Chapter 10
Arizona stood outside of the entrance to the emergency room of Seattle Grace Mercy West hospital. The entry way was dark, and the wind was blowing, creating a chilly, and eerie atmosphere. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion for her and everything appeared to be in black and white.
With her arms pulling her lab coat tight around her body to keep her body warm from the wind, Arizona looked down to the cold pavement outside the hospital doors and saw that there was a patch stained with blood.
"Arizona get back inside…Now!" Callie said keeping her eyes fixed on the tall dark brown haired man standing stealthily in front of her.
"Calliope…." Arizona started softly with a petrified tone.
"Now, Arizona. Go!"
Flashes of memories jump in and out of Arizona's mind as she continues to stare at the blood stained pavement.
The slow thumping of footsteps played in Arizona's ear as she saw Callie make a run past the man who was holding a knife. She could see Callie running towards her, with the man close behind waving and swinging his arm in every direction. The sounds of flesh being ripped and butchered took over and the pain was evident all over Callie's face.
The longer Arizona stared at the spot on the ground, the redder it appeared to get. Arizona heard Callie's voice, and then closed her eyes.
"Avery, Now!"
There was a loud crack, both the dark haired man and Callie fell to the ground.
Her body lay on the pavement, motionless. Arizona watched as the love of her life, ceased to have any life in her. Or at least it appeared that way.
The man and Avery had now disappeared and it was just Arizona and Callie outside. Arizona continued to stand there and watch Callie's body.
Suddenly, Callie was starting to wake and through the excruciating pain, turned onto her back and drew her firearm, pointing it directly at Arizona.
"Stay away from her you son of a bitch." Then there was a crack that filled the air.
At the sound of the gun going off, Arizona immediately shot her eyes open and for the first time was looking somewhere other than the blood on the pavement. She turned to the doors of the hospital and ran inside.
She ran through the emergency room and stopped just outside of trauma room 2. Standing at the window, there inside she found Callie laying on a gurney while a room full of doctors including Lexie Grey, Meredith Grey, the Chief of Surgery and Callie's best friend Mark Sloan were all surrounding Callie's body. They were shooting her up with medications, hooking her up to monitors and flipping her on her side so they could examine the deep cuts she had on her back.
She continued to watch as all of the doctors were working on Callie. Arizona could suddenly hear the voices from the doctors inside the trauma room.
"We got to get her into surgery now, or she may bleed to death from these wounds." Mark said while trying to clean up Callie's back the best he could while Meredith and Lexie held her body.
The chief then turned to one of the nurses in the room. "Call up to the surgical floor, tell them to get an OR ready for emergency surgery."
The nurse then quickly ran out of the trauma room past Arizona and grabbed the phone that was hanging on the wall behind her. The nurse made the call and then ran back into the room.
"They're getting OR 1 ready now." The nurse told the chief.
"She's crashing!" Meredith yelled. Both her and Lexie laid Callie's body back on to her back and immediately prepped her for the paddles.
Arizona watched on as she saw the love of her life slipping away. Tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "No." she whispered to herself.
The nurse brought the crash cart over and Lexie grabbed the paddles. "Charge to 200!" Lexie yells. "Clear!"
Callie's body jolts from the shock, but the sound on the monitor persists.
"Charge to 300!" Lexie calls. "Clear!"
Callie's body jolts again, but still nothing. Her body lays on the table lifeless.
"No….No!" Arizona says, tears falling down her face freely now.
After a minute of all the doctors and Arizona watching Callie and the monitor flatline, Lexie hesitantly takes that final step.
"Time of Death, 23:50."
"NO!...NO!...NO!" Arizona yells through her cries as she sinks to the floor. She then hears a beeping, and then in a flash…
Arizona popped her head up, and saw that she was sitting in a chair at Callie's bedside. Callie was sound asleep, and the only sound that filled the room was the sound of the monitor that Callie was hooked up to.
Deciding that she needed to take a walk, Arizona got up off the chair and left the room. She walked aimlessly for nearly half an hour. Every few steps memories of what had happened outside of that ER would creep up. The images she figured would haunt her for years to come. As she walked she remembered the sight of Callie as that horrible man so brutally attacked her.
Walking a little further, images of Callie and that man hitting the ground replayed in her mind. The sound of the crack from Avery's gun, and the thud from when their bodies hit the cold pavement. Callie's body ceasing to move while her attacker rose up no problem.
Arizona tried to shake the thoughts out of her mind as she kept walking down the hallways of the hospital, but it was no use. The memories wouldn't leave her alone. The look in the man's eyes as he was about to kill her was a look that she would never, ever forget. Eyes of a mad man. He had the eyes of someone who was almost no longer in control of his own body.
