When I arrived to work the next morning, I was on cloud nine. Despite waking up at 4:30AM with a slight hangover, having to cover up a hickey without great success and battling traffic to get to the hospital due to the ever-present media frenzy surrounding the hospital, I knew I got to spend time with Callie today. That in itself made everything else so worth it.
"Good morning, Dr. Torres" I said sliding into her office, iced chai in hand.
"Hey Arizona. Feeling well this morning?" She asked with a small smile.
"Eh, been better but happy to be here" I said much too chipper for an early morning in the hospital.
"Good. So today is going to be a weird day. First of all, we have to meet with police and give them a detailed record of what happened two days ago, together. Then we have to meet with a trauma psychologist, together…" She said.
"So no surgery?
"No surgery. Tomorrow, maybe, if we pass the psychologist's test" She said.
"Test? What test?"
"I'm not exactly sure. I guess we will find out" She said. Moments later, a police officer was at Callie's office door.
"Are you Dr. Calliope Torres and Arizona Robbins?" The policeman said.
"Yes" We replied simultaneously.
"Great, come with me."
He led us down to one of the conference rooms.
"Did you even try to cover that hickey up?" Callie whispered jokingly in my ear as we walked into the room. I shot her a mild glare and she gave me a big smile. God, she was cute. I could never stay mad at her.
Callie and I sat next to each other, with the police officer on the other side of a large table. He had a map drawn out of the hospital floor plan, with a path that showed where Mr. Martin had gone, Xs for causalities and fatalities, and a star where Callie and I were during the entire event.
"So, Arizona Robbins" he said, gesturing to me, "Tell me what you remember about the events that took place two days ago? Utilize this map, if you can" He said.
"Well, I was walking into work around 6:00AM..." I started to say.
"My records show that you normally arrive to work between 4:30AM-5:30AM. Why did you arrive later on this date?" He asked. I wondered whether I should say I had slept in or if I should tell the truth..
"Don't worry about your answer here, Arizona. I am just trying to gather a reasonable time line". He said.
"Well... I was actually fired the night before. But I came in that morning...I don't know I guess I came to convince, Cal…Dr. Torres...that she shouldn't have fired me" I said quietly. Callie shifted in her chair next to me.
"Fair enough. So you were walking down this hallway around 6:00AM" He said, pointing to the map.
"Yes. Cal...Dr. Torres's office was to my left. I asked Olivia, the nurse, where Dr. Torres was when I saw her. She pointed me towards the nurse's charge desk, seen here on the map" I said pointing to the map.
"Then what happened?" He asked.
"I glanced over my shoulder and saw Mr. Martin. He had one hand in his pocket and had what appeared to be a gun in his pocket" I said.
"What were your thoughts at that time" He asked me.
"I knew Mr. Martin. He was a patient of Dr. Torres and I knew he was upset with the outcome of his surgery. I guess I didn't have time to think about much more than the fact that I had to keep Dr. Torres safe"
"So you see this man has a gun. He is approaching Olivia as you are walking. What happened then?"
"I started walking faster, and took a right at this hallway intersection. The nurse desk was not much further to my right. By that point, I could hear Mr. Warren talking to Olivia. So I ran to Dr. Torres, grabbed her arm and pulled her into the medication room. As we were entering the medication room, I heard the first gun shot." I said quietly.
"Right. So you're first thought was to warn Dr. Torres, to keep her safe. What prompted that thought?" The policeman asked.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Please don't over think my questions, Miss Robbins. I just am trying to paint a picture here. For the records. With that said, why did you choose to ignore Olivia, when she was clearly in immediate danger, and "save" Dr. Torres? Why didn't you just run here, which was the nearest, lockable room in your path?" He asked, pointing to a room much closer to me than the medication room. I stared at the map for a little while, gathering my thoughts. I knew I had no logical explanation for my actions, why I chose to think of only Callie, when so many others were in danger.
"I guess I don't know how to answer that question, sir. Dr. Torres is my boss. I care about her. Not that I didn't care about Olivia, but in that moment, my priority was ensuring that Dr. Torres was safe. That's all I know". I said.
"Thank you, Arizona. Now Dr. Torres, what do you recall about the events that led up to the shooting two days ago?" The police officer asked.
"I was standing at the nurse's desk, getting ready to scrub in for surgery. Suddenly I see Arizona, rounding the corner and heading towards me. At first I was confused. I didn't expect to see her. She looked frantic and was walking really fast. Then before I knew it, she was grabbing my badge and pulling me into the medication room. That was when I heard the gun shots..." She said, her voice dropping off.
"Once you were in the medication room, what happened?" the police officer asked.
"I basically told her to sit down and shut up. We hid behind a med cart..." I said.
"For eight hours" he said, completing my sentence.
"Yes, for eight hours" I said.
"What did you do during those eight hours? Did you talk to anyone? Hear anything?" He asked.
"I heard a variety of gun shots, screaming, but nothing particularly identifiable. We just sat there, I tried to console her..."
"I was quite shaken up, officer. I didn't do much of anything but shake actually. Arizona kept us hidden and I just...sat there" She said, putting her head down. I wanted to comfort her, to hold her hand again. She looked to me with a small, reassuring smile.
"Is there anything else I should know about that day? Anything relevant to the shooting that is?" He asked.
"I don't think so…" I said.
"Just that I'm so, so sorry" Callie said. The police officer gave us a sympathetic smile.
"The psychologist has been listening to our conversation, so she will be in here in a moment" He said, packing up his items to leave.
A few minutes later, the psychologist entered the room. She had a calming presence about her, with relaxed, flowing hair and wearing neutral colors. I wondered if wearing neutral tones was in the job description for a crisis psychologist, much like blue tones were the status quo for physicians.
"Callie, Arizona, my name is Carol. I will be talking with the both of you today in the hopes of starting the journey towards healing after this terrible incident that you both seemed very actively a part of. I know you were told that I wanted to talk to you together, but after listening to the both of you talk to the officer, I would like to speak to you, Callie, alone first. Arizona, would you mind leaving the room for a short while?" Carol asked. I looked to Callie. I was worried about leaving her alone with this woman. As comforting and kind as she appeared, Callie already looked on the verge or tears after our conversation with the police officer...
"Arizona?" She said to me, snapping me out of my gaze.
"Oh, uh, yes, that's fine. You're okay Cal- Dr. Torres?" She looked up at me, giving me a slight nod. I grudgingly left the room. I sat against the wall right outside the door. I tried to listen to what they were talking about in the room, but I was unable to hear anything at all. Closing my eyes, I let myself drift in and out of sleep...