Grey's Anatomy: Bargaining (1/1)
Fandom: Grey's Anatomy
Title: Bargaining
Rating: PG
Status: Complete (1/1)
Author: englishstrawbie
Characters/Pairing: Arizona Robbins, Miranda Bailey, hints of Callie/Arizona
Disclaimer: Here.
Author's Note: a 'missing scene' fic set post-5x16. After her encounter with Callie at Joe's bar, Arizona does a little digging.
Arizona stirred the remnants of her drink with her straw, watching the slice of lime falling over the ice cubes that knocked together at the bottom of the glass. The bar was still busy with a sea of faces she recognised from the hospital, a steady flow of drinks being served. She guessed that none of them had an early shift tomorrow.
Her date was over. Julie had been nice, she supposed, but it turned out they didn’t have much in common and Arizona hadn’t felt the kind of connection with her that made her want a second date. If she was truly honest, she had been distracted ever since her run in with Callie.
She had already made up her mind that she wasn’t interested in getting involved with a ‘newborn’ again; they could be fun at first but they never turned into anything. It wasn’t like she was looking to settle down any time soon but she had been on a string of dates recently and she was ready to invest in someone special. She had heard good things about Calliope Torres - really good things - but her experience with newborns had taught her that they were not the kind of woman to invest in.
So why was this newborn on her mind so much?
She sighed and picked up her glass, knocking back the last mouthful, before nodding at Joe who was at hand to refill her glass. She had learned early on that people at Seattle Grace liked to talk, so fuelled with another drink in her hand, Arizona swivelled round on her seat and scanned the room.
Ah ha! Miranda Bailey sat at the other end of the bar, her head buried in her application for the Peds fellowship. Sliding gracefully off her stool, Arizona wandered slowly along the bar and sat on the seat next to Bailey’s, hoping her movements were as subtle as she had intended.
“Hey.”
Bailey flicked her eyes upwards. Her forehead wrinkled into a frown as she raised her head and looked over her left shoulder, assuming that Arizona was talking to someone else; because why would she be talking to her?
The seat next to her was empty.
“How’s your application coming along?” Arizona enquired.
Ok, so she was talking to her. “Almost finished,” Bailey answered. Arizona had been bugging her about her application all day.
“I’m super excited. Aren’t you excited?” Arizona gushed. She figured some sucking up would help ease this conversation along.
“Uh, sure,” Bailey said, her voice non-committal. Any excitement she had about working in Peds was balanced with the uncertainty of working with the perky blonde Attending. Perky wasn’t a common characteristic at the hospital and Bailey was still getting used to her.
“I can’t wait to have someone new in the Peds programme. New people are important, don’t you think? They keep things fresh, interesting,” Arizona nodded resiliently, as if she was agreeing with herself.
“I guess,” Bailey murmured, eyeing her suspiciously. She was starting to get the impression that this conversation was leading somewhere.
“I like meeting new people,” Arizona declared. “I feel like I’ve been in this Peds ‘bubble’ since I started at the hospital. The people I’ve met seem nice and friendly though; Hunt, Shepherd, Karev, Stevens.” She cleared her throat. “I, uh, I met Doctor Torres the other day too.”
She hoped her mention of Callie was as casual as it sounded in her head, but when she looked towards Bailey she realised it had been anything but casual. Bailey was glaring at her with a mixture of impatience and amusement.
“Doctor Torres?”
“Uh huh,” Arizona said coyly, twisting her glass round in her hand. “She seems…nice.”
And there it was, Bailey realised. She leaned forward slightly on her seat. “People around here like to talk. I don’t,” she said bluntly.
“Oh, I wasn’t…” Arizona started to defend herself, but with a withered look from Bailey, she stopped. “Ok, I was,” she admitted bashfully.
She scrunched up her nose, wondering how she was going to get Bailey to tell her something.
“Do you want a drink?” she said brightly, beckoning for Joe to come over and gesturing towards Bailey’s empty glass.
“No, thank you. I have to get home to my family soon,” Bailey answered. “Besides, a drink isn’t gonna make me talk.”
“Dinner?”
“Nope.”
“Hmm. What if I promised you an awesome surgery?”
“I can get one of those for myself, thank you,” Bailey’s voice was clipped, but gentle.
“I’ll cover your next three night shifts?”
Bailey laughed at that. No-one liked the night shift. She watched as Arizona puffed out her cheeks and let out a dramatic sigh. She rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll give you three questions for three night shifts.”
Arizona’s face lit up. “Oh, yay!” she cheered. “Calliope told me that she was married once so I guess my first question is: who was she married to?”
“George O’Malley.”
“The resident?” Arizona frowned. They didn’t seem like an obvious pairing.
Bailey nodded. “She was besotted, he was like a deer-in-headlights. It ended badly and she got hurt in the process.”
“Oh,” Arizona said sadly.
She wanted to know more; when they met, how long they were married, how it ended, why Callie ended up so hurt by the experience. But she put those questions to one side, knowing that she only had two more to ask Bailey.
