A/N: Thank you to the 200 readers who follow me and are open to my pairings, I appreciate your feedback and am thrilled that you enjoy my stories. I would write without you, but it's more fun to write with you.
"No", Callie replies emphatically.
"Craniofacial surgery is almost as new as Fetal surgery for Sloan-Grey to have fellowships in both would rocket us back into the top ten of teaching hospitals," Jackson says hoping to make his case to the other surgeon and fellow board member. "Are you really going to let your personal issues adversely impact your investment in this hospital?"
"My personal issues?" Callie storms across the office, "Are you seriously referring to hiring the woman who slept with my wife and ruined my marriage 'a personal' issue?" she asks glaring at him furiously for a full minute.
"I can't even right now," Callie replies angrily, her hand flying to her head, as she turns her back to him.
"The two of you operated together today and it was fantastic. I was there Torres, the two of you together would elevate our program, we need her," Jackson points out.
"No," she repeats. "In fact, hell no. Have you mentioned this to-to anyone else, or even just Arizona?" Callie asks.
"I haven't. I thought I'd try you first, since it seemed like..." his voice trails off.
"Jackson, I was being professional and yes, I may have gotten caught up in the excitement of the case, but there's no way in hell, I'm going to let you bring her on staff at this hospital," Callie replies crossing her arms and seething at him. "That is not going to happen."
"What's the AFI level?" Arizona asks as they enter the elevator.
"It's 15 now, the first one was 18," Penny replies looking up from the tablet.
"I'll stay and update her husband, you go prep her for surgery," Arizona says when the elevator opens.
"Yes Dr Robbins," Penny says following the blonde off the elevator.
Thirty minutes later, they're in the OR and it's not going well. Arizona doesn't understand, Blake was confident and prepared during the case review and now she's barely at the table assisting on the procedure. "Can someone please page Dr Pierce?" Arizona asks loudly.
"Dr Robbins, if you could just tell me how to assist you..." Penny begins to step up.
"Nothing Dr Blake, I need cardio in here immediately," Arizona says annoyed that the resident is showing zero initiative in the OR and probably hasn't even spotted the aneurysm in the abdominal aorta.
"Dr Robbins, Dr Riggs is available," the tech says from the phone.
"Fine, get him in here STAT!" Arizona says, worried about the bulge in the abdominal aorta, she didn't expect the repair to take this long since the fluid leak was so slow.
"What do you have Dr Robbins?" Riggs asks entering the OR in record time.
"I'm repairing a placental rupture, but there's an aneurysm in the abdominal aorta," she explains.
"Got it," he says quickly moving into position.
The two surgeons work efficiently and effectively together, which surprises Arizona, she didn't realize that Riggs had any fetal experience. As they get everything under control and relax a bit, they begin to chat and it's not until she's halfway through the close that Arizona remembers that the resident is there.
"Dr Blake, would you take our patient up to recovery and I'll go update Mr Peters?" Arizona asks. Then turning to the other surgeon, she add, "Dr Riggs, thank you for stepping in on short notice."
"My pleasure Dr Robbins, Dr Pierce speaks highly of you and now I see why," he replies, "Asking for help before you need it and putting the patient first, not exactly typical of a surgeon of your caliber."
"I shouldn't have entered that OR with an unproven resident, I put my patient at risk," she replies angry at herself.
"Dr Blake is gunshy, Dr Robbins. She's had Dr Hunt barking at her for over a month, he hasn't taken any time with her, she's barely been in an OR. Hunt was actually worse than Grey for her," Riggs replies.
"She froze in there, she stepped away from the table," Arizona points out.
"No one here wants to teach her, she needs to transfer out to another hospital or she'll fail her third year," he counters, "she's terribly behind as it is."
Heading to her office after making sure that Blake is all set to monitor her patients for the night, Arizona inwardly groans when she spots Lauren at the nurses' desk.
"Dr Robbins," Lauren says turning to face the blonde.
"Yes, Dr Boswell. I understand your procedure went well today, so I'm surprised to see you here so late in the day," Arizona replies cordially.
"I just stopped in to check on the Kenner case," she explains. "Uh, do you have a minute?"
"I don't actually. I'm late to meet someone," Arizona replies as she unlocks her office.
"Raincheck?" Lauren asks leaning in the doorway.
"Arizona, are you ready?" Callie asks pushing past Lauren into the blonde's office, then turning around, she asks, "Oh Dr Boswell did you need something?"
"Uh, no I was just checking on the Kenner case," Lauren says standing up and putting her hands in her lab coat.
Callie walks over to get Arizona's jacket off the back of the door and she holds it out.
Arizona looks at the brunette confused for a moment, then she slips off her lab coat and into the jacket.
"Okay, well we're late, so have a good night Dr Boswell," Arizona says shutting the door and following Callie down the hall to the elevator.
