CHAPTER 35
CALLIE
"Right, well I'll just leave you two to it then" Callie didn't really know what was going on here but it was obvious that Mark had run his mouth off without having all the facts once again. If Callie wasn't so confident in Arizona's abilities to handle herself she probably would have said something to him but instead she just let him squirm as he stood shuffling around in the doorway trying to figure out if Arizona was going to bite his head off or not.
"We're heading out for drinks tonight at that new place in town. You up for it?" Mark looked just as shocked by Arizona's question as Callie was to hear it come out of her girlfriend's mouth.
"Uh yeah I'm in. I'll meet you guys after my shift" Arizona waved to him nonchalantly expecting that to be the end of their conversation but she was forced to look up from her paperwork when she noticed that he was still in the doorway shuffling his feet.
"Was there something else Mark?" Arizona was now looking at him the way an inpatient mother would look at their child. Mark began speaking without looking up from his shuffling feet.
"Uh… Do you think we could have a quick… uh chat… before we head out?" Arizona immediately assumed he was talking to Callie and turned her attention back to the pile of papers on her desk.
"Yeah sure. are you ok Mark?" Callie replied gently and Mark lifted his head looking a little embarrassed.
"Um, actually I was talking to Arizona" Arizona snapped her head up at the mention of her name and she and Callie swapped sceptical glances before she they both turned their confused expression on the awkward looking man in the doorway.
"Uh yeah ok. I get off at five. I can meet you here if you want?" Arizona was a little apprehensive about this little chat session that Mark wanted to have with her but it didn't really seem like she had a choice.
ARIZONA
"I can't even begin to thank you enough for everything you've done for us Dr. Robbins" Rachel Hudson was clutching onto Arizona's hand as she thanked her over and over again. The woman had spent the past half an hour grovelling at the PEDS surgeon's feet. Arizona was used to her patient's parents getting all emotional on her but this was different. Over the past few months Arizona had spent a lot of time with Rachel Hudson and in turn had grown to really like her. The blonde often found herself getting too attached to her young patients but this was the first time she had ever formed a bond like this with a parent. Maybe it was because her patients weren't born for most of this process or perhaps it was just because Rachel Hudson was an amazing human being.
"Rachel how many times have I told you to call me Arizona? And you don't have to thank me. Watching those beautiful little girls doing so well is the reason I became a doctor but seeing how much you love them and everything you've done to help bring them into this world, even after everything. You're an inspiration" Arizona couldn't help but let out a little sob as she gave Rachel a bone crushing hug. This courageous young woman really was an inspiration and those little girls are going to be two of the most well loved kids in the world, despite how they came into this world.
Arizona's shift had been over for about half an hour but she stopped by to say a quick goodbye to Rachel and the twins before heading to meet her friends. A quick goodbye had turned into a full half hour of laughing and chatting, Arizona had felt bad about making such a quick exit as Rachel didn't have many visitors. In fact over the past few months she can only recall one person ever coming to visit and she hadn't seen them since the twins were delivered.
"Hey don't you have a weird meeting with your girlfriend's best friend to attend?" Arizona had completely forgotten that she was supposed to meet Mark in her office after her shift.
"Oh my God! I totally forgot, thank you so much. I have to get going. I'll come by in the morning"
Arizona heard Rachel laughing as the blonde all but flew out of the room and towards her office. She just had to hope that Mark was still there waiting for her; she couldn't really afford to be burning any bridges when it came to Callie at the moment so blowing off her best friend was probably not the best way to keep that from happening.
As she approached the door to her office she saw the light was on and the door was ajar, which no doubt meant that Mark had made himself comfortable on her couch. She pushed open the door softly, she didn't want to startle him just in case he was sleeping. When she stepped inside she saw Mark sitting in her chair with his feet perched comfortably on her desk but as she took in her surroundings she realised they weren't alone in the room. There were numerous faces gawking at her. Amongst the crowd was Lexie, Meredith, Alex, Avery, Percy, Reed and Cristina.
