A/N: Alright, here's the first of the Arizona-centric chapters! I was very distracted while writing parts of this as I am still on vacation and it's fairly short, so I'm not sure how I feel about it. Please review, I really want to know what you guys think about this chapter.
I'm already part of the way through Callie's second chapter; hopefully that will be up soon.
Also, I'm thinking of going back and editing the first few chapters now that I feel as if I've begun to write to a higher standard. What do you think?
Give me any tips or advice you have:)

In other news, I made a twitter. yeah. If you want to check it out, fancy_phalanges is my username for now. I'll probably follow you back and if you want to get in touch with me about this fic, I can message you on there :)

Thanks guys!

"Hey, Arizona, I just wanted to let you know that I made it to LA okay. I know I'm calling a little late…I got distracted by the view. It's so beautiful here. I wish you could see it. Anyways, I have to go; Addison and I are going out for drinks tonight. I just… I want you to know that I love you, okay? … Don't read into that too much. Bye."

Arizona's heart sank as the message Callie left her ended. She wished she hadn't been in surgery so she would have been able to answer, but she also knew that Callie probably didn't want her to answer either way. Still, it was the only time she'd heard from her wife, and as much as she knew she didn't have the right to be worried, she thought that maybe Callie was trying to find a way to move on.

Arizona had been at the nurses' desk trying to fill out some last minute paperwork so that she didn't have to pile it all on to her interns, when she heard footsteps getting closer. As much as she knew she couldn't avoid the woman, she still groaned in annoyance when Lauren finally made an appearance. She'd almost made it through the day without any mishaps, and obviously her luck was out.

"Hey." Lauren scooted in front of Arizona so she was cornered. "We still haven't talked, and I told you: I'm not leaving until we figure this out."

"Not now, please," Arizona sighed. She still had days to get up the guts to talk about it before Callie came home, and wasn't planning on doing it any sooner than necessary. "I was just about to go home." Sofia had been in the daycare all day and Arizona hadn't had the time to stop by and visit. Since Callie was gone, she felt terrible and was afraid that Sofia was getting lonely.

"Well," Lauren clicked her tongue, "I guess it's a good thing that I need you for a consult anyways. Dr. Hunt asked me to stick around for this one."

Fuck. Arizona knew that Karev wasn't on call, so there was no way to even pass it off without bothering anyone more than necessary. "Fine, give me 5 minutes."

"Nope, you're not getting away that easy." Lauren smiled, obviously either not feeling the tension that rolled off the other blonde, or ignoring it completely. "The kid's still getting some tests done so it'll be at least 10 minutes before he gets back to his room. Do you want to grab a coffee while we wait?"

"No thanks. I think I'll just start looking at his files, if you have them." Arizona didn't wait for an answer from Lauren to grab the chart from her hands. She wanted to get away, but didn't dare try an on call room since she knew Lauren would probably follow her in. The rumors would spread to her wife before they'd even get the chance to talk again. So instead, she turned down the next hallway and headed towards the empty waiting room, which was the only place that was currently scarce of gossiping nurses. She heard footsteps behind her and didn't even have to look back to know Lauren was right on her heels.

Arizona turned around in the middle of the room so suddenly that Lauren barely missed running into her. "Listen. It. Was. A. Mistake. You're a wonderful surgeon and maybe in another world you'd be a great friend, but I love my wife. More than anything, and I know she loves me too. What happened with you may have ended my marriage, but that doesn't mean I'm going to continue it. I've done a lot of messed up stuff to Calliope, and this was the worst by far. The time I left her for Africa doesn't even compare to this. So please... Stop. Don't stick around. I know what you're trying to do, and you don't get to fix me. When I lost my leg, you weren't here, she was. And maybe I can never give Calliope that kind of love and devotion in return. Even so, I'm never going to love anyone else as much as I love her. So whatever chance you thought you had with me…you don't." Arizona stopped when she ran out of air, and saw the beaten down way Lauren was looking at her. "I'm so sorry. But you knew what you were getting into."

"I did. That doesn't mean I don't still want you." Lauren seemed to only hear what she wanted to. "You're a beautiful woman Arizona, and you deserve better than Dr. Torres. You deserve better than someone who's willing to get knocked up by her best friend just because you needed time away."

Arizona saw red, and Lauren couldn't even flinch before she could feel a resounding slap against her cheek. "I don't know where you even heard that from, but fuck you, Lauren. You don't know anything about my family." She turned around to walk away.

Suddenly, she was spun around and shoved against the wall. Lauren's lips were on her own in a second, and Arizona froze. But when the taller woman tried to push her tongue between her lips, she finally came to her senses and ripped Lauren away from herself by her hair. "What-" Just as she started to yell at the other Peds surgeon, she heard a voice that made her blood run cold.

