Someone Like You [4/?]
Someone Like You
Authors: camerashy06 & kennedysbitch (Team Couch Potato Chip Squared)
Pairing: Callie/Arizona, Callie/Erica
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer
Summary: When Gary Clark dies before he can reach his final destination, the future of Seattle Grace’s surgical team is unknowingly altered. Without a push to find their way back to each other, Callie and Arizona find their lives rolling in opposite directions. Nearly three years and half a world later, circumstances find them crashing together again while old feelings begin to resurface amidst a host of new complications.
Click to view----
All of the reasons Callie knew she should have been straightforward for from the beginning came flooding back to her in an instant. It was written all over Erica’s face how furious she was; anyone with a set of eyeballs would know that things were about to get bad. Callie was probably supposed to feel guilty and a little preemptive groveling never hurt anyone, but the only thing she could seem to do was stare and contemplate the hole she had dug herself into.
Arizona was unaware of the underlying tension and opted to send Erica a friendly smile for the sake of professionalism. “Dr. Hahn, I hope you haven’t been waiting too long. We got talking and lost track of time.”
Callie realized how volatile the situation was when Erica cut her gaze in Arizona’s direction and her jaw line tightened. Either Arizona had nerves of steel or she wasn’t adept at reading Erica’s silent rage like Callie was.
“Time is tricky that way,” Erica said in a neutral tone, which, to her credit, was a lot less venomous than Callie had been expecting.
Adjusting her purse straps, Callie took a small step forward and grappled to explain. “Erica, we just went for breakfast, it’s not a big deal.”
Arizona furrowed her brow and snuck a quick glance at Callie.
Erica switched her focus and kept it on Callie for the remainder of the conversation. “So this morning when you said you were coming into work early, what you really meant was that you were meeting your ex and felt the need to lie about it,” she stated. “Do I have that right or would you care to elaborate?”
Whether it was the coffee making her jittery or pure terror for what was yet to come, Callie couldn’t answer right away. She prided herself on being a tough woman to intimidate, yet there was something about the sight of Erica that stripped away any sort of bravado. That, and her girlfriend was completely right, much to her chagrin. Callie didn’t have a tree stump to stand on at this point, let alone a leg.
“It’s not like that,” she began, desperately wishing that she could convince herself as much as she was trying to convince everyone else. What made it worse was when she looked to Arizona, who appeared about as impressed with her as Erica.
Erica folded her arms across her chest and emitted a short laugh. “You blatantly lied to me, Callie. Tell me what else it’s supposed to be like?”
“No, it is not a big deal,” Callie shot back, her hackles rising like a bear backed into a corner. “We went for coffee, that’s all. You hardly wanted to talk about Arizona this morning, how was I supposed to mention it to you first?”
Arizona cringed at the use of her name and held up a hand to interrupt. “Please leave me out of this,” she spoke quietly, darting her eyes up to Callie’s for the briefest of moments.
Callie faltered. “Arizona,” she murmured, recognizing the disappointment in her expression.
Erica was quick to notice. “You lied to her too,” she said, and, against her better judgment, it made her smirk.
Callie exhaled sharply. There was no way she was going to win this one. Her defensive nature was starting to kick in, even if she was the horse’s ass between the three of them.
Arizona risked a glance at Erica before turning away from Callie all together. “I have a patient,” she said to no one in particular, then took her leave before things got worse.
A stab of annoyance swept through Callie as she watched her stalk away, even though she realized she didn’t have the right to be mad. She felt abandoned at the worst possible moment, whether or not it was her fault.
“Was that really necessary?” she shot to Erica. “You didn’t need to drag her into this.”
Erica was fuming. “You dragged her into this, Callie. You dragged both of us into this. You flat out lied to me, for her. Do you have any idea what that feels like?”
Excuses and justifications ran wildly through Callie’s mind, each one more adamant than the last, but nothing she came up with seemed like a worthy defense. Erica was right, but that only seemed to piss Callie off even more.
“I shouldn’t have to ask for permission to see an old friend,” she argued. “I’m a grown-ass woman, Erica. We wanted to catch up without making a big thing of it, which I knew you would.”
Erica was already shaking her head in disbelief. “What makes you think you needed ‘permission’ in the first place? I’m not your keeper, Torres, you can see whomever you want.”
Callie snorted, incredulously. “So you’re saying, what, you would’ve been okay with it if I’d told you first?”
“Why not? You said it yourself, you’re a grown-ass woman,” Erica said sarcastically. She pointed in the direction Arizona had gone. “I don’t have to like her, but I’m not about to dictate whom you may or may not speak to. The problem here is that you lied about it, so don’t you dare try to blame me.”
The fact that Erica had the moral high ground on her was infuriating. Callie knew she should shut up and apologize, but the stubborn idiot controlling the sensible part of her brain that morning was still in the driver’s seat. “Oh come on, you would have told me off and you know it,” she sighed. “All I’ve heard about for the last two days is how angry you are that she’s here, how much you don’t want anything to do with her, etcetera etcetera. Your work issues have nothing to do with me, yet here I am in the middle of them anyway.”
Erica looked stung but she glared at Callie nonetheless. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask you to show me some respect. To show our relationship some respect.”
