Thank you again for all the amazing reviews! Keep reviewing, it makes me happy. I'm glad you're enjoying this story. Here comes the next chapter.

'Nobody sees, nobody knows;
we are a secret, can't be exposed.
That's how it is, that's how it goes;
far from the others, close to each other,
that's when we uncover.

We could build a universe right here,
all the world could disappear;
wouldn't notice, wouldn't care.
We could build a universe right here,
the world could disappear; I just need you near.'

Uncover – Zara Larsson

Chapter 14

It had been about two weeks since Eliza and Arizona had that talk outside of Joe's and the women were trying to keep their relationship strictly professional but it was hard. They couldn't help the longing stares and easy smiles but other than that they hadn't been hanging out at all or even talking too much. It was hell for both of them but Eliza was trying to be fair to Arizona and the blonde was trying to be respectful of Eliza's situation and relationship. She had no idea of what was going on between the brunette and her girlfriend but she had chosen not to break up with her and she had to respect and accept that.

"So that's it? You confessed your feelings to each other and now you're just avoiding each other?" Amelia asked.

"Pretty much." Arizona answered, typing something in the iPad she had in her hands.

"I don't get it."

"Me either, but that's what has been decided. She's not breaking up with her." The blonde said, trying to end the conversation.

"Okay, but why?" the other surgeon asked confused.

"I don't know Amelia, because that's how life fucking works sometimes." The blonde said, immediately regretting her words and tone. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you…I'm just tired."

"It's okay. You're buying me a drink tonight for being a bitch." Amelia said. "And by a drink you know I mean a double chocolate and peanut butter milkshake."

"That actually sounds like a great plan. I could use some sugar. Maybe a burger and fries too." Arizona said excitedly.

"I like the way you think, Robbins." Amelia said pointing a finger at her friend. "But seriously. I think you two need to talk about this whole thing sober. It's not fair for you, her or the girlfriend. She clearly doesn't want to be with her anymore. Why can't she just break up with her? It's not the end of the world, people break up all the time."

"Yes, they do." She said looking at Amelia. She hadn't told her their whole story yet; all that Amelia knew was that they had feelings for each other and that they went to High School together. "We broke up once."

"Who? You and Minnick? What?" Amelia asked confused.

"Yeah. She was my first love. We were together from 1993 until 1995. Almost three years. We met in 92 though and it felt as if we had been together since the very first day we met." The blonde confessed.

"Wow. So, you were babies when you were together."

"Yes. She was fourteen and I was fifteen when we first met. Not many time after my eighteen birthday we left for college and we broke up. It was hell, Amy, you have no idea. I was so in love with her. It was physically painful to break up." Arizona said, sighing.

"Then why did you break up?"

"I went to Hopkins, she went to UCSF." The blonde said as if it was obvious.

"So?"

"What do you mean 'so?'? If a long-distance relationship would be hard now with all the new technologies imagine how it would've been in the mid 90s."

"You could've at least tried."

Arizona smiled sadly. "She wanted to try but I didn't." she sighed again. "We saw each other again, New Year's Eve 1999. It wasn't planned. We just happened to attend the same party in New York City…I mean, what were the odds? And yet, there she was. Looking even more beautiful than I remembered. Just like right now."

"Maybe it was fate telling you that you really needed to try and make it work." The dark-haired doctor said.

"Maybe. Again, she was willing to give the whole long-distance thing a try, but I wasn't. I try not to regret anything but it's hard when she's here and she looks like that and she makes me feel all these things again and I can't have her." The blonde said.

"Wow, you've got it bad." Amelia said wrapping an arm around Arizona's shoulder. "Forget about buying me a milkshake, I'll buy YOU a double bacon cheeseburger with cheese fries and huge strawberry milkshake topped with whipped cream. You definitely need it."

"See? This is why I like you, you always know exactly what I need." Arizona said laughing and walking down the hall with her friend.

As the day went on, Arizona felt an increasing pain in her leg. She couldn't bear to be on her feet anymore but she didn't want to show anybody any sign of weakness. She had worked so hard on appearing tough an as if her leg never caused her any problems anymore but sometimes she still had excruciating pain on it. Pain that didn't go away with painkillers and that barely allowed her to move. Like right now. Luckily for her she didn't have any more surgeries scheduled for that day so she went into an empty on-call room to rest until her shift ended. She just needed to rest and put her leg up.

