Oh Baby

"Therapy? Well I have to admit Arizona's life is definitely falling together nicely. Maybe we should both try therapy again?" Meredith says sarcastically, then adds, "So who is this woman that she's seeing?"

"She's the rep for OSSUR Prosthetics, I haven't met her yet. But I will in a couple of weeks when my trials start at the VA." Callie remarks.

"Uh Callie, Arizona just walked in." Meredith remarks, "She's dressed for a date, she did not wear that to work."

"Crap did she see us, is she coming over here?" Callie asks not wanting to turn around.

"No, but a tall gorgeous woman just walked up to her and greeted her warmly. Wow, she's really hot. Reminds me of Teddy, but taller and shorter hair." Meredith looks back at Callie and takes a sip of her drink. "You should just go up and introduce yourself."

"I don't have to because they're coming towards us," Callie replies stealing a glance sideways.

"Meredith, Calliope, I want you to meet someone. This is Melanie Anderson." Arizona says smiling at them both.

"Meredith Grey, lovely to meet you Melanie." Meredith says flashing a bright smile.

"I've heard a lot about you Dr Grey and I met your late husband, I attended one of his presentations and he was generous enough to sit down with me and answer about a thousand questions." Melanie explains.

"Derek loved his work. Thank you." Meredith replies, immediately liking her.

"Callie Torres, it is on honor to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you. I am really looking forward to working with you on the upcoming trials at the VA." Melanie says reaching out to shake hands with her. "It seems like you are the go to Orthopedic surgeon for this area. Dr James can't stop talking about you. He's very proud of your accomplishments."

"Oh well, thank you. Dr James was a fantastic mentor and I'm curious about his new project." Callie admits. "When does Arizona get the new prototype?"

"She's wearing it." Melanie replies reaching down to lift up Arizona's dress a little so Callie can see it.

"I didn't see her walk in, so I didn't realize. How does it feel Arizona?" Callie asks, sliding her hands up the leg to admire the prosthetic, then realizing that they're in a bar, she pulls her hands away embarrassed

"It feels amazing." Arizona admits, a little embarrassed by the attention. "And look, I'm wearing a low heel!" She adds excitedly. Callie smiles, she knows how much that means to her ex.

"Well, you look fantastic." Meredith replies, trying to help redirect the conversation.

"Thanks Meredith, well we need to get going. We have dinner reservations." Arizona explains.

"It was great meeting you both," Melanie replies before turning to leave with the blonde on her arm.

*************************************************************************************************
"Crap, I was hoping to hate her," Callie replies.

"No you weren't. You just hate that she's seeing Arizona." Meredith says holding her drink up to Joe so he'll bring them another round.

"Okay, so why can't I just be happy for Arizona. She looks really happy, didn't she look happy?" Callie asks taking a sip of her drink.

"Yes, Arizona is happy. But you're not, so it's hard to be happy for someone else when you're not happy." Meredith points out.

"I need to find my happy." Callie says finishing her drink as Joe sets down the next round.

****************************************************************************************************

"Okay, so that went well. Thank you for agreeing to do that. I just wanted her to meet you before you met Sofia." Arizona explains again as they get into her car.

Closing the blonde's car door, Melanie slides into the driver's seat. "No problem at all. I'm actually relieved. I was a bit nervous that I wouldn't meet her until the VA meeting and then it would be all kinds of awkward. So thank you for suggesting this, now we have it out of the way and I think that went well, don't you?"

"Trust me it went really well. They both liked you. Now I didn't realize that you knew Derek Shepherd?" Arizona asks.

"Oh, his brain mapping project is revolutionizing prosthetics. This prototype that you have is just the beginning. The chip that allows the leg to respond to your movements and respond to your as you shift your weight, that's Derek's design. We had designed it for athletes, but it was his idea to expand it to include weight distribution and he specifically wanted it to be tested on pregnant women." Melanie explains.

"Wow, I didn't realize that. Did you know that Meredith and I were both pregnant during that time? I didn't know that he knew, but Callie must of talked with him about it. She was really concerned that the prosthetic that I had at the time wouldn't be responsive enough as my pregnancy advanced." Arizona replies.

"He did mention that his wife was pregnant and that he was using her weight gains as his model for the chip." Melanie replies. "Were you and Dr Shepherd close?"

"After the plane crash, I had PTSD and phantom limb pain and he helped me learn biofeedback. It really helped me." Arizona admits.

