Everywhere
Episode Title: Everywhere
Episode Summary: Arizona is everywhere. Callie is frustrated and awkward.
"'Cause you're everywhere to me
And when I close my eyes it's you I see…"
Let us know what you think!
Everywhere she turned, there Arizona was.
Callie was sure she was losing her mind. Ever since Sofia's soccer game—and her realization—on Saturday, Arizona had been everywhere: at the coffee cart, in the cafeteria, in the ER, at the OR board, and even in the OR gallery. She was unavoidable. And it was making Callie crazy.
It wasn't like Callie didn't want to see Arizona. She did. She just didn't want to see her so much right then.
Because, every time they crossed paths, Callie wanted to grab the blonde by the shoulders and look deeply into those bright blue eyes and apologize for how wrong she had been—for how she foolishly mishandled the last three years.
But she knew that it was too soon. The pain that she had caused during the trial was still too fresh, and there was no way Arizona would be open to anything more than their current co-parenting arrangement. Not yet, anyway.
And, if Callie was being honest with herself, she wasn't ready for more just yet, either. She wanted to savor the future possibilities for a while without rushing into anything. She wanted to be friends—real friends—and, if possible, build something stronger than what they'd had before.
Still, recognizing that it was too soon to say anything to her ex-wife directly didn't eliminate the wanting. She wanted Arizona badly. She yearned for the parts of her she hadn't allowed herself to even think about after their divorce: her velvet skin, her hugs, her quiet care, her humor, her wildflower scent, her strength, her bravery, her love…
The list was never ending, and it weighed heavily on her mind, so she wanted to talk out her feelings with the people she trusted.
Except every time she opened her mouth, there Arizona was, within earshot.
Meanwhile, Arizona was facing her own dilemma. She had never been able to deny the love she'd felt for Callie. It had always been present and apparent, and that had been much of the reason why she had told her ex-wife to go to New York.
And with time, Arizona had learned to bury those feelings. She was an expert at compartmentalizing, and she did it often.
But then she had felt something at Sofia's soccer game. For the first time in years, she and Callie had really connected. She had missed that feeling, and she wanted to feel it again and again and again.
For that reason, she'd been trying to be in her ex-wife's presence all week, but without success so far; every time she got close to Callie, there were either other doctors around or the brunette would have to leave to go deal with business.
Arizona knew it wasn't Callie's fault, but still, it was making her crazy. All she wanted was to build a good relationship with her ex-wife again, but life kept interfering.
Seeing the Chief in the distance, Callie ran toward her, exclaiming, "Bailey!"
Bailey looked up from her iPad. "Torres, what is it?" As usual, she wasn't in the mood for any nonsense. "I thought you were meeting with the engineer from Biomed this morning?"
"Oh, I am. He called earlier and said he's running late. He should be here soon. I just..." Callie paused, working up the courage to address the issue. She looked around, making sure the area was clear of any eavesdroppers before she whispered, "I need to ask you something."
Bailey waited.
"Right," Callie continued, ignoring her friend's judgmental stare. "So...Have you ever liked someone—someone who's just...out-of-this-world amazing—and you can't stop thinking about them? But you also can't tell them, even though they're all you can think about, constantly…"
She rambled on. "Because you don't know whether it's too late, or if you messed things up, or if, maybe-"
"Callie," Bailey interrupted gently, sensing her friend's rising panic and wanting to stop it. Quietly, she inquired, "Who are we talking about, here?"
Callie gulped. She was grateful that Bailey was actually willing to offer some emotional support, but she was still a little hesitant to admit her re-emerging feelings. "I'm talking about-"
Once again, her explanation was cut short by the object of her desire. Above Bailey's head, Callie saw that Arizona was ten yards away and heading in their direction.
When they locked eyes, the blonde offered a smile and small wave.
Callie let out a groan, feeling the urge to bang her head against the counter of the nurse's station. Damn it. Not only had Arizona been seconds from hearing her own name, but she also wore the most magnetic smile on the planet, which wasn't freaking helping to stifle her Big Feelings.
"Torres?" Bailey worried, suddenly concerned for her friend's well-being. "What's wrong?"
Callie huffed. "Nothing," she grumbled, offering her friend an apologetic look. "I've gotta go."
She hurried away before Arizona could get any closer, paranoid that she might say or do something weird. With her revelation and new rush of feelings so fresh, it was not the time to unravel.