"Uh I don't think I got the memo about my office being turned into the new Residents lounge" Arizona tried to make a joke but this seemed like a tough crowd because none of them laughed, they all just continued burning holes in her with their eyes.
"There you are Blondie! I thought you were standing me up for a minute there" Mark had now jumped up from the seat and was ushering her over towards the seat he had just vacated.
"Take a seat. Ok who wants to go first?" Arizona was practically shoved into the chair as Mark began addressing everyone else in the room. The blonde was utterly confused by not only Mark's peculiar behaviour but the odd presence of so many Residents in her tiny office.
"Mark what's -"
"Nope. Shhh… Blondie. No talking" before she could even finish her question Mark had silenced her and was now paying more attention to the other surgeons in the room.
"Alright Lexie you're up" his voice was a little strained as he said her name and Arizona noticed that he barely looked at her when he addressed her. Lexie on the other hand was staring at Mark with a look of sheer horror on her face.
"Come on little Grey it's now or never" Cristina yelled impatiently as Arizona watched the shaking Resident stand up and suddenly her attention was being directed toward the seated Attending. Lexie stood there looking like a dear in the headlights for what seemed like an eternity before she spoke in a tiny child like voice. Arizona had no idea what this was all about but it sure as hell didn't seem good.
"Arizo- I mean Dr. Robbins I just wanted to apologise for trying to manipulate you and abusing your trust and our friendship just to get in on a surgery. It was wrong, I should have just come to you and I'm sorry" Lexie seemed began to sound a little less afraid as she spoke and was speaking with conviction as she apologised sincerely.
"Look we don't have to do this. You're all sorry, I get it and I'm over it. It's fine. I'm not going to be holding a grudge against any of you. I won't be preventing any of you from scrubbing in on any cool surgeries" Arizona appreciated Lexie's apology but was also a little annoyed that they had to bring it up again, just as she was getting over it.
"It's not about that Dr. Robbins. It's not about the surgeries or the punishments. Bailey's got that covered. We just… I guess we just didn't want you to think that we don't respect you" Arizona had to swivel her chair around to see Avery who was now addressing her.
"Pretty boy's right. You're one of the only Attendings who doesn't treat us like we're beneath you"
"Yeah you have our back"
"And we appreciate it"
"It's nice to be treated like a fellow doctor"
"Yeah and not some lowly poo scooping nurse or something"
"Like an equal"
"Like we might actually know what we're talking about sometimes"
"And that you let us actually cut, that's alright too"
"Maybe that's the problem here. I've treated you all like my colleagues instead of my subordinates, which is what you are. This is a teaching hospital and I'm supposed to be teaching you not stroking your egos and making you feel good about yourselves. So this is as much my fault as it is yours" Arizona appreciated the sentiments of the young Residents and it meant a lot to her that they were making an effort to apologise for their uncivilised behaviour recently but she did truly believe that a large portion of the blame for this situation rested on her shoulders, so essentially their apologies were unnecessary.
"Oh please, have you met the other Attendings at this hospital?" Cristina snorted from her position in the corner and everyone turned to glare at her.
"What I think Cristina means is that since you've been here you've taken the time to teach us. To let us perform procedures on our own and encouraging us instead of casting doubt and criticism our way every time we open our mouths or make a cut" Meredith stepped in to explain Cristina's comment but Arizona already knew what Cristina meant by the tone in her voice and the way she shot Mark an accusing look.
"Yeah, you explain things to us calmly and logically without shouting orders at us or making us do your dirty work" Arizona had only ever seen the sarcastic, taunting side of Jackson Avery so this side of him was surprising to her. She had previously thought him to be just another egotistical rich kid, maybe she was wrong?
"Remember that time you spent two hours helping me get used to handling the laparoscope for a distal pancreatectomy I had the next day?" she did remember Lexie's distal pancreatectomy, she had watched it from the gallery. That was a proud day for Arizona, Lexie had done an awesome job and even Bailey was impressed by the young Residents skill with the laparoscope.
"Or the time you helped me diagnose the guy with the spinal stenosis AND you let me take all the credit with Shepherd" Alex offered.