Once inside the elevator Callie looks over at her and Arizona begins laughing. "That wasn't necessary, but thanks," she says smiling at the brunette.
"Sorry, I was coming up to check on the Kenner case and I heard you telling her that you were running late to meet someone, so I improvised," Callie says smiling broadly.
"I assumed that she was here to run into you, not me," Arizona replies carefully.
"Uh, no. She's charming as hell and her flattery is almost addictive, but no thanks," Callie says firmly.
"I reviewed the Kenner case, she was smart to add you to the case this morning," Arizona points out.
"Jackson would have been fine in there, they didn't really need me. But it was pretty amazing to scrub in on it," Callie admits.
"Speaking of Jackson, Alex is under the impression that he wants to add a craniofacial surgeon to our roster," Arizona remarks.
"He is and Boswell is available next month. I, uh, I told him that I would lobby against her. I don't think she's a good fit here," Callie replies carefully.
"I have to agree," Arizona says as her phone buzzes in her pocket. She checks the message from Meredith and then turns to her ex. "I'm sorry about you and Penny," she says unsure if Callie knows that Blake has already hooked up with Samantha.
"It's fine, it had been over for a while and I was just clinging to it so I wouldn't be alone, pathetic, huh?" she remarks.
"You're not pathetic Calliope," Arizona says reaching out to hug her lightly as the elevator doors open.
"Thanks Arizona, have a great night and tell Meredith that I miss her," Callie replies stepping back into the elevator.
"Now that Penny is dating someone else, don't you think it's time for you and Callie to go back to being friends?" Arizona asks Meredith over dinner.
"I'm just waiting for her to apologize for interfering with my resident program, she was completely unprofessional, I'm Chief of General Surgery now. She needs to respect that and if she has a problem, she shouldn't air it out in the hallways of this hospital," Meredith explains.
"Valid point. I'll say something to her about that," Arizona replies going back to her meal.
"It's not your place to fix this Arizona. She's a grown woman, she should be able to figure this out on her own," Meredith remarks.
"She doesn't know about Sam and Penny yet, so I just thought it would help if the two of you were on better terms before she finds out about that," Arizona explains.
"Arizona, you need to step back, this isn't on you." Meredith says taking the blonde's hand into her own. "This is about Boswell being there today, isn't it?"
"I can't help feeling badly about it," Arizona admits.
"I get that, but you don't have anything to feel badly about now," Meredith reminds her. "Or did something happen?"
"No, nothing happened. Well, Lauren was there when I was leaving, but then Callie showed up and pretended like we had plans, so you could say that she sort of rescued me," Arizona explains awkwardly.
"Did you need rescued?" Meredith ask concerned, "Arizona?"
"No, I had the situation under control, but she's persistent. Callie just helped diffuse it more quickly," Arizona says looking up at her and smiling to reassure her.
"Does she know that you're seeing someone?" Meredith asks suddenly.
"Uh, I have no idea what she knows about me," Arizona replies.
"You didn't tell her that you were seeing someone?" Meredith questions again.
"Meredith, last time I told her that she took it as a personal challenge, so no I didn't tell her that I was seeing anyone, because it's doesn't matter, I wasn't interested in her when I was single, I sure as hell am not interested in her now" Arizona points out.
"Dr Robbins may I have a word with you?" Bailey asks intercepting the fetal surgeon at the elevator the next morning.
"You've read my email," Arizona states following her into her office.
"I did and I just spoke with Nathan Riggs, he expresses similar concerns about Blake. I'm meeting with her and Webber later this morning and I've already reached out to Seattle Med and Seattle Pres to see if I could secure another slot for her. But I wanted to make sure that this has nothing to do with Meredith Grey, I don't think it does, but I have to ask," she says carefully.
"Chief, this is about a resident who was prepared for a procedure and then simply froze up in my OR. I think that she's not performing well in our system and if she's unsuccessful here we're exposing ourselves to a potential lawsuit. In my opinion, she never should have been placed here. Had she been more forthcoming in her resident interview, this whole situation could have been avoided," Arizona points out.
"I don't disagree with you," Bailey replies. "Thank you Arizona."
"You're welcome Chief, now have Helene set up some time for us to discuss the fetal fellowship," Arizona says before turning to leave.
"What was that about?" Meredith asks surprised to see Arizona coming out of Bailey's office.
"Just reminding the Chief that we need to meet soon about the fetal fellowship," Arizona says smoothly, greeting her with a light kiss on the lips. "Now how about we go somewhere and really say good morning?"
Meredith's eyes twinkle and a smile plays across her lips as she pulls the blonde into her office and shuts the door. "Better?" she asks moving in close to kiss the blonde.
"Mmm," Arizona says returning the kiss and just as she's about to deepen it, her pager goes off. Looking at it she groans, "I have to go, but I'll see you later," she promises kissing her again before rushing out of the room.