Trigger Warning: This story initially focuses on an assault. The actual assault isn't described, but the after effects (injuries, etc.) are discussed. If this will bother you, this may not the be the best fic for you to read. Be safe. Be healthy. Be kind to yourself.
AN: Thank you all for reading and continuing to read, follow, comment and be general awesome people. Tons of thanks and undying appreciation for my beta INeedYourGrace. She is smart, kind, important and lovely. It's been fabulous to work with her. If there are any errors, it is totally my mistake. I probably missed fixing it, because seriously INeedYourGrace has eagle eyes for grammar.
Anyway, Enjoy!
Chapter Three
"Good Morning A-" Amelia announced as she entered Arizona's room later that morning not so quietly.
Amelia was greeted with a sight that she definitely had not expected. Callie had pulled a chair over Arizona's bed and had fallen asleep with her head near Arizona while holding her hand – similar to the position that Arizona spent countless nights in after the car crash. Arizona and Callie both appeared to be sleeping and comfortable with their closeness. This was definitely not expected as their frequent blow outs a few months ago and their now often quiet distance was hospital legend.
Callie stirred at Amelia's greeting "Oh. Hello Dr. Shepherd." Callie tried to move away from Arizona's bed, but Arizona quickly held onto Callie's hand even tighter.
"I'm here to check Arizona's neuro status," Amelia answered as Arizona opened her eye. "How are you feeling this morning, Arizona?"
The left side of Arizona's face was deeply bruised and that eye was swollen shut.
"Better. Definitely better." Arizona sounded groggy and Callie couldn't entirely tell if Arizona was telling the truth or lying to placate Amelia. In either case, Callie was sure the morphine drip was a large contributor. Amelia quickly completed her neuro check.
"That's good. You had me worried." Amelia sympathetically rubbed Arizona's shoulder before returning to doctor mode. "Neuro-wise you are fine. I think we can discharge you this afternoon. April mentioned wanting to check you over before you are discharged, though. She should be in soon and then you can be on your way home. Just be sure to let me know if you experience any dizziness, vomiting, etc."
As Amelia was leaving April walked in trailed by Wilson. April greeted Arizona, surprised that Callie was still there and completed her perfunctory exam of Arizona's injuries.
"Okay Arizona, you look good. I'm leaving you scripts for pain medication, antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory - taking them regularly is important. We are discharging you today, but with your wrist I'd say no surgeries for at least a week." April looked to Callie for confirmation before she continued and Callie nodded before Arizona had a chance to protest. "I've talked to Karev and he can cover peds for the next few days and Herman said she would give you three days off if you kept up on the reading." April sounded annoyed at Herman's generous three day break. "And the police are waiting outside to ask you a few questions to finish their report, okay?" April said gently as though she were trying to convince a small child to do something. Although, given Arizona's reaction to the mention of police last night the tone seemed appropriate.
"Wait, Wilson are you working all day?" Arizona asked. Even though they had been essentially living together the past few months and both had seen more than they cared to of the other, they still were not on a first name basis.
"Um. Yeah. I'm in the middle of a 48-hour shift," Jo answered confused why this was the path of questioning that Arizona chose after receiving all of the previous information.
Callie and April also looked at Arizona in confusion both internally debating whether they should ask Amelia to re-evaluate that neuro check she just gave Arizona. Arizona, however, grabbed for Callie's hand again, having lost contact while she was being check out, and looked down as though she were trying to figure something out.
"I can't go there alone. I don't want to be alone. Don't leave me," Arizona softly pleaded almost to herself, but Callie caught onto her concern.
"Hey, hey Arizona, sweetie" Callie bit her tongue, she could not keep doing that, "you can come home with Sofia and me. We'll take care of you. It is going to be okay," Callie soothed trying to avoid another panic attack for Arizona and put the focus on Sofia instead of herself. She needed any attempt at distance if this was going to be okay. Arizona slowly nodded. She seemed exhausted at this averted crisis and she didn't even try to fight the police questioning she would have to go through soon.
"Wilson, can you cover my pages today? I don't have any surgeries, but you can page if something complicated comes in, okay? Don't be afraid to ask for help." Callie asked. She needed to go with Arizona if this was going to work.
"Yes, of course," Jo answered looking like she had won the lottery. Callie quickly glanced to April who nodded that she would keep an eye on the resident.
"Okay, so I'm going to go get Sofia while you talk with the police and then we can go, sound good?" Callie asked. Arizona again nodded, but gripped Callie's hand tighter. Callie guessed that Arizona really wanted her to stay, but Callie didn't know if she could handle any more details of the previous evening. She wanted to be there for Arizona, but her own emotional stamina had limits, too.
