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 : Thank you for coming back. I hope you like this chapter.

Special thanks to my super beta calzonaforever35, you know you are the best ;-)

Chapter 32

Day 55

Callie lifted her head from the heavy medical book when her phone started to ring. From the ringtone, she knew who was calling.

"Hey sweetheart."

"Doc, I've been drooling, puking and crapping my pants."

"What?" She pulled the phone away from her ear to check the caller ID, making sure it really was her girlfriend, what the hell? "Arizona, are you alright? Are you sick?"

"Oh, and I have constant nausea too." Arizona remained in a serious tone, she had to bite her lips to stop giggling. "Since this morning after I started to work at the farm."

"Since when do you work at a farm? What's happening babe?" The furrow between Callie's brows was getting deeper. She was completely confused, and worried.

"I'm helping you study." The blonde laughed out loud, satisfied with her prank. "Tell me, what's my problem?"

"Your problem is either you've missed me too much, or the few days we were together, I blew your mind so hard that you've totally gone crazy." Callie snorted playfully, but she couldn't stop grinning when the memory of the last few days flashed in her head.

Arizona took a 4 day holiday to Miami. Instead of staying in Torres mansion, the couple checked-in in one of the Torres hotel. It was 4 days of paradise. They had great use of the hotel suite, and the yacht that belonged to Carlos. Most importantly, it was a great time without any interruption from her parents, especially the mean face of Lucia.

And now, Callie had some studying to catch up to.

"Ha, you are just so full of yourself, Miss Torres." Arizona was still teasing her girlfriend, who walked around in the hotel where everyone knew she was the daughter of the boss, and called her Miss Torres no matter how many time she told the people just to call her Callie. "Have you figured out why I'm not feeling well, doc?"

"Organophosphate, pesticide poisoning?"

"Excellent! You are so ready for the exam." Arizona said proudly. A faint sound of pager going off came through the phone.

"You have to go?" Being the girlfriend of a surgeon, the brunette already got used to the annoying device, and she knew that meant this phone call was going to be cut short.

"Yeah, I have a surgery in 15 minutes. Just wanna hear your voice for good luck. I call you in the afternoon?"

"Ok. Love you." The smile remained on Callie's face even after she put the cellphone down. Hearing her girlfriend's voice always brought a smile on her face.

Few minutes after she buried her nose in the book again, a soft knock sounded on the door, Lucia pushed it open and stepped in the study in the next second.

"Mom, you don't have to work today?" Callie was surprised to see her mom on a weekday at home. She always believed the reason her parents could stay together forever was because both of them shared the same passion for their jobs. They weren't the kind of people who skipped a workday.

"No, we have plans today." Lucia stopped in front of her daughter, wearing a small smile on her face.

"We?" Callie raised her eyebrows to her mother.

"Yes. The Ramos' are in town. We talked about showing them the new yacht."

"That sounds fun. Say hi to Luis and Maria for me." She returned a smile to her mother, and turned her focus back to the text book on the desk. But Lucia leaned forward and snatched the book away.

"No Callie, you have to go too. You missed the dinner a few nights ago, I can't let you get out of this one too. Ramos is more than the partner in the firm, they are our friends. They are family. It's really impolite of you not to socialize with them when they are here."

"Mom, it's not that I don't want to socialize with them. You see I have to study." Callie waved her hands to gesture the mountain of books around her, trying to show her mom that she had no time.

"Well, you were totally ok of playing hooky for four days with that woman. Your mother asked for a day, is that really too much?"

"Mom, can you stop addressing her like that? She has a name, Arizona Robbins, M.D." Callie rolled her eyes. She really hated it that her mother made no effort to accept her love for Arizona. "Please, I don't wanna argue with you."

"Good, me neither." Lucia closed the book in her hand and placed it on the pile of books. "Go get dressed. We'll leave in 20 minutes."

"Hello, Dr. Robbins."

Arizona looked up from the chart she was writing, finding it was George standing in front of her with a sheepish smile.

"Oh hi, George, how are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you Dr. Robbins. The pit isn't too busy, I hope it's ok for me to help today."

