A/N: A little delay in posting thanks to the severe winter storms we've gotten here in the Seattle area this week. Thanks for the great responses on the last chapter. Now let's see what everyone thinks now that the secret is out. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy and its characters are owned by ABC and not me.

…

This was big news. Huge news. Meredith could barely believe it. She wouldn't have believed it if the nurse that told her hadn't have sworn on her own child's life that it was true. Meredith had to tell Cristina. Gossip like this was meant to be spread. Derek wasn't at work and he wouldn't have cared about the gossip. But she knew that Cristina would freak out over it. This was the biggest piece of gossip heard in the hospital since Callie had gotten knocked up with the spawn of Sloan. She knew that Cristina would hurt her if she wasn't told immediately. Meredith spent thirty minutes searching the hospital for Cristina. She searched all of Cristina's typical hangouts when she finally found her in the Chief's office eating lunch with her husband. Owen took one look at Meredith's facial expression as she stood in the doorway and knew he was being kicked out of his own office. Owen kissed Cristina on the cheek and left the girls alone. He only hoped that whatever was so important wasn't going to kick him out of his own bed that night.

Meredith paced in front of the couch Cristina was sitting on. She couldn't find the words to verbalize the latest gossip. She still couldn't believe that it was true.

"What is it?" Cristina asked. "What'd McDreamy do this time? Do I need to kick his ass?"

Meredith stopped and sat next to Cristina, "No. This has nothing to do with McDreamy. McDreamy is still Dreamy. Do you remember us talking to Alex about his girlfriend right before Valentine's Day?"

"Yeah," Cristina took a bite of pasta. "Did you find out who she is? Cuz I'm starting to think she's probably imaginary. I mean he's been living at the hospital since Robbins' accident so even if he did have a girlfriend she probably dumped him for caring about his boss more than her."

"That's just it, Cristina. His girlfriend is Robbins. Arizona is his girlfriend."

Cristina's mouth dropped open, "No way."

"Way."

"Seriously? No way…" Cristina couldn't believe it but she could tell by Meredith's face that she wasn't joking.

Meredith told Cristina everything she knew, "One of the OB nurses told one of my neuro nurses that she saw them making out while Lucy was doing an ultrasound on Arizona this morning."

"That means…"

"Yep. Alex is the baby daddy."

"No way," Cristina repeated. She was having a hard time wrapping her head around the news. "How the hell did this happen?"

"No idea," Meredith shrugged. She was just as puzzled as to how the hospital's most well known lesbian and its most well known asshole got together.

Cristina wanted answers and she figured who better to give them than the man himself. She hopped off the couch and threw her bowl into the trash. "Come on, we're going to find Karev," Cristina said as she latched onto Meredith's arm and dragged her from the room.

They knew Alex had been spending his time in only a handful of places since Arizona's accident – Arizona's room, the peds floor and the cafeteria to get his coffee fix. Meredith and Cristina did a drive by of Arizona's room and could only see Arizona sleeping in her bed. Next they headed to the overly colorful and cheery pediatrics floor. Cristina and Meredith walked up and down the hallways peeking into the rooms and found no evidence that Alex was there either. They only had one more place to look before they would have to resort to drastic measures of paging him to a fake emergency.

"He has to be here," Cristina said as they walked into the cafeteria.

Meredith's eyes were scanning back and forth across the large room as she searched for her target. "He's paying," Meredith pointed to Alex who was handing over a few bills to the cashier. "You go force him to eat here and not escape to Arizona's room while I go get some food. I missed lunch to track you down and now I'm starving. Don't you dare start questioning him without me."

Cristina nodded and waited patiently for her prey to get closer to her. He was keeping his head down so he didn't even see Cristina when she reached out and looped her arm through his.

"What the –?" Alex questioned when he felt someone touch him. He looked up and saw that it was Cristina that had pulled him to a stop. "What are you doing?"

"Announcing my presence!" Cristina stated the obvious. "You, me and Mer are going to eat lunch together. It's been so long since we've all hung out. Don't you think we should catch up?"

Alex groaned. It had only been a couple of hours since the ultrasound but it was obvious that the gossip had already spread. There was no other reason that Cristina would be demanding his presence for lunch. He didn't even bother fighting it. He knew that Cristina wasn't going to take no for an answer. "Fine," Alex huffed as he put his lunch down on a nearby table.

