"Slowly. Just stand please." Callie directs the blonde while Amelia watches the monitors.
"It feels really good. I think I can..." Arizona lifts the leg to take a step.
"STOP!" Callie yells and moves to stand directly in front of her. "Arizona, I need you to do this slowly." Callie reminds her and then nods to Craig to come and put the belt on her.
"That's not necessary." Arizona says as he slips the belt around her.
"It is actually. You've been in the OR twice in the last two days, you're not going to fall in here and end up back in there on my watch, okay?" Callie asks her sarcastically.
"Okay, fine. But now can I take a step?" She asks excitedly.
"Craig are you ready?" Callie asks him. He nods and Callie checks everything one more time. Arizona is standing between the bars, Craig has a hold on the belt, she takes a breathe and looks over to Amelia who gives her a thumbs up.
"Arizona, would you please raise your leg and lower it slowly." Callie directs her.
The blonde does as requested and Callie looks over to Amelia. She nods again, so Callie continues to take her through the commands.
"Okay, that's enough for today." Callie says as she moves the chair over for the blonde to sit down.
"No, wait. Just one more time. It feels great. It's perfect Calliope." Arizona says not wanting to take it off.
"Sit please. We need to check it. And you have to build up to this gradually." Callie reminds her.
The blonde sits down annoyed. "Dr Torres, would you come here please?" Amelia asks.
"It's fine Amelia, just give me a minute." Arizona says and she centers herself. The two surgeons watch as her heart rate and pulse slow, then her blood pressure reports again and it's lower as well.
"I still think she's in pain. Craig, would you remove the prosthetic?" Callie asks as she walks back over to where they're sitting.
"She has swelling," he remarks. "Nothing we haven't seen before."
Following Callie over, Amelia kneels down and does a neurocheck. "There's pressure on her optic nerve, it might just be a little swelling," she says, "But I'm readmitting you and keeping you overnight."
"What?" Arizona asks loudly, "Amelia, you're being overly cautious and it's not necessary."
"Last time I checked, you were the patient and I was the neurosurgeon, so I decide what's necessary," Amelia reminds her. "I'll meet you up there. Please put her in a wheelchair and nothing strenuous, okay?"
"Fine." Arizona replies annoyed at the set back.
"It's not necessarily a set back." Callie points out, knowing that the blonde feels that it is.
"It feels like one," she counters, tears slipping down her face.
"Hey, hey no it's not." Callie says, then she looks up at Craig and asks, "Would you go get the wheelchair?"
Turning back to the blonde, she says, "You did great today. And you may get your wish and walk out of here after all, it just won't be today."
Arizona nods and moves into the wheelchair.
"Will you take her up?" She asks Craig. "Arizona, I've got to finish up my day. I'll be up as soon as I can. I'll bring Sofia and we'll have dinner together, okay?" Callie asks.
"Thanks Calliope. That would be great." She replies a little defeated.
"When did her blood pressure spike?" Callie asks when she steps into Amelia's office.
"Here and here," Amelia points out.
"Johnson did that too and it was the prosthetic fit." Callie reminds her.
"But he didn't have the optical swelling." Amelia counters.
"That maybe unrelated. The blood pressure spike could be caused by pain from the ill fitted prosthetic." Callie counters.
"Or it could be there's nothing wrong with the prosthetic and the high blood pressure spike is due to the pressure on the optic nerve, I want to check that sensor again." Amelia replies.
"She's not going to be happy about going back into the OR." Callie points out.
"We don't have to go back to the OR, we can do the check tomorrow morning in the PT room. I'll set it up." She replies.
"Okay, but I'm still going to check the fit on the prosthetic." Callie replies.
In her office finishing up her paperwork, Callie's phone rings and she picks it up without looking at it, "Dr Torres," she says flatly.
"Callie, it's Penny. You must be busy." She says realizing that she got the doctor voice.
"Oh, just finishing up before I go get Sofia. How are you? I'm sorry that I haven't been in touch. You wouldn't believe the week that I've had." Callie begins to explain.
"I was trying to wait for you to call me, since you said that you would." She replies and waits for Callie's response.
"Uh, right. You know things have really changed for me and I don't think that we should see each other any more." Callie says quickly.
"Yeah, that's what I thought was happening. You're getting back together, aren't you?" She asks a little angry.
"This is about us, Penny. We are not a good match, okay?" Callie redirects her.
"You didn't think that last week. Last week, we were good together. I just don't understand this. Can I see you? Can we at least have a conversation face to face?" Penny pleads.
"No, now is not a good time. I'm sorry." Callie says and disconnects the call. Looking up, she notices Meredith standing in the doorway.
"How long have you been standing there?" She asks.
