Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, I just borrowed the name of the characters for entertaining, no intention to violate any copyrights.

A/N: please, nice beta reader who is reading this shitty work, who doesn't mind to help me out, please contact me, I really would need a hand, thanks a million!

Chapter 10

As promised, the Latina bartender didn't avoid Arizona, or Mark. However, the doctors were working in crazy schedule for 2 weeks, it made it looked like the two of them were evading to step foot in Horizon. Mark came in for a couple of times, but he was so tired that only took a drink then headed home to rest. Arizona? Not once.

The blonde doctor was dealing with a little boy that came to her table since he was 6 years old, over the 4 years they were able to pull him back from the other side, but thing was going south and the senior attending herself really didn't want to leave the boy to the residents, let along the interns. Therefore, she was pretty much living in the hospital in the last 2 weeks.

As a good friend, Callie tried to offer comforting words and encouragements over the phone, the exchanged texts and calls once in awhile, it was appreciated because the voice of the Latina really could ease the nervousness in the surgeon's stomach.

The calls and texts were nice and they seemed getting closer to each other, but without seeing each other for 2 weeks, the Latina was getting restless. That's why she was rubbing the same spot on the bar top for a good 20 minutes.

"Callie, are you OK? You're about to rub a hole on the counter top." Joe set down a case of beer which he carried from the back

"I'm fine." Callie blushed, put the cloth away then helped Joe to put the beer in the fridge.

"Uh ah." Joe didn't ask more, because he knew Callie too well.

"Do you think she really is that busy? I mean I know doctors are busy, especially surgeons but 2 weeks? Really? Even Mark stopped by several times for a drink, and other doctors came by every now and then. Do you think she's playing hard to get? Or or or she really is a player and found another target who is not as damaged as me?" Callie looked Joe in the eyes but didn't wait for an answer, she just continued the verbal diarrhea. "Maybe she thought I was shutting her down by saying that I wasn't ready, and she just didn't want to waste anytime to wait for me. I'm sure she is avoiding me, I'm losing a friend. And Mark will have to choose between me and Arizona and I'm sure he is going to choose her because they are both doctors and professional and work together and and and smart and and talented and and oh my god I am going to lose 2 friends… What am I going to do Joe?"

It took a great power for Joe not to laugh at the obviously freaked out woman in front of him.

"Callie, listen to me, you are not damaged." Joe put a hand on Callie's shoulder when she was about to cut him off. "You are not damaged. You and Arizona had texted and called each other, right? She could just ignore your calls if she was avoiding you, so no, she is not avoiding you."

"But… what if…."

"No but, no what if, you are over thinking, you know over thinking just leads you to the worst, so stop it. Not again, it's getting old!"

Callie mumbled something under her breath and then continued her task of putting the beer in the places, Joe just smirked slightly and went to the back to pick up another case of beer prepared for the night.

Before coming to Seattle, Callie didn't really know working in a hospital could be so stressful that almost every staff in there has to have a drink after work. And she also didn't know, people could be so gossipy. For example, the 2 women sitting in front of her on the bar, Olivia and Meg, the nurses from the hospital across the street, were there sharing secret information of their colleagues for an hour already.

Callie didn't pay much attention to them until a third woman arrived and sat down next to her friends and started to sigh very dramatically, then picked up her friend glass of white wine to take a big gulp.

"Jeez, are you all right?"

"I am beat." The new comer said and finished the wine with another big gulp.

"Oh come on, we all know your floor is the most cheerful department in the whole hospital, your boss won't even let you guys work too hard to ruin the peaceful rhythm in the magical place." Olivia said.

"Ya, you have no idea how many time I tried to transfer to PEDS." Meg cut in, "Deb from HR told me the waiting list is longer than the list of the women in the hospital who had slept with McSteamy.

"Well, not since the Anderson kid admitted again. Do you know Dr. Robbins hasn't leaves the hospital for 10 days straight? She just lives across the street but doesn't dare to leave the boy for a second. I heard little Grey had to go over her apartment to pick up the changing clothes for her."

"I heard the Anderson offers a lot of money to the hospital, the chief almost climbed across the table to give the Anderson kisses on the lips. But there is a condition though, Dr. Robbins has to keep the kid alive." Olivia talked to the other 2 with excitement.

