Chapter 16 - Could've Been

A medical journal once mentioned that our eyes can distinguish up to ten million color differences. It can also take in more information than the largest telescope known to man. It's funny how we tend to think that what we see is the only shade that's true.

One can say that the sky is blue, and another could say, no, it's azure. Both of them are correct. The other one is just a fancier word for blue. But both refer to the same color, just not the same shade. And there is no problem with that. There's no need to argue, nothing needs to be fixed. Sometimes it just takes perspective.

When you see something, like a problem, perhaps, sometimes you need to just stop. Don't wear yourself out trying to fix it. Just see where it's going and then set about fixing it.

Chill.

At least, that's what young people would say these days.

Everybody in Grey-Sloan is speculating about this intriguing email Bailey sent to the entire surgical department. In that email blast, the chief mentioned:

"For Grey-Sloan's residency program's continuous improvement and initiative to keep striving for excellence, an education consultant is making a visit to observe and assess our program."

Observe? Assess? That can't be good. Was it because of the Karev and Deluca thing? Are they going to fire doctors? Haven't they lost enough already to let go some more?

The attendings are shaken up. The surgical team's attendings in particular. Pretty much every single one of the attendings, then and now, has violated at least one mentor-mentee protocol. A lot of doctors have come and gone Grey-Sloan, some interns and residents left or failed their internship or residency program. Things had to be changed.

Meanwhile, Arizona's day has been packed with consults and post-op rounds. She really has been focusing on her career lately to get her mind off being alone and single and lonely. Grey-Sloan has lost so many doctors in the past 8 years that Arizona has been there. George, Izzie, Mark, and Lexie, Cristina, Derek - everybody either left or died. There are things that have been different from the way they were before. Coming back to work and knowing Arizona won't be randomly seeing Callie at the pit, cafeteria, scan's room, lab's room, attending's lounge. Heck, even in the bathroom. Or occasionally sharing cases and patients. Of all the people who left, Callie's was a bigger one. She left a gaping hole that no one would ever fill not just in Arizona's life but in the lives of Grey-Sloan's staff too.

Arizona's almost finished checking up the critical cases in the NICU. Peds ward is always the first on her to-do list on her shift. Peds is her first love. She loves doing rounds on all the kids, especially the little ones. Breathing in the sweet, milky, powdery smell of the newborn babies. Cuddling them for a few minutes. Getting lost in the silence and coos of the little humans in her arms. Playing with their cute soft hands. Forgetting the awful reality outside the Peds ward for just a tiny second. Savor every minute in the little Peds bubble with all these unbroken, untainted, precious, and pure tiny human souls.

Is there any other way to better start work but with joy? You can choose to be sad or happy every day. So why not decide to be happy every day, right? Begin your day and decide to kick it up with whatever brings you joy. That's how Arizona does her workday every day.

However, at some point, reality would come creeping in and Arizona had to snap out of her Peds bubble. She puts the last tiny human in her arms back to his hospital crib and heads outside the NICU's sliding glass door. She grabbed and pulled over the COW. No, not the animal. The computer on wheels. Some other hospitals call it a workstation on wheels because some patients get offended. Who could blame them? When you hear a nurse say, "get the cow". And then you suddenly return pushing a patient in the hall. You'd think, "wow! nurses refer to their patients as cows?!" Karev still calls it the COW because, well, he's Karev.

Arizona calls it the mobile computer to which she was logging in her updates as April came by to see her. The two have not been hanging out much lately. April has been busy with her own tiny human, and frankly, her dating life too. She has been swiping left and right on this app while living at the comforts of her ex-husband's house. It's a lot awkward, inappropriate even. Not the dating but living in your ex's house with your ex in it.

"Nope. Yes." April murmured hoping to find a match on her Tinder account while walking towards Arizona. "Yes. Nope. Ummm. Maybe? Oh, this one's cute."

As April came closer, Arizona started to notice her in the corner of her eye, "Hey, you!"

"Hey!" April isn't even looking at Arizona. Her eyes are laser-focused on her phone. On her Tinder app to be specific. "Have you seen Bailey's email?" April asked.

