Returning to Seattle was unsettling for Callie. The rain, the traffic and noises of everyday life conflicted with her empty feeling. As with her departure all those months ago, she'd remained silent at her impending return. When she'd arrived at the base, all the other had personal had family and friends to greet them. Callie had simply grabbed her gear and caught a cab. Her parents, Mark and everyone else from the hospital would remain oblivious to her presence until they stumbled across her. Callie was just too tired to deal with anything. It also seemed so surreal to be returning home. Those last months of active service had been a nightmare. Callie's injuries hadn't properly healed, but too important to send home Callie had worked through the pain. Swallowing another pain killer to numb the pain, Callie watches the rain droplets move down the window. The cabbie had attempted to make conservation but soon gave up noticing Callie's blank expression.
Stepping out of the taxi in front of her apartment block, Callie feels the rain run down her face. It felt strangely normal, turning, she sees the hustle of the hospital across the street. To Callie it seemed so odd so see normality compared to what she usually saw. Heading up to her apartment, she searches for the keys through her kit. Not much was left, a change of clothes, armour ,a weird assortment of military gear and a bundle of unread letters from home. Finally pulling out the key, Callie was eternally grateful she had decided to keep the key. Pushing the door open, Callie winces as the movement causes her stretch her side. Standing still under the throbbing pain subsides, she gently lifts her shirt to see if blood can be seen. Thankful, the wrapping appears clean and Callie steps into the apartment closing the door behind her. Dropping my kit inside the front door and kicking off her boots, Callie stumbles towards her bedroom. She throws the door open and surveys the scene before her.
'Hello bed how I have missed you' Callie exclaims to her empty room and that wonderful bed. All soft, warm and comforting, how could any person wish for a better bed. Glancing around, she sees that her room is a mess. No one has been in here since she left all those months ago, the draws were open to. Clothes strewn on the floor and medical textbooks stacked against the wall.
'I now live like Christina' Callie mumble to herself. As sleep overtakes her exhausted body Callie prays that she dreams of nothing.
XXXX
Being paged in at 1 in the morning was a wonderful way to start the morning, Christina thinks to herself. One amazing cardio surgery later, Christina was stumbling back to the apartment in preparation for her shift tonight. Working the graveyard shift in the ER tonight meant that she got first dibs on all the good surgeries – so something good was bound to show up. Opening the door she immediately trips over something lying in the doorway. Cursing her own messy living habits under her breath, she grasps the thing trapped on her shoe and pulls up a military kit bag. 'What the hell' Christina mutters under the breath. Glancing around Christina attempts to place the bag as its not hers or Owens. 'Callie…' she whisper under her breath
Spotting a pair of combat boots on the floor, she quickly head towards Callie's room. No one had heard anything from Callie since she left - not even her parents. Knocking on her bedroom door, Christina hears nothing through the door. Quietly, opening on the door Christina sees Callie lying on her bed, sleeping. Although she looks like she's in pain, a grimace gracing her face.
Closing the door behind her as she steps back out, Christina pulls her phone out of her pocket and makes a call. Cursing Sloan's inability to answer his phone, Christina decided to page him to the apartment. Christina page him 911 to the apartment with the words 'Torres back'. Settling on the sofa, Christina waits for Mark to show up.
XXXX
'I feel lunch is an over-rated experience' Mark mutters as he glances up at Bailey. No one else had been free, so at their usual table was just the two of them.
'It's better than keeling over face first in an open abdomen because you fainted due to a lack of food' Bailey responds.
'Valid point', as Mark says as his pager blears, thankful that this will allow him to escape from this awkward lunch. Seeing that it's Christina that has paged him is surprising, Yang has no interest in plastic and steers clear from anything that relates to it. And then, as the pager scrolls across the words 'Torres back' are read his mind begins to whirl at the implications of these two simple words.
'What the hell?' I mutter as Bailey glances up at me.
Suddenly it clicks, 'Torres is back…'She must be in the apartment.' Mark says as he stands up and break into a run That women better be in one piece and be damn sorry for putting us all through the worry about where she was, Mark mutters to himself. Bailey, finally comprehending Mark's rambling gets up and follows after the plastics surgeon. The Chief spotting the two surgeons heading out of the hospital.
'Shouldn't you all be helping in the ER?' he yells at the two surgeons. 'The hospital is no place to play chasey, no matter what Dr. Sloan has done now.' Neither surgeon bother to reply as they sprint across the car park, through the pouring rain to the apartment block.
'Do you think this elevator could go any slower' Mark mutters under his breath. Finally the doors open and two of them break into a run and heat towards the apartment. Seeing Christina at the front door, Bailey and Sloan grind to a holt.
'Well' Mark asks.
'She's asleep in her room. I don't know if you should wake her. Although her sleep doesn't look peaceful, she's grimacing. I guess you should make the call' Christina says as he turns to Mark.
