Calzona: The (Not a) Fairytale 3/?
Title: Calzona - The (Not a )Fairytale.
Author: Neolithicdream
Pairing/Character: Callie, Arizona.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Arizona lost. And it's a few weeks later. And in a few days Callie will be moving to New York with Sofia for their new life. And Arizona will find a way to keep breathing. At least that's the plan.
A/N:
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 libellous, defamatory, or in any way factual
Miranda Bailey sighed loudly into the silence of the now empty boardroom. Meetings were her least favourite part of being Chief and, these days, Board Meetings were her least favourite of all. The last few had been fraught due not to anything medical or administrative but the personal.
She swore if she could ban work romances altogether she would; work and love should not mix. She sighed as she thought of her latest argument this morning with Ben. Their's would be an entirely argument free blissfully happy relationship were she not his Chief and he a fool resident.
At least at Board level it would be better when Torres was gone and she'd found an adequate replacement Head of Ortho. Adequate was the best she could hope for as she scanned the resumės of the candidates. The Deputy ( and acting head from tomorrow) was fine, he'd benefitted greatly from Callie's tutelage but damn it she wanted better than just fine for her Hospital. She still found it incredible that she was losing Torres to a piece of....Miranda shook the thought away. It had been unprofessional when she'd spoken it out loud to Torres and it felt mean to think it now. She supposed Torres was in love and if so she wished her well. God knows the woman had enough heartbreak to last a lifetime. Still it had come as a surprise. Not least because,well frankly, Blake didn't seem her type. Or maybe she was actually. Blake was a good Doctor, hardworking, somewhat lacking in confidence but so determined to be the best she could be. She had a quiet gentle demeanour but with a sense of humour. She reminded her a little of George O'Malley but only a little. Maybe that was Torres type. Maybe Robbins had been the aberration.
Of course thinking of Torres meant thinking of Robbins. Had Avery hit the nail on the head? Were they going to lose Robbins too? Would she really chase Torres cross country and find a position on the East Coast? Robbins was as ambitious as they came. She couldn't see her chasing...Bailey stopped herself again and shook her head. No Robbins wouldn't give up her career, put her career on hold for a woman.
Except ,Bailey realised,she had once before. For Torres. She had never really thought much about that before but the Carter Madison was as big as it got and Robbins had thrown it away.
For Torres.
There was such anger and bitterness now between her friends. It was hard to imagine it was the same couple whose marriage she had officiated one blissful May Day only a few years before. They had seemed odds on to be the couple that made it. That navigated life's sometimes rocky shores together. They'd already sailed through and survived several storms together.
Turns out they'd ended up shipwrecked anyway.
Would Robbins give up anything for Torres now? Hardly.
But for her daughter?
Anything was possible.
And after all outside of her career what did Seattle hold for her now? Loyalty to the Hospital? To the staff? to her friends here? Bailey squirmed uncomfortably. She'd called it wrong. She'd supported Callie in the custody hearing because well she'd asked first. Told her how Arizona was using lawyers to take her Daughter from her, how she needed her support, as a friend. How Webber was supporting Robbins and how she was terrified that she would lose her daughter.
Somehow Miranda Bailey hadn't figured out that in supporting one she was doing the opposite to the other. That if she helped her friend to win it meant she was helping to ensure her other friend lost. She couldn't imagine what it would have been like for her if she had lost little Tuck to his father and his new wife. It simply never occurred to her that was exactly what Arizona was facing.
Somehow Miranda Bailey found herself wishing she had the emotional intelligence and foresight of Alex Karev. Finishing a distant second to Alex Karev on a question of moral judgement was a very uncomfortable place. Alex, of all people, figured out that being Switzerland was the honourable option in this impossible situation.
It was little consolation that she suspected, in some way, her testimony hadn't entirely helped Callie. As a high achieving career woman and mother, just as both Torres and Robbins were,she never expected the line of questioning about Robbins work schedule. It had appalled her. Callie's demeanour during it appalled her more. She hadn't been able to hide her distaste, not from the lawyer, the Judge or Torres. When she'd called her upon it afterwards Callie had shrugged her shoulders and said, "So? She started this. I would do whatever it takes to keep my child. She brought me to Court."
Miranda knew that Robbins would need support now just as she knew accepting help and support was not something that came easily to her friend. And she was her friend even if Robbins didn't believe that right now. From a practical point of view the only help she could give would be in scheduling as many free weekends as possible if Robbins needed them for visits to New York. But what would that give her? One jet lagged day with her daughter sandwiched between two fear filled flights.
. She knew that Robbins had been approached by John Hopkins in Baltimore and Children's in Boston in the recent past. and that was when she had no incentive to leave Seattle.
Yes, to answer her own question, Avery might well be right.
