A/N: Busy week, updates will be a little slower, just be patient and I promise you'll get them as close to daily as I can post them!
"You told Maggie?" Arizona asks pulling Meredith into the supply room.
"Not yet, but she lives with me and I'm not ashamed of this, so there's no reason to sneak around," Meredith points out.
"I know, I just worry," Arizona begins to say when Meredith leans in and kisses her.
"Stop worrying. I don't need you to protect me and this doesn't have to be a secret. If I was seeing anyone else in the hospital, I wouldn't hide it. So why do we have to hide it? It's 2016 Arizona, everything has changed. We could even get married if we wanted." Meredith points out as she exits the supply closet.
"Married? I didn't even know you were dating anyone?" Callie responds jokingly as she overhears the comment.
Meredith glances at her and then back to the supply room.
Callie follows her eyes and curiously asks, "Who were you talking to in there?"
Pausing and then remembering what she just said, she replies, "Arizona, she... Nevermind. And no one's getting married."
"Is Arizona even dating anyone?" Callie asks Meredith.
"Why are you asking me and not her?" Meredith counters.
"You guys are always together, I just figured that you would know," Callie points out.
"You should ask her," Meredith snaps.
"Oh okay, I will," Callie says confused.
"So what's going on with you and Meredith? I think that you're both acting really weird. Is she dating someone?" Callie asks sitting down across from Arizona in the doctor's lounge.
"Um, why do you think she's dating someone?" Arizona asks.
"Because she's been oddly happy lately and has this look..." Callie's voice trails off as she carefully looks at the blonde in front of her. "Wait, you're dating someone," she says knowingly.
Arizona glances down, suddenly interested in something on her phone, "Um, I need to go check on a patient," she says standing up.
"Arizona sit down," Callie says grabbing her arm and pulling her back. "You and Meredith, seriously?"
"Callie, it's not what you think," Arizona begins to explain.
"What I think is...okay, I have no idea what I think. When? How long? Is this serious?" Callie fires off questions rapidly.
Leaning forward and talking softly, Arizona begins to answer Callie's questions when the door to the lounge opens.
They both jump away from each other.
"What's this?" Bailey asks when she sees them huddled together. "Now I suppose the two of you are getting back together?"
"No Miranda, we're just talking." Arizona replies, then taking advantage of the interruption, she adds,. "But I, uh, I need to uh, check on a patient."
"We're not done talking Arizona," Callie calls out after her.
"What was that about?" Bailey asks still eyeing Callie suspiciously.
"She's seeing someone and she was just about to tell me about it," Callie says vaguely.
"Arizona is dating? Anyone we know?" Bailey asks.
"Uh, yeah, I think you know her," Callie replies carefully.
"Well, who is it?" She asks impatiently.
"She, I mean, they are not ready to tell people," Callie explains.
"It's someone in my hospital though?" she asks. "I'll find out, I always find out." Bailey reminds her.
Ducking into her office, Arizona pulls out her phone and texts Meredith, "Callie figured it out, she knows."
Meredith's reply comes back quickly, "Good!" is all it says.
Arizona takes a deep breath and sinks down into her chair relieved.
"Are you doing anything for New Year's Eve?" Alex asks entering the office.
"Uh, no. I haven't even thought about it. Why?" she asks.
"Jo finally said yes, so we're going to throw ourselves a little engagement party and we figured why not do it this weekend for New Year's Eve. So how about it, 8 pm at our place?"
"Alex congratulations! But it's Monday and you're planning a party on Thursday?" Arizona points out.
"Thanks," he says beaming a proud smile. "But it will be fine, it's just a few friends," he replies.
"Let me know if I need to bring anything, okay?" Arizona asks.
"Yeah, sure," he says turning to leave, then he stops and asks, "Oh wait, are you bringing a date?"
Arizona looks up at him, panicking a little at how to respond. "Uh," she stammers.
"If you're not that's cool," he replies, "Meredith is though, but hey, it's not like you won't know everyone there."
"Meredith has a date?" Arizona asks.
"Yeah, surprised me too. But she's been kinda weird lately, but at least we'll finally meet him." Alex points out.
"You told Alex that you were bringing a date to his New Year's Eve Party?" Arizona asks Meredith when they are cleaning up after dinner.
"Should I have asked you first or are you upset that I assumed that you'd be my date?" Meredith asks playfully.