On her way to the daycare Callie was trying to plan out what she was going to say to Sofia to make any of this make sense to her. She had been pretty deliberate over the past few months trying to explain to Sofia that Arizona didn't live with them at the house anymore. Arizona was also obviously hurt and Sofia saw Arizona infrequently enough that she often tried to climb all over Arizona on sight, which couldn't happen today. Callie wasn't sure how this was going to work when she ran into Karev.
"Hey Karev! Did you take care of the car this morning?" Callie called out to Alex. She had texted him last night to ask him to take Arizona's car to the shop to be fixed and clean. Callie didn't know if she could stomach driving a car with Arizona's blood on the seats and she didn't want Sofia to see it when they got home.
"Yeah. I took it to the place you asked me to. They said it would be a couple of days. Got a couple of stares for my trouble, people assuming I'm the one that caused the bleeding."
Callie snorted "Yeah. I know that feeling. I'm pretty sure had I taken her to any other ER the process would have been much longer – bringing in your beaten ex-wife…" Callie trailed off.
"Will she be okay?" Karev asked.
"Yeah, physically she should be fine within a week or two," Callie answered. "Don't mess up her peds floor or whatever she would tell you," Callie said as she walked away.
Arizona spent the day on Callie's couch, their former couch, while Sofia tried to show her all of her toys one by one, even the ones that Arizona had bought for Sofia. Arizona loved the time and attention from Sofia, but it left her feeling guilty. Sofia was so excited to have Arizona around and paying attention to her. Arizona began to realize how much Sofia missed her and needed her to be in Sofia's life regularly, not a special occurrence. Sofia was so excited that Arizona had come to visit that Callie couldn't get Sofia to focus on anything else or any semblance of her normal routine, because Arizona's presence had become so not normal.
When Sofia finally went down for her nap Arizona commented on Sofia's excitement to Callie.
"I really should see her more. She is so excited."
"I've been telling you that, Arizona. Speaking of you and Sofia, you need to call your parents. I called them last night… er this morning to let them know what happened, but they are under the impression I am not allowing you to see Sofia and want to come out here to see you." Callie no longer sounded comforting and gentle with Arizona. She was frustrated, again, at the accusations she had received from Mrs. Robbins and Arizona's lack of parenting.
"Callie. Can we not? Not right now. I can't argue about Sofia with you now. I'm sorry about my parents. I know you aren't stealing Sofia or whatever it is they said. I'll call them now. Do you think they should come out now?"
"Sure, Arizona," Callie answered half placating and half annoyed. It was always 'can we talk about Sofia later?' Pretty soon, their little girl would grow up and there wouldn't be a later. "And I'm not getting involved with you and your parents, not after the riot act I got this morning."
"I'm sorry Callie. I haven't said bad things about you to them, really." Arizona pleaded, though the key part of that sentence was to them. Arizona had sure bitched about Callie to other people.
"Okay, Arizona. Did anything get stolen? Credit cards or anything? I can make some calls for you, if you'd like." Callie just wanted to change the subject at this point. She and Arizona needed to have a conversation but it couldn't be now, with Arizona like this.
"A few credit cards, about $60 in cash, but I still have my license."
"Okay. I don't know if they will talk to me, but I could get all the phone numbers for you to cancel them."
"Actually, you could just call and cancel them. You're still on my accounts."
Callie was taken aback by this. They had been separated for over 6 months; they had divided their finances pretty early on. Arizona had never taken her off her credit cards. Arizona still trusted her, at least with her finances. Or maybe she was just too busy to get around to it.
"Um yeah sure. Was it all of them?" Callie tried to sound calm, normal at this realization, not sure what it actually meant.
"Yeah except for the debit card."
Callie proceeded to make calls to cancel cards in the other room while Arizona called her parents.
Callie woke up in the middle of the night realizing she was spooning Arizona in what used to be their spare bedroom. Callie had never moved out of it after Arizona moved out. She couldn't bring herself to sleep in their bedroom alone. It never felt right. Callie then realized what had woken her. Arizona was having a nightmare. Over the years, Callie had gotten to the point where she would wake up when Arizona's nightmares started to get bad. She could usually tell which one it was – tiny coffins, the plane crash, an IED explosion in Iraq killing Timothy, the car crash, and now she guessed the assault would be added to that list – but she wasn't sure tonight. Callie drew Arizona to herself and started to murmur comforts in her ear. Callie had learned that soothing Arizona out of them without waking her often kept them from coming back in the same night and that was always what she tried first. Soon Arizona was able to settle back to restful, peaceful sleep, while Callie was left with questions as to what they were doing.