"She helped you with that? Damn, I knew I should've asked for help" Meredith shoved Alex playfully but he simply shrugged.
"Or the other week when you helped me perform complicated heart surgeries on sheep hearts in our living room" Arizona let a small giggle escape her body at the memory of herself, Cristina and Lexie playing doctor in their apartment.
They were all looking at her expectantly now. They had poured their little hearts out to her and were now waiting for the mama bears response. Arizona hadn't realised that they appreciated all of these things that she did for them. Of course she didn't do it for the glory, it was just something that she did without thinking about it but it was nice to know that they had all noticed and were grateful.
"You really think I'm a good teacher?" Arizona was almost in disbelief as she scanned the room looking at all the sincere eyes staring back at her and her own eyes filled with humble tears.
"Yeah dude. You're kinda awesome" Alex gave her a shrug and a half smile. She almost felt bad for threatening to beat him to death with a brick a few weeks back. He was a gifted surgeon who was showing an interest in Paediatrics and he had been having a rough time of it lately, she made a mental note to give him a break.
"I am kinda awesome, thanks Karev" Arizona was truly touched by their words and was grinning wildly. It was like she had gained back that little bit of self confidence that had been taken away by this whole situation.
"Well now that we're done with this love-in we can get on the important things in life. Food and alcohol!" Mark announced cheerily to the room causing laughter and chatter as the Residents all began piling out of the tiny space.
Within a matter of seconds everyone was gone and Arizona found herself alone with Mark.
"I owe you an apology too. I shouldn't have let Lexie bully me into using our friendship to further her career. You deserve better than that and I'm sorry" Arizona could see how much this apology was costing Mark and she appreciated it, even if he didn't have the courage to say it in front of the Residents. She simply gave him a smile and patted his shoulder before heading out of her office with him following close behind her. Tonight was definitely going to be an interesting night.
CALLIE
The group had decided to walk to the bar as it was only a few blocks away from the hospital. It was quite cold so they were all wearing big jackets and trying to keep themselves warm. Arizona and Teddy were walking just slightly in front of Callie and Mark; they had their arms linked and were huddled together chatting animatedly. Callie couldn't help but grin like an idiot when she heard the beautiful sound of Arizona's laugh coming from a few feet in front of her. It was weird but somehow Teddy seemed happier than usual too.
Callie had assumed that it was because of her newly transpired relationship with Mark that had seemed to also put a spring in her best friends step. As she looked at the two blondes whispering and giggling to one another she came to the realisation that Teddy's newly acquired friendship with Arizona was likely a big part of the reason Teddy seemed cheerier. Arizona had the ability to somehow make everyone's day a little brighter, it was one of her best qualities.
"So you tell Blondie about the kid?" Mark broke her train of thought with his out of the blue question.
"Yeah. She didn't take it well. She's freaking out but she asked me to help her get through it. So that's a good sign I guess" Callie shrugged, she didn't know what was really going on with Arizona because she was always so guarded but she did know that Arizona wasn't going anywhere. Not yet anyway.
"She loves you Cal. I know she does. You guys will be fine" Mark put a comforting arm around his best friend. It was times like these that reminded Callie why he was her best friend.
ARIZONA
It hadn't taken them very long to walk to the new bar which was actually more like a club. It was beautiful inside and there were two levels. The group had dinner downstairs and chatted about their surgeries and other happenings at the hospital before heading upstairs for drinks and some dancing.
Cristina was tapping her hands on the bar and angrily waving at the bartender who looked simply exhausted.
"Patience is a virtue Cristina" Arizona scolded her as if she were one of her patients. The poor kid at the bar would be barely of age, he just didn't seem to have it in him to serve drunken fools all night let alone mean surgeons like Cristina Yang.
"Light a candle and tell it to the pope Blondie" Arizona couldn't help but laugh at Cristina's completely politically incorrect jibe. The young Resident certainly was a witty one that's for sure.
As Arizona and Cristina stood around at the bar waiting to be served Lexie approached them looking solemn.
