invisible scars

'Jane Doe'

Dr Calliope Torres ran as quickly as her legs could carry her, down the corridor that led out to the emergency bay. A trauma was on its way in. Only two minutes from Seattle Grey's Mercy West Hospital. It had been a hectic day so far for the tall Latina but with every trauma that came through the double doors more adrenaline pumped through her body. She simply loved being an Orthopaedic surgeon.

"Mark, what have we got?"

Dr Sloan turned as he slipped on a pair of gloves. "Hey, Torres." Taking a step closer to the brunette, he gave her a wink. "I like that top on you. It gives you a nice cleavage."

Callie looked down at her chest area. "Um, usually I would be flattered and maybe even blush at such flirtatious manner, but coming from you, Mark it just sounds a bit sleazy." She struggled with a disposable glove. "Not to mention that you are a man and have body parts, that doesn't interest me, could also be a reason."

Mark gave her another wink. "That's not what you said about a year ago. You seemed to like my parts quite well." He put his hands on his hips, smiled and confidence was oozing.

Finally, Callie won the battle with the glove. "Well, that was because I was lonely, horny and stupid to sleep with my best friend." Sirens could now be heard from a distance. "Mark, you're an awesome friend and I wouldn't change you for the world but at the end of the day you are a man whore."

Mark just shrugged and turned as the ambulance pulled up.

The team approached the vehicle as the paramedics opened the doors.

"Female, approximately early thirties. No ID or driver licence. Found unconscious next to the road a few miles outside the city. She has been out of it the whole time. Trauma to her head, face and chest. Possible fractures to her arms and ribs. A severely shattered left knee. Looks like she got one hell of a beating."

Callie immediately pulled the blanket that covered the woman's body, down to visually asses her injuries. Her arms did look bruised and quite swollen. There was no lacerations so it was hard to tell if there was any bones broken or if her arms were just badly damaged.

Callie Torres was in her element. "Okay, guys. Let's make sure she is stable and then bring her up for a CT and X rays. Dr Sloan, how deep are the lacerations on her face? Will she need surgery?"

Mark was a skilled plastic surgeon and was quite well known around the country for many successful operations. He always referred to his patients as a canvas and his scalpel as a painting brush and together they were creating art.

Dr Sloan quickly looked over the cuts on her face. "They don't appear to be too deep. Clean contusions and bruises. I'll have her nicely stitched up in no time and hopefully we don't have to worry about scaring, since I am such an amazing surgeon and artist." He gave the stunning Latina a wink.

Callie rolled her eyes and pushed the unconscious woman through the double doors, ready to start her procedure.

Fortunately, there were no fractures but deep tissue trauma on both sides of her rib area was found. Signs of swelling in the brain was Callie's biggest concern and the shattered knee was going to need several surgeries. It was fine for now, tightly wrapped up and supported. She had paged Dr Derrick Shepherd, Seattle Grey's greatest neurosurgeon, for a consult. Her face was neatly stitched and Callie could tell that scaring would not be an issue.

While she waited for Dr Shepherd to arrive she finally took the time to actually take a proper look at the woman lying on the hospital bed in front of her.

Her blonde hair was dishevelled but had a nice shine to it. Since she had checked the woman's eyes for brain injuries she had noticed that they were pale blue and jet black eyelashes framed them. Her well defined jawline made Callie want to trace it with the tip of her fingers but quickly stopped herself from reaching out and touch her. While Callie had examined her body earlier, she had found numerous old scars on the woman and came to the conclusion that this was not the first time this had happened.

She glanced down at the medical chart that she held in her hands and starred at the top section where the patients name should've been.

It was empty.

She had left that section out since nobody knew who the woman was, were she came from or how she ended up in a hospital bed with a maybe life threatening head injury. She sighed and scribbled down 'Jane Doe' on the empty line.

"You paged me, Dr Torres?"

The brunette jumped at the sudden voice. "Dr Shepherd. You gave me a fright. I didn't hear you coming through the door."

Derrick held his hands up and smiled. "Sorry, it was not my intention. What have we got?" His eyes left dark brown and glanced over towards the blonde lying motionless on the bed. His face showed sympathy for the woman. "What happened to her?"

