Chapter 7
Callie held Sofia's hand in a tight grip as she and the five year old navigated their way around pedestrians, on their way to the hospital. Sofia's school was closed for some teacher training day. Callie was so grateful for the wonderful daycare facilities at the hospital.
"Mami , will Zola be here?" Sofia asked as she hopped over the pavement cracks in her own little game.
"Yes, mija, she will be here today as well because your school is closed" Callie responded stopping and waiting for the signal to cross the busy road.
"Yay!" Sofia shouted "I love Zola, she's awesome"
Callie smiled as she looked down at her daughter. Her vocabulary was so like Arizona's with her 'yays' and 'awesomes' and 'supers'.
Walking towards the hospital entrance she heard Sofia shout 'mama!"
Looking up she saw Arizona had emerged from a taxi at the hospital entrance. Frowning, she wondered what had happened to Arizona's car. Her steps faltered when she saw Arizona duck her head and say something to someone in the back seat. Smiling and laughing Arizona shut the door and Callie caught a glimpse of a familiar red head in the back seat.
Before she had time to process her feelings, Sofia once again shouted for her mama. Looking around, Arizona's face lit up as she saw her two favourite girls. Puling free of Callie's grip, Sofia ran towards Arizona, ignoring Callie's order to stop running. Arizona scooped up Sofia , with a huff at the unexpected force propelled by her daughter's exuberance.
"Hey munchkin" Arizona greeted her daughter with kisses on her cheeks, inhaling her smell and revelling in the small arms wrapped around her neck. She looked at Callie with a smile but faltered seeing the frown on Callie's face.
Sofia demanded to be put down and grabbed Arizona and Callie's hands in each of her own, swinging between them as they all walked towards the hospital.
"Morning Callie, are you okay?" Arizona asked her sullen ex-wife.
Callie cleared her throat and plastered a smile on her face.
"Sure, sure, just thinking of my surgery later. So, did you have car trouble this morning?"
"Oh no" Arizona replied "Vivian and me went for dinner and drinks last night and left our cars here so we got a taxi back to my place and then one here this morning. Vivian has to go back to her hotel to change but said she'd be in by 9 if you need her"
"Um, that's fine. I don't need to see her until later" Callie replied brusquely
An awkward silence descended on the adults as Sofia, totally oblivious, swung happily between her mothers. Arizona chewed her lip, glancing superstitiously as Callie. She knew she wasn't a morning person but she sure was in a pissy mood this morning.
"How's Nancy?" Arizona asked. She couldn't care less how Callie's new girlfriend was, She just hoped mentioning her might put Callie in a better mood. If anything, it worsened the mood. Callie's face darkened and her frown intensified.
"She's fine. I haven't seen much of her lately though, both busy with work and other…stuff. Um, you know, I have to check on a patient this morning so can you drop Sofia up to day-care?"
Callie didn't wait for an answer, just leaned down to kiss Sofia and with a brief glance and muted smile in Arizona's direction, she headed off towards the elevators.
Arizona stood with her mouth agape at the hasty exit before her attention was drawn back to Sofia.
"Come on mama , can I get a cupcake?" Sofia looked up with innocent eyes
"Cupcakes for breakfast? I don't think so . Nice try though" Arizona started tickling Sofia, laughing as her little girl erupted into giggles.
Callie watched the scene before the elevator doors closed, her heart clenching fast the sight of Sofia and Arizona laughing so freely. She pressed her forehead against the closed elevator door, before slapping her hands against the cold metal in frustration. It was getting harder and harder to walk away from Arizona every day.
"Who pissed in your wife's cornflakes this morning?" Vivian asked as she sat next to Arizona, happy to get a seat in the busy cafeteria. Arizona slowly chewed her salad before answering " ex-wife and please don't use that disgusting analogy, especially while I'm eating"
Vivian shoulder bumped Arizona "Your military connections and that disgusts you? I thought you'd be used to worse?"
Arizona couldn't help but smile "Yes actually. Tim used to use that expression and a lot worse. Never around my parents of course, just me. It's still gross".
"Well whatever, she's really grumpy. I couldn't get two words out of her. Maybe you are better off-"
"Don't Vivian! Don't say anything bad about her please" Arizona had held up her hand to Vivian and now stared at her with a fierce expression.
"If she's in a bad mood she probably has a good reason. She's a good person. Not moody at all. I just wish.." she lowered her hand and shook her head in resignation.
"Wish what ?" Vivian asked softy
"I wish … I just wish I was still the one" Arizona closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them and looking intently at Vivian " I wish I was the one that she could tell why she's pissed off, the one that she comes to , to make everything better"
Shrugging her shoulders "but I'm not the one"
"You are, you just need to let her know that Arizona" Vivian answered softly
They managed to finish their food, chatting about Vivian's plans for her next trip to Seattle.
"Stay with me. Why are you going to the hotel?" Arizona offered
"Okay" Vivian responded "but if you and Callie are going to be having sexy time then I'm staying at the hotel"
Arizona laughed "Don't worry, I don't think that will happen anytime soon"
Vivian smirked at her blonde friend "We will see, we will see"
"Hey Doctor Torres. Thanks you for coming so quickly "Meredith Grey looked up from her patient on the OR table and flashed a smile at Callie, as she got gloved up.
