Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Shonda. Except for my love of Team Peds.
A/N: this will undoubtedly be Joss'd (Shonda'd?) later tonight, but I had to write it.
X-X-X-X
Callie pulled back the duvet on their bed as Arizona took off her prosthetic and tossed the sock into the hamper. "You know, Jo says Alex is really considering joining that private practice your friend Ollie is in," she remarked, quieting as soon as she saw her wife's back straighten and tense.
"He's what? Why?"
"Wilson says he's worried about paying everything off. He needs the money," Callie said, eyebrow raised. "You two spend all day together, don't you talk?"
"He's a peds fellow! His compensation package should cover everything!"
Callie shook her head. She knew her wife never delved into their colleagues' financials out of respect for them, but she knew far more about the situation. "By the time he actually accepted the fellowship here and turned down Hopkins, Hunt had drastically reduced his offer. Originally it was supposed to include a lot. Loan repayment, something about helping with a mortgage. I don't know all the details, Webber helped him negotiate it."
"What changed?"
"He put off Hopkins so long, and Hunt rehired Kepner. Yang came back from Minnesota. The budget wasn't there anymore, and then the lawsuit, and everything."
"So you're saying my fellow, the second-best peds surgeon in the hospital, the future of my department, is getting paid so crappy that he's looking to join a private practice?"
"Uhhh… yup."
"And his girlfriend knows this and told you but he couldn't bother to tell me?"
"Mmmhmmm."
Squaring her shoulders, Arizona glared at the far wall as she settled herself into bed. "We'll see about that."
Arizona glared at the computer screen in her office. Looking over Alex's contract with the hospital was raising her blood pressure. Tapping out the page for Hunt, she sat back and waited for the Chief of Surgery to show up.
"Robbins?"
She glared at him, and pointed to the chair across from her desk. "We're at risk of losing one of our best surgeons so we're going to talk about how to avoid that, right now. Sit down, Hunt." The taller man looked like a smacked puppy as he hurried to comply with her order.
Arizona slapped down a sheaf of papers in front of her protégé as he crammed fries in his mouth. She slid into the seat across from him and stared.
"Wut?" came the garbled question.
"I heard from my wife, who heard from your girlfriend, that you were thinking of leaving for private practice."
Alex reddened, staring at the table as he chewed.
"That true?"
"Boss…"
Arizona raised one hand to silence him. "Wilson told Callie that it was because of money. That your fellowship wasn't terribly well-paying and you didn't expect that to improve when you were hired on as a full Attending." She pointed a finger at him, "I went looking at your contract for the first time, and you are absolutely right."
Jaw dropping slightly, he met her eyes for the first time.
"It's a perfectly good contract – if we were a second-rate hospital in frigging Topeka or something. For one of the pre-eminent teaching hospitals in the country, it was crap, Alex. I wish you'd said something to me sooner. I don't know what the hell Hunt was thinking extending such a pathetic offer to such a talented surgeon."
He flushed under the unexpected praise. "It was a bad time… everything was kind of crazy around here."
She nodded, "It was. But that's no excuse. You have the right to be properly compensated. You can get that in private practice. Ollie does excellent work between his specialization and his volunteering. But I don't think it's an environment that's quite right for you. Peds is more than just cutting, and while you excel at that thanks in no small part to me, you are even better at the advocating for your patient part of the job. I don't think you'd get to do that as much as you'd like with Ollie. I think you like the cases that come in here, the variety. You won't get that if you specialize as far as is the norm for a private practice. You could be a very rich, well respected surgeon with him. But here, I think you could be one of the very best surgeons this hospital has ever seen. And with this contract," she tapped the papers in front of him once more, "you'll be paid far closer to what you're worth. I negotiated on your behalf with Hunt. I didn't get everything I wanted for you, but it does include loan repayment and a bit of help with your mortgage. You'll be very comfortable and get to stay in a particularly rewarding work environment. One that I expect could lead to a Harper Avery for you."
She rose from her chair, "Look over the offer, talk about it with Wilson, with me, with Callie – you know the trouble she had getting hired as a full Attending, whoever you want to. But you have a good place here, Alex, and I think it's worth your while to stay." Squeezing his shoulder fondly, she left him to his thoughts.
NINETEEN YEARS LATER
Arizona flopped onto the battered tan couch that took center stage in the Karev-Wilson living room. "Harper Avery number two. Not bad, Karev."
