AN: So so so extra sorry for the delay. I don't even have real excuses except for me not being motivated enough... SORRY
Read you next time ;)
It had been quarter to six when Arizona had woken up with a start, the anxiety and excitement flooding her bodyand there had been no chance she could have gone back to sleep. Not wanting to wake her wife from her apparently peacefulsleep, she had sneaked out of the warm embrace, leaving the relatively new bedroom clad in only and oversized shirt and panties. She had poured herself a cup of steaming hot coffee – both, Callie and she had come to love the hot liquid during the past year – and waited for her lover to wake up which probably wouldn't happen until the alarm would tell her to rise and shine at 7am. Callie was most definitely one of the deepest sleepers she knew, something Arizona sometimes envied her for.
So here she was, sitting at the breakfast bar, with her forearms resting on the marble counter and her hands holding the cup, turning and pushing it around between them to pass the time. Her feet, as always, were dangling back and forth to no particular rhythm as her mind wandered off to the last months and especially the last weeks.
So much had happened since they had started the last year of medical school and Johns Hopkins. The group of four had studied from the very first day, sometimes together, sometimes in pairs, but most of the times they had come together at the end of the day to exchange notes and conclusions – if one could call it that. The days of the final exams had been there way too soon for them. None of them had felt truly ready. Addison had played the cool and prepared one on the outside, but had been just as much of a mess as her girlfriend and Arizona on the inside. The skinnier blonde had been freaking out for months and for the first time, Arizona had seen how much of a monster she had been all the years during the finals. The Latina had studied all the energy out of her – literally, causing her to simply pass out on a Friday night and sleep for thirteen hours straight.
Of course, they had all passed with flying colors, all of them being in the top ten ranking of their graduate year at Johns Hopkins. It wasn't really a surprise to any of their teachers or teachers assistants, and it shouldn't have surprised the four as well. Yet, it did. The thing was that passing your finals was only one slice of the pie. Getting into an internship at a good hospital was the other part. If you wanted to be the best, you couldn't just start at any hospital. They had to make choices where they wanted to apply and what it would mean for them, because different specialties often meant different hospitals. And waiting for the acceptance letters had probably been the hardest part, all of them keeping their fingers crossed that – against all odds – it would work out.
It had worked out, partly. For Callie and her, it had worked out just fine. And although giving several hospitals to choose from, Johns Hopkins being one of them, everything had been considered a done deal the day the acceptance letters from Seattle Grace had been in their mail. It wasn't even a choice anymore, then. It was more a question of when to move and where to live. She had opted for getting Callie's old home, the house she had grown up in until the day she had lost her family, but her wife didn't want that. It was too big, she had said, and it was too far from the hospital, which was admittedly true. So they had looked for a new apartment while visiting their parents and Arizona had been so happy once the lease agreements had been signed. She was so tired of moving, of packing and unpacking boxes.
Unfortunately, Teddy and Addie hadn't been that lucky. Addison would start her internship at the New York Presbyterian Hospital the day after tomorrow and Teddy was already working her ass off at the Mayo Clinic in Florida. It was about eight-hundred-fifty miles that separated them and the couple had spent night after night discussing whether they were trying to make it work or if they would let the other one go. In the end, Addison hadn't been able to stand that sad look and her girlfriend's face any longer, so she had agreed to try the long distance thing. Until now, there hadn't been a day where the redhead had not confessed to Arizona that she was missing the better part of her. It still made the blonde smile, knowing that they both were good and liked the hospitals they would work at. But every time one of them said that they just didn't feel complete, the smile faded. She could understand it, so very much. And it only took one glance at her wife to know that she had been lucky, that she should be grateful forever and thank the stars for not splitting them up for the next couple of years.
Arizona looked down, staring intensely at the cup in her hands as she let out a breath she hadn't been aware of holding in. Ripping the other couple apart hadn't been the only downside to all this moving back to Seattle news. After hearing the news, Sarita had thrown her most epic temper tantrum in years, getting her little brother Milan to cry as well. He wasn't old enough to get the meaning of the message, but he understood that if his big sister was screaming and crying so hard, it had to be something really bad. The sight had broken the adults' hearts, all of them knowing that the time would come where the younger couple would have to make a choice. But Sarita had grown so close to them, she loved them and they loved her and her little brother who also was their Godson. The weekly overnights had been something everyone had looked forward to. First it had been to give Emilia and Gaspar a little couple-time. Then Sarita had wanted to stay more and more nights and once Milan had been old enough he had stayed overnight once a month to give Sarita a little alone time with her parents. It was a perfect schedule and they had to end it, Arizona and Callie hated it just as much as the preschool kid and the toddler. But Seattle was calling them to come home and here they were, with promises of skyping to stay in contact with the loved ones and friends they had left behind in Baltimore.
"Why are you awake already?", Callie asked sleepily as she padded barefoot over to her wife sitting at the kitchen counter. She had felt her wife slipping out of bed early, but couldn't get her eyes to open up, so she had given herself some more time to wake up and her wife a little time to calm down, knowing that Arizona was most likely way too jumpy for her liking at 6am.
Turning around to catch the brunette scratching her head and yawning, a dimpled smile vanished the deep frowns that had been there for the last minutes. Yes, Callie had startled her, but she couldn't imagine a better way to be ripped out of her sad thoughts than by her wife coming out of their bedroom, all sleep-stoned and the sleeve of her shirt slid low enough to get a glimpse of her cleavage. "Me? Why are you awake already? After last night I thought you would not even hear the alarm going off", she teased. Last night had been the welcoming party for the new interns at Seattle Grace. No matter the field, surgical, dermatology, everyone had been there. Dr. Webber, the chief of staff and surgery, had given a long, yet inspiring speech, but all the blonde could remember was Callie in that sinful, long, deep red dress that had left her mouthwatering and speechless the whole evening. It had clung to her every curve, the plunging neckline given enough away to imagine what was lying beneath the fabric. Her hair had been falling freely and in its natural waves over her shoulders and onto her back, and everybody had stared at her. Especially that one guy. He had tried persuading the Latina to dance with him a couple of times and frankly, Arizona had not liked it one bit.
"Hey where did you just go?", Callie questioned when she had asked her wife if she wanted a refill and the blonde hadn't answered her. Pecking her left cheek, she brought their bodies closer together by pushing her own against her wife's back and nuzzling her nose into her neck. "You okay?"
Nodding, Arizona held the cup up for her lover to pour some more of that life-saver in it and smiled when her neck was covered in soft lingering kisses. Leaning her head to the right to give Callie some more access to her skin, she suppressed the small whimpers that wanted to leave her mouth. "You know, that guy last night, he was annoying", she stated, her eyes falling close at the feeling of her wife'sministrations on the spot behind her ear.
"Mhmm, he was", Callie moaned, the scent of Arizona's skin as intoxicating as ever. "I know he must have really gotten on your nerves. First you stared him down, then you wouldn't leave my side and then you jumped me the moment we got home", she counted off, each statement accompanied with a light bite on the shell of her lover's ear. "Not that I minded." Not even one bit. Because she had felt incredible happy to be the one to pull down the zipper of Arizona's miraculous black dress, and she had gotten wetter and wetter with every little inch of skin that had been exposed. As soon as she could get a hold of her wife's hipbones though, she was done for. She still thought she should feel weird to love the blonde's hips so much, but every time she let her thumb glide over the bones and then noticing the goosebumps she caused, sent shivers down her own spine.
Swallowing hard, Arizona tried to keep her composure. There wasn't enough time to devour and love her wife the way she wanted to and starting something only to stop half way through it would definitely leave both of them sexually frustrated. Not the best way to start their internship. "Calliope... stop."
"Why?", the Latina pouted. She loved the blonde's skin. The taste. The softness. The groans it elicited when she licked or sucked at the particular spots on her neck or behind her ear. It was like flipping a switch and the knowledge that she did that to her wife still turned her on beyond anything. When Arizona cleared her throat though, she stepped back, knowing that the beautiful woman she was lucky to call her wife meant business. "Okay, I'll stop." She stepped back and made her way around the kitchen counter, finally taking a sip of her coffee, enjoying the hot liquid trickling down her throat. "Oh God, that's so good." Smiling at her wife, she asked again, "Why are you awake so early? I felt you slipping out of bed."
"Couldn't sleep anymore", she answered with a shrug of her shoulders. "Nervous, excited, you know me." Looking at her wife she picked up her own cup and mirrored the Latina's move, taking another gulp of the black goodness. "Why are you up and awake before the alarm went off?"
Rolling her eyes at the stupidity and weirdness of her own mind, she grimaced before her gaze met her lover's. "I had a scary weird dream that I had to deliver a baby on my first day and that Webber kept screaming at me from behind the windows of the gallery."
"Oohoohoooh", Arizona laughed out. "Please don't let that happen to me today... or tomorrow... or any time soon. You can have any pregnant patient today, Calliope", she offered, averting her eyes to the counter because she couldn't keep the smug smile from spreading. Just then the shrieking noise of the alarm going off in their bedroom could be heard and within a split second, the blonde was on her feet and taking off towards their bedroom.
