Ok so, I haven't abandoned my other fic nor will I abandon it. I just have this idea in my mind ever since we found out Arizona won't be coming back. This is going to be a one-shot, two-shot at best. Anyway, here it goes.
My arrival to New York City was pretty uneventful. The flight was perfectly fine and Sofia slept for most of it. With time, I've gotten completely over my fear of flying and while it does make me a little bit anxious, I'm perfectly fine with it. As we grab our bags, I push the stroller thing while Sofia follows me with her backpack and little purple carry on bag. We both venture into the city to call a cab that will take us to our new home. Here, in New York.
To many of my co-workers, the idea of moving to the other side of the country seemed crazy. And it is, it is crazy. But what's life without a little bit of crazy? Ever since April decided to join the military and left with Teddy Altman to Germany I felt like my life needed a big change as well. My research with Carina was going well and will continue to go well because we're still partners and will meet once a month either there or here but that relationship was going nowhere. Sure, she is beautiful, fun, sexy and great in bed but I'm looking for something more. A spark. A connection. Something I haven't really felt with anyone since Callie. Except for well, Eliza…but she didn't stay around long enough for me to discover if that spark and that connection could actually turn into something bigger and deeper. I think that if she had stayed, I would've fallen head over heels in love with her. I guess now I'll never know. And honestly? It doesn't really matter.
People at the hospital started speculating that I was moving to New York because of Callie. I swear some of those nurses and staff members should be script writers instead of health professionals. They said that we had decided to get back together over the phone, that I was determined to sweep my ex-wife off of her feet and make her leave Penny for me…and I even heard a rumor that Callie, Penny and I had decided to live together and have a polyamorous relationship. That we had decided to be a 'throuple' or something like that. That was my favorite story, I gotta say. But none of them were true. My reasons for moving to the city that never sleeps are a lot less exciting. I moved her because of Sofia.
Now, I'm not saying that Sofia isn't exciting. Everything about her is exciting and important. What I mean is that there is no big love story or threesomes with my ex-wife and her cute redheaded girlfriend waiting for me here. My daughter had been down for a while before I finally made this decision. She missed her other mother, as it was expected. Just like she missed me when she was with them. She loves us both and needs us both. Long distance parenting may work for some people or some kids but it certainly wasn't working for us.
When April told me that she had decided to join the military I couldn't keep this idea out of my mind. After my friend went down on a horrible spiral of drugs and alcohol, her stupid ex-husband took her to court to get Harriett's custody. I get that. April was in a bad place. But he took it to the extreme. She was never allowed to see her and his power helped him become the monumental asshole he has always been deep inside. Luckily for my friend, she found help. She got better. She recovered. But still, she wasn't allowed to see her. At all. I think she would've done something terrible if it hadn't been for Teddy Altman coming back to visit and taking her with her. April swore to me she would come back soon enough and take her daughter with her. And I believe her. I like to imagine that she, Teddy and Harriett become a family someday. And no, neither of them is gay but wishful thinking never killed anyone.
After April left, I realized there was really no reason for me to stay at Grey Sloan. I had no real friends except for Alex, Richard and maybe Andrew. At least not anymore. Things were getting really hostile with the whole Jackson and April thing and then throw in Maggie and things got ugly. Also, my relationship with Carina was going nowhere and my research wouldn't be affected by my moving anywhere. So, when Sofia asked why couldn't all three of her mommies (gotta admit that hearing her refer to Penny as one of her three mommies hurt a little bit) live in the same state I asked myself, well…why the fuck not? So, here I am. Moving to New York.
"Mommy, we're here." Sofia says, taking me out of my daydream. I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't even realized we had arrived at the brownstone we visited a couple of months ago and chose as our new home. Some of our stuff has already been delivered here and some will arrive in a couple of days. But we have everything we need here. The driver helps us with our bags and we enter the beautiful, classic Manhattan house. I love it. It's a lot smaller than my house in Seattle but it doesn't matter. It's not bad, it's just different. Good different.
"Can I go see my bedroom? It's supposed to be decorated already, right?" Sofia asked excitedly.
