Safe And Sound
Safe and Sound
Summary: /You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now, come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound/ Callie and Arizona are fatefully reunited after the crash.
Spoilers: 8x24
Status: Complete
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
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"Life changes in an instant, turns on a dime. One minute you're miserable and in the next you've met the most amazing woman in the world and are in love. This moment, your moment, only happens once."
Callie hates hospitals. Which is ironic, considering she works in one. But she does. At least she hates them when she, herself, is not the doctor who is performing the life-saving surgeries and being the rockstar that she was born to be. She especially hates hospitals when Arizona or Sofia have to be there and she has to sit idly by, with her hands tied behind her back, not able to do remotely anything that might help the two of them.
Arizona was in a plane crash. A freakin' plane crash. The more she tries to comprehend the thought, the sicker at her stomach Callie becomes. It was supposed to be a simple flight, a flight from Seattle to Boise, where they were supposed to perform a procedure of separating conjoined twins, a surgery they had mastered months before in their own operating room. And then, they were supposed to come back. The residents were supposed to be having dinner with Webber and she was supposed to be having really, really hot sex with her wife.
But instead she is here, in some Boise hospital, sitting by her wife's bed side, wondering exactly how all of this is going to affect their lives. Instead of enjoying lingerie and body paint like she had so seductively planned, she is sitting by her bed side, wondering how many months of physical therapy her wife is going to have to endure before she can ever regain the full use of her leg. Instead of being happy and in love and blissful, she is sitting here, terrified, angry, and horrified. Her life changed on a dime, and honestly, she is not so sure that things will ever go back to the way they were before.
Callie gently laces her fingers around Arizona's in a soft reassuring squeeze, gazing at her scratched and scraped face. A face that had once been alight with happiness and joy is now pale, emotionless and quite possibly scarred from the events of the accident. The dried blood adorns the side of her face now, the place where her careless blond curls used to hang. The deep dimples that once told a story of joy and happiness have now all but faded away as her lips are pressed in a straight line. The blue eyes in which Callie once saw her entire future are now fluttered closed as her weak and traumatized body tries to sleep off the injuries that she has endured. This woman lying before her, a close resemblance of her wife seems almost a stranger to her, for she has never seen Arizona Robbins so down and broken before.
She can't help but wonder how Arizona had done it. How she sat by her bed side day after day, held her hand, stroked her hair and told her that everything was going to be okay. She does not know how she stayed so strong, so optimistic, how she never gave up hope or faith that everything would turn out the way that it was meant to after the accident, even when both she and Sofia were barely clinging to life by a very fine thread. She does not know she did it, because sitting here now, she is one inhale close to falling apart.
Callie has never felt so low in her entire life, so downtrodden and broken before. She feels like her entire world was flipped upside down, like everything that ever meant anything was suddenly ripped out from under her. She almost feels like she is living someone else's life, because the thought that her wife could be hurt in such a way is almost implausible. She feels like she just woke up one day and she body swapped with someone else, someone from one of those stupid soap operas that Aria likes to watch so much. Because the idea that this is Arizona, that this is her wife, her child's mother, is one that Calliope Torres has yet to fully understand.
The both of them are truly lucky, Callie knows this. Arizona just has to regain the use of her leg and take it easy for the next few months. She is lucky. Lexie died, Derek quite possibly lost all ability to be a brain surgeon again, Mark underwent cardio surgery, Meredith lost her sister, and Cristina dislocated her shoulder and terribly lost a shoe. Arizona is lucky. Because if she had just been sitting a few seats back, this entire situation could be a completely different. Callie gulps. And honestly, she is not so sure that she could survive losing her.
Sighing deeply, the raven haired beauty lowers her head onto the bed, placing a gentle kiss on her wife's motionless hand. She does not know how they are going to get past this, how they are going to survive all of this, but she knows that she has to learn to have a little faith in something else, other than medicine, perhaps someone a little higher with a great lot of control over their lives.
