A/N: Arizona attempts to bake for Callie. Unbeta-ed, so any mistakes are my own. Reviews are welcome and appreciated!
Arizona Robbins stared at the recipe book intently, her brow furrowed. It was as if she were reading Chinese. Beat, fold, mix…it all sounded the same. 'You can do this, Arizona,' she thought to herself. 'You have a doctorate. You can bake a pound cake'. She rested her elbows on the kitchen counter, cradling her cheeks in her hands and continuing to memorize the recipe intently. "Preheat the oven to 350 degrees," she read aloud. "Check. With a mixer, cream the butter and shortening together." Arizona bit her lower lip, thinking. She turned to the fridge and pulled out the ingredients, placing them neatly on the table. "Do we even have a mixer?" she wondered, throwing open several of the top cabinets. Arizona Robbins burned toast, and cