A/N: With this chapter, I have officially jumped off of the canon train - which means good things for those wanting Alex and Arizona together. I appreciate all the feedback from the last chapter - for all of the reviews and alerts. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!
Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy and its characters are owned by ABC and not me.
…
Mark Sloan was loyal to only one person in his life, Callie Torres. He had cheated on almost every woman he had ever been in a relationship with. He even cheated on his best friend Derek by sleeping with his then wife Addison. But he had always been loyal to Callie. He refused to lie to her so when he saw Arizona in the bar with Alex he knew he had to tell his friend even if it would upset her.
Mark knocked softly on the door to apartment 502. It was only ten at night but the pregnancy made Callie perpetually tired so he never knew when she was asleep. He didn't expect her to be awake so he was surprised when she opened the door a few moments later.
"Why are you knocking?" Callie asked confused. Mark never knocked to enter her apartment. They had an open door policy for both of their homes, especially in light of their impending parenthood.
"I just didn't want to wake you up in case you were sleeping," Mark shrugged as he walked into the apartment.
Callie moved to sit on the couch and was dutifully followed by her best friend. "So what's up? I thought you were going to Joe's to try to get one of those brain surgeon chicks."
"I did."
Callie patted his arm, "Sorry you struck out."
"I didn't strike out," Mark took offense at his friend's suggestion that he didn't have any luck with the ladies. "I didn't even attempt to hit on anyone. I was distracted."
"By…?" Callie led him to give her more information.
Mark decided to not beat around the bush any longer. "Arizona was there. With Karev. They were playing trivia together and seemed to be having a good time."
"Really?" Callie asked. She was surprised to hear that Arizona was out at the bar and not working but she knew that Mark wouldn't lie to her.
"Yeah, I know you said she was working late which is why I was so surprised to see her there."
Callie pursed her lips. She was livid at the fact that her girlfriend lied to her. "Thanks for telling me."
Mark could see Callie getting upset and tried to calm her down, "You know, maybe they just finished work earlier than thought and went to have a few drinks to unwind. I don't think it's that big of a deal."
"Don't defend her, Mark. If she got done early then why wouldn't she come home to her pregnant girlfriend?"
"I don't know," Mark shook his head. "You said earlier that you two had been fighting. Maybe she was afraid to come home."
"Mark… don't."
Mark held up his hands in defeat and made his way to the door. "I'll be across the hall if you need me. Try not to get too upset. It's not good for the baby."
Callie didn't respond to him. She just sat on the couch stewing. The longer it took Arizona to come home for the night the angrier she got. She knew things had been tense between her and Arizona after the argument the other night but she couldn't believe that she would lie to her.
…
When Arizona walked into her apartment later that night she was surprised to see Callie still awake. It was almost eleven at night. Callie had been asleep before ten almost every night since becoming pregnant.
"Hey. You're still up!" Arizona greeted her girlfriend. She still had just enough alcohol in her system to be perky that late at night. She headed straight for the bedroom to start getting ready for bed. She wanted to brush her teeth and change her clothes before Callie smelled Joe's on her.
Callie quickly followed Arizona into the bedroom. "I was waiting for you. How was work?"
"Oh you know. The usual," Arizona mused as she put toothpaste on her toothbrush.
Callie leaned against the doorframe as she watched Arizona brush her teeth. She had given Arizona a chance to tell her the truth but she still didn't come clean. "So how was Joe's? Mark said you were there with Alex."
Arizona's hand stilled immediately. The toothbrush went limp in her mouth. After a split second, Arizona went back to brushing. She knew that a fight was about to happen. She could tell by the tone in Callie's voice that she was mad and upset. Arizona took her time as she finished brushing her teeth. Finally after a few minutes, she was rinsing and ready to talk. "Joe's was good."
"Why didn't you tell me you were going to Joe's?" Callie demanded.
Arizona walked out of the bathroom and sat on the bed. "Because I figured you wouldn't care."
"Did you actually have to work late or was that all a lie?"
"I did. Stark wanted all of those charts done by morning," Arizona explained. It wasn't a lie.
