Chapter 31

"Arizona! What's going on? What is it?" Callie is panicking at the alarms that are still going off. Arizona reaches over to push the button for the nurse and starts to assess the situation.

Callie watches as Arizona reaches to silence the alarms, as to not startle Katie any more than necessary.

Arizona watches the monitors as she grabs the stethoscope and begins to listen. She puts the stethoscope down and continues to watch the monitors closely for a few more seconds before she reaches for Callie's hand.

"These are good alarms. She is trying to breathe on her own," Arizona says grinning, still watching the monitors. Looking back to Callie, "We are going to take the tube out and put her on a bipap. It will still supply oxygen but will allow her to breathe on her own too," Arizona says, smiling.

"Really?" Callie asks, her eyes lighting up with a joy that takes Arizona's breath away.

"Really. I need to caution you though, this is going to probably be touch and go and you are going to hear alarms, so I need you to prepare yourself. We don't know how well her diaphragm is working yet but we won't know unless we try. So you need to know that we may have to put the tube back in if she isn't ready. That doesn't mean anything bad, it just means she may need more time. I am not saying we will have to, I just want you to be prepared," Arizona says, looking back and forth between Katie and Callie.

"Ok. I know that it's still early, I just… this is amazing Arizona!"

"Super amazing. Now, you are her mom right now and I need you to go out in the hall so we can take this out," Arizona says, as three nurses rush in.

"But, I…" Callie starts, but is interrupted by Arizona.

"I'm Dr. Robbins right now, and I need mom to go outside. Parents shouldn't see this. You know that..."

"Ok, you're right," Callie relents. She leans down to kiss her daughter on the forehead. "Come get me as soon as I can come back in."

"I promise," Arizona says, then nods to one of the nurses to escort Callie outside.

"Ok," Arizona says to the remaining nurses. "Here we go…"

XXXXXXX

"You can come back now," Arizona says as she reaches her hand out for Callie to take. She has taken kids off the vent many, many times before. This time, she felt the weight of the world on her shoulders though. While she cares for her patients, each and every one of them, this one is different. She loves this one. She is more than happy to be able to come out for Callie with good news.

"How is she?" Callie asks, worriedly turning towards Arizona.

"The bipap is on and she is breathing on her own. We have everything ready to go if we need to bag her and put the tube in, but we will see how she does without it."

When Callie walks in, she is amazed to see her little girl breathing on her own. Her eyes are open and she seems to be looking around. As soon as she sees Callie and Arizona, her eyes dart back and forth between the two.

"Hey baby girl. Mommy is here. And Arizona. You are doing so good. I am so proud of you."

"I'm going to call Teddy and tell her we are staying here tonight. I'll be right back," Arizona says, wanting to give Callie a few moments alone with Katie. She doesn't even have to ask Callie if she wants to stay or not. She knows that she doesn't want to leave and can imagine Callie wouldn't leave her even if she had to.

"Hurry back," Callie says, leaning over to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."

Arizona just smiles at Katie, then turns to Callie and says, "This was all her. I'll be back."

XXXXXXX

As the end of the week draws near, Katie has been making some advances. True to Arizona's word, the alarms had been a constant through the week. Katie's breathing has been irregular, but each time it becomes irregular, it has righted itself almost immediately. There was only once that Arizona thought they would maybe have to be the tube back in, but Katie recovered fairly quickly.

Other good things happened too this week too. Both hands are showing movement now, she is starting to move her feet just a little, and she is awake for longer periods of time.

"Hey, how are my girls doing?" Arizona asks, walking back into the room on Friday night, after going to work this afternoon.

"Hey! We are doing great. We have been watching some Finding Nemo. Her eyes really seem to light up watching this."

"You watched it without me?" Arizona pouts, as she makes her way in to give Katie a kiss on the cheek and then turns to give Callie a kiss.

"I am not even kidding when I say that I knew you were going to say that," Callie says, chuckling.

"Hey, it's a cute movie. Who doesn't like it? Just for the record though, I want to watch the second one with her."

"Fine. I will let you watch that one with her," Callie says, shaking her head. "So, how was your day?"

