fic: Abandoning Ship (7/7) & The Seattle Grace Lesbian Mafia
**
Their eyes connected for the first time in several days.
“Calliope?”
Arizona Robbins looked up at Calliope Torres. While she had been expecting her mother to be the one returning with lemonade, she certainly was not expecting to see the Orthopedic Surgeon who had taken such a strong hold over her heart.
Arizona’s mouth hung open for several seconds in surprise. She was looking at Calliope almost as if she could not believe she was there.
“Is it ok that I’m here?” Callie ventured softly, afraid that speaking above a whisper would make her an unwelcome intrusion.
“How did you-When did you--?” Arizona was very confused. She knew that Callie had never been to her house and was sure that she didn’t even know where it was. And she walked to the patio from inside the kitchen? Didn’t my parents see a random woman walking through their house?
Calliope moved around the table to face Arizona who was still seated in the patio chair. She stood in front of the blonde and took a deep breath.
“Look. I know that you probably don’t want me here right now and I get that but I can’t sleep, Arizona.” Calliope could feel her lip trying to quiver but she fought off the emotion that was beginning to swell up inside of her.
“Calli-“ The blonde began to interject but Callie lifted a hand as if to silence her from a distance.
“No, Arizona I need to say this. You may get mad at me, you may get mad at Teddy and Mark, I don’t know. But I’ve gotta say this to you.”
Arizona’s face dropped a little at the mention of Teddy. She looked suddenly sad and Callie thought she could detect a tiny bit of guilt as the blonde dropped her head a little to look at her own hands playing in her lap.
“I know… about Jeremiah.” Arizona pressed her eyes closed tightly. Callie hurriedly continued before she lost her nerve.
“Teddy told me.” Calliope continued quickly when the blonde’s head popped up at this knowledge. “She didn’t mean to, so please don’t get mad at her. Mark kinda made her.” Arizona eyebrows raised and Callie realized that revealing Mark’s knowledge of Arizona’s past too wasn’t really helping either. “That was an accident ‘cause Teddy accidentally misspoke while…You know what, that’s not important.”
Calliope lowered herself to her knees in front of Arizona. “Arizona, I love you and I am so sorry for what happened to you. I wish that you had told me so I could be there for you. So that I could work through this with you.” Callie began to lose the fight against her lip trembling. “But I understand why you didn’t tell me. And I understand why you don’t want to… be with me anymore.”
Callie dropped her head down and cupped her face in her hands rubbing her eyes in preparation for what she was about to say.
“Arizona, I have been so lost these last few days. Day and night run together. I’m going through surgeries on auto pilot. My bed is cold and unwelcome without you in it and food just doesn’t taste the same.
I know I told you that I would fight for you and that’s because I love you more than anyone I have ever loved in my life. And it’s so weird that I can honestly say that. But, I realized that if this is what you want, if this is what will make you happy then well, then I need to hear you actually say it.”
Callie was very obviously fighting tears as she searched Arizona’s face for any hint or sign of doubt. “If you can say that you don’t love me. Look me in the eye and sound convincing when you say you won’t miss me… then I will walk away. If you truly do believe that you are better off without me, then that’s how you should be. I love you Arizona Robbins and I would do anything for you. And if that means that I have to let you go, then I will. If you say the words.”
Calliope inhaled deeply and let the tears she had been holding back run down her face. She held her breath as she watched the petite blonde woman in front of her, waiting for a clue as to what would happen next.
Before Callie knew it, Arizona lips were molded with her own. Her small but skilled fingers holding Callie’s face firmly as she used her actions to convey her feelings.
Almost a minute later, Arizona felt the need for air pull her away from their kiss. She rested her head on Calliope’s and listened for a moment to their labored breathing.
“Calliope…” She could feel the confused Ortho’s sharp intake of breath in preparation for what she was about to say. “I am … so sorry.” Calliope’s shoulders relaxed a little but her eyebrows pinched together slightly. Arizona could tell that Calliope had not expected that response, but she continued.