"Long enough, was that her? You broke up with her?" Meredith asks.
"Yes, she's younger, an attending in a fellowship, we're too different and, and..." Callie falters.
"She's not Arizona. I get it." Meredith replies.
"Am I crazy to think that we can make it work this time?" Callie asks her friend.
"It will work out the way it's supposed to work out. Trust the journey," she replies.
"Hi." Callie says stepping into Arizona's room. "I'll be back with Sofia, but I just wanted to see you first, is that okay?"
"Of course, but are you here as Callie or Dr Torres." Arizona asks nodding towards the socket.
"Oh, Dr Torres first, then Callie," she replies a little nervously, turning to close the door behind her.
"Amelia was just here, she doesn't think it's the fit." Arizona informs her.
"Right, I know. But I just wanted to make sure." Callie says pulling up a chair to the edge of the bed.
Pulling back the sheet, Arizona turns to face her. Callie glances up and then reaches out to touch her stump, carefully examining it for tenderness or any sign of irritation from the socket. Just as she's about to finish, the blonde flinches.
"What was that?" She asks. "Is it tender there?" She asks.
"Ah yeah, it was weird though because the sensation went right down my leg, my leg that isn't there. Callie what's happening?" Arizona asks concerned. "Is this another type of phantom leg pain?"
"No, that means the nerve is back and it means you need a different prosthetic. And I need to tell Amelia, right away." She says taking her phone out and calling her. "Can you come back to Arizona's room?" Callie asks.
A few minutes later, Amelia enters and closes the door behind her. "Okay, what's going on?" She asks curiously.
"Watch this," Callie says pressing softly to trigger the nerve. Arizona's leg twitches and Amelia looks surprised.
"Oh, the nerve is back?" She says excitedly and moves into examine it herself. She hits it first try and Arizona looks uncomfortable.
"Uh, hey how about we stop and tell the patient what's going on?" She says a little annoyed.
Callie explains to her that this means after she passes her neuro exam in the morning, they're going to fit her with a prototype that hasn't been tested yet, it has the ability to flex at the ankle. They've been waiting for one of their patients to respond positively to the nerve graft and she's the first one.
"But I have to make you a new socket, this one won't work with that prosthetic." Callie explains.
Amelia leaves and Callie sets the socket aside and looks at her watch. "Oh it's later than I thought." She says nervous again.
"Wait, what did you want to see me about?" Arizona asks her.
"Uh, it will have to wait. Your parents are here and bringing dinner and Sofia in five minutes." Callie confesses.
"What? They didn't have to come. Did you tell them to come?" Arizona asks confused.
"No, but they've been talking to Alex and when he told them that you went back into the OR yesterday, they bought plane tickets and I didn't find out until today. They were going to stay at the Archfield, but I told them they could stay with me." Callie replies.
"Oh, well they could just stay at my place. Hopefully, I'll be leaving here soon." She adds.
"If you don't mind can they can stay with me and Sofia tonight? I sort of told her they were going to already." Callie admits.
"Of course, that's fine. Why would you think you need my permission to have my parents stay with you?" Arizona asks confused.
"I just don't want any misunderstandings between us. I don't know what this is that we're doing, maybe it's just us getting through this and it's nothing." Callie says rambling.
"Do you think its nothing?" Arizona asks suddenly.
"It doesn't feel like nothing." Callie replies softly, "But I don't want us to rush into anything, can we just figure it out slowly."
"Uh, yeah. But aren't you dating someone?" Arizona asks bluntly.
"Not any more. We broke up a few days ago." Callie admits.
"Oh Callie, I'm sorry." Arizona replies.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. I broke it off with her the night I took you home after the dinner." Callie explains.
Confused, Arizona asks, "Why?"
"Because that night I realized that we're not done. I thought I could be done, but I'm just lying to myself." Callie says, then suddenly the door opens and in walks Sofia with Arizona's parents.
"Mom! Dad!" Arizona says excitedly. "You didn't have to come, but it's great to see you." She admits.
"Well, we felt that we were overdue for a visit and it sounds like you could use a little help right now with this one." Daniel says putting his hands on Sofia's shoulders.
"Is anyone hungry? We brought dinner from that Italian place down the street. Sofia told us what to get." Barbara explains.
"That sounds amazing. I'm starving." Arizona replies, then to her daughter she adds, "Sof, come up here and sit with me and share the table."
Callie and Barbara sit on the end of the bed and Daniel takes the chair. As they eat and talk, Callie can't help but think that this is how it's supposed to be. This is her family and she's really missed it.
A/N: I'm going to end this one here. I had not intended to take this long to conclude this story, but I got distracted by other story prompts and now I have two more that I'd like to write. Thanks for reading this one! xo madly