Alright, as 14x03 showed us, Carina is still around... and so am I, to fill in more blanks. I have to say, as I'm trying to stick to canon for as long as possible, Carina will stay quite of a mystery for me as well. I have no clue what the future will bring, just some vague ideas what might have happened in the meantime... Enjoy!


... ...

Flying. I still hate it. After all this time, I still absolutely, freaking hate it. But if this is the only way to see my daughter a bit more often, then there's nothing that can keep me out of an airplane. Even if that means sweaty hands, serious breathing difficulties and an urge to vomit in the middle of the aisle for six hours straight.

After Bailey forced me to finally compensate the many, many extra hours I've recently made, I decided to fly to New York for a few days, as Sofia couldn't miss any schooldays. It made for the perfect short holiday, with lazy mornings in my fancy hotel, and a whole bunch of wonderful afternoons together with my little girl.

Yet of course the fun had to end at some point. I have to be back at work tomorrow, hence to be back in the plane today. Scared shitless once again. And hating this return flight even more, knowing Sofia won't be waiting for me this time. And neither will anyone else...

When the voice of the pilot sounds through the speakers, telling crew and passengers to prepare for landing, I exhale heavily. The worst part is about to begin, but at least this hell will be over soon. In about fifteen minutes I'll be back on the ground again. Safe... or dead (no, don't think like that!), but on the ground no matter what.

I close the unread book in my lap. I bought it at the airport bookshop, a little less than a week ago. Italian For Beginners. I just happened to spot it when I was looking for a magazine and thought it could be funny to learn a few phrases. To surprise my roommate when I get back. And maybe even his insanely hot sister, if she would still be around by then.
But New York has kept me busy with long bubble baths, endless shopping, strolls through the park and - of course - motherhood, and once back in the plane I've been occupied with simply keeping it together. So by now I still don't know much more than Va fa Napoli, which I learned by watching Friends, so who knows if that's even an actual saying.

I pull my seatbelt as tight as possible and close my eyes. Now only my ears give away the fact that we're descending pretty fast. Pinching my nose, I equalize the pressure a few times. Sooner than expected, I feel a jolt, telling me the aircraft touched down on the runway. The pilot speaks up again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Sea-Tac Airport. Local time is 7:40 PM and the temperature is 63ºF."

I take a deep breath. And then another one. I made it through. It's over.

"...on behalf of Delta Airlines and the entire crew, I'd like to thank you for joining us on this trip and we are looking forward to seeing you on board again in the near future. Have a nice evening!"

Yeah, let's see about that, I think rather cynical, as I stand up to get my luggage from the overhead compartment. I'd say it's been enough for a while.


Glad to be finally home after the long trip - and with the full intention of doing absolutely nothing at all for the rest of the night - I open my front door, surprised to be welcomed by sounds of great laughter. And not just laughter, also words. A lot of words - rapidly spoken, Italian words to be exactly, telling me Andrew is home. And he's not alone. I stop and listen.

"Ti sto dicendo," my roommate cries out, "avresti dovuto guardare il suo volto!"

There's more laughing, passionately, as his story is obviously the cause of much hilarity.

"Non sapevi che era sua figlia?!" Carina roars with laughter, confirming my hunch that his sister is indeed in there as well.

Leaving my suitcase in the hallway, I turn around the corner to enter the kitchen. Andrew and Carina are sitting at the kitchen table, their empty plates still in front of them. By the looks of it they just finished a big, family-style dinner. They both look up as soon as I walk in.

"Arizona!" Carina cheers, "You're back!"

"I am," I smile at her. It's hard not to get infected by her enthusiasm.

Carina raises a bottle. "We're drinking red. Join us!"

"Uhm, you're drinking red," Andrew coughs, "I'm on-call." He moves the empty chair next to him aside a little, inviting me to sit down. "But yes, join us! How was your flight?"

"Worth forgetting about as quickly as possible," I sigh, even though I know it was actually not that bad, at least not for pretty much everyone else on that plane. I drop myself on the chair, pull an empty mug toward me and offer it to Carina. After all, the pilot did tell me to have a nice evening.

"Hit me!" I tell her.

With her eyes on the mug, Carina makes a face. "Mio Dio," she scoffs, "don't insult the wine!"

"I- I'm not," I stutter defensively. Seriously, what's wrong with drinking wine out of a mug?

"She's right, you know," Andrew tells me, looking dead serious. He gets up to get me a decent glass. It's two against one, I realize. I'm not going to win this.

Carina accepts the glass and pours me some wine, then refills her own glass as well. We all raise our drinks.

"Saluti!" the two DeLuca's toast at the same time.

"Saluty!" I copy them, evoking two endearing smiles.

"Close enough," Andrew winks.

