A/N: Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me through the last chapter. I'm glad that I only got minimal hate for it. Starting this chapter time is going to start progressing a little faster. I will put clues in the chapters for y'all to be able to put together just how much time is passing. For everyone that celebrates it - I hope that you had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday. I'm thankful to everyone who has been reading. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy and its characters are owned by ABC and not me.
…
Alex woke up slowly as he realized the room was no longer pitch black. It must be morning. He hated waking up. He missed the days of college when he could sleep all day and no one would bother him. In his just waking up daze Alex realized that he had the day off of work and getting some more sleep wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. He rolled his body over in bed and pulled the covers tighter around him as he buried his face in the pillow. His eyes shot open as he smelled the familiar scent of citrus on the pillow. The pillow smelled familiar but it definitely wasn't his own. Alex woke up quickly as it dawned on him that he had been sleeping in Arizona's bed. He had meant to return to his own bed after Arizona fell asleep but apparently he too fell asleep before he could do that. Alex peeked his eyes open and was surprised to see that he was alone in the bed. He glanced out the window and saw the dark grey skies but knew that in Seattle that was a common sight and not an indicator on the time of day. A check of his watch revealed that it was almost nine in the morning.
"Don't get too used to this," a voice came from the doorway to the bedroom, startling Alex.
Alex pushed himself up on his elbows to see the woman in the doorway glaring at him.
"Imagine my surprise waking up with a man in my bed. I have to say that, that is not something that has happened very often in my life," Arizona continued as she walked into her bedroom.
"Sorry," Alex said sleepily as he started to get out of bed. "Your bed is really comfortable though."
"You sleep on a futon. Anything is more comfortable than that."
"You okay?" Alex dared to ask as he stretched his arms up and over his head. He didn't want to push Arizona but wanted to make sure that she knew that he was there for her.
Arizona nodded, "Yeah. I just went on a long run. Did a lot of thinking." Arizona tapped on her head, "I'm working things out in here."
Alex just nodded his own head in response. Arizona had told him awhile ago that running was her own personal therapy. When something was bothering her, she would always go for a run. It was something she had done since she was a teenager when she needed to sort out her questioning sexuality away from her overbearing father. Being all alone with her thoughts and only the sound of her feet pounding the pavement gave her ample time to try to solve her problems and clear her head. "Want me to make breakfast?" he asked as he finally forced himself out of Arizona's bed.
"Sounds good to me. I'm just going to take a quick shower. I was thinking of starting to install the hardwood flooring downstairs today. I could use some quality time with a hammer and a saw. You have plans today or are you up for helping?"
"I'm in," Alex just laughed as he watched Arizona stalk away. When she closed the bathroom door he turned on his feet and headed to his own bathroom to shower and start his day.
…
An hour and a plate full of eggs and bacon later, Arizona and Alex were ready to work on the living downstairs. They were going to be spending the day doing manual labor but Alex couldn't help but notice how hot Arizona looked. She could really wear a pair of old torn up jeans and a tight thermal top. She even wore a tool belt around her waist to perfect the look. Alex had to laugh when he saw her come downstairs with the tool belt on. He had listened to her tell him for weeks about various home improvement projects she had worked on including building an entire garage but he didn't know if he could take her seriously with a pink tool belt.
"Seriously?" He asked while trying to stop laughing.
"What?" Arizona asked as she looked up and down her body trying to see the source of his amusement.
Alex pointed toward the belt around her waist, "A pink tool belt? Really?"
"My dad bought it for me. It's my lucky tool belt."
"How exactly is it lucky?"
"When I was nine we were living in South Carolina. Our house had these huge trees in the backyard so my brother and I decided that we had to build a tree house. Tim was almost thirteen at the time and managed to convince our father that we could do it all by ourselves with no help."
"This sounds like it ends badly," Alex interrupted.
"Let me finish!" Arizona huffed at the interruption. "My dad only insisted that he help with the framing of it. He wanted to make sure that it wouldn't collapse on us. So he did that and left us to build the rest. We were putting in the floor of the tree house when I missed the nail and hit my thumb instead. I did a good job of breaking it," Arizona said as she held up her left thumb and wiggled it in front of Alex.
