Disclaimer: I do NOT own Grey's Anatomy and the characters/places mentioned herein that has something to do with it.
A/N: As I have pointed out, I am not a fan of Mallie too. Explanations will be written in the story, so read on. This chapter is quite longer than my first two but there's no Calzona interaction in it. I'm establishing the story without rushing things, that's why. Also, I'm trying to use as much characters as I can so if there's something, or someone, you would like to read on the next chapters, please do tell me. And oh, thanks for the reviews! :)
Title: At the Eleventh Hour
Author: Inks and Papers
Rating: T for now. May turn M in the future.
Summary: Just as everything thing is going crazy between Arizona & Callie after her return to Seattle, another dilemma enters the scene. Someone from Arizona's dark past comes to visit -or maybe, to bid goodbye. A bit of CalZona, more about Arizona.
I don't know why, but mentioning her name felt really good. I even had Goosebumps and I do hope the doctor didn't notice that. It's like I am connected to her –well, I am. It's just… I think she wished she weren't.
"Do you have an appointment with her?" Alex patiently responded to the girl. He took the chance to rest his surgery battered hands after almost two day shift. He has never seen the girl before yet she looked somewhat familiar, or maybe some features of her.
"Uh… no, I don't have." She looked away as she spoke.
Why have I not thought of this situation?
Alex was about to say something but was interrupted by the beeping of his pager.
"Hey, I really have to go."
The girl frowned and took a step back in defeat. She has no idea what to say. She waited half of her life for this and now that she almost had it, her mind went completely blank. Alex observed the sudden change in the girl's expression. He leaned forward and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Look kid, people are busy here trying to save lives. If you're lost, you could speak to the nurse, the guards, or whoever." He paused. He noticed the tears forming on the girl's eyelids which the girl was trying to hold back. Is she really going to cry? The resident sighed and took his hand off the girl.
"Is there anything you would like me to tell her?
The girl looked up at him. For the first time in the course of their conversation, she smiled. A familiar curve appeared on her lips, a familiar dimple on her cheek.
"Pink leaves."
"I'm sorry?"
"J-just tell her that. I'll be waiting, here."
Stunned and confused, the resident merely nodded and walked away.
Cristina entered the locker room and found the only current occupant, Meredith. She sat on one of the mid benches, staring down on something, facing her locker. The dark haired resident walked glumly towards the other half of the twisted sisters. She sat beside her friend, rolling her eyes and said, "Oh, thank God, someone who could talk with actual sense. Mere–"
She stopped upon seeing the tears that were about to fall. Her 'yeah, whatever' face turned into something serious and concerned.
"Hey, wha– why?"
The blonde spoke without facing her. "We failed. I failed."
"If this is about the Alzheimer's thing, you know very well it's not okay to fail..." Meredith then faced her best friend, keeping her teary straight face on. "…but that doesn't mean that you couldn't try again, right? Just try again." Cristina continued, almost animated.
Meredith revealed a pregnancy test kit from her hand and handed it out to the other resident. Her teary eyes locked on the other resident's face. Cristina took it stared at it for a while before she turned back to the blonde.
"So, it's about… this." Meredith nodded. "Yeah. We tried many times. We tried but..." Her voice trailed off, as a tear skidded down her cheek.
"Oh, God knows you tried," Cristina replied, keeping her serious tone. "…more than many times. He probably got tired of taking notes." She continued.
Meredith chuckled. She wiped the tear off her cheek and looked down. "I hate this hostile uterus."
"I hate stupid, nonsensical people."
"You ran into one of them?" The blonde smiled.
Cristina rolled her eyes. She stood and walked towards her locker. "Two of them."
Alex entered OR 3 where Arizona and April were operating on a young boy. Everyone was calm inside the OR, but the Ped's surgeon sure was serious.
"You paged me?" He said, half panting.
Arizona looked up at him from the distance. "Scrub in, we might need an extra hand." A few moments after, Alex joined the two doctors.
