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 4 – A Not So Good Friday

Thursday, April 9, 2020

If they thought the first two weeks of the pandemic were bad, the next two weeks proved to be horrific. With almost ten thousand new cases and hundreds of people dying every day, the hospitals in the city were overwhelmed. It was just like Bailey had told them. The COVID tsunami had hit them and if felt like it was never going to end.

The couple tried to keep a routine but their day-to-day was dominated by their work at the hospital. It seemed that no sooner than they were in their hotel room that they were getting up to go back to work. They'd get up early and eat a hearty breakfast provided by the hotel (they never knew when they'd get a chance to eat during the day), board the bus, also provided by the hotel, and then work for twelve or more hours. The loss of lives were weighing heavily on both of the women but they soldiered on, knowing that there was nothing else they could do.

The one bright spot in the day was when they got to facetime Sofia, Barbara, Daniel and Nicole. It had become impossible to connect every day, but they did their best to call every other day. For Sofia, they put on their best faces. They didn't want her to be worried about her moms and they had strict instructions for Barbara and the Colonel to make sure Sofia didn't watch the news.

It warmed their hearts to know that Sofia seemed to be thriving while living with her grandparents. Barbara Robbins had set up a schedule, believing that a routine was best. Every morning Sofia had schoolwork. The four of them shared lunch every day, and the afternoons there was always something to keep her entertained. One or two days a week, they sewed masks for the local hospitals and for their friends, or they'd bake bread or cookies. If the weather was bad, Sofia could be found curled up with a book. She helped her grandfather with his garden and every evening, weather permitting, the household would go for a walk around the neighborhood, masks in place.

Twice a week, Barbara would email what she called "progress reports" to Callie and Arizona. They were filled with chatty notes on what Sofia was studying and how well she was doing. Nicole had taken it upon herself to help Sofia with her schoolwork. Barbara had been hesitant at first, but her emails were soon filled with praise for the doctor.

As Callie and Arizona climbed into bed after another grueling shift, Arizona opened her laptop. She scrolled through the emails, finding the latest from her mother.

"Mom sent another email," she said, reading through it quickly.

"Anything new?"

"Mom found the boxes with my old Nancy Drew collection and Sofia's started reading through them, in order of course."

Callie laughed. "She kept them?"

"All of them and Tim's Hardy Boys collection. Sofia said she was going to read those, too."

"Sounds like she's having a good time, there." Callie's tone bordered on sadness. As relieved that Callie was that Sofia was happy and seem to be adjusting to living with her grandparents, Callie missed her and was sad to be missing out on so much.

Arizona read more of the email. "Oh, she started PT with my dad every other morning, and she runs the last mile with him when he does his three mile jog."

"Well, she gets that from you. No way I'd be running and doing calisthenics, especially in the morning."

"She and the Colonel also thanked you for the money, but said it wasn't necessary. What's she talking about?"

"Oh, I sent them a check for groceries and anything else they needed. They're feeding two more people."

"Well, apparently they were already well-supplied. My dad is a big believer in having ample stored goods, even before COVID. When I first called them about sending Sofia and Nicole down there, Mom said there was plenty of food. My dad got a side of beef and half a hog last fall. You know that big freezer, the one that's about the size of a coffin?"

"It's in the basement?"

"Yes. That's full of meat and frozen vegetables. And of course, my mom canned veggies from their garden."

"I'll miss having Easter with your folks this year," Callie sighed wistfully. "Your mom makes the best Easter dinner."

"Nicole told me the other night that she thinks mom's cooking is the best she's ever had and is afraid she's going to get fat." Arizona closed her laptop and set it on the nightstand. "I'm surprised Nicole's enjoying down home cooking. I would've thought she'd be missing those fancy dinners she always used to have."

"Wait 'til she has Easter dinner. She's in for a real treat." Callie turned reached over and turned off the bedside lamp. "I pride myself on my cooking, but your mom is the best."

"She's thrilled every single time you tell her that." She snuggled up next to Callie. "Speaking of families…"

"What?"

"How is your family doing? This has got to be hitting the business hard with all the travel restrictions and people in lockdown."

"It's fine."

"How? All those empty hotels and resorts can't be good for business. They're talking about bailing out the travel industry."

"Well, before you came to New York, my dad semi-retired. Aria is pretty much running the company. She and my father sold off most of the hotels and resorts. Made a huge profit, too. They kept a few here in the US, like Seattle, LA, Chicago… um, DC, here, Boston and of course, Miami. I think the only ones overseas are the flagship hotels in London, Paris, Milan and Barcelona."

"Wow!"

"Yeah, there's only one resort in Hawaii left. Oh, and one in Costa Rica, I think." Callie smiled. "The family is not hurting for money, that's for sure."

"Are they staying safe?" Arizona asked worriedly.

"Yeah, it's driving my mom crazy that she and dad are spending so much time together," Callie laughed.

"Thank goodness the Colonel retired a few years ago so my parents have had time to adjust to all that 'togetherness'. She kissed Callie lovingly on the lips.

