Author's Note: I'm a giant fan of the HBO show The Newsroom, but I'm also a huge fan of the work dynamic the characters have in Grey's Anatomy. So I thought, why not put the two together? I'm gauging the feedback for this at first, so the next update probably won't in another two weeks. This will also be posted concurrently on AO3 beginning next week.

Monday, 8.00AM

It was eight in the morning in New York City. Many people were already awake before then. They were out on the streets in swarms. They were descending underground, out of sight, into subway stations. They were buying their morning coffee. They were reading the newspaper. They were settling into their bus seats, putting their earphones in.

It was eight in the morning in New York City, and Callie Torres was just waking up. She willed herself to get out of her king-sized bed - which was, admittedly, far too big - and get into exercise clothing. She opened her bedroom door and inhaled the scent of coffee wafting over from the kitchen. That automated coffee maker was a great investment. Grabbing an apple and filling her travel mug with coffee, she headed out the doorway, across the hall to her neighbor - and unfortunately for her, colleague - Mark Sloan's apartment.

"Sloan!" She banged on the door. "Want to come to the gym with me?"

It took a good minute before she heard the sound of locks clicking. The door swung open, revealing a tall, muscular man with curly salt and pepper hair. His impressive physique was highlighted by the fact that he was wearing nothing but a pair of striped blue boxers. "Morning, Torres," he drawled, gray-blue eyes glinting. "I'm afraid you caught me a bad at time."

"You've got a woman in there, haven't you?" Callie demanded.

Mark waved her off. "Oh, come on, keep your voice down. She's still sleeping."

"Mark!" Callie exhaled frustratedly. "You told me you'd come to the gym with me."

"I know that, but," Mark lowered his voice, "I already did my workout, if you know what I mean."

Callie rolled her eyes and walked towards the elevators. "I'll see you at work?"

"Aren't we sharing a cab?"

She jabbed the down button before whirling around. "Yeah, but first of all, you're disgusting. Second of all, you're a terrible friend. And third of all, you're disgusting," she enumerated. "So yes, we will be sharing a cab, but we will not be talking, nor will we be looking at each other. Because you're a horrible friend." The elevator arrived and she stepped inside.

"Callie! It's just for today!" Mark called after her.

11.00AM

Richard Webber stared amusedly at the restless blonde sitting across from him. "I'm not one to take punctuality for granted, but you're awfully early," he told her. "You're aware that your work day doesn't start until midday, right?"

"I'm just…" the blonde's eyes shifted towards the ceiling, before returning to meet Webber's, "excited. I can't wait to get started."

"Aren't you jetlagged?"

"I don't get jetlagged."

Webber scoffed. "Arizona."

"Maybe just a little bit," Arizona said. "When am I meeting Derek?"

"At midday, with the rest of the team, like we discussed," Webber said.

"Do I get a chance to talk to him alone? I'd like to talk to him about my vision for the show."

"I'm sure you will get a chance to do that." Webber was astonished at her enthusiasm. "In the meantime, why don't I get my secretary to get you some coffee and watch TV, make yourself comfortable, here? I have a meeting with the breakfast team that I'm already late for. I'll come back before twelve to take you to the newsroom myself."

"My staff shares a newsroom with eight o'clock, right?"

Webber nodded. "Well, you will have a smaller staff so it just makes sense that way. Also, I like the two teams working in the same environment. The two programs both emerge having a greater sense of purpose that way," he said. "Why do you ask?"

"Just asking." Arizona shrugged. "You should go to your meeting."

"I will." He stood up and straightened his suit jacket. "Do you want anything?"

Arizona looked more uncomfortable than excited for the first time since she arrived that morning. "Can you ask your secretary to send some donuts and a bottle of the pulpiest orange juice?"

"Donuts," Webber repeated.

"Chocolate with rainbow sprinkles. A half dozen."

"Seriously?" When the blonde's face remained deadpan, he sighed and walked out of the room. "Patricia," he addressed his secretary. "Can you please send up a half dozen chocolate rainbow donuts and the pulpiest orange juice some intern can find up to Ms Robbins as soon as you can?"

