AN: So clearly I just can't stay away! Ha Ha
I really enjoyed writing Six Years (thanks a million Maaike83) and so have decided to post a new story idea (thanks Lacee).
I've zero idea if this is a story that interests you enough to read, so please do leave a review if you want me to carry on with it. I've not planned the story out, just gonna wing it and see where things go. There will be lots of Calzona interactions and maybe some angst as I don't tend to do that much in my stories so will challenge myself to try and go a bit deeper! Eeek..I'm scared already (LOL). Also, apologies in advance for any typos.
As ever...the characters belong to Shondaland and I'm just borrowing them for this story.
"Well good for you, you look happy and healthy….Not me, if you ever cared to ask…" Abby sang at the top of her lungs as she finished applying her makeup in the mirror.
"Good for you, you're doin' great out there without me, baby" she sang as she dabbed some lip balm onto her lips and took a step back to check her outfit. Today she had Art and she wanted to make a good impression on her teacher who she thought was way cooler than any other teacher she had ever had, and made going to school almost bearable.
Nodding her head in time to the music blaring out of her airpods, she gathered up her laptop and shoved it in her backpack, along with a pristine looking biology book that she had barely opened. The teenager hated science. Come to think of it, she hated most subjects and going to school every day was a complete drag. She knew what she wanted to do when she was older, knew exactly what career she wanted, and it didn't require knowing about enzymes and organisms. Yet there was no avoiding the double biology lesson she had this morning that she knew she would spend most of the time observing her fellow classmates.
Abby loved to study people. She found them fascinating and in particular she loved to watch her classmates as they went about their day, all of them trying desperately to fit in. To be liked, popular, noticed even. Abby wasn't like the rest of her classmates. She didn't give a shit about fitting in, she had moved schools too many times to care what people thought of her. Despite that, despite being the new girl she always managed to make friends without really trying. There was something about the young blonde that people were drawn to. Maybe it was because she didn't try too hard. People would want to be her friend, even when deep down, she was happy on her own. Well that's what she told herself. If it was easier that way when time came to move on.
Just as the song reached its end, the blonde heard her name being yelled up the stairs and after an over the top eye roll that no one could see apart from her, she unplugged her phone from the charger and reluctantly headed for her bedroom door.
"Abby" Arizona yelled up the stairs, checking her watch to see how late she was already, cursing the teenager under her breath.
"Abby Robbins…" she yelled again in the direction of the 15-year olds bedroom "... I need you downstairs ready to go in 60 seconds." the blonde yelled, looking up the stairs for a sign of movement. "Do you hear m...?" Arizona shouted again only to stop herself as she saw the teenager appear from her bedroom, headphones in her ears without a care in the world! God this kid was going to be the death of her, Arizona thought to herself as she watched the blonde haired youngster trot casually down the stairs with a look on her face that screamed chill out!
Arizona took a deep breath as she grabbed her car keys and followed the teenager out of the house. Once on the road Arizona gave the youngster a once over and noted her outfit for the first time. Jeez, who knew tank tops and choker necklaces would ever be a thing again as she remembered wearing the style the first time round. Abby finished her outfit off with an oversized plaid shirt tied around her waist, Jeans that, to Arizona, seemed to have had more holes than material and a pair of DM boots. Back in her day this would have classed as classic grunge, now it was just standard teenager attire.
Abby stared out the window as the streets flew by, nodding her head to her music. She vaguely heard talking and realised that she was supposed to be listening to whatever was being said. Reluctantly she pulled out one of her earbuds and turned to face a stressed looking Arizona.
"I was saying.." Arizona said in an exasperated voice, glancing over quickly to make sure the teenager was listening, before turning her attention back to the road "...that remember it's parents evening tonight and so I'll be back at the school around 5."
"Awesome!" Abby replied sarcastically. Stupid parents evening. Stupid school full stop. She already knew what they were going to say, she had heard it all before "Abby has so much more potential if only she put the effort in". She rolled her eyes. It was all so boring.
