What If You [2/?]
Arizona walked into Tim’s room the next morning with a latte and a stack of papers, not surprised to find two nurses with him: Coleen and a redhead she hadn’t seen before.
“Good morning, sis! I was just telling these ladies about our trip to Morocco the year you graduated med school.”
“I especially liked the part where you flirted with the hotel receptionist to score a free room upgrade,” Coleen said winking at her. “Seems to work on all the girls.”
Arizona blushed slightly, but smiled. “What can I say? The dimples work every time.”
The nurses said their goodbyes, Coleen’s hand lingering on Arizona’s arm for a moment as she brushed past. The blonde shook her head at her brother and set the papers on his lap.
“What’s this? And where’s my latte?”
“You don’t get one. I did a little research last night on Dr. Torres’ procedure and want you to read it before you agree to the surgery.” She did a lot of research on more than just the procedure. She looked into Callie’s credentials, read up on her published articles, and called some colleagues to check on her reputation. No one had anything bad to say about her, they gave her glowing reviews and said she was one of the best in her field. Which annoyed Arizona to no end. She didn’t know why, but something about the orthopedic surgeon got under her skin. Even the night before after their friendly “goodnight,” Arizona found herself irritated with Callie . . . and maybe even a little attracted, but that was not the point. She was here to make sure Tim didn’t do anything stupid then was going to get the hell out of Seattle and back to her sick tiny humans in Boston.
Tim rolled his eyes, but thumbed through the paperwork. “Dr. Torres came by this morning. She’s scheduled some scans and said she’ll come discuss them with me when they get the films back.
“Perfect,” Arizona said sitting down next to Tim’s bed. “That means we have at least five hours to sit here and wait.”
“Hey, no one told you you have to be here. You are more than welcome to go home.” Arizona glared at him. “At least go outside and explore Seattle. This is the first vacation you’ve had in like four years.”
He was right. Aside from the two week leave she took when Tim was injured, Arizona hadn’t had more than a day off in a really long time. She liked it that way though. If she wasn’t busy she went stir crazy, much like she was starting to now. “Is that your less than subtle way of telling me to get lost?”
“Yup. If you want me to read this stuff then you have to go because I can’t do it with you staring at me with your worried big sister sad eyes.”
“Fine, but I want to be here when Dr. Torres talks to you.”
“Deal, now scram, you’re killing my game.” Arizona followed Tim’s gaze across the hall to the nurse’s station where many of the women in scrubs were attempting to nonchalantly stare at him. Except for one. Coleen was not so subtly staring at her.
“I think Coleen likes you.”
“Of course she does. I’m hot.”
Tim just smiled at gave the nurses a little wave. “I’m leaving before this turns into The Hunger Games for your affections.”
/ / /
Arizona didn’t stray too far from Tim’s room. She didn’t trust him to call her when his scans came back so she decided to head down to the hospital cafeteria to grab lunch and answer a few emails. She made it halfway through her salad when someone approached her.
“You’re Dr. Robbins, right?”
“That’s me,” she said cheerily smiling at the blonde woman standing next to her table.
“I’m Teddy Altman. A paper you wrote a few months ago helped me save a kid last week.”
“Really? Glad to hear it. Why don’t you sit, Dr. Altman.” To be honest, Arizona was glad to have someone to talk to. She was tired of sitting by herself while people stared at her. “Is it always like this here?”
“The staring? Yeah it is,” Teddy chuckled. “This hospital is full of horrible gossips. The fact that you’re a successful surgeon with a hot brother is like cannon fodder to these people. You’ll get used to it.” Arizona doubted she would, but nodded anyway.
“How’s your brother?” Teddy asked taking a bite of her apple.
“Enjoying all the attention,” she sighed. “He wants Dr. Torres to perform an experimental surgery.”
“It sounds like you don’t approve?”
“I’m trying to see his side of it, but the worried sister with medical knowledge is still a little leery.”
Teddy nodded. “I know. I was an Army doctor and had the same problem when giving friends medical advice. If it’s any consolation, Dr. Torres is an amazing surgeon.”
Arizona liked Teddy. She was the first person in this hospital that understood her side of things and she seemed like a sweet person. She was the kind of woman she could see herself being friends with.