"What email?" Arizona replied, then loudly pressed the enter key on the keyboard as she finished updating the babies' charts.

April switched from the dating app to the email. "Here, look." She put her phone screen closer to her friend's eye level.

Arizona skimmed through the entire email. "Oh, this is...this.." She was unsure how to take what she just read. "Does Webber know about this?" she asked, concerned.

"I don't know," April responded. "Maybe. It was sent to everybody. Interns, residents, attendings..." Both of them peruse the email some more while leaving the Peds ward. Then Arizona suddenly spotted Jackson sprinting towards the scan's room. He was paged for a consult on a cardio case with Riggs and Pierce.

"Hey! Avery!" Arizona yelled. Jackson startled and turned his glance to the direction of the voice. Arizona is in his peripheral vision but his eyes went straight to the woman beside her which immediately softened his creased forehead.

"Oookay." April met Jackson's eyes but quickly looked the other way. "I'm gonna go...this way." Then she walked in the opposite direction. Arizona looked at April, who's already turned her back on them, a little confused but she ignored and turned back to Jackson.

"She's acting weird, right? Do you think she's..." Jackson told Arizona while watching April fade in the far side of the hall.

"Hey! Did you know about Bailey's email? We are on the board, right? Why do they keep making these decisions...first, Murphy, and now...I mean what is going on?" Arizona rumbly asked Jackson. Both of them stepped into the scan's room where Riggs and Pierce were looking closely at their patient's scans.

"Well, the aortic stenosis doesn't look too severe. A valvuloplasty might…" Riggs discussed his observation with Pierce until he got interrupted by Arizona.

"Did you get anything out of your mom?" Arizona asked Jackson again. She's been staring at him the whole time. Gauging if he knows something but just didn't want to spill. Or if he is as oblivious as they all are about this consultant thing.

"I got called a "Noisy Rosie" and then she changed the subject," Jackson replied, telling them how his talk with Catherine went early that day. "Oh, did you see Minnick's TedMed Talk, though?" He asked.

"I think she's fascinating," Maggie responded while googling Minnick's credentials on her phone.

Arizona isn't liking all this crazy talk going around about this Minnick person. She doesn't like not being in the know. How is she going to prepare? What is this person trying to get out of them? What if she finds something in the way they all do things, and then this person changes everything that has been working for them for years?

"Oh, yeah," Riggs interjected. "We'll see how fascinating she is when she starts handing out pink slips." Riggs opposed.

"Well, I'm safe," Arizona bragged. "Because there's only a handful of people in this country who can do what I do, unlike…cardio surgeons." She implied slightly, making Maggie and Nathan worry even more than they already do.

Maggie and Nathan exchanged anxious looks. Then Maggie said, "You know what they say, 'Last one in, first one out.'"

"Well, that's not how it happens on D-day. Ain't nobody safe on the battlefield." Nathan said. Eyebrows crossed, Maggie returned a confused look at the war reference Nathan did.

Jackson got distracted by the noise coming in from the hallway just outside the scan's room. The residents were talking pretty loud and their heavy footsteps filled the quiet hall as they headed out to a conference room on the other side of the floor. Riggs, Robbins, Pierce, and Avery observed how their mentees excitedly marched on their way there.

"Ah, that's not ominous at all," Jackson commented.

Back in New York, Pete was early to rise to fetch Callie and Sofia in their apartment. Both Latinas do not have the slightest idea what their day would look like. In fact, Callie is a bit resistant to this little planned surprise that Pete has for them. She'd rather stay in bed, sleep and binge-watch cooking shows all day if it was up to her.

"Mama?" Sofia, still in her pajamas, looked for Callie. She's seated at the kitchen bar having her cereal. "Where's Uncle Pete going to take us?"

"I am as clueless as you are, sweetie," Callie replied as she sipped her coffee. "I think it's kinda fun not knowing. Don't you think?" She continued. Her hair's up in a high ponytail, no makeup on, wearing sweatpants on an easy peaceful morning until a loud knock on the door suddenly replaced the calmness in the Torres' residence.

