A/N

I realised i slightly messed up in the first chapter when i talked about them having their first kiss on the same night, so ive gone back and amended it. Apologies!

Thank you to all the guest reviewers so far, and then to a couple of those who have reviewed by name:

Nanasheila - you're welcome, and i hope it continues to be different enough to keep your attention

Calzonafan123 - you raise valid questions which i hope will be answered, although for once i'm really planning on a slow reveal of things so hopefully you'll stick with me

It was just after midday when Arizona walked into the one bar on Main Street. She scanned the room, which was thankfully relatively empty given the time of day, and immediately spotted her companion for the afternoon.

"Blondie!" Mark got to his feet and waved her over.

She approached the table and saw two bottles of beer in front of him "Looks like you read my mind"

"You called me and asked me to meet you here, that only means one thing to me kid"

"Mark, I'm 28 years old. You can stop calling me that now"

"You'll always be a kid to me" he grinned and took a swig of his beer.

"It's really good to see you" she said genuinely, before adding "but don't ever tell anyone I said that"

Her relationship with Mark had always been a strange one. He had always primarily been one of Tim's friends, a member of the wider group of football players and cheerleaders that her brother used to hang with. And yes, that group included Eduardo and Juan, as well as Callie's sister, Aria. But there was something inherently friendly about the way he teased Arizona, and she gave as good as she got, and so somewhere along the way they found themselves becoming the unlikeliest of friends.

Tim's group of friends had really been one of convenience rather than genuine friendship in most cases. There was something unwritten in the high school rules and how football stars and cheerleaders had to be popular, and therefore had to hang around together. Even if they didn't like each other. So for every Tim or Mark, there was an Eduardo or Juan. Their other friend Owen was ok, a bit quiet, and only really cared about football for the exercise, while Derek was generally the eye candy for most of the girls. And then there were the cheerleaders. Aria herself was ok, but she was joined at the hip with head cheerleader Eliza Minnick and her loyal follower Penny Blake. The three of them used to click their fingers and expect everyone to do their bidding, and anyone who didn't was treated as a social pariah. The only cheerleader Arizona actually had any time for was Addison Montgomery, who was bitchy on the outside but at least had a softer side, and had continual relationship drama as she dated her way around the football team.

"I missed you, you know" Mark's words broke the blonde out of her trance.

"I missed you too" she replied honestly.

"Do we get to talk about the fact you left?"

Arizona shook her head "Off limits. Please?"

"Sure" he held his hands up in surrender "so what did you want to talk about?"

"I just…everything here is the same, yet different. I know you know I saw Callie last night, and by now I'm sure you probably also know that I know about Eduardo. I guess…I guess I wanted to know if there's anything else I should catch up on before I end up putting my foot in it at the funeral"

"Ok, so firstly, yes, I absolute do know all those things, and no, I'm not sorry that I told her you were here. And secondly, you can say whatever you damn want at that funeral blondie"

She smiled "I guess I can. But I am genuinely interested to know what's being going on. I know I made a choice not to for a long time, but now I'm here…"

"Can I ask you something?" Mark cut in.

"Sure"

"Why me? I mean, I get why you're probably not going to Callie to ask all this, but surely Teddy would've been your next port of call?"

Arizona blushed "I…well, I haven't spoken to Teddy since I left, and if I know her, she will definitely still be bearing a grudge. Plus, you're like the most honest person I know. And the biggest gossip. SO I figured if I wanted details, you were the place to go"

"And you don't think I was mad about you leaving?"

"I have no doubt that you were. But I also know that you're the kind of guy who gives people a chance. And that you would trust me when I say I had my reasons and not push any further"

"That…is a pretty fair assessment, yeah" Mark nodded thoughtfully "so what do you want to know?"

"Assume I know nothing. Aside from the fact that Callie married Eduardo. I don't need any more details on that. But what about everyone else, what about you?"

"Me? Well after a few years with Addison…"

"Wait, you ended up with Addison? I always figured she'd end up with Derek"

"She did. And then me. There may have been some overlap"

"Ouch"

"Yeah. So anyway, Derek ended up marrying a girl from Seattle called Meredith, and I met her sister Lexie at their wedding. And the rest you could say, is history"

"So Addison cheated on Derek with you, but then you got yourself invited to his wedding"

"Yeah…Derek kinda ended up cheating on Addison with Meredith after he found out about me and Addison…then me and her dated for a while, we broke up and she moved to Portland…that's probably the short version"

"Wow. Stories about small towns really aren't exaggerated"

"Nope. A hot bed of excitement this place"

Arizona laughed "Ok so that's about half the population of the town in a love…pentagon. How about the others?"