“So you don’t think I’m crazy?”
“Not at all, but I also know that once a soldier makes up their mind there’s no changing it.” Arizona knew that was true. Stubbornness ran in the Robbins family.
“Ladies, I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Ugh, Mark. Leave the poor girl alone,” Teddy said.
“Mark Sloan, pleasure to meet you,” Mark ignored her extending his hand to Arizona. She shook it firmly, amused by his obvious flirting, and snuck a glance at Teddy who was studying the scene in front of her. “You know the nurses are hot and bothered over your brother, but I’m all hot and bothered over you.”
Teddy choked on her coffee and Arizona erupted into a fit of giggles. “Oh Mark, did you really think that line would work on me?”
“You’d be surprised by how many women it works on,” Teddy said trying to control her laughter.
Mark looked wounded for a moment then joined in their laughter, setting his tray down and sitting across from the two women. They settled into and easy banter and Arizona found herself enjoying Seattle for the first time.
/ / /
Callie entered the cafeteria intending to join Mark for lunch, but when her eyes roamed the cafeteria she found that he was already accompanied by Teddy and Arizona. She contemplated joining them, but didn’t want to intrude. Besides, Arizona would probably just clam up and glare at her. Despite the apparent cease fire last night she knew that Arizona saw her as the bad guy who wanted to test a surgery out on her brother. Not that Callie blamed her, but in that moment she would have given anything to have Arizona smile at her the way she was smiling at Mark.
She was more carefree and relaxed than Callie thought was possible after her demeanor the day before. Callie already thought she was beautiful, but her gorgeous smile and adorable giggle made her melt. She watched as Arizona threw her head back and laughed while placing a hand on Mark’s arm. The brunette felt jealousy bubbling in her chest, though she told herself she had no right to be.
“Dr. Torres, I have those scans for Timothy Robbins,” Lexie said causing her to jump. The resident gave her an apologetic look and handed her the films. “They’re not good.”
“Damn,” she said taking her eyes off of the blonde and turning to leave. Lexie was right. The scans showed that the damage was more extensive than she thought. The muscles and tendons in Tim’s arm were healing too tightly around the bone, which would make it that much harder to fix. His leg was healing better, but a lot of his muscle had decayed and she wasn’t if sure if his leg could support the new titanium bones.
She hated that she didn’t have better news for Tim. These were the kinds of cases she prayed would go smoothly, but ended up testing her in more ways than one.
“Dr. Torres! Have you seen the new Shelby’s?” he asked holding up the car magazine when she walked in. “Man, I’d do anything to have one of these.”
“They’re great cars. I had a blue ’67 Mustang Fastback in college. That car was my baby.”
“What happened to it?”
“I had to get the engine rebuilt. I moved to Seattle and didn’t want it to get ruined out here so I keep it back home in Miami.”
“Damn, I’d love to drive a car like that. I worked three different jobs in high school so I could buy this rusted out black ’77 Firebird. My dad and I worked on that car for hours until it was perfect.”
Callie smiled. “Do you still have it?”
Tim shook his head. “I sold it before I was deployed. Arizona was drowning in medical school loans and I wanted to help her. It’s not like I could drive it halfway around the world anyway.”
“You’re a good guy, Tim,” she said placing a hand on his arm. Callie hadn’t known Tim long, but it sounded like something he would do. She just wished she had better news for him. “I’ve got your scans back if you’d like to discuss them.”
“Looks like I have perfect timing,” Arizona said striding in the room. “Don’t worry, Dr. Torres, I remember what I promised. No interruptions.”
Arizona was in a great mood from her lunch with Teddy and Mark. Once Mark stopped hitting on her they had a great lunch. He had mentioned that he was waiting for Callie, but she never showed. Arizona had been strangely disappointed. Not that Callie seemed to miss them. She looked like she had been having an interesting conversation with her brother based on the way her hand rested on Tim’s arm. The blonde was frustrated that the small gesture made her jealous.
Callie moved to clip the scans to the light board and turned to them. “I’m afraid your scans don’t look too great, Tim.” She explained the situation and, true to her word, Arizona remained silent, her face set in a grim expression. Callie didn’t need to explain the severity of the injuries to her, the look on her face said it all.