"Maybe when this 'craziness' is over, we could take a trip to one of the family's resorts."

"That sounds like a plan. Maybe just the two of us?"

"You read my mind," Callie said, spooning Arizona.

"Goodnight, Calliope. I love you."

"Love you, too."

Friday, April 10, 2020

For four grueling weeks, Penny Blake had worked the same shifts and same unit as Arizona Robbins (or as Penny referred to 'my ex-girlfriend's ex-wife'). She'd wanted to hate the blonde, or even dislike her, but she couldn't. After grumbling to her current girlfriend, Rita, when she'd first been assigned, Penny resigned herself to her fate.

It had seemed like such a good idea when Callie had moved to New York to have her work at the same hospital. They were thrilled to have the renowned Dr. Torres on their staff. Penny had daydreamed at first of them being the power couple at the hospital. And then they'd broken up. Arizona Robbins had moved to New York, and joined the staff as a part-time peds surgeon and the hospital had become the place for her to do her fetal surgeries. Penny had briefly thought about finding a job at another hospital, but then she'd met Rita and decided to stay. It wasn't like she'd see either Robbins or Callie as they had totally different specialties. With the pandemic, it was just her luck that she'd been assigned to work with Robbins and she was totally prepared to hate her.

What she didn't expect to happen was that she actually liked Arizona. She'd learned more about patient care in those four weeks than she had in all of her residency. Despite the stress and urgency of treating the dozens of patients that came through their unit, Arizona was gentle and caring with each one as best as she could under the circumstances. Penny lost count of how many times she saw her talking on a phone with a patient's family, or holding their hand so they wouldn't be alone when they died. It didn't take her long, but Penny found herself modeling her own patient care after the older woman.

She looked up from a chart and saw Rita approaching. Rita was an ICU nurse, a few years older than Penny. She'd been assigned to a different floor altogether (ironically, she was now working with Callie) and it was currently a rarity that they saw one another during the day.

"Hey, there," Rita greeted Penny. "Can you take a break for lunch?"

"I'm not sure. Let me check."

The red-headed doctor spotted Arizona leaning against the nurse's station, scribbling in a chart.

"Dr. Robbins, can I take a quick break for lunch?"

Arizona looked at her watch and realized how late it was. "Sure. Go while you can," she said to both of the women.

"Do you want anything?"

"Maybe a protein bar, if there's any left, and a large coffee. Thanks."

The two women quickly walked to the nearest breakroom. There were still several wrapped individual pizzas still available from earlier in the day, and they were grateful to find them.

"Glad to see you've got food left on your floor," Rita said as she wiped down the microwave before sticking her pizza in. "We're pretty much out."

"Thank God we get fed at the hotel."

"I agree, and the food there is really good." The microwave shut off. "Though I'm not complaining about the pizza. At this point in the day, I'd eat a cardboard box, I'm so hungry."

After cleaning off a table with disinfectant wipes, the couple sat down to eat. Rita watched her girlfriend as she slowly chewed, seemingly lost in thought, almost as if she was pondering something. Suddenly Penny's eyes widened.

"Oh my God," she blurted. "I have a crush on Dr. Robbins."

Rita laughed out loud. "You and half the nursing staff."

"No, no," Penny stuttered. "Not like that." Penny looked embarrassed.

Rita patted the younger woman's hand. "I know. You've got a professional crush on her."

"She's just… she's an amazing doctor."

"I know. From what you've told me after working with her, and the other nurses, I can understand why."

"It's just weird. My ex-girlfriend's ex-wife."

Rita laughed gently. "Don't worry about it. Just be glad you're working with a good doctor. Torres and I have been stuck with several first years. We've spent a lot of our time training them."

"You're right, you're right," the redhead agreed.

Rita glanced at the clock. "We should probably get back to work."

They finished up their pizza and cleaned up. Penny grabbed a couple of protein bars and poured a large cup of coffee. She tossed several sugar packets in her pocket. After working the past few weeks with Arizona, she knew the older woman liked her coffee sweet.

As they headed back down the hall, Rita stopped Penny.

"Can you do me a favor?" Penny nodded. "Keep an eye on Dr. Robbins."

"What? Rita, you know I don't –"

Rita cut her girlfriend off. "No, not like that. Just… she didn't look so good."

"She's just tired like the rest of us."

"Probably, but still," the nurse persisted.

"Okay."

Two hours later

Callie was exhausted but at least she was starting to feel better about the first years working with her. Two of them actually showed some promise. She chuckled to herself as thought about how they reminded her of Cristina and Alex as interns. Not much bedside manner, but good skills. She supposed she could overlook their attitudes to some extent, considering most of their patients were unconscious. She tried repeatedly, however, to curb the worst of their manners.

The sound of footsteps rapidly approaching her pulled Callie away from her thoughts. When she spotted Penny, Callie reflexively looked around for the redhead's girlfriend. Rita was nowhere in sight. When Penny stopped in front of her, Callie felt her blood chill.

"Callie," Penny said softly.

"No," Callie gasped, shaking her head slowly from side to side. "No."