Chapter 4
Arizona walked into the board room and Meredith waved her over saying " I saved you a seat". "Um thanks" she replied as she sat down as Bailey walked in closing the door behind her. Bailey looked around the room at all of her board members and right when it was starting to feel really awkward with silence she stated " I know you all have been freezing Dr Minnick out of your OR's and that is not acceptable and it stops today!"
Meredith started to speak and she was hushed by Bailey. "Dr Webber, do you have something you would like to share?" Richard cleared his throat and said "Bailey is right. We have to do this for the future of our hospital." He paused and looked around and continued by saying " I know you all were being loyal to me and I appreciate it, but we need to find a way to work together with Dr Minnick to ensure the success of this hospital ." He smiled meekly at Bailey and sat back down.
The room was quiet and Bailey brought up the business of Alex. "So we reinstate him with a 2% pay cut and a 90 day probation. All in agreement?" And as much as they wanted to argue with her, they knew she meant business. The meeting continued with mundane details about gauze suppliers and just when she thought she was going to fall asleep due to her lack of sleep last night, Arizona's cell phone started to vibrate on the table in front of her. The screen flashed a picture of Callie from happier times and Arizona grabbed it off the table but not before Meredith saw who was calling. Arizona excused herself and left the room.
The meeting was over and Meredith ran out to nearest bathroom, she hated these early meetings and usually filled up on caffeine to prevent falling asleep. She ran in and almost knocked someone down, she grabbed the other person who she realized was Arizona and started to apologize for running her down when she noticed that Arizona had been crying. "Hey, are you okay?" "Um, yeah, sure. I'm fine" she lied as she headed towards the door. She suddenly stopped and said "Grey? Did you still want to get drinks tonight?" Meredith said "sure, is 6:00 okay?" Arizona said "Great, meet you in the lobby at 6"
Arizona spent the rest of the day avoiding Eliza Minnick. The doctor had been hounding her to take her out for drinks and Arizona could kick herself for ever agreeing to it. She had thought maybe this could be her chance. She had thought that Dr Minnick might be the one to help her get over her ex wife once and for all. But now she regretted it and she couldn't help but wonder if that was for the same reasons.
She was lucky when her last surgery was postponed due to her patient having a slight fever and after catching up on all her charting she sent Meredith a text informing her that she finished early and she would just meet her at Joe's.
By the time that Meredith arrived, Arizona had was already slightly tipsy. Meredith sat next to her and ordered another round for them both. She was a little leery as she had never experienced a drunk Arizona before. Arizona had been drunk at the infamous dinner party, but Meredith was a little preoccupied that night to notice.
Meredith asked Arizona "Are you okay? Did Callie do something?" Arizona snorted "yes she did something, she took my baby across the country so she could be with her Perfect Pretty Penny" that's when the tears started and Meredith noticed that the bar was filling up and she knew how private Arizona was so she paid their tab and
guided Arizona out of the bar. She didn't want the whole hospital talking about the blonde.
She grabbed them a cab and decided that Arizona was just going to go home with her. Alex or Maggie would be at the house and could help her with the blonde. Arizona just kept her head on Meredith's shoulder and continued to cry until they arrived.
Maggie had already put the kids down for the night. "What happened?" Maggie wanted to know as she noticed that the blue eyes were red and puffy. Arizona grabbed a bottle of tequila and plopped down on the couch took a big swig, looked up and said "my little girl lost her first tooth this morning and I missed it, I'm missing everything. I gave her up and I'm missing everything" Maggie looked at Meredith and shrugged and asked Arizona "So why did you? Give her up...I mean" Arizona took another big gulp right out of the bottle and said "Callie was... um...sad, she was crying all the time and I just wanted to make her happy. I mean, I couldn't do that when we were married..." right then something clicked with Meredith and she said "Oh my God! You are still in love with her." Arizona took another big drink and said sheepishly "I don't want to be." Maggie just sat there with her mouth wide open before she blurted out "But why? I mean from what I heard, she said some awful stuff about you in court" Meredith glared at her sister and turned to Arizona and said "you need to move on, Arizona "
Meredith found some clothes for the blonde to change into and Arizona said" I have to take off my leg, I don't have crutches here. Maybe I should just go home." Meredith sighed and told her "you won't need them, if you need to get up just yell for me or Maggie and we'll help you" Arizona couldn't help herself she had to ask "why are you being so nice to me? Its kinda weird, I mean you're Callie's friend."
"Arizona, we're friends... I mean we were in a plane crash together. I realize that I may not have always shown it, but we are friends" said Meredith as she directed Arizona to Amelia's old bedroom.