Disclaimer: I never owned, do not own and will never own Grey's Anatomy (unfortunately) but I do own this story.
I'm sorry for the week's wait but I've been really out of it this past week; despite that I still had to write to get this out to you guys so I spent the past few hours doing just that. Huge thank you to Cloee for helping me to get this chapter out! So here it is, chapter 14.
Enjoy!
"Robbins, Altman, over here!" the two blondes looked around the room and spotted Mark Sloan waving at them. They moved wordlessly towards the man and found that he was not alone but was sitting at a combination of four tables with Derek, Meredith and Cristina. The two women said their hellos and took their seats, Arizona beside Derek and Teddy beside her. "Robbins, I feel like I haven't seen you in ages and that's saying a lot cause we're partners." He bit into his apple, "Where've you been?"
Arizona shrugged, "Between my room, my parents' house and the hospital."
"Oh, how's your cousin doing? I haven't heard much about him other than that he woke up last week," Mark said scrunching his brows.
Arizona sighed, "He's recovering. They're taking him home on Friday."
"Oh, cool. That's the day after tomorrow," he exclaimed.
"Yes…yes it is, Mark," she said sarcastically. He scowled at her and mumbled under his breath causing everyone at the table to laugh at him.
A few minutes later he was smiling again and engaging in conversation with Derek about a baseball match that he had watched the night before. He suddenly turned to her and Teddy, "Hey, we were planning on having a softball game this evening. You guys in?" Teddy readily agreed but Arizona shrugged. "Come on Robbins, you know you wanna join us," she shook her head. "Torres will be there. I haven't asked her yet but I know she'll say yes."
Arizona looked down at her plate trying to hide the smile that had crept on her face at the mention of Callie, "You can't use Calliope as a way to get me into your game." She looked up at him the smile gone from her face.
"Okay fine. But come on, Robbins we need one more player and you're that one player," he reached across the table and gestured towards her face trying earnestly to get her to play.
She rolled her blue eyes, "Fine. I'll play your stupid game."
Mark grinned at her, "You'll love it, I promise."
Derek snapped his fingers to get Mark's attention, "We still need an umpire; preferably someone who plays softball."
Teddy leaned forward to look at the man with creepily perfect hair, "Henry…my friend plays softball and I'm sure he would be willing to be an umpire."
"Ask him and let's get this game going, Altman," Mark said with a spark in his eye.
Teddy pulled out her phone and Arizona leaned over and whispered, "Your 'friend' huh?"
"Shut it. You'll have Callie there so I figured Henry could tag along as well…that way I don't have to watch you two make googly eyes at each other," Teddy said not looking at the other woman.
"Yeah because you'll be too busy making googly eyes at Henry," Arizona said around her straw.
Teddy scoffed, "I do not make googly eyes."
"Sure you don't, Altman."
A few seconds later Teddy addressed the two men at the table, "He said sure. What time though?"
Mark and Derek looked at each other before they both announced, "Five." Teddy nodded and sent the message.
The next few minutes were spent with the two men picking the teams for later; there were names that Arizona recognized and others that she did not. The men appointed themselves captains and of course Mark took Arizona, Callie, Addison and Teddy and put them his team. There was a small argument over a girl named Amelia that Meredith settled by serving as the tiebreaker and placing her on Mark's team.
A few minutes after Meredith had settled the argument more persons showed up at the table, among them Callie and Addison. The Latina sat across from Arizona and smiled at her. The smile had the same effect that it had on her every single time, she was left speechless and could only manage a smile in response.
When they were all seated Mark pounced on them, "Guys we're playing softball later. Derek and I already worked out all the details."
Alex scoffed, "When are we gonna play a real sport? Like football or rugby or wrestling?"
Meredith glared at him from her end of the table, "Softball is as much of a sport as all those, Alex." He grunted in response and bit into his sandwich.
Callie looked at Mark, "Owen and I have practice until six tonight."
Derek waved his hand, "That's fine just come after we made sure you two were on opposite teams so it'll still be even." Callie nodded.
"So who's on which team? You two have been hogging the list so we haven't been able to see it," Cristina said from beside Meredith.
"Can it, Yang. So, we've appointed ourselves captains of the two teams," Mark looked around but everyone seemed okay with that, even Cristina. He continued, "My team has Altman, Avery, Forbes-Montgomery, Little Grey –"
Addison cut him off, "Lexie's coming?"
Callie rolled her eyes, "Of course she is."
