Chapter 2

Callie was exhausted, 2 huge car crashes and 14 hours in the OR with back-to-back surgeries had left her hungry, tired, and emotionally drained. All she wanted to do was go home, sleep, eat, and shower and probably not in that order.

She grabbed her stuff from the locker room, taking a short cut through the ER to get home, as a familiar blonde figure caught her eye.

It was her; she was back! Callie approached quickly, not sure how to label the emotion she was feeling, relieved the blonde was still alive but sick with the thought she had been hurt again. It was scary how much that brief interaction had played on her mind, how the beautiful blonde had occupied her mind since they had first met.

Arizona was sat on one of the beds, Callie could tell she was in pain as an intern bent over her hand. It had been 10 days since Callie had relocated her shoulder and she had struggled to not think about the blonde since. Arizona haunted her thought as she wondered if she was hurt, who was hurting her, and if there was anything more, she could have done. It was strange, she'd never felt like this about a patient before, Mark had been doing his nut, telling her she was too emotionally involved, even though her interaction time with the blonde had been less than 45 minutes, Callie couldn't stop thinking about her.

Now the object of her thoughts was here, sitting right in front of her. Hurt again.

Worriedly Callie practically ran over, seeing a nasty burn to the blonde's forearm.

"Beat it" she ordered the intern, sitting down on the vacated seat. She met the blonde's eyes finding an amused look, "Self-defence classes again?" Callie asked ironically,

To her credit Arizona didn't flinch, instead her cool blue eyes meet Callie's, making Callie's heart flutter,

"Soup, did I mention I'm a terrible cook, I mean I should not be left unsupervised in a kitchen, anyway it was about to boil over, so went to grab the pan, but I missed and caught my arm instead" Arizona told her. Callie fought the urge to roll her eyes, it was a lie, they both knew it, but again it was plausible.

"Right," Callie said, not calling out the lie, "Does your husband help with the soup?" she asked, when the blonde had left last time, she had read the file, there was very little detail listed, no NOK, only a home address which Mark her best friend had banned her from driving past saying it would make her a crazy stalker. Now the blonde was back Callie was determined to find out more, maybe if she staked out the house, she would see something she could use as evidence to take to the police. Mark had physically restrained her several times, especially when they were both at Joe's from going over and checking on the blonde.

"I'm not married".

"Boyfriend?" Callie pressed, desperate to know who was hurting the blonde,

"I'm not into boys" Arizona replied, Callie felt her heart race again, as she started to gently debride the burn, she wondered if the blonde was feeling anything like she was feeling,

"Girlfriend then?"

"Not unless you are interested….." Arizona flirted easily, Callie glared, this wasn't the time for flirting, she was genuinely worried about the blonde who thought it was funny to joke about. She ignored the voice in her head telling her to say yes.

"I don't have time to date" Arizona replied, more subdued,

"Arizona, I know someone is hurting you, you don't have to lie to me, I can't act on it without your agreement, and I want to help" Callie offered bluntly playing all of her cards. There was a moment of silence, while the blonde struggled to find something to say in return,

"Its fine, everything is super" Arizona repeated, it was like her mantra, Callie sighed continuing the debridement, and prescribed the antibiotics, the burn would need watching closely as it was borderline, as to whether it needed a skin graft or whether the burns dressings would suffice.

"You will have to come back daily, to get the dressings changed" she said firmly. "Ask the nurses to page me when you get here," she begged, at least that way everyday she would know the beautiful blonde was alive. She was relieved when Arizona nodded, agreeing easily to Callie's terms.

"I can do that" the blonde promised as Callie put the last piece of tape on. Again, the blonde hugging the brunette to say thank you for her help, again Callie felt the full body tingles.

She watched worriedly as again the blonde walked out, praying she'd be back tomorrow. Praying she would be safe overnight, that she wouldn't get hurt again,

Callie spent the morning watching her pager, waiting for the nurses to tell her Arizona was back. She had just scrubbed out of a hip replacement when it went off, asking her to go to the clinic, quickly she made her way down, finding the blonde sitting waiting.