"How does that make your tool belt lucky?"
"What did I say about interrupting?" Arizona paused as she glared at Alex. "Long story short. I was a very upset nine year old that was banned from finishing the tree house. My dad bought me this tool belt as a consolation prize. He said I could be the foreman of the project but I couldn't help until my thumb was healed. Since that day, I've always worn my pink tool belt and I've never hurt myself building again."
"And it is all because of your lucky tool belt?" Alex questioned as he smiled thinking about a young Arizona pouting at not being allowed to finish her project.
"Yep," she said as she walked into the dining room which had been set up with all of the flooring and tools they would need to install it.
Just like in the operating room, Alex and Arizona were a great team at construction work. They knew how to read each other and though the tools were different, they always knew what the other needed. As they worked, Arizona gradually opened up to Alex about what happened inside Callie's hospital room. He was happy that she didn't seem to be blaming herself anymore like she had the night before. He figured that her run really did help her sort out her thoughts. Arizona acknowledged that they can't change the past no matter how much she wished that she could have been there to try to save Sofia; and that Arizona had to focus on the future and what she could change. He could tell that she was still sad and affected by the accident but her concern seemed to be more about Callie and her recovery than Arizona's own sense of loss. Alex internally wondered if the accident was going to bring Seattle Grace – Mercy West's favorite lesbians back together but when Arizona mentioned that she had called Callie's father to be with her and take care of her because she needed someone, Alex realized that Arizona was truly trying to move on for good; after two breakups, he didn't think Arizona could survive a third one and thought that it was a good idea for Arizona to not be Callie's rock during her recovery. The day flew by as they worked and by the evening they had completed the flooring in the living room.
"One room down, three more to do," Alex said as he surveyed their handiwork.
Arizona smiled and winked at him, "For the first project. I have over twenty on my list."
"I'm starting to think that you should be paying me for all of this. My skills, as you just learned, are worth more than just free rent."
"How about I make you dinner instead?' Arizona asked as she heard her stomach rumble. She knew that if she was hungry then Alex must be starving. In her short time living with him she had learned that the man was almost always hungry. The man could easily eat her out of house and home if she let him. They agreed to split all costs evenly when they moved in together including their weekly joint grocery shopping trip. Arizona quickly learned that Alex was making out like a bandit on that part of the bargain as well as the free rent.
Alex paused and pretended to think on the offer, "I guess that'll do."
Arizona turned to head into the kitchen but not before taking one last look at the new floors in the living room. "It looks good," she commented.
"And you didn't even break your thumb this time," Alex smirked as he stood next to her.
"It's because of my lucky pink tool belt," Arizona punched Alex in the shoulder before making her way to the kitchen to find something for dinner. She knew the options would be limited since they had just gotten back from Malawi and hadn't made it to the grocery store yet but she also knew that Alex was like a trash disposal and would eat anything.
…
The hospital was strangely quiet when Alex and Arizona returned to work. The aftershocks of Callie's accident were still being felt everywhere. The staff was still traumatized after having to save the life of one of their own. They were all also still grieving the loss of Callie's child. But life had to go on and Alex and Arizona jumped back into life at Seattle Grace – Mercy West with as much passion as they did during their time in Africa. The pediatric staff was ecstatic to have Arizona back. Stark was a horrible manager and had made a mess of the department during the short time that Arizona wasn't around to quietly fix his mistakes.
Carlos Torres arrived in Seattle less than eight hours after receiving Arizona's phone call. Carlos was upset when he got a phone call that his daughter had been in a serious car accident over a week prior. He was shocked to learn that his unborn grandchild didn't survive the accident. He knew that he needed to get to Seattle as fast as possible and stay for as long as his daughter needed him. He stayed by his daughter's side as she began her recovery process and physical therapy. Carlos didn't understand everything that had happened between his daughter and her ex-girlfriend but he did know that Callie had told him that Arizona was not to be messed with while he was visiting. The last thing he knew before the accident was that they had broken up yet again and Callie was inconsolable. Knowing the heartache that Arizona caused his daughter, he wanted to lecture the young woman for breaking his daughter's heart but instead he chose just to leave the room when she would visit. He didn't have any instructions on leaving Mark Sloan alone, the man that didn't seem to care about the death of his own daughter and was ready to replace her before she was barely gone. So when Arizona would visit, Carlos would go in search of Sloan and make his life hell.
