Grey's Anatomy - Choices (4/23)
Title: Choices
Chapter 4/23
Authors: Faith & Kye
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Rating: NC-17
Story Summary: Post-6x17 "Push" -- Arizona prefers chickens to children, and Callie isn't okay with that. Heartbroken and lonely, the two women try unsuccessfully to move on with their lives, only to find they really are made for eachother.
Chapter Summary: Break-up sex can only last for so long. Callie and Arizona finally make a choice.
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.
Previous Chapters
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Arizona had eventually managed to get a few hours of sleep before rounds later that morning.
To no surprise, she slept really, really well.
Since emerging from that sleep, she had successfully evaded Mark, Cristina, and Callie. It wasn’t without effort, but so far, so good.
Except for the fact that she’d be needing Mark to help with a skin graft shortly, and that was a few hours of operating she was not looking forward to.
Dr. Robbins headed straight to Danielle’s room after the rest of her rounds, to find Derek and the little girl’s mom already there.
“Late, sorry,” she apologized, pulling her hair into a messy ponytail before grabbing Danielle’s chart from Derek’s arm and flipping through it.
“Late night, Dr. Robbins?” Derek was smirking at her in a way that could only mean one thing.
Oh for fucks sake…she was going to kill Mark Sloan with a scalpel as soon as he finished with that graft.
“Yes, very,” she replied shortly to Dr. Shepherd, and then turned her focus to Danielle’s chart. Scanning over some of the notes, she glanced up at him once more. “She’s running a fever?”
“Yes, which is why I was just suggesting to Amanda,” Derek indicated Danielle’s mom sitting by the bed, talking quietly to her daughter, “that we postpone the surgery for another day or two.”
Arizona frowned and looked at some of the results from overnight. “Yeah, I don’t feel comfortable with her going in until she’s feeling as good as she can. Dammit,” she added with a quiet sigh.
Danielle giggled from the bed. “Dr. Robbins said a bad word.”
Arizona smiled as she looked up to meet the sight of the little girl clutching her stuffed toy under one arm. Danielle smiled brightly at her and she felt a little of her tension slowly ebb away.
“Hey Derek?” came a familiar voice from the doorway, causing her to look over.
Callie walked into the room, her attention completely focused on the chart in her hand. “I'm scheduled for a surgery in -” She stopped abruptly when she looked up to see the other occupants staring back at her.
One very particular 'ex' occupant, to be exact.
Of course. Who else?
Callie lifted the file to point it towards the Chief. “I'll get back to ya.” She turned and quickly left the room.
Derek watched her go before shifting his gaze to the blonde standing next to him, but Arizona's eyes were trained on the now empty doorway.
The Chief shook his head once, smiling sadly as he turned back to the parents. “So, about that surgery...”
***
Callie closed her eyes as she leaned her forehead against the wall. She pulled it back and then dropped it forward with a hard [i]thud[/i]. “Oww,” she stated blankly, before doing it again. “Oww.” And again. “Oww.”
“Y'know,” Cristina suddenly cut in as she walked up to the soda machine next to the brunette. “If it hurts,” she began as she placed her coins into the slot. She pushed a button and then reached down to grab the soda as she turned to face her roommate. “Maybe you should stop.”
“Before you give yourself a concussion,” Mark piped up, appearing on Callie’s other side, effectively blocking her escape routes.
Callie smacked her head against the wall once more. “I hate you both.”
“So are you two back together or what?” Cristina cracked open the soda can and took a long swig from it.
“No,” Callie moaned against the wall, as if it was causing her pain.
“Then why did you even break up in the first place? If you keep having sex, I think it’s a sign.” Cristina stared at Callie intently. “We’re not letting you leave until you tell us.”
“I have surgery with Robbins in half an hour,” Mark smirked. “Unless you want me to spend the whole time harassing her…”
Callie turned to rest her back against the wall, but kept her eyes closed as she groaned in obvious pain.
The emotional kind. The kind that sucked ass.
“I don't know, okay?” Torres finally relented in answer. She opened her eyes with another heavy sigh as she lifted her head from the wall and turned her gaze toward her friends. Her brow furrowed as she gave a slight shake of her head. “I don't know,” she repeated softly.
Silence filled the air between them.
“Well that's just stupid,” Yang shot back. She waved her soda-filled hand. “You don't just have sex and not know why.”
Mark arched a brow in her direction.
“Okay, fine,” Cristina relented. “Maybe you do, but still.” She took another drink from the can before walking up to stand closer to her roommate. She leaned in, her voice low. “Do you wanna be broken-up with her?”
Callie felt the words tear at her heart. She made a tiny little whimpering sound in the back of her throat.
“Sounds like a 'no' to me,” Yang replied to her silence. “You're pathetic, Torres.”
Callie whimpered again.
Cristina shook her head as she lifted the can back to her lips. “Either break up with her for good, or stop having your crazy 'I don't know' sex in public places.” She tipped her head back to down another swallow. “‘Cause...seriously.” She turned and walked away in the opposite direction, still sipping on her soda.
Callie watched her go before turning her gaze to her best friend. She pouted as he walked up to her. “I'm not pathetic. Am I pathetic?”
Mark smiled as he reached up to wrap his arm around her shoulders. “No more than the rest of us, Torres,” he comforted as he pulled her hard against his body.
As they began to walk down the hall, he leaned over to bring his lips closer to her ear. “So, how many other public places have you two -” He grunted when a sharp elbow connected solidly with his ribs.
“By the way, my bedroom is not a public place…”
***
“BP is dropping a little,” Arizona pointed out, glancing at the monitor when a few out of rhythm beeps caught her attention. “You almost done on that side?” She and Mark were both hovering on either side of the fifteen year old burn victim, and while Mark tried to do what he could for the arm, Arizona was scraping out the chest wound.
She thanked God that they could put the boy under for this part.
“Little longer,” Mark murmured, focused.
Another moment of silence passed while they worked, until Arizona finally spoke up. “So, tell me…you strike me as the kind of teenage boy who used to try and make a blow torch out of spray paint and a match. What drives boys to be so unbelievably stupid all the time?”
“Girls,” Mark instantly replied, finally looking up from his work. His mouth was hidden by his mask, but it was clear from the look in his blue eyes that he was smiling behind it.
Arizona returned the knowing smile, a similar look in her own set of blue eyes. She shook her head once as she turned her attention back to the task.
A moment of silence passed before Mark spoke up again, quietly. “So...supply closet sex, huh?”
Arizona nearly dropped her instruments as she looked up sharply. She cut her eyes around the room, but all of the nurses were too busy to have noticed. She leaned over the patient to shoot him a glare. “Do you mind?”
“Oh please,” Mark scoffed as he dropped his gaze back to his work. “With Yang's big mouth running around out there, I doubt there's a nurse or intern left in this hospital that doesn't already know.”
Arizona's shoulders slumped. “Perfect.” She shook her head before going back to the surgery.
More silence passed between them.
“So what's up with that anyway?” Mark cut in once more. He lifted his gaze in her direction. “Are you guys broken up or not?”
Arizona closed her eyes briefly. “Why don’t you ask her.”
Mark grunted in annoyance. “I did. She punched me in the ribs.”
That made the pediatric surgeon laugh. “Then maybe you should stop asking questions that don’t concern you.”
“It does concern me when I’m the one she cries to about her broken heart.” Mark’s eyes hardened a little bit. “If you’re messing with her…”
Arizona held up a hand in defense. “Hey, I was just trying to find somewhere to sleep. She jumped me.”
Mark smirked beneath his mask. “You make it sound like you didn’t enjoy the crap out of it.”
Arizona blushed and stared directly down at the patient and what she was doing, ignoring him.
“But it's not like it's the first time, right?” Sloan went on as he continued to work. He glanced down at his skin graft and then back up to the other surgeon. “Probably won't be the last,” he added. “That sorta thing?”
Arizona sighed heavily, her blue eyes trained on her hands. “It's...” she started, but then trailed of with another sigh. She shook her head once. “...complicated,” she finished shortly.
“How 'complicated' is supply closet sex?” Mark shot back with a slight jerk of his head.
Arizona looked up sharply. “Would you stop saying that out loud?” She glanced around again, but once more, no one else was paying attention. She leveled another glare on her ex-girlfriend's best friend. “I don't know why we can't stop, okay?” she growled in a rush. “We...we try,” she went on. “And we...we talk, but nothing seems to come out of it except -”
“Supply closet sex?” Mark cut in, smirking beneath his mask.
Arizona closed her eyes again and sighed deeply. “Shut up, Sloan.”
***
“Shepherd!”
Arizona’s angry voice made Derek stop walking along the open corridor, right before he reached his new office. He turned to see an unhappy blonde stalking in his direction. “Dr. Robbins. Can I help you with something?”
“Oh, shut it,” she snapped, crossing her arms in annoyance. “Why did you put me in on Callie’s leg repair? Without telling me? You wouldn’t be meddling, would you? Because that would just be wrong, Chief. Wrong.” Her eyes narrowed considerably.
Derek decided to play innocent. “I…simply thought that since you didn’t have any other surgeries scheduled, it wouldn’t hurt for you to experience a repair like that. Keep you sharp, on your toes, up to date and all that.”
Arizona stared at him. “It’s a routine procedure on a seventeen year old that broke his leg mountain biking. It’s all Callie’s field. Why on earth do I need to be involved in that?”
Derek just smiled and turned to head back to his office.
“You’re meddling!” Arizona shouted after him. “It does not look good on you, Chief!”
Derek continued to ignore her as he headed into his office.
Arizona grumbled in annoyance before turning to quickly stomp off back down the corridor.
