AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I'm back with another update! Thank you all for all of your amazing reviews from last chapter. I know it was hard to read, but I am pleased to see that you are all still liking the story!

Hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

Chapter 8

Callie and Arizona had spent the rest of the night like living zombies. While they were there physically, their minds were elsewhere wondering about Briley. Each woman was paged a few times for their respective specialties, but nothing was serious, just as they had expected for a calm Tuesday night. Their idle hands caused the night to drag on, leaving them a lot of time to wallow in their thoughts.

After checking in on all of her surgical patients for the tenth time that night, Arizona eventually retreated to the safety of her office. She had too much on her mind to sleep, and felt too nauseous to eat anything. She was all caught up on her filing and charting, so she just sat on her couch with her feet up on the coffee table. She rested her head in her hands and sighed in defeat. She tried her best not to let her mind wander off too much, but it proved to be difficult.

Little did Arizona know, Callie was experiencing nearly the same mixture of boredom and sadness as she was. The pit in her stomach was growing bigger with each minute that passed. She had been paged a couple of hours ago for an incoming MVC, and went to the OR with April and Casey for a quick procedure to put pins in the elbow of her patient. Even during the relatively simple and routine surgery, she couldn't bring herself to focus on the task at hand.

"Torres, you good?" April had asked during the operation. "I have Parker, so we're good here if you need to go."

Even beneath her multicolored floral scrub cap and surgical mask, Callie could see the concerned look on the redhead's face.

Callie shook her head, attempting to snap herself out of whatever funk she was in.

"No. I'm good," Callie had replied.

She had finished up her surgery, silently scrubbed out, and wandered around the hospital looking for her wife. She knew that she would find comfort in being in the presence of someone experiencing the same heavy heart as she was feeling.

When Callie didn't see Arizona on the maternal-fetal floor or in the NICU, she had a feeling that she was hiding out in the privacy of her own office. Callie couldn't blame her for wanting to be alone in a time like this.

When she approached the closed office door, she hesitated a second before she brought herself to knock.

"Come in," was Arizona's toneless reply.

Callie quietly entered the room, and Arizona made room for Callie beside her on the couch. Arizona stared straight ahead as Callie sat down. Callie tucked a piece of blonde hair that had become loose from Arizona's braid behind her ear. Arizona hardly noticed. Eventually, she broke the deafening silence in the room.

"I hate this," Arizona stated. "This desolate, empty, unsure feeling."

Callie nodded understandingly. She felt the exact same way.

"I haven't felt a… grief like this since…" Callie's voice drifted off as she tried to think back. "Since Mark was on life support. And you were dying of the infection. And I had nowhere else to go except back and forth between your rooms."

Arizona's heart sank hearing the pain in Callie's voice as she shared the memory.

Checking her watch, Callie noticed that their seemingly everlasting marathon shift was nearly over. She could see the first rays of sunlight shining through the crack in the shades that covered the small office window.

"What do you say we get outta here a little early and see Sofia before she hops on the bus?" Callie offered.

For the first time all night, she saw a small smile appear on Arizona's tired face.

"I'd like that," she replied.

Callie stood up, extending a hand out to help Arizona up.

Arizona smiled gratefully at her wife's thoughtfulness, and reached out, taking Callie's hand in hers.

Arizona grabbed a zip-up Grey + Sloan Memorial Hospital sweatshirt off of her desk chair and zipped it up as Callie held the office door open for her. Following Arizona out, Callie shut off the light before letting the door close shut behind her.

Though they only live about ten minutes from the hospital, the drive home felt like an eternity. The ride was mostly silent until Callie turned on to their street. Arizona placed her hand on Callie's right thigh. Callie glanced over at her to see what was up.

"Let's not… tell Sofia. About Briley. Not yet," Arizona said. She swallowed and her big blue eyes widened.

Callie nodded in agreement.

"Of course. We won't say anything until we have good news. Or at least until we know more."

Arizona nodded, taking in a sigh of relief as Callie pulled into their driveway.

When they unlocked the front door and let themselves inside, they found Sofia sitting at the kitchen counter eating breakfast. Sofia's face lit up when she saw them.