"One second!" Callie yelled out, taking a final sip of her coffee. She looked at Sofia, "I think that's him." She then stood up. "Go finish your cereal then we'll take a shower, okay?" Callie then kissed Sofia's forehead and then left to get the door. The loud knocking continued.

"Stop it!" Getting annoyed with the persistent knocking, Callie opened the door. "What the hell! Are you being chased or something?"

"Ugh!" Pete rolled his eyes as soon as he heard the door unlocked. "Finally! Your door is literally like ten steps away...what took you forever?" Pete didn't even wait for Callie to let him in. He barged in and went straight to the kitchen into the coffee machine. He then poured himself a cup of coffee. After one sip, he turned around and saw Sofia with her cereal.

"Oh, hello there, Princess!" Pete walked towards the little girl with his coffee. "Why aren't you dressed up yet?" He asked Sofia as the little one left her cereal bowl and went to greet Pete with a hug. He returned the sweet gesture with a side hug, careful not to spill the coffee in his cup.

"We were just having a quick bite then we'll get ready." Callie, seated on the couch across the kitchen bar, responded for her daughter. She was flipping through a newspaper that she picked from outside the door.

Pete finished his dose of caffeine and put his empty cup aside. He looked at Callie with a smirk on his face. This woman is stalling and having the laziest morning, he figured. He then went to the living room to get closer to Callie. He grabbed and put away the spread-out newspaper covering Callie's face, and took her by the arm which made her forcefully stand up from the couch.

"Hey," Callie stubbornly protested. "I was reading that." She points at the wrinkled newspaper that's now laying on the center table.

"Come on!" Pete pulled Callie even further from the couch. "We'll be late! Go get your ass in the shower now, Torres! Now!" He insisted then playfully pushed Callie's back towards her room.

"Fine! Fine, fine, fine!" Callie chuckled mischievously. "Come on, baby." She lifted Sofia from the kitchen bar into her arms, and both of them went inside her room.

April couldn't figure out how to turn her Tinder sound off. Edwards, who's in her service that day, came in handy. The intern has stopped the binging from embarrassing April at work. From the pit and from, yet again, avoiding Jackson, April went on her way to check on the patient's lab result but then she figured she could go grab a quick snack. At a vending machine that was beside a patient room, she slipped in a few dollars and got an energy bar. Noticing Arizona was attending to a patient next door through the glass window, she opted to have her snack by the nurse station across the patient room and wait until she could catch her friend.

"You need to be on bed rest for the rest of your term, okay?" Arizona told her patient while wiping off the gel from her belly. "We need to make sure the baby will not be in any more stress until he's ready for us to do the procedure." She explained further. "...and that means no sex." She turned to the patient's husband with a grin. The husband nodded and planted a kiss on his wife's head.

"Glad I'm not the only one who's not having any these days," Arizona murmured as she snapped off the glove from her hand, not realizing that she actually said those things pretty loud. "Oookay! You did not have to know that. I'll go now before I embarrass myself even worse." The patient and her husband both expressed their gratitude towards Arizona as she left the room. Her face turned all red as she closed the door behind her.

Arizona instantly noticed April chatting with the nurses about meeting strangers online. "Kepner!" She hurriedly walked towards her friend, leaving the tablet on the nurse's station counter then curled her arm around April's. "You won't believe this…"

"I know!" April interrupted, turning their conversation about her. "I said yes to this Tinder guy and then bumped into Jackson the next. I feel like I'm cheating. Only I'm not because we're not together together." April told Arizona.

"Yeah. So, anyway," She refused to engage on that rabbit-hole of a topic and changed the subject. Arizona just couldn't get her mind off this consultant. After peeking at the meeting the residents had that day, they couldn't decode what that connivance is all about. So they scattered as soon as Minnick noticed the attendings creeping outside the conference room. What Arizona couldn't get over is the way this person looked at her. "I think I'm kind of getting a gay vibe from Minnick. Did you notice that? What do you think? I mean I'm a little rusty, and by little, I mean a lot rusty on the gaydar front but..." She mumbled.

