AN
Hey peoples, sorry about the delay in posting but I have really been too ill to even look at my laptop in the last week. Hopefully this slightly longer chapter will make up for it.
We see some Calzona moments, get to know Alex a little bit and have a pizza party... what more could you ask for.
Love Always
AL x
-oOo-
"Holy shit" Addison commented as she glanced into the back of Callie's crew-cab and saw the vast array of weapons and ammo they had amassed.
"Any problems?" Derek asked as he spotted the dried blood on Callie's throat and glanced to Mark questioningly. The two had been close for more years than either cared to remember, and in those years they had become adept at reading each other. Mark answered 'no' but side swiped his eyes to Alex subtly informing Derek of the cause of the blood.
"Callie what happened?" Arizona asked being the next person to notice the blood, Callie looked at her quizzically before realising that cerulean eyes were trained on her neck and remembered the slight stinging there.
"Just a little misunderstanding, I'm fine honestly" Callie shrugged as she took Arizona's spare hand in her own and squeezed it tenderly and a smile spread across her face at the genuine concern the blonde was showing for her. "I will explain later, but its honestly fine"
"What are we going to do with all of these guns?" Addie asked, still staring at them all.
"Well there is a now empty cupboard at the back of my garage, my suggestion would be that we store them in there" Callie suggested as she squeezed Arizona's pale hand one more time before joining Addie at the rear of the cab.
"Fine, but none of them are to be loaded... and I want a lock on the cabinet door so little hands can't accidently get to them... or unknown hands" Addison said, her eyes unconsciously going to Alex.
"I'm not here to hurt anyone" Alex defended himself instantly, he had noticed the glances being thrown around after the others had spotted the blood on Callie's neck and was starting to regret coming.
"Alex, its fine... you're welcome here" Callie said again to sooth the prickly man.
"Sorry, that was rude of me" Addison smiled towards Alex to show that there were no hard feelings.
"Mark, why don't you show Alex to the shower and get him a towel whilst we start unloading the cab" Callie ordered softly.
"Want me to scrub his back too?" Mark joked but his face sobered when he caught the death glare from the newcomer "Oh calm down, trust me when I say you are not even slightly my type"
"Good job, but I'm locking the bathroom door regardless" Alex groused. Mark motioned with his head for Alex to follow him and once the two men were out of sight and ear shot, Derek spun to Callie and approached her.
"Are you ok Callie?" Derek asked as he probed at the wound on her neck gently.
"He just took me by surprise. One second I was watching Mark enter the gun shop and the next thing I know I have a knife pressed to my neck. I didn't even see him coming" Callie admitted on a sigh.
"Well it looks completely superficial but I would recommend an antiseptic wipe and a band aid on it, we don't know how this infection spreads other than by bites or scratches, you really don't want to risk having an exposed wound when there are dead bodies just feet away" Derek pointed towards the tarpauline covered mound in the carpark.
"I will get a first aid kit" Arizona stated as she made her way into the cupboard in the house where they had stored the many, many first aid kits that they had salvaged so far. She returned a few moments later and ordered Callie to sit on the bench in the entry way to her home whilst she set to work cleaning the cut up and bandaging it.
Whilst the two women were preoccupied, the rest of the group began emptying the two vehicles, Ben and Millie being ordered to only empty the plants and seed packets and to leave the guns to the adults by Addie.
"I told you I would be back" Callie murmured softly as she inspected Arizona working on her throat.
"Not uninjured though, this could have been so much worse" Arizona said in a shaky voice.
"Arizona, I am ok... I know it could have been worse and I am so thankful that it isn't... but this is the world we live in now. We are going to have to take risks, accidents are going to happen and people are going to get injured and die... this is our new reality" Callie said softly as she took Arizona's hand in her own and pulled her to sit on the bench next to her.
"I was worried sick about you, the longer you were gone the worse the scenarios got..." Arizona trailed off, worried that she had said too much.
"I'm back now, and I don't plan on going out there again for as long as I can. But we also can't stay sheltered in here. If we stay in the safety of these walls, we get complacent and if something ever was to happen we wouldn't know how to deal with it. We need to be prepared for anything"
"Your right. I know your right... that doesn't mean I have to like it" Arizona pouted adorably and Callie melted on the spot.