The pain was so bad that tears were rolling down her eyes. She needed a shot if she wanted to make it to the end of her shift but she couldn't move and there was no way in hell she would page ortho for help. She didn't want to risk having Eliza being the one to answer her page and have to see her like this. She was so lost in her thoughts and pain that she didn't notice when the door opened and someone came in.

"Arizona?"

Of course! Perfect. Just perfect.

"Hi." Arizona said quickly wiping her tears without even looking at the other person.

"What's wrong? Are you in pain?" Eliza asked, concern evident in her voice and quickly getting closer to the blonde.

"I'm okay."

"No, you're not. You're crying." Eliza said. "Is it your leg? Let me check it."

"No. No way." Arizona said.

"Come on. I'm an ortho surgeon. A great one. I know about these kind of injuries, I treat them all the time." Eliza said, looking directly into Arizona's eyes.

"No." Arizona said. She didn't want the brunette to be her doctor and she didn't want her to see the nasty scar she had almost all across her leg. She was fine, she would be fine. She just needed to rest.

"You should have a shot, painkillers work faster in shot form." Eliza said, giving up. "Can I at least send Jo to help you? She can apply the shot and she's really good."

"Okay." Arizona said without any other word. She could barely speak from the pain she was experiencing. That, combined with Eliza being there and seeing her like that was too much for her to handle. She needed to go home. She should text Amelia and let her know that they should raincheck.

"I'll check on you later." Eliza said, turning to leave the room.

"You really don't need to."

"I know, but I want to."

"Eliza…" the blonde started but was instantly interrupted by the brunette.

"No, Arizona, stop. I care about you and your wellbeing. I'm not going to just cross my arms while you are in pain."

"Okay."

"Also, I know it's not the right time but will it ever be the right time?"

"I don't understand, Eliza."

"I think we should talk. We can't keep ignoring the elephant in the room." The brunette said releasing a big sigh.

"You're right, it's not the right time." The blonde said, almost whispering.

"Is it ever the right time with us, Arizona?" Eliza said, clearly frustrated. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't talk about this right now. I'm going to send Wilson to help you and later, if you feel like talking just text me and I'll be there."

"Where's 'there'?" Arizona asked.

"Wherever you want, smartass." Eliza said finally smiling.

"Okay. I'll let you know." Arizona said.

"Feel better, Phoenix. Jo will be here in no time." The brunette said before leaving the tiny on-call room.

Jo went to give Arizona the shot she needed and a brief massage. The blonde wasn't particularly comfortable with this situation but she really was in horrible pain so she didn't object. The younger doctor left her alone to rest and went back to where her mentor was.

"Dr. Minnick?" she said.

"Jesus, Wilson! Don't do that!" The ortho surgeon was so deep into thought that she jumped, clearly startled.

"I'm sorry. It's just that, I could almost hear you thinking." She said.

"I…I don't know how to answer that." Eliza said.

"Can I ask you something?" Jo said, hesitantly.

"Of course. Anything." The older surgeon answered.

"But, this is a question that Jo is asking Eliza. Not Dr. Wilson asking Dr. Minnick." The young doctor said with a serious expression in her eyes.

"It's okay Jo, you can ask me. We're friends."

"What's the deal with you and Robbins?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you two were always together and smiley and happy when you first arrived and now you're all gloomy the whole time. And you barely speak to each other." Jo explained. "Also, I can feel the tension between the two of you. I think everybody can."

"It's a complicated situation." Eliza answered, trying to brush off the subject. She really didn't feel like talking about this anymore.

"Situations are only complicated because we allow them to get complicated." Jo said, noticing that her mentor wasn't completely comfortable with the conversation. "I don't know what's going on, but maybe it's less complicated than you think it is."

"Trust me, it's not." The green-eyed doctor answered sighing.

"Well, if you need someone to talk to, I'm here."

"Actually…do you feel like getting coffee and a muffin right now? We don't have anything scheduled for right now and I could use a female opinion for a change." Eliza said.

"Of course." Jo said as they both walked towards the coffee cart.

After the shot and massage, Arizona felt a lot better. She and Amelia decided to still reschedule their dinner so that Arizona could get proper rest. Besides, the rain was being a bitch that night. She still felt a lot of pain on her leg from time to time. After all, she had been through a very traumatic experience both physically and emotionally. An experience in which she nearly lost her leg and where she lost two good friends. Her lower limb was so damaged that nobody thought it could be saved. Not even Callie. But then Karev found this specialist from Sweden who was able to save her leg, not without sequels of course. But she wasn't really complaining because she got to keep her leg. Even if she had more metal in it than the Space Needle.