"Robbins," April kept Arizona from rumbling further. "Stop thinking that everybody turns out gay. Not every fresh meat with a Ph.D. or MD that walks in on Grey-Sloan are gay,"

"Fresh meat? Uh!" Arizona mocked April's reference that made her burst out laughing. "Who are you? Where's April Kepner? What did you do to my friend?" Arizona teased and laughed some more.

April scoffed. "Have you checked on Callie yet?" She asked to get back on Arizona.

"Mh?" Arizona pretended she didn't hear the question. "Ummm." She cleared her throat to stall then suddenly let go of April's arm.

"Oh boy! Here we go again." April muttered. "I don't understand why, after hearing all the love confessions from Callie, you still can't get yourself to talk to her? You're avoiding her, Robbins." Knowing Callie and Arizona's story from the beginning, April couldn't help but still root for them. "You're missing out on a big chance. I honestly don't get it. You said you still have feelings for her. I mean, come on, she was in an accident, Robbins. You could at least ask if she's alright. You know, like a normal concerned human being?" She insisted.

"Neither." Arizona shrugged, stubbornly deferred. Both Callie and Arizona are a lot different but if there is one thing they have in common is that they're both stubborn. "I asked Sofia and she said Callie's back at work so I thought, yeah, no. I bet she's more than okay if she can work now. So, yeah, no." She said further, refusing to be a grown-up in this situation.

"SO!" She chirped. "You and Jackson and this dating thing...he's being all passive-aggressive. You know that, right?" Arizona steered the conversation back to April. "He's letting you date but he doesn't really want you to. You do know that, right?." She said, hoping not to be interrogated further with her own issues.

"Really?" April completely noticed how she's being tricked into admission. "Oh, so, now we're talking about me and Jackson?" She sarcastically asked and chuckled.

"You know what?" Arizona asked, rhetorically. "Screw that! We can date whoever we want, whenever we want. We're beautiful, sexy, and date-worthy." She continued while flipping her hair like a woman in a shampoo commercial. "You go out there and date hot guys. And I," She paused and put out her phone. "...am gonna do the same. This Tinder thing is kinda cool, not to mention convenient. I thought I was too old for this but, nope. It's surprisingly fun." Arizona said all confident while holding out her phone showing off her Tinder account to April.

"Oooookay," April scoffed, a little embarrassed for Arizona. "You mean like when you went all 'trivia nights at a lesbian bar' the night after you saw Callie with Penny the first time?"

"I'm sorry, what? I can't hear you. Say that again?" She gestured to one ear making April's eye roll. "You're avoiding Jackson like I'm avoiding Callie. Only I can get away with it unlike you." Arizona continued messing with April while tapping her way around Tinder.

"Oh no! No, no, no! Damn it! How do I delete this?" Arizona asked as she accidentally replied to a Tinder match with a stuck-out tongue emoji.

April looked at Arizona's phone screen and laughed, "Karma!"

"APRIL KEPNER!"

"What?! I don't even know how to turn the ringer off of mine. Ask Edwards!" April quickly catches the next elevator and leaves Arizona staring at her phone trying to figure out how to unsend her message. "Now, where the heck is Edwards?" Arizona thought.

Pete took Callie's SUV and drove with the girls around Upper Eastside New York. Traffic is always bad in this city so even if it's just three kilometers away it would still take you a while just to get where you're going. Callie isn't used to having someone planning surprises for her. She's kind of having a little anxiety disguised as a curiosity at this point.

"Pete, where are we going?" Callie asked Pete for god knows how many times now.

"Oh, would you just relax? I've scheduled all three of us for an appointment at this nice place. I heard they did Barbara Streisand, Rénee Zellweger, Kate Winslet, Julia Roberts. You're gonna love it." Pete couldn't hide the surprise any longer. Dealing with two persistent brunettes in traffic didn't make it any easier.

"You've booked a salon appointment for us? I thought we were gonna go camping, hiking, or I don't know, fishing or something." Callie nagged Pete from the passenger's seat while scrolling through her phone.

"Did you forget we're doctors?" Pete asked while his eyes were on the road. "We don't get to do out-of-town trips on a weekend. Heck, we don't even get to have weekends sometimes. This is the closest thing you'd get for a vacation. And besides, you don't do camping."

