"Hey, I was thinking that we need to reschedule our date, how about dinner tonight?" Meredith asks entering Arizona's office and sitting down beside her desk.
Arizona smiles tiredly at her. "Raincheck? I can't leave the hospital tonight, I'm monitoring a drug-addicted newborn," the blonde replies.
"I heard about that case. Okay, raincheck on the date. But we're still having dinner together, I'll just get take out from the Thai place down the street for us," Meredith says firmly.
"Are you sure that you want to do that?" The blonde asks worriedly. "It seems like we always end up eating here in my office," Arizona reminds her.
"I don't mind, besides at least your people leave you the hell alone. It's way better than eating in my office," Meredith admits. "So yes on dinner?" She asks.
"Yes and thank you," Arizona says leaning over to place a light kiss on her cheek.
Meredith turns her head so that the kiss lands on her lips. "You're welcome," she mumbles, before lightly biting the blonde's lower lip and darting her tongue out playfully.
"Mmm," Arizona murmurs, about to deepen the kiss when there's a knock at her door.
The two surgeons pull away from each other and look up to see Alex. He enters once they've both seen him.
"Hey," he says entering and shutting the door behind him. "Anyone could have seen you guys," Alex cautions them.
"We don't care if anyone sees us," Meredith answers for them, but when she looks over at Arizona, she isn't so sure. "Arizona, I thought that we agreed about this?"
"We did. Meredith there's something that I need to tell you, Minnick was in here earlier and she accused me of being involved with Murphy," Arizona admits.
"Why, because you worked with her on this new case? That's crazy," Meredith points out.
"It's not just that, she also found out that Murphy and I had a past relationship," Arizona counters.
"So people are gossiping about you and Murphy again," Meredith says sighing. "Well won't they be surprised when they find out that it's me and not her!" The dark blonde exclaims with a laugh.
"Arizona, that's what I wanted to talk with you about. Transfer the baby to me, I can take over the case and work with Murphy," Alex suggests.
"Better hope Minnick doesn't find out that you slept with her too," Meredith teases him.
Arizona smiles tightly but doesn't comment. Alex laughs with Meredith, but keeps watching the blonde.
"Hey, so what did you say to Minnick earlier? I heard you raise your voice and then a minute later I saw her bolt out of your office about to cry," Alex decides to ask.
"You made her cry?" Meredith blurts out.
"I doubt that she cried over anything that I said. But she burst in here and accused me of sleeping with an intern based on overhearing gossip in the lounge. I got mad and I expressed it," Arizona replies carefully.
"Sounds like you both kicked her the ass today then," Alex remarks with a smirk.
"What is he talking about?" Arizona asks Meredith.
"Minnick reserved an OR today, her plan was that it would only be used if the resident was the primary. I had an emergent case and she wouldn't give me the OR unless I agreed to let Edwards lead. So I agreed, but then didn't let Edwards do it, because the blockage was too close to the SMA. When Bailey and Minnick came in to observe and found me cutting, I subtly reminded Bailey that she taught me this procedure and that I was teaching Edwards the same way that I learned it." Meredith explains.
"Oh, that must be why Bailey came into my OR today," Arizona comments.
"I heard that you let Murphy do the c-section," Alex adds. "Why didn't you page me?"
"There was no time, the patient was an OD and we had to get that baby out quickly. Murphy said that she had done one before, so I let her do this one," Arizona points out. "But apparently that made people think that we were back together." The blonde adds with chagrin.
Bailey is leaving for the night when she turns to see Eliza Minnick coming down the hall.
"Dr Minnick, I was hoping to discuss modifying your resident training program for Grey-Sloan," Bailey begins.
"Dr Bailey," Minnick says heavily. She isn't in the right mood for this conversation. "Perhaps we could discuss this in the morning. I've had a really challenging day."
"I know that you did, which is why I think that we need to combine our training methods," Bailey explains. "Dr Webber has trained a lot of surgeons, myself included. But he needs to update his methods. And your methods, don't quite fit into our program, so let's work out a compromise between them," she proposes.
Eliza Minnick closes her eyes and tries to count to ten before responding, but fails. "Look, I have a signed contract that allows me to implement my program. I am not going to change it just because it's unpopular. People resist change for a reason, it's hard. But they will just have to embrace it and deal with it. I'm not compromising and I don't have to."
Bailey is speechless a moment as she considers Minnick's position.
"Sounds like you have a problem with change, Dr Minnick," Bailey quips before turning to leave. "Let's talk again in the morning, first thing." She adds over her shoulder.
How is he doing?" Meredith asks when Arizona returns to the office.
"He's stable again," Arizona answers. "You don't have to stay, you should go home."
"Actually, I just Facetimed with the kids and put them to bed. I was planning to stay awhile longer," Meredith says playfully wiggling her eyebrows.
"My whole staff knows that you're in here," Arizona nods towards the door.
"I could leave and sneak back in. Oh give me the key to your suite and I'll come in that door from the side hallway," Meredith jokes, walking over to her.
"I thought that you didn't care if people talked about us?" Arizona quips with a laugh.
"I don't care, but I understand that you're not as comfortable with your staff knowing that you have an overnight guest," Meredith responds reaching out to grab the blonde's lab coat and pull her closer.
"An overnight guest? Meredith, we still haven't gone on a date yet?" Arizona teases, letting herself be pulled in close.
