Arizona sips some broth in the kitchen, it's 10 pm and Meredith has been asleep for a couple of hours. Alex stopped by and picked up Sofia a few hours ago since she's now fever free and bored. Heading back into her bedroom, she sits on the bed beside Meredith and checks her temp. It's coming down now, so she should be through the worst of it. Taking off her robe she sits down on her bed. Having not shared a bed with a friend in years, Arizona laughs because this is the second time in a week that she's slept beside Meredith. And while it's a bit confusing to her, it is comforting, she has to admit.
Climbing back into her bed which is not as roomy at Meredith's king size, Arizona closes her eyes and immediately feels Meredith moving towards her, so she lifts up her arm and lets her cuddle in.
A few hours later, Arizona wakes up, the bed is empty and the bathroom door is closed. She sits up and takes a drink from the water bottle on the table beside her and listens. She doesn't hear anything so she decides to get up and check on Meredith. Grabbing her crutches she makes her way over and knocks lightly on the door. "Meredith?" Arizona says softly.
No response, so she pushes the door open and sees Meredith sitting on the floor crying.
"Hey," Arizona says softly, "I don't mean to intrude, I was just worried that you'd passed out or something," she explains.
"I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you," Meredith gasps out.
"Okay," Arizona says unsure whether she should stay or go, she stares at the other woman a bit longer trying to decide.
Slowly Meredith stands up and Arizona hands her a damp wash cloth, so she wipes her eyes. "I, uh, woke up thinking you were Derek, then when you weren't, I just got overwhelmed and sad, and I didn't want to wake you up, because you were sleeping peacefully..." she blurts out and then bursts into tears again.
Arizona moves closer to her and Meredith falls into her arms. "I miss him so much," she says between sobs.
"I know," Arizona says rubbing her back.
"I'm sorry," Meredith says tearfully.
"Meredith, maybe we could go sit down," Arizona asks softly.
"Okay," Meredith replies and she lets Arizona lead her past the bed and into the living room.
"Sit here and I'll get you a bottle of water, you're going to be dehydrated soon at this rate," Arizona says lightly.
Meredith takes a deep breath and sinks into the couch. "I have been doing really well, I thought I was over this part," she says when Arizona returns and sits down beside her.
"In my experience, this part comes and goes, but never goes away," Arizona says wrapping an arm around her.
"How long has it been since you lost your brother?" Meredith asks.
"About 15 years ago," Arizona replies. "We were so close, he was my best friend. I almost dropped out of med school, Nick kept me going, he's the only reason I didn't drop out, he wouldn't let me."
Meredith looks up at her, "The kids kept me going after Derek died, then when I realized that I was pregnant, the last place I wanted to be was here, where everyone would pity me. At first we went to Boston, to my mom's townhouse. No one there knew me or Derek, so I was just another single mother to them. But after a month or so, I realized that I didn't want to be in Boston, so I contacted a Realtor and sold the townhouse and everything in it and we went to North Carolina, my mom's sister lived there and I always loved the beach, I rented a beach house and it was good."
"I understood why you left, no one else seemed to, but I did," Arizona replies softly.
"I had to leave, Ellis was a gift, I didn't want to grieve through my pregnancy and I knew that was all I'd do if I stayed in Seattle, leaving was the only way I could just be pregnant. I missed Derek terribly and I still grieved, but somehow it was a little bit easier being at the beach. I mean how bad can your life be when every time that you walk out the door you're on the beach?" Meredith asks laughing a little.
"I love the beach too," Arizona replies softly.
They sit a while longer, then Arizona starts to doze off.
"Hey, we should go back to bed," Meredith says nudging the blonde to wake her.
"Hmm," Arizona mumbles.
"Come on," Meredith says pulling away from her and standing up, then pulling her arms up.
Waking up a bit, Arizona smiles at her and then they go back into the bedroom.
Meredith helps her into bed, stashes the crutches back underneath and then climbs in on the other side.
Meredith lays down on her back on the other side of the bed, a few minutes go by and then Arizona rolls over to face her.
"You'll be okay, it just takes time," she says softly before closing her eyes again.
