A/N: it's my day off so you get another chapter today!
Getting ready for bed, Arizona notices a text message from Callie.
"You should plan on staying home sick, she's throwing up."
"Okay, should I just come over there and get her tomorrow?" Arizona replies.
"No, this hit her pretty fast, you should stay in tomorrow." Callie texts back.
Great, Arizona thinks, that's all I need, the flu. Digging around in her medicine cabinet she finds a Tamiflu sample packet from last year and takes the first dose, with any luck this will help ward it off, she thinks.
Then she texts Meredith.
"Sofia's got the flu, sorry."
"I'll give them Tamiflu in the morning and hope for the best," Meredith replies.
"I just started a pack, fingers crossed." Arizona texts back.
"I have a light day tomorrow, let me know if you need anything." Meredith texts.
"Thank you, good night :-)" Arizona replies.
Setting her phone down on the bedside table, Arizona slips off her prosthetic and snuggles into bed.
"Sshhh, just relax Arizona," Meredith says cradling her head and softly running her fingers through her hair. "It's just the flu, you'll feel better tomorrow," she says pressing her lips to the blonde's head.
Waking up suddenly in a cold sweat, Arizona looks around the room. She's alone at her house, it was just a dream.
Reaching down for her crutches, she pulls herself up and goes into the bathroom for a drink of water. Then she wets a wash cloth and wipes her face and neck down, she's pretty sure that she's running a temp, she takes out the digital thermometer and checks, 101.2. Damn it, she swears softly to herself. Then she opens the medicine cabinet and takes another dose of Tamiflu out of the packet and two Tylenol. Then she makes her way back to bed and lies back down. The message light flashing on her phone catches her attention, so she picks up her phone.
"Sweet dreams, Arizona" Meredith texted back.
Arizona shakes her head to clear it before laying back down. The dream felt so real that she still can't believe that she's alone in the bed. But the text from Meredith reminds her that it was only a dream. I'm feverish and she was the last person that I spoke to tonight, Arizona rationalizes in her head. And I'm lonely, her subconscious adds.
Waking up the next morning to her phone ringing, it takes her a moment to comprehend what the sound is.
"Hello?" she says answering the phone with a raspy voice.
"Oh god, you're sick already," Callie says into the phone.
"Just a little, go ahead and bring her over. I started a Tamiflu pack last night," Arizona says her voice a little stronger.
"Are you sure?" Callie asks.
"Yes, we'll be fine, just bring her by, okay" Arizona says again.
"Okay, we're leaving now," Callie says disconnecting the call.
Arizona opens the door when Callie drives up and Callie shoos her back in the house, "I've got her," she says.
"You look like crap," Callie says after depositing Sofia on the couch. "Maybe I should just put her in her bed," Callie asks.
"Actually, just put her in my bed, that will be easier for both of us." Arizona remarks.
"How is your stomach? I'll bring by some Pedialyte at lunch, unless you have some here?" Callie asks when she comes back into the kitchen.
"Um, I think I have some. Last time she was sick, she was with me." Arizona replies turning to look in the refrigerator.
"Please let me know how you're both doing and I'll come help, okay?" Callie asks, opening up the pantry and finding another couple of bottles of it and setting them on the counter.
"Okay, but I think we'll be fine. And I know you have a full day, so maybe Alex or April can come by if I need anything," Arizona replies.
"Okay, just take care and keep me posted," Callie says beginning to hug her, then deciding not to push it. She rarely gets sick, but she's headed into surgery and she needs to be as germ free as possible.
"Jo, can you go ahead and prep for our first surgery, I'm running about 15 minutes late," Callie says when the resident answers her phone. "I just dropped Sofia off at Arizona's and they both have the flu, so I'm going to shower before I scrub in, just to make sure I'm germ free," she explains.
"No problem, I'll have him ready and we'll meet you in there." Jo replies.
Entering the locker room, Callie spots Meredith, "I just dropped Sofia off at Arizona's and they're both sick, how are you?" she asks.
"I'm good. I gave Bailey and Zola a round of Tamiflu this morning and started a pack myself, hopefully we got it in time," she explains. "Arizona said she started Tamiflu last night, but she's sick this morning?" Meredith asks.
"Uh," Callie stammers, it was late when she texted Arizona about Sofia, "Yeah, she's running a fever, but no nausea. Sofia was throwing up last night but finally went to sleep." The brunette is stripping off her clothes as she talks.
"Arizona texted me after I dropped her off," Meredith explains.
