A/N I did not create these lovely ladies, nor do I own them. I am just using them to create a story. They are all Shonda's.

My apologies for any medical errors, as I'm not a doctor but I've tried my best to make it accurate.

Arizona's POV

Fear is a funny thing. It changes how we see things, it affects the course of action our lives take. I've been scared in my life. I was scared when I came out to family. Or when I heard that my brother had enlisted. Although I was proud of him, I was scared. I was scared out of mind when I lost my only brother, my best friend. When he came home in a coffin and I realized I'd never get to make him laugh again, or embrace him, or punch him in the shoulder ever again. I was also scared in the Seattle Grace Mercy West shooting. And I have been scared every day of losing Callie. I never thought to be scared of losing myself. It just never occurred to me. But the day I had a stroke, I was terrified because not only did it feel like I was losing myself, but I was also losing control. Which, ask any surgeon, is horrifying.

I was humming to myself as I packed to go home after a wonderful vacation with my perfect wife, and all of a sudden it was like an unseen force took over my body. My whole left side went limp and my head was filled with pain. The perfume I'd been holding in my left hand fell to the floor and shattered everywhere. I ran through the symptoms of a stroke in my mind. Weakness in one or two limbs from same side of body; weakness in facial muscles; lack of coordination; dizziness; vision impaired; headache; unconsciousness. Yep, that's me. I thought.

I tried to call Callie in to help me, but my speech was slurred and I couldn't form her name properly. I put my face in my hand, and half of it felt strange, like it was sagging down. I started to cry. I'd never felt anything like what I was going through. I couldn't see properly. Callie had come to my aid by that time, and was organizing an ambulance. After that, she embraced me and started whispering to me. I could tell she was struggling, but she was remaining strong for me. She's my rock. In that situation, Callie was my one comfort. The last thing I heard before I went unconscious was her telling me that she loved me in Spanish. I remember wishing I could have told her that it was alright, that everything would be okay, that we'd get through this, and that I loved her too.

I awoke in a hospital bed. I looked around to find Callie watching me from her seat which had been pulled right next to the bed. She was holding my hand. I tried to smile, but only managing with half of my face, so it must have come out looking like a strange grimace. "Sor- Surrey aboot yur purfume." I said. Oh god, I thought, my speech is still slurred. Oh no.

Callie's POV

"Honey, it's fine. Don't you dare worry about my perfume." I told Arizona, plastering a smile on my face so she wouldn't stress herself. I couldn't believe that she was being so selfless after she'd suffered a stroke. "You just need to focus on feeling better. We're going to get you moved back to Seattle as soon as your tests all come back and we can confirm that you'll be stable for the trip. Which of course you will be, because you're a rockstar. And then Derek's gonna take care of you and we're going to get you into physical and speech therapy. And soon you will be all better, and you'll be a hardcore surgeon again and we'll grow old together." Arizona's eyes widened and I think she realized how this was going to affect her career. My heart melted as tears started trickling down her face. She looked so helpless in the hospital bed. She started to speak again, and this time, she took her time to get the words out to sound as normal as possible.

"What… if i… can't….. Ooparate," she tried again, "Orperat…. No, erporate. No!" Her face screwed up in anger and she was growing more and more frustrated with herself for not being able to achieve that one word. That one word which was a huge part of our lives. Her tears came more freely and quickly now, she was getting so worked up and it killed me to see her this way and not be able to fix her. My ortho knowledge was nothing. I climbed into her bed with her, wrapping my arms around her, trying to comfort her when I couldn't help her. "Honey I am so sorry that I can't fix you. That I can't take away your pain. That I couldn't have made myself have a stroke instead of you. I would have swapped places with you in a heartbeat if I could have saved you from suffering this. But you will get through it. And you will be able to operate again. I know it. But just know this: I will love you no matter what. My heart is no longer mine, it's yours. So that means I will do everything in my power to make you happy." Arizona nodded and buried her face in my hair. We remained like that until the doctor came back in.

"So good news," he announced as he marched in. He looked up from Arizona's chart and a sheepish smile dawned over his features. "Sorry, ladies, I didn't mean to interrupt anything." I looked up from Arizona's now peaceful face which I'd been staring at since she had fallen asleep half an hour ago. I smiled at the doctor, and sat up on the bed carefully, so as not to awake my wife.