"Chief!, Chief Bailey! There's been an..." An out of breath Jo Wilson burst in, "...an accident. Or, or an incident."
"Wha-at?"
It's Robbins, she's ...." Wilson stopped, "...she's hurt...it ....Torres....it looks bad..."
"Wha-at?"
"Shepherd ,Grey and Kepner are taking her to surgery now."
********
Blake was the first to arrive, she'd only been a few feet away when 'it' happened.
She'd just managed to get Callie to release her hold on Arizona when Karev and Kepner sprinted to the scene. They had been discussing the case Arizona had been working on all night or rather the legal wrangling that was likely to engulf the situation.
"I hate this stuff, Ethics Committees and Lawyers. Especially Lawyers. The only good Lawyer is a Dead lawyer." Alex gruffly said.
"Alex! Anyway thats too easy", April replied, "blaming the lawyers. they're just doing their job. Acting on instructions."
"Vultures. Making a living out of other people's misery."
"No, they're like us a lot. Surgeons get blamed when the patient dies. Sometimes it is our fault, at least a little. But mostly it's because the cancer was too far advanced or the injuries sustained too much. But we deliver the bad news, they put their loved ones in our care and we have nothing to say except 'We tried.' The lawyers get involved because the people themselves have messed up, they're no more to blame for going to Court than we are for going into Theatre. People like to blame the lawyers because its easier than blaming themselves."
"Are we still talking about the dead Mother and her living foetuses or...."
April shrugged, "Jackson and me....we've agreed to keep the Lawyers out of it. We've agreed not to fight."
"Sometimes you've got no choice." Alex said, "Sometimes Poland gets invaded and you've got to declare War. Sometimes refusing to fight, being neutral is cowardly." Now that the battle was done he wondered if he'd been right. Torres was his friend but so was Robbins. And Robbins had lost and maybe if he'd done something, said something...
They heard the scream just as they turned the corner.
***********
Kepner took control. She was the trauma specialist after all. She barked out orders to passing interns, residents, keeping Arizona steady, stabilising her, talking to her even if she wasn't entirely sure she was capable of hearing. Callie sat there rendered seemingly mute, watching on helplessly as her friends worked on her ex- wife. Mute that was until as Kepner and Karev lifted Arizona onto a back board and Arizona moaned weakly.
"You're hurting her, please don't hurt her." Callie pleaded sounding nothing like a surgeon and every bit the helpless onlooker.
April was about to explain, in some exasperation, exactly what was happening but stopped herself on catching a glimpse at the devastated brunettes face. She looked distraught and traumatised. She'd seen that look too many times out in the field. The relatives, the families. Shock and awe. Right now Callie was family. April frowned at the thought, or at least Callie seemed to think she was.
Amelia Shepherd was pulled out of a perfectly nice surgery to deal with an emergency. When she saw who her patient was she asked no questions, put out of her mind that Arizona was a friend and went into full Surgeon mode. It was clear that there had been a fall and certainly bones might be broken, other internal injuries might manifest but it was obvious that stabilising the head injury was priority. Kepner had stabilised her neck and spine though thankfully there did not appear to be any vertebrae or cord injury at first glance. She would always say that every patient got the same treatment. but still Robbins was one of their own, part of the Hospital family. She wanted the best of her colleagues around her in Theatre.
" Kepner, I need an assist, you okay with this or will I page Hunt?" Hunt had trained Kepner so despite her relationship with Owen she was happy with either. Still Kepner and Robbins were, mostly, best buds and that allied to Kepners condition meant Amelia was happy to give her an out.
It was barely a pause but Shepherd picked up on it. "Page Hunt, stat!"
"No! I'm in. I'm as good as this Hospital has and I'm her friend. She hasn't had all that many friends show up of late." April couldn't help but stare at Callie who still seemed in a trance, the barb seemingly not comprehended."She needs a friend in there, someone who won't give up on her."
Amelia refrained from pointing out that "giving up" on her patients wasn't exactly in her repertoire either. " Fine, page Grey, Webber and Bailey who ever turns up first scrubs in. We need to get to surgery,stat!"
*******
It had been a long shift for Dr. Jo Wilson and she was ready to go home. As she walked out of the elevator and into the Main Entrance Lobby she walked into a commotion. Dozens of people, staff, patients and visitors huddled in small groups whispering, all looking upwards.
"What's up? " She asked a bunch of the new interns she just about recognised. "Uhm....ah...well..."
Wilson sighed. The new intake were surely the dimmest yet.
"I saw it all, it was like in the movies,like it happened in slow motion" the man who spoke was elderly, grey haired at the sides, balding in the middle. He was wearing grey and navy pyjamas and was pushing a wheeled holder which held up a bag of saline solution. He seemed excited, as if all his Christmases had come at once.