"Arizona?"

Before Arizona knew what was happening, Lauren had disappeared and she was standing alone facing one of the few people she'd ever been truly scared of. "God, please kill me now," Arizona muttered.

Carlos Torres took one look at the woman who was supposed to be his daughter's wife, and responded in a deep voice, "Excuse me?"

Arizona's cheeks turned bright red. "Shit… I mean… uh… Sorry, sir." Carlos had told her years ago that formalities were pointless for women who made "his Calliope" happy, but somehow she guessed that that rule no longer applied.

Carlos looked less than amused. He stepped forward menacingly and towered over the blonde without ever even touching her, but he could still see Arizona cowering under his gaze. "You have ten seconds to explain why that woman had her tongue down your throat before I do to you what I did to that O'Malley boy. You remember that, don't you?"

Of course she remembered. She had barely known Callie well enough for the whole "parent meeting" at the time, and it didn't help that just before she attempted to shake Mr. Torres' hand, she had to watch him shove George up against the wall and practically choke him out of consciousness. …And then he did the same thing to Mark. This time, Callie wasn't here to save anyone. She'd have to find a way to get out of this mess herself.

Nodding uncomfortably, Arizona got up the courage to speak. "Sir… Mr. Torres, I know why you're here. But what you saw right now isn't what it seems." She knew that no matter how mad Calliope was, she'd never bring her father into the situation, but she didn't question how he'd appeared so fast or how he'd even know if not for his daughter - she'd learned long ago to never underestimate the power of money and what it could do.

"I would not be here if I didn't think that my daughter needed protection. Now start talking, Mrs. Robbins, as you can see this is not a friendly visit. I have more important things to do than sit around and listen to another one of Calliope's 'lovers' try to explain themselves, but I'm going to do it anyways."

"I-I know." Arizona wished she didn't sound so nervous. "I'm just going to need more than ten seconds to explain what happened…Please?" The whole conversation had begun to make her leg hurt again, but she refused to show any more weakness than she already had.

Carlos seemed to think about the request, and finally gave in. He liked Arizona more than he'd ever liked Mark or George; he'd let her know that. She could be stronger than his own daughter, and that was hard to find in a person, let alone another woman. "Fine, Mrs. Robbins. I expect you to be at your apartment in thirty minutes. I will be inside and waiting." When Arizona nodded, not even bothering to ask how he could possibly get inside; he seemed satisfied enough and left her in her misery.

Arizona waited until she was sure he was gone, sunk down into one of the waiting room chairs, covered her head with her hands, and started to cry. She had no energy left, her leg throbbed like crazy, and she just wanted to get away. But she knew if she did that again, she'd never have a chance at Callie coming back.

Deciding to text Callie as a response to her earlier message- her wife knew her well enough to hear the difference in her voice if she called- she picked up her phone. She didn't want to tell Callie what happened, so she figured a basic message would be enough to get her to not worry. After deleting multiple attempts at a message that seemed too stiff, she finally settled.

Hey, Calliope. Sorry for responding so late, I was in surgery. Have fun with Addison. Call me whenever you can. –A.

A few minutes had passed before she heard the clearing of a throat above her. "Uh, boss?'

Alex stood awkwardly and waited for his mentor to look back at him. Arizona wiped her eyes and attempted to be her perky self again. "Hi, Karev!" Her voice was tight and she knew she wasn't fooling anyone.

"I just came to tell you that, uh, I'm taking care of Lauren's patient… the one she wanted a consult on. And I'll work with her on any other cases she needs help with until she gets the hell out of our hospital." Alex hated seeing Arizona like this, because she'd always been so strong before the crash and he knew it was mostly his fault that she was even there.

"Thank you, Alex." Arizona gave the younger man a true smile. He'd always been so caring even if he hated to show it.

"No problem, boss." He continued to stare at her.

Arizona sighed. "What else?" She really didn't want to talk about it yet, and thought he would ask.

"Uh. I need that chart."

Arizona looked down. "Oh," she said, embarrassed. She hadn't even realized she still had the chart she'd taken from Lauren earlier in her lap. "Here…Sorry."

Alex took the files and thanked her. Before he left, though, he looked at her with a mix of pity and sadness. "I know you don't want to be the one to tell him everything, but you have to. He'll figure it out anyways; he might as well hear it from you."

"…Thank you, Alex. I'll keep that in mind." Arizona teared up from Alex's words of wisdom. He was obviously trying to help in the only way he could.

"Don't mention it," Alex grumbled, and quickly found his way out of the waiting room.

Arizona checked her watch, and realized she now had less than twenty five minutes to get Sofia and make it back to her apartment. Shit.