"I bought you dinner tonight, aren't you going to thank me?" Meredith taunts lightly.
"Come in here and I'll show you how much I appreciated dinner," Arizona says nodding towards her ensuite door.
Meredith links their hands and leads them into the other room.
"Minnick is MIA," Maggie whispers to Amelia as they head into the conference room.
"I heard that the Chief sent her packing," Amelia replies as the two surgeons navigate the swelling crowd of attendings.
"That didn't happen," April injects from behind them.
"Oh, then what did happen?" Amelia asks brightly turning to the other surgeon.
"I don't know officially, but I'm sure that the Chief will explain it. " April returns softly.
"Unofficially then, why are we here?" Maggie whispers back to the redhead.
"I can't say," April admits sheepishly before making her way over to Jackson.
Maggie and Amelia watch her leave as they wait in line for coffee.
Across the room, Meredith and Arizona enter the meeting room. Unconsciously, Meredith places her hand on Arizona's lower back as they navigate the room full of doctors.
"I knew it!" Amelia exclaims excitedly.
"Knew what?" Maggie asks.
"Knew that was happening," Amelia replies smugly nodding towards the two blondes heading towards them.
"Be cool," Maggie whispers quickly to the brunette.
"Ha!" Amelia scoffs in amusement as they both step up to fix their coffee.
"Where's Bailey?" Meredith asks her sisters.
"We don't know," Amelia replies.
"We heard that they met early this morning, but no one has seen either of them since then," Maggie interjects.
Arizona looks down nervously as she considers her conversation with Minnick the previous night. What are the chances that Eliza would repeat the unfounded rumors to the Chief, or worse tell her that she was threatened by a Board member.
A few minutes later, Bailey enters the room with Richard Webber trailing behind her. The waiting surgeons all turn towards the two and the room gets quieter.
"Thank you all for rearranging your schedules for this meeting. Sorry that we're not starting on time, but I will explain everything," Bailey begins.
"Richard Webber has been reinstated as Resident Supervisor and he is working out a few updates to our resident training program. There will be changes, significant changes," she adds glaring at them all sharply. "And I expect full compliance from each and everyone of you."
"Did you fire Minnick?" A voice calls out.
"Personnel matters are private and not discussed outside of the parties involved," Bailey replies curtly.
"What are the changes?" Another surgeon asks.
"I am still working them out, but I am planning a staged rollout of them beginning next week," Webber answers.
"Well that was unexpected," Maggie says as she follows Meredith and Arizona out of the conference room.
The two blondes turn around and it's obvious that they were not surprised by the announcement.
"Wait, neither of you look surprised," she points out.
"We were surprised," Meredith replies quickly speaking for both of them, earning her a shoulder nudge from Arizona.
"I wasn't surprised, I sort of got into it with Minnick last night," Arizona admits to Maggie.
"Really?" Maggie asks, hoping for more details.
"I got into it with Minnick yesterday too," Meredith adds.
"Interesting, so was there a meeting? Did the Board fire her?" Maggie questions. "Oh, is that why you stayed here last night?" She adds turning to face her sister.
"Uh, Minnick is not the reason that I stayed here last night," Meredith replies carefully, trying not to look at Arizona.
"Hey, so there's a rumor going around that you threatened to fire Minnick," Amelia says to Arizona as she approaches the threesome.
"I did not threaten her," Arizona asserts. "She accused me of being involved with a resident and she had no proof."
Maggie looks shocked at this announcement. "Which resident?" She asks.
"It doesn't matter, because I'm not involved with a resident," Arizona replies, looking over at Meredith.
"Dr Grey, may I speak with you a moment?" Webber asks as he approaches the group.
Meredith nods and then reaches over to squeeze Arizona's hand. "I'll come find you later," she says before moving away from the group and following Webber down the hall.
Amelia and Maggie exchange smiles.
"You and Meredith are a thing," Amelia blurts out.
"Amelia, shut up," Maggie interjects, placing a hand on the small brunette's arm, before turning to the blonde. "We know that it's none of our business, but it's good to see Mer happy again," she adds with a wink.
"Your sisters know," Arizona says entering Meredith's office later that morning.
"Know what?" Meredith asks still reviewing lab reports.
The blonde shuts the door behind her. Then moves to lean on the edge of the desk, immediately this gets the other surgeon's attention and she looks up from the file.
"About us," Arizona replies with a smile.
Meredith rolls her chair over so that she is front of the blonde, then she stands up trapping her against the desk.
"Us," Meredith says leaning in to kiss her. "There's an us," she repeats happily.
Smiling into the kiss, Arizona places her hands onto either side of the other woman's face, before pulling her in to deepen the kiss.
A moment later Meredith pulls back. "Whoa," she says playfully.
"My surgery this afternoon has been postponed," Arizona informs her.
"Mmm," Meredith murmurs before pulling the other woman back to her for another kiss.
"I was thinking that since I am done early, I could cook dinner for you," the blonde adds a moment later ending the kiss.
"I thought that we were going out," Meredith replies, reaching out to smooth out the collar of Arizona's lab coat.
"We could go out, but staying in sounds better to me," Arizona replies biting her lip nervously.
"I don't care if we go out or stay in, I just want to see you tonight," Meredith says agreeably.
A/N: just a short note to say thank you all for reading this one. Sorry that it took me so long to post. I feel like I need to end this because I don't have much time to write at the moment and I hate not updating a story regularly. XOXO