"Hey, how are you doing? I'm sorry this is awkward for you. Cristina should have told you they were going to be here" Arizona gave Cristina a light flick on the ear causing the grumpy Resident to swat Arizona's hand away.
"Little by little it's getting easier to pretend it's easier so I'm sure easier is just around the corner. Right?" Lexie was now looking to Arizona for reassurance. This was a topic the blonde really didn't know much about. She hadn't ever really had a bad break up, well besides Lauren but that was different and she didn't have to be around Lauren and watch her date other people.
"I'm sure it is" was all she managed to mumble out. She had to flick Cristina again when she heard her make a small snorting noise as she tried to contain her laughter.
After a few awkward minutes standing at the bar they were finally able to get the bartenders attention and order their drinks. Arizona and Cristina decided to just get two rounds for the whole table. Somehow Cristina managed to sneak off with one of the trays without paying her share. It was typical Cristina to just run off and not foot for the bill.
As she approached the table with the drinks everyone cheered and took their drink from the tray. She received a warm smile from Teddy, an awkward smile from Meredith, a nod of acknowledgement from Derek and of course Mark gave her a firm slap on the ass to show his appreciation.
"Thanks Blondie" no one else seemed to notice Mark's behaviour and after their little chat earlier Arizona decided to let it go. It probably wouldn't be good form if she was seen clocking Mark Sloan in the middle of a crowded club.
Arizona pulled up a chair next to Callie and sat down. As she looked around the table she saw all of her friends with big smiles on their faces and it made her all warm and fuzzy inside to know that she had been the one to initiate this little gathering so in turn she was partly the reason everyone was smiling. The chatting and drinking continued for about an hour or so before they heard someone clear their throat, as they looked around Arizona spotted a man on the stage trying to grab the crowd's attention.
"Good evening everyone. Welcome to the Goldfish. To celebrate our first week of business we're going to end the week with a little karaoke. So enjoy yourselves and if anyone needs a cab just head to the bar and we'll call one for you. Who's up first?"
Almost on cue Arizona saw a flurry of golden hair swish through the crowd and jump up onto the stage. Her friends had seemed to notice it too and were now clapping their hands wildly as Brooke prepared herself to sing what was sure to be something entertaining to say the least. It was just like Brooke to arrive just as the karaoke started, just in time to throw herself onto the stage and be the first one to get the crowd going.
Arizona was slightly mortified because she knew where this night was now heading and suddenly her two drinks didn't seem like enough.
"You didn't know it was karaoke night did you?" Callie asked with a huge grin spreading across her face as she took in what could only be described as Arizona's horrified face. The blonde shook her head and cringed as she heard the music start. Of course Brooke would sing 'Buttons' by the Pussycat Dolls.
I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)
But you keep fronting (Uh)
Saying what you going do to me (Uh huh)
But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)
But you keep fronting (Uh)
Saying what you going do to me (Uh huh)
But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)
Everyone in the club was cheering her on as she strutted around the stage, pulling out a few tricky dance moves that she no doubt had gotten from the music video. Arizona wasn't drunk enough for this and as she let her head fall into her hands she felt a firm hand rubbing circles on her back and the next thing she knew there was a mouth almost touching her ear and breathing down her neck.
"I'm going to get you another drink. She's got a few more songs left in her I think" Callie gently kissed Arizona on the forehead before giggly as she made her way to the bar.
Typical
Hardly the type I fall for
I like when the physical
Don't leave me asking for more
I'm a sexy mama (mama)
Who knows just how to get what I wanna (wanna)
What I want to do is spring this on you (on you)
Back up all of the things that I told you (told you)You've been saying all the right things all night long
But I can't seem to get you over here to help take this off
Baby, can't you see? (see)
How these clothes are fitting on me (me)
And the heat coming from this beat (beat)
I'm about to blow
I don't think you know
Mark and Cristina were enjoying the show so much that they were standing up and clapping. Arizona shook her head in defeat as she realised there were a lot of people in the club who were getting into the performance. There was no way Brooke was going to stop at one song, not while she had the audience eating out of the palm of her hand anyway.