"Cal…" A dry whisper catches the peak of Callie's ear and her head snaps up. Arizona's eyes are moving restlessly behind her eyelids, frantically trying to open. Before she can even catch herself, a sigh of relief rushes from Callie's pursed lips and a "thank God" is muttered breathlessly.
"Hey, Arizona, I'm here. I am here. Shh. You should try to rest." Callie instructs, gently caressing the blonde's cheek but Arizona, as impatient and determined as she is, is having none of it. Instead, the Peds surgeon squeezes her wife's hand before her eyes, painfully, begin to open. Immediately, she squints at the light, a husked groan rumbling in the back of her throat and she whines, almost inaudibly, creating a deeper crack in Callie's heart. In all the sicknesses and injuries that she has witnessed Arizona experience over their years together, she has never once seen her outwardly react in pain, and seeing her, hearing her, shatters Callie's heart.
"Cal-Callie?" Arizona mutters again, wrinkling her golden brow in a hard squint at the unforgiving light. Callie smiles weakly, moving closer to the blonde as she takes a very precarious seat on the bed beside of her. At once, her eyes find Arizona's as she stares deep within those cobalt swirls and for a moment the rest of the world manages to fall away. For a moment, as brief as it is, the crash, the death, the injuries, none of it ever happened; for a moment, the world stands still as they are simply Callie and Arizona, Arizona and Callie. Then, Arizona's eyes begin to fill with tears and Callie feels her stomach plummet, the cry sticking in the back of her own throat as well.
"Do you know…. I never thought I would see you again." Arizona murmurs huskily, her voice quite obviously hoarse from all the screaming. Callie feels her façade break, even if only for a moment as her face crumbles and those tears begin to fall down her cheeks.
"I was so scared. God. I was so fucking scared. Hunt didn't even check his voicemail until late that night when you were supposed to be coming home, I had lingerie and body paint and I was going to seduce you and screw your brains out," Callie pauses with a chuckle and she watches a faint smile plays upon Arizona's cracked lips, "then we found out and they told us… I didn't know if you were okay… I… I was so afraid I lost you." Callie whimpers, biting her bottom lip to suppress the cry from escaping completely. The action is instinctual, when Arizona's hand reaches up, her thumb carefully stroking Callie's tear stained cheek.
"I kept thinking about you and Sofia. How I had to come home. I had…" Arizona swallows hard, a heart wrenching cry escaping from deep within her. It is a cry of pain, of heart ache and suffering, and the sound crushes Calliope in a way so unimaginable. "I saw Tim."
"What? You saw…" and Arizona nods weakly with a disheartened shaky chuckle.
"I saw Tim. He… he wanted me to come with him. He… he called me Phoenix. He looked…he looked the exact same as the last time I saw him. In his solider uniform all proud and strong and brave. He… he kept telling me that it was okay, that everything was going to be just fine. He… he held my hand and he told me…stories. Stupid stories… stories that we used to tell as kids…" Arizona pauses with a gentle laugh before she breaks the eye contact with Callie and stares, rather blankly, down at her hands.
"He told me to come with him… he said there was no pain where he was from and that he would take care of me. But I couldn't. I-I couldn't go with him. Because I had to come back. I had to come back and be your wife, I had to be Sofia's Mama. Then I… I woke up here, with you." Arizona looks back up at her wife, her eyes brimming with tears as she chokes back the sob with a gentle smile. Callie sighs deeply; leaning forward she softly presses her lips against her wife's. In that moment, she feels it. The fireworks, the rush, the pulsing blood running through her entire body; as they savor the taste of one another, Callie breathes new life into the blonde and Arizona's heart skips a beat, even if only for a brief second.
"I am so glad you are okay." Callie whispers against her lips, even though she knows that she is not. However, Arizona is one thing: alive. Thankfully, fortunately, magnificently alive, and at least, for right now, none of the rest of it matters. Arizona nods quietly, staring deep into her wife's russet eyes, her thumbs brushing softly upon her cheeks. The blonde breathes out a struggled breath, licking her cracked lips as she blinks back the tears within her eyes.
