Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, I just borrowed the name of the characters for entertaining, no intention to violate any copyrights.
A/N : Thank you all for the nice comments about the previous chapters, you have no idea how much that boosted my ego :-p Just kidding. Actually I'm afraid I can't keep up with the standard that you guys like.
I have this chapter finished long before 11x11, have you heard Callie said nobody cooks? Seriously? Oh btw, in this story let's pretend Derek and Addison never happened, just like the writers in GA decided to pretend Arizona's miscarriage has never happened, ok?
As always, thanks to my wonder beta calzonaforever35 helping with this chapter. You did a beautiful work again my dear.
Chapter 3
"What do you have to do today?" Teddy asked her friend while seasoning her first cup of coffee of the day. She used to have coffee at home because the coffee from the coffee cart in Mercy West was horribly undrinkable. But she changed her routine 4 weeks ago.
It had been 6 weeks since Callie's birthday party, and a lot of things happened.
It all started with a sudden announcement from the board of Mercy West Hospital that they would be merged with Seattle Grace Hospital. It came out the week after the party. Within 2 weeks, staff were significantly cut except a few of them who could get a new contract from the joint hospital. Teddy and Arizona were one of them.
"Not so busy, thank god." Arizona sighed contently after taking a sip of the coffee. The coffee at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital was certainly better than old Mercy West's. "I didn't realize the heavy workload here before I agreed on taking this job."
"Oh save it. We both know you're happy to be the head of the department finally." Teddy cast a playful glance toward the new head of PEDS surgery. She was as thrilled as her best friend about this change. Arizona deserved this position long ago and it was a no brainier to accept the offer. However, she knew exactly why it took the blonde a whole week to make the decision.
Callie was the reason that Arizona was hesitant to take the job in the new hospital. Agreeing on the new job means she would be working in the same place with Callie, seeing her everyday, and probably work cases together closely; That could be super awkward.
On the other hand, this was an incredible opportunity. Being the head of the department in one of the top ranked hospitals was her goal and it would've been stupid to pass up on it.
To the blonde's surprise, she was worried for nothing. Over the 4 weeks working in the hospital, Callie was nowhere in sight. Her name wasn't even on the surgical board, at all.
The original staff of the hospital were friendly and had welcomed her and Teddy with open arms. She grew close with Miranda Bailey and Owen Hunt quickly, and the residents were much more helpful and efficient than the old sloppy people at Mercy West. Alex Karev was a welcomed surprise. Overall, she found herself fitting right in the new work place.
But there was a big question marked in her mind the whole time. She knew all those people were friends of Callie's, but none of them had once mentioned the brunette. Not even Mark Sloan, who was kinda hostile to her the whole time.
It wasn't that she didn't try to pry into some info about Callie from anyone, but Teddy was being no use ever since she ended the causal relationship with Mark. They kept the distance between each other because Mark had gotten back with Lexie and Teddy had fallen in love with a baseball player. Besides, the cardio surgeon refused to be drug into Arizona's business anymore because it was just too frustrating to see the stubborn blonde let that perfect woman walk away from her.
The only info Arizona could get was during a M&M about an unnecessary above knee amputation on a 12 years old patient, Alex mumbled to her that Callie would be able to save this leg if the hothead Latina didn't quit her job before the merger because of a big fight between her and the former Chief of surgery Richard Webber.
"So do you have any plans tonight?" Teddy asked as they walked toward the elevator.
"I am going to catch up on some reading. I've barely had any time for my research since I started working here." Arizona shrugged and took a sip of her coffee. The friends entered the crowded elevator side by side after it was opened.
"No, today is thanksgiving. You're going to have dinner with me and Henry." Teddy turned to the shorter blonde with a smile after she pressed the door close button.
"Spending thanksgiving with your hottie new boyfriend? You are serious with this guy, huh?" Arizona teased her friend. "I don't want to be the third wheel."
"Don't be silly." Teddy rolled her eyes with a smile that she couldn't suppress. "I really want you to meet him. He's a sweet guy and I think he's the one."
"After 4 dates and you are saying he's the one, he must be really special."
"Oh I knew that since the first date. I just didn't want to rub it in your face. Anyway, you'll have dinner with us instead of staying in your sad lonely apartment eating the microwave dinner."
"Can you say it louder? I'm afraid the coma patient on the 4th floor couldn't quite hear you." Arizona glanced at her friend with a feign anger. She smiled to Teddy after the few giggles from the fellow passengers in the elevator died down. "Are you sure Henry is ok with that?"
"Don't worry, he wants to meet you too." The cardio surgeon answered over her shoulder on the way out of the elevator. 2 nurses got out on the same floor as they were sharing gossip in a whisper.
"Are you sure? The superstar with a scalpel has returned?"
"Positive. Dr. Shepherd told me to put her name on the schedule."
"No wonder he told Dr. Chang to..."
Hours later, the new head of the Peds surgery was paged to the ER. She ran out to the ambulance bay and found her resident was already there. The man helped her tie up the trauma gown as they were waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
"Are you ok?" Alex asked causally, but there was a genuine concern under his brows.
"I'm ok, it happened. The patient is in the recovery now." Arizona smiled softy in the question. She thought the resident was referring to the surgery that she just performed that the kid was touch and go for a while.
"No, I mean..." Alex didn't have time to explain. The siren of the ambulance getting closer and it stopped right in front of them in the next second.
"What do we get?" Arizona asked the paramedics while they unloaded the patient, revealing a very scared boy lying on the gurney.
"10 years old male, falling off a skateboard and hit the ground from 3 feet high. Unconscious for 5 minutes. Obvious injuries on right chest and right shin." One of the paramedics called out the symptoms and assisted the doctors wheeling the patient toward the trauma room.
"Get the X-ray ready and page Ortho." The blonde ordered without looking up from the tiny body on the table. The boy's consciousness was back and he was writhing in pain and panic. "And give him some morphine for the pain."
"Toby! Toby! Oh god!" A male wail broke through the air of the trauma room made everyone stare. "Oh my god! Baby! Are you alright?"
The cry made the boy wriggled even hard. He reached out a hand toward the man looking for some physical contact with the one he seemed familiar with, but the nurses around him held him down to prevent any further injury from moving around.
"Toby, Toby. You have to stay calm so we can help you." Arizona pulled up her super magic smile to the boy on the table offering some comfort. That did calm the boy a little. Then she turned to the new comer. "Are you Toby's parent?"
"I- I'm not." The man swallowed hard. His gaze shifted to the doctor but rapidly fixated on the crying boy again. Worry was written all over his face. "His father is out of town for a meeting but I've already called him. He's on his way back. I am his father's partner."
"Business partner?" Alex lifted his head briefly to address the question to the man, and her boss scolded him under her breath quickly.
"No, I'm- I'm his boyfriend." The man clenched his jaw.
"Oh, I'm sorry." The resident apologized timidly. "Would you mind waiting in the waiting room? We'll come update you later."
"No, I'm not going anywhere when Toby is hurt like this." Tears started to gather in the man's eyes. "You can't kick me out because I'm not legally his parent. He is my boy and I have every right to stay here and be with him."
"Sir," Arizona sent a silent instruction to the resident on her side. The two only worked together for a few weeks but they've already picked up their way of communication. Alex quickly took over the position and applied pressure on the open wound of Toby's chest, so the attending could go to talk to the distressed man. "What's your name?"