"You're home!" She exclaimed, leaving her half-eaten bowl of cereal as she jumped up to run and give her mothers good morning hugs. She hadn't expected that she would see them before she went off to school.

"We wanted to give you a kiss before you left for the day," Callie told her, looking over to Arizona to second her statement.

Arizona snapped out of the daze she was in. She smiled and nodded.

"Right," she confirmed.

"Well, you're just in time," Sofia said as she noticed the yellow school bus pull up outside the house through the window. She swung her backpack over her shoulder as she kissed Callie and Arizona before running out the front door.

"Pay attention in class! Make good choices! Love you!" Callie called after her as the door slammed shut.

Callie and Arizona set their bags at the bottom of the staircase and headed upstairs to their bedroom. They quickly changed into loungewear and headed to bed. Over the years, going to bed at 7 AM had become a frequent occurrence that they had become accustomed to. Usually, it was easy to drift off after such a long overnight shift. Not today.

Callie and Arizona assumed their usual sleeping roles, with Callie as the big spoon and Arizona as the little one. The position felt familiar. Safe. The skin on skin contact made them both forget about everything bad going on in their lives. There were no worries or burdens when they were in each other's arms. And that was all they needed. To remember that they were okay.

…

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Callie and Arizona immediately opened their eyes, awoken by their obnoxiously loud alarm clock.

Rubbing her eyes, Callie sat up and glanced at the time. 3 PM. Seven hours of sleep would have to do it for today. Callie stood up and walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth as Arizona used the hair elastic on her wrist to tie her hair up into a messy low bun. She sat on the edge of the bed and reached for the metal crutches she kept by her bedside.

Even though the events of last night were still lingering on their minds, both women were definitely in a happier and more positive mood today. They walked downstairs and made themselves "breakfast" (or was it a late lunch?). Callie started the coffee machine, while Arizona popped two bagels in the toaster. After seventeen years worth of mornings together, they worked in synchronization with one another without even needing to say a word.

When the coffee was brewed and the bagels were spread with cream cheese, they sat down at the table and ate their food. Arizona flipped through a magazine, while Callie opted to read a medical journal.

"How'd you sleep?" Callie asked Arizona, taking a bite of her bagel.

Arizona looked up from the article she was reading.

"Good. Well, as good as you can after a depressing night shift like that," Arizona replied. "You?"

"Good."

Small talk was always a little uninteresting and bland after they woke up, as neither of them identified as morning people. Both women continued on with their reading materials until they were interrupted by the sudden ringing of Arizona's cell phone.

Glancing at the caller ID, she nearly gasped when she saw Alex's contact name on the screen.

"It's Karev," she told Callie as they shared a shocked look.

"Answer it!" Callie said.

Arizona clicked the "accept" button and put the phone on speaker.

"Alex? What's up?" Arizona said into the phone's microphone.

"Hey. Sorry, did I wake you?"

"No. No, we were already awake. How's Briley? What's going on?"

"Is Cal there? Both of you should hear this."

"She's here. I have you on speaker phone," Arizona assured him.

"Briley deteriorated overnight. She's in the early stages of septic shock. We just transferred her to the PICU," Alex informed them through the phone.

Both Callie and Arizona's jaws dropped at the news. Callie covered her face with her hands and Arizona's eyes filled with tears. She tried to comprehend what Alex had just said and attempted to find the words needed to respond. Callie rested one of her hands on Arizona's arm for support.

"What are… What are you doing to treat it?" Arizona's voice cracked as she tried to keep her composure.

"We've got her on antibiotics, steroids… if she continues to go south we'll have to intubate her."

Callie let out a little cry as Arizona began to slightly hyperventilate. Neither of them wanted to picture Briley, who was like their second daughter, intubated in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. It was too much.

"Thanks… for telling us. Please keep us updated," Arizona told him after a minute. "We're both off today, but we'll be back at work tomorrow. Please let us know if anything changes."

"I will," Alex replied.

"Promise?"

There was a slight pause on the other end of the line. Callie and Arizona grasped each other's hands.

"I promise," Alex agreed.

