CHAPTER 11 – FALLIN' IN

"Hey, would you mind watching Ellis for a few days? Zola picked up a cold at school and of course Bailey caught it too, I don't want Ellis to have it too. We can only drown in that much snot," Derek asked to his sister as he spotted her at the nurses' station.

Amelia looked up from her patient's file and Edwards' scribbled notes. Her brother looked exhausted, dark circles were starting to form under his eyes and his skin seemed paler than usual.

"You look like shit," she stated.

"Zola threw up every two hours and Bailey cried all night. Meredith was on call so Daddy had to deal with it."

"You should have Arizona or Karev check them out. Make sure it's just a common cold and not something more serious."

"Did that as soon as I came in. Just a simple flu, but we don't want Ellis to catch it. You wouldn't mind watching her for a few days, would you?"

"Let me see with Arizona first but I'm sure she won't have a problem with it."

"Thanks, you're a lifesaver," he kissed her cheek. "She's in daycare."

"You're welcome. You know I have a soft spot for this cute babbling mess."

Amelia put her tray down next to Arizona's and took the vacant chair. "You like baby Ellis, right?"

"Why do I feel like I'm being tricked?" Arizona asked, an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"Zola and Bailey have the flu and it would appear that I'm on Ellis-duty. Just wanted to check with you if it was alright. She'll have to stay over until Zola and Bailey are in the clear."

"Sure, of course. I'd love to have Ellis over. That baby is adorable."

"I'll make sure to remind you of that when she's waking you up for the umpteenth time at night or when she's puking on you when you're trying to burp her."

"Huh-huh, I don't remember agreeing to this," Arizona shook her head. "You're the one doing the baby-sitting, I'm just here for when she's being cute and playful and all. I'm not dealing with diapers or crying, I already had my fair share."

Amelia cringed at the remark and gently squeezed the other woman's thigh. "You might have to watch her tonight though. I'm working and I already told yes to Derek."

"You're working?" Arizona pouted.

"Well, Mer is working and the kids are sick so they can't go to daycare. Derek took the night off to take care of them so I'm covering for him. I'm sorry baby, I was really looking forward to a quiet night in with you," the neurosurgeon squeezed her thigh once more, her thumb caressing it back and forth over the scrub pants as a silent apology.

"You're lucky I like you," Arizona clearly wasn't satisfied with it but at least, she was no longer pouting.

"I like you a lot too and thank you."

"You owe me. I had awesome plans for us tonight. And I'm eating your fries," Arizona stole one out of the brunette's plate.

"Oh, and what did those plans entail Dr. Robbins?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Arizona teased with a playful smile.

"I would very much."

The blonde's fingertips strolled onto the back of the other woman's hand resting on her thigh while her eyes focused onto Amelia's face, wanting to see her emotions as she was talking. "I had been thinking, you, me, Chinese food, ice cream for dessert, some conspiracy theory documentary…"

The brunette's face lighted up. Whenever they watched conspiracy documentaries, they always seemed to end up making out on the couch like a couple of horny teenagers. And what better way to spend the night than making out with her hot hopefully-soon-to-be-girlfriend.

"I'm interested, keep going."

"And then, we'd have done something we've been thinking about for weeks. Here's a hint, it involves you, me and my bed," the neurosurgeon's pupils dilated, the smallest of whine escaping her throat and Arizona knew she had her exactly where she wanted. She approached her mouth next to Amelia's ear before carrying on, "We would have gone to bed early and finally have the twelve hours of beauty sleep we've been dreaming about," she pecked her cheek before putting some distance back between the two of them, a cheeky smile on her lips.

Amelia sighed melancholically and gave her a tired grin. "That does sound like the perfect date. Scratch that, you're the perfect date. I like you so much. Can we take a rain check on that?"

"Of course, "Arizona laughed, happy to see Amelia and her were on the same line. She took another French fry, "We have all the time in the world for making out and sleeping."

"I can't wait to unconsciously spoon with you for twelve hours."

"You're so gay," the pediatric surgeon giggled and then softly squeezed her hand under the table. "And such a dork. I can't wait either."

"Hello, little Miss," Arizona greeted the babbling baby as the day care employee placed her into her arms.

"She had a very short nap this afternoon so she might get sleepy early tonight."

"Thank you, Mary."

"You're welcome Dr. Robbins," she smiled at her before going back with the other toddlers.

She threw Ellis' bag over her shoulder and walked out. "We're having a sleepover tonight sweetie."

