As relief hit her after having talked to Richard, Arizona went to clean and change from her dirty surgery scrubs; the water touched her skin and ran through her fingers while AZ could not help but wonder about Eliza; since their unwanted encounter with Richard at the attending's lounge, AZ had been carefully avoiding Eliza – her thoughts were too blurry and Eliza's presence did not help at all. AZ had finally let her fear of losing her odd wingman to settle. As she washed her forearms, goosebumps made her slightly flinch. Staring at her own reflection on the OR window, AZ realized an intense wave of confusing feelings approaching her gut; as she cleared her mind from Richard, space was created for all her insecurities about Eliza to enter her subconscious. It had been almost 2 days they hadn't talked to each other. Apart from a text she received from Eliza,
[EM] **I'm here if you need to talk**
[AZ] **Thanks**
The two hadn't talked at all. Arizona had asked for some space to figure her situation with Richard out, and Eliza knew that meant her stepping back. She didn't like it, but she understood AZ – loyalty was something AZ praised and her friends were, somehow, her family. Eliza clearly could not compete with that, and she didn't want to. But the helpless feeling was killing her. Every time she heard Arizona walking down Grey Sloan's hallways her heart stopped. She could not understand how she let Arizona in so easily; all it took was a couple of nice conversations and a kiss… THE kiss.
As days went by, routine seemed to keep Eliza and Arizona busy enough not to think too much about each other. The hospital had been very busy and, for the second straight night, Eliza fell asleep in the attending's lounge couch. As she had mentioned, she loved working with the residents, but it was very mentally and physical draining. Sometimes she couldn't even think of going home because of how tired she felt.
Coming in early so she could check on one of her patients, Arizona got into the attending's lounge and saw Eliza peacefully sleeping on the couch. She didn't look too comfortable, but she was in a deep sleep. For a couple of seconds, Arizona stood there watching Eliza sleeping. Apart from all the trouble, in those seconds she couldn't feel anything but bliss. A shy and quiet happiness touching her heart. She grabbed a blanket from one of the cabinets, covered Eliza and soon went to check on her patient.
With the sunlight touching her sleepy face, Eliza woke up right on time for rounds with the residents. She moved on the sofa, struggling not to let go of the blanket, stretched her legs and arms. As she sat down folding the blanket, she somehow felt that Arizona was the one who covered her and that made her smile.
[EM] **Thank you, xx**
Arizona felt her phone buzzing and smiled as she saw Eliza had texted her.
[AZ] **You're welcome J you looked like you were sleeping so well, I didn't want to wake you up**
[EM] **I was. I feel brand new. Thanks again **
The days kept on going and even though everything seemed fine, the atmosphere in the hospital began to get heavier as Diane's health began to deteriorate. In between the treatment sessions, she would feel better, but the day after would make her extremely weak.
After finishing up in the hospital, Arizona met Richard at the attending's lounge, both were getting ready to leave. After a second of awkward silence, Arizona began with small talk; Richard was a little short on words, but nothing rude or uninterested. As Jackson walked in, they all decided to go on to Meredith's house and pay a surprise visit.