***
Callie placed the patient's scan onto the light box and flipped the switch. She held her hand against it and frowned. “It's pretty bad,” she acknowledged as she looked over the picture in front of her. “Compound fracture of the tibia and femur,” she explained as she pointed to the various spots on the scans.
“That is pretty bad,” Hunt agreed as he too stared at them. “But look at this,” he added as he stepped forward to touch the x-ray with the tip of his pen.
He was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the door opening and then soft footsteps approaching.
“Dr. Hunt,” Arizona acknowledged with a nod and a polite smile. It faded when she turned her gaze to meet her ex's. “Dr. Torres.”
Callie's brow nearly shot right off the top of her head. She scoffed with a sharp, disbelieving smirk.
Owen looked from the brunette, to the blonde, and back again. “Okay then,” he mumbled to himself before clicking his pen, shoving it back into his pocket and making a beeline for the exit.
“What are you doing here, Arizona?” Callie questioned as she dropped her arms to fold them across her chest.
“In case you didn't notice,” the blonde shot back, “Shepherd put me in on this surgery.”
“Why?” Callie accused with a jerk of her shoulders.
“Because doctors in this hospital have way too much free time on their hands,” Arizona replied sharply, crossing her arms and looking severely annoyed as she scowled at the x-rays.
Callie laughed softly, not really meaning to. She shook her head once, still smiling as she dropped her eyes to the floor.
Arizona was just too adorable when she did that.
Arizona blushed a little, keeping her arms folded defensively and her eyes focused on the scans. “So, what are we looking at here…?” She scrunched her nose. “Ouch. Did he fall off a cliff? He’s got bone fragments just floating around like alphabet soup in there.”
Which made her hungry. She hadn’t had a chance to eat much yet.
“Not exactly,” Callie said, still smiling as she stepped up next to the other woman. She lifted her arm, ready to explain. “He-”
Arizona's stomach growled loudly.
“-whoa.” Callie turned her head at the sound. Her smile faltered as she raised an eyebrow. “When's the last time you ate?”
Arizona clearly hesitated to answer.
“Zona,” Callie scolded as she reached out to grab the blonde by the elbow.
“I was gonna eat before I went in, at some point,” Arizona sighed. “I would have had a lunch break, but McJackass went and got all controlling over my schedule.”
She didn’t so much follow Callie as be dragged forcibly out of the room by her arm.
***
“What do you mean 'you don't have it'?” Callie nearly shouted in the server's face as the woman stared back her, wide-eyed. “All she wants is a frikken' chicken salad. What kinda cafeteria doesn't have chicken salad?”
Arizona was a little wide-eyed as well. She glanced around to see most of the lineup staring at them. “Calliope,” she called softly as she reached up to place a hand on the brunette's arm.
“I'm sorry, Dr. Torres,” the server tried to reason. “We don't-”
Callie threw her arms up in frustration. “Just...” She bit her bottom lip in a menacing gesture, then dropped her arms away with a sigh. “Fine. Forget it.” She snatched up her own tray and then turned to leave.
Arizona glanced over she shoulder to shoot the cafeteria worker an apologetic smile before jogging to catch up to her angry…er…whatever they were to eachother. “Now they’re gonna spit in our food,” she pointed out. “And that’s just gross.”
She jumped when Callie slammed her tray down onto the nearest table, and then very slowly sank into the chair across from the angry brunette. “Sweetie…you’re overreacting. I’ll just…eat a sandwich later, it’s fine.”
“You hate sandwiches, Arizona,” Callie shot back, still clearly annoyed at the whole thing. She slouched down into her chair with a heavy sigh. She propped her elbow up onto the table before leaning her forehead into her hand, closing her eyes and rubbing at her temple.
This was just...perfect.
She had a major surgery in less than two hours. She had slept even less than that in the last two nights. Her head hurt. Her relationship was...whatever right now. She couldn't seem to stop having inappropriate sex at inappropriate times with...whatever Arizona was to her these days.
And now, they didn't have the freakin' chicken salad.
It was all just so...
Perfect.
Arizona watched Callie closely, worry written all over her face. “Hey.” She reached across the table to place her hand tentatively over Callie’s, waiting for her to look up. “Why don’t you get some rest? You can’t go in there tired enough to do a face plant while you’re wielding a surgical drill. It’s dangerous for everyone involved.”
She smiled and meshed her hand with Callie’s, rubbing her thumb softly across the back of the other woman’s. “You sleep. I’ll eat a sandwich and it won’t kill me. Then we’ll fix this kid’s leg so he can walk again. Okay?”
Callie's first instinct was to protest, but all the physical exhaustion and mental fatigue from the last two days suddenly caught up with her. “Yeah,” she relented softly as she moved her head to rest her cheek in her palm instead. She smiled softly as she stared across the table at the other woman.
“You have really beautiful eyes, y'know that?” Callie spoke up softly as she stared into the deep blue depths. “Don't think I ever told you.”
Arizona blushed and glanced away. “You must be really tired,” she chuckled softly. After a comfortable moment of silence holding hands, she reluctantly broke their grasp and got to her feet. “C’mon. Take your food, we’ll find you a nice quiet room with a bed, and you can relax for a few hours before you drop dead on me.”
She helped the exhausted brunette to her feet, then grabbed her food tray for her. For a moment, she stood still, biting her lower lip in thought. After a second, she turned to Callie, looking serious. “Later…I think we really should…talk. For real this time. About…stuff.” Arizona breathed in and then released it in a deep sigh. “I-”
Right then, the pager attached to her hip started going wild. Arizona closed her eyes and sighed again. “…of course.” She pulled it off of her scrubs and scanned the message. Her expression immediately fell and her browline creased. “I-I have to go. I’m sorry.” Arizona took a few steps back from Callie. “But you, sleep. Eat. Surgery later.”
Callie barely had a chance to accept the food tray that was shoved at her before Arizona was turning on her heel and heading in the opposite direction. “But,” she called out weakly to the blonde's retreating form. She watched her go with a heavy sigh.
“Perfect.”
Callie shook her head as she made her way toward the exit. She stopped just long enough to toss the contents of her tray into the garbage.
***
Yang looked up from her chart at the sound of approaching footsteps. “Torres,” she called out with a wide, teasing grin. She rested her elbow against the counter as she chewed on her pen. Her gaze dropped to the white take-out bag clutched in her roommate's hand. “Whatcha got there?”
Callie completely ignored her as she walked right by to head towards the other end of the hall.
Yang's brow furrowed as she called after her. “Rude much?”
***
“Hey! Nurse...” Callie called out as the nurse passed by. “...person,” she finished as she tried to juggle the bag of food, the tray of drinks, her coat, and her purse all at once. “You seen Dr. Robbins lately?”
The nurse stared at her with wide eyes. She was getting a lot of that lately. “I saw her step into the on-call room about twenty minutes ago.”
Callie gave her a polite nod in return before abruptly turning to head back down the hall.
***
Dr. Torres did her best to juggle the items in her arms as she bent down to push at the door handle with her elbow. After some considerable effort, she finally managed to unhook the latch. The door flew open from the force of her weight baring against it.
Arizona just about hit the roof when the door burst open. She had been lying face down on the bed, in that happy place between sleep and consciousness. “Wha?” She ran a hand back through her hair, trying to unstick it from her face. “What’s going on?”
The peds surgeon watched as her ex closed the door behind her and set the many items in her arms down on the table. Finally realizing that there was no emergency - thankfully - she groaned and very slowly sat up, looking a bit disheveled. “Stealthy entrance, Torres.”
“Yeah,” Callie laughed in embarrassment. “Sorry 'bout that. Oh!” She barely managed to reach out and grab one of the cups before it tipped over to spill out onto the table.
Arizona was still a bit hazy from her twenty minute nap. She yawned, reaching up to rub at her eyes with the back of her hand.
Callie just so happened to glance over at that exact moment. Her heart melted.
Arizona could just be so damn cute sometimes.
The blonde stretched, the bottom of her scrub top lifting to expose a long expanse of her smooth, perfect stomach.
Callie's hand squeezed around the cup in her grasp.
Cute, and sexy.
“Shit!” Callie exclaimed when the cold iced tea made contact with the flesh of her hand. The squeeze had apparently dislodged the lid and a bit of the drink spilled out, but she was lucky enough to catch it in time.
“Uhh...” Callie stalled as she looked around for any type of napkin-like device.
Arizona dropped her arms as she watched Callie scramble around. “You okay there, Torres?” Her smile was playful.
“Yep, good,” Callie replied a little too quickly, finally getting everything settled onto the table in the room.
Smirking, Arizona reached up to pull her hair into a ponytail, swung her legs over the side of the bed, and shifted over to the couch. “You brought food. You’re a Goddess.” She didn’t realize how hungry she was until her stomach let out another dinosaur-rivaling growl. “As you can hear, I never got that sandwich.” She blushed a little, then glanced up to meet Callie’s gaze. “You’re amazing. Thank you.”
Callie blushed in response as well. “Welcome,” she mumbled as she pulled the food from the bag to spread it out onto the table.
A few minutes later, they were both digging in.
“Mmm, this chicken salad tastes like a God,” Arizona moaned as she placed another forkful into her mouth. She paused in mid-chew as her brow furrowed. “Is that wrong? Can I say that food tastes like a God?” She considered the possibility. “Isn't that like a double whammy? Sacrilegious and cannibalistic all rolled into one?”
“Oh who cares,” Callie moaned around a bite of her own chicken salad. “I don't know what those people put in this stuff, but seriously?” She placed another forkful in her mouth and then turned her gaze to the blonde. She smiled at the look she was receiving. “What?”
