Cristina knocks on Meredith's door Sofia standing at her side. Meredith opens the door and before Cristina can ask if Zola is ready to go she interrupts her.
"Before you ask no Zola is not ready to go because you guys are all going to stay here. The last thing I need and I am sure Callie is for you to take them out and give them junk food and sugar all night and then dump them back on us." Cristina gives a look of mock shock as she ushers Sofia into the house.
"You know you take all the fun out of being a Godmother sometimes is that not like in my job description?"
"Not in any one that I drafted." Meredith retorts and hands Cristina a glass of red wine as Sofia and Zola delight in each other's presence.
"So what brought on the Godmother duties." Meredith asks nodding her head to Sofia.
"Oh I am not entirely sure but it sounded like Callie wanted to talk to Arizona without the little monster here to witness it. I mean I can't say that I blame her. What with Arizona's cheating and all. I imagine it will be heavy." Meredith begins to choke on her wine and wave her hands as if the motion would help her get her point across faster.
"I bet it has to do with Hahn!" Meredith manages to choke out between gasps of air.
"Hahn? Erica Hahn what does she have to do with any of this?" Cristina asks.
"Haven't you checked your phone? Owen called Derek and I not that long ago. We are board memebers and he wanted to get the green light first about hiring her.
"What did you say? Cristina asks pulling out her phone and noticing the little voicemail symbol on her phone.
"Well we agreed. We need a head of cardio and there is no denying she is one of the best."
"Holy Shi.."
"Cristina" Meredith nods towards Sofia and Zola
"izzz niz. Holy shiz niz! That must be it. Oh man no wonder why she had me take the kid that is going to be one intense conversation.' Cristina leans back on the couch and takes a sip of her wine. "Wait what if Owen calls Arizona first? She's a board member to." Meredith shakes her head.
"No I told him to hold off on calling Arizona or Callie. I figured he wouldn't want to be the start of that argument."
"True dat" Cristina agrees. "Looks like I may have the little monster for longer than I expected."
An hour later Cristina receives a text asking if she can keep Sofia for the night and bring her to the hospital in the morning. She has to interrupt Callie's rambling text of how much she will owe Cristina in order for her to tell Callie that she would do it.
"I have the kid for the night and since I am already here i might as well make use of one of your guest rooms." Meredith nods her head and heads towards the kitchen. Well let's feed these kids. The sooner we feed them and get them tucked in the quicker we an get back to this bottle of wine.
Meredith knows she has the right idea when she hears Cristina call Zola and Sofia into the kitchen for dinner.
It is Callie's first day back and already it has been a long day. She was pulled from her bed at 3am and the warm body of her wife was not how she wanted to start the day. She takes a last look at the chart before returning the tablet back to it's charging dock. Callie slumps forward onto the nurse's station and rubs the back of her neck, six more hours. Callie is saved from her misery by a glorious smell. She follows the wondrous smell of coffee and is greeted by a smiling Arizona holding two cups of coffee.
"I thought you could use this." Callie grabs the coffee Arizona offers and breathes in deeply.
"Mmmm yes thank you so much." Arizona watches amused as Callie treats the coffee as if it were her lifeline.
"Think you can survive the next six hours?" Callie takes a sip of her coffee and sighs happily.
"Now I can. Did Cristina meet you at daycare?"
"Yup, she had Zola with her to." Callie smirks.
"For someone who does not want kids she sure is around them a lot."
"Yeah but she also gets to hand them back to us." Arizona counters.
"Touche." Callie raises her coffee cup towards Arizona and takes another sip.
The following month passes in pretty much the same way for both women. It is filled with long days and many more cups of coffee than either cares to admit. It is also filled with days spent with their baby girl and sweet kisses. The issue of sex has not been brought up and neither women is pushing it. As the month draws to a close Arizona begins to become anxious. She is painfully aware that her wife's ex will be back in the same city and hospital in a matter of days and the thought makes her a little sick.
Today is the day and even though she would never admit to anyone else or herself for that matter she is nervous. It is Erica Hahn's first day back and even though Callie has told her more than once not to worry Callie would not cheat one her she can't shake this un easy feeling. Callie went in early so she could drop off Sofia before meeting Erica for her first day. Callie was practically giddy at the idea of seeing her today and although Arizona is trying to be understanding in all honesty all she wants to do is find a brick. So far everything has been going as well as expected between her and Callie. The brunette has stayed true to her word and put every effort into rebuilding their marriage but today could be the game changer. There is always that something about your first love and Arizona knows without a doubt that is exactly what Erica is to Callie and quite possibly vice versa. Arizona takes a deep breath and gets out of her car. She walks into the hospital with as much confidence as she can and finds them twenty minutes later at a nurses's station and they are laughing. The sound grate's Arizona's nerves but she manages to walk up to them anyways.