"Abby!" Arizona responded "drop the attitude!" The older blonde said, looking over at the passenger seat where the teenager was sat, arms folder, eyes narrowed as her face frowned at the lecture that was about to come. "We've been through this a hundred times...if you want to get out of here, do something with your life, which you clearly find incredibly tedious at the moment, then like it or not, you need to finish high school."
The teenager rolled her eyes again before turning her head to the side and going back to watching the world go by. Not that anything exciting ever happened in this dead end town. They had indeed talked about it before. Arizona never stopped going on about the importance of a good education and how if she wanted to go to medical school she needed to get good grades. Just because she had chosen to become a doctor, didn't mean that Abby had any intention of following her down that career road.
###
30 minutes later, Arizona finally started her rounds at the hospital where she was Head of Paediatrics. She loved her job, loved medicine and as she walked down the corridor, her interns scurrying along behind her, hanging on her every word, she wished Abby had something that she enjoyed, something to push her to be the best. Sure it hadn't been the easiest of times for the teenager of late, but Arizona was starting to pull her hair out at the lack of commitment the young blonde displayed.
After she had checked on her patients Arizona headed down the cafeteria to grab some lunch. She had a surgery scheduled for 1pm which should be straight forward enough to allow her to get back to the school for the parents evening. As she scanned the sad looking pre-packaged sandwiches, she played safe and selected a salad bowl and an apple before she spotted her colleague Teddy Altman. Teddy was head of Cardio at the hospital and had been an amazing friend to Arizona over the years.
"Hey Teds," Arizona said, greeting her fellow surgeon as she plopped her tray down on the table and took the seat next to her friend.
"Oh dear!" Teddy replied "I recognise that look! Trouble at home?" She asked taking a bite from her soggy sandwich, before scrunching her face up at the taste and putting the offending sandwich back in its plastic packaging, deciding that one mouthful was one too many.
"Of course! I mean what else would it be." Arizona sighed "I'm seriously starting to think I'm not cut out to be a mother!" Arizona admitted to her friend as she shoved a forkful of pasta salad into her mouth.
"Oh shut up Robbins!" Teddy had responded "you're doing a great job!"
Arizona shot her friend a disbelieving look. It wasn't like Teddy to be so positive and sugar-coat things.
Teddy thought through her answer "OK maybe great is a slight exaggeration, but given the circumstances…" The cardio surgeon decided to stop talking before she dug herself into a hole. "So what is it this time?" She asked her friend with genuine concern. Unlike Arizona, Teddy didn't have kids, but that didn't stop her trying to help her friend.
"It's parents' evening tonight and I'm expecting the worst, and I don't know how I'm supposed to react. I mean it's all so alien to me...I loved school...I just don't understand why she isn't interested in anything. She has no passion."
"Oh I'm sure that's not true…." Teddy said in a reassuring voice "it's just that maybe her passion isn't your passion!" Teddy said, raising her eyebrows at her friend.
Arizona gave a small chuckle at the look on her friends face "Oh I know...I need to stop trying to push her down the medicine route, it's just that she is so bright Teddy, and her dad had so much drive and well…it just kills me that she isn't living up to her potential." Arizona explained as Teddy listened.
The cardio surgeon really did feel sorry for her friend. It was hard bringing up a kid on your own and she could see the strain all over Arizona's face.
"Listen Ari….maybe try not to judge her so harshly. She's young. She has plenty of time to find her passion. Go to the parents' evening and see what they say OK? You never know...you might be pleasantly surprised."
###
Unfortunately Arizona's fears were right. As they worked their way around the room, teacher after teacher reported back that Abby's grades were not as high as they should be. Arizona had listened to the feedback and suggestions of extra tuition, whilst the teenager had sat slumped beside her, arms folded, noisily chewing a piece of gum. It took all of Arizona's resolve to not yank the bright pink offending item out of the teenagers mouth, as she felt more and more overwhelmed with the situation. This was way worse than she had imagined. She knew Abby didn't particularly like science, but it seemed the young blondes grades in English and Calculus were also way below what someone with her ability should be achieving. As they made their way around the tables, Arizona found herself apologising on behalf of the teenager and reassuring the concerned looking teachers that there would be improvements.