Remorse flew out the window. “Respect?” Callie shot back, cocking an eyebrow. “You really want to talk about respecting our relationship?”
“Yes, of course, please tell me why I’m wrong this time,” Erica muttered, rolling her eyes.
Callie was painfully aware that they had attracted attention from their surroundings and she had to calm herself before she blew like the Hindenburg. At work, in front of everyone. “You’re never around anymore,” she began. “There’s something that’s always more pressing, more important than me, than our relationship. You make excuses why we can’t spend time together or you avoid being home when I’m around.”
“I’m a surgeon, Torres, I have a job to do,” Erica said. “If you want someone that will sit around and play house with you-”
“Sofia is my daughter,” Callie cut in, stepping closer to Erica and lowering her voice just enough to keep it between them. “And you are the one who said you wanted to stay. Don’t you dare make me feel guilty for that.”
“I wasn’t…” Erica trailed off and, for a moment, she looked less inflamed than before. “I wasn’t talking about Sofia. This isn’t about Sofia.”
“It’s always about Sofia,” Callie countered. She had no idea how they’d even ended up here, but suddenly all of her insecurities were spilling forth. “You avoid me because of Sofia. You come over when the day is already over, you leave so early in the morning that we don’t even see each other for more than a second before work. It’s been this way for months.”
“Don’t you dare tell me that I haven’t been trying,” Erica growled. “I’ve done more than enough to accommodate you and Sofia in my life. I’m cautious because you have a daughter and I respect that enough to be careful while we’re figuring out where we stand.” She flapped a hand in the other direction. “Meanwhile you go gallivanting off with the bimbo that left you specifically because she didn’t want your children. Class act, Torres.“
As soon as that sentence left her mouth, Erica cringed. Maybe she could have done without that last part but she had never been very good at filtering things when she was angry. Getting the last word in was a hazardous personality trait.
The insult had the intended effect, however, and Callie felt like she’d been slapped across the face. Immediately she set her emotions on lockdown and released a long, heavy sigh in response. “Arizona has nothing to do with what’s going on between you and me, Erica. I’m sorry that I lied, it was a shitty move, but this goes so far beyond her. I don’t even…”
“I think you’re right.” Erica was careful to disguise her disappointment. The air between them felt hollow and dry.
Callie dropped her eyes away and readjusted her bag. “I’ve got patients to see, I don’t want to keep doing this.”
Erica stepped aside and motioned past her. “Be my guest.”
Callie clenched her jaw as she brushed by her girlfriend and chose the direction leading away from Arizona’s departure. She needed to clear her head before risking any more run-ins with either of those two.
***
Cristina made fourteen and a half passes by Allison Tanner’s room before Dr. Robbins finally emerged. Judging by the look on her face, Cristina had been about as subtle as a Bedazzled elephant performing ballet, and Arizona failed to look surprised when she chose to pounce.
“Dr. Robbins,” Cristina said in a loud voice, sliding into step beside her. “How are you this morning? Enjoying Seattle?”
Distracted by a mountain of paperwork and the day’s earlier conflict, Arizona frowned while she attempted to balance coffee and a muffin amongst her briefcase and some files. ”I’m good, thanks, Dr. Yang. Do you think you could…?”
Cristina eagerly grabbed the briefcase and extra paperwork, stuffing it all under her arm and keeping hot on Arizona’s heels. “I just wanted to let you know that Dr. McHale called this morning while you were out. He said to give him a call back when you have the chance. Oh, and I also checked on the cells in the lab downstairs this morning, everything seems to be moving along on schedule. And I took the liberty to clear the Chief Resident’s office downstairs if you need somewhere more private to work while you’re in town.”
Arriving at the nurse’s desk, Arizona dumped her purse and set the coffee down, then slid a chart out from the pile in Cristina’s arms. Her mind had been absent for most of the morning and she only half heard what was being said. “Thanks, that’ll help.”
Cristina folded her hands behind her back and puffed up triumphantly, waiting for the trial invite to come her way. Any second now, if Callie had already done the preliminary work ahead of time, she would be sealing her name into all published research papers for the next five years.
Checking her watch, Arizona groaned at the realization that she needed to call her boss back before he left for New York. She still hadn’t been able to change into her scrubs or put her stuff away in a locker; the issues with Callie had transitioned into a crazy morning with little time between tasks. Maybe it was for the better.
The lack of response started to weigh on Cristina, who quickly started up again before anything could interrupt them. “Listen, Dr. Robbins,” she began. “I was wondering if you had given any thought to-”
“Sorry, Yang, I’ve got to make this call,” Arizona cut in, her attention focused on her cellphone. “Come find me later.” Her mind was already a million miles ahead of where she was standing and she left Cristina solo by the desk.
Cristina watched her go, along with any chance of becoming a full partner on the cardio trial of the century.
Callie was a dead woman.
***
“Torres!”
Callie was busy studying a femur fracture in the x-ray room when the door burst open and Cristina stormed in. The dramatic entrance hardly made her blink; instead she leaned closer to the light box and poked at part of the image. “Does this look fuzzy to you?” she asked, tracing a finger along the edge of the bone line. “I’m not sure I like our new radiologist.”
“Did you not talk to Robbins about signing me onto this trial?” Cristina demanded, ignoring the question. “It was like she had no idea where I was going with the whole ‘hello, how are you doing’ thing.”
