Chapter 1
So here's the thing, I moved here to get away from LA and all the mistakes that I made there. When I heard that Derek took the job in DC, I just decided that private practice wasn't for me. I miss working in a hospital, so I called Owen Hunt and asked for Derek's job, just as an interim for six months. Then I called Meredith and discussed everything with her, she didn't really understand why, but she agreed to let me move in for while. And now I am sitting here in my office looking at scans of the most intricate glioma that I have even considered operating on and it belongs to a colleague.
"You've been looking at these scans for two days, Amy. What are you thinking?" Meredith asks leaning over her shoulder.
"Mer, I think I can get it. Look at my approach…" she says showing the other doctor her process screens. They spend the next hour discussing Amelia's approach.
"I don't think I realized how much neuro experience you have." Amy says as they both sit back in their chairs. "Thank you for going through that with me. I think I'm ready to present it to Herman now."
"Good luck. She wasn't happy that Robbins stole her scans and gave them to you. She almost had her arrested." Meredith reminds her. "You're a pretty fast talker."
"Of course I am. Haven't you met my family?" She says laughing.
"Good point." Meredith says standing up to leave. "Hey, are you going to be home for dinner?" She asks.
Looking at her watch, "I'm meeting Herman in 20 minutes. But I am planning to go for a run through the park after work. Why don't I let you know when I'm back from my run?"
"Okay, sounds good. I'll feed the kids early and put them to bed. Then we can have dinner when you get home." She smiles and ducks out of the office.
Laughing to herself, Amelia can't help thinking about how funny it is that she's slipped into her brother's life so easily. It's a good life. She is surprised to find how comfortable she is living with Meredith and sharing parenting duties. Its only been a month, but now she can't imagine life without Bailey and Zola.
"Amelia!" Arizona calls out to her friend.
"Yes, Dr Robbins," she says turning around.
"Headed up to meet with Herman, right?" The blonde asks.
"Yes. I've just spent the last hour going over it with Meredith. My approach is solid." She says confidently.
"Yay! I can't wait until she agrees to this surgery and gets off my ass." She says smiling. They take a few steps and Arizona's demeanor changes.
"Amelia, I know I went about it the wrong way, and I know that it's selfish, but I refuse to lose her before I have a chance to complete this fellowship, it's all I have left." the blonde says quietly with tears in her eyes.
"Hey, come here." Amelia puts her arm out to pull the blonde in for a hug. Then looking over she sees the supply room. She opens the door and pulls her friend in for a little privacy.
"I'm sorry. You don't need this right now. Go, go talk with Nicole. I"m fine… " she says pushing Amelia away.
"Okay, but I'm calling you later," Amelia says leaning in and kissing her cheek.
Dropping her face into her hands, Arizona sits down on a box and cries. Then looking at her phone, she makes a face, resolves to get it together and as she leaves the supply room, she runs right into Callie.
"Um, hi." She says.
Looking around to see if anyone is coming out of the supply room after her ex, Callie pauses for a moment. Then notices Arizona's very red nose. "Hey, are you okay?" She asks putting her hand on the blonde's arm.
"Yes. I'm just. Look this is hard. I mean, I knew it would be hard, but I didn't realize that I was signing on to a fellowship trainwreck." Arizona says angrily. Then realizes how it sounds and adds, "I don't mean that the way it sounded…"
"I get it. You signed up to work with a brilliant doctor, not a brilliant doctor with an inoperable brain tumor who may or may not live through your fellowship. Arizona, that is a lot for anyone to deal with." Callie pulls her into a hug. Arizona lets her, but it's more confusing than comforting, so she pulls away.
"Thank you Calliope." She says turning away and walking down the hall.
"You're sure this will work?" Dr Herman asks her for the third time.
"I am." Dr Shepherd says again. "You understand there are still risks, it is brain surgery. The chemo has shrunk the tumor just enough that I feel certain, I can remove it. It's receded from your optical nerve and the trailing portion here that was encroaching on your hypothalamus, is greatly reduced as well." Amelia points out again.
"Nicole, I understand your hesitancy. For the last 6 months you've been told that this was inoperable, but it's not. You are the rare patient, that the chemo actually did what it was supposed to do, it gave us room to operate." She adds walking back across the room towards her. "This. Will. Work." Amelia reiterates carefully. "Let me schedule it for first of next week. That gives you a few days to get things in order."
"Actually, I've already called Addison Montgomery and she has agreed to supervise Robbins in my absence, because even though I am livid that she disregarded my request for privacy, she may have saved my life by giving you the scans." Then Nicole adds, "but don't repeat that, it will only encourage her!"
Chapter 2
Arizona looks at Addison Montgomery shocked. They don't really know each other that well, although Addison is Callie best friend, why would she make a comment about their relationship, she thinks.
"Um, not your business." Arizona states flatly and walks off.
Addison smirks as she watches the younger doctor walk off down the hall. It's been a couple of weeks since she got the offer from Hunt and Herman to come back to Grey Sloan on a short-term contract to supervise the Neonatal Fellowship while Herman was in recovery. And after the first week of staying at Callie's house, she decided that these two really need to get back together. Her friend talks a good game about finding herself and her focus, free of relationship drama, but it is not difficult to see that she is not happy single. Wanting things to change and wanting to be single are two completely different things. I should know, Addison thinks to herself. Before Henry and Jake, she was a completely different person. Having a child changes you. Callie of all people should know this. The Arizona who left her in the airport no longer exists.
Walking into the cafeteria, Arizona sees April and immediately goes over and sits down with her.
"Are you not eating?" April asks. Just entering her 2nd Trimester, April eats all the time.
"I will, I just wanted to wait a bit." The blonde says glancing over to the smoothie line where Addison is next in line.
"Why are you avoiding Montgomery?" Her friend asks, suddenly figuring it out.
"I'm...Look she tried to talk to me about Callie and I am not going to have that conversation with her. If Callie wants to talk to me, she knows where to find me." Arizona watches the redhead leave and stands up. "I'll be right back, do you need anything?"
April shakes her head no and continues to eat her spaghetti.
Sitting back down, Arizona smiles broadly at her pregnant friend, "How are you doing today? I take it the morning sickness is over and now you're in the everything tastes amazing phase?"
"Oh my god! Arizona, it's so true. Everything tastes amazing. Jackson went from being scared that I couldn't keep anything down, to freaking out because I am eating everything in sight." She says smiling.
"Callie was the same way. But we were lucky, because we just made Mark run out to the store for all her weird cravings." Arizona smiles sadly.
"Hey I saw Sofia today when Callie was dropping her off at daycare, she is getting so big!" April says wanting to turn the conversation around.
"Oh, let me show you what she did at the house the other day." Arizona says as she pulls out her phone and starts up the video.
"That is so freaking cute!" April exclaims. "Who would have thought, Alex would play tea party with a 3 year old."
"He's so good with her, I am glad that I moved into the house with him and Jo. As much as I just wanted to be alone, it's good to not be alone. And its good for Sofia too." Arizona smiles, then looks up from her phone to her friend again.
"Okay, I'm going to go check in on Herman. At least I know that she won't ask me inappropriate personal questions!" she says standing up, then leans over and gives her friend a quick hug goodbye.
As she approaches the room, she sees Amelia and Nicole having a heated conversation, so she hangs back. Then suddenly Amelia rushes past her angrily.
"Amelia?" she says reaching out for her friend as she flashes past her.
Stopping just long enough to reply Amelia says, "Give me 5 minutes." And with that she goes into the doctor's on call room and locks the door.
Sighing heavily and now not sure if she should go into Nicole's room or not, she hesitates.
"Hello Dr Herman!" she says cheerfully entering the room as if unaware of the disagreement.
"Robbins." She says curtly. Pausing to carefully wipe the tears of frustration off her face without drawing too much attention to them.
"Just had a break and thought I'd check in on you. Did you see the Millstone case? It's similar to the Simmons case but Dr Montgomery wants to do a …" She trails off as she realizes Nicole's mind is somewhere else.
"I'm sorry, I should ask how you are feeling today?" Arizona sits in the chair beside the bed and eyes the doctor warily.
"Robbins, this probably isn't a good time for a visit. I just… I just got some disappointing news from Dr Shepherd."
"Anything that you'd like to talk about? Or need to talk about?" She carefully rephrases the question. Aside from a few phone calls from her brother and colleagues, the woman apparently has few close friends.