Arizona just grinned and looked away. “Nothing.”
“No, seriously.” Callie reached up to swipe at her mouth. “Is there food clinging somewhere?”
“No,” Arizona laughed, poking at her own salad with her fork. “It’s just…look at us. Sitting here. Eating. Talking like people talk. Being all adult about it. And not having sex.” She pointed the fork at Callie. “We’re growing.”
Callie thought about that for a moment, and then beamed. “We so are. Yay us!”
“Yay!” Arizona echoed with an happy little wave of her fork.
With that one little move, it all changed.
A single clinging piece of chicken from the salad slung off of the fork to land squarely in the center of Arizona's chest. It just barely made it into the 'V' of her scrub top.
“Whoops,” the blonde laughed the instant she felt the cold food connect with her skin. She wasn't really thinking about it as she set her fork down and then reached into her shirt to swipe her finger over the food.
Arizona looked up, still smiling as she stuck her index finger into her mouth to suck the chicken off the tip.
Callie's smile vanished in an instant. Her arm slowly, very slowly, lowered back to the table. Her plastic fork clattered against the top as she missed her plate completely. Her dark brown eyes were trained on the finger still in the other woman's mouth.
Arizona ‘mm’ed quietly, sucking the excess dressing off of her finger before wiping it on a napkin sitting in her lap. She glanced back up to see her Callie giving her a look.
‘That Look’, to be more specific.
“Oh no,” she murmured under her breath, immediately taking the chicken salad from her lap and placing it carefully on the table.
No sense in getting food everywhere.
“Calliope…?” Arizona swallowed hard and gave the other woman a pleading look.
But the instant their eyes met, it was over for her too.
Arizona reached for her the same time as the other surgeon, and once again they were kissing eachother.
Callie nearly tackled the blonde back onto the couch, swinging her legs out to straddle her thighs. She placed one hand behind Arizona's neck to keep her lips pressed hard against her own.
Arizona's hair smelled so good. And her lips were so incredibly soft.
They tasted even better.
Callie felt that familiar twinge between her thighs. She moaned into the kiss as she felt that same tightening in the pit of her stomach. A moment later, she tore her lips away from the kiss with a harsh, heavy breath.
Brown eyes darkened even more. Their lips were barely an inch apart.
“You make me so wet,” Callie whispered as she stroked her fingers through the soft hairs on the back of the other woman's neck. “Just like that.”
Arizona’s insides melted at those words, and her head spun just a little. She gaped up at Callie, really not able to find any words.
Dirty talk? Definitely not making it easier for them to stop.
So instead, she wrapped her left arm behind her lover’s shoulders and yanked her back down into a heated kiss. Her right hand shoved itself beneath Callie’s scrub shirt, grazing against her smooth side.
Callie sucked in a sharp breath and then gasped her approval against the Arizona’s lips. She placed a few more soft kisses against those same lips before suddenly pulling back.
Arizona was a little surprised at the move. But as soon as she saw the brunette reaching down for the hem of her scrubs, she decided she was okay with that.
More than, actually.
Arizona swallowed back as she felt her own desire hit its peak.
Calliope Torres was without a doubt the sexiest woman she’d ever been with.
It made her groan.
Callie chuckled softly as she pulled her shirt over her head. Her dark hair spilled out, framing her face in waves of perfect, messy curls. “Up,” she called softly as she reached down for the hem of Arizona's scrubs.
Ignoring orders, Arizona stayed right where she was. “I like the view from down here,” she pointed out with a lazy smile. “You are…[i]so[i] beautiful.” She shook her head in disbelief.
She was lucky. Really damn lucky.
Whatever they were to eachother these days…Arizona was still madly in love with Callie Torres.
The brunette smirked in return. “I meant your arms.” She reached down to take the hemline of Arizona's scrub top in a gentle grasp, arched a dark brow, and waited.
Arizona blinked innocently back up at Callie. “You gonna make me?” she teased with a smirk.
Callie’s grin just widened.
She reached down, grabbed a handful of Arizona’s shirt, and roughly yanked her up into a sitting position.
Arizona was caught off guard, but didn’t manage so much as a syllable before Callie kissed her like she’d never kissed her before.
Hard enough that it left the blonde dazed when she pulled back a second later. During which time, Callie pulled her shirt roughly up over her head, knocking her ponytail out in the process and allowing blonde locks to cascade down her shoulders.
Which left the perfect opportunity for Callie to weave her fingers into soft, perfect, golden...
Callie groaned softly as she gave the hair in her grasp a slight tug. The motion pulled Arizona's body right into her own, and she gasped again when the bare skin of their stomachs made a soft slap of contact.
The brunette's entire body was buzzing with her arousal. Her skin was on fire wherever the other woman's touched hers.
It was a fire that only Arizona had ever made her feel before.
The kiss finally broke apart, and blue eyes met brown.
For a long moment, neither said anything.
“I love you,” Arizona murmured softly, reaching up to tenderly stroke her fingers along the side of Callie’s cheek. “And…” The words caught in her throat, so she swallowed back to find her voice again.
“And I don’t wanna break up with you.” The blonde woman didn’t break their gaze, but the sting of tears in her eyes made her blink several times. “I don’t want to lose you.” Her fingers traced soft patterns against her lover’s temple. “You’re the girl who wears her heart on her sleeve. Who’ll eat pizza in bed for a date…naked.” She smiled softly. “You’re the girl who stood up to her father and who fights for those she loves. You’re the girl who brought me chicken salad.” Arizona closed her eyes and leaned in to steal a slow, tender kiss. “You’re my girl.”
It took everything Callie had inside of her not to break down right then and there. She smiled, her dark eyes glistening as she reached up to brush the back of her fingers along a smooth, perfect cheek. “I am your girl,” she admitted with a soft, strained whisper. Her brow ticked, the lump in her throat increasing in size as she swallowed back. “But...”
And that was the word that always seemed to sneak right in there and just fuck it all right back up.
It all.
“We...we want such different things,” Callie went on, her voice on the verge of giving out completely. “I...I want babies and PTA's. And you...” she trailed off, her heart breaking. “...don't,” she finished softly.
Maybe this was it. This was finally it.
The conversation that was gonna put this thing to rest once and for all.
There was nothing quite like a big 'ole whopping helping of reality to kill the mood.
Callie closed her eyes with a slow, heavy sigh. “We can't do this,” she admitted softly as she opened her eyes to refocus them on the deep blue gaze. “We can't keep going like this. It...it's not helping, and...and it's not gonna change anything.”
Arizona swallowed hard, not trusting herself to talk. She nodded silently and closed her eyes, taking in a shaky breath. “Y-yeah.”
She knew Callie was right, and that her own mind was thinking the same thing. But…
That didn’t make it any easier.
Callie very, very reluctantly extracted herself from Arizona, and moved back into a sitting position next to her on the couch. Arizona sat up and swung her legs back over the edge.
She stared forward at her chicken salad, though she wasn’t really look at it. There was a moment of silence, and then…
“It’s really over…isn’t it?”
Callie felt heart breaking all over again.
Yeah. It really was.
***
Mark was just walking up the hallway, tossing chocolate kisses into the air to catch them in his mouth when he spotted his best friend emerge from the on-call room. He smirked at her ragged appearance, watching as she very slowly stepped out.
Callie kept her eyes trained on the floor, one hand on the door knob as the other methodically pulled on the hemline of her shirt. She walked very slowly, but somehow managed to make it all the way into the hall. The door shut with a quiet click behind her.
“Torres,” Mark started, shaking his head and grinning widely as he strode up to her. “If you tell me Robbins is in there again, I swear-”
Callie looked up and stopped him dead in his tracks. His smirk faded in an instant at the look in those deep, soulful brown eyes.
“What happened?” Mark asked softly, his amusement completely gone, only to be replaced with concern.
Callie kept staring at him until finally, she just burst into tears. She reached up to grab two fistfuls of his shirt before burying her face into his chest.
Mark popped the last chocolate into his mouth so he could wrap both arms around her. “Shh,” he soothed, running his hand up and down her back. He didn’t have to ask what happened. He just knew.
“It’s okay. You’re gonna be okay.”
***
“Are you sure you're gonna be okay?” Mark asked again, leaning against the wall next to the elevator, arms crossed over his chest.
It was nearly half an hour later, and after many, many more tears, Callie was finally able to stand without the urge to vomit.
“I'm...” she started with a slightly confident smile, but trailed off before she could get any other word out. Her shoulders slumped, and she paused a moment to close her eyes and take in a deep, calming breath. Her smile had returned a little when she finally opened them again.
“I'll be okay,” the brunette assured her friend as she reached out to place her hand gently on the side of the other surgeon's neck. “Thank you, Mark,” she whispered softly. “I don't know what I'd do without you.”
“Oh, suffer endlessly, no doubt,” Sloan shot back with a patented smile.
Callie laughed a little at that just as the elevator dinged and the doors open. She moved to step in, but paused at the last minute. “You're a really good man, Mark,” she informed her friend with a slightly brighter smile. “Any woman should be so lucky.”
He smiled. “Right back ‘atcha, kid.”
Callie gave him one last look before stepping into the elevator.
Mark pushed himself off the wall, smiling at her as he watched her disappear behind the closing doors.
The smile vanished the instant they met with a soft thud.
***
Mark pushed open the door to the locker room with a heavy sigh. He tilted his head back, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck as he stumbled in blindly.
It sure had been one helluva day.
He froze a couple of steps in, his eyes settling on a slumped form in the middle of the locker row.
Arizona was hunched forward with her elbows resting against her thighs and her hands clasped against the back of her neck. She was shaking, but the tears still hadn’t spilled over yet.