Callie snorted, still focused on the image in front of her. “Maybe she just thought you were being nice.”
Now it was Cristina’s turn to roll her eyes. “In other words, no. You suck, you know that, right?”
Callie swiveled on the balls of her feet and fixed her colleague with a pained smile. “She’s a busy woman, what did you expect? You’re not exactly easy to slip into the conversation.”
Cristina’s mouth thinned. “I asked you for half a sentence, max, so it’s at least on her mind.”
Callie had to think about her conversation with Arizona and what had actually been said about Cristina, if anything. Her former roommate had been the last thing on her mind that morning. “Oh! I said you were a decent Godmother to Sofia,” she added, perking up. “Arizona didn’t believe me at first and I had to do some hard selling, but I think she kind of took me seriously by the end. She was impressed.”
Cristina threw her hands up in exasperation. “Can I not get anyone to do me a favor around here? It’s like pulling teeth. If I wanted to do that, I would’ve become an orthodontist.”
Callie snatched her x-ray from the wall box and flicked off the light. “Relax, I’ll still put in a good word for you,” she mused, giving Cristina a brief pat on the shoulder.
“I don’t trust you not to have another senior moment.” Cristina released a heavy sigh and crossed her arms, unamused. “Did she say anything else? About the trial, how long she’s here for?”
Callie pondered that. “She said not to leave you alone with Sofia and a box of Gobstoppers, but otherwise no, not really.”
Cristina dropped her face into her hands and began kneading her forehead. “You’re a crappy friend, Torres.”
“So I’ve been told,” Callie grumbled, frowning at the thought of her girlfriend and their little ‘conversation’ in the lobby.
Despite her grievances, Cristina noted the dip in Callie’s shoulders. “How did it go, anyway? What did you guys talk about?”
Callie smirked as she slipped the x-ray back into an envelope. “What are you doing?”
Cristina blinked a few times, confused. “What do you mean, ‘what am I doing?’ I’m asking you a question.”
“You hate talking about relationships,” Callie said bluntly. "Especially when it comes to my former or current.”
Cristina rolled her eyes and paced away a few steps, leaning into a small work table against the back wall. “It’s obvious that you and Blondie two-point-oh were having some serious mommy issues, then Blondie version one rolls back into the picture. Using my powers of deduction, I figure that’s gotta be awkward.”
Callie chuckled to herself. “It’s unbelievable how compassionate you are for other people’s problems. Really, I’m touched.”
“Okay, shut up,” Cristina scowled, turning for the door.
“Wait,” Callie called out before she could make it there. “You really want to know about me and Arizona? And me and Erica?”
Cristina’s pause was perhaps longer than Callie would have liked, but in the end she said, “Yes.”
Callie took her place against the opposite wall and leaned into it, arms crossed and eyes trained on the other surgeon. “It was weird. And fun, and bizarre. But the talking was good, we didn’t have any trouble catching up once we got rolling.”
“So you told her about Sofia?”
Callie cringed at the memory of how that one came out. “She sort of saw me with her last night by the daycare. Safe to say she was shocked, but it’s all good now. She was happy for me.”
Cristina caught the brief flicker of excitement in Callie’s eyes and jumped on it before she got ahead of herself. “Just because she’s back from Timbuktu doesn’t mean you should start thinking about weirdass chicken coups and blonde brats running around your imaginary dream home. I was around for the fallout the last time you two idiots got tangled in each other’s hair, why go there again?”
Callie quirked an eyebrow. “I know you think you’ve got everyone pegged, but we’re not the Beverly Hillbillies. Arizona and I are...it’s weird thinking of being friends with her, but I think we can do it. We’re adults, there’s no reason we can’t put the past behind us and just enjoy getting to know each other again.”
Cristina had heard that one before. Being ‘friends’ with Owen had just lead to a lot of angsty sex and more hurt feelings. “Look, she’s only been here for twenty-four hours. Your drunk-and-on-acid goggles should wear off by tomorrow morning, and then you’ll start acting like a smart person again,” she argued. “You and Robbins are not meant to be together; don’t even let your mind go there.” She paused. “Even if you are dating the Grinch and could do way better.”
Callie rolled her eyes. “Thank you, Dr. Phil.”
Cristina fixed her with an inquisitive stare and stuffed her hands into her pockets. Her discomfort was obvious. “Okay, look, I don’t do relationship advice. Usually, Mer just talks at me and I talk at her at the same time, and we figure it out over wine and tequila. But you look unhappy lately, and as much as I hate to admit it, you weren’t once upon a time.”
“Cristina,” Callie warned, unsure if she wanted anyone else piping into this topic, especially after that morning.
“At one point you and Hahn actually seemed to like each other,” Cristina said pointedly, “but these last few months...” There wasn’t much of a fully-formed thought in her head, so she ended up shrugging. “All I’m saying is that you don’t look like you’re very happy right now, and all of a sudden someone comes along that reminds you of a different time in your life. It’s not a good idea to mix those two feelings; bad things will happen and someone’s gonna get stabbed with a scalpel. So if you’re having fuzzy feelings for Robbins based on old memories, you need to keep your distance.”