"Cameron, Cam." The man wiped his face and sniffed loudly. He was about to let out another wail when a needle was stuck in Toby's slender arm. Arizona placed a hand on Cam's shoulder hoping to divert his attention.
"I'm Dr. Robbins," The blonde said with her softest voice. "I'm going to take good care of Toby, ok? We're going to stop the bleeding on his chest and the leg, and we'll take him to CT to see if there's any damage in his head. It'll take a while and we need you to wait outside. Not because you're not his legal guardian but we need the room to concentrate on helping him, ok?"
"But- but- I need to see he's alright. I need to know he's alright." Cam looked at the blue eyes doctor with his lips trembled.
"He will be alright." Arizona ensured the man with a firm nod. "We're going to take the X-ray now and will know what our next move is going to be. I will come update you as soon as we know more."
A few linger looks sent to the now steady body on the table, Cam left the room with his heavy feet. Arizona turned away from the door while one of the nurses came to put a lead apron on her and helped changing to a fresh pair of gloves. She choked on her breath when the deep smoky voice in her memory came to life.
"Someone paged for an Ortho consult?"
The stunned surgeon whirled around with her wide blue eyes, unmistakably there was Callie entering the trauma room in navy blue scrubs. Her rich and generous dark hair was tied to a messy ponytail that showed off the strong jawline, and perfect tan on her skin.
Callie scolded in her head when she stepped in the ER and the nurse pointed her to the trauma room telling her that she was needed in Dr. Robbin's patient. She took a few deep breaths before entering the room. It was her first day back to the job. It was her first day as an attending there. She couldn't let any residual feelings she had with the blonde woman affect her ability to do her job.
She picked up the chart without looking at anyone in the room. When she got no answer from anyone, she lifted her eyes and met with a pair of ocean blue ones. For that split second, Callie felt the damn butterflies fluttering in her stomach again.
Thankfully, the moment was interrupted in the next second when a nurse approached her with a set of gear. She put it on silently when everyone worked to get the X-ray images.
"The rib is broken and punctured his lung." Alex pointed out, looking at his attending.
"Call the OR and tell them we're on our way." Arizona nodded. She looked over to the Ortho attending whom was biting her bottom lip slightly while watching the film.
"I'll have to go in to stabilize the fracture on the tibia." Callie sighed invisibly. Scrubbing in with Arizona was not on her agenda on the first day at work.
"You guys go ahead. I'll go update the family." The Peds surgeon helped the rest of the team wheel out the gurney, but she took the opposite direction walking toward the waiting area. Callie stared after her.
"The parents are here?" She asked the resident. Alex turned his gaze to the back watching his boss rounded the corner.
"The life partner of the father's."
As soon as Arizona stepped in the waiting room, Cam jumped up from the seat and strode to her. His eyes were red and puffy from worrying about the son of his boyfriend.
"Dr. Robbins, how is he?"
"Toby has a broken rib that punctured his lung, he's on the way to the OR and I'm going to operate on him to fix it. And..." Arizona stopped momentarily when Cam broke down and covered his mouth with one hand. "And he has a fracture on the tibia. My colleague Dr. Torres will fix it at the same time."
"Oh my god! Oh my god!" The man started hyperventilating. Arizona took his hand and led them to sit down, all the while striking Cam's back up and down, coaching him to breathe deeply.
"He will be fine. I'm good at my job and so is Dr. Torres. I'll make sure he's going to be fine, ok?"
"Is there any papers I have to sign?" Cam wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Truth to be told, he wasn't sure the shaking hand would be able to sign anything. The doctor shook her head slightly.
"No hurry. That can wait until Toby's father arrives." Arizona patted Cam's shoulder before standing up from the chair. She didn't have the heart to tell the man that he wasn't authorized to sign Toby's legal papers. But from the look on his face, she knew that he knew. "I'll make sure someone comes to update you about the surgery. You sit tight."
Toby was under anaesthesia when she arrived in the OR. Callie was already working on the lower half of the body with the assistant of a faceless intern, and Alex had opened up the chest waiting for her.
They worked in silence for a while until the intern exclaimed.
"Whoa Dr. Torres, that is... amazing." The intern was referring to Callie's handy work. Alex leaned toward the opened leg and sneered loudly.
"This? This is nothing. You should see her built an entire tibia with titanium. That was freaking badass."
"You two worked together before?" The young girl just started the internship in the new Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital no more than 2 weeks ago, and she had never heard of the Dr. Torres before today.
"Torres was a resident here before the merger." Alex answered nonchalantly, and went back to assist Peds surgeon sew up the ruptured lung. Little did he know that the abnormally quiet blonde was stealing glances at the other attending from time to time.
"Why did you leave?" The intern asked innocently. Her eyes lit up seeing the Ortho surgeon manage the drill at ease.
Contrarily, a pair of blue eyes darkened on the other end of the table. Arizona vividly remembered the last time Callie talked about how she felt with an instrument in her hands, just like she remembered everything else that happened that night.
"I took a break." Callie answered the intern. She handed the drill to the nurse standing next to her, involuntary throwing a glance towards the Peds surgeon who was elbow deep inside an opened chest. She was never a fan of Easter colors, but she couldn't help but adore the cuteness of the flowery scrub cap on top of the blue eyed surgeons head.
"Where have you been? Yang said she couldn't reach you on your cell." Alex carried on with the interrogation. He just meant to make small talk, what he didn't know was that his boss was patting his back for asking the questions for her.
"Oh, I went to LA for a couple weeks. My phone is somewhere in the ocean." Callie chuckled lightly recalling the incident that caused her phone being tossed into the sea. She cast a quick glance toward the blonde who cost her a phone before whirling around to the door when someone entered and called her name.
"Callie, I need help." Meredith entered the OR with a mask in her hand covering her mouth.
"You need a consult? I may need some more time to stable the screws. Can you wait or page someone else?" Callie frowned at her friend. The new chief promised her a light workload day and the wife of the chief knew about it. Back to back surgery should be off the table.
"No, I don't need a consult, but I need you to help me with the dinner tonight. Derek decided to throw a thanksgiving dinner, plus a welcome back party for you." Meredith rolled her eyes on the idea of having a big dinner party. "You know I don't know my way around the kitchen. But you? You like cooking and you can cook. So, I need you."
"A thanksgiving dinner? Do you know how long it takes to cook a turkey? I can make magic in the OR but not in the kitchen." Callie gestured the open tibia in front of her. Everyone in the room, including the silent Peds surgeon chuckled under the mask.
"I know that, I'm not that stupid about cooking." The irritated resident placed a hand on her hip. "Derek told me to call to the restaurant ordering a cooked turkey and some other things. But there's still a lot of stuff that needs to buy and make. I've checked the call sheet and you're off at 4. We'll go together to the grocery store and pick up the damn turkey."
"Fine." Callie murmured under her breath. She knew she wouldn't be able to find a way to get out of this.
Happy with the answer from the brunette, Meredith turned her attention to the others in the room.
"Alex, come home before 7 or you'll be in charge of the cleaning solely. Robbins, do you have thanksgiving plans?"
"I- I have plans with Teddy and her boyfriend." Arizona stuttered out. She didn't know she would be included in this conversation.
"No, you don't. You're coming to my house for thanksgiving. I'll go tell Altman to bring her date to my party." The resident nodded, ignoring the raising eyebrows above the mask. "You're off at 4 too?"