Arizona would stop by a few times a week and bring Callie some of her favorite foods. She knew Callie had to be going crazy with all of the mundane hospital food. They kept conversation light during her visits. Arizona would ask about Callie's recovery even though Cristina kept her up to date on that. Not that Callie would say anything more than that things were 'going well.' They didn't delve into any of the emotional issues likethey did that first night that Arizona had visited. Cristina also kept Arizona up to date on the more personal of Callie's issues; the issues that Callie and Arizona avoided when they spoke. She learned that Callie had been seeing a therapist and was starting to work through the issues related to the accident and her daughter's death. Cristina also told her that Callie had not yet forgiven Mark for his harsh words but with the help of the therapist was beginning to let him back into her life. After a month in the hospital, Callie was declared fully healed and released. She was offered more time off to recover but she was ready to put her life back together and get back to work.
…
Time passed by quickly for Alex and Arizona after they returned from their first trip to Africa together. Stark saw them as the enemy and kept them as busy as possible while at work. Alex was busy competing for Chief Resident and Arizona was doing her best to stay out of Stark's war path. When they weren't at work they would be working at home on many of the projects that they had to complete. Before they knew it, it was time to return to Malawi again. They had been spending so much time together, that when they returned from their second trip to Malawi, their friends and co-workers demanded that they step out of the hospital and home and have a social life again.
For their part, Alex and Arizona enjoyed spending time together and didn't see the fuss when their friends told them that they were spending too much time together. They didn't see it as a problem. As they grew closer they realized just how much they had in common. On the outside they look like complete opposites but under the surface they were more alike than they thought. While Alex had abandonment issues from his life in foster care, Arizona too had abandonment issues due to her father constantly deploying when she was a child. They both loved their siblings fiercely and while Arizona lost Timothy to war, Alex lost his sister to mental disease. It wasn't only the deep issues that they found common ground but also on the more superficial issues. They never fought over movie night as they both love stupid comedy movies with toilet humor. They would slightly bicker over radio choice but as long as it wasn't a rap station they were both happy. And above all else, there was no better candy than gummy bears. Without even realizing it, they had become best friends.
…
Teddy was determined to get her best friend to join the other attendings at Joe's for the night. She felt like she had barely seen Arizona since she originally returned from Africa over a half year ago. Teddy knew that part of that was her fault. In her attempts to maintain neutral with her and Callie she unknowingly pushed her best friend away. She should have taken Arizona's side from the start. She was her best friend and she had no loyalty to Callie but Teddy knew what it was like to be the jilted lover and therefore felt bad for Callie and wanted to support her. Now that Callie and Arizona were friendly again, Teddy wanted her best friend back. She just hoped that it wasn't too late.
"Hey," Teddy smiled at the blonde that was skating on her heelys toward Teddy's patient's room.
"Hey," Arizona smiled. "What do you need?"
"I was hoping to get your suggestions on how to treat my patient with Kawasaki Disease," Teddy handed Arizona the chart and began rattling off the patient's information.
Arizona nodded her head as she listened, put on her best smile and rolled into the patient's room. She spent the next few minutes charming the patient and his family before promising to be back with a treat after Jacob finished all of his tests.
"I need to do some research. Maybe make a few phone calls," Arizona said once she and Teddy left Jacob's room. "There is so much we don't know about Kawasaki's. Let me know when the test results are back and we can go from there."
"Thanks, Arizona. You coming to Joe's tonight?" Teddy asked.
Arizona paused to think for a moment as they walked toward the elevator. "I don't think so. I've got to finish painting a bathroom."
"I'm sure the paint can wait another night. Everyone is going. You haven't gone out with us in forever," Teddy was practically begging her friend to join them.
