The Song Remains the Same

Chapter 23

Arizona was fairly easy to find lately, constantly in her office, the OR, or in the PT wing tracking her protege's recovery after his amputation. Callie had managed to convince her to start taking lunch breaks in the on-call room on the ICU floor in bed with her most days though. So when she couldn't find her on the OR board, her office, or in the on-call room, Callie went directly to the physical therapy gym. Arizona was leaning against the wall of windows when Callie turned the corner, distracted from her own heavy thoughts by the frown and furrowed brows her partner was wearing. “Hey, what's wrong?” Callie took her own glance through the window where Alex Karev was more than halfway down the length of the parallel bars, slow but steady on his new leg. “He looks like he's doing really well but you don't look happy,” she commented. “What's up?”

Arizona's displeased scowl didn't waver. “It's that girl – Lexie, or whatever-” Lexie Grey was at the end of the mats, waiting for Alex to reach her. She was grinning in encouragement, her dreadlocks pulled back from her face in a loose, low ponytail. Callie was pretty sure the young woman was leaning over to flash him her cleavage deliberately but she seemed wholly supportive.

“Don't tell me you're jealous,” Callie teased immediately, earning her a sidelong roll of blue eyes. “It's sweet that you're so protective, but he's a big boy. And she's cute.” Arizona shot her another pointed look and Callie smirked. “Good for him.” Her smile went soft. “He needs someone. And I think he's a good influence on her.”

“You mean she showered today?” shot back Arizona, watching as Alex reached the end of the bars and the waiting woman shifted his glasses to the crown of his head before leaning in to kiss him slowly. The couple outside couldn't hear them but the pair in the gym laughed as they separated, Lexie retrieving a towel for Alex.

“Be nice,” Callie murmured, one hand sneaking into Arizona's. “If you could spare a minute from stalking your boy, I need to talk to you.” She was bouncing the edge of a folder against her leg.

“I'm swamped but I'll make time to consult for you,” Arizona said, reaching for the file.

Callie smiled and dodged it out of her reach. “It's not a case. I know how busy you are.”

Arizona's frown returned but she followed Callie from the windows. “No? What is it, then?”

Expression sober, Callie set the folder on the nurse's desk and flipped it open. “You know I've been dealing with all of Owen's stuff, setting up trusts for the kids and everything, and the lawyer thought I should update some of my stuff too while we were already working on things.”

“So...” Arizona said slowly, though there weren't many reasons Callie might want to involve her in any of that. She sank almost weakly into the chair at the desk, her mind swimming.

Callie sighed heavily, not sure how to broach the subject. “I just – nobody sees the big changes coming, you know. And I love you, and the kids love you -” Arizona reached forward to pluck a pen from the cup in front of her. There were tabs where she needed to sign and she scribbled her signature on the first page it was indicated. “Whoa, don't you even want to know what you're signing?” Callie asked, blinking in surprise at the immediate agreement.

“If it takes care of you or the kids, I'm in,” Arizona declared, shrugging her shoulders. She started to flip to the next tab.

Callie reached a hand down to stop her though. “Okay, I'm glad, and touched, but can we go through it at least? Please? If there's anything you don't like I can get it changed.” She'd spent hours with the lawyers over the last few weeks working on the details and she didn't expect Arizona would disapprove of anything but she wanted to be sure.