Ellis tilted her head to the left.

"Yes, we are. Your big sister and brother are sick so we're going back to my very much germ-free house. How about we go see Mommy and Daddy before we leave so they can kissy-kiss your adorable baby face? I bet you'd like that."

She stood at the nurses' station playing peekaboo for a while, waiting for Meredith to finish up with her consult. Ellis' face lighted up as she saw her mommy and she threw her little arms up, indicating she wanted to be carried. For the few minutes, Arizona stood patiently as her friend explained to her thousands of things about her daughter.

"Meredith," she eventually interrupted. The dirty blonde was spiraling out of control. "You do remember that I have a child, right? Sofia wasn't born a six years old," she chastised playfully with a laugh.

"Right, sorry. I'm being over-annoying mama bear."

"It's okay, I get it. But we're going to be alright and I'll call you or Derek if I have any questions, okay?" she squeezed her friend's forearm reassuringly with a smile.

The general surgeon nodded and carefully handed her daughter back to her colleague after giving her a big kiss. "Have a great stay, honey. You and Amelia text me when she's at day care so I can go and see her a bit, okay?"

"Of course. But you do know you'll get her back in like, four days right?"

"I need to get myself together, I know. Thank you again."

"You're welcome. Your kids are always welcome to my house. Now stop buying time with this one and get back to work Dr Grey," she said jokingly and headed out of the hospital.

When Amelia eventually came home the next morning, she arrived just in time to witness Arizona feeding Ellis her bottle. The blonde had an old towel thrown haphazardly over her shoulder and was still wearing her pajamas. Her slightly messy and free honey blonde hair was curtaining her face, but Amelia still managed to catch a glimpse of the huge smile adorning the pediatric surgeon's mouth and the sparkles of tenderness floating in her eyes. The brunette felt her stomach doing summersaults and her heart clenched tightly into her chest at the beautiful scenario happening in front of her. Discretely, she closed the door and toed her shoes off.

"Hello my beauties," she greeted in a semi-whisper in order to not disturb her niece.

Arizona looked up, her smile never fading and Amelia was almost caught off guard by the astonishing way her dimples were popping out.

"Hey sweetie. How was work?"

"Pretty un-eventful actually. I even managed to catch a few hours of sleep in between craniotomies so I feel pretty okay," her right hand unconsciously came to rest onto the pediatric surgeon's hip, scrolling past her pajamas to draw lazy pattern onto the soft skin underneath to which the blonde let a happy sigh and leaned into the touch. She gently nudged Arizona's shoulder with her nose, catching the faint lavender detergent smell. "What about you? How was Ellis?"

"This little monster hides her play well. We were all fun and giggles until it was time to sleep. Then, it was nothing but tears and screams. Eventually, we ended bunking up and Ms went straight to dreamland. She did seven hours in one stretch, so that was definitely a nice treat. She's so cute when she's asleep, I had almost forgotten how adorable babies are."

Amelia rubbed her niece's clad feet softly which earned her a tilt of the head as she kept on sucking onto her bottle. "I better be careful or else this little devil is going to steal my woman away from me," she said playfully.

"Don't worry babe, you're still my favorite Sheperd," Arizona joked back with honest eyes and a sincere voice.

Her warm milk bottle devoured, Ellis pushed it away from her mouth and started to jabber, her hand slowly extending towards her auntie's hair.

"How about you go take a shower and get ready while I make us breakfast and burp this adorable human being?" Amelia asked as she slowly took the baby out of Arizona's arms. "Hello beautiful, come see Auntie Amelia," she cued and the baby gave her a gummy smile and giggled.

The blonde laid the tablecloth onto the other woman's shoulder in case Ellis would throw up.

"Thank you. But I think you forgot something."

Amelia's eyebrows furrowed all the while she gently jiggled the baby up and down, a protective hand wrapped behind her head.

Arizona tugged onto the neurosurgeon's top until her front was glued against hers, Ellis safely tucked in between them. She leaned in slowly. "Your good morning kiss," she whispered and softly pressed her lips against the brunette's.

Nothing could ever compare to the tenderness of Arizona's kisses after a long shift. Her silky lips, her strolling fingers onto her hip sending shivers all over her body, her curves against hers… However, the brunette could sense something was different than usual. She pulled away with a frown.

"New lip-gloss?" the brunette asked.

Arizona frowned. "Yes. They didn't have strawberry anymore so coconut it was."

"Coconut sucks, tastes bad."