"But you didn't finish telling me who you were talking about!" Bailey called after her. She didn't like getting into other people's business, but she was known to make exceptions in case of emergency, and whatever Callie was about to say seemed urgent.
"Hey," Arizona chirped, coming up behind her friend. "Where's Callie going?"
Bailey shrugged. "She just ran off!" She turned to the blonde.
Arizona's narrowed eyes remained fixed to the spot down the hall where she'd last seen Callie. "Did she say anything to you? About me?"
"No. Why?" Bailey wondered. Callie hadn't said anything. Unless she'd been talking about…
"I think she's mad at me or something," Arizona lamented. "I thought it was just a coincidence, but now I'm not sure. Every time she sees me, she runs in the opposite direction!"
Bailey's eyebrows flew up.
"Did she say anything?" Arizona repeated.
"Uh…" Bailey paused. "I don't think she's mad at you." If Callie indeed had been referring to Arizona, then she definitely wasn't mad. That Bailey knew.
Arizona huffed then shook her head, freeing the worry from her mind and changing the subject. "Hey, do you have any fun surgeries for me to help with?"
Bailey made a face. "Trust me, if there were any fun surgeries to do, I'd be doing them myself."
It was a slow day.
After leaving Bailey, Callie wandered through the hospital corridors, her mind occupied with only one thing.
She was going to burst if she didn't talk to someone soon.
But before she could find a confidant, the front desk called and informed her that the engineer had finally arrived and was waiting in the hall outside of her lab.
"Michael Singh?" Callie asked as she hurried up to the man. "I'm here, I'm here. I'm sorry you had to wait." She extended her hand in greeting.
"You can call me Mike." He shook her hand with enthusiasm. "And I'm the one who should apologize for being late. I had a tough time getting here."
"It looks like you made it one piece, though. That's all that matters. It's nice to finally put a face to the name."
"Thank you," he smiled. "It really is an honor to meet you in person, Dr. Torres."
She smiled back. "You can call me Callie."
Arizona, who appeared to be patientless for the day, decided to continue her quest to find Callie. She roamed the hospital halls, chatting with the coworkers she passed until, finally, she caught sight of her ex entering her lab with a tall, good-looking man with wavy black hair. They were both all smiles.
She had hoped to find a moment alone with the elusive brunette, but to her dismay, it didn't seem like that was going to happen.
Arizona couldn't place the man with Callie; she knew he wasn't a surgeon at Grey-Sloan, but he didn't look like a patient, either.
Her curiosity got the better of her, and she casually walked past the closed door, stopping to peer through the small window at just the right angle to avoid being detected. She watched Callie smile as she nodded at whatever the stranger was saying.
Huh, she thought. They seem friendly.
Whatever the man had said must have been funny, because suddenly Callie threw back her head and laughed.
Arizona rolled her eyes. It couldn't have been that funny.
Is Callie flirting? she wondered. No. Her arms are crossed. Definitely not interested.
He's kind of in her personal space, though, she noted. Come on Callie. She tapped her foot in agitation. Tell him to back off.
Arizona let another minute go by, watching as the mystery man moved closer to Callie. Then, she decided she'd seen enough. She prepared to walk in and interrupt their interaction in case Callie needed a helping hand.
But before she could make her move, a heated discussion down the hall between Alex and Jo caught her attention. She wasn't close enough to hear what either doctor was saying but, judging by their erratic hand gestures, whatever they were talking about wasn't good. She moved away from the door and crept away from the arguing pair so as not to disrupt them.
Callie listened politely as Mike told her about the crazy Uber driver who'd gotten lost while driving him from his hotel to the hospital.
"He had no idea where he was going," Mike explained. "I had to use the GPS on my phone to get us here."
Callie smiled, admitting, "I've never used an Uber before."
"I usually have pretty good luck with them," Mike defended. "But this guy…I don't know. He was weird. He played 'You're Beautiful' by James Blunt on repeat."
Callie chuckled. In James' defense, it was a decent song, but...on repeat? A person could only listen to his haunting voice for so long...
"I swear I heard it at least ten times on the way here. So, if I start singing, I promise it's not because I'm trying to flirt. It's just stuck in my head." He smiled.
Callie looked him over, and he was certainly attractive. Dark skinned, good build, great smile.
If her mind wasn't preoccupied with thoughts of her ex-wife, she might not even have minded some innocent flirting. But she definitely wasn't interested. Not when all she could think about was Arizona.