"What time did you finish?" Callie asked.
"Seven thirty."
"Seven thirty?" Callie yelled. "Seven thirty? That was only a half hour after I left you in the lounge!"
"You made plans with Mark for dinner. I didn't think you would care," Arizona answered honestly.
"I care about my girlfriend lying to me!"
"That seems to be all you care about when it involves me," Arizona muttered under her breath loud enough for Callie to hear her.
"What?" Callie retorted, ready for a fight.
Arizona glared at her lover, "I said that me lying to you seems to be the only thing that you've cared about involving me in a long time."
"That's not true," Callie crossed her arms and defended.
"I've spent every Tuesday night at Joe's for the last three months and this is the first time that you've even noticed that I'm not here."
"So you've been lying to me for three months?" Callie accused. She was getting angrier as Arizona kept talking.
"No!" Arizona yelled. She was tired of being accused of doing something wrong. "You have never once asked me where I was at on Tuesday nights. You've never asked me why I don't come home until eleven and why I smell of beer. This is the first time that you've bothered to care. You not asking doesn't mean that I'm lying. I'd have told you if you would have just asked. "
Callie paused to think. Her mind raced trying to think of every Tuesday for the past three months. All she could come up with for Tuesdays was dinner and watching television with Mark. She couldn't recall spending any Tuesday with Arizona since she came back from Africa. Callie slumped onto the bed on the other side of Arizona. "What do you do every Tuesday at Joe's?" Callie asked as she played with her fingers.
"I play trivia with Alex," Arizona answered with a softened tone. She felt that Callie was starting to calm down and didn't want to ignite her temper again.
"You and Karev?" Callie scoffed. "Since when are you two friends?"
"Since I came back from Africa and he was the only one who would talk to me. Hell, he's still the only one who will talk to me."
"That's not true," Callie interjected.
"It's not?"
"We talk all the time," Callie argued.
"You talk," Arizona said. "You talk all the time. You're always talking about Mark and the baby."
Callie groaned and rolled her eyes. The topic of Mark again. She didn't understand her girlfriend's obsession with the man. "You're jealous of Mark."
"Jealous of Mark?" Arizona parroted. "Why would I be jealous of Mark? Because he's slept with so many women? Because he's broken up at least one marriage that he knows of but probably more? Because he's got the maturity of a fifteen year old boy?"
"Because this is his baby!" Callie yelled as Arizona kept listing ways that she wasn't jealous of Mark.
"I'm not jealous because this is his baby," Arizona placed her hand on Callie's stomach. "I'm upset because I am the third wheel in a relationship with you and Mark."
"You're not the third wheel," Callie claimed.
"Yes, I am. And if you weren't so blinded by Mark you would see it too. Why is Mark always here?"
"He's the baby's father."
"I know that," Arizona rubbed at her neck to try to relieve the tension that was starting to form. "Trust me. He doesn't let anyone forget that he is the father. But that doesn't mean that he needs to be in our apartment every moment of the day that he isn't at the hospital."
"He just wants to be a good father. He missed out on Sloane Sloan's life. He doesn't want to miss out again."
"How is this going to work when the baby is here? You asked me to be a part of your plan. What is your plan?" Arizona demanded to know. She didn't intend for the conversation to take this turn when the fight started but since Callie was finally talking to her she wanted to get it all out.
"I don't know how it is going to work when the baby is here. I imagine that Mark will spend a lot of time here as he'll want to spend all of his free time with the baby."
"Why don't we just buy a big house and all live together?" Arizona asked sarcastically but when Callie looked like she was actually considering the idea Arizona started to laugh.
Callie looked at her curiously, "What's so funny?"
"My life," Arizona answered sadly. "I won the Carter-Madison Grant. I have an amazing girlfriend who I love so much. But in reality I don't have any of that. I gave up the bulk of the grant to come back to you and you choose Mark over me every day of the week."
"That's not true," Callie continued to argue. "I can't deal with you constantly being insecure about Mark, Arizona. I just can't do it. If you can't accept that Mark is going to be around all the time then maybe we need to re-think this."
