Walking Through Fire chapter 3

Sorry guys for not updating- I wish I had an excuse, but I don't. And I realised I didn't, so I bought a big tub of Ben and Jerry's and binge wrote this. I love this story, I love Ariliza. Thanks so much for the amazing response!

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Jackson Avery walking over to the waiting room. They had spent the last three hours talking amongst themselves, letting their conversations mainly revolve around Arizona. Eliza took great pleasure in hearing many embarrassing stories from her girlfriend's childhood, and she knew that Arizona would likely kill her parents if she ever found out that they shared them. Jackson walked towards them, a smile growing on his face.

"Everything went fine. The burns are completely debrided and the skin graft is attached. There's no reason why she can't be discharged tomorrow." He said proudly. He had taken extra time on the surgery, intricately stitching each and every suture, debride every cell of dead skin.

"Oh, thank God." Eliza sighed, relief flooding every part of her body. Barbara and Daniel turned around to face her. Callie had eventually caved and taken a sleepy Sofia back to their hotel, making them all promise to update her as soon as they heard anything.

"You seem awfully relieved for someone who was so certain it was going to go well." Barbara commented with a small smile. She had Daniel's hand tightly in hers, thanking God that their baby was safe. It was hard, in the face of their bad luck when it came to the lives of their children, to remain hopeful and to not freak out.

"It seemed like the world was being too good for me for once. An amazing girlfriend, a slowly becoming great job, and my girlfriend's amazing family. I'm not used to this amount of perfect all at once." Eliza admitted, feeling herself tearing up. She wasn't an emotional person- in fact, the thing people either admired or hated the most about her was her lack of shown emotion. Compartmentalising had become her forte and she was used to it being that way so much that the tears in her eyes surprised her.

"Who knew you could be such a sap." Jackson piped up, holding out his hand to her. "Truce?" He offered simply. Eliza nodded her head firmly and shook his hand.

"Truce." She agreed.

"Can we go see her?" Barbara asked hopefully. Jackson nodded and indicated for them to follow him. On the way to Arizona's room, Eliza made a quick phone call to Callie letting her know that Arizona was doing okay. With a sigh of relief, Callie told her that she would bring Sofia round later that night, as soon as the littler Latina had rested well enough. Eliza was glad that Callie didn't seem to hate her- more conflict was the last thing she needed.

They all waited patiently around Arizona's bedside for her to wake up, and when, an hour later, she did, they all greeted her with smiles and reassuring words. The relief was evident in the room- each person was glad yet another obstacle had been overcome.

Eventually, Barbara and Daniel declared themselves wiped and decided to head back to their hotel. When Arizona heard that they were staying in a hotel she had protested greatly and tried them to convince them to stay at her place, but the older couple insisted that the hotel room was just fine, and that they wouldn't want to disturb Arizona and Eliza, or Andrew for that matter.

"Plus, you guys will probably have sex. And I don't wanna hear that." Barbara deadpanned. Eliza felt all the blood in her body rush to her face and she buried her head in her hands. Arizona gasped loudly and smacked her mother on the shoulder.

"Mother. Leave!" She laughed, giving her mother a swift hug before they left the room. Once they were gone, Arizona and Eliza both broke out in to fits of laughter. Once they eventually sobered up, they locked eyes and Eliza came closer to Arizona, pressing a gentle kiss to the blonde's lips.

"I'm glad you're okay." She said, before hesitating.

Arizona noticed the Eliza's pause, and frowned because it was most unlike the ortho surgeon to refrain from saying anything. "You're hesitating. What is it?

Eliza bit her lip. "I want you to see a therapist. And I know you probably don't want to, but I'm scared that you'll be fine for so long and then it'll all just hit you. And I want you to actually go, not like Edwards said she did. Because she should have and she shouldn't have even been in the hospital… And I don't want you ending up trapped with a psycho patient or in another explosion-" Eliza kept rambling until Arizona cut her off.

"Okay."

"And-what?"