Callie scoffed. "I did. Once." She said, "But not camping camping. Just, you know, camping." She continued with a flirty look on her face and a raspy voice. Pete glanced at Callie and knew exactly what she meant. In Callie's mind, she was thinking about that one valentine's day surprise she did for Arizona. They were out in the woods on Derek's trailer and everything that could happen that night happened. Of course, Pete doesn't know all that but he gets the idea.

"Uncle Pete," Sofia called out from the back seat. She was playing with her phone, entertaining herself while in traffic. "I don't want to get my hair done. I like my hair like this. Mommy likes my hair long."

Callie put down her phone and turned from her seat to look at her daughter. Sofia didn't take her eyes off from playing on her phone. Callie kept staring at her as she recalled how Arizona would argue with her every time she thought about getting Sofia a trim. Arizona is almost always against it. She likes Sofia's long black hair as well as her big brown eyes because she got them from her mom.

Callie's thought drifted to a conversation they had way back when their daughter was still a baby. "Imagine if she got Mark's wavy dark blonde hair and his blue eyes?" Arizona would ask her while they both watched Sofia sleep in her crib. "It'll be like kissing mini Mark Sloan good night every night." And then they'd share some laughter. "I love that our daughter looks so much like you." Arizona would say.

Callie remembers, smiling at the memory of how the three of them took turns watching over Sofia when she was just in diapers. Her mind drifted way further back to when Arizona and Mark used to hate each other when Sofia wasn't born yet. They would argue like cats and dogs. They were like teenage siblings that just would not get along. Bickering at the slightest little things like which brand of diaper would be better, which colors are more neutral, which crib is safer. It's amazing to think that they'd got along the moment the little one came out. Sofia would've been so loved by Mark if he was still alive. Arizona would've had a brother to turn to during all those horrible times.

Pete glanced at Sofia from the rearview mirror and said, "Don't worry little nugget." Callie was snapped back from her deep thoughts. "I won't let them touch your beautiful long locks. But please, don't call me uncle again, okay? You make me sound old. It's gonna scare all the hot ladies away," He said.

Callie scoffs then thought, maybe that's why she was so drawn to Pete. He reminds her of Mark and how vain he could be. And the tender look in his eyes and the way she is with Sofia remind her of George. She wishes both of them are still alive. Sofia would've loved George for an uncle. He's natural with kids like Arizona. If only George had lived longer, Callie would've introduced them to each other. They would've been friends. Both good with babies, funny, intelligent, and compassionate. They have so many things in common.

"Alright!" Pete exclaimed startling Callie. "We're here!' He put the car in park mode, removed his seatbelt, opened the central door locks, and turned off the engine. Callie looked outside her car window and saw a white storefront with a few steps up before the doorway. From the outside and through the big glass window, she saw the lobby lounge instead of salon chairs and mirrors.

"This doesn't look like a salon." Callie figured. She then unfastened her seatbelt and stepped outside the car while Sofia waited to be freed from her car seat boosters. Callie opened Sofia's door, lifted her off her seat, and let Sofia out.

Pete stepped out from the other side and went to check on the girls. "All set?" He asked. By then, Callie and Sofia were both outside the car and standing by the pavement.

"Pete, are you sure we are in the right place?" Callie's a little skeptical. It doesn't look like a place anyone, celebrity or not, would go and get anything done.

"It's up on the second floor. Let's go. Come on." Pete grabbed Sofia's hand and went inside. Callie was right behind them, still surveying the place.

When the elevator opened, they were greeted with big fancy signage, Sally Hershberger Salon written on the floor to ceiling glass wall. The receptionist, Danny, is already flashing a smile at Pete before he could step inside. Already recognizing a familiar face, he went in first holding Sofia's hand.

"Long time no see, Mr. Solivan. Glad to see you back." Danny welcomed Pete. "And who's the beautiful little girl?" She asked, looking at Sofia.

"I'm Sofia Robbin Sloan Torres," Sofia replied with an adorable smile. She was a little shy but it didn't stop her from being such a ray of sunshine.