"And Callie rebuilt his hand with the nerve graft that made it possible for him to resume his career. She's an amazing surgeon, I can't tell you how excited I am to be working with her. As a former Athletic Trainer, I followed her cartilage project and then when I found out she was joining the Seattle Wounded Warrior Project, I really wanted to meet her. I just had no idea that her interest in prosthetics was so personal." Melanie replies, as she stops the car at a light and turns to the blonde. "I definitely understand her motivation now." She says softly leaning over to steal a kiss.

"I don't think I'm her motivation any longer, she's all about the warriors now." Arizona replies quietly.

Melanie steals a glance at the blonde, then pulls into a parking spot a few doors down from the restaurant. "She hasn't mentioned the new trials to you, has she?"

"Uh, no we usually just talk about Sofia and sometimes work stuff. Why?" Arizona asks, now curious.

"One of the trials that we're about to begin is for women amputees. Callie's been working with our Research Team on a prosthetic that combines a nerve graft and a sensor in the brain. The goal is to have the brain directing the leg movements through the sensors and the nerve just like a normal leg would work. There's a team in Iowa who have worked it out for arm amputees, but Callie's the first Ortho to apply it to the leg." Melanie explains.

"Oh, so it's even more advanced than this prototype?" Arizona replies.

"This is a really good prosthetic, it basically is a robotic leg. The chip in there records everything you do, makes calculations and sends messages to the leg to make adjustments. What Callie's done is remove the chip and connected the prosthetic to your brain, so it can do all the work, just like it does with your other leg." Melanie says turning to face the blonde. "She really hasn't told you anything about this?"

"No, no she hasn't. I mean, it's not like I hang around her lab any more. I knew she was excited about something, I just had no idea it was something like this. Why is the project for women only?" Arizona asks.

"There are two trials, one is for women and the other is for men. We separated them by gender so we could have two different project teams, the technology may overlap but the prosthetics are not the same." Melanie explains.

"Wow, that's really fascinating..." Arizona replies about to ask another question, when Melanie leans over and kisses her again.

"As much as I love talking about my work, maybe we should change the subject and go inside for dinner?"

"Mmmm, I like that idea. But I do want to know more about this." Arizona replies as she gets out of the car.

"Noted. But now we're going to enjoy ourselves, okay?" Melanie replies taking her hand.

***********************************************************************************************

Melanie walks Arizona up to her door and then remembers that her car is at the hospital. "Should I come back and get you in the morning?" She asks as Arizona unlocks her door.

"That's one option," Arizona says taking her hand and pulling her into the room and closing the door behind them. Pressing herself against the taller woman, she kisses her making the other option abundantly clear.

Returning the kiss and wrapping her arms around the blonde, Melanie deepens the kiss. "God Arizona, are you sure about this?" She asks breathlessly.

The blonde's response is to slip her hands under Melanie's blouse and quickly remove it and kiss her way down her neck.

"Wait," Melanie says lifting her face up to look into her eyes. "Let's get more comfortable and take some time to do this properly."

The beeping of Arizona's phone interrupts them and Melanie looks over as Arizona rushes to get it out of her purse.

"Damn, I need to go in right away, I have an emergent case coming in right now." Arizona replies as she reads the page.

"So this is what it's like to date a surgeon?" Melanie teases as she rolls off the blonde to let her get up.

***********************************************************************************************

"Mrs Knickerson, I'm here. Let's see what's going on, okay?" Dr Jensen will you move that monitor so I can see it better?"

After a few minutes of scanning with the Doppler, Arizona gets up and pulls Dr Jensen aside. "Go and make sure OR 2 is prepped for a placenta accreta case and and get the NICU Team set up. I'm going to try to repair this, but if it doesn't work, we'll be delivering a 28 week old baby. I'll send the scans to Karev, so he knows what to expect when he arrives, but get moving, I've got a few more tests to run and we don't have a lot of time."

"Right away Dr Robbins." Jensen replies.

"Okay, what do we have?" Alex asks joining Jensen in the scrub room of OR 2.

"Placenta accreta case, 28 weeks. Robbins gives it a 70 percent chance of delivery tonight." Jensen replies.

"Okay, well then we'll be ready. Let me look at the scans again." He says taking the tablet and scrolling through the reports that Arizona sent him.