"I'm, it was interesting. I actually have a kid I am referring to you," Arizona says, watching Callie's reaction.

"Really? What kind of case is it?"

"Um, it's a three year old boy that just came to me. He was in an accident about nine months ago. They just moved here and I think the doctors he was seeing before really dropped the ball. The accident left his leg pretty mangled. I just think there has to be something more that the others doctors could have done. So, I referred him to you. I think if anyone can do it, it's you."

"What makes you so sure of that? You have never even worked with me," Callie says, smiling.

"I told you, after I met you, I did my research. You seem to be quite the talented surgeon, as well as a genius with your cartilage research. One article even mentioned you being quite the rock start with it."

"Well, maybe some of that is true," Callie says, confidently.

"I'd say all of it was. Articles usually don't give any credit for anything unless there is just cause for it. I'd say it was pretty well spot on."

"Maybe," Callie chuckles. "I guess if I take this one, you might just have to come to the O.R. with me."

"Oh, you mean I could potentially see Dr. Torres in action? I think I could never turn down that opportunity."

"Well, sounds like I need to see what we are dealing with first," Callie says. "But, I would love the opportunity to scrub in with you Dr. Robbins."

"Oh, I forget to tell you...I talked to Dr. Tanner earlier. She was so excited to hear about Katie's progress. Not ten minutes after I talked to her, I had an email from Dr. Shepherd as well. They are both in agreement that Katie's going to be just fine."

"I hope so. She squeezed my hand harder today than she has all week. I just can't believe the progress this week. Makes me feel terrible for getting frustrated last weekend."

"It happens, Calliope. You are allowed to get frustrated. Nothing about this is easy. As a matter of fact, come with me for a minute."

"But, I don't want to leave her…"

"I'll have one of the nurse's come in. I just need to talk to you for a minute."

Begrudgingly, Callie stood up and kissed Katie's cheek. Since Katie started improving this week, Callie has went back to staying in her room with her, not wanting to leave at all, in case she takes a turn for the worse. Arizona understands, but she needs to have a conversation with Callie that she has been putting off.

After getting a nurse to stay with Katie, Arizona takes Callie to a conference room. "What's going on?" Callie asks, as Arizona closes the door and motions for the chairs for them to have a seat.

"As you know, Katie is really improving. We are getting to where I think we are going to start seeing a lot more movement and hopefully we can work on weaning her off of the bipap. When that happens, I think we need to be prepared for a few things."

"Arizona, I know what you are going to say…."Callie says, shaking her head.

"I know you probably do, but as her doctor, it's something I need to make sure we cover and are in agreement on. As we get her symptoms controlled, her rehab will have to be turned over to the rehab team. That means I will still get a say in things, of course, but someone else will be taking the reigns. And I think that's a good thing. I… I love you and I love Katie. And honestly, it's not going to be easy making some of the decisions that are coming up. I think having someone else overseeing that, will be a good thing for us," Arizona says, looking to see if Callie is on the same page.

"I know. I know Katie is more than a patient to you now, and that's probably a good thing to have someone else share the decision making."

"It is. I know we talked briefly before, about how she is going to have a long road ahead of her. I know that you know this, but I feel like we need to talk about it," Arizona says, reaching over for Callie's hands.

"I already know what you are going to say," Callie says, not wanting to talk about what she knows Arizona is going to bring up, causing Arizona to wish they didn't need to have this conversation. But, right now, she needs to make sure her girlfriend is able to prepare herself for the battle still ahead of them.

"I know. But we need to talk about it. She wasn't even two yet when this happened. That means she didn't have even close to a full vocabulary. And I know that with her being awake all this time, she has still heard conversations, but we have to be prepared for her to not fully understand what we are saying. We need to know that she isn't going to be able to talk to us right off the bat. She has a steep learning curve ahead of her, as far as verbal communication. She is older now and will probably pick things up pretty quick. But, it may be like teaching a toddler to talk. It requires time and patience. Also, we will need to build muscle and she will have to learn to walk all over again."

"I know all of this Arizona," Callie says, getting defensive.

