Chapter 3

I groan as I wake up to my phone buzzing. I reach for it and groggily answer, "Hello?"

"Torres, it's Hunt," the voice on the other line says.

"Hunt!" I say, quickly sitting up in bed. "Any news?"

"Yes, actually," Owen says. "We just landed in Seattle. We should be at the hospital with everyone within the hour. You should head over there."

My heart leaps in my chest, "I'm on my way!" I hang up as I jump out of bed and rush to put clothes on. I barely remember to brush my teeth before I rush out the door. I rush into the hospital to see Jackson and Alex standing by the nurses' station. "Have you guys heard anything yet?"

"They just got here," Alex says. "They're getting them set up in rooms before they let us go in and see them."

"There you are," I hear Owen's voice say as he walks up to us.

"How are they?!" I ask urgently.

Owen sighs, "Meredith got by with the fewest injuries. They want to keep her for a couple days but she should be discharged soon." I see relief rush across Alex's face. "Derek sustained a serious hand injury, but otherwise is doing okay."

"How serious?" I ask.

"He asked for you to consult on it as soon as you could," Owen says, "but it's pretty bad." He sighs before saying, "Cristina had a dislocated shoulder but that's been repaired. She's refusing to speak to anyone though and she was very combative. They think she has reactive psychosis."

"And Mark and Arizona?" I ask, anxiousness quivering in my voice.

Owen lets out a sigh. I feel my heart rise into my throat. "Arizona had a compound femur fracture. She has major bone injuries and a very serious infection around the wound."

My stomach drops. "Are…are we looking at amputation?" I ask, my voice quivering.

"The doctor in Idaho recommended it," Owen says, "but she wouldn't consent to it. She said you'd know what to do. They did an ex-fix in the meantime to stabilize the bone."

I cover my mouth as I lower my head, trying to keep my emotions in check. The hell if I know what to do. I blink back tears as I ask, "What about Mark?"

"Mark…Mark is the worst off," Owen says. "He sustained serious internal injuries. The doctors in Idaho said it was a miracle he was even still alive. They could barely keep a pulse on him at first. They sedated them all for the flight back and despite the sedation being reversed, Mark has been unresponsive."

"Oh God," I choke, tears trickling down my face. "So, you're telling me that my best friend is barely hanging on and my wife has a broken femur with infection all around it?" Own nods sadly. A sob rips through my body as I struggle to make out, "Can I see them?"

"Yeah, I'll take you to them," Owen says. He leads me to the ICU floor. I don't make eye contact with any of the doctors or nurses but I can feel their sympathetic stares. We get to Mark's room and I let out a gasp. The strong, witty man full of personality looks like barely a shell in the hospital bed. He's not intubated but the weak breaths he's making cause my heart to sink.

"We're not going to lose him, are we?" I say, barely above a whisper. A tear falls down my cheek before I realize it's even there. I feel Owen's hand on my shoulder for a moment before I sit beside Mark's bed and grab his hand. "You have to fight, please Mark," I whisper. "I need you." I squeeze his hand tight as more tears run down my face.

"Arizona is waking up if you want to come see her," a nurse pops in to say. I glance up at the clock, not realizing thirty minutes have gone by. I nod my head as Owen leads me down the hall to another room.

My eyes immediately land on the ex-fix. My heart skips a beat as I study her leg. My stomach twists at how discolored the skin on her leg is. My eyes move to the monitors and the elevated heart rate without realizing how fast my own is. "Hey," I hear escape her mouth and my eyes finally land on my wife's face. I notice the cuts scattered across her face but it's her small smile that makes my heart skip a beat.

"Arizona," I breathe as I walk over to her bed and wrap her in my arms. Her grip is weak but tight as I hold her, afraid to lose her if I let her go. I kiss the top of her head before resting my head on hers. I can feel that her body temp is well above normal but I find comfort in the fact that she's warm and breathing.

I feel my shirt grow damp as Arizona's shoulders shake with sobs. "I thought I was never going to see you again," she cries, gripping me tighter.

I gently start stroking her hair as tears drip onto it. "Shh, I'm right here," I say gently. "I'm not going anywhere." It isn't until Arizona's sobs turn into even breaths as she falls asleep that I finally let go and ease her back onto her bed. I gently place a kiss on her forehead. She has no idea how scared I was that I'd never see her again, I think to myself. I pull up a chair beside her bed and gently take her hand. I gently rest my head on her bed as I quickly doze off.

Two days pass. I walk into Arizona's room with a tray of supplies. "Hey," she says tiredly as I walk in. I give her a smile in response. She furrows her brows as she scans me up and down, "You're already back at work?"

