A/N Again, I am so glad that you guys are liking the story. I have been truly overwhelmed. I have to give a big thanks to Roqqstar-with a-Scalpel for being a beta for me. A bitch needs all the help she can get. So here we go again.
Chapter 4
Arizona had gone to her hotel to shower and change clothes. She and Teddy had agreed on dinner tonight, so she wanted to look nice. It would be good for Arizona to get out of the hospital for a while. As she returned to the hospital, and was walking toward Danny's room, she saw Callie standing at a nurses' station on the first floor.
Arizona thought better of it, but instead walked toward Callie. She leaned against the counter where Callie was looking through charts. Callie looked out of the corner of her eye and saw who was standing there. She said nothing and returned to her chart. Arizona knew that she would have to speak first. "So how is he?"
"He's fine. He's awake, but the anesthesia has made him a pretty sick little boy."
"Nice." Callie still hadn't looked at Arizona. "Callie." It almost came out as a whisper. Callie shivered at the sound, but it went unnoticed by the blonde "Can't I at least explain?"
"Explain what, Doctor Robbins?" Arizona huffed at being called by her professional name. "I am your brother's doctor. That is it! I am not someone that you can come in here and make bets on and toy with, then leave. You are a family member of a patient. No more, no less."
"Then why are you so offended?" Arizona said almost harshly.
"I am offended because one the best Pediatric doctors in the country comes through those doors and acts like a high school girl. I am a professional Doctor Robbins and I had assumed you were too. I was obviously wrong. Maybe it's because you deal with children all day that you think it is acceptable for you to behave like one."
"Now wait just a minute. I have been nice to you and that statement is just uncalled for. My job is fifteen times more stressful than yours. When I am not there, I like to have fun. I am always on-call, Callie. I am always the doctor they call in to watch children die. Do you know how that feels? To watch a child, a baby, die day after day? My job is heartbreaking every day of my life. So in my personal life I enjoy laughing and having fun. If that hurt or upset you, I am truly sorry, but don't ever question my job, because that-that I take very seriously, DOCTOR Torres. Danny told you something that we had fun with, but that didn't mean that I intended on hurting you. I would have never done that. And THAT is who I am."
With that, Callie watched Arizona walk off.
Arizona sat waiting on Teddy at the restaurant that Teddy had chosen. She was glad to be out of the hospital. Danny was doing well and she felt comfortable enough with the staff at Seattle Grace Mercy West to trust that her brother was not only in good hands, but wonderful hands. She also knew that she had an ally in Lexie as well. She had been much more impressed with the hospital than she first thought. She was equally impressed to learn that Meredith, her cafeteria escort, was Ellis Grey's daughter and her 'husband', that the doctor in cafeteria had referred to, was actually Derek Sheppard. Arizona had read several articles on both doctors and was amazed at some of the things they had done. She was also surprised to learn that the young man that took her and Danny to Danny's room was the grandson of Harper Avery. More and more Arizona was seeing that this hospital wasn't a joke. These were top notch doctors with full case loads.
Arizona was brought out of her thoughts of admiration when Teddy walked up. Teddy pulled the chair out and offered her apologies. "I am so sorry. My surgery ran late and…."
Arizona stopped her. "It's ok. Believe me. I understand."
Teddy grinned. "Yeah, I guess you do. Have you ordered yet?"
"Just wine." Arizona said as she held up her glass.
The waiter quickly came over and took the order. The meal was spent catching up on research and cases. Teddy was very interested in several of the cases that Arizona had worked on. Arizona was equally interested in hearing about her time spent in Iraq and about the patient she had that was born with a congestive heart disease and had 3 open heart surgeries by age 2.
After spending an hour talking over cases, Teddy changed the subject. "So what about you? What does Arizona do in her life?"
Arizona chuckled. "Not a lot. I mean I date, but my job is so time consuming that it doesn't leave a lot of time for relationships. Plus apparently I act like a child, or so I was told today."
Teddy couldn't help but grin. She had heard about what happened. "She's a good person."
Arizona was surprised that Teddy seemed to know what she was referring to. "You know?"
"In that hospital people talk. People talk a lot. Hell there's a lot to say. Most days it's like a Seattle Grace of our lives to be honest."