"So you're not going to kiss me anymore 'cause you don't like my lip-gloss?" the blonde teased playfully.

"Nah, I'm still going to kiss you a bunch 'cause I like you a lot and your lips are way too kissable to be ignored. In fact, your face- hell your whole body is too kissable to be ignored," she peppered Arizona's face, kissing each cheek, her forehead, her chin and finished by her nose.

"Your dorkiness is showing, baby," Arizona joked but was actually quite delighted by Amelia's sweet attentions.

"Not a word out of our home, Robbins," Amelia pointed her index finger to her and Ellis jabbered loudly. She looked down at her, "Yes, that goes for you too, little Sheperd. I have a reputation to uphold at the hospital so not a word to any day care employees, got it?" she asked seriously and seemed satisfied when the baby half-babbled half-drooled in response.

"I like that you're so silly," the blonde said honestly as she replaced a brunette lock behind her ear.

"Thanks," Amelia gave her a peck and squeezed her butt, "Go take your shower now. I've got this."

When the pediatric surgeon came back a few minutes later, her wet hair was wrapped in a towel and she was dressed to face the day ahead of her.

Amelia was laying down onto the couch with Ellis sitting onto her belly, each little hand wrapped around a finger of her auntie's hands for balance. Breakfast was set onto the dinner table, warm coffee was already in mugs, fruits were cut, biscuits were out and cereal were sogging in milk.

"Yes, she did! See, Daddy was wrong, auntie did it. Of course, it wasn't easy because the tumor was located onto the back of Mr. Steven's pituitary gland."

Ellis gibbered in response.

"I know, that's what daddy said! But then I thought…"

Arizona stood silently spying Amelia and Ellis interacting. Her heart swelled insinde her chest and a wide smile graced her lips unconsciously. There wasn't a single side of the brunette Arizona didn't like. The more she learned about her and who she was as a person, the more she felt blessed to be able to call her hers.

Arizona quietly walked up to the back of the couch and arched up an eyebrow. "Don't you think she has enough of this at home with your brother?" the blonde teased and picked Ellis up and sat down at the table, Amelia following right behind them and sat in front of her.

"Nah. Look at her smile. That's a delighted smile. Brain talk is delighting to her. Isn't that right Ellis?"

The baby smiled toothily as she recognized her name, showing off her gums instead of teeth.

"See?" Amelia smiled goofily at the blonde. "Plus, studies show that babies who have high verbal and oral stimulations during their first two years develop Broca's and Wernick's areas earlier and have less difficulties forming complex words once they actually start talking. They also have less difficulties translating written words into the right syllable once they learn to read, making them less inclined to dyslexia and dysorthographia."

"Nerd," Arizona teased playfully but inside, she could actually feel a few butterflies trying to escape her stomach.

The other woman always had this glint of passion whenever she talked about neurosurgery or anything brain related really, it was mesmerizing. Moreover, there was something utterly magical about seeing her being so caring and thoughtful with kids that made the mother inside of her melt. Amelia never seized to amaze her it seemed.

Amelia playfully hit her shin under the table, purposely hitting softly into her prosthetic. "I'm mostly doing it 'cause I like her little smile so much!" she cued to the baby and Ellis laughed. "Yep, that's the one! It's the one I'm talking about, buddy."

The pediatric surgeon glanced down and sure enough, that grin was certainly a winner. "That is a pretty cute smile. Almost as cute as her auntie's."

"Aren't you one smooth talker," Amelia joked as she got up.

"I am," Arizona smiled proudly.

The neurosurgeon piled up the empty plates in one hand and took her empty mug into the other. She was finishing loading up the dishwasher when two arms wrapped themselves around her midsection and a head dropped in between her shoulder blades.

"I have to go to work."

Amelia's eyes opened wide, and she turned around, her arms finding their usual place around Arizona's neck. The blonde's hair was now dry and up into its usual ponytail and she had put on some light make up to hide the small bags under her eyes from her night with a baby.

"But I just got there. I barely saw you an hour. How am I supposed to get through today with only five minutes of lady lovin'?"

"Lucky you, I'm only doing some consults till mid-afternoon. And until then, you have a fierce little lady to keep you company instead," she mentioned towards the living room with her head where her niece was packing up colorful plastic cubes.

"It's not the same," Amelia pouted.

"I know, but there's no alternative alas," she gently leaned in to kiss her but was surprised when the other woman's pointer finger crashed against her mouth instead of her lips.