"So Teddy and Owen were a thing for a while, but you know he joined the army, and they've never quite been able to make it work. Both still single as far as I know, though she's had her fair share of short term relationships along the way. Penny and Eliza both went off to college and married quarterbacks…"

Arizona scoffed "Why am I not surprised?"

"And then Aria and Juan have been married for like 8 years, got a couple of cute kids"

"Does…anyone else have kids?"

"Yep"

Arizona held her breath.

"Derek and Meredith adopted a baby, and Addison just had a baby up in Portland. And that's all for now!"

The blonde exhaled in relief, attracting a raised eyebrow from her companion but no further comment.

"And how about you, what's new in your life, blondie?"

"Well, I'm a doctor…a paediatric surgeon actually"

"Wow! That's amazing. I always said you were going to be something special. Used to wind Tim up something rotten when I said you were going to be the most successful…" Mark trailed off.

"It's ok, we can talk about him you know. I know you're feeling his loss too"

"He was just a great guy. The best" Mark mused, taking a sip of his beer.

"Yeah" Arizona sighed "he made it impossible not to love him"

"You want to know one of my favourite memories of him?"

"Of course"

"The house party I threw, start of our senior year"

"My god, you guys thought you were the business back then"

"Hey, you can talk, little miss sophomore sneaking into a senior party"

"Sneaking? You totally invited us"

"Was that your defence to your parents?" he challenged.

"Point taken"

She sat back, allowing Mark to share his memories, knowing that her own feelings about that night were somewhat less fond.

13 years previously

Tim had been the life and soul of that party. At the time, Arizona had been distinctly embarrassed at her older brother, standing on a table with some of his friends to give a rendition of NSync's "Girlfriend". But the girls at the party were going wild, and she and her friends took the opportunity to head out into Mark's backyard.

"He is soooo embarrassing" Arizona complained.

"I don't know, I think he's kinda cute" Teddy winked.

"Don't be gross, he's my brother"

"Soooo…that means he's off limits?"

"Completely off limits. Besides, don't you have a crush on Owen?"

"So what, doesn't stop me from looking"

"I'm serious Teds, please"

"Cal, what do you reckon?"

They turned to look to their friend who had followed them out with Alex, only to find the two of them pressed up against the wall of the house making out.

At the time, Arizona couldn't quite explain the feeling in her stomach, but she knew instinctively that her reaction was very, very different from that of Teddy, who was squealing in delight, attracting the attention of other partygoers in the garden.

The two had broken apart, with Callie looking particularly embarrassed and unable to meet her friends eyes.

"You guys!" Teddy mock scolded "I can't believe you didn't tell us about this, how long has this been going on?"

"We didn't tell you because of this" Alex nodded up and down at her as she jumped up and down with excitement.

"Not long" Callie mumbled "we just didn't want to make it a big deal"

"It's kind of a big deal Callie" Arizona folded her arms "I can't believe you'd keep this from me"

Arizona did a pretty good job of convincing herself that the reason she was angry was that her best friend was keeping secrets from her and not…well, not the other thing that she couldn't bring herself to admit at the time.

"Callie, can I speak to you please?"

The group turned to see Aria in the doorway, stood with Eliza and Penny, and Callie did as she was told and followed her sister into the house.

The group then separated for the rest of the party, with Arizona having to half carry Teddy home after she decided to get involved with a game of beer pong with the seniors.

The next day at school when they saw Alex, he had a busted lip and a black eye. Apparently, he'd got into a fight later at the party with some juniors that he didn't know. Given his history of fighting, it wasn't exactly that hard to believe.

But looking back, that party was the night when everything started to change.

Present day

"I'd forgotten about that Alex kid!" Mark exclaimed "You guys were pretty tight freshman year, right?"

"Yeah, yeah we were"

"Whatever happened to him? Did you guys have a falling out? Was it over Callie?"

"No, god nothing like that. His dad erm…I think he got transferred to one of the Dakotas or something and so they moved…not long after the party actually"

"Why do I get the feeling there's something more to that than you're telling me?" Mark probed.

"Because you're inherently nosy and distrusting?"

"Ok ok. I get that some things are still totally off limits. But please just answer me one thing, because I've spent a really long time thinking that you were sweet and lovely, and that there must be some reason that you disappeared without a word that isn't just that you're an asshole…did you do something to make him leave?"

"Mark, I swear, I had nothing to do with him leaving. Honestly, yes I was jealous. But he never knew that. Nobody did"

"Ok. Because it's you, I'll take your word for it. Now, how about I get us another drink?"