"We're performing a Laparotomy, checking what the scans and x-rays could've missed, right Dr. Kepner?" The ped's surgeon said. April nodded her head and looked down. She felt responsible for not keeping a close eye to the kid. Alex quietly stood beside her.
They stared at the monitor as it showed the lower part of the digestive tract, scanning through the stomach, duodenum, jejunum, ileum and colon.
"Dr. Robbins, someone's looking for you at the waiting area." Alex said behind his surgical mask.
"Can you give me a name, Karev?"
He looked around before he finally answered. "Pink leaves."
All eyes turned to Arizona, who didn't seem to hear the resident. Alex cleared his throat before he repeat what he said. "Pink leaves, that's what she said."
The blonde looked at him, her eyebrows lifted. "I'm sorry?"
"I said, pink leaves. It doesn't sound like a name but that's everything she told me." Karev said, emphasizing the words as he mentioned it.
Everyone heard the conversation but none of it interest the others. April, on the other hand, listened closely. Arizona paused for a moment, digesting the words she just heard. She crossed her brows in confusion.
"It doesn't ring a bell," She said. Alex shrugged. April looked at her, intrigued. A different story was playing inside her head, remembering what she saw earlier.
"I think it's a code." She spat. The other two surgeons looked at her, bewildered. "F-for someone, or something… one can do with another," The other surgeons paid attention to her. "…a sort of activity. Or maybe a codename, don't you think?" She continued.
Alex turned to her and smirked. He hated the resident's spontaneity. "Shut up." He said. The brunette rolled her eyes, turning back to the attending that was not paying attention to them anymore.
"There, see that?" Arizona pointed to the screen.
"Ruptured spleen, I wonder why the scans didn't capture this." Karev said.
"We can worry about that later. Now, we treat it." The blonde replied.
There was nothing intimate between Mark and Callie. It was just all sex and friendship –probably, the best one there is. No one had ever regretted having sex with the so-called legend, not even Callie –not until today.
Today, the brunette could feel her heart clenched inside her as she kissed her best friend. Today, she could feel the guilt screaming at her chest, pounding in her throat as her whole body trembles. She just wanted a time off Arizona because there was not a day the blonde wasn't in her mind ever since the day she was left alone in the airport. She wanted to numb herself from the pain, fight it in some ways. But even today, the thought of Arizona kissing her lingers in her brain.
Part of her wanted to grab the blonde, kiss her tenderly, take her back home and hold her. But part of her wanted to slap the blonde hard for leaving her alone and in pain. She wanted to get rid of thoughts about Arizona for a while, so she could think clearly of herself and the baby. The baby.
"The baby." Callie said out of nowhere.
"The what?" Mark replied, lying beside the Latina.
She sat up pulling the blanket over her. Her eyes widened in shock. She almost forgot about her pregnancy, which she only learned of early that morning.
"A-a baby, I'm having a baby…" She turned to her best friend with a surprised look. Confused, Mark faced her. They stared at each other for a while before Callie continued. "I-I took the test early this morning and, and… I found out."
The Plastics surgeon almost jumped in astonishment. "Woah! Seriously?"
"It's… it's like a weed growing inside me, a baby, Mark!"
"Not a weed –a might oak! We're going to have a baby. We're going to be parents!" The excitement was written all over his face. The brunette stared back at the ceiling. She was glad for Mark, knowing how much he wanted to have a child, a family of his own. But she had other things in mind.
"We're going to be parents." She whispered.
"Hell yeah, we are!"
"Yeah –no. I mean, yes you're the father. But I am thinking of... me and Arizona."
There was a silence. Mark grinned beside her. The brunette sighed. For the first time since the blonde's return, she felt the strong impulse to talk to her. A smiled curved on her face.
She could imagine seeing their child in Arizona's arms, fast asleep, waiting inside their home –happy. And then there's that time when the baby runs after the chickens as she and Arizona sit on a fancy swing in their courtyard, hands together –a family.
