Blustery snowy and cold here in the middle of the map US, change of plans gives me time to write one more chapter for you before I start vacation tomorrow.
The drive back to Arizona's is a little tense, Callie didn't ask why Jo was staying with Arizona, but the tension in the car indicates that she's going to ask soon.
"Oh look, there's Alex." Callie says as they pull up to the house.
"What? Damn it." Jo says getting out of the car and going over to him.
"So what's going on? Why is my resident staying at your place?" Callie asks turning to look at the blonde.
"I don't know. Neither of them will tell me what happened." Arizona replies.
"Hospital gossip says he proposed and she said no." Callie remarks.
"Well that would explain it. How drunk do you think she is? I feel like I should take her inside and send him home. This looks bad." Arizona points out.
"Is this you being a good friend or is there something going on with you and Wilson?" Callie asks carefully.
"You did not just ask me that!" Arizona says angrily.
"We just left a bar where the two of you two were cuddling and holding hands, that is a valid question." Callie pushes back.
"She's my friend, and she's my friend's girlfriend. Callie that's not a line I would cross no matter what. You know me better than that." Arizona replies.
"I don't feel like I know you at all anymore." Callie says sighing heavily.
Outside on the sidewalk, Jo has backed Alex up against his vehicle and is jabbing his shoulder as she yells at him.
"Okay, Jo that's enough. This isn't going to end well. Alex go home." Arizona says pulling Jo aside and leading her into the house.
Alex looks over at Torres, who is leaning against her vehicle. "Joe's?" He asks.
"Joe's, leave yours here, then you have an excuse to come back tomorrow." Callie points out.
"I don't know if I want to come back tomorrow." He replies honestly.
"Get in, we'll come back tomorrow." Callie says again.
He shrugs and gets in her vehicle.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Arizona asks as they sit down on the couch.
"He's infuriating." Jo exclaims and covers her face with her hands.
"Yes he is." Arizona agrees. "Jo, what happened? What's going on with you two?"
"Aside from spending all of his time with Meredith, running over whenever she calls. They're carpooling, which makes no sense at all. He drives right past the hospital to pick them up and then he's on call to run them all home when they never leave at the same time. At least Meredith finally got a nanny and the kids aren't at the hospital daycare, so he's not having to go check on them whenever she has a long surgery. Do you know how many times she would page him to check on them for her. He's a surgeon not a pediatrician!" Jo complains.
"Okay, I get that carpooling makes no sense. Callie and I rarely drove together and we lived in the same house." Arizona points out.
"The last month or so he's been spending a lot of time with Meredith and they've been secretive and I almost thought they were having an affair, but I just don't get that vibe from them, you know?" Jo asks her.
Arizona nods, "So if they're not having an affair and I agree with you, they're not. What happened between you two?"
"He asked me to marry him, again." Jo explains. "I know that doesn't make sense but we had a huge blowout at the hospital that day we had all the firefighters. It was a bad one, Meredith had yelled at me to 'go away' like I was a stray dog or something and I was furious. He comes in and says it's just Meredith and doesn't mean anything, he laughed it off. She treats me like a dog and he found it fucking funny!" Jo exclaims. "She doesn't see me or respect me as his girlfriend. We live together, we bought a place together, I am more than a girlfriend and he lets her treat me like crap and I'm sick of it, but what can I do? Not only is she his best friend, she also Chief of General Surgery, it's not like I can tell her to go to hell or anything. I just have to take it and I can't do that any more." Jo says throwing herself down on the couch when she finishes.
Going over and sitting beside her, Arizona says, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize it had gotten this bad. I mean, I know when we all lived together she would come over at odd hours and that one night you were upset and stayed with me after she kicked you out of his bed. I didn't realize that was still happening," the blonde replies slipping an arm around her friend.
"Then after this terrible fight at work. I go home, figuring that he's probably already packed and left, but no, he's there and he's laid out this beautiful table, dinner, champagne, candles... everything is perfect and it just pisses me off even more. I told him that we're over and he fricking proposes to me." Jo says before turning to cry on Arizona's shoulder.
At Joe's Alex is telling Callie the same story and she's laughing. "You're an idiot, now don't get me wrong the proposal setting was perfect, but your timing sucks." She points out.
"I know, but I thought that she was going to break up with me and I don't want to lose her." He explains.
"If you don't want to lose her, then you need to set some boundaries up with Meredith. Arizona and I had this same problem with Mark. Trust me, you just have to let her know that she's your priority, but that Meredith is important to you too." Callie explains, then adds, "At least you didn't get Meredith pregnant, trust me that really complicates things. You and Meredith haven't..? Have you?" Callie asks realizing that Alex slept with her and everyone else, why should she assume that he hadn't slept with Meredith.
"No, she's like my sister. I didn't sleep with Cristina either." He spits out at her.