She went home, feeling exhausted. She didn't feel like cooking at all so she ordered Chinese food which arrived really fast. She felt like having some wine but decided against it given the fact that Jo gave her a pretty strong shot and that she'll probably had to take a muscle relaxant before sleeping just to make sure she'll make it through the night. She was in the middle of having dinner when her doorbell rang. She wondered who could it be. She wasn't really waiting for anybody and DeLuca had moved out a couple of weeks ago with some other interns and residents. He needed to be closer to the hospital and rent was getting a little bit too expensive for him. Arizona didn't really need help with the rent, she just wanted the company.

She stood up from her comfortable couch and walked to her door. She opened it without even asking who it was and was extremely shocked at who she saw there, standing outside of her door with a tear stained face and completely soaked from the rain.

"Eliza!" Arizona said "You're dripping. Come inside." The blonde said, moving away from the door frame so that Eliza could walk inside.

"I'm sorry, I know I should've called first or something but I just, I just needed to see you Arizona." The brunette said, tears filling her eyes again.

"Hey, calm down. Why don't you go to my bathroom and I'll bring you some dry clothes while I throw yours in the dyer. You're dripping all over my carpet and your nose looks like it's about to fall off of your face from the cold." Arizona said, trying to light up the mood. Eliza let out a small laugh and nodded as Arizona pointed towards the bathroom as she went upstairs to get the brunette some clothes. Her mind was racing and her heart was beating so fast she thought it would fall out of her chest. Eliza looked absolutely stunning even with ruined make up, tear stained face and completely drenched from the rain. She had no idea how she did it.

She attempted to calm her heart and mind with little success as she went down the stairs and knocked on the bathroom's door to hand her Eliza some gray sweat pants and an old Hopkins t-shirt. Eliza opened the door slightly and received the clothes Arizona handed to her. A few minutes later she walked out the door, still looking as beautiful as ever. Even more beautiful now that she was wearing Arizona's clothes.

"I was in the middle of eating dinner. Do you want some chow-mein and orange chicken? I was in the middle of having dinner and I ordered way too much." Arizona said walking over to her kitchen to get another plate.

"Thank you. I'm actually starving." The brunette doctor said. Her eyes looking even lighter and greener because of the tears that had recently rolled down her cheeks.

"You came to the right place, then." The blonde said smiling and handing the other woman a plate. "help yourself."

They ate in comfortable silence for a while. Both thinking in what was about to happen and what they were about to say. Eliza in particular, she had a whole speech planned but now, being in front of Arizona she was second guessing absolutely everything. There was so much she wanted to say to her but she was scared of saying it all wrong. After they finished, Arizona stood up and grabbed both dishes and went over to wash them.

"Let me do it." Eliza said.

"It's okay, don't worry."

"No. You shouldn't be on your feet. Please."

"Uh…okay. Thank you." The blonde surgeon said handling her the dishes, a genuine smile on her face.

Eliza washed the dishes and cutlery in silence, her mind still racing. Eliza grabbed two soda cans from her fridge and went over to the sofa, waiting for Eliza to join her. After what seemed an eternity, the brunette finally walked over to her and sat next at the other side of the sofa. Arizona handed her a can.

"So, Eliza, what do you want to talk about? I mean, I'm guessing that's why you're here, right?" Arizona said, going straight to the point. She was done with going around the bushes.

Eliza was a little startled by Arizona's bluntness. "Us." She answered, just as directly and blunt. She was also done playing dumb.

"Okay, what about us?" Arizona asked.

"Look, ever since that night outside of the bar I feel terrible. I can't sleep, I can barely eat…I'm a mess."

"I'm sorry." The other doctor said, looking down.

"No, don't. Don't be sorry." Eliza said placing a finger on the blonde's chin to bring her face up and face her. "You've done nothing wrong. I'm the only one to blame here, I got myself into this mess."

"Lizzie…"

"I love it when you call me like that, did you know that?" the brunette said with a smile on her face. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"It's okay." The blonde answered.

"No, it's not. It's not fair…to you, to me or to Jessica." Eliza said, tears filling her eyes again.

"Jessica…" Arizona said with a sad smile.

"Yes. Jessica." The brunette continued, wiping away a few tears. "She's an incredible person, Arizona. She deserves better. She deserves better than being with someone who wants to be with someone else. She deserves better than being with someone who is in love with someone else. She…she deserves better than me." She said, fresh tears coming down her cheeks again.

"Don't say that. Don't ever say that, please. Who could be better than you?" Arizona said, wiping the fresh tears away with her thumbs.