I glance down at my scrubs and white coat. "Yeah, I guess so," I mumble. "I wasn't doing anyone good sitting around and it's been almost a week since I've practiced medicine." I set the tray down as I add, "Besides, it helps me see you and Mark more often."

"How's he doing?" Arizona asks. "I haven't gotten much of an update about anyone since we were rescued."

I let out a sigh. "He's still unconscious," I answer. "He's stable at least. They struggled to keep him alive once you all were rescued but he hasn't coded since being here." I open up the tray as I say, "Meredith is starting back at work herself next week. Derek too, he's just not operating. We're coming up with a plan to fix his hand. Cristina is physically fine but she's not talking to anyone. She just stares. It's really unsettling."

"She was the strongest one out of all of us," Arizona says. "She was the only one who stayed awake the whole time. We probably would have gotten eaten had it not been for her." Arizona shakes her head, "Did they tell you that her and Meredith did a pericardiocentesis on Mark while we were out there? Using a tube from a bottle and hand sanitizer? It's the only reason he's still alive at all."

"Only Cristina would be able to pull that off," I say as I pull a pair of gloves over my hands.

"What are you doing?" Arizona asks sternly.

"I'm looking over your wound and putting some strips on it," I say as I reach for her leg.

"You're my wife, not my doctor," Arizona says firmly.

"You're right," I nod my head firmly, "but the chief cleared me to check over your wound and medicate it, just like any spouse would do if you were at home anyway." Arizona rolls her eyes as I look over her wound. The infection doesn't look any better, I think to myself as I try not to show any signs of my sinking stomach. I grab some of the medicated strips. I gently place them over her wound as I hear Arizona grumble. "Does that feel alright? Does it hurt?" I ask.

"It doesn't hurt," Arizona says with her eyes closed. "And anything that doesn't hurt feels good. Thanks." She barely pauses before asking, "Is the infection better or worse?"

"Don't worry about that right now, okay?" I say as I snap my gloves off. "Just try to feel good." I say, barely making eye contact with her. I sit down on the chair beside her bed as I start to clean up the tray.

"Hey," I hear a voice behind me say. I turn to see Alex in the doorway and my anxiety spikes, remembering his last interaction with Arizona.

Arizona is silent for several seconds before finally replying, "Hey."

"Sorry I haven't been around," Alex says. "I just wanted to let you know that I gave Chunky Stew, uh, sorry, Stewart, his intestinal transplant today. It went great, he's responding well." Arizona turns her head to face him as he adds, "Oh! I know you like to do that thing where you bring him his favorite food in a couple months when he can handle solids so it's Hawaiian pizza." Alex gives a small smile before saying, "I just thought I should tell you."

Arizona gives a weak smile before saying, "Thank you."

Alex stands in the doorway a little while longer. He finally steps in and says, "I feel like crap. It should have been me on that plane. If I could trade places with you-"

"I would let you," Arizona interrupts. I audibly chuckle, thinking she was joking. "I had that thought a lot too," she adds. "I didn't like myself for it, but I did. I kept thinking about my wife and how you had no wife. You had no one. I only went on that plane because I was pissed at you. So I kept wondering, 'I'm only here because he's so selfish and thoughtless and no matter how hard I tried to make him better, he's still a horrible person.' So now I keep wondering why this would happen to someone like me instead of someone like you? So I guess I'm still pretty pissed off." Silence fills the room as I look over at my wife in disbelief. "Would you get out of my room…please?" she finally growls. Alex faintly nods his head as he turns to walk out of the room.

I stand up to shut the door to her room. "What the hell was that?" I ask sternly.

"Oh, don't tell me you're siding with the one who put me on that plane?!" Arizona growls. She points down at her leg, "The one who put me in this!"

"I was the one who went after him, fists swinging when I found out your plane was missing!" I yell back at her. "I replayed that scene in my head and I went after him! Hunt had to stop me from pounding his face in! But he came to check in on me or bring me food every day while we waited for news because he knew his responsibility. He is owning up to it, and he does feel like crap. So he doesn't deserve for you to hate him. I've forgiven him, even before I knew you were alive, and the Arizona I know is at least twice as forgiving! Where is she?!"

"Maybe she crashed and burned along with the plane she was on," Arizona mumbles. She stares daggers at me as she says, "If you're going to side with him, you can get out of my room too." The tone in her voice and expression on my face send a chill down my spine. She's not kidding, I think to myself. I shake my head as I walk out of her room, slamming the door behind me.