"Alex's car is still out front. He must have left with Torres." Jo replies, "You don't think they would..?" She blurts out.
"Alex and Callie? No. Definitely not. They did one time when he was a resident, but..." Arizona stammers.
"He slept with Torres? Are you sure he and Meredith never..?" Jo asks.
"I really don't think they did, but then I was surprised by him and Callie and then there was Addison too." Arizona says thinking out loud.
"Wait, he's been with Torres and Montgomery?" Jo asks turning around to face the blonde.
"Uh, we should probably stop talking about this. Look Callie's going to be here soon with Sofia and she may be dropping Alex off to get his car, so what do you want to do?" Arizona points out. "And remember, I'm going over to Charlotte and Alice's house with Sofia this afternoon. We're going to introduce her to Alice's daughter."
"Oh right. I guess I should apologize to Alex, I was a kind of an ass last night." Jo says sitting her coffee cup in the sink.
"You were. But I should say thanks for going with me last night. Did Amelia really leave with someone? How did Edwards get home?" Arizona asks, realizing that she wasn't really paying attention when they left the bar last night.
"Edwards got a ride home with Blake, I didn't see Shepherd leave, but she was pretty cozy with that woman that she met on the dance floor, you know before she abandoned you." Jo reminds her.
"Yeah, that was fun for a while, but I was glad when you came over. I needed to get out of there." Arizona admits.
"Lesbian bars are a lot different than straight bars. Is it just because it's all women and there's no testosterone?" Jo asks.
"I'm sure that has something to do with it. But it's not that different, still plenty of hooking up. Now how many phone numbers did you get?" Arizona asks teasing her.
"A few, but I told them I wasn't available." Jo explains.
"That only makes them more persistent because you were out alone." Arizona points out.
"Yeah, I noticed that. So there was a weird thing going on with Edwards and Blake, do you think that they are a thing?" Jo asks.
"Edwards and Blake?" Arizona repeats. "Edwards has never pinged my gaydar, although Shepherd has but even she surprised me last night."
"Gaydar?" Jo asks.
"You're so young." Arizona teases her. "Gaydar, the ability to read people and figure out if they are gay or straight or somewhere on the spectrum."
"Oh, it's a real thing?" Jo asks.
"You're asking about gaydar, right? I don't have to explain the spectrum." Arizona asks a little worried.
"I know about the spectrum, I'm like a 4. I've kissed a girl and it was nice, but it just didn't do it for me. Though I do find women attractive." Jo explains."Maybe I should switch teams, women seem nicer and no stubble on their faces." Jo says idly.
"Did you kiss someone last night?" Arizona blurts out.
"No, just you and I were, our faces were close and it was soft. That's all, I noticed it." Jo admits.
Arizona suddenly looks nervous and stammers, "Uh, this is getting weird. I'm going to go shower and get ready, will you let me know when Sofia's here?"
Watching the blonde leaving the room quickly, Jo calls out after her, "I don't have a thing for you!"
"Callie?" Arizona was getting dressed and she heard Sofia's voice.
"Jo let us in, but now she and Alex are out front talking. I didn't want to interrupt, so I just stayed here with Sofia. I hope I'm not intruding." Callie explains.
"No, no it's fine. She was supposed to tell me when you got here." Arizona replies, then bends down to greet her daughter.
"You look nice, are you guys going somewhere today?" Callie asks.
"Uh, yeah. We're going over to visit some new friends today, they have a daughter Sofia's age." Arizona explains.
"Oh, so you've made some new friends?" Callie says almost to herself. "From the bar?", she asks.
"No, Charlotte is the one of the firefighters that I treated during the fire a few weeks back. I sort of asked her out before I knew she wasn't single and she was gracious enough to invite me out to meet her wife and now we're all friends." Arizona explains.
"Does the wife know that you asked her wife out?" Callie asks.
"Yes, she does. But she also knows that I've been single for several years and just trying to get back out there." Arizona replies. "Sofia go put your things in your room and put on a nice dress for lunch today, okay?"
"Yes Momma, are we going to the Aquarium?" She asks.
"Not today, we're going to go to lunch with some new friends and they have a little girl for you to meet, okay?" Arizona asks her daughter.
"God, I need to meet new friends, especially now. Meredith and I are barely talking. Penny and I broke up, I'm not even sure what I'm doing. God, last night I had drinks with Alex." She admits.
Arizona goes over to the window and looks out to see how they're doing, "Hopefully they'll work this out. I didn't think anyone could have worse timing than we did?" Arizona comments.
"I know right? I told him Meredith is like his Mark and he needs to set up some boundaries." Callie points out.
"I didn't even think of it like that. You're right though, but I don't see Jo and Meredith becoming friends like Mark and I did." Arizona counters.