Looking down at her hands in her lap, Dr Herman can't help but want to open up to this young women who is so caring. Its been a long time since she's had a close friend and colleague, Addison actually was the last fellow she allowed close to her.
"No, but thank you for asking." She looks up as she says it and smiles slightly.
"Okay. Well if there is anything I can do for you, please let me know." Arizona offers as she stands up.
Walking down the hall to the on-call room, she knocks lightly. "Amelia?" she says softly.
Suddenly the door opens and a hand reaches out and pulls her in quickly.
"Sorry, I don't want anyone to know that we're in here together. Neither of us need that rumor going around!" She says flopping back on the bed. Around her on the bed are patient scans and its obvious that she is stressing over them.
"Well, speak for yourself. I do have a reputation around here." Arizona says playfully.
"Ha Ha, well I don't and I'd like to keep it that way." Amelia says sharply.
"Whoa, I don't think I've met dark twisty Amelia." Arizona replies.
"I can't really tell you what is going on. Did Herman tell you anything?"
"Just that she had received disappointing news from you." Arizona says sitting down beside her friend.
"Gah! She is impossible. But don't worry, I'll figure something out. I'm going to Skype with Derek later today about it." Amelia says putting the scans back in the file.
"Hey, why don't you talk with Addison. I get the impression that she and Nicole are sort of close. She seems to know quite a bit about Herman's personal life. Nicole even offered Addison her condo while she's here." Arizona reminds her.
"True. And maybe Nicole will talk with Addison and that will help her vent out some of her frustration, frustration that she is currently aiming directly at me." Amelia considers.
"I'd love for Addison to get involved with someone else's personal life and get the hell out of mine!" Arizona remarks sharply falling back on the bed in frustration.
"What did Addie do now?" Amelia asks, happy for the topic change.
"Obviously, she's been talking with Callie and would you believe that she had the nerve to ask me if I was seeing anyone?" Arizona sits up resting on her elbows. "As if that is any of her business. And if Callie wants to know, she can ask. But honestly, it's not her business either."
Looking down nervously, Amelia can't help but giggle.
"What is so funny? Arizona asks standing up and walking over to the desk to look at her phone. Then slowly she turns around and sees Amelia and laughs too.
"Okay, it is funny. But we're not…" She begins to say.
"Yet, we're still going to be sneaking out of here so no one will see us!" Amelia says laughing harder.
"Then, let's not sneak." Arizona strides over to the door and unlocks it, daring the younger doctor to walk out behind her.
"Right behind you." Amelia says shutting the door confidently behind them.
Down in the daycare to pick up Sofia, Arizona is surprised to see Callie there picking up Henry. "Oh, hey this is weird," she comments to her ex.
"Addie texted and said something came up," Callie says a little confused. "I had asked her to ask you about picking up Sofia, but she didn't respond."
Leaning down to help Sofia with her jacket, Arizona doesn't comment. "Hey big girl, do you want to go out to eat tonight? Momma is off tomorrow."
Sofia nods excitedly, then looks over to Henry and grabs his hand as if they are all leaving together.
Callie and Arizona look at each other and then Arizona shakes her head, "Okay, this is weirder. But would you and Henry like to join us for dinner? I was just thinking of stopping by the Red Tricycle. Alex is going to meet me there. Jo's working late tonight." She explains.
Wanting to say no, just to avoid the awkwardness of it all. Callie surprises herself by saying, "Okay, well do you want to just drive together than and ride home with Alex?"
"Oh, well okay." She shrugs, then adds. "These two are becoming inseparable, aren't they?" She beams at her daughter and tentatively looks at her ex.
As Callie drives, Arizona texts Alex to tell him to grab the spare seat for Sofia before he leaves the house. She starts to put her phone away and another text comes in.
Amelia: What are you doing?
AZ: Headed to dinner with Callie and the kids. DONT ASK!
Amelia: Call me later?
AZ: Join us for dinner?
Amelia: God no. But maybe I'll stop by the house later after I talk with Derek?
AZ: Sounds good :-)
Callie can't help but keep looking over at Arizona's phone. She's dying to know who is texting her. Finally, she asks, "Was that Alex?"
"No Calliope it wasn't." She says sharply, then immediately regrets it.
"I'm sorry. That was unnecessary. But I am just a little confused why Addison asked me personal questions today. We have a great working relationship but we don't really exchange personal info outside of you and Sofia." She explains.
"What did she ask you, if I can ask?" Callie knits her brows in concern.
Looking carefully at her ex, trying to read her to see if she really didn't put Addison up to asking her about her personal life. "Well, she asked me if I was seeing anyone."
Smiling, Callie snorts. "Oh, that's a funny story actually. You know how you had Shepherd working on those scans for Herman and you both were being all secretive? Well, a couple of the nurses thought you and Shepherd were, you know." She says raising her eyebrows. "Anyway, one of them just said something to Addie and she freaked out that you had turned Derek's little sister gay!"
'What?" Arizona says loudly. "Are you kidding me? Addie doesn't know about Amelia?" Shaking her head, "I'll never forget that first time we ran into her at The Wild Rose. You about flipped out."
"I know, right? I told Addie to ask Amy, but I guess she decided to ask you instead." Callie replies. Parking the car easily in front of the restaurant, she looks over at Arizona.
"Rockstar parking for the rockstar." Arizona says laughing at the shared memory.
Alex finally texts back that he can't make dinner, so Callie offers to take Arizona and Sofia home.
Just as they pull up to the house, Arizona sees Amelia sitting on the porch steps. She walks over to the car and says hello to Henry and Callie, then takes the bag from Arizona so she can more easily carry a sleeping Sofia.
"Interesting timing my friend." Arizona comments to her softly. Then turning to Callie she waves good night.
Opening up a bottle of wine, Arizona laughs again. "Okay, so apparently there's a rumor at the hospital that I turned you gay." She blurts out.
"Perfect and now I just showed up at your house late in the evening." Amelia says, taking a long sip of her sparkling water and following Arizona into the living room.
Sitting down on the couch, she continues "Well at least it was Callie, she knows I didn't turn you gay! But now I am a bit shocked that Addison doesn't know this about you? Oh and Callie didn't tell her either." Arizona adds taking a sip of wine.
"Yeah, its funny how it just hasn't come up. I dated a few women in college, but mostly men in LA, but Seattle is so much like back east, the women are active and sporty."
Arizona nods. "True. Hey we should go out sometime. I have got to meet someone new who does not work at the freaking hospital!"
Amelia nods, 'Truth sister!"
"Hey give me a sec, I'm going to go change and get more comfortable." She says putting her glass down and going upstairs.
A few minutes late, Arizona reappears in yoga pants on her crutches. There are very few people that she is comfortable around enough to remove her leg, in fact she just recently began doing it around Jo and Alex. But since Amelia moved to Seattle and she and Callie broke up, they have become very close.
"So how was your consult with Derek?" Arizona asks sitting back down on the couch and refilling her wine glass.
"I'm not sure. He seemed really unfocused and said that he'd look it over in the morning and call me back. I talked it over with Meredith this morning though and she told me what she thought he'd do. She agrees with my approach, but after working on Derek's service as an intern, she knows him rather well. So I'm just going to wait. Nicole wants a second opinion and I'll be damned if I'm going to ask Warren over at Mercy." As she's talking, she turns to face Arizona and pull her feet up on the couch in front of her, tucking one under.
"Well, I'm sure that Addison will help you. I figured that's why Callie had Henry tonight." She says questioningly.
"Oh, yes. Addison was going to cook tonight, that's probably why Callie agreed to go to dinner with you."
"Do you go over there often?" Arizona asks. "Just curious. You've never mentioned it, but then I guess its not like Addison and Henry are going to come out and hang out with you at Meredith's!" She adds
"You should have seen Addie's face when I told her that I moved into the trailer. She was appalled." Amelia says laughing.
The door opens abruptly. "Oh, hey Alex." Arizona greets her friend and house mate.
"Well, well, Shepherd and Robbins, didn't get enough of each other today in the neuro on-call room?" He asks smirking.
"Shut up!" Arizona says loudly. Then stares at the baby monitor to see if she woke her daughter.
Walking back in the room with a beer, Alex flops down in the chair.
"Where were you at tonight? We had dinner plans." Arizona asks him.
"I stopped by the Music Meister to look at guitars and ended up jamming with a couple guys, then they invited me to a bar to hear them play. When I saw you were with Callie, I figured I'd just go and hang out." He shrugs, taking a long pull on his beer.
"Wait, you play guitar?" Amelia asks.
