A/N: Hope you all are still enjoying this fic! Leave us a review and let us know how you like it :)
The early mornings in Seattle are peaceful… right up until the morning rush hour starts. The Grey-Shepherd household was quiet. The children were still fast asleep. The parents were quite thankful for moments like these. That morning, Callie had feeling: something was off but she chose to ignore it. As they were all ready and set to leave the house, the Latina received a phone call.
"Torres," she said.
"Callie Torres?" the voice started. "This is about Arizona Robbins. She has gotten into a car accident…"
She forgot to exhale.
"…She is now at Seattle Presbyterian and-"
Callie did not let the voice finish. She hung up and ran to her car. This cannot happen again.
"Callie! What the - frick!" yelled Derek from the doorstep while Meredith just shrugged and grabbed Sofia's backpack along.
The highways were filling up quickly. If it was not because of that, Dr. Torres would have went pass the speed limit the second she left the house. She took a deep breath and taped her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. What the hell, Arizona...
She quickly speed-dialed Derek.
"Callie, where the hell are you?"
"I'm sorry, De. Arizona got into an accident…"
"Oh. How is she?"
"I'm not even there yet. Stupid morning traffic. Some times, I wish I had a private helicopter or something," she tried to joke. "Anyway. Thanks for bringing Sofia to daycare."
"No worries. Let me know how she is, yeah?"
She nodded as if he could see her through the phone. They hung up.
As soon as she parked her car, - in a reserved spot, but she didn't care - the woman ran across the somewhat familiar hospital. At the nurses' quarter, she demanded Arizona's room number. Before the nurse said anything more than what she needed, Callie was on the run again.
Arizona was up, sitting on her hospital bed with a few bandages here and there. She noticed Callie who was just standing at the door, catching her breath.
"Callie?"
Torres was relieved that she was okay.
"Are you okay? Nothing serious? Let me see your charts," she rambled.
"Callie."
"Where are your charts?"
"Callie!" the other woman stopped pacing around her. "I'm okay. It's just my leg-"
"Oh my god. What happened to your leg?" Callie interrupted.
"Let me finish would you? My prosthetic took some damage in the crash. I just need a new one."
"How are you going to handle a child with one leg," Callie commented, gaining an eyebrow raise from Arizona. "And what about all the mess Sofia is going to make. Oh! What if you trip, who is going to help you out?"
The blonde could not resist but cracked a smile.
"The is no way in hell you would able to keep up Herman. That is for sure. I'll ask her to send you things to study… Actually, I'll just bring them to wouldn't mind if I help you out?"
Arizona's smile grew bigger. "Not at all."
Callie pondered for a second
"You know this is my saying I'm moving back in, right? Only until you get your new prosthetic, but we'll see. I'm not promising anything."
Maggie spotted the tall man from the other end of the hospital. It was not like when she had to go find Dr. Bailey for a consult that one time. Webber is one of the tallest men in the entire hospital; it made the task easy.
"Richard!" she exclaimed.
For the young woman, It still felt odd to call him by his first name.
"So Dr. Shepherd told me about her misadventures with Meredith and other Dr. Shepherd?"
"Ah yes. She was his mistress at one point and then they had their good and bad moments. I have to admit that they are indeed complicated."
"Complicated, how?" she questioned.
"I don't know the details though. I think you should do ask Amelia again."
"Alright. Thanks again."
The man walked to the nurses' desk and grabbed his patient files. Maggie checked her watch. Another hour before her next surgery. All her rounds were done for the morning.
She quickly glanced at the surgery board. Amelia was probably having lunch, considering she had check-ups to do later. Maggie headed to the cafeteria to grab herself some food while she looked for the neurosurgeon.
"Hey Mag!", Amelia exclaimed from behind.
The younger woman jumped.
"Oh my god, Dr. Shepherd. You scared me."
"You can call me Amelia, you know that right? We are basically almost sisters," she smiled.
Maggie laughed nervously. "Right. Um. I was just looking for you. I'd like to talk to you more about Meredith."
"Really?" she laughed. "Well there is only one thing you need to know: she is fun to live with but she isloud."
"Wait. What do you mean?"
Both grabbed their lunch and sat near the back of the caf.
Jackson and April were having their homemade lunch in the lounge. They were alone. Jackson was never quite a cook. On the other hand, April mastered how to cook a three course meal since she was young - the result of growing up in a big family.
"You okay?" Jackson asked, noticing something was on his wife's mind.
She pushed the veggies around with her fork, hesitating.