1.00PM

Owen Hunt watched everyone assume their seats in the conference room from his place at the head of the long table. Teddy, his senior producer, was already on his right, tapping keys on her laptop. When everyone was seated quietly, Owen cleared his throat. "Morning everyone," he said. "What have you got for me?"

"I'm sharing you the document with the rundown for the breakfast bulletin, the rundown for he midday bulletin and the proposed rundown for the five o'clock news hour," Teddy said. "You can look at the overlaps and see what's worth tackling."

The tablet on Owen's lap beeped. He turned the screen on and opened the document. "Who thinks we need to cover more of the debt ceiling?" he asked the team.

One of the APs, Meredith Grey, raised her pen. "We already have an economics professor for NYU on call if we decide to include it in tonight's rundown."

Owen wasn't convinced. Callie and Mark, the anchors, walked in the room. "Just in time, you two!" he said, as they sat in chairs next to him.

"Settle something for me: do you think we're spending too much time talking about the debt ceiling?"

"Isn't it either that or the launch of Grand Theft Auto XV tomorrow morning?" Mark asked.

Shane Ross, a recently promoted AP, spoke up from the end of the table. "It's five, actually."

Mark frowned. "Excuse me?"

"It's the fifth Grand Theft Auto, not the fifteenth."

"Oh, whoops," Mark said good-naturedly. "Don't tell anyone about that. I take pride in being current."

"Moving on," Owen said. "Callie? Debt ceiling or what?"

"I think we should devote the A block to Syria," she replied.

Owen clapped. He and Teddy shared a smile. "Now we're talking. What kind of coverage are we thinking about?"

"Well, Obama and Putin have reached a deal regarding chemical weapons in Syria, and that was over the weekend so every other network will be talking about that, and so should we," Callie said. "We'll need an international relations expert, a chemical weapons expert and anything that's coming out from the White House about it. We'll also need some footage."

"I'm sure we'll be able to pull some from the wires. Teddy, get in touch with your army contacts. April, get in touch with the first foreign policy expert available," Owen said. "That's the A block."

"And then debt ceiling at the top of B?" Meredith offered hopefully. "Also, the budget that Obama's trying to pass through Congress, too."

"How important is that, really?"

"Potentially very important. The GOP is threatening to make good on their promise to shut down the government. Last time that happened was seventeen years ago, and it wasn't pretty." Meredith pointed at the woman sitting at the back of the room. "Bailey, isn't your show thinking of covering it? How's that going for you?"

"Derek wants to but I don't think it'll be until Robert leaves," Bailey replied.

Teddy leaned forward, eager to catch the gossip. "When is Robert leaving?" Bailey's EP had just accepted a post at CBS News. "And have you found a replacement?"

"Webber and Derek have found one. Derek's meeting with her now," Bailey told her.

"A her!" Mark exclaimed. "At least this one won't offend your feminist sensibilities, Bailey."

Bailey scowled and crossed her arms. "I feel like she'll offend my sensibilities, period. I met her before she went in to have her private chat with Derek. She looks and sounds like a hyperactive college freshman."

"Okay, let's get back on track, please," Owen cut in. "I'm sure we'll all have the chance to meet nine o'clock's new EP later. Do you think we should follow up on what happened with the US consulate in Herat?"

"Derek, I'm going to need you to forget everything you know about doing this show, because it won't be the show people will be tuning into their TV in two weeks," Arizona told him. "If you've got a list of stories you intend to follow, I'd like to see it so I can gut about three-fourths of it."

"Why's that?"

Arizona took a deep breath. "America in Focus has the potential to be a great current affairs programme, but it's not. It's currently a soft news magazine masquerading as a current affairs programme."

"I didn't hire you to tell me that I'm doing a bad show, Arizona." Derek Shepherd was mildly irritated. Maybe it was just his journalistic ego, because he was well aware that Arizona pulled no punches, but he was suddenly dreading the beginning of her tenure as her EP.

"No, you hired me to make your show better," Arizona reasoned calmly. "And it's not your own fault that you're just presenting a rehash of 60 Minutes right now. Besides, I'm not saying that it's a bad show, I'm just saying that you need the right producer. That's where I come in."

