A/N: Hey everyone! So sorry about the delay on this update. I've been incredibly busy with work and volunteer stuff lately. But here I am finally with an update for you all on this story.

I'm trying something different with this story. When I write, I like to picture it in my head as if it were an actual episode or movie, and I often listen to music that inspires some of the events that happen. So basically this story has a soundtrack. Deciding whether to reveal song choices throughout as the story unfolds or to send a separate update at the end of the story with the list of songs.

Let me know what you think. In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy this update and thank you for your comments.

Chapter 3

I woke up to a sunny morning and immediately remembered that I promised that I would spend the day with Teddy down on the beach. So moaning and groaning I got out of bed and got ready. Within an hour and a half, without fail, Teddy was outside my apartment door waiting for me.

We went to a nearby coffee shop, grabbed some breakfast and made our way to the beach. Once we got settled out on the sand, and I took a smell of the fresh ocean air, I knew that this was something that I needed.

I sat down on my blanket and stared out at the ocean as I sipped my coffee. The scenery before me was relaxing. It allowed me for the first time since Joanne's death to clear my head a little. A chance to think and reflect on my life. Teddy sat next to me, not really saying much, partially because I think she knew I needed the silence, and partially because she was still half asleep.

As the day progressed and the sun rose higher, the beach started to fill up with more people. Both Teddy and I lay on the beach on our towels and soaked up the sun. We engaged in some light conversation about anything and everything that had nothing to do with Joanne. It was good. It felt good. For just one second, I was myself again.

When we started to feel the heat, Teddy and I decided to take a quick swim in the water. I remember the water being cold, but refreshing. After we felt like we had cooled down enough, we made our way out of the water and back to our towels to lay in the sun and cool off. I sat down on my towel and grabbed another one to just quickly dry up a little so that I could put more sunblock on. Grabbing the bottle and squeezing a little into my hands, I started to rub it into my arms, as I looked out onto the stretch of beach.

That's when I saw her. Everything was at a standstill for me. Like time had slowed down and everything was moving in slow motion. Out down by the water I saw the most beautiful woman dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top running along the stretch of the shoreline. By some unknown and incomprehensible force, her and I had made eye contact. She smiled at me and went on her way.

"Who is that?" I asked, more to myself than anyone. Teddy sprung up from her laying position and looked to me.

"Who?" She asked.

"Her, over there. She's breathtakingly stunning. And a killer smile." I said. I was totally taken by this woman and I had no idea who she was. It was the first time I had ever seen her.

"Oh, that's Dr. Torres. Callie. She's an attending surgeon in Orthopedics at the hospital." Teddy responded to me, before laying back down.

Callie Torres had me transfixed. She was beautiful. Breathtakingly stunning. Her dark, black hair and her curvy figure. This woman was fit, but voluptuous all at once. I hadn't even spoken to her and this woman had me in a tizzy for a moment. But, for just a moment. After she disappeared from my sight, waves of guilt and sadness came over me.

Joanne was gone, but I was still in love with her and I felt guilty for having a moment where I felt an attraction to a total stranger.

I pushed the brunette to the back of my mind and lay down on my towel for the rest of the morning. Around noon, Teddy and I decided to pack up and go have a nice lunch before she dropped me off back at my apartment for the rest of the afternoon.

That day at the beach, that day with Teddy made me forget everything for just a little while. It helped to just push my emotions aside and not feel, but the second I walked back into my apartment and was alone. Completely and utterly alone, the emotions over filled me again. There I was. Pining over a dead lover, even though for the last months that she was alive, I was no longer her lover.

The rest of that evening, I sat in my apartment. Alone. Watching some show that I can't even recall. I had had a great day. I was happy that day. I was happy but yet it was a façade. It was masking the real emotions that I felt. Emotions that I couldn't shake. I was depressed, and I didn't know if I would ever recover.

The next morning, I went about my daily routine. I got out of bed, took a shower, got dressed in office appropriate attire, grabbed my files and laptop, placing them in my bag. As I do everyday, I slung the bag over my shoulder and made my way out of my apartment and drove down to the coffee shop that I stop at on my way to work.