Letting out a sigh of relief that neither woman knew they were holding. The call ended and both Callie and Arizona dissolved into tears. They knew that in just a half hour, Sofia would be home from soccer practice and they would need to be strong while delivering her this news.

But for now, they were allowing themselves to release every emotion and not hold any back. Callie and Arizona hugged each other very tightly, for a very long time. Both wondering the same things: how could this be happening? How is this happening to someone- a child!- who didn't do anything wrong to deserve this suffering? How is this fair?!

Neither of them knew what to do except cry. Any positivity they had when they had woken up thirty minutes ago was now diminished. They both were well aware that this may just be the beginning of the end.

…

"I'm home!" Sofia called from the front door. She dropped her backpack and her soccer bag off in the kitchen before wandering into the living room where she found her moms cuddling under a blanket on the couch.

Callie was sitting up, her elbow resting on the arm of the couch with her head in her hand. Arizona had spread herself out along the rest of the couch with her head on Callie's lap. They had turned on American Bake-Off but neither of them were paying attention to the television show. They both had way too much on their minds to worry about which contestant's steak was more juicy.

"How was school?" Callie asked, managing a small smile when Sofia entered the room.

"Good," came Sofia's monotonous answer as she stepped over the crutches laying haphazardly on the floor so that she could sit down on Arizona's end of the couch.

Sofia was confused because she rarely ever saw her moms relaxing like this. Not in the middle of the day, at least.

"Hey, why aren't you guys dressed in scrubs? Aren't we leaving for the hospital in a few?" she asked.

Sofia had become so accustomed to her new daily routine consisting of school, soccer, then visiting Briley at Grey + Sloan. Why weren't her mothers ready to go? Didn't they know that it's nearly 4 PM?

"We're not going to go to the hospital today, Sof," Arizona replied, sitting up and motioning for Briley to sit between her and Callie.

Sofia sat down between her mothers, looking from Callie to Arizona.

"What's going on? Did something happen?"

Callie and Arizona's eyes locked, as if to say Do you want to tell her, or should I?

Arizona brought her right leg up and put her heel on the cushion. She bent her leg so that she could rest her chin on her knee. Callie shut off the TV.

"Sofia, you know that cancer treatments can be very harsh on a person's body... " Callie began.

"And they can be especially tough on a child's body," Arizona interjected.

"Yes," Callie confirmed. "The chemotherapy can make a patient very nauseous and cause them to throw up a lot, and it makes their immune system very weak. A weakened immune system causes the patient to be more at risk for all kinds of infections. Even the common cold can be fatal."

"I know that," Sofia said, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. "But why are you telling me this?"

"She's telling you this because…" Arizona started, searching her mind for the best words to use to break this tough information down for her daughter. "Because Briley got very, very sick last night."

Sofia's eyes widened with concern for her friend.

"What happened? Is she going to be okay?" Sofia began to panic.

"She spiked a fever and her body went into septic shock because the chemo wiped out all of the good cells that fight off diseases," Callie explained. "Alex had her moved into the PICU this afternoon."

Sofia's big brown eyes welled up with tears as she processed this news. As she began to cry, Arizona couldn't help but see the striking resemblance between her and Callie. Callie had looked just like their sixteen year old daughter about an hour before when she had first heard this update herself.

Callie wrapped her arm around Sofia and hugged her in close, stroking her silky brown hair as she let out her emotions. Arizona rubbed Sofia's back to show her that she was there for support as well.

After a couple of minutes of letting Sofia cry it out, she wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. Looking at both of her parents, she asked:

"So where do we go from here?"

Arizona couldn't help but be taken aback by her daughter's maturity at a time like this. Briley's diagnosis had come as a shock to the system for all three of them, and they would have understanded if Sofia was a full-on train wreck. But surprisingly enough, she seemed to be taking this whole situation better than her mothers.

Callie was equally as shocked as Arizona.

"Um. Well, Alex has her on a bunch of different medications right now to try to fight the infection. She had a feeding tube inserted yesterday, and she's using a nasal cannula for oxygen," Callie said, tucking a piece of Sofia's hair behind her ear. "If she begins to get better, she'll be moved back to the regular peds floor in a few days."

Sofia nodded, taking in all of the information.