"Oh really?"

"Stark's too old school. He doesn't know what to do with someone like you."

Derek scowled. "What do you mean, someone like me?"

"New England old money WASP, prep school, Ivy League. Your first gig was as a BBC reporter, and you're not even British. You're not very likable to the common American," she responded matter-of-factly.

"Thanks," he muttered sarcastically.

Arizona was having none of it. "Stark has been coddling you, Derek. His transfer to CBS will only do your show wonders. It's time to revamp America in Focus. No more human interest stories about some average joe unable to pay his health insurance. We're going to do policy stories with a human focus."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"The former makes the audience want to feel sorry for these unfortunate people," Arizona said. "The latter shows how the government is failing these people, and why they shouldn't be. We're going to talk about how the federal government's inability to protect the health of its workers is affecting the average joe, and if it's affecting the average joe, who the hell knows who else it affects?"

Derek considered it. "I feel like this is seriously going back on what JFK said. 'Don't ask what your country can do for you-'"

"'Ask what you can do for your country,'" Arizona finished for him. "Well, that's bullshit. Most Americans work hard every day to keep this country going and wouldn't it be nice to get some appreciation from their government?"

"You just called JFK bullshit."

Arizona waved him off. "I actually don't give a damn about his New England WASP, prep school, Ivy League ass, but I care about yours, and I care about not making it look uncaring and out of touch."

"The Kennedys are Catholic."

"I honestly couldn't care less!"

"You're not my EP yet, you know," Derek said. "For the next two weeks you have to put up with Robert deciding my rundown, and you not being able to do anything about it."

"I can pull strings. You wanna talk about gun control? Voter ID? The government shutting down in two weeks?" Arizona asked him. "I'll tell the president of HANCA to tell Stark to do it."

Derek shook his head. "I already asked Webber to do that last week, but Robert vetoed. Right now, he's arranging for HANCA affiliates in Denver to get us some interviews for what's going on with the flooding," he told her. "He plans for it to take up the A block and half of the B, and he's planning to devote the whole week to flood stories."

"You better be joking." Arizona's voice was low and unbelieving.

Derek laughed mirthlessly. "I wish I was."

3:00PM

Arizona emerged from her first rundown meeting. She hadn't worked with Robert Stark before, but she noticed his reputation for being safe and conservative with his journalism. The senior producer, Miranda Bailey, seemed to struggle to warm up to her, while the APs looked excited - if not impressed - by her presence.

Webber caught her coming out of the conference room. "Hey, what do you think of your new team?"

She shrugged pleasantly. "They look like a capable bunch, that's for sure. And I had a good talk with Derek just before the meeting about how I'm shifting the direction of the show," she was going to say some more, but Webber draped his arm lightly around her shoulder and steered her to the middle of the control room.

"I'll hear it later on, but let's introduce you to your friendly neighbours at eight o'clock first, shall we? Everyone!" The people working in the newsroom looked up expectantly. "I'd like to introduce to all of you, Arizona Robbins. She will be America in Focus's new EP, taking over for Robert in two weeks. Please be nice to her, she hasn't lived in the States in ten years."

Arizona gave a little wave. "Hey, everyone," she said. "I'm looking forward to starting."

"Looks like I was just in time for the introductions!" A tall, thin woman with long, dark blonde hair approached her. "Welcome aboard to HANCA. Do you remember me?"

She did look familiar. "Let me guess…"

The woman smiled. "Baghdad, 2005. I was embedded with the army?"

"Altman!" Arizona exclaimed, remembering. "Teddy Altman."

"Yeah! How's your big brother?" Teddy looked at Webber and explained. "Arizona's brother was in the unit Owen and I were embedded with in Baghdad, and eventually Afghanistan. Kept bragging about his journalist sister from the BBC. Then Arizona comes to Baghdad with a team to cover the election for half a week."

"Tim's great," Arizona replied. "He's having fun with his job at the Pentagon."

"That's awesome!" Teddy said. "Have you met Owen yet?" Her eyes scanned the room.

"I think Owen's working in his office," Webber supplied.

"Owen!" Teddy yelled out. Several APs jumped in their seats.

