A/N: So here we go again, thanks again folks for all the reviews, they really make the writing more rewarding and stuff and love to hear your ideas on how you think the story should go...as I have no idea where this story is going to end up I might just take your advice ;)
'What the HELL are you guys still doing in here?'
Owen Hunt's voice rang through the OR corridor. He had heard shouting from the corridor and had come to investigate, after what he'd just been through in the OR with some of his colleagues; he didn't want anyone else getting hurt. However when he entered the corridor and took in the sight before him, he realised that that had already happened. Arizona's lifeless body was stretched out on a gurney, Callie straddled her as she administered CPR, both of them and Teddy were covered in blood and he could see a small child also on a gurney with two more nurses and Dr. Sanchez.
'OWEN! GET. US. IN. THE. OR. NOW.' Callie shouted out each word as she pumped Arizona's chest.
'Owen what happened to you?' Teddy's voice rang clear now as she noticed that he had his arm in a sling.
'Um...long story, one for later, not now. Right get Arizona into OR 2, OR1's occupied at the minute but I can pull a couple of surgeons from there to help you. Yang's busy saving Derek's life...'
'What?'
'Derek..is he ok?
'Yeah he's going to be fine, Christina has...well she's had a brilliant teacher,' he flashed a smile at Teddy. 'Look get in there and set up, I'll send over Kepner to give you a hand.' Teddy wheeled the gurney forwards straight away with Callie still on top pumping away. 'Right Sanchez you get into three I'll send Avery in...and he'll have to take lead until me or Teddy are free to come give you a hand.' With that Owen ran into the OR that he had been in, shouting orders out to Avery to get next door and take lead on an api whilst everyone else should stay, make sure Derek is stable and then come and help in the api or with Dr. Robbins. Everyone one clambered to get more details, but Owen knew time was short, especially for Arizona, so he told them to just get on with it. Giving one last look to Christina, he crossed the corridor into OR 2 knowing that his expertise would be needed there the most.
'CHARGE A-FUCKING-GAIN!' Callie's voice rang through the otherwise eerie silence. Sweat was dripping off of Callie's forehead and her body felt physically exhausted from pumping Arizona's chest for God knew how long, but from somewhere she found the strength to continue. She could feel the other people around her start to give up as Teddy hung her head and let tears slip down her cheeks.
'NO. Teddy you are not giving up on her...' Callie's words seemed to bring Teddy from the trance she hadn't realised she was in and she ran forward laying one swinging thump onto Arizona's chest. Every pair of eyes in the OR stared towards the monitors at the far end of the bed and all eyes were filled with relief as a steady beep started up indicating that Arizona's heart was beating of it's own accord. It was very weak, but it was there.
Callie almost slumped where she was with the sheer exhaustion of the whole situation, not just physically, but emotionally too. She'd started the day doing everything she could to stay away from Arizona, doing everything she could to hate her...and now? Now she was doing everything she could to save her life, doing everything she could to bring back the woman she loved with all her heart.
'Callie! Get off the table so we can set her up!' Callie was brought from her thoughts by Teddy who had already thrown on a surgical gown and briefly scrubbed knowing that time was of the essence. Callie jumped off of the bed and made to scrub in. 'Callie, please...wait outside?' Teddy knew that this was going to create an argument but she simply couldn't have Callie in the room.
'Um...NO! Teddy you can't expect me to sit outside and wait...'
'No...Callie, you have to! I'm struggling here with the fact that I'm operating on my best friend because she's been shot three times...having you here...it's just too much. I don't want to slip up on this one Callie and having you here...it'll be too much...I need to act like this is any patient on this table, not my best friend, and certainly not the woman you love. Now please Callie, get out of my OR.'