She raised an eyebrow in question and the finger lowered.

"Did you put that awful coconut lip gloss on again? I know I said I didn't mind but I also kind of really don't like it," she scrunched her nose in disgust.

"I didn't put it on," the blonde laughed. "Can I kiss you now?"

Amelia nodded and softly pulled Arizona closer to kiss her properly. Her hand rested around the blonde's neck since the honey hair was up and she stroked the skin, her thumbs tenderly strolling back and forth against her jaw. Arizona's hands wandered onto her lower back, tenderly keeping her close. Out of breath, Arizona pulled away, her forehead resting against Amelia's.

"Maybe we could go out this afternoon? Take her to the park or something? It's supposed to be sunny."

"Sure. Any opportunity to spend some time with you and my niece."

"I'll see you in a few hours. Nap good baby."

"Well, you know what they say. Work hard, nap harder," the neurosurgeon joked with a smug smile.

"You know, last Monday Sofia complained you were making a lot of dad jokes. I didn't quite get what she meant at the time, but I think I do now," the blonde teased.

"Fuck you," Amelia giggled at the playful remark and lightheartedly elbowed her into the ribs. "Dad jokes are great."

"You're spending too much time with Derek," she pecked her one last time before pulling away. "Have a great day honey. Bye baby girl."

"We went to dinner, you know that Chinese place down on 4th? Their food is awesome. I don't think I ate that much in a long time, even though I ate with my chopsticks."

"You can't eat with chopsticks to save your life," Owen replied giggling at the memory of the last time Amelia and he had tried to eat with chopsticks. It had been a real bloodbath.

"I know. But I knew it would make her laugh, and I like hearing her laugh. It's cute."

"Someone has it bad."

"Shut up. You're my friend, you're supposed to be nice to me!"

"Says the girl who mocks me half of the time."

"I do that out of love," Amelia said. "You kn-"

A knock came from the door and since the pediatric surgeon and she were alone, she wasn't surprised to see Arizona's head poking in a few seconds later. She was however surprised to see her still up. They had came back from their date almost forty five minutes ago and she was pretty sure she hadn't seen any light slipping out from Arizona's door frame when she had walked back to her bedroom after having taken her shower. The neurosurgeon smiled sweetly at her and motioned to her to come in completely.

"Owen, I have to go, Arizona's here. Coffee tomorrow?"

"You bet. Have fun and don't do anything I wouldn't."

She sneered. "You wish," she replied and hung up.

She focused onto Arizona. The blonde was clad into her pajamas and she was sporting a cheeky grin as she sat onto the edge of the bed and laid her crutches down next to her.

"What's up?"

"So imagine this. I'm lying in my bed for like, twenty minutes now and I have this stupid smile on my face that I can't seem to wipe off."

"Is it this very one?" Amelia teased playfully as she pointed toward the pediatric surgeon's face.

"It is, indeed. This is my I-had-an-amazing-night-stupid-smile. And then I'm like damn, I wish I had invited this girl inside for coffee. But I didn't invite you in. It would have made no sense because we live together, right? But if we didn't, if we weren't roommates I mean, I would have invited you to come in after our date, wishing you would have said yes and hopefully you'd have wanted to spend the night over and then I'd get the chance to hold the reason of my stupid smile in my arms. Anyway, like I said, I spend the next twenty minutes lying wide awake in my bed, wondering what to do. Next thing I know, I'm standing here. So," she paused, her grin still on her lips and her eyes fell into Amelia's, "Wanna come in?"

By now, Amelia had the exact same big stupid smile on her face. Her belly filled with butterflies as happiness ran through her, making her heartbeat increase terrifyingly faster. It felt good to know that tonight had been as awesome for her as it had been for Arizona, that their feelings were reciprocated.

"Yes! Of course, you big goof," the brunette said as if it was obvious. "I'd love to come in."

Arizona giggled and leaned in to kiss her. Since both women were grinning, it turned out to be tricky but they wouldn't change it for the world. As they pulled away, the blonde's hand strolled onto the back of Amelia's neck, keeping her close and softly rubbed the silky skin she had found there.

"I like you," she confessed, honesty and care shining into her eyes like the sun into the sky.

"I like you too," the brunette replied and kissed her tenderly, hoping to prove how serious her words were.

The other woman grabbed her crutches and got up, walking towards the door and leaving behind her a confused Amelia. She turned around to see her still sitting on the bed and frowned.

"Aren't you coming?"

