Dr. Anthony Murphy

as soon as he walked through the door to her and callie’s apartment, he was being to loud. “shush!” it was a yell, but her voice was still a whisper. “we have a sleeping baby in the room!” it hadnt taken her almost an hour to get sofia to finally go to sleep. having aj come over was not going to be the reason she woke up again. as soon as her initial surprise wore off, her lips curved into a wide smile. arizona scurried over to his side, making as little as noise as possible before hugging him as tightly as she could. “i’m happy your back - “ but then she grabbed a pillow to hit him on the shoulder, “never leave again!” 

He immediately held up his hands when he was scolded.  She could have texted him a warning that the baby was sleeping.  He knew parents took that crap seriously.  AJ held Arizona close to him and kissed the top of her head as they hugged.  He had missed her terribly.  “I’m happy to be back, but can we not talk because Sofia is sleeping?” he whispered to her.  “Ouch.  Not fair.  I’m not leaving again.  Eighteen months was enough.”

Lucy shook her head. “Love dinner. I just prefer dessert.” She shrugged. Their coded language was pretty useless at this point. Anyone within a 5-mile-radius could understand what they were talking about. “Oh yeah, you better. I have extremely high standards. Anything with a rating of less than 4 and a half stars and I am out the door.” Of course, she had already tried the restaurant on third, but she thought she’d humor him and let AJ show her something new. “I’m sure you won’t disappoint. You have a whole calendar’s worth of preparing before then.” 

AJ couldn’t help but chuckle and nod.  Dinner with Lucy?  That was going to be a fun time.  Of that he was certain.  “I’m looking forward to it Dr. Fields.  All of it,” he stressed.  “I like a woman with high standards.  Makes it all that more fun.  And I never disappoint.  Ever.”

“a sister and a brother,” she admitted. “sister is here, but brother stayed far away from medicine.” having two sisters go pretty far in their field was enough for him to do the opposite. “siblings are nice though, right?” 

“I can’t wait to meet her.  Is she just as charming as you?  Single?” he asked with a grin.  “Yeah, they are.  But Leah and I?  We weren’t closer until she was older.  Obviously, bit of an age gap.”

An arm snaked around his waist as he hugged her and she smiled up at him. “Yeah, perfect kid, perfect wife…wasn’t so easy getting Sofia here but she’s okay now. I almost died the night she was born, Arizona and I had an accident and it was pretty bad.” Callie shrugged and shook her head a little dismissively, “It just feels like sometimes it would be nice to see somewhere new., you know.”

AJ nodded as Callie spoke about how things had gone down with Sofia’s birth while he had been away.  Arizona had emailed him the details after everything had happened, and honestly?  He had offered to come back so Arizona had someone in her corner, but by then?  Things had been on the mend.  “It was eventful at least Arizona’s emails made it sound eventful,” he teased.  He hugged her closer for a moment.  “I’m glad you are alright.  Go ahead take out your phone and gush over the kid.  I didn’t give Mark the privilege.”  

“Somewhere else would be good.  Maybe you and Arizona should take a trip?  I know a place,” he teased.  

“Derek only wins because he gets under your head and you show him all your game. But he is too busy adjusting to dad life. We could have Martinez, he loses every time.” Mark laughs, just hoping AJ doesn’t suggest a Shepherd in law because he was in need to get away from all that drama. “Well, I am. I’m a father now which complicates the whole Lexie thing. And there’s someone else but that’s a story for another time.” The least thing Mark wanted was having his friend laugh at his messy love life.

AJ nodded.  Martinez would do.  “Perfect.  My place.  8 o’clock on Friday.  I’ll send out the group text and order the usual food from the bar,” he said.  The plan was coming together, and it would be like he never left.  “Someone else?  Are you serious.  Okay, we need to get dinner so you can spill your guts, and then I’ll ask Dr. Grey out,” he laughed, wanting to get under Mark’s skin.  It’s what they did.  “So just let me know what night you aren’t playing Daddy and we can get food.”

“You bet.” She raised her eyebrows, keeping them lifted as she shrugged. Honestly, it felt a little lazy. Like lazy flirting. Was she better than this? Probably. But she needed a jumpstart, and she was going to get it from AJ. “Well, if you really want to take away from our discussion with food…Thai. You know, if you’re worried about your strength.” 

“What?  You don’t like dinner?” he teased.  “Thai it is.  Have you been to the place on third?  Downtown?  It used to be amazing.  I should probably order from there again just to be sure before I take a lady of your caliber there,” AJ added with a wink.  

“ proud? really, aj? you’re proud. you’re an idiot. ” she rolled her eyes a little but laughed to show she was joking. “ if you start kissing and having sex with everyone here i will be gone like the wind and i will never look back. ”

“I am proud,” he said with a nod.  Then she called him an idiot.  He placed a hand against his chest.  “You hurt me,” he chuckled.  “Yeah right,” AJ mumbled before taking a sip of the beer that had been placed in front of him.  “What have you been getting up too?” he asked.  

AJ headed for the water fill up station after completing his circuit of weight lifting reps.  A woman was in front of him, filling up her own water bottle, and he couldn’t help but let his eyes wonder over her backside.  He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, hoping that would be enough to grab her attention.  

“so is it only you and leah?” even if he was very…mark sloan circa two years ago, leah was great. so if she could get to know her older brother, what was the harm in that? “or are there more murphys running around that we should all prepare for?” seemed like that was a reoccurring theme at seattle grace. 

“Just the two of us,” AJ confirmed with a nod.  “I don’t need any more siblings.  Leah is enough of a handful,” he teased.  “What about you Andrea?”