'Lets just look in and see her and then decided. I think she should sleep, no matter how much I want to kick her arse.' Bailey says. Heading towards Callie's room, they are all be as quiet as possible.
XXXX
Hearing the door of her room creak open Callie hears someone mutter 'Her door creaks, why didn't we think of that?'
'Shut up Sloan, bigger concerns at the moment than a creaking door.' Yang replies. So much for a sleep, Callie thinks to herself as the attempts to push through the haze from sleep and the strong painkillers that she's on. Sleep at the moment is overrated and the memories from the war flood through her mind whenever she's not actively thinking of something else. As Callie's facing away from the door, they have no idea she's awake and they continue to bicker amongst themselves.
'Should we wake her?' Callie hears Mark ask.
'Don't bother, I'm already awake. You guys suck at keeping the noise down. None of you take up the occupation as a spy.' Callie says as she turns and sits up in bed. The moment causes her to moan in pain as her wound is again stretched. They all stand sheepishly in Callie's doorway - three grown surgeons squashed in her doorway is an interesting site to see. 'That's it, you all have nothing to say? Quite content to stand in my doorway are we?' They all glance around everywhere looking at Callie. Finally Christina speaks up.
'So you're back?'
'No shit Sherlock' Callie respond as she raise my eyebrows at such a stupid comment. Callie expected that thing from Lexie, not Christina. Looking at Bailey, 'Just the person I needed to see' Callie says. She looks a little shocked at that. Still wearing my combat uniform I stand up and life my shirt up to expose my injured side. Blood is seeping from the wound. 'I think I may have torn some of my stiches, could you check and make sure nothing else is damaged.' Callie calmly asks as she sucks in deep breaths to stop the pain from making her keel over.
'You're injured?'
'Really Christina, two from two stupid comments today.' Callie snaps out. Bailey heads over and un-winds the dressing covering her injury. Christina and Mark remaining in the doorway watching Bailey unwind the bandage. Mark lets out a small gasp of shock when the extent of the injury is plain to see. The wound is weeping blood and raw red indicating an infection. Callie was on antibiotics to counteract the infection which seemed to be making a difference.
'You've definitely torn some of them, but I think you should get a scan to make sure there isn't anything more serious.' Bailey says in a professional tone as she lightly touches the wound. But from her face, Callie can read that even she is shocked at the extent of Callie's injury.
'So, to the hospital?' Callie asks.
'To the hospital.' Bailey nods in agreement.
XXXX
Arizona was closing up a child's abdomen when she notices Mark standing in the gallery. Seeing Mark standing in the gallery is odd as there was nothing special or difficult about it. As Arizona exits the OR, Mark heads towards her a grin look on his face. He has that look on his face, the expression he has when he had bad news to tell her.
'What's wrong, what's happened?' Arizona frantically asks when he gets close enough.
'She's back.' As he says that Arizona feels herself lean against the wall for support. She's alive, she came back thoughts run through her head as she attempts to comprehend what Mark has told her. 'Yang went back to the apartment and she was there. Asleep, and then we kinda woke her up. And then she…' Marks voice drains away as he's unsure of how to broach the subject of Callie's injury.
'She's what?' I ask as I look up at the Mark.
'She's injured, Bailey is doing a scan. It doesn't look that serious' Mark says in one breath. 'I mean its infected but it looks like a flesh wound and she's had surgery on it.'
'Ok' Arizona whispers out.
'Do you want me to come with you?' Mark asks as he's aware that Arizona will need to see if Callie is indeed, home. Arizona mutely nods her head and feels like all the weight of the world has been lifted off her shoulders. Heading towards where Callie is getting her scan, Arizona feel s her breath rate increase. Bailey is sitting in the control room as Callie is getting her scan. Bailey, noticing Arizona's presence offers her a small smile as she returns to the task at hand. Arizona, spotting her uniform sitting on the bench runs her hand over it feeling something in the chest pocket. Slipping her hand into the pocket she pulls out a letter, her letter. Turning the letter over and noticing the seal that is intact, her shoulders slump in defeat. The letter is battered, dirty and looks like it has blood on it, but its sealed. Mark notices what in Arizona's hand and puts a consoling hand on her shoulder. In Arizona's mind, she realises that Callie didn't return for her as she was unaware of how Arizona had felt. Callie must still think the words yelled at in anger during the lockdown were true. Turning to look at her as she lies still at Bailey does a full body scan, it's obvious that Callie is uncomfortable in this environment. Her toes are wiggling furiously which is one of her nervous habits. Arizona's final thought before she rushes from the room is that she's a good man in the storm, but at the moment she can't deal with any of this. Shoving the letter back into chest pocket, Arizona pushes past a stunned Mark.