"It is true," Arizona said as she wiped at the tears that had started falling as she realized what was happening. "I love you. And I love that baby. But I need you to put up some boundaries with Mark. I am your girlfriend. I am the one that you go to bed with every night. Mark will always be the baby's father but I need to let me be your partner and the baby's other mother."
"I can't kick Mark out of my life," Callie said as her own tears were streaming down her face.
"But you can kick me out? Because that is what you're doing every time you pick Mark over me," Arizona asked through her tears.
"Don't make me choose because I can't do that to Mark. He deserves to be a part of every part of this baby's life."
Arizona's head hung low. She couldn't believe that Callie still wasn't able to pick her over Mark. "You've already chosen," Arizona whispered.
Callie still wasn't getting what Arizona was trying to say. Arizona didn't want Mark out of Callie and the baby's lives. She simply wanted less Mark in her life. She wanted to be able to have dinner with her girlfriend without Mark. She wanted to wake up in the morning and not be greeted by Mark Sloan's face as she ate breakfast. Arizona sniffled as she stood up off the bed. Callie watched silently as she went into the closet and grabbed a duffle bag. She shoved random clothes from the closet and her drawers into the bag. She wasn't sure that she had anything in the bag that could even constitute an outfit but she didn't care. Her heart was breaking and she needed to get out of the apartment as quickly as she could.
Arizona slung the bag over her shoulder and kneeled down in front of Callie who was crying on the bed. "I'm going to stay at the hospital. You should keep the apartment," Arizona said as she wiped her own tears. "You'll want to be close to Mark. I'll come get all of my things one day while you're at work."
"Arizona," Callie croaked out. She couldn't believe that she and Arizona were breaking up again. She didn't want it to be over but their relationship didn't seem to be working the way it was. She could tell for weeks that Arizona wasn't happy and she didn't know how to keep her happy without hurting Mark.
"Don't," Arizona silenced Callie with her lips. Arizona pulled back and looked deep into Callie's eyes. "Take care of yourself, okay?"
Callie nodded and pulled Arizona in for another kiss. She knew that this would be their last one and she wanted to make it last. After a few minutes of savoring each other for one last time, Arizona grabbed her bag and made her way out of the apartment.
…
Arizona was a walking zombie at work. She wasn't sleeping. She couldn't close her eyes and not see Callie's face or the face of her unborn child. After the break up Arizona did what she knew the one thing she knew how to do better than anyone else she knew – she fixed the tiny humans. She threw herself into her work. She wasn't even supposed to be working but she didn't know what else to do. And for the first day that worked. It kept her mind off of Callie and her broken heart. Then the whispers started. And the stares. She knew that it had gotten out – the hospital knew about the breakup.
Two days after the break up, Arizona was woken up by a 911 page from her boss, Stark. She had only gotten a few hours of restless sleep when her pager went off but at the sight of a 911 page she was immediately awake. Arizona threw on her shoes and grabbed her lab coat before taking off at a run down the hall toward the room number on the page. She skidded to a halt as she saw Stark standing outside the room sipping on his coffee.
"What took you so long?" Stark said as he glanced at his watch.
Arizona was out of breath from her run to the room, "What? You paged me only a minute ago."
"A kid could be dying because you weren't here fast enough," Stark lectured.
Arizona wanted to protest but bit her tongue instead. The surly man in front of her was still her boss even if she despised every hair on his head. Instead of arguing she plastered a sweet smile on her face, "I'm so sorry Dr. Stark. I'll be here faster next time. What do you need from me?"
"All of those charts you did for me the other day were wrong. You need to redo them by lunch."
"Wrong?" Arizona asked incredulously.
"Yes, I e-mailed a memo out last week on how I want to change how we chart. You did it the old way. I need you to do it the new way," Stark smirked. He knew that there was no reason for changing the charting procedures but he wanted his department to know that it was his department and not Arizona's and one way of doing that was to change her procedures. "I've taken the liberty of reassigning your morning surgeries to make sure you have time to do them the correct way."
