Arizona wakes up confused. Is it day or night, she can't tell with the curtains pulled and the room still dark as night. Sighing, she grabs her phone off the bedside table and looks at the time. 2:30 pm. She just slept fourteen hours. How is it possible that she wasn't paged during the past 14 hours, she wonders.
Sitting up in bed, she turns on the lamp and unlocks the phone to see what all she has missed. Twelve missed calls, 24 unread texts, how did she not hear these come through. Freaking out, she begins paging through the texts. She reads the one from Bailey informing her that she's been removed from the call list until tomorrow morning. Another from Pierce informs her that Mindy is doing better today and the baby is too. Checking her voicemails, she's happy when she hears Alex's voice telling her that he's been reinstated and back to work. At least now she feels better about being removed from the call list. Nothing from Meredith though is surprising. She must really be pissed. Arizona stares at the phone, debating whether to call her or wait until she is more awake. Deciding to wait, she leans over and picks up her crutches. Eating would be a good idea, the blonde doesn't even remember when or what she ate last.
Downstairs, Arizona is considering her food options when she spots a note from Andrew.
Hey, you should probably call Meredith. She came by this morning and was pissed when I wouldn't let her come in. She really wants to talk to you today. The leftover pad thai is all yours.
Arizona pulls out the leftovers and quickly pops them into the microwave, she'll eat this and then she'll call Meredith.
"How is your first day back?" Pierce asks Karev after they've checked the baby in the NICU.
"It's really great to be back," he admits with a smile.
"Have you talked to Arizona?" Maggie asks.
"Not yet, why?" Alex asks, brows furrowing in concern.
"Yesterday was really hard for her. She was up all night with that case at the prison hospital, then this case came in early yesterday morning. I don't know how she does it. I mean, I've done a 48 hour shift before, but she's dealing with babies and mothers, it's so intense and stressful," Maggie exclaims.
"Yeah, but it's what we do," Alex remarks proudly. "She'll be fine after she gets some sleep."
"It didn't help that someone told Meredith that they saw Arizona with Minnick at Joe's," Maggie adds.
"Wait, what? Why would Meredith care if Robbins is out with Minnick?" Alex asks confused.
"Oh God, you don't know? I-I just assumed, well you should talk to them about it or maybe now it doesn't matter," Maggie stammers nervously.
Before Alex can question her further, Murphy enters the NICU.
"Dr Karev, how is the Millen baby?" Murphy asks as she approaches them.
"She's doing good. Nice work Murphy," Karev remarks.
"Thanks," Murphy says surprised by the compliment. "Uh, where's Dr Robbins?"
"She's off today and I'm back. Why you need something?" Alex asks her.
"No, I just wanted to ask her about a few things from yesterday," Murphy replies. "I am thinking about applying for the Fetal Medicine Fellowship."
"Hi," Arizona says when Meredith answers the phone.
"I am between surgeries," Meredith replies curtly as she hands a chart back to a nurse and turns to walk away from the nurses' desk.
"Well, I think that we should talk later, can I come over?" Arizona asks.
"Do we have anything to talk about or should we just forget this whole thing?" Meredith questions as she ducks into a supply room for privacy.
"Meredith, seriously? Look if you're pushing me away because you're scared fine, I can understand that and we should talk about it. And if that's not it and there is something else going on here, we should talk about that too," Arizona says calmly.
The other woman sighs heavily and Arizona holds her breath waiting.
"I'll come by your place after work," Meredith says after pausing a moment.
"Okay," Arizona says exhaling in relief. "Come by whenever you're done," she adds.
"Thank you," Jo says softly as she enters his office.
"Don't thank me. Thank DeLuca, he dropped the charges," Alex remarks.
"Yeah, but you were going to take the plea and go to prison for me," Jo points out.
"No, I was going to go to prison for almost killing DeLuca," Alex counters.
"But still you were going to take the plea so I wouldn't have to testify," she reiterates with a small smile.
"I'm not a hero. Hell, I'll be on probation for a year. I have mandatory counseling and anger management classes to attend and that's just for the terms of my probation through the court. I am on probation here at the hospital and my medical license was almost suspended, Alex continues. "Look, don't make me out to be more than I am. I'm still the guy who beat someone up and almost killed him."
"Alex, you're a good guy. This doesn't define you," Jo protests.
