Arizona woke up with an unpleasant feeling as if she was going to die in a minute. She doesn't remember ever feeling like having horses tap dancing in her cerebellum, the queasy feeling the word hangover some people actually experience. It felt like the first time to her. She may have gone overboard with the wine last night, it's either that or she's already getting old and her body couldn't handle the alcohol like she used to.
She stepped out of the bathroom feeling a bit better, she doesn't have a choice, she has 3 surgeries scheduled today, one is scheduled to start in an hour. Stepping back inside her room she saw the beautiful tan woman that was screaming her name just last night, staring at her, smiling, letting her know how satisfied she was.
"Hi." The woman lazily drawled.
"Hello." Arizona said, leaning closer to kiss the guest in her bed. She forgot if she was Dani or Jenny, but the lady knows what she wanted last night, she insisted to get out of the bar where they met, finding it really sexy and hot, she took her home and let her do all the sexy stuff.
Arizona's gotta admit that it was one of the most mind-blowing sex she's ever had without her actually taking the lead. And then it dawned on her, that was it. It was just sex, no emotional connection or feelings involved, just pure lust. She's been going at it for a while and it's already tiring her. She couldn't believe she was actually feeling that way. It must be the hangover talking.
"You wanna grab breakfast?" The naked woman in her bed asked.
"No, I can't. I have surgery in an hour."
"Surgery? You're an actual doctor? Hmnn. Hot." The woman drawled yet again. Arizona just nodded her head before crashing her mouth on the woman, cursing her damn libido for being so weak.
"Are you sure you don't want breakfast?" Her guest said before pulling the sheet that was covering her body, showing Arizona the body she was worshipping last night. Arizona groaned, seeing the woman's perfect breast. She could be a model or something. She could've given in but the doctor in her won.
"I'm sure." She said, pulling herself out of the woman's passionate kiss.
"There's coffee, the mugs are in the cabinet. Oh and uhm..."
"Jenny."
"Jenny, right. Please lock the door when you leave. I gotta go."
"Will I see you again?"
"The universe will tell us."
"I'll leave my number here." The woman winked at her and it didn't feel anything. No heart thumping or cheeks flushing like the ones Callie did to her.
...
"What happened?" One of the older floor nurses asked Colleen, the ortho nurse, who was reviewing a patient's chart in the nurses station.
"She's bitching at me when she found out I was with Dr. Robbins the other night." The nurse whispered, only it was loud enough for Callie and her colleague Miranda, Chief of General Surgery, to hear.
"Oh, you kids." They both saw how the older nurse shook her head.
"Hey Dr. T. Here's the chart for you." Colleen cheerfully handed the chart to the surgeon.
"Thank you. So, you and Dr. Robbins?" Callie couldn't hide the smirk on her face. Poor kids. If only these women know.
"Oh. You heard." Colleen blushed.
"Yeah, you weren't exactly quiet when you called your fellow nurse the b word." Miranda Bailey snapped. Callie just chuckled.
"I'm sorry. I just— I had the best night." The younger nurse almost squealed. Callie made a point to befriend her nurses, she treats the OR like her playground and she believes that the positivity they could create as a team could radiate to the patient's healing process. Her team of nurses actually love being under the Ortho wing of the hospital, Colleen being one of them.
"Yeah. Must be really great." Callie commented with full sarcasm.
"Has she called you back yet?" The older nurse asked.
"Who?"
"Dr. Robbins of course!" Seeing the younger woman's face pale made Callie and Miranda laugh.
"She's a female Mark Sloan. One day, I won't be surprised if there'll be no female nurses who would want to work with Robbins." Miranda commented.
"I don't get it. You guys already know she will dump you the next day but you still date her." Callie said.
"Oh Dr. Torres, trust me, if you go out with her just once, you'll know why we go crazy like this. Just one date and she'll change the game for you." Colleen said dreamily making Callie chuckle.
"Oh we did." She plainly said making Miranda look at her in shock.
"You?!" Colleen asked.
"Yeah. And she totally, totally changed the game for me. I'm back to dating men." Callie said making Miranda laugh.
"Oh... you clearly didn't have sex with her." Colleen answered.
"What?" Callie asked surprised.
"Ms. Colleen, we're in a hallway, inside a hospital full of patients." Bailey reacted in unison with Callie.
"You see, that's like what this is all about." Colleen started explaining.
"Why does it sound like an achievement if you sleep with Arizona? Is she giving a badge for it?" Callie laughed, she's now confused.
"Achievement? It's like, THE goal! Oh I could still feel her inside me."
"Woah! No! We're close, but not that close Colleen. Go make yourself useful and prep OR 2 for Dr. Wilson's hip ORIF surgery."
"Will do and I'm just saying." The ortho nurse said laughing before leaving.
"I'm an old lady and I am disappointed with this generation!" Callie added, her voice loud enough for some of the other nurses to hear, making them laugh at her comment.
"God forbid I have a daughter and she starts talking like that, I'm gonna whip her ass back to kindergarten." Miranda hissed making Callie chuckle.