"I'll fix them immediately," Arizona said nicely. She didn't want to spend any more time in Stark's presence than necessary so she immediately headed for his office to pick up the charts. As soon as she was out of Stark's earshot she began grumbling under her breath about the little man and his Napoleon complex.
"Watch it!" Alex yelled as Arizona turned a corner and almost walked right into him.
Arizona didn't look up she just mumbled an apology as she continued walking along the corridor toward her old office.
Alex immediately switched directions and backtracked to catch up to his friend. "Hey, you okay?" Alex asked as he fell in step next to her.
"Fine," Arizona muttered.
Alex knew about the breakup. He hadn't even worked in two days but had heard about it through the hospital grapevine. He knew Arizona well enough to know that she wouldn't talk if she didn't want to do so and judging her posture and appearance she wasn't ready to talk just yet so he didn't push her. Instead, he fell back out of step and let Arizona go.
…
Arizona didn't finish the charts by lunchtime. She knew that Stark wouldn't notice that they weren't done. She knew that he was just giving her busy work to show her that he was still in charge; that he was still her boss.
As Arizona reached for the last chart she took a minute to stretch her back and glance at her phone. She cursed herself for not changing the background on her phone yet. She didn't need to see a picture of Callie each time she wanted to check the time. She had just set the background to a picture of her dog that now lived with her parents, when the door to her secret hideaway, the pediatrics lounge, flung open and Mark stood in the doorway staring at her.
At the sound of the door opening Arizona's eyes popped up to meet his. She didn't know what he wanted from her. She had nothing left of his that he would want. She had already given him his best friend back. Callie was no longer hers. He stared at her from the doorway for a solid minute before he closed the door behind him and started to move closer to the couch that Arizona was sitting on. He was still silent as he sat on the coffee table in front of her.
Arizona couldn't take the silence any longer, "What –"
Mark cut her off by putting his index finger in front of her. "What the hell are you thinking breaking up with a pregnant woman, Robbins?"
"I didn't break up with her," Arizona said quietly as she picked invisible lint off of her scrub pants. "She ended things. I'm just the one who moved out."
"I can't believe you would hurt her like this again," Mark yelled as he stood up and started pacing the room. "Why the hell did you come back from Africa if you weren't going to stick around for good? You're bailing again!"
Arizona was pissed at being the punching bag for the day. She had enough from Stark and now Mark was pushing her around. "I didn't expect to come back from Africa and find my girlfriend pregnant," Arizona defended.
"You knew she was pregnant before you got back together!"
"But I didn't know that I was going to have to play house with you for the rest of my life because of that," Arizona continued to defend herself.
"So you wanted to kick me out of my kid's life?" Mark said. He was livid at the blonde. He had spent the last two days consoling a very upset Callie. She had barely stopped crying in two days. He threatened her with admitting her to the hospital if she didn't stop crying and start taking care of herself.
"No, I didn't want to kick you out of the baby's life, Mark. I just thought that when Callie wanted me to be a part of her plan that included a life for us – me, her and the baby. And you would have your life with the baby. Then we would all come together for the big things. I didn't think that I was essentially going to be dating you too!"
"Stay away from her," Mark demanded as he went to leave the room.
"I haven't seen her since I left the apartment. I'm going by there tonight to get my things because I know she's on call. But at some point I am going to see her. We work in the same hospital after all."
Mark nodded, "Go back to Africa and stay the hell away from Callie and from my baby."
Arizona rolled her eyes as the door closed. Part of her wished that she could just go back to Africa but she had already disrupted clinic operations enough by reneging on her commitment once to them. She was going to keep her current contract – which stipulated that she would spend seven days at the clinic every sixty days to perform surgeries and routine procedures as necessary.
She had barely picked her chart back up to finish when her pager blared again. It was Stark again. She knew he wanted to know why his charts weren't complete yet. She ignored the page but quickly finished the last chart so that she could deliver them to him.
