He stood there, staring.

A tan hand was threaded through blonde locks and the other disappeared beneath the smaller woman's tank top. There was no possible alternative for him – he could only interpret what he saw in one way. There was only one conclusion and it shown in his eyes like a bright fire in the middle of a darkened sea of trees.

Azibo turned abruptly, clearly his throat in an effort to summon the courage to speak.

"F-Forgive me." His voice cracked. "I did not mean to intrude, but Chisulo… he's at the clinic and he… he's having trouble breathing. Please… please come help and quickly."

With that, he was gone. As his feet blindly carried him to the clinic, he could still feel the burn of those shocked eyes digging into his back. It was not the shock or embarrassment that wounded him, it was the utter fear he could see in both their faces that threatened to bring him to his knees.

He had ruined them.

Callie let her gaze linger at the door until she heard a barely audible sniff. Turning her eyes slowly to Arizona, she felt her heart crumble at the sight of silent tears streaming down her pale cheeks. Wordlessly, she drew her hand out from under that older woman's top, idly smoothing out the fabric as if to erase all traces of her having explored beneath it. She leaned forward and steeled herself against the pain of her lover flinching before she let her lips graze against the wetted skin.

"What are we going to do?" The blonde's voice was barely a whisper.

With a heavy sigh, the Latina nuzzled the side of her face for a moment. "I don't know, but we can't… we have to go."

She stood up abruptly, holding her hand out for Arizona. Thoughts of their young patient pushed them to dress quickly, but the reality of their situation hung over them like a blanket threatening to suffocate them the longer they ignored it. They had tried so hard and in one moment of weakness, it had all fallen apart.

As Arizona finished lacing her tennis shoes, she looked over her shoulder at her girlfriend. The defeated expression plaguing those beautiful features squeezed the air from her lungs. Callie looked guilty, as if she was waiting for someone to smack her, scream at her… leave her. No. She took quick strides until she was face-to-face with the taller woman, gripped her by the collar of her shirt and leaned in to press a searing kiss against her lips without warning.

Pulling back quickly, Arizona raised her hands to firmly lock against the sides of Callie's face. "This was not your fault. Do you hear me?"

"Arizona-"

"No!" She shook the brunette's head slightly in emphasis. "We could very well be walking to this clinic for the last time. They could throw us out of the village, strand us in the dessert, or God forbid kill us, but no matter what… Calliope, no matter what they do, I won't blame you. I love you."

"If I had controlled myself, we-"

She placed a pale digit against full lips. "Stop it, sweetheart. You love me; you can't help but show it and neither can I. I wasn't really stopping you and I'm the one who brought us here in the first place, so please… please, don't point fingers… just… just tell me it's going to be okay…"

Callie pulled her tightly against her chest, drying her lover's tears against her shirt. "I don't know what's going to happen, Arizona, but we'll face it together. That's all I can promise you."

The blonde nodded solemnly in defeated acceptance. She took another second to relish the warmth and security of her lover's touch before pulled back with a deep breath.

"Let's go."

By the time they reached the clinic, they could hear the chaos of panicked shouting that only became louder when they opened the door. Azibo was ushering one of their most dedicated volunteers, Chiwa, who was wheeling over their small oxygen tank. The two surgeons quickly grabbed their lab coats from the hanging hooks near the door and rushed over to the gurney where their pale patient sat with a bloody towel against his mouth.

"What've we got, Azibo?" Arizona immediately slipped into the familiar lead role on a pediatric case.

"His brother brought him in with shortness of breath, chest pain, and a mild cough, but blood started to appear in his mucus shortly before you arrived."

Callie's eyes grew wide and quickly met the same expression painted across Arizona's face. "Are you thinking what-"

"Pulmonary embolism… let's get an IV in and start him on a course of heparin. Now!"

Azibo quickly followed orders, administering the medication only minutes after being told. He stood back and watched as the PEDs surgeon continued to listen to the boy's lungs through her stethoscope while her partner held firmly to his wrist, checking his heart rate while she attached a heart monitor.