Arizona let the corners of her lips turn upwards in a slight smile. The idea of therapy was not something the liked. She had sat and talked about her feelings to a person taking notes too many times in her life for her liking. The last time she had gone near that part of the hospital, it had been the same day that Callie walked out of the room. Away from her. Away from their marriage. However, she knew that it was a good idea, no matter how opposed to it she was.

"If I'm being honest, I don't want to. But you're right. I never went to therapy after the plane crash and I ended up a mess… Maybe all that can be avoided this time." She said cautiously. She never thought that she would make it through all of the plane crash mess. Every day seemed like a war, with no way to move past the constant dark cloud that hung above her head. But she kept going, day by day, breath by breath, until one day she realised smiling was becoming easier. That her daughter lit up the room whenever she entered. And just like that, she learned to walk again.

Eliza noticed the pain in Arizona's eyes as she talked about the plane crash. It pained her to think about all of the trauma her girlfriend had endured. She didn't know much about the plane crash, other than that they' been trapped out in the woods for four days. Arizona didn't like to talk about it much. She divulged only a few details, normally when she awoke in the night after a tough case or a particularly hard day without Sofia.

"And for the record, I'm glad that you don't want me to get trapped with a psycho patient or caught in another explosion." Arizona added, making Eliza laugh.

"Not just those though. I don't want anything bad to happen to you. Or us. Or Sofia. I was so worried yesterday…" Eliza rambled. Arizona scanned her girlfriend carefully, not knowing what to make of Eliza's rambling. Normally, Arizona was the one who rambled in the relationship.

"Come here." She instructed Eliza, indicating for her to come closer. Eliza did as told, allowing herself to be wrapped in Arizona's good arm. She climbed on to the bed beside her, careful not to hurt the blonde.

"I'm sorry, I'm a mess. I'm a doctor- I'm supposed to keep my shit together." Eliza laughed, hurriedly wiping a stray tear from her cheek.

"You're adorable when you're a mess. I love that you care so much."

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The next day, Arizona was more than glad to be leaving the hospital. Grey Sloan was due to reopen the next week and she was more than ready to return to work (although not surgeries, due to her arm) as soon as it did. Although she spent most of her days in the hospital, there was a great difference between being a patient and being a doctor. When she was a doctor, she was in control. It was her words and actions that could potentially save someone's life.

"Are you sure you're okay? Do you need more pain meds? What about your leg?" Eliza fretted a she followed Arizona into the house. Barbara, Daniel and Sofia followed them. Callie had told them that she had some important calls to make, just to cover details about her last-minute trip, but Arizona knew that she was purposely staying out of their way, and she couldn't decide whether she was thankful or disappointed.

Arizona laughed at her girlfriend's worried expression. She had come to learn, in the past forty-eight hours, that Eliza, even though she was the more confident one in the relationship and in general, was a worrier. It amused her to see her normally kept together girlfriend fussing over her as if she were a two-year-old and Eliza the new babysitter. "You need to chill." She told the brunette, resting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'm fine."

Sofia, who had been ever so excited to finally return home with her mama, pulled on Arizona's hand incessantly. "Mama, Grandma says you have to sit down. Cause we made chicken soup." The six-year-old said sternly, making the adults in the room laugh. Arizona did as she was told, collapsing on the couch, dragging Eliza down with her. Sofia, Barbara and Daniel went to the kitchen to retrieve said chicken soup, but they were still within earshot. The whole house was fairly open plan, so that Arizona could get around easily on her crutches, and on the rare occasion her wheelchair.

"Is it even possible for a six-year-old to be so mom-like?" Arizona chuckled as she listened to Sofia tell Barbara about the special tiger bread that was kept in the bread bin and the way Arizona drunk green tea.

"I bet she gets it from you." Eliza commented. Although she had known the little girl for only two days, she could already see the similarities between mother and daughter. Sofia was Callie's carbon copy, no doubt about it, but everything about her personality screamed Arizona. The use of the words 'awesome' and 'super' were common to both Sofia and Arizona. Eliza also noticed that Sofia had the same habit of tapping her hands against her thighs whenever she became excited or nervous.