Callie showed him to the area of the lab where he would be working and pointed him to the boxes of equipment that had been delivered prior to his arrival.
"Great," he affirmed. "This is going to take me awhile to get set up, so if you have something else to do right now, go ahead. You don't have to keep me company."
"Oh, I don't mind. I'm really not busy today."
Callie's pager chose that moment to start buzzing in her pocket. She smiled apologetically. "Famous last words. I've gotta get down to the ER."
"We need to get a restraining order!" Alex insisted, attempting to keep his voice low despite his fury. "He's in Tacoma," he said of her abusive ex-husband. "That's close! And I don't want him getting near you ever again."
"We can't do anything, Alex!" Jo argued. "If I get back into contact with him, he'll know where I am. You don't get it. I ran away, and I'm safe now. Can't you and I just stay together and not get marr-"
"No!" Alex fought. "You can't just stay married to this creep! What if something happens to you someday? Then he'll have the right to make any decision on your behalf, and I'll be nothing. Do you want that?"
"Of course I don't want that," Jo surrendered. "I just want to forget about him. So don't contact him."
"Jo-"
"Promise me," she demanded. "Promise me you won't do anything."
Before Alex could make any promises, his pager blared. "I've got to go," he grumbled, walking away without another word.
"Alex!"
Down the hall and just out of earshot, Arizona's own device started beeping, and she rushed off to the ER.
"Hi, Trevor," Callie smiled at the ten-year-old boy who was dazed out on painkillers. "I'm Dr. Torres, and I'm going to help fix your broken clavicle, okay?"
Trevor nodded as his parents watched him in worry.
Coming up behind her, Alex greeted the kid. "Trevor! Dude, what happened?"
Callie looked up, briefly distracted. "You know him?" she whispered.
Alex nodded. "He has CF. Robbins and I have been treating him forever."
Callie sighed. Poor kid. "I'm guessing you want to assist to keep an eye on him, then?"
"You bet," Alex grunted.
As they secured the rails of the gurney and began to wheel the boy towards the elevator, Callie smiled. "That's perfect," she began. "Because I've actually been wanting to talk to you about Ariz-"
"Hey!" Arizona bounced up to the gurney. "What's going on?"
Callie looked up, equal parts pleased and exasperated. "Nothing's going on!" she blurted guiltily. She's everywhere.
"Trevor Resnick broke his clavicle," Alex explained. "Badly. We're going into surgery now."
"Oh, I can help with that, Karev," his superior decided. After what she'd just witnessed upstairs, Arizona didn't think Alex's head was in the right place for surgery. "Can you check on all our post-ops? Callie and I can handle this."
Alex nodded, immediately backing off. He had other things to worry about, anyway.
Callie had to swallow the groan in the back of her throat. Just her luck. She was going to have to be in close proximity to Arizona for at least an hour without going crazy, admitting her feelings, or giving her that look, with love in her eyes. It wasn't going to be easy.
As they stepped into the elevator, Arizona smiled. "This is the first time I've had you alone all week."
"Yeah, uh…long time no see." Callie rolled her eyes at her own awkwardness.
She tried again. "Why are you shoving Alex off a Peds case? No unborn babies to save?"
"Hey! I'm still the Peds department head!" Arizona defended, affectionately nudging Callie's arm with her elbow. "But yeah," she admitted with a sigh. "Slow day in Maternal Fetal. What about you? Is Ortho busy?"
Callie smirked. "I'm doing a routine clavicle-break surgery that any fourth-year resident could do, so what do you think?"
"Double-board certified and assisting." Arizona pointed to herself and shrugged. "So we're definitely in the same boat. A really slooow boat," she drug out with a glint in her eye. Her dimples popped as she gave Callie her most adorable smile.
Callie reached over and touched the left wall to steady herself as the elevator began to move, dizzied by the blonde's smile.
Arizona looked over, concerned. "Are you okay?" Callie looked like she was ready to fall over.
"I...skipped lunch," Callie lied, forcing herself to be cool.
"Oh." Arizona paused, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a granola bar and banana. "Eat these. You need to have your energy up for this kid. I like him."
Making a face, Callie hesitated momentarily. She wasn't actually hungry, but she knew that now she had to eat something. Dang. She took the snacks from her ex-wife's hands, nodding, "Thanks."
