They were woken up by a blaring alarm in the morning.
"Oh god." Meredith grumbles drowsily as she sits up from her awkward position.
"It's mine, sorry." Arizona grunts. She breaks away from Meredith's embrace and stretches. "We should've slept in a bed." She smiles at Meredith and puts on her prosthetic leg. "Also, you snore, or wheeze, it's cute."
Meredith, fully awake now blushes at Arizona's comment. She's not a blusher, it's been established that Meredith Grey is not a blusher. But whenever she's with Arizona, her heart tends to beat faster and the vessels in her cheeks tend to dilate.
Replying to Arizona, she said, "I do not snore or wheeze," while she buries herself under the blanket again, she continues, "and next time when we sleep together, we should find a mattress that provides better support."
"Next time?" Arizona asks with flushed cheeks.
Meredith, alert of what she accidentally spewed out, stuttered, "well, I mean… not like that, just…"
"Don't worry, I can't wait to share a bed with you again, you're an amazing cuddler." Arizona teases. Before a stunned Meredith could mutter a proper reply, Arizona had already gone back to her guest room.
'What just happened?' Meredith asks herself and moves into her room with the blanket wrapped around her.
"So, you and Robbins were cosy yesterday, what's up?" Amelia asks the blonde quietly in the operating room.
"What do you mean?" Maggie asks as she repairs her patient's ruptured aorta.
"Meredith and Robbins were sleeping together last night." Amelia announces, louder than before.
"Oh my god, I noticed that too, are you guys dating?" Maggie cheers. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Announce that to everyone don't you Amelia, now people are going to start gossiping. And no Maggie, I didn't tell you because we're not dating, we just fell asleep on the couch yesterday after a few glasses of wine." Meredith explains, shooting a scowl towards Amelia's direction.
"If you say so…" Amelia mumbles.
"Why are you here anyways, we don't even need neuro?" Meredith asks Amelia as she temporarily secures the haemostasis at the hilum.
"What? I can't watch my badass sisters in action? Besides, I'm hiding from Owen, and Link and Teddy." Amelia replies. "Anyways, why are we suddenly talking about me. Meredith, you still haven't answered my question, what's up with you and Robbins, and when did you get all friendly with each other?"
"I've answered you, there's nothing going on between us, she needed a place to stay so I offered, and we've always been friends, we've known each other for years," said Meredith.
Amelia rebutted, "Meredith, I hate to break it to you but you guys definitely weren't close. You've never even invited her to our small gatherings."
Maggie nodding in agreement said, "I'll have to agree with her Meredith."
"Well we're close now, so why do you care!" Meredith groaned as she divided the lieno renal ligament, "and can we please focus on the patient?"
Maggie, ignoring her sister's temperament said, "of course we care Meredith, we're your sisters. So, if Arizona makes you happy, we're happy for you too."
"She does make me happy, as a friend though, she's a good friend." Meredith stated, hoping that she could convince her sisters to drop the topic.
"Only as a friend?" Amelia teases.
"Yes, friend, we're friends." Meredith sighed while she applies a non-crushing clamp at the hilum.
Amelia, amused by this conversation teases again, "are you sure? Because you guys were cuddling last night."
"You know I like sleeping with people. I slept with you a week ago and I slept with Maggie the week before that!" Meredith replied, feeling her cheeks starting to flush red. Luckily, half of her face was covered by a mask.
Amelia, noticing the redness in Meredith's forehead continues, "yea, you slept on the left side of my bed, while I resided on the right side, there's a physical distance between us. You and Robbins on the other hand were not segregated from each other, she literally nuzzled her face into your neck. The only time I've seen Robbins cuddle someone like that was with my roommate, who if I remember correctly was her girlfriend at the time and with Carina, who's also her ex-girlfriend."
Meredith, biting her lips contemplated what Amelia had just said. Ever since their fateful night at Joe's bar, Meredith had developed an inexplicable sense of fondness for the foetal surgeon. Arizona had quickly become someone important in her life, albeit through phone calls and messages. But, now that the blonde is here and is definitively moving back to Seattle, Meredith couldn't help but to humour the idea of having a relationship that's beyond platonic. However, Meredith is also scared, she's scared of the possibility of letting somebody into her heart again, with the obvious reason being Derek. She had let Derek in, allowed herself to indulge in the love between them, but then he left and took a part of her with him. After Derek, Meredith promised herself never to fall for anyone again. But Nathan came and she started to let go, allowing herself to humour the idea of falling in love. In the end, she was once again left behind. In truth, Meredith knew that if she were to ever be left behind by someone she loved once more, she might not be able to survive it.
Finishing the double ligature on the splenic artery and vein, Meredith couldn't help but ask, "did you actually think that we could be together?"
Maggie replied, "of course, Arizona is totally your type, she's charming, cooks well, smart and successful, she's good with and kids. Now that I think about it, she's a catch. So you guys would be great for each other."
Amelia in agreement said, "you should ask her out though before she starts to fall for someone else. After all, she's the female Sloan."
"What do you mean by female Sloan?" Meredith asked in confusion.
"You know, Sloan as in Mark Sloan. Him and Arizona are practically the same person, they both, as Maggie had said, are charming, cooks well, smart and successful, good with the kids. But they're also great with the ladies. The number of women I've seen Arizona with before she dated Eliza was on par with Mark, and you know Mark." Amelia replied. "I mean if she's as good as Mark is in bed, I definitely would've asked her out."
Completing her division of the splenocolic ligament, Meredith looked up at Amelia. "Seriously?"
Amelia amused by the jealousy in Meredith's eyes revealed "Hey it's not just me, Maggie had a crush on her too."
"I... I don't… Amelia what the hell, that was ages ago!" Maggie said in an exasperated tone. "But she's right though Meredith, if you want to be with Arizona, ask her out before it's too late."
Ignoring her sisters for a second, Meredith finished up the splenectomy and told the resident next to her to close up the patient. Right before she left the operating room, she said, "Arizona and I, we're just friends alright, so just… don't say anything, please."
Amelia standing next to Maggie said, "our sister is stubborn isn't she?"
"Maybe she's just scared." Maggie replied, finishing up on her procedure as well.
After a long and exhausting day at work, Meredith, Amelia and Maggie settled the kids down before heading into the kitchen to heat up some leftover pizza.
Walking to the dining table, Meredith noticed a small pink note left next to the plate of pasta.
Noticing the smile creeping onto her sisters face, Amelia jokingly asked, "you sure that you're not dating?"
Meredith, ignoring Amelia for a second, picked up her plate of pasta puttanesca and headed up to her room. "Just for saying that, you're not getting any of the pasta, Goodnight."