"That's right!" Pete confirmed, giving Sofia's hand a little squeeze. "We're with her mom, Callie Torres." Callie gave an awkward one-hand wave and forced a smile. She's unsure about what she's doing in a place like this. It was ages ago since she stepped into a place like this. Who has time to book a salon appointment, anyway? The last time she paid someone to fix the way she looks was when Cristina cut her hair and made her look injured. That damage repair was worth every dim.

Pete kept talking to the receptionist. It seemed like they've known each other for a long time. "I've made a reservation for us. Please do take great care of my friend here." He let go of Sofia's hand and gestured to Callie. "Do whatever she says. It's all on."

"Oh, that is so generous of you, Mr. Solivan." Danny chirped then turned to Callie. "Ms. Torres, what do you like us to do for you today?" She asked. Her energy was too high for Callie that she can imagine herself gagging her.

"Um. I don't know. Can you make me look, I don't know, not tired?" Callie told her. Danny chuckled at the way Callie said it. She thought she was being funny when, in fact, she wasn't. Tired is an understatement. If a simple hair dye could undo all the damage the past years did to Callie, she'd have it.

Danny assisted Callie to her seat while Pete and Sofia vanished to the other side of the salon. Callie trusts that Pete would look after Sofia and keep themselves entertained. Pete was right. She needed this; the much-needed me-time to pamper herself, to reconnect with herself, feel sexy and pretty again - not for anyone but for herself. Right at that moment, she's not a mom, a wife, a girlfriend, a boss, a friend, a doctor - she's just her most authentic self.

"Your hair is really healthy and beautiful. It's long and strong." Danny said as she put the styling cape on Callie. "If you decide to cut them, like a big chunk of it. Like a really big. Let me know, okay? 'Cause I volunteer for this charity thing."

Callie got curious. "Really? What charity?" She asked. Danny's pierced nose, dark eyeliner, with bright pink and purple ombre dyed hair didn't strike her as the kind of person who volunteers for charity.

"It's called Locks of Love. You probably heard about it." Danny said. "It's a non-profit charity. They collect hair from donors and make custom wigs out of them. Then they donate it to people losing their hair with alopecia, burn trauma, and medical treatments. They change people's lives. I help them get more donors." She picked up a comb and took a seat on a rolling stool.

"That's an amazing cause," Callie admitted. "I've been meaning to have a bold new hairstyle but I just couldn't get myself to do it. You've just opened up an opportunity for me right now." She said a smile spread through her lips. "You know, what? Cut them all off." Callie finally said. Thinking about the people who suffer from unfortunate judgment just because they look a certain way made her take a leap. Callie has a soft spot for people who are considered a minority by society. Being a Mexican-American and bisexual living in America herself, Callie has a clear idea of how life must've been like for them.

"Are you sure?" Danny asked.

Callie couldn't be any more certain. "It's for a good cause so, why the heck, not?" She replied, without even a hint of doubt. "But maybe, just don't, like shave them all off. You know, give me something like a badass single mom vibe, fierce, a little mysterious."

"Fauxhawk. Definitely!" Danny rolled her chair back and started combing Callie's dark locks.

"Yeah, I don't know what you just said but it kinda sounds cool," Callie said. "Go ahead anyway."

"Alright then. First, I'm gonna tie your hair and braid them, okay? I'll cut from there and then I'll call on Cane, our senior cutter, to finish the job. She's really good. I'll let you guys have fun."

"Okay. Let's do this."

An alliance is forming at Grey-Sloan against the residency program revamp. Maggie sneaked inside the conference room right after a nurse tipped her about the residents' meeting. She saw Minnick's notebook and got her hands on it. What intrigued her the most was the list Minnick wrote. She immediately had this idea. Going back to her earlier conversation with Riggs, Avery, and Robbins, she figured this consultant might be ranking them. Those at the bottom might lose their jobs. The thought haunted her so she went outside the conference to find someone, anyone from the attendings she could speak with. At the corner of her eyes was Arizona going inside the attending's lounge.

"You have to see this." Maggie went in and startled Arizona. She had her back on Maggie and was reaching for the wall cabinet to get herself a mug.