Arizona smiled then changed the subject. "Hey, so, I, uh…I saw you talking to Bailey this morning, but then you ran off. I assumed you had something important to get to, but you said it's slow for you."
Callie looked over and met blue eyes. "Oh, um, I had to meet with someone. Why?"
"I don't know. I just was wondering if…" Arizona trailed off.
Callie felt her heart speed up. "If what?"
As they reached their floor, Arizona shrugged. "If you ran away from me because I did something wrong."
"What?" How could Arizona think that? That was so, so far from the truth that it was almost humorous.
"I don't know." Embarrassed, Arizona waved off the thought. "I worried that you might be feeling...mad, for a second."
"Trust me," Callie vowed with a little humor in her voice. "I'm definitely not feeling that."
Arizona stood across the OR table from the orthopedic surgeon, watching her strong but gentle hands meticulously operate on Trevor.
"So." She cleared her throat, glancing at the anesthesiologist and the scrub nurses around them. Attempting to sound casual, she continued, "Who was that guy in your lab earlier? Is that who you had to meet?"
Callie looked up. "What? You mean Mike?"
Arizona shrugged.
"He's an engineer," Callie explained. "He's helping me with the design specifics for the new prosthetic leg prototype."
"Oh." Arizona nodded. "Cool. Is he...nice? " She felt compelled to find out the depth of Callie's connection to the man. Not that she was jealous, she was just…curious. "Have you worked with him before?
"He's great," Callie supplied. "We've been corresponding for a few weeks. I read an article a few months ago about this morphing material that Biomed created. It discussed the potential uses, one of which was smart bandages, so I thought, why couldn't something like that be used as the lining inside the prosthetic? I emailed the team that was working on it, and about a month ago, they got back to me and are giving me Mike exclusively for the next couple weeks to see if the morphing material will work with the prostheses."
"They'll be so much cheaper, and they might even be easier to use, too," she continued, excited by the prospect. "The material's lighter and, if we do it correctly, it will react to muscle movement in the residual limb. It's so cool. It's going to take this project to the next level."
Arizona smiled, realizing—maybe for the first time—how much this project actually meant to Callie. In truth, the project hadn't been something that she herself needed to heal post-amputation, but it seemed that it'd been something Callie had needed. Arizona realized that her ex-wife hadn't been trying to fix her after all; she had been healing herself.
"It sounds great," Arizona choked out as she attempted to swallow the lump in her throat. "You're going to change so many lives."
"I hope so."
They chatted about Callie's project for a while until, much to Arizona's chagrin, the anesthesiologist had to interrupt to brag about his son who was headed off to Stanford. Arizona didn't care what his stupid-but-smart-enough-to-get-into-Stanford son was doing. She just wanted to talk to Callie, and his interruption had effectively ended their moment and left them working in silence.
The quiet allowed her to really watch Callie as she worked.
That had been something she'd always loved to do. Callie was the perfect combination of confident, quick, and meticulous. She was a genius.
The way her hands moved with gentleness and grace was unlike any other surgeon's. It was beautiful.
Arizona glanced up, allowing her gaze to roam Callie's face.
God. She was beautiful.
"You're beautiful," Callie began to sing to herself as she closed up. "You're beautiful, it's true. There must be an angel…"
"Callie?"
Callie looked up to see all eyes trained on her, and she nearly choked on her own breath. "Oh. Sorry! I wasn't referring to you!"
Arizona raised her eyebrows.
"I mean," Callie backtracked, all the while wishing there was a hole in the ground she could jump into. "I didn't...You're not...I mean...You are!" She paused. "Beautiful, I mean. And-"
Slowly, Arizona's lips curled up into a smile. A nervous, sputtering Callie had always been a sight she'd enjoyed.
"I don't want you to think I don't think that, because I do," Callie continued, digging her own grave. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bokhee shaking her head, and she could feel the silent judgement. She was screwed.
"I do," she swore. "But I wasn't, you know...singing to you. I was just...it's just stuck in my head."
Arizona dimpled, then did her best to save Callie from herself. "I know you weren't singing to me, Calliope. No one thought that."
Everyone smirked and shared glances, but Callie and Arizona didn't notice.
Callie exhaled a breath of relief, recovering. "Good."
"You can keep singing, though," Arizona added. "I liked it."
"Karev," Arizona bounded toward her protégé after her surgery with Callie. "How's it going?"
Looking up from the cell phone that sat on his lap, Alex nodded towards his mentor. "How'd Trevor do?"
