AN: This is my first fanfiction so pls leave reviews! Sorry for any tipos, English isn't my first language:)
Crap! She was certainly gonna be late. Dr. Taylor had told her to not mess up, not be late. But here she was, not even considering a much needed coffee due to not having enough time for that. Apparently today she had to drink the brown soup this hospital here called coffee.
When she finally arrived, she couldn't be more annoyed. A black car (at that moment she was too pissed to actually take a closer look at the car) was parked not only in her park space, but also in the one next to it.
'how do you even got your fucking drivers license?' she asked herself, thinking about actually parking her car right in front of the black one. She would be blocking it, but she had better things to care about at the moment. So, without much thinking she parked her blue car in a way it should be illegal.
Not happy at all about her parking space, but kinda relieved to see she was only ten minutes late, Arizona made her way into the big building.
"Robbins, you're late! I told you to actually arrive at time today. Is it that hard for you?" Dr. Taylor was not nearly as mad as the blonde had thought at first, considering how she was excited for this day since weeks!
Arizona tried to smile it away. She was well aware of what the 'Robbins-Dimple-Smile' could do to other people. Tim, her older brother, had come up with this name for their smiles when they were still young. And still twenty something years later, she still did it whenever Arizona wanted something she couldn't get.
"And I am so sorry about that!" She tried to apologize to her boss. Dr. Taylor just waved her off, telling her to shut up. Yes, Dr. Taylor knew her coworker pretty well.
Arizona was basically always late. The first time they met, Arizona was only a few minutes late, saying she was stuck in traffic (which by now, Dr. Taylor didn't believed anymore).
They walked the long hallway along, making a quick stop at Arizona's office so she could get in her scrubs and get her lab coat. After quickly fixing her blonde, curly hair into a messy bun the duo walked to Dr. Taylor's office.
It would surprise Arizona over and over again what hell of a woman her boss actually was. The redheaded wasn't that much older then Arizona but still she was the Chief of a whole freaking hospital. Dr. Taylor had a really awesome family. She and her husband have three kids together (which Arizona saw as her nieces and nephew). Dr. Taylor, or how Arizona calls her when they aren't at work, Lily, welcomed her when she newly arrived in New York. It wasn't too long after that they became great friends. Isla, Lily's five year old loved the blonde. At first she wasn't really sure what to think of Arizona, but when the blonde gave (the back then) three year old a huge Olaf stuffed animal, Isla loved her.
Taylor's newest babies, Harper and Oliver (which arrived around eight months ago) also adored her. They both looked exactly like their mother. Red-ish hair, hazel looking eyes and slight dimples on both sides of their cheeks.
Isla was rather looking like John, Lily's husband. Her hair was more blonde-ish. She had blue eyes and was for her age pretty tall.
"What was the word you keep saying to describe amazing things?" The redhead asked Arizona, lightly hitting her shoulder. Taylor did knew the word Arizona always said.
Arizona was a naturally almost disgustingly happy, perky person. The word 'awesome' belonged to her almost as much as her dimples. It was the first word, Arizona tried teaching Isla. Though knowing better, she would say the word everytime she was alone with the twins, hoping they would start saying more than just baby language soon.
"You mean awesome, right?" The blonde laughed along.
"Exactly! Well your awesome friend gave you the wrong time to arrive. I thought you'd be late but today's pretty important for me and you. But my plan failed when half an hour ago Dr. Torres knocked on my office. She's waiting for you. Torres is gonna be your lab partner. She is from SGMW hospital in Seattle and one of the best Ortho surgeons in the country. She runs her own department, was nominated and won countless prices." Dr. Taylor explained when they stood outside of her office. Her hand was already placed on the doorknob, ready to open it any second.
The blonde felt nervous about meeting her new lab partner. Hearing what was said about her, her talent, made her somewhat feel unsure about her skills.
Opening the door, Arizona and Taylor were met with a stunning latina. She had black hair which was around breast length. The latina had a tall, curvey body and long legs. Her nails were painted in a black color.
The yet unknown woman looked in blue orbs as a warm smile broke out in her face. A hand was held towards Arizona.
"Hey, I'm Callie Torres, your lab partner for the next few months." She introduced herself. Arizona smiled a dimpled smile, shaking Callie's hand while keeping eye contact.
"Arizona Robbins, nice to meet you. I hope you had a great flight." She said, warmly welcoming the newcomer.
"Yeah it couldn't have been better, allthough I slept through the whole flight." Callie said laughing a little.
She was pulled into an emergency surgery last minute, so when the plane had started she couldn't help herself but to close her eyes. Next thing she knew was that the young man that was seated next to her, woke her up. She thanked him before they had to leave. After taking a cab to her new apartment and making herself look more presentable, Callie made her way to her new research hospital/lab. After meeting Dr. Taylor she quickly made her way to the canteen. Not having eaten anything in hours had their effect on her.