"Yeah. My old man taught me. When he came around last year, I started playing again." He adds. "Just ordered a sweet one, it'll be in in a few weeks."
Arizona smiles, happy that Alex is getting some closure around his father's reappearance in his life and then death.
"Hey so you left your car at the hospital? Do you need to ride in with me?" Alex asks.
"No. I'm off tomorrow. I figured Sofia and I would just cab over to the hospital tomorrow afternoon.
"Okay, then I'm heading up. Jo should be home in the next hour or so. She just got out of surgery with Pierce." He says standing up, then he comes over to Arizona, puts his hand on her shoulder and tells her good night, says good night to Amelia and heads up the stairs.
Amelia smiles fondly at Arizona. She was such a mess before she moved in here with Alex, but in just a short time, she can see the grounding effect Alex has had on her.
"What's going on in the brain of yours Dr Shepherd?" Arizona leans over and shoves her foot.
"I was just remembering that night at the Archfield before you moved in here with Alex. And now, you're a different person. Its good to see you grounded again, my friend."
"Yeah, it's funny. When I told him to buy this house. I had no idea that I'd be living in it a year later."
Chapter 3
Dropping off Sofia at Daycare, Arizona is surprised to see Addison dropping off Henry.
"Hey I thought you went back to LA for a few days?" Arizona asks.
"No, Jake surprised me and came here. But I decided to go ahead and put Henry in daycare today, so Jake could have a day to explore Seattle." Addison explains.
"Oh, so he's still here?" Arizona asks.
"Yes, we're staying at the Archfield and letting Callie have her house back for a few days."
"I see. So we are on for the placenta previa case at 10:00 am?" The blonde questions.
"Absolutely, I'm going to show you the Herman procedure for abrupting placenta previa." The redhead says with a flourish.
"Awesome. I can't wait to be amazed. Astounded even." Arizona responds playfully. Looking up she sees Callie walk into the daycare. "Look big girl, Mami is here to see you!" She says to the little girl as she removes her jacket.
"Mami! I missed you!" the little dark haired girl exclaims running to wrap herself around Callie's legs.
The Latina drops to her knees and gives her daughter a big hug and kisses her head. "Did you and Momma have a good day off yesterday?" She asks.
"Yes and Uncle Alex took us to lunch!" Sofia replies.
Callie looks up at her ex and asks, "How did you get your car?"
"Oh, I gave Alex the keys yesterday and then he picked us up for lunch in my car and we dropped him back." She says nonchalantly.
Arizona can't help but see that Callie looks disappointed.
"What are you doing here? Isn't today your day off?" Arizona asks.
"It was, but I have to follow up on a trauma from yesterday, but I was going to go ahead and pick up Sofia when I leave. It'll save you the trip to the house after work." Callie offers.
"Oh. Well, okay. That makes sense." She replies, then turning to her daughter. "Sofia, Momma will see you tomorrow morning, okay big girl?"
Already distracted by Henry and the other kids, Sofia stops a moment, kisses Arizona's cheek and runs off.
Arizona looks at Callie and they both shrug and smile, then turn to go out together. Callie stops and looks back, "Addison, you coming?"
Looking at her phone, she frowns. "No, go ahead without me. I need to talk to Jake again, he's lost on his morning run."
Sipping from her coffee, Arizona can't help but stop at the nurse's desk and watch Amelia chatting with a PT outside of Herman's room. The blonde can't help but notice that the two women have some chemistry.
Amelia looks up and sees Arizona and suddenly changes her whole demeanor. Her little flirty lean and head tilt are gone and she gets all professional with the other woman.
Walking up to her, Arizona says, "Hello Nicci, long time no see. I didn't realize you were back? How was your Doctors without Borders experience?"
The physical therapist suddenly looks very nervous. "Oh Dr Robbins. It was good. Um, how are you?"
"I'm fine. But more importantly, how is Dr Herman?" Arizona asks.
Now both Amelia and Nicci look nervously at each other. Its obvious that Nicci has no idea who Dr Herman is, which means that they were probably having a personal conversation.
Amelia responds first, "Oh, Nicci isn't on Dr Herman's case. I'm consulting with her on another case."
Arizona smiles at both of them and walks away. Pulling her phone out of her pocket she sends a text to Amelia.
AZ: So busted. Nice choice though.
Turning slightly to see Amelia retrieve her phone and read the text. The younger woman turns bright red and drops the phone back in her pocket without responding.
Laughing to herself, Arizona continues into Dr Herman's room.
"What's so funny Robbins?" Dr Herman demands as she enters the room.
"Nothing that you'd appreciate, I'm sure." Robbins replies.
"Where is Addison? She was supposed to come by yesterday before she went back to LA?" Herman booms.
"Well, her husband surprised her with a visit, so I'm sure that you'll see her this morning. Is there anything that I can do for you?" Arizona asks.
"No. I don't want to involve you any more than you already are." The older woman replies with a frown. "Are you ready to learn the Herman Method this week?"
"Absolutely. I have read your journal article and managed to decipher your notes in the margins." She adds with a smile. "Oh and Addison scheduled it for this afternoon, since she's still here."
"Good. You're the future Dr Robbins, about time you take this seriously." Herman says dismissively.
Getting the message, Arizona nods and leaves the room.
Heading to the elevator, her phone buzzes.
Amelia: You suck.
AZ: You wish.
Amelia: I can't believe you went there!
AZ: Hahaha, so sporty girls with pony tails are your type?
Amelia: I don't have a type.
AZ: Okay…
Amelia: coffee cart 5 min!
Laughing Arizona gets in the elevator and drops her phone in her pocket. Walking up to the coffee cart, the blonde is happy to see Amelia turning towards her with 2 cups of coffee.
"For me? Aww, you're the best!" She says laughing.
"It's not what you think?" Amelia says handing her the coffee. "I knew her from before and had no idea she had been in South America for 3 months, we were just catching up."
Arizona sits down on a bench and tilts her head, "Ok, Dr Shepherd. I believe you." she says softly.
"Stop. That!" Amelia says punching her in the arm. "It wasn't like that at all." She says taking a drink of her coffee. "Wait, was she looking at me like that?"
Laughing, Arizona leans in and says, "She's totally into you Shepherd, ask her out."
Amelia freaks out, panic all over her face.
"Wait, you've got to be kidding me!" Arizona says loudly, then looks around. Leaning in she says more quietly, "You've never asked a woman out have you? What are you a total pillow queen?"
Shrugging, Amelia says softly but firmly, "Not a pillow queen. Jeez. It's not my fault that I'm usually the one being pursued. I've never pursued anyone. How do you…"
"Oh, don't even play that Shepherd. I saw your game in the hallway. You were doing just fine. Did you exchange numbers? I know Nicci, she'll call you today." Arizona replies.
Relieved but then confused, "How well do you know Nicci?" She can't help but ask.
Taking a sip of her coffee, Arizona looks around. It's been over 5 years since she knew Nicci. The Physical Therapist was one of her first dates when she arrived at Seattle Grace from back east. They went out a few times and Nicci helped her get the lay of the land in Seattle. Introduced her to the Wild Rose and helped her find her first apartment. They were just friends, but with benefits. Arizona rarely had women who were just friends back then, she flirted with everyone.
"Earth to Arizona. What the hell? Where did you go?" Amelia questions.
"Look, I was a totally different person five years ago when I first came to this hospital Nicci was one of my first friends, she helped me find an apartment and we went out a few times. But it wasn't anything serious. Okay?" The blonde admits.
Perplexed, Amelia looks at her friend. "How do you do that?" She asks.
Confused, Arizona shrugs and says, 'Do what?"
"Look so innocent all the time, when I know you were such a player. I've heard the rumors. You were almost as bad as Mark Sloan."
"I was never as bad as Mark Sloan," Arizona hisses back. "Are you kidding me. He conquered women. I never did that. I enjoyed them and they enjoyed me and then we went back to work. Consenting adults and all that." She replies.
"Uh uh, what about Sonya?" Amelia asks.
Now its Arizona's turn to look panicked. How the hell did Amelia find out about Sonya the EMT? "That was unfortunate. I didn't realize she was engaged. I'm not a homewrecker. She came on to me and I just went with it. I was single, it didn't even occur to me that she wasn't." the blonde tries to explain.
Laughing Amelia takes another sip of her coffee. "So basically, I'm the only single 'friend' of yours who you haven't slept with? She asks.
"Oh, we've slept together. Haven't you heard the rumors!" Arizona smirks as she tosses her coffee cup in the trash and walks off.