"So... I'm back... do we talk about that kiss now?" Callie asked after a few moments of silence.
"Do we have to?" Arizona blushed.
"We don't HAVE to, but I would like to..." Callie trailed off as she took in the sight of Arizona Robbins blushing furiously and couldn't help but think she had never seen another person look as beautiful as the blonde did right then. "Do you regret it?" Callie eventually asked and blue eyes opened in shock as Arizona began to shake her head in the negative.
"I do" Callie confided and when she saw the surgeons shoulders slump she decided to put her out of her misery. "As nice as it was being kissed on the cheek, perhaps next time you get the urge to kiss me you could aim for my lips" Callie smiled.
Arizona pouted and slapped Callie's shoulder playfully. "That was mean"
"Sorry I couldn't resist, we got kinda serious and you looked uncomfortable... I just wanted you to know... next time, aim for the lips" Callie winked.
"After that there may not be a next time" Arizona laughed lightly as she rose from the bench and zipped up the first aid kit in her hand. It was Callie's turn to pout now and Arizona couldn't stop herself from swooning at how delicious those lips looked in a pout.
"Arizona... I really like you. I just wanted you to know that. I know we don't know each other that well and have only been in each others lives a very short time... but I like you, a lot" Callie smiled bashfully.
"I like you too Callie"
"Calliope" Callie corrected the blonde on a whim, expecting to see humour enter the blondes' eyes as she confessed her birth name.
"It's beautiful... like you, Calliope" Arizona smiled and her dimples popped. "What's your middle name?"
"Oh no... that is definitely third date kind of omission" Callie laughed as the blonde pouted this time. "Seriously, it's awful"
"So you would like for there to be at least one date then?" Arizona asked and Callie blushed as she realised what she had said, but nodded after a few moments. "How does one even date in an apocalyptic world?"
"I'm sure we will work it out, we have plenty of time figure things like that out" Callie smiled bashfully. "We should probably go and help the others before we get accused of slacking off"
"Yeah" Arizona frowned at their moment coming to an end.
"We will have lots of moments Arizona, all kinds of moments... all the time, don't be sad" Callie said, correctly guessing why Arizona had frowned, she knew because she felt the same way.
"Your right" Arizona said, holding her hand out to pull Callie to her feet.
"I usually am" Callie winked causing Arizona to laugh heartily.
-oOo-
Once the guns were stored away in the large sliding cabinet that took up the back wall of Callie's garage and the seeds were in their baskets, stored to the side wall. Callie ordered for the plants and seedlings to be left in the back of Alex's crew cab to transport to the school soccer field tomorrow for planting. The group called it an early day and made their way into the large open space which contained Callie's kitchen, dining room and occasional lounge or as it was now known, the bedroom.
Mark and Derek were in the kitchen making Pizza's from scratch, something everyone was excited about. Alex appeared freshly shaven, clean and wearing a fresh set of clothes and looked a lot less harmless than he had an hour ago.
"Hey" He announced his presence and everyone turned to him and smiled warmly. "That shower was amazing, thankyou"
"Don't mention it" Callie smiled as she rounded the kitchen island, shuffled behind Mark and Derek and grabbed a beer from the fridge. She spun the lid from it and handed it out to Alex who took it with a smile. It had been a while since he had been able to have a chilled beer, he had drunk a few in the mall but they had been luke warm and just didn't taste the same.
He took a swig and his smile grew. "I could get used to this"
"Well we are lucky that the power is still on, Jim here is rigging up a solar farm that should keep these three houses with relative electricity when the grid goes out but it's a work in progress so we make no promises yet" Derek announced and Jim blushed at being the centre of attention.
"So, Mark mentioned you had only been here a few days, where did you come from?" Alex asked as he took the offered seat at the table with Arizona, Jim, Callie and Addison.
"Seatle Grace" Addison offered and Alex noticed the glum look that passed everyone but Callie's faces.
"Thats a hospital in the city right, so were you like... patients or doctors?" Alex asked anyway.