AJ moved the pink bakery boxes to his left hand before knocking on the door.  He reached for the handle and pushed it open, grinning.  “Honey!  I’m home!” he called out teasingly as he stepped inside the apartment.  “I brought baked goods too, so I can be your favorite.  How’s my favorite pediatric surgeon today?” AJ asked as he moved towards the counter to set the boxes down.  He hadn’t seen Arizona since he had been back in town, and he had missed her.  

━━ ✦ CLOSED STARTER                FT. aj murphy @dramurphy​

It had been a long week to say the least, and a couple of beers at Joe’s was exactly what the doctor needed in order to allow himself to relax into his day off the following day. Had Ryleigh been around he was sure he would have spent it with her, but given that she was still in the hospital, beers in the bar by himself was the only way to do it. He made his way through to the bar, placing his empty bottle on the surface and waving the bartender for another. He recognised the other next to him from the hospital, but wasn’t overly familiar. What better time to introduce yourself? “You work at the hospital, right?” He started, extending a hand out to shake. “Nathan Price, peds.”

AJ looked over when he heard someone introducing himself and extended his own hand.  He had seen the other man around the hospital.  “AJ Murphy.  General.  Have a seat,” he said motioning to the empty bar stool next to him.  “Peds huh?” he asked before taking a sip of his beer.  “Is it a babe magnet?”  

‘why would i tell him?’ nancy shrugged a little. ‘i’m not getting even, i just want someone to bang.’

AJ shrugged at her, “I don’t know.  That’s why I am asking,” he said.  He nodded at the second part of her statement as he leaned against the counter.  “I am sure you have your own fan club running around here.  You just have to look.  Maybe your husband is still in it,” he winked.

AJ groaned when he felt her hand against him.  As much as he didn’t want too though, he reached for her wrist, pulling her hand away for just a moment.  “That’s the plan, but what’s the hurry?” he asked, his voice husky as he stared down at her for a moment.  AJ locked his lips on Harriet’s once more as his hands moved to her hips, pushing her panties down.  He pulled back from her and stroked her cheek with his thumb.  “Sit.”

“I take pride in being better. If you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of awesome… Not many people would stay calm wearing this outfit and these heels into the surgical wing - if Dr. Bailey caught me wearing stilettos on the surgical floor the vein on her forehead would pop.” Sav said, laughing a little as she shook her head at his comment about the benefits of the chase. “When done right… otherwise the chase just makes things all the more complicated,” Sav said, lining up for the coffee cart. 

Turning towards him in surprise, she raised an eyebrow. ‘Green lantern, really? Most guys would automatically go for superman - what makes you green lantern? Do you get powers from putting a ring on?” she asked smirking at him, “because in my experience men with rings on their finger are drained of their power,” chuckling bitterly at the idea of rings in association with marriage as she made the joke. Sav waited for him to order, before ordering her own drink and slipping some money towards the barista, shrugging at AJ, “Like I said… not like other girls. And you’re welcome for the coffee.” she added, as if that explained everything, moving so that they could keep talking at one of the tables dotted around the only good coffee cart in the hospital. 

He grinned looking her up and down again when she mentioned the outfit.  Dr. Bailey might not have agreed, but he would give it 10 out 10 stars.  And a lot of other people on the surgical floor would too.  “Yeah well Dr. Bailey doesn’t control everything here no matter what she thinks,” he laughed.  “Are you in a complicated situation?” he asked.  “Because that word keeps coming up,” AJ pointed out.  Not that he cared.  

AJ chuckled when she mentioned powers from a ring.  “No.  Absolutely not.  Never,” he assured her.  He ordered his drink, and let her pay.  Savannah clearly wanted to show him how different she was.  “Thank you,” he said sincerely as they moved to wait for their drinks.  

“you would think - “ she began, “until you meet the nurses.” her first day consisted of nurses telling her all about mark sloan and how as the new girl in town, she should expect him to come around sooner or later. but now? they were weirdly pretty good friends. “fine, that’s all i ask. oh please, only patients call me dr. martinez and unless you have some heart problems i should know about, andrea is fine.” it was also the fact that jamie was running around the hospital. two martinez’s didnt make it that easy.

“No heart problem so Andrea it is,” AJ told her with a nod.  He chuckled when she talked about the nurses.  He knew all about the nurses.  He used to be a favorite among them.  

Callie laughed and shook her head. “Intern’s will never not be idiots. My tolerance for them is much lower than what it ever used to be, maybe they’ve just got more stupid as time has gone by.” She furrowed her brow as she continued to finish off her chart. “Why did you come back? If I could get out of here you better believe I wouldn’t come back.” She was sort of joking, she loved her job but she couldn’t help but think sometimes that it would be nice to get away.

“Callie Torres,” AJ grinned moving to stand and wrap his arm around her.  “I heard congratulations are in order.  Kid and a wedding.  Nicely done.  So please, tell me why you would want to get out of here?”  AJ asked.  “I think we lose patience for them as we get older.”

She rolled her eyes. Joking about his full calendar was one thing, but seeing him physically checking was just a blow to her ego. Lucy should be the one with the full calendar. She was hot, and she needed to make up for some lost time. “Mmm, make it Saturday. You might need Sunday to recover.” She shot him a glance, a faint smirk buried underneath her serious gaze. 

“A day to recover huh?” he asked with a grin.  “I like that idea.  What type of food do you like Dr. Fields?” AJ questioned, putting his phone back away after noting their agreement to meet on Saturday.  “You know if you wanted to have dinner first to ensure your strength.”