"Wait!" Shepherd calls after her, then smiles and sits back down to finish her coffee. Best to not make a scene, there are enough rumors in this place.
Chapter 4
"Well, they are laughing so that has to be a good sign, right?" Arizona and Amelia are spying on Addison and Nicole from the nurse's station.
"I just need Addie to back me up on this. I just know it will work," Amelia says turning around to face Arizona.
"Hold up, here comes Addison!" The blonde doctor hisses as she turns around and pretends to be reading a chart on her tablet.
"Dr. Robbins." Addison greets the blonde first. "Little Shepherd, come with me," she says to the other doctor as she walks away towards the doctor's lounge.
Fuming over the use of the old nickname, Amelia slaps shut the tablet cover and huffs off after her ex sister-in-law.
Debating for a moment over whether to go in and visit Herman, Arizona is saved by a page to the Perinatal unit. As she rushes down the hall to the stairwell, Addison joins her. Oh great they were both paged.
Entering the Ultrasound room, the two doctors are surprised to see Jackson and Edwards arguing while April lays in the bed moving the wand to get a better view of her baby.
"What the hell is going on here?" Addison demands walking into the room. Arizona strides in behind her and gently takes the wand away from a tearful April Kepner.
"April, what did you see?" Arizona asks her friend softly, when all the sudden she sees it and says, "Oh."
Looking up at her red-haired mentor, who has stepped between the arguing doctors and catches a glimpse of the ultrasound monitor. "Everyone out of the room." Addison says immediately. "Not you Robbins. Jackson, step out and calm down. We're going to examine your wife and you can come back in about 15 minutes." She points at the door and they both head towards it. Jackson pauses to kiss his wife. I'm sorry, I'll be right back. He pauses to consider if he should leave or not when Addison says softly. "Please Dr. Avery, 15 minutes to let us evaluate this for you and your wife."
Shutting the door. Addison picks up her tablet to review the latest blood tests from the lab. "Arizona, let's switch places." She says handing her the tablet. "Look through those lab results and find the Quad Screen results from last week." Turning to her patient, she says, "April, I know that you are very worried and unfortunately, I think that you have good reason to be. But let's make sure we have the whole picture, I'm going to switch to the transvaginal wand so this is going to be uncomfortable for a moment." She says, switching out the equipment quickly.
Turning the monitor away from the patient, the doctor moves the wand efficiently, pausing to record views before repositioning and recording again. Arizona finds the lab results and then pauses, her eyes glued to the monitor. The baby's position is cause for concern, often referred to as the Buddha position it is almost always indicative of osteogenesis imperfecta but can also indicate Fetal Arthrogyrposis. Taking a deep breath, Arizona shows Addison the test results. Addison nods and then turns to April.
"We didn't have you scheduled for an ultrasound today April, what made you come up for one?" Addison pauses to ask.
Her voice cracking with emotion, "The baby hasn't been moving very much and I was worried. We tried to tell ourselves that it was just too early, but then its our first baby so we came up here to just check. As soon as Jackson saw the position, he paged Edwards since she's been on Arizona's service. We didn't want to page either of you unless it was important. As soon as Stephanie saw the baby, she paged you both and then she and Jackson got in an argument…" she pauses to wipe her eyes again. Arizona crosses over to the other side of the bed and sits down. She exchanges looks with Addison and then she begins speaking.
"April, there are a few more tests that we are going to run today. We need you to stay calm and just let us work on this. Can you do that?" The blonde doctor asks her friend.
Nodding she looks over towards the door and both doctors motion for Jackson to come into the room. They spend a few minutes reviewing everything with him, before leaving. They go ahead and admit April for observation.
Out in the nurse's station they see a very worried Edwards, Arizona takes a moment to go over and talk with her. "You did the right thing by paging us Stephanie. It is not easy standing up to another doctor, let alone an ex who's also an owner and chair of the board. Dr. Montgomery and I have agreed to let you follow the case with us. We need you to monitor the tests we just ordered and let us know when they are complete. We'll be in the office reviewing the results we have now." She explains.
Sitting in the office with Addison for over an hour reviewing everything, they both realize that they are starving. "Look, let's take a short break and get something to eat. The rest of the tests will probably be done when we get back." Arizona suggests.
"I just hate not having all the puzzle pieces. Not to mention that as soon as we walk into that cafeteria, we are going to get ambushed for information. It's going to be hard because these will be our friends and Jackson and April's friends, but we have to be very careful. Jackson had April coded as a VIP on admission so no one can access her records."
"Oh, good for him. I know what it feels like to have everyone in this hospital in your business." Arizona says standing up and stretching her neck and shoulders. "Ok, let's go eat."
As they walk into the cafeteria, Arizona sees Bailey and remembers the Genome mapping project. "Addison." She puts her arm out and says, "Bailey mapped all the interns genomes two years ago."
The two doctors approach Bailey's table and sit down. Looking from one to the other as she sets down the journal she's reading she says sharply, "What? I don't owe either of you any favors, so don't ask for any."
"You mapped the interns genomes? We need to see two of those reports as soon as possible." Addison replies.
"Kepner and Avery." Arizona says quietly.
Weighing the request for a moment, Bailey responds, "Okay but if it involves my genome project, I am getting in on this case." She says finishing her smoothie with a slurp.
"Arizona, do you mind grabbing us some lunch and I'll go with Bailey. Meet us in the Genome lab in 10." Addison asks, grabbing Bailey's arm.
"Why yes, Addison I do have time to help you right now, thanks for asking." Bailey says jerking her arm away and straightening her lab coat.
"Power smoothie today?" Arizona asks the redhead.
"Extra protein, we're going to need it today." Addison says as she walks away with Bailey.
Checking her messages while she waits for the smoothies, Arizona remembers that it's her night with Sofia. So she tries to call Alex, no answer.
"Well, at least you got a lunch break." Amelia says knocking the blonde's shoulder.
"Yeah, this is going to be a long day." Arizona replies taking a deep breath. "How is your day going?"
"Everything is good today. Hey, do you need help with Sofia tonight?" The brunette asks, as Arizona turns around with the two smoothies.
"Oh my gosh, I think I may run late tonight. Would you mind taking her back to your place? I'll come pick her up later?" The blonde says relieved.
"No worries, Aunt Amy's got this." Amelia teases her friend.
Chapter 5
"Here's what we do know," Addison begins outlining their findings to Jackson and April.
"Dr. Bailey and Dr Robbins are currently working on a genome comparison map of both parents in order to decode the embryonic stem cells we took today. As the leading geneticist and fetal specialist in this area, I will be monitoring their work closely." At this point Addison pauses to let them breathe for a moment. Jackson is sitting on the bed holding April's hand and staring at her intensely, so she continues.
"We have ruled out Osteogenesis Imperfecta II," at this both parents gasp in relief. Addison knew that would be welcome news, but now the question is what is going on with their baby.
"So what is causing the fetal akinesia?" April asks. "I didn't see any fibroids, I've had them before, but I don't have any now, right?"
"We did not see any uterine fibroids." Addison replies to the worried doctor/patient. "However, you have slight Oligohydramnios, which is why we have you on IV fluids. You've indicated that morning sickness was negligible, but you still seem a little dehydrated."
"Everything I drink make me have to pee so I haven't been drinking as much when I am covering the pit." April confesses.
"Okay, well you're not covering the pit any longer. Dr James has been shadowing you for a few weeks, now. I'm sure she is ready to take it over." Jackson says protectively. Then to Addison, "Dr Montgomery what are your next steps?"
She doesn't tell them much more but spends a lot of time discussing the various tests that they've run and how they will be spending tomorrow in the lab putting it all together. She reassures them as much as she can, but since she hasn't confirmed the diagnosis, she doesn't want to say too much one way or the other.
Finally, Jackson stops pushing as he realizes that the team needs time, its only been a few hours. But he's conflicted about whether to tell his mother yet. She will want to whisk them away to John's Hopkins, but he knows that he has two of the best Perinatologist in the US in his hospital right now, so he just needs to give them time to assess the patient.
Addison finally leaves the room and goes back down to the lab to check on the others. In the elevator she checks her watch and realizes that it's 5:30 and she needs to get Henry out of daycare, she pulls her phone out of her pocket and sees a message from Callie.
Torres: Heard about Kepner, I'm heading down to pick up Henry.
Addie: Thx. meet you there.
Walking into the daycare, Addison is surprised to see Amelia holding Sofia.