"A mixture of surgeons, we had a large group but we lost a lot of people in the escape attempt" Arizona answered this time in a hushed voice as she glanced over at Millie and Ben who were sat reading comics they had found in one of the houses with Addison earlier that day and weren't paying any attention to what the adults were saying.
"Gotcha... I expect there will be a lot of similar stories for those of us left" Alex stated sadly before taking a swig of his cold beer.
"What brought you to the mall?" Addison asked conversationally.
"Where I lived wasn't safe, I needed to find somewhere more secure and with supplies. I stumbled across the mall and it seemed like my best bet. There was a fair few infected inside which I had to take care of and kept finding more with each passing day. But in the end, for the last week it's just been me alone in the mall until Callie and Mark turned up today" Alex admitted, he didn't want the others to feel sorry for him but he also realised that in this situation, honesty was his best policy.
"What did you do before the fall?" Mark asked from the kitchen island where he had been listening and was impressed that Alex's stories matched up so far.
"A bit of this and a bit of that, anything to make ends meet really" Alex grimaced at how weak that made him sound but he was determined to be honest. This seemed like a good bunch of people and they had a good set up here. If he wanted to stick around he knew that he had to earn their trust.
"I have to admit Alex, we dealt with a lot of the infected escaping the hospital so the fact that you were able to clear out the mall by yourself is very impressive" Addison commented and Alex couldn't contain the blush at getting a compliment from such a beautiful woman.
"It wasn't easy, but I suspect easy has died with the rest of the world... all we are left with now is an uphill struggle to survive. I did a lot of hunting as a kid with my older brother. My mom was smacked off her face most of the time so we were left to fend for ourselves and we got good at it, setting traps, shooting game, sneaking around... all skills which have come in useful in the last couple of weeks. I don't even know how long its been. Each day has just kind of blended into the next... if you know what I mean" Alex admitted.
"Your brother?" Derek asked, not wanting to broach the subject of his mother being an addict, he knew from his own sister, Amelia, what having an addict relative could do you and the family.
"Didn't make it past the first day. We caught the presidents speech... decided to hole up at the caravan park we lived in. He went out to check on the neighbour, some girl he had been spending time with for the last couple of years and came back bit. Had to put him down like a damned dog after he turned in my arms" Alex admitted bitterly.
"I'm sorry for your loss" Derek sighed, wishing he hadn't asked now. But this new world had rules they were still getting to grips with.
"Thanks" Alex said simply, indicating to the group that he was done talking about his past.
"I hope you like pizza?" Mark offered with his signature smile, trying to ease the tension that had built in the room.
"As long as it's not a tin of cold beans, I'm in" Alex admitted, smiling at the other man thankful that he had changed the topic.
Dinner was served a short time later, each person tucking into the delicious feast that Mark and Derek had prepared. It was something the two men were good at, coming from such a big family the two had been accustomed to home cooking and helping out around the house. After Dereks father had died, it was left to Dereks mother to care for her son, four daughters and Mark and so the two men had stepped up to help out and the survivors were reaping the benefits of that tonight as each person moaned in delight at the various pizza's laid out in front of them. Meat feast, Pepperoni, Margarita, Vegetable and Hawaiian.
"God I love pizza... I can't believe I will never be able to phone and order a pizza again" Callie mused as she tucked into her fourth slice.
"For a pretty lady, I will always be on hand to make pizza" Mark winked, then glanced at Arizona who was throwing daggers at him, he just shrugged as if to say 'my point still stands' before he took a bite of his own pizza.
"Thanks Sloan, I will remember that"
"Hey you keep cooking those amazing meals you make us, it's a fair trade" Mark laughed as everyone around the table nodded. They had all, more than once, been on the receiving end of Callie's incredible cooking.
Once the meal was finished without a single slice being left, the group including Alex cleared up the dishes and kitchen before taking turns to shower and clean up for the night.
"Where can I throw my sleeping bag?" Alex asked when it was only Callie left in the room.
"Oh, I hadn't really thought about it. We have all been sleeping in this house but tomorrow we should probably spread out. There's a spare room at the back of the house but the mattress is in here" Callie pointed to the mattress on the floor in front of the couch the kids slept on.