Callie stood completely still for a minute, looking straight into Teddy's eyes; seeing fear, love, passion, concern, but most importantly, determination in them; determination to save Arizona's life. Callie nodded and turned to Arizona's very lifeless body. Stroking a loose strand of her blonde hair from her face, Callie kissed her forehead gently, 'Come back to me please. I love you.' With those whispered words she moved away and headed for the door. 'Keep me updated.' She called to the room, when heads nodded she left into the scrub room. From there Callie didn't quite know where to go; going anywhere else in the hospital would be stupid but she knew that she couldn't stay in that scrub room and watch, she needed to get out.
Crossing the corridor after checking to see if the coast was clear, Callie burst into OR 1. She took in the scene in a second as she saw Derek on the operating table, Yang was just closing up and Meredith was stood at Derek's head stroking his hair. 'He ok?' Callie just about choked out the words.
'Callie! What happened to you?' Meredith asked the obvious question after taking in Callie's appearance, the fact that she was covered in blood pretty much from head to toe would cause alarm on its own without knowing that there was a shooter loose in the hospital.
'Arizona got shot. She's across in OR 2 now, Teddy, Owen and April are trying to do what they can, she's got a pneumothorax but that's fine, one of the bullets hit her heart as well and that's the problem...' Callie finished, not really knowing what else to say, not wanting to talk about the matter anymore as it was driving her mad not knowing how events were unfolding across the hall. 'Is Derek going to be ok?'
'Yeah, Christina's just finished actually.' Meredith offered a small smile; the stress of the day obviously etched across her face; the same stress that was etched across everyone's face.
'There, all done.' Christina stepped away from the table and sank to her knees immediately. 'We'll have to keep him in here and on the ventilator until we get the all clear to move.' Callie sank onto the floor next to Christina, Meredith doing the same but leaving a hand gripping onto Derek's.
'This is shit.' Callie broke the silence.
'Yup.' Christina agreed with a shake of her head. The three of them descended into silence again, each of them giving thought to their loved ones. It was ironic that the three of them sat there had all bared witness to the individual they loved the most getting shot that day. Christina thought of Owen; he had come back for her, she had doubted his love and commitment, but he had come back for her, she smiled at that thought. Meredith gave thought to Derek laid on the table behind her; seeing his body flung by the force of the shot would live with her forever, along with the fact that she had lost their unborn child. Yes, this had been a shit day. Finally there was Callie, her thoughts firmly on the blonde across the hall. Callie replayed the day's events in her head; fighting with Arizona, questioning her love and commitment, then those three gunshots. Callie shook her head to remove the echoing shots now in her head. She closed her eyes and, not for the first time that day, she prayed.
Her silent prayer was interrupted as the OR door flung open. Everyone, with vivid memories of the day, jumped six foot in the air, their three hearts each skipping a fair few beats. The ginger hair that they noticed first instantly set them at ease.
'Christina, get across the hall now! The repair's proving tricky and I'm useless in there and April...well she's not up to your standard...' Christina made to resist; she'd had more than enough drama for one day, saving Derek's life with Meredith going all 'shoot me, shoot me' on her ass was bad enough now she was needed to save another person's life. But there lay the problem; it was not just another person, it was another one of the family. Heck she'd lived with blondie for near-on-a-year! Any thought Christina had of refusing vanished as soon as she caught Callie's eye. She saw so much fear and desperation that she jumped up without another thought and ran across the corridor with Owen behind her.
Callie made to talk to Owen but he was gone as fast as he had arrived. Callie sat back down in a humph, shifting so that she was sat next to Meredith. They had never been that close, Callie and Meredith, they'd worked together, and sometimes they'd had conversations of a deeper nature, but if either of them had picked someone to be sat with at a moment like this, they wouldn't have been at the top of either's list.
'She'll be ok.' Meredith said reaching her other arm up and around Callie's shoulders. No matter the strength of friendship between them, this situation was one that brought people together, you might say. Even though Callie felt like all the tears she possessed for a lifetime had left her eyes during the day, some more still found their way to her cheeks as she sobbed into Meredith's shoulder just praying that Teddy and Christina could save the woman that she would give the world for.