Callie sighed. "We don't know. She was found next to a country road in the outskirts. Been unconscious ever since." The Latina handed Dr Shepherd her tablet. "Could you please have a look at her scans?"

The Neurosurgeon flickered through the scans on the screen and quickly assessed the situation. "She does have some swelling on her brain showing. It doesn't look too serious but the next 24 hours will be critical. If she hasn't woken up by tomorrow afternoon and if the swelling is still present I'm afraid surgery is the only option." He gave the tablet back to Callie. "Why don't you get Dr Kepner to take a picture of the patient, contact the authorities and see if she is in the system for missing persons? If not then we'll wait until she regains consciousness to get an ID."

"And if she doesn't wake up?"

Derrick sighed and gave her a sad smile. "We'll deal with that if it comes to it."

Callie glanced at her watch. 11.23 p.m. "Great. So much for an early night." She headed towards the lobby doors, drained from the long day. "Thank God my apartment is just across the street."

"Dr Torres!"

The brunette stopped dead in her tracks and let her head fall. "It better be good Dr Kepner?"

The read head nervously shoved her hands in the pockets of her lab coat. "Well… I, eh…"

Callie sighed. "Out with it, April."

"I just received some news about you 'Jane Doe'." She had respect for the tall Orthopaedic surgeon. Rumours were always rumours but April knew that in this case they were true. The Latina had been known for having a heated temper when things didn't go according to her plan and she could see that this was not a good moment to catch the brunette but she had some news that could be of use with the unidentified patient.

"They found a match. Her Name is Arizona Robbins. She was born on December 14 1977 in San Diego California." She handed Callie the papers the Police had faxed over. "But listen to this," the brunette's eyes drifted over the sheets, not given a chance to read through them herself.

"Her parents reported her missing in 1995, the day after her 18th birthday. She has not been seen or heard from ever since."

Callie took a deep breath and felt the sudden need to sit down. Her 'Jane Doe' had suddenly reviled her true identity. A thousand questions were running through her head at the same time. Questions she probably never would find the answers to. After all, this woman was just her patient and nothing else. Her history and the reason why she went missing had nothing to do with Callie. The authorities would handle that part. But she couldn't help but feeling somewhat responsible for the blonde. Not to mention extremely curious as to why she suddenly disappeared and how she ended up on a hospital bed.

Callie rubbed a hand over her face in pure confusion and exhaustion. They both couldn't shake off the feeling that they had just stumbled across something big. Something out of their control and expertise. This was more than just a case of a battered woman found unconscious. This was surreal.

"Okay," Callie rubbed her temples trying to figure out where to go from here. "Contact the Police again. Try to find out where her parents live or any relatives she might have. It's our responsibility to contact any family members. We, or the police, won't get any wiser on this case until she wakes up. Until then we just have to wait. Page me if she wakes up during the night or if there is any change in her vitals. Tell nobody about this Dr Kepner, I'm serious. If this comes out it will be a media frenzy and we will have a lot more to deal with. Any changes, what so ever in her treatment I want to be informed immediately. Nothing is to be done without me knowing it. Everything goes through me first. I'm her doctor. Understood?"

April just nodded. "Absolutely. I'll be here all night so I'll keep a close eye and make sure to let you know if anything comes up. I'll tell the police we'll contact them when or if she wakes up."

Callie put a hand on her shoulder to show her some kind of appreciation for doing this and for being discreet. "Thank you, Dr Kepner. I know I can rely on you."

Callie found herself eager to get to the hospital the next morning. She had had a troubled sleep with strange and bizarre dreams that made no sense and she wouldn't even try to make sense out of them because there was no use.

It was 08.47 a.m. when she pushed through the double doors of the hospital. It was buzzing. But then again, a busy hospital like this never slept. Always traumas, cases and patients coming in and out like bees in a beehive.

She headed straight to the stairs then towards the locker room. After getting into her lab coat, ready to start her rounds, she almost crashed into Dr Yang.

"Wow, Torres! Watch out."

The brunette almost dropped her tablet she just seconds ago picked up at the nurses station. "Christina, sorry. I didn't see you."