“Robbins?” Mark stepped forward tentatively.
Arizona snapped back up, as she hadn’t heard him enter. She looked at him silently for a moment before turning her head back to stare into her open locker. “If you came here to yell at me…I’m really not up for it.”
Mark shook his head with a tired smile. “That's about the last thing in the world I feel like doing right now.” He might not be directly involved, but this break up was really starting to kick his ass.
Royally.
Sloan heaved a heavy sigh as he made his way towards his locker. Which just so happened to be two down from the left of Arizona's.
The plastic surgeon glanced over at the still immobile form of the only other person in the room. He waited, and still, nothing.
Arizona remained silent, still staring straight ahead into the locker. She was willing herself to hold it together, just until she made it through the surgery later, but it was getting harder and harder as the seconds ticked by.
She felt Sloan sit down next to her, and felt his eyes boring into the side of her head. A well of tears pushed forward, and she tried to blink them back. But, taking in a shaky breath, she just couldn’t anymore.
Her body was suddenly racked with a deep, painful sob, and she cupped her right hand over her mouth as the tears finally poured down her face.
Mark sighed heavily before reaching out to snag the blonde by the back of her scrubs. He pulled her over into his waiting arms.
Arizona instantly grabbed two handfuls of his shirt as she buried her face into his chest.
Mark sighed again as he reached up to gently caress the back of her head as she cried into his shoulder.
Yeah. That was about right.
***
Callie was staring straight ahead as she heard the door open. She remained silent, her eyes trained on the glass window in front of her as she continued her routine scrub in. She didn't even have to look over to know who it was.
That was just how much her life totally and completely sucked these days.
Arizona paused just inside the doorway, staring over to where Callie was scrubbing in. She felt immobile for a moment, and it took some effort to make herself walk toward the sinks.
After debating, she took the second one to Callie’s right.
Glancing over, she wasn’t sure if she should say anything or not. But no words came to mind, so…she started to scrub in instead.
Right then, Arizona really kinda disliked Derek.
***
Callie shook her head as she surveyed the damage. “This is bad,” she sighed from behind her surgical mask. She used her right hand to push and pull a the broken, protruding bone. “This is no good.”
Arizona looked over from the other side of the table. The look was clear in her crystal blue eyes. “But you can fix it. I know you can.”
Callie looked up sharply. Her pride was more than a little wounded at the moment, all things considered. The last thing she wanted was the other woman pandering to her ego.
That, and she was pretty heartbroken.
She didn't hate Arizona. She never could. After all, it was nobody's fault.
But, still...
“I just need to think,” Callie finally sighed as she shook her head and then dropped her eyes back down.
Dammit.
This was really no good.
Arizona kept her mouth shut and continued to pull out tiny bone fragments with surgical tweezers. “This is enough to make me want to steer clear of mountain biking,” she mumbled under her breath. With several non-clean breaks, they couldn’t just slip in the rod and screws, they’d had to open the leg right up. This kid wasn’t going to be enjoying a stroll in the park any time soon.
She was concentrating on her task when the monitor suddenly started to beep. She glanced up sharply, and then snapped her head back down to the leg. The incision was filling slowly with blood. “Dammit, there’s a nick in his femoral artery.”
“Where the hell is it,” Callie hissed, searching while the surgeon on suction rapidly tried to clear away the blood so they could see.
It didn’t matter where the small cut was, because three seconds later the whole thing blew.
“Dammit!”
Blood spurted out in a strong jet, hitting them both while the monitors screamed. “Get the clamps!” Arizona shoved her hand full-on into the boy’s leg, scrambling to get the top of the artery before it retracted too far back up his leg. She managed to grasp it with her index finger and thumb, just barely pinching the end closed while struggling to keep it from slipping.
“Shit!” Callie cursed as she scrambled to hold the shattered bone in place. Her hands were slippery and wet from all the blood and she was starting to lose her grip.
But she knew if she did, the bone was gonna go straight into the muscle of the boy's thigh. No doubt to cause almost irreparable damage.
And that would not be good.
More blood poured out to coat her gloved hands.
“Would somebody please stop the fucking bleeding?!”
“Working on it!” Arizona snapped back, as she felt the artery slipping from her grasp. She just about jumped on top of the table to lean a little further toward Callie’s side and shove her hand in .
This kid was gonna hurt in the morning.
Closing her eyes in concentration, she felt her way around and managed to get a bit of a better hold on it. “Got it!” She squeezed it as tightly shut as she could, wondering if the boy even had any blood left to lose. “I need you to reach in here and clamp it,” she grunted to Callie, having a hard time keeping her balance with the awkward way she was leaned over the table. Her arm muscles screamed at the sharp angle they were frozen at, shoved inside of some kid’s leg.
“He's gonna bleed out!” Callie snapped back. She didn't usually lose it so easily in the OR, but recent personal events had played more than a little part in this one.
She was just completely, mentally drained.
And the presence of the blonde currently draped over her operating table wasn't exactly helping matters.
Considering she was pretty much the source.
“I can't let go of his - shit!” Callie cursed again as more blood poured out. If she didn't do something soon, he wasn't going to make it off this table.
Shifting her weight, she quickly switched her grip on the shattered bone from her right hand to her left. The movement was so smooth and quick, the bone barely moved at all.
Callie released a small sigh of relief before quickly reaching over to accept the waiting clamp from the scrub nurse. She immediately leaned down, her face nearly touching Arizona's as she reached in to place the clamp on the artery. They would have to repair it, but for now, she just had to stop the bleeding.
Once the clamp was firmly in place, Arizona very carefully extracted her hand. She waited for a moment to see if the clamp shifted, but breathed a sigh of relief. “It’ll hold.” She immediately slid back to her side of the table with a groan, craning her neck to the side to pop it back into place.
“Dr. Grey,” she addressed Lexi, who was hovering in the background observing. “Go inform his parents that this is going to take a little longer than expected. Don’t tell them what happened, just…it’ll be a little longer.”
Lexi nodded and exited the OR.
Callie sighed again as she moved back to grab the tattered bone with both hands. “Would somebody get me a damn drill?”
***
It was several hours later before Callie was finally able to emerge from the operating room. She discarded her gown into the nearest bin along with her blood soaked gloves. She paused a minute, her eyes closed as she braced her hands on the sink.
“You coulda killed him,” she finally stated calmly.
Arizona was midway through pulling off her own gown, and she froze with it still on her arms. “Excuse me?” She waited for Callie to say something more, but when that didn’t happen, she ripped off her gown and shoved it hard into the bin along with her gloves and mask. She took a few steps toward Callie.
“He was bleeding out,” she stated bluntly. “You think putting a bandaid on the end of his femoral was gonna help?”
“Don't be a smartass, Arizona,” Callie sighed as she finally opened her eyes and then turned her gaze to meet the other surgeon’s. “You were distracted.”
Arizona's brow arched in defense. “Me?” she shot back. “It's not like I cut the damn thing. It was already hanging by a thread by the time I got in there.”
There was something burning in the depths of Callie's dark eyes.
Accusation.
Anger.
Frustration.
Hurt.
Okay. So a lot of 'somethings'.
And even though she knew it was her pain talking, her personal pain, she still couldn't stop herself. “You were careless. You coulda cost him his life, Arizona.”
Arizona stared in disbelief at her ex-girlfriend. “I. Didn’t. Cut. The artery,” she articulated harshly. “I wasn’t anywhere near it when it blew. There were enough bone fragments in there to slice through a whale, Calliope!”
***
From the other side of the sliding glass doors, Lexi Grey and Jackson Avery hovered awkwardly. Both really wanted to un-scrub, but…even though they couldn’t hear what was being said, it looked…bad.
Real bad.
***
“- shouldn’t have been in there in the first place!” Callie hollered.
“Then yell at Shepherd!” Arizona shouted right back. “But if I hadn’t been the one standing right there when it blew, you think an inexperienced resident would have gotten in there fast enough?”
“Oh please, Arizona,” Callie scoffed as she folded her arms over her chest, her gaze never wavering from the blonde. “This was a bad idea,” she went on after a brief pause. “You shouldn't have even been in that room.”
Arizona's hands found themselves suddenly on her hips. “Who died and made you 'King of the OR'?”
Callie scoffed again.
“Is that the only sound you're capable of making anymore?” Arizona shot back in anger. “Besides screaming at me for no apparent reason.”
“No reason?” Callie repeated, her eyes widening a bit. She lifted a hand to point it towards the operating room. “His femoral artery, Arizona. Femoral. Bone fragments or not, you should've caught it before it became that...” She paused with another wave of her hand towards the room. “...massive blood fest.”
“Oh, right, sorry, I forgot I’m also supposed to be a psychic, my bad,” Arizona shot back.
“No, not a psychic, a half decent surgeon who’s job is to prevent that from happening!”
Arizona grit her teeth and took another step toward Callie, pointing at her angrily with her index finger, when the doors to the hallway were pushed open.
“What on earth is all the screaming about?” Chief Shepherd demanded, looking from one woman to the other. “I could practically hear you two at the end of the hallway.” He did not look impressed.
Callie still had the fiery look in her eyes as she cut her gaze from her ex-girlfriend over to her boss. She waited a moment, taking in a deep breath to help calm herself. “Nothing,” she finally replied with a heavy, defeated sigh. She glanced back to the blonde as she reached up to pull the cap from her head. “Nothing at all,” she added softly before brushing past her, then Derek, and then out the door.
Derek watched her go for a moment before turning his gaze back to Arizona. “Well?”
With a heavy sigh of her own, Arizona just shook her head and also marched out the door, turning the opposite direction.