Mark cleared his throat, "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," he shot a glare to the two women, "Little Grey, Karev, Robbins, Girl Shepherd and Torres."
"And Amelia is coming as well. Great." Addison looked at Derek and Meredith, "Why don't you two have your sisters on your team?"
"Please don't get Derek and Mark started on the Girl Shepherd thing again," Cristina told her from the other side of the table.
"You know Amelia doesn't like me. Why would you put her on our team?" Addison said to her ex.
"You know as well as I do that she wouldn't want to be on my team, Addison," Derek shot back to her, his gaze becoming hard. Meredith placed her hand on his arm to calm him down.
"Can you read out Shepherd's team please, Mark," Owen asked from the end of the table trying to soothe the tension that had settled over the group.
The man nodded, "Shepherd's team, Adamson, Bennett, Fields, Grey, Hunt, Kepner, O'Malley and Yang." He folded the paper and placed it in his pocket. "And Altman's friend agreed to be umpire for this game." Everyone nodded and looked down at their plates picking at their food. They were all aware of the issues that Derek, Addison, Mark and Meredith had found themselves in but some had been left in the dark about Amelia Shepherd, Arizona being one of them. While the former couple had come a long way from the constant arguments and ignoring each other that had constituted whatever they had after the break up this issue with Girl Shepherd still seemed to be sensitive and sore with both parties.
Ten minutes later and almost without another word to each other the group began to disperse, firstly Cristina, Meredith, Derek and Owen until they all drifted off leaving Arizona with Callie, Teddy, Mark and Addison.
"I'm not playing if Amelia is on our team," Addison said when she could not see Derek's back anymore.
Mark sighed, "Come on, Addie. That was over two years ago."
"It doesn't matter Mark. Amelia Shepherd is a –" Addison began.
"I know, Addie but she's good now and I'm sure she's forgiven you more than she's forgiven Derek. She loves you and you know that," Mark said trying to get his friend to calm down.
Addison huffed, "Fine. But I'm not playing anywhere near her."
Mark shook his head, "We're gonna have her in her usual position. She needs the practice for next season anyways."
"Good. I'll play outfield with Cal," the man nodded.
The mention of Callie caused Arizona to look at the woman and she found the Latina's brown eyes on her. A smile crept on the face across from her and Callie winked before looking at Mark who had called her.
"The googly eyes have begun," Teddy leaned over and whispered to her dramatically, her eyes wide open.
Arizona rolled her eyes, "Shut up, Teddy." The blonde smirked and leaned back in her seat. Arizona's phone rang and she groaned expecting to find a call from her mother but instead smiled when she saw a text…actually she smiled when she saw who the text was from. She looked across the table with a smirk on her lips. Teddy leaned over when she saw what was happening, "Don't say anything, Theodora." She held up her hands and backed away from Arizona with a smirk on her face. Arizona responded to Callie's text and saw the other woman smile from across the table.
"Well, it's about time for Anatomy class," Callie said pushing away from the table.
Arizona looked at her phone for the time, "Oh wow, you're right." She pushed away from the table as well and took up her tray as well. "See you later, guys," she gave them a dimpled smile and left the table, Callie right behind her.
"We're on to you two," Mark shouted at their retreating backs.
They disposed of their trays and the food left on their plates and left the dining hall. They stepped out of Pierce to a shining sun. They strolled across the grass towards the Science Quad and Higley Auditorium; they actually had a few minutes to spare before they had to be at Dr. Grey's class.
"I haven't been able to see you much recently," Callie said beginning their conversation.
Arizona looked up at her, "I know. I'm sorry, I've been working on my part of the research, I've been at home with my parents an my uncle and I've been at the hospital with Chris."
"No need to apologize. When's he going home?" Callie said looking around the expansive lawn between Pierce and the Science Quad.
Arizona smiled, "Friday. Speaking of which, my mom's having a celebratory dinner and she wants you to be there."
Callie was surprised and Arizona could see it clearly when the Latina looked at her, "Oh…uh, I'll see if I can make it."
"You don't have to come if you don't want to. I'll just tell her you had practice or something," Arizona was giving her an out. She really hoped Callie did not take it.
"Don't be silly, Arizona. I'd love to have dinner with you and your family," the blonde released a breath that she did not know she was holding. "Will this by any chance count as a second date?" Callie asked smirking.
"Uh, what? No…unless you want it to be but I was thinking that our second date would have less of my family that the first. They're just so weird and awkward," Arizona said scrunching her face.