"Fine," Arizona agreed. It had been awhile since she had been out with everyone. In fact, she hadn't since she left for Africa. She had felt so unwelcome when she returned that she just accepted the fact that her social life at work was nonexistent. But over time things had changed and she needed to make an effort to get her social circle back so she decided to go out with everyone.
…
Meredith found Alex all alone in the research library, clicking furiously on the computer mouse and muttering under his breath about not finding the answers that he needs.
"What did that mouse do to you?" Meredith said as she sat next to Alex.
"Huh?" Alex broke his gaze from the computer to look at the intruder.
Meredith looked over Alex's shoulder to see what was up on the computer screen, "You were about to break the mouse with all of your clicking. What are you researching?"
Alex spun in his chair to face his friend, "Kawasaki's Disease. There is just no good information out there on it."
"We're all going to Joe's tonight. Why don't you come with us? There still won't be any info about Kawasaki's tomorrow."
Alex turned back to the computer, "Can't. Arizona needs this research."
"I'm pretty sure I heard Teddy tell Owen that Arizona was going to Joe's with them so I think she will be fine with you having a night out too."
"I don't know. I need everything I can to help with fellowships now that Kepner is Chief Resident. Fellowship applications are due in like three months. And pediatric fellowships are tough to get. I need every advantage that I can get. I don't have a famous mommy surgeon to use to get these fellowships."
"You don't," Meredith agreed. "But you are living with one of the best pediatric surgeons around. I'm sure Arizona is going to give you a glowing recommendation. Plus you have Africa. That is huge. That is going to put all of those other applicants to shame. Now, get off your ass and come to Joe's with us. I'm not taking no for an answer."
"Yes ma'am," Alex retorted as he logged off the computer and followed Meredith out of the research library.
…
"Hey," Arizona greeted the table full of her fellow attending surgeons who were already on their second drink of the night. "Sorry, got stuck in a late surgery thanks to Stark."
"No problem, Robbins," Mark acknowledged as she sat down next to him and poured a glass of beer for her.
Arizona tried not to roll her eyes at Mark. Even though it had been months since the accident and even Callie and he seemed to be on better terms, she would never forgive what he said after his own daughter had died.
Arizona glanced behind her and saw that Alex was already there hanging out with his fellow residents. She wanted to go ask him how his surgery with Stark had gone earlier in the day. She wanted to know just what he had done to piss Stark off to the point that he was at an all time high level of asshole to her during their surgery together but Arizona knew that the point of the night was to hang out with others and not just each other. She could ask Alex about that later.
The table fell into easy discussion and laughter as the beverages kept flowing. Being a table full of doctors, as hard as they tried, they couldn't keep the topic of conversation off of medicine. Even though they started out the night separated, after a couple of hours the residents and attendings began to merge together; with all of the personal romantic entanglements between the two groups it was inevitable.
Alex and Arizona found themselves at a table alone with Cristina. If they were sober they would have known that it probably wasn't a good idea to be alone with a drunken Cristina.
Arizona was telling Cristina about a cardio case that they had treated in Malawi when Cristina interrupted.
"Enough of this Africa crap. You two need to get laid," Cristina pointed her finger drunkenly at Alex and Arizona.
"Who says I'm not?" Alex scoffed.
Cristina laughed, "You spend all of your time with Roller Girl. You're not getting laid. You should be getting laid too, Roller Girl."
"I'm not taking dating advice from you, Yang," Arizona rolled her eyes while looking around the bar for an escape.
Cristina hopped off her stool, "I'm married and you're not so you should want my advice. I get to get laid whenever I want. Legally, Owen has to give it up. It's how marriage works. And now I'm going to go find my husband so I can go have sex. Something that you two will not be doing tonight. Be jealous, bitches."
Arizona shook her head as Cristina retreated.
"Maybe she's right," Alex muttered as he played with a coaster on the table.
Arizona refilled Alex's glass as well as her own. "What?"
"Us. Neither one of us have gone on a date in forever."
Arizona took a gulp of beer and shook her head. "I'm not ready."
