"Shut up," she hisses, and pulls her hand roughly towards the storage room. She is shoved in quickly and the door slams shut behind her.
She vaguely remembers that this is the storage room where people make out and have sex. Her breath hitches in her throat a little, and her heart races only so slightly before she remembers to regard the look on the other woman's face which is more contemptuous than lustful.
"Dammit, Amelia," she warns, "can't you lower your voice?"
"About?" Amelia grins knowingly. She knows it's about Nicole Herman's brain tumor, but a part of her wants it to be about something else. Most of her does. She thinks that she probably wants people to want her in other ways.
Broken people, or people who know what it's like to be broken. To be at a loss.
To have nothing, but one thing.
Like Owen. She doesn't know much about him. Besides murmurs of Cristina. Besides Meredith's chatter. Besides the veteran's project.
And like Arizona. She doesn't know much about her, either. What she does remember is that Arizona had bouncy blonde hair that seemed to flutter as she turned hallway corners during her years in med school. She only knew her by name, and sometimes by the friends who happened to sleep with the overachieving med student. She never looked for anything serious.
They never spoke. They graduated. Years later, she heard from Addison that Callie Torres married Arizona Robbins.
Now she knew her as her fellow colleague. She knew her from the hospital gossip, from Addison, from the shambles of her brother's marriage: car crash, plane crash, leg, broken up with Callie. Once, twice - finality. Etcetera, etcetera. Everyone in their own dilemma.
Except, now she's part of it.
"About Herman, dammit!" Arizona yells at her, "It's already a freaking problem that you know!"
This riles her up. But she coolly retorts, "I'm saving her life, Arizona."
The blonde collects herself. Her shoulders slump, and she looks contemplative. She admits her wrongs. She crosses her arms, furrows her brows. It's a stern look.
"I know," she admits. "Just… be more quiet about it? As in, don't tell me about your game plan in the halls, and don't use names, and don't-"
"Alright, alright," Amelia interrupts. "I was just excited."
"Excited?" she asks, bemused.
"Can't I be?" she grins, "It's awesome."
"Awesome?" Arizona asks, her brows raised. She seems to hear more in that word, she seems to remember something. Her arms fall to her sides, and her eyes seem to brighten. She takes Amelia in.
It's the first time she's really looked at her, she thinks. Really sees her.
"Awesome."
Arizona grins, "Let's hear it."
Arizona agrees that it's awesome, and Amelia spends all night working on it. She stares at scans until her eyes grow heavy and red. She stares until her eyes burn, until she needs to blink to let the tears out.
She's troubled and her brother's gone. Owen hasn't called and she hasn't spoken to Meredith. Her life has been this tumor. Whisks of blonde hair, sad blue eyes, and a tumor.
She thinks she needs a break, but then something clicks. And staring deeply into Herman's catastrophic tumor, she realizes that she's found it.
She checks her phone in excitement. 7 missed calls from Meredith, two texts from Meredith inquiring of her whereabouts, a text from Arizona - Tomorrow, I'm so damn tired, and 3% left. It's 5 AM. She throws the heap of clothes she gathered for today in an overnight bag and grabs her jacket.
Alex is annoyed when he lets her inside, but she only grins back at him in greeting.
"Mer was talking about you last night, where'd you disappear?" he asks. She feels bad for a moment, for abandoning her sister-in-law after her brother's disappearance. She knows Meredith mostly goes to Alex in her time of need. She can tell she's interrupted something when she observes his slightly sagging pants and ruffled shirt.
"Lab," she claims, "Where's Arizona?"
He seems surprised, "In her room."
She moves past him as he shuts the door and waits for him to point her in the right direction. As she walks, she feels her heart thumping in excitement - it's here, she thinks. Finally. With little regard to privacy, she opens the door and sees strands of yellow hair pillowed on the bed. The sleeping woman is bundled in her blanket. She shuts the door behind her.
Now, she doesn't know what to do. She looks at the clothes thrown carelessly on the floor and the prosthetic leg propped up against the night stand. She did have a late night, didn't she?
She feels a little awkward now.
"Arizona," she calls.
She doesn't stir.
Amelia hears footsteps from upstairs and walks over to the bed, shaking the sleeping woman awake.
She dodges the slap she receives in response and tries again. A head pops out from underneath the sheets.
The doorbell rings. Footsteps resound down the stairs. The house seems lively.
"Oh," Arizona murmurs. Her sleepy eyes widen and she looks annoyed. She turns away, "God, I thought you were Alex."
"What?" Amelia asks, "Why?" She is on her knees now, slumping over the blonde, staring at her exposed collar bone. Her skin is pale and only slightly freckled. "You sleep naked?"
Wide awake, Arizona protectively pulls the sheets over her. "I was tired."
"So you slept naked?"
"I just didn't feel like putting anything on."
"Didn't get lucky instead?" Amelia grins, recalling tales from med school. Arizona narrows her eyes.
"No," she retorts. She seems to get comfortable and leans back on the bed. "Why are you here?"
Amelia checks her phone. 1%. 6AM. She has to be in the hospital at 7.
"Breakthrough," she claims. "Thought you'd like to know?"
Arizona sits up in surprise. The sheet falls only slightly. More of the collar bone. Pale, slightly freckled. A little flushed when the moment hits.
She's been into these kinds of people lately.
"Let me see!"
Amelia turns to her bag and takes out her iPad, briefly going through the scans. She hands it over to Arizona and unbuckles her belt.
"What are you doing?"
"Changing," Amelia says. "I didn't get a chance to, yet."
"Oh," the blonde says, and returns her attention to the iPad.
They hear murmuring when Amelia takes off her shirt, and the door knob turns as she picks up the fresh one.
"Amelia-" Meredith starts. But then she stops and looks at Arizona, surprised. She looks at Amelia now, taking in her exposed upper torso. "Seriously?" she asks, narrowing her eyes.
"No-" Arizona starts.
"Totally not what you think," Amelia continues.
Meredith shuts the door. She hears fading footsteps as the front door slams.
Arizona falls back onto the bed. "Dammit, Amelia."
"Well," she says, "what a shame."