"How's my guy?" she says greeting her son and looking back to Callie who is putting getting his coat and talking rapidly to Amelia, "Its not a problem, I can just take them both."
"Callie, just hold on a sec. I just want to check with Arizona, so she knows what's going on. It's not my place to say one way or another and you just said you haven't talked to her and I have." Amelia says as she calls the blonde.
"Oh, hey what's going on here?" Arizona walks into the daycare just as her phone starts to ring, she looks at it, then looks at Amelia confused. Amelia hangs up and hands Sofia to her blonde mother. "Hi big girl! Momma has to work late tonight." She tells her. Then looks over at Callie, "are you heading home or out?"
"My plans canceled", she says quietly leaning in close to Arizona, "Look, I'm picking up Henry for Addie, I can just take Sofia tonight too." At this comment, Sofia cries, "Mami" and moves over to the raven haired mother.
Addison and Arizona look at each other and the blonde motions for Addison to step away with her. Arizona suggests, "If both kids go home with Callie, we can work through the night and maybe have a solution by morning?" Nodding in agreement. They both go back to their kids.
Arizona takes Sofia back from Callie and sits on the bench, patting the spot beside her for Amelia to sit down too. "Thank you for offering to help tonight Aunt Amy, but it looks like you're off the hook. If Callie takes both of them, then Addison and I can just work through the night and hopefully figure this out by morning."
"Not a problem. You know that I love this child as much as I love that one!" She says kissing Sofia's head and then walking over to Henry and kissing his head. "Well, I'm going to let all you hot momma's deal with your children and your jobs. Aunt Amy is out!" She says laughing to herself and heading out the door.
Handing Sofia back to Callie, Arizona pauses to say thank you again. "I'm sorry I didn't check with you first, but I thought you had plans and I didn't want you to feel like you had to change them." The blonde explains.
"No, I should have checked with you and offered before just assuming that I needed to do it. I'm sorry that I didn't trust you to have it covered."Callie adds, surprising her ex.
About to say something smart, Arizona stops herself and just smiles, kisses her daughter one last time and then waits for Addison at the door.
"Okay, what's the plan? She asks as they walk down the hall.
Bailey takes a deep breath and calmly begins to review the process. "The first step is to compare the baby's blood to the mother's, since both of their DNA is in the amniotic fluid. Once we've done that, then do the same thing with the father' helps us to determine which parent's genetic traits are dominant. The actually genome mapping of the stem cells won't be ready for 2 weeks. But this process allows us to get started identifying genetic markers and from that we can start to analyze the baby's DNA and look for abnormalities."
Addison agrees with this plan and reviews what Bailey and Arizona have started. The three women, spend much of the evening on the comparison, and by midnight they have the mother's portion completed and they decide to take a break from mapping to review everything they have so far. By 2 am, they all decide to stop and regroup at 6 am.
About halfway to the on-call room, Addison and Arizona look at each other and realize that they are headed to the same one. 'You don't snore, right?" the blonde says as she follows the other doctor into the room and collapses on one of the beds.
Turning around to respond, Addison sees the blonde laid out on the other bed, "Okay, well I'll take the bathroom first then." she mutters.
Addison comes out of the bathroom and is surprised to see Arizona's leg leaning against the wall beside her bed. "oh right" she says softly to herself as she sets the alarm on her phone and lays down.
The next morning Addison is surprised to see Arizona's bed empty already. She gets up and goes into the bathroom to wash her face again and try to shake off the not quite enough sleep when she hears the door open. "Hello, occupied." She says loudly. then sticks her head out to see Arizona with coffee.
"Seriously, you are my favorite doctor today," she says walking over to take the offered cup.
Turning around to put her shoes on she pauses, "I have to admit, that I forget sometimes, you know, about your leg." She says gesturing.
Shrugging, Arizona smiles and says, "Sometimes, I do too when I wake up in the morning, fortunately I remember as soon as I sit up."
"I admire you so much Arizona. I can't imagine. You're quite impressive in many ways." Addison says as she grabs her phone and puts on her lab coat, "Now let's go be impressive together." She says as they leave the room together.
Back in the lab the two doctors decide to outline the symptoms in order to aid them in compiling a differential diagnostic flow chart. By the time Bailey arrives, they have made excellent process. As they walk her through it, Amelia shows up with pastries from La Panier.
"Thought you ladies would need some sugar to get you through the morning!" She teases. "How is it going? Is that your differential?" she asks looking at the outline. "Fetal Arthrogryposis? Does she have a history of fibroids?"
"Amy, we can't discuss this with you. Stop looking at our notes." Addison says shooing her out the door.
"Thank you for the pastries. And now I need to go swim a hundred laps." Arizona calls after her.
"Do you swim here?" Addison asks her, stopping to grab a scone out of the box.
"Sometimes. But I found an Aquatic center that has a lap pool for training that isn't too far and I'm able to get a much better workout in there. No one doing water aerobics in your lane there." She adds grimacing at the memory of her last attempt at laps in the hospital pool."
"Shut the door!" Bailey exclaims loudly.
"Addison, look at this sonagram from three weeks ago, and look at the one you did yesterday, what do you see?" The smaller doctor asks handing the scan over to the redhead.
"The uterine wall is definitely thicker than it was, which means the amnio fluid has decreased more than we originally thought." Addison says slowly. "Arizona, what do you see here?" She points to an area on the first set of sonograms.
"Is that the beginning stage of an intramural-submucosal tumor? Why can't we see it on the this set?" The blonde asks stepping back over to look at the new sonograms.
"Because the thickening of the wall is actually masking the tumor. This is what is limiting the baby's movements." Addison says excitedly.
"Bailey, can you continue working on the father's DNA profile?" Then to Arizona, she says, "Let's go do another ultrasound to reevalute the uterine wall, since she's been on IV fluids, it may be more obvious now."
As the elevator opens, Arizona and Addison enter and see Karev. They both say good morning to him and he nods. Then leans over to Arizona and whispers, "You look like you had a helluva night, dude."
Before Arizona can answer, Addison leans over and says, "She did," and then she winks at Alex and turns and smiles at Arizona.
The doors open and the Alex goes one way and they go the other. Arizona can't help but laugh.
"Well I should tell you that Nurse Mills saw me get 2 coffees this morning and go back into the on-call room, so I'm sure she waited to see who I was in there with." The blonde confesses.
"I don't even care. I have been linked sexually to almost everyone in this hospital at some point or another, might as well do a lesbian while I'm at it." Addison says smirking.
"Yeah, but you're married now." Arizona replies, "And I don't need another homewrecker reputation."
"Oh, sorry I didn't think of that. Okay, next time Jake is here we'll go over to the hotel and have drinks, then you'll get a threesome reputation. All fixed." Addison says nonchalantly.
"Oh I have a threesome reputation, but I don't do guys." Arizona says winking at Addison as she holds the door so the blonde can push the ultrasound into the room.
"Good morning April!" Arizona says crossing the room to greet her friend.
"Hi," she says tentatively. "Its early, have you been here all night? You definitely look like you've been here all night," she says to her friend.
"Thanks. Yes, we did stay all night and now we want to do another ultrasound. Your amnio fluid levels should be up higher so we're hoping that we can see more this morning." Arizona explains to her friend, while Addison sets up the ultrasound, carefully positioning the monitor so April can't see it.
Chapter 6
"Well, you've been busy this week." Callie says as Arizona sits down in the lounge beside her. "But I thought you didn't like newbies?" She says smiling sarcastically.
"Who says they are newbies?" Arizona counters and then laughs.
"Wait, what? Addison would have told me...wouldn't she?" Callie panics a moment, considering if her red-headed friend has a secret lesbian past.
Before she can ask anything further the door to the lounge opens again.
"I hear that you're cheating on me?" Amelia says sitting down and taking a big sip of her coffee. Smiling she looks over at Arizona, then to Callie, then realizes that may be wasn't the best comment to say in front of Arizona's ex. She sinks down in the chair sheepishly.
Fortunately, Callie is still flustered by Arizona's comment and then her phone beeps. "Oh crap, the Pit." She says and then excuses herself.
As soon as Callie leaves, Arizona throws a paper wad at Amelia. "Nice timing."
"What? You're the problem, how many toaster ovens does one woman need in one week?"
"You wouldn't qualify as a convert and I'm pretty sure that Addison probably wouldn't either. Don't forget, I have friends at Johns Hopkins, I can find out rather quickly." The blonde says smiling and laughing.