"Hey sweetie!" Callie leans in and kisses her on her cheek and Arizona immediately feels some of the tension leave her body. "Erica this is my wife Arizona Robbins." Erica smiles and Arizona is taken slightly aback that it is genuine.
"It is nice to meet you. I have heard a great deal about you, youngest and top of your class at John Hopkins very impressive." And damn it to hell if Arizona doesn't find herself smiling in spite of herself. She reaches out and shakes Erica's hand.
"Thank you. The same can be said about you." Erica gives a little shrug.
"And it has." She smirks. Arizona nods her head slightly amused. It was something they all knew well, an err of confidence that came with being the best.
"It was nice meeting you Arizona but I really do have to find Dr. Hunt and finish a few more things."
"I will go with you. The hospital is still a bit of a mess." Callie leans towards Arizona and gives her another quick kiss. "I will see you for lunch?" Arizona nods and watches the women walk down the hall. She saw this meeting going a million different ways and most if not all the situations she had imagined were not in a positive light. She had not seen this coming. She had not anticipated the possibility that she night actually like Erica Hahn,
"Shit" Arizona mumbles to herself.
Erica grabs the glass the glass of red wine that Angel hands her gratefully. The happy couple had just arrived back from their honeymoon and Angel could not have been more excited to have his cousin in the same city again.
"Have you met Arizona?" Jason asked unable to help himself. Angel sat on the arm of Jason's chair just as curious. Erica took another sip of her wine.
"Yes."
"And?!" Both men asked.
"I only talked to her for a few minutes. I know what anyone else with a computer could find out about her and that she cheated on Callie. The last part does not makes for the best first impressions but she doesn't seem to be a horrible person." Angel pouts.
"I thought lesbian drama was more fun than this." Erica rolls her eyes.
"Thanks Angel. I am not really looking for any lesbian drama as you put it. If they work things out I am okay with that."
"You still care about her though?" Jason asks already knowing the answer. Erica stares into her wine glass before answering
"Yes I do. She was the first woman I ever loved and the way things were left was awful to say the least. I was so angry and hurt that I never said goodbye or did anything that would indicate that she or our relationship meant anything to me. It could not be further from the truth and that is my fault."
"So what are you going to do?" Both men were leaning forward in anticipation.
"Nothing." Erica sighs. "I am going to let them work things out on their own, root for Callie's happiness and go from there.
"Well you are better than I cousin. If that were me I would fight." Jason nods his head in agreement.
"Sometimes the connection is more important than how it is defined." Erica raises her glass and downs the rest of her wine. Angel and Jason have no reply other then opening another bottle of wine.
The following two weeks go better than expected. Arizona meets Angel and Jason and even Jesse over skype. Erica settles back into being at the newly named Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. She offered her condolences to Derek and Meredith for the loss of Mark and Lexie. Mark's death and Sofia were something Callie and Erica had yet to discuss. A lot had changed while Erica was gone and neither woman was in a rush.
The more Arizona hung around Erica the more she seemed to like her. Around Callie they laughed and seemed to communicate without words. It made Callie happy and therefore made Arizona happy. She was even witness to Erica making the interns nearly piss their pants and well that was just entertaing for all except maybe the interns. In short everything was going smoothly but that was all about to change.
Arizona walked out of one of her patient's room and scrubbed her hands across her face. This particular case was taking a bigger toll on her than most and she was exhausted. Arizona set down the tablet on the nurses station and leaned against it. She felt her phone vibrate and pulled it from her pocket. A message from Callie flashed across the top of the screen.
"Hello gorgeous. I hope you are having a good day. I have a pink frosted donut with rainbow sprinkles with your name on it!" Arizona smiles wide and types out a response. She pockets her phone and pushes away from the nurses station to walk down the hall when she hears a voice that makes all the blood in her body run cold.
"Hello Arizona."
A/N dun dun duuuuun! I told you Erica is not the returning character you should be worried about. I said I wouldn't bash any beloved Grey's Anatomy characters but I'm pretty sure this one is not so let the bashing begin!