When the past comes back to haunt you, are the stakes ever too high to save the ones you love?

Arizona Robbins came to Seattle to escape a life she left behind.

Derek Shepherd can still see the faces of the men who murdered his father.

Callie Torres dreams about the night her brother disappeared.

April Kepner never told anyone that she'd been raped.

Jackson Avery watched his best friend fall away into another world.

Owen Hunt remembers the names of every man he lost.

Seattle Grace, along with several other prestigious hospitals across the country, is convening in a poor Mexican district outside of Mazatlan. A new hospital, charitably run to provide much needed medical care to those in need, is opening and Seattle Grace doctors are sent to see it through it's first days. But when Mexican drug cartels erupt in a violent gang war that claims the new hospital, the doctors are brought face to face with the nightmares of their pasts.

Prologue

7 years before...

Little perfect snowflakes were falling like crystals from the night sky, coating the streets like powdered sugar. The perfect picture for a postcard, it would be a white Christmas in New York as usual. Through the windows of her empty office, she'd watched people walking through the city all day. Carrying out that last minute shopping before Christmas Eve parties the next day, passersby had hardly noticed her lingering glances. Green and gold, red and silver decorated the houses, twinkling lights lit up the snow covered roofs, and candles in windows reminded some of the joy of the season. Women and men with their families had been laughing and smiling. Hats, scarves, and bundled coasts had brought her many a rainbow that day. Brilliant smiles had lightened her eyes, much like the street lamps that had begun letting off their warm glow as the sun set.

Compared to the dark, menacing trees of Central Park at night, she would almost always choose the well-lit city streets. But tonight, the trees suited her mood. The falling snow clung to the bare branches like morning dew highlighting the deadly snares of a spider's web. The walkways through the park that she had been patrolling were starting to slick over, her leather heeled boots slipping every other step. Her dark grey scarf was wrapped tightly around her neck and pulled up over her ears, rosy cold-bitten cheeks peeking out above it. Matching gloves covered small hands stuffed not so delicately into her coat pockets. She was starting to wish she'd worn fur-lined boots and another long-sleeved shirt. She'd been walking in circles for hours, wearing tracks into Central Park that people would be able to follow for years after she was gone. The trees had heard her plans, but she'd gotten little response from them. A shift in the wind had dumped snow on her head at a particularly stupid idea and she'd rolled her eyes. Mother Nature had always had a way of making a point. She knew what she had to do. She knew exactly what she was going home to, but she couldn't. Not yet. Tears crept back into her eyes and blinking furiously, she willed them away. If they fell, they would freeze on her cheeks.

Sharply contrasting the mood of the night, the jingle bell ringtone of her cell phone bit angrily at her ears and she quickly fished it out of her jeans' pocket, letting the cold air in against her built up layers of warmth. Seeing the number, a snarl formed in her throat. "What?"

"We're watching, Ms. Robbins," the cold voice smiled. "And waiting."

She snapped the phone shut and thrust it deep into her coat pocket. Closing her eyes briefly, her foot hit ice and she slid from the path into a bank of snow. Her knees hit the ground hard and she cried out. Shaking angry tears from her cloudy eyes and brushing dirt from her knees, she got to her feet and made her way out of the park. The beauty of the city was lost on her as she kept her head ducked, blonde curls hiding tear-stained cheeks. She'd been doing her job. She'd tried to save her patient's life and now she was losing her family because of it. The barely audible crunch of snow underneath her boots was deafening to her ears, echoing through her empty heart. Her hands shook as she tried to fit the key into her front door. Before she opened it, she pressed her forehead against the cool wood. She just needed another moment. A breath and she opened the door. Christmas music floated towards her and surrounded her as the smell of gingerbread assaulted her nose. Christmas cookies. Breathing deeply, she cemented the smell to her memory, a last lingering happy memory. The door swung shut behind her and the giggle of a little girl brought the first genuine smile of the day to her lips, quickly followed by tears.

Sidling down the hallway, not bothering to take off her coat, she stepped into the bright kitchen to a happy cry. "Mommy!"

A little girl bounded up to her, pigtails flying behind her like streamers. A bright green jumper with a red turtleneck underneath made her look ridiculously cheesy, but appropriate for the festive Christmas holiday. She lifted the little girl into her arms and gobbled at her cheek. "How are you, my Beckyboo?"

Bubbly giggling erupted from the youngster. "Becky is making Christmas cookies," a brunette woman with jaded green eyes got her attention. The smile on her painted lips was as forced as her words. "Where have you been, Arizona?"

Averting her gaze back to the little girl, Becky, Arizona answered, "Walking."

She knew that the answer wouldn't suffice for her wife. The inevitable would come, it always did. She was desperately trying to hold back the storm. For a few more moments she wanted to hold her perfect three year old daughter. Tiffany, her wife, would get over it. Tiffany had been getting over her behavior for the past week and she was going to have to keep getting over it. Her embroidered Christmas tablecloth, the one Arizona loved, was covering the small kitchen table. It was littered with bowls of frosting and brightly colored sprinkles. "You missed decorating the house because you went shopping. You missed putting up the tree and decorating it to…catch up on phone calls. And you missed decorating Christmas cookies. That's your favorite thing at Christmas."

Arizona opened her mouth to contradict her.