"Yeah?" The blonde answered uncertainly. Meredith nodded again.
"Great! We'll need another set of hands to help with the groceries. Besides, you don't know the way to go to my house, you'll come with us. Meet me and Torres in the lobby at 4."
"But- I-" Arizona wanted to decline the offer, but Meredith held up her hand to stop her and backing away to the door.
"No buts, chief's order. You are invited. See this as a welcome to the family party."
"Whoa, you sound a lot like the wife of the chief." Alex joked to his long time friend before she turned to leave the room. The woman giggled openly and threw him a grimace.
"Scary, right?"
The surgery went on in silence. Both attendings were focusing on doing their jobs, and scared on the idea of spending an evening together.
Arizona left Alex to close up the chest so she could go update Cam about the success of the surgery. Everything went well and Toby should be awaked soon. He would be immobilized for a couple days, but other than a cast on his leg for another 3 weeks, the boy should be able to go home within a week.
"Oh thank god! And thank you Dr. Robbins." Cam slump his shoulders dramatically as if the weight on his back vanished. He let out another tremble sigh, rubbing his face with both hands furiously. "I sat here thinking that Michael would never forgive me if anything happened to Toby. He would realize it was indeed a mistake of being with me... He..."
"Cam, this was an accident." Arizona sat down on the small table directly in front of the upset man. She placed a hand on Cam's knee sneezed it lightly. "He is a boy and boys are energetic. You won't be able to prevent this kind of accident."
"No, it was my fault. Toby always wants to go to the big boy skate park but Mike has made it clear that he is not allowed to go near there because he's too young. Toby begged me to take him to the park after Mike left home this morning. I know it. I know I shouldn't have because Mike wouldn't like it, but I just want Toby to love me. I don't want to say no to him." Cam sniffed, big brown eyes filled with unspilt tears.
"It's no one's fault. He fell, and you were there for him." The blonde said with a soft voice, but Cam was deep in his self-accusation.
"Michael is gonna hate me for this. I- I let his son climb up to that platform. His ex-wife would've never let this happen." A lone tear rolled down the stubble covered chin. "I am a mistake, just like what his mother and ex-wife said to us."
"Cam, listen to me. Toby is alright." Arizona fished in her lab coat pocket for a pack of tissue, offering one to Cam. "This was an accident, not a mistake. You have no idea how many kids come in the hospital with broken bones every single day. This happens to any kind of parents."
"You don't understand. Mike and I met each other when Toby was 5 years old. He has never been with a male lover but... nothing could stop us. He broke up his family for me. He came out to his parents for me. He has sacrificed a lot to be with me and I swear to god that I'll make it worth it. But I can't even keep his son safe." The man cleared his nose with the offered tissue. "I love Toby even though legally he is not my son, I am not allowed to sign those damn papers but he is my son. But I've just proved to everyone that I am a mistake, that I can't keep him safe. Every day I still feel the fear deep down in my stomach. Every day I am waiting for a shoe to drop. A wake up call to Mike that he'd realize this is a big mistake, that he is not really gay, that he should give his son a mother instead of another man in his life who'd put his son in danger. This is the shoe that I am worried about the whole time and I am the one to drop it."
"Cam," Arizona was staggered by the over sharing information. She paused for a second to find the right words to console the man. "You are not a mistake. I can't talk for Michael but as far as I heard, he loves you. He won't blame you for Toby's injury because it happens. Boys get hurt."
Cam brought his tearful gaze from staring at his hands to the doctor in front of him. And Arizona continued.
"I- um- once I heard from someone, that it isn't about the gender. When you love someone, when you're in love with someone, it doesn't really matter it's a man or a woman anymore. It's the person that you love." Arizona could feel a throb in her heart. Those were Callie's words but she was so stubborn at the time to grasp the truth behind it. "Love is bigger than anything. He loves you and he is willing to take the chance to be with you. That means a lot and you shouldn't let the fear take over you. Eventually it's going to hurt you, and Michael."
They both sat in silence letting the words sank in. Finally, the man pulled up a small smile.
Arizona stood up and about to lead Cam to see Toby, a man rushed in the waiting room caught their eyes. Cam jumped up to threw his arms round the man as soon as he ran closer. The sob coming from Cam gave the man a great deal of panic.
"What? What? Is Toby alright?" He asked, looking between the man in his arms and the doctor standing next to them.
"You must be Michael. I'm Dr. Robbins, the surgeon operated on Toby. He is alright. And I can take you two to see him now." Arizona raised her voice trying to cover Cam's cry. She smiled lightly when Michael looked confused about his partner wrapped around his shoulders tightly. "Cam is just relieved that you're here. He was worried about Toby."
"Oh, Cam." Michael kissed the top of Cam's head lovingly. "I'm glad you were here for him, take care of him. Come on, let go see our boy."
Arizona led the couple toward the ward. She didn't notice the wife of the chief was sitting on the other side of the waiting room with a handful of takeout menus, watching the whole scene unfolded from the corner of her eyes.
"Great, you are here. We can go now." Meredith clapped her hands together when Callie approached her and Arizona. The brunette was a few minutes late because she was stopped by a couple of nurses and residents, telling her how glad they were that the promising and well loved Ortho surgeon was back to the hospital.
Seeing the same leather jacket on Callie in daylight, it brought back Arizona's memory of that night when she grasped the lapel of the jacket pulling the woman in for a passionate lips lock... She had to turn her head to the side hiding the blush when they walked side by side to the parking lot.
"I went to check on Toby." Callie said causally. Sensing the quietness coming from the blonde next to her, she thought she should break the ice. She promised herself that she was going to act neutral around Arizona. She poured her heart out and the blonde didn't reciprocate, it hurt but she couldn't let it getting too awkward between them, affecting their profession relationship. They were colleagues now and that was all. "I met his two dads, they are... interesting. Especially Cam."
"Has he stopped crying yet?" Recalling the man brought a smile on the pale face.
"He started again when I told them about the broken tibia." Callie laughed along.
"You're talking about the sobbing man in the waiting room?" Meredith chipped in. "Everyone was talking about him. He didn't stop crying the whole time while he was in the waiting room."
"Well, he's an emotional guy." Arizona smiled. She was going to walk to her car but Meredith stopped her.
"We don't need three cars. You can ride with me."
"But I'll need my car to go home." The blonde asked with a chuckle. Her new colleague just shook her head.
"I'll have a house full of people, sure you can get a lift from anyone. Besides, it's nice to ride with someone. I might need you to help running the grocery list." Meredith continued her path after a shrug from the Peds surgeon. And she called over her shoulder to the other colleague. "Callie, you'll follow me?"
"Yeah." Callie answered as she turned to the other side of the parking lot.
"Callie is not coming with us?" Arizona asked when she got in Meredith's black SUV. She got a smirk in return.
"She doesn't have a lot of chance to drive her baby. You know she lives just across the street." Meredith pointed to the building not too far away from them before pulling the car out of her parking space. "She won't pass on the chance to take it out for a spin."
They stopped by the exit of the parking lot for a while. Finally Meredith started the engine again after seeing a car came close to them from the side mirror. Arizona whirled her head to take a peek.
"Whoa!" An exclamation left her lips before she could stop herself. There was a sky blue vintage mustang convertible following them. And on the driver seat, there was the Ortho goddess Callie Torres, in her leather jacket.