"Yes baby, go see it. Then change into the clothes you have in your backpack because I have to take you to your mama and Penny´s house. They miss you like crazy and are dying to see you." I said as my daughter runs to her rainbow decorated bedroom. Callie and Penny helped us with the whole process. Making sure things were delivered, rooms were decorated as specified and that we had food and drinks in the fridge and pantry when we arrived. I'm happy that Callie and I have gotten to the point where we can get along perfectly. Sure, we'll never be best friends and I will never double date her and Penny when I have someone too but after all the mess, this is nice. I agreed to take Sofia to their place when we arrived because they hadn't seen her in a while and she would spend a couple of days with them while I settled down in work and all. I had to go the following day to Mount Sinai Hospital to sign my contract as the new head of Maternal Medicine.
"I'm all done, Mommy." Sofia said, walking into the living room wearing her favorite pair of jeans, sparkly sandals and a short sleeved white t-shirt with a unicorn on it.
"Let's go, little one. Mama and Penny are dying to see you."
After I dropped my daughter at her other mother's home, I realized I had nothing to do all day. I didn't feel like watching Netflix or reading so I decided to walk around the city. It is New York, after all. It's a beautiful and exciting city. I walked around Central Park, asked a passing guy to take a very cheesy picture of me at the MET's stairs and visited the library. I window shopped around Broadway until I realized I was getting hungry. It was around 6 and I had completely forgotten to eat anything after that horrible airplane food I got many hours before. I decide to have something super simple so I ate at a little coffee shop around Broadway and decided I might as well get a drink. It was still early, I was bound to be at Mount Sinai at 11 am so one or two drinks wouldn't hurt.
I had no idea where I was going nor did I want to google it. I decided to play it by ear and just enter into whatever seemed cool. It was a mid-July Tuesday so it shouldn't be too packed. I walked into a bar that seemed perfect for what I was looking for. Not too big, not too loud, not to crowded. Perfect. I walked in and immediately sat at the bar and ordered a Negroni. My favorite drink. A couple of guys looked at me, silently asking permission to approach me but luckily chose not to. I liked the vibe at the bar. It was clearly a straight bar but I wasn't looking for anything other than a drink. And then, I saw her.
Hair so dark that looked jet black from afar but that is actually deep brown when if you look at it closely, olive skin that seemed slightly more tanned due to the summer, athletic physique that her backless top showed magnificently, beautiful emerald green eyes that shined as she laughed at something some other woman was saying. There she was. Eliza Minnick. In the flesh. Oh my. What should I do? Should I still be mad at her for ghosting me? I guess I should…but, somehow, I'm not. I'm over being mad at people. I'm over holding grudges. She seems pretty content with the woman she's with though. A beautiful, blue eyed blonde…I guess she has a type as well. I don't notice any flirtatious vibe between them though, it's more like a friendly vibe. I could be wrong though.
She hasn't seen me yet and I don't know if I should go talk to her or leave the bar unnoticed. I'm torn between those two options when her eyes suddenly meet mine and a look of shock meets me. I don't want her to think that I'm hostile towards her so I just smile and wave. She seems confused by my friendliness and I don't blame her. I would be too. A guy joins them, bringing them each a drink and she whispers something to them and walks over me. I finish the remaining of my drink and order a second one.
"Arizona." She says with that raspy voice I came to love. "Hi."
"Eliza." I said, nodding. I suddenly don't feel so bold anymore. I don't know what to do or say.
"What are you doing here?" she asks, gesturing to the stool next to mine, asking for permission to sit next to me and I nod, granting it.
"I live her." I respond simply, having a sip of my second drink.
"Really? Since when?" She asks. God, she's as gorgeous as I remember. Maybe even more.
"Since today." I respond chuckling. "It's a very long story." I said widening my eyes. Definitely not the right place or time to talk about why I moved her. "What about you? What are you doing here?"
"I live here as well." She said. "Those two are my co-workers." She said pointing to the beautiful blonde woman and the tall man.
"Cool." I say. Not knowing what else to say or do. "It's been a while."
"Yeah…like…a year, maybe?" she asks.
"Around. Yes." I say, looking at her.
"Listen." She says, putting a piece of hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry about what happened in Seattle. I was…I just…I had to get away from—" she says but I interrupt her by placing my finger on her lips.
"Don't." I say, unenticingly caressing her lips before removing my finger. "Let's just a drink." I say winking at her, gaining one of her signature beautiful smiles in return.
"Ok. Let's have a drink. Or two." She says turning slightly to face me.
Yeah, moving to New York was definitely a good decision.