"Well duh, if you saw me you wouldn't have crashed into me." The Asian woman standing in front of Callie always had an opinion. She was very straight forward, outspoken and blunt. She always spoke before thinking of the consequences or how other people would react or feel. Callie was used to it by now and never took anything Dr Yang said personally. They were great friends and previously shared an apartment together.

Callie was in too much of a hurry to say something smart back to Christina. Dr Yang looked shocked. "What? No comments? No nasty replies?"

Torres eyes were fixed on the tablet screen before her, flicking through images. "No, I don't have time today. Places to go and patients to be seen."

Christina crossed her arms over her chest. "Any news about your 'Jane Doe'?"

Callie's head snapped up. "How do you know about her? How much do you know?"

Dr Yang put her hands up in defence. "Hey, touchy subject. I don't know anything about her but the way you just reacted wants me to know more." Her eyes were glowing with interest. Christina had always loved gossip, especially if it was top secret. "What's up?" A big grin spread across her face.

"Nothing is up, Christina. It's just a sensitive case, that's all. There is nothing else to know."

"Oh, come on, Callie! I can see that something is up. You look a bit troubled. Maybe talking about it would help. I'm here to listen."

Callie could see straight through her friend. "Nice try, Christina. I'm telling you shit."

The Latina was just about to turn away to start doing her rounds when a red head crashed into her. "Shit!" Rubbing her upper arm. "What is this? 'Bring Callie down day?' Did you two plan this or something?"

April looked genuinely sorry. "I… I'm so sorry Dr Torres." Her face got redder by the second and Callie felt a bit sorry for her.

"It's fine. Let's move on shall we?"

Dr Kepner handed her a thick file. "Here is you case file. The Police faxed it over early this morning. All the information connected to her case is in there. You just have to sign the form on the top to say that you will not disclose any of the info when it comes to this case. I had to sign one too, since I was the one receiving the fax and all. Not that I would have read it if they told me not to, it's just standard procedure and all that." April was rambling and she knew it. She was a nervous person in general but she always meant well and she would always go that extra mile just to please. What she suddenly realised was that Dr Yang was standing behind Callie and had heard everything that was just said.

Dr Kepner put a hand on her forehead when she realised what she had just done. "Oh God! I'm so, so terribly sorry. I did not see Dr Yang. I… oh my God, I'm so sorry, I…"

"Just shut up, Kepner." Callie ran her hand through her dark tresses in frustration. "What's done is done." She turned around to face Christina. "Dr Yang, what you just heard is not to be repeated to anyone, and I mean anyone. Not even to your patients, lying on your operating table under anaesthesia, not even if they are dead. Have I made myself clear?"

Christina closed her mouth that apparently had been left open for a while in shock. "Um… Eh… yeah, sure. Dead or alive, I'm not talking."

Callie looked her straight in the eye and spoke with a stern voice. "Good." She turned to April who handed her the file. "Now, I will do my rounds, go to my office and read through these documents. I do not want to be disturbed." She gracefully strode down the corridor to start her day.

Meredith Grey stopped by the nurse's station to pick up one of the high definition tablet. She scrolled down and looked closely at the X-ray scans that belonged to one of her patients who suffered from severe pancreatic cancer. This man was in stage four and the cancer had now spread to his liver and lungs. There was nothing they could do for him except try to make him more comfortable by easing his pain and make sure his family was there for him. She placed the pad in its docking station and grabbed another one. She felt a presence to her right and turned her head.

"Morning Christina."

The cardio surgeon was typing on her own pad, looking over patient's stats. Without looking up she mumbled something incoherent to her best friend.

Meredith put her pad down. "Hello, earth to Christina."

Dr Yang tore her eyes from the screen. "What? Oh sorry. Morning." Her attention was now back on the tablet in front of her.

Dr Grey raised her eyebrows. "Something is up, Christina?"

"Nope. Nothing is up. Everything is perfectly fine. Fine, you know. Just fine. Same as yesterday. Yesterday was fine… well, except that I lost that 400 pound cardiac arrest patient before I even got him on my operating table but otherwise it was fine, don't you think?"

