CHAPTER 2 - BUBBLY

"First surgery together and already a big success. You were amazing in there!" Arizona said truthfully, pure thrill showing onto her features.

"You weren't too bad either, Robbins," Amelia replied with a grin equally as big.

"Are you done for the day?"

"Yep! You?"

"Me too. Do you want to go to Joe's and grad a celebratory drink? I know I could use it."

Amelia was happily surprised by Arizona's invitation. Both women had just finished a long surgery together which turned out to be successful but also extremely tiring and were now scrubbing out.

The question felt a little bittersweet for the brunette however. Having a drink. Such a normal thing to do, yet it left her hesitant. She had never been to any bar with the blonde yet, and going to bars with new friends was synonymous to noisy questions she tried to dodge about why she was drinking a fruity cocktail instead of having a beer to relax. She wasn't sure she wanted to talk about her addictions tonight. She was even less sure she wanted Arizona to know this part of her. Somehow, she didn't want the blonde to know this dark side of herself, not yet anyway. She wanted to trust the blonde but they didn't know each other well enough for her to be able to confide in her just yet.

Arizona could sense her reluctance, so she tried to ease her way in. "Or we could always crash at my place. Order some Thai food and watch some mindless TV if you prefer?"

The neurosurgeon appreciated the effort her colleague put in and felt kind of guilty for making her uncomfortable. She decided that, even if it had the potential of turning into an absolute disaster, she could use some crackers and a good game of darts with her.

"I like the way you think Robbins, but I'm afraid it's too late to chicken out now. Afraid I'll beat your ass at darts?"

The pediatric surgeon relaxed, happy to see the brunette's easiness and confidence back.

"You've obviously never seen me play before," she chuckled.

"Why? You're secretly a dart ninja and you're going to kick my ass?" Amelia looped her arm with the blonde's as they walked towards the lockers.

"The opposite. My aim is terrible. But then again, I don't remember playing it sober in a long time. Maybe that's why I'm so bad at it," she scrunched up her nose and shrugged, as if she wasn't sure if alcohol was a factor or if she naturally sucked at it.

"Man, I can't wait to see you play now."

"You're a terrible friend," Arizona giggled nonetheless.

If the blonde thought Amelia's choice of drink was weird, she didn't show it or make any comment and for that, the neurosurgeon was grateful. Once her first glass finished, the brunette was even more surprised when Arizona ordered her another non-alcoholic drink and thanked her appreciatively.

"Okay, favorite movie?" Arizona asked, nursing her second glass.

While the original plan had been to play darts, the silly game had soon been forgotten. Barely had they taken a sit at the bar, both women had found themselves pulled into deep conversation, completely enticed with each other.

"Okay, but you have to promise not to tell anyone," Amelia gave her a pointed look.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Arizona said more or less seriously, pretending to zip her mouth shut.

"The hound and the fox."

"The Disney movie?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that very one."

"There's nothing wrong with that. Everyone loves a good Disney. I don't understand all the secrecy."

"Yeah, but not everyone cries their eyes out when they watch it," Amelia cringed at her own admission.

"I'm sorry, but it's actually very cute," Arizona giggled.

"Cute is what you say your kid cries watching it. Me, a thirty five years old grown ass woman, crying big crocodile tears?" she pointed to her own chest and scrunched up her nose. "Not cute. Sad and depressing."

"Oh come on, don't be so harsh on yourself," the pediatric surgeon bumped their shoulders together. "We all have those movies we like to cry in front of like babies. Mine's Brokeback Mountain."

"You're so gay!" Amelia laughed and Arizona quickly joined her.

"What can I say? It's a very good drama though."

"I'll give you that one. I may or may not have cried a river the first time I watched it," she said playfully, watching the blonde laughing quietly. "Okay now my turn, something you love?"

"That's easy. Sofia."

"Nope, you can't say your kid, it's cheating!" Amelia rolled her eyes before softening her features. "Everybody that has ever met your daughter falls in love with her. She's like, the cutest thing."