"Michelle Obama?" Eliza said, laughing.

"Well, she is pretty cool and beautiful but somehow I don't think she would be the right match for Jessica." The blonde said also laughing. She held Eliza's cheeks and placed her forehead against hers releasing some tears of her own. "I'm in love with you too. I've always been in love with you."

Eliza's hands went to Arizona's waist, pulling her close to her and wrapping her in a tight embrace before kissing her cheek.

"I need time. I can't just break up with her now. She's going through a lot of shit."

"We all go through shit, Eliza."

"I know but she just has been there for me through so much. I can't just leave now. Her father is really sick. He has stage four lung cancer. At this point they're just waiting for it to happen. He's getting weaker day by day and it's killing Jess to see him like that." The brunette said. "Also, she was part of a commission that worked in some public projects during the past administration and apparently her bosses weren't all that honest with the financial issues and now everyone who had even a small part in the project is getting investigated and sued for embezzlement of public funds. Even if she wasn't directly involved. It could damage her career forever."

"I'm sorry for her. She really is going through some tough times." The blonde said, genuinely feeling sorry for the tiny woman she met a few weeks ago.

"Also, her brother has to go to rehab…again. And they have to hide it from her father because of his illness. She's pretty much a mess right now." she concluded, sighing. "And, on top of that, her girlfriend is basically having an emotional affair with her ex-girlfriend and first love."

"Wow. Life's really being a bitch to her right now." Arizona said. "Are you sure she doesn't work at Grey Sloan? Because we all seemed to be cursed and she would fit right in with us."

"Don't say that. You're not cursed."

"So, what are you going to do, Eliza? I don't want to influence in your decision. I won't tell you to break up with her or when to do it but you have to know that I can't and won't wait around forever." The blonde said, with serious expression on her face.

"I know and I wouldn't expect you to do any of that. I just, I need time."

"No matter how much time passes, you'll always feel guilty. Just know that." Arizona said as the other woman nodded in response. "So, what now?"

"Can we just…can we…I know it may be wrong and fucked up or whatever but can I just hug you? Like can we just stay on this sofa and just be here for a while hugging? I need it. Please."

Arizona hesitated a little bit. Of course she wanted to wrap her arms around the brunette and to feel her arms wrapped around her but it wasn't right. Not yet, anyway. Still, she was weak when it came to Eliza so she just opened her arms, gesturing for Eliza to get in them. The brunette obliged and wrapped her arms tightly around the blonde. After a little while, she wrapped an arm around Arizona's torso while she rested her head on the blonde's shoulder.

A couple of hours later, they were still in the same position watching the closing credits of a movie on Netflix.

"I probably should go. It's getting late and we both have early shifts tomorrow." Eliza said.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll go get your clothes." Arizona said, turning around to go get them. Less than a minute later, she was back with the clothes in her hands.

"Thank you." The brunette said, walking into the bathroom to change her clothes.

Arizona's head was going crazy. This night had been so emotional and overwhelming. Like everything involving Eliza lately. However, she was happy because for the first time since they met again, she felt like everything was finally clear between the of them. They had both poured their heart out and knew what the other wanted a needed. She felt bad for being the kind of woman who wanted someone to break up with their girlfriend so that they could be with her but what was she supposed to do? Turn around and forget about Eliza without even saying anything or trying?

No. She couldn't, this was the love of her life. She had to try. She would never demand for her to break up with her to do anything, but she needed her to know what she was feeling. And now she did. And it could either end completely shattering her or finally giving her happily ever after; it was impossible to know and risky as hell. But at least she could say she tried.

Eliza came out of the bathroom wearing her clothes again and handling Arizona the sweatpants and t-shirt she had gave her. "Thank you, Phoenix." She said. "I had a great time tonight. Thank you for everything."

"Of course, Lizzie. You have nothing to thank me for."

"Bye, Arizona. See you tomorrow." Eliza said taking her keys out of her purse and walking towards the door.

"Eliza, wait." The blonde said.

"Yes?"

"What does your tattoo say?"

The brunette walked over to the blonde, until she was close enough that they could feel each other's body heat. She tuned to her side and raised her shirt a little past her bra, giving Arizona full sight of her tattoo.

You learn the blonde read and her heart started racing again. "That's my handwriting. And what we talked about the last time we saw each other back in 2000." She said, stunned.

"It sure is." Eliza said smiling and pulling her shirt down. "Good night, Arizona." She said before finally walking out the door.