I stood in line waiting, very much deep in thought, when for some reason I felt compelled to look over my shoulder. My heart stopped for a second. The woman from the beach. Callie, I remembered Teddy saying her name was, was standing right behind me. She noticed that I had looked to her and she smiled at me. It was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen. Feeling my face blush a little, I smiled back and returned to facing the front so that she wouldn't see the embarrassment on my face. After getting my order I turned and made my way for the door, smiling at her as I past her by.

That very same day, I texted Teddy to see if she would meet for lunch. She texted back saying that she would be ready to go for lunch at around one. So once one o'clock came around, I made my way to the hospital to have lunch with my friend. Because Teddy worked at the hospital and I often would meet her there, I got to know the hospital like the back of my hand. I couldn't find her anywhere so I had made my way up to the third floor of the hospital, I finally found her standing at the nurses station and together we started to make our way down the hallway.

"You're a hard woman to find sometimes, you know?" I said. It took me nearly twenty minutes to find her and I was starving. She just laughed and went on about how because she's the head of cardio, everyone is always after her for consults or she's in surgery.

As we continued our way down the hallway, I heard someone running up behind us. The second I heard this person open their mouth….I turned around and my face went flush again.

"Hey, Dr. Altman, do you have a minute to do a quick consult? I have a post op patient who is complaining of shortness of breath."

I looked to the woman and she immediately smiled at me. I smiled back and then I saw her extend her hand out to take mine. "We seem to be running into each other everywhere, I'm Callie."

Taking hold of her hand, I tried to build up the strength to respond without sounding like a blubbering idiot. Nervously giggling I said "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Arizona. Teddy's friend. I see that you need Teddy for a moment so I will just head downstairs. I'll meet you in the cafeteria, Teddy."

I let go of Callie's hand and continued on down the hallway. Then mere feet away from Callie and Teddy, I stopped. Looking to my right, I saw the room. The empty patient room. It was the same room that I watched Joanne slip away in. Looking into it, though it was empty I could almost see, almost relive the events that happened that night. The feelings became too overwhelming to handle. I ran as quickly as I could to the hospital chapel.

I'm not a very religious person. But I knew that the chapel was a safe place. A place where I could be alone. A place that would in some unknown and unexplainable way bring me some peace.

Every day, I felt like the living dead. Being near Callie or being with Teddy would almost make me feel like I was back to my normal self, but it didn't seem to change the fact that I felt dead inside. Everything around me seemed to make me think of Joanne.

"Hey. You okay? I saw you bolt pretty quickly" I heard. I turned around from where I was sitting and saw Callie standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, it's just umm….uhh….my girlfriend, or well my ex-girlfriend, she died up on that floor. Just seeing the room…." I was so choked up with emotions and tears that I could barely speak. Not to mention that despite the fact that I was an emotional wreck, this woman was still able to make me nervous.

"Hey, don't worry. You don't have to say any more. I'm sorry for your loss. You clearly really loved her."

"I did. I'm sorry, I'm such a mess."

"No, no, no. Don't be sorry. I know that it's really none of my business, and we don't really know each other but may I suggest something?" She asked me as she approached me. She stopped just beside where I was sitting and looked down to me.

"Umm, sure I guess." I responded. I was intrigued but confused at what was possibly going to come out of her pretty mouth.

"Tomorrow is my day off and I was planning on taking a little road trip to this cute little town. It's small and there's some cute little shops. It's away from all the hustle and bustle. You should come with me." She said to me with a smile.

It was a sweet gesture and that smile just made me melt. But I couldn't believe that a stranger, someone who I had just met was asking me to come out and spend a day with her. "That's really sweet, but I can't. I have work to take care of."

"From what Teddy has told me, you work too much. This could be good, you know? To have a little fun."

"I barely know you."

"Well, what better way to get to know each other than to spend the day together. Hang out."

"I appreciate it, really. It's just that, I completely put my life on hold to take care of my ex, and now I have to catch up. I can't…"

"Come on, why not?" She asked me.

"Because, life's in the way. I don't have time."

"Arizona, life isn't in the way of anything here." She said to me with a slight laugh.

"What do you mean?"

"I am offering you some fun. I'm offering you some life."

"Sounds more like you're offering me an adventure as opposed to life" I said smiling back at her.

Then the next thing that she said to me, I will never forget it for as long as I live.

"Life is an adventure."

She smiled back at me and then headed out of the chapel to leave me in peace. Her words repeating themselves over and over. Then I heard one last thing escape her lips before she left the room.

"I'll meet you here tomorrow."