"Oh god, that is outrageous. Vivian, how does Dr. Robbins take it?"

"Real bad." The one who obvious was Vivian answered the question, and then ordered a round of white wine for them. "She is under a great pressure from the chief and the mean guy from the board… Jennings, they are giving a lot of pressure to Dr. Robbins, they forced her to operate on the boy this afternoon, we all felt terrible for her because the boy truly has no chance this time, it really is just the matter of time."

"Oh that was why the chief scrubbed in Dr. Robbins's surgery today? I heard Big foot told Tinkerbell that it was the first time he had the chief in one of his surgery, and he was in Dr. Robbins's service today." Olivia asked.

"Yes, poor Dr. Robbins, she rumbled under her breath the whole time saying something about the surgery was wrong, the boy shouldn't suffer this. I never saw her so stressed, Big foot told me to wipe her forehead to calm her down."

Callie put the glasses down in front of the 3 nurses casually, but actually she was listening to the conversation intensely. 2 men down to the end of the bar was waving at her tried to order their drinks, she dragged Joe by the hem of his shirt instructed him to do the job, she didn't want to leave the gossipy nurses, when they were talking about the woman she had been missing.

"The boy made it?"

"For now yes, but who knows? Tonight is critical." Vivian held up the glass about to put it to her mouth, stopped midway and asked the others. "Hey, Big foot was talking to Tinkerbell? I heard they had a thing back in Mercy West."

"No way, I heard she and Pretty boy was a pair."

"Too bad McSteamy had settled, sure he'd bang her in no time."

The 3 nurses laugh in unison.

Callie's mind was racing, she felt ashamed about guessing Arizona was avoiding her, and she felt bad about the blonde had to deal with the situation like this. Within a minute, she made a decision and told Joe to take care of the pub for the rest of the night.

Rushed out the door, ran across the street to SGMW, Callie didn't think it thought, she just had to see Arizona. There wasn't much she could do to help, but having a supportive friend around could do more good than harm, she believed.

Arrived on the floor of PEDS, the Latina approached the nurse station to ask for Dr. Robbins.

"Do you have an appointment with her?" The nurse asked.

"Ummm… no, I'm a friend and just stop by to see her."

"I am sorry ma'am, we are not allowed to reveal …" But she was cut off by another nurse sitting behind a computer not far away. "You are the bartender in Horizon, right? Friend of Dr. Sloan and Dr. Robbins?"

"Yes, I am." Callie put on her best smile, everyone knew a nice friendly attitude could get you to anywhere.

The intruder stood up to walk to the front of the nurse station, seeing the other nurse was staring at her, she said "What? You know Dr. Robbins needs a friend right now." Then she pointed to a door down the hall. "She's in that on-call room 304."

Callie thanked the both of them, then turned her heels toward the room. Gently knocked on the door, she pushed it open slowly. In the dim light, she saw a shadow sitting on a bed with knees pop up to the chest. The opened door stirred the shadow, a pair of tearful blue eye looked up, Callie felt her heart gave a great throb.

Closed the door, Callie called out softly "Arizona…"

The next second, she felt the mess of blonde flew into her arms, without saying anything else, Callie just held on the crying woman tight, tenderly rubbing circles on the back to calm the emotional surgeon.

After a moment, they moved to sit on the bed without breaking the embrace, Arizona clung to Callie with her arms wrapped around the Latina's waist and head rested on the neck. The sob had stopped, now the blonde just taking deep breaths to calm herself, and inhaling the scents of the woman in her arms.

"How do you know I need you?" Arizona whispered, Callie couldn't help to tighten the grip of her arms in a protective mode.

"Some nurses talked about your day in my pub, I didn't think much but ran to here, I need to see if you're OK."

"Huh? Some nurses talked about me… behind my back… again?" Blonde head snapped up to look Callie in the eyes with horror.

"Shh…. Relax." The Latina lightly forced the blonde head back on the previous position with gently strokes. "This talk was good, people really like you, they respect you. Do you know they have nickname for everyone? I'd heard about Big foot, Tinkerbell, McSteamy, McDreamy, Nazi… But they only refer you as Dr. Robbins." Callie felt the woman in her arms chuckled. "And it seems every nurse in this hospital want to work in your service."