A month ago, the nurse manager Carol convinced George to take a full time position in the hospital. After all, it was a waste for an experienced nurse to work in a clinic when he could have greater use in the front line. He took it and now he was the favorite nurse in the pit working alongside Owen Hunt. But from time to time, he would ask permission from the trauma surgeon to spend some hours in the clinic. He liked the place and he liked to help the kids.

"Sure, thank you George." Arizona gave him a grateful smile, then went back to finish her chart. She lifted her head again when she found the male nurse was still hovering around her. She raised her eyebrows waiting for the man to speak.

"Um- how is Callie?" Of course George knew Dr. Robbins took holiday to see her girlfriend. Well, there had been no secrets in this hospital.

"She's great. With the exam coming up, she's busy studying now." Arizona smiled tightly, it was weird to talk about the brunette with… even though the doctor didn't want to admit it, this man was still the husband of her girlfriend's.

"Did she-" George wanted to ask, but both he and Arizona were interrupted by a shout from the entrance of the clinic, followed by a series of little girl's screaming and crying.

Swiveling around toward the chaos, Arizona found it was Mrs. Carlson holding her crying daughter clumsily, as she fumbled through the door. Arizona, George and Alex all shot to them in a spit second.

"She… she… please help her… Dr. Robbins…" Mrs. Carlson gripped Arizona's forearm tightly after Alex took Maddy from her arms, she pleaded with her shaky voice.

"Mrs. Carlson, what happened?" The blonde surgeon asked, as she followed her resident to one of the nearest bed to place the little girl on it.

"She… tumbled down the stairs…" The woman said in a small voice, docked her head to avoid the piercing blue eyes and the looks from the other two men who were examining her daughter.

But they didn't have time to interrogate the mother – it was not their job anyway. Maddy's face was getting paler and paler. Tears drenched her little face from the pain. The more she screamed, the more pain she got. Before either doctor called out, George already gripped a syringe of tranquilizer and handed to Alex.

Soft hands kept checking the little body. Arizona clenched her teeth and locked her jaw. She knew very well that the 2 broken ribs and the twisted elbow weren't the result of falling down the stairs. She shared a look with Alex, they both knew it.

After calling the staff from the main building to transfer Maddy to the surgical floor, the surgeons quickly went through the necessary testing and scans, they found that Maddy needed a plaster cast for her elbow, she had to be put under for that. The worst of it, one of the broken ribs puctured her lung. And she had a tear in her liver.

"Oh my god." Mrs. Carlson collapsed on the chair next to her unconscious daughter, who had a tube down to her throat, and multiple wires connected to the flimsy body. "Are you going to fix her?"

"Of course, we'll have to do the surgery right now. Mostly to fix the punctured lung and the liver, and the ortho surgeon will fix the cast in the meantime." Arizona answered with a light voice, tried her best to smooth the distressed woman. "We'll need you to sign the consent form."

"And she'll be alright after this?" Mrs. Carlson looked between the two doctors hopefully. "She will be fine?"

Before Arizona could answer, Alex snapped. "We can patch her up this time, but no, she won't be alright and she won't be fine as long as you keep that scumbag near her. Your husband is a drunk. He won't care who he hit when he has a bottle in hand. If you really love your kid, do her a favor…"

"Dr. Karev! Get out of the room!" Arizona raised her voice to the furious resident. She agreed with her protégée on the inside, but still, they shouldn't talk to the parent like this. "Mrs. Carlson, I am so sorry about that. We're preparing the OR, as soon as it's ready, someone will come to wheel Maddy down there. I'll see you after the surgery."

Callie laid on the sun chair in the back of the yacht, with closed eyes behind the sunglasses enjoying the warm Miami breeze. A smile came to her face when she recalled that afternoon she had a very naked Arizona bent forward and screaming at the top of her lungs in the middle of the ocean with no one around…

"Are you enjoying yourself?" A voice stirred her dirty memory. Callie looked up and smiled at the intruder.

"Very."

"Good. The smile on your face told me you were thinking of something interesting." The guy handed her a bottle of beer. "I brought you a drink."

"Thanks, Gael." Callie took a sip of the cold beer, watching the guy take off his T-shirt, revealing his well trained body and then flopped on the other sun chair next to hers.