Callie scrunched her face. Some of what Cristina was saying actually made sense. That didn’t mean she wanted to listen to it. “So you’re saying I should ignore her while she’s here?”
“I’m saying you need to be careful,” Cristina corrected. “You only just figured out that she’s back in Seattle and the last thing you need is for your judgment to be impaired for convenience's sake. Don’t make your life more complicated than it already is.”
Callie pondered for a moment. “But still talk to her about you and get you a job on her trial.”
“Yes, essentially.”
“Erica and I fought.” Callie threw that in there just for reference.
“Oh no, the world is ending,” Cristina deadpanned. “Because that’s never happened before.”
“This felt...different.” Callie let her body collapse into the only chair in the room and braced an elbow on the table beside it. “We said things. Mean things. True things.” Her thumb traced a chipped edge along the surface. “I didn’t tell her I saw Arizona this morning. She saw us come in together.”
Despite her less than spectacular opinion of her boss, Cristina cringed. “That was dumb. I take it she didn’t like it?”
“Pretty much,” Callie said faintly, frown lines creasing her forehead. Any way she looked at it, she would be lucky if Erica or Arizona ever spoke to her again. “Arizona didn’t seem too happy about it either.”
Callie was starting to pout - that wouldn’t do. Cristina walked the six steps across the room and smacked her upside the head.
“Ow!” Callie jerked away and glowered. “What was that for?”
“I’m saving you from yourself,” Cristina barked. ““Either stop feeling sorry for yourself and go talk to both of them, or get on with your life and be a doctor. You moping around and making me give out relationship advice is weird and uncomfortable. I’m half-divorced and hardly capable of handling these things in my own life.”
Callie rose out of her chair, slow and steady, and debated whether or not she wanted to smack Cristina right back. Ultimately, she was right, which was so irritating. “Fine.”
“Which?”
“I don’t know.”
Reaching out, Cristina gingerly patted Callie on the shoulder. “I don’t want to listen to you sob into your Cheerios every morning for the next six months. If I can hear snot splashing into your milk over my iPod, you need help.”
Despite her better judgment, Callie laughed. “God, you are so annoying.”
“And I’m always right,” Cristina agreed with a triumphant nod. She offered Callie a genuine smile as they exited the room, breaking the cocoon of secrecy they had sequestered themselves in for the last half an hour.
Callie fell silent along the way, her mind full of too many thoughts without enough space to form them. “Thanks, Cristina,” she said after a long pause, finally looking over to her.
“If you want to thank me, you owe me one Yang-would-be-awesome-on-your-trial speech to Robbins,” Cristina pointed out. “Don’t forget or I will hurt you.” She paused, then added “Please,” for good measure.
Callie’s frown was starting to fade and she couldn’t stop herself from smirking instead. “Fine. I’ll talk to Arizona for you. But no promises.”
“That’s all I ask,” Cristina agreed. “Half a sentence, tops.”
***
The make-shift office Cristina had secured for Arizona turned out to be no bigger than a broom closet. Arizona barely fit into it herself amongst the piles of paper and old filing boxes that were sitting around, collecting dust. There was just barely enough space on the desk to sit down and go through Allison’s medical history one more time, while she made notes on her chart and finalized the treatment schedule going forward.
A knock on the door made her glance up, while a banker box blocked her view. “Come in,” she called out, craning her neck to see who it was.
Chief Webber stepped inside the room. “Dr. Robbins, I see you’re getting...acclimated,” he said, scanning the disaster zone around them.
Despite the dust hovering in the air that was making her eyes water, Arizona smiled brightly at her former boss. “I’m just glad to have a place I can work. Please, take a seat - if you can find one. Somewhere there’s a chair.”
The Chief chuckled as he grabbed a stack of papers off of the only other seat in the room and took their place. “I’ll get someone in here to help clear things out tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Chief.”
“How is your patient doing?”
“Okay so far.” Arizona flipped through a stack of papers to get Allison’s vitals from morning rounds. “She was running a bit of a fever earlier but it’s gone down since I checked on her. I’m still waiting on Dr. McHale to get the go-ahead and prep her for the stem cell transplant, but I need her to be feeling better before she goes under. It might be another week or so before I actually get her in the OR. Hopefully sooner.”
Webber nodded in agreement. “Good. Sounds like you’ve got everything under control.” Despite the vote of confidence, he shifted in his seat, signaling that he had something further he wanted to discuss. “Since it seems like you may have a little extra time on your hands in between dealing with the trial, would you consider getting back into our PEDS rotation? We’re short staffed right now and could really use the extra set of hands. No pressure, of course, but you were the best pediatric surgeon I ever had on staff. We’d be honored to give you privileges while you’re in town.”
Arizona’s brow rose in surprise. “Oh, wow. Yeah, maybe,” she said, thinking about the request and whether she would have the time. She hadn’t exactly thought about getting involved beyond the craziness of the trial, but she did have a little wiggle room while waiting for the stars to align. Unfortunately, time wasn’t her only concern here.
“You know I would love to help you out, Chief, but...have you checked with Dr. Stark yet?” she asked tentatively. “He doesn’t exactly seem to be my biggest fan. I have a feeling he’ll just think I’m invading his turf if you put me back into the department on a temporary basis.”