"Chiwa, what's his blood pressure?" This was a moment when the Latina wishes they had all of the vitals monitors she had taken for granted in Seattle.

Grabbing the arm-wrap pump, the young girl quickly got to work, closing her eyes for a moment to block out the noise. Her brow furrowed as she began to release the pressure on the wrap and her solemn eyes met Callie's in a worrisome apology.

"75/54…"

Shit.

"The heparin isn't going to work – he's definitely high risk. Why the Hell did they wait until it got this bad!?"

Arizona meet the frightened eyes Chisulo's brother as her angered girlfriend ran to their medical cabinet. She knew he must have understood some of what Callie had shouted, but it didn't seem to make him flinch – he just kept staring, silently begging for them to do something. A massive pulmonary embolism causing hemodynamic instability in the middle of nowhere… he may have had a 98% chance of survival in the United States, but here?

"Chiwa, get him out of here." The young girl merely stared at the blonde surgeon. "Do it!"

Their ears were filled with the man's shouting protests as he was pushed out of the clinic, but before she could dwell on the sound for long, Callie returned with a wild ramble.

"Thrombolysis, right? That's what we would do in Seattle – breakdown the blood clot with drugs. Makes sense, right? Except we don't have any drugs! No streptokinase, or urokinase, or whatever-kinase!"

She was panicking.

"Callie-"

"No! I can't operate because trying to make an inferior vena cava filter isn't as simple as banging a pot handle into his leg and we're not cardio gods! But he's so young and… and…"

"Callie!" The brunette stilled. "We'll give the anticoagulant a chance to work. In the meantime, Azibo, keep the oxygen mask to his face so he gets as much as possible. You, come with me."

She grabbed the taller woman by the elbow and dragged her away from the gurney. "Take a deep breath. You panicking isn't going to help anyone."

"Arizona…" Callie's eyes bent under the weight of her guilt. "I operated on him over and over again. I kept that boy bedridden for weeks. He got this blood clot because I immobilized him for too long, because I was trying to save him and now?"

"Now we try again." She placed her hands on the Latina's arms. "We give the anticoagulant a shot and start him on a warfarin treatment, okay? Simple intern stuff and you know warfarin can take several days to work… so we wait."

The brunette shook her head. "And you know with his low blood pressure that his PE is too severe for that to help."

"So we crack his chest, but then what?"

Callie sighed in immediate defeat. "I don't know."

"This is the best we can do, okay?" Her hands squeezed gently. "We could do so much more back home and it sucks, but we're giving him a better shot than he would have ever had without us. Remember that, okay? This isn't your fault."

The ortho surgeon let out a small laugh as she hung her head. "You seem to be saying that a lot lately."

A pale hand briefly brushed across her cheek. "Yeah, well, you keep trying to kick yourself."

The brunette took a deep breath, glancing briefly at their patient to ensure the things were still under control. "Why am I always the crazy one?"

Arizona shot her a quick, loving smile. "I lose kids more often than I like to think and sometimes it doesn't make sense who lives and who dies, so I learned early on to stop blaming myself for the outcome. You gave this your best shot. A lesser surgeon would have never come up with solutions you pulled out of your head under all that pressure. If he had come to someone else, he would have died on that table months ago."

Callie's eyes remained fixed on Chisulo. "What if he dies now?"

The PEDs surgeon wasn't given a chance to respond before the horrific sound of a blood strangled cough filled the air. They rushed to his side as Azibo ripped off the oxygen mask and called for help. Arizona pulled the boy forward, pressing a towel against his mouth and watched in fear as crimson began to spread over the white fabric. As if reading her partner's mind, Callie slipped the mask back over the boy's face the moment the older surgeon had begun to draw away the bloodied rag. They listened to his pained wheezing until it happened. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and the deafening sound of a sudden flat line filled the room.

"No!" Callie pushed Azibo out of her way, starting compressions on his chest. "I need a crash cart!"

Arizona stepped around the bed, reaching out to touch her lover's shoulder. "Callie, we don't have one."

"How can we not have one?" She violently shrugged the shoulder away.