Cristina and Alex sat in silence as they waited for Meredith. Alex shoveled food into his mouth as quickly as he could while Cristina eyed him suspiciously. He knew that once Meredith showed up they would want him to talk so he wanted to eat as much as he could before his food went cold. Alex looked around the cafeteria as he ate and noticed that everyone was looking at him. Alex had no problem with people knowing about the recent developments in his personal life; it was the staring and talking behind his back that really pissed him off. He felt like a zoo animal on display. He was waiting for someone to ask him to do a trick with the way they kept pointing and talking.

"Oh good, you got him to stay," Meredith commented as she sat down with her friends.

Alex rolled his eyes and wiped his mouth with his napkin. "Just get it out already. Say what you need to say."

"Is it true?" Meredith asked.

"Is what true?" Alex rebutted. He hadn't actually heard the whispers going around the hospital so he had no idea what people were saying about him.

"You and Arizona," Cristina clarified hoping to get some answers.

"What about me and Arizona?" Alex questioned. He wasn't going to make this easy for them. If they wanted the dirt they were going to work for it.

"That you two are together and that Arizona is having your baby," Meredith laid it all out, starting to get annoyed with Alex's avoidance of the issues.

"That would be true," Alex smirked as he popped a fry into his mouth. He was actually impressed that the gossip was still accurate and hadn't transformed into Arizona being abducted by aliens and then impregnated by them. The imaginations of the hospital staff were not to be underestimated but apparently the lesbian dating the intern who spread syphilis were already so out there that it couldn't be improved on.

"Okay, I'm just going to say it," Cristina waved her hands in the air. "How the hell did you and Arizona get together? How did you get the gay girl? Is your penis that great? I think I need to see it. Can I get a look?"

Alex choked on his fry when Cristina mentioned his penis. He took a swig of water to help the coughing that ensued. "No, you cannot see it! Arizona might be recovering from being hit by a freaking car but she'd probably still be able to kick your ass for that."

"Alex, just be straight with us," Meredith implored, wanting to know more about her friend's relationship.

"Look, I don't know how it happened. It kind of just did," Alex explained. He had never really thought too deeply about his relationship with Arizona. He always focused on living in the moment and not questioning it. He had grown up learning not to question a good thing and what he had with Arizona was a good thing. "We just grew closer and closer as friends and then we crossed the friendship line and we haven't really looked back."

"But she's gay. She likes chicks – not dicks!" Cristina continued to question just how exactly Arizona's sexuality changed. Cristina had lived with Callie while she and Arizona were together; she knew they had an active sex life. She didn't understand how Arizona was suddenly with a man.

Alex shrugged his shoulders, "You can't help who you fall in love with and I'm not the first man that Arizona has been with – I'm just the first one that she's been in a relationship with."

"And now you're going to be a father," Meredith said.

Alex smiled. He couldn't help but smile when he thought about his baby, "I am."

"It's like I don't even know you," Cristina shook her head at Alex. In one hour the Alex Karev that she thought she knew had become a completely different person to her.

"I'm the same guy I was before you found out. I told you I had a girlfriend I just didn't tell you who. But now you know. The only thing that's changed is that I'm going to have a kid. Meredith has a daughter now so it's not like I'm the first one to have a kid in this group."

Cristina narrowed her eyes but smiled, "God, I'm losing all of you to poop and spit up machines. Just remember that Auntie Cristina does not do bodily fluids."

Meredith patted Alex on the back, "Alex, you're so grown up now. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," Alex said awkwardly. "Now can I finish my lunch without being interrogated?"

Meredith and Cristina let him eat but that didn't mean they were done with their questioning. They wanted more details about his relationship with Arizona. They wanted the whos, the whats, the hows and the whys.

Across the cafeteria another group of surgeons was also gossiping about the latest news. Mark, Callie, Teddy, Bailey and Owen had also met up in the cafeteria for a late lunch. Owen was the last one to join the table and he noticed that all eyes were on the table across the room with Cristina, Meredith and Alex.

"What is going on today?" Owen asked starting to get a bit paranoid. "Everyone is whispering around here and Meredith even kicked me out of my own office earlier. Is it about me? I don't hear any gossip anymore. Everyone shuts up as soon as I walk into a room."

"Oh it is definitely not about you," Mark reassured him.

"Okay…" Owen looked at everyone else at the table. No one was jumping to fill him in. He had gotten used to being left in the dark as Chief but he could usually count on one of his friends to tell him what was going on.