Surprised at her girlfriends sudden mood, she softens her tone. "Honey, I know you know all of this. But you know this as a doctor. Being a mom is different, I'm sure. I mean, I don't have kid yet, but I know that it changes things. This isn't just any patient. She is your daughter, and…"

"She is. And I know that it is going to be hard. I will be watching her learn to do everything that all the other kids her age have been doing for years. I know that. But, thank you for pointing it out again," Callie says, standing up and walking towards the door.

"Calliope, where are you going?"

"I need to go for a walk," Callie says. With that, the brunette leaves the blonde there, wondering what just happened.

Callie leaves Arizona standing in the conference room and heads back to Katie's room. She relives the nurse and sits by her daughter's bed and thinks back to the conversation she just had with Arizona. Katie is wide-eyed and looking at her. She can't help but feel the world has been extremely unfair. Even though she is making improvements, she can't help but feel devastated that her daughter has had to endure this terrible disease. Unlike a few months ago, there is all kinds of hope though, thanks to the woman she left just a few minutes ago.

Callie knows they have an uphill battle in the immediate future. Arizona was right… Katie will have to learn, just as she did as a toddler, how to walk all over again. How to talk. Before the accident she had a vocabulary that was increasing almost daily. You could carry on a simple conversation with the little girl . They would have to learn that all over again and it was just frustrating and not fair. But, she would get her little girl back, and that's the most important thing.

As she looks at Katie, and sees her little brown eyes stare into her own brown eyes, she sees hope. Through everything they are getting ready to face, she realizes she needs to hold onto that hope. The hope that one day soon, she will once again be able to hear her little girl's voice. It won't be easy, but she knows if they can make it this far, they can get through anything.

"Hey, can I come in?" Arizona asks, hesitantly. After Callie left her in the conference room earlier, she decided to give her a few minutes. She knew she hated to bring the topic up, but so many times parents aren't ready for the emotional toll rehab plays on not only the patient, but the patient's family as well. Of course Callie would know what they were dealing with, but because it is her daughter, Arizona was just wanting to make sure Callie was prepared. As prepared as she could be anyway. Arizona herself hadn't prepared for Callie to get upset at her though, for broaching the topic, although, maybe she should have known that would happen. She has dealt with plenty of parents in the past who became emotional over things that, even though they knew a certain chain of events would happen, it never failed to throw them for a loop… to catch them off guard because it was suddenly not just possible but because it was actually happening… to them.

"No," Callie says, as she stands and turns towards the blonde.

That wasn't what Arizona expected to hear. As Callie notices the look that falls upon Arizona's face, Callie takes some steps towards her and pulls her outside the door.

"I need to come out here. I don't want to talk about this in front of her," Callie says, stopping to send a nurse in before leading them down the hall and back towards the conference room.

As they walk in the room and close the door, Callie turns to look at Arizona. "I'm sorry Arizona. I shouldn't have left earlier. I wasn't mad or upset with you, I was just… upset. And I took it out on you and I handled that wrong. All wrong. I'm sorry."

"It's ok," Arizona says, relieved that Callie is talking to her.

"No, it's not. You were being her doctor, going over the same things I would if the roles were reversed. I don't even know why I reacted that way. I think I was just overwhelmed. I know all of this stuff, but hearing it out loud, about my daughter, just made it seem too real. I'm just… so sorry I reacted like that. Will you forgive me?" Callie looks at Arizona, ready to see aggravation and is surprised to see only love reflecting back in her eyes.

"Of course," Arizona says reaching over to pull the brunette into her arms. "I love you so much. I wish I could push a button and make her better for you."

"I know. I really am sorry. I love you too," Callie says, pulling back to look at Arizona.

"I know," Arizona says, leaning to give her a kiss.

"I know that it isn't going to be easy. You have no idea how much I appreciate the fact that you will be there with us."

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Now, let's get back to her. Maybe we can watch Finding Dory with her tonight. That sounds like perfect date night with my girls. And, we can order pizza," Arizona says, with a grin.

"Sounds amazing," Callie says, giving Arizona a kiss before they head back to Katie's room for a family date night.