Puzzled, Arizona asked Maggie, "See what?" She finally got a mug, closed the cabinet door, and turned to look at Maggie.

"No. Not in here. They could hear us." Maggie said, seemingly really bothered and sounded like she's an undercover agent or something.

Arizona chuckled at the way Maggie is acting. "Ha? Who's they?" Arizona asked. "What are you saying?"

"Come on," Maggie then took the mug off of Arizona's hand, left it at the table, and grabbed her hand. Then she dragged her out of the attending's lounge.

"Maggie Pierce, where are you taking me?" Arizona asked again, her wrist still tightly held by Maggie. At the end of the hall, Arizona noticed what seemed like an unoccupied on-call room. The slightly opened door and unlit room made her think so. "Are you...wait…I'm not...You know, I usually go on a date first." She stuttered, trying not to offend but to also not sound easy.

Maggie went into a full stop. "WHAT?" She asked.

"Oh! I thought…I mean I don't mind." Arizona said, pointing to the on-call room. "I didn't know you were into girls. Unless you are. I mean, are you? Into girls?"

"WHAT? No! Stop!" Maggie exclaimed. "We're going to the clinic, Robbins."

"Oh, okay. I just. I thought..well, never mind." Arizona said, embarrassed. That totally makes sense, Maggie doesn't resemble anything that hints she's a lady lover, Arizona figured.

From the supplies room, Jackson came out holding suture kits. "Pierce? Did Riggs talk to you about the case?" Jackson asked as he saw the two in the same hallway. "Hey, Robbins." He acknowledged Arizona's presence to which she responded with a smile.

"You too. Let's go." Maggie said, ordering both Jackson and Arizona to follow her. Then they all started walking down the hall.

"What's going on?" Jackson asked Arizona, both of them making big steps behind Maggie. "Where are we going?"

Arizona, both hands on her white coat, just shrugged. "At the clinic." She replied. Maggie ignored the two behind her as she was paging Amelia to go to the clinic too.

As soon as they got there, Maggie found a vacant exam room. Arizona and Jackson went inside which caught Alex's attention as he was about to clear the same room. He chased the three surgeons and came barging in to ask them to leave. Maggie ignored Alex's protest but instead she went right into telling them about the list. That got Alex curious so he stopped asking them to leave. Maggie continued showing them the list and that she thinks that the residents ranked their attendings. When Arizona looked at the list to see for herself, she noticed she wasn't even in it. Jackson thought he's good because he was somewhere on top of the list. That made Maggie worry because she was never at the bottom of any list in her life. A few moments later, Amelia came into the same room. Wasting no time, Amelia figured she was paged 9-1-1 to look at a list. She grabbed it from Alex's hand and perused the list for herself.

"Who the heck is Emilio Shepherd?" Amelia asked.

Alex scoffs. "At least you're in it." He said with a smirk on his face.

Without thinking before opening her mouth, Arizona commented "Of course, you're not in it." She instantly regretted what she said the moment she did.

Amelia took the lead and went ahead and attended to more important matters. The group scattered and exited the exam room. Arizona, however, stayed quite deep in thought. Contemplating how insensitive her comment was to Alex's perspective.

Arizona went on with her day but she still couldn't shake off the feeling that she hurt Alex's feelings. Of all people who would crush his spirit and hopes in coming back as a surgeon, Arizona should be the last person who would do so. Frankly, she shouldn't be one of those people. She should be rooting for Alex. She's Alex's mentor. She shouldn't have said that she thought.

Being the confrontational type of person that she is, Arizona went to see Alex at the clinic. It was about 6 o'clock in the afternoon and she knew that Alex would've been closing the clinic by then.

True enough, she saw the clinic's lights dimmed out. Arizona went inside and saw Alex sorting some charts by the reception desk. "Hey, Alex."

Alex looked in the direction of the voice. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I was close by and thought I could check up on you."

"You don't have to do that."

"I know. Still." Arizona said.

She then went on telling Alex how bothered she is about not being on the list. Alex couldn't care less. He thinks it makes no sense to get all caught up on a stupid list. Arizona shouldn't be bothered at all. She's a good teacher. She made Alex's career after all and so many others. So Alex snapped and told her that he should've been left off that list because he might not even have a job after his trials. If he loses against Deluca in the felony trial case, his career is over. His life is over.