"Okay, okay. There's this ice cream shop down on Seventh Avenue. We stumbled upon it one day by mistake with Sofia and her friend Kayla. They have a lot of weird, edgy flavors that Sof' swears by. Like spicy aliens which is basically a neon green ice cream that tastes just plain weird and paprika for some reasons that I ignore. But they also have this toffee flavor with nuts and a tad of vanilla and a tiny piece of heaven. I swear, every bite I take, I can hear the angels calling out my name," she said dreamily, a soft content sigh escaping her.

"Do you need some time alone, Robbins?" she asked sarcastically.

"Oh, I'm going to take you there someday and you'll see. It's that good. Your turn now Sheperd. Why do you wear a firework scrub cap? Is it because you're such a firecracker?" the blonde asked teasingly.

The neurosurgeon couldn't help but laugh at the bad joke, feeling her cheeks heat up at the words. "I used to have ligyrophobia when I was little. Forth of July would send me fleeing into a crying mess. One day, I got tired of being scared so with my pocket money and Derek's help, we bought as many firecrackers as we could. We set them off one after another until I wasn't afraid anymore. He offered me that scrub cap when I started my internship, so I'd remember that there's nothing to be afraid of, not even surgery."

"Damn, if that ain't a good story, I don't know what is."

"Yeah, my neighbor didn't think so. He almost pressed charges because of all the noise we made that day," she chuckled, remembering how scared shitless her brother and she had gotten when they had heard him yelling downstairs, arguing with their mom. "Your kids almost gave me a heart attack, Ms. Sheperd, this is utterly unacceptable!" she imitated her old grumpy neighbor poorly.

"Did you guys get grounded?"

"Nope. Our mom was actually really proud that I had vanquished my fear and she made us a chocolate cake to celebrate."

Arizona chuckled. "You mom seems great."

"She is certainly something. Okay, I got one for you Robbins. What do you find ridiculously annoying?"

"Something annoying… Oh, got it. You know when you see a cute dog and you can't pet it?"

"Now that is not only annoying, that is tragic. Every dog deserves to be petted all the time."

"I know. It almost physically hurt to restrain myself from just reaching out to hug them. They deserve so much," her eyebrows furrowed in sadness at the thought of all the pets not being petted right this moment. "Something you're really bad at?"

"I truly suck at origamis," she confessed truthfully.

"Me too. Sofia tried to get me into it so many times but I always end up doing something wrong midway through and the result usually looks sinful."

Amelia giggled at the hint of disenchantment into her friend's tone. "Yeah, Zola's really into it right now and of course Auntie Amelia has to help. But you know what? I think they're just better at it because they have small fingers while we have big sausages instead," she explained pointedly.

About midway through their little game, April Kepner walked in, looking absolutely drained from her shift. They beckoned her over, and soon enough Amelia found herself surrounded with a slightly drunk Arizona and an obviously tired and slightly tipsy redhead. They talked for a while, about nothing and everything but predominantly work, and when the brunette glanced at her father's watch adorning her wrist, her eyes almost popped out of their sockets. It was way later than she had thought and she was supposed to work early tomorrow.

"Well sorry to disappoint girls, but some of us have to work tomorrow so I better head out."

"What? Already?" Arizona asked confused and glanced at the clock. They had been so absorbed into conversation that the time had completely flown by. "Oh, I guess it is rather late after all."

"Do either of you needs a ride home? Robbins? Kepner?"

"It's okay, I'll get her Sheperd," April replied with a warm smile. "I only had one drink."

"'Kay. Make sure she drinks some water and drive safely."

"Night night, Amelia."

"Have a great evening, Sheperd."

This AA meeting had been a total disaster.

Well, to be honest, the last few days had been a total disaster but this meeting had just been the icing on the cake.

Amelia knew she shouldn't have gone. She had been tired, she had just lost two patients, she had been an emotional wrecking ball all day long, tears threatening to spill over at the smallest inconvenience. A little voice kept screaming into the back of her mind that Oxy was near. So, she had thought it would do her some good to go, perhaps make this dreadful feeling of sadness go away for a few hours. What a fool she had been.