"Would it weird if I want a baby shower?"
"What? No. Of course not."
"I mean, we don't even know what is going to happen and I know it sounds selfish because I don't want to miss out on the experience-"
"We can have a baby shower, babe. It's not selfish at all," he held April's hand. "Do you want me to invite the others?"
"I think we should only invite our family? Is that okay?"
"Anything for you."
Meredith walked up to Maggie and Amelia in the cafeteria, the two of them looked to be in deep conversation, whatever Amelia said to Maggie seemed to disgust her.
"Hey have either of you seen Owen?" Meredith asked, the two of them stopping their conversation immediately.
"Um, no, I haven't?" Maggie answered, confused.
"What were the two of you -" Meredith began.
"I think I saw him by the nurses station. Fourth floor." Amelia said quickly with a smile.
"Oh, okay thanks." Meredith nodded and ran to find Owen before Derek could.
Meredith jogged up to Owen who was signing some forms and making small talk with the nurses. Meredith dragged him into the conference room opposite the nurses station.
"Don't give Derek his job back." Meredith said, shutting the door.
"Wh-what?" Owen stood there in shock.
"He wants to come back, he quit DC and he wants to come back, here, at the hospital. He's just on a high if you give him his job back he'll like it for awhile but then he'll go back to being all angry and mad Derek." Meredith huffed.
"Umm." Owen began before Meredith spoke once again.
"He isn't coming home, he thinks he is I know I seem like this awful and bitchy wife but just trust me on this Owen, please. If you don't believe me ask Cristina, I know as much about your skype session with her as she does about mine and Derek's marriage."
"Even if I wanted to give him the job back Meredith I couldn't. Stevens signed a contract, she has his position."
"Oh, okay. Pretend this never happened. Tell Cristina I say hi tonight." Meredith said and walked out.
"Stevens." Derek said with a smile as he walked over to the familiar doctor.
"Derek, what are you doing here?" Izzie asked, confused.
"You haven't heard? I'm back." He stated.
"You're back like back at home or back at the hospital?"
"Both. Well, at home, I came to talk to Hunt about getting rehired."
"Oh." Izzie said, almost confused.
"I'm sorry Stevens, but I wanted to tell you ahead of time. I'd be more than happy to help you find work elsewhere." Derek smiled. It wasn't smug it was friendly. He knew Stevens was a good doctor and as much as it hurt him to take her job, he needed to be back at home.
"Um, thank you?"
"I'll see you around, hopefully." Derek said and walked away.
"Hunt!" Derek called as he walked to catch up with Owen.
"Derek, how are things?" Owen asked, regretting the question as soon as he did.
"I'm ready to come back, DC isn't for me." Derek stated frankly.
"You know I just hired Stevens -"
"I know and I hate to see her go, especially since I'm the reason behind it, but I need to be back with my kids, I need to be here in Seattle."
"Derek, I can't keep bending the rules for you. Stevens has a contract here for another year at least. And when I spoke to Meredith earlier -"
"Meredith talked to you? What did she say?"
"I shouldn't have said anything, it's between you and her. I'm sorry Derek, but I can't give you your job back." Owen sighed and walked away.
Izzie threw back a shot and winced at the taste of tequila sliding down her throat. She hadn't gone to a bar since before she left Seattle, it's like she was a rookie all over again; except the next day she wouldn't be able to shake off her hangover the same way she did when she was 25.
She was sad, she looked it, she felt it. She had just gotten a job, one she liked and one she enjoyed. It was nice for her to be around familiar faces, she'd spent so much time bouncing around from hospital to hospital over the past few years it was nice to feel like she belonged again. People are better than no people. Alex told her that once and she never forgot it. The people at Grey+Sloan were her people and she'd fucked up. She knew she had and she was trying to fix it; she wanted more than anything to fix what she had broken.
Coming back to Seattle was like being given a second chance. A chance to right all of her wrongs and attempt to rewrite her past with everyone, especially Alex. She expected to see him with a ring on his left finger and a child or two. She knew if she had stayed they would have had kids. She always saw them with three. He would be a good father.
Izzie sighed and threw back another shot, trying to silence the thoughts that raced through her brain.
"Can I buy you another one of those?" A male voice whispered into her ear.
"You sure about that?" Izzie smiled and turned to face Alex.
"Jeez." Alex sighed and left, Izzie following him out of the bar.
"Alex wait!" Izzie called out catching up to him.
"What the hell do you want Izzie? What is it? I know you're sorry I get it okay but I'm still mad."