"Hot, right?" Meredith cast a glance to her passenger with a lopsided smile.
"What? I- I- I don't..." Arizona turned around and sat up straight, a deep blush found the way on her cheeks and she couldn't find a word in her embarrassing mind.
"I'm talking about the car. You should see Derek's face every time he sees that car. You have no idea how many times he's begged Callie to let him drive it." The General resident made a show to peek at the mustang behind her from the rear-view mirror. "Well, the driver is pretty hot too. She's like really sexy, almost dirty hot."
"Excuse me?" The blonde looked at the woman next to her with wide eyes. They knew each other slightly over a month but only limited in exchanging a hello and good day when they met in the hallway. She didn't know riding together would involve to a conversation about... how hot Callie was.
"Don't get me wrong. I am a big fan of penis, but I'm not blind. I do know how to appreciate a sexy woman." Meredith let out a few laughers. "No offense."
"None taken." This is gonna be a long day, Arizona said to herself. She decided to change to a safer topic. "You started your internship in here?"
"Yeah. Me, Cristina and Alex were from the same class."
"You three seem close."
"Well, Bailey was our resident. We needed to stick together to survive." Meredith sighed softly. "Actually it was five of us. There were George and Izzie. We were all good friends before they left."
"Oh, they failed the exam, or they got a better offer from somewhere?"
"A lot of reasons. But I think mostly because they couldn't stand the pointing and judgment from people after what they did to Callie." Meredith stopped the car behind the red light. She explained after meeting a pair of questioning eyes from the blonde. "George cheated on Callie with Izzie."
"Callie told me something about that." Arizona nodded slowly, putting two and two together. "George was the intern who was shorter than her and failed the intern exam."
"Bailey was disappointed in them, and Cristina was mad because she and Callie got along very well." Meredith started the car again, and continued with the story. "Callie is a good person, she doesn't deserve that. She helped me out of a couple of embarrassing moments even though I was closer to Izzie at the time. Long story short, we became good friends ever since. And I'm glad she's back."
"Why did she leave?" Arizona took the chance to ask the question she had for a few weeks, but she couldn't get an answer before Meredith pulled into the parking lot of the supermarket.
"She had a fight with the former chief." Meredith answered before got out of the car. The blonde followed before Callie parked her car right next to them. The resident tilted her head toward the brunette who was getting out of her mustang. "Ask her."
"Ask me what?" Callie walked up to her colleagues as they entered the supermarket together. Meredith didn't answer but walked a couple steps ahead of the others to get a shopping cart, leaving the blonde to smack her head mentally for choosing the wrong time to pry into the gossip.
"Meredith said it is nice to have you back. I just asked her if she knew why you left." Arizona said with reddening cheeks.
"I told her you had a fight with Webber." Meredith interjected without look back at them. She was busy reading the grocery list.
"Oh that." Callie stared at her companion a couple more seconds too long. She just couldn't take her gaze away from the adorably shy face in front of her. "I... I had a bad day. And the chief wanted me to hold my attending position application a while longer because the other Ortho attending refused to retire. We got into a fight and I was like... well, I don't need to take this. So I quit."
"When did that happened?" Arizona tried to ask as nonchalant as she could.
"A little while before the merger." Callie shrugged and took a few steps forward to join her friend with the shopping cart. She couldn't let the blonde know it was an Arizona induced hangover that made her stormed out of the chief's office.
The three of them quickly filled up the shopping cart with light chatting here and there, nothing really serious. And after went to the restaurant picking up the cooked dishes, they got into their respective cars and headed to Meredith's house.
"You know, I have to say I'm really glad that there has not been any awkwardness between you and Callie." Meredith glanced at the blonde. "I don't really know what happened between you two... Screw it! I'm not good at lying. I know the thing between you and Callie."
"You mean..." Arizona was confused, but realization slowly showed on her face. "Terrific."
"I've told you, Callie and I are good friends, that woman has no filter on her mouth. Besides, I saw the kissing at the party." Meredith shrugged. "I've heard you talk to the sobbing man in the waiting room. Do you believe the thing you said?"
"I- I don't know." Arizona took a deep breath. She was not ready for this talk.
"It's not my business to interfere with you and Callie. But as someone who's known her for nearly 5 years, I can tell you that she's worth it. She's genuine, and caring. You can't find another one who has a bigger heart than hers." Meredith said sincerely. "Big enough to love both men and women."
The blonde didn't answer. She looked out of the window deep in her thought. Finally, her gaze landed on the side mirror, watching the image of the car behind them.
"It's not that easy." Arizona sighed. She twisted her lips and looking at the driver. "I burnt the bridge. I tried to call her a week after the birthday party but she was out of reach. I blew my chance. I don't know if she'll let me in again."
"Just try." Meredith gave her new colleague a smile of encouragement before pulling her car into the driveway.
It took the three of them two trips to unload everything from the cars. After all, it was a dinner for 16 people. And knowing their friends, a fair amount of alcohol will be needed.
The turkey, ham, lambs and some hot dishes were made by the restaurant. But the women decided to make some side dishes and salad by themselves. 'By themselves' it meant Callie. The other two women were no help in the kitchen. Meredith opened a bottle of wine while she and Arizona sat by the kitchen table watching the brunette dice the food and stir the wok. Conversation flew easily when they were all surgeons and had stories to share.
"So Arizona, how is the apartment hunting?" Meredith asked after the blonde showed her admiration of the space of the house. Even thought she just got the chance to see the living room and the kitchen.
"You're looking for a place?" Callie chipped in absentmindedly. She had finished the preparation and busy putting away the dirty cook wares.
"Well yeah. I live in the other side of the town, think I should move closer to my new job. That may save me at least half an hour in the traffic." Arizona answered the brunette, then she turned to the owner of the house. "No luck yet. Besides, it's so busy at work, I don't really have time to start searching."
"If you want, you can move in here." Meredith offered, and she went on before the blonde could interrupt her. "I have plenty of rooms upstairs."
"Maybe it's not a good idea. I don't want to crowd you and Derek." Arizona took a sip of the wine. She didn't think living in the house with her boss and the wife would be a good idea.
"You see how big this house is? I'm used to have people live with us. Alex has lived here since intern year. Lexie takes the room in the attic but she spends most nights at Mark's now." The resident tilted her head to the ceiling as she was recalling the people who lived in her house over the years. "Jackson and April lived here before they moved in together. And before them, Izzie and George had their rooms. Oh, Callie lived here for a brief period too."
"You did?" Arizona turned to look at the brunette. She missed it when Meredith bit her tongue with a wry face.
"Yeah, about a month with George." Callie answered after took a gulp of her drink. "Everything's ready. I just have to put the pies in the oven later. I'm going to the front porch to sit for a while. Cooking is making me flushed."
"Sure." Meredith answered with a timidly smile. She and Arizona watched the brunette fill up her glass and disappear behind the back door.
"Is she... mad?" Arizona stared at the door, turned around in time to see Meredith shaking her head.
"I don't know, maybe. We don't really talk about her and George because their relationship ended quite badly. She came back early from an overnight shift and found George and Izzie together in bed in Izzie's room." Meredith thought for a second and she had an idea. Refilling Arizona's glass with a small smile, she gestured the guest to follow Callie. "Go see how she is doing. Have a talk. She won't be able to stop herself once she starts talking. Take the time to rebuild the bridge."
