A/N: I did steal a line of dialogue from the movie, "It's in the Water"... Why did I steal it? Well, because you'll really like it...
Meredith is sitting on the couch, watching the movie on her computer with Sofia asleep in her lap, when she hears a knock on the door. She carefully extracts herself and goes to let Arizona in.
"Hey, sorry I'm so late. Callie took forever and she had them wrap everything," Arizona explains.
"It's okay, I was watching a movie and didn't realize how late it was. Sofia's sound asleep, do you want to stay? You guys can have the guest room," Meredith offers.
Arizona pauses, unsure. She's been trying to avoid this situation but she is really tired and the thought of carrying a sleeping child out to the car in the cold, then into the house is not very appealing. "Are you sure that you don't mind?" she says finally.
"I wouldn't have offered, if I minded" Meredith replies. "Let me go up and make sure the bed is made and open the door, so it warms up in there."
"Okay", Arizona replies as she takes off her coat.
"Grab a glass, there's at least one glass of wine left in that bottle," Meredith says before going upstairs.
Arizona goes into the dining room and grabs a wine glass, then sits down and pours herself a glass of wine. Noticing the movie paused on the laptop, she looks to see what it is and about chokes on her wine when she sees the title. Glancing at the coffee table, she sees the post it with Meredith's handwriting and the movie title. Who told her to watch this movie, Arizona wonders. Then she realizes that it means Meredith has talked to someone about the kiss.
"Hey, I turned on the space heater to take the chill off the room, it'll be warmed up shortly," she says sitting back down and shutting the laptop.
Arizona bites her lip, not wanting to ask, but feeling that she should, she picks up the post it and asks, "Did someone mention this movie to you?"
"Uh," Meredith stammers, then picks up her wine glass and takes a drink. "I was just trying to understand what's going on with me, with us".
"Well, maybe we should talk about it," Arizona says clearly uncomfortable.
"I was trying to figure it out on my own," Meredith explains. "You've sort of been avoiding me and you look really uncomfortable right now," she points out.
"My discomfort is a result of past experience,"Arizona replies, "Uh, this never ends well Meredith, someone always gets hurt, usually it's me," Arizona explains.
Not the answer Meredith expected.
"Arizona, this is more than curiosity for me. I am drawn to you in a way that I've never been drawn to anyone before. And you're a woman, so I'm just trying to understand," Meredith replies.
The blonde nods, "I feel drawn to you too," she confesses.
"Wouldn't I know before now, if I were bi-sexual?" Meredith blurts out. "I mean, I've always found women attractive and I've always found you attractive, but I've never noticed you the way I'm noticing you now."
"We've been through a lot since we first met and it's changed us," Arizona replies thinking out loud. "And for what it's worth, I don't know why I'm suddenly attracted to you too."
"This is unusual for you too?" Meredith asks.
"Yes, it is. For a couple of reasons, one, I've never dated anyone with children; two, you're straight," she begins.
"Obviously, I'm not straight though, I kissed you and I want to do it again," Meredith says biting her lip.
"Okay, but you've not been with a woman before so that's straight to me." Arizona points out.
Closing her eyes a moment to think, Meredith takes a deep breath. "Arizona, can I kiss you again?" she asks.
"No, y-y-you can't," she says nervously.
"Why?" Meredith asks.
"Because you'll really like it," she answers.
Meredith crashes into her lips and kisses her hard.
Arizona starts to push her away, but Meredith pulls her closer and deepens the kiss. Hungrily, Arizona pushes her back on the couch and returns the kiss.
Gasping for breath they pull apart and stare at each other. Arizona turns away and looks at Sofia sleeping behind her on the couch, "Meredith, I should probably go," she says dazed.
"No, no don't go." Meredith says taking her hand. "Please stay," she adds.
Arizona looks at her and then makes a decision, "Then, uh, I'm going to take Sofia up to bed," she replies, picking up her daughter and walking towards the stairs.
"Okay," Meredith says still flushed from the kiss.
Meredith follows her over to the stairs, "You were right," she says softly.
Arizona turns to her confused for a moment.
"I did like it," she says leaning in to kiss her again.
"Meredith, please don't..." Arizona pleads, pulling away from her. "Don't kiss me, until you're sure," she says turning her back to her and leaving her at the bottom of the stairs.