"Well, its amazing how fast this got all over the hospital. Meredith called me already this morning to see if I was alright!" Amelia can't help but laugh as she recalls the conversation.
"Oh god, I didn't even think of that. Its ridiculous, we were so tired, anyone who saw us go in that room, would've known we were going to sleep." She says a little embarrassed.
Just then the door to the lounge opens and the redheaded doctor saunters into the room.
"Honey, I can't believe you're in here with HER!" Addison exclaims sitting down beside the blonde.
"Very funny!" Arizona lightly pushing her away.
"Well, thank you both for giving my reputation a boost, but I am going home to get some sleep. Anyone want to join me?" The blonde teases as she stands up to leave.
Addison and Amelia look at each other and Addison quips, "We have plans with Callie."
Laughing the blonde replies, "that's just perfect."
"How did it go with Nicole's procedure?" Addison and Amelia haven't had a chance to discuss it since Herman agreed to it.
"It went well. Her vision is back to normal. Thanks for talking with her. I don't blame her for being nervous about her optic nerve, but I was certain that it was just scar tissue."
Amelia then turns to Addison, "well, Arizona will be shocked when she finds out that I actually do have plans with Callie, we are taking Henry and Sofia to the park today, so you both can go get some sleep." She then tells her, "Go home and get some sleep Addison, you have Edwards keeping an eye on Kepner, not to mention every other doctor in the hospital. You both did good work today."
Yawning, Addison acknowledges the compliment, then says, "Okay, but I want to walk downstairs with you and see Henry before I go." They both stand up and the tall doctor pauses a moment and puts her arm around the shorter doctor. "Thanks for your help with Henry these last few weeks. I feel terrible leaving him with Callie all the time."
"No problem Addie, it takes a village. Right?" She adds giving the redhead a squeeze back.
"What the hell Zo? Amelia and Addison?" Alex asks looking up from his bowl of cereal as she enters the kitchen several hours later.
"Yeah right Alex, I'm the doctor whore on call." She says looking at him. "Are you eating cereal for dinner? What are you twelve?"
"I am considerate. Both my housemates were sleeping and I was being quiet." He counters.
"Yeah, I almost buy that." Arizona says pulling a yogurt out of the fridge and balancing it in her hand as she makes her way back to the table on crutches. "Did you happen to check in on Kepner before you left?"
"Jackson and his Mom were in there so not exactly." Alex says slurping the milk from the bowl.
"Catherine Avery is in there?" Arizona grabs her phone out of her sweats pocket. No missed calls or texts. She is tempted to text Addison, but doesn't want to wake her. So instead she calls Edwards.
"Hey Stephanie, how's Kepner?" Arizona asks as the resident answers the phone.
"Stable. Uh did you know that Catherine Avery is here? Addison just showed up and they are in the doctors lounge, it looks rough…" Edwards winces, watching the two doctors argue nose to nose.
"Crap, I guess I need to get over there." She says hanging up the phone and shoveling yogurt in her mouth.
"Just checking in on my favorite patient!" Arizona says breezing into Kepner's room. She smiles at Jackson and his mother. "Oh hello Dr. Avery, I didn't realize that you were in town." She says sweetly, stepping back to offer her hand to the petite woman.
Shaking the offered hand, Catherine can't help but admire the blonde doctor, though she's reluctant to let her know. "Dr Robbins, how good to see you again. I've just been reviewing my daughter-in-law's charts and it would seem that you and Dr Montgomery have done an extraordinary job of saving my grandson's life."
Hiding her surprise at the compliment, Arizona responds, "Thank you Dr. Avery." And then she sees Addison entering the room, "Dr. Montgomery."
"Hello, Dr Robbins. How's our patient." Addison asks moving to the other side of the bed and checking the monitors while Arizona pulls over the ultrasound.
"I think we should just take a peek to check our work, make sure the amnio level is staying up." Arizona says to April and waits for her to nod okay. Pulling up the gown, Addison takes the wand while the other doctor applies the gel.
They all crowd around the monitor to see the baby. Everything looks great, the baby has changed position again. The relief in the room is palpable.
"Oh, Jackson, Harper Jackson Avery looks beautiful." His mother exclaims.
April's mouth drops open, they haven't agreed to that name, but Arizona shakes her head no and puts her hand on the patient's arm to keep her from reacting.
Jackson winces, as he sees April's reaction and he guides his mother out of the room, "Mother, let's go get some dinner and let April get some rest." Stepping back to his wife's side he says, "I'm sorry, let's talk later. Get some rest." he adds, kissing her good night.
"Right after you both left this morning. Apparently she went into our system and viewed your fellowship procedures and found my surgery this morning, so she hopped on a plane and surprised us." April explains.
"Fortunately, I was downstairs in the daycare with Henry when Jackson told us she was on her way. So I napped in an on-call room until she got here." Addison adds.
Looking at both of her friends. "So I'm the only one that got some rest today?" The blonde asks. Then turning to Kepner she adds, "April, get some rest tonight. Baby Harper looks good." Arizona teases.
"Not you too." She grouses.
"At least that's gonna be one pretty baby boy." Addison says, "Which is good, because a boy named Harper is going to need to have a pretty face."
"His name isn't going to be Harper, or Jackson Junior!" April calls after the two doctors.
Chapter 7
Watching Henry and Sofia playing together in the park, Amelia is surprised at how comfortable she is hanging out with Callie. They've never really been friends, but she feels like she knows the Latina since they have Addie and Arizona in common and now the kids. Sofia walks over to Amelia and leans on her legs. Such a kid thing to do, they have no concept of personal space at age 3. Henry looks up and toddles over and climbs up on the bench on the other side of her and now, she has both of them on her. Callie looks over and laughs.
'What is happening?" Amy asks looking at one little face to the other.
"Are you leaving?" Sofia asks her.
"No, honey. We're playing at the park. Why would I be leaving?" Amy asks pushing the little girl's dark locks back behind her ear and out of her face.
"I like it when you're here. It means Mama is coming soon." Sofia says simply.
"Well, tonight its just us and Mami. Mama is working late with Aunt Addie." Amy explains to her.
"Oh." she says. Then leaning over to lay her head on Callie's lap she adds, "Mami can we go home now?"
Surprised by the request, Callie pulls her daughter into her lap and checks her temperature. She feels a little warm, but her hands are a bit chilly. She looks over at Amy and she reaches over to feel the Henry's forehead and nods.
"Okay, Henry are you ready to go home?" Amelia asks pulling him into her lap.
"Home it is." Callie says getting their stuff together. "Oh wait, I just assumed... Do you want to come over to the house?" She stops packing the bag and looks up at the other woman.
"Sure, I'll follow you over and we can feed them and put them to bed. I promised Henry I'd read him Thomas the Tank tonight." Amelia says setting the little guy down and picking up her bag.
Drying the last of the dishes just as Amelia comes down the hall, Callie whispers, "Both asleep?"
"Yes, and I left them in the bed together." She says quietly, reaching for her bag.
"I'm going to head out. Thanks Callie, it was a nice evening." She says.
"Thank you. It was nice. You're really good with kids." She adds.
"Well, I have had lots of practice, what with three older sisters and 12 nieces and nephews. But thanks again Callie. See you around."
Sitting on the couch enjoying the quiet evening, Callie reflects on her day. Its nice that she and Arizona are getting more comfortable with each other and it's good to be around her again and not be pissed off. She still felt jealous when she first heard the rumors about Arizona and Amelia. But now that she's spent time with the younger Shepherd, she understands the attraction between the two women. She wonders if Arizona will act on it. They have both talked at length about dating outside of the hospital. But the reality is that's where they spend most of their time.
Driving home, Amelia thinks about stopping by the hospital to check on Nicole again. But really, she is just stalling going home to the empty trailer. Not really a camping person, she just doesn't understand how her brother lived in the trailer for so long, but then he practically lived at Meredith's house.
AZ: Hey what are you doing?
AS: Sitting at a stoplight. Y?
AZ: I just had 2 glasses of wine with Addison and I need a ride home. ;)
AS: At Joe's?
AZ: No, the Archfield.
AS: I'm 5 min out.
"Hey, thanks for this. What are you doing over here? Were you at the hospital?" Arizona asks getting into the vehicle.
"I just left your house, I mean Callie's…" She says glancing over.
"Really? I thought you took the kids to the park this afternoon?" Arizona stops herself, oh wait, she thinks. Amelia and Callie? Looking up confusion on her face.