"Just typical gossiping," Bailey explained trying to stop the conversation before it got started. "People have nothing better to do than to talk about each other's lives around here."

"I gathered that," Owen looked around the cafeteria and noticed everyone was staring at the table with his wife. "Is it about Cristina?" Owen knew that there had been a lot of gossip about him and Cristina over the last few months as they went through a rough patch in their marriage that resulted in Cristina practically moving into the Shepherd house but they had been better in the last few weeks.

"No, it's about Karev. And Robbins," Mark started to fill him in before Bailey kicked him under the table. Owen looked at Mark expectantly like he wanted him to continue. Mark ignored Bailey's continued under the table assault and continued, "Apparently Alex and Arizona are together…sexually."

"Huh?" Owen was confused and looked to the others at the table for clarification. Arizona being in a relationship with a man was as likely as a UFO landing on the helipad on the hospital roof.

"Callie was a witness. She probably knows the most," Mark pointed to Callie across the table.

Callie glared at Mark. She really didn't want to get into the details of what she saw. She was still busy processing it herself. "But Teddy's her best friend so I bet Teddy knows more than me," she tried to deflect the attention from herself.

Teddy sighed. She really didn't want to be dragged into the gossip but she didn't want to let the gossip get too out of hand. "All I know is that yes, Alex and Arizona are together. They have been for quite some time. And yes it is Alex's baby."

"I just want to know – how did Karev bag Robbins?" Mark said crudely. "If you're going to go straight, why is Karev the guy you go to? I could think of much better options than him."

"Like you?" Callie asked rhetorically. "Alex isn't the first guy Arizona's been with," Callie informed Mark and the rest of the table. "She's had sex with men before. She told me that men didn't do it for her and she preferred women. So I guess Alex must do something for her."

"So they really were making out?" Mark asked. "One of the nurses said they were practically having sex."

"Ugh," Callie rolled her eyes. She hated even thinking about what she saw. No one wants to see their ex with their new love. Even though it had been years there was still a twinge of pain seeing Arizona so fully moved on with her life. Callie would have felt the same way if it was a woman that Arizona was making out with – there was just a little, well a lot, more shock because it was a man. "Yes, they kissed but it wasn't really making out or having sex."

"Was there tongue?" Mark inquired, wanting every detail possible.

Callie scrunched her nose and threw her napkin at Mark. She really didn't want to think about it even if the image was burned into her memory forever.

"I'll take that as a yes, Torres," Mark replied as he caught the napkin before it hit him in the face. Mark looked over his shoulder and stared at Alex as he talked with Meredith and Cristina, "I still don't get what she sees in him."

Bailey hated to see everyone gossiping about her friend and wanted to shut everyone up. They could talk about the new couple all they wanted but they weren't going to do it in front of her anymore. She had too much respect for Arizona and as frustrating as she often found Alex he was still one of her babies. "I don't know any details about them but I do know that Robbins has looked happier than ever these past few months and I'm pretty sure that is all Alex's doing. And after the last two weeks, it's obvious to a blind man how much he loves Arizona. And that's all that matters. It doesn't matter if she is gay, bi, red or blue. All that matters is that they're happy."

Bailey's speech did the job and they were able to move on from the gossip and talk about more important matters – like their own loves lives.

…

For once, Arizona was grateful to be stuck in a hospital bed. She noticed the stares every time a nurse came in to check on her. She would catch them looking when they were supposed to be just changing her IV bag. She really noticed the stares during evening rounds when she could see the residents snickering. They tried to cover their mouths with their charts but Arizona could still hear the whispers. After delivering her her dinner tray Arizona heard two nurses making a comment as they were leaving her room; Arizona took the opportunity to scold them about professional behavior in the workplace and minding their own business. She hoped that verbally lashing out at two nurses would get the rest to stop or at least teach them to wait until they were fully out of her room to start talking.

Alex wasn't so lucky. After his lunch with Cristina and Meredith and spending a few hour of the afternoon with Arizona, he had to spend the evening working which exposed him to the gossip hungry monsters that were ready to pounce on him. When he caught people staring at him, he would just stare back until they looked away. He wanted to lash out and tell everyone to fuck off and mind their own business but he knew Arizona would disapprove so he kept his mouth shut.

After early evening rounds, Alex made his way back to Arizona's hospital room. He was exhausted from the emotion of the day and just wanted to enjoy a relaxing night with his girlfriend.