Arizona stared at Meredith with her mouth slightly agape. She wasn't sure if she should disturb Callie when clearly the woman wanted to have some alone time. But on the other hand, a small voice in her head telling her that she should go accompany the brunette, despite if she was welcomed or not.
"Just go. I'm going to change into a pretty dress to play my role as the wife of the chief." Meredith saw the hesitation and decided to give a little push. She called over her shoulder before exiting the kitchen. "Oh by the way, my offer still stands. Actually Derek is building us a new house, he and I will move to there soon. I'll let you call dips on the master bedroom if you want."
Passed through the same door, Arizona found Callie was sitting on the swing bench by the front door looking at afar.
"May I join you?" She asked softly. Callie didn't even startle, still looking straight ahead, she pursed her lips and nodded.
The November weather in Seattle was a little chilled but the setting sun made it comfortable to be sitting outside. The two women sat side by side, shoulder against shoulder on the 2 seated bench enjoying the twitter of birds in the quiet neighborhood for a while. It took all of the energy for Callie not to lead her head on the blonde's shoulder, nuzzling the soft skin and breathing in the scents that she desperately wanted to experience again. But she wasn't allowed to, so she sighed.
"Meredith told me about… George and Izzie. I'm sorry." Hearing the sigh, Arizona said to the brunette softly. She took a deep breath while studying the exquisite face next to her. Those pair of luscious, alluring, moist and voluptuous lips were just inches away and she was mesmerized, she almost missed the words coming out from those lips when Callie started to talk.
"I just… don't want to hear about it. Reminding me how stupid I was. It's not like I still have feelings for George. After all, it was over 2 years ago. But you just can't get over being cheated on easily." Callie chuckled sarcastically. "Especially when we're all living in the same house. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I do." The blonde smiled and looked away. She needed to get a hold of herself. She had no idea if Callie still has feeling for her after she bailed the last time. "You wanna talk about something else, or we can just sit here watching the cars pass by in silence?"
Callie let out a few laughers. Actually, she wouldn't mind just sitting there the whole night doing nothing but have the blonde next to her. She turned to face the blonde, felt a pang to the heart seeing the blue eyes before her shining under the sunset. She had to remind herself that Arizona didn't like her the way she wanted it to be. Arizona didn't want her. Pressing down the burning desire of kissing those tantalizing pink lips, she cleared her throat.
"So, you are the head of the department now. How are you holding up?" Right, talk about work. That was always the safe subject.
"Busy." Cream face twisted to an elvish smile. "I basically ran the department in Mercy West myself, but being the actual department head here is totally another level of busyness. Sometimes I just feel like I don't know what I am doing."
"You'll figure it out. You will." Callie gave the blonde a heartfelt smile with a wink. She meant to make it playful but it came out flirtier than she intended to. Luckily, Arizona didn't seem offended.
"Thanks." Arizona dropped her gaze to the plants before them. Her mind was racing and she could feel her heart was beating faster than it should. This was crazy. She and Callie only went on one date and had a night together. Addition to the unpleasant meeting at Joe's, they didn't really spend a lot of time together but Arizona found she missed the brunette desperately. No matter how hard she lied to herself, seeing Callie again had opened the box of feelings that she locked tight in her heart. She couldn't remember when was the last time she felt the temperature raised around her in a split second just by a flirty wink.
When there had buffers like the surgical team or Meredith around them, Arizona could still hold it at bay. But now, they were here sitting side by side and alone, the feelings were flooding out and she knew she needed to tell Callie that she was ready. She needed to tell Callie that she was not going to let the fear take over her, just like what she told Cam.
Callie took Arizona's silence as being offended by the playful wink. She sighed again.
"Listen, Arizona. I don't want to have any awkwardness between us. I came out too strong and put you on the spotlight, I am sorry." She pulled her lips to a tight smile. This wasn't easy but she had to deliver this speech. "You'd think you'd learned after a mistake but apparently I didn't. I pursued George and moved in with him even though he didn't feel the same for me. And I tried to do the same to you."
Arizona was stunned. Callie went on before she knew how to react.
"I promise you that I won't make it difficult for you anymore. We can just pretend nothing happened and move on, ok? I really hope we can be friends."
"Callie, I have to..." Arizona stared at the brown eyes with open mouth. She wanted to tell Callie that it wasn't a mistake and she did feel the same for her. But before she collected enough courage, going to tell the brunette that she didn't want them to be just friends, she was distracted by 2 cars pulling into the driveway. There was Derek got out of the car with a big smile when he spotted his house guesses on the swing bench, with Mark and Lexie right behind him. In the meantime, Teddy got out of her boyfriend Henry's car.
"Hey Callie, Arizona." Derek greeted the two women with a kiss of the cheek. "Meredith told me you help with the dinner. Thank you."
Arizona smiled to him politely. After all, she was still a new comer of this hospital family. However, Callie on the other hand, rolled her eyes to the Chief of surgery.
"You know your wife better than anyone. Telling her to make dinner, you gave me no choice but to come to help."
Derek roared with laughter, with Mark smirked behind him. The new arrival exchanged greetings on the front porch before Derek gestured everyone to enter the house. Teddy shifted closer to her best friend when she found the hidden melancholy behind the blue eyes.
"What's wrong?" Teddy whispered into the blonde's ear. Arizona just shook her head and fixed her gaze to the long hair brunette walking in front of her, who was laughing with Derek.
"No way, for the hundredth time, no one is allowed to drive my baby except me."
Few more guests arrived in the house in the coming half an hour, the women were in the kitchen chit chatting and the men were in the living room talking about football and cars. They were waiting for the few of their colleagues finished up surgeries to come join them.
After a while, the big groups shifted to several smaller ones. Meredith, Cristina and Lexie were still in the kitchen talking about hospital gossips and stealing foods from time to time. Derek leaded Owen, Henry and his father-in-law to his study showing off the blue print of the house he was building. Arizona dragged Teddy to the corner of the living room engaging in a conversation with the volume that only the two could hear. Mark carried two bottles of beer and pushed Callie out of the house to the swing bench so they could catch up.
"How was LA?" Mark asked his best friend between sipping his beer. Callie returned yesterday afternoon and Mark was stuck in the night shift. It was the first time the two had a face to face conversation ever since Callie took off to LA two days after she quitted the job.
"LA... was great." Callie sighed in her beer bottle. "Maybe I shouldn't have come back."
"Don't ever think about that. We need you here. I need you here." Mark glared at the brunette from the corner of his eyes. "It was so boring without you. I missed you when I watched Webber come back to clear his office with the tail between his legs. Derek was like 'oh don't go bother the man'."
"Don't be so mean. He was a good chief. He made mistakes it doesn't mean he's a bad guy." Callie gave the man a nudge that made him yelped when he spilt the beer.
"Whatever, he's in rehab now." The plastic surgeon flung off the spilt liquid on his hand. "Why would you say you shouldn't have come back? Someone said something to you?"
"You know why." The brunette rolled her eyes to the dark sky. If anyone who knew the reason, Mark would be the one.
"Blondie? Still?" Mark's voice rose up a few notes. "I thought the 5 weeks in LA would wash off any feelings you have for her."
"I thought so too. But seeing her again... I don't know, I have butterflies." Callie rubbed her face with her free hand furiously. She was a hardcore, badass Ortho surgeon. She should be able to handle a little butterfly... The problem was the one in her stomach was as big as Texas. "I just told her I want us to be friends. But to be honest, I don't even sure I can do it. How can I see her everyday and pretend that I don't... have the butterflies?"
"God, you're such a girl." Mark took a swag of his beer with a smirk. The brunette lifted her head to protest loudly.
"I am a girl!"
"I mean you're like a teenage girl pinning for the football captain even though he... she keeps saying she doesn't like you." Mark stared at his friend with sympathy in his eyes. Callie dropped her head in her hands with a groan.
"What am I gonna do?" The brunette whined in her hands. A big hand placed on her back offering some consolations.
"Be honest with her, tell her how you feel?"
"Nope, the ball was in her court and she let it slide. I can't keep pushing her and make it awkward. I don't want to scare her, thinking I'm some kind of clingy psycho." Callie leaded her head on Mark's shoulder with a pout. "I just told her I want us to be friends, she couldn't even answer that."
The man extended his arm to wrap around the beaten woman tightly. The two sat on the swing bench without a word for a while. Suddenly, Mark remembered there was something he needed to ask.
"What happened to your phone? You said Addison tossed it in the water?"
"I almost drunk dialed Arizona the second night after I arrived there. Addison took it and ran out to the beach, threw it in the ocean as far as she could." Callie answered with a chuckle.
"That's my girl." Mark grinned, watching the rest of the party companies arrived with their cars.
"I am going to tell her, Teddy." Arizona leaned closer to her friend saying in a whisper. Teddy pulled back and stared at her with big round eyes.
"Are you sure? I mean, are you sure you are done with your stubbornness? The whole 'I don't fall for straight woman' rule?"
"There's no rule. I was just... not ready, ok? Right there at the porch, she told me she wants us to be friend. I was going to tell her that I missed her and want to have a second chance. Something more than just friends. And then you guys showed up ruined my moment." Arizona pouted. She was pleased that they were the only one in the living room so nobody heard the exclamation from the loud woman.
"It took you long enough to pull your head out of your butt." Teddy sat back on the coach and crossed her legs, smirking at the timid blonde with a satisfied smile. She knew she was right, sooner or later Arizona would admit that her mood swing was due to the repressed feelings she had toward the woman who was perfect for her.
"It was out a while ago. I... I had tried to call her." The blonde toyed with the glass in her hands. She was too embarrassed to look at her friend, without a doubt staring at her in surprise. "The day I decided to take this job, but her phone was off. You ended the thing with Mark then you couldn't get me any news about her. And the people in the hospital didn't even mention her like she was never existed. What was I suppose to do when I couldn't get a hold of her?"
"We tried not to talk about Callie when you were around. We thought you didn't want to hear anything about her. You know, she kissed you and you pushed her away."
"I didn't push her away! I was just... scared." Arizona stared at the whirl she made in her glass with a dreamy smile. "You know I need time to process. I thought I'd get over her eventually when she was not around, but seeing her again, hearing her voice, her laugh..."
"You have to talk to her. Finding the one who can make you smile like an idiot only by mentioning her laugher is a one in a million chance." Teddy smiled to her friend softly. They both lifted her heads to the doorway when a belly laugh passed through the front door with Callie and Bailey entering side by side.
"Yes, I'm going to tell her." Arizona breathed out. "I'm gonna tell her I want us to be more than friends."
"No way. No freaking way." Cristina exclaimed with her mouthful of ham.
"I'm telling you, Robbins really liked Callie." Meredith said animatedly before shoving another piece of ham into her mouth.
"You mean like her 'like' her, or like her as a co-worker?" The Asian washed down the food with a gulp of wine. "Callie said blondie made it clear that she didn't want to be with someone who likes penis."
"Maybe she finally figured out Callie likes penis as much as she likes vagina" Meredith mumbled and shrugged. Her sister stopped her hands from decorating the plate and glanced at the two half drunken women.
"Can we stop talking about penis and vagina?"
"Why? I think it sounds pretty." The older Grey giggled with her best friend. Little Grey sighed, she should know better that there was no way to stop the inappropriate vocabularies when the two were together.
"But how do you know? Robbins told you?" Lexie asked after the giggle subsided.
"I overheard she talked to the patient's parent something about loving someone is not about the gender. She must have an epiphany or something, right? Otherwise, how could she make a speech like that?" Meredith shrugged again and put another piece of ham in her mouth. "This thing is really good, I can't stop."
"Like you can believe the crap came out of that woman." Cristina scooped the mash potato with her finger and put it into her month. "She calls her patients the tiny humans and says there is fairy dust in their IV bags. I bet she tells people she vomits rainbows."
"No, I know I'm right. You haven't seen the way she looked at Callie. She wants her." Meredith followed suit to scoop the mash potato. She wasn't fast enough to take her finger out of her mouth before a scold entering the kitchen.
"Don't tell me you just had your claw dipped in those potatoes!" Bailey looked at the three women in the kitchen with her famous Bailey glare. "You invited people over for dinner and going to serve the food when your dirty hands have been all over it?"
"Oh my god, where is the ham?" Callie looked over her shorter friend's head and found the plate of ham on the kitchen table was half empty.
"You're late and we're hungry, what are we supposed to do?" Cristina hopped off the table, mumbled under her breath as she snuck out of the room. Bailey groaned after her.
"You're not hungry, you're drunk."
"That's true, but we actually are hungry." The house owner squinted back at the glare with her head tilted up slightly. This was her turf and this was her food, she was not afraid of her former resident. Also, she had enough alcohol in her system. "Should we start?"
The men came in the kitchen and helped bring the dishes to the table, and the women started pouring wine into the glasses. It took a moment to arrange the seats because Meredith had a last minute adjustment. She found it would be a good idea in her slightly intoxicated mind.
Derek was at the top of the table, of course. Meredith and her father on either sides of him. Lexie was sitting between her father and Mark, and then Callie, Bailey, Ben, and April. On the other side, she had Cristina by her side, next to Owen, and then Arizona, Teddy, Henry and Jackson. Alex was sitting at the other end of the table.
Yes, she put Callie and Arizona right opposite to each other.
Derek looked around the table with a proud smile. The hospital was going under a change in his hands, and he had the best staffs anyone could hope for. They were not just co-workers, they were friends. They were family.
"Hey, that would be great. The food cabinets are empty ever since April shacked up with Jackson." Alex called out with a turkey leg in his mouth. "It would be nice to have a woman in the house to do the grocery run."
"We are not shacking up." April protested with a deep shade of red on her cheeks.
"Right, you're not shacking up because Jesus wouldn't allow it." Bailey cut in, made everyone round the table giggle.
"I- I..." April stuttered. She looked across the table seeing Jackson looking down on his plate hiding his blush. "Jackson and I are just roommates. That's all. What I want to say is if you want to have food in the house, go buy it yourself."
"I'm a man. Men don't do groceries." The young resident shrugged, earning himself a roar of boo from every woman in the room.
"Dr. Robbins, you really need to think twice before you decide to live with him. He is a pig." The redhead said to the new attending. Teddy answered for her friend.
"Don't worry, she thinks about everything at least twice." Teddy's wry response made the blonde almost choked on the wine. After throwing a subtle death glare to the woman sitting next to her, she nodded to April.
"Thanks for the advice. I'll think it through."