Richard sat forward in his chair. “Don’t you worry about Stark, I’ll talk to him. The offer is yours if you want it, no pressure.” The eagerness in his eyes said otherwise.
Arizona grinned at him. “Yeah, that’s great, I can probably swing that in between paperwork conference calls. I’ll talk to my boss and make sure he’s okay with me pulling double duty.”
“Tell him he swiped my best surgeon before I even knew she was back in the country, he owes me.” Webber arched a stiff eyebrow before he rose from his chair. “If you’re too busy this afternoon, that’s fine, but a girl came into the ER earlier with several injuries. Equestrian accident, I think. Drop by the nurses station when you make your rounds again to pick up her chart. I already have you assigned to the case.”
So much for the lack of pressure. Still, Arizona didn’t mind. She was itching to distract herself with something fun. “Sure, I’ll get right on it.”
Richard had almost completely exited the office before he paused in the doorway. “Welcome back, Dr. Robbins.”
“I’m not back,” Arizona said for the second time that week, only this time she said it with a smile.
***
If Callie was expected to make it through the rest of her day, she was going to need a serious caffeine boost. Her next patient was already waiting when she came to the surgical floor holding the largest cup size in the building. Four hours had passed since her confrontation with Erica and Callie could still feel it eating away at her insides. A relationship-induced ulcer was not her ideal way to start off motherhood.
Gulping several mouthfuls of coffee, she prepared to tell the girl’s parents that she needed surgery on her knee. She wasn’t even halfway down the hall before a shrill, raised voice trickled towards her ears. Callie issued a silent prayer that it wasn’t coming from her patient’s room, but as with everything else that day, she was out of luck.
Readying herself for cranky parents and a long-winded explanation, Callie entered the room with a smile on her face. “Mr. and Mrs. Copeland, I’m Dr. Torres,” she introduced herself, extending a hand to both of them.
Mrs. Copeland was too busy on her BlackBerry to do more than glance briefly at Callie. “Dale, honey, could you grab my bag from the car? I left some papers in there that we’ll probably need when the vet calls.”
“You don’t think it can wait until after we talk to the surgeon? Honey,” Mr. Copeland was quick to add. He looked uncomfortable and was undoubtedly the receiver of all the yelling Callie had heard from miles away.
Mrs. Copeland rolled her eyes, proving Callie’s assumption correct. “Useless,” she muttered under her breath, striding over to her daughter’s bedside. The kid look subdued and unhappy, probably a side effect of the painkillers. “Casey, the doctor is here. Pay attention.”
Callie was just basking in the love. She really disliked dealing with troublesome parents, but then that’s what Arizona had always been really great at. Usually Callie hid in the back of the room until the dragons had been tamed, at which point she would step forward to give her two cents.
“Mrs. Copeland,” she began, only she never got a chance to finish her sentence.
“Does she need surgery?” snapped the patient’s mother. “She has a show on the east coast circuit in a month, things had better be back to normal by then.”
The woman’s abrasiveness made Callie bristle. She tried to brush it off and opened her mouth again, only Mrs. Copeland kept talking.
“I think you should go with one of those minimally invasive treatments I heard about on Oprah last month,” Mrs. Copeland continued, barely issuing a breath between orders. “You know, the single incision with the surgical wand thing? Use those so she can get back on her feet faster. We don’t want this to cause any more issues than it already has. The timing is horribly inconvenient.”
Casey, the nine year old patient, cast her eyes downward. It broke Callie’s heart.
“I don’t want surgery,” the girl whispered, tears welling behind her eyes.
Despite being on edge, Callie managed to keep her voice calm. If anything, it was for the little girl’s sake. Watching her mother get strangled wouldn’t do her mental health any good. “Don’t worry, it won’t be scary at all,” she said lightly, then glanced at the mother. “She’ll need a more detailed x-ray of her leg; I want a better idea of what I’ll see when I get in th-”
“Hold on,” Mrs. Copeland interrupted, sticking a hand in Callie’s face and effectively stopping the explanation. Callie recoiled and blinked, dumbfounded.
Three failed tries at making a call had the mother fuming. “Damn it. Dale, honey, why can’t I get cell phone reception in here? Clive is supposed to call me at one o’clock and if I don’t pick up, he’s going to be pissed.”
Callie ground her molars together and started counting to ten in silence. She was about two seconds from tossing Mrs. Copeland and her BlackBerry out the third floor window, tact be damned. Days like today were not prone to bringing out the best side of her.
“I really think we need to listen to the doctor right now,” her husband replied, looking fearful for speaking up. Callie could practically see the word ‘Doormat’ stamped on his forehead. His efforts to make his wife listen were falling on deaf ears.
Growling out loud, exasperated, Mrs. Copeland dumped the phone back into her purse and tossed it onto the visitor’s chair. “Fine, fine. What are we looking at here? We have insurance but I’d rather not max out our medical just yet, so nothing fancy, just make sure she’s okay.”
“She needs surgery,” Callie blurted out while she had the chance. Any longer of a sentence and she didn’t think she’d be allowed to finish.
Casey’s father moved to his daughter’s side and took her hand in a tight squeeze. “It’s okay, sweetie. You’ll be just fine. Copeland women are tough as nails, you’ll bounce back in no time.”
Casey still looked frightened. “Is Archer okay? He hurt his leg too.”
