For all the doubt Arizona had when they first hired Andrew, he proved to be a hardworking young man, committed to the job. Every day that week, he came to the ranch after school was let out. He always worked hard to complete the chores they had given him, and he was polite the whole time. Saturday, he had worked the entire day, Barbara was happy to give him some lunch when she went to give her children theirs. He had sat down at the barn with Arizona, the blonde had been teaching him about handling cattle that afternoon. She asked him about her sister.
"Her name is Carina." He said with a smile, the blonde could see the respect and love the boy held for his sister. "When Carina was little, our parents moved here from Italy. My dad had a position with an international business and they transferred him here. My sister's eleven years older than I am, and she's the doctor here now. Our parents died in a car crash last year." He was struggling now, so Arizona wrapped her arm around his shoulder, trying to give him some silent support. "It took a really long time to get all their affairs in order and sell the house. After all that was taken care of, we moved here. I realised I wasn't really cut out for living in a big city, so Carina found this place for us. She could still be a doctor, and I would feel comfortable. I want to have a ranch just like this when I get older, that's what I was meant to be."
Arizona nodded, she knew what it was like to know what you wanted to be at a young age and all the people who just thought you were going through a phase, wanting to be a rancher.
"Come on," She spoke up after a while, standing straight and dusting herself off. "If we finish this in the next couple of hours, you can stay for dinner." He wanted to speak up, "No Andrew, you wouldn't be a burden, I wouldn't have asked if you were. Call your sister and tell her she can have the evening for herself, tell her she should relax for a bit."
The boy gave her a grateful smile and walked a few feet away to call his sister.
When he was done with updating his sibling, he came back with a huge grin on his face. "Thank you for inviting me, Carina sounded really tired, so I'm glad that I can give her a night off." Arizona just gave him a kind smile, she was starting to realise he just wanted the best for the older sister that cared for him. She motioned over to the barn that housed the cows, wanting to get on with learning him about all the cattle needed on a farm.
Dinner was a lovely affair that evening, her mother had gone overboard when she found out that Andrew was joining them. She had cooked double the amount of food she'd normally make, claiming she'd give the leftovers to Andrew to take home. The boy just politely smiled and had the brain to not say anything about it. He ate all of the food Barbara put in front of him and complimented her cooking, claiming it to be the best he'd had in a while. The older woman glowed with pride after that comment.
While they were having dinner, Tim asked Andrew if he could come into work tomorrow too. They were getting a new bull, seeing as the one they had now was getting too old to get the cows pregnant. And if they weren't pregnant, they couldn't produce milk. It would be getting hectic on the farm tomorrow and they wanted Andrew to help around and learn about the use of bulls at a ranch. The boy quickly agreed before finishing his dinner, her mother had already served desert.
The next day, Andrew came in at the promised time. Tim sent him to do some chores before the bull was released into his new pasture, he had to do some repairs on a couple of the fences around the property. He quickly stared his task, eager to see the new bull as soon as possible. While he was busy, the bull finally arrived. Arizona and Tim made the truck driver back up into the pasture and carefully released the bull. He was agitated from the drive and made his displeasure known, though he wasn't volatile yet.
Arizona grabbed her new walkie-talkie from her belt and turned it to the channel Andrew was on. "Hey buddy, once you're done with the fences we have your new friend set up in his home." She heard an excited noise coming from the other side of the line. She saw the speck of Andrew come running from the fence he had been working on. He was too excited to keep track of which pasture he took a shortcut through. Arizona saw the accident in the making.
"Tim!" She screamed at her brother. "Grab the tranquilizing gun, now!" She didn't wait for her brother, instead she leapt over the fence and began running towards the bull, which had now noticed that Andrew had entered his new territory. Arizona's heart began to pound in her ears, she had begun to see Andrew as somewhat of a little brother. There wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that she would let him get hurt, not on her watch.
