Arizona Robbins and Amelia Shepherd would never be friends. Sure, they were close, but 'friends' could never describe them in a way that could do the pair justice. Amelia hadn't only saved her mentor, but she had saved her when nobody else could. She became dependent on Amelia the way she became dependent on Callie, which quite frankly scared her half to death. She knew, though, that although the neurosurgeon had a bit of a God complex, she could be broken. She knew if Herman's surgery had failed, Amelia wouldn't come back from it. And, if it worked, she'd never be able to repay the brunette, but she'd sure as hell be trying for the rest of her life.
So, when the neurosurgeon saved her mentor, she stepped up. She started trying to make up for the people the brunette had lost. This became an occupation for Arizona. She fell so far in that when Owen Hunt ended it the first time, it was almost natural for her to step into the hole he left.
It started with subtle flirting while Arizona tested the waters. Subtle flirting turned not so subtle, and for one night she became the person she was before Callie.
But for Amelia, this version of Arizona seemed all too familiar. She knew the woman wouldn't purposefully hurt her, but she also knew she wouldn't notice if she did. Her blue eyes brought back a thousand memories from days that could vary between better or worse, dependent upon the sole factor of her sobriety. She couldn't slip again, especially at the hands of the beautiful, headstrong blonde. Amelia was always a runner, so she did just that; and when Arizona woke up in an empty bed, she knew exactly what had happened.
They got good at avoiding each other. They made Blake do the dirty work between them, like teenagers fighting over the football captain. Amelia had fixed things with Owen, or at least she had tried. The two were as good as they were ever going to get; Owen was buying a house and before she had even realized she'd done it, she'd proposed.
She'd proposed, and then she left. She wasn't one to stay and celebrate when she knew she had just brought a gun to a knife fight.
Arizona had started to cope. She was taking on risky surgeries which only increased her adrenaline, and in the downtime, she was spending every minute with Sofia. Blake had been put on Grey's service for the length until she was to leave for New York, but they pulled DeLuca into her position quite quickly.
DeLuca was pulled in between them both, which is why it didn't surprise Arizona when he got an invitation to the Shepherd-Hunt marriage. You know, besides the fact that there would be one.
It came in the mail one day. After putting Sofia down for the night, Arizona bawled for the first time since she nearly lost the girl. She normally would call someone, but she's lost it all.
Normally, she'd have called Callie, but Callie and her would never be the same again. Alex was in surgery, DeLuca was passed out on the couch, and Amelia was probably consumating the marriage ahead of time. Once upon a time, she would have called Tim. Just the thought of him brought her back into the downwards spiral.
Meanwhile, Amelia sat on the couch in Owen's house. Their house, actually. Their house, that they were living in. Their house where they would spend the rest of their lives together. All she could think of were blue eyes that looked her up and down in dismay. She shouldn't have invited DeLuca. She shouldn't be getting married, really, but since when was she prone to good decisions.
She shouldn't be getting married because her father wouldn't be there to walk her down the aisle. She shouldn't be getting married because her brother was dead and he was always the one who showed. She shouldn't be getting married because she and Owen both knew that Amelia had done something that couldn't be fixed, but the best compromise they could come up with was to avoid the topic.
Avoiding the topic had its glitches, one of which was DeLuca's invitation.
Avoiding the topic also had another glitch- avoiding Arizona until the wedding, because if she saw those eyes she'd have to run all over again.