"Saved by the bell", Callie said, glaring after her lover and not so subtly checking out the cute little buttocks she loved to get her hands on. Turning to the stove, she growled a last, "Literally" before starting breakfast for them. She wasn't that hungry and she could imagine that Arizona too wouldn't eat as much as she would on any other day. But Barbara would probably kill her if she would find out they had skipped breakfast on the first day of their internship, not to mention Daniel's staring blue eyes, telling them that coffee was not considered food. So, breakfast it was.
A-C-T
Entering the intern locker room, Arizona immediately felt taken back in time. Locker next to locker, a small bench in the middle and people rustling and shuffling around, it could be the changing room in their high school just as well as the one at the swim stadium instead of the hospital locker room. She let her eyes wander through the room, spotting three or four people she had seen last night at the party and then she saw the one person she really didn't want to see. "Ugh", she groaned and pushed her way past the people towards two lockers that weren't occupied yet. "Would you mind being my locker-neighbor, Calliope?", the blonde asked cheesily and started to take off her jacket.
The Latina followed right behind her wife and laughed. "That's not even a thing, Arizona. But I still don't mind", Callie answered with a smile. Her wife had gone from a nervous and excited wreck back to her natural bubbly self, the curls bobbed up and down with every bouncy step she made. Though, if she was honest, she was excited herself. And a little scared as well. They had worked so hard to get here, but it was just like Dr. Webber had said last night, the real work started now and while she couldn't wait to become a surgeon, she was afraid of seeing people die or even worse being the cause of peoples' death.
"Oooh, look!", the blonde exclaimed, making her wife spin around on her heels. "Scrubs!" Knowing her wife's size, she crabbed two pairs and handed one to the brunette while holding the other top against her chest. "We will look sooooooo good in these, Dr. Torres."
Shining blue eyes were looking up at her and Callie couldn't help the appearing smile to shine like a light. Her lover was beaming, the joyousness of finally being here radiating from her for everybody else to see. They had agreed to not be too affective with each other at work, because there were too many people around who didn't know them and patients really didn't need to know, just in case they were not pro-gay marriage. And she had actually thought that this agreement would work out well for both of them, but right now she really wanted to kiss her wife, push her up against the locker and show her how much she loved her.
What Callie didn't know was that Arizona felt the same urge, because the guy from last night was not only eyeing her wife again, he had just started to make his way over to her, much to the blonde's disapproval. He obviously didn't get the – not so subtle – hints last night. Thankfully, before he could reach them, the door flew open and in walked Dr. Webber, followed by a much shorter woman clad in scrubs in the same color as theirs.
"Good morning, everyone", the chief's deep voice filled the room, making everybody stop and literally freeze mid-movement. "I am glad you could all find your way back to us in time this morning and did not get too wasted last night. From today on, you're going to be doctors. You will put your scrubs on, and you're going to be doctors, doctors that want to become surgeons. That said, you will not be perfect from day one. If you expect yourself to be perfect, you'll fail. But you're all going to do your best." It was more like a command than a statement whilst his eyes locked on every single one of them for a few seconds. Just when he wanted to continue, the door opened again, a tall blonde walking in, giving the chief a slight nod. "Now, each of you will be under the service of either Dr. Bailey or Dr. Hahn. You will do everything they say, even if they put you on diaper duty for a whole week", he chuckled. He wasn't a fan of punishing interns for making a mistake and putting someone on diaper duty was really more of an empty thread than anything else. But he also knew that some interns were either too stupid or needed to be put into place before their head would get too big for their own good. "You're at the best teaching hospital if you want it to be the best for you. You can learn from great surgeons if you let them. That all said, your first shift starts in thirty minutes and ends forty eight hours later, Dr. Bailey and Dr. Hahn will explain everything else to you." And with that, he excused himself and left the room, leaving ten mouths open and ten pairs of eyes staring at the now empty spot.
"Forty-eight hours? Is he serious?", Arizona whispered close to Callie's ear, voicing exactly what had been on everyone's mind.
"Yes, he was", the shorter woman announced and then introduced herself as Dr. Bailey. "If you want to be a surgeon, you will have crazy hour shifts. There have been weeks in my intern year, where I haven't left the hospital at all. If you want a vast amount of spare time with your family or with the love of your life, you better get out now, because you won't get it as a surgical intern, resident or attending, isn't that right, Dr. Hahn?" The taller blonde woman next to Dr. Bailey nodded. "Sleep when you can, eat when you can and when I or anyone else pages you, I better find your running as fast as you can."
"We will split your little dump group of wannabe surgeons who think they know it all and five of you are going to be with Dr. Bailey, the rest will be with me. Don't pull any funny stuff under my watch or you will soon regret wanting to become a surgeon", Hahn said with her eyes narrowed directly at Callie.