"L-Lexie died." Arizona whispers feebly and Callie nods, the tears present in her own eyes as well. "She… the back of the plane broke off and she was…"
"I know, sweetie. But she, uh… I mean, there was no way…"
"She died, Callie. She… she told Mark she loved him and then she… she just… dies. He… he almost d-died too. He's not going to get over her; he wants to go… be with her..." Arizona stops, her lips moving in a desperate attempt to speak but no words come to her and Callie only watches with saddened, sympathetic eyes, "H-How does that… how does that even happen? How is it possible that the one person you are meant to spend the rest of your life with just dies right in front of you like that? How can…" Arizona stops with a cry and Callie gently brushes the tears away with her thumbs, placing another sensitive kiss upon her lips.
"I am just so glad that it wasn't you." Callie whispers gently, her eyes focused deeply upon Arizona's bottled blues, "we'll be there for him. You and me and Sofia. We'll… we will be there. And we'll support him and we'll help him as much as we can. And we'll be there for Meredith too. It's all we can do. And we will be grateful that you are alive. Okay?" Callie offers with a weak smile but Arizona only stares at her, blankly and distantly.
"And Nick? How's Nick? Did he go home or did he get to go Belize?" Arizona asks. Callie's face falls, her lips puckering as she sniffles, fighting off the cry as a distressed sigh escapes from her. Gently, she looks under her long eyelashes and Arizona bites her lip hard with a gentle nod, "oh."
"The tumor was just…"
"No." Arizona speaks up rather affirmably and it catches Callie off guard, she looks at her rather bewildered, "I mean… I want to know but I just… not now. Please. Not now with all of this and…could it wait? Could you please just wait? B-because L-Lexie died and we were all in a plane crash and I just… I just need a few days, please." Begs Arizona, her voice shaking and Callie only nods ardently, a tender smile curling upon her lips.
"Of course, baby." Callie replies softly. She almost chuckles at the nickname when she calls her that, for Arizona is a firm believer in that stuff like that only belongs in the bedroom, and she half expects her to glare at her and tease her for calling her such a sweet thing. However, Arizona does nothing of the sort, instead, she only sighs a little with a quiet nod of her own, one hand gently sliding through Callie's raven black curls.
"How am I?" Arizona asks quietly, her eyes focused solely upon Callie's and the raven haired beauty slumps a little, those all too familiar tears burning within her eyes once more, "I-I know it's bad. I was coughing up blood and… I could see my femur. That's… that's never a good thing. And I went into shock pretty early, and I was just so, so tired and cold. I…. it's bad, isn't it?" Arizona breathes and Callie shakes her head gently with a smile.
"Not really. You're perfect."
"Calliope." Arizona scolds and Callie laughs half-heartedly, nodding her head as she takes Arizona's hands within her own, gently playing with her fingers. Quietly, she pushes the silver band around her wife's ring finger before she swallows hard, finding a new wave of strength.
"Honestly, you are not that bad. You had some internal bleeding, which you obviously know. You… uh… you ripped your spleen, so they took that out. And you had some bleeding in your stomach but they clamped it and got it under control. You lost a lot of blood by the time they actually got you here, they…" Callie pauses with a cry, "with all the blood you lost, they said that you were lucky to be alive. And then your leg… you broke your femur, which you probably knew that. You tore some ligaments and muscles. You're…" Callie sucks in a hard breath, looking at her wife, "you're going to have to undergo a lot of physical therapy before you ever regain the full use of your leg." To this, Arizona slowly pulls her hands away in a gasp, a new flush of tears appearing within her bottled blues.
"So, I am a cripple? I… I am going to have a cane or a wheelchair? How am I supposed to play with Sofia…how am I supposed to go to her soccer games or her tee ball games or her ballet recitals or whatever she chooses to do? People they are… they are going to stare and w-whisper and she's going to have to defend not only having two Mommies but having one that's a cripple. I… I can't be a cripple. I… I'll be like House, addicted to pain killers and I'll… what about surgery? The kids, they need someone…and Alex is not going to be able to…" Arizona cries hard, the sobs erupting from within her. Callie sniffles, gently cupping Arizona's face within her hands, squeezing her cheeks to get her attention.