“Hmm,” she pondered out loud. “So I know about Erica…kind of. I guess my second question is: why did she leave?”
“Erica?” Bailey questioned.
“Yeah. I heard that she left pretty quickly without telling anyone she was going.”
Bailey grunted. She had never had much time for Erica Hahn. “Here one minute, gone the next. I don’t really know why. I know they had a disagreement about a patient that Hahn was treating but I think there was more to it than that. Callie’s never talked about it.”
Arizona knew that Callie had been left devastated by Erica’s departure. The woman she had kissed in the bar bathroom had been pretty broken. Callie had admitted that her relationship with Erica had been her first female fling and Arizona knew what it was like to take that step into the unknown and have your heart broken. She hadn’t really thought about that until now, choosing to dismiss Callie as a newborn instead.
“One question left,” Bailey said, interrupting her thoughts.
“One question left,” Arizona repeated. She thought about it for a moment, before asking, “where should I take her on a first date?”
Bailey couldn’t help but smile. “Take her dancing,” Bailey answered easily. “That woman knows how to move.”
A smirk passed over Arizona’s lips as she pictured that particular image in her mind. Bailey saw it and rolled her eyes again.
“Ok, I’m going. I have a husband and a child to get home to,” she announced abruptly.
She gathered up her papers off the bar and slid off the stool. “Goodnight Arizona.”
“Goodnight,” Arizona said, a genuine smile spreading over her face. “Thanks Bailey.”
Bailey nodded. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she started walking towards the door, stopping after a few paces. Arizona looked up at her curiously.
“She’s worth knowing. Torres - she’s worth knowing. Just be careful,” Bailey warned. “She acts all tough but she’s not. George broke her. Erica picked her up, just to knock her back down again. Just…be careful with her.”
Arizona nodded. With a satisfied smile, Bailey turned her back on her once more and walked out the door. Arizona propped her elbow on the bar and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. She stared through the crystal clear liquid in her glass at the distorted beer mat underneath, tracing the swirl of colours as she thought about what Bailey had told her. Those three questions had given her a lot to think about and she was starting to think that she had been wrong. Maybe this newborn was someone worth investing in after all.
“Another drink?”
Arizona looked up at Joe’s friendly face and shook her head. “No thanks,” she declined politely. He shrugged his shoulders and went back to wiping the spilled drink and condensation from the top of the bar.
“Hey Joe,” Arizona called after him.
He stopped what he was doing for a moment and looked expectantly at her.
“Where’s the best place to go dancing around here?”
Title: Bargaining
Rating: PG
Status: Complete (1/1)
Author: englishstrawbie
Characters/Pairing: Arizona Robbins, Miranda Bailey, hints of Callie/Arizona
Disclaimer: Here.
Author's Note: a 'missing scene' fic set post-5x16. After her encounter with Callie at Joe's bar, Arizona does a little digging.
Arizona stirred the remnants of her drink with her straw, watching the slice of lime falling over the ice cubes that knocked together at the bottom of the glass. The bar was still busy with a sea of faces she recognised from the hospital, a steady flow of drinks being served. She guessed that none of them had an early shift tomorrow.
Her date was over. Julie had been nice, she supposed, but it turned out they didn’t have much in common and Arizona hadn’t felt the kind of connection with her that made her want a second date. If she was truly honest, she had been distracted ever since her run in with Callie.
She had already made up her mind that she wasn’t interested in getting involved with a ‘newborn’ again; they could be fun at first but they never turned into anything. It wasn’t like she was looking to settle down any time soon but she had been on a string of dates recently and she was ready to invest in someone special. She had heard good things about Calliope Torres - really good things - but her experience with newborns had taught her that they were not the kind of woman to invest in.
So why was this newborn on her mind so much?
She sighed and picked up her glass, knocking back the last mouthful, before nodding at Joe who was at hand to refill her glass. She had learned early on that people at Seattle Grace liked to talk, so fuelled with another drink in her hand, Arizona swivelled round on her seat and scanned the room.
Ah ha! Miranda Bailey sat at the other end of the bar, her head buried in her application for the Peds fellowship. Sliding gracefully off her stool, Arizona wandered slowly along the bar and sat on the seat next to Bailey’s, hoping her movements were as subtle as she had intended.
“Hey.”
Bailey flicked her eyes upwards. Her forehead wrinkled into a frown as she raised her head and looked over her left shoulder, assuming that Arizona was talking to someone else; because why would she be talking to her?
The seat next to her was empty.
“How’s your application coming along?” Arizona enquired.
Ok, so she was talking to her. “Almost finished,” Bailey answered. Arizona had been bugging her about her application all day.
“I’m super excited. Aren’t you excited?” Arizona gushed. She figured some sucking up would help ease this conversation along.
“Uh, sure,” Bailey said, her voice non-committal. Any excitement she had about working in Peds was balanced with the uncertainty of working with the perky blonde Attending. Perky wasn’t a common characteristic at the hospital and Bailey was still getting used to her.