Callie laughed, "From what I've seen I actually like your family…your dad's still scary though."
Arizona waved her hand and scoffed, "Don't let what you see and the 'call me The Colonel' thing scare you, he's a big softie."
"Uh huh. I'll have to see that to believe it," Callie said pulling a few leaves from a tree they passed under.
"So how's practice?" Arizona asked looking up at the beautiful face that she had fallen in love with.
Callie threw away the leaves and turned her head to Arizona slowly, "Bailey is a monster." She shook her head when the other woman laughed, "I'm serious! I've been a part of the choir for a while now and this is the most I've ever seen her push us. Practices are now almost two hours longer than usual and we have meetings almost every day. Bailey needs to calm down."
"It's hard on her too, Calliope. She wants to win the trophy and with her lead musician being out for who knows how long she must be under a lot of stress," Arizona said watching a butterfly flutter pass them.
Callie sighed, "I know, Arizona. It's just that she's taking all of it out on us and we're just as stressed."
Arizona wrapped her arms around Callie's and looked up at her, "I know, Ca but think about the payoff in a month's time when the trophy and title are ours again." The smile she received was one of the most breathtakingly stunning she had received from the woman and it made her heart melt.
"Are you going to be there?" Callie asked, her eyes showing how hopeful she was.
"Do you want me to be there?" Arizona asked.
"Yeah," Callie breathed out.
Arizona nodded before shrugging, "Maybe." She let go of Callie's arm and walked a few steps ahead of her.
"Maybe?" Callie called walking faster to catch the blonde.
Arizona turned around and winked, "Maybe, Calliope." She jogged to the door of the building and held the door open for Callie.
Callie narrowed her eyes at the woman as she passed, "Thanks." When Arizona was in the building she turned around, "Maybe? Really, Arizona?"
Arizona laughed, "Fine, I'll be there." Callie smiled at her and they walked into the classroom. For the first time in a long while Arizona willingly took a seat at the back of the class simply because that was where Callie was.
Four hours later she was on a field with sixteen other people, one of who was standing in the circle they had formed around him.
"Alright, our teams only have eight people each so we're gonna play with two outfielders until the other two get here," Henry said trying to look at everyone standing around him. "We're gonna play a clean game here, okay?" There were a few shouts of 'no', particularly from Alex and Jackson but Henry ignored this and continued. "Derek and Sloan come forward please," the two men did as they were told and Henry took a coin from his pocket. He looked at Derek, "Call it while it's in the air." He flipped the coin; Derek's team won and sent Mark's team in to bat and Henry called out, "Play ball!"
Forty minutes later they had one point and had two bases loaded. Arizona sat in the makeshift dugout and watched as Sam pitched to Lexie. The brunette hit the ball over Lucy's head and towards where Cristina and Meredith were sitting and drinking from a flask. The two friends looked at the ball and laughed as it fell just in front of them. Meredith tried to stand to collect it but fell over, laughing in the process. Cristina, obviously not as drunk as the blonde, got the ball and threw it to Sam before doubling over with laughter at Meredith who still lying in the grass but trying to take another swig from the flask in her hand. During this time all three hitters had gotten to the home plate and the team was now up four to zip. The other batter that was left for the team, Alex, was out as quickly as he got in and now it was time for Arizona to find herself in the outfield. She got up and walked across the diamond with Addison as Mark called out for Amelia to get ready.
Derek was the first to bat and the man faced his sister with a scowl. She had him out a few minutes later and his scowl grew worse, she simply smirked at him. Amelia was good…no she was fantastic; she had sent four members of Derek's team back to their dugout without a point. It was a drunken Meredith who actually put on the best performance out of all the batters, managing to hit the ball past Jackson and into the outfield where Arizona scooped it up and fired it to Lexie who was unable to get Meredith out. Even drunk the woman was fast. Five minutes after that play the blonde was tagged out trying to steal second after Reed had hit a ball into the outfield. Callie arrived just in time to see Arizona snag a beautiful catch to get George out. Henry stopped the game and allowed Callie to join Addison and Arizona in the outfield.
The Latina jogged up to the two who were sitting on the grass, "Hey," she received a dimpled smile from Arizona and a head nod from Addison. She sat between the two, "So this is all you guys do?"
Addison shrugged, "This is all I do. Arizona actually plays, that's just too much work for me."