"Good news?" I asked hopefully.

"Great. Well as good as it can be, considering the ischemic stroke Arizona suffered this afternoon. But anyway, my superior said she could fly back so long as she flies as a patient." He said in a highly accented voice. He smiled. I grinned back at him, glad for the news that I could at least take Arizona somewhere more comforting and familiar so we could begin the long recovery journey ahead.

"Thanks," I said and turned to awake my wife.

Arizona's POV

"I've called Derek to explain the situation, so he'll be ready for us at the hospital whenever you're ready to talk to him about it and discuss rehabilitation options. Webber knows what's going on and said take as much time as you need, your job will be waiting when you are back on your feet." Callie paused to take a breath and flopped down next to me on our bed. "So that's what I had to do today done, and now I can enjoy the rest of my day with my beautiful wife! Oh, I forgot, I managed to scrape off two weeks of leave, but I still have to go in for the occasional all-hands-on-deck massive trauma or any extensive surgeries. Other than that, I'm all yours." She said. I smiled at her.

"Thanks. I have just one problem with what you said, though. I'm hardly beautiful, I've still got this strange half-troll-face going on."

Callie's laughter ceased and she looked at me with a serious expression.

"You are the most amazing and glorious looking person I've ever had the luck of seeing." She whispered, and took my face in her hands, kissing first the eyelid of my left eye, then my left cheek, and finally the corner of my lips which was sagging. Her gaze penetrated right through my skin and she locked eyes with mine for a few moments to let her message sink in. She then jumped off the bed and ran to the door of our room, laughing. "Plus, the sagging has gotten a little better. At least it wasn't your boobs. I'd hate to see those hot things go to waste. Or your ass. GOD!" she exclaimed as I threw a pillow at her. She ran out of the room chuckling at her own "wittiness" and I was left to my own thoughts, staring up at the ceiling.

Unconsciously, I tried to lift my left arm as I had developed a habit of doing in the two days since my stroke. I could manage to move it a little, but there was no finger movement or anything of that sort. My left leg was at least better than my arm. I could lift it up and down and move it around, but everything took a lot more effort than usual and the leg was stiff, sore and clumsy when used. It only just qualified as working. The good part was that my speech had recovered with surprising speed and was nearly back to normal with the occasional word mess-up. Callie had been very helpful with getting my words back. I was extremely glad she was there when the stroke happened and managed to get me treated quickly, which meant that not a lot of my brain cells died, and that I'd make a full recovery.

Just as I was thinking this, Callie danced back into the room and placed a tray in front of me. It was laden with fruit and scones with cream and she'd set it up beautifully, using our best plates and cutlery.

"It's ironic that you bring out all the good stuff when I've only got one working hand making me very clumsy thus equalling a rather high risk factor in breakage of china." I said as I tried to keep a frown on my face from the earlier comment she made.

"Don't worry, I'll feed you myself!" She said and then scoffed at my frowning face, "Oh get over it, I'm your wife and I'm allowed to make comments on how hot you are. Plus, we both know my favorite thing about you is your personality, however smoking you may be." She said in her matter-of-fact tone and I couldn't help but grin at her.

"Hypocrite! You should see the way you look just after a shower. Anyone would wanna jump you." I joked.

Callie smiled at me with one eyebrow arched suggestively.

"So… Can you still do… stuff?" She wondered in her sexiest voice.

"What kind of stuff?" I teased. She poked her tongue out at me.

"I'm glad to see your childish humor has remained intact." She said. And then added, "But seriously."

"Well, if you promise to do all the work, I'm sure I'll be able to give it a shot." I joked, as she pulled me to her.

"You know I like it that way." She whispered huskily before her lips met mine, half of which were still affected with by the stroke. I guess she didn't mind, though, because it didn't seem to stop her. She paused briefly when she remembered the tray next to us and lifted it onto the dresser, but then was literally all mine as she'd promised earlier.

A/N Hope you guys enjoyed these last couple of chapters. Sorry about the uneven update timing, I just wanted to get this up as soon I wrote it. May all who are reading this have a good rest of night/day! Adios for now.