Title: Frontlines
Author: captstarbuck
Rating: T
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Disclaimers: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual. (I don't own any of the characters from Grey's Anatomy.
Summary: My take on Callie and Arizona in NYC at the time the pandemic hit
Editor/Beta: pensco_927
Frontlines
Chapter 3 – What Can We do?
Saturday, March 14, 2020
Callie followed the skycap down the hallway as he pushed a cart loaded with three large suitcases and two smaller ones. Trailing behind her was Arizona and Nicole, with Sofia skipping beside them.
"Wait'll you see Abuelos's plane," Sofia said excitedly.
"Sofia," Arizona warned.
"Oh, yeah, you can't see it. I forgot," the young girl apologized. "I'm sorry." She hung her head for a moment, then lifted it, a smile back on her face. "I can tell you all about it."
"What are you getting me into, Robbins?" Nicole half-whispered. "Too much perkiness is going to kill me."
"You'll be fine. My father's a bit of a grump, just like you."
"The plane is white with a big gold and black 'T' on the tail," Sofia narrated. "There's a gold and black stripe from the front of the plane to the back."
"How big is this plane, Robbins?"
"It seats twenty, I think. There's a fully stocked bar, a TV, even some seats that can be turned into beds. The interior is all custom wood with leather seats."
"Fully stocked bar? My favorite part so far."
"It's ten-thirty in the morning, Nicole, and it's not a very long flight."
"Spoil sport," Nicole groused.
As they went through the doors out to the tarmac, Sofia took her Mama's hand.
"Take my arm," Arizona said to Nicole. "It's noisy out here, and there's lots to be careful about."
The foursome walked out to the plane and boarded it.
"There's two pilots and a flight attendant should you need anything," Arizona explained.
"I'll be fine," Nicole responded with a wave of her hand,
Callie stood in front of Sofia, before hugging her tightly. "You be good for Grandma and Grandpa, okay?"
"I will, Mama."
"They'll need your help and so will Nicole."
"I'm a big girl, Mama. I can do this."
Callie hugged her again. "We'll miss you so much, Sofia."
"I'll miss you, too."
As Callie continued with her goodbyes to her daughter, Arizona helped Nicole find a seat near Sofia.
"Take care of yourself, Nicole. We'll keep in touch as often as we can."
"You'd better." The tall woman cleared her throat. "Robbins… Arizona."
Arizona couldn't recall a time Nicole had ever called her by her first name, and she was stunned.
"Robbins," Nicole began once more. "Keep safe."
"I will. We will."
"I can't have anything happening to my protégé," she said, trying to pass it off as not a big deal.
"You take care of yourself, too. Try not to kill my family," she added with a small laugh.
"Not going to make any promises," Nicole teased back.
"Catch you in a few," Arizona said, suddenly giving Nicole a hug, startling the older woman. Before Nicole could answer back with some sort of dismissive, sarcastic remark, Arizona slipped away to make her own goodbyes with her daughter.
Nicole sensed someone else nearby. "Torres?"
"Right here," Callie answered.
"You take care of her," Nicole ordered. "And yourself. You're the closest thing to a family that I have."
"I will."
Ten minutes later, the couple left the plane, waving when they got to the terminal.
"Do you think we're doing the right thing?" Arizona asked, doubts suddenly filling her mind. She'd finally gotten to a point where she could handle Sofia being away for a few days, but this was different. She had no idea how long they'd be apart.
"Yes, but I hate that we have to do it," Callie replied, her eyes filling with tears. "But she'll be safe, and well taken care of, and she loves your parents."
Arizona wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes. "I just hope Nicole and the Colonel don't kill each other before this is all over," she said with a small chuckle.
Friday, March 27, 2020
Hand in hand, Callie and Arizona walked through the lobby of the Archfield-New York. Even though Callie was oblivious to it, Arizona noticed that all of the employees, from the manager to the front desk on down to the cleaning staff all seemed to straighten up whenever they saw the brunette. There was no doubt that they all knew who Callie was. Arizona was proud to admit that even though Callie had been born and raised in wealth and privilege, she was still gracious and friendly with all of the employees.
The two women had been staying at the hotel for a week. For the first week they'd tried to maintain some sense of routine by going home to their apartment every night, but that had proved to be more trouble than they'd thought. It was hard to find time to order groceries and cook after working twelve to fourteen hours every day. After speaking with her father, Carlos had decided to open up his hotel to hospital staff who didn't want to go home and risk infecting their families and to out-of-town doctors and nurses who were arriving to help.
Once in the elevator, Arizona leaned her head against Callie's shoulder.
"Rough day?" Callie asked.
"Aren't they all?" Arizona replied with a small, sad smile, then she sighed. "I'm just tired and sad."
"What happened today?" Callie asked as the rode the elevator up to the twenty-fifth floor. Their room wasn't the best room in the hotel, but it was a large suite and top-of-line.
"I got pulled into OB to deliver a baby. Both attendings were in surgery for C-sections, and a patient came in and they needed me."
"Are they okay?" Callie was almost hesitant to ask about the outcome.
"Yes, thank goodness. The baby was a few weeks early, but will be fine. It's just that the mother had to deliver her baby with only staff to hold her hand. The fathers or wives or whomever aren't allowed in the hospital. It should've been the happiest day of her life, and she was alone."
"That sucks," Callie agreed as the elevator door opened to their floor.