"I don't understand why our parents would insist on getting on a yacht but stayed inside drinking wine. They can do this at home, and not drag us along with them." Gael stretched his arms over his head, sank deeper onto the chair and sighed. "But I have to admit, it's nice to be under the sun again."

"Right, you spent some time in the London office?"

"Ya, totally opposite weather." Gael turned to his side, propping his head up by his elbow. "I didn't realize I missed Miami until I saw the hot girls in their bathing suits."

Callie snorted and rolled her eyes. The Ramos family has been in her life ever since she could remember, Gael was there with her and some of her close cousins. The childish banters when they were young, and the harmless flirting after they had grown up was always fun. And Callie was pleased that it hadn't changed even though they were apart for years.

"Oh, don't tell me you don't miss this muscular body of mine." Gael shot up from the chair, waved his hand in front of his 6 pack abs with a lopsided smile. Callie let out a sarcastic laugh.

"I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but I really don't miss it."

"I don't believe you." The man stuck out his tongue to make a wry face, making Callie laugh harder. "I'm going for a swim, you wanna join me?"

"Nah, I'm good." Callie's eyes followed her friend. He threw her a smile over his shoulder and then dove in the water. The brunette closed her eyes again to savor the comfortable ocean breeze. She fell into a slumber until her cellphone rang and woke her up. She fumbled blindly to grip it. Again, she knew who the caller was.

"Hey." Her voice came out husky from the sleep, cleared her throat she tried again. "Arizona?"

"You're sleeping?" The blonde entered her office, questioning before closed the door behind.

"Just taking a nap." She yawned. It was a very comfortable nap.

"Where are you? You sound… opened and windy." Arizona scrunched her face. She could hear the sound of waves through the cellphone.

"I'm on the yacht." Callie stretched her body and let out a groan. She felt pleasantly drowsy and had to fight off the urge to get back to sleep.

"What?" Arizona raised her eyebrows and questioned a little rough. "I thought you were supposed to be studying?"

"Mom bullied me into joining her and her friends." Callie frowned with the stern tone from the other side, Arizona seemed irritating. "What are all the questions?"

"I just… I through that you were studying for the important exam, that's all." Arizona sneered out. She mental slapped her head after it blurted out, it really was uncalled for. "I'm sorry."

"I was studying, but I'm also entitled to take a break. I worked hard, I deserved a little fun." At this point, the Latina was provoked. What was this all about?

"Hey Cal, the water felt so great, you should take your shirt off and enjoy it with me." Gael said standing in front of Callie with a towel drying his hair. He didn't know the woman was on the phone.

"Who is he?" Of course Arizona had heard it.

"A friend." Callie sent a death glare toward Gael, who held up a hand to apologize and then retreated to the cabin for a drink.

"A friend to tell you to take off your shirt?" Arizona asked sharply, making the brunette shudder.

"Arizona, I'm wearing a shirt over my bathing suit, he just suggested for me to get in the water. I'm on a boat." Callie lowered her voice. She didn't want Gael or her parents hear this conversation.

"Yeah, the same boat you took me to. Right, you are entitled to have a little fun." The green eyed monster was getting the best of the blonde. The idea of her girlfriend lying to her about going to study the whole day, but instead she was wearing a tiny bikini on the boat with a guy made her stomach flip.

"My parents and his parents are here too, it's a family socializing thing." Callie hissed. She hoped this could stop the crazy accusation from Arizona, but she was wrong.

"Right… you enjoy the sailing with your family. I gotta go."

"Arizona, what is going on? Why are we fighting?" The Latina asked hurriedly, she didn't want the phone call end like this, certainly.

"No, we're not fighting." Arizona said with a fake enthusiastic voice. "You're having fun. You know what? I am going to have some fun too."

"What do you mean?" Callie frowned.

"I'm following your way of thinking. I work hard too, I deserve to have fun." The Peds surgeon paused for a second, she knew this was a low blow but she couldn't stop herself. "Colleen asked me for a drink, maybe I should go with her."

"Colleen… your ex-girlfriend Colleen?" Callie exclaimed. She wished she heard it wrong.

"She was never my girlfriend, but yeah, that Colleen." Arizona was chewing the inside of her mouth. A slight satisfaction in her head of making Callie felt jealous.