"Then Lexie and I will come barging from the back door to take her on a short trip so that his or her mommies could have some time alone." Mark hissed, half chuckling.
Did I just say that out loud?
Mark laughed at his best friend. She was, indeed, imagining things out loud.
"Lexie," Callie said softly. They forgot about Lexie. How would she take it?
"Oh, right. I've got to tell Lexie too." His merry, happy face turned into the opposite. The Latina felt the same thing.
How would Arizona take it?
"We've got to tell them. A-Arizona wanted to talk, so bad. I wanted to, it's just… I don't know what to say, I… don't," Callie was cut by Mark, pressing a finger in front of her lips.
"It'll come by. Whatever it is that you would like to say? It'll come by. Just go talk to her."
The Latina nodded and smiled.
"What are you waiting for? Go get dressed. Her shift will be over soon."
After the surgery, April spent a few more minutes in the hospital dealing with Dr. Starks' post ops. It was a tiresome day, not to mention some intriguing stuff she witnessed. It sure was wrong to assume, and it's definitely none of her business but the curiosity was just too great. She approached Lexie who was standing a few meters away from her at the nurse's station.
"She couldn't be gay right?" April said, almost whispered.
"Uh, who?" Lexie replied without looking, a chart in her hands.
April scanned the area before she moved closer and whispered. "Cristina."
The younger Grey looked at April, her eyes widened in surprise. She was torn between laughs and annoyance. "What did you just say?"
"I-I know Dr. Yang and Dr. Hunt are happily married because I," She swallowed before she continued. "…attended their wedding. But it's… it's possible right? To be married and then later find out that you're gay? Or maybe, maybe… you just want to get laid with a gay person –which makes you half of a gay." She crossed her brows and continued. "D-does that make you gay?"
Lexie stared at the other resident for a couple of minutes before she found words to utter.
"Are you telling me that Cristina is gay?"
"A-actually, I was asking you."April replied. Lexie handed the chart to the nurse, who was busy with the telephone, and stepped closer to the other resident. She leaned in, her eyes scanning the area and whispered in a not so low voice.
"Cristina, definitely, has not slept with half of all the men at the hospital, but she sure has screwed a couple of guys –and mind you, they're not your typical hit-and-quit guys. She almost married Burke, and now she's married with Hunt. But that is not the point. The point is that this is none of your damn business!"
"So I-I guess that's a no, right?" April replied.
"No." Lexie stopped for a moment, seemingly doubting her own answer. "I don't know. What makes you think she is gay?"
April related the story to the younger Grey –the on call room incident earlier, the lab coat, the possible code name or something, the sudden appearance in the operating room, the smiles and touches after a successful surgery.
"This is so not, I mean… It's just not possible." Lexie said, shaking her head.
The other resident put on that worried, curious look as she responded. "Is it not?"
Lexie rubbed her temples and sighed. "Well, maybe it is. But the fact that they're both in a committed relationship," She stopped, remembering that Arizona and Callie was not really together these days. "…or at least, so much in love with the person they're supposed to be with, makes it impossible."
"So, I was just imagining things then." April chuckled, half convinced. "Yang, definitely, didn't sleep with Dr. Robbins." She pursed her lips as she nodded.
"Yeah. The chance of them sleeping together maybe not be next to zero, but I don't think that really happened. Yang didn't sleep with Arizona."
They both smiled, indicating the end of the conversation. But those smiles were easily wiped out by a familiar voice.
"Arizona slept with… who?" Callie asked.
A/N: I didn't elaborate Arizona's surgery, and I never will because I'd like to keep the story realistic and my having few medical knowledge makes it impossible, so there are a few things I would like to clear.
There was a complication on the kid's heart during surgery. What needed to be done was something Karev and Kepner haven't done yet so they paged cardio. However, Teddy was in the middle of an open-heart surgery so she couldn't make it that's why she sent Yang instead. April thought it was planned that's why she jumped into conclusions. The smiles and touches mentioned were all in Kepner's head. They're completely meaningless -to that extent.
Comments? :)