---
Chapter 4/23
Authors: Faith & Kye
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Rating: NC-17
Story Summary: Post-6x17 "Push" -- Arizona prefers chickens to children, and Callie isn't okay with that. Heartbroken and lonely, the two women try unsuccessfully to move on with their lives, only to find they really are made for eachother.
Chapter Summary: Break-up sex can only last for so long. Callie and Arizona finally make a choice.
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.
Previous Chapters
---
Arizona had eventually managed to get a few hours of sleep before rounds later that morning.
To no surprise, she slept really, really well.
Since emerging from that sleep, she had successfully evaded Mark, Cristina, and Callie. It wasn’t without effort, but so far, so good.
Except for the fact that she’d be needing Mark to help with a skin graft shortly, and that was a few hours of operating she was not looking forward to.
Dr. Robbins headed straight to Danielle’s room after the rest of her rounds, to find Derek and the little girl’s mom already there.
“Late, sorry,” she apologized, pulling her hair into a messy ponytail before grabbing Danielle’s chart from Derek’s arm and flipping through it.
“Late night, Dr. Robbins?” Derek was smirking at her in a way that could only mean one thing.
Oh for fucks sake…she was going to kill Mark Sloan with a scalpel as soon as he finished with that graft.
“Yes, very,” she replied shortly to Dr. Shepherd, and then turned her focus to Danielle’s chart. Scanning over some of the notes, she glanced up at him once more. “She’s running a fever?”
“Yes, which is why I was just suggesting to Amanda,” Derek indicated Danielle’s mom sitting by the bed, talking quietly to her daughter, “that we postpone the surgery for another day or two.”
Arizona frowned and looked at some of the results from overnight. “Yeah, I don’t feel comfortable with her going in until she’s feeling as good as she can. Dammit,” she added with a quiet sigh.
Danielle giggled from the bed. “Dr. Robbins said a bad word.”
Arizona smiled as she looked up to meet the sight of the little girl clutching her stuffed toy under one arm. Danielle smiled brightly at her and she felt a little of her tension slowly ebb away.
“Hey Derek?” came a familiar voice from the doorway, causing her to look over.
Callie walked into the room, her attention completely focused on the chart in her hand. “I'm scheduled for a surgery in -” She stopped abruptly when she looked up to see the other occupants staring back at her.
One very particular 'ex' occupant, to be exact.
Of course. Who else?
Callie lifted the file to point it towards the Chief. “I'll get back to ya.” She turned and quickly left the room.
Derek watched her go before shifting his gaze to the blonde standing next to him, but Arizona's eyes were trained on the now empty doorway.
The Chief shook his head once, smiling sadly as he turned back to the parents. “So, about that surgery...”
***
Callie closed her eyes as she leaned her forehead against the wall. She pulled it back and then dropped it forward with a hard [i]thud[/i]. “Oww,” she stated blankly, before doing it again. “Oww.” And again. “Oww.”
“Y'know,” Cristina suddenly cut in as she walked up to the soda machine next to the brunette. “If it hurts,” she began as she placed her coins into the slot. She pushed a button and then reached down to grab the soda as she turned to face her roommate. “Maybe you should stop.”
“Before you give yourself a concussion,” Mark piped up, appearing on Callie’s other side, effectively blocking her escape routes.
Callie smacked her head against the wall once more. “I hate you both.”
“So are you two back together or what?” Cristina cracked open the soda can and took a long swig from it.
“No,” Callie moaned against the wall, as if it was causing her pain.
“Then why did you even break up in the first place? If you keep having sex, I think it’s a sign.” Cristina stared at Callie intently. “We’re not letting you leave until you tell us.”
“I have surgery with Robbins in half an hour,” Mark smirked. “Unless you want me to spend the whole time harassing her…”
Callie turned to rest her back against the wall, but kept her eyes closed as she groaned in obvious pain.
The emotional kind. The kind that sucked ass.
“I don't know, okay?” Torres finally relented in answer. She opened her eyes with another heavy sigh as she lifted her head from the wall and turned her gaze toward her friends. Her brow furrowed as she gave a slight shake of her head. “I don't know,” she repeated softly.
Silence filled the air between them.
“Well that's just stupid,” Yang shot back. She waved her soda-filled hand. “You don't just have sex and not know why.”
Mark arched a brow in her direction.
“Okay, fine,” Cristina relented. “Maybe you do, but still.” She took another drink from the can before walking up to stand closer to her roommate. She leaned in, her voice low. “Do you wanna be broken-up with her?”
Callie felt the words tear at her heart. She made a tiny little whimpering sound in the back of her throat.
“Sounds like a 'no' to me,” Yang replied to her silence. “You're pathetic, Torres.”
Callie whimpered again.
Cristina shook her head as she lifted the can back to her lips. “Either break up with her for good, or stop having your crazy 'I don't know' sex in public places.” She tipped her head back to down another swallow. “‘Cause...seriously.” She turned and walked away in the opposite direction, still sipping on her soda.
Callie watched her go before turning her gaze to her best friend. She pouted as he walked up to her. “I'm not pathetic. Am I pathetic?”
Mark smiled as he reached up to wrap his arm around her shoulders. “No more than the rest of us, Torres,” he comforted as he pulled her hard against his body.
As they began to walk down the hall, he leaned over to bring his lips closer to her ear. “So, how many other public places have you two -” He grunted when a sharp elbow connected solidly with his ribs.
“By the way, my bedroom is not a public place…”
***
“BP is dropping a little,” Arizona pointed out, glancing at the monitor when a few out of rhythm beeps caught her attention. “You almost done on that side?” She and Mark were both hovering on either side of the fifteen year old burn victim, and while Mark tried to do what he could for the arm, Arizona was scraping out the chest wound.
She thanked God that they could put the boy under for this part.
“Little longer,” Mark murmured, focused.
Another moment of silence passed while they worked, until Arizona finally spoke up. “So, tell me…you strike me as the kind of teenage boy who used to try and make a blow torch out of spray paint and a match. What drives boys to be so unbelievably stupid all the time?”
“Girls,” Mark instantly replied, finally looking up from his work. His mouth was hidden by his mask, but it was clear from the look in his blue eyes that he was smiling behind it.
Arizona returned the knowing smile, a similar look in her own set of blue eyes. She shook her head once as she turned her attention back to the task.
A moment of silence passed before Mark spoke up again, quietly. “So...supply closet sex, huh?”
Arizona nearly dropped her instruments as she looked up sharply. She cut her eyes around the room, but all of the nurses were too busy to have noticed. She leaned over the patient to shoot him a glare. “Do you mind?”
“Oh please,” Mark scoffed as he dropped his gaze back to his work. “With Yang's big mouth running around out there, I doubt there's a nurse or intern left in this hospital that doesn't already know.”
Arizona's shoulders slumped. “Perfect.” She shook her head before going back to the surgery.
More silence passed between them.
“So what's up with that anyway?” Mark cut in once more. He lifted his gaze in her direction. “Are you guys broken up or not?”
Arizona closed her eyes briefly. “Why don’t you ask her.”
Mark grunted in annoyance. “I did. She punched me in the ribs.”
That made the pediatric surgeon laugh. “Then maybe you should stop asking questions that don’t concern you.”
“It does concern me when I’m the one she cries to about her broken heart.” Mark’s eyes hardened a little bit. “If you’re messing with her…”
Arizona held up a hand in defense. “Hey, I was just trying to find somewhere to sleep. She jumped me.”
Mark smirked beneath his mask. “You make it sound like you didn’t enjoy the crap out of it.”
Arizona blushed and stared directly down at the patient and what she was doing, ignoring him.
“But it's not like it's the first time, right?” Sloan went on as he continued to work. He glanced down at his skin graft and then back up to the other surgeon. “Probably won't be the last,” he added. “That sorta thing?”
Arizona sighed heavily, her blue eyes trained on her hands. “It's...” she started, but then trailed of with another sigh. She shook her head once. “...complicated,” she finished shortly.
“How 'complicated' is supply closet sex?” Mark shot back with a slight jerk of his head.
Arizona looked up sharply. “Would you stop saying that out loud?” She glanced around again, but once more, no one else was paying attention. She leveled another glare on her ex-girlfriend's best friend. “I don't know why we can't stop, okay?” she growled in a rush. “We...we try,” she went on. “And we...we talk, but nothing seems to come out of it except -”
“Supply closet sex?” Mark cut in, smirking beneath his mask.
Arizona closed her eyes again and sighed deeply. “Shut up, Sloan.”
***
“Shepherd!”
Arizona’s angry voice made Derek stop walking along the open corridor, right before he reached his new office. He turned to see an unhappy blonde stalking in his direction. “Dr. Robbins. Can I help you with something?”
“Oh, shut it,” she snapped, crossing her arms in annoyance. “Why did you put me in on Callie’s leg repair? Without telling me? You wouldn’t be meddling, would you? Because that would just be wrong, Chief. Wrong.” Her eyes narrowed considerably.
Derek decided to play innocent. “I…simply thought that since you didn’t have any other surgeries scheduled, it wouldn’t hurt for you to experience a repair like that. Keep you sharp, on your toes, up to date and all that.”
Arizona stared at him. “It’s a routine procedure on a seventeen year old that broke his leg mountain biking. It’s all Callie’s field. Why on earth do I need to be involved in that?”
Derek just smiled and turned to head back to his office.
“You’re meddling!” Arizona shouted after him. “It does not look good on you, Chief!”
Derek continued to ignore her as he headed into his office.
Arizona grumbled in annoyance before turning to quickly stomp off back down the corridor.