"Bullshit. It's been over four months since you and Torres split. You're just scared of getting hurt again."
Arizona shook her head, "I'm just too busy with work and the house to be bothered with dating. What's your excuse?"
"Well, my landlord is a slave driver and demands all of my free time to help her install cabinets or build a fence."
Arizona glanced around the bar and noticed that it was full of several pretty girls. "I'm not a slave driver. I've given you tonight off haven't I?" Arizona joked and shoved him lightly. "Go do something about it."
"Now?" Alex asked.
"Sure. What better time? Carpe diem or some crap like that."
Alex looked around the bar and there were at least two girls that he would consider hitting on but he didn't feel right leaving Arizona behind. "If I have to go make an ass of myself then you do too. How about that her?" Alex pointed to pair of women at the bar. "The redhead."
"It's harder for me, Alex. Chances are that no one else in this bar is a lady lovin' lady," Arizona said with only minimal drunken slur.
"You won't know until you find out," Alex said as he pulled Arizona to her feet. "Time for both of us to get back on the horse."
Arizona was right. The redhead definitely didn't play for her team. Luckily, Arizona is good at figuring out if someone is gay before throwing herself at them and looking like a fool. Alex also had a rough outing. His pick up skills had obviously atrophied after going unused for so many months. The hot blonde wouldn't even give him her name but she did take his free drink. While they didn't leave the bar with any phone numbers, Alex and Arizona were finally back in the dating game.
…
"Seriously?" Cristina asked as she shoved another french fry into her mouth.
Alex grinned as he took a bite of his hamburger.
"That's kinky," Cristina commented. "Roller Girl lets you do that in her house?" Cristina couldn't believe the story that Alex had just told her about his latest conquest. She didn't even think it was possible to bend the ways that Alex had described.
"She was the one that picked her out."
"Picked her out?" Meredith asked.
Cristina laughed and turned to her friend. "You haven't heard? Robbins is Karev's new wingman."
"Hey!" Alex interjected. "I help her pick up the ladies as well."
Meredith couldn't believe what she was hearing "So it's a team effort? Do you share?"
"She's the one," Alex ignored Meredith's comment and pointed to Cristina. "Who told us that we were lame for not dating. So we decided to date."
"I meant actually date and have a relationship. Not go through every girl in Seattle. What you two are doing is not dating. And at the stories I've heard about the both of you, there won't be any girls… straight or gay left in Seattle soon enough."
Alex just shrugged and smirked as he went back to his lunch. Ever since that night that Cristina called them out about their lack of a social life, Alex and Arizona decided to put more effort into actually having one. They decided that they'd spend at least one night out a week besides Tuesday trivia night. They found that they made a great pair in the clubs. Arizona obviously knew about girls and how they work so she used her skills to help Alex get the girls. Alex also found that he had great talent with the lesbians and was great at talking up his roommate. They didn't mean for their dates to predominantly be one night stands. They just hadn't met anyone worth seeing more than once yet. Quickly they found themselves needing to establish rules for having overnight guests. Arizona's only rule was that she didn't want to see any nakedness. If Alex was going to have sex, he had to do it in his own bedroom. She also really didn't want to hear Alex having sex but she knew that she could only ask so much of her roommate. Alex's only rule was that girls couldn't be left alone. If Arizona got called in or had to leave early, she had to kick the girls out. Alex didn't want to have awkward conversations with his roommate's dates. He didn't want to be the mean one who had to kick the girl out, that was Arizona's job.
Across the cafeteria Arizona was sitting with Teddy and Owen when Mark and Callie joined the table.
"What are we talking about?' Mark asked the table as he set his tray down.
Callie noticed Owen's face was a little red, "Yeah, what's got Hunt all worked up?"
"Nothing!" Arizona immediately answered, a little too quickly not to pique Mark's interest. "So Teddy how is Henry these days?"
Mark swallowed his bite of apple, "No, no. No changing the subject, Robbins. You're turning bright red now so whatever you guys were talking about before we sat down must be good. Now you have to share with the rest of the class."
Arizona grumbled and rolled her eyes. She took a bite of pasta to effectively make it so that she couldn't speak and glared at the man.
