A/N - Hey guys. So as you can see, I'm back with another story. I actually have around 12 chapters done but want to space posting them incase I get a touch of writers block. Its a story I've had swirling for a little while and like usual, it grows legs and morphs into something else. Hope you continue to enjoy it. Love hearing your thoughts.

Oh and I'm from England so I apologise if there's any British lingo in here that you don't understand. I always try to put the American wording in. Sand Springs is a real place in Oklahoma (according to google haha) but my town is fictional.

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Previously…

"Ummm.." She walked a little more down the drive and the dent in the back of the car confirmed it was indeed the same car. Of all the people she could have ran into, it ofcourse had to be her new neighbour. Yep, this was definitely shaping up to be one hell of a first day in Sand Springs.

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Chapter 2

Walking into her new home for the first time, Arizona felt like a kid at Christmas. Sure it wasn't the first time she'd bought a place but the apartment she'd bought in New York had been half Julie's. This was a house and more importantly, it was all hers. At the age of 34 she finally felt like she was a real grown up. She'd left all the boxes and bags in the car, opting to look around the place before she brought everything inside. Working her way through the rooms, she found her parents had been a real godsend in making the place feel like home for her arrival. The kitchen already had the essentials. A kettle, toaster, microwave, utensils and various other things including a full cupboard and fridge of food.

They'd hired a van and driven a sofa, bed and various wardrobes and drawers for the other rooms. Going up to what would be her bedroom, she found the old Victorian chair she'd always loved when living with her parents. She'd always claimed it as her chair and they had even moved it into her childhood bedroom for when she went and stayed. Now it seemed she had been given it as a house warming gift. Coming further into the room, she looked at the made up bed and smiled warmly, glad that she had a bed that she could just collapse into later that night.

Coco came bounding into the room and jumped up onto the once neatly made bed. "Pops, you little rascal" she laughed, watching the dog slide onto her side and rub herself all over the clean sheets. "Come on you, let's go see the garden huh?"

Heading back downstairs, Coco running ahead, Arizona made her way to the French doors that opened out from the kitchen. As soon as the doors opened, Coco was out and running around the garden, barking excitedly as she sniffed in all the new smells.

The blonde walked out and took in the large garden. The grass was in dire need of a cut and many bushes could have done with being chopped back but the space was huge. Being the daughter of a farmer, she had big plans for the open space. Hearing Coco bark again as she dug at something at the bottom of the garden, Arizona laughed and headed towards her to see what had got her so excited.

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"Doggy!" The little girl said, hearing a nearby bark.

"There's no dogs around here munchkin." Callie called over her shoulder from the front door as she said goodbye to her friend. "Thanks again Mark. Animal emergencies and everything. You know how it is."

"Hey, don't mention it. You know I'm here for you Cal, anytime. We all are."

Forcing a smile the Latina nodded. "I know. I know you are." Saying their goodbyes, Callie closed the door and shouted for her daughter to follow her up the stairs to get ready.

"Mommy, go see doggy?"

Just as Callie was about to tell her daughter once again that no one had a dog around here, she heard the unmistakable sound of a dog barking. Frowning she wandered to the back of the house where the young child was standing, trying to get out into the garden. Reaching the door, she turned the key and opened it up, the small child immediately stepping over the threshold. "Careful Abs, don't trip over."

Following her daughter out, she scanned the area. Her garden was fenced all around but it wasn't a high fence. It probably came up to about chest height meaning she could see into the gardens of her neighbours. Not seeing or hearing anything, she stepped out further.

"Mommy, where's the doggy?"

"I don't..." before she could finish her sentence, movement caught her eye over to the right. Her eyes locked on to a familiar face from over the fence. "You.." She said.

"Oh, hey" Arizona shot back. She looked from the woman to the small child that was walking toward her. She'd been crouched down stroking Coco when she'd heard a child's voice, ultimately causing her to stand up again.

"You live next door?"

The blonde nodded, bringing her hand up to stroke the hair from her face. "I do yea."

"But I saw an older couple last week with a moving van.."

"I know, that was my parents. They've been amazing coming over from Missouri with a load of stuff for me."

The Latina nodded her head slowly in understanding. She wasn't quite sure what to say to her new neighbour, who had also ran into her car only 15 minutes earlier. Luckily for her, Her daughter broke the silence. "Doggy?"

Arizona smiled down to the small child. "You want to see the doggy?" She bent down and picked the dog up so the young girl could see. "This is Coco."

The little girl came closer to the fence, reaching her hand up to try stroke the dogs fur. Seeing her daughter struggle, Callie came closer, lifting the young girl up so she could finally reach the dog. The girl giggled uncontrollably as Coco licked at her arms and face. The 2 women laughed at the exchange before looking at each other, the laughter quickly dying out. Brown eyes looked away as blue continued to look at her. "Can I just apologise again for..."