I playfully slap his head. "Shut up, Andrrrea!" I giggle, before looking round the table again. "So what were you guys laughing about?"

"Andrea's unfortunate hook up with his boss's daughter," Carina chuckles, before Andrew can stop her.

I slowly exhale as I sit back in my chair - finally able to relax. "Oh yeah, that's a good story. Never gets old."

"I didn't know!" Andrew exclaims, almost making Carina choke in her wine.

"See," she tells me, "I told you he is my stupid little brother."

Just as he wants to defend himself, a beeping sound draws our attention. Andrew checks his phone.

"Sorry ladies, gotta go!" he tells us, jumping up from his chair.

"Is it..?" Carina asks, suddenly a bit more serious.

"No, it's not, it's someone else," he tells her, a small, reassuring smile on his lips. He faces me. "I'm sorry about this mess, I'll clean it up as soo-"

"Forget about it," I cut him off. "It's not like I've never been paged before. Go! Save lives!"

He nods at me, quickly presses a kiss on top of his sisters head, then sprints out of the kitchen. When the front door slams shut, Carina and I are alone again.

I furrow my brow. "What was that about?"

"Nothing," she answers, "He just... had a rough week."

I take another sip of my wine. "He's a good guy," I muse. "You should be proud of him."

"I am," Carina nods. Her face lights up, and I believe her straight away.

"You know, sharing this place with him for quite a while now, going through a few messy things with him by my side, he does start to feel like my little brother, too," I continue, quickly adding, "Not that I feel related to you in any way!"

Carina throws her head back in laughter. "Good!" she grins, "Cause we can't have that, can we?!"

I don't answer her question.

I just look at her, as she looks at me, subconsciously biting my bottom lip as I think back of last week. Of her fingers, her tongue, her body all over me... I swallow, my mouth suddenly dry as a dessert.

I watch how she slowly gets up. She's wearing a dress - short enough to show most of her legs, tight enough to show her abs through the fabric. It looks ridiculously good on her. As I keep staring at her, completely mesmerized, she makes her way around the table.

"...especially if we want a bit more of this," she smirks, cautiously straddling my lap, making her dress creep up to her hips. She drapes her arms around my neck and moves her lips to my ear. "Is this okay?" she whispers, hoarse and considerate at the same time.

I take her by the hips and pull her closer toward me, against me, making sure my leg isn't giving us any problems. "Now it is," I breathe, my mouth already searching for hers - suddenly hungry for her lips. My heartbeat quickens as our mouths find each other. As I softly graze my tongue over her lips. As she opens them for me, inviting me in, and quickly makes me whimper into her mouth - breathlessly.

With our tongues dancing in unison, I move my hands further up. I easily find the zipper of her dress. Without breaking our kiss, I pull it down. Slowly. Teasingly. Carina lets out a small moan of approval and drops her arms, just long enough to make the upper part of her dress slip down.

I move my lips downwards, tracing my tongue over her jawline, then the sensitive skin of her throat, the swell of her breast, till it finds her nipple. I circle my tongue over the silk of her bra, marking the spot, then lower the material to suck the hard peek into my mouth. Writhing and gasping in pleasure, Carina arches her back, clutching at my shoulders and pressing her core even more against my stomach.

With my lips still attached to the flesh of her nipple, she rocks into me, making the hem of my shirt move upward. As she starts tribbing against my bare abdomen, I can feel the hot, damp fabric of her silk panties.

"You're so wet," I groan against her skin.

"You-," she husks in my ear, before running her tongue over the skin behind it, "you have that effect on me."

"I wanna..." I breathe heavily, as I tilt my head, giving her more room to work her magic, "I wanna taste you."

Not waiting for her response, I gently push her back a little. Carina gets the hint and swiftly moves off my lap, hopping straight onto the kitchen table behind her. One of the plates falls off and breaks into pieces on the floor. I can't worry about it.

Standing in front of her now, I kiss her again, hard and deep. My hands trail down, quickly followed by my lips, roaming over the soft skin of her chest, her breasts, her stomach.

"Off," she tells me, clearly not referring to her dress, as that particular garment isn't bothering us right now.

I hook my thumbs into her panties and slowly slide them down her long legs. Kissing my way back up, I spread them. As I get closer, I can smell her arousal. I raise my hand to her abdomen and softly push her backward. When she leans on her elbows, her pelvic moves up, giving me full access. For a second I just gaze at her glistering core, but then I can't resist anymore.

As soon as I swipe my tongue over her folds, she grabs my head to keep me close. "A- Arizona, yes!" she cries, and I feel thrilled that I can give her just as much pleasure as she's giving me.