"Jo," he says and then grimaces. "Or whoever you are, I need some space and time. I can't be around you right now," Alex admits.
She winces at the remark. "Come home tonight and I'll tell you everything," Jo promises.
"No, I'm staying at Mer's just until I can get my own place," he informs her.
"DeLuca," Meredith calls out to the intern across the cafeteria.
He turns around and points at himself questioning that she meant him, before walking over to where she is standing in line to pay.
"Yes, Dr Grey," he says cautiously.
"I want to apologize for this morning. And well for Alex and everything," Meredith says impatiently.
"Okay," he says turning to leave.
"DeLuca, wait. I have a whipple in OR 4 tomorrow morning. Meet me in my office in an hour and we can review the case," she offers.
"Y-you're offering me a surgery?" He questions.
"Look, it hasn't been that long ago that I was an intern here, I remember how hard it was to get into the OR," Meredith replies.
DeLuca looks down, unsure whether he should accept the offer.
"Will I get to cut?" He asks.
"God no, you're an intern!" Meredith exclaims.
The intern smiles at her response. "Just wanted to make sure," he replies.
"Make sure what? That I wasn't trying to bribe you?" She asks angrily.
"Something like that," he remarks. "But I'm going to pass on the whipple Dr Grey, thank you for offering."
"Dr Grey," the cashier says to get the surgeon's attention.
"Yes, okay," Meredith says handing over her card.
DeLuca takes advantage and slips away from her.
"Hey," Maggie says dodging the resident as he walks briskly out and into the hall.
"Oh Dr Pierce, sorry I just have to be somewhere," he says quickly, hoping she will buy it.
"Actually, I was looking for you. I have a transplant coming up and I asked Riggs if you could be on it, but he suggested that I ask you first," Maggie replies.
"Oh, well I'd prefer to just stay on Dr Riggs service right now, no offense," DeLuca answers.
"You're going to pass up the opportunity to be on a heart transplant team as an intern?" Maggie questions.
"I don't know what is going on, but I don't want special treatment for dropping the charges against Karev. I just want it all to go away. So if that's the only reason you're offering me this, then I don't want it," DeLuca explains, his voice raising a little in irritation.
"Dr Wilson," Chief Bailey barks interrupting the two residents standing around the nurses' station.
"Chief Bailey," Wilson says coming to attention and slipping her phone into her pocket.
"I have something that I need you to do for me," Bailey replies. "My office in ten minutes," she adds over her shoulder.
"Hey sweet girl! How was school today?" Arizona asks her daughter. She texted Callie to see if they could Skype and for a change, Callie called her right back.
"Momma, I made a new friend today," Sofia squeals happily and then precedes to describe the girl and everything that they did at school today with Arizona asking questions here and there, until the girl is talked out.
"She sounds great," Arizona remarks when Callie's face appears on the screen.
"The week didn't start that great," Callie admits, "she had a meltdown the other day because two girls at school were mean to her. I was in surgery and she wouldn't tell Penny why she was upset, then your Mom just happened to call the house when they got home and she talked her through it," she explains.
"Oh well I hope Penny knows that there are times when she won't talk to us either," Arizona offers gently.
"Yeah, I reminded her of that, but she took it personally," Callie replies with a sigh.
"How are you?" Arizona asks changing the subject.
"I'm fine. It's just been a long week," Calle exclaims. "How about you? Anything new going on in Seattle?"
"Wow, so much has happened this week," Arizona answers with a sigh. "Karev decided to accept the plea bargain, but then DeLuca decided to drop the charges. I had a case take me to Tri-County Medical." The blonde shudders again at the memory.
"A pregnant prisoner needed a fetal surgeon?" Callie questions.
"Yeah, it was a TRAP case and they wouldn't bring her to us," Arizona explains. "Remind me never to do anything that could put me in prison."
The two mothers continue to talk for a while catching up on each other's lives, until Arizona's front door rings.
"Oh hey, that's the door, I should go," Arizona says looking over towards the door, but all she can see through the side light is the sleeve of a jacket.
They both say their goodbyes and the blonde firmly closes the laptop, the last thing she needs is for Callie to overhear this conversation she thinks as she makes her way to answer the door.
"What are you doing here?" Arizona questions more loudly than she intended, but then she definitely did not expect to have Leah Murphy standing at her front door.