Leading them to the office table in the middle of the room, Dr. Taylor signalled Arizona and Callie to have a seat. They discussed all of the work related stuff.
"Also, I would like to invite you tonight to dinner. To celebrate a hopeful successful research and maybe a new friend." Dr. Taylor said happily after Callie and Arizona signed all the paperwork.
"That'd be awesome, I'm in." The blonde said smiling.
Being in the same room as Arizona for almost an hour, Callie could slightly make out Arizona's personality. She was exactly like her new boss had described her. Smiley, happy, perky, keeps saying the word awesome.
For Callie's taste someone she'd rather stay away from.
"Yeah why not." She agreed politely.
"Great! Meet me at seven at the Epic Dining?" Dr. Taylor asked.
"Awesome!" Arizona happily exclaimed. "Do you know where it is or do you want a ride?" Arizona offered Callie, which happily accepted.
A few hours later, Arizona parked her car in front of Callie's apartment. She had dressed herself in a black see through leggings, a black button up mid-thight dress and black boots which read just below her knees. Her blonde hair was straight. It laid perfectly on her shoulders, reaching her chest. Golden earrings were placed in her ears. Arizona decided on a natural make up, making her outfit look just awesome.
She knocked on her door, quickly looking down on herself, once again swiftly running her hands down her dress. It didn't took Callie long to open the door. She was dressed similar like Arizona. A black mini dress, having her shoulders off. Black hair was pinned up and a dark purple, almost black ish, purse.
"Hey, ready to go?" Arizona asked as Callie stepped out of the door.
"I am. Thank you again for the ride." Callie, once again, said. "How long do we drive?"
"Not that long. I hope at least. It depends on traffic, but I don't think there will be much." The blonde answered as they stepped out of the front door.
"So, you're gonna be my partner for the next few months, tell me something about you." Callie suggested with a smile. She really hated smalltalk. It was something she wasn't good at.
"There's not much to say about me. I'm a military brat, I grew up all around the world. Due to that I speak four languages fluent. I didn't count English into them because that's my first language. I live here since around two years, before that I lived in Arizona." The blonde explained, letting out a soft giggle at the last part. "What about you?"
"Wow, that's pretty impressive! I lived in Miami all my life. When I was done with med school I moved to Seattle." Callie answered shortly. And what she said was true. She couldn't imagine how it would be having to move on a regular basis to somewhere totally new in the world. Was Arizona even able to make friends? Maybe long distance but those friendship almost always didn't worked out. The latina was curious about those things but didn't wanted intrude on the blonde's private life.
"What about your family?" Callie asked.
"Uhm that's complicated."
Before anything else was said the sound of 'Happy' was heard.
"Do you mind if I would answer that?" The blonde asked, pointing at the dashboard.
"It's your car, of course I don't mind." Callie laughed nervously.
Arizona pressed the green answer button and not a second later a female voice was heard.
"Hey where are you?" The voice said. Arizona broke out into some giggles.
"I'm on my way to the Epic Dining. Why?"
"Why are you on your why to a restaurant?" The voice asked. Arizona breathed out laughing.
"Remember what Lily was talking about since ugh I don't know six months? The research that starts on Monday? My lab partner arrived a few hours ago. Dr. Torres is sitting next to me right now."
"Fuck I totally forgot about it. Hi Torres, I'm Olivia Carter, nice meeting you!"
Callie looked to Arizona, silently asking what she should do. She was feeling slightly uncomfortable.
Arizona gave her a nod, telling her it's ok to answer.
A few minutes later, Arizona parked her car in front of the restaurant. Dr. Taylor already waited for them to arrive.
The dinner they had was great. They talked about work related stuff most of the time, about how Callie had won several prices, about Arizona having done successful projects after successful projects and way more.
Their conversation carried on about their privat lifes, partner, family (where mostly Dr. Taylor talked) and med school.
"I almost married a guy when I was in my last year of med school. His name was George. We were Highschool sweethearts if you want to call it like that." the latina commented, smiling (and knowing better now) about her past relationship with O'Malley.
"What happened?" The redhead asked while shoving another fork if her lasagna in her mouth.
"One of his mates told him about the army. He was failing med school anyway. So he quit. We had a huge fight about it and if you ask me I still believe I'm in the right. I told him it was stupid, that he was young and would only throw away his life for nothing." Arizona looked at Callie as if she couldn't believe what her brown eyed lab partner was saying. She was furious about the brunette talking shit about a job that was just as important as theirs. But what annoyed the blonde wasn't her reputation or the reputation of her job, no, it was her brother's reputation, the job he gave his life to, because he had a big heart and threw himself over a bomb to save his friends.