"Thats fine, I'm used to sleeping on a grocery shop floor, the floor will be fine" Alex smiled his thanks.
"Let me grab some blankets for you to throw down first, make it a little more comfortable?" Callie offered.
"Really there is no need, if you don't mind I'm going to turn in, its been a big day... I just wanted to apologise again, you know for the whole holding a knife to your throat thing. I scared you and that's not cool but you've been nothing but nice to me since... I still don't understand it but for what its worth... Thanks I guess" Alex rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly as he looked anywhere but at Callie.
"It's good to have you here Alex, truly. What happened today was a misunderstanding. Lets just not make a habit of it?" Callie teased gently to show there truly was no hard feelings.
"Right, of course not. Night Callie" Alex said, finally looking Callie in the eye and seeing nothing but compassion there. He wasn't used to being around kind people. I mean his brother was a good person but their relationship was built on the gentle bullying of each other and banter, pranking each other when they weren't out hunting or picking up girls. But he could tell these were good people and he vowed to wake up tomorrow and do more than his fair share of the workload to prove his worth and earn his keep.
"Night Alex" Callie smiled at the retreating man.
-oOo-
"Come on Millie it's time to sleep" Arizona warned as she pulled the comic book from the sleepy girls hands and tapped her lightly on the head with it.
"Sorry Arizona, it's just so good I couldn't put it down" Millie admitted.
"I'm glad your enjoying it, but it will be there to finish tomorrow, for now close your eyes and get some sleep, you still need to rest your body while your not well" Arizona reminded her softly.
"Do you think I'm going to die without the medication?" Millie asked the question which had been on Arizona's mind since this all started.
"Millie sweetheart, you had seven sessions of chemo out of nine, chances are we got the cancer. I don't want you to worry about it, this is a problem for me to worry about, you just focus on those comics and getting enough rest, ok?" Arizona soothed as she stroked Millie's hair softly, fighting back the tears.
Once the little girl was asleep, Arizona smiled to Ben who had watched the exchange. "Ten more minutes then its lights out" Arizona warned affectionately.
"Sure thing boss" Ben smiled cheekily causing Arizona to laugh softly.
Arizona grabbed her own torch and crawled into bed beside Callie who offered her a sad smile. Arizona felt the lump in her throat return and the tears sting the back of her eyes.
"Is there anything we can do for her?" Callie asked quietly.
"Not without a hospital, a cat scan, some blood tests, phlebotomists to run the tests... we can hope and that's about it" Arizona whispered sadly.
"There's a medical centre not far from here, its not big but it had an accident and emergency department so maybe it will have the cat scan machine you need?" Callie suggested.
"And what if it shows that the tumour is still there, then what? We cant give her more chemo without the nurses to administer it, we cant monitor it, we cant operate to remove it, its hopeless" Arizona sobbed.
"Hey come here" Callie said as she pulled the smaller woman into her arms and soothed her hands down Arizona's still damp hair. "She will be ok, she's got to be"
"I just feel so helpless, I'm used to being in control of things like this, being able to do something... I don't like the feeling of not being able to do something" Arizona admitted on a quiet sob. "This must be what it feels like to be on the other side of this, I'm used to being the doctor... I've never been on the patients family side, where you feel useless and hopeless and out of control, I don't know how to do this Callie"
"We will work it out... together" Callie soothed.
"You didn't sign up for this..."
"You're right, I didn't sign up for any of this... this life that we've been thrown into... but here we are and honestly from where I'm looking, right here is exactly where I want to be"
"But I'm a mess, you must think I'm crazy" Arizona sobbed.
"Hey its ok... today you can be the crazy one and tomorrow I can be the crazy one" Callie offered a timid smile which caused Arizona to giggle softly.
"You're cute" Arizona admitted.
"You're cute" Callie teased glad to see a smile tugging at pale pink lips. "So what can we do for Millie? Realistically... what can we do for her?" Callie said bringing them back to the reality of the situation.
"There really isn't much we can do but monitor her but even if she gets worse there still isn't much I can do for her"
"There isn't much WE can do, we are in this together now" Callie reminded.