"Hey, you came back" she said relieved, taking the blonde to an exam room, away from the gossiping nurses, her eyes raking over her trying to spot any new injuries on the blonde.

"You made me promise, I always keep my promises" Arizona shrugged simply, her hand was also itching, and she wanted to get her dressing change, it definitely had nothing to do with the gorgeous brunette.

Callie carefully took her hand unwrapping the bandage, she could see the skin underneath and was pleased to see it looked slightly better.

"Are you going to tell me what is going on?" Callie questioned, still not buying the lie, Arizona sighed,

"I am just really clumsy" she lied "especially in the kitchen".

"Arizona, please don't lie to me" Callie begged, not sure why this bothered her this much, normally when patients lied to her it didn't bother her, but Arizona lying, that felt different. Callie began cleaning the burn, using the motion of clean to distract from what she said,

"I'm sorry," she apologized genuinely looking sad,

"Then tell me the truth" Callie pleaded, as she applied the new dressing, she could feel the indecision and knew she was close to cracking the blonde.

"I'm sorry," Arizona apologized again, "Thank you, for all your help" she said wiggling her fingers, her hand felt much better now,

"I need you back tomorrow" Callie said firmly, "I need to change your dressing again".

It was a lie, the wound wasn't that oozy, it could wait a few days, but Callie needed to know the blonde was okay, that she was safe, she had never felt like this for a patient before, it was strange, but she was drawn to the blonde, to her relief the blonde nodded,

"Same time, same place" the blonde joked standing up,

"Take care" Callie begged, watching the blonde walk out.

"Who was that?" Mark came over, he'd been watching the interaction from the desk and was curious, Callie appeared upset, and he hated people who upset his best friend. Especially at the moment, Callie had been through so much, with George, finding out she was bisexual then Erica she didn't need any more pain. "Is this the blonde?" he asked, Callie had been fixated on her all week, since Erica had left. Classic transference Mark figured.

"My patient," Callie sighed opening her notes, hesitating as she debated what to write, "Yeah she's the one I've been thinking about, and the one whose house you won't let me check out" she confessed sighing,

"Is she bothering you?" Mark asked protectively, he wouldn't tolerate patients bothering his friend,

"Not exactly" Callie sighed even deeper this time, she wasn't ready to talk about it still not sure how to label her feelings towards the blonde.

Mark rubbed her arm trying to give her support while feeling confused. "Come on, I'll buy you lunch" he offered, Callie nodded leaning into her friend, glad of his support.

Callie stood in the OR, her pager sounding, "it's the clinic Dr Torres" the nurse read, "it's not a 911".

"Can you call and let them know I'm going to be a few hours" Callie said apologetically,

"They say an Arizona Robbins is here for a dressing change" the nurse told her relaying the message across. Callie bit her lip, checking the clock,

"Ask her to wait and tell the staff not to let her leave until I get there" Callie begged surveying the patient in front of her, there was so much work to do if she was going to save his legs, and she was only on the first one. Realistically she was looking at another 10 hours of surgery, and there was no way Arizona would wait that long or should she. Callie sighed fidgeting slightly as she tried to solve the problem,

"I'll go," Mark offered, "we are hours off plastics being needed" he decided reviewing the damage,

"Thanks" Callie said relieved, Mark would be able to dress the wound, he'd be able to make sure she was safe, "tell her to come back tomorrow" she ordered, he waved as he scrubbed out.

Mark wondered to the ER, finding the blonde talking to another patient in the waiting room, she looked so relaxed and calm, and that riled him. Callie had been an absolute mess, spending every minute of the day worrying about the blonde, who didn't look stressed at all. Callie deserved better.

"Robbins" he shouted across the waiting room, the blonde patted the child on the shoulder passing a piece of paper back to the woman before following Mark to a treatment room,

"Where is Dr Torres?" Arizona asked softly, taking a seat on the chair, holding out her hand,

"Working," Mark snapped, Arizona caring for Callie made it worse, if she cared that much she would leave the bastard doing this so Callie wouldn't spend her whole time worried about her, he began removing the old dressing, "you know Callie has such a big heart, she spends her whole time worried about other people and more recently you, she can't do this, she can't lose someone else she cares about, not right now, so you need to make a decision, you are either in or out," Mark ranted, he paused, taking a breath, the blonde was staring at the wall, not moving, worried his message wasn't getting across to her.