I lick up her slit, sliding my tongue between her wet lips, until I reach her clit. I suck it into my mouth, then start all over again. Sounds of heavy moans fill the room, hers as well as mine. Her wetness gushes out of her entrance, into my mouth. She starts squirming on the table. More dishes hit the floor. I don't care. My mouth finds her clit again. I start flicking it with my tongue, vigorously. "Oooh! Oh, Mio Dio!" Carina groans for the second time that day, "So.. so good!"

All her muscles seem to tighten as she starts grinding up onto my mouth, uncontrollably. She's close. So close. I pull her even closer. And with that she comes against my tongue - hard, wet and screaming.

Still trembling, she slowly lets go of my hair. I look at her. She's lying flat back on my kitchen table, panting heavily, with her chest rising up and down like she's been chased by the devil. But it wasn't the devil. It was me. All me.

"You're okay?" I ask her, barely able to speak myself.

She tilts her head so she can look at me. A satisfied grin flashes over her face. "Very okay," she sighs with a husky voice, "and very grateful."

Her grin grows even bigger when she slides off of the table to face me again. Quite to my surprise she's still able to stand on her feet. She pulls me in for a kiss, then licks her lips.

"Hm, I guess you like Italian, huh?" she winks.

"Shut u-" I laugh, but once again I can't finish, as she presses her lips on mine again, moving the both of us towards the door at the same time. We don't make it, as we hit the wall next to it. Pinning me against it, she attacks my neck with her lips. I let her, because... why shouldn't I? I can feel how her fingers trail down, till they find the button of my jeans.

"You know, I have a perfectly fine bedr-ooooh.." I moan, not able to finish whatever I was going to say as her hand slips into my panties. With my back against the wall, her tongue against my racing pulse point and her fingers rubbing my wet, swollen clit the world around me quickly becomes misty... in the best possible way.


I'm late. Meaning it wouldn't be the worst idea to walk a little faster. Unfortunately, my body doesn't seem to allow me the extra effort. My leg feels a bit sore and my back hurts. I can't really remember pulling a muscle last night, but then again, Carina hasn't been preaching the happy brain chemicals for nothing. And she's not wrong... as I like to say myself: best cure for a headache! So yeah, it's a true thing - as long as they're actually doing their job, that is.

Lost in my thoughts, I almost bump into April.

"Whoa, what's with the rush?" my friend asks me. "Early surgery?"

I shake my head. "No, I've got a... thing. I don't know. Something Bailey came up with, some guard of honor ceremony for the old Avery."

"Sounds interesting," April mumbles sarcastically.

"Yeah, I don't think it is," I laugh. We step into the elevator together. "Anyhow, how are you?" I ask her, since we haven't seen each other for a week.

April drops her shoulders. "I left Jackson. His place, I mean. I moved out."

I nod, understandingly. "Things were getting too complicated, huh? I get that. So, you feel better now?"

"In a way," she sighs, "but I can't say I'm skipping with joy these days."

"You know," I start, "you just need some good se-"

"Arizona!"

I play innocent. "What?"

The bell rings and we both leave the elevator. "Sex isn't the answer to everything," April mutters under her breath.

"Oh, believe me, good sex is!" I chuckle, taking my friend by the arm and pulling her a little closer. "I'm just- I'm saying that the skill level is curative. It's a curative level of sex," I laugh. "It erases pain and fixes things. Like Eliza? Erased, on a cellular level. Just... she's gone! Last night, Carina had me up against the..."

"You're late for the thing," April quiets me, grumbling and grabbing me by the shoulders to spin me around at the same time. She pushes me away from her. Not able to stop laughing, I quickly join the group of department heads, who are just being yelled at by Bailey.

"This is not every department head!" she rants, "I said every department head. Pierce, where's Shepherd?"

Maggie shakes her head. "I haven't seen her all morning."

"And Grey?!" Bailey continues.

"You don't want her mood here!" Alex tells her, without looking up from his phone.

Maybe I should, being a board member and all, but I can't really be bothered by the whole thing. I walk up to Richard. "Good morning!" I cheer.

He looks at me, a smile on his face. "Ah, Robbins, you're back! How was New York?"

"Super fun!" I answer with sparks in my eyes. I start telling him all about my trip, until Bailey asks for our attention again. We all take our places, as Catherine Avery and her charming father-in-law approach us.

Bailey takes a step forward. "Hello, Dr. Avery. I am Chief Miranda Bai-"

"Bailey," Harper Avery cuts her off, "I remember you. What is this? Window dressing?"

Among my co-workers, I quickly wave at him and give him a smile - not that he really deserves one.

"Don't you people have jobs to do?" Avery barks, before turning around and leaving us without saying another word.

Well, that went well...

Bailey faces us again. "He doesn't like crowds," she states the obvious.

"Nope!" Jackson agrees in an I-told-you-so voice.