"Arizona, baby, please talk to me. Why are you acting like this?" Panic went through her mind. Not that Callie was worried the blonde would do anything with Colleen, but the way she talked and reacted, seemed like she was upset with something.

"Well, I needed my girlfriend, but turned out she was having fun with some guy and about to take her clothes off. Sorry but I'm going to seek comfort from somewhere else. I have to go!" Not waiting for an answer, the call ended.

Callie stared at her phone with her mouth agape. What just happened?

"Trouble in paradise?" Gael asked softly after he sat down on the sun chair, with an amused smile on his lips.

"We just had a fight but I really don't know what it was about." Callie looked at her friend with a helpless look. She picked up the forgotten beer for a long gulp. "We've never fought like this before."

"Because of me?" He sat up straight and wiped the smile off his face. "I am sorry, I didn't know you were on the phone."

"Don't be." Callie waved her hand, and then finished the beer with another gulp.

"It's just jealousy. Girls tend to get jealous easily." The man shrugged, took a gulp of his water.

"How… how do you know that was a girl?" Not that Callie wanted to hide it, but knowing her mother, she won't tell people that one of her children was gay. "My parents told you?"

"I have my source." He smirked. "I found it hot."

"Gael…" Callie squinted at the man.

"Listen, your girl has every right to be jealous. I don't know what she looks like, but you are hot. You are like… dirty, flirty hot. I wouldn't let you leave my sight if you were mine." Gael feigned a perverted look and let his eyes roaming up and down Callie's body. She reached a hand to slap his arm friskily. "And do you know why we're here today? Our folks want to make the two families even closer."

"You mean…" Callie widened her eyes when she put the dots together. The man nodded. "My mother thinks you can make me straight?"

"Hey, I have skill." Gael joked, but he bit his tongue after he was met with a stone cold death glare. "Ewww… that sounded horrible. I'm sorry."

"I… Gael, you are like my brother. I never thought of you in that way." Callie scrunched her face just to think about the idea. "And I'm deeply in love with my girlfriend."

"I know. Arizona, right?"

"They even told you her name?" The Latina exclaimed, shot her eyebrows to her forehead. "And you still agree with this?"

"Hey, I haven't agreed with anything. I just figured it out." Gael swung his legs on the sun chair and leaned down on it. "I'm just happy to get the chance to catch up with you."

"I still can't believe them." Callie turned around to look to the cabin, no wonder their parents stayed inside the whole time, they were giving their children a chance to be alone.

"Well, there's something they don't know." Gael followed his friend's gaze to the cabin, and then smiled to her. "You wanna hear a secret?"

"What? You're gay, too?" Callie smirked. Despite the fact that she just had a fight with her girlfriend, being set up with a guy by her parents in this age was still funny. And it would be even funnier if the guy was gay.

"No, I'm not." Gael rolled his eyes and threw a towel to Callie. "I've always had my eyes on Torres girl. Our folks just paired me with the wrong one."

"My mother?" A mischievous smile pulled on the brunette's face. Of course she knew Gael wasn't talking about her mother.

"Andrea! Your ass." The man laughed out. "We've been dating a year, and our parents don't know anything about it."

"So she is the one feeding you my information, telling you I'm dating Arizona." The grin on Callie's face spread from side to side. She told Andrea everything about Arizona the love of her life, of course her cousin would share it with the boyfriend.

"Yes, and she's happy for you." Gael winked at the brunette. But she sighed heavily.

"Yeah, I am happy… until now. I should call her back."

"Tell her I'm harmless, she'll feel better." The man stood up and patted her shoulder before he strode away. "I'll go get you another drink."

Dr. Robbins walked down the hallway of her ward with hands in the pockets of the lab coat. One of her hands was clenching the buzzing cellphone tightly. Her phone had been buzzing for 2 hours, she knew who was calling but she wasn't ready to answer it yet.

She knew Callie didn't do anything wrong, of course she deserved to take a break. If an afternoon outing with her family was going to affect her concentration, the long weekend they spent together would be more unforgivable.

But when you're fighting, you won't think that much. She sighed.