"And to top it off, three patients in my ward died today. Three! And we had five more that had to go on ventilators."
"I'm sorry, honey," Callie said, rubbing Arizona's back.
"Other than mass casualties, I haven't ever lost three patients in one day."
Callie removed her hand and took down the flyer on the door.
"What's on the menu tonight?" the blonde asked as she opened the door.
"Oooh, they must have an overstock from a cancelled event. They probably have to use it up."
"What is it?"
"The specials are lobster and scallops."
"Yum."
"What do you want?"
"Can we get an order of both and share?" Arizona suggested as she took off her mask.
"Absolutely." Callie set her bag down and took off her mask. "I'll call it in. Do we have any wine left?"
"Enough. We'll get some more tomorrow."
The couple had plans to go to their apartment, catch up on their laundry and replenish their supply of alcohol.
"Is it to later to call Sofia?"
"I texted my mom earlier and let her know we were late. She texted back and said that they'd speak with us tomorrow. It is Harry Potter night, after all."
As Callie called in their dinner order, Arizona flopped down on the sofa and picked up the remote and turned on the television. A local channel was playing a clip from in front of one of the hospitals.
"No news!" Callie snapped as she hung up the phone. "I'm living the fucking news right now. I don't want to see one minute of how bad it is, or what's happening. I just… I just need a break from all of it."
"Movie? Weather Channel? HGTV? Food Network?"
"How about we leave it off?"
"Okay," Arizona agreed, shutting it off. "I have a suggestion." Arizona stood up and walked over to Callie. She put her hands on Callie's hips and gently pulled the taller women close.
"What?" Callie asked warily as she wrapped her arms around Arizona and hugged her.
"Why don't we have a nice quiet dinner and then soak in that nice, big spa tub?"
"That sounds like a great idea." She tilted her head down and gave Arizona a small kiss.
"I have a few every now and then." Arizona returned the kiss. "Maybe you'll even get lucky tonight," she whispered.
"That's an even better idea," Callie grinned.
The blonde withdrew her arms, took Callie's hand in hers and led her to the sofa. "While we wait for dinner, why don't you tell me about your day? Something's clearly bothering you, more than the usual day-to-day stuff."
"Wine first."
"I'll get us both a glass," Arizona offered. She knew that Callie had snapped at her earlier because something was troubling her. She hoped that Callie would tell her, that she would feel better if she did.
"What happened today?" Arizona asked once they were both seated on the sofa, each with a glass of wine in hand.
Six hours earlier
Callie exited a patient's room to see a nurse hurrying down the hall. The nurse stopped when she saw Callie.
"Dr. Torres, do you know someone who speaks Spanish? I've been trying to find someone for the past fifteen minutes that's available."
"I do. What's up, Jackie?"
"We've got a patient that came into the ER that we're pretty sure has COVID and she's refusing to let us examine her or treat her."
"I've got a few minutes."
"Thank you," the nurse said gratefully.
Callie followed the nurse down to the ER. Gurneys lined the hallways, filled with patients waiting to be admitted. It reminded Callie of a war zone, or as if some sort of mass casualty event had occurred.
There was no mistaking the patient that Nurse Jackie was referring to. An older Hispanic woman was pushing away anyone who tried to help her. She was gasping for breath and her tone of voice was pleading.
"What's her name?" Callie asked as she approached the women.
"Rivera. Carmela Rivera."
"Sra. Rivera, cálmese. Soy el Dr. Torres y estoy aquí para ayudarlo. ¿Qué pasa?" Callie asked, her voice gentle. [Mrs. Rivera, calm down. I'm Dr. Torres and I'm here to help you. What's wrong?]
"Mi nieto ... mi nieto ... está solo ... no pudo venir conmigo ... solo tiene siete años ... por favor ... está solo." [My grandson ... my grandson ... he's alone ... he couldn't come with me ... he's only seven ... please ... he's alone.]
"Conseguiré a alguien de los Servicios Sociales para que ayude a su nieto, pero primero debe permitirnos que lo ayudemos." [I will get someone from Social Services to help your grandson, but you have to let us help you first.]
Mrs. Rivera calmed down enough for Callie and Jackie to examine her. "She needs to be admitted, ASAP," Callie said as she wrote in the chart. "And someone get hold of Social Services.""Right away, Dr. Torres."
Callie gave the woman a smile. "¿Cómo se llama tu nieto?" [What is your grandson's name?]
"Ricardo."
"What happened after that?" Arizona asked. "How is the grandmother?"
"Mrs. Rivera… I don't think she's going to make it. She got bad really quickly. When I checked on her before I left, she was already on a vent."
"Oh, no," Arizona sighed, then she squeezed Callie's hand to comfort her. "What about Social Services? Did you speak with them?"
"Twice. Apparently, his mother is dead and the father is long gone. They're not sure what they can do. He has no family and they can't put him into foster care right away because he has to be quarantined for two weeks." Callie sighed heavily. "And you know he's not the only kid who's gonna end up in this position. How many others are being raised by a single parent or grandparent? COVID is hitting the older population hard."
"What do you want to do? What can we do?"
"I don't know. I don't know if there's anything we can do." Callie hung her head and rubbed her eyes. "It just makes me miss Sofia more and realize how lucky we are that she has a place to go, that she has family."
Arizona had no doubts that Callie and her big heart would find a way to help these children.