"Hey, Dr. Robbins."
The voice pulled Arizona out of her thoughts. She looked in front of her and saw that Avery was standing there.
"Oh, hi Avery." Arizona said, with the best smile she could muster given the circumstances.
"How is she?" Avery asked.
"She's stable. She's sleeping right now." Arizona responded looking down, and shoving her hands in her lab coat pockets.
"Is it okay, if I go see her? I promise I won't wake her."
"Yeah, of course Avery. Go ahead, I'm just stretching my legs a bit." Arizona said, smiling at Callie's rookie partner.
"Thanks." Was all that Avery said and then headed straight to Callie's room.
Arizona kept walking along and found herself shortly after in the hospital cafeteria. She saw Teddy standing by the coffee cart, grabbing herself a cup. Arizona walked over to join her, and got herself a cup of coffee as well.
"Hey. How is she doing?" Teddy asked as her friend approached her.
"She's sleeping." Arizona responded while grabbing a cup and placing it under the large coffee thermos.
"What about you? How are you holding up?" Teddy asked as the two of them walked to the nearest available table to sit down.
It was around lunch time, and it had been a whole forty-eight hours since the incident. The cafeteria was filled with doctors, nurses, some patients and their loved ones. Teddy and Arizona sat down at the first available table they saw.
"I'm fine." Arizona simply stated. But Teddy knew that she wasn't being completely honest.
"Bull. Tell me how you're really doing."
"Teddy, I'm fine really." Arizona tried to assure her.
"Arizona, cut the crap. You're lying to me, tell me…how are you?"
"Well, what do you want me to say Teddy? That…that I'm scared every time I close my eyes? That I keep seeing his face? That every time I fall asleep, I go back to that night, only I watch Callie die right before my eyes?...My god, Teddy." Arizona started to break into tears as she looked out the window and then back to her best friend. "I….Teddy. I made a mistake. I made a terrible mistake ever letting her go."
Teddy pushed her chair closer to Arizona, and pulled her into her arms into a tight embrace. "It's okay. It's going to be okay.
"Oh, Teddy…how could I have been so stupid?" Arizona said as she pulled away from Teddy's hold. "And why didn't you try and stop me?" She asked sarcastically as she wiped the tears from her face.
Teddy laughed a little. "I tried. You were too stubborn to listen."
"Oh, shut up." Arizona said with a small chuckle, wiping the last tear from her eye with one hand and giving Teddy a slight push with the other.
"But seriously Arizona, it's going to be okay. Callie is alive. She is alive, and that has to be a sign."
"A sign that what?" Arizona asked looking down into her lap as she picked at her scrub pants.
"A sign that someone or something of a higher power has given you a second chance. A chance to make this right. A chance to make each other whole, and happy. Arizona, you two are meant for each other. You know it, Callie knows it and I know it. This is your chance at happiness. Don't waste it."
The next day, Arizona once again was sitting in Callie's room. Callie was awake and her and Arizona were keeping conversation light and avoiding the subject of the status of their relationship. But finally Arizona had decided to address it.
"Callie…I….I can't even begin to tell you. I am so…deeply, deeply, deeply sorry, for hurting you so much. I am so sorry. We ended things so terribly, and that was completely my fault."
"Arizona….." Callie tried to interrupt but was cut off by Arizona raising her hand.
"Calliope, please let me finish."
"okay…" Callie looked into Arizona's deep blue eyes. She had missed looking into those eyes. The eyes of a woman she loved so dearly. A woman that even now, she is still madly in love with her.
"Calliope, the way things ended….I'm so sorry. You have every right to hate me. And I wouldn't blame you. And then….what happened. What I saw outside the ER….." Arizona was finding it hard to articulate what she wanted to say. "I just….I can't begin to thank you enough, Calliope. You saved me. When you were hurting so much physically from what he did to you, and emotionally from what I did to you. You saved my life."
"Arizona. If you were in any kind of danger, ever….I would save you time and time again. I still care. I still love you. Those feelings don't just go away because we aren't together anymore. I would never be able to live with myself if I had let him kill you. You don't need to thank me." Callie said, placing her hand over top of Arizona's on the bed.
The moment between the two of them was interrupted by Meredith Grey entering the room. "Hey, Dr. Robbins, Officer Torres. Ugh…Dr. Robbins, Karev and I are just going to examine Officer Torres' back wounds. We just need a few minutes."
Arizona nodded and walked out of the room to let the two residents do their job. Arizona stood and watched through the window.