"Yeah?" Jo asked.
"She pushed her. Murder One for certain. I mean if the Blonde is dead. Otherwise just attempted murder, I guess."
"What?" The man might have escaped from Psych for all she knew.
The man looked at her as if she might be slow and began to explain again, "this one Doctor, the brunette, good looking, pushed this other Doctor, the Blonde, seemed pretty,down the stairs. "
"What!" She looked up and caught her boyfriends eye through the crowd of people now seemingly working on the victim on the stairs.
"Jo! find the Chief, her pager is off, try the Boardroom. Tell her it's Robbins."
*******
As Arizona had been rushed away on a gurney Karev had asked "what the hell happened?" Blake opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. She'd seen what happened, seen all of it, heard all of it. And there was much to process. There would be time enough later to speak out or to stay silent. Right now nothing she could say would be of assistance to Robbins. Robbins was about to under go emergency life saving surgery. But what she said right now would make a difference to Callie. To Callie's future and her own. And even as Callie's words spoken in anger to Arizona but no less truthful for that ran on a loop in her brain "you ruined love for me, I will never love anyone the way I loved you." right now though she loved Callie and she was going to protect her.
"I need to get you cleaned up" she nudged Callie gently. Callie looked up as if seeing her there for the first time. "Penny?"
She smiled back, "Callie,you need to get you cleaned up". She stood up, her hand outstretched to help her girlfriend up but Karev asked again.
"What happened? How did Robbins end up falling? One of you must have seen something, did she collapse? Should they be looking at an aneurysm or did she trip? What the hell happened?"
"I...we..." Callie stuttered, "...I tried to catch her,but she just started to fall...I don't know what happened we were talking and...she just started to fall and..." Callie started to cry,"...she's going to be okay,right? Arizona is...she's the....she has to be okay."
Penny stared at her girlfriend, a little stunned. Was Callie lying to Karev or was she truly not remembering? Was the shock of the entire incident so great that she had no recollection of pushing the woman twice, maybe even thrice before the final shove that propelled her backwards down the stairs? One way or the other she needed to get Callie out of here and away from the milling crowds below and above.
"C'mon sweetie, we need to get you cleaned up?" Penny nodded at Callie's hands and scrubs, both stained red. Callie stared at her hands comprehension dawning but slowly. "Blood?" She looked quizzically at both of them before adding, "Oh God,that's, that's Arizona's blood. That's my Arizona's blood"
Karev had had his fill of crazy females to last a lifetime and Torres sure was exhibiting signs, "I'm going to go up to OR1 for an update. Bring her to the Attending's Lounge and get her cleaned up" and with that he was gone.
*********
Meredith Grey had just paid for her Skinny double shot Cappuccino and a cinnamon Muffin when the page came. Both were binned. A 911 page to OR1 had her scampering. She'd scrubbed in before she learned the identity of her patient.
The three surgeons had frequently worked together, usually chatting effortlessly. This time there was little conversation other than what was absolutely necessary as they each worked assessing all injuries and prioritising.
"3 fractured ribs"
"Dislocated scapula"
"Lacerations to left thigh, seemingly caused by the prosthetic as she fell"
"Laceration to spleen and liver, relatively minor"
There was really only the injuries to her face and skull that was of major concern but that was enough to be life threatening. An obvious Subdural Haemotoma required immediate attention and Amelia had already started on the craniotomy.
"You got this?" Kepner asked Amelia, "...it's Arizona....you have to..." Kepner was composed but nonetheless emotional, "...she's my friend and..."
Meredith soothed "She's all of our friend, we all..."
"Huh!" Kepner shook her head. She bowed her head again, re- concentrating on the repair of the splenic laceration.
" What's that supposed to mean?" Meredith questioned as she assisted Amelia, "Suction."
" You testified, Arizona lost her daughter, you do the math."
"That's not fair, Callie was just..."
" Sure, cause it's fair to lose your child, right?" April retorted.
"Ladies! I've got a piece of Arizona's skull sitting in a dish over there, a piece I'd like to put back as soon as possible. Which will only happen if I can find all bleeders." Amelia's tone left no room for doubt. "If I don't then your argument as to who is her best friend will be somewhat academic. So, please, either leave and take it to the playground, and send Hunt and Bailey in or play nice and let's save her life."
******
Bailey and Wilson made it to the OR floor the same time as Alex. Bailey, with mask over mouth, entered OR1 with trepidation. She'd done this too often. Watched friends,colleagues and family fight for their lives too many times. It had never before been Robbins even though, during the anxious wait for news of the plane and ( any) survivors made it felt as if it had been. By the time she'd heard of Robbins relapse all those years ago, she'd been saved. At the expense of a leg. As it turned out at the expense of far more than a gangrenous limb.