She turned to leave but Dr Grey was much quicker even though she was six months pregnant with Dr Shepherd's child. They had been trying for months to get pregnant so their adoptive daughter Zola, who was three years old, could have a baby sister or brother. The couple didn't want to know the sex of the baby because Meredith wanted it to be a surprise. Not knowing the gender made it difficult to think of names so for now the baby's name was plain and simple called foetus.

Meredith grabbed her arm to get her attention. "Don't give me that crap, Christina. I know you well enough to know that something is going on. Spill!"

Dr Yang closed her eyes and let out a frustrating groan. "I promised Callie I wouldn't tell anyone."

Meredith nodded. "Okay, well then don't. A promise is a promise." She let go of her friend's arm.

Christina opened and closed her mouth in an infuriating manner. "But I'm dying to tell someone. I have to unload this burden that Callie so nicely decided to load me with. I feel like I'm going to burst. It's not fair."

"Christina. You can't break a promise. Even though I love you and you are my person, I am not going to let you break this promise. Try to get it out of your head. Try to get your hands on an exciting surgery, eat crap food, go for a run or have hot, mad and crazy sex with Dr Hunt. I don't care what you do just don't break the promise you made Callie." Dr Grey's pager went off. "911, I have to go. I'll see you in the cafeteria for lunch."

Dr Yang was going through the options that Meredith just gave her. It didn't take her that long to make up her mind. She was now on a mission to find Dr Owen Hunt and an empty on call room.

Callie had finished her rounds and was now sitting by her desk in her office with a steaming cup of coffee. There had been no changes in Arizona's physical state. All her vitals were still good and for now she was stable. There was technically nothing stopping her from waking up but Callie knew that the brain is the body's most mysterious organ and all that grey matter inside our skull was a complicated and fascinating structure. It was all a waiting game from now on.

She sipped the hot liquid and felt it sooth her throat as she read the document of discretion she had to sign. After taking care of that part she quickly moved on to her medical history up until she suddenly disappeared. Nothing unusual there. The case file held all the information of her disappearance. Search parties, sightings from witnesses and all the places that had been thoroughly swept. Four years after her disappearance the police and the authorities had given up hope and declared it as a cold case. There was also information about Arizona's parents and her older brother Timothy. They had hired a private investigator shortly after all the attempts to find her were shut down. Nothing had come up and 18 months after countless efforts, time and money everything was at a standstill. The search was again closed when her parents were tragically killed in a car accident four years after she went missing.

God, the poor woman probably doesn't even know her parents are dead.

Callie turned to the next page and was startled to see a photograph of Arizona, taken only a few weeks before she disappeared. She was smiling in the picture. Her blond hair fell freely around her shoulders and blue piercing eyes stared back at her. The most striking thing about her features were the dimples. The cutest little dimples on each side of her cheeks were clearly visible. Callie ran two fingers across the picture, tracing the blond woman's clear complexion. What happened to you? How did you end up here? What have you been through?

All these questions were running wild and she knew that finding the answers would be slim to none if Arizona didn't regain consciousness. She flipped to the next page and was met by a young man who had a striking resemblance to the blond. He must be Arizona's brother. They both had same colour hair, the blue eyes were identical and dimples could be seen on his smooth skin. What Callie read next made her heart beat faster. Timothy had joined the army after their parents were killed. Three years he served his country before he died in battle and his remains could not be found. She has no family left. No-one.

She was just about to turn to the next page when her pager went off. 911, damn!

Another day full of trauma had just come to its end for Callie. Broken bones, screaming kids and worried parents were all in a day's work for the tall Latina. Being the head of orthopaedics had its advantages. Picking your own hours were one, deciding which surgeries she wanted to scrub in on and spending more time on her cartilage research were also on the advantage list. Callie would normally not work in the ER but the past few days it had been extremely busy. People couldn't stop hurting themselves or kids who never thought about the consequences of their 'home made stunts'.

Another late night and Callie walked out of the changing room. All she wanted was a warm bath and a glass of red wine to calm herself down a bit and to soothe the adrenaline still pumping. Before walking towards the elevator she made a sharp turn to her right and headed towards Arizona's room. Somehow it would make her feel better if she knew that the pretty blonde in room 203 was ok.