"Altman?" Mark questioned.
Teddy realized that Mark wasn't going to let this go so he decided to tell her but be as vague as she could be without embarrassing her friend. "Arizona was just telling us about the date she had this weekend. It didn't end well."
For her part, Callie kept to herself as she ate her lunch. She and Arizona had become friendly over the last few months but just on a surface level. They had even hung out a couple of times outside of work with it being just the two of them. But they never talked about their romantic lives. That subject was off limits.
"Hunt does not look like a tomato because Robbins' date went bad. This has to be good." Mark rubbed his hands together, "What happened? She too much for you in the sack?"
Arizona decided to face the music and just tell the truth. "Apparently I was too much for her in the sack. She ended up in the hospital with a broken arm."
Mark busted up laughing at Arizona's admission. "Please tell me you brought her here," he said while trying to calm down.
"No way was I going to embarrass myself more by bringing her here. I took her to Seattle Pres."
Mark glanced at Callie, "Yeah that could have been awkward having to have Callie set your date's broken bone."
Callie tried to not make eye contact with Arizona. She had heard the stories that Arizona was dating again. She knew it would happen eventually but she didn't like the idea of someone else being with Arizona so intimately.
When Mark finally stopped laughing he wanted more details, "How in the world did she break her arm?"
Arizona rolled her eyes and answered the man, "She fell off of the kitchen counter and that is all you are getting, Sloan." She too found the story funny but wasn't going to let Mark know that. She and Alex spent a good half hour laughing about what happened when Arizona returned from the Seattle Presbyterian emergency room that night. After the trip to the ER, Arizona thought it was best to send the girl on her way. Plus, it wasn't like she would be very useful with her right hand in a cast.
Mark smirked as he took the last bite of his apple, "Did you at least get off?"
Arizona rolled her eyes one last time before standing up and leaving the table in a huff.
"She really broke her date's arm?" Mark turned to ask Teddy as soon as Arizona had walked away.
Teddy just nodded her head.
"Damn." Mark turned to Callie, "I don't remember you telling me any good stories like that from when you were together? I had no idea Arizona was so frisky."
Mark and Owen's pagers went off before Callie could answer Mark. The two quickly made their leave from the table leaving Teddy and Callie behind. Teddy and Callie weren't friends on their own right. They had been friends because of Arizona. In fact, Callie couldn't really remember spending any time with Teddy by herself. An awkward silence took over the table after the men left.
Callie's couldn't contain her curiosity about Arizona. "She's dating?" she asked knowing that she didn't have to specify who the she that Callie was referencing.
"Yeah. Nothing special. She and Alex just go out to the clubs. They typically make bets about who can get the hottest girl. She hasn't been on a second date with any of them," Teddy tried to explain.
"She's allowed to date. We've been broken up for awhile now."
"I know it hurts. Seeing someone you love start to date," Teddy said while making an unsaid reference to Owen. Everyone knew that while the two never actually dated there were real feelings between them at one point.
"So it's okay to hate these bitches?" Callie joked.
Teddy laughed, "Yeah. For now. Trust me, I met one of these girls and she was so dumb. I don't know what Arizona saw in her. Well, I guess I know what she saw in her," Teddy said as she referenced the obvious physical attributes of the woman. "But these girls aren't sticking around anytime soon. She's not ready to get serious with anyone but you two have been broken up for half a year now so she's going to start getting serious with one of these bimbos soon. When she does you need to be ready for it. Moving on yourself helps with that."
Callie just nodded and accepted Teddy's advice as the two switched subjects to talk about her husband, Henry. Callie didn't know if she should be happy or not to know that Arizona's dates never made it past the first date. Callie had spent a lot of time in therapy talking about her relationship with Arizona. Through therapy she was able to realize that their relationship problems weren't solely Arizona's fault like she first thought. Her therapist was also trying to get her to re-enter the dating scene just like Arizona had been doing. Callie had been resistant to the thought but knowing that Arizona was starting to move on was giving Callie the kick she needed to put herself out there again as well.
…