"Callie, stop!"

"I-I need to do a PTE… we need to aspirate the clot." Her brown eyes were frantic. "Someone get me a scalpel."

"Calliope!" Arizona's raised voice echoed in the small clinic. "That requires full bypass and deep hypothermia. We can't do that!"

Her hands continued to press against the boy's chest, fighting against the sound of his stopped heart, as her head turned to face the woman standing next to her. "I know what I can't do, Arizona! Tell me something I can do!"

Pale fingers wordlessly slipped over blood-stained, tan digits. "You can stop. Let him go, Calliope. He… he's gone."

Her expression crumbled. "But…"

"Stop." The request was soft and laced with a silent pain. "You'll crush his chest. Just… he's already…"

"Chisulo!"

Their eyes met with the tear-filled eyes of the boy's older brother. He fought against the hold Chiwa had on him, jerking forward in vain to reach the lifeless body. The name echoed over and over again, dropping from his lips, growing in desperation with each successive call, but there was no reply. The boy on the bed would not speak, he would never speak again, and that daunting reality suddenly crushed the man as he dropped to his knees.

Azibo rushed to his side, reaching out a hand that was quickly smacked away. "Kapeni… Mimi ni hivyo pole (I am so sorry)."

Kapeni lifted his head, his eyes meeting the wounded expression of the tall doctor whose hands were on his brother's chest. His brow slowly furrowed in anger as he raised his right hand. A finger pointed toward the Latina and no one moved.

"Muuaji…"

And with that, he stood and raced from the clinic.

Arizona stepped closer to Callie, letting her near proximity bring some comfort to her clearly shaken girlfriend. Subtly squeezing one of the younger surgeon's hands, she addressed the man before then.

"Azibo, what did he say?"

The tribal doctor sent them a solemn stare. "Murderer…"

They sat on the steps behind the clinic, watching the wind play with the sand and dirt before them. Callie had her arms crossed over her knees and leaned into Arizona's side, relishing the feel of the older surgeon's hand rubbing comforting circles on her back. Azibo had joined them and stood a few feet away, staring out into the distance in complete silence. That was how they existed for a few moments; just letting the calm of the village take hold and fight against the turmoil inside each of them.

"Do you know what her name means?" The tribal man broke the silence. "The woman who was helping us."

Arizona was the only one who could find her voice to reply. "Chiwa?"

"Yes, it means death."

The surgeons both shuddered. "A little ironic to have that around a medical clinic."

Azibo looked down at the smaller woman. "I suppose, though so is having a body lying unattended. I will have to track down Kapeni once he is calm so we can discuss burial arrangements."

Callie sniffed in response, holding back tears that threatened to fall as her lover moved in closer, blanketing her in subtle warmth. She didn't speak; she just stared at the dirt as if there was something in its golden grains so interesting that it could keep her from facing her companions. In reality, she couldn't bring herself to fight against the weight of her guilt. Its gravity pushed her eyes to the ground.

"Please do not blame yourselves, my friends." Azibo's gentle voice broke the lapse of silence. "We all know you did everything you could. I am only sorry all of your hard work went to waste, Callie."

At that, the ortho surgeon raised her eyes. "No, not a waste. I gave him three months. He got to laugh and live and love for three extra months… that's something."

Arizona beamed at her. "Yes… yes it is."

They shared a conversation only they could hear, passed between beautiful smiles, until the sound of footfalls drew their attention astray. Kapeni stood before them, a hand behind his back, the other clenched in a tight fist as he locked eyes with the woman he had screamed at before. He made to take a step forward, but drew back, darting his gaze between the three doctors.

"Muuaji!"

It happened quickly, but Arizona's reflexes were faster. As he drew his hand from its hiding place, she moved to cover Callie. She never saw the jagged rock, but she felt it collide with her left shoulder and rip at her shirt and skin. The reverberating crack and gasped shout of her name deafened her as a wave of pain threatened to drown her. Squeezing her eyes shut, she slumped against her lover's form as she held in a scream. Shit. That hurt like a bitch!

