Callie
When Arizona arrives at my door, my stomach ties itself up in knots. She looks cute. Really cute. Her hair has its natural wave running through it and she's wearing a simple, white jumper under a long, light grey coat with black skinny jeans and ankle boots. There's something radiant about her. She's looking all skin-glowy and happy.
"Mommy!" My little girl exclaims, running past me and into Arizona's embrace.
"Hey, Little Goose," she says, wrapping our daughter up in her arms. "Mama and I thought we could both take you to school today." She says, excitedly. "Hey, ZoZo," she says, still holding onto Sofia with one arm, but reaching out and squeezing Zola's hand.
"Hey, ZoZona!" Zola replies, with her own special nickname.
"You girls ready for your first day back?" Both nod in response to her question before racing to the car.
"Jeez, I wish I was that eager to get to work," she jokes.
...
"How did she get so big?" Arizona asks me with a smile as we watch the children run into school.
"I don't know," I say, unable to take my eyes off of our ever-growing daughter. "It seems like only yesterday that we took her home."
"What is he doing?" She asks, suddenly. Who is she talking about? I glance at her before looking in the same direction. A man is crouching down with a camera in his hands, taking a few snaps of his daughter with a camera. I have to hold onto her arm to stop her from marching over to him.
"Arizona," I say, quietly. "He is taking a picture of his child at school." She's wearing this panic-stricken look across her face.
"What if Sofia's in the background of that picture?"
"Hey, stop," I say, grabbing her shoulders. "If she is, she is. He's a parent, Arizona. He's not Blake." I speak to her as gently as I can, but at the mention of his name, her eyes start to well up. "C'mon," I gesture back at the car and we walk over, quickly.
We're silent, as we put our belts on and start the drive towards the hospital. She sits in the passenger seat, fidgeting with her hands, awkwardly.
"Thank you," she says, shyly. "For not letting me cause a scene. That would have been super embarrassing."
I smile in return, but when I glance at her, I notice a couple of tears have spilled over onto her cheeks. She wipes them away fiercely.
"Are you alright?" I ask, concerned.
"Yeah, I... I... I just-" Her voice breaks into tumultuous sobs. I pull the car over and grab her hand, hoping she'll confide in me. She throws her head to the headrest and looks to the sunroof. "I can't even drop my daughter off at school without freaking out," she manages to get out. She manages to calm herself down, before asking: "What kind of mother am I?!"
"No... Stop," I say, gently, lifting her chin to look at me. "You, Arizona Robbins, are the best mother to our little girl," I say, earnestly. "You've brought her up to be caring, and strong, and funny, and inquisitive," I move my hand to cup her cheek. "Please, don't ever doubt your ability as her mother."
Her eyes drop to the floor and she sighs. I know I haven't convinced her and it makes my heart ache. Without much thought, I push her hair back and lean in to kiss away her pain.
"Callie!" Before our lips can connect, she leans back and creates a barrier between us by placing her hands on my collar bones. "What are you doing?"
"Isn't it obvious?" I say, appearing composed.
"I... I'm seeing someone," she says as her emotions shift from complete devastation to confused and awkward. I just feel like someone has punched me in the gut.
"Well, this is embarrassing..." I say, trying to turn this into a light-hearted situation. "Who?"
"It's... It's someone who works at the hospital," and there it is; the only clue I need. I know exactly who she's fucking.
"Is it Amelia Shepherd?" I ask, bluntly.
Arizona's eyes widen and her mouth parts in surprise. She goes to say something but quickly changes her mind, clamping her teeth back together in an awkward grimace and nodding rigidly. I knew it. My stomach twists with jealousy.
"As in 'ex-drug addict' Amelia Shepherd?"
"Callie," she says in a warning tone. It's probably not a good idea for me to insult her new girlfriend. "How did you know, anyway?"
"Just a hunch," I say, without giving away any details. I can hear the bitterness in my voice, but I can't change my tone. The jealousy has taken over all other emotions. "You really think she's girlfriend material?"
"Okay... I won't listen to you talk about her like this," she says under her breath, unbuckling her belt and getting out of the car. "I'll walk to work," she says, crossly, before slamming the car door behind her.
...
Arizona
How dare she?! How dare she have any judgement on this?! She barely knows Amelia. She barely knows me any more. Yet, she thinks it's appropriate to throw around 'ex-drug addict' and 'girlfriend material' comments. I am so angry I could explode. Hopefully, the walk to work will calm me down. As I approach the park, I know I'm not far away. Ten minutes tops.
Suddenly, I hear a beep from behind me. I look up to see Alex pull up next to me.
"Arizona, what are you doing?" He asks with a face full of confusion.
I throw my arms up in frustration. Not at Alex, but at this whole situation. "Walking to work, apparently!"
"Do you want to walk to work?" He asks, casually.
"Not really," I say, looking at him with pleading eyes.
When he gestures for me to get into his car, I smile with gratitude and quickly slide into the passenger seat. He drives towards the hospital, but doesn't ask any questions.
"You don't want to know why I was walking?" I ask.
"You can tell me if you want," he shrugs.
"No... No, it's fine," I say, decidedly. After a few seconds of silence, I change my mind. I need to get it off my chest. "So, Callie and I decided to drop Sofia off together this morning..." I start. "And, we decided that it would just be easier to go in one car. We dropped her off, and then..." No, don't go into too much detail Arizona. Just the basics. "Then, I told her I was seeing someone."
"Uh huh, Amelia Shepherd," he interjects. What?!
"Okay, this is ridiculous," I say, a little annoyed. Who's told him? "How do you know?" He simply laughs at my reaction.
"Dude, it's obvious," he says. "Plus, I saw you guys totally make out at New Year's."
"Uh... we didn't think anyone saw that," I say, very awkwardly squirming in my seat. I feel like my sibling has just caught me having sex or something.
"Not many did," he confirms.
"I'm actually kind of impressed you remembered that," I say, honestly. "You were super hammered."
...
I thank Karev for the ride and we go our separate ways as I head towards the center. I'm just through the door when I see Nicole Herman's name pop up on my screen. This is weird. I haven't spoken to her since I left New York.
"Hello?" I say, confused.
"Robbins, you're late!" She says, abruptly, down the phone.
"Only by... 4 minutes," I say, checking my watch. "I've had a rough morning!" I defend myself before a realisation hits me. "Hang on, how do you know I'm late?"
Moments later, I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn around and hang the phone up as I realise I'm staring at Nicole Herman in the flesh.