"If you don't want to live in a house with Alex, you can move in with Callie." Cristina brought up her suggestion indifferently. Everyone stopped and stared at her. "What? She hasn't found a new roommate since I moved out. She needs someone to live with her to make sure she wouldn't pass out in the bathroom."
A silence low five exchanged between the twisted sisters under the table.
"Excuse me!" Callie raised her voice to her ex-roommate. "I have never passed out in the bathroom."
"Because you had a roommate." Meredith stated matter-of-factly. She leaned forward looked pass the few seats between her and Arizona. The blonde was holding a glass to hide her abashment.
Derek chose this time to rise his glass.
"Everyone, everyone. I would like to make a toast." He cleared his throat. "First of all, happy thanksgiving. I would like to take this chance to thank you all for helping me to make the transition as smooth as it could. I know we've had a rocky few months. Mistakes have been made, but I believe we will be able to right those wrongs and make this hospital the best hospital in this side of the country. And I would like to welcome Dr. Altman and Dr. Robbins to join our family. And Dr. Torres, welcome home."
Everyone cheered and finished up their glasses.
"Torres, do you know King from St. Ambrose called me yesterday?" Derek asked Callie while filling up his wife's glass. "She is a real charmer."
"Charlotte? What does she want?" The brunette raised her eyebrows. She had no idea what made the Chief of St. Ambrose in LA called the Chief of SGMW in Seattle.
"She wants you. She was angry at me for convincing you to come back here." Derek chuckled. "She said if I ever let you go again, I have to call her so that she can snatch you under her wings."
"What was that about?" Bailey frowned to the brunette. Mark pulled Callie back against her seat so he could look at the short woman to answer.
"Oh she didn't tell you? She almost got the job in St. Ambrose and never came back."
"She did what?" The General attending screamed into Callie's ear making her flinched. "St. Ambrose is a small hospital, why the hell do you want to go there?"
"Not a job in St. Ambrose." Callie rolled her eyes. "Addison wants me to join her private practice. And since St. Ambrose is connected to the practice, I'd been working in there too."
"Don't ever think about it. We need you here." Bailey gave her friend a squint before went back to her meal. Mark exclaimed with a grin.
"I said the same thing."
"But how about the money? I've heard private practice pays better." Alex asked, got a Bailey glare and a silent curse from Mark. "What? I'm just asking a practical question."
"Money doesn't mean everything, Karev. I know it must be a difficult decision, thank you Callie." Derek interrupted before this conversation went out of hands. As a boss, he really didn't want to hear his staffs talking about the paycheck.
"To be honest, it was hard to leave LA. I lived with Addison and her house is right next to the beach, I have the most relaxed time in years." Talked about the time in LA brought a broad smile on Callie's face. "Addison took some time off to show me around. I really missed being with her."
"Lived right by the beach, no wonder you look so tanned." Teddy really admired the healthy grow on the olive skin. And she knew her best friend did too.
"Thanks. I think the benefit of living next to the bench is you can spend a lot of time on the patio in your bikini..." She turned to smack at the giggling man next to her. "Wipe that dirty smirk off of your face. Stop picturing me and Addison in bikini."
Everyone laughed at the man. Except one.
Meredith stood up announcing that she was going to get the pies out of the oven, Arizona jumped up from the chair offering to help.
A naughty idea flashed across Mark's mind. Arizona was sitting on the other side of the table right in front of him, he didn't miss the way that woman looking at his best friend the whole night. If he was right, this is gonna be fun.
"Hey, I haven't seen Addison for a long time. Has she changed? Did you take any picture with her when you were there?" He asked casually, and the few of the people around the table who knew Addison echoed.
"Oh yes, I have it in my phone. I'll go get it." Callie shot up from the seat, strode to the living room to get her purse.
As soon as she was out of earshot, Mark leaned closer to the table whispering to the rest of dinner guests.
"Listen, follow my lead. And Teddy, I know Arizona is your best friend, but don't say a word."
"Oh they smell good!" Meredith sniffed deeply while opening the oven. "What pies did we get again?"
"Apple pie, pecan pie and pumpkin pie." Arizona answered abstractedly. She had a question in her head and trying to figure out how to bring it up.
"Why do we have 3 pies? God, I'm going to have a load of leftover. Alex is not going to complain we don't have foods in the house in a while." The house owner turned to reach for the oven mitts. She saw the fidgety look on the pale face and asked. "What's wrong?"
"Umm..." Arizona played with the kitchen towel on the counter, tried to look as easy as possible. "Who is Addison that they are talking about?"
"Addison Montgomery." Meredith gave a short answer as she was trying not to drop the hot pie on the floor. She almost failed when the blonde let out a quiet scream.
"Addison Montgomery, THE Addison Montgomery?"
"You know her?"
"No, but I've heard about her." Of course, the world class neonatal surgeon with double board certifications in both Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal and Fetal medicine, every pediatric surgeon had read her articles. Arizona didn't know how she could've forgotten that Montgomery worked in Seattle Grace for years.
"Addison was working in the hospital until she moved to LA about a year ago. She and Callie are friends, so I guess that was why she went to LA instead of going back to her parents in Miami." Meredith went on to take the other pies out. Arizona took a knife started to cut the one on the table, but her mind was else where.
"Are they... close?"
"Yeah, they were inseparable. Callie and I didn't really talk much at that time. As far as I know, she and Addison are very close. They went out together. Drinking, dancing... Once I've heard that they went to yoga class in the early morning together." The tall blonde put the other 2 pies on the table. She braced herself against the table watching her new colleague working with the kitchen knife. "Think about it... If Callie has known she likes women, she and Addison would make a cute couple."
"But they were not really a couple...?" Arizona asked uncertainly, picked up a pie following the other woman out of the kitchen.
"No, they weren't. Callie didn't like vagina at the time." Meredith laughed over her shoulder.
But... she liked it very much that night. A deep furrow found the way to Arizona's forehead.
"Derek, you let the kids play with their cellphones on the table?" Meredith teased her husband referring Mark holding up a cellphone with Callie and Bailey's heads nestled up close to it.
"Callie's showing us the pictures she took in LA with Addison." The Plastic surgeon answered with exclamation. He didn't forget to glance at the blonde coming closer to the table.
"Why do we have so many pies?" Derek asked, seeing the two women delivered the three pies.
"Meredith ordered a pumpkin pie but Arizona doesn't like pumpkin, so I ordered one more." Callie interjected quickly, and then went back on the phone in Mark's hand. "We took this one before we entered the club."
The trio kept scrolling the pictures, no one saw the small smile on Arizona's face. She mentioned that she hated pumpkin to Callie on their date. She didn't know the brunette would remember it. But the smile fell quickly.
"Why were there all women in there?" Mark asked after scanning a few more pictures. Callie laughed out.
"That was an all women club..."
"A chick bar?" Bailey asked with a mischievous smile. She tried very hard not to look at Arizona who just sat back on her seat.
"You can say that. Addison had a long surgery that day and didn't want to deal with guys who would come hitting on us, so she took me to an all women club." The brunette smiled in the memory, she reached for her drink. "That was a fun night."
"I bet it was. Look." Mark turned the phone around to show the picture to everyone around the table, especially to Arizona.
It was a picture of both Callie and Addison, apparently both had had a lot of drinks. They had their arms wrapped around each other and cheeks pressed tight together. Despite their intoxicated status and disheveled hair from possibly crazy dancing, Arizona had to admit that Addison looked gorgeous.