Callie rolled her eyes, "Catching a ball is too much work but going shopping for hours is nothing."
"Uh, yes. Shopping is actually fun…this isn't," Addison said shading her eyes with her hand to see what was happening in the diamond.
"This is fun, Addie," Arizona said jumping up and pulling Callie up with her. "Come on, I'll let you get the next ball and you'll see."
The redhead shook her head, "No thank you. I'm good right here."
Callie smirked and held on to Arizona's hand, "Come on. She'll be fine right here." She looked at Addison, "Maybe you can work on that tan that you were planning on paying hundreds of dollars for."
Addison stuck her tongue out at her best friend, "I hope Arizona realizes how mean you really are."
Arizona laughed and nodded to Addison behind Callie's back. The Latina saw and slapped Arizona's arm, "Ouch, I was joking, Calliope."
"No. You don't get to make jokes with Addison at my expense," Callie said looking between the two.
"Okay. I'm sorry, Calliope," Arizona said using her most apologetic voice.
"You're lucky I like you," she said to Arizona. She turned to Addison, "I'm still contemplating whether I like you or not."
Addison scoffed, "You love me." Callie rolled her eyes and gently pulled on Arizona's hand leading her away from their friend.
"How was practice today?" Arizona asked when they were seated on the grass once more.
"Not as stressful as the other days but it was still strenuous," Callie said plucking the grass from around her sneaker. "Bailey was kinda out of it today. We really need Chris. Do you by any chance play the piano?"
Arizona shook her head, "I wish I did. I never got into music as a kid but I learned to play guitar in the last two years that Tim was at home."
Callie sighed and stretched out on the grass, "You and your brother got along well?"
Arizona looked at the players on the diamond smiling, "Yeah we did. He was the only person who was always with me through all the moves and he was my best friend…we were each others' best friends. I came out to him before I did to my parents because I knew that he would have supported me when I was ready to tell them. He was the best brother ever."
"I bet he was. How long?" Callie asked.
Arizona looked down at the Latina at her side, "Four years, two months and ten days. He was stationed in Iraq and a suicide car bomber attacked his convoy and he held on for a while but…" neither the words nor the tears would come. She felt Callie's hand on her exposed arm and a single tear fell, she wiped at it and looked towards Owen who had called her name. The ball was flying towards them; Arizona quickly jumped up and picked up the ball that had fallen a few feet beside her. She threw it to Reed who tagged Lucy to get her out. A cheer erupted from the rest of the team and Arizona responded by giving two thumbs up in her captain's direction.
She sat beside Callie again with a smile, "So how was growing up with your sister?"
Callie looked at her for a while before answering. "Aria. She was…she is something else. She was one of those kids that embraced high society very well; I didn't so you can imagine the conflicts we had. But despite that she still managed to be down to earth but you had to know her really well to find that out. She and Addie still dislike each other up to this day but they don't spend enough time getting to know each other. Aria, she's one of those annoying sisters that you just have to love."
Arizona nodded, "Yeah I get that, it's kinda like that with me and Teddy. What do your parents do?"
"My dad owns a chain of hotels across the US and in some other countries and my mom throws parties and impresses, you know the typical socialite thing," Callie rolled her eyes when she spoke about her mother.
"I'm guessing from your reaction that you aren't too fun of that life," Arizona said turning her body towards Callie.
"That's all I've ever seen her do and I'm actually surprised that Aria and I didn't turn out that way. I mean Aria does it but not as much as my mom. It's like it's all she lives for and I don't know what kind of life that is," Callie said pulling her eyes away from Arizona and looking up at the quickly darkening sky. Before Arizona could respond Mark called his team in. The two stood and met up with Addison again to walk across the field to their 'dugout'.
Just over one hour later everyone was too tired to play the last quarter and so they ended the game four to two with Mark's team being the victor. Addison and Teddy had left the field with Callie and Arizona but left them and caught up with the others who had gone ahead.
"Those two are getting quite close aren't they?" Callie said watching the two women laugh with each other.
"Yeah; are you getting jealous, Calliope?" Arizona asked arching a brow at the taller woman.
"What? Of course not. Addie is free to make new friends, I was just making an observation," Callie huffed. "But if my best friend leaves me for yours then know that I'm coming to complain to you about it." Arizona laughed, "I'm not joking, Robbins. Addie is more than my best friend and roommate."
Arizona controlled her laughter, "I know, Calliope. If you want I can talk to Teddy and ask her to tone down the chumminess."