In the guest room, Arizona lays Sofia down and pulls the covers over her, then she smiles at the bed clothes that Meredith laid out for her, crossing to the door she closes it and then quickly slips into them. Then remembering that Meredith said this room is cold she crosses back over to open the door. Turning around she notices something under the bed, so she bends down and realizes that it's a pair of crutches.
From the doorway, Meredith clears her throat, "Hey, I just wanted to make sure that you have everything you need," she says.
"Yes, thank you. How did you get these? They look like my first set, did I leave them here?" Arizona asks.
"No, Alex must have brought them over and stashed them under the bed. I just noticed them last week when I was cleaning." Meredith replies.
"Did you talk to him about us?" Arizona asks.
"No, I just assumed that you did?" Meredith replies quietly. Then she adds, "I told Cristina today."
"How did that go?" the blonde asks sitting down on the bed.
"She said she always thought I was bi, since I spoon indiscriminately," Meredith replies.
"Well, she does have a point," Arizona says laughing.
"Are you teasing me about this?" Meredith asks, approaching her.
"I am, but I'm still keeping you at a distance, until you figure out what you want." Arizona says holding her hand out.
"But I know exactly what I want," Meredith says mischievously.
"When do your parents arrive?" Meredith asks, taking a bite of her lunch. Everyone is finally getting used to seeing them having lunch together in the cafeteria.
"They'll be here on Wednesday and we're all having dinner at Callie's that night," Arizona replies.
"Good, then you guys should come over to my house on Christmas Eve, Alex is bringing his guitar and we're going to have a small dinner and everything," she says smiling, then leaning forward she whispers, "And I promise not to kiss you, but I'm not opposed to you kissing me," she adds.
"You shouldn't make promises that you don't intend to keep," Arizona teases her.
"Well, at least you still have a sense of humor about it," Meredith remarks.
"Hey Arizona, did she invite you to Christmas Eve," Alex asks sitting down at their table.
"She did, but my parents are in town, so I don't know what they want to do," she explains.
"They'll want to have Christmas Eve with us, bring them. It will be way better than our last one together, I promise." Alex says laughing.
"That was really sad," Arizona admits. "We never even finished decorating the tree."
"The tree is decorated, the house is festive, just say yes to bringing your parents," Meredith asks again.
"Okay, okay, we'll be there. But what can we bring, Mom won't come empty handed," Arizona explains.
"Bring whatever you want, cookies, fudge, a side dish, I don't care," Meredith says winking at her.
"What's going on with you two, I feel like there's another conversation happening that I can't hear," Alex says looking from one to the other.
Laughing, Arizona stands up, "I've got to go and check on a patient."
"Seriously, what is going on with you two?" Alex asks Meredith.
"Nothing, we're friends." Meredith replies.
"I think that you have a girl crush or something on her," he says. "Jo jokes about having one on Callie, so what, is this like an epidemic or something," he replies sarcastically.
"A girl crush" Meredith repeats, then she laughs, "That sounds about right."
"Whatever." he says shaking his head and taking a bite of his sandwich.
"Meredith, you have a lovely home. Thank you for inviting us over." Barbara says once they are inside the house and settled on the couch with egg nog.
"Thank you, Mrs Robbins." Meredith says, then to Arizona, "Can you come help me with something?"
"I'll help," Alex says setting his beer down.
"Arizona can help," Meredith says taking the blonde's hand and pulling her towards the stairs.
"Meredith," Arizona says softly.
"It'll just take a moment," Meredith says as they go up the stairs.
At the top of the stairs, Meredith grabs her arm and pulls her into her bedroom.
"I got you something for Christmas," Meredith explains.
"Meredith," Arizona says moving away from her. "We talked about this," she warns her.
"You talked about it." Meredith points out, "then I did what I wanted to do," she teases. Then hands the blonde a small box.
"I'm not opening that," Arizona says handing it back to her.
"Arizona, stop. You have to let me prove to you that I'm okay with this," Meredith counters.
"Meredith, it's just not a good idea," Arizona protests.
"How could you possibly know that?" Meredith asks getting annoyed.
"Years of experience," Arizona replies.
"Bullshit, you won't even give me a chance, so you know nothing," Meredith counters.
"Look, we should get back downstairs," Arizona replies, "I'm sorry, I wish that I could, but I just can't," she says turning around to leave.
"Arizona," Meredith says,
She stops, her hand on the door.
Meredith wraps her arms around her and kisses her neck softly, "You're an idiot," she whispers into her ear, before opening the door and walking out of the room.