

"I'm good. Thanks though," Mark says.

"Well, I'll be back later to make sure everything is ok." With that, Arizona heads out the door. Once outside, she stops at the desk to grab her pager, lets the nurse know where she will be, and heads to the cafeteria.

She grabs a tray and finds a place to sit. It has been a long day and she is starting to get tired. She opens her salad and pours the dressing on, thinking back over her day.

"You have a second?"

She looks up to see Mark, with eyebrows raised, pointing to the chair across from her, looking for permission to sit down.

"Uh, sure."

Mark pulls out the chair and sits down, motioning for Arizona to continue eating. "Don't let me stop you. I know you probably haven't eaten today."

"No, I haven't. What can I do for you? Is Katie ok?"

"Oh, she's fine. I actually wanted to talk to you about Callie."

"Does she know you are here?"

"Not exactly. I told her I had to make some calls."

"Then we probably shouldn't do this."

"Look… I know what's been going on. I know what she told you this morning and then I know you overheard what she said. But,"

"Mark… You seem like a nice guy. And you seem to care about her a lot and I am glad, that she has someone like you she can depend on. But, we really shouldn't be talking about this."

"Arizona,"

"Oh, now you know my name. How nice," Arizona says, giving him a look.

"I respect that you don't want to talk about her, but, just hear me out. Please? Then I will go."

"If it will make you go away, fine," Arizona says, rolling her eyes.

"Thank you," Mark chuckles, before turning serious. "Look, I have known Callie for years. I've watched her date, get married. I mean, we were a thing for a little while, and it just didn't work..."

"Yeah, keep moving...," Arizona glares.

"I know... I was just trying to point out that I have seen her with other people. But I have never seen her look at someone the way she looks at you. And I've only been around you two for a few minutes here and there throughout the day. Just... give her a minute to absorb everything. I think she is overwhelmed. And I know you walked in on the tail end of what she was saying, but it wasn't how it sounded. She was meaning, you are nothing in terms of girlfriends or whatever you ladies refer to yourselves as. She just thought it would be easier for you to move on, because she thinks you deserve more. It has nothing to do with how she feels about you."

"Mark, I get it. I do. But did she tell you what I told her this morning?"

"Some of it. I'm sure not all of it."

"I told her I would wait. That I wasn't asking her for permission to do it. But, I have to wait because, frankly, I don't have a choice. She got under my skin from day one. She gave me crap and laughed at my outfit. She stole my parking spot on purpose and enjoyed it. I mean, who does that? But she came in from day one and has been pulling me in ever since. I know we don't know each other, but I think we are starting to really quick. I'm telling you, there is this thing between us that I couldn't explain if I wanted to. And I know she is trying to push me away, but I know she doesn't mean it. Until I think she does, I am not just walking away. I'll give her room, but I'm not going anywhere. And not in a stalker kind of way. I just, want to show her I'm not like anyone else. And I know she is worried about Katie and needing to be here, but I love that about her. I don't want to take her away from her daughter. I would never expect her to put anyone before her daughter, you know?"

"I get it. And I'm glad to hear it. She just doesn't want to hold you back. But, I can tell you, she is a wonderful person, inside and out. Biggest heart you will ever find. She has been through a lot but the past several months, but she has really found herself. I normally don't interfere, but, I just felt like I needed to say something."

"That's ok. You better get back up there. Are you staying for the surgery?"

"Yeah. But, then I have to leave right after. I have a big surgery Tuesday morning I can't push back. It's a collaborative thing. Oh... one more thing she probably won't tell you. She comes from money. So, anything you need, let me know. I'll make sure you have my number before I go tomorrow. She got a lot from George and doesn't want it. But, her own family is well off. Her dad will bend over backwards to make sure Katie has what she needs. Money is no object. At all. So, just keep that in mind. She might hate to ask him for it, but I don't."

"Oh, ok. I can't imagine how that would be necessary, but, I'll keep it in mind."

"You never know. Well, I've kept you long enough. I just, didn't want you to think you heard the whole story this morning."

Mark leaves and Arizona looks at her tray, no longer interested in her food. She has a thought and quickly dumps her tray. She makes an stop and then heads back upstairs towards Katie's room. What she hears, almost takes her breath away.

Callie is sitting next to Katie, holding her hand. Callie's eyes are closed and she is singing "You Are My Sunshine."

Arizona stands in the doorway and listens. She has never heard a more beautiful voice. And just like that, Arizona Robbins falls for Callie Torres just a little bit more.

Arizona's phone chirps, alarming both her and Callie. Callie abruptly stops singing and looks up, noticing Arizona.

"Sorry," Arizona says as she pulls her phone out to see who it is. Noticing it can wait, she walks further into the room.

"I didn't hear you there…" Callie says, giving her a small smile.

"Yeah, sorry. I wasn't trying to interrupt. I just wanted to check in on her. And you…" Arizona says taking in the appearance of the tired brunette. "You have a beautiful voice."

"Oh… um, thanks."

Arizona nods, then makes her way closer to where Callie is standing. She checks over Katie's vitals then stands next to the brunette.

"Did you happen to run into Mark?"

"Oh…um, no. Haven't seen him."

"You aren't a very good liar," Callie says, smiling.

"I didn't. I don't know why everyone says that," Arizona says, shaking her head.

About that time, Callie's phone chimes. She pulls it out to see a text from Mark. Little does she know, he started to come back in but saw the two of them there. Deciding to help the two of them along, he decided to text her with an emergency.

"Hm," Callie says, making a face.

"Everything ok?"

"Yeah. Mark just said he is going to be a while. He said he might go grab a room to get some work taken care of. Something to do with a surgery on Tuesday."

"Oh, yeah. He mentioned that." And as soon as she says it, she realizes she is busted.

"See, you aren't a good liar," Callie says smiling.

"Yeah, well, my mom always says I might be a terrible liar, but at least I'm cute."

"Yeah… she isn't wrong," Callie says quietly, not intending to say it out loud at all. Her eyes suddenly get big as she realizes what she did.

"Here," Arizona says, pulling out a muffin from each coat pocket, and then grabbing two juice bottles out of her bag she is carrying. She hopes to distract Callie from her apparent slip up, admitting the blonde is cute.

"What's that?" Callie asks.

"What's it look like? It's a muffin…," Arizona says, handing it to her. Then, she hands her a juice and walks over to the couch against the wall, just like she did last night Once again, she takes her shoes off and pulls the blanket down and covers her legs.

Callie watches as Arizona goes through the same motions as she did last night. Knowing that Mark went and talked to her, she is a little nervous as to what he might have said. Another larger part is thinking she should probably be thankful. Because as much as she wishes for more for the blonde, she is very happy that she is here with her once again tonight.

"You know, I know it is still a little early, but I'm exhausted," Arizona says taking a bite of her muffin and grabbing the pillow.

Callie sits in the recliner and does the same thing. She begins taking her shoes off and getting comfortable, then opens up her chocolate muffin.

She watches as Arizona crams a bigger than normal piece into her small mouth, and watches as crumbs fall from one side. She can't help but chuckle, causing Arizona to look up

"What?" Arizona asks, slowly wiping her mouth.

"Nothing. I'm just… glad you are here." And she is. And so, they spend their second night together.