Now Robbins had somehow fallen down the stairs and her life was hanging by the thread, in the hands of a talented neurosurgeon. Wilson had spouted some secondhand gossip about Torres but that could not be true. Callie had her faults and god knows things were at an all time low between the two former wives but still. No. Just no. The Callie Torres she knew would never physically hurt anyone. She'd told Wilson to shut her mouth and repeat what she'd heard to no-one. Absolutely no-one.
"Alex, I'm just telling you what the man said. Don't shoot the messenger!"
"He said Torres threw Robbins down the stairs?" He was incredulous and pissed that his on/ off again girlfriend would repeat such crap.
"He said the attractive Brunette Doctor."
" Well maybe he meant Blake or..."
"Oh please, Penny's a flame haired ginger, her hair can be seen from space, she's no brunette. Besides Penny wouldn't push a feather down the stairs."
Bailey emerged with some positive news. Robbins was alive and Amelia was hopeful. Then again sometimes neurosurgeons were over hopeful, sometimes neurosurgeons had egos so large that they thought they were God, with power over life and death. But Grey and Kepner had not demurred. So for now she was going with Robbins would live, right now that was all she had.
"Did Torres do this?"
"Alex!" Bailey and Wilson said in unison for different reasons.
Wilson shrugged sheepishly, " If I heard this so did half the staff. I heard one nurse say the Cops were on their way."
A hospital shooting, electrocutions, a plane crash to name but some. But never in her time had a staff member been accused of an intentional act of violence of this nature and certainly not to another stuff member. And these were no ordinary Staff members, these were Doctors, Chiefs, Board members. These were two of her most trusted friends.
"I'm going to find Torres. Don't breathe a word of this to anyone... " Bailey turned away, then turning back added to Wilson "... to anyone else."
******
"I need to be there, I need to know if she...." Callie was trying very hard not to breakdown completely. On one level she knew it wasn't fair to Penny but on the other hand what the hell did that matter when her wife, her Arizona, the mother of her child might die? What did Penny Blake's feelings matter if Arizona Robbins was lying lifeless on a gurney? What did anything or anyone matter right now except Arizona?
"Callie you can't go up there. You're not her...."
" I'm not her what? " she asked angrily. Penny didn't understand, how could she? She hadn't been here, hadn't seen them, hadn't known them. "I'm not her wife? you think I don't know that. I should....I need to be there...she would want me there..she would..."
"No, Callie!" Blake shouted back, trying to get the woman to see. She saw stuff now. Saw that her girlfriend still had a depth of feeling for the woman who had once been her wife. Feelings that had been hidden before, buried even but were now on the surface. Was it love or... It didn't matter right now. It didn't matter that whatever those feeling were they would most likely sweep away whatever feeling, emotions Callie had for her. That there still new, still young relationship would be no match for this latest tsunami that was about to hit. A tsunami that Callie had no knowledge of.
Hell, tsunami wasn't the right word for what Callie might shortly be facing. Arizona living, Arizona dying. It would make no difference. Callie Torres was about to face a shitstorm of epic proportions. One involving the Police and she seemed in total denial.
"Im sorry, sorry, I know this isn't fair but I...Arizona ..I loved her for so long, so much...I just....look we are going to New York together, but I can't go until I know that she'll be...I still..."
"Callie, stop! That's not important now, ok? Can you remember how Arizona fell?"
"I...no...I told you...she just..."
" Callie, listen..." Penny's voice was low and soothing, "... this is really important, I think you need to get an Attorney, ok?"
" Why on earth would I need an attorney? What I need..." She was getting agitated at Penny now, "...is to find out how Arizona is, what I need is to get up to OR1 and..."
Penny took a deep breath, she was certain now that Callie didn't remember, that this was no act. And Callie needed to know so that she could protect herself. There was no time to waste, no time to break it gently. Penny knew now her next words were going to devastate her girlfriend. Were going to change everything.
"Callie, my gorgeous Callie...." She took another deep breath, "... I saw what happened."
"I don't...what do you....saw what...?"
"Just before she fell, you and Arizona were..." she paused, "...arguing loudly."
"What? So? Me and Arizona have done nothing but for months now, I don't understand how this..."
"It seemed very heated, angry, you were angry, she was angry, you pushed her and..."
"No! What are you saying? Why would you...?" Callie shook her head but Penny could see the change. Could see the truth slowly and horribly dawning.
" She stumbled, you pushed again, she resisted...but then ...she was close to the stairs. I don't think either of you realized how close. I know it wasn't deliberate, I know you didn't..."
"Oh my God." Callie said , "I...I pushed her, I pushed Arizona down the stairs. And now she's..." She fell into silence, struck dumb by the awful truth. Eyes wide open, mouth wide open, head in hands. Like an Edvard Münch painting brought to life.