"Hi Dr. Bailey. Dr. Torres." She felt her heart racing when she heard her favorite resident's voice.
"Hey Dr. O'Malley." Miranda noticed the change in Callie's voice, it was definitely higher pitched than normal.
"Uhm, Dr. Torres I just wanted to ask about this scan. I'm not sure if it's an oblique fracture or a spiral fracture of the radius." Callie's eyebrow raised. He's not really asking this first grader question. Seeing Miranda's suspicious look, she played along with him.
"Oh okay. How many views do we have here" she said taking the scans in her hand. "There, you see how the fractured diagonal line just ran straight?" She said pointing at the scan and leaning her body towards Dr. O'Malley. "This is a case of a closed displaced oblique fracture of the radius. Now if it's spiral, one part of the bone should appear twisted, and I don't see any signs of it." Callie explained, George nodded his head pretending as if he just learned the most complicated topic.
"Thank you Dr. Torres. Oh and..." before saying his last words, he leaned in closer to Callie's ear so no once could hear what he told her.
"Would you wanna grab an early dinner with me? I heard you just kicked your six hour surgery in the ass. Cafeteria at 7? You must be hungry." The awkward resident asked. This is what Callie enjoys with George. It's young, fresh and awkward. Nothing too complicated, just simply fun and romantic. Maybe she really just miss the basic dating game, one where it doesn't mean you have to have sex at the end of every date. One where just laying in bed talking is already fun itself. That's what George is offering her.
Callie tried to hide her blush, she knew she was caught by Bailey when the shorter woman cleared her throat.
"Old lady huh? More like highschooler. What are you doing giggling at a fourth year resident asking about fracture that they should've already learned first year of med school?"
"He just needed a refresher."
"Refresh— that's like a common case at the ER! Hold on. Are you dating my resident?" Miranda asked in shock.
"He's not your resident."
"You're dating O'Malley?" Bailey almost cracked up.
"Okay seriously, that's offensive. He's great! He respects me."
"Of course he does! You're his boss." Bailey mocked.
"Okay. Not funny."
Callie got cut off when both of their pagers beeped.
"911. Emergency." Miranda read. "Fatal car crash." The shorter woman added.
"Great. No dinner then." Callie said under her breath.
"What do we have Hunt?" Callie asked Owen Hunt, Head of Trauma.
"Where's Arizona?" The tall red head surgeon asked refusing to answer Callie.
"What? I don't know, I'm not her keeper. Go ask the nurses." Callie trued joking but her face stayed straight when Owen didn't even smile at the joke, which was unusual for him. "Why?" She asked, suddenly feeling bad because maybe, just maybe, the ones in the accident are related to the Peds surgeon.
"She had three surgeries today. She's dead batt. I'll take over." Karev answered.
"She's still finishing her surgery so she sent Karev instead." The doctor behind Callie whom she didn't notice coming, added.
"It's that bad? You need two from my team." The head of ortho asked after seeing her attending.
"No. No Callie. We only need Dr. Lincoln on these cases. And Karev, we didn't actually page for peds, were paging Dr. Robbins—Arizona, herself." Hunt couldn't even look at the questioning glare of the Ortho surgeon.
"Oh. Okay. Then why page me?" Callie felt offended.
"I just thought you need to..."
"Just tell me Hunt." She has to cut him off. She knew something's up.
"Mark and Teddy were in the crash."
She felt like her world was spinning when she was put to the side as the EMT gurneyed both of her friends down to each trauma rooms. Dr. Hunt and Dr. Kepner worked side by side to save the lives of their colleagues, two of the best surgeons Seattle was blessed to have. Although deemed impossible, given the extent of injuries, everyone from each department are giving their best.
It was when she heard Mark was crashing that she pushed everybody on hand and gave her best friend chest compressions.
"What's— what's happening? How did this happen? Mark... Mark don't die on us, Mark. You hear me?" She kept going, luckily it worked as Mark's heart came back with a pulse.
"Is there, is there any news with Sophie? Is she, is she—" she doesn't even know who she was asking. Her body was like a robot, doing what every doctor does in times of patients crashing. Sometimes it doesn't even need thinking anymore, it just comes natural to you. Push one of epi, charge to 200, clear. It just comes out automatically.
"Callie, I want you to step outside so we could all work on him. You don't have to see this. We will do our best to save Mark. You stay out there, the police are on their way, they could answer your questions." Owen respectfully pulled Callie over to the side.
"Okay. Okay. But please don't close the door I wanna hear everything please. I will check on Teddy too." She begged. Her tears free flowing from her eyes. Her body was shaking.
"He's crashing again!" One of the doctor's shouted. Callie stepped aside, she wanted to check Teddy too but her bestfriend is crashing.
Watching as everyone on the floor give their best to save Mark, she felt helpless. She wanted her hands on him. She wanted to save him but she couldn't. He brain is too clouded with emotion and fear. She couldn't lose him yet.
"Time of death 19:04."
