I am so sorry for the delay in releasing this chapter. I had three chapters typed out and when I went to reread them, hated every word. It was way too complicated. Anyway, here is the next chapter. I hope you like it.
Chapter 42
There was a knock on Arizona's office door. It was early on a Tuesday evening and it was fairly calm in the hospital. She got up and opened the office door. Lexie was standing there. She was biting her lip and looking worried. 'Lexie, hey. What's the matter?' Arizona moved to the side and allowed the younger woman to enter her office.
'Arizona…I don't know what to do. I just need… someone to talk to. Can I…can we talk?' Lexie asked.
'Yeah, absolutely. Are you ok? Is it Amber or the kids?' Arizona asked as they sat on the couch.
'No…um. No everything is fine there. Well, not everything, but I don't know what to do about it.' Lexie said.
'Ok, let's talk about one thing at a time. Start with whatever is bothering you the most.' Arizona said.
Lexie took a breath and sat back more on the couch. 'I guess what is bothering me most is what Amber had to talk to me about the other day. It was the night that Callie came home and she had told me that she needed to talk to me about something. I was not prepared for what she had to say. Like… at all.'
'Did you get her pregnant?' Arizona laughed. She was trying to ease the tension that Lexie was clearly feeling.
'Ha, no…I could have handled that…Maybe. When we got into bed that night, she handed me a picture. It was a man and a woman. It was an old picture. I looked at it for a long time before asking her what I was looking at. She said that Meredith gave her the picture and said it was a picture of her mom and dad. So I looked at it again. Really looked at it. The man…' she trailed off. 'The man is my dad. It's Thatcher.' Lexie finally said after a few minutes.
Arizona gasped. 'Are…are you sure?'
'Well, yeah. I took the picture to my dad and asked him about it. He said that the woman in the picture was named Ellis and that they were married for a little while, but had divorced. He started drinking heavily around that time and crashed his car. He said that he loved Ellis with everything he had, but she loved surgery a lot more than she loved him. She told him that she was pregnant, but that she was aborting the baby. It was a week later that he was served divorce papers. I think… I think that Meredith was that baby.' Lexie said.
'Oh my goodness!' Arizona exclaimed. 'So Meredith may actually be your sister?'
'I think so. Why else would she have the picture? The timing is right. I don't know how to feel about it. I've talked to Meredith before. She's cool and everything, but I don't know how to act now. I haven't fully processed it yet.'
'That is big. It will take time. If you want my opinion, I think the first thing you should do is talk to Meredith. When you are ready, of course. Talk to her. Find out what she would like to do. I know that her mother died awhile ago and she was under the impression that her father was dead a long time ago. You don't have to be best friends, but it may be a good thing to build a relationship with a sister that you didn't know that you had. In a way, it's pretty awesome. You are both surgeons, successful surgeons and you are both here, working at the same hospital.'
'Yeah I guess so. I need some more time, but I will talk to her.' Lexie said.
Arizona squeezed the other woman on the knee. 'Ok, so you said that there was something with Amber that was bothering you too. What's going on there?'
'So we were sitting together at lunch yesterday and her phone chimed. She pulled it out and she had a voicemail. When she listened to the voicemail, she got this weird look on her face. She hung up the phone and I asked her what it was about and she wouldn't answer me. She just said it was nothing. She said that she had to go and walked away. I still have no idea what it was all about. She still hasn't talked to me about it. I'm worried. I don't think it had anything to do with us. I've tried to text her, call her. I tried talking to her down in the ER, but she is all business. She won't talk to me about the voicemail. What do I do?' Lexie asked.
'From what I know about Amber, she needs time to process. Just like with you and the Meredith situation. She processes internally. Whatever the voicemail said, it affected her where she needs to work through it before talking about it. I've known her for five years. It's how she operates. She'll talk about it when she is ready. Maybe you can get her to open up a little quicker though. You're planning on being with her for a long time, right?'
'Yeah, she's amazing. She's beautiful, a good mother. She amazes me. It's only been four months, but we are headed towards something great. I see it.' Lexie said smiling. Thinking of her girlfriend always made her smile. Her and her adorable little kids.
'Tell her how it makes you feel. Maybe she doesn't want to burden you with her problems. Maybe she doesn't want to scare you away with whatever it is. She's sensible though. Talk to her. Get her to open up and let her know that you are not going anywhere.'
There was another knock at the office door. Arizona walked over and opened the door. Amber was there in her street clothes. She was fidgeting with her fingers. She was wearing an oversized hoodie and looked like she hadn't slept in days. 'Ari, hey. I was told that Lexie came up here.' she said barely above a whisper. She was clearly upset.
Arizona stepped to the side, and Amber's focus shifted to her girlfriend still sitting on the couch. Lexie stood up as Amber walked closer to her. She collapsed into her girlfriend's arms clutching at her scrubs. 'I'm sorry. I shut you out and you didn't deserve that. I just don't know what to do'
'Do you want me to go? I can give you some privacy.' Arizona said after a few minutes.
'No. You can stay. This involves you too. In a way.' Amber said quietly looking at her fingers.
'Me? What's going on?'
'Tyler called me… apparently. He left a voicemail yesterday.' Amber said.
'That was the voicemail? What did he say?' Lexie asked. She hadn't come face to face with the man since everything went down at Mercy West, but she had a few choice words to say to him when she did see him again.
Amber pulled out her phone and put it speaker. 'Just listen.' she said as she put in her passcode.
-Hey… we need to talk. Call me. I'm leaving. I have some papers for you.
'What papers? And leaving? What the fuck?' Arizona asked.