As they headed to the last teacher of the evening, Arizona spotted a raven haired woman sitting behind a sign on a table that read Ms Torres, Art & Design.
Arizona couldn't help but notice the woman's deep brown eyes and as they took their seats opposite the teacher, Arizona felt a little funny as the brunette's mouth turned into a huge smile.
"Hey" Ms Torres said excitedly as she smiled at Abby "here's my star pupil" the Latina said generating the first smile Arizona had seen on the teenager's face all day.
Wait...what did the woman just say? Star pupil? Was this a joke?
The teacher turned her attention to Arizona and stuck out her hand to greet the blonde "Hi...I'm Callie Torres, Abby's art teacher."
"I umm I thought Mrs Taylor was your art teacher?" Arizona said addressing the teenager.
Before Abby could respond the brunette did "Oh she took early retirement, I'm new to the school." The Latina woman explained with a wide smile.
Arizona was so distracted by that smile that it took a while to realise that the teacher's hand was still out stretched, waiting for her to shake it.
"Oh..sorry…" Arizona felt her cheeks blush slightly as she finally shook the teacher's hand "I'm Arizona Robbins." Arizona felt a small flurry inside her as she took the brunette's hand in hers. Her nails were cut short and Arizona spotted a blob of paint on the back of the teachers hand, but her skin felt super soft.
"Of course!" Callie said with a small nod as she remembered "Dr Robbins right?"
"That's me!" Arizona responded goofily, with a nervous chuckle. Crap! Why on earth was she acting this way?
"Well it really is great to meet you Dr Robbins. I know we're not supposed to have favourites…" Callie said leaning in slightly, and lowering her voice "...but Abby is heads and tails above the rest of the class, and believe me when I say she has real talent"
Arizona looked over at the teenager who was beaming at the praise and hanging on every word her teacher was saying.
"That's umm, that's great news" Arizona responded as she rubbed Abby's arm affectionately. Abby looked over at the blonde and smiled softly. The doctor could help the slightly surprised tone in her voice, but after the way the rest of the evening had gone, it was the last thing she had expected to hear.
Callie continued "So...I've already discussed this with Abby, but I think it's getting to the point where she should really be thinking about picking one medium and focusing all her efforts on that, or at least narrowing it down to just two. It will really help her College application in the future." Callie turned to her pupil across the table and gave an encouraging smile "have you given it any more thought?"
"I have Miss Torres and I think you are right, I think I wanna focus on photography." Abby said excitedly.
"Oh Abby, that's great. I totally agree, I mean your drawing is excellent as well, but you really do have an eye for seeing things that others just..well they just don't see."
Arizona watched the interaction between the teacher and her pupil, still a little stunned by it all. Did the brunette art teacher just say College? She hadn't seen the teenager this animated in, well, she couldn't remember how long. And then she started feeling bad for not believing in Abby more.
"So photography huh?" Arizona said in a voice that she hoped would sound enthusiastic, but inside she was dying. She knew nothing about the arts and was now facing the reality that she was raising a budding artist rather than scientist, mathematician or even a writer! God she would have taken a writer over an artist any day!
Feeling out of her comfort zone the blonde turned towards the teacher and asked "is there umm anything I can do to..you know...support Abby?" Arizona asked the brunette who turned her attention back towards the doctor. Arizona felt a fuzzy feeling in her stomach as Ms Torres smiled enthusiastically at her.
"Well you know nowadays, our phones have these amazing cameras and editing effects, but if Abby is going to make a career out of this, we need to be developing a portfolio for College applications, she really could do with her own SRL camera. I mean we have some at the school that we loan our students, but it's not the same as having her own."