"Wha-what? No! No! No!" She ran inside the room again. This time no one's stopping him. Owen was kind enough to support her as she crashed her body on Mark.
"Mark, No. No. Please wake up, Mark please. Teddy needs you. Sophia needs you. I still need you, Mark please. This isn't funny. Please." She said through her tears but with no luck, Mark never answered back.
"Callie, Teddy's in the other room, I'll go check what's happening." Owen said so Callie would let go of him, nodding her head, she let go and followed the surgeon. She stayed outside Teddy's room as per Owen's order. Her hand resting on the glass window where she could watch what was being done to her friend. She wanted as much to hold Teddy and save her too but again she felt helpless.
When she heard Teddy flatlined she couldn't help but close her eyes. "Oh God, no, not again, please." She whispered. Sending a silent thank you when she heard her sats back after the resuscitation.
"I'm here. I'm here Callie. What do you need?" She saw George running towards her, by his reaction she knew that he already knows what was happening. She wanted to tell him that all she needs is for him to hold her and tell her that everything's gonna be okay but her mind and her heart were traitors.
"I need... I need Arizona." It just came out automatically, as if her brain really knows what she needs.
"Okay, I will get her. I need you stay here and breathe. Okay?!" George followed suit.
After a few minutes, she already felt her forehead numb against the cold glass window. She was sending a silent prayer for the heavens to save Teddy.
"Callie. Callie what happened. They said there was a car crash and Mark and Teddy." Arizona was still wearing her scrub cap as she run towards Callie. Callie wanted to crash her body towards the blonde and just cry but decided not to when she saw the puzzled look and tears on her.
"They're trying to save her now." Callie tried answering without breaking down.
"And Mark?" Arizona asked, the brunette just shook her head. That was when Callie started to weep again, and that was enough answer for Arizona
"No. No Oh my God no." The blonde said as she pulled her srub cap off, her messy blonde hair falling over her tear stricken face.
"Push one of epi. I'm going in. Clear!" It was Kepner's voice that shook both women's soul. When she heard a flatline, Arizona felt her heart die.
"Time of death—"
"No! No you will not call it! Teddy! Teddy!" Arizona jumped in to give her friend manual compressions.
"Dr. Robbins, you're just putting more damage on her body—"
"Altman! You have to wake up, I still need you! Please! Please wake up for me, for Sophie. Please. Teddy, please" Arizona cried.
"Time of death, 19:10." The trauma doctor called.
Arizona stepped out of the trauma room feeling empty. It was when she saw Callie sitting on the floor right outside Teddy's room shaking that she felt the need to be the stronger one. Her knees wobbled when she reached for Callie. Her arm stretched to grab the latina's body, enclosing it with hers.
"Shh...shhh." She whispered over Callie's ears. She has nothing to say to comfort her friend. Yes, they're friends now. She will make sure that they are friends now. They will need each other to face this reality.
"This is... this is one of their pranks right? They're just playing with us. They're gonna wake up in a minute and tell us it's a-it's a prank." The brunette whispered.
"I wish it is. I wish." Arizona whispered back giving Callie a kiss on her head.
"Ms.Torres?" Both women look up at the police officer. "And I am hoping you are Ms. Robbins." Arizona nodded and stood up, pulling the woman beside her up as well.
"I am Officer Young, I found both of your names and numbers on both of their insurance cards. Now we need numbers for the nearest next of kin. Can you supply those?" Callie's face was blank, after a few silence Arizona decided to answer.
"Yeah. Teddy's Grandma—How did... how did this happen?"
"It's a case of a drunk driver gone bad. His car hit their car, their car flipped and it hit—"
"It flipped." Arizona repeated. Callie who was clinging on her side was just listening.
"Ms. Torres, Ms. Robbins, I guess we should take a seat—"
"They have—they have a baby girl. Sophie. Was she in the car?" Callie asked not listening to the officer.
"No. She was in the care of a minor. A babysitter, at the time of the accident."
"Oh thank God. Can we—can we take her? We're her godparents." Callie spoke.
"We placed her at CPS for the night. She's perfectly fine and well taken care of."
"CPS?!" Callie panicked.
"Child protective services."
"We know what CPS means." Arizona snapped.
"I'm sorry Ma'am. It's protocol for cases like this."
"Cases like this?" Arizona asked.
"Orphaned children." The police officer said making everything that happened seem true.
"Arizona." Was all Callie could utter.
When the officer left them, both women just remained silent. It was when two sets of tired eyes met that Arizona felt the world crashing on her. She held the bottom of Callie's scrub suit, gripping it as she pulled the latina closer to her. She let all her tears out, it was now her turn to cry. Callie enveloped the blonde who was breaking down on her, she has to hold her or else, she's pretty sure Arizona would melt down on the floor.
The world really is tricky. They both just wanted to get through their surgeries today and probably share a dinner with their respective dates, but instead here they are standing in the middle of the ER as if their life depended on how long they could cling on each other.
Mark and Teddy are gone. Their best friends are dead.