The room was dark. The only light were the street lights shining through the big window. The beeping from the machine made Callie aware that there was no change in her prognosis. Sighing, she walked up to the bed and glanced down at the woman who had unexpectedly come into her life. Standing there thinking about Arizona's unknown past she suddenly became aware that at some point she must have grasped a petite hand in her own larger one. Shocked, she was just about to pull away when she felt movement. Looking down at their joined hands she could see thin fingers moving.

"Ms Robbins, can you hear me?" No response. "Arizona!" Still nothing. Quickly she paged Dr Shepherd. Trying to add more physical contact in attempt to wake the woman, she applied more pressure to the hand she was holding while her left hand rubbed soothingly but firmly up and down Arizona's arm. "Arizona, can you please wake up for me?" She gave her arm a gentle squeeze. "You are in the hospital. You were brought in yesterday. My name is Callie, Dr Callie Torres. I'm your doctor. Could you squeeze my hand if you can hear and understand me?" She waited what seemed like forever until she felt the slightest pressure around her fingers.

Smiling, Callie continued to rub her hand along her thin arm. "Good, Arizona. You're doing fine. Can you try to open your eyes for me please?"

Callie could see eyelids fluttering and a weak moan made its way through the woman's throat. "Callie, what's going on?"

Derek came up to her left side. "She is coming around. She squeezed my hand and her eyes are moving. She is waking up."

Dr Shepherd fished around in his breast pocket of his lab coat and grabbed his penlight. "Ms Robbins, can you hear me? Can you open your eyes for me?" Slowly pale blue eyes came into view. Derek gently approached and turned on his torch. He quickly checked Arizona's pupillary reflex and was very happy with the response. "Great, now could you please try to follow the movement of my finger?" Blue orbs tracked the path of his finger. Right to left. Left to right. Up and down. Down and up. "Very good. Do you know where you are?"

The blonde blinked a few times and scanned the room before her blue eyes met concerned brown. "Hos… hospital." Her mouth was dry and her voice raspy. Callie quickly poured her a glass of water from the night stand, placed a straw in it and gently placed the tip in front of the woman's lips. "Take a sip but do it slowly so your body can keep up."

A couple of sips and a few coughs later, Arizona relaxed into the pillows and took a deep breath. A second later she realized that it was a mistake when a sharp pain stabbed through both of her sides and she fought the urge to inhale again. Her chest felt tight and her arms, face and head were throbbing.

Callie laid a soft hand on her shoulder only to find the woman shudder away and the brunette could see the fear in her eyes. She held her hands up to show that she meant no harm. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just want to help. We all want to help. Can you remember what happened? Who did this to you?"

Arizona shifted her eyes between the two surgeons. The fear and the pain became too much for her body to handle all at once. She started to hyperventilate and her hands were grasping tightly against the white bed sheets, turning her knuckles into a similar colour.

Callie acted fast. She grabbed for the morphine pump that Arizona was connected to and quickly pressed it. She knew it would only be a matter of a couple of minutes before it would start taking effect. "Easy. Take slow breaths. Don't breath in to deeply cause it will only cause you more pain. Slow and shallow breaths for now." Callie watched as the blonde struggled for a bit but very quickly gained control. "That's it nice and slow. You're safe here. No one is going to hurt you. Everything is all right." Arizona once again slipped into a deep sleep and her body visibly relaxed.

Callie turned her attention to Derek. "She will be alright, right? I mean she woke up and she knew where she was and that's good so she should be alright?"

Derek had never seen Callie so concerned and worried over a patient before. Especially a patient that she had only knew for a day. "It's all looking good so far. Her pupillary reflexes are good, she was aware of her surroundings and she even knew that she was in a hospital. The morphine will make her sleep through the night and she should hopefully feel a bit better tomorrow. More lucid but still in pain. You should go home Callie and get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning." He placed a firm hand on her shoulder before he exited the room.