“I can’t wait to have someone new in the Peds programme. New people are important, don’t you think? They keep things fresh, interesting,” Arizona nodded resiliently, as if she was agreeing with herself.
“I guess,” Bailey murmured, eyeing her suspiciously. She was starting to get the impression that this conversation was leading somewhere.
“I like meeting new people,” Arizona declared. “I feel like I’ve been in this Peds ‘bubble’ since I started at the hospital. The people I’ve met seem nice and friendly though; Hunt, Shepherd, Karev, Stevens.” She cleared her throat. “I, uh, I met Doctor Torres the other day too.”
She hoped her mention of Callie was as casual as it sounded in her head, but when she looked towards Bailey she realised it had been anything but casual. Bailey was glaring at her with a mixture of impatience and amusement.
“Doctor Torres?”
“Uh huh,” Arizona said coyly, twisting her glass round in her hand. “She seems…nice.”
And there it was, Bailey realised. She leaned forward slightly on her seat. “People around here like to talk. I don’t,” she said bluntly.
“Oh, I wasn’t…” Arizona started to defend herself, but with a withered look from Bailey, she stopped. “Ok, I was,” she admitted bashfully.
She scrunched up her nose, wondering how she was going to get Bailey to tell her something.
“Do you want a drink?” she said brightly, beckoning for Joe to come over and gesturing towards Bailey’s empty glass.
“No, thank you. I have to get home to my family soon,” Bailey answered. “Besides, a drink isn’t gonna make me talk.”
“Dinner?”
“Nope.”
“Hmm. What if I promised you an awesome surgery?”
“I can get one of those for myself, thank you,” Bailey’s voice was clipped, but gentle.
“I’ll cover your next three night shifts?”
Bailey laughed at that. No-one liked the night shift. She watched as Arizona puffed out her cheeks and let out a dramatic sigh. She rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll give you three questions for three night shifts.”
Arizona’s face lit up. “Oh, yay!” she cheered. “Calliope told me that she was married once so I guess my first question is: who was she married to?”
“George O’Malley.”
“The resident?” Arizona frowned. They didn’t seem like an obvious pairing.
Bailey nodded. “She was besotted, he was like a deer-in-headlights. It ended badly and she got hurt in the process.”
“Oh,” Arizona said sadly.
She wanted to know more; when they met, how long they were married, how it ended, why Callie ended up so hurt by the experience. But she put those questions to one side, knowing that she only had two more to ask Bailey.
“Hmm,” she pondered out loud. “So I know about Erica…kind of. I guess my second question is: why did she leave?”
“Erica?” Bailey questioned.
“Yeah. I heard that she left pretty quickly without telling anyone she was going.”
Bailey grunted. She had never had much time for Erica Hahn. “Here one minute, gone the next. I don’t really know why. I know they had a disagreement about a patient that Hahn was treating but I think there was more to it than that. Callie’s never talked about it.”
Arizona knew that Callie had been left devastated by Erica’s departure. The woman she had kissed in the bar bathroom had been pretty broken. Callie had admitted that her relationship with Erica had been her first female fling and Arizona knew what it was like to take that step into the unknown and have your heart broken. She hadn’t really thought about that until now, choosing to dismiss Callie as a newborn instead.
“One question left,” Bailey said, interrupting her thoughts.
“One question left,” Arizona repeated. She thought about it for a moment, before asking, “where should I take her on a first date?”
Bailey couldn’t help but smile. “Take her dancing,” Bailey answered easily. “That woman knows how to move.”
A smirk passed over Arizona’s lips as she pictured that particular image in her mind. Bailey saw it and rolled her eyes again.
“Ok, I’m going. I have a husband and a child to get home to,” she announced abruptly.
She gathered up her papers off the bar and slid off the stool. “Goodnight Arizona.”
“Goodnight,” Arizona said, a genuine smile spreading over her face. “Thanks Bailey.”
Bailey nodded. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she started walking towards the door, stopping after a few paces. Arizona looked up at her curiously.
“She’s worth knowing. Torres - she’s worth knowing. Just be careful,” Bailey warned. “She acts all tough but she’s not. George broke her. Erica picked her up, just to knock her back down again. Just…be careful with her.”
Arizona nodded. With a satisfied smile, Bailey turned her back on her once more and walked out the door. Arizona propped her elbow on the bar and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. She stared through the crystal clear liquid in her glass at the distorted beer mat underneath, tracing the swirl of colours as she thought about what Bailey had told her. Those three questions had given her a lot to think about and she was starting to think that she had been wrong. Maybe this newborn was someone worth investing in after all.
“Another drink?”
Arizona looked up at Joe’s friendly face and shook her head. “No thanks,” she declined politely. He shrugged his shoulders and went back to wiping the spilled drink and condensation from the top of the bar.
“Hey Joe,” Arizona called after him.
He stopped what he was doing for a moment and looked expectantly at her.
“Where’s the best place to go dancing around here?”