"Hey, did you tell her yet?" Teddy asked. She had been passing by to check on one of her own patients when she noticed Arizona standing in the hallway.
"Told her what, yet?" Arizona asked, never once taking her eyes off of Callie.
"Told her that you still love her and you made a mistake."
"No….I haven't. "
"What the hell are you waiting for?" Teddy asked, as she smacked Arizona across the arm.
Arizona flinched from the contact. "I can't just blurt it out Teddy…."
Meredith and Alex Karev walked out of Callie's room and stopped to talk to Arizona before carrying on to their next patients. "Everything looks to be healing nicely. She's asleep now." Meredith said.
"Thank you, Dr. Grey." Arizona replied. With that, Meredith and Alex went on their way, leaving Arizona and Teddy in the hallway outside of Callie's room.
"Look, Teddy. I will tell her. I will." Arizona then left her friends side and walked back into Callie's room and resumed her spot in the chair next to her bed.
Callie was sleeping peacefully, and Arizona just watched. She could stare at this woman for hours and never get tired of looking at her. As she sat there and watched Callie sleep, all of the memories they shared together were running through her brain.
"Oh, I'm sorry officer, it's just that I am on my way to work and I'm kind of running late." Arizona said hoping that the officer would understand.
"I can understand that. We've all been late for work before, but unfortunately that is no excuse for speeding. I don't want to do this…you seem like a nice person and all, but just like you, I have to do my job. I'm going to have to write you a ticket." The officer explained while collecting Arizona's licence and insurance. She wrote out a ticket and handed everything back to Arizona.
"I understand….ugh…Officer Torres." She said as she looked at the ticket to see the signature of the officer standing outside her car.
Callie Torres removed her sunglasses and looked at the woman in the car with a smile on her face. Arizona was immediately drawn into Callie's eyes. She had eyes that were so warm and entrancing. Smiling, she responded. "Yes, officer. Thank you."
Chest to chest
Nose to nose
Palm to palm
We were always just that close
Wrist to wrist
Toe to toe
Lips that felt just like the inside of a rose
"You're pretty forward Calliope, don't you think." Arizona asked.
"When I see something I like, I go for it. No hesitating." Callie responded. "So how about it? Wanna go out sometime?"
"umm...I'd love to." Arizona answered with a giddy nervous laughter.
Eye to eye
Cheek to cheek
Side by side
You were sleeping next to me
Arm in arm
Dusk to dawn
With the curtains drawn
And a little last night on these sheets
The first night they had spent together was unlike anything either of them had felt with anyone else. They felt complete while holding each other. All the caresses and the light touches sent fire through their bodies, and into the early morning they held each other while they slept.
" I love you." Callie as said as she looked down at Arizona who naked form was laying on top of her resting peacefully.
Arizona raised her head and looked deep into Callie's eyes with a huge smile on her face. "I love you too"
Just when I felt like giving up on us
You turned around and gave me one last touch
That made everything feel better
And even then my eyes got wetter
So confused wanna ask you if you love me
But I don't wanna seem so weak
Maybe I've been California dreaming
The night that Arizona had come by Callie's apartment to pick up some of her things just after breaking up with her over her fears of paranoia, caused tears of sadness to well up in Arizona's eyes.
Both their hearts breaking into pieces by just the sight of one another, Callie approached Arizona slowly. She came within inches of the blonde, tears falling freely. She could barely say anything, yet the silence said everything.
"Arizona." Was all that Callie could muster, and before she knew it, Arizona had spun her around and pinned her against the wall, crashing their lips together in one of the deepest and earth shattering kisses that would most likely be their last.
Arizona slowly pulled away, resting their foreheads together for a second. She looked deep into Callie's eyes, and felt her body pulling her to lean in for another kiss. But her brain telling her otherwise, Arizona pulled away, leaving Callie standing against the wall, watching as she exited the apartment.
Arizona silently cried, as she continued to stare at Callie sleeping in her hospital bed. She did the best she could to wipe the tears from her eyes and quietly and gently sat on the edge of the bed, taking Callie's hand in hers while stroking her hair with her other. She leaned in a little, and whispered to the love of her life.
"I am so deeply, deeply, deeply sorry for hurting you so much. I am so sorry. Because I am so in love with you, and I will spend the rest of my life telling you that. I knew I would love you from the moment you and I met. And when you and I kept running into each other, I knew it was meant to be. I am in love with you Calliope Torres. Head over heals."
Arizona leaned in a little closer and placed a soft kiss on Callie's forehead. "I'll never leave you again. I promise…..I'll never leave you again."