Author's Note: I'm really glad that the response to this has been positive, because I'm excited about the prospects of this story. The next two chapters to be uploaded will be flashback chapters. I wrote them for two reasons: 1) people need to find out what actually happened between Callie and Arizona, 2) I wrote the first two chapters early into the government shutdown period so I decided to give it time for more real-life news to accumulate before I write about it again. In the spirit of honouring both Aaron Sorkin and Shonda Rhimes, I want it to be as much about journalism as it is about interpersonal relationships.

Disclaimer: Current events that are mentioned in this story are all true, but the characters' involvement in them is merely well-researched fiction. If there is a demand for it, I will be writing a series of posts on my writing Tumblr wip-alterocentrist to clear things up and provide useful links.

Enjoy!

Sunday, 8:00PM

On the night before her first show as America in Focus's EP, Arizona booked out the largest private room at a Thai place on 2nd Avenue that she found online. She was throwing a dinner for the senior staff of both the eight and nine o'clock shows. Getting the reservation did not come easy as the restaurant was ridiculously popular, but she managed it in the end. It was all for free, too; Richard Webber let her charge it on the company credit card. Ever determined to impress, she even turned up fifteen minutes early.

Eight o'clock came around, and the only two people who have arrived on time were Webber and Alex Karev. The maitre d' approached her. "Ma'am, the room is ready for you. Would you and the two gentlemen like to go there now? We'll direct the rest of your guests there."

"Thank you," Arizona said gratefully. A waiter led them to the room. It suddenly looked way too big.

Webber pulled a seat out for her. "Don't worry. This is New York. They'll turn up."

"Were people unusually punctual in London, Arizona?" Alex asked jokingly.

"Nothing unusual about punctuality," she retorted. Arizona had taken a shine to the young man over the last two weeks. His thoroughness and sharpness with following the shutdown had impressed her. It was also a plus that he was the first one among the staff who stopped treating her like an intruder.

"Here are the others!" Webber announced. Bailey walked in, followed by Owen and Teddy.

"Arizona, hey!" Teddy said cheerfully. "Thanks for taking us out to dinner tonight. Great choice of restaurant."

"Teddy loves her Thai food," Owen chimed in.

"Hi Bailey," Arizona said. "How's your weekend been?"

"I was enjoying my short reprieve before someone else is cracking the whip on my show."

Arizona blinked. She wasn't sure what Bailey intended by that comment. But before she had time to ask, more people entered. The rest of her APs: Lexie, Cristina and Jo, who were joined by eight o'clock's APs, Meredith, who happened to be Lexie's sister, April, Shane, Stephanie, and Leah. "Hey!" she greeted them brightly. "Thanks for coming."

As they took their seats, Mark and Derek arrived together. "Hey, Arizona." Derek looked around the room. "This is a pretty cool place. I see you still know how to throw a party."

"Oh, parties! I want more of that if you're going to be staying on at HANCA, Robbins," Mark told her as he took his seat.

Bailey asked the question that Arizona had wanted to ask: "Sloan, where's Callie?"

"She said she isn't feeling well. She thought it would be better to stay at home tonight instead of leaving me to anchor on my lonesome tomorrow," Mark replied. He looked at Arizona. "She told us to enjoy ourselves, though."

Disappointed, Arizona sank back in her seat. "I'm sure we will."

Monday, 12:30PM

"I don't understand. Why are we meeting this early?" Cristina Yang muttered as she took a seat next to Alex in the conference room. "I haven't even had the chance to sort through the stories from the breakfast bulletin yet."

"Not to mention the midday bulletin hasn't even finished," Lexie Grey added.

Alex was unfazed. "Arizona just wants to talk to us, okay?"

"It's probably going to be some pep talk. I don't have time for this," Cristina grumbled. She stretched her arms out and laid her head on the conference table.

Bailey, who had nothing to say up to that point, said under her breath: "None of us do."

"Come on." Alex glared at her. "You didn't even like Robert. Are you gonna give her a chance?"

"Give who a chance?" Arizona walked in, weirdly, empty handed. EPs usually carried a legal pad and an electronic device on them. When she was greeted with silence, she moaned, "Let me in on some office gossip, will ya?"