"That bad, huh?" Arizona murmured when Alex walked in and immediately burrowed his head into her chest as he leaned onto her bed.

Alex nodded against her chest.

Arizona ran her fingers through Alex's hair, trying to soothe away his stresses. "What was so bad?'

Alex pulled out of Arizona's arms and sat back in the chair next to her bed. "I can handle the staring. It's the talking behind my back that gets me. Don't these people have anything better to do? And most of the things they're saying are lies."

Arizona reached out for Alex's hand. She wanted to keep physical contact with him, knowing it would help make him feel better. "Like what?" she asked. Arizona was very curious about what people were saying about her.

"According to most people, I'm just using you to get ahead in my career and neither one of us want the baby so we're going to take care of it and blame it on the accident. Or there's the one that you got drunk and had sex with a random guy and I'm just stepping up to be the dad to save you," Alex played with Arizona's fingers refusing to meet her gaze. "I just want to throttle them for saying those things about you. You don't deserve this."

"Alex, look at me," Arizona commanded. When his eyes finally met hers she continued, "I don't care what people are saying. You and I know the truth and that's all that matters. Soon enough there will be some new scandal and we'll be forgotten about. Okay?"

Alex nodded and let his head hang low, "I'm just so tired."

Arizona scooted over in her bed and made room for him to join her. "Of course you are. You've been taking care of me nonstop for two weeks and ignoring yourself. Now I know you won't go home and get some real sleep so you are going to climb in here and take a nap."

"The nurses," Alex argued. "They'll yell at me when they come in to check on you."

Arizona laughed and patted the free space on the bed. "They won't say a word. I told them off today when I heard them make a snide comment about us under their breath. They're afraid of me now. So come on. I've been up for a few hours now so I could use a nap too."

A nap with Arizona sounded like heaven so even with his reservations Alex joined her in bed. It was still fairly early in the night but Alex hoped they could get at least an hour of undisturbed sleep before the residents would do their final nightly checkup. They were able to sleep soundly for a couple of hours when Arizona's cell phone started ringing on the bedside table. Alex was jolted awake by the foreign sound. He wasn't used to the ringtone on Arizona's new cell phone. Her old cell phone had been destroyed during the accident so Alex had a new one ordered online for her and she hadn't customized her ringtones on it yet. Alex disentangled himself from Arizona and grabbed the phone off the bedside table for her.

"Shit," Alex muttered when he saw who was calling. Arizona was not going to enjoy this conversation.

"Who is it?" Arizona asked as she slowly woke up.

Alex turned the phone so that Arizona could see the caller id, "Your parents."

"Shit," Arizona agreed. She was going to have to tell them about the accident. She knew they were going to be livid when they found out about how critical she was and they weren't told. Sure they were on a cruise across the world but there are ways to get in touch with the ship in an emergency. The phone stopped ringing as Arizona stared at it in her hand. "They're going to kill me. I survived being hit by a car but they're going to kill me."

"They won't kill you."

"They will," Arizona nodded her head firmly. "Then they'll kill you because you didn't get in touch with them either."

Alex took the phone from Arizona and hit a few buttons so that Arizona could call them back. "They won't kill you. Not when they find out they're going to be grandparents."

"Oh there is no way in hell I'm telling that that now." Arizona gestured to her stomach, "This is just proof that we're having sex. My dad will really kill you after hearing about this."

Alex gulped. He had almost forgotten the protective streak of The Colonel. Even at thirty-five Arizona was still his baby and he while he would love the product of them having sex, he would not love knowing about the act that produced the baby. He shoved those thoughts aside and put the phone in Arizona's hand. It was time for them to know what had been going on in their daughter's life. "Call them back."

Alex moved off the bed to give Arizona her space. He watched as she stared at the phone for a minute before pressing the call button. He couldn't hear the other side of the conversation but he could tell that Arizona was right; her parents were livid that they had no idea Arizona was so critically hurt. They had already lost one child and finding out that they almost lost another was heartbreaking – even if she was still alive and breathing. Arizona could have easily died without them getting one last chance to sit by her bedside and hold her hand. Alex listened as Arizona turned into someone almost unrecognizable to him. She was no longer the strong, confident woman that he fell in love with – instead she was a little girl being lectured by her father. After a series of 'yes sirs' and 'no ma'ams' Arizona told her parents that she loved them and hung up the phone.

"So?" Alex asked as Arizona put the phone back on the table.