“I have something I need to tell you and I don’t care if Teddy told you ‘cause that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you hear it from me.” She paused as if doubtful of her next words. “Then, we can have this talk that we’ve been skirting around and running away from the right way.”
Arizona motioned Callie over to the chair previously occupied by her mother, “You may want to pull that over here and sit down.”
Calliope nodded silently and dragged the large (and very loud) piece of patio furniture so that she was facing Arizona. When she had settled, she reached out to take the blonde’s hand.
“I was engaged a long time ago to a woman named Olivia back in Boston. We were very much in love and were committed to each other.” Arizona could tell that Calliope was trying her best to look supportive on the outside but a little bit of fear could be seen in her eyes by those who knew her. “So we decided to have a baby. Well, we decided that she was going to have … my baby.” Arizona paused, feeling a slight lump in her throat. Mentally, she fought it off and, gulping hard, continued. “His name was Jeremiah Daniels Robbins. He … died. In labor. ‘Liv almost died too.”
Arizona stopped to take a moment and fought off the tears threatening to fall. She felt Callie squeeze her hand and give a tiny smile, encouraging her on. There was a brightness and a love and a compassion in her eyes that caused Arizona to pause. She, for the first time in several days, felt her heart swell. It was the same feeling she had when she had first seen Calliope at the hospital. She had been having lunch with the jokingly, self-titled Seattle Grace Lesbian Mafia (consisting of all the lesbian nurses and doctors who would congregate and date amongst themselves with the same fervor that the Grey crowd did + a few of the gay men at SGH) when she saw her walk through the doors.
**
Seated at a table near the food line was a group of female doctors and nurses (and a couple male nurses and doctors as well), chatting and eating during their lunch breaks.
“So I hear we have fresh meat at the hospital,” Ryann , one of Arizona’s new favorite nurses, said.
Two of the gay male nurses who had previously been in an animated discussion whirled around quickly to face the nurse. At the same time, they said, “Oh my god, who?” Before anyone could get in a giggle to acknowledge the jinx, they continued, interchanging their questions between each other,
“Nurse? I saw several new nurses come in the other day.”
“No, it’s gotta be a surgeon. Ryann doesn’t get that excited unless it’s a BIG one either.” The two male nurses laughed at their innuendo. Ryann sneered at them and threw a roll across the table, smacking one of them right in the face at which point everyone began to laugh and continued trying to one up each other.
Arizona laughed too - she had to admit to herself that it was funny, that this group was pretty fun. A little too … talkative for her tastes but they weren’t mean spirited and they were damn good at their jobs. She was glad that she was friends with them, glad that Ryann had recruited her to the group after Arizona had revealed her orientation to her. That was something that would never change about Arizona. No matter where she was or who she was with, she never lied about that.
At that moment, Arizona broke her daydream and looked up and saw the most beautiful and sexiest woman she had ever seen walk through the cafeteria doors. She felt her heart flutter and her body go numb for a moment.
That woman is stunning.
She let herself daydream for a moment before it quickly died. The Latina woman had walked in with a tall and very manly man surgeon. Arizona kicked herself under the table, wondering for a second if her gaydar must be off.
“SHE’s the one.”
Arizona snapped her head back to Ryann, “Excuse me?”
Ryann pointed at the tan brunette who was now walking through the cafeteria line with the aforementioned manly man, “The fresh meat? I don’t know much about her except that she’s Ortho and she was married to O’Malley.” The two male nurses turned towards her at the mention of Dr. George O’Malley and swooned.
Ryann rolled her eyes at them and laughed then continued, “ANYWAYS,” she paused for effect, “SHE’s the one who was with Hahn.” Ryann looked at Arizona for some semblance of recognition, but got none.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Arizona, I forget you don’t know who these people are. Erica Hahn was an extraordinary but hardass cardio attending - straight for all intensive purposes,” she leaned into Arizona, “although if you ask us, we knew from the get go she was a big ol’ lez,” she snorted as she leaned back smiling, “turns out, we were right, as usual. So, I don’t have all the details yet but SHE and Erica? They were an item.”
Arizona questioned, “were?”