"I never told you not to be mad at me Alex, you have every right to be mad at me and I will continue to apologize to you until I don't feel the urge to vomit whenever I think about what I did to you. I'm not apologizing for you I'm apologizing for me. I can't forgive myself for what I did to you because I love you and I ruined you and I ruined us. I can't rewrite the past but I hope you know I wouldn't do it again. But I can't go back Alex, I can't undo my mistakes. So go ahead and be mad." Izzie said, brushing aside tears the cascaded down her cheek.
"You think I like being mad Iz? I don't even know if I'm mad, honestly I just know when I see you I wish, I wish it had been different. I married you dammit, me, Alex Karev got married to you. I finally love something, I let myself open up to you and you hand me divorce papers."
"We can't go back but we can be happy again Alex. I want to be happy with you again."
"I just, I can't trust you Iz. I wish more than anything I could but I don't think I'd survive you leaving again." Alex sighed.
"I'm not going anywhere."
"What if you get cancer again Iz?"
"It's been, I'm clean I'm okay Alex."
"I can't lose you Izzie, I can't do it again. I have to let you go and you have to let me go too."
"Alex please don't go." Izzie begged, tugging on his shirt as he climbed into his car, brushing her off.
"I'll see you tomorrow." He said before driving away.
Meredith dried herself off after a much needed shower. She picked up her clothes and headed towards the guest bedroom she was sleeping in. She could feel Derek hot on her heels as she entered the room, Derek closing the door behind her.
"You talked to Owen?" He asked. She threw her clothes on the chair and sat on the edge of the bed.
"So?" She responded.
"That's all you have to say Meredith?"
"Well what do you want me to say Derek, do you want me to apologize?"
"I don't want you controlling where I can and can't work!" He spat.
"I'm not controlling you I'm making a choice that you can't seem to make!"
"I can't make a choice? You're the one that was all ready to move to DC then backed out."
"You're not the sun Derek!"
"What?" He asked, confused.
"I don't revolve around you, the hospital doesn't revolve around you. I know I chose to stay but that was the best choice for me and for Zola and Bailey. You going to DC was the best decision for you Derek but you're too stubborn to see it. You don't want me to be right!" Meredith yelled.
"Why do you think I'm against you Mer, I sacrificed everything, twice, to be here with you!"
"There it is. You love being the hero Derek but you can't always be the hero. I am right about this and you have to trust me that if you don't go we won't make it." Meredith wiped tears that had begun to fall down her cheeks.
"Your faith in us is astounding, truly."
"I didn't mean it like that I just -"
"Goodnight Meredith." Derek said leaving the room and the slamming the door on his way out.
Sofia giggled, sitting next to her mother. Callie was in the kitchen making dinner. She actually missed this. Living in the Grey-Shepherd household had not always been the best experience. Arizona was on the couch, all cozy in her blanket as she watched Sofia playing with her toys.
"I miss Mark," Arizona said, out of the blue.
"I do too."
Silence once again. All their memories of Mark, the car crash and the plane crash resurfaced. They were not sad about them anymore, but nostalgic of what their relationship was and how it is different from what they have now.
"Do you think they would have gotten married by now?"
Callie chuckles as she placed the dishes flawlessly. "Knowing Mark, they would have gotten married after the plane crash."
"Lexie was a great girl…" commented Robbins.
"Yeah. She was but you know what, they are in a better place now, together."
Arizona gave her a sad smile.
"Dinner is ready."
"I wish Sofia could know him better," Arizona added.
"Me too."
They did not say anything for a few moments as a moment of silence for their loved one.
"Alright come on big girl. Num num time." said Callie before picking her daughter from the sofa and place her on her high chair.
The Latina grabbed two other plates and joined Arizona on the couch. She turn the TV on.
"This is delicious, Calliope!" exclaimed the blonde.
"It's just pasta. Nothing that amazing," she replied.
"Honestly, I have not cooked a decent meal for myself since you left..."
Torres turned to face her.
"Ari..."
"I'm glad your back that's all."
Callie gave her a sad smile. She knew Arizona did not want to make her feel bad but now that she knew how the woman felt after what she did and especially after having another scare... Callie missed them.
"Sofia, don't throw your food again," Arizona said when the little girl giggled on her highchair.
"I wonder how many siblings she could have if Mark and Lexie were still here."
Arizona smiled. "Knowing Mark, she could have like 5 brothers and sisters already."
Both laughed. The couple finished their dinner. They prepared to put their daughter to bed and decided to call it a night.