“You can still do it though, right?” Tim asked.
Callie hesitated, eyes flicking to Arizona, who was staring back at her, almost willing her to say no. “I believe so. There are no guarantees even in a best case scenario, but I still think we have a shot at getting you full use of your limbs. Our biggest concern with your arm is keeping the muscle intact as much as possible. We have more extensive work to do on your leg and it’s going to be painful, but if you decide to go ahead with the surgery we can schedule you for the day after tomorrow.”
“Let’s do it,” was all Tim said as he took one last look at the x-rays. “I have faith in you Dr. Torres.”
“Alright, then I’ll schedule your surgery and come by tomorrow to go over pre-op with you.”
/ / /
“Don’t even start, Arizona. We’ve been over this too many times already.”
Arizona’s gaze followed Callie out of the room as her anger rose. “You’re not the one I’m mad at,” she said rising from her seat to follow the brunette out of the room.
“Arizona! Don’t!”
She was gone before Tim could protest. She hurried down the hall just in time to see Callie disappear through a door. Arizona followed her through it and closed the door forcefully behind her.
Callie jumped and whirled around to face her. They were in a doctor’s lounge and Arizona was thankful for the privacy.
“What the hell was that?”
“Excuse me?”
“That procedure is far too risky. I can’t believe you agreed to do it!”
“You are out of line,” Callie said taking a step toward her. “I understand that you’re worried, but you need to calm down, respect your brother’s wishes and let me do my job!”
“Your job? Your job is to fix people, not hack their limbs off!” Arizona’s voice rose.
“I’m not going to hack his limbs off! I’m going to save them!”
Callie suddenly realized that they were standing mere inches apart. They were so close that she could lean in and kiss Arizona if she wanted to. She was surprised to find that she really wanted to. Arizona must have realized how close they were too because her eyes flicked down to Callie’s lips before returning to meet her gaze.
It was Arizona who stepped back first. She opened her mouth to speak then thought better of it. The blonde abruptly turned and disappeared through the door, leaving a very confused Callie in her wake.
“Good morning, sis! I was just telling these ladies about our trip to Morocco the year you graduated med school.”
“I especially liked the part where you flirted with the hotel receptionist to score a free room upgrade,” Coleen said winking at her. “Seems to work on all the girls.”
Arizona blushed slightly, but smiled. “What can I say? The dimples work every time.”
The nurses said their goodbyes, Coleen’s hand lingering on Arizona’s arm for a moment as she brushed past. The blonde shook her head at her brother and set the papers on his lap.
“What’s this? And where’s my latte?”
“You don’t get one. I did a little research last night on Dr. Torres’ procedure and want you to read it before you agree to the surgery.” She did a lot of research on more than just the procedure. She looked into Callie’s credentials, read up on her published articles, and called some colleagues to check on her reputation. No one had anything bad to say about her, they gave her glowing reviews and said she was one of the best in her field. Which annoyed Arizona to no end. She didn’t know why, but something about the orthopedic surgeon got under her skin. Even the night before after their friendly “goodnight,” Arizona found herself irritated with Callie . . . and maybe even a little attracted, but that was not the point. She was here to make sure Tim didn’t do anything stupid then was going to get the hell out of Seattle and back to her sick tiny humans in Boston.
Tim rolled his eyes, but thumbed through the paperwork. “Dr. Torres came by this morning. She’s scheduled some scans and said she’ll come discuss them with me when they get the films back.
“Perfect,” Arizona said sitting down next to Tim’s bed. “That means we have at least five hours to sit here and wait.”
“Hey, no one told you you have to be here. You are more than welcome to go home.” Arizona glared at him. “At least go outside and explore Seattle. This is the first vacation you’ve had in like four years.”
He was right. Aside from the two week leave she took when Tim was injured, Arizona hadn’t had more than a day off in a really long time. She liked it that way though. If she wasn’t busy she went stir crazy, much like she was starting to now. “Is that your less than subtle way of telling me to get lost?”