"He called me a selfish bitch and that I don't know what was best for him." Callie continued, not noticing Arizona's growing anger.
"You know what? Maybe he was right?! If he was failing anyway it would've been a waste of time staying in med school. He wasn't stupid, nor was his mate, for joining the army. Do you actually realize how important people like George are to this world? To the people, to the families who live in constant fear of dying anytime? They don't have a safe home like we do, they have miserable 'homes' if you can even call it that. Your ex husband, ex fiance whatever he is, isn't stupid, he is a freaking hero, what he does is pretty damn awesome. Decisions like that aren't easy to make, but as soon as you sign your papers and fly out there, George is a hero. Now may I be excused, I'm not feeling well." Arizona said, standing up from the table, putting a fifty dollar bill on the table and left. She stormed out of the restaurant, sat in her car and took a deep breath.
She was feeling bad for Lily, considering the not really polite way she had just left them sitting on this table. But the redhead probably understood her. She knew Arizona's past, knew what happened to Timothy Daniel Robbins and she knew why Arizona acted the way she did.
Silent tears were streaming down her face, anger, sadness and denial were taking over Arizona's mood. What Callie said in there hurt her. She knew that Callie wasn't aware of Tim, wasn't aware of the memories, the fights Arizona had with Tim. Hell, she didn't even knew Tim ever existed.
Arizona remembered the day the officers knocked on her door. It was an early spring day. Two officers in army uniform had knocked on Barbara Robbins door.
When she opened the door, all happy and smiley and a slight cloud of chocolate cake was making its way through the officers nostrils, they knew it was gonna be hard.
"Barbara and Daniel Robbins?" The officers asked. Barbara nodded, her smile leaving her face slowly.
Her husband was in the army for years, but never had a major damage. But he always warned his wife of the day two officers would visit them. It meant either someone was badly injured or...
"No please don't." Barbara begged, supporting her weight on the door. Daniel came downstairs, having seen from his window seat in his window office upstairs two men approaching his front door.
As he came closer to the scene he automatically knew what was happening. Carefully he put his arm around his crying wife, being frozen on the spot.
A week later his funeral was in full swing. Tim may died a hero, but all that was left from him, from his actions was a flag. A flag he took in his grave.
Ever since, something in the Robbins household was off. They didn't ate any meal together anymore. That was if Barbara even cooked something. Timmy's room was untouched, Daniel Robbins shut himself out of his family more day by day, Barbara was left with so many reminders about her son. Pictures on the walls, drawings her kids gifted her with when they were younger.
And Arizona? She lost herself in her school, later in her studies. When she had school break she wouldn't spent them at home, was it Christmas or summer break, Arizona never was home again. After her brother's funeral she couldn't enter her childhood home, having flashbacks of her brother. She rather found herself lost in book stores, Café's and libraries. When she was done with med school she officially moved out of her childhood home. To Daniel and Barbara it wasn't surprising at all.
But when Arizona moved into a totally different country, her folks got pretty mad at her. Told her that she was leaving them behind. But Arizona needed a change. For almost three months she didn't knew what she'd do with her life. She did had enough savings so she could stay at a hotel, but knew she'd need a job anytime soon. That's when she saw that Dr. Taylor's hospital was looking for new surgeons, any specialty.
Just a few months later she lived in a small apartment, worked for Dr. Taylor and build herself her life. Arizona sometimes called her parents, wrote them letters and cards (mostly on one of their birthdays or to Christmas) but never received an answer.
When she finally had enough strength, Arizona pulled out of the parking lot and drove home.
'Sorry for letting you down, couldn't stand Torres' talking any longer. -Z'
Arizona trusted Lily not to tell random people (people like Callie) about Tim. Lily knew that Arizona still couldn't deal with this subject yet. She didn't trusted people knowing one of her biggest insecurities. Obviously she told Lily, but being strong enough to be so vulnerable towards someone that didn't knew her brother was hard for Arizona.
She was afraid if being judged for the person she was, afraid of the person the loss of her brother made her. On top of that, Arizona had trust issues and couldn't deal with people the way she actually wanted. She never belonged to a friend group, never had a best friend to talk to. It used to always be Tim.
When Lily cought wind of that, she tried everything to make it as much comfortable for Arizona as she could. She told her her own insecurities, invited her over to her family on a regular basis and took her out with some other friends.
Yes, without Lily, Arizona wouldn't know where she'd be by today. The redhead was her best friend. She was there for Arizona, showed her that the pain she felt after Tim was okay and that she wasn't alone.
Arizona liked to think that there are more then just the comic heros or the people that give their live to protect or save others. Lily was in some sort her hero without actually knowing it.
That didn't make her feel any better about the way she had left the restaurant.
She knew she probably had ruined the relationship between herself and her lab partner on their very first day.
Lily must be pretty disappointed in her best friend.