Callie frowned and looked around for an explanation. “Archer?”
Casey perked up. “He’s my horse. Daddy, is he okay? Can the nice doctor lady give him surgery too?”
That created an amusing image in Callie’s mind. Casey on one operating table, a giant horse on the other. “I’m not a pony doctor, but I’m sure your parents know a really good one,” she offered, hoping to placate the girl’s worries.
Casey looked to her father again. “Daddy, where’s Archer?” she repeated, a trickle of fear starting to show.
Dale was hesitant to answer. He glanced back at his wife and she just rolled her eyes at him. “Tell her, Dale.”
“Tell me what?” Casey demanded. Beside her, Callie grimaced. This wasn’t sounding good.
The father looked apprehensive, but as he opened his mouth to speak they were interrupted by someone rapping their knuckles on the door. Callie turned around to spot Arizona standing there, looking sheepish and out of place.
“Hi, Dr. Torres,” she spoke softly. “Chief Webber sent me down for a consultation. Do you mind if I listen in?”
Callie had to work really hard not to groan out loud.
Perfect.
Arizona stepped into the room and put on a happy smile for her patient. “My name is Dr. Robbins,” she introduced herself, making the rounds and shaking hands. “I’ve just been assigned your daughter’s case along with Dr. Torres.”
“Another surgeon?” Mrs. Copeland growled to her husband. “Insurance had better cover all of this, or else I’ll be complaining to the board of directors about what a money grabbing operation you’re trying to run here. Why does she need two of you? She fell off a horse, not a skyscraper.”
Arizona blinked. She shared a brief look with Callie, momentarily forgetting about their issues.
Despite the early morning drama, Callie suddenly found herself thankful that someone else was on this case with her, even if that person was Arizona. Arizona was way better at dealing with difficult parents than Callie and much less likely to land them both in jail on assault charges.
Callie mustered up the energy to put her best foot forward, for all of their sakes. “I was just about to tell the Copeland’s that we’ll need to schedule Casey’s treatment for the morn-”
“Marcel!” Mrs. Copeland didn’t seem to realize she had cut Callie off yet again when her Blackberry rang. “I told you to cancel my nine-a.m. flight tomorrow, what’s this I hear about pushback from the client?
Callie’s lips were razor thin and she balled up her fists. One more interruption and-
Arizona stepped closer and subtly rest a hand on her forearm. “Let it go,” she whispered to Callie, giving her a light squeeze.
The gentle undertone helped stymie some of Callie’s inner rage, though just barely. She growled instead and tossed up her other hand in defeat. “I quit,” she muttered, offering Arizona a weak smile. “I assume you’ve read her chart?”
“Briefly,” Arizona mused. She kept her smile hidden as she took the clipboard handed to her, then released Callie’s arm.
“Good luck,” Callie muttered. She folded both arms across her chest and stood aside for Arizona to take over.
In spite of everything, Arizona had trouble hiding her amusement. She recognized Callie’s expression - it was her “I’m going to punch someone” face, which would have been worrisome if it wasn’t so damn cute.
“Mrs. Copeland,” Arizona said in a loud voice, drawing the woman’s attention her way. “We need to discuss your daughter’s care. Please put the phone away for a few minutes so we can go over her options. I promise we’ll be quick.”
Mrs. Copeland narrowed her eyes and kept the phone glued to her ear. Callie prepared for an invisible barb to aim itself at Arizona’s head.
Finally growing a pair, the husband reached over and snatched away the phone, ignoring the angry protest his wife uttered at him. “Honey, please. Just listen to the doctor right now. Work can wait for five minutes.”
Only when she realized that all four people in the room were staring at her impatiently did Mrs. Copeland relent. “Fine. Let’s make this quick, please.”
Arizona nodded before shifting her gaze to Casey, the patient whom deserved their attention most. She gave the little girl a friendly smile and received one in return.
“Casey, my name is Dr. Robbins,” she began. “I’m a friend of Dr. Torres here. Would you mind if I took a quick look at the bruise on your side while she tells you about your knee?”
Casey bit her lip and looked to her parents, one of which was still fuming, and received a nod from her father. “Okay,” she said in a shy voice, dropping her gaze.
It never ceased to amaze Callie how Arizona could take control of a situation with very little effort. She made her way to the opposite side of Casey’s bed, ignoring her mother for the time being, and rolled back Casey’s gown to expose her knee. “This might hurt a little, but I promise not too badly.”
The lack of arguing from her parents seemed to calm the patient down. “Okay.”
It didn’t take Callie long to figure out that Casey’s kneecap had been dislocated in her fall, perhaps a little more severely than she originally thought. Casey had been given pain medication but she whimpered while Callie examined her leg. It was hard to tell if there was any damage to bone or cartilage underneath until they got their extra x-rays, so she reluctantly turned back to the parents for a final explanation. “Her kneecap is definitely dislocated. We might need an MRI to get a better look, and at that point we’ll schedule her for surgery. It’ll likely happen tomorrow.”
Mr. Copeland smoothed a hand across his daughter’s forehead. “Don’t worry, Case. You’ll be back on your feet in no time.”
Callie glanced at Arizona while she scribbled down some notes on her chart, signaling that it was her turn.