The reason she lost her cool – If it wasn't the hospital reporting the injuries to the Child Protective Service, Mrs. Carlson still wanted to cover this up. The police went to her house and found her drunken husband passed out on the couch, having no recollection of slapping his wife who served him a cold sandwich. Or how he twisted his daughter's arm when brave little Maddy pulled his shirt and begged him to stop hitting mommy. Or how he shoved the girl toward the coffee table that caused the broken ribs.

A nurse beckoned Arizona to the nurse station for some documents. As she was standing there signing the countless pages of chart, Alex approached her with his hands on his hips.

"You can't ban me from the Carlson kid, she is my patient."

"No, she is not." Arizona said coldly, not even bothered to look at him. "Not after you berated the parent."

"Oh come on!" Alex exclaimed. It wasn't the first time he got thrown out of a case, and he got away with something worse than this. "Tell me you didn't want to grip her shoulders and shake the crap out of her. She didn't even think about her daughter!"

"Karev, how many times do I have to tell you?" Arizona shook her head slightly, turned to face the man fully. "You are not a parent. You aren't even someone's husband. You don't get to judge her when you know nothing about what she's been through. She is a victim in this situation."

"Fine, but the kid's still my patient. You need someone to monitor her tonight, I am staying."

"You're off the case, you can leave." Arizona nodded to one of the nurse, signaled that she had finished signing those papers. And then she continued with Alex, "I'll stay."

"Are you sure, you look like you're about to crack. Maybe you should go home, get some rest. Or even grab Sloan or Altman for a drink to relax." Alex said with concern in his voice.

"Nope, I'm good. Working in here can take my mind off everything." She sighed. The vibration in her pocket told her there was another incoming message. With a reassuring pat on Alex's arm, Arizona walked away.

Mrs. Carlson gave a bitter smile when she saw Dr. Robbins walking through the threshold. She was ashamed of herself that she couldn't protect her family, especially her daughter. She turned around and stared at Maddy with tearful eyes like she did for hours, between questioning by the police and social workers.

"You must think I'm an unfit mother." Mrs. Carlson breathed out. Arizona looked up from the IV on Maddy's arm, met with the tear drenched face.

"Not I don't…"

"That's ok, because I am." The woman sighed heavily. She brought a hand up to caress her sleeping daughter's face. "He was a good man when he wasn't drunk. He told me he loved me. Our family is his life. He promised that he'd change."

Arizona listened quietly. She watched the tears fell down the brown eyes as the devastated mother twisted her lips tried to suppress the cry.

"I should give him another chance. He deserves another chance to be with his family, doesn't he?"

"As Maddy's doctor, it is not my place to say anything." Arizona said calmly, catching the attention from Mrs. Carlson. "But as a doctor, I should tell you. This isn't my first domestic violence case. It happened once, and then again, and again. I don't really know what had triggered your husband and if he ever tried to get help. Just… mostly, it won't happen just once."

Arizona licked her dry lips. She knew she shouldn't say anything but she cared about her patients. If this could change the little girl's story completely, she would do it. But it had to be handled with caution.

"I love him." Mrs. Carlson bit her lips tight, staring at the doctor desperately.

"Sometimes, love just isn't enough." The doctor twisted the corner of her lips to a bitter smile. "You have to ask yourself, do you think it's healthy for Maddy to grow up in this household, worry that her father will attack you or her whenever he is drunk?"

"But what should I do? He's the man I married. I- I don't want to break up the marriage."

"The question is what are you fighting for? The marriage or the person you need to protect?" Arizona smiled tightly, watching the mother fondled the child tenderly until her pager went off.

"When it's time to let go, just let go already." The doctor said sincerely, before she swiveled to exit the room. "Tell the nurse to page me if you need anything, I'll be here all night."

Arizona pulled out her pager on the way out, not realizing there was someone standing outside the room that she almost ran into.

"Oh sorry… George? What are you doing here?" The doctor raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"I just want to check on Maddy before I leave. How is she?" The man asked bashfully, his cheeks were flushed.

"The surgery went well. She's sleeping." Arizona turned around to look at Maddy one last time. "She will be OK. I have a patient, I have to go."

"Yes of course. Good night Dr. Robbins."