"They're buying plane tickets as we speak. They'll be here by the weekend. They'd be here sooner but since I'm alive and all they're going to keep a few appointments they have this week before flying out," Arizona sounded defeated.

"That's good, right? Derek said you should be able to go home on Friday so that's good timing. They can help at home while I'm at work."

"They're really upset with me, Alex," Arizona tried to hide her tears by covering her face with her hand but Alex saw right through her. Her residual authority issues were bubbling to the surface. When Alex reached out to brush her tears away she pulled further away from him. "And you. Be prepared for them to lay into you as well. My dad already had a few choice words to say about you. This is not going to be a good trip."

Alex refused to let Arizona pull away from him again so he crawled back into bed and held her tight against him. "We'll get through this. Together. They're mad now but they'll calm down. Plus once they see how pitiful you look with all of your injuries they can't be mad at you anymore."

"Ha," Arizona laughed out loud. "That just means they'll transfer their anger onto you."

"I can take it. Your dad doesn't scare me…much."

"I'll remind you of that when he is putting the fear of God in you with just one look," Arizona yawned. She was getting tired again. She hated not being able to stay awake for long. She knew it wasn't her fault. Her body was healing and needed rest to be able to heal properly but she still wanted to be awake for longer than a couple of hours at a time.

Sensing that Arizona was tired Alex moved to get off of her bed so that she could get comfortable and hopefully fall asleep until morning. Alex had one leg off the bed when Arizona tugged on his shirt.

"No," Arizona whined. "I'll sleep so much better if you stay right here."

"But the nurses? They will definitely say something if I spend all night in your bed," Alex protested but at the same time moved his leg back onto the bed and made himself comfortable.

"I told you they're afraid of me. Now wrap your arms around me. I'm stuck on my back so you have to be the cuddler tonight," Arizona ordered and Alex did as he was told.

Alex knew better to argue with Arizona. He knew he wouldn't refuse her. Not when she was stuck in a hospital bed. Truth was that Alex needed a good night of sleep himself and he knew that being able to hold Arizona while he slept would give him the best night of sleep he had had since the accident. Arizona was right and the nurses ignored Alex's presence the whole night. It wasn't until Bailey came to do morning rounds that he was kicked out – just in time to get to work for the day.

…

Arizona was thankful that she was going home. She'd been in the hospital for almost three weeks. She only really remembered the last one and a half weeks but that was more than enough for her. She was sick of being woken up every few hours by nurses. She was tired of bland hospital food. She missed her own home and her own bed. However, she was not looking forward to the fact that she was still banned from even attempting to walk and putting any weight on her left leg. She was going to be wheelchair bound until she started physical therapy. Arizona was actually somewhat grateful that her parents were flying in the next day. As much as she hated it, she was going to need help until she was able to put weight on her leg and Alex couldn't be there for her all day every day.

Everyone in the hospital knew that Arizona was being discharged that day. The door to her room was open to a steady stream of well wishers sending their best for a speedy recovery. Alex was working so she had to wait until he was off to go home, giving everyone plenty of time to come say goodbye. The most important people coming to see her that day were her doctors that needed to give the final sign off on her being allowed to go home.

The first one to visit was Derek. After a quick neuro exam and one final MRI, Arizona was finally cleared by the brain surgeon. She would still have another month of being monitored by weekly MRIs to ensure that no more aneurysms had formed but she was healed well enough to go home.

Arizona was waiting patiently for her next visit when she smelled a whiff of pizza come from the hallway. She could feel her mouth watering just from the smell. Alex tried to get her as much non-hospital food as possible but she still had to suffer through the bland cafeteria food more often than she liked due to Alex's conflicting work schedule.

Arizona was picturing a slice of pizza with cheese dripping off the sides when the door opened and Callie walked in with a box that looked suspiciously like a pizza box. If Callie was playing tricks on her she was going to be a dead woman.

"If you are teasing me, I will cut you," Arizona warned as Callie laughed at her.

Callie put the pizza down on the table next to Arizona, "I figured I should bring you lunch since I'm going to be putting you through some pain today."

Arizona raised her eyebrows, "So this is a bribe to get me to be a good patient?"

"Think of it as a going away gift from your favorite ortho surgeon."

Arizona was able to finagle a slice out of the box and took a bite. "Mmm," she moaned. "I don't care what it is. It is amazing. Thank you."