"We were both invited. You didn't have to say that you had a date," Arizona points out.
"But it is a date and I want our friends to know that we are together," Meredith replies, resting her hand on the blonde's arm.
"You're ready for our friends to know about us?" Arizona asks.
"I am, but you are obviously not sure." Meredith points out.
"You should have seen Callie's face, she looked at me like I had done the craziest thing ever," Arizona counters.
"Well, she's close to both of us and she's surprised, it doesn't mean she's against it," Meredith replies, putting her arms around the blonde and brushing a strand of hair out of her face.
"Uh, excuse me," Maggie says clearing her throat. She just walked into the dining room and looked up to see them talking. "Wow, so that is what you were trying to tell me earlier," she says nodding her head.
Meredith turns to face her sister, "I wasn't sure how to tell you and Arizona seems to think people will freak out," she explains.
Arizona turns to Maggie "Don't you think that if we go to Alex and Jo's party as a couple, then no one will pay attention to them and it'll ruin their engagement party," she points out.
"You guys are going together to the party?" Maggie stammers.
"Yes," Meredith says to her sister, "there's nothing wrong with us dating." Then turning back to the blonde, she add, "Arizona, I'm not hiding this any more."
"Um, how long have you guys been seeing each other?" Maggie asks.
"Since Thanksgiving," Meredith replies.
"Not since Thanksgiving, it's just been since last week." Arizona corrects her.
Ignoring Arizona's comment, Maggie walks over to Meredith, "Okay, so this makes sense now. You guys have been kind of weird around each other since just after Thanksgiving, and this is probably why you got sick at the same time," she points out.
"It's only been a week," Arizona repeats, "I'm talking to myself," she says pulling away from Meredith, "You two talk, I'll going to check on the kids."
Sitting down at the counter, Maggie replies, "You're happier. I noticed that, I just wasn't sure if it was the holidays or something else."
"I am happy about this, she makes me happy. Do you think we should wait to tell people?" Meredith asks.
"If this were a guy, would you wait to tell people?" Maggie asks.
"Probably not," Meredith replies.
"She is right about you upstaging the engagement party though," Maggie points out.
"I know." Meredith says crossing her arms. "So we tell people tomorrow, give them a few days to get used to it."
"We haven't really talked about this before, but have you dated both women and men before?" Maggie asks. "I mean Callie's been over here and she and Amelia had that whole discussion about bisexuality and you didn't say anything."
"I didn't say anything because I didn't know. I mean, I've always found women attractive, but I've never wanted to..." Meredith looks away embarrassed to say it.
"You never wanted to have sex with a woman before?" Maggie asks.
"Kiss, I was going to say kiss a woman before," Meredith says flushing nervously. "And sex, she's holding out on me. She won't have sex with me yet," she blurts out.
"Really? Two months in? Well, I think that's sweet," Maggie remarks.
"It's not sweet, it's frustrating!" Meredith replies, then smiling brightly, she agrees, "Okay, it is kind of sweet."
Arizona is standing at the coffee cart the next morning talking to Callie when Meredith walks up and greets Callie with a hug and then leans in to hug Arizona and kisses her on the lips. "Good morning," she says brightly and walks away.
Looking around nervously to see who saw, Arizona looks over at Callie, "I guess we're doing this today," she says.
Callie laughs and claps her on the back, "Good luck with that."
"Thanks." Arizona says before rushing to follow Meredith over to the elevator. "Um, you just kissed me in front of a bunch of people."
"I did and I'll do it again," Meredith says leaning in to kiss her again.
"Meredith, you can't just do that." Arizona says leaning away from her and pulling off to the side.
"You're overthinking this Arizona. If it were anyone else, this wouldn't be an issue. You're just acting like this because it's me and I don't need you to protect me." Meredith reminds her and takes her hand and pulls her back over to the elevator and pushes the button.
Arizona looks down nervously at their joined hands. "We're doing this?" she asks softly.
"We are." Meredith says as they step into the elevator with Miranda Bailey.
"Good morning," Bailey says looking down at their hands.
Meredith looks back at her and smiles. "Good morning Dr Bailey."
The elevator stops and Arizona turns to leave, "I'll see you later," she says softly.
Meredith leans over and kisses her lightly on the lips, "Have a good day," she says letting go of the blonde's hand.
Miranda clears her throat.