"Oh right, well I'm going to shower before surgery," Callie says quickly putting her hair up and grabbing a towel.
Heading back to her office after her first procedure, Meredith sits down and pulls out her phone to call Arizona.
"Hey, how's it going over there?" she asks when the blonde answers.
"I'm working my way through my DVR, Sofia's been up a little bit, she's keeping down the Pedialyte, so we are going to have some soup for lunch and see how that goes," Arizona replies, her voice still raspy.
"You sound terrible, do you need anything?" Meredith asks.
"No, we're good. Thanks for checking." Arizona replies.
"Of course, I've got to go, but I'll check back in later." Meredith promises before hanging up the call.
Paged to the ER, Meredith rushes in and April tells her the ambulance is delayed in traffic. They stand just inside the doors so they can see when it arrives.
"Arizona texted, she's home sick with Sofia?" April says making conversation.
"Yes, I started mine on Tamiflu this morning, hopefully it will work or I'll be out next," Meredith points out.
"I was going to go by there later, but I'm short staffed today and may have to work over," April replies.
"Oh, well don't worry. I was going to run over there before I get the kids from daycare," Meredith says, "Oh there it is."
And they rush out to help unload the patient.
Callie's on a break so she calls Arizona's phone but there's no answer. A few minutes later her phone rings and it's Sofia.
"Mija, where's Momma?" Callie asks her daughter concerned.
"Momma sick," Sofia replies.
"Can you go in and let me talk to her?" Callie asks.
Patiently she waits for her daughter to get to the bathroom, then Arizona gets on the phone. "soup was a bad idea," she gasps. "But Sof kept it down," she manages to add.
"I'll send Jo over there with an anti-emetic," Callie offers.
"Okay," Arizona gasps, then Callie hears the phone fall and Arizona heaving again.
"Wilson, come in here. I need you to run over to Arizona's and give her an anti-emetic, she's got the flu," Callie says writing the script.
"Can't Cross do it? I get sick when Arizona gets sick and I don't want to miss this hip replacement," Jo asks.
"No, would you want Cross to show up and give you an injection? Besides Sofia won't open the door for him, it has to be someone she knows.
Callie picks up her phone and calls Meredith, "Hey, you said that your day was light, any chance you can run over to Arizona's?"
"Uh, yeah, what's going on?" Meredith asks.
"She's really sick now, she needs an anti-emetic or she'll get dehydrated quickly. It happens every time she gets the flu," Callie explains.
Sofia will have to open the door for you, or you can come by my office and get a key," she adds.
"Okay, I'll be right there." Meredith says.
"Sofia? Arizona? It's Meredith," she calls out as she enters the house.
Making her way down the hall, Sofia comes out of the bedroom. "Momma sick," she says pointing at the bathroom.
Meredith sets her bag down and takes off her coat, then pulls out the shot and heads into the bedroom.
"Arizona," Meredith says softly entering the bathroom and kneeling beside her. The blonde is slumped against the wall half asleep.
"Meredith?" she croaks, barely opening an eye to see her.
Sitting down in front of her, Meredith puts her arms around her and pulls her forward, then reaches down and quickly administers the shot.
"There, you'll feel better soon," she says pushing her back towards the wall. "Sofia, would you hand me that wash cloth?" Meredith asks the little girl.
Sofia hands it to her and Meredith leans over to run water over it in the tub, then wipes Arizona's face and neck down. The blonde moans a bit.
After a few minutes, she helps Arizona get up and back into bed. "You need fresh pajamas," she says, but the blonde is already passed out again. So she turns around and begins looking in the dresser until she finds the right drawer.
Once she has Arizona in clean clothes, she turns to Sofia. "How about you, do you want to get cleaned up Sofia?" she asks.
And then follows the little girl into her room and gets her cleaned up as well. "Okay, let's go back and check on your mom," Meredith says taking her hand.
Then remembering that Alex said that her leg would swell if she slept with it on, Meredith pulls back the covers and looks at the prosthetic. It looked pretty simple to remove when she saw Arizona take it off last week, so she reaches down and carefully examines it, before applying a bit of pressure until it releases. "Well, that was easy," she remarks to Sofia. "Now where are her crutches?"
Sofia goes over and lifts up the bed skirt to show her the crutches hiding underneath. "Okay, but I should probably stay until she's awake," Meredith says to herself.
She goes into the living room and pulls out her phone, makes a few phone calls and then enters the bedroom and takes off her shoes. "Sofia, let's watch some TV," Meredith says climbing onto the bed with the little girl.