She quickly reached Andrew, who had now realised his mistake and stood completely still, knowing that the bull would attack if he made any sudden movements. When Arizona called out, he sagged in relief, but not for long as he knew that the bull was going to undoubtedly attack Arizona now. The bull faced away from the young boy and turned towards the blonde, blowing air through his nose angrily. He scraped his hoof against the ground, before charging at Arizona. The blonde, for her part, stood still, without a trace of fear on her face.
Tim had come running up with the tranquilizer gun aimed at the bull, but he wasn't fast enough as the bull barrelled through Arizona with a loud crack, probably breaking something. The blonde fell to the ground, the instant pain knocking her out cold.
Tim quickly shot the bull with a tranquilizing dart, not giving it a chance to attack his baby sister again.
They moved quickly after that. Andrew ran to get one of the boards they had used that weekend to patch some of the walls in the barn, it wasn't ideal but they couldn't risk moving Arizona if something had damaged her back. They moved her onto it and ran towards the big truck, sliding her into bed of it. Tim went to sit next to her and threw the keys to Andrew, the boy had already gotten his driver's license.
He drove them into town as quickly, but safely as possible. It took them ten minutes to get to the doctor's office, now manned by Andrew's sister after the previous doctor had retired. They rushed her into the practice and into the exam room, where Carina was just finishing up some paperwork. At that point, Arizona had woken up again and was in agonizing pain. She was squirming on the board, holding her messed up shoulder.
Carina looked confused for a moment when she saw her brother, but quickly went into doctor mode at seeing the beautiful woman in pain.
"Okay, you two out, now." Tim wanted to protest but the Italian-born woman wasn't having it. "I can't help her to the best of my capabilities if you crowd around here. Get out." The man didn't put up a fight anymore and went out of the exam room.
"Carina, you have to do right by her. She saved me, it would be me on that table if she hadn't come between me and the bull." The teenager had a serious look on his face, looking older than the sixteen summers he had seen.
She nodded and shooed him out of the room. She called her nurse into the room, needing the assistance to keep the beautiful blonde still. "Maggie, I need you to grab me a morphine drip and some scissors, also get her brother to get some clothes for her." The darker skinned woman nodded and quickly grabbed the painkillers needed to knock the woman out.
"Arizona, listen to me." Carina said once she had hooked up the IV and had the scissors in hand. "I'm going to cut your shirt off. You have a dislocated shoulder, I need to set it. You don't have any other serious injuries, only some bruises and a sprained ankle from landing on it badly. Let the painkillers take effect." The blonde just nodded, already a little woozy from the morphine. The last thing she remembered before the combination of the pain and drugs knocked her out, was how pretty the new doctor seemed to be.
When she woke up, she was still lying in the exam room. A blanket was draped over her and she saw that the good doctor was sitting at her computer, updating some files.
She tried to speak, but nothing came out except for a groan, which alerted Carina that her patient had regained consciousness.
She quickly stood from her seat and made her way over with concerned eyes. She intercepted the blonde's hand that almost pulled at the stiches that kept the cut above her eyebrow together.
"You shouldn't pull at your stitches, you'll scar." She smiled fondly at the blonde. "Thank you for saving my brother, we only have each other left." She grabbed some clothes that lied at the foot of the bed. "Let me help you into some clean clothes and then I can send you home."
The drugs weren't affecting the blonde anymore, and she realized she hadn't said anything to the beautiful doctor.
"I only did what any decent person would do, but I guess I should say you're welcome either way." The blonde tried to put her most charming grin on her face, she had the feeling that this was a woman she couldn't just pass up on. "But if you really want to thank me, let me take you out to dinner when I get some of my mobility back."
The brunette blushed but still nodded. "You have yourself a deal, I look forward to it. But I should really get you home, come on."
A/N. Yay! They met! Look forward to lots an lots of fluff, seeing as that is the only thing I manage to write. Even if I wanted to write angst, at approximately 400 words in, it's tooth-rotting fluff. Anyway, leave a review and I'll see you next time!