"I didn't mean for it to offend her. I really didn't."
"I know. You have to understand Callie to understand the problem. Callie is the person that puts her heart out there. She is the person that goes to a new hospital, meets a resident and runs off to Vegas."
"Wow."
"Yeah. Only for that resident to start sleeping with another resident. That worked under Callie."
"Ouch."
"Yeah. Then there was Hahn. Callie had just recovered from George and Erica just mowed her down again."
"Erica? Erica Hahn? Callie was with Erica Hahn?" Arizona was genuinely shocked.
"Yeah. You know her? I mean obviously you do."
"I am becoming more and more impressed with this hospital. Yeah, I know Erica. She and I have worked on a couple of cases together. You have these wealthy families that demand the best. They fly in Doctors from all over the country to take care of a family member. So Erica and I have worked together in situations like that before."
"Well, what a small world."
"So what happened with Erica? I mean if you don't mind telling me."
"No. No I don't. I mean it's not a secret around the hospital. Erica and Callie were different in a lot of ways. Callie is a free spirit. Erica had to have every planned and organized. That just isn't Callie. Example-Vegas. Callie takes care of patients and Erica practices medicine. You know, like I do, there's a difference. So we had an employee that put her patient over what may have been right and what the medical community would have you do."
"Wait. The employee. Is she the one? The one who cut an LVAD wire?"
"You know about that?"
"Yeah. I mean I worked with Erica a few months ago on a case in Denver and….." Arizona took a deep breathe. "Callie. Callie is the one that stood up for her co-worker and Erica walked away from and didn't look back?" Arizona looked at Teddy as she nodded. "She told me about that. She said that Callie was one of the best things that ever happened to her, but the other patient was hers and she just couldn't get past it."
"Yeah. So Callie was left heartbroken again." Arizona looked ashamed taking another deep breathe. "Callie has sworn off dating of any kind. So when you were flirting with her and calling her Calliope, which she lets NO ONE else by the way, she thought you were really interested. It was a confidence booster. Then when she found out it was all about a bet, which you two do often, she realized that is all it was. A bet."
"Oh god. I never meant to hurt anyone. Especially not her." Arizona ran her finger around the top of her wine glass. "I don't know why, but I just feel that I can talk to you."
"You can."
"Have you ever met someone and just…." Arizona shock her head. "You don't even know them, but all you think about is knowing them more. I am leaving in few days and I really didn't expect for that person, the one we made a bet on, to shake me up within 48 hours." Arizona chuckled.
"Well hell, look at her." Teddy and Arizona laughed. "But I do have to say, that Callie Torres is more than those eyes, that perfect skin, and that mind blowing smile. Not just any one can make cartilage from jello."
"What?" Arizona said almost stunned.
"The woman made cartilage from freakin scratch."
"What?" Arizona chuckled. "She made cartilage?"
"From scratch."
"Wow!"
"See. She's not just another pretty face."
"It's more than that. You can just look in those eyes and just…get lost. And I know that she is an incredible doctor too. But I have to admit that the first time she walked through the door, I almost died. I had to laugh when she almost fell because I was just glad that I was the one still upright." They shared a laugh. "She is breathtakingly stunning." Arizona paused and dropped her head looking at the glass in front of her. "And I hurt her." Arizona sighed again. "I would have never intentionally hurt Callie. Damn it! I need a drink. A real drink."
Teddy smiled and motioned for the waiter to bring the check. "Well I know just the place."
"Damn it, Torres. That is all kinds of brutal." Mark said as he put the glasses on the table.
"I know, right. She has been making me look like an idiot for nothing."
"This drink sucks, Sloan." Cristina announced. "Come on Meredith, let's go find a real drink."
Alex decided that he would now speak on the topic. "She has good boobs."
Everyone looked at him. "Karev, did anyone tell you to talk?" Bailey asked. "We are trying to talk about what an evil, evil person Arizona Robbins is and you are talking about her boobs?"
"Men like boobs and they don't discriminate against jugs and I for one think she's got hot boobs."
"Drink another one, Karev." Derek laughed. "I hate that I haven't seen her yet."
"Me either." April added.
"Don't worry. You will. Just look for the hottest woman ever." Callie said slamming her head against the table.