"No problem Mer, this is why I get paid the big bucks" Callie responded, taking her place across form Meredith . "What do we have?"
"Male , 25, hit by a car. I'm repairing a spleen lac but this arm is badly fractured, bone protruding. We stabilised the blood loss but you need to repair that before we can do anything else"
Callie looked at the arm, a sharp bone protruding through the bloody tear on the patients forearm.
"Show me the X-rays " She commanded, oblivious to everything else, focusing 100% on her patient. She felt the adrenalin take over, that rush, that energised her whole body. She was going to make a difference. Thanks to her expertise, this young man was going to have full use of that arm, with no residual effects. This wasn't arrogance. This was someone who loved her job, who had absorbed every kernel of orthopaedic information since her first year of medical school.
Shouting out orders for the materials she needed, she quickly began repairing the damage. She talked though every step she was performing so her intern and resident could learn. Asking them questions on the procedure, she was pleased with their responses and offered more information than they would ever learn from a text book. Once the intricate part of resetting the bone and drilling plates in place was complete, she tuned into her surroundings.
Meredith was used to the way Callie worked and waited for Callie to finish the delicate repair work before starting a conversation.
"You want to come over for dinner tonight, bring Sofia? "she asked.
"I can't, I'm having dinner with Nancy. Arizona has Sofia." Callie answered without looking up from her suturing. "We haven't been out in a couple of weeks so I can't cancel"
"She's your girlfriend, you are in the first flush of romance, you shouldn't want to cancel" Meredith joked.
Callie looked up, and gave a slight nod of her head, indicating to Meredith that they'd talk about it out of the OR. Meredith sighed. This was not good. Normally Callie was very open about her personal life.
"Spill it" Meredith said as she de-gowned after a very successful surgery. Callie dried her hands and pulled off her scrub cap. She bowed her head over the sink, her strong forearms braced against the edges, holding up her weary frame.
"Callie?" Meredith asked more softly. Callie turned around and crossed her arms in front of her.
She looked at Meredith and shook her head.
"I'm going to break up with Nancy tonight" She confessed reluctantly
"Why? I thought you liked her? "
"I do"
"You said she was interesting and funny"
"She is"
" Is she not good at the sexy time?"
"We haven't "
"What? She's hot, you're hot" Meredith asked incredulously.
Callie just looked at Meredith and shrugged, defeated.
"Ok Callie ,What is going on with you?" Meredith moved closer and stood directly in front to Callie
"Oh My God. It's Arizona isn't it?" Meredith pounced
Callie hung her head.
"Callie, are you crazy? Is this because of Vivian?, she hasn't been with anyone since the divorce and seeing her with someone else is freaking you out"
"It's not that Meredith . It, I , I am just not clicking with Nancy and I don't want to waste my time or hers"
Finally she met Meredith's eyes but looked away quickly before Meredith could see the truth.
"I have to go, I'll see you later" Callie walked out of the OR and headed for her office.
"Callie, hey, Doctor Torres" Callie paused at the door of her office, not wanting to speak to Vivian. She had a lot of emotions churning in her mind, most of it related to Arizona and Vivian. She pushed open the door and headed for her desk.
"Didn't you hear me call you?" Vivian appeared at the door, a perturbed look on her face
Callie plastered a smile to her face " Sorry, miles away, what can I do for you major?"
Vivian arched a brow at the obvious fake enthusiasm from Callie. She was a huge admirer of Doctor Torres. Apart from her expertise in the Ortho field, the woman had always been warm and friendly, Vivian knew she was still not over her ex-wife and also knew that Callie was not happy at the thought of Vivian dating Arizona. She had played it up at first amused by Callie's attempt to hide her feelings but not after talking to Arizona and seeing how much she desperately wanted to be with Callie. And now, seeing Callie obviously struggling with her need for Arizona.
"I'll come back later" Vivian answered before heading to the doctor's lounge. Spotting the person she wanted to talk to , all alone she closed the door before turning to face Meredith.
"Doctor Grey, I need your help "
Meanwhile Arizona was returning to her office after performing a post op check. She had a few appointments for new patients this afternoon. She had a bounce in her step. She loved her job. She could never have envisaged how much fetal surgery would appeal to her. She often spoke of their work as being a great privilege and she really believed it. As her reputation increased throughout the country, she was getting more and more consults .
" Hi Martha" she asked her nurse, who occupied the desk outside her office. " What have I got?"
Martha was her favourite nurse. Middle-aged and kind she was also super-efficient.
" You have 3 consults this afternoon Doctor Robbins. Two from Seattle and one referral from Miami. She's waiting in your office now, a Mrs Accosta. She is with her husband" she handed Arizona the patient file.
"Thanks Martha " Arizona answered taking the file and opening her office door.
She halted at the sight in front of her. A gorgeous , tall brunette, who was looking at the photo of Sofia . An attractive man was sitting in silence in front of the desk, not really paying attention to anything.
" Hi Mrs Accosta" Arizona began, extending her hand but stopping abruptly as the woman turned around fully to face her. She couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips.
"Aria?"