"Oh Derek, Addie called me this morning. She said she'll come to work on the case you asked." Callie talked to the man at the head of the table after she put down her water glass.
"That's great. Arizona, we'll have Addison helps with the quadruplet." Derek smiled to the Peds surgeon. Arizona opened her mouth in shock.
"I thought Nicole Herman is coming."
"Herman is on leave. Her hospital said she'll be out for a few months, so I asked Addison. I'm glad she can make it. Especially the due date is around Christmas, I thought she'd be busy partying."
"She said she's gonna party here. Arizona you're gonna love her, she is amazing." Callie took her eyes off the screen to smile to Arizona, but a squeal came out from Mark making her whirl and smack the man before the blonde could give a proper response. "Stop staring at our bikinis!"
Mark turned the phone again. Arizona didn't know she should drool or be jealous to see the brunette in a small red bikini showing off a large portion of her plump chests, with Addison in her black bikini sitting disturbingly close together.
Mark smirked openly seeing the colors on Arizona's face changed a few shades in a split second.
No party would last forever. Dinner in the dining room was served, coffee in the living room had finished, it was time to call it the night.
"Teddy, are you going home? Can you give me a lift? My car is still in the hospital." Arizona asked her friend across the room. But the Cardio surgeon looked at her boyfriend abashedly.
"I'm going to Henry's tonight." Henry lived on this side of the city. It'd take them an hour to go back and forth.
"We're too tired of driving to the other side of the city." Bailey said coldly. She was a surgeon, not a taxi driver.
"I think I should take my woman home before she slips in an alcohol induced coma." Owen looked at his drunken girlfriend.
"We walked here." Jackson and April's apartment was just 4 blocks away.
Mark held up his hands in surrender. He rode with Derek's car and he was not planning to leave Lexie's room tonight.
"I can take you home." Callie looked at the blonde.
"Oh... You don't have to. I- I can call a taxi." Arizona declined softly, but Meredith disagreed.
"No, I told you to leave the car at the hospital and I told you someone was going to take you home. Don't make me feel guilty. You go with Callie." The host stated adamantly.
"Or- or- You can drive me to the hospital so I can get my car, if that would be easier for you." The blonde tried again. Everyone around the living room was focusing on the interaction with their breaths held.
"You really shouldn't drive after that many glasses of wine." Callie shrugged and stood up from the couch. "Come on, let's go before it gets too late."
"Yeah, just go with her. I told you she won't pass a chance to drive her car." Meredith stood up as well, and gave the hesitant woman a little push toward the door. "And she doesn't let just anyone get in that baby, you're in for a treat."
Heading to the front door, Callie turned around to squint at her friend. And she looked passed the grinning woman, surprised to see the rest of the gang stayed in the seats and no one was planning to move yet. She opened her mouth wanted to ask, but Meredith had already opened the door and forced her and Arizona out of the door.
"Good night." "Drive safe." A few shouting came from the living room, but the door was closed before either of the women was able to answer.
"Do you think this is gonna work?" Meredith smiled as she walked back to her guests. Mark sneered aloud.
"Didn't you see blondie's face when I showed her the pictures? She was jealous, to her bone." A few nods from the rest of the people agreed with him. "I bet she's going to jump Callie on the highway, screwing her brains out reclaiming what she had thrown away."
"Mark! Robbins doesn't seem so... eager. I think she's going to invite Callie to her apartment to have a drink, so they can talk..." Lexie scolded her boyfriend. She was a romantic of course she was thinking in that direction. But a sarcastic laugh from Alex stopped her.
"No, I'll say she's totally going to screw her in the car." The man clinked his beer bottle with Mark's. The two shared a dirty smile. "You gaze into my eyes, I gaze into your eyes... next they know, the car is parked behind a gas station and shaking like crazy."
"I don't know." Teddy breathed out slowly, striking her boyfriend's hand as she was deep in her thought. "Yes, Arizona admitted to me that she wants a second chance with Callie. But she wouldn't do anything if she isn't 100% sure. I mean if Callie doesn't like her anymore, or if she thinks Callie is seeing someone else, I'm afraid she'll back away again."
"Don't worry about it." The Plastic surgeon smirked. "Callie is crazy about blondie. But she told me she couldn't do anything to pursue your stupid friend again because she told blondie that she can't be the one keep trying. So unless your friend comes around and makes a move, they are gonna stuck in where they are now. A little push is necessary."
"Just make sure you won't push it too hard, Mark. I hate to replace either the Ortho attending or the head of my Peds department." Derek gave his friend a warning glare.
However, the thing between the two women didn't go as their colleagues expected. Not only had there had been no gazing in the eyes, 10 minutes into the car ride, they hadn't exchanged more than 3 sentences.
Callie didn't say anything because she thought the blonde wasn't thrilled to be around her. And Arizona didn't open her mouth because she knew she wouldn't be able to stop herself from asking something that she had no business to ask.
"Do you want some music?" The driver asked after another 5 minutes of silence. The quietness was getting more and more uncomfortable. Maybe some music could help to ease it. She reached to the radio after getting a small nod.
She changed the channels a few times, finally settled on a soft and melancholy song. Fluid and sensuous piano flew in the air filling the silence.
"I like this song." Callie drummed her fingers on the steering wheel along with the melody. She sighed when she got no response.
Everything went well in the afternoon. They talked and joked, liked they had put the date, the passionate evening and the argument at Joe's behind them. Even though it was difficult, Callie was glad that she could hide her desire for the blonde until she had to bring it up and asking if they could be friends.
Now, they took a big step backward to the awkwardness and she didn't know what to do. She stepped on the gas harder, subtly trying to bring the blonde home quicker so they could put this evening to an end.
Only if she knew what was Arizona having in her mind.
She should be delighted to have this chance to be alone with Callie. And she should tell Callie that she really liked her. She should tell Callie that she tried to call her and devastated when she thought she would never have a chance to see her again.
But she didn't know if she would be allowed to say such things. Because, she thought, she was too late.
Listening to the song in the air, she took a deep breath. Yes, she knew this song, and she liked this song too.
So go on, live your life
So go on and say goodbye
So many questions but I don't ask why
Maybe someday but not tonight
Hush hush now
Hush. That was what she was doing.
No, Arizona wouldn't go down without a fight. She was taught by her father to fight for the thing she wanted. At least, not until someone had called the time of death.
"So..." Arizona trailed off, trying to ask as nonchalant as possible. "You know Montgomery very well?"
Callie was surprised when the blonde started to talk. And she was surprised that she was asking about Addison. Breathed out a sigh of relief, maybe the silence was because Arizona was worried about the surgery that she is going to perform with Addison.
"Yes, Addison and I went way back when she was working in here." The brunette smile lovingly. "I've seen her in a lot of difficult surgeries. She is really talented, a brilliant surgeon."
"You like her? I mean... Do you..." In love with her? Are you two together now? Arizona wanted to ask, but Callie cut in quickly before she would stutter out the question.
"I trust her. I love her. She is my best friend. She's the best. The best surgeon you would even meet." Callie pulled the car to a stop when they reached their destination. She looked right at the blue eyes with a wide smile, hoping to show to the anxious woman that Addison Montgomery is the perfect surgeon to help her with her patient. "You'll know what I mean when you meet her."
Time of death, 10:45pm, outside her apartment building - Arizona heard the announcement in her head.