"It was nothing," Bailey said, shaking her head. "You wanted to talk to us about something?"

Callie was walking back to her office after attending a meeting with a source from DC in Webber's private lounge when she heard Arizona's voice through the glass wall of the conference room. She looked at her watch. It was too early for them to be holding a rundown meeting. She couldn't help but stand outside the room to listen anyway, at an angle where she knew she was out of sight from everyone.

"... we're not just in this line of work to tell people what they need to know," Arizona was saying. "We're in this business to show the rest of the world what they're ignoring. We're journalists, right? Our job description seems simple. We're informers, educators, watchdogs. But we're also storytellers. And that's what I love most about this job. It's a privilege to help people tell their stories."

Callie had heard this all before, but she couldn't help smiling. Arizona did always give the best speeches. Apparently, some of her team members didn't think so; Bailey looked unimpressed and Cristina was rolling her eyes.

"Calliope."

The sound of her name made her jump. What she didn't notice was that Arizona had adjourned the meeting already. Instead of standing in front of everyone else in the conference room, Arizona was standing in front of her.

"Are you okay?" Arizona asked. Behind her, the rest of the team shuffled out to return to their desks. "You look lost, which is implausible. This has been your newsroom for years."

"Sorry, I just -" Callie shook her head, chuckling a little bit, "you were- you were saying your 'we are storytellers' speech."

Arizona frowned in confusion. "My 'we are storytellers' speech?"

"You know. The whole, 'we're not just journalists, we're storytellers' thing you have going on," Callie said. Arizona's blue eyes were locked on her, and she could feel herself blushing, and cursed her blood vessels for betraying her. "You've said that speech countless times in DC."

"It's because it's something that I believe in," Arizona said. "And you remember me saying that speech?"

"Are you kidding?" Callie managed to laugh, even if it was the last thing she wants to do around Arizona. "It was like your party trick. I guess some things never change."

Arizona's eyes were searching her face. "Indeed," she said softly.

Cristina was hanging around Meredith's desk when she saw Callie and Arizona having a conversation. "Hey Mer," she said. "Is something up with those two?" She gestured at them. "People don't look at each other like that unless they've slept with each other at least twice."

"You would know, wouldn't you?"

"I could only imagine. But look, they're like, staring at each other."

Meredith looked up. "Oh, get back to work," she said disapprovingly.

"No! I'm overwhelmed with curiosity and I just have to find out!"

"Cristina." Meredith hoped that the sharpness in her voice would bring her best friend back to earth. "The federal government is going to shut down indefinitely in less than twelve hours. You should go cover that instead of poking your nose in other people's businesses."

"I'm a journalist," Cristina said. "It's my job to poke my nose in other people's businesses."

"Nope." Alex was walking past them, smirking. "We're storytellers, remember?"

Meredith gave Cristina a questioning look. "The new EP said it in her pep talk," Cristina explained quickly, before turning her head to call out to Alex. "Screw you, evil spawn!"

"Goddamn." Meredith ran her fingers through her hair in exasperation. "I'm not gonna get any work done today, am I?"

Cristina shook her head. "No, you can go back to work," she said. "I'm going to do a quick Google search. If you wanna help me, you'll know where I am." She walked across the room to her desk, fingers flying across the keyboard even before she got in her seat.

Meredith looked at where Callie and Arizona were standing. Only the EP was left there, watching as the anchor disappeared behind her office door. She hated to admit it, but something was definitely going on.

4:00PM

The EP's office for America in Focus had four television screens, arranged in rows of two. On all of them - HANCA, MSNBC, CNN and Fox - reports about Congress were playing. Arizona had to smile to herself. Her first show was going to be a lead up on the government shutdown. What a time to re-enter American media.