“Yup. If you want me to read this stuff then you have to go because I can’t do it with you staring at me with your worried big sister sad eyes.”
“Fine, but I want to be here when Dr. Torres talks to you.”
“Deal, now scram, you’re killing my game.” Arizona followed Tim’s gaze across the hall to the nurse’s station where many of the women in scrubs were attempting to nonchalantly stare at him. Except for one. Coleen was not so subtly staring at her.
“I think Coleen likes you.”
“Of course she does. I’m hot.”
Tim just smiled at gave the nurses a little wave. “I’m leaving before this turns into The Hunger Games for your affections.”
/ / /
Arizona didn’t stray too far from Tim’s room. She didn’t trust him to call her when his scans came back so she decided to head down to the hospital cafeteria to grab lunch and answer a few emails. She made it halfway through her salad when someone approached her.
“You’re Dr. Robbins, right?”
“That’s me,” she said cheerily smiling at the blonde woman standing next to her table.
“I’m Teddy Altman. A paper you wrote a few months ago helped me save a kid last week.”
“Really? Glad to hear it. Why don’t you sit, Dr. Altman.” To be honest, Arizona was glad to have someone to talk to. She was tired of sitting by herself while people stared at her. “Is it always like this here?”
“The staring? Yeah it is,” Teddy chuckled. “This hospital is full of horrible gossips. The fact that you’re a successful surgeon with a hot brother is like cannon fodder to these people. You’ll get used to it.” Arizona doubted she would, but nodded anyway.
“How’s your brother?” Teddy asked taking a bite of her apple.
“Enjoying all the attention,” she sighed. “He wants Dr. Torres to perform an experimental surgery.”
“It sounds like you don’t approve?”
“I’m trying to see his side of it, but the worried sister with medical knowledge is still a little leery.”
Teddy nodded. “I know. I was an Army doctor and had the same problem when giving friends medical advice. If it’s any consolation, Dr. Torres is an amazing surgeon.”
Arizona liked Teddy. She was the first person in this hospital that understood her side of things and she seemed like a sweet person. She was the kind of woman she could see herself being friends with.
“So you don’t think I’m crazy?”
“Not at all, but I also know that once a soldier makes up their mind there’s no changing it.” Arizona knew that was true. Stubbornness ran in the Robbins family.
“Ladies, I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Ugh, Mark. Leave the poor girl alone,” Teddy said.
“Mark Sloan, pleasure to meet you,” Mark ignored her extending his hand to Arizona. She shook it firmly, amused by his obvious flirting, and snuck a glance at Teddy who was studying the scene in front of her. “You know the nurses are hot and bothered over your brother, but I’m all hot and bothered over you.”
Teddy choked on her coffee and Arizona erupted into a fit of giggles. “Oh Mark, did you really think that line would work on me?”
“You’d be surprised by how many women it works on,” Teddy said trying to control her laughter.
Mark looked wounded for a moment then joined in their laughter, setting his tray down and sitting across from the two women. They settled into and easy banter and Arizona found herself enjoying Seattle for the first time.
/ / /
Callie entered the cafeteria intending to join Mark for lunch, but when her eyes roamed the cafeteria she found that he was already accompanied by Teddy and Arizona. She contemplated joining them, but didn’t want to intrude. Besides, Arizona would probably just clam up and glare at her. Despite the apparent cease fire last night she knew that Arizona saw her as the bad guy who wanted to test a surgery out on her brother. Not that Callie blamed her, but in that moment she would have given anything to have Arizona smile at her the way she was smiling at Mark.
She was more carefree and relaxed than Callie thought was possible after her demeanor the day before. Callie already thought she was beautiful, but her gorgeous smile and adorable giggle made her melt. She watched as Arizona threw her head back and laughed while placing a hand on Mark’s arm. The brunette felt jealousy bubbling in her chest, though she told herself she had no right to be.
“Dr. Torres, I have those scans for Timothy Robbins,” Lexie said causing her to jump. The resident gave her an apologetic look and handed her the films. “They’re not good.”