Her silent scream reverberating around the room.
Engulfing them both.
Author: Neolithicdream
Pairing/Character: Callie, Arizona.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Arizona lost. And it's a few weeks later. And in a few days Callie will be moving to New York with Sofia for their new life. And Arizona will find a way to keep breathing. At least that's the plan.
A/N:
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 libellous, defamatory, or in any way factual
Miranda Bailey sighed loudly into the silence of the now empty boardroom. Meetings were her least favourite part of being Chief and, these days, Board Meetings were her least favourite of all. The last few had been fraught due not to anything medical or administrative but the personal.
She swore if she could ban work romances altogether she would; work and love should not mix. She sighed as she thought of her latest argument this morning with Ben. Their's would be an entirely argument free blissfully happy relationship were she not his Chief and he a fool resident.
At least at Board level it would be better when Torres was gone and she'd found an adequate replacement Head of Ortho. Adequate was the best she could hope for as she scanned the resumės of the candidates. The Deputy ( and acting head from tomorrow) was fine, he'd benefitted greatly from Callie's tutelage but damn it she wanted better than just fine for her Hospital. She still found it incredible that she was losing Torres to a piece of....Miranda shook the thought away. It had been unprofessional when she'd spoken it out loud to Torres and it felt mean to think it now. She supposed Torres was in love and if so she wished her well. God knows the woman had enough heartbreak to last a lifetime. Still it had come as a surprise. Not least because,well frankly, Blake didn't seem her type. Or maybe she was actually. Blake was a good Doctor, hardworking, somewhat lacking in confidence but so determined to be the best she could be. She had a quiet gentle demeanour but with a sense of humour. She reminded her a little of George O'Malley but only a little. Maybe that was Torres type. Maybe Robbins had been the aberration.
Of course thinking of Torres meant thinking of Robbins. Had Avery hit the nail on the head? Were they going to lose Robbins too? Would she really chase Torres cross country and find a position on the East Coast? Robbins was as ambitious as they came. She couldn't see her chasing...Bailey stopped herself again and shook her head. No Robbins wouldn't give up her career, put her career on hold for a woman.
Except ,Bailey realised,she had once before. For Torres. She had never really thought much about that before but the Carter Madison was as big as it got and Robbins had thrown it away.
For Torres.
There was such anger and bitterness now between her friends. It was hard to imagine it was the same couple whose marriage she had officiated one blissful May Day only a few years before. They had seemed odds on to be the couple that made it. That navigated life's sometimes rocky shores together. They'd already sailed through and survived several storms together.
Turns out they'd ended up shipwrecked anyway.
Would Robbins give up anything for Torres now? Hardly.
But for her daughter?
Anything was possible.
And after all outside of her career what did Seattle hold for her now? Loyalty to the Hospital? To the staff? to her friends here? Bailey squirmed uncomfortably. She'd called it wrong. She'd supported Callie in the custody hearing because well she'd asked first. Told her how Arizona was using lawyers to take her Daughter from her, how she needed her support, as a friend. How Webber was supporting Robbins and how she was terrified that she would lose her daughter.
Somehow Miranda Bailey hadn't figured out that in supporting one she was doing the opposite to the other. That if she helped her friend to win it meant she was helping to ensure her other friend lost. She couldn't imagine what it would have been like for her if she had lost little Tuck to his father and his new wife. It simply never occurred to her that was exactly what Arizona was facing.
Somehow Miranda Bailey found herself wishing she had the emotional intelligence and foresight of Alex Karev. Finishing a distant second to Alex Karev on a question of moral judgement was a very uncomfortable place. Alex, of all people, figured out that being Switzerland was the honourable option in this impossible situation.
It was little consolation that she suspected, in some way, her testimony hadn't entirely helped Callie. As a high achieving career woman and mother, just as both Torres and Robbins were,she never expected the line of questioning about Robbins work schedule. It had appalled her. Callie's demeanour during it appalled her more. She hadn't been able to hide her distaste, not from the lawyer, the Judge or Torres. When she'd called her upon it afterwards Callie had shrugged her shoulders and said, "So? She started this. I would do whatever it takes to keep my child. She brought me to Court."
Miranda knew that Robbins would need support now just as she knew accepting help and support was not something that came easily to her friend. And she was her friend even if Robbins didn't believe that right now. From a practical point of view the only help she could give would be in scheduling as many free weekends as possible if Robbins needed them for visits to New York. But what would that give her? One jet lagged day with her daughter sandwiched between two fear filled flights.
. She knew that Robbins had been approached by John Hopkins in Baltimore and Children's in Boston in the recent past. and that was when she had no incentive to leave Seattle.
Yes, to answer her own question, Avery might well be right.
"Chief!, Chief Bailey! There's been an..." An out of breath Jo Wilson burst in, "...an accident. Or, or an incident."