***
Callie placed the patient's scan onto the light box and flipped the switch. She held her hand against it and frowned. “It's pretty bad,” she acknowledged as she looked over the picture in front of her. “Compound fracture of the tibia and femur,” she explained as she pointed to the various spots on the scans.
“That is pretty bad,” Hunt agreed as he too stared at them. “But look at this,” he added as he stepped forward to touch the x-ray with the tip of his pen.
He was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the door opening and then soft footsteps approaching.
“Dr. Hunt,” Arizona acknowledged with a nod and a polite smile. It faded when she turned her gaze to meet her ex's. “Dr. Torres.”
Callie's brow nearly shot right off the top of her head. She scoffed with a sharp, disbelieving smirk.
Owen looked from the brunette, to the blonde, and back again. “Okay then,” he mumbled to himself before clicking his pen, shoving it back into his pocket and making a beeline for the exit.
“What are you doing here, Arizona?” Callie questioned as she dropped her arms to fold them across her chest.
“In case you didn't notice,” the blonde shot back, “Shepherd put me in on this surgery.”
“Why?” Callie accused with a jerk of her shoulders.
“Because doctors in this hospital have way too much free time on their hands,” Arizona replied sharply, crossing her arms and looking severely annoyed as she scowled at the x-rays.
Callie laughed softly, not really meaning to. She shook her head once, still smiling as she dropped her eyes to the floor.
Arizona was just too adorable when she did that.
Arizona blushed a little, keeping her arms folded defensively and her eyes focused on the scans. “So, what are we looking at here…?” She scrunched her nose. “Ouch. Did he fall off a cliff? He’s got bone fragments just floating around like alphabet soup in there.”
Which made her hungry. She hadn’t had a chance to eat much yet.
“Not exactly,” Callie said, still smiling as she stepped up next to the other woman. She lifted her arm, ready to explain. “He-”
Arizona's stomach growled loudly.
“-whoa.” Callie turned her head at the sound. Her smile faltered as she raised an eyebrow. “When's the last time you ate?”
Arizona clearly hesitated to answer.
“Zona,” Callie scolded as she reached out to grab the blonde by the elbow.
“I was gonna eat before I went in, at some point,” Arizona sighed. “I would have had a lunch break, but McJackass went and got all controlling over my schedule.”
She didn’t so much follow Callie as be dragged forcibly out of the room by her arm.
***
“What do you mean 'you don't have it'?” Callie nearly shouted in the server's face as the woman stared back her, wide-eyed. “All she wants is a frikken' chicken salad. What kinda cafeteria doesn't have chicken salad?”
Arizona was a little wide-eyed as well. She glanced around to see most of the lineup staring at them. “Calliope,” she called softly as she reached up to place a hand on the brunette's arm.
“I'm sorry, Dr. Torres,” the server tried to reason. “We don't-”
Callie threw her arms up in frustration. “Just...” She bit her bottom lip in a menacing gesture, then dropped her arms away with a sigh. “Fine. Forget it.” She snatched up her own tray and then turned to leave.
Arizona glanced over she shoulder to shoot the cafeteria worker an apologetic smile before jogging to catch up to her angry…er…whatever they were to eachother. “Now they’re gonna spit in our food,” she pointed out. “And that’s just gross.”
She jumped when Callie slammed her tray down onto the nearest table, and then very slowly sank into the chair across from the angry brunette. “Sweetie…you’re overreacting. I’ll just…eat a sandwich later, it’s fine.”
“You hate sandwiches, Arizona,” Callie shot back, still clearly annoyed at the whole thing. She slouched down into her chair with a heavy sigh. She propped her elbow up onto the table before leaning her forehead into her hand, closing her eyes and rubbing at her temple.
This was just...perfect.
She had a major surgery in less than two hours. She had slept even less than that in the last two nights. Her head hurt. Her relationship was...whatever right now. She couldn't seem to stop having inappropriate sex at inappropriate times with...whatever Arizona was to her these days.
And now, they didn't have the freakin' chicken salad.
It was all just so...
Perfect.
Arizona watched Callie closely, worry written all over her face. “Hey.” She reached across the table to place her hand tentatively over Callie’s, waiting for her to look up. “Why don’t you get some rest? You can’t go in there tired enough to do a face plant while you’re wielding a surgical drill. It’s dangerous for everyone involved.”
She smiled and meshed her hand with Callie’s, rubbing her thumb softly across the back of the other woman’s. “You sleep. I’ll eat a sandwich and it won’t kill me. Then we’ll fix this kid’s leg so he can walk again. Okay?”
Callie's first instinct was to protest, but all the physical exhaustion and mental fatigue from the last two days suddenly caught up with her. “Yeah,” she relented softly as she moved her head to rest her cheek in her palm instead. She smiled softly as she stared across the table at the other woman.
“You have really beautiful eyes, y'know that?” Callie spoke up softly as she stared into the deep blue depths. “Don't think I ever told you.”
Arizona blushed and glanced away. “You must be really tired,” she chuckled softly. After a comfortable moment of silence holding hands, she reluctantly broke their grasp and got to her feet. “C’mon. Take your food, we’ll find you a nice quiet room with a bed, and you can relax for a few hours before you drop dead on me.”
She helped the exhausted brunette to her feet, then grabbed her food tray for her. For a moment, she stood still, biting her lower lip in thought. After a second, she turned to Callie, looking serious. “Later…I think we really should…talk. For real this time. About…stuff.” Arizona breathed in and then released it in a deep sigh. “I-”
Right then, the pager attached to her hip started going wild. Arizona closed her eyes and sighed again. “…of course.” She pulled it off of her scrubs and scanned the message. Her expression immediately fell and her browline creased. “I-I have to go. I’m sorry.” Arizona took a few steps back from Callie. “But you, sleep. Eat. Surgery later.”
Callie barely had a chance to accept the food tray that was shoved at her before Arizona was turning on her heel and heading in the opposite direction. “But,” she called out weakly to the blonde's retreating form. She watched her go with a heavy sigh.
“Perfect.”
Callie shook her head as she made her way toward the exit. She stopped just long enough to toss the contents of her tray into the garbage.
***
Yang looked up from her chart at the sound of approaching footsteps. “Torres,” she called out with a wide, teasing grin. She rested her elbow against the counter as she chewed on her pen. Her gaze dropped to the white take-out bag clutched in her roommate's hand. “Whatcha got there?”
Callie completely ignored her as she walked right by to head towards the other end of the hall.
Yang's brow furrowed as she called after her. “Rude much?”
***
“Hey! Nurse...” Callie called out as the nurse passed by. “...person,” she finished as she tried to juggle the bag of food, the tray of drinks, her coat, and her purse all at once. “You seen Dr. Robbins lately?”
The nurse stared at her with wide eyes. She was getting a lot of that lately. “I saw her step into the on-call room about twenty minutes ago.”
Callie gave her a polite nod in return before abruptly turning to head back down the hall.
***
Dr. Torres did her best to juggle the items in her arms as she bent down to push at the door handle with her elbow. After some considerable effort, she finally managed to unhook the latch. The door flew open from the force of her weight baring against it.
Arizona just about hit the roof when the door burst open. She had been lying face down on the bed, in that happy place between sleep and consciousness. “Wha?” She ran a hand back through her hair, trying to unstick it from her face. “What’s going on?”
The peds surgeon watched as her ex closed the door behind her and set the many items in her arms down on the table. Finally realizing that there was no emergency - thankfully - she groaned and very slowly sat up, looking a bit disheveled. “Stealthy entrance, Torres.”
“Yeah,” Callie laughed in embarrassment. “Sorry 'bout that. Oh!” She barely managed to reach out and grab one of the cups before it tipped over to spill out onto the table.
Arizona was still a bit hazy from her twenty minute nap. She yawned, reaching up to rub at her eyes with the back of her hand.
Callie just so happened to glance over at that exact moment. Her heart melted.
Arizona could just be so damn cute sometimes.
The blonde stretched, the bottom of her scrub top lifting to expose a long expanse of her smooth, perfect stomach.
Callie's hand squeezed around the cup in her grasp.
Cute, and sexy.
“Shit!” Callie exclaimed when the cold iced tea made contact with the flesh of her hand. The squeeze had apparently dislodged the lid and a bit of the drink spilled out, but she was lucky enough to catch it in time.
“Uhh...” Callie stalled as she looked around for any type of napkin-like device.
Arizona dropped her arms as she watched Callie scramble around. “You okay there, Torres?” Her smile was playful.
“Yep, good,” Callie replied a little too quickly, finally getting everything settled onto the table in the room.
Smirking, Arizona reached up to pull her hair into a ponytail, swung her legs over the side of the bed, and shifted over to the couch. “You brought food. You’re a Goddess.” She didn’t realize how hungry she was until her stomach let out another dinosaur-rivaling growl. “As you can hear, I never got that sandwich.” She blushed a little, then glanced up to meet Callie’s gaze. “You’re amazing. Thank you.”
Callie blushed in response as well. “Welcome,” she mumbled as she pulled the food from the bag to spread it out onto the table.
A few minutes later, they were both digging in.
“Mmm, this chicken salad tastes like a God,” Arizona moaned as she placed another forkful into her mouth. She paused in mid-chew as her brow furrowed. “Is that wrong? Can I say that food tastes like a God?” She considered the possibility. “Isn't that like a double whammy? Sacrilegious and cannibalistic all rolled into one?”
“Oh who cares,” Callie moaned around a bite of her own chicken salad. “I don't know what those people put in this stuff, but seriously?” She placed another forkful in her mouth and then turned her gaze to the blonde. She smiled at the look she was receiving. “What?”