"You don't need to apologise anymore, Dr Robbins. You've said it enough."

"I know, I just... it's been a long weekend. I left New York on Friday morning. Got in as many hours a day as I could with several breaks for Coco here and stayed over in motels the last 2 night's. It's just been really draining. Not that I'm making excuses" she quickly added.

The Latina regarded the blonde for a few moments before giving a small smile. "I get it. Just, make sure you're more vigilant on those roads."

"I promise, I totally will be." As Coco began to squirm in her arms, Arizona dropped her back to the ground. Several barks followed as the dog ran around the garden. "Sorry, she doesn't usually bark so much. She's just excited to be in a new place. She's super obedient."

The Latina waved her words off. "It's fine. I'm actually the towns vet so dogs barking really doesn't bother me."

"A vet? That's awesome."

"Yea. Actually the only vet in town now.."

Arizona could see there was more to the story but it seemed as though the other woman wasn't ready to elaborate. "Well I think I'll sleep better at night knowing there's a vet next door if Coco here should ever get into some kind of predicament."

A genuine wide smile finally graced the Latina's lips and it was the most beautiful sight Arizona thought she had ever seen. "I guess I feel the same knowing there's a doctor next door if Abbie here finds herself in a...predicament."

Arizona laughed and nodded. "You bet although, you look like a super strong and healthy girl Abbie. And you have a really pretty name too."

"Fanks" the little girl said. Now that the dog was out of sight, Abbie wasn't interested in being up in Callie's arms and began to squirm to get down.

"I better go. This smelly bum needs a bath before bedtime." Her eyes widened before she continued. "I meant Abbie with the smelly bum, not me. Just for clarification..."

Arizona laughed and was sure she could see a little blush work it's way on to Callie's cheeks. "I got it. I could do with a wash myself to be honest. It's been one of those days."

"You're telling me.." Callie replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Again...sorry.." She replied.

Callie nodded then looked at her daughter. "Come on munchkin, let's go inside. Say bye to Dr Robbins."

"Bye docur rubuns."

The blonde laughed. "Please, call me Arizona.. "

With one last nod of her head, Callie began to back away before turning and heading into the house.

Back outside, Arizona watched as her new neighbour locked up and went out of sight. Turning to pop's she smiled. "Come on girl, let's go get something to eat."

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Waking up the next morning Arizona felt completely refreshed after a good 8 and a half hours of sleep. She rarely slept through like she had last night which just showed exactly how draining the weekend of driving had been. After rustling up some eggs for breakfast, she'd headed out with Coco for a morning walk. She didn't have to be at the surgery for her meeting with Miranda Bailey, the other doctor in town until 10 so she had a good couple of hours to let the dog stretch her legs and also allow her to check out her new dwellings a bit more. Heading into town she found the place was much more busier then it had been the day before. Shops were open and alot more people were walking around. Just aswell all these people hadn't been around yesterday to witness her catastrophic entrance into their town.

10 minutes into her walk she glanced over the road and saw the sign for Sand Springs veterinary practice. Callie's face entered her mind and a smile immediately grew on her lips. Just the thought of the Latina woman made the blonde feel like swooning. Even if she didn't want to swoon. Her mind, it seemed had a different idea. Glancing from the veterinary practice to the building next door, Arizona's mouth fell open as she realised the doctors surgery was right next door. "Oh boy. I really hope Callie wont get sick of the sight of me" she thought.

A few minutes later she was passing the garage that Callie had mentioned to her yesterday. She expected to be having to bring her car to Karev's in the next few days. Having busted her passenger side lights she realised she wouldn't be able to drive the car after dark until after it got fixed. Not that she was planning on doing too much driving for the foreseeable future. Everything seemed to be within a good walking distance from her house that driving her car seemed pointless.

She walked a little further, passing a diner and a bar, a post office, hardware store and a pharmacy. Figuring she was only half way back through town, she turned and headed back towards her house. A few minutes from home she glanced ahead and saw Callie and Abbey walking hand in hand towards her. A beaming smile worked it's way straight onto her face as mother and daughter came closer. "Morning" she called.

Callie smiled back and greeted the blonde as did Abbey who was over the moon to be seeing the loveable dog once again. "Mommy can I take Coco to school?"

"Abs, you know animals aren't allowed to go to school with you."

With a pout, Abbie turned from her mother and continued to lightly stroke the dog. "Just dropping her off at school before I head to the practice."

"Ofcourse. I didn't actually pass any schools."

"Unless you left the the main strip here you wouldn't have. It's a little further down there, then you take a left and another right and it's nestled behind the shops."

"Ah, gotcha. I'll have to do some more exploring when I have the time."

The Latina nodded. "We should really go, school starts in 10 minutes. Come on Abs."

"Have a good day at school Abbie" the blonde called, before continuing her walk to the house.