…
Too little sleep and too many people angry with her left Arizona feeling defeated at the end of her work day. She was kicked by life and she still had the biggest task of all left to do for the day – she needed to go pack her things from her apartment. She decided not to try and fight with Callie over whose blender it was or who bought the scented candle in the bathroom. All Arizona was out to get were her clothes and all of her personal things. Everything else, all the big things like the furniture, Callie could keep and do with what she pleased. Those things all had too many memories for the blonde. She didn't need even more things reminding her of Callie than she already had; having to work with her would be enough of a daily reminder, especially once the baby was born.
While Teddy was still remaining neutral in the breakup she did agree to store Arizona's things for her at her apartment. Arizona refused to live in a hotel again so until she found a new place to live she was just going to live at the hospital, but since she no longer had her own office she had no place to store her boxes of personal things they needed somewhere to go in the interim.
Arizona lugged two empty boxes and a duffle bag up the stairs to her old home. She didn't think she'd need more than that for everything. Arizona fished out her apartment key from her purse. She quickly realized that this was the last time she would ever use the key. Arizona couldn't help but let herself be engulfed in memories as she entered the dark and quiet apartment. She let her hand linger on the back of the couch as she remembered the first time she ever told Callie that she loved her. She shook her head to rid the memory from her mind. She couldn't let herself get caught in the memories again. She needed to get her things and get out before her heart hurt her anymore than it already did.
Arizona was carrying the last box full out to the living room when she heard the door open. She cursed under her breath; Callie was supposed to be on call.
"Hey," Arizona said shyly as she fidgeted with the box in her arms. "You're supposed to be on call."
"Chief told me I could be on call from the apartment since it's so close to the hospital," Callie replied. Callie was just as surprised as Arizona to see her ex in the apartment. She knew that Arizona said that she would come get her things some time but she didn't expect it to be so soon. Part of Callie was still thinking that this wasn't a real break up. That this was just a temporary thing. Seeing Arizona with a box in her arms and a duffle bag by the door meant that this was real.
"Oh," Arizona moved to put the box down by the door. "That's nice of him."
"I think he just feels bad for the pregnant woman that just got her heart broken yet again by the same woman as before," Callie said sarcastically as she watched Arizona get her things together.
"Callie… that's not fair."
"What's not fair is you coming back here, making me love you and then leaving me again!"
Arizona stopped moving when she heard Callie mention the word love. "You love me? Since when? You haven't told me you loved me since before I left for Africa!"
Callie angrily wiped at the tears that were streaming down her face. She never realized that she hadn't said those three words out loud since Arizona had been back. She thought them all the time. She thought them from the moment she opened the apartment door the first day Arizona had come back. "I shouldn't have to tell you that I love you for you to know it."
Arizona wasn't going to let the sight of Callie's tears make her go easy on her ex. She was hurting just as much as Callie even though people seemed to think that she was the cold hearted bitch that didn't feel anything. "Well, I needed to hear it. How am I supposed to know you love me when you wouldn't let me touch you? You would spend your nights at Mark's instead of here with me. That doesn't sound like you loved me very much. At least not as much as you love Mark."
"Let Mark go, Arizona. Jesus."
"I'll let Mark go when you do," Arizona sighed when she realized they were going in circles. Callie was never going to realize that she and Mark were joined at the hip and that was toxic for her romantic relationship and Arizona was never going to accept being the third wheel in her own relationship. "Callie. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that we couldn't work out. I'm sorry that I will never be anything more than just another one of Mommy and Daddy's co-workers to your baby because I love that baby. But you and me, we aren't good for each other anymore. I hope that one day we might be able to be friends."
"Friends?" Callie scoffed. Friendship was the last thing she wanted from Arizona. They weren't friends before they started dating and they sure wouldn't be now that they were broken up. "Friends? Just stay the hell away from me and my baby."
Arizona looked dejected at Callie's coldness to her. She flung her bag over her shoulder and picked up her boxes before opening the door to leave for the last time. Arizona slipped the key out of her pocket and put it on the kitchen counter. Tears were silently streaming down her face as she closed the door for good. She couldn't see that Callie had her own tears falling down her face. As soon as the door closed both women broke out into hysterical sobs as they realized that their relationship was really over.