'That's what I have been trying to figure out. It's been radio silence on his end since our court date. He hasn't seen the kids. He hasn't spoken to me. Nothing. Then I get this voicemail. Something doesn't sound right.' Amber said.
'Hey, you know what we need?' Arizona perked up at the thought of her own idea. 'We need a girl's night. Tonight. We are having girl's night.'
'Girl's night? Doesn't that usually involve a lot of alcohol. I have two small children at home and your wife is pregnant. How is girl's night gonna go?'
'Ok, so you and Lexie have a date night. Me and Callie will watch the kids. You two go out. Have fun. Don't think about anything, but having a good time.'
'What do you say, Babe? Wanna go out tonight?' Amber asked turning to her girlfriend.
'I say, we are going out.' Lexie said smiling.
'Callie! Zona! You're here! This is the greatest day ever!' Maci was bouncing up and down. Amber had kept it a surprise that the other women were coming up for a slumber party until the doorbell rang.
'Maci girl, let them come in.' Amber told her daughter.
Maci bounced away from the door so that they could enter the house. Arizona had their overnight bag draped over her shoulder. 'Come on Zona. I'll show you where you are sleeping. It's this room over here.' Maci grabbed Arizona's hand and dragged her down the hall. Everyone laughed at the young girl's excitement. Arizona came back out to the living room a few minutes later with a lively four year old on her hip.
'Mama! Let's play games!' Maci shouted.
'Maci! We don't shout in the house or you are going into the time out corner.' Lexie said sternly.
'Yes ma'am.' Maci said looking sheepish. 'I'm sorry.'
Amber stared in disbelief. She cleared her throat and went over to the game closet. 'Come pick out a game Maci. Mama and Lexie are going to go out though. Callie and Zona are going to stay here with you.' she said as she looked at Lexie.
Maci picked out the Candyland board game and Amber shut the closet door. 'Lexie, can I talk to you for a second in the kitchen?' she asked already making her way to the other room.
When she got to the kitchen, Amber was leaning against the counter by the sink with her arms folded against her chest. 'What was that?' Amber asked.
'What do you mean? What was what?' Lexie asked.
'Getting onto Maci. What was that?'
'She shouldn't be shouting in the house. I got onto her. What is the problem?'
'Look, you were entirely right to get onto her. But are we at that point in our relationship where you are disciplining my kids?'
'I'd like to think that we are moving in that direction. I love you. I love those kids. I just want to be there for you and them. You three have invaded my heart. Do you want me to just sit back and let her break rules that I know that you have?' Lexie asked.
Amber smiled and moved closer to Lexie. 'No. I just want to make sure that we are not moving too fast. I want to be sure that you want to be here with the kids and not feel like you have to be.'
'I am in this, Amber. I am all in. I'm here until you don't want me to be.' Lexie said seriously.
'Honestly, it was kinda hot seeing you all authoritative like that. Maybe you should be a little bossier when we are in bed.' she trailing a finger up Lexie's side and down between her breasts.
Lexie grabbed her girlfriend's wrist and pulled her closer. 'Yes ma'am.' she said closing the gap between them.
The couple returned to the living room where Callie was holding Riley on the couch and Maci and Arizona were sitting on the floor immersed in their game of Candyland. 'Maci, we are going to go out now. You be a good girl for Callie and Zona. Do you hear me?'
Maci got up and hugged her mother. 'Yes Mama. I'll be good.' Amber pressed a kiss to her daughter's head before she let go and hugged Lexie goodbye. 'I love you Lexie.' She went back to the table to continue her game.
'She said she loved me.' Lexie said quietly. She quickly wiped a tear that was threatening to fall.
'Yes, she did. How does it make you feel?' Amber asked.
'I feel complete. Like she just filled a hole that I had in my heart.' Lexie said. Callie and Arizona smiled at witnessing such a tender moment.
They decided to just go to Joe's and have a good time. There was a good chance that people from the hospital were going to be there and they could get a friendly game of pool going or a game of darts. They walked in and immediately saw Jackson and Maggie hanging by the pool tables waving them down.
'Are you two interested in a game?' Jackson asked.
'Absolutely, I'm just going to grabs some beer. Do you need a refill?' Amber asked them.
They both nodded and Amber went over to the bar. When she returned, Jackson had to game all set up. Lexie won the coin flip and was up first. She leaned over the table purposely sticking her ass out. She knew that Amber was watching her and she wanted to tease her girlfriend a bit. Amber raised her eyebrow seeing Lexie bent over the table. She could have swore that she saw her wink at her, but her focus was definitely on her ass. Lexie sunk a striped ball and lined up her next shot. She walked past Amber and trailed her fingers up her jaw running her thumb along her lip causing Amber's breath the hitch. The game continued and the teasing got more and more bold. While waiting for their turn, Amber had her arms around Lexie. She ran her hand down and dipped her fingertips into Lexie's pants. She pressed her lips to the side of her neck and sucked lightly. The game ended with Jackson and Maggie winning, mostly because Amber and Lexie were too distracted by each other.
The door to the restroom busted open and Amber and Lexie were all over each other. There was no one in the restroom, which they were thankful for. Amber pressed Lexie up against the counter and placed open mouthed kisses all over her neck and chest. Lexie moaned as she felt Amber's fingers undoing her belt. She gripped the sink and leaned back giving Amber more access. Amber was working on the button to Lexie's pants when the door opened. 'I heard you went back to screwing women.'
Amber looked into the mirror and couldn't believe who was staring back at her. 'Liza…'
Well, this can't be good.