Alex walked out of the clinic and closed up but Arizona chased after him. "Look," She reached for his arm, making him turn around and face her. "About what I said earlier today…" Arizona realized that she really did bruise Alex's ego.

"Don't bother. I'm not mad or anything. You were right, anyway, so whatever."

"No, I wasn't and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"No, I'm serious. You don't have to make a big deal out of it. So, let it go."

"Fine." Arizona yielded. "How's the trial going anyway?"

"You know I can't tell anyone anything. Besides, I should get going or I'll miss my carpool." Alex started walking away.

"Carpool?" Arizona wondered.

"Hey," He turned back around at Arizona who's left standing in the hallway. "Thank Callie for me, okay? For the lawyer." Then he went on his way.

"Ha. Of course." Arizona said to herself. She and Alex haven't talked a lot since she came back from New York. He has no idea that Callie and she haven't been keeping in touch lately.

Arizona brushed it off and went to go look for April. "I need to drink." And by drink, she meant drinks at Joe's. She then headed towards the pit thinking April might be in there.

On her way, she noticed Minnick inside the elevator and seemed lost. She was looking for the chief's office but couldn't figure out which floor. Arizona helped her out and told her how to get there. Before the elevator closes, Arizona couldn't help but give Minnick a piece of her mind about the list. She was surprised at the way Minnick took it. "Am I deluding myself or did she just flirt with me?" Arizona thought as the elevator door went completely closed.

"Wait," She thought again. "She totally did. Didn't she?" The thought of knowing someone likes her made Arizona feel an instant flutter. But she didn't want to read too much into it unless the other person made it completely obvious or said it out loud. So, again, she brushed off the thought and kept walking towards the ER.

Before she could reach the pit, Arizona heard her phone ring. She checked her phone from her left white coat's pocket and saw Sofia calling through Facetime. Arizona beamed with delight. She took her phone and went out on the Eastside of Grey-Sloan by the fountain. The bench was vacant so she sat and took the call there.

"Well, hello there, little miss," Arizona said. "How's it going? I miss you!"

"Hi, mommy! Look, I got my nails done." Sofia showed her fingers through the front cam. "Pete took us to this fancy place and I got my feet soaked in bubbles." She told Arizona that she went to the salon and got pampered, then the park and even the little food trip they did in between.

"Oh, I am so happy you had fun today," Arizona admitted, her face filled with joy. "And those sparkly colorful nails, I mean, wow! Pretty!"

Arizona heard Callie's voice in the background. "Sofia, don't get your shoes on the bed, okay? Have you cleaned up yet?" Callie yelled out from afar.

"Whoop! You heard your mama." Arizona told Sofia, bobbing her head. Sofia quickly dropped her feet off her bed where she was laying while facetiming Arizona. The sound of Callie's footsteps filled the quick silence.

"Oh, SOFIA?" Callie stood by Sofia's door, one hand on her waist. "I told you, clean up first then you can use your phone for an hour."

"But…" Sofia tried to reason.

Callie stepped inside her daughter's room. "Uh! No, but's" She then sat on Sofia's bed as the kid stood up and went to the bathroom after handing her phone to her mom.

"Hi!" Arizona said on the other line.

Callie was surprised to hear a familiar voice that she would recognize from anywhere.

"Hey."

She held the phone up to her eye level and saw Arizona on the screen. Her face beamed. Her eyes sparkled and her smile was so big. Callie and Arizona couldn't form a word and stared at each other for a good minute or two.

Author's Notes: I tried really hard to write faster than I do in the past. I do apologize for the wait. Though I appreciate all of your anticipations. :)

I've seen your reviews/comments and I know y'all are wondering what the hell happened to Callie's hand and I am guessing by now (after you read this chapter) y'all know who Callie will talk to about that. :)

On Arizona's dating life on s13 and 14, to be honest, I don't know what to do with that. I guess we'll see how the story will unfold next. In the meantime, hope y'all enjoy this chapter. :)