'Suction...give me more Suction in here Keppner for fuck's sake...' Teddy's normal cool head in an operating theatre was drastically beginning to fall. This was Arizona's heart she was stitching into and no matter how far she tried to push that thought away she just simply couldn't. The tear in the heart was only increasing in size, more and more blood pouring out into Arizona's chest cavity. All Teddy needed was one stitch, just one stitch would make this job a whole lot easier, one stitch and she could place the pericardial patch and a few more stitches, she just needed the first stitch to stem the bleeding that was blocking her view.
'Give me the suction April!' Yang pushed April to the side and grabbed the suction tube, working with hands that most attendings would give money for. All of a sudden it was as if someone had turned the tap off for Teddy and she made the initial stitch that she had been trying to do for the past ten minutes. With this new found clarity Teddy felt a new air of determination dawn upon her as she transferred the patch and secured it. Everyone watched with baited breath as Teddy stepped back; now it was Arizona's fight, her fight to live or her surrender to death.
'Take her off bypass.'
Watching and waiting was killing all of them in that room; they'd done all they could and now they just had to stand and watch for the one sign of life that would cause them all to breathe easier.
Teddy glanced nervously at the clock, it had been two minutes, at three it would be looking risky, at four dire, at five...well that didn't bear thinking about. Teddy could feel the tears finding their way out of her eyes and down into her mask. She felt Owen's hand on her shoulder as she shook her head, refusing to believe that Arizona would give up on life, refusing to believe that she'd give up on her Calliope.
Ba-bum.
Ba-bum.
Ba-bum.
Teddy almost fell to her knees with the emotion she felt after seeing and hearing that amazing sound as Arizona's heart began to beat soundly for itself. She found herself hugging Owen, Christina, April, the anaesthetist whom she didn't even recognise; she was just so, so happy. With a new found spring in her surgical hands Teddy closed up Arizona's chest wall and her pale skin and declared that part of the operation over. Under Owen's instruction and with the occasional aid of his one hand, Christina and Teddy proceeded to remove both of the other bullets, one in Arizona's shoulder and the other in her thigh. Neither required much; they were glad to find that miraculously no nerves had been damaged by either bullet, so ten stitches later Teddy gladly pronounced the operation over as wound gauze was placed over all three stitch sites.
'We'll have to stay in here until we know the shooter's been caught guys.' Owen's voice brought reason to the otherwise merry mood in the room. 'I'm going to go and see how Avery and Sanchez are getting on, they should be finished now. Well done you two,' he smiled at both Christina and Teddy before making to leave the room. 'Oh, and someone should go and tell Callie.' Owen left the room.
'Can you keep an eye on Arizona if I go and tell Callie?' Teddy asked Christina, wanting to tell Callie the good news, it had been a hard day and she wanted to see a brief glimmer of happiness amongst all the crap. Christina merely nodded and sat on a stool, resting her head on Arizona's bed. Teddy left the room leaving Christina to her thoughts; she barely noticed the anaesthetist sat in the corner as she turned to look at Arizona, taking her hand in hers.
'You'd best wake up Blondie, too many people have died...and nearly died today...Callie's been a mess without you and don't you let her tell you any different...I've never seen love quite like that between you two...who'd have thought that the resident lesbian couple would be the couple that the rest of us aspired to be like hey?' Christina gave a small laugh as she shook her head. 'I can't believe I'm talking to you...you can't even hear me for Christ's sake! God this shit has made me go soft...'
Callie and Meredith had remained in their huddled state since Christina and Owen had left the room. Both letting silent tears fall as they took stock and let the full weight of the day wash over them. They didn't really know how long they had been sat there before Teddy came bustling in through the door. Callie instantly shot up to her feet scanning Teddy's every feature to try and work out what had happened. Eventually Teddy broke into a full-on smile and just nodded, the tears over-flowing now for the both of them as they engulfed each other in a bone-crunching hug.
