Chapter One

Callie stumbled blearily out to the kitchen, yawning. Her head was thumping and she felt like she needed to shave her tongue. She'd had more glasses of wine than she could count before coming home and falling into bed.

The sun was streaming in through the windows and she squinted as she headed for the coffee machine, honing in on it like someone in the desert who'd just found a water source. After she'd put the pot on, she poured herself a big glass of water and threw her head back, drinking thirstily. A sound coming from the lounge room made her jump and she almost spat out her mouthful of water.

"Jesus!" she said as a blonde head of hair appeared from behind the sofa.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," the woman said. She was smiling broadly in a way that showed dimples, and she looked way too perky for someone who had just woken up.

Callie stared at her wordlessly for a moment, quickly realizing through the fog of her hangover that this must be Cristina's guest. Callie and her roommate had both been busier than usual lately – they'd barely seen one another for the past couple of weeks. The exact time that this woman was getting here to stay with them had slipped Callie's mind.

"Oh. Arizona, right?" Callie finally said.

Though she hadn't paid much attention to the details, it was the sort of name that stuck in a person's mind. Callie had grumbled about them not having enough space for an extra person - even one that was happy to crash on the sofa. With Angie staying here half of the time and Owen doing the same, the apartment could start to feel crowded pretty fast. Cristina had insisted that Arizona was only going to stay for a couple of weeks until she could find something more permanent. Arizona didn't know anyone else in Seattle aside from Cristina.

"Right. And you're Callie?" Arizona asked pleasantly.

"Mmm-hmm," Callie said, forcing herself to sound polite. If there was one thing she hated more than small talk, it was small talk first thing in the morning. She needed caffeine before she could deal with it. "Would you like some coffee? I've just put on a pot."

"Sure, that would be great," Arizona said enthusiastically, rising to come over to the kitchen.

Callie looked down at herself. She was wearing only a T-shirt and her underwear. She was standing behind the counter where Arizona couldn't see below her waist, and she'd managed to forget.

"Excuse me for a sec," she said, walking back to her bedroom to get her robe while Arizona discreetly averted her eyes. This was the exact reason she'd been reluctant to let someone else stay in the apartment. An extra person meant she had an extra reason to have to wear pants. Cristina had lectured her several times about not walking around the apartment in her underwear or in a towel. They'd made a deal that she would dress herself more often if Cristina would agree to try to not be such a slob.

When she got back from her room Arizona was already pottering around the kitchen, opening cupboards and clearly trying to figure out where everything was.

"Up there," Callie pointed, indicating where their coffee mugs were kept. She pulled the belt of her silk robe more tightly around her waist.

"Thanks," Arizona said as she took down one for each of them. "So you're a surgeon too, huh? You'll have to give me the scoop on the hospital. I start tomorrow."

"Yep, Ortho. You?" Callie said, rubbing sleep from her eye. She quickly took in Arizona's grey tank top and boxers - and her legs. She had nice legs. They were slim and smooth-looking, accented by muscle.

"Pediatrics," Arizona said, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Of course she was. This woman and her sunny disposition practically screamed, "I work with children". Caliie sat down at one of the bar stools against the counter top. Arizona had made herself comfortable in the kitchen and had taken over coffee making duties. Callie gratefully took a steaming mug and warmed her hands on the sides. The ache that had been pounding at her temples disappeared as soon as she took a couple of mouthfuls.

"I'm going to make breakfast, did you want some eggs?" Arizona asked.

Callie snorted. "Sorry, but you're not going to find any food in that fridge. There's a market down the street." Though she loved cooking, she never had much time to do it. She ate take-out or at the hospital more often than not and Cristina was the same. Their fridge was not exactly well stocked.

"Oh no, I went and got some stuff last night."

Callie frowned. "I thought you must have gotten in pretty late? You weren't here when I got home."

"Oh, I was here. Cristina let me in before she went to work." Arizona grinned at her. "I was already on the sofa when you got in."

"Sorry if I woke you," Callie said with embarrassment. Her view of Arizona would have been blocked by the back of the sofa in the same way that it had been this morning. When she thought back to the night before she remembered pouring herself one last glass of wine from an open bottle in the fridge. She'd taken it into her bedroom with her, and had fallen asleep before she could drink it. She could only imagine how noisy she'd been - crashing around drunkenly in the dark. She'd gotten into an argument with her girlfriend at Joe's, and Angie had stormed off on her. It had left her in the mood to drown her sorrows.

"No problem," Arizona replied.

They fell into silence while Arizona cooked and Callie watched, her hand propped under her chin.

"So tell me how you know Cristina again?" Callie asked after a while. Cristina had probably mentioned it, but she couldn't remember what she'd said. Callie hadn't given much thought to Arizona before she'd gotten here, but now that they'd met she was puzzled. Arizona seemed nice enough, but she just didn't seem like Cristina's type when it came to friends. She just came across as so . . . wholesome. Exactly the opposite of Callie's ruthless, sarcastic roommate.