A little while later she made her way back through town for her meeting with Miranda Bailey. Coming through the main door to the surgery, she stepped into a waiting room. She smiled at the few people that were dotted around in the chairs and made her way to the reception desk. The slim woman behind the desk had watched her approach. "Dr Robbins?" The woman asked.

"It is, yes" she smiled.

The woman smiled brightly back. "I'm Teddy, the surgery's receptionist...if that wasn't already obvious" she finished with a laugh. "I hear you made quite the entrance yesterday."

The blonde had the good decency to blush slightly, biting at her bottom lip. "News travels fast I see."

"Like wild fire in a small town like this. Just a shame it had to be Callie it happened to. Poor woman has enough going on without adding to her troubles."

Arizona's eyes widened, suddenly feeling even worse than she already had about yesterday's clash. "I feel awful about what happened. Not really the greatest way to get everyone's attention."

"Can't argue with that" Teddy said with an understanding smile. "Bailey's ready for you anyway, if you just head through there and it's the first door on the left" she indicated down the hall with her hand.

"Awesome, thanks Teddy."

Making her way to the door she took a deep breath and knocked twice. A muffled enter came from behind the door. Pushing down the handle she entered the room and found the woman she'd spoken to via skype standing at a filing cabinet.

"Dr Robbins, come in, take a seat" the woman said as she closed the cabinet and went to take a seat of her own."I trust you made it in safely today without any... incidents?"

Arizona had to physically stop herself from rolling her eyes as she looked back at Miranda who had one eyebrow raised towards her. She smiled sheepishly. "I walked in today."

"Mhmm. Probably best for everyone. Though this community is so small I think most will know already to be extra vigilant when the new doctor is driving around town" she said.

The small smile on Miranda's lips showed Arizona she was just messing around. "Honestly, I'm usually a much better driver."

"I'm sure you are. Now, you already know I'm Miranda, the only other doctor in town now that Richard has retired." A small laugh left her mouth. " I say this but that old bastard is in the room opposite still seeing patients this morning. Only for today though. Once all these forms are filled in and sent off, I'll be personally pushing him out of the door myself."

"He sounds like a man that loves his job."

"Oh he does. His wife has forced him in to retirement. She retired 3 years ago. She owned the diner down the road for over 30 years. She sold the business over to Grey and Yang. That's Meredith and Cristina. Those 2 have been best friends since they were in kindergarten. Practically inseparable. The town call them the twisted sisters but they sure as hell know how to whip up a tasty dish."

"I passed the diner on my walk with the dog earlier. Next door to the bar."

"Ah yea, the Lazy Dog Saloon. It's where everyone spends their Friday and Saturday nights. Guy called Owen Hunt is the owner there. It's been in his family for 3 generations." The blonde nodded her head, happy to be learning some names of the locals. "You ofcourse already know Callie Torres" she said, clearing her throat.

"Yea, we kinda...ran in to each-other yesterday" she said with a nervous laugh. "Coincidentally, were also neighbours."

"Yes, her veterinary practice is right next door."

"No, no...I mean we live next door to each-other."

"You've bought the house next door to Torres? Wow, that really is a massive coincidence."

"I know, right?"

Miranda nodded. "It's been a difficult few months for Callie. She's a much loved member of the community and it's been hard for everyone since Erica's passing."

Arizona sat in silence as she digested Miranda words. "Erica..?" She asked.

"Yes, Erica. Callie's wife. They'd been married for several years and have a child. I actually brought Abbey into the world" she smiled as she digressed at the mention of the little girl. "Unfortunately Erica, who was also the other vet in Sand Springs, suffered a fatal injury when out on a call at Sloan's farm just over 3 months ago. She was crouched behind the horse at the time. Freak accident really. The horse kicked out, it's hoof collided with her face and knocked her head back against a wooden post. We believe she died instantly."

"Oh god. That's...That's.."

Miranda looked back at her. "I know. Heart breaking. It was an hour or so before Sloan went out and found her. Mark Sloan is Callie's best friend. He owns the farm land behind here. His house is up on the hill. You can see it from the kitchen down the hall here."

Arizona was sat in silence. She didn't know how to respond to the new information Miranda had given her. That poor woman had been through so much. Losing her wife, having to raise their daughter alone. Obviously she lost another vet too which would mean a double work load for her. Then she comes crashing into town and adds to an already difficult situation. She'd have to make it up to her new neighbour some how.

"Dr Robbins?"

Coming out of her thoughts, Arizona looked at Miranda. "Huh, sorry?"

Miranda regarded her thoughtfully. "Don't beat yourself up about it too much. You bumping into her car was an accident. She'll be OK. We're all family around here. We look out for each-other."

Arizona nodded. "I understand."

"Right, shall we get these forms over and done with then?" Miranda said as she opened up a folder and pushed it towards the blonde.

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