"No Arizona. No, I don't think of Callie that way. We just hung out. It was good. She's really kind of fun to hang out with, you know?" Amelia pauses to look over at the blonde who has been looking away from her. The brunette reaches over the gear shift and touches Arizona's knee lightly. "Hey" she says softly.
Turning to face the other woman, the blonde smiles and replies, "Yes, I do. Sorry, I just for a moment. I guess, it's just that…" Stopping, jeez why am I rambling about this? She thinks, wait, was I jealous of Callie or Amelia?
Dropping Arizona off at the house and heading to the trailer, Amelia can't help but see the parallel again between herself and Derek. What the hell is this about? She wonders. Arizona definitely seemed jealous, but was she jealous of me spending time with Callie or Callie spending time with me?
Chapter 8
Finishing her loop of the park near the hospital, Amy sees Arizona sitting on a bench, slowing down she walks over and plops down beside her and pulls out her ear buds. While Amy is trying to get her phone out of her arm band to turn the music off, Arizona looks down and grabs an earbud and puts it in her ear. Amy looks up and smiles at her.
"Surprised?" Amy asks, as the blonde pulls the earpiece away and shakes her head.
"I wouldn't have guessed that you're a metalhead," the blond teases.
"Hey, that's the Dropkick Murphy's, a Boston band from the late 90's." The younger doctor counters.
"Hmm, so its Celtic metal, interesting…" Arizona replies, "Hey, do you wanna go get something to eat?"
"Sure, I just need to shower. Give me 30 minutes?" Amy says standing up.
Squinting into the late afternoon sun, Arizona smiles and nods okay. Then she turns back towards the horizon as Amy walks away. Closing her eyes, the blonde feels the warmth of the sun on her face and smells the trees, the grass, feels the wind gently blow her hair across her face, she takes a moment to savor it.
Amy pauses, then turns back around to say something to the blonde, but stops suddenly. The sight takes her breath away. Arizona looks radiant sitting there awash in the fading sunlight peacefully.
"Hey." Amy says softly sitting back down, she stretches her arm across the back of the bench and gently touches the blonde's shoulder. "I can't afford to miss a sunset in Seattle. No telling when there'll be another one."
Arizona leans into Amy and sneaks her arm around behind her and the sit there quietly enjoying the moment. Each woman sneaking side glances at the other until the sun drops below the tree line and they turn to each other, their faces very close, almost nose to nose.
Amy closes her eyes and slightly turns her head and leans in, when Arizona suddenly pulls back. Then faking a sneeze, the blonde covers her face and turns away. Her mind is reeling, Oh my god, I almost kissed Amelia. What the hell am I doing?
The spell broken, Amelia smiles and opens her eyes. Wow, I almost kissed Arizona, she thinks. Not sure what to do next, Amelia stands up and stretches. Then she feels her phone vibrate. She looks over at Arizona who is also pulling her phone out.
"911 mass casualty" they say in unison.
Stepping out of the OR, Arizona is beat. She just performed an emergency surgery on a seven year old accident victim that took 4 hours. As she peels off her scrubs, she looks up and sees Jo. "What's going on with the father?" She asks.
"Dr. Shepherd has stopped the brain bleed and removed part of his skull to allow for the swelling. We got a hold of the wife, or rather ex-wife and she's on her way. The grandmother is here for the daughter." She explains, then adds, "Alex is done too, so we're heading home. Do you want to ride with us?"
"No, I think I'm going to stay here. I want to monitor this little guy tonight. I may need to go back in, his spleen was in pretty bad shape and it may have to come out." Arizona says pulling her scrub cap off and running her hand through her hair.
"Okay, do you need me to bring you anything in the morning?" Jo asks yawning.
"No, I have a change of clothes in my locker. Thanks Jo, see you tomorrow." Arizona gives Jo's hand a light squeeze.
In the locker room, Arizona is grabbing her stuff so she can go to the Peds attending apartment to shower privately, when she hears the door open and looks up to see Amelia entering the locker room.
"Going home?" She asks the blonde.
"No. I'm going up to Peds for the night so I can monitor Jeremiah. How's the dad?"
"He's stable. I'm staying tonight to monitor him though." Amelia replies.
"Well, good night. I'm sure you're as tired as I am." Arizona says, brushing past the petite doctor and touching her arm gently.
Arizona sits on the edge of the bed, funny how this place almost feels like home. After being the Chief of Pediatrics for the past five years, she spent many nights in this room. Not to mention the 2 weeks she actually lived here after Callie broke up with her. I'm sure there will be plenty more nights in here she thinks. Setting her crutches down slightly under the bed and out of the way, next she checks her phone and sees a message from Amelia.
AS: "Can't sleep yet. You?"
AZ: "Not yet. Where are you?"
Just then a knock at the door. Arizona smiles. Picks up her crutches and goes over to the door. "Hey. Wandering the halls are you?"
"Yeah, I guess." She says walking into the room and taking note of the blonde's yoga pants and tank top.
Arizona sits on the bed and motions for Amelia to take the chair, but she doesn't instead she sits on the bed and crosses her legs and looks right at the blonde.
"We're gonna talk about it aren't we?" Arizona says, dimples flashing as she runs her hand through her hair a little nervously.
"Yes. Does that make you nervous?" Amelia asks directly.
"You make me nervous, actually. Amelia, this isn't a good idea. See, the old me, before Callie anyway, would have just plowed right into this without thinking. But I'm not her any more. I have too many things to consider now. And I don't want to hurt you or me. We're friends. Good friends. And…" Arizona blurts all this out but doesn't quite look Amelia in the eye, until right at the end, then she stops talking because Amelia's lips are on hers. Its a tender kiss full of questions.
Arizona pulls back to say something and Amelia cups her chin and puts her thumb across her lips.
"No more talking," she says pushing Arizona back on the bed and moving on top of her.
"Wait." Arizona say softly, stopping her. "Amelia, not so fast," she says pulling herself back up to a sitting position. "Let's not rush into this and for god's sake, not in an on-call room."
Groaning, Amelia sits up. "I know you're right. But I've been wanting to kiss you for weeks now and after seeing how beautiful you were watching that sunset today, I just couldn't wait any longer."
Then looking over, she sees Arizona is turned away from her. Oh god, I read this wrong, she thinks. "Look we're both exhausted. I'll just leave now and let you get some sleep." She says scrambling to get off the bed.
"Don't go. Stay. Please?" Arizona says softly, turning towards her with tears in her eyes.
"Arizona?" She asks, cupping the blonde's chin and turning her face so she can see her better.
"Just stay. Okay?" she asks softly leaning in to kiss her lips. "I'd just really like you to stay with me."
Kicking off her shoes and removing her scrub top, Amelia lays down beside her. Arizona turns off the light and rolls over into Amelia and they lay silently face to face.
Chapter 9
During the night, Amelia's pager goes off and she leaves. Arizona sleepily gets up and locks the door behind her, then drops the crutch on the chair and goes back to bed. Rolling over, she can still smell Amelia's shampoo on the other pillow. It's strangely comforting to just not feel alone for a change. Hugging the pillow, she falls right back to sleep.
Checking her phone the next morning, Arizona is happy to see that it is only 6 am. She was afraid that she had overslept.
Sitting up in bed, she quickly reviews her emails to check Jeremiah's lab work. It looks pretty good. Relieved, she drops the phone on the bed and reaches over for her crutches. At least she's getting an early start, maybe she can get a swim in later before she picks up Sofia from daycare, she thinks as she stashes her crutches in the closet and locks it. She still hasn't given Alex her key to the closet. He understands that she needs this room, its so much easier for her to grab a shower here in the privacy of the on-call room and she can keep her extra crutches and leg in here. Then packing her laundry into her bag, she heads down to the attendings locker room to stash it in her locker. Just as she shuts the door, she sees Callie come in.
"Wow, you're here early?" The Latina says to her ex.
"I stayed here, there was a car wreck, I had a late surgery." The blonde explains.
"Oh, well I got called in to set a pelvic fracture on guy who fell off a crane this morning." Callie explains.
"Is Sofia here?" Arizona asks.
"No, Addie showed up right as I was getting up and she said that she'd bring the kids later this morning. I'm not sure what's going on with her." Callie adds.
"I'm not sure either. I went over to have a glass of wine with her while she waited for Jake the other night and he never showed up for their dinner."
"Hmm, that is odd. I still don't understand why he was here in the middle of the week." Callie says confused, but shaking her head, she adds. "I better get going. Have a good day!"