Forty minutes in, she ran out of the room. The tears she had desperately been trying to hold back all day long finally came out of her eyes at an alarming rate and her breath started to turn into a questionable hiccup. Half blinded, she made her way to her car. At least in there, she could have a good session of crying without any stranger staring at her, shielded from the outside world and its judgment.

The tears pricking out of her eyes and her fuzzy mind made it impossible to find her car keys into her purse. Feeling broken beyond repair and now frustrated on top of it, she resigned herself to keep on crying in between her car and the one parked next to hers. The wind was cold against her cheeks and her hair flew everywhere messily but she couldn't care less.

"Sheperd?"

The voice broke her pity party and she looked up out of reflex. Owen Hunt was standing there, looking at her strangely, an emotion she couldn't quite read onto his features.

"Are you okay?"

The redhead almost punched himself right in the guts as the stupid and tactless question left his mouth. No wonder he seemed to repel women like the plague lately with this exceptional subtleness.

He was taken aback however when the neurosurgeon laughed. Full on belly, make your abs hurt laugh. He felt even more perplexed because even though the brunette was now laughing, the trauma surgeon could tell it was empty and the tears appeared to be coming out even quicker than they did a few seconds ago.

"I'M FUCKING PERFECT!" she yelled, her voice hoarse and her arms opened wide to motion around them. "Look at me crying in the middle of a hospital parking lot at eleven PM on a Saturday night. Don't I look like someone who's got their shit together?"

He could feel the sadness and anger coming out of her in powerful waves and he suddenly felt like he had fucked things up even worst than he had initially thought. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. Not because he was scared of saying something wrong again but because he felt like nothing he said would ever sooth the obviously great pain Amelia was going through right now. So, when his words failed him, Owen did the next best thing he knew.

"I'm going to hug you."

His hands finally left his pockets and he walked up closer, deliberately slow to leave her plenty of time to pull away if she wanted to. But Amelia didn't move. Instead, her cries grew louder. Amelia didn't want to feel it. To feel the pain, the guilt, the shame, the grief. It was all too much. But that was the tricky things with emotions, they demanded to be felt whether you wanted it or not.

Two strong arms enveloped her in a tight hug protectively. Strong. Steady. Nothing was stopping her anymore and she finally broke down. Her legs almost gave out and the arms around her tightened, pulling her closer against his chest. The brunette buried herself in him, as if she was trying to hide away from her pain, trying to disappear into him and become invisible. The trauma surgeon didn't really know what he was doing so he whispered sweets nothings to her and softly rubbed her back, in hope it would provide the woman some comfort.

Amelia had no idea how long they had been standing here, Owen stoic and impassive, holding her strongly until her tears subsided. She had a pounding headache, her eyes were puffy and hurting, and she felt utterly exhausted. This crying session had drained all the energy that she had left out of her. Her hand flew to the trauma surgeon's chest and she gently pulled away, his arms falling by his sides and he wasn't sure what to do with them suddenly.

"I, uh-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stain your shirt."

"It's okay."

A few uneasy moments passed by, both looking everywhere but at each other. Amelia, too ashamed and Owen, too hesitant.

Hunt scratched the back of his head nervously before asking, "Did you eat?"

The neurosurgeon's eyes trained up from the car window she had been staring at to look at him, her eyebrows furrowed.

"I'm sorry?"

"Dinner. Have you eaten dinner yet?" he asked again, his tone a weird mix between uncomfortable and caring.

"I-No."

"I know this great Indian place not too far from here."

It was weird, the way they just had both mutually decided to not talk about what had just transpired. To blatantly ignore the big elephant standing in the middle of the room.

"Ar-re you asking me out?" she asked, shocked.

At that, the redhead laughed. "I'm not," he could see her shoulders relax at his reply and smiled kindly. "Your stomach has been screaming famine for the last ten minutes or so and I haven't eaten dinner yet."

Oh. She suddenly felt stupid for feeling angry at him just because she had read the situation wrong. Truth be told, she had been too focused on other things to notice her hungry belly.

"Sorry," she smiled apologetically and shyly. "Indian sounds great."