"He did great," Arizona informed him. "His vitals kept steady the whole time, free of complications."
"Good." Alex picked up his phone and stood up from the attendings' couch, anxious for a distraction from his personal life. "I've gotta go."
"Alex." Arizona's soft but dictatorial voice stopped him from taking another step. "I saw you and Jo talking earlier."
Alex whipped his head around to face her.
"I'm worried about you," she professed, her blue eyes attempting to read his face.
"Well, don't be," he growled. "It's not your problem."
"Alex…"
"Why are you always checking up on me, anyway?" he laid into her, frustrated and angry and upset and scared and needing to take his feelings out on anyone willing to listen. "You're freakin' everywhere."
"Because I love you!" Arizona exclaimed. Alex's behavior worried her. He was acting like the stubborn, arrogant resident he'd once been instead of the strong, loving man he had become. What on earth had happened with Jo?
"Alex," she sighed, trying again to soften the stone face that stared at her. "I'm here for you. And maybe you don't want that right now, but I want to make sure you know. If you ever need anything, I'm here."
Knowing that Arizona was only trying to help, Alex didn't fight her any longer. He didn't have the energy for it.
"Okay!" he surrendered, giving in. "Whatever!"
Arizona waited.
"And I'll tell you if I need anything," he swore, meeting disbelieving eyes. "I promise. But, right now, I really do have to go."
Later that night, Callie hit the elevator button for the lobby, ready for a quiet night at home. She spotted Meredith making her way towards her from down the hall.
"Hey." Meredith came up beside her. "How's your week going?"
"Hey," Callie breathed, glad to be asked. "Do you really want to know? Because I, uh, I've been wanting to talk about something."
Meredith raised her eyebrows. "About what?"
Callie bit her lip. "Remember when we were talking about second chances?"
Meredith nodded.
"Well…" Callie began as they stepped into the empty elevator. "I've been having some feelings…"
Thankful for the privacy, she was about to elaborate, when suddenly, an arm shot out to stop the elevator doors from closing.
Seconds later, Callie and Meredith were met with Arizona's face.
The blonde hesitated for a moment, Callie's countenance keeping her from moving forward. Then, she offered a tentative smile and stepped inside. "Hey," she breathed.
"Hey," Meredith waved.
Her eyes unblinking, Callie whispered, "Hey."
The air in the elevator felt as thick as water, and Arizona couldn't help but resent Meredith. All she wanted was to talk and laugh with Callie, just the two of them. Someplace other than the OR, where half a dozen other people were privy to their conversation.
Trying to make the best of the situation, she casually inquired, "What were you talking about? Anything interesting?"
"We were talking about-" Meredith began.
"No!" Callie interrupted, a little harsher than she meant to. "I mean…" She cleared her throat, squeaking, "We weren't talking about anything interesting. Just, um, stuff."
She looked up, meeting Meredith's what the hell? expression. Her friend's eyes were fixed on her face, doing some sort of silent calculation, and the intensity of the look made Callie nervous.
But the nerves were nothing compared to the anxiety she felt standing beside the most dazzling woman in the world.
Forcing herself to be cool, she turned back to Arizona. "What are you doing after the soccer game on Saturday?"
"Working," Arizona sighed. "Pretty much all weekend."
Callie nodded.
Realizing she might have missed a silent implication, Arizona backtracked. "Why? Did you want to do something?" she wondered. Is that what Callie's asking?
"No, no, I was just wondering," Callie hurried to answer.
Arizona nodded.
"Unless," Callie continued, panicked, "You wanted to do something?" Was that what Arizona had meant?
"No," Arizona shook her head. God, Callie made her nervous. "I was just curious."
"Right." Callie's head bobbed up and down. "Me, too."
Silently, Meredith watched them, her right eyebrow practically fixed to her hairline.
The women spent the last few moments of the ride in silence until, finally, the elevator doors opened in the lobby, putting an end to their awkwardness.
"Well, um," Arizona began. "I better get home to Sofia, but it was nice talking to you." She offered both Callie and Meredith an awkward smile, then rushed off before she could embarrass herself.
Callie turned to Meredith, but refused to meet her friend's eyes. "I should go, too. Talk soon!" She hurried toward the parking lot, making sure to steer clear of Arizona.
Meredith shook her head as she watched the two women head in opposite directions.
Though they appeared to be running from each other, they would follow each other anywhere.