At this point one of the male nurses leaned in, “Yep. Were. Apparently, Hahn left and didn’t even say goodbye to her. No one really knows why Hahn left, though… There are different stories.”
But Arizona had stopped listening after ‘yep.’ She had only one question left on her mind.
“So she’s … single?”
She tried to look as innocently as possible at the rest of the group. Afterall, they barely knew her yet.
Ryann, whose big, ginormous grin told Arizona that she had failed, merely replied with:
“Yep.”
**
Arizona looked deeply into the brunette’s chocolate brown eyes and realized something. I fell in love with her at first sight.
“I didn’t want to tell you about him because I thought I would never be able to move on from his death and I love you so much that I didn’t want to hurt you. I didn’t want you to fight for me because I didn’t know if I could let myself do that to you, keep you from a chance at having a child.” One tear dropped onto her cheek. Callie reached up and wiped it away with her thumb, leaving her hand there holding her face. Arizona continued.
“I have always wanted kids, Calliope. Since I can remember, I’ve always wanted a child to love as my own. And when I got that, I fell in love at first sight.” She paused and gave a tiny smile. “But, it was taken away from me just as quickly and I was heartbroken. And I was afraid to ever let that happen again.” Arizona looked at the beautiful, stunning Dr. Torres and for the first time Callie saw the light back in Arizona’s bright blue eyes.
“But then I saw you and I fell in love with you at first sight and… I … never thought that could happen again. But it did. With you.” Arizona brought Calliope’s hand up to her face and kissed the back of her hand. “And then I realized that if I could love someone as much as I loved Jeremiah, then they must be worth fighting for.”
Arizona looked at Calliope and hoped she understood what she was saying. Callie spoke very quietly, “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
Arizona smiled and tilted her head slightly to the side. Her lips gently brushed Calliope’s. She could feel the warmth of Callie’s lips and her muscles tensing at the surprise.
Just like when I kissed her at Joe’s.
She pulled away from the stunned Orthopedic surgeon and reached out her hand slightly, “Hi, Arizona Robbins. Pediatric Surgeon, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, likes sangria, long walks on the beach, chickens, donuts, has authority issues, loves a certain badass orthopedic surgeon…wants kids.” She smiled slightly at that last part. She saw the ever-growing smile breaking out all over Calliope’s face.
“Really?” Calliope had tears dripping down over her smile.
Arizona nodded, her own smile growing.
Calliope took Arizona’s hand and, “Dr. Calliope Iphegenia Torres. Orthopedia surgeon. Loves to cook, likes to wear black fingernail polish, wants kids, and is completely and shamelessly head over heels in love with a certain, perky & blonde pediatric surgeon… and wants to ask a question. “
Arizona felt overwhelmed with love for the Brunette in front of her. She nodded to Calliope to continue, staying within this little game they were playing. But Callie was not, she reached out and took Arizona’s hands and held them in her her own.
“Arizona Robbins, will you marry me?”
Arizona’s jaw dropped for a split second as emotion rushed out from her, “Yes. Calliope, yes.” The both reached up and pulled each other into a kiss, ending it wrapped in each other’s arms.
**
Dana Robbins watched the scene through her kitchen window before her, a smile emerging on her face. She returned to preparing for the dinner she was expecting them to have, humming lightly.
Daniel looked up from the newspaper he was reading and looked curiously at his wife, “Well?”
Dana bounced over to her husband (as much as a 60 year old woman can bounce) and plopped a kiss on his forehead, her dimples shining.
“Set out another place at the table dear, I think we’ll be having another guest for dinner.”
**
So I’d like to thank all of you for reading and reviewing. I hope you all enjoyed the story. I really would like to see Arizona “bend” on the show at some point and come back to Callie screaming, “Let’s have babies!” Yep. I think that would make me happy.
So do you all think they’ll get back together by the end of the season finale or we’ll have to suffer the long LONG summer with callie and arizona broken up (which will make me a very sad panda)?
Remember to stay tuned for an epilogue but it won’t be for a couple weeks unless the bug bites. :D