"Wha-at?"
It's Robbins, she's ...." Wilson stopped, "...she's hurt...it ....Torres....it looks bad..."
"Wha-at?"
"Shepherd ,Grey and Kepner are taking her to surgery now."
********
Blake was the first to arrive, she'd only been a few feet away when 'it' happened.
She'd just managed to get Callie to release her hold on Arizona when Karev and Kepner sprinted to the scene. They had been discussing the case Arizona had been working on all night or rather the legal wrangling that was likely to engulf the situation.
"I hate this stuff, Ethics Committees and Lawyers. Especially Lawyers. The only good Lawyer is a Dead lawyer." Alex gruffly said.
"Alex! Anyway thats too easy", April replied, "blaming the lawyers. they're just doing their job. Acting on instructions."
"Vultures. Making a living out of other people's misery."
"No, they're like us a lot. Surgeons get blamed when the patient dies. Sometimes it is our fault, at least a little. But mostly it's because the cancer was too far advanced or the injuries sustained too much. But we deliver the bad news, they put their loved ones in our care and we have nothing to say except 'We tried.' The lawyers get involved because the people themselves have messed up, they're no more to blame for going to Court than we are for going into Theatre. People like to blame the lawyers because its easier than blaming themselves."
"Are we still talking about the dead Mother and her living foetuses or...."
April shrugged, "Jackson and me....we've agreed to keep the Lawyers out of it. We've agreed not to fight."
"Sometimes you've got no choice." Alex said, "Sometimes Poland gets invaded and you've got to declare War. Sometimes refusing to fight, being neutral is cowardly." Now that the battle was done he wondered if he'd been right. Torres was his friend but so was Robbins. And Robbins had lost and maybe if he'd done something, said something...
They heard the scream just as they turned the corner.
***********
Kepner took control. She was the trauma specialist after all. She barked out orders to passing interns, residents, keeping Arizona steady, stabilising her, talking to her even if she wasn't entirely sure she was capable of hearing. Callie sat there rendered seemingly mute, watching on helplessly as her friends worked on her ex- wife. Mute that was until as Kepner and Karev lifted Arizona onto a back board and Arizona moaned weakly.
"You're hurting her, please don't hurt her." Callie pleaded sounding nothing like a surgeon and every bit the helpless onlooker.
April was about to explain, in some exasperation, exactly what was happening but stopped herself on catching a glimpse at the devastated brunettes face. She looked distraught and traumatised. She'd seen that look too many times out in the field. The relatives, the families. Shock and awe. Right now Callie was family. April frowned at the thought, or at least Callie seemed to think she was.
Amelia Shepherd was pulled out of a perfectly nice surgery to deal with an emergency. When she saw who her patient was she asked no questions, put out of her mind that Arizona was a friend and went into full Surgeon mode. It was clear that there had been a fall and certainly bones might be broken, other internal injuries might manifest but it was obvious that stabilising the head injury was priority. Kepner had stabilised her neck and spine though thankfully there did not appear to be any vertebrae or cord injury at first glance. She would always say that every patient got the same treatment. but still Robbins was one of their own, part of the Hospital family. She wanted the best of her colleagues around her in Theatre.
" Kepner, I need an assist, you okay with this or will I page Hunt?" Hunt had trained Kepner so despite her relationship with Owen she was happy with either. Still Kepner and Robbins were, mostly, best buds and that allied to Kepners condition meant Amelia was happy to give her an out.
It was barely a pause but Shepherd picked up on it. "Page Hunt, stat!"
"No! I'm in. I'm as good as this Hospital has and I'm her friend. She hasn't had all that many friends show up of late." April couldn't help but stare at Callie who still seemed in a trance, the barb seemingly not comprehended."She needs a friend in there, someone who won't give up on her."
Amelia refrained from pointing out that "giving up" on her patients wasn't exactly in her repertoire either. " Fine, page Grey, Webber and Bailey who ever turns up first scrubs in. We need to get to surgery,stat!"
*******
It had been a long shift for Dr. Jo Wilson and she was ready to go home. As she walked out of the elevator and into the Main Entrance Lobby she walked into a commotion. Dozens of people, staff, patients and visitors huddled in small groups whispering, all looking upwards.
"What's up? " She asked a bunch of the new interns she just about recognised. "Uhm....ah...well..."
Wilson sighed. The new intake were surely the dimmest yet.
"I saw it all, it was like in the movies,like it happened in slow motion" the man who spoke was elderly, grey haired at the sides, balding in the middle. He was wearing grey and navy pyjamas and was pushing a wheeled holder which held up a bag of saline solution. He seemed excited, as if all his Christmases had come at once.
"Yeah?" Jo asked.