When Callie returned she placed two shots of Tequila in front of Arizona as well as the biggest long island ice tea she had ever seen. The blonde unceremoniously threw back both her shots of Tequila when she heard the next song starting. 'Animals' By Nickelback was not a song she ever wanted her baby sister to sing out loud let alone to a club full of people.
I, I'm driving black on black
Just got my license back
I got this feeling in my veins
This train is coming off the track
I'll ask polite if the devil needs a ride
Because the angel on my right
Ain't hanging out with me tonight
I'm driving past your house
While you were sneaking out
I got the car door opened up
So you can jump in on the run
Your mom don't know
That you were missing
She'd be pissed if she could see
The parts of you that I've been kissing
It was clear that not many people in the club knew this song but it didn't stop them from enjoying it. Arizona could even see Callie and Teddy bobbing their heads up and down, both of them sporting large grins as they watched the confident blonde take control of the stage. It wasn't that Brooke had an awful voice or anything, in fact she had quite a good voice but the last time the two sisters had gone to a karaoke bar together they ended up in the emergency room because Brooke had stolen some girls song and the girl had decided that smashing a wine bottle over Arizona's head was the way to punish Brooke.
To this very day Arizona had two scars from that night, one on her jaw line just under her left ear and one on her left shoulder. So karaoke was almost like an extreme sport to Arizona.
Screamin' oh
We're never gonna quit
Ain't nothin' wrong with it
Just actin' like we're animals
No, no matter where we go
'Cause everybody knows
We're just a couple animalsSo come on baby, get in
Get in, just get in
Check out the trouble we're inYou're beside me on the seat
Got your hand between my knees
And you control how fast we go
By just how hard you wanna squeeze
It's hard to steer
When you're breathing in my ear
But I got both hands on the wheel
As Brooke made it to half way through the next song Arizona felt the tequila beginning to have its effect. She was suddenly a lot warmer and her muscles had relaxed immensely, this could also have been due to the fact that she was now standing with Callie's arms wrapped tightly around her waist from behind as they swayed back and forth to 'Let's Get It On' By Marvin Gaye. Brooke sure did know how to pick the songs.
I've been really tryin', baby
Tryin' to hold back this feelin' for so long
And if you feel like I feel, baby
Then come on, oh, come on
Whoo, let's get it on
Ah, babe, let's get it on
Let's love, baby
Let's get it on, sugar
Let's get it on
Whoo-ooh-oohWe're all sensitive people
With so much to give
Understand me, sugar
Since we got to be
Let's live
I love you
It was a little strange that everyone was getting so into it. It was a slow song but everyone was up and dancing. There seemed to be a lot of couples at this club but Arizona was sure that she was with the most beautiful woman in the place. Callie continued to hold her tight as they danced close, with Arizona now facing toward her lover. The brunette was singing gently into Arizona ear as they moved to the beat of the music, she wasn't sure how this random karaoke night had turned into a sensual experience but it had.
There's nothin' wrong
With me lovin' you
Baby, no, no
And givin' yourself to me can never be wrong
If the love is true
Oh, babe, ooh, oohDon't you know
How sweet and wonderful life can be?
Whoo-ooh
I'm askin' you, baby
To get it on with me
Ooh, ooh, oohI ain't gonna worry, I ain't gonna push
Won't push you, baby
So come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, baby
Stop beatin' 'round the bush, heyLet's get it on, ooh, ooh
Let's get it on
You know what I'm talkin' 'bout
Come on, baby, hey, hey
Let your love come out
If you believe in love
Let's get it on, ooh, ooh
Let's get it on, baby
This minute, oh yeah
Let's get it on
Please, please, get it on
Hey, hey
As Brooke ended her third song she decided that she'd hand the microphone over to someone else for a little while but not before reassuring everyone that she would be back to sing some more later. Callie made her way back to the bar for more drinks and as the crowd erupted in loud cheers at the sight of other people stepping up to the microphone Arizona realised that maybe this had been a great idea after all. That was until she saw long legs and a mass of fiery red hair walking toward her.