So, that was how they found themselves into a small restaurant, sharing stories after stories until it was closing up. Amelia and Owen had crossed each other's path at the hospital and even worked on a few cases together already, but they had never hanged out outside of their common workplace. He told her he was of Irish decent, she told him Bohkee was her favorite scrub nurse. Owen told her he used to play soccer when he was younger, to which she replied she had a birthmark that looked like Indiana. It was weird how effortless it felt to share trivia facts like this. For a few hours, they got to pretend that she hadn't been crying like a baby into his arms, and it felt great to forget. She knew it wouldn't last, but it was enjoyable in the moment.

And as they passed the front door to walk out onto the streets, Amelia felt like she had a new friend in the person of Owen Hunt.

"Would you mind driving me back to the hospital please? I left my car there."

"You're going to drive? Have you seen how many times you yawned in there? Because I sure did," he said with a sweet smile and his tone was light.

"You're probably right. I guess I'll sleep it off at the hospital then."

"You can come over. I wouldn't mind," he offered tentatively.

"No, that's okay. You already did more than enough for me tonight."

"Look, you're obviously worn out. We both know hospital beds are crappy. You'll be woken up every ten minutes by people coming in and realizing it's not the supply closet they were looking for. And if we're being real, you're probably going to end up being pulled into a case if anyone sees you, which you know will happen."

Owen wasn't wrong on this one. Moreover, she didn't want anyone, any of their colleagues really, to see her like this, weak and vulnerable. So she found herself agreeing and climbing into the passenger sit. When they arrived at his trailer, Owen turned and saw Amelia already asleep, mouth opened and brows furrowed ever so lightly. He debated waking her up but decided against it so he picked her up bridal style. Opening the front door was a little tricky but he succeeded.

The water running into the sink unfortunately woke her up and Amelia looked around, completely disoriented and slightly scared until her eyes fell onto Hunt's coat thrown over a chair. They had made it back to Owen's then. She rummaged through Owen clothes and grabbed a big tee shirt as well as boxers. She mentally scolded at herself for her habit of foregoing panties and admittedly felt a little weird about borrowing Owen's underwear but there was no way she was sleeping butt naked. She silently prayed that he wouldn't ask any question. The trauma surgeon got out of the bathroom a few moments later, already dressed for the night.

"Oh, hey, you're up," he was visibly surprised to see her awake and, if he thought her sleepwear was weird, he didn't make any comment. "Do you want a spare toothbrush?"

Owen's toothpaste tasted like spearmint, aggressively fresh and his bathroom was small. She pondered how a guy so broad and tall could fit comfortably into his own shower. She spit out the horrible taste out of her mouth and the water made her feel like she had a small pines forest hidden in her mouth. Amelia stood up from the sink and the mirror above it made it impossible for her to miss her reflection. Her eyes weren't too puffy, but they were still bright red and while her headache was still present, it was less powerful. She looked almost as terrible as she felt. She climbed in bed next to him, letting a respectable distance in between them.

The windows above the bed had little curtains but neither of them made a move to close them. The starry sky outside was staring back at them, reassuring and beautiful. Amelia felt small, like she was just a little grey matter trying to find her place into that big universe. The wildlife noises were soothing and her bad thoughts and memories were slipping away slowly, dissipating into thin air as she relaxed into the protectiveness the night provided. She silently prayed her lucky star thank you that she hadn't use tonight. That Owen had stumbled over her.

She turned onto her side and looked at the redhead in question, his eyes were lost into the night.

"Thank you a lot for tonight, Hunt. I really needed that."

He turned to look at her and smiled warmly. "You're welcome. I may not have been crying but I probably needed tonight as much as you to be honest."

The neurosurgeon could tell he was telling her the truth. It showed in his eyes, that hint of raw desolation that couldn't be hidden.

"Will you hold me?" Amelia asked shyly, "Please?" her voice broke at the last word.

A tentative arm was put loosely around her chest, a starring contrast from the strong hold he had pulled her into earlier. It wasn't enough to ground her to reality, though. The neurosurgeon grabbed his arm and gently pulled it around her tighter, until it was squeezing her enough for her brain to stop the anxious whirlwind.