Owen walked briskly out of his office doors, looking momentarily confused until his eyes landed on Arizona. "Hey, it's little Robbins!" he said brightly. "Long time, huh?" He shook Arizona's hand.

"Eight years, last I counted," Arizona deadpanned.

"And we finally get to work with you. Let's see if Tim's bragging has some substance."

Callie was doing her own research on the Syria affair when she heard Webber's voice booming outside. Teddy's voice joined his soon after, and then finally, Owen's rushing footsteps out of his office made her suspicious. She got to her feet. There has to be a breaking news alert or something.

When she stepped into the bullpen, she was surprised to see everyone going calmly about her business, with the exception of Webber, Teddy, Owen and a woman who was obscured from her sight by Owen's body. She was curious to see who it was, until she heard her laugh. She'd know that laugh anywhere. "Arizona?" she blurted out.

Owen and Teddy turned to look at her, and Callie's guess was confirmed. Her hair was shorter than when she last saw her ten years ago, but it was still the same shade of blonde. She looked a little older, obviously, but her sapphire-coloured eyes still shined like they did. "Calliope," she said affectionately, her face breaking into that same smile.

Callie was tempted to revert back to ten years ago and melt on the spot at the sound of her name being spoken that way. But then she caught herself. "Arizona. What are you doing here?"

"I'm the new EP for America in Focus."

"Oh." Callie could feel the colour draining from her face.

"You two know each other? That's great!" Webber was delighted. "Your transition into this newsroom will be easier than I initially thought."

"We met when we were both working in DC. It was a long time ago," Callie said. We watched Arizona break eye contact with her. Half the confidence she had seemed to have disappeared.

"Hey, Callie, if it's all right with you, Arizona's coming to our final rundown meeting and is going to be in the control room with us tonight, just to observe," Owen told her. He, too, looked ridiculously cheerful.

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine." Callie jerked her thumb at her office door. "I was actually busy, I just wanted to know what was going on. But yeah, observe, by all means."

"Okay, we won't keep you," Owen said.

"Okay. I'll talk to you guys later." Callie made her way inside her office and made sure that the door was closed. She sat down at her desk and buried her face in her hands. Arizona Robbins had not only returned, but now, she was on her turf. Yet it has already started to feel less like that.

Webber had to take a call in his office, while Teddy called the eight o'clock staff for their next rundown meeting, while Owen met with graphics. Arizona was left wandering aimlessly around the newsroom, introducing herself to the small team that was left behind. The computer screen of a surly, dark-haired man caught her attention. She leaned forward to look over his shoulder. "Hey, do you wanna email that to me?" She reached inside her blazer pocket to pull out a business card when she stumbled backwards.

A hand shot out to grip her by the wrist, steadying her. "Shit! I'm sorry," the man said. He checked that Arizona was perfectly balanced before he released her grip. "You just gave me a fright."

"I'm just looking at what you're reading. That's on the potential government shutdown, right?"

"It's not a potential shutdown," the man corrected. "The government is going to shut down."

Arizona stared at him. "So, it's not a question of if, but when?"

"Exactly that."

"Aren't you supposed to be doing something else right now?"

He hesitated, before nodding. "Yeah, but seriously, the Colorado story doesn't need a lot of work in the studio. We're just waiting for the package to get sent. I'd rather do this than twiddle my thumbs."

Arizona briefly glanced at the headline of the article he was reading. "What do you know?"

"That calling it a 'government shutdown' is a misnomer," he replied. "The services that are going to be shut down are non-essential services. That's museums, national parks, tourist activities around DC, but it's also..." he paused and bit his lip.

"Things like what?" Arizona prompted.

"Army base commissaries, domestic violence help services and the WIC programme."

"The WIC programme?" she repeated. "The Women, Infants and Children program? Are you sure about this?"

He shrugged. "That's just what I've read. It's not so much a government shutdown as a public service shutdown."

"What's your name?"

"Alex Karev. I'm an associate producer for America in Focus."

Arizona shook his hand. "So I've gathered, Alex," she said. "Email these links to me. My email address is on the card - IT here has got to set me up with a work address, so yeah, that should do. Anyway, email these links to me, I'll dig around in my contacts and get back to you."