"No! Then she'll think I'm being selfish and bitchy," Callie said quickly.
"Okay," the blonde drawled, "I'll leave it be then." Callie nodded.
Teddy turned around and shouted to them, "Hey you two." They both looked at the blonde who was fifty feet in front of them, "We're going to the bookstore to get ice-cream." They nodded at her and crossed over towards the bookstore.
Five minutes later they walked into the building and heard Cristina's voice coming from the food section of the bookstore, "Tell her that we want rum and raisin, Mer…without the raisins…and the cream for that matter."
Meredith laughed, "But that would only leave," she hiccupped, "That would only leave…rum!" She laughed again.
"You're a fast learner, Merry Berry," it was a definite, both women were drunk. They walked in to see Owen holding a cup of coffee for Cristina to drink and her refusing it, "I'm not drunk, Owen. I'm perfectly fine," she patted his cheek and looked around the room. She spotted the newcomers, "Cal, Blondie, you two been shagging?'
Callie groaned and Arizona tried to stifle her laughter, "Go get sober, Yang."
"I'm sober…tell her, Mer," the blonde nodded her head from its position on Derek's shoulder.
"Okay now that everyone's here just get your ice-cream and we'll head out to the Quad," Mark said to the group.
Everyone got their dishes of ice cream and left. Arizona took a spoonful of her ice-cream and moaned as it melted on her tongue; Callie looked at the blonde, "What flavor gets you to do that?"
"Spicy Peanut Butter," Arizona said receiving a shocked and slightly 'you're crazy' look from Callie.
"Don't knock it until you try it, Torres," she scooped up the ice-cream and held it up her spoon for Callie to taste. The Latina dipped her head and took the ice-cream in her mouth; she gave a similar response to the blonde, "See I told you, it's good." Callie nodded. "What flavor did you get?"
"Karamel Sutra," Callie said holding it out for the blonde to see. "You want?" Arizona nodded and the Latina held out her spoon full of ice-cream for the blonde to taste.
"That is better than good," Arizona said trying to grab the spoon from Callie. "Please," Arizona whined when Callie held both the dish and the spoon above her head.
Arizona pouted and stopped walking. Callie turned around and looked at her, "What's wrong, Arizona?"
"Addison was right, you are mean," Callie walked towards her with a smile but the blonde's pout was firmly in place.
Her smile faltered, "Arizona…" the blonde shook her head causing her ponytail to swing behind her. Callie sighed and extended the dish and the spoon towards the blonde her pout turned into a smile but she shook her head again. "If you don't want the ice-cream what do you want then?"
She gave the brunette a cheeky smile, "I wanted to see how long it would take you to do that."
Callie slapped Arizona's arm, "And you say I'm mean!"
"I'm not mean...I'm adorable," Arizona said walking off.
They caught up to the rest of the group at the Quad and sat with Teddy and Addison, "We were beginning to think that you guys ditched us." Arizona rolled her eyes at her best friend. Callie had already been engaged in a conversation with Addison and Mark and Arizona was only able to watch as the most amazing and the closest thing to perfection that she knew sat five feet away from her laughing with her closest friends. "You got it bad, Z."
Arizona's eyes kept their focus on the Latina goddess that she had fallen for, "I know, Teddy. I got lucky that day when she said she liked me and I almost screwed it up…I almost screwed this us. I know it hasn't been long and it's not like we're actually together but she's the best thing that's happened to me since Timothy told us he was drafted."
Teddy was smiling at her best friend, "I'll pretend that you just bypassed our friendship as the greatest thing that's happened to you and tell you that you've deserved it. After all the shit that's happened to you, you deserve to be happy and Torres makes you happy; you two need to get together real soon."
"We've been on one…half of a date, Teddy and the second will be Friday…at my parents' house. I swear, those other girls that I dated would have most likely had a problem with that but not Callie. She's met my parents and dad introduced himself as The Colonel again but she likes them and they invited her to dinner so I'm guessing they like her as well. She's simply amazing in every way…she's beautiful both inside and out," Arizona's eyes sparkled as she smiled and spoke about the woman.
"I never thought I'd hear you talking like this, Z. I'm really happy that you and Torres found each other, that you found happiness again," Teddy said.
Arizona nodded her agreement and her smile grew wider when Callie's brown eyes met hers and the Latina sent her a playful wink, "I found more than happiness, Teds."
Thank you again for reading and for your continued interest in this story.