…
With nowhere else to go Arizona was back at the hospital after getting her things from her apartment. She wasn't in the mood to work. She couldn't deal with being happy and perky for her patients and parents. She wasn't on duty or on call but she knew that if the nurses saw her they would put her to work as she was the best. She used her best ninja skills to make it to the on call room that she had taken over as her own without being seen.
Unfortunately for her, her on call room was occupied. Even worse for her, the occupants didn't lock the door giving her a front row seat to the activities that were going on in the room. Arizona gasped and backpedaled out of the room as quickly as she could without stumbling over her own feet, all the while muttering her apologies to the couple on the bed.
Alex laughed as Lucy darted under the sheet when the door opened. He flashed Arizona his patented smirk as she fumbled out of the room. He was sure that Arizona was a freak in the bedroom but she didn't like to talk about sexual activities very much. Even saying the word made her blush so Alex knew that she was more embarrassed than he was at her interrupting his time alone with his girlfriend.
"Robbins won't say anything," Alex whispered to his girlfriend that was still hiding under the sheets. "She's gone. You can come out now," he prodded Lucy to come out of hiding.
Lucy peeked her head out from the sheet and looked around the room ensuring that they were indeed alone again.
"Now where were we?" Alex husked into Lucy's ear as he leaned down to kiss her again. He intended to pick up right where they left off.
Lucy sat up, taking the sheet with her to keep herself covered. "We're not anywhere. I'm not in the mood anymore. Hearing her voice just killed it for me. Sorry."
"What does Arizona have to do with this?" Alex asked as he watched Lucy put her scrubs back on.
"She broke a pregnant woman's heart. She of all people should know better than that. Pregnant women don't need the added stress. Callie's already too stressed out about this pregnancy as it is," Lucy explained.
"Wait a minute," Alex sat up and started to defend his boss. "You have no clue about their relationship. Trust me when I say that this is not all Arizona's fault." Alex was tired of Arizona always getting the blame. Arizona hadn't talked to him about the break up yet but he knew enough about what had been going on in her relationship to know that it was not solely Arizona's fault.
"Alex, you're just blind because Arizona is your mentor."
"No," Alex huffed as he grabbed his pants. Now that Lucy had fully dressed herself he realized that sex was officially off the table for the night. "I mean yes she is my mentor but that is not why I'm taking her side. Unless someone was cheating and I know there was no cheating here, it takes more than one person to end a relationship. Callie's not the saint that everyone makes her out to be. She's been hurting Arizona ever since she came back."
"She might not be but Arizona is a heartless bitch for breaking up with her when she's having a baby."
Alex couldn't believe that he wasn't getting laid because of another couple's break up. Lucy barely even knew Callie and Arizona, she had no reason to be so invested in their relationship but Alex didn't want to get into a huge fight over it. After they were fully dressed Alex put his hand on Lucy's back and led them out of the room, "I'm just saying, Arizona is having a rough time and is getting it from everyone right now. She doesn't need someone else beating up on her. So just leave her alone. For me."
"For you," Lucy acquiesced as she leaned in for a kiss before heading back to work.
Alex watched his girlfriend walk away. He was intent on going to find Arizona and make sure that she was okay. She didn't look so great when she had walked into the on call room earlier. His blaring pager had other ideas for him and instead of finding his friend he had to go take care of a patient.
…
Alex knew that she was in there. He knew that Arizona had all but moved into the on call room at the end of the pediatrics wing. The same on call room that she had walked in on him almost having sex with his girlfriend in. He overheard one of the interns bitching about being kicked out of the on call room by a "hot, blonde attending." She was there and she wasn't opening the door. It was nine o'clock on a Sunday night. Arizona wasn't on call and he had just come from Joe's and she wasn't there so he knew that she had to be in there.
Alex pounded on the door harder, "Robbins if you don't open up I will knock the door down."
Alex put his ear to the door and listened for any movement on the other side. He didn't hear anything or anyone moving inside. Alex looked around and was grateful that Arizona chose the on call room that was in the deserted part of the wing so there weren't too many prying eyes and ears around watching him knocking on the door.
