"Morning," Eliza said happily as a sleepy Arizona Robbins opened her eyes and yawned. She was on her side watching the blonde as she had just woken up a few moments before. Her hand rested on the woman's shoulder, pushing blonde locks out of the way as she peppered a few kisses along her shoulder and up her neck. Arizona laughed before turning on her side so they were facing each other. "Good morning to you too," she smiled wide before she leaned in to place a loving kiss against Minnick's lips.
The pair had been together for a few months; Eliza would stay the night at Arizona's at least twice a week and Arizona would stay at Eliza's three times a week maximum. Nights were really the only time they could really be together as they were still hiding their relationship from everyone at the hospital, except for De Luca since he lived with Robbins and ended up witnessing and hearing the couple more times than he could count.
Despite having to keep their relationship secret, they were happy. The surgeons at Grey Sloan were slowly warming up to Eliza so they were able to show a little affection towards each other at work; Arizona would bring Minnick coffee during rounds, placing her hand on the woman's arm and smiling at her and when Arizona Robbins genuinely smiled it was like a ray of sunshine to whoever was on the receiving end. Eliza would smile back and then they'd go their separate ways, rarely having any cases together.
After a long day of a fetal surgery procedure, then tirelessly working on a child that rejected a new donor heart just to die on the table, Arizona was exhausted. She sat in the on call room, throwing her scrub cap off to the side as she just stared at the wall. She knew she couldn't get emotional over patients but it was hard not to. She let herself feel the loss for just a moment, letting it go as she let out a deep breath.
Eliza had just finished a knee replacement, having had a pretty good day; there were no deaths for her and Edwards led the procedure without any complications. It was a Friday night, which usually meant Minnick and Robbins would spend the night at the latter's house and binge watch Shameless until they fell asleep. Yet when Eliza checked her phone, she didn't see the usual text from Arizona. The only notification she had was from Edwards, who texted her "heck yea 8)". She asked around, hoping someone would have an idea where the Pediatric Surgeon was. Luckily, a nurse saw Robbins, still in scrubs, on the elevator about thirty minutes ago.
Although she appreciated the information the nurse gave her, it wasn't very helpful. The hospital had a lot of floors to it and she didn't say if Arizona was going up or down on the elevator or if she knew which floor she was going to. Eliza searched the cafeteria first, knowing the blonde sometimes liked to smuggle some pudding or jello for her patients at the end of the night. When she didn't find her there, she went to the on call rooms where she finally found her. "Hey," she said softly, noticing Arizona didn't quite seem like herself. She slowly walked towards her, sitting on the bed besides her. "You okay?" she asked.
Arizona just leaned her head on the dark-haired woman's shoulder, closing her eyes as she allowed herself to relax. "I lost a child today," she spoke with a slight crack in her voice at the last word, "I haven't let myself feel a loss in so long… I mean – there haven't really been any loses in so long... not since," she stopped talking and opened her eyes, picking her head up. "Sorry," she continued. The last time a child died that was in Robbins' care was the night Minnick lost a child patient for the first time – the first night the two actually bonded.
Minnick swallowed a lump in her throat before she wrapped an arm around the blonde, pecking her on the cheek. "Remember what you told me?" she asked Arizona who looked over at her, the pair meeting eyes, "take your time and then we'll get through this together," she continued as she took the woman's hand into her own. Arizona just smiled lightly, her head resting back on the woman's shoulder.
"There's no way Lip isn't going to get caught!" Arizona laughed, sitting up in bed next to Eliza, who was stealing the bowl of popcorn from her and laughing as she nudged the blonde's shoulder. "He's so getting away with it!" she replied.
Sure enough, he got away with it and Arizona let out a loud "what," which Eliza responded to with and "I told you so," which of course Arizona responded with "oh, shut up," as she narrowed her eyes at the dark haired woman who just smiled as the blonde scrunched her nose up. Eliza put the bowl of popcorn on the nightstand of Arizona's bedroom, crawling over to straddle her waist. She wrapped her arms around Arizona's neck, pulling her closer as she leaned down to press a soft kiss against her lips. This kiss was different than any previous one they shared; this one was light and careful but quickly turned deep and longing. As soon as the blonde parted her lips, her tongue was met by the other woman's, battling for dominance as a fire started burning in both of them.
Before things started getting too sultry, Minnick pulled back as she rested her forehead against Robbins'. She just smiled, closing her eyes after she unraveled her arms from around the woman's neck, their hands meeting and fingers intertwining carefully. Arizona let their hands rest against the bed as she closed her eyes as well, breathing in Eliza.
"I love you," Eliza breathed out, the words filling the silence. Arizona was surprised but delighted to hear the words, about to return the words to her but being interrupted as she was startled by a loud knock on her door. Eliza opened her eyes as Arizona did, moving off of her lap to allow her to get up. "Be right back," the blonde smiled, placing a kiss on the woman's lips before climbing out of the bed and walking to the door.
She opened the door and she thought her eyes were fooling her at first. Her heart sank and she was at a loss for words.
"Calliope," she finally spoke.