Arizona just grinned and looked away. “Nothing.”
“No, seriously.” Callie reached up to swipe at her mouth. “Is there food clinging somewhere?”
“No,” Arizona laughed, poking at her own salad with her fork. “It’s just…look at us. Sitting here. Eating. Talking like people talk. Being all adult about it. And not having sex.” She pointed the fork at Callie. “We’re growing.”
Callie thought about that for a moment, and then beamed. “We so are. Yay us!”
“Yay!” Arizona echoed with an happy little wave of her fork.
With that one little move, it all changed.
A single clinging piece of chicken from the salad slung off of the fork to land squarely in the center of Arizona's chest. It just barely made it into the 'V' of her scrub top.
“Whoops,” the blonde laughed the instant she felt the cold food connect with her skin. She wasn't really thinking about it as she set her fork down and then reached into her shirt to swipe her finger over the food.
Arizona looked up, still smiling as she stuck her index finger into her mouth to suck the chicken off the tip.
Callie's smile vanished in an instant. Her arm slowly, very slowly, lowered back to the table. Her plastic fork clattered against the top as she missed her plate completely. Her dark brown eyes were trained on the finger still in the other woman's mouth.
Arizona ‘mm’ed quietly, sucking the excess dressing off of her finger before wiping it on a napkin sitting in her lap. She glanced back up to see her Callie giving her a look.
‘That Look’, to be more specific.
“Oh no,” she murmured under her breath, immediately taking the chicken salad from her lap and placing it carefully on the table.
No sense in getting food everywhere.
“Calliope…?” Arizona swallowed hard and gave the other woman a pleading look.
But the instant their eyes met, it was over for her too.
Arizona reached for her the same time as the other surgeon, and once again they were kissing eachother.
Callie nearly tackled the blonde back onto the couch, swinging her legs out to straddle her thighs. She placed one hand behind Arizona's neck to keep her lips pressed hard against her own.
Arizona's hair smelled so good. And her lips were so incredibly soft.
They tasted even better.
Callie felt that familiar twinge between her thighs. She moaned into the kiss as she felt that same tightening in the pit of her stomach. A moment later, she tore her lips away from the kiss with a harsh, heavy breath.
Brown eyes darkened even more. Their lips were barely an inch apart.
“You make me so wet,” Callie whispered as she stroked her fingers through the soft hairs on the back of the other woman's neck. “Just like that.”
Arizona’s insides melted at those words, and her head spun just a little. She gaped up at Callie, really not able to find any words.
Dirty talk? Definitely not making it easier for them to stop.
So instead, she wrapped her left arm behind her lover’s shoulders and yanked her back down into a heated kiss. Her right hand shoved itself beneath Callie’s scrub shirt, grazing against her smooth side.
Callie sucked in a sharp breath and then gasped her approval against the Arizona’s lips. She placed a few more soft kisses against those same lips before suddenly pulling back.
Arizona was a little surprised at the move. But as soon as she saw the brunette reaching down for the hem of her scrubs, she decided she was okay with that.
More than, actually.
Arizona swallowed back as she felt her own desire hit its peak.
Calliope Torres was without a doubt the sexiest woman she’d ever been with.
It made her groan.
Callie chuckled softly as she pulled her shirt over her head. Her dark hair spilled out, framing her face in waves of perfect, messy curls. “Up,” she called softly as she reached down for the hem of Arizona's scrubs.
Ignoring orders, Arizona stayed right where she was. “I like the view from down here,” she pointed out with a lazy smile. “You are…[i]so[i] beautiful.” She shook her head in disbelief.
She was lucky. Really damn lucky.
Whatever they were to eachother these days…Arizona was still madly in love with Callie Torres.
The brunette smirked in return. “I meant your arms.” She reached down to take the hemline of Arizona's scrub top in a gentle grasp, arched a dark brow, and waited.
Arizona blinked innocently back up at Callie. “You gonna make me?” she teased with a smirk.
Callie’s grin just widened.
She reached down, grabbed a handful of Arizona’s shirt, and roughly yanked her up into a sitting position.
Arizona was caught off guard, but didn’t manage so much as a syllable before Callie kissed her like she’d never kissed her before.
Hard enough that it left the blonde dazed when she pulled back a second later. During which time, Callie pulled her shirt roughly up over her head, knocking her ponytail out in the process and allowing blonde locks to cascade down her shoulders.
Which left the perfect opportunity for Callie to weave her fingers into soft, perfect, golden...
Callie groaned softly as she gave the hair in her grasp a slight tug. The motion pulled Arizona's body right into her own, and she gasped again when the bare skin of their stomachs made a soft slap of contact.
The brunette's entire body was buzzing with her arousal. Her skin was on fire wherever the other woman's touched hers.
It was a fire that only Arizona had ever made her feel before.
The kiss finally broke apart, and blue eyes met brown.
For a long moment, neither said anything.
“I love you,” Arizona murmured softly, reaching up to tenderly stroke her fingers along the side of Callie’s cheek. “And…” The words caught in her throat, so she swallowed back to find her voice again.
“And I don’t wanna break up with you.” The blonde woman didn’t break their gaze, but the sting of tears in her eyes made her blink several times. “I don’t want to lose you.” Her fingers traced soft patterns against her lover’s temple. “You’re the girl who wears her heart on her sleeve. Who’ll eat pizza in bed for a date…naked.” She smiled softly. “You’re the girl who stood up to her father and who fights for those she loves. You’re the girl who brought me chicken salad.” Arizona closed her eyes and leaned in to steal a slow, tender kiss. “You’re my girl.”
It took everything Callie had inside of her not to break down right then and there. She smiled, her dark eyes glistening as she reached up to brush the back of her fingers along a smooth, perfect cheek. “I am your girl,” she admitted with a soft, strained whisper. Her brow ticked, the lump in her throat increasing in size as she swallowed back. “But...”
And that was the word that always seemed to sneak right in there and just fuck it all right back up.
It all.
“We...we want such different things,” Callie went on, her voice on the verge of giving out completely. “I...I want babies and PTA's. And you...” she trailed off, her heart breaking. “...don't,” she finished softly.
Maybe this was it. This was finally it.
The conversation that was gonna put this thing to rest once and for all.
There was nothing quite like a big 'ole whopping helping of reality to kill the mood.
Callie closed her eyes with a slow, heavy sigh. “We can't do this,” she admitted softly as she opened her eyes to refocus them on the deep blue gaze. “We can't keep going like this. It...it's not helping, and...and it's not gonna change anything.”
Arizona swallowed hard, not trusting herself to talk. She nodded silently and closed her eyes, taking in a shaky breath. “Y-yeah.”
She knew Callie was right, and that her own mind was thinking the same thing. But…
That didn’t make it any easier.
Callie very, very reluctantly extracted herself from Arizona, and moved back into a sitting position next to her on the couch. Arizona sat up and swung her legs back over the edge.
She stared forward at her chicken salad, though she wasn’t really look at it. There was a moment of silence, and then…
“It’s really over…isn’t it?”
Callie felt heart breaking all over again.
Yeah. It really was.
***
Mark was just walking up the hallway, tossing chocolate kisses into the air to catch them in his mouth when he spotted his best friend emerge from the on-call room. He smirked at her ragged appearance, watching as she very slowly stepped out.
Callie kept her eyes trained on the floor, one hand on the door knob as the other methodically pulled on the hemline of her shirt. She walked very slowly, but somehow managed to make it all the way into the hall. The door shut with a quiet click behind her.
“Torres,” Mark started, shaking his head and grinning widely as he strode up to her. “If you tell me Robbins is in there again, I swear-”
Callie looked up and stopped him dead in his tracks. His smirk faded in an instant at the look in those deep, soulful brown eyes.
“What happened?” Mark asked softly, his amusement completely gone, only to be replaced with concern.
Callie kept staring at him until finally, she just burst into tears. She reached up to grab two fistfuls of his shirt before burying her face into his chest.
Mark popped the last chocolate into his mouth so he could wrap both arms around her. “Shh,” he soothed, running his hand up and down her back. He didn’t have to ask what happened. He just knew.
“It’s okay. You’re gonna be okay.”
***
“Are you sure you're gonna be okay?” Mark asked again, leaning against the wall next to the elevator, arms crossed over his chest.
It was nearly half an hour later, and after many, many more tears, Callie was finally able to stand without the urge to vomit.
“I'm...” she started with a slightly confident smile, but trailed off before she could get any other word out. Her shoulders slumped, and she paused a moment to close her eyes and take in a deep, calming breath. Her smile had returned a little when she finally opened them again.
“I'll be okay,” the brunette assured her friend as she reached out to place her hand gently on the side of the other surgeon's neck. “Thank you, Mark,” she whispered softly. “I don't know what I'd do without you.”
“Oh, suffer endlessly, no doubt,” Sloan shot back with a patented smile.
Callie laughed a little at that just as the elevator dinged and the doors open. She moved to step in, but paused at the last minute. “You're a really good man, Mark,” she informed her friend with a slightly brighter smile. “Any woman should be so lucky.”
He smiled. “Right back ‘atcha, kid.”
Callie gave him one last look before stepping into the elevator.
Mark pushed himself off the wall, smiling at her as he watched her disappear behind the closing doors.
The smile vanished the instant they met with a soft thud.
***
Mark pushed open the door to the locker room with a heavy sigh. He tilted his head back, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck as he stumbled in blindly.
It sure had been one helluva day.
He froze a couple of steps in, his eyes settling on a slumped form in the middle of the locker row.
Arizona was hunched forward with her elbows resting against her thighs and her hands clasped against the back of her neck. She was shaking, but the tears still hadn’t spilled over yet.