The neurosurgeon raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I see how it is Robbins. Making me work for it," she faked light indignation but got up anyway to follow her. "My bed's not good enough for you?"

"Mine's better," Arizona smirked as she led them into her bedroom.

Barely had she passed the doorway, Amelia threw her naked self onto the bed and bounced. She sat up and bounced again, grinning childishly at Arizona.

"What the hell are you doing?" The pediatric surgeon asked, chuckling.

"You said it was a good bed so I'm testing it!" she bounced one last time onto the comforter before letting herself fall back, lying flat on her back.

"You already slept here plenty."

Amelia chose to ignore her, "Very comfy. I can definitely see myself sleeping here more often."

"Oh yeah?" Arizona giggled, entertained by the neurosurgeon's behavior.

Amelia was a rare mix of childish and dorky which made her incredibly perfect in Arizona's eyes.

The brunette lifted herself onto her elbows and looked at the blonde who was will standing a few feet away and she pouted. "Feels kind of lonely though."

"I think I can help with that."

Arizona joined her onto the bed and both slid under the sheets. She easily settled into Amelia's offered embrace, turning off the bedside lamp before cuddling into her warm body.

Arizona whispered sweetly, "I'm in for one hell of a ride with you Sheperd, aren't I?"

"Yep," the other woman said proudly and dropped a kiss onto the clad shoulder.

She pulled the blonde closer, needing to feel as much of Arizona as she could to be sure she wasn't dreaming. Her nose buried into honey blonde hair and the faint smell of blooming flowers lulled her right to sleep.

"You know what I hadn't anticipated being involved with a woman? The hair. Head hair, I mean. There is hair every fucking where. Bath drain? Hair. Pillows? Hair. Socks coming out of the laundry machine? Hair. Spooning? Hair in your face trying to suffocate you. It's just too much," she took a sip of her coffee.

Owen and she had managed to get fifteen minutes together to share yesterday promised coffee after a rather busy morning. They were currently sitting into the attending's lounge, happy to finally sit after standing up for so long.

Owen laughed. "Welcome to our world, I guess."

"Maybe you should try dating men," Amelia joked and Owen chuckled.

"No thanks, Amelia."

"You're probably right," she let her head fall onto his shoulder. "Women are way too soft to be renounced. Hugging Arizona feels like spooning a cotton cloud, only she's way prettier and cuter."

"A least one of us had a good night of sleep."

"That I did," she said almost dreamily. "Also, not having to deal with morning wood poking at me first thing in the morning is really nice."

Owen laughed. "You realize we don't control everything our bodies do when we're asleep, right?"

"I know but you try sleeping peacefully with an erect penis nudging you."

Owen held both of his hands up like an innocent, this obviously wasn't his fight.

"You know what? I just realized I have a ton of condoms in my bedside table that I'm probably never going to use."

"A ton?" the trauma surgeon asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Don't judge!" the brunette gently punched him in the ribs. "Okay, maybe not a ton, but you know, a fair share of them. I was being optimistic. And now, they're just… waiting. What a waste."

"You could always give them to me?" Owen said, with a serious business face on.

Amelia just frowned at him in reply and looked up to meet his face.

"Like you just said," he shrugged. "You're a lesbian now-"

"Bi," Amelia interrupted him, not liking the erasure.

"Bi in a lesbian relationship," Owen worded more carefully. "So they're just sitting there while your very single male friend could use them."

"Yeah, if only I had a single male friend who's actually getting laid from time to time," Amelia faked deep thinking and rubbed her chin between her fingers.

"Fuck you! Just because it's been awhile since I… was involved with someone doesn't mean anything. Besides, what are your other options? Derek?"

"Ugh!" the neurosurgeon was obviously appalled and disgusted at the mention of her brother. "Please, do not say my brother's name and anything sexually related in the same sentence. What is wrong is you?" she shuddered at the mere thought.

Owen chuckled at her attitude. "You do know that Derek and Meredith have three kids, right? Two of them from natural births," he teased her.

She put her hands over her ears, in the very same way kids did when their parents were telling them something they didn't want to acknowledge. "Just stop, you asshole!"

The redhead laughed and Amelia pouted at him.

"Hey, we can hear you guys giggling from outside. What are you talking about?" Jackson asked as he entered the room.

The plastic surgeon made his way to the coffee pot and helped himself a cup.

"Condoms," the brunette said.

"Derek," Owen replied at the same time.

Jackson was left confused at what the actual subject was and decided that some questions were better left unanswered.