"You are alive. Do you know how amazing that is? You are alive, you are breathing, your heart is beating, and your brain is function. You are alive, Arizona. You are not a cripple, you have a leg injury and some work with the physical therapy department and you will be back to normal. You are alive. Sofia's not going to care if her Mama walks a little bit slow or funny, she's not going to care about any of that, she's going to care that you are there, with her, cheering her on, being her number one fan." Callie states, the tears falling down her cheeks as she laughs through her sniffles.
"My God, Arizona, I don't care if you are a little messed up right now, I don't care about any of that. You are alive. Thankfully and graciously alive. Alive to breathe another day, alive to be with me, to be with our daughter, to raise our family together. You are alive. The entire ride here all I could think about was what if you were… I couldn't lose you, Arizona. I can't live without you. I couldn't…" Callie pauses with another cry, "you are alive and I am so incredibly thankful for that. I swore to you that I wouldn't walk away, that I would not leave you and I mean that. You and I, we are going to go home and we are going to get through this together because I love you and you love me and none of the rest of it matters. Okay?" Callie demands, squeezing Arizona's cheeks and the blond nods with the most warm, softest smile that Calliope Torres has ever seen, the kind of smile that makes her heart soar and her stomach flip in wild butterflies. It is just enough to let her know that she is okay, that everything is going to be okay.
"Okay." Arizona smiles up at her wife and Callie chuckles quietly with a strong nod.
"Good. Because I would have to kick your ass if you didn't agree with me," Callie threatens with a wink and Arizona laughs softly, with a gentle roll of her eyes. Callie laughs playfully before she carefully slides down in the bed with her wife, cautious of her bad leg. It is such a natural thing when Arizona's body curls against Callie's, and when Callie's hand gently slides down Arizona's back soothingly. It is not often that Arizona is the little spoon, but in this situation, Callie is more than willing to hold her wife tightly in her arms.
"Callie?"
"Yeah?"
"Lexie died." Arizona states sadly and Callie nods quietly from behind her, lacing her fingers around Arizona's, squeezing her hand reassuringly just below her waist.
"She did." Callie replies, kissing the nape of the blonde's neck. Arizona purrs quietly, a new onset of chill bumps erecting up her arms as her heart swells and her stomach flips. Quietly, Arizona plays with Callie's fingers intertwined with her own, her thumb carefully brushing against her wife's tanned skin.
"I was in a plane crash." Arizona whispers and Callie nuzzles her nose into Arizona's skin.
"Yeah, you were." Callie says in a hushed whisper and Arizona nods once more at the realization of exactly what had happened to all of them. For a long moment, nothing is said; the two of them simply lay in the comfort of one another, Callie's arms around Arizona and the blonde calmingly caressing her wife's skin.
"So, I missed body paint and lingerie, huh? Any chance I could get that as a welcome home present?" Arizona teases with a playful smile and Callie laughs affectionately behind her before she places a tender kiss behind her ear, a giggle tickling from her lips into Arizona's skin which causes the blonde's stomach to flip wildly.
"Maybe if you are lucky," Callie chuckles huskily in her ear, kissing her lobe before she snuggles into her, holding her tight in her arms, their bodies wrapped up in one another, just like they had been so many nights before, just where they belong. "I love you." Callie mumbles as her russet brown eyes slowly begin to close and Arizona smiles, a dimple revealing smile, even with the soreness that the muscular action created. She squeezes Callie's hand softly, carefully scooting herself back into her wife's embrace.
"I love you too, my Calliope." Arizona whispers sleepily, her own eyes fluttering close peacefully.
Slowly, the much needed slumber overcomes the both of them with the thought of knowing that in the much needed hour, they would be okay. They survived break ups, a shooting, a baby, Mark, a car accident and now a plane crash; if anything, Callie and Arizona are quite indestructible. Snuggling closer to her wife with a content wife, Arizona exhales serenely being back where she belongs.
The two of them now and forever will be, safe and sound in each other's arms, in each other's hearts.