"She pushed her. Murder One for certain. I mean if the Blonde is dead. Otherwise just attempted murder, I guess."
"What?" The man might have escaped from Psych for all she knew.
The man looked at her as if she might be slow and began to explain again, "this one Doctor, the brunette, good looking, pushed this other Doctor, the Blonde, seemed pretty,down the stairs. "
"What!" She looked up and caught her boyfriends eye through the crowd of people now seemingly working on the victim on the stairs.
"Jo! find the Chief, her pager is off, try the Boardroom. Tell her it's Robbins."
*******
As Arizona had been rushed away on a gurney Karev had asked "what the hell happened?" Blake opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. She'd seen what happened, seen all of it, heard all of it. And there was much to process. There would be time enough later to speak out or to stay silent. Right now nothing she could say would be of assistance to Robbins. Robbins was about to under go emergency life saving surgery. But what she said right now would make a difference to Callie. To Callie's future and her own. And even as Callie's words spoken in anger to Arizona but no less truthful for that ran on a loop in her brain "you ruined love for me, I will never love anyone the way I loved you." right now though she loved Callie and she was going to protect her.
"I need to get you cleaned up" she nudged Callie gently. Callie looked up as if seeing her there for the first time. "Penny?"
She smiled back, "Callie,you need to get you cleaned up". She stood up, her hand outstretched to help her girlfriend up but Karev asked again.
"What happened? How did Robbins end up falling? One of you must have seen something, did she collapse? Should they be looking at an aneurysm or did she trip? What the hell happened?"
"I...we..." Callie stuttered, "...I tried to catch her,but she just started to fall...I don't know what happened we were talking and...she just started to fall and..." Callie started to cry,"...she's going to be okay,right? Arizona is...she's the....she has to be okay."
Penny stared at her girlfriend, a little stunned. Was Callie lying to Karev or was she truly not remembering? Was the shock of the entire incident so great that she had no recollection of pushing the woman twice, maybe even thrice before the final shove that propelled her backwards down the stairs? One way or the other she needed to get Callie out of here and away from the milling crowds below and above.
"C'mon sweetie, we need to get you cleaned up?" Penny nodded at Callie's hands and scrubs, both stained red. Callie stared at her hands comprehension dawning but slowly. "Blood?" She looked quizzically at both of them before adding, "Oh God,that's, that's Arizona's blood. That's my Arizona's blood"
Karev had had his fill of crazy females to last a lifetime and Torres sure was exhibiting signs, "I'm going to go up to OR1 for an update. Bring her to the Attending's Lounge and get her cleaned up" and with that he was gone.
*********
Meredith Grey had just paid for her Skinny double shot Cappuccino and a cinnamon Muffin when the page came. Both were binned. A 911 page to OR1 had her scampering. She'd scrubbed in before she learned the identity of her patient.
The three surgeons had frequently worked together, usually chatting effortlessly. This time there was little conversation other than what was absolutely necessary as they each worked assessing all injuries and prioritising.
"3 fractured ribs"
"Dislocated scapula"
"Lacerations to left thigh, seemingly caused by the prosthetic as she fell"
"Laceration to spleen and liver, relatively minor"
There was really only the injuries to her face and skull that was of major concern but that was enough to be life threatening. An obvious Subdural Haemotoma required immediate attention and Amelia had already started on the craniotomy.
"You got this?" Kepner asked Amelia, "...it's Arizona....you have to..." Kepner was composed but nonetheless emotional, "...she's my friend and..."
Meredith soothed "She's all of our friend, we all..."
"Huh!" Kepner shook her head. She bowed her head again, re- concentrating on the repair of the splenic laceration.
" What's that supposed to mean?" Meredith questioned as she assisted Amelia, "Suction."
" You testified, Arizona lost her daughter, you do the math."
"That's not fair, Callie was just..."
" Sure, cause it's fair to lose your child, right?" April retorted.
"Ladies! I've got a piece of Arizona's skull sitting in a dish over there, a piece I'd like to put back as soon as possible. Which will only happen if I can find all bleeders." Amelia's tone left no room for doubt. "If I don't then your argument as to who is her best friend will be somewhat academic. So, please, either leave and take it to the playground, and send Hunt and Bailey in or play nice and let's save her life."
******
Bailey and Wilson made it to the OR floor the same time as Alex. Bailey, with mask over mouth, entered OR1 with trepidation. She'd done this too often. Watched friends,colleagues and family fight for their lives too many times. It had never before been Robbins even though, during the anxious wait for news of the plane and ( any) survivors made it felt as if it had been. By the time she'd heard of Robbins relapse all those years ago, she'd been saved. At the expense of a leg. As it turned out at the expense of far more than a gangrenous limb.