I can't help but giggle, secretly amused by this little fiasco, till I get distracted by the sound of my pager, telling me I've got a patient coming in. I did an ablation on this woman's baby at 18 weeks and told the parents I wanted to be there when the little one is born - just to be safe. Apparently, today is the day. Time to jump into my scrubs!

Turning around to make my way to the attendings' lounge, I catch Warren standing in the hallway. I call him.

"Warren! You're on my service today, right?"

He nods.

"Great. We've got a patient on the way. Meet me in labor room 6, okay?" I instruct him. As I'm about to continue my way, a hint of pain flashes over my face. Briefly, but long enough for Warren to notice.

"Are you okay?" he frowns.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I quickly smile at him.

I might not be at my best today, but I'm sure as hell not going to tell him - senior resident at this hospital, and not to mention husband of the Chief - about my little sex injury!


About three hours later, I meet Richard for a quick coffee in the middle of the fourth floor hallway, as I hadn't finished my New York story yet. Telling him more about my adventures at the east coast, I conclude, "...so yeah, loads of fun!"

"Sounds like you made the right call going over there," he smiles at me. "I'm glad you had such a good time."

"Me too," I grin, "Not that we can't have a lot of fun here as well, as we learned this morning!"

Richard makes a face. "Hm, I don't think Bailey would agree on that."

I turn around to watch Bailey and the Avery clan through the window of the conference room. "How long have they been in there?"

"Too long. I wish I could help, but it seems whenever I try and help today, people are dismissive and rude and just downright mean," Richard grumbles. I don't get the chance to react, as a familiar voice suddenly draws my attention.

"Buongiorno," Carina announces herself from out of nowhere, making me turn around in surprise.

"Hi!" I exclaim, as Carina kisses me twice, once on each cheek. I haven't seen her since last night.

"Do you wanna come to lunch with us?" she asks me, gesturing at both Andrew, who's standing behind her, and herself.

I open my mouth to respond, but Warren interrupts me before I can say anything. "Marnie is still at 4 centimeters," he tells me, as he hands me the chart. "We've tried laps, squats, bouncing on the birthing ball. Her cervix won't budge."

"Give her oxytocin," Carina interferes.

"We can't. She's allergic to Pitocin and Syntocinon. All forms of it," I start to explain, but Carina stops me halfway.

"No, no, no, no, not synthetic oxytocin. I'm saying natural oxytocin. No one is allergic to that!" she points out, giving us a meaningful look.

"Great! How do I do that?" Warren asks eagerly.

I glance at Carina, then look at Warren again. "I assume that she's referring to nipple stimulation. It can increase the body's natural levels of oxytocin."

Warren's eyes grow big. "Nope! I'm not doing that!" he states.

"You wouldn't be the one doing it!" I set him straight, highly amused by his reaction.

"Can we please go to lunch?" Andrew quietly asks his sister, who completely ignores him.

"I'm not talking about upstairs stimulation," she clarifies, while making quite suggestive hand gestures, "I mean downstairs stimulation. With climax, of course."

Warren and I both shrug. "O- of course," we agree, simultaneously.

Richard, also still here, is less convinced. "I-I beg your pardon?" he frowns.

"The patient's water is already broken, so I don't think that anything should be, you know, going- going up there," Warren mentions, dismissing Carina's suggestion.

This time I'm the one making a face - a face of disbelieve. Doesn't this guy know anything? Oh, poor Bailey...

Carina seems to share my thoughts. "Uh, okay, nothing needs to go up there. There is a perfect little bundle of nerves on the outside, Doctor."

"Y-Yes. I'm- I'm aware. But, um I," Warren starts stammering. I decide to come to his rescue.

"We're just- We're gonna figure something else out, Dr. Warren," I grin, returning the tablet to him.

"Thank you!" he sighs in relieve.

We turn around and start walking away, but Carina stops us. "How long has this mother been laboring?" she questions.

Warren and I exchange a look, before I face Carina again. "I'd say almost 20 hours."

"And she still has 6 centimeters to go?" Carina checks. "That's hours and hours of more unnecessary pain and risk of complications when the body has a built-in mechanism to speed this process along. It's no mistake that God put the G-spot in the birth canal," she lectures us.

"That's the first time I've ever heard those three things in the same sentence," Richard notes dryly.

"I'm only saying: what gets the baby in, also gets the baby out!" Carina points out.

"It's.. it's just not how I do things," I laugh, even though I know she's not wrong. "Warren, let's go." I turn around to leave for real this time, though clearly not fast enough as I'm still able to catch Carina's comment.

"She thought differently last night!" she shamelessly tells my co-workers.

Embarrassed to the bone, I feel like dying on the spot. First my china, then my body and now my reputation. This woman is destroying me on every level.

And yet I just know there's no way I'm going to make her stop.

... ...