Arizona pulled out a copy of the scan they had taken in the ER shortly after her arrival. “Her CT showed no head trauma beyond a decent goose-egg. Her helmet made a huge difference, so I’m not worried about a concussion.” She flashed Casey a bright grin before continuing. “You’re a smart girl, always wearing your helmet.”
“Safety first,” Casey said, parroting her instructor.
Arizona nodded her approval before continuing. “There is some bleeding around her liver. It likely happened when she landed, or if she got kicked during the spill. There’s a chance it could heal on its own, but I’d like to go in and repair it while Dr. Torres repairs her leg. Doing both at once would eliminate the necessity to go back in later.”
Casey’s eyes were wide as dinner plates, so Arizona quickly placed a hand on her non-injured arm. “Don’t worry. I’m an expert when it comes to minimally-invasive surgeries. You’ll be sleepy for a day or so, but we’ll keep you nice and comfy here in the Peds unit. You’ll barely even have a scar once you get out of here.”
For once, Casey’s mother was starting to look worried. “So what do we do now?”
“I’ll send her for the scans I need, then Dr. Robbins and I will schedule her into the OR for early tomorrow afternoon,” Callie said. “Tonight we’ll make sure she’s comfortable and assign a nurse to check in regularly.”
“It’s a great excuse to get your parents to feed you ice cream and let you watch movies all day,” Arizona said with a wink.
“What about Archer?” the girl repeated yet again. “He fell down when I did.” She looked at Callie with pleading eyes. “You’re the bone doctor, can’t you fix his leg, too? Please? I need to see him.”
Callie almost choked on her own tongue. Given the way her father had reacted earlier, she wasn’t expecting the horse to be in good shape. Delivering bad news to little kids wasn’t something she enjoyed; she had no idea how Arizona did it for a living.
Though, to be fair, she didn’t usually have to tell them that their favourite pet was dog food.
Arizona noted Callie’s silent panic and casually nodded, urging her to answer.
Callie cleared her throat, willing one of the parents to jump in and save her. “It takes a special kind of doctor to help animals like Archer. I can’t help him here, but I’m sure he’s...in good hands?” She cocked an eyebrow at the father.
Casey’s eyes started to well up. “Daddy, does Archer have a bone doctor too?”
Mr. Copeland sat heavily on the edge of her bed. “Sweetie, we need to talk about Archer for a second,” he whispered.
Callie and Arizona gravitated to the other side of the room, giving the family some space. They watched Casey burst into tears and throw herself into her father’s arms. Even the mother looked sad, though it was somewhat negated by her texting someone using her peripheral vision.
If Callie’s heart physically had strings, they would have snapped like piano wire. “Okay, her knee sucks and she’s bleeding internally, and somehow I feel like her horse dying is the shittiest part of this whole thing,” she whispered to Arizona.
Arizona automatically reached out to squeeze Callie’s arm again, keeping the move slight and between them. It never really got easier, giving kids or parents bad news, but she had learned to compartmentalize it years ago. Callie had a huge heart and Arizona had loved her for it once upon a time - but she wouldn’t have made a good pediatric surgeon. Callie would have felt it all too personally when it came to helping dying kids day after day.
Casey’s wailing graduated to quiet hiccups, which was apparently the signal for Mrs. Copeland to lose her patience. “Dale,” she sighed. “She’s a big girl, you need to stop babying her. We’ll get her another horse when she’s better.”
Callie and Arizona exchanged looks, cringing.
“She’s nine, Cheryl,” her husband shot back, keeping a tight hold on his daughter, “and she’s about to have surgery. Grow a heart and let her grieve.”
Mrs. Copeland looked like she was about to yell again, so Arizona cut them both off. “Okay!” she said loudly, stepping in before more barbs could be thrown. “I think it’s important that Casey gets some rest. You two can go grab dinner in the cafeteria.”
“It’s four-o’clock,” Mrs. Copeland sniffed.
“I wasn’t asking,” Arizona said firmly. “Take an hour while we move her upstairs to radiology. I’ll have a nurse sit with Casey so she doesn’t get lonely after the scans are finished.” Her eyes swiveled to the patient. “Is that okay with you, Casey?”
Casey let go of her father and nodded, sniffling loudly. She looked more than ready to be rid of her mother.
Mrs. Copeland scoffed at Arizona before grabbing her belongings and yanking her husband away from the bed. “I expect to be informed as soon as you know more.”
“Of course,” Callie said as the Copelands breezed by her. She swore that the air temperature in the room rose ten degrees as soon as the devil woman was gone.
Callie refocused on the one member of this family that she actually liked. “One of our residents will be in to take you for an x-ray, then you can get some sleep when you’re back here. Take it easy Casey, okay? You have nothing to worry about tomorrow.”
Casey nodded, her eyes already starting to droop closed. A nurse arrived to change out her pain killers, so she wasn’t alone when Callie and Arizona left the room.
Callie emitted a loud groan and dropped her head back as they shuffled to the surgical desk. She tossed the chart she was carrying away before rubbing her sinuses in a wide circle. “Thank god you came in when you did, because I swear I would’ve killed that mom.” She leaned into the desk and watched Arizona write a few notes in the chart. “Talk about a walking, talking reason you should need a license to procreate. She has no right to be mothering anything with a pulse, let alone that sweet kid in there.”