She knew he was right. She was dead on her feet but a part of her didn't want to leave the blonde alone in case she woke up during the night. I'm being ridiculous. I don't even know her. Before switching off the lights she took one last glance at the sleeping woman. "I'll see you tomorrow, Arizona. Good night."

"Karev!" No answer. "Alex!" The handsome, lady loving paediatrician stopped dead in his tracks and turned around. "What's up, Torres?"

Callie walked up to her friend. "Wow, you kind of look like shit, Karev. Lack of sleep? Did someone get a bit of something something last night?" Alex rolled his eyes in a non- amused way. "Well, isn't she a lucky one having to deal with your morning grumpiness. You paged me Dr Karev."

"Yeah, the kid in room 05, X rays says a broken tibia. Here's his scans." Callie closely looked at the pictures in front of her on the tablet. "Oh, he's going to need some screws. Get an OR prepped and page me when it's ready. This kid needs to be fixed by my God like hands." The brunette was in a good mood this morning.

Karev popped a lollipop into his mouth. "Shut up and stop licking your own ass, Torres."

Callie grabbed his ear and gave it a firm tug which made Alex open his mouth in pain. She saw her chance and took the lollipop out. "These are for the kids, Karev." She tossed it in a nearby bin as she headed off.

She finally got a chance to check in on Arizona before the kid's surgery. It was still quite early and she hoped that she would sleep for at least another couple of hours. She was right. The blonde was resting. Her bruises were changing colour and her lacerations were forming scabs. All good signs of recovery she thought, smiled and closed the door.

The OR had been prepped. Callie had asked Karev to scrub in. "Grab a clamp and help me find the bleeders." They worked fast and efficient together. It was like they knew what the other one was thinking before they asked for something. Two hours later they had completed a successful surgery and the boy was brought up to recovery.

Feeling a caffeine craving coming on she headed straight for the cafeteria to crag a cup of decent coffee before checking in on Arizona. Just as she entered the room the blonde shifted in her big hospital bed and eyelids struggled to open. Quietly Callie made her way to her and gently placed a hand on Arizona's lower arm, avoiding her cuts and scrapes. "Arizona, can you hear me? Take your time opening your eyes. It's ok."

After several attempts blue met brown. "Hey." Callie gave her a warm smile. "Do you remember where you are?" The blonde tried to move her arms to touch her face, slightly pulling at her IV. "No, no, it's ok. Don't try to move too much. Your stitches are still kind of fresh. We wouldn't want you to rip anything open. Just lay still and try to relax. Do you remember my name?"

"Cal… Callie." Again, Callie had to put a straw to her lips to let the water calm her dry and aching throat.

"Good. Can you tell me your name?" Even though the Latina already knew her name she still wanted to hear it from the blond herself. Arizona immediately started to tense up. Eyes anxiously scattered around the room, looking for something or someone Callie thought. "It's ok. Whatever happened to you, it's ok now. No one here is going to hurt you or make you do anything you don't want to do. We are all here to help. Can you please tell me your name?"

Callie watched her hesitate for a moment, almost afraid of what might happen if she said it out loud. "Ari… Arizona. My name is Arizona."

Torres smiled and nodded. "Okay good. I'm going to need your last name too for your medical report." Again the blonde became tense and nervous. I can't tell her my last name. She'll find out everything. If not her than the police will. He'll find me and I'll have to go back. Arizona just shook her head and looked out through the window, avoiding eye contact trying to come up with something to say. A different surname but she was tongue tied. Callie sighed, pulled a chair up closer to the bed and sat down. She tried to speak as gently and calmingly as she could. She wanted this woman to be able to trust her. "Ok, Arizona. I want you to try and trust me on this. I don't know what happened to you or how you ended up here and I'm not going to push you into something you're not ready for but I need something to go on." The brunette sighed. I have to do this. It's just going to get worse if I don't.

Slowly she pulled out a folder she had been carrying under her arm and opened the first page. "This is you, isn't it?" She turned the page towards the blonde and watched as blue eyes fill with horror and tears. Her already pale face turned ashen and slender hands started to shake. The fear took a hold of her body. Tears rolled down her cheeks, her chest got tight and a lump formed in her throat. Her breathing became laboured and she curled up into a foetal position to try and ease the pain.