"I was the one who got her heart started." Arizona revealed. "Callie and I were in a car crash when Callie was twenty-three weeks pregnant with Sofia… I escaped with only minor injuries- a head lac that Karev cleaned up for me- but Callie went through the windshield… and Sofia was born seventeen weeks early. The odds weren't in her favour. But I got her heart started and she fought against all of the odds." She told Eliza, tears welling up in her eyes. Feeling her heart ache, Eliza wrapped an arm around Arizona's shoulder, holding the blonde close to her.

"You saved her life." Eliza told her, smiling softly. Just then, the rest of the group came parading back into the room, carrying trays laden with bowls of steaming hot soup. Both Eliza and Arizona took one gratefully, thanking Sofia and Arizona's parents gratefully.

"Oh my God, this is so good." Arizona exclaimed as she took her first spoonful of soup. "Just like when I was a kid."

"Maybe I can make Pierogi's for dinner." Eliza commented slyly, making eye contact with Arizona, who turned bright red and shot her a stern glare.

"What's a pe-rogy mama?" Sofia asked, scrunching up her face as she tried to pronounce the Polish word.

"They're a food from Poland." Arizona told her daughter. At this point, Barbara turned to Eliza.

"You're Polish?" She questioned. Eliza leaned forward, sensing a full-on background interrogation coming on. However, when it came to her girlfriend and her girlfriend's family, she removed all inhibitions. Well, most of them anyway. Sofia was still there, after all.

"Yeah, partly. My father, Matthew, moved there before I was born and met my mother, Blanka. When I was two, we moved back to America because my father was homesick. I have a little sister, Nadia. We were raised bi-lingual." Eliza informed Barbara, who nodded, impressed.

"I know what bi-lingual means!" Sofia piped up. "It means you speak two languages. I speak English, like mama, but mommy taught me Spanish." She paused, casting a sideways glance at Arizona. "Pero mamá no lo habla muy bien." She added. But mama doesn't speak that very well.

"Hey! I know that much!" Arizona gasped, faking hurt. Sofia laughed and glanced at Eliza, who luckily for the little girl, also understood what had been said.

"Tienes razón." Eliza replied, winking at the little girl. You're right.

"Sitting right here!" Arizona interrupted, although she was secretly glad that her daughter and her girlfriend had found their own way of bonding.

The rest of the night passed relatively quickly, and before they knew it, Eliza, Arizona and Sofia were saying goodbye to Barbara and Daniel yet again, who promised to visit the next day. Sofia, worn out from the day, gladly downed her glass of milk before bed and was asleep before her head hit the pillow. Arizona and Eliza followed her suite soon enough.

"I'm so glad Sofia likes you." Arizona commented, before swallowing the tablet that Eliza had handed her, and rolling up her left pant leg to begin undoing the Velcro straps of her prosthetic. She released the socket with a groan- she really hated this prosthetic.

"Let me help you." Eliza said softly, taking the prosthetic from the blonde and setting it on the floor before climbing back in to bed and starting to gently massage Arizona's leg. "I'm glad she likes me too. I was more scared to meet her than to meet your parents or Callie."

Arizona chuckled. "Six year olds can be surprisingly terrifying. She asked me where babies came from the other day and I was scared to tell her the wrong story." She laughed. "I was super nervous too. I know you hadn't expected to meet her for another two weeks. I was worried you'd freak out or not be ready or something."

Eliza sighed. "I don't think I was ever truly ready. I was freaking out, too. But now that I've met her I'm glad I did."

"You make me so happy." Arizona told her as she pulled the covers up around her face, basking in the warmth of her bed for the first night in a long time.

Eliza smiled down at her. "Told you I would get you."

Arizona scoffed, placing her hand on Eliza's face and pushing it away from her. "I told you! Arrogant!"