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.
Arizona's POV
"COME ON, WORK HARDER! YOU'VE NEARLY GOT IT!" Irene yelled for the sixth time in my ear. I flinched under the pressure and tried once again to complete the task. I'd been at it for an hour- this one silly thing that should be simple. All I had to do was move my arm from below my elbow. Just an inch. That is something that shouldn't have even required a thought. I tried one more time, with all my might and concentration focused on the task. My right hand formed a fist with the effort, my nails digging into my skin, but I still couldn't manage to move my arm properly, only achieving a small shake. Irene sighed behind me. "You know that you could have done it. You just have to think about, and I mean really think about it." She said. As if I hadn't been doing so for more than sixty minutes.
"I think there's more to it than that. I mean, I've been doing exactly that this whole time. And nothing!" I muttered, pointing to my useless limb. It was so frustrating. I banged my right hand against the table angrily. God! I thought, She should try being in my position before she freaking says that. I could feel myself getting madder with each passing second, and with that I knew what would come. The tears. Which, in my opinion, was stupid. I mean Irene was only my trainer. Not even my boss. In fact, I was employing her. Not her me. She was not really in authority over me. Nevertheless, I felt two stray tears trickle down my face, which I hastily wiped away.
"What was that? Are you… crying?" She demanded, her tone filled with disgust.
"Um. No?" I said unconvincingly, accompanied by more of those traitorous droplets sliding down my cheek. She scoffed, narrowing her eyebrows. She was really starting to get to me. Looking at her, I realized I probably could have beaten her in a fight. She was a small lady, and although she was rather well built in the muscle department, she was only as tall as my shoulder with quite short limbs. If I hadn't had my stupid stroke, I could have put her in her place. But then again, my stroke was the reason that I was there and she was shouting at me. I bit my lip as my determination returned, and tried again, concentrating harder than ever. My eyes were scrunched shut in my efforts, so when Irene gasped next to me, I thought I'd finally done it, opening my eyes immediately. "Did I do it?" I asked hopefully, starting to feel proud of myself.
"Nope." She said gravely.
"Then what was the reason for you gasping?" I enquired, sinking back into my feeling of ultimate uselessness.
"I did not gasp, that was a sigh because I thought you would have been able to achieve that relatively small goal by now." She replied, much to my dismay. I'm sure you can see the reasons behind my outburst that followed.
"Ok, no. You know what? I am capable. I have a freaking Ph.D and a medical doctorate and I was the Chief Resident. Chief Resident. And now I'm the head of the Seattle Grace Mercy West Pediatric Surgery department. I am a rockstar! I'm hardcore and I'm badass, and I'm awesome! SO. You know what you can do? You can take that sigh and shove it right up…" I stopped myself right before it got too ugly and took a deep breath, finally yelling, "I am capable!" and storming out of the room, walking as sophisticatedly as I could with my stiff leg. When I reached the entrance of the rehab, I pulled out my phone and tried Callie's cell, hoping she hadn't been dragged into some major surgery and would be free to pick me up. I frowned as the message tone sounded. I remember thinking to myself that it wasn't my day. I decided to go to the hospital to surprise her when she finished work. I normally would have walked, as it was only ten blocks from the rehab to the hospital, but my stroke had ruined my ability to walk too far without it taking a very long time. Sighing to myself, I called a taxi company and was answered by a perky receptionist. She told me that there would be a car at my destination within fifteen minutes.
I sat down against the wall, only just shielded from the light rainfall that was never far away in Seattle. At a loss for what to do, I opened the pictures file on my phone, scrolling through all those silly little moments that I'd thought to capture. There were tons of Callie, one of her that made me smile in particular. It was when she was still asleep one morning, with a look of serenity on her face that I barely got to see anymore. She looked so innocent and peaceful, it melted my heart. She was so beautiful, it took my breath away. I remember carefully climbing out of her embrace to grab my phone, never wanting to forget her amazingness at that moment. A tear rolled down my face as I thought of all the crap that had gone on since then. Now, I couldn't do many things independently, so she constantly had to think of taking care of me as well as her. I couldn't even drive myself, so she had to rearrange her schedule to fit my travel needs. She did so much for me, and though she smiled all the while, I knew that it would've been hard to handle. I was forever grateful to her. She was my everything. One that made me chuckle sadly was a picture of some craft that one of my peds kids had made me. It was a giraffe fashioned out of pipe cleaners. The smile that was on her face as she handed it to me was one I'll never forget. She was just out of chemo and thrust it into my hands as her mom wheeled her down the hall.
"Thanks for everything, Doctor Robbins!" She said with a giggle. Her name was Ally. She'd died six weeks after she gave me that, but I'll always remember how much of a fighter she was. Whenever I am in a dark situation, I just think of her and how she was brave until the end, and I know that I can do it. In a way, she reminds me of my brother. I was startled out of my reminiscence when a person strolled around the corner.
"What's got you laughing, Arizona?" Trish asked as she sat down next to me.
"Hi Trish," I smiled, hastily wiping away the tears on my face.