Meredith watches her sleep for a few minutes thinking about the past week. How is it they've know each other this long and are just now becoming friends, she wonders. Then Meredith's mind wanders to Izzy and Christina. Arizona is kind of a mix of the two, she's perky like Iz, but can be dark like Christina, she's certainly nothing like Callie Torres.
Arizona wakes up and the room is bright, she never closed the blinds yesterday, so the morning sun is filling the room with light. Meredith is wrapped around her snoring softly in her ear. Then she remembers their talk last night or rather this morning. This is easily the most intimate non-sexual relationship that she's ever had with a woman. Although, it's getting confusing to have her this close, they definitely need to dial back this aspect of the relationship, Arizona confesses to herself.
"Oh god, it's really bright," Meredith says untangling herself from Arizona.
"Yeah, it's 7 am, I didn't put my phone on the charger, it's dead." Arizona says checking it for messages.
"Mine too," Meredith says setting hers back down, then looking around the room, she asks, "Where's Sofia?"
"Alex came by and took her last night. Her fever broke and I didn't want her to get it from us again," Arizona explains. "Hey are you hungry?" she asks plugging her phone into the charger and yawning.
"A little, do you think it's safe to eat now?" Meredith asks.
"I think it was just a 24 hour thing, I drank some broth last night and kept it down," Arizona points out as she slips her prosthetic on and goes into the bathroom.
Meredith sits up in the bed and looks around the room. This has been the most confusing week of her life, she finds herself drawn to Arizona, the more time she spends with her, the more she seems to open up to her. I guess Christina and I were like that, but this feels different somehow.
The bathroom door opens and Arizona sticks her head out, "I'm going to take a quick shower. Oh and there's another bathroom down the hall, and help yourself to a change of clothes."
Meredith gets up and goes to her bag, she has the clothes that she wore yesterday, but it's always more fun to borrow clothes, so she pokes around in Arizona's dresser until she finds a pair of sweats and a t-shirt.
Feeling better after the shower, Meredith heads down the hall and smiles when she sees that Arizona has made her hot tea and toast.
"Eat, you'll feel so much better," Arizona says gesturing at the counter.
"Thanks, have you talked to Callie yet?" Meredith asks.
"Yes, Maggie's sick but the kids are fine. DeLuca showed up to stay with her so Callie took the kids to daycare and she's going to work today. I told her to tell Bailey that we're staying out today," Arizona explains.
Meredith nods as she sips the tea.
"Um, about last night," Meredith begins to apologize.
"It's fine, don't worry about it," Arizona interrupts.
"Okay, it's just I don't do that. Well, not usually and..." Meredith tries to explain.
Arizona sets her coffee down and takes the chair beside her, "There's nothing usual about this, it's fine. You were sick and you let your guard down. If it helps, I told you things that I don't tell many people either," she explains.
Nodding, Meredith smiles tightly.
"Hey, I have a load of laundry ready to go, do you have anything to add?" Arizona asks.
"Oh, yeah. I should wash my clothes from yesterday so I can wear them home," Meredith replies going over to her bag.
"The washer's just down the hall, put your stuff in and hit the button, it's ready to go." Arizona replies, going over to pour herself another cup of coffee.
"We should strip your bed too," Meredith says returning to the kitchen.
"I already did that," Arizona says looking up from her phone, "Are you tired? Go ahead and lay back down."
"Not really, I just don't feel like doing anything." Meredith says and goes over to sit on the couch.
Arizona follows her over and hands her the remote, "Here find something for us to watch. I'll be right back."
Meredith checks out the listings and Arizona returns with a blanket and pillows.
"Let's watch a movie or binge watch a tv show, that will get us through the day," Arizona teases.
"Okay, have you seen Orange is the New Black?" Meredith asks.
"Just the first season, you?" Arizona asks.
"I saw most of the first season, how about we watch the last episode, then start the new season?" Meredith suggests.
"Sounds good," Arizona replies getting comfortable on her end of the couch.
"I did some crazy things after high school when Sadie and I backpacked across Europe," Meredith says a few hours later.
"The craziest thing I've done was steal Herman's medical records and give them to Amelia, and for a minute there I thought she was going to call the police and I was going to go to jail," Arizona admits dramatically.
"Ha! Well, I did something like that myself and Derek almost reported me, I wouldn't have gone to jail, but I might have lost my medical license." Meredith admits.