Callie watched her struggle. She wanted to give her something for the pain but that would mean she would fall asleep and they would be back to square one. She softly took a cold shaking hand in her warm one. "It's ok, Arizona. You're safe here. Nothing bad is going to happen to you here, I promise. Try and calm down. Slow and shallow breaths remember?"

The blonde nodded as tears silently made their way down pale cheeks. "You are Thee Arizona Robbins, aren't you?"

Pale blue eyes locked with hers. "Yes." It was almost a whisper.

A warm smile spread across Callie's lips, trying to comfort the woman and make her feel like she could trust her. "Ok. Like I said, you are safe here but I do need to call the police."

Once again Arizona started to struggle, fear creeping across her face. "Listen to me, Arizona. They already know that you are here and I promised I'd call them when you woke up. All they want is to talk, that's all. They just want to know what happened. You don't have to go into detail just let them know how you ended up in this hospital. They want to know who did this to you. I'll be right here in the room next to you if you want me to?"

The blonde had calmed down slightly and looked down at the tanned hand gently holding hers, closing her eyes she nodded.

The police arrived within fifteen minutes after Callie made the phone call. Before they started questioning the poor woman Callie called them into her office to inform them about her physical state. Telling them not to push her too hard and go gently with her. "Otherwise she could shut down completely and you'll get nothing out of her. I have to think about what is best for my patient. Have I made myself clear?" She tried to sound intimidating, letting them know that she was serious and no one to mess with.

"Sure, Dr Torres. We'll go nice and slow." Detective Karen Harper made Callie relax a bit. Female detectives were usually more sensitive than male.

Callie glanced over to her partner Detective Brian Birmingham. "Of course Dr Torres."

Arizona was just waking up as they walked through the door. Her eyes grew wide with fear when she spotted the uniform clad detectives. A petite hand reached for the emergency button but stopped half way when she saw the dark Latina soon behind. "It's ok, Arizona. They are here to help and ask you some simple questions. You are in control and can stop whenever you want to, okay? Do you want me to stay or would you be more comfortable talking to the detectives alone?"

Blue eyes shifted between the brunette and the two officers, not knowing what to do. Callie saw her struggling with the decision and came up with an idea. "How about I leave and I'll be just outside the room so you can see me through the window and if you get too uncomfortable just let me know. I'll be close by?"

The blonde finally agreed with a nod. The pain relief was making her lightheaded and vision a bit blurried and delayed. Her attention was now on the officers, waiting to be bombarded with questions that demanded answeres. Detective Harper cleared her throat and took a slight step forward, clearly uncomfortable and at loss herself, not knowing how to proceed.

"Ms Robbins, my name is Karen Harper and this," indicating towards the tall broad man by her left side "is my partner detective Birmingham." Not really waiting for some kind of reaction or response from the blonde the detective continued. "We are here to ask you some questions. If you feel uncomfortable or not ready to talk about certain things and want to stop, just let us know and we'll take a break, okay?"

Not feeling ready to face any of this at all, Arizona gave them her approval anyway. "I'm sure there is a lot more to all of this that we don't know and don't have in our records and I'm sorry that I have to jump in and ask all these questions but I have really no choice." The male detective fished out a worn notepad and pen from his breast pocket, getting ready to scribble down anything of importance. Harper cleared her throat and struggled with how to approach. "What happened that day you disappeared?"

Arizona felt her stomach clench, her heartbeat thumping in her ears and her hands started to perspirate. Her tightly wrapped up knee was experiencing waves of pain every time the blood pumped through her body. She swallowed, took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It's now or never. She thought. "I, um... It was the 15 th of December 1995. My boyfriend, Kevin asked me the previous day, my 18th birthday, if I wanted to marry him." The pain in her shattered knee made it hard to concentrate but she pushed through, wanting to get this over with. "I said yes. We had only been seeing each other for seven months but it all felt so right." Blue eyes closed and a single tear made it's way down pale skin. "It was all a mistake. If I had known... If I had known what would come of it I..." She struggled to calm herself. Trying to get back in control. Her chest tightened and a whimper escaped her dry throat.