"Stamford. We were pretty tight back then, but we haven't seen each other much. We've kept in touch though. She e-mails me a lot – sounds like she's been kicking ass in Cardio," Arizona explained.

"Oh yeah, she's the best," Callie agreed. "So what brings you to Seattle? I mean, I know you're going to be working at Seattle Grace, but what were you doing before?"

"John Hopkins. I was the Chief of Pediatric Surgery there," Arizona said, stirring the scrambled eggs.

"Wow," Callie smiled properly for the first time since they'd started talking. Stanford and John Hopkins? Either of them alone would be a big deal but the combination was more than impressive. "But you're not going to be chief here unless I'm missing something? So won't this be a bit of a step down for you?"

Arizona shrugged, and looked over her shoulder at Callie. She was still smiling but Callie sensed a dent in her cheerful exterior. "Life stuff. I needed a change."

"Right, sure," Callie replied awkwardly, pretty sure she'd put her foot in her mouth. Arizona was probably going through a nasty divorce or something. She could picture Arizona married to a handsome husband, settled down in a big house. It couldn't be easy for her to move into the type of apartment that had no food and no guest room. "Well I'm not knocking Seattle Grace. I mean, I work there and I'm no slouch," she joked.

Arizona waved the egg flip over her shoulder as though to punctuate her words. "Oh I know. And Cristina's there - we all knew she was going to do great things."

After they'd eaten, Callie took their plates and rinsed them. It was a little annoying to have a guest, but if Arizona was going to regularly cook and make coffee like that then it would make it bearable.

"Thanks. I'm going to go have a shower if you don't need the bathroom," Callie said.

"Sure," Arizona nodded. "Hey Callie, nice singing by the way."

Callie looked back at her blankly, but then a flashback entered her mind of belting out an old Belinda Carlisle song in the kitchen. She'd forgotten all about that, but her singing was a regular thing especially when she was drunk. It had always driven Cristina nuts.

"Glad you liked it," Callie smirked. If Arizona were going to live here, she'd just have to get used to that sort of thing.

Cristina caught up with her while she was walking down the hall, her hands jammed into the pockets of her lab coat. Callie had just gotten a pissy-sounding text message from Angie about the night before. They'd been at each others' throats for weeks now, and it felt like Angie kept needling her even after she thought they were past their last fight. As a result the time in between fights was getting shorter and shorter.

"Hey. I heard you met our new roomie," Cristina said.

Callie stopped in her tracks, turning to her and pointing a finger at her chest. "She is not our new roomie. You'd better be helping her look for a new place to live. I'm not having Barbie lying on our sofa for the next few months while she gets her shit together."

Cristina scoffed. "Barbie? Badass Surgery Barbie maybe. We were crazy competitive with one another at school." Callie looked at Cristina's face, which was bearing that look of relish she always got over a friendly fight with a colleague. She was surprised that Arizona could match someone like Cristina, but now their friendship made more sense to her.

"Whatever. Just hurry it up. You know I never liked this idea in the first place, so don't let her get too comfortable."

"She won't over stay her welcome, she's not that sort of person. Did you two not get off to a good start? I thought you'd get along," Cristina mused.

Callie looked down at her pager, which had just started beeping, and sighed. "No, she's fine. Like I keep saying, we just don't have the space. I gotta run."

When Callie arrived home late that night with Angie in tow, Arizona and Cristina were sitting around on the bar stools. The two of them were laughing as she opened the door. Callie resisted the urge to roll her eyes at how loud they sounded. She was exhausted and she knew that she and Angie were going to have to talk about a few things, but after that she'd hoped to go right to sleep. The last thing she felt like doing was listening to this pair reminisce over the good old days at Stanford – she was sure that she'd be able to hear them through the wall.

"Hey ladies," Cristina welcomed them.

"Hi," Angie said to Cristina then smiled at Arizona, somewhat stiffly. She wasn't good with new people. Callie remembered her manners.

"Arizona this is my girlfriend Angie, Angie this is Cristina's friend Arizona. She's starting at the hospital tomorrow. Angie's Cardio," Callie explained flatly. She just wanted to get away to her room.

"Oh cool. Nice to meet you," Arizona said, holding out her hand to shake Angie's. Callie didn't miss the way Arizona's eyes subtly flicked between the two of them with interest. She felt a surge of irritation – she hated it when straight people looked at them like they were a novelty. It spurred her on to cut the conversation even shorter.

"Well, we're actually both pretty tired. We'll leave you to it," Callie announced, pulling Angie by the hand. She scowled as she heard another burst of laughter coming from the two of them as she closed the bedroom door.