"Ok, now here is a drink." Callie raised her head and looked at Cristina along with everyone else.
"What the hell is that?" Miranda asked.
"I call it early on set Alzheimer. One drink and you forget everything."
"Don't you think that is a little distasteful." Derek looked at Meredith.
"No I don't. Now drink up." Cristina said as everyone took the entire shot at once.
"Ooooohhhhh God." Callie said shaking her head. "What the hell is that?"
"Can't tell you."
Meredith answered for her. "She can't tell you because she doesn't know. She just went behind the bar and turned up all the bottles."
"Taste the rainbow, bitches!" Cristina shouted.
"I thought mine was really good." Miranda offered.
"Thank you, Bailey. I am glad that someone appreciated my efforts."
"I didn't say that I didn't appreciate it. It just tastes like ass." Callie said pushing the glass away from her.
"Well I am sorry Callie. I wouldn't know cause I don't know what ass tastes like." Cristina turned to April who looked like she could puke. "Oh God, Bambi. You may not need one of those. Someone might deflower you. And we wouldn't want that to happen, now would we?" Cristina grabbed April's glass.
Alex looked at Cristina and April. "Well if someone is going to deflower her over that drink, I'll order her two more."
"Shut it, Karev!" Bailey said as she hit the back of his head. Bailey was now in full slur. "If that girl wants to keep her flower, you leave her alone. She needs a good man to deflower her not someone that was raised out back with the trash cans deflowering everything he could find."
"Sing it!" Callie said with her face pressed against the table.
"Bambi…" Bailey was quickly interrupted.
"Please stop calling me Bambi." April said embarrassed.
"She needs someone like my Ben." Now everyone at the table was looking at Bailey. "I mean you can't have my Ben but you can get your own Ben…who's name may or may not be Ben. And he will deflower you and…"
Cristina interrupted. "Ok, is no one gonna stop her?" There were a couple of "no" and shrugged shoulders. "Ok I will. Hey Hitler, stop talking before you tell us how Bailey got her groove back." Cristina grabbed Callie's hair and pulled her head away from the table until their eyes met. "You look like you need another drink. Don't worry after the last one you shouldn't be able to taste the second."
"I don't want another one." Callie returned her head to the table. "Why did I do this?"
No one said a word.
Then Callie heard Cristina. "Oh yeah, you're gonna need another one."
Callie lifted her head as she saw who was standing in the door way. "Oh God!" Callie slurred and returned her forehead to the table.
"Is that her?" Derek asked.
You could hear Callie's muffled "Yes" from the table.
"Oh she's gonna need two." Derek pushed Callie's head up. "Get your head up, Torres." Derek quickly grabbed the small square napkin that was now stuck to Callie's forehead.
Arizona looked around as Teddy began to wave. Arizona's heart jumped in excitement then sank, at what felt like the same time, as she saw Callie. She followed Teddy to the table full of Seattle Grace doctors. Teddy quickly introduced Arizona to Bailey, April, Mark, Alex and Derek.
"How's your brother?" Meredith asked.
"He's good thank you. Doctor Torres did a wonderful job with him." Arizona said as she looked over at Callie who, to her knowledge, had yet to look up from her hands as she inspected the empty glass in front of her. She did however look at the blue drink that Cristina sat in front of her.
"I said I don't want a drink." Callie pushed the drink away.
Cristina looked at Teddy and Arizona. "Need a drink?"
"Oh God I do." Everyone looked at Arizona as the words came out before she could stop them. Arizona's face flushed as she noticed everyone looking at her.
"Alright, but be careful. We would hate to see you tripping or running into walls." Cristina noticed everyone looking at her with their 'really?' face. "Oh God I didn't mean….Aw, hell. Whatever." Cristina laughed and handed the drink to Arizona. "Well alright then. Here you go."
"What's in it?" Arizona questioned as she raised the glass to eye level and looked at it.
"Secret." Cristina tried to sell to the newest victim. "Drink it down, Hopkins."
Arizona turned the glass up and even Callie was now looking. Callie chuckled as Arizona squinted her eyes and puckered her face. "What in the love of God is in that?"