Now Robbins had somehow fallen down the stairs and her life was hanging by the thread, in the hands of a talented neurosurgeon. Wilson had spouted some secondhand gossip about Torres but that could not be true. Callie had her faults and god knows things were at an all time low between the two former wives but still. No. Just no. The Callie Torres she knew would never physically hurt anyone. She'd told Wilson to shut her mouth and repeat what she'd heard to no-one. Absolutely no-one.
"Alex, I'm just telling you what the man said. Don't shoot the messenger!"
"He said Torres threw Robbins down the stairs?" He was incredulous and pissed that his on/ off again girlfriend would repeat such crap.
"He said the attractive Brunette Doctor."
" Well maybe he meant Blake or..."
"Oh please, Penny's a flame haired ginger, her hair can be seen from space, she's no brunette. Besides Penny wouldn't push a feather down the stairs."
Bailey emerged with some positive news. Robbins was alive and Amelia was hopeful. Then again sometimes neurosurgeons were over hopeful, sometimes neurosurgeons had egos so large that they thought they were God, with power over life and death. But Grey and Kepner had not demurred. So for now she was going with Robbins would live, right now that was all she had.
"Did Torres do this?"
"Alex!" Bailey and Wilson said in unison for different reasons.
Wilson shrugged sheepishly, " If I heard this so did half the staff. I heard one nurse say the Cops were on their way."
A hospital shooting, electrocutions, a plane crash to name but some. But never in her time had a staff member been accused of an intentional act of violence of this nature and certainly not to another stuff member. And these were no ordinary Staff members, these were Doctors, Chiefs, Board members. These were two of her most trusted friends.
"I'm going to find Torres. Don't breathe a word of this to anyone... " Bailey turned away, then turning back added to Wilson "... to anyone else."
******
"I need to be there, I need to know if she...." Callie was trying very hard not to breakdown completely. On one level she knew it wasn't fair to Penny but on the other hand what the hell did that matter when her wife, her Arizona, the mother of her child might die? What did Penny Blake's feelings matter if Arizona Robbins was lying lifeless on a gurney? What did anything or anyone matter right now except Arizona?
"Callie you can't go up there. You're not her...."
" I'm not her what? " she asked angrily. Penny didn't understand, how could she? She hadn't been here, hadn't seen them, hadn't known them. "I'm not her wife? you think I don't know that. I should....I need to be there...she would want me there..she would..."
"No, Callie!" Blake shouted back, trying to get the woman to see. She saw stuff now. Saw that her girlfriend still had a depth of feeling for the woman who had once been her wife. Feelings that had been hidden before, buried even but were now on the surface. Was it love or... It didn't matter right now. It didn't matter that whatever those feeling were they would most likely sweep away whatever feeling, emotions Callie had for her. That there still new, still young relationship would be no match for this latest tsunami that was about to hit. A tsunami that Callie had no knowledge of.
Hell, tsunami wasn't the right word for what Callie might shortly be facing. Arizona living, Arizona dying. It would make no difference. Callie Torres was about to face a shitstorm of epic proportions. One involving the Police and she seemed in total denial.
"Im sorry, sorry, I know this isn't fair but I...Arizona ..I loved her for so long, so much...I just....look we are going to New York together, but I can't go until I know that she'll be...I still..."
"Callie, stop! That's not important now, ok? Can you remember how Arizona fell?"
"I...no...I told you...she just..."
" Callie, listen..." Penny's voice was low and soothing, "... this is really important, I think you need to get an Attorney, ok?"
" Why on earth would I need an attorney? What I need..." She was getting agitated at Penny now, "...is to find out how Arizona is, what I need is to get up to OR1 and..."
Penny took a deep breath, she was certain now that Callie didn't remember, that this was no act. And Callie needed to know so that she could protect herself. There was no time to waste, no time to break it gently. Penny knew now her next words were going to devastate her girlfriend. Were going to change everything.
"Callie, my gorgeous Callie...." She took another deep breath, "... I saw what happened."
"I don't...what do you....saw what...?"
"Just before she fell, you and Arizona were..." she paused, "...arguing loudly."
"What? So? Me and Arizona have done nothing but for months now, I don't understand how this..."
"It seemed very heated, angry, you were angry, she was angry, you pushed her and..."
"No! What are you saying? Why would you...?" Callie shook her head but Penny could see the change. Could see the truth slowly and horribly dawning.
" She stumbled, you pushed again, she resisted...but then ...she was close to the stairs. I don't think either of you realized how close. I know it wasn't deliberate, I know you didn't..."
"Oh my God." Callie said , "I...I pushed her, I pushed Arizona down the stairs. And now she's..." She fell into silence, struck dumb by the awful truth. Eyes wide open, mouth wide open, head in hands. Like an Edvard Münch painting brought to life.
Her silent scream reverberating around the room.
Engulfing them both.