Arizona sat up with a smile on her face, wiped the tear stains off the corner of her eyes and said. "Thank you, it really makes me feel better."

"I'm not lying, I was not supposed to know you are in here because the nurse shouldn't tell me the unannounced visitor where the doctor is, but one of your nurse recognized me as your friend, told me to get in here, she said you really need a friend now." Callie smoothly slid her hand from Arizona's shoulder along the arm to hold the hand, looked deeply in the blue eyes and said "I am glad I came."

Arizona beamed sheepishly, leaned forward to kiss Callie on the cheek "Thank you."

Still holding hands, Callie wrapped the free hand around Arizona's shoulder to pull her closer. "So how is the boy?"

Took a deep breath, the surgeon tried to hold the emotion "I don't know, I hope he could make it but … most unlikely."

"You did what you have to do, remember that. You told me he wasn't supposed to make it 3 years ago, he and his parents got an extra 3 years."

"I wish I could do more." The exhausted woman started to sob again.

The Latina ducked her head to look at Arizona, rubbed her shoulder with force as to give her strength to get herself together "Hey hey, you did more than you could, you gave them extra time, you are amazing. Listen to me, you are amazing."

The surgeon nodded slightly against Callie's shoulder, fatigued written all over her face. Callie shifted her position, pulled Arizona along further in the bed, had her back leaned against the wall.

"You are tired, close your eyes sleep a little bit, you need to restore the energy. I'm here, just close your eyes." The Latina cooed, with her hand softly stroking the blonde hair.

Arizona didn't put on a fight, she was overstrained for days, with Callie in there made she relaxed and then the exhaustion finally kicked in. She lowered herself on the bed, wrapped her arms around the laps of the woman next to her, fell in a fast sleep.

Callie sat there looking at the sleeping beauty, didn't move a bit except her hand kept stroking the blonde hair and the tear stained cheek. Suddenly the door clicked open, it was Mark who poked his head in the room, seeing the 2 women in bed, he entered the room quietly and closed the door as light as possible.

"Hey." He whispered.

"Hey." Callie looked at him but didn't stop the movement of her hand.

"I just came out of a surgery. How is she doing?"

"Not good, I think. Just slept for … an hour." She checked the time, didn't realize she was in this position for a whole hour.

"Do you want to switch?"

"Nah, I'm good, and I am afraid it will stir her if I moved."

Out of the blue, perturbation outside the door, they could hear people running and shouting, as in cue, the pager on Arizona's hip started to beep. Got up in an instant, she peeked at the offending machine and frowned. "Shit, Wallace is coding, I have to go..."

She didn't even have time to wonder why Mark was in the room, she ran out of there to try to get to the dying boy as fast as she could. On her way ran down the hall, she turned around and shouted "Mark, take Callie to the cafeteria or my office, I'll go find you guys later." Not waiting for an answer, she disappeared around the corner.

Mark turned to Callie, who looked really worried because she knew the boy may not make it and that would crush Arizona hard without a doubt.

"Mark, we need to make sure she's OK."

Mark looked around pondering what to do, finally he leaned against the nurse station and told the nurse to update him the situation if anything came up. Then he led Callie out of the PEDS ward toward the cafeteria.

Settled the anxious Latina on a table, the plastic surgeon went over to get some coffee. In the meantime, there were Cristina and Meredith came close to the table.

"What are you doing here? You don't have to bartend tonight?"

"No I don't Cristina." Callie replied coldly, she really was not in the mood of chit chatting right now.

"Jeez, what's her problem Sloan?" Cristina asked the man just returned to the table.

"Be nice Yang, we are worried about Robbins, the short gut boy is coding."

"The short gut boy is coding?" Meredith exclaimed.

"Oh, he won't make it this time. The chief will be pissed, he almost got the money. Good luck with roller skate girl. Mer we have to go, I have to scrub in Altman's surgery."

"Bye guys." Then the twisted sisters left.

The 2 remained on the table, Callie was staring in space and fidgeting with her fingers.

"Mark we can't wait in here, we should wait near to the OR, then she could see us when she got out of there."