Everyone laughed at Arizona as she began to blow hard out of her mouth. "Its called early on set Alzheimer."
Arizona knew of Ellis causing her to glance at Meredith then quickly back to Cristina. "Isn't that a little harsh."
"You people just have no respect for creative thinking. I am trying to get a product going and my product needs a name. I had thought of calling it the Torres-Grey method, but decided that was just mean." Cristina felt Callie hit her shoulder very hard. "Ouch! I needed a name!"
Still having her face puckered Arizona offered, "I would go with shit." Arizona's statement got everyone laughing, even Callie.
Everyone had sat there for over two hours drinking, talking and laughing. Callie had yet to say anything to Arizona. Arizona talked to Derek and Meredith about the clinical trials. She was fascinated by it. She had stolen glances at Callie several times, but wasn't looking as the glances came back her way. Miranda watched the gestures like a tennis match. Everyone thought she was intoxicated, but she wasn't. She saw the looks, the deep sighs and the frowns, as their longing stares were unreturned.
They all laughed and joked about cases in the past. Took more shots and toasted achievement. They toasted to Callie fixing Arizona's brother. Anything that was toast worthy, they toasted. Bailey drank anything blue that was still sitting on the table. Arizona, knowing that she would need to go by the hospital, had drank the least, but was defiantly feeling the alcohol.
Callie stood from her chair and grabbed her leather jacket. "Alright, I have to go home. I have an early morning."
"You don't have to be there til noon, Torres." Mark said.
"Shut up, Sloan. Get up and walk me to the building then you can come back."
"I am staying at Owens' tonight, so don't wait up." Cristina told her.
Arizona listened and finally asked her question. "You guys live around here?"
"Yeah next door." Cristina answered knowing Callie wouldn't.
"Wow, that is convenient. Right across the street from the hospital."
"It is."
"Well I really need to get back to the hospital." Arizona looked at Callie. "Since it is just across the street, do you mind if I walk with you?"
"Ummm." Callie didn't know what to say.
"Yeah, would you please. That way I don't have to leave. I am sure that if anyone jumped out, you two could take them."
"Hey I am the daughter and sister of US Marines and I grow up with the name Arizona. I learned to fight young on the playground."
"See you are in good hands." Mark smiled at Callie and raised an eyebrow.
"Do you mind?" Arizona asked.
"No." Callie said very unconvincing.
Arizona would take it. Real or not.
They told everyone goodbye and walked the street to the apartment in silence. Callie stopped in front of a large brick building across from the hospital. "Well this is it."
"Wow, you guys really are just across the street."
"Yep."
Arizona looked at Callie without words for a second until Callie spoke again. "Well I gotta get to bed, so I guess….."
"I'm so sorry. I just wish that you would believe me. My brother almost died over there, Callie. I would do anything just to see a smile on his face. He loves making those silly bets more than anything. I think he does it just in hopes that I win and maybe, just maybe, it leads to something or someone special. He loves me just like I love him and he wants to see me happy. When you walked in and we made that bet, as much as I hate to admit this, that bet never bothered me. I never cared either way. Never worried about what it did to the person in question, because it was never something that led to anything. Now-now I look at you and know that I made a mistake. I screwed up. Because you're the one person that I would love to take on a date and get to know. But you will never believe that. The bet is off. I just really wish this was the one I had turned down. You're a wonderful person, an unbelievable doctor and great friend apparently. I just…I wish I had gotten a chance to met that girl. Obviously without my brother present. Not the one that walked into that room and immediately blew my mind." Callie had yet to say anything so Arizona thought she should go, but before she did she wanted to make sure Callie was ok. "Do me a favor."
"What?"
"When a woman stands in front of you and sees this gorgeous woman and wants more than anything to get to know you, don't always assume it has anything to do with a bet with her silly, big mouthed brother. Assume it's because in just a few short hours, she realized just how amazing you are." Arizona smiled. "Goodnight, Calliope."
"Goodnight." That was all Callie could say. Between the blue drinks of death and that speech, Callie couldn't even move. She watched as Arizona walked across the street to the hospital. As Arizona entered the hospital, Callie finally found her voice. "Well fuck." She quickly turned on her heels and walked away. Not to the apartment, but back to Joe's.