"Wait, I do get to produce this story, right? You're not going to lift it out my hands."

"I'm not that kind of EP, Alex. I'm too lazy for that. I'll find out some more stuff for you but it'll be entirely up to you afterwards. Do check in with me if you're not sure of something, though," Arizona said. "When the shutdown happens, whatever you come up with will be top of the A block."

"A block." Alex looked amazed. "Seriously?"

"Yup. Keep it on the down low and don't tell Stark, though. We don't want to get in trouble."

"Other people would just throw me under the bus."

"Alex." Arizona smiled. "I'm not that kind of EP." She tapped the business card on Alex's desk. "Email the stuff to me."

5:00PM

Mark entered Callie's office just in time to watch the five o'clock newshour with her. "Torres, you okay?" He had noticed that his best friend and co-anchor had looked dazed during their three-thirty rundown meeting.

Callie's eyes didn't leave the screen. "I'm not looking forward to the last rundown meeting."

Mark looked at her sympathetically. "Mondayitis?"

"No. Derek's new EP is sitting in." Callie sighed.

Mark sat on a chair by the window. "Arizona? Teddy told me about her. She sounded really excited. Apparently Webber managed to poach her from the BBC? I'm starting to think that man has too much power." He noticed that Callie's frown was deepening. "Oh, you're not a big fan."

"Bad vibe. Bailey doesn't feel too good about her, either."

"She won a Peabody." Mark said. "And was shortlisted for a Pulitzer."

Callie scoffed. "You know that's not the same as winning a Pulitzer."

"You're one to talk." Mark snorted. "You haven't even been shortlisted for a Pulitzer. The point is, she's clearly very good at her job and Webber believes that, Derek believes that. Teddy is over the moon to be working with her. I know she's a stranger in our newsroom but we have to learn how to trust her eventually."

"You don't understand, Mark." The finality in Callie's voice signified the end of the conversation, but Mark wasn't going to let it go.

"Wait, Teddy said Arizona worked for the DC bureau of the BBC." Mark stroked his chin, a new glint in his eye. "Did you two know each other?" He smiled mischievously.

"Mark.""No, Callie, seriously, I want to know the history you have with Arizona Robbins."

Callie folded her arms across her chest. "It's really none of your business, but we were professional rivals. We were on the Al Gore campaign bus and we just absolutely loathed each other. Then we both ended up in DC afterwards. That's it, really."

"Really?" Mark's eyebrows shot up.

"Really." Callie's attention went back to the television. "I want to watch the news, so either you can stop gossiping about Arizona and stay here, or you can leave and find someone else to share crazy theories with."

8:30PM

"Callie," Owen said through the mouthpiece of his headset, "ask her to clarify the consequences of Congress not voting to raise the debt ceiling. In layman's terms. Tap your pen if you copy."

On the screen in the control room, Callie tapped her pen. "Professor Hall, can you tell us what the direct effects of not raising the debt ceiling is for the average American citizen?" she asked.

"Not raising the debt ceiling would effectively mean that the government may run out of money to settle its debts, and that has severe repercussions for us all," Professor Hall started. "For example, Social Security payments to senior citizens may need to stop, and so would people relying on Medicare and Medicaid. Interest rates will shoot up, making it harder for both the business owner and their employee to get loans from the bank."

"Pivot to the shutdown," Owen said.

"So, if the government shuts down, would we be in danger of hitting the debt ceiling?"

"Yes," Professor Hall replied. "And not only would we be faced with millions of Americans suddenly losing support from the government, but we'd also have somewhere around seven hundred to nine hundred thousand government employees would be put on unpaid furlough."

Owen turned around to look at Teddy. "Fact check," he mouthed.

Teddy nodded and got on it right away.

"It's true," Arizona spoke up. She was huddled in the corner of the control room, but her eyes were actively flitting around, taking everything in. "Give me a writing pad?" Teddy handed her one. She quickly scribbled something, ripped the sheet off and gave it to Owen. "Feed these figures to them."