The Latina actually flinched under the hard glare of the doctor, subconsciously moving closer to her wife for comfort. She couldn't even say which one of them was the more scary one. The dark woman seemed hard but also seemed to want the best for them, whereas Dr. Hahn seemed to just want to see them die and rot in hell. "Okay, Grey, Karev, Lewis, Torres, Yang, you're on my service. I expect you to be ready in fifteen minutes", she read the names from the list in her hand.
Nobody dared to move despite Dr. Hahn's words. Callie felt frozen to the spot after the blonde had called her name, not even thinking that it could just as well be Arizona who was on her service. Mindlessly, she reached for the badge that had her name on it as the other hand found her pager. "Uhm... which Torres?", she finally spoke up.
"Which Torres?", the blonde doctor parroted confused and turned to Dr. Bailey who had also a list in her hand with the names of her interns. "Torres, Calliope", she finally said, not without giving the Latina another glare of ice-blue eyes. "The rest of you will be with Dr. Bailey and we don't care if you don't like us or if you want to switch. This is not kindergarten anymore. This is real." She left just as fast as Dr. Webber, the shorter doctor hot on her heels on their way out.
Facing her wife, Arizona looked at the Latina with pity in her eyes. "I am not even sure whether I should be happy not to be on the witch's service or if I should just hug you and let you cry. Although Bailey seems to be just as bad", she said, a lopsided smile tugging on the corner of her lips. It had been a mixture of emotions for her as well. Fearing to be on the blonde's service and also hoping for her wife to not be the one having to work with Dr. Hahn. "I am sorry for you, love", she whispered, her hands cupping the brunette's cheeks and thumbs stroking over the cheekbones. "I really am."
"Yeah... it's okay. She can't be that bad, right?", Callie said, not really convinced by her own words. "I mean, she's a teacher, after all... right?" Trying to forget the cold eyes that had tried to rip her heart out – at least that's what it had felt like – she smiled at her wife. "I'm just going to do the best I can to avoid her anger so we better get dressed, Dr. Torres." It was a little joke between them, calling each other Dr. Torres every now and then. They had figured that it would be confusing for the people around them, but they would find a way to keep them apart. "You ready for this?"
Pulling the scrub top over her head, Arizona smiled as she shook her head to free her hair. "As ready as I'll ever be", she grinned. "You?"
"More than ready", the Latina beamed, mirroring her wife's perfect smile as she rolled up the sleeves of the top she was wearing underneath her scrub top before slipping into the bottoms and then fastening her pager to it and the name tag to the little pocket on her chest. She couldn't wait to get her lab coat, which should happen at some time this week, according to Webber's words last night. And furthermore, she couldn't wait to see Arizona in it.
"Okay, then le-" the sentence didn't even get the chance to completely leave her mouth because it was interrupted when ten pagers went off, the peeping noise so loud that it startled most of them. "What the hell?" But before she knew it, she was pushed out of the room by the other interns and her wife, stopping abruptly a few feet out of the locker room where she almost bumped into someone's back, thankful that she was at least completely dressed not like the topless man standing next to her.
"Okay, good to know that this seems to work", Dr. Bailey laughed. Hahn on the other hand didn't even smile. "Go back in and finish getting dressed and be back out in ten, got it?"
Ten people nodded and then everybody hushed back inside, at least five of them happy not having to face the devil for another moment. Callie sat down on the bench, untying her shoes only to tie them again, soothing her nerves and calming herself down with her inner pep-talk that everything would be just fine as long as she would do her best.
"Hey", Arizona said and nudged the brunette's shoulder with her own. "I thought you were ready?"
"I am... I am ready to...", she answered, but then she shook her head and confessed, "I am not ready. What if I fail? What if I mess up and kill someone on my first day? What if she asks me a question and I don't know the answer? What if-"
Shushing her wife with a soft index-finger pressed against full lips, sky blue eyes met brown orbs. "You are great. You know everything we have to know. You are ready to become a surgeon, Calliope. And if that woman pisses you off you come find me and I'll give you a hug and a kiss, okay?" It was the best way to comfort the brunette, other than taking a long bath together which wasn't exactly possible during a shift. "How about lunch together? Maybe we can find the time?"
"Yeah, I'd like that", Callie agreed. "You really think I am ready?"
"We're both ready", the blonde said and took her lover's hands in her own. "We're so ready for this." Dimples popped deep into her cheeks and her smile got even wider as the woman sitting next to her gave her one of her megawatt smiles. "Ready to rock it?"
Standing up, Callie pulled her wife into a standing position as well. "Ready."
AN2: So, I hope you're happy that I jumped (even though some of you didn't want me to jump...)