On the shelves by her office window were an assortment of photographs taken over the years. The closest to her was the most recent family photo, taken when she came home to Virginia for Christmas the year before. Her father and Timothy in similar pastel blue shirts and tan chinos, her mother and her in navy dresses. The second photograph was her team at the BBC in London, standing in front of Buckingham Palace. The third was a candid photograph of her talking to a cameraman while producing a story on the riots in Greece - the story that earned her team a spot on Pulitzer's shortlist. The fourth was taken in Baghdad: she was in a beige hiking shirt with the sleeves rolled up, standing arm in arm with her brother, Owen and Teddy. Owen and Teddy were wearing a similar outfit to hers, while Timothy was in his olive drab and combat pants. The fifth and last photo was of her and a group of young journalists in front of the New Hampshire's governor's mansion. They took the photo while waiting for Gore to emerge from his meeting with the governor. Next to her, an arm discreetly around her waist, was Callie.

They had been embeds on Al Gore's press bus, and when Bush was elected, their careers hung in the balance. Only embeds of the winning candidate were selected for the Press Corps, after all. Callie ended up being chosen as HANCA's junior correspondent in the White House Press Corps, while Arizona - then a stringer for PBS - applied at the BBC's DC bureau as an associate producer. She got the job. The other people in the photo with them weren't so lucky.

Her reverie was broken by Bailey. "Do you want to check over the copy tonight?" the woman asked her. She was holding a stapled bunch of papers out.

Arizona took them gratefully. "Yeah, thanks Bailey," she said. "How are you today?"

"Fine."

"That's good to hear. How did you find the dinner last night?"

"It was good," she replied abruptly, before turning to look at the door. "Can I go? I want to organise logistics with the DC bureau for that Georgetown professor that we're crossing over to tonight."

Arizona was taken aback. It had been two weeks and she was still failing to warm up to Bailey. "Well, all right then," she said. "Talk to me if you have any problems."

"Of course." Bailey turned on her heel and walked to the door.

Owen Hunt entered her office as Bailey left. "You busy?" he asked politely, before stepping inside.

"Just thinking about the shutdown. I do have a meeting with the control room guys in half an hour, though," Arizona said. "I was a college sophomore when the last one happened. Timmy was in the army already, on the base in Texas. He didn't get paid for two and a half weeks."

"We're fighting two wars and we're running the biggest military operation in the world," Owen said reassuringly. "They can't withhold pay for very long."

"Who knows what'll happen, with the Tea Party holding the House to ransom and all." John Boehner's face filled the screen on CNN and she rolled her eyes at it. "Anyway, can I help you with anything?"

Owen shook his head. "No, it's a bit stupid, but I was just checking in on you," he told her. "Bailey looks like she's giving you a hard time."

"Yeah, no, it's not stupid. I totally get that. And Bailey's not giving me a hard time. She's just a little bit standoffish because I'm the new girl, and I get that too."

"That is Bailey giving you a hard time," Owen said. "She'll be nice to you in a few months."

"How long did it take for you?"

"Like, a year," Owen said. "But she was nicer to Teddy than she was to me."

"Speaking of Teddy…" She pointed at the framed photo of them on her shelf. "Check that out."

"Jesus, is that what I think it is?" Owen picked up the frame to look at it, laughing. "God, what was I thinking with that beard?" He looked at Arizona. "I swear, you were in Baghdad for a few days and our world was turned upside down."

"That's a euphemism for me almost getting you blown up."

"Yeah, pretty much." Owen laughed again. "I was surprised that Tim flipped out at us for getting you in danger, when you were the one who led us there. But then again, in his eyes you could do no wrong."

"We were all young and stupid then, no regrets," Arizona said, grinning at the memory. "How are you and Teddy anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

Arizona laughed. "Oh, don't play coy, Owen! You and her had a thing for each other in Baghdad!"

Owen cringed. "We did not! You were with us for four days! Seriously, where did you get that idea from?"

"Dude, I'm not obtuse," Arizona said. "And I can prove that I'm not the only one who noticed. Timothy couldn't stop talking about the 'unresolved sexual tension' between the two of you when he came home on furlough for two weeks."

"Me and Tim or…?"

"You and Teddy, dumbass. So, what happened there?"

A half-laugh, half-sigh escaped Owen's mouth. He had his hands on his hips, preparing for a reply, when the door opened. "Owen! Shane told me you were in here," Teddy exclaimed. "I need you to look at something for me… what's going on?"