"Callie is an amazing person, you need to stop, you need to not come here again, not unless you leave whoever is hurting you like this, otherwise you'll destroy her and I'm not sure she'll bounce back again" Mark warned finishing the dressing, removing his gloves, popping them in the yellow bin. Arizona sat mutely on the bed, eyes down, tears running silently down her face, Mark gave her one final look, debating whether he had been too harsh before remembering all the pain Callie had been through recently, leaving the room returning to the OR.

"Was she okay? Any new bruises?" Callie asked as soon as Mark rescrubbed,

"Not that I could see, she seemed fine," Mark shrugged, not regretting his words, the blonde needed to leave her abuser. Arizona needed to leave whoever was hurting her, if she didn't she needed to stop bringing Callie into it. The last thing anyone needed was another Izzy and Denny situation.

"Is she coming back tomorrow?" Callie questioned, "Mark? Is she coming back tomorrow" Callie repeated, alarm in her voice,

"I don't know" he confessed, "I told her to only come back if she was going to leave them for good," Mark confessed,

"You did what?" Callie raged, "Mark, I asked her to come back every day because at least that way there is once a day when she is safe, when someone is checking on her, I asked her to come back so I know every day she is alive" Callie stared at the door, deciding if the surgery was at a point where she could chase after the blond and apologise on behalf on Mark.

"She is gone" Mark said, shrugging.

"What if she doesn't come back" Callie pondered nervously, "What if nobody ever sees her again? She'll be trapped with them forever" she fretted.

"You've been a mess, it's not fair, she is an adult," Mark protested,

"Get out" Callie ordered furious, "Get out now Mark, and you better pray she is okay" Mark sighed, standing at the table debating whether to leave or not.

"Sloan, who was your patient?" Bailey entered the room a mask covering her face united, in her hurry.

"Which patient?" Mark replied genuinely confused,

"The blonde in the clinic, who is she?" Bailey asked,

"Robbins, why, what did she do?" Mark questioned, hoping she had messed up and that Callie would return to normal, and see she was just a normal patient and nothing special.

"She diagnosed my patient," Bailey grumbled, "Grey missed it, I missed it, but your blonde sat in the waiting room a diagnosed it, who is she?"

"Arizona Robbins 28 years old, first attendance was with a dislocation, multiple bruises noted, second attendance was with a burn to her hand. Minimum personal details listed on her admission form, lives at 123 MacDonald Road" Callie recited from memory. "What did she diagnose?" she asked curiously.

"Kawasaki disease, day 10, just in time" Bailey revealed, "It was a difficult spot, who is she? A doctor?"

"I don't know" Callie said, confused, surely Arizona couldn't be a doctor, surely doctors were smart enough to leave their abuser, but how would anyone diagnose Kawasaki without medical knowledge?

"Well, I'm going to find out" Miranda decided, walking out of the OR.

Hours later Callie finished, it had been an awkward surgery, ignoring Mark for the rest of the surgery. She found Miranda in the chief resident's office.

"What did you find?" she asked eagerly, sitting opposite,

"Her address is a bust, she gave a fake, but I did find out she is a Pead's surgeon from Hopkins. She passed her boards and disappeared on a personal crisis; nobody has heard from her since. Which is a shame because apparently, she was some kind of prodigy" Bailey revealed, Callie listened attentively.

Arizona was a surgeon, just like them, who had left everything, why? Had she been forced? The bruises indicated it was likely. Callie stood.

"Thanks"

"I told the nurses if she comes again to page me and you, no matter what the time" Bailey informed her.

"So, what now?" Callie asked defeated.

"We wait. She'll come back" Bailey promised, of course what condition she would be in when she did arrive back was a whole other question.

Mark interfering hasn't helped, will Callie forgive him, will Arizona return. If so what condition will she be in, so far lots of votes for Lauren being the abuser.

Interesting,

As usual please review