"Arizona!" Callie quickly ran her fingers over the woman, checking her shoulder blade for any obvious injury. "Jesus… are you okay?"

The older woman curled into the warm chest she was tenderly pressed against. "Ow…"

Sighing with relief when she felt only solid bone and slightly torn skin, Callie called out to bring Azibo back from where he had run out to chase Kapeni away. "Can you bring her a bag of ice, a couple pills of ibuprofen, and some water?"

When he had left them with a simple nod, the Latina drew Arizona from her chest so their eyes could meet. "Are you nuts?"

"Hey! You're not allowed to call me names." Her pink lips formed an exaggerated pout. "I just took a rock for you!"

"Really, Arizona? A rock?"

The edges of her pout crept up into a betraying smile. "Okay fine, not as badass and stupid as you almost taking a bullet for me, but I get some credit, right?"

She wanted so desperately to kiss the childish woman before her, but the fresh memory of what had happened to them only hours before kept her still. The best she could do was offer a warm smile and a gentle hug that lingered until their companion returned with the pain relievers. She nodded her head in thanks as Azibo knelt before them and helped situate the ice where it was needed.

"If you are well enough stand, Arizona, I suggest we relocate to my dwelling." They joined his gaze as he surveyed the curious villagers eyeing them.

"Azibo-"

He silenced the blonde with a raised hand. "I know that after this morning you may be questioning my motives, but please… I will not discuss this in the eyes of the judging public, so all I will say in an effort to gain your trust is that when I said loyalty would be important in this village, I was referring to my loyalty to you."

They followed him without a word, Callie keeping a protective arm around Arizona as they walked. It was a short trek and before they knew it, they were shielded from prying eyes by the wooden slab of a door. They waited for their companion to speak as they had no idea where to even begin. Azibo sat down at the table and gestured for his guests to take a seat. Once they were comfortably situated he sighed, but never let his gaze fall from theirs.

"I assume what I saw this morning was not a new development."

Their eyes widened.

"Relax, my friends." His warm smile chipped away at their defenses. "I had my suspicions surrounding the nature of your relationship, but that is merely because I am more observant than my brothers and sisters of the village."

Arizona was the first to speak. "No one else knows?"

He shook his head. "I would think not. You two are quite apt at concealing your feelings and I trust that the others do not consider homosexual relationships to be common, so the likelihood that they would interpret your interactions as such is small. I, on the other hand, spent enough time in your country to be exposed to the pride your people take in all of your differences. It is not such an 'out of this world' concept for me that two women could harbor romantic feelings for one another."

"And you're okay with it?" Callie's voice was laced with suspicion.

"Okay with it? Yes. Willing to keep it a secret to protect you? Without a doubt. Understand it completely? Perhaps not, but who you love is your business." He placed his hands over theirs across the table. "All I focus on are the miracles you bring to my people every day that you are here… it matters little to me who you love because it does not change the good you are doing."

The two surgeons stared at him in silent wonderment as he accepted them so swiftly in midst of a village that they would not have taken kindly to the news. He had opened his mind and his heart in a way that people they knew – friends, even family – could not. They had imagined every scenario but this one. Never had they even dared to dream that they would find an ally should their secret ever come out and yet, here he was. The man who had exposed them was offering to stay silent at no cost. That was a miracle in and of itself.

As they soaked in the honesty they found in his eyes, they couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, there was hope.

This was not the end.

A/N: Gah! So sorry this took so long to post... it has been a long week or so at work and now I have classes to deal with. This chapter was supposed to include a rating change, but it was already a monster in terms of length and I am way too tired to write anymore, so I decided that's going to happen next time. This one was hard enough to write. Hopefully I did my ideas justice! I have a research retreat this weekend, so I probably won't be able to post soon, but I will try to get the chapter up in a timely manner... it just needs to be written right - the important bit is already written... just got to figure out how to weave it in. The events in the next chapter will start pushing us to the end of the story... I don't have the exact ending in mind, but I'll figure that out eventually - probably got about 3 chapters left!