Obviously glad at the chance to change the subject, Owen showed Teddy the photograph. "Little Robbins has a record of our brush with death!" he declared.

Teddy stepped closer to him to look it. "Holy crap," she said. "That is a cute photo."

"I like to think we were safari explorers observing animals. And by animals, I mean my brother."

They laughed together. "So, Teddy, what did you want me for?" Owen asked the taller blonde.

"Oh, it's not urgent, just got some news from our guy on the hill in DC that we might want to include in the coverage for tonight," Teddy said. "I can see we're having a wee bit of a catch up over here."

"Well, it has been six years," Owen said. "I was just asking Arizona if she had anyone special in her life that made her come back Stateside."

Arizona was about to call Owen out on his lie, when Teddy jumped in, "Do you?"

"No, it was just a better offer."

"You worked at the BBC."

"Yeah, but I was never going to be an EP there. Webber and Derek lured me in here with the promise of producing the best current affairs news magazine on network television," Arizona told them. "That was a nice dangly bait, and I bit."

"So there isn't a special someone?" Teddy almost looked disappointed. "Wife? Girlfriend?"

"Of course not." Arizona shook her head. "Perpetual bachelorette - that's me. I love my work too much. What about you guys?" Her eyes flitted between the two of them curiously.

Teddy just about jumped half a foot away from Owen. "No. There's no one special, not really."

"Wait until Henry hears that," Owen muttered.

"Who's Henry?" Arizona inched forward in her seat.

"He's a writer. For various publications, including New York Magazine and Time," Owen replied. His facial expression suddenly soured. "Teddy also happens to be dating him."

"It's only been four dates. Nothing to get excited about," Teddy said. Owen's face seemed to have gone unnoticed by her.

Arizona waggled her eyebrows suggestively. "I'm sure you've experienced the post-third date event, haven't you, Teddy?"

"You're so much like Tim!" Teddy groaned. "I'm gonna go back to my desk to look at those reports. Owen, you coming?"

He looked at Arizona. "Go," Arizona told him. "I have another rundown meeting soon anyway, so I better do some work."

Teddy said a quick goodbye and left. The door closed after her. Arizona watched as Owen replaced the photo frame on its place on the bookshelf, then walk towards the door. "Owen?"

Owen's hand was already on the door handle. "Yeah?"

"You're not fooling anyone," Arizona said simply, before focusing her attention back to her screens.

7:55PM

Callie and Mark sat in the dressing room doing some final readings before they had to sit in front of the camera. "Why did we decide that a recap on attacks by Islamic insurgents in the past few weeks should go on the top of the A block instead of, you know, the Congress?" Mark asked.

"Executive decision by our executive producer," Callie said. "I think he knows we're coming back for midnight."

"Nah, they'll work something out."

"I'm surprised that you're being optimistic," Callie said. "Because the government is going to shut down. I think it's a strategic move. Put the shutdown midway down the A block and pretend it's breaking news later on."

"I know for a fact that Maddow is returning at midnight for sure, and she's making her audience clear about that fact." Mark rolled his eyes. "People don't fall for that breaking news shit anymore when it comes to our Congress."

"They do. Most of them acted surprised when we told them that Obama was reelected, even if the he had been leading in the polls since forever. You've been in this industry longer than I have and you still overestimate their ability to not fall for the news."

"You don't fall for the news. The news is the truth," Mark said.

"No, the news is the version of the truth that we want them to believe."

"Jesus." Mark let out a low whistle. "You're being a little cynical tonight."

Callie looked at him. "The government is falling apart. I think I'm allowed to be a little cynical."

There was a knock on the door. It was Leah, one of their younger APs. "You guys ready? It's time," she said. She left and Callie and Mark followed her. They assumed their seats behind the anchor's desk, where they were hooked up with their earpieces.

"Can you guys hear me?" Owen's voice came through. "Reply so I can check your levels."

"Yup, I can hear you just fine, Owen," Mark said.

"Same here," Callie said.

"Perfect."

"On in ninety seconds," the technical director said.