"A surgery could last for a very long time, the nurse will page me when it was finished. Just relax in here, have some coffee, everything will be alright."

"No Mark, I don't need any coffee, Arizona said the boy may not make it, Cristina just said the boy won't make it, don't you think that won't take much time? I am going." She stood up and about to run out of the cafeteria, but turned back to Mark "You need to show me the way, I don't know where is it."

"Fine, let's go."

The 2 friends strode toward the surgical floor, the whole time Callie had her hands grasped at the arm of the man next to her, some nurses and doctors were looking at them but she really didn't care, there was only 1 thing in her mind right now.

Just right when they stepped out of the elevator, they saw from far away, a deadpan Arizona in pink scrub cap, with a huge guy in light blue scrubs stood next to her, talking to someone sitting on the couch. After the talk finished, she left the stunned guys and stepped away from them.

When she looked up and saw Mark and Callie were standing there in front of her, she couldn't hold it anymore. She ran toward them and threw herself to Callie, and the Latina just held her as tight as she could, whispering comfort words to the weeping woman in her arms.

Being friends with Arizona for years, Mark knew it well that the perky blonde doctor won't like to let people see her cry, especially in front of her boss. He quickly pressed the call button and got the elevator opened again, shoved the clasped women inside and he followed suit.

While the 3 of them alone in the metal box, Mark put a hand on the small of Arizona's back, and then asked softly "Are you OK?"

"He… He… supposed… to live…. I… I….. I…. fai… failed him…. I can't… I can't…" Her voice was muffled from the bawled and the fact that her face was buried in the crook of Callie's neck, and Callie had her cheek rested on the side of the blonde head.

"Breathe Arizona, just breathe…." Callie tenderly stroked the blonde hair, felt her heart broke a little from each wail came from the woman in her arms.

"Callie can you take her home?" Mark started to talk but his pager beeped, took a quick glance and then he said to Callie "You were right, good thing that we came here, the nurse just told me the surgery was over, can you believe that? They spread gossip quicker than this!"

All Callie did was rolled her eyes and then gave him a dead glare.

"Right, not the time. Arizona listen, Callie is going to take you home, go and have a rest."

"But… But… I need… want…. need…. to…. talk to Bethany… I… kill…. I kill….."

Mark ducked his head to talk to Arizona. "Shh… You didn't kill her son, you did everything you could. Don't worry about it, I'll take care of everything, I'll talk to the chief, will get you some time off, you deserve it."

Arizona just nodded.

"Come on, I'll get you home." Callie coaxed when the elevator arrived in the ground floor.

"My bag… my key… locker…" Arizona whimpered.

Callie and Mark exchanged a look, then Callie tightened the grip on the blonde's shoulder "Sweetie, you come with me across the street, Mark will take care of your stuffs and bring it to us tomorrow morning, you stay with me tonight, OK?"

Arizona just nodded and sniffed liked a sad little girl, followed Callie walked out of the hospital.

By the time when they arrived in Callie's apartment, the cry had stopped. Arizona felt numb from the exhaustion, she just wanted to sleep but Callie insisted that she should take a warm shower to relax and clean up first.

After putting on the short and T-shirt offered by the Latina, she came out from the bathroom and found the scented candle was lighted, a small bottle of water placed on the night stand, and Callie had shut the curtain as well.

"I hope you like this scents, I always find water lily is kind of tranquilized." Callie entered the room, Arizona just had enough energy to give her a bashful smile, she was so tired.

After settled the blonde in bed, Callie stood next to the bed with her hand gently stroking the soft blonde hair. "Here's a bottle of water, and I put the house phone in here in case you want to call someone. I'll be in the guest room across the hall, let me know if you need anything, or if you want to eat, the kitchen is loaded…."

She stopped talking when Arizona gripped her hand and looked at her with the sad blue eyes.

"Can you stay? With me? I don't want to be alone tonight."

Without saying another word, Callie walked around the bed and got in after turned off the light on the night stand. The blonde rolled over to the other side, Callie took the sign and held the woman from behind.

They both breathed a sigh of relax, the Latina whispered before closed her eyes.

"Sleep like an angel, Arizona."