Arizona watched as the teacher turned her attention back to her young student "You need to be joined at the hip to that camera, it needs to go wherever you go, and then we can start you on the pro-editing packages, but you need to really know how to use a camera first."
Arizona knew nothing about the world of arts. She had spent her school years dissecting mice and studying the latest medical developments. She felt totally out of place in the conversation, but she also noted the way the teacher spoke directly to Abby, treated her like a grown up, rather than the teenager that she was, and Abby responded to it. She looked, Arizona dared to think it, happy!
After discussing courses outside of the curriculum that would benefit Abby, the conversation concluded, and just as Arizona stood up to leave she was caught by surprise when the teacher had asked to have a quick word alone.
Arizona looked over at Abby who shrugged "It's OK. I'll go wait in the car." the teenager replied, sticking her hand out for the keys. Once she had left the room Arizona turned back to face the brunette.
"Thank you. Please…." Callie smiled warmly at the Dr on the other side of the table indicating for her to retake her seat "This won't take long." Callie informed the slightly worried looking woman.
"Dr Robbins…"
"Please.." the blonde interrupted "...call me Arizona."
"Arizona, I just wanted to have a quick word about Abby. I meant everything I said about her being talented, it's important that...you know...she receives the right level of support and encouragement."
Arizona felt her hairs prickle on her arms and defence mechanism shoot up in response to the brunette's words "and what exactly is that supposed to mean?" She asked in a firm tone.
"Forgive me Arizona" Callie said apologetically "it was not meant as a criticism if that's what you're thinking, it's just I can imagine that your job is very demanding, and well, it would be shame to see Abby talent go to waste or her not receive the support it needs."
Arizona narrowed her eyes slightly as she felt her annoyance levels crank up a level. Who the hell did this woman think she was? Sure she might get stuck at work sometime or not know much about the art world let alone photography, but she would do whatever she could to make Abby happy "as I said earlier, I am more than happy to pay for any special equipment.." the blonde replied, staring directly at the woman on the other side of the small desk.
The teacher interrupted her, "Oh...it's not about the equipment." She paused and noticed for the first time those incredibly piercing blue eyes. Blue eyes that were currently boring a hole into the teacher as she waited for an explanation.
Callie cleared her throat "What I'm trying to say, very badly by the look of things, is that I'd like to offer my help, you know, maybe take Abby to some exhibitions outside of school, but only if you approve, I umm don't want to step out of line."
Shit! Arizona felt guilty that she had reacted that way when the teacher was just trying to help. Arizona wasn't sure what to say.
"Listen…" Callie said, reaching into her handbag on the floor and pulling out a flyer for an exhibition in a couple of weeks. "..I thought I could take Abby to this. I didn't want to say anything in front of Abby, as I didn't want to put you on the spot, in case it isn't something you are happy with, but I really do think it would help her...I mean...help her work"
Callie stared back at those blue eyes that were slowly softening. They were remarkable, Callie thought to herself, like two pools framed by that soft, wavy blonde hair. "Anyway, think about it and when you've decided you can get in touch with me via the school if you are OK with it."
Arizona accepted the flyer and popped into her purse "Thank you Miss Torres, I'll umm definitely think about it. It's umm, very kind of you to offer".
"Not a problem" The brunette said her face breaking out into a wide smile "and it's Callie OK. Miss Torres is only for the kids!" She chuckled to herself.
Arizona smiled, back as she felt an unfamiliar feeling in the pit of her stomach. Holy crap! Were they butterflies? No surely not!
"I... I had better go" The blonde said in an attempt to regain her cool as she rose from her chair and gestured towards the door. She watched as the teacher stood up and extended her hand again.
"It was nice to meet you...Callie" Arizona said as she shook the slender hand again...and it really was! The blonde doctor couldn't remember the last time she had met someone who had generated butterflies in her stomach. It was two, maybe even three years...it was certainly before that fateful day when her brother Tim had died in Iraq, before she had become Abby's guardian.
AN: Should I continue? Yes or No? I won't be offended if you say no...well maybe a little bit ;o)
Sarah