Quickly breaking up, Callie gave no thought to the fact that there was probably still a shooter loose in the hospital and ran across to the other OR. Christina was sat with her hand on Arizona's which took Callie back slightly but this wasn't the time to dwell on teasing the usually hard Christina Yang; instead she ran to the other side of the table and grabbed Arizona's free hand, stroking her hair with the other, her eyes darting over every inch of the pale body that still seemed so lifeless.
'I'm right here baby, you're ok now.' Callie pulled up one of the OR stools and sat continuously gripping Arizona's hand whilst stroking her hair. Christina stayed where she was, too exhausted to put the effort in to move whilst also feeling vulnerable, though she wouldn't admit it, this whole thing had been just too terrifying to put into words.
The door went, with them all jumping again, all of them realising how long this was going to take to get over. 'Sorry,' Owen apologised when he saw the horror on all their faces. 'They've finished the api, Ruby's coming round as we speak.' Callie smiled, that was a nice piece of news to get amongst the horror of the day. She had been afraid that the delay with Arizona would have meant that Ruby would have come off the worse, but it looked like all was well.
'Someone should go back and be with Meredith.' Owen said as he realised who was in the room.
'I'll go.' April immediately chimed up, she and Owen shared a knowing glance that went unnoticed by everyone else in the room.
'How long will we have to stay here?' Christina asked once April had left.
'I'm not sure. We'll have to wait for the SWAT team to clear the floor, they'll come and get us; they know we're here.' Owen replied, moving to rest his hands on Christina's shoulders.
'But how long will that take?' Callie chimed in now.
'I really don't know Callie...it depends on...where he is I suppose...what he's doing...'
'Why did he do this?' Callie asked, as they weren't going anywhere she figured now was as good a time as any to talk about it. 'I mean why? It's a hospital for fucks sake...'
'His wife died.' Christina said in a dead pan voice. Callie and Teddy looked at her, not knowing why Gary Clark had decided to wreak havoc on Seattle Grace Mercy West but they sure as hell wanted to.
'What? What excuse is that?' Callie asked, feeling the anger rising in her voice.
'I don't know the full details of his wife...all I know is that he blamed Derek for it...and Richard I think too...' Christina gave all the information she had. 'Do you know if anyone else got hurt?' Christina now asked the one question that was burning in all of them.
'I don't know.' Callie replied. 'We didn't see anyone as we were coming down...'
'Reed's dead and that's all I know.' Christina said.
'Reed?' Callie felt bad for not recognising the name.
'You know...the second year from Mercy West...short red hair...screwed Mark and offered Teddy a threesome when she caught her in his bed?' Christina didn't let the severity of the situation change her dark and twisty ways. Teddy let out a small humph at the memory but ceased to say anything else.
'Yeah I know who you mean now...you see her...you know?' Callie probed further.
'Nope, April told me. It was Kepner that alerted this whole situation, she found Reed and went and told Derek...' Christina didn't finish her sentence as she thought to the operation she had just performed on Derek; re-tracing her steps in her mind, thinking if she could have made even the slightest of mistakes.
Callie let her own thoughts wander as she concentrated on drawing circles on the back of Arizona's hand. She knew that she wasn't out of the woods yet; Teddy and Yang had done an amazing job bringing her back, but now she had to wake up. With the loss of blood and with the fact that Arizona's heart had stopped several times for lengthy periods meant that the risk of brain damage was severe. Callie knew that Arizona might not ever wake up, she might wake up paralysed or not even knowing her own name and that scared the crap out of her. But, at the end of the day, Arizona's heart was firmly beating in her chest of its own accord. Yes there would have to be a lot of talking between Arizona and Callie when she woke up and felt better; yes they had a long way to go and yes Callie was scared as hell at what the outcome would be; but for now, the fact that Arizona was alive was enough for Callie.
Christina once again broke the silence as only she could, 'God I need a drink.'
A/N: Okkkk so what did you think? Reviews please folks :D