“Robbins?” Mark stepped forward tentatively.
Arizona snapped back up, as she hadn’t heard him enter. She looked at him silently for a moment before turning her head back to stare into her open locker. “If you came here to yell at me…I’m really not up for it.”
Mark shook his head with a tired smile. “That's about the last thing in the world I feel like doing right now.” He might not be directly involved, but this break up was really starting to kick his ass.
Royally.
Sloan heaved a heavy sigh as he made his way towards his locker. Which just so happened to be two down from the left of Arizona's.
The plastic surgeon glanced over at the still immobile form of the only other person in the room. He waited, and still, nothing.
Arizona remained silent, still staring straight ahead into the locker. She was willing herself to hold it together, just until she made it through the surgery later, but it was getting harder and harder as the seconds ticked by.
She felt Sloan sit down next to her, and felt his eyes boring into the side of her head. A well of tears pushed forward, and she tried to blink them back. But, taking in a shaky breath, she just couldn’t anymore.
Her body was suddenly racked with a deep, painful sob, and she cupped her right hand over her mouth as the tears finally poured down her face.
Mark sighed heavily before reaching out to snag the blonde by the back of her scrubs. He pulled her over into his waiting arms.
Arizona instantly grabbed two handfuls of his shirt as she buried her face into his chest.
Mark sighed again as he reached up to gently caress the back of her head as she cried into his shoulder.
Yeah. That was about right.
***
Callie was staring straight ahead as she heard the door open. She remained silent, her eyes trained on the glass window in front of her as she continued her routine scrub in. She didn't even have to look over to know who it was.
That was just how much her life totally and completely sucked these days.
Arizona paused just inside the doorway, staring over to where Callie was scrubbing in. She felt immobile for a moment, and it took some effort to make herself walk toward the sinks.
After debating, she took the second one to Callie’s right.
Glancing over, she wasn’t sure if she should say anything or not. But no words came to mind, so…she started to scrub in instead.
Right then, Arizona really kinda disliked Derek.
***
Callie shook her head as she surveyed the damage. “This is bad,” she sighed from behind her surgical mask. She used her right hand to push and pull a the broken, protruding bone. “This is no good.”
Arizona looked over from the other side of the table. The look was clear in her crystal blue eyes. “But you can fix it. I know you can.”
Callie looked up sharply. Her pride was more than a little wounded at the moment, all things considered. The last thing she wanted was the other woman pandering to her ego.
That, and she was pretty heartbroken.
She didn't hate Arizona. She never could. After all, it was nobody's fault.
But, still...
“I just need to think,” Callie finally sighed as she shook her head and then dropped her eyes back down.
Dammit.
This was really no good.
Arizona kept her mouth shut and continued to pull out tiny bone fragments with surgical tweezers. “This is enough to make me want to steer clear of mountain biking,” she mumbled under her breath. With several non-clean breaks, they couldn’t just slip in the rod and screws, they’d had to open the leg right up. This kid wasn’t going to be enjoying a stroll in the park any time soon.
She was concentrating on her task when the monitor suddenly started to beep. She glanced up sharply, and then snapped her head back down to the leg. The incision was filling slowly with blood. “Dammit, there’s a nick in his femoral artery.”
“Where the hell is it,” Callie hissed, searching while the surgeon on suction rapidly tried to clear away the blood so they could see.
It didn’t matter where the small cut was, because three seconds later the whole thing blew.
“Dammit!”
Blood spurted out in a strong jet, hitting them both while the monitors screamed. “Get the clamps!” Arizona shoved her hand full-on into the boy’s leg, scrambling to get the top of the artery before it retracted too far back up his leg. She managed to grasp it with her index finger and thumb, just barely pinching the end closed while struggling to keep it from slipping.
“Shit!” Callie cursed as she scrambled to hold the shattered bone in place. Her hands were slippery and wet from all the blood and she was starting to lose her grip.
But she knew if she did, the bone was gonna go straight into the muscle of the boy's thigh. No doubt to cause almost irreparable damage.
And that would not be good.
More blood poured out to coat her gloved hands.
“Would somebody please stop the fucking bleeding?!”
“Working on it!” Arizona snapped back, as she felt the artery slipping from her grasp. She just about jumped on top of the table to lean a little further toward Callie’s side and shove her hand in .
This kid was gonna hurt in the morning.
Closing her eyes in concentration, she felt her way around and managed to get a bit of a better hold on it. “Got it!” She squeezed it as tightly shut as she could, wondering if the boy even had any blood left to lose. “I need you to reach in here and clamp it,” she grunted to Callie, having a hard time keeping her balance with the awkward way she was leaned over the table. Her arm muscles screamed at the sharp angle they were frozen at, shoved inside of some kid’s leg.
“He's gonna bleed out!” Callie snapped back. She didn't usually lose it so easily in the OR, but recent personal events had played more than a little part in this one.
She was just completely, mentally drained.
And the presence of the blonde currently draped over her operating table wasn't exactly helping matters.
Considering she was pretty much the source.
“I can't let go of his - shit!” Callie cursed again as more blood poured out. If she didn't do something soon, he wasn't going to make it off this table.
Shifting her weight, she quickly switched her grip on the shattered bone from her right hand to her left. The movement was so smooth and quick, the bone barely moved at all.
Callie released a small sigh of relief before quickly reaching over to accept the waiting clamp from the scrub nurse. She immediately leaned down, her face nearly touching Arizona's as she reached in to place the clamp on the artery. They would have to repair it, but for now, she just had to stop the bleeding.
Once the clamp was firmly in place, Arizona very carefully extracted her hand. She waited for a moment to see if the clamp shifted, but breathed a sigh of relief. “It’ll hold.” She immediately slid back to her side of the table with a groan, craning her neck to the side to pop it back into place.
“Dr. Grey,” she addressed Lexi, who was hovering in the background observing. “Go inform his parents that this is going to take a little longer than expected. Don’t tell them what happened, just…it’ll be a little longer.”
Lexi nodded and exited the OR.
Callie sighed again as she moved back to grab the tattered bone with both hands. “Would somebody get me a damn drill?”
***
It was several hours later before Callie was finally able to emerge from the operating room. She discarded her gown into the nearest bin along with her blood soaked gloves. She paused a minute, her eyes closed as she braced her hands on the sink.
“You coulda killed him,” she finally stated calmly.
Arizona was midway through pulling off her own gown, and she froze with it still on her arms. “Excuse me?” She waited for Callie to say something more, but when that didn’t happen, she ripped off her gown and shoved it hard into the bin along with her gloves and mask. She took a few steps toward Callie.
“He was bleeding out,” she stated bluntly. “You think putting a bandaid on the end of his femoral was gonna help?”
“Don't be a smartass, Arizona,” Callie sighed as she finally opened her eyes and then turned her gaze to meet the other surgeon’s. “You were distracted.”
Arizona's brow arched in defense. “Me?” she shot back. “It's not like I cut the damn thing. It was already hanging by a thread by the time I got in there.”
There was something burning in the depths of Callie's dark eyes.
Accusation.
Anger.
Frustration.
Hurt.
Okay. So a lot of 'somethings'.
And even though she knew it was her pain talking, her personal pain, she still couldn't stop herself. “You were careless. You coulda cost him his life, Arizona.”
Arizona stared in disbelief at her ex-girlfriend. “I. Didn’t. Cut. The artery,” she articulated harshly. “I wasn’t anywhere near it when it blew. There were enough bone fragments in there to slice through a whale, Calliope!”
***
From the other side of the sliding glass doors, Lexi Grey and Jackson Avery hovered awkwardly. Both really wanted to un-scrub, but…even though they couldn’t hear what was being said, it looked…bad.
Real bad.
***
“- shouldn’t have been in there in the first place!” Callie hollered.
“Then yell at Shepherd!” Arizona shouted right back. “But if I hadn’t been the one standing right there when it blew, you think an inexperienced resident would have gotten in there fast enough?”
“Oh please, Arizona,” Callie scoffed as she folded her arms over her chest, her gaze never wavering from the blonde. “This was a bad idea,” she went on after a brief pause. “You shouldn't have even been in that room.”
Arizona's hands found themselves suddenly on her hips. “Who died and made you 'King of the OR'?”
Callie scoffed again.
“Is that the only sound you're capable of making anymore?” Arizona shot back in anger. “Besides screaming at me for no apparent reason.”
“No reason?” Callie repeated, her eyes widening a bit. She lifted a hand to point it towards the operating room. “His femoral artery, Arizona. Femoral. Bone fragments or not, you should've caught it before it became that...” She paused with another wave of her hand towards the room. “...massive blood fest.”
“Oh, right, sorry, I forgot I’m also supposed to be a psychic, my bad,” Arizona shot back.
“No, not a psychic, a half decent surgeon who’s job is to prevent that from happening!”
Arizona grit her teeth and took another step toward Callie, pointing at her angrily with her index finger, when the doors to the hallway were pushed open.
“What on earth is all the screaming about?” Chief Shepherd demanded, looking from one woman to the other. “I could practically hear you two at the end of the hallway.” He did not look impressed.
Callie still had the fiery look in her eyes as she cut her gaze from her ex-girlfriend over to her boss. She waited a moment, taking in a deep breath to help calm herself. “Nothing,” she finally replied with a heavy, defeated sigh. She glanced back to the blonde as she reached up to pull the cap from her head. “Nothing at all,” she added softly before brushing past her, then Derek, and then out the door.
Derek watched her go for a moment before turning his gaze back to Arizona. “Well?”
With a heavy sigh of her own, Arizona just shook her head and also marched out the door, turning the opposite direction.
---