Mark started smoothing his hair and straightening his tie.

"Don't strain yourself too hard, Sloan," Callie joked. "We're coming back at midnight."

"Cynic."

"Oh no, she's not being cynical," Owen's voice came through their earpieces. "You are coming back at midnight. You can call your date during the ad break to cancel with her."

Mark frowned. "Surely I could be finished with a date in three hours' time?"

"Mark!" Callie exclaimed. "Wait, you don't have a date, do you?"

The technical director, again: "Thirty seconds."

"I don't. But if I did, I'm sure I could get it over in three hours."

"That's enough now," Owen said. "There are women in the control room."

Mark laughed. "Sorry, Teddy!"

"And Leah, too."

"Who's Leah?" Mark asked, genuinely confused.

Callie sighed exasperatedly. "Mark!"

"Ten seconds," the technical director told them. "Can Callie move a little bit forward please, just so the light can catch her the right way?" Callie obliged. "Thanks. Two seconds… roll in."

When the opening theme music faded out, Callie and Mark were already looking at the camera. "Good evening. It's Monday, the thirtieth of September. I'm Callie Torres," she said.

"And I'm Mark Sloan. You're watching The Eight O'Clock Breakdown."

9:57PM

Arizona was in the control room, headset on, her eyes observing six different screens at once. She was on a high. Being in control of most of the aspects of producing a news programme was difficult, and she knew she was going to get better, but at that moment, five minutes to the end, she felt like a maestro.

They were coming to the end of the last segment of the show. "Ten seconds back," the technical director reminded Derek.

"Don't forget to remind our viewers about what's going on at midnight," Arizona told him.

"Copy that," Derek said.

"Two seconds back."

"Good stuff. That segment was produced and filmed by Lexie Grey and Jo Wilson in Manhattan earlier this afternoon. That's it for us for tonight, folks. To all you night owls - don't forget to tune in at midnight for HANCA's special coverage on the US government shutdown. I'm Derek Shepherd, thanks for watching America in Focus. Good night."

Arizona watched the credits play on the scroll at Derek's chest level. Right after the anchor's name was her name. Executive Producer, Arizona Robbins. It sounded great. She could work with that.

Tuesday, 12.01AM

Mark shuffled the papers in front of him before looking up at the camera.

"Roll in," the technical director said. The autocue on the camera began scrolling.

"Good evening. I'm Mark Sloan."

"And I'm Callie Torres. HANCA is bringing you a special midnight report. As of a minute ago, the United States House of Representatives has failed to come to a vote on HJ Res. 59, a resolution which would continue government funding until the fifteenth of December 2013. This resolution struggled through both houses of the Congress because of the House and the Senate repeatedly adding, and then removing, an amendment in the resolution that aimed to defund the Affordable Care Act. Joining us now from Washington DC is Grace Everett, our correspondent from the hill. Grace?"

"Thirty seconds," the technical director said.

Owen watched Callie and Mark sit idly as the DC correspondent spoke into the camera. "Mark, when you come back, can you reiterate that active military personnel, select civilian employees and Defence contractors will be paid during the shutdown. This is because the president has signed a bill put forward by the House that makes this happen," he said through his mouthpiece. "Copy?"

"Gotcha," Mark said calmly.

"Two seconds back."

"Thank you, Grace," Callie said. She turned to her co-anchor. "So, Mark, how exactly is the shutdown going to affect the services provided by the federal government?"

12.45AM

Arizona sidled up next to Teddy, who was standing in the middle of the bullpen, watching Callie and Mark on the screen hanging on the wall. "HANCA did well choosing them as their lead anchors," she told the taller woman.

"Arizona! You're still here? I thought you'd have gone home after your show," Teddy said. "Good work on those vox pops by the way."

One of Arizona's APs, a young upstart named Jo Wilson - had volunteered to go into the streets of Manhattan during rush hour, with a HD handheld camera to ask what people knew about the government shutdown. Arizona told her to take Lexie, and together they came back with some surprisingly good vox pops. "You gotta thank Lexie and Jo for that." When Teddy answered her with a blank look, she said: "Babyfaced, long brown hair?"