Curious, she pulls up Arizona's DVR to see what she's recorded. It's all cooking and baking shows and the Bachelor, laughing to herself that a lesbian watches that show. Selecting a show at random, Meredith then reaches over to check the blonde's pulse. It's slowed down as expected. Running the back of her hand across the blonde's forehead she notes that she still feels feverish, then she notices the thermometer on the bedside table, so she leans over to get it and after a few tries manages to take her temp. It's 99.1, she notices the post it on the table that has and A and an S with temps and times on it, so she notes that Arizona's last temp was 101 two hours ago, that must have been before she started throwing up.
Grabbing an alcohol swab, she wipes down the thermometer and then takes Sofia's temp. Its at 98.9, which is what it was last time Arizona took it.
Leaning back onto the pillows, Meredith gets comfortable and Sofia snuggles in beside her. It doesn't take long before they are both asleep.
The ringing phone wakes her up, she reaches for hers but it's not ringing, then she realizes that it's Arizona's in the bathroom. Looking down at the sleeping child in her lap, Meredith looks at the time and decides its Callie, so she calls her.
"Are you still there? How are they?" Callie asks.
"She passed out as soon as I gave her the shot and got her back into bed, she's been asleep ever since.
Sofia has a low grade fever, but I didn't want to leave her alone and I know they won't take her in daycare, so I just cleared my schedule to stay with them." Meredith explains.
"I'm sorry, I didn't think about that until after you left, then I couldn't find anyone else to send over. Thanks Meredith," Callie says relieved.
"Of course. But do you think you can help Maggie get my kids home? I'll just stay here since I'm fully exposed now," she points out.
"Well, I can come over, I had Sofia last night," Callie replies.
"Yeah, but it seems like this is just a 24 hour thing, and since you're not sick and I'm running a slight fever now, I'll be next," she points out.
"Oh sure. I'll stay with your kids tonight, but maybe I should stop by and check on you," Callie remarks.
"We should be fine and I brought my bag with me, so I have everything we'll need. With any luck, Arizona will feel better in time to take care of me," Meredith jokes.
"Okay, just promise to call if you need anything," Callie replies.
Waking up a few hours later, the room is dark and Sofia is playing with Arizona's hair. "Momma, Mer sleeping." Sofia says pointing to the woman on the other side of the bed.
"Oh," Arizona says sitting up, then she realizes that her prosthetic isn't on and she's in different pajamas. Getting oriented, she then notices the thermometer and the post it, which now has S, A and M, she notices that Meredith's last temp was 101.3 and she has a wet washcloth on her head. Moving closer to her, Arizona reaches up and feels her face, she's definitely still feverish. Meredith stirs at the contact.
"How are you?" Meredith asks, trying to sit up.
"I feel Better. But you shouldn't move too much, you know what's next," Arizona reminds her.
"Right, there's more Compazine in my bag in the chair, if you need it," Meredith says as she rolls over.
"Okay, how long have you been here?" Arizona asks looking over at the clock.
"Since 2 pm, what time is it now? Meredith asks opening her eyes a bit more.
"It's 6:30." Arizona replies, "Wow, that was horrible, I don't remember anything. I should feed Sofia," she says brushing the hair out of her daughter's face.
"She ate some cereal earlier and her fever broke," Meredith says rolling over to face Arizona and Sofia.
"Okay, well I'm definitely not eating anything yet," Arizona replies.
"You need fluids though," Meredith reminds her. "There's pedialyte on the table," she points out.
"Okay, thanks," Arizona says taking a drink from the bottle. "This stuff is terrible," she adds.
Then leaning over Sofia, the blonde rests a hand on Meredith's arm, "I'm sorry that you came over to help and got sick too," she says with a small smile.
Meredith returns the smile and shrugs, "I probably already had it, at least now I'm not giving it to my kids."
Arizona turns around to put her prosthetic back on, when Meredith jumps out of bed and rushes to the bathroom.
Sofia wakes up and looks at Arizona, "Now Meredith sick," she says shaking her head.
"Hey little miss, we got this from you!" Arizona teases her.
"Mama, not sick," Sofia points out.
"Mama never gets sick," Arizona reminds her daughter.
Then Arizona gets up and goes to the bathroom door, "Mer, can I get you anything?"
Meredith mumbles and Arizona can hear her throwing up, so she pushes the door open.
Going over to the sink, Arizona gets another wash cloth and wets it and then sits down on the tub and reaches over and puts the cloth on the back of Meredith's neck, then rests her hand on her back.