Sitting down on the bench, Arizona looks at the spot where Callie was just standing. That was good she thinks. Sometimes after they talk, she feels sad. But this time, she doesn't feel anything really. Which is good, isn't it?
Walking into April's room, Arizona can't help but smile at her friend. April is surrounded by flowers and baby stuff. Her baby shower was planned for this week and it seems that everyone just decided to drop off her gifts to her room.
"Hey, how's my favorite patient?" Arizona asks brightly.
"Good. He's been kicking all night, so that's a good sign right?" she asks.
"That is an excellent sign." Arizona says crossing the room and putting her stethoscope on and moving it across April's abdomen. "His heart rate is strong and steady." She adds.
"When Dr Montgomery gets here, she'll want to review the labs and maybe do another ultrasound. But everything is good, so don't worry." She says to her friend before leaving the room.
The blonde can't help but smile pleased that this case is turning around. Pausing in the hallway a moment, she can't help but think back to her miscarriage, she can't imagine carrying the baby this far only to lose it. Shuddering slightly to shake off the thought, she looks up to see Amelia heading towards her.
"Good morning." Amelia says approaching her tentatively.
"Good morning, do you have time for coffee?" Arizona asks, trying not to smile too much, but she is really happy to see her.
"I do. How's your patient?" The brunette asks.
"He's doing really well. I checked him first thing, then came here to check on April. How's the dad?" Arizona asks remembering that the neurosurgeon was called out earlier this morning.
"Oh, he's stable again. He had a clot this morning, but we caught it and he's doing well." She says confidently.
Stepping into the elevator, Arizona can't help herself, "Um, would it be weird if I said you look amazing this morning?" she says staring up at the ceiling, willing herself not to look at the other woman.
"No, why would that be weird?" Amelia says turning to look at her friend, then seeing the look on the blonde's face, she understands. Then playfully steps across the elevator, out of reach.
Arizona, starts to cross the space, when the doors open and Bailey enters and stands between them. She looks from doctor to doctor and then puts up both hands. "I don't want to know." The doors open and the both step out and head to the coffee cart.
Arizona picks up a pound cake and offers some to Amelia. She shakes her head no.
"I am not eating that. I run for pizza, not dessert." She states flatly. Taking her coffee and handing Arizona hers. The blonde pays and says, "It's my turn."
Sitting down on the bench outside, Amelia can't help but steals side glances at Arizona. She is dying to know what's going on in that blonde head, but is convinced that she needs to wait her out. Although that look in the elevator was rather revealing, so maybe being patient is the way to go.
Just as Arizona is getting up her nerve to say something to Amelia, she sees Addison walking up the sidewalk with both kids.
Sofia spots her and runs full tilt. "Mama, Mama!"
"How's my big girl today?" Arizona says scooping her up, as Amy takes her coffee.
"Mama! Aunt Amy!" Sofia exclaims, reaching over to touch Amelia's curls.
"Did you sleep well last night?" She asks her daughter.
"I did Mama. But Henry kicked me and I fell out of bed." She says with a sad little face, looking over at Henry.
Standing up, Arizona takes Sofia's hand and says, "Well, let's get you both checked in to daycare, so Mama and Aunt Addie can get to work."
Next thing she knows, Sofia has grabbed Amy's hand and is pulling her along with them. Amelia hands Arizona her coffee back, then reaches down to hold Sofia's other hand.
Addison pauses and looks longingly at the coffee cart. Amelia stops and realizes that Addison came this way so she could get a coffee, so she stops and says, "Sofia, why don't you hold Aunt Addie's hand so I can get her some coffee and I'll catch up with you all downstairs."
Alex and Jo are at the coffee cart when Amelia goes back and Alex takes one look at her and says, "Dude, you are so screwed."
"What the fuck?" Amelia wonders under her breath as the two doctors walk off.
Handing Addison her cup of coffee as the Perinatal specialist exits the daycare, Amelia can't help but smile brightly.
"What is that about Amy?" Addison says staring at the brunette like she has a third eye.
"What's what about?" Amelia asks confused.
"You're smiling and it's weird. Wait did you get laid last night?" Addison asks in a loud whisper.
"No!" Amelia replies, then lowers her voice as Arizona walks out of the daycare. "I stayed here last night. I don't know what you're talking about?"
"Did you have sex in an on-call room? Who was it with? Dr Hunt, I bet. I knew he was flirting with you, he has no game, but still I think…" Addison continues, oblivious to the sidelong glances between Arizona and Amelia.
"Addison, no. I did not have sex last night and I am not seeing Hunt." Amelia says jabbing the elevator call button. "Now drop it. Can't I just be happy? My friends have beautiful sweet children, I have a job, things are really good right now. Okay?"
"Okay. But I still think there's something or rather someone is behind that smile. I know you Shepherd. I know you too well." The red-haired woman says entering the elevator and smiling smugly into her coffee.
Leaning back to look around Addison, Arizona can't help but shrug silently as if she has no idea what's going on.
Amelia rolls her eyes at the blonde's innocent act, then pulls her phone out of her pocket as she feels it vibrate.
AZ: Is your whole family like this? No wonder you're single!
AS: Just wait, you haven't met my actual sisters…
The elevator opens and Addison looks and sees them both on their phones, and shakes her head and steps out. "Come on Robbins," she says sharply.
As they finished their rounds on the perinatal unit, Arizona was surprised to see that they were going up to visit Dr Herman. As they walked into the doctor's room, it became evident that she is definitely on the mend. There's a white board and Herman is handing Edwards color coded post-its to put on the board.
"Oh good, I'm glad to see you finally made it." Herman says as the two doctors enter the room.
"What is all this?" Arizona can't help but ask.
"This is your future. Well, our future now." She says turning to face Addison.
"What do you mean?" The blonde asks as she steps up to the board.
"Dr Montgomery here is joining us for the next six months, while we work through this amazing list of surgeries. Purple are the ones we need to contact and handle in the next two weeks. Green are the ones, that we need to schedule for next month, yellow are the ones we should try to fit in as soon as possible." She explains beaming. "Between the three of us, we can save so many of these babies. And if Edwards here is a smart and capable as she seems, who knows we may be able to work a few of those pink ones into the schedule."
Staring at the board and reading the abbreviated case notes, Arizona can't believe her eyes. "Are you serious? Wait, congenital lower urinary tract obstruction? I just read about this procedure." the blonde says turning around to her mentor.
"Good, because that one is scheduled for Friday. Addison, here's the file. They are coming in tomorrow from Portland." Dr Herman puts her feet on the floor and Edwards moves over to help her to her feet. "Look, I'll be getting out of here today and Shepard has agreed to release me for office consults only for the next two weeks. So I'll be working on scheduling these procedures and you and Montgomery will be performing them."
"Nicole! What are you doing up and walking around?" Amelia asks Nicole as she enters the room.
"I'm surrounded by doctors, I am perfectly supervised. And ready to be released." She adds. "My sister is coming from Everett today to take me home, so get my release papers ready Shepard."
"I didn't agree to release you today." Amelia starts to say, then looks around and smiles at the other doctors. "Perhaps, I could examine you and we can discuss your release in private?"
"Sure. Doctors, here are the files that you need and Edwards, make sure admissions knows the Marquette's are coming tomorrow. I want them pre-admitted and I gave you the list of tests to run tomorrow."
"Got it Dr Herman." Edwards says taking the stack of files from the table and handing them to Arizona. "Do you want me to leave the white board here?" The young doctor asks.
"Sure for now. But we'll need to move it to the Perinatal office, since I'm leaving today." She says challenging Shepard yet again.
Walking out to the hall with Addison, Arizona's head is swimming. "Wow," is all she can say.
"I told Jake and that's why he stood me up the other night. He isn't happy with my decision to stay in Seattle." She says sighing.
"Oh and he thinks I'm having an affair with you." She says the last part quietly.
"Are you freaking kidding me? You live with my ex?" Arizona says pushing the red-haired doctor into a supply room.
"Well, he's used to LA lesbians…" She starts to explain.
"What? They…" She starts to ask, then changes her mind, "Wait, why me and not Callie?"
"Oh, because he's heard that you are like the Mark Sloan of lesbians." Addie confesses.
"Wait, so this is actually about you and not me? He doesn't trust you." Arizona turns around and challenges her.
"Oh. Wow, that is kind of true." She pauses a moment to consider this information.
"Addison, this is not acceptable. You need to fix this." Arizona says and storms out the door.