“Damn,” she said taking her eyes off of the blonde and turning to leave. Lexie was right. The scans showed that the damage was more extensive than she thought. The muscles and tendons in Tim’s arm were healing too tightly around the bone, which would make it that much harder to fix. His leg was healing better, but a lot of his muscle had decayed and she wasn’t if sure if his leg could support the new titanium bones.
She hated that she didn’t have better news for Tim. These were the kinds of cases she prayed would go smoothly, but ended up testing her in more ways than one.
“Dr. Torres! Have you seen the new Shelby’s?” he asked holding up the car magazine when she walked in. “Man, I’d do anything to have one of these.”
“They’re great cars. I had a blue ’67 Mustang Fastback in college. That car was my baby.”
“What happened to it?”
“I had to get the engine rebuilt. I moved to Seattle and didn’t want it to get ruined out here so I keep it back home in Miami.”
“Damn, I’d love to drive a car like that. I worked three different jobs in high school so I could buy this rusted out black ’77 Firebird. My dad and I worked on that car for hours until it was perfect.”
Callie smiled. “Do you still have it?”
Tim shook his head. “I sold it before I was deployed. Arizona was drowning in medical school loans and I wanted to help her. It’s not like I could drive it halfway around the world anyway.”
“You’re a good guy, Tim,” she said placing a hand on his arm. Callie hadn’t known Tim long, but it sounded like something he would do. She just wished she had better news for him. “I’ve got your scans back if you’d like to discuss them.”
“Looks like I have perfect timing,” Arizona said striding in the room. “Don’t worry, Dr. Torres, I remember what I promised. No interruptions.”
Arizona was in a great mood from her lunch with Teddy and Mark. Once Mark stopped hitting on her they had a great lunch. He had mentioned that he was waiting for Callie, but she never showed. Arizona had been strangely disappointed. Not that Callie seemed to miss them. She looked like she had been having an interesting conversation with her brother based on the way her hand rested on Tim’s arm. The blonde was frustrated that the small gesture made her jealous.
Callie moved to clip the scans to the light board and turned to them. “I’m afraid your scans don’t look too great, Tim.” She explained the situation and, true to her word, Arizona remained silent, her face set in a grim expression. Callie didn’t need to explain the severity of the injuries to her, the look on her face said it all.
“You can still do it though, right?” Tim asked.
Callie hesitated, eyes flicking to Arizona, who was staring back at her, almost willing her to say no. “I believe so. There are no guarantees even in a best case scenario, but I still think we have a shot at getting you full use of your limbs. Our biggest concern with your arm is keeping the muscle intact as much as possible. We have more extensive work to do on your leg and it’s going to be painful, but if you decide to go ahead with the surgery we can schedule you for the day after tomorrow.”
“Let’s do it,” was all Tim said as he took one last look at the x-rays. “I have faith in you Dr. Torres.”
“Alright, then I’ll schedule your surgery and come by tomorrow to go over pre-op with you.”
/ / /
“Don’t even start, Arizona. We’ve been over this too many times already.”
Arizona’s gaze followed Callie out of the room as her anger rose. “You’re not the one I’m mad at,” she said rising from her seat to follow the brunette out of the room.
“Arizona! Don’t!”
She was gone before Tim could protest. She hurried down the hall just in time to see Callie disappear through a door. Arizona followed her through it and closed the door forcefully behind her.
Callie jumped and whirled around to face her. They were in a doctor’s lounge and Arizona was thankful for the privacy.
“What the hell was that?”
“Excuse me?”
“That procedure is far too risky. I can’t believe you agreed to do it!”
“You are out of line,” Callie said taking a step toward her. “I understand that you’re worried, but you need to calm down, respect your brother’s wishes and let me do my job!”
“Your job? Your job is to fix people, not hack their limbs off!” Arizona’s voice rose.
“I’m not going to hack his limbs off! I’m going to save them!”
Callie suddenly realized that they were standing mere inches apart. They were so close that she could lean in and kiss Arizona if she wanted to. She was surprised to find that she really wanted to. Arizona must have realized how close they were too because her eyes flicked down to Callie’s lips before returning to meet her gaze.
It was Arizona who stepped back first. She opened her mouth to speak then thought better of it. The blonde abruptly turned and disappeared through the door, leaving a very confused Callie in her wake.