"Robbins. I am counting to three and then I am going to break down the door and potentially injure my hands which would result in you having to work with Kepner all the time. Okay? So just open the damn door," Alex paused giving the blonde time to open the door. When she still didn't open he started counting, "One…two…th –."
Arizona flung the door open before Alex could get to three. She latched on to Alex's t-shirt and pulled him into the room, shutting the door before anyone could see her. She knew she looked pathetic in her penguin pajama pants, thermal top and glasses; she didn't need any more rumors going around the hospital about her than there already were.
"You wear glasses?" Alex asked as he entered the room. It wasn't what he intended to start the conversation off with but he was caught so off guard at Arizona even letting him into the room that he just said the first thing that came to mind.
Arizona crossed her arms at the young man that had demanded entry into her private space. "Yes. Contacts normally but since it is late at night, the glasses have come out. And I know you didn't bang down my door to make fun of my vision."
"No judgment. I bet my eyesight is even worse than yours. I just have the contacts that you wear for a week then throw away so people don't have to see me in my ridiculous glasses," Arizona watched as Alex kicked off his shoes, took off his hoodie and made himself comfortable on her on call room bed. He picked up the book lying on her bed and thumbed through it. "The Hunger Games? Really Robbins? Aren't you a little old for this?"
Arizona snatched the book from his hands and continued to glare at him. "It's research for the kids."
"Sure," Alex smiled. "You know you're into it. I bet you have a thing for Katniss."
"Alex," Arizona groaned. "Gross. She's like fourteen."
"But the actress in the movies is over eighteen so it's not that bad to fantasize about her. She's hot. But, a little tip, Robbins – the third one is a huge let down so don't get your hopes up for it," Alex explained about the trilogy of books. "I mean, I know you have to read it to see how it all ends in Panem but it really sucks compared to the first two."
Arizona quirked her eyebrow at the man stretched out on her bed. "And you know this because…"
"Gotta stay hip for the kids," Alex winked.
Arizona moved back to the bed where she shoved Alex's feet off of the bed. "What are you doing here?" she said quietly as she relaxed next to Alex, sitting up in the bed against the wall.
"You can't live in the hospital," Alex said as he caught Arizona's blue eyes next to him.
Arizona turned her head to look away from him, "You live in a trailer in the parking lot. I don't see how this is any different."
"I live in a trailer in the parking lot so that I can stay competitive for Chief Resident. You are living in an on call room because you choose to do so. You're an attending – you shouldn't be in the hospital more than fifty hours a week. You've earned that. I'm still putting in my time."
Arizona kept her eyes trained on the ceiling above her, "I don't know how to live in Seattle and not live with Callie."
"It's going to suck," Alex admitted honestly. "But you have to do it. You can't live here. Stark will have your ass if he finds out. Plus, you're really starting to scare the interns and you're the only attending that they still like."
"I don't know if I can, Karev," Arizona slumped her head onto Alex's shoulder.
Alex had never seen Arizona so weak and vulnerable. Even after all of their time spent hanging out at Joe's together she never fully opened herself up to him. She always kept her defensive walls up. He hated seeing her so sad. It wasn't the woman that he knew she was. It was time for Alex to give her some tough love.
Alex pushed Arizona off of his shoulder and grabbed her by her shoulders. "Stop feeling so damn sorry for yourself," Alex reprimanded her. "This isn't who you are. You're not that girl who mopes around after someone. You hold your head up high and move on."
"Wow," Arizona muttered as she pulled away from Alex. "And here I thought you were the one person who might actually care."
"I do care," Alex conceded. "Which is why I can't stand to see you acting so pathetic. Grow some balls and move on."
"Get the hell out, Karev," Arizona ordered. She was happy that Alex didn't try to fight to stay as he got up off the couch and left her in peace.
Arizona took up residence back on the bed that Karev had just left. She was furious with him. She wondered who he thought he was telling her what she needed to do as the last time she checked his life wasn't all sunshine and roses either. She did concede that he did have a point. It was only a matter of time before Stark or the Chief found out that she was living at the hospital. Arizona sighed as she pulled out her laptop and started searching for houses and apartments in the Seattle metro area.
…