"I'll be right back, I need to do a couple of things first," he replies rushing out of the room.

"Where's Karev going?" Arizona asks as she rushes up to the sink to begin scrubbing in for the surgery.

"He looked at the scans and mumbled something and left, said he'd be right back." Jensen replies.

"Okay, well this is your first case with me. So just follow my lead until Karev gets in there. I'm going to be laparoscopically slicing through this scar tissue to free the placenta from the uterine wall, then we'll wait to see how her body responds, if the placenta begins to migrate up, then we will be finished. If it doesn't move or it continues to move downwards, then we'll need to put her on immediate bed rest until she's ready to deliver. Worst case scenario, is that we're not able to release the placenta laparoscopically and it ruptures, then we have to fight like hell to stop the bleeding and deliver the baby." Arizona carefully explains the procedure to the resident.

"Okay, I'm here. I just wanted to make sure we had everything we need in there," he says quickly nudging his way in between them to begin scrubbing for surgery.

"Alex, I just outlined the case to Jensen. I've got the rapid infuser set up, in case we go south and need to recycle the blood to keep her alive, you'll take the baby and Jensen and I will get the bleeding under control and save the mother. But let's hope it doesn't get to that point." Arizona says looking both surgeons in the eye to make sure they are ready for this procedure.

Four hours later and they are stepping out of the OR, the placenta did not abrupt or bleed, but they ended up delivering the baby by caesarian. The mother is stable, so Arizona is racing up to the NICU to check on the baby.

"Alex, how is he?" She asks bursting into the NICU.

Glancing up, he's surprised by her entrance, Alex replies, "He's stable. Uh Robbins, did you just run into this room?" He asks, watching her catch her breath.

Leaning over a minute she suddenly realizes what he's asking, "I did, actually I just ran up the stairs and into this room. Alex, this is amazing. We just spent four hours in the OR and I just ran up the stairs." Arizona exclaims. Taking out her phone she sends a quick text to Melanie. "4 hr surgery + run to NICU = I love this leg!"

Slipping her phone back into her pocket, she turns to look at the baby when her pager goes off. "Damn, it's recovery. Alex, he's good right?" She asks before turning to leave again.

"What's going on?" Arizona asks as she rushes into the recovery room, where Meredith is examining her patient.

"I think you've got internal bleeding, her pressure dropped suddenly." Meredith explains, looking over at Arizona, while Blake and Jensen stand off to the side.

"Okay, let's take her back in. Jensen, call the desk and tell them we're on our way back." Arizona instructs her resident. Then turning to Meredith she asks, "Can you scrub in with me?"

"Blake call the blood bank and tell them to send up.." Meredith pauses, it's not her patient so she doesn't know what her blood type is.

"It's A negative," Blake replies finding it quickly and rushing to make the call.

Meredith and Arizona sit in the lounge a few hours later. "How did you know that would work?" Arizona asks.

"I didn't know it would work, it was just the only thing left that we hadn't tried." Meredith explains.

"Well, you saved that woman's life." Arizona replies tipping her cup of tea to her.

"We saved that woman's life. If we hadn't have both been in there, I don't think she would have had a chance." Meredith points out.

"You know the best part is that not only were we amazing, but we were amazing in front of two residents, who are now telling everyone how amazing we are," Arizona says laughing.

***********************************************************************************************

Back in her office later, Arizona calls Melanie to tell her about her morning but gets her voice mail.

Callie stops by a few minutes later, "Hey I just ran into Karev, he said you had a great save already this morning." She says smiling at the blonde.

"Calliope, it was awesome and after a four hour surgery I ran up the stairs the NICU! Then back down to recovery and then another two hours in the OR and I feel fantastic!" Arizona exclaims still excited.

"Wow, you've been at it all night? How do you feel now?" Callie asks stepping into the office, worried a little.

"Actually the best part. I feel like myself again. Oh my god, that's it. You know I don't think I even thought about the leg, not like I usually do." Arizona realizes.

"Arizona, that's great. Have you talked with Dr James? I'm sure he'd want you to set up some time with Craig to download data and review it as soon as possible." Callie points out.

"Oh, right. I'll call him and set it up." Arizona replies, then picking up the phone she does just that.

Then hanging up the phone, she says "You were right, they want me in Craig's lab in 30 minutes to download it." She says smiling at Callie excited.

"Um, would it be weird if I tagged along? I really want to see that data too," she asks.