"Right, I know Little Grey, but I didn't know the other one. Soft-spoken, right? She's a friend of Shane's but she's one of yours." Teddy nodded. "Are you impressed?"

"Yeah, a little bit," Arizona said. "This is the first time I've worked for network news, I never knew people here were so-"

"Journalistic?" Teddy supplied.

"'Full of initiative' were the words I was going to say."

"You're just surprised that we're not all sellouts," Teddy joked.

"Of course not. Callie and Mark are brilliant anchors, so is Derek," Arizona said. "But then again, Derek did start at the BBC."

"Enough with your elitism. BBC World is a for-profit enterprise too, you know," Teddy said, laughing. "You ran a good show tonight, though."

"Thanks, Teddy." Arizona looked at the time. "I should probably go home. Tell Callie that I think she did a great job tonight."

"Okay." There was a tone to Teddy's voice that Arizona didn't quite understand the meaning of.

It was only when she slid into the cool backseat of the cab home that she realised that she had forgotten to say Mark's name. She had been trying hard to hide any hint of the fact of her past with Callie - including trying to treat her and Mark as a unit - even if the other woman hadn't asked her to, out of respect for her established role on the staff. But even if she didn't slip up with Teddy, someone in the office had to be curious. She knew there was still too much that lingered there.

4:30AM

Cristina fervently knocked on Meredith's apartment door. She was wired after three cups of coffee and was aware that she was going to be paying for at work later that day. She had done plenty of research on Arizona Robbins's background since she got off work for the night. And what she found - well, it just had to be shared.

When Meredith opened the door, Cristina barely noticed her minimal attire of a dress shirt and underwear. Instead, she let herself in, waving the printouts of her research around. And she was also talking at a mile a minute: "I did some digging, and I found out that before Arizona was a studio AP and a field AP in the Middle East and Africa, before she was a senior producer in London, she and Callie were on Al Gore's press bus during the presidential elections in 2000. Of course, I can't ask either of them what really went on, but I found the list of the people on the press bus, and here's an interesting tidbit for you: Addison Montgomery was on it." She flipped the papers to show Meredith a particular photograph. "See, that's a photo of Addison, Callie and Arizona standing next to each other. She works in New York now, too! Maybe I can ask her."

Meredith opened her mouth to say something, but a man's bleary voice got there first. "Mer? Who's here at the buttcrack of dawn talking about my ex-wife in a very loud voice?" It was Derek Shepherd, just pulling his boxers on.

"Oh my god." Cristina's eyes flew from Derek to Meredith. "You're wearing his shirt. You're sleeping with him. Oh my god. Why didn't I see this before?"

Seeming to have found her voice, Meredith dryly told Cristina: "I think the biggest shock of the night is that you're willing to fight for an appointment with one of the busiest editors-in-chief in the news media to ask her about your crazy conspiracy theory."

Derek was rubbing his eyes. "What crazy conspiracy theory involving Addison?"

"Okay, Derek, all due respect," Cristina turned her whole body around to face away from him, "but you're going to need to put a shirt on if you want to keep talking to me. You're no Sloan."

Derek touched his abdomen self-consciously, but stayed put.

Meredith half-heartedly apologised for her best friend with a wave of her hand. "Cristina thinks that Callie had a sordid love affair with Arizona Robbins."

"Yeah, perhaps one that's similar to what's going on here," Cristina said.

"Oh, shut up." Meredith glared sideways at her.

Derek shook his head. "I wouldn't call it a sordid love affair."

"I think that's exactly what's happening here," Cristina snapped.

"Not me and Meredith, dammit," Derek said, rolling his eyes. "Callie and Arizona. They dated for almost two years when they were working in DC after the election. Arizona and I were working together then and from what I heard, it was pretty serious. I don't know anything about their breakup, we weren't close then, and even if we were, it's not my business to tell you."

Cristina was flipping pages again. "You said almost two years?"

"Yes," Derek confirmed warily. "Let it go, Yang. It's none of our business."

Cristina pressed on anyway. "Could it have something to do with Arizona accepting a transfer to BBC's Lahore bureau in 2003?"