"That okay?" she asked, aware that the situation was unusual and not wanting to make him uncomfortable.

"Of course. Good night, Sheperd."

"G'night."

The very next morning, Arizona waltzed in the neurosurgery wing with two coffees in hands. She looked naturally fresh, her features radiant, her body exuding cheerfulness. Amelia was a little awestruck because the blonde always looked so well put together and smiling and happy while Amelia mostly looked like a mess and broody and depressed. It was a staring contrast and she wondered how they even managed to be friends in the first place.

"Hello stranger," the blonde placed a warm cup of coffee next to her and took a sip out of hers, "You look tired."

Amelia took a big gulp eagerly, like she hadn't already drunk her last three coffees.

"I slept at Owen's. His bed must be the most uncomfortable one I had the displeasure to sleep in yet. Felt like I was lying on the ground. I'm either too old or not drunk enough for this anymore," Amelia deadpanned.

"That is trailer life for you, m'lady," Arizona teased and Amelia shoved her shoulder playfully.

They both missed Derek passing near the other side of the nurses' station, his ears lingering as he slowed down. So his sister did sleep at Owen's. Interesting.

"He promised me a more comfortable bed than the hospital ones. I feel cheated on. And he kept trying to hog the sheets."

"How dare he?" Arizona said jokingly, faking to be appalled.

"You're an asshole," the brunette rolled her eyes.

"Perhaps but I'm an asshole with a very comfy bed that had nine straight hours of uninterrupted sleep with her daughter all cuddled up."

"I'm not even talking to you anymore. You're the worst friend I've ever had."

The neurosurgeon walked into the locker's room and was immediately alerted when she saw Arizona Robbins sitting on the bench, crying and softly shaking. The door closing loudly alerted the blonde that someone had just entered the room and Amelia silently cursed herself for not being more delicate.

Arizona's head perked up, her reddened and tear-filled eyes falling onto Amelia, standing awkwardly in front of her. She quickly wiped her tears away and forced the lump down her throat, trying her best to hide away her small meltdown.

"Oh, I- uh, sorry. I didn't mean to disturb," Amelia said softly, not knowing what do with herself, her hands fumbling anxiously with her sleeves. "Do-do you need a moment alone?"

"I- no, it's fine. I'm fine."

"Yeah, because you look anything but," Amelia deadpanned sarcastically. "Tough day?" she sat next to the blonde on the bench, letting a polite distance in between them and setting her hand down in the middle.

"Tough year," Arizona laughed humorlessly, and her eyes started to water again.

She looked up at the ceiling, trying to conceal the tears that threatened to spill onto her cheeks away. She really didn't need for her new friend that she barely knew to see her like this. It felt humiliating to have her walk in on her.

"Yeah, I had a few of those too."

Her tone was honest and she suddenly seemed older than she was, wiser. Arizona could tell that whatever the neurosurgeon was putting under the word tough, it had affected her greatly.

"How did you deal with it?" she stared at the other woman, her eyes settling into hers.

The brunette was awestruck by her new friend's eyes for a few moments, the vibrant blue color coming out full force. She tried to think of the right answer for a while. How did she deal with it? Drugs, booze, running away, sleeping with inappropriate people… So many bad choices that she didn't want to admit at loud. That she didn't dare voice out loud to Arizona.

Except it wasn't really that way she had dealt with it, was it? It had been her way to not deal with it. She thought about Ryan, about her days in rehab, about Christopher, about the warm hugs her friends had offered her despite all the horrible and venom-filled stuff she had yelled at them… So, she tried to answer as truthfully as she could.

"Family, friends, neurosurgery…" she softly squeezed the blonde's shoulder tentatively in hope to bring her some comfort. "I know we're not very close, but I'm always here if you need someone to vent to or simply a shoulder to cry on."

"Thanks," Arizona gave her a shy little smile.

"Anytime," Amelia said honestly with a warm smile. "I would consider taking two Advil though otherwise you're going to get one hell of a headache, Robbins."