"Says the Carter-Madison, Harper Avery, Elizabeth Blackwell Medal, and Lasker Award winner," Alex replied as he handed his mentor a beer.
She shrugged, grinning, "What can I say, I like diversity in my awards."
She toasted his second Harper Avery where it sat on the mantle, the two semi-clear statues from the Foundation bracketed by his oldest daughter's karate trophy and his own All-State wrestling award. A mess of pictures, trophies, certificates, and other memorabilia surrounding them attested to the general excellence of the Karev-Wilson household.
"Sofia's coming back from college soon? Next week, right?" he asked, sprawling as he glanced out the window to where Callie and Jo were chatting as they cooked on the grill and the collection of their younger children scattered around the yard playing, reading, or chatting.
Arizona nodded, an irrepressible grin plastered on her face at the mention of her eldest child's return home. "Yeah. One last summer off since she's already decided on an internship for next year. And come fall I'll have two kids in college. Don't let them grow up. You'll pay out your nose."
"Soon enough for me," he smirked.
"True. And you do have five kids," she kicked him gently with her foot. "All wanting a car and a new iPod and an education, in that order."
"Says the mother of four," he shoved her with his longer arm. "Besides, Davey's in the middle of his carpentry apprenticeship."
She smiled widely. She loved the time spent with her eldest godson as he directed her and her three younger children in repairing the back deck as one of his side projects. "He's good at it. Has a real talent there. But he should get an Associate's in Business if he's going put out his own shingle later."
"I keep telling him that and so does Jo but maybe if you say it." He took a deep drink of his beer, utterly content with the sounds of their two families outside.
Arizona ran a hand through her dark blonde hair – the only conceit she had regarding her age the dye she used to hide the hairs that hadn't gone gray but went straight to white – and let a slightly more serious expression overtake her face.
"Alex…"
"Yeah, boss?" He turned to her, hearing the reticent note to her voice.
"Callie and I have been talking. I'm going to step down from the Head of Pediatrics position formally in a few weeks."
Alex looked at her, his brow furrowing. "This isn't like last time, is it? I get to be solo head of the department for a few years while you play Chief of Surgery and then I have to have a co-head when you give that up?"
She shook her head, "No, and I'm sorry about that. It wasn't fair to you to be Chief and then take department head from you when I stepped down."
He smirked at her, "I remember I asked you to take it back as soon as you stepped down from Chief. I didn't have time for all the damn paperwork when we had just done our third adoption and Jo got pregnant."
Arizona smiled back at him, "It still wasn't fair. I should have given it up when things settled for you. But this time, I'm serious. I'm staying on as an attending, I'm cutting my hours back a little, and I'll still be on the Board, of course. Advocating for our tiny humans."
"But you want to spend more time with your tiny humans?"
She nodded, "Plus I have several journal articles I haven't finished, and some research that I've been ignoring. It's just a good time to step back, especially with Callie's trial getting started. It has the possibility of really taking off this time."
"She's been working on it for like twenty years. It's about time she get taken seriously."
Arizona shrugged, "Joint replacements are a big business, even now. They don't want to hear about the cheaper, easier alternative of cartilage replacement."
"Trust me, I've heard Jo ranting about that for ages. I am well aware of the stodgy old white male business of orthopedics."
They both laughed, slightly bitter, as the fact that their wives made up part of a tiny minority of women orthopedic surgeons was still a bone of contention in the field.
"Chief of Pediatric Surgery, huh?"
"All yours. For good."
"You just are sick of the paperwork," he accused with a smile.
"You got me there, Karev. It's all about avoiding paperwork." She rolled her eyes at him, sipping from her beer.
Callie stuck her head into the room. "Are you two done worshipping at the altar of Karev's award shelf yet? Burgers are done and the kids are hyper."
Laughing, Alex stood up and offered a hand to his mentor. She pulled herself to her feet with his assistance, and punched his shoulder lightly as she passed him on the way to the backyard where Jo was corralling eight kids into a line at the grill. She joined the fray, handing out plates and buns, as Callie and Alex strolled slowly out from the house. Before they moved to help, Callie stopped her coworker, "She told you." It wasn't a question.
"Yeah," he scrubbed at his hair. "She told me."
"Good. Glad you stayed at the hospital? I don't think private practice would have gotten you two Harper Averys."
"Yeah. She was right."
Overhearing her wife and her protégé as she came over with an armful of plates and hamburger buns Arizona said with a deep dimpled grin, "That's because I am always right, Calliope. And awesome."
fin.