"Uh, apparently you didn't answer when Chief Bailey called, so she sent me over with this," Leah says holding up a file.
"And she sent you?" Arizona blurts out, because she is surprised that Bailey would send Leah Murphy to her house without calling first.
"No, she gave this to Wilson, but Wilson didn't drive today, so I offered to bring it over to you because I wanted to talk to you," Murphy explains with just a twinge of nervousness.
"Fine," Arizona says walking away and leaving the door open for the resident to enter.
Leah enters and closes the door behind her. "Your home is nice, comfortable. I like the colors," she rambles as she looks around.
"Thank you," Arizona says but holds out her hand for the file.
The resident looks at her blankly for a moment, before remembering and handing it over.
The blonde opens it and scans it quickly before turning to sit down on her couch.
Murphy takes that as an invitation to sit down beside her. Arizona glances at her and the resident scoots back a bit.
After a few minutes, Arizona closes the file and sets it down on the coffee table and turns to look at the blonde expectantly.
Leah licks her lips nervously before stammering, "I-I'm interested in the Fetal Medicine Fellowship."
"No, you're not," Arizona replies quickly.
"I-I really am and it has nothing to do with you. It's something that I've been interested in for a while now," she adds.
"Leah, it is not a good idea for you to take on this type of program with someone that you have a history with," Arizona begins carefully. "Especially the history that we have together, pick something else or apply for the program at Hopkins," she adds to soften the blow.
"You won't even let me apply?" Leah questions, hurt and confusion showing all over her face.
"Have you discussed this with Chief Bailey or Dr Webber?" Arizona asks, because she is certain that neither of them would allow Murphy to apply for the fellowship either.
"No, not yet. I thought that I should talk to you first," Leah explains.
"I'm not saying you can't apply, but I am saying that you need to discuss this your residency supervisor. The Fetal Medicine Fellowship is one of the toughest programs that I've ever done and it's not for everyone. I wasn't sure that I could do it," Arizona admits. "I think that you need to really evaluate this and think about why you're doing it."
"You think that I'm doing this just to try to get back together with you?" Leah replies loudly as she rises to her feet.
"I didn't say that," Arizona argues, standing up too.
"No, but you're thinking it," Leah points out.
"It crossed my mind, yes," Arizona admits.
At this admission, Leah stands up and begins walking to the door.
"Leah," the blonde calls out after her.
Leah stops, her hand on the doorknob, "Not everything I do is about you Arizona," she snaps angrily before flinging the door open.
"Hello Dr Grey," she says quickly, before stepping around her to leave.
"Murphy," Meredith mumbles watching the resident leave.
"Meredith, perfect timing," Arizona says sarcastically from just inside the doorway before walking away and leaving the door open.
"Why the hell is Leah Murphy here, at your house?" Meredith question as she steps inside the house.
"She dropped off something for Bailey," Arizona replies, wondering how much harder this could possibly get.
"Why would Bailey send her?" Meredith asks next.
"Meredith, it doesn't matter. Look she's gone, can we please just talk about the other night?" Arizona asks.
"I overreacted. And I can't say that it won't happen again, because it probably will," Meredith confesses nervously.
The blonde smiles slightly accepting her confession before offering her own.
"So Minnick flirts with me," Arizona remarks. "And before I realized who she was and why she was here, I flirted back."
"So you were interested in her, but now you're not because she's here to take Richard Webber's job?" Meredith asks.
"I flirted with her. I was never interested in her because I am interested in you. But until last week, I didn't realize that you were an option," Arizona informs her, smiling brightly.
Meredith sighs, between the dazzling smile and Arizona's twinkly blue eyes, she feels even worse about everything. "Arizona. I'm a mess. You know me, I am insecure and I have abandonment issues," she admits.
"Meredith," Arizona says softly walking up to her and slipping her arms around her waist. "Do you realize that we're not even dating yet and this our second fight?"
"Third actually, maybe fourth," Meredith replies relaxing into the embrace.
"Maybe we should reconsider this relationship," Arizona teases her.
"Or we could start taking advantage and make up properly," Meredith teases, leaning in to kiss her lips.
"That might encourage you to pick more fights," Arizona replies before kissing her harder.
"Hmm," Meredith murmurs opening her mouth to deepen the kiss. "Kissing is better than fighting," she adds thickly.