Meredith turns around to face her, "Something wrong Miranda?" she asks smiling at her.
"With you and Robbins?" she asks. "No I'm just thankful that neither of you are dating interns," she says unfazed, as she exits at the next floor.
Meredith laughs and follows her off the elevator to her office, "That's all you've got to say?" she asks.
"It's not like I didn't already know, besides your private life doesn't concern me Meredith Grey." Bailey says setting her things on her desk.
"You did not already know," Meredith challenges her.
"She and Torres were talking about something in the lounge yesterday, I figured it out. Not surprising really. And you seem happy, so I'm happy for you," Miranda adds.
"Thanks Miranda." Meredith says heading to her own office, a bit stunned by Bailey's response.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me about you and Meredith. I had to find out from gossiping nurses!" April says bursting into Arizona's office.
Looking up at her friend, Arizona smiles and then laughs, "What was I supposed to say... Oh hi April, so you were right about Meredith, she's not as straight as I thought she was."
"Yes! I knew it. So how long have you guys been seeing each other?" April asks.
"Not long, we just went out on a date last week," Arizona admits.
"Wait, since Thanksgiving, right? I mean wasn't your first date dinner at my house?" she asks.
"No, we were just friends then," Arizona reminds her.
"But she flirted with you all night, even Jackson noticed," April points out.
"Wait, you both thought that we were there together?" Arizona asks.
"Yes, then she spent two days taking care of you when you were sick, that's a total girlfriend move," April counters.
"She came over and got sick herself, that's why we were sick together," Arizona explains.
"Yeah, like girlfriends," April counters again.
"Seriously, we just started dating last week," Arizona insists.
"So what do you call all the flirting and hanging out since Thanksgiving? I'm not blind Arizona, it's been longer than a week," April remarks.
"It's complicated, but now she wants people to know and she wants us to go to Alex's party as a couple," Arizona replies.
"Why wouldn't you go as a couple?" April asks.
"Nevermind." Arizona says picking up her things, "I need to go see a patient."
Rushing into the ER later that afternoon, Arizona quickly enters the trauma room to find Meredith and Ben already working on the patient. Smiling at her, she asks, "What do we have?"
"Sorry, I told them to page Karev, or are you covering for him?" Meredith asks glancing up at the blonde.
"I'm covering for him, he ran some errands for the party," she explains. "What you don't want to work with me, now?" Arizona flirts.
Ignoring her, Meredith nods at Ben so he begins updating them on the patient, "Seven year old, slipped hiking with his family. They are on their way here now," he adds.
"You should scrub in with me, there's enough here to keep us both busy," Arizona says as they push the gurney over to the elevator.
"I'll update the parents and meet you in there," Meredith says winking at her.
"So you and Grey are dating?" Ben says when the doors close.
"Yeah, we are." Arizona says smiling at him. "What are people saying? Is the talk bad?" she asks.
"No, no, the talk is good," he replies amused. "You know, you're as bad as Miranda, you worry too much about other people."
Arizona opens her mouth to respond but has no idea what to say.
"Meredith, do you have a moment?" Webber asks, when he spots Meredith on the surgical floor.
"I'm scrubbing in on a trauma, Richard. What's up?" she asks quickly.
"With Robbins and Warren?" He asks nodding at the board.
"Yes, that trauma, why is there a problem?" she asks confused.
"No, we'll talk later," he says smiling at her.
Entering the scrub room, Meredith looks at Warren and he takes a hint and grabs a gown and heads into the OR. "Webber is being a little weird, have you talked to him yet?" Meredith asks her.
"No, but he's probably going to be upset that I didn't tell him first," Arizona admits.
"Why?" Meredith asks confused.
"Before Thanksgiving we went out a few times," Arizona replies.
"Wait, what?" Meredith asks even more confused.
"Richard went with me to a lesbian bar downtown, you know as my wingman," she explains.
"Richard Webber went with you to a lesbian bar as your wingman?" Meredith repeats, staring at the blonde amused.
"He's a good friend," she says putting a gown on and turning so Meredith can tie it.
"I know that you're friends, I just didn't know you guys were that close. Does Maggie know?" Meredith asks putting her gown on and turning around for Arizona to tie it.
"I have no idea, why?" Arizona asks.
"If things with DeLuca don't work out, she may need a wingman," she says winking at her. "Now come on, it's a great day to save a life."