Meredith is alone. Literally alone.

Sitting at the same spot at Joe's bar, she toyed with the empty shot glasses in front of her. Tonight, she needed it, she needed to numb the aching feeling of loneliness brewing inside of her, because once again, she was left behind by a loved one.

"Bad day?" The voice behind her asked. Sceptically, Meredith looked up and for a second, the wrenching feeling in her heart went away.

"Robbins? You're back, here. What are you doing here, I thought you were in New York?" Meredith asked as she sloppily pulled herself up from her seat towards her ex-colleague? Acquaintance? Plane crash buddy?

Arizona catching the stumbling woman in front of her said "wow, careful Grey," as she sat Meredith back onto her seat. "Well to answer your questions, I might actually be back. Herman and I are trying to expand nationally. But don't tell anyone though since it's still a work in progress."

Meredith in a moment of weakness embraced the blonde in front of her, "Arizona, you have no idea how much I needed to hear that tonight, thank you." Letting go of the blonde, she pushed the tequila shots towards Arizona and said, "and yes, today has been rough. You've heard about Alex right?"

Arizona deciding to just let go tonight downed her first shot before reaching over for another, "Grey…"

"Come on Robbins, call me Meredith, we've known each other for what, over a decade?"

"Okay well in that case, you should be calling me Arizona" she replied. "And yes, I got Alex's letter a few days ago. I mean wow, I still can't believe that Alex is now with Izzie and is a dad to twins?"

Meredith ordering another round of shots ended up handing Joe her card and asking him to just leave the bottle since she will need to cope tonight. "Yea I can't believe it either. On one hand I understand why he left because of his whole growing up without love situation. But I'm sad Arizona, and I'm pissed. I'm sad and I'm pissed and I'm…I'm…"

"Meredith." Reaching over, Arizona gave her hands a gentle squeeze for support.

"I'm sorry. What I'm trying to say is, I feel like everyone is abandoning and leaving me behind. First it was George and Christina, and then Derek, Callie, you and now Alex. He said that I've always been my own person and while I agree that I can survive on my own, it took me years of therapy to realise that I don't' want to be alone. Arizona, I miss having someone to go home to, to confide to. Christina had always been my person, but then she left for Switzerland, but it was fine since I still had Derek until he left me for DC and he…he…" taking another shot, Meredith continued, "he… died. So Alex became my person. He looked out for me and I looked out for him, but now, just like the rest, he left me behind. Arizona, you left me too, I don't have anyone to hide in supply closets with anymore." Meredith rambled, feeling the alcohol in her blood stream.

"I'm sorry Meredith, but I had to, you have to understand that I had to leave. After the plane crash, I also felt the same aching feeling of being left behind. I lost Mark, then I lost Callie and for a second I had Eliza. I was so hesitant to try and love again but she showed me that we can actually be something more, that we could be an 'us'. But then one day, she just ghosted me, she literally just left without calling, no note, no message, I wasn't even worthy of a goodbye. So when Nicole proposed the idea of starting our own Centre for Women's Health, I felt like that was my chance of having people again. Callie was there and Sophia missed New York, I seemingly had nothing here so why not." Arizona sighed, fidgeting with Meredith's fingers.

"So why are you back?" Meredith asked as she focused her attention solely on the blonde in front of her.

"Because New York isn't my home Meredith, Seattle is. At the beginning, it was exciting. I was building my own health centre with an amazing partner, I reconnected with Callie, I was closer to Sophia and…" feeling a bit embarrassed, Arizona continued, "the women in New York were let's just say attractive. But after the initial buzz, I started getting irritated by the small things like the weird floral bathroom scents and long queues. Like seriously, I once had to wait two hours to pay for my groceries. But ultimately, I missed everyone in Seattle. All this time I've been focusing on the people I've lost when instead, I should be focusing on the people I have. I have Richard and Miranda, Teddy and you, I even have new people in my life like Andrew. Meredith, what I'm trying to say is we…you are not alone because like you've once said, we are a village. Besides, Alex and Christina didn't leave you behind, just like Callie didn't leave me behind. Sure they might not be here all the time but deep down we know that they will always be here for us." Arizona replied as she reached over for the bottle of tequila and taking a swig. "Look, I know we were never the closest, even when I lived here but when I move back to Seattle, you can come to me if you feel sad again and we can share more bottles of alcohol, preferably white wine."

"I do miss drunk Robbins so I will take you up on that offer," giggled Meredith. "Remember the dinner party at my house? I think you and Kepner cleaned out our wine cabinet!"

"Oh god don't remind me. It was like med school all over again and I do not want do go back to that," snorted Arizona.

"Wait, you were at Hopkins with Amelia right? She mentioned that you guys were in the same residency programme. How was she, were you guy close?" asked Meredith as she takes another swig of tequila.

"We weren't the closest since I was a few years older than her but we did erm... hang out on several occasions," replied Arizona with a blush.

"Hang out? Did… did you have sex with Amelia?" Meredith asked.

"Oh no, not with your sister, I did 'date' her roommate for a while though, the morning afters were always awkward. I'm just glad that she never brought it up before. But seriously though Meredith, even if I did, would you really want to know?" Arizona replied cheerfully fidgeting with the empty glasses on the bar table.

Before Meredith could reply, Joe informed the ladies that the bar is closing for the night and that he hailed a cab for them.

"So, want to go back to my hotel?" Asked Arizona who stumbled into the cab and muttered her address towards the driver, "I mean it's late, like really late and I'm drunk and you're drunk so yea, come and stay for the night?"

"That'd be great actually, thanks." Replied Meredith with a smile as she sat next to the blonde, feeling better than she did earlier.