"However, if she continues to deteriorate, she could be looking at weeks, if not months, in intensive care. We're hoping she has that kind of time," Arizona added.

Sofia's heart rate quickened.

"What do you mean you're 'hoping she has that kind of time'?!" Sofia demanded, panic arising in her voice. "Is Briley going to die?!"

Up until this very moment, Sofia knew her friend was sick, she just never saw her as sick sick. Yeah, she had lost her hair and her leg to this invasive cancer, but there was never a moment where Sofia ever doubted that Briley would make it out alive. Now she wasn't so sure.

"We just don't know how things will play out in the coming days. Everything about Bri's case is just so unpredictable-" Callie began to explain before Sofia cut her off.

"But she's strong enough, right? She'll be one of the success stories, right? You both said that you've treated her type of cancer successfully before, so why can't you just do it again?!"

"Sof, it's not that simple. I wish it was, but each case is very different-" Arizona said, trying to take Sofia's hand in her own. Sofia pulled her hand away.

"What ever happened to kids 'recovering faster and surviving worse'?! Huh? What happened to that?!" Sofia retaliated, using air quotes when she referenced the words Arizona always used to describe the patients she treated in peds.

"Sofia Robbin Sloan-Torres!" Callie scolded her. Sofia immediately regretted her words after seeing the hurt look on Arizona's face.

Sofia's statement had stung much more than any of them had expected it to because, in part, she was right. What ever happened to the miracles and magic of peds surgery?

"Modern medicine has only advanced so much. There is still no cure for cancer, only treatments. Most are risky, and with every case as unique as they are, what works for one patient may not work for another," Arizona patiently expressed. "Oncology is just one big guessing game. It's like an experiment, and there are no guaranteed good outcomes. And it… it sucks."

Sofia processed her mom's words, even though they felt like a dagger in her heart.

"And I can't see her?" Sofia asked quietly, a quiver present in her voice.

Arizona sadly shook her head.

"Not while she's in the PICU."

"What if… what if she never gets to leave the PICU? What if she dies in there and I don't get to say goodbye?!" Sofia's voice cracked as she imagined the unfathomable.

Callie and Arizona exchanged a glance. Neither one of them knew what to say. How do you comfort your teenage daughter when her friend is on their deathbed?

"You know what? We are so far from that happening. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. How does that sound?" Callie replied, hugging Sofia and kissing the top of her head.

Sofia shrugged, standing up from her spot on the couch.

"I'm… going to bed," Sofia stated as she walked towards the staircase.

Callie and Arizona exchanged a glance. It was not even dinner time yet, but both of them knew that nobody would be hungry anyway.

As they heard Sofia's bedroom door close, Arizona and Callie resumed the original position they had been lying in before Sofia had returned home. Arizona once again rested her head in Callie's lap. They sat in silence for a moment or two, both finally wrapping their heads around what they had just explained to Sofia.

Briley might not make it.

Callie held her head up with one hand, and Arizona's hand in the other. They're doctors. Both of them have seen what people with cancer look like in their final days of life, and it isn't pretty. Seven kids in the U.S. lose their battle with cancer everyday, and the thought of Briley being part of that terrifying statistic scared the life out of them. It always seemed like this kind of stuff only happens to other people… never to someone you know.

"She was fine just the other day… she was full of energy. She was walking on a prosthetic! I thought we were in the clear from all of the dark stuff! I thought she had made it to the other side!" Arizona remarked out loud, still in disbelief.

Callie shook her head. Arizona's heart is so big, and that's something that she loved about her, but she can get her hopes up and get carried away too often.

"Arizona, you worked in peds for years. You know how fast things can happen. How fast infection can set in and patients can deteriorate. You know the horrifying statistics for Ewing's. You know."

Arizona sighed, admitting defeat.

"I know… But I always believed that Briley would be in that 25% that survived."

Phew. That was hard to write. Poor Sofia. Poor Calzona. Poor Briley.

Please leave all of your thoughts on this chapter (and this story in general!) below for me to read. Reading them makes me so happy and gives me so much motivation to write.

I am looking forward to seeing what you are all thinking of this story!

XOXO Arizona Robbins MD