"Uh, no. That's not going to happen and I told Alex, he doesn't want it to happen. But Meredith needs to treat people better, she's gotten really dark and twisty again. I reminded Alex that he needs to help her lighten up. I mean she threw Amelia out of her house." Callie remarks.
"I heard about that, and what the hell is up with Owen? He was out of line punching Riggs in the ICU. You don't hit a man with his hands in his pockets, I don't care what he did in the past." Arizona points out. "I hope that he's getting counseling, he's a mess since he came back from tour."
"I don't know what's going on between him and Riggs, but Meredith knows and I think that's what she and Amelia were arguing about." Callie explains.
"I should probably call and check on Amelia today." Arizona comments.
"She may still be busy with that chick from last night." Callie replies laughing, "You should have seen them going at it. I bet they didn't make it out of the parking lot."
The front door opens and Jo enters, "Arizona, I'm going to spend some time with Alex today, I may be back tonight though, is that okay?" She asks.
"It's fine. Don't forget your key, just in case it's late." Arizona points out.
"Okay, thanks. Oh and Dr Torres, thanks again for the ride home last night." Jo adds.
Watching her grab her coat and leave, Callie remarks, "I think they'll be fine." Callie remarks standing up to go. "I'll let you get on with your day."
"I should thank you for bringing us home last night, I don't think I realized how much we had to drink until you dropped us off. It was fun though, well maybe not fun, but not as bad as I thought it would be." Arizona adds trying to explain.
"Yeah, I really didn't expect to run into you last night either," Callie admits. "I mean when I first started going out, I always figured that I'd run in to you, but the more I went out and didn't run into then I guess I just assumed that I wouldn't. So last night really surprised me, then seeing you with all those women around you, that was weird. I told Jo to go over there, because well, I couldn't go, that would have been... well, then you grabbed Jo and danced with her and I almost choked on my drink for a second even I thought you were together..." Callie stammers.
"Wait, you told Jo to save me and then you thought that Jo and I were together last night?" Arizona questions.
"She wouldn't be the first resident..." Callie begins...
"She wouldn't be the first resident that I've slept with? Is that what you were going to say?" Arizona asks annoyed.
"Uh, you know what. We should stop talking about this. I know that you're just friends and she's with Alex. So it's not even a thing that we should be talking about." Callie points out.
"You do realize that you're the one who just dated a resident, right?" Arizona counters.
"Yes, you're right, but I dated her before she was a resident at our hospital." Callie points out.
"She's the same age as Jo." Arizona reminds her.
"Oh well, I didn't think of that. But you're not dating Jo." Callie remarks.
"So you keep saying, Callie you're jealous of Jo and I'm not even seeing her." Arizona exclaims.
"I'm not. You're misreading this Arizona." Callie pushes back. "Look, I'm going to go. This isn't productive. And I do want us to be friends."
"So how was 80's night?" Charlotte asks when they finally get settled outside watching the girls play.
Looking over at Alice, Arizona laughs, "It was fun, but my straight friends turned out not to be so straight."
"Oh that does make for an interesting evening." Alice remarks.
"Yes, it certainly does. Then Callie showed up, just to make things more interesting." Arizona adds.
"Well that sounds like a typical night out, which is why you need to come to our party. No exes. I promise." Charlotte replies.
"I don't know if you can promise that. I dated a lot when I first moved here. Could you just find out if they work at my hospital, I rather not get blindsided by a co-worker." Arizona points out.
"None of my friends have worked at the hospital, one works at Seattle Presbyterian though." Alice replies.
"What's her name?" Arizona asks.
"Natalie," Alice replies.
"Okay, I only dated one Natalie and she was a pharmacist at the University." Arizona remarks.
"Uh, Natalie is a pharmacist." Alice replies.
"I don't think it'll be a problem, we only went out a couple of times and I didn't sleep with her." Arizona replies.
"How many EMS workers have you dated?" Charlotte asks.
"One, she was a senior field trainer though, we met at the hospital ER and went out a few times, I think her name was Sheri or Shelly. She was fun, but she got back with her ex or something." Arizona says trying to remember.
"Okay, so she'll know Natalie and Sheri." Alice points out.
"They probably won't even remember me. It's been like six or seven years." Arizona suggests.
"Honey, they'll remember." Alice says patting her shoulder as she goes in to check on lunch.
"How did it go with Callie?" Charlotte asks softly.
"It was fine. My friend Jo had a fight with her boyfriend and is staying at my place, so Callie took us back to my place. I think she was jealous though." Arizona remarks.
"Jealous of Jo or jealous that you were out last night?" Charlotte asks.
"Both actually. Today she told me that she sent Jo over to save me last night, because she thought one of the women I was dancing with was too pushy." Arizona explains, "She was and as soon as I saw Jo I grabbed her and danced with her until we could get off the floor."
"That sounds like the perfect setting for a green-eyed monster to appear." Charlotte says laughing.