"Are you ok?" She said, her voice full of concern. "I didn't think your new schedule with Irene wouldn't allowed you time to be out here on your cell." She said, bitterness infused in her tone.
"It doesn't," I muttered sheepishly. "I kinda got pissed and stormed out." I explained, biting my lip. Patricia's mouth formed an o as a look of mock horror came over her face.
"Why ever would you want to do that?" She joked. I frowned at her sarcastically. "Well, I hate to say, 'I told you so,' but I did mention that I was a much easier trainer than the others. But hey, I guess you wouldn't know. I never got around to really training you. You switched therapists before I could show you my skills." She told me, with one eyebrow raised in an expression much like one of Bailey's.
"Trish, you know it's not you. It's just, Callie and I thought that with the history between us, it would be best if I had someone who wasn't, you know, emotionally attached."
"I guess. But we've always worked well together professionally, we make a very good team."
"I know. Still, I think it's best to do it this way. No feelings or anything getting in the way, just physical therapy. Oh look, my cab's here. Gotta go! See you later, Trish." I said, smiling as I got up and rushed through the rain to the cab. After I got in, I looked out the window to see Trish shaking her head slowly, something she used to do a lot when in my company. She was smiling. I waved to her through the foggy window, before turning to the front and telling the driver the address.
I arrived at the hospital five minutes later to find Cristina at the coffee cart in the foyer.
"Hey, Yang!" I called as I walked towards her, trying to catch her attention before she left. Her head turned around, and when she saw me, she broke into a smile.
"Robbins, hello! How's the recovery going?"
"Um, you know, ok. How are you?" I asked. She scowled.
"Altman has lost her mind again, she assigned Avery to my case. I did all the research and the practice, and she just gave it to him. It was a solo surgery, a coronary bypass, one of my favorite procedures. So I'm avoiding her. Until she comes to her senses." She explained in a very matter-of-fact tone, and then one of her devious ideas came to her. "Wait. You and Teddy are friends, aren't you? Maybe you could talk some sense into her, make her see properly-"
"Whoa," I said, cutting her off before she could get too far, "Sorry, but I'm here to visit Callie. Have you seen her at all?" She shook her head.
"But hey, I bet Altman has. And while you're asking her where your wife is, maybe you could slip in something about a coronary bypass?" She asked hopefully.
"Hey, I seem to remember something about you using me as a safety net for the merger? I don't think I'm gonna get you an awesome surgery after you took advantage of the tiny humans!" I replied frustratedly. "Nice try, though!" I said as I walked away. Cristina was left with her nose crinkled in a very childlike expression of distaste. I chuckled to myself as I thought of how I used to be just like her in the days of my residency. Driven to succeed. Hard-working. Able. Unlike now, when I couldn't move my arm an inch, let alone perform a solo surgery. I rounded a corner and was suddenly face to face with the OR board, and it was as cramped and messy as ever. My eyes automatically scrolled through it until they saw Callie's surgery. It was a massive trauma that was going to take at least another four hours, sadly. I asked on of the nurses, and they said that it had something to do with a Jane Doe and a car-versus-bicycle. Sounded messy. Callie would've been loving it. I could tell that when she got home later, she'd be grinning.
With my idea of surprising Callie momentarily postponed by the trauma, I strolled through the hospital absentmindedly, not really taking notice to where I was going, just having a look around to see if much had changed in my absence. Before I knew it, I was walking through the doors to the peds department. I halted in my tracks, not knowing if it would be too painful to do, but then deciding to go see some of my old patients. I stopped briefly at the nurses station, and saw Cathy, my preferred nurse for long and grueling shifts.
"Robbins!" She said. "It's a pleasure to see you back here again. How have you been feeling?" She asked, looking concerned. I smiled, enjoying her company. It felt sort of like old times. Before my stroke.
"I'm… ok, thanks. How've you been?" I asked.
"I'm well." She said.
"So, how're my patients?" I asked. "Have any of them been discharged? Oh, how did Aaron's valve replacement last week go? Was the doctor replacing me any good?"
"Jill Scotts from room 218 has been sent home, poor thing, she's still on bed rest and it's been quite hard for her. Harry Jenkins has also gone home, you know, room 321 with the cystic fibrosis. Aaron's valve replacement was good; and the new doctor is capable, I suppose, but he's not very well liked around here. No one compares to you with these kids, though. You're the best peds surgeon around." She told me. I grinned at her.
"Thanks, Cathy, that's why you're my favorite nurse." I replied. I reached over the desk and grabbed some of the charts, the ones with names that were unfamiliar. "Wow, there's a lot of new kids in." I remarked as I examined the files. I raised my eyebrows at the enormity of some of them. I should've been leading those cases, damn it.
"Well, you know, it's the busiest time of year. School holidays." She said, grimacing. I nodded in agreement, remembering some of my harsher cases that resulted from kids having too much spare time.
"Well, I'm going to go see some of the patients, I've been missing their smiling faces." I said as I walked away. "Bye!"
A/N Special thank you to all those lovely people who've added this story/me as an author to their favorites/alerts, and also to those who've reviewed. I very much appreciate your feedback, and it's highly encouraging. I hope everyone who reads this has a lovely day