Arizona smiled a little and gave a half shrug. “Welcome to Peds. Half the time I want to smother the parents with a pillow, but unfortunately they need to sign the medical forms.”
Callie hummed and watched Arizona shuffle some things around the desk. She couldn’t quite tell if the blonde was purposefully avoiding eye contact or if it was just her imagination, but the way Arizona had handled Callie’s temper back there made her drop her guard. She assumed they were back on track.
“Want to grab some coffee?” she asked after a moment, absently picking a hang nail. “I’m half asleep and diner coffee is never strong enough. I haven’t eaten since breakfast, either.”
Arizona lifted an eyebrow and eventually turned to face her. “I don’t think that’s going to happen again, Calliope,” she said slowly, stuffing her hands into her lab coat pockets.
Callie scrunched her forehead, surprised at how wary Arizona was looking at her. “Uh, okay. Why?”
Arizona shook her head, incredulous. “Gee, I don’t know. It was only a little bit weird that you flat-out lied to your girlfriend about us having breakfast this morning. And then came the whole part where she screamed at us in the lobby. Can’t say I’m incredibly pleased with you after pulling me into that mess.”
Callie’s defenses began to rise, compounded by the nasty patient encounter that already had her on edge. “You’re over-reacting! Erica’s not an easy person to reason with sometimes, I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.”
“You lied to both of us,” Arizona pointed out. “By default that makes it a big deal. I can’t believe you’re not seeing this.”
Of all the people Callie expected to take Erica’s side in an argument, Arizona would be last one on that roster. Having them both point out she was a jerk only made her natural bullishness come out in force. “Look, I wanted to see you, okay? Erica would’ve complicated things, so I thought we would talk before I told her. I don’t get why you’re so pissed off when this really doesn’t affect you.”
Arizona ground her teeth together and fixed Callie with a disbelieving stare. Sometimes she marveled at how blind she could be to the bigger issues; for an incredibly smart woman, sometimes Callie just didn’t get it.
“You lied to her about me, Callie, and in doing so you put me in a hell of a position.” Arizona took a quick peek around them and lowered her voice. They didn’t need a repeat performance. “I already have to work with her against her will and now you’ve got me mixed up in your relationship problems. We are so not okay right now.”
Callie groaned out loud. “You had issues with Erica before we even talked, Arizona, and you sought me out for a meeting. Don’t pretend like you didn’t know that would cause issues between you two and try to put this whole thing on me.”
“I wanted things to be normal between us,” Arizona snapped, “I wanted us to act like adults. But that’s the exact opposite of what you’re doing by lying to Erica and dragging me into the middle of it!”
“Oh, so now I’m a child. Great, thanks,” Callie said hotly, crossing her arms again. “I’m starting to think we should just go back to ignoring each other while you’re here. Maybe that would make things ‘easier’ on you, since you’re so concerned with appearances.”
Arizona looked away, shaking her head, wondering how on earth they managed to go from such a high point to the bottom of the gravel pit in under four hours. “Maybe that’s not a bad idea. We’ve both got enough on our plates.”
Even though Callie knew she was the mastermind of her own fate in this one, she couldn’t get past how much it stung to have Arizona be the one to point it out. She didn’t know if she was more furious at her ex-girlfriend or at herself right now, but Arizona jumping into the fray made it that much harder to stomach.
“Maybe you should excuse yourself from this case,” Callie said bitterly, avoiding all eye contact. “Bailey could probably handle it.”
The suggestion made Arizona bristle. “No, Chief Webber asked me to step in and take this one. I’m an adult, I can handle being in the same OR for an afternoon. If that’s a problem for you, ask an ortho resident to take over the knee repair.”
“You can drop the holier-than-thou attitude, Arizona,” Callie barked. “You’re here on my turf; I don’t have to be the one to tip-toe around you.”
Arizona knew they were being watched by more than one staff member hovering nearby but she kept her focus pinpointed on Callie. “You need to realize this isn’t all about you, Callie. I know you like to think the world revolves around what’s happening in your life, but there are other people you’re hurting.”
Callie straightened her posture. “You know what? Mind your own business. I really don’t care what goes on between you and Erica, but we’re through here.” She reached for a different chart on the desk and stuffed it under her arm in a hurry. “I’ve got another surgery to get to - helping a little boy learn to walk again, but hey, it isn’t about me, so why should I care?” She glared holes through Arizona’s forehead and bumped her shoulder on the way by.
It was on rare occasions that Callie found herself this pissed off, though it took a very particular set of circumstances to trigger this kind of reaction. She knew if she didn’t walk away in that moment, she would say even more horrible things she couldn't take back, so rather than engage further, she tried to let it go.
Maybe leaving twenty or thirty seconds earlier would have helped the situation, but she couldn’t do much about that now.
At the desk, Arizona resisted the urge to follow Callie while making a strangling motion with her hands. She was curbing the urge to squeeze a pillow in half or something equally as satisfying, which didn’t help as the only thing close by was other people. To this day, Calliope Torres was the only woman that could ever make her this mad. Arizona barely understood why on the best of days and this definitely wasn’t one of those.
She closed her eyes, trying her hardest to find her inner equilibrium, and steadied herself for the next person she needed to see - Erica Hahn.