"Don't even. I've been married to you for five years. I know. I can't believe you missed that to…walk. I don't believe it. So who is she?"

Arizona flicked her eyes to Tiffany before looking back to Becky.

"Or is it a he and you've gone straight on me? Are you making Christmas cookies with him?"

Breathing in the smell of Becky's hair, she whispered in her ear. "Baby girl, can you run up to your room and play so Mom and I can talk?"

"Okay," Becky said sweetly.

"Give me a kiss," Arizona said. She held Becky tightly, "I love you, remember that."

Becky skipped down the hall and climbed the stairs on all fours. The banister that she usually held onto was covered in garland. Arizona waited until she heard the door shut before turning to Tiffany, who was looking at her coldly. "All of your stuff is gone. You didn't take off your coat at the door. Your knees are covered in mud. So there's something going on. I've known you long enough to know that when Arizona Robbins doesn't take her coat off at the door, she doesn't expect to stay long. Long enough to…say goodbye, for instance."

Arizona looked away. "This isn't working."

"What isn't?"

"We aren't working," the words slid through Arizona's lips with practiced ease, leaving a bitter taste in the back of her throat. But her lack of hesitation raised Tiffany's suspicions.

"Really?" Tiffany crossed her arms. "So vows mean nothing to you?"

Blue eyes ran up Tiffany's body, from her brown boots to her green sweater that matched her eyes and made her hair shine. Arizona loved that sweater on her. She loved everything about her wife. And vows meant everything to her. But this was easier, it was easier to say that she was breaking her vows than explain to Tiffany what was going on. "Really."

"And when did you decide this? Yesterday? This morning? While you were sipping coffee in the damn fellows' lounge?" Tiffany snapped.

Arizona loved the fire in those eyes. She would miss looking into them. It was easier to lie. It was easier to lie and make good on the vows that she had made, even if Tiffany hated her. "It's been a long time in coming."

"Arizona."

"I thought I loved you, but this," she gestured around the room. "This life isn't what I wanted. Maybe I thought it was, but I've realized that it's not. I can't be here. I can't be happy here." It was the grandest lie she had told yet. Her life was perfect, or at least it had been.

"I'm not an idiot, Arizona," Tiffany followed her into the hallway after she turned away. Her eyes, clouded for what felt like the hundredth time that day, took in her familiar holiday decorations. She let her fingers trail over the picture frame that contained their wedding photo before she slammed it down on the hallway table. She didn't see Tiffany flinch, but she heard the confusion in her voice. "Two weeks ago you said you wouldn't be happier, that this was perfect. That we were perfect."

Her stuff was already packed and gone, packed in her car parked down the street. Arizona put a hand on the silver door knob, but she turned back to look at her wife one last time. Tiffany's hands were fisted, positioned on either wall so that it looked like she was holding the house up by herself. The light from the kitchen set her hair glowing like embers from a fire. It would kill her to say the words that would seal the deal. Biting her lip to keep back the tears, she shook her head. "I don't love you anymore."

Without waiting for a response, she turned and threw open the door. The tears that she had been holding back feebly all day streamed down her cheeks as she stepped out into the bitterly cold night air again. The door shut behind her and she hurried down the street. Her gloved hand found her cell phone in her coat pocket and she quickly redialed the last phone call and the all too familiar number. "It's done. It's over. Leave them alone."

"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Ms. Robbins," the cold voice purred.

She heard the stress on 'miss.' "We have a deal," Arizona gasped, holding back her emotion.

"As long as you hold up your end of the bargain."

"Don't you dare come near my family!" Arizona all but screamed into the phone.

"Like I said, Ms. Robbins, it was a pleasure doing business with you," the voice said calmly. The beginnings of a cold, impersonal laughable chilled her bones before the line went dead.

Arizona threw the phone onto the concrete and crushed it beneath her boot. She ground the plastic with her heel and choked on her sobs. Her body willed her to crouch down, bent double as she cried. Forcing herself to breathe evenly, she controlled herself and stood. Tossing her head, she stepped forward just as her name was called. "Arizona!" The blood went cold in her veins. She spun. Tiffany was running down the street, her hair flying wildly behind her. "Tiff! Get out of here!"

Confusion crossed the brunette's brow. "What?"

"Please, you don't understand. Go back. Leave me alone. Let me go," Arizona begged.

"You can't just leave. What about Becky?" Tiffany asked, cutting to Arizona's heart.

Letting her watery eyes look directly into Tiffany's, Arizona said, "I'm doing this for her."

"What's going on?"

"Nothing. You won't understand. You can't," Arizona looked around, trying to find the men she knew were watching. "I have to do this. Tell her whatever you have to, but please. Tiff, go home."

The brunette's shoulders dropped as snow continued to fall. Her head shook back and forth in disbelief. Arizona turned her back on the love of her life and walked away without another word.

A/N: This fic is an ensemble fic. There is no singular focus. I am trying to expand my talents as a writer and any feedback that you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Any and all characters that belong to Shonda belong to her. Any and all subsequent characters belong to me.

I apologize, but the immensity of the chapters will mean that there is a significant time gap between postings. But I will try my best to make every update more than worth the wait.

Without further explanation and with letting my work use it's own voice, please enjoy Surface of the Sun.