Owen's eyes widened as he read what Arizona wrote. "Mark," on screen, the other anchor straightened up when Owen addressed him. "Bring this up: since Congress members are still getting paid, it's a public service shutdown, not a government one. Nod if you copy."

Mark nodded, then relayed the information Owen gave him. Professor Hall agreed, and expanded upon his statement.

"Nice one. Where did you get that from?" Owen asked Arizona. HIs hand was covering his mouthpiece.

"One of the nine o'clock's APs showed me some articles he found on it" she replied. "His name's Alex, make sure to thank him later."

"Duly noted." Owen continued to guide Callie and Mark through the interview with Professor Hall for the next few minutes. "Okay, we'll go to break in thirty seconds, wrap it up. Mark?"

"Well, that's all we have for tonight. Thank you for coming, professor."

The woman smiled graciously. "Thank you for having me."

"Pull Professor Hall out of the shot," Owen said.

Mark and Callie turned their chairs simultaneously towards another camera. "That was Professor Jasmine Hall from the City University of New York's economics department," Mark said. "After the break, we'll be following up with the situation in Colorado. Stay tuned."

9.00PM

After the eight o'clock ended, Arizona jogged over to the nine o'clock's control room. Derek was already behind the camera in the studio, fiddling with his tie and lapel mic one last time, while Stark was scrolling on his tablet to have a final check at the rundown. He looked up and smiled when he noticed Arizona's presence. "Great, you're here. Okay, guys," he addressed the control room, "let's show Arizona how we do it."

"Roll in," the technical director said.

The opening theme played, and Derek looked up at the camera, a half-smile on his face as he waited for his cue. "Good evening. I'm Derek Shepherd, and this is America in Focus. Tonight we bring to you several stories from the people affected in the flooding in Boulder, Colorado…"

9:45PM

"After the break, we'll be checking out what's going on outside of Gamestop downtown, where hundreds of people are camping out overnight, as they await the release of Grand Theft Auto V." When the ad break started, Derek pushed back from the anchor's desk and sipped on some water.

"So, Arizona," Stark said, "Do you think this show is going to be manageable?"

"Definitely." Arizona nodded. She thought that America in Focus wasn't a badly produced show, it just had the wrong vision.

Alex ducked his head inside the control room. "Arizona? Can I talk to you out here for a sec?"

Done with Stark's showboating, Arizona obliged. She stepped outside. "What's the matter?"

"Owen came to thank me after his show," Alex said. "You told him I was the one who found all that stuff on the shutdown?"

Arizona nodded. "Yeah, I wasn't tattling on you or anything. He was just thankful to be able to acquire that information, and I was just making sure that your work gets recognised," she explained. She looked at Alex curiously. "Jesus, Alex, are you really not accustomed to being praised for your good work?"

Alex glanced over her shoulder at Stark. "It's not our culture over at the nine o'clock."

"Well, that's going to change in two weeks," Arizona said. "I'm not-"

"That kind of EP," Alex finished her sentence. "Yeah, you've told me."

Arizona put her hands on her hips. "Do you believe me?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose you haven't given me reason not to."

10.15PM

Callie walked down the empty hallway into the elevator. Most of her staff has left - Mark had said goodbye over half an hour ago, saying that he wanted to get some drinks - while she stayed behind. She didn't know why, exactly. While she occupied herself with doing additional research and reading the Facebook and Twitter feedback on tonight's show, all she could really think about was Arizona in the control room. Arizona running around the bullpen. Arizona working in the office two doors down from her. Arizona in the elevator - wait, hang on.

To Callie's shock, Arizona had just entered the elevator. Her hair was more dishevelled than it was this morning, but she looked happy. In the zone. "Hey," she said softly. "Good show tonight."

"You'll be producing a better one in no time." Callie couldn't help complimenting her.

The blonde looked more hesitant as she asked her next question. "How have you been?"

"Arizona, we're just colleagues now," Callie told her coldly. "Not friends."

Instead of backing off, Arizona kept on talking. "I'm sorry, I just can't help checking on how you are. I mean, I followed your career and all, thanks to the Internet. But you never answered any of my emails over the last ten years."

Callie sighed. "I didn't want to talk to you. I thought you would have gotten the hint."