"What was the craziest thing you did in Europe?" Arizona asks. "You were what, eighteen? Nineteen years old?"
"Nineteen," Meredith replies. "I don't know if I should tell you, it may affect how you see me," she teases.
"Okay, I'll go first then. At nineteen, the craziest thing I did was..." Arizona shakes her head, "Wait let me think of another one, I'm not telling you that one," she says laughing.
"Okay, okay here's one, it was the summer after my first year of college and I was waitressing at a resort in Provincetown with my girlfriend, soon to be ex-girlfriend." Arizona adds laughing. "This is terrible, but remember, I was nineteen. So this really attractive older woman was coming in like three times a day to sit in my section and she was a writer, I think. Anyway she was really interesting to talk to and after the third time in two days, she asked me out. Now, my girlfriend and I are staying in this tiny apartment in downtown Providence and we're fighting like crazy. Not how I pictured my summer at all, so I agree to meet this woman after work and then at the end of the shift I break up with my girlfriend."
"There has to be more to that story," Meredith says nudging her with her foot. "Spill it."
"She had a beach house and I spent the rest of the summer with her, it was really amazing and crazy and the ex, made me pay half the rent on the crummy apartment all summer, but it was worth it." Arizona admits.
"Okay, not bad." Meredith replies. "In Italy, we met two guys on the beach and they asked if we wanted to go out on their sailboat, Sadie immediately says yes. So next thing we know we're zipping down to the pier on the back of these scooters. The sailboat isn't a small catamaran, it's like 40 foot long with sleeping berths, a kitchen and a bathroom, it's really nice. Now I'm half convinced that they're going to kidnap us and throw us overboard, but Sadie insists that we'll be fine, so we help them cast off." Meredith stops and takes a sip of water.
"They took us to a topless beach in Barcelona and we stayed with them there for about three days, just eating, drinking and having sex," Meredith says resuming the story.
"Well, I've been to a topless beach in Barcelona, I wonder if it was the same one?" Arizona asks playfully.
"Turns out there are several, I tried to get Derek to go to one, but he wasn't interested in Spain, he only wanted to go to Italy," Meredith replies. Her face flushes suddenly and she blurts out, "I miss sex."
Arizona about chokes as she takes a sip of water.
"Sorry, I haven't even thought about it really, but all the sudden, now I am," she confesses.
"Uh, we should probably change the subject, this isn't going to do either of us any good," Arizona points out.
"I've made out with a girl before," Meredith blurts out. "Have you? With a guy I mean, have you ever made out with a guy?"
"Not since junior high," Arizona admits. "My guess is that you made out with your friend Sadie," the blonde replies.
Blushing, Meredith nods. "How did you know that?" she asks.
"Nineteen and backpacking across Europe on your own, you were obviously experiencing all life threw your way," Arizona points out.
"True, it was nice. But we had too much to drink and we fell asleep before we got too carried away." Meredith admits. Then looking at the blonde intently for a minute she asks, "You're not even curious about men are you?"
"No," Arizona admits, a bit uncomfortable with this particular conversation, she gets up. "Hey, I'm going to grab the laundry, be right back."
"I'm sorry, if I made you uncomfortable," Meredith says standing at the door to the bedroom as Arizona folds the clothes.
Arizona looks up at her and laughs, "You know, I've basically been alone this past year and even though I lived with Alex and Jo before that, I've really kept pretty much to myself since Callie and I broke up, so this is a lot for me," she admits.
Meredith crosses the room and sits on the bed, "It's a lot for me too," she confesses. "Alex and I don't talk like this," she says with a small laugh.
Sitting beside her on the bed, Arizona replies, "Uh, Alex and I don't talk like this either." she says laughing.
"I think I should admit that I have a bit of a crush on you," Meredith says softly.
Arizona takes a deep breath and looks over at her, "Okay, if you can admit it, then I'll admit it too."
"Do you think it's just because we've been so close so fast? I mean all of the sudden we're intimate friends, that's it right?" Meredith asks trying to make sense of what she's feeling.
"That's probably all it is," Arizona agrees, relieved that she's not crazy and at least the confusion is mutual.
"Maybe I should go home and check on Maggie," Meredith suggests, reaching for her clothes that Arizona has folded and placed on the bed.