Callie had to bite her lip when she heard Arizona moan as she took a bite. It had been a long time since she had heard a noise like that come from Arizona's mouth. "You're welcome."

"Aren't you going to eat too?" Arizona gestured to the medium sized pizza. "I might be pregnant but I'm pretty sure I can't eat a whole pizza by myself." Arizona inwardly cringed when she mentioned her pregnancy. She and Callie hadn't exactly discussed her change in sexuality or her impending motherhood since the news became public. Arizona had skillfully managed to avoid being alone with Callie up until that moment. She didn't want to make Callie feel bad. She didn't want to shove her relationship with Alex or her pregnancy in Callie's face. She knew that Callie would likely always be sensitive about babies after losing her own. The last thing she wanted to do was to remind her of everything that she didn't have.

Callie just smiled and picked up a slice from the box. "You're right. That is good," she said after taking a bite.

"So much better than hospital food," Arizona commented. "I will not miss the food."

"I'm sure," Callie said between bites. "I remember it being really bad. I'm pretty sure a dog would turn its' nose up at most of what we serve patients."

"So anything good going on out there?" Arizona nodded to the door to her hospital room as she tried to make conversation with Callie.

"It's been pretty boring lately. Just a few rumors about these two peds surgeons that have been hooking up behind everyone's backs," Callie tried to add some levity to the situation of being alone in a room with her ex-girlfriend.

"Oh really?" Arizona played along with Callie's game. Callie was the one that brought it up so she would go along with it.

"Yeah, apparently they've been hot and heavy for quite awhile."

"Interesting. Do I know these two surgeons?"

"Oh, I think you do."

"Huh," Arizona said as she finished her slice of pizza. "You'd think someone would have picked up on this relationship if they've been at it for awhile."

"Apparently they're very good at lying."

Arizona felt like she was being confused and defended herself, "It's not lying. It's just not telling the whole truth. You guys didn't ask the right questions."

"Right. Because we would have known to ask you about your boyfriend when you've never dated a man in your life," Callie's tone signaled an end to their teasing and a shift to a more serious conversation.

"I'm just saying. We never once lied."

Callie threw her crust into the nearby trash can. She had one thing that had been on her mind since she found out about Alex and Arizona and she knew that this might be the only chance she had to get an answer for awhile since Arizona was going home that day. "I just have one question to ask. Was it something I did? To make you go to a man? Did I hurt you that badly that you gave up on women all together?"

"No," Arizona said vehemently as she reached out to grab Callie's hand. "This had nothing to do with you."

"Then what?"

"We kissed," Arizona explained. "We had this one kiss over a year ago. We were drunk and I was upset and crying and I kissed him. And then we vowed to never speak of it. But something changed after that. I couldn't get Alex out of my head. Isn't that how you realized you liked girls? After Erica kissed you to prove a point to Mark?"

"Yeah," Callie nodded.

"I guess it was kind of the same as that. I spent months trying to forget that one kiss. I started kissing all kinds of women just to remind myself of who I was but I was always thinking of Alex."

"I get it," Callie squeezed Arizona's hand. Arizona had put it in terms that Callie understood. She understood how one kiss could make a person question their entire life after all that is what Erica did for her. "I might not get that it is Alex Karev who once spread syphilis around the hospital but I get it."

Arizona scrunched her nose, "Yeah. I don't need to think about that. I know Alex has a past but ewww."

Callie laughed and her laughter broke the tension in the room. "How about I check you out so you can go home? But just remember that I brought you pizza when you're cursing me out because of the pain."

Arizona happily let Callie perform her exam and only swore three times during the exam. Callie was happy with the way Arizona's bones were healing and happily signed off on her discharge.

With Derek and Callie's signatures, she was just waiting for a general surgeon to sign off on her internal injuries and then she was good to go home. The afternoon quickly turned to early evening and she was still waiting for Bailey or anyone to come sign off on her chart. She would have been upset that she was still waiting for the final signature but since Alex was still working she would have been stuck at the hospital anyway.

Arizona was waiting as patiently as she could when she heard a whistle come from the doorway.

"Looking good, Robbins," Alex said as he looked Arizona up and down. For the first time in three weeks she wasn't in a hospital gown and she looked amazing. "You make that hospital gown sexy but I almost forgot how good you look in real clothes."

"Alex," Arizona groaned. She thought she looked anything but sexy. She had traded in the hospital gown for a pair of athletic pants and a long sleeve t-shirt. Her left leg was still fairly swollen and in a full leg brace which made putting on real clothes impossible.

"I am so ready to get you home," Alex whispered as he leaned forward to kiss Arizona's pouting lips. "You ready?"

"Still waiting on general to discharge me."

"I'll go page Hunt. He'll take care of you."

Just as Alex pulled out his pager, Arizona's door opened and Owen and an unknown man entered the room.

"Looks like we got here just in time. I think our patient was going to make a run for it," Owen noticed the wheel chair waiting in the corner and Arizona's packed bags sitting on the floor next to it.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a run, Chief," Arizona laughed, making fun of her own injuries.

"Right. Okay so Dr. Robbins, I want you to meet Dr. Jason Painter. He will be your physical therapist," Owen gestured to the tall, dark and handsome man standing next to him. "He is going to be in charge of getting you back on your feet."

Jason held out his hand toward Arizona, "Pleasure to meet you, Dr. Robbins."

"Arizona," she corrected. There was no need for formalities when he was going to see her at her worst through physical therapy. "Nice to meet you too, Dr. Painter."

"Jason," he smiled.

Arizona could see Alex awkwardly standing next to her. She could tell he was a little jealousy of the handsome man that was currently shaking hands with her even if he knew that she only had eyes for him. "And this is my boyfriend, Dr. Alex Karev."

Alex reached his hand out to shake the other man's, "Alex."

Jason smiled and shook his hand before turning back to Arizona. "Okay, Arizona. I've met with all of your doctors and they've assured me that you are ready to go home. So I want to leave you with some at-home care instructions. We're going to have our first session next Monday. Until we meet there is to be absolutely no weight put on your left leg. You're on bed rest until we start PT. Whether that is in bed or on the couch I don't care as long as you aren't walking around. When you do get up to bathe or go to the bathroom you ask for help."

Jason didn't miss the eye roll and groan from his patient. He could tell that she was going to be a challenge. He knew her reputation as a hard charger and could tell that it was going to be difficult to keep her from pushing herself too far and too fast.

"Part of your release from the hospital is that someone is going to be with you at all times, right?" Jason looked to Alex who was nodding his head up and down.

"Oh yes," Arizona said sarcastically as she glanced at Alex. "I have a prison warden and my parents are on their way as well."

"Great. Then I'll see you next Monday to get started," Jason smiled as he left the room.

Owen opened Arizona's chart and signed a few papers before handing them over to Arizona for her signature. "You take as much time as you need to heal. Your job will be here when you're ready."

"I'll be back in a couple of weeks, Chief," Arizona spoke as she signed, purposefully avoiding Alex's stern gaze.

"Arizona," Alex started to lecture. They had been arguing all week about Arizona's plans to return to work as soon as possible. He wanted her to take her recovery slowly and not to push herself. If she pushed herself too hard she could hurt herself even more.

"Stop, Alex," Arizona growled. She loved Alex but she didn't like being told what she could and couldn't do. "I didn't say I would be doing surgery. I can sit in a chair and do paperwork at work just as easy as sitting on the couch at home."

"We'll see how PT goes, Arizona. But we will be more than happy to have you back in any capacity as soon as Dr. Painter says it is okay," Owen placated the woman.

"Thank you, Owen."

"I assume everyone has gone over their instructions for you?" Owen questioned. He read her chart and saw that Callie and Derek had all signed off that they had given her their at-home care instructions for her.

"Yep," Arizona nodded.

"Good," Owen leaned down and gave Arizona an awkward hug and pat on the back. "We'll see you soon. And Karev, you take good care of her."

Alex mumbled a "yes sir" as Owen took his leave from the room. Once Owen was gone, Alex looked at the grinning blonde on the hospital bed. If she could bounce without being in pain she would have been bouncing up and down on the bed. "Ready?"

Arizona responded by holding her arms out so that Alex could lift her out of bed. Once she was safely in the wheelchair, he threw their bags over his shoulder and wheeled her toward the entrance where his Jeep was waiting. It had been a very long three weeks at the hospital. For the first half of it, Alex wasn't sure that he was ever going to get to bring Arizona home again. They both knew that Arizona had a very long road of recovery ahead of her but the fact that there was even a recovery to be had was a miracle. Alex dodged the rain drops as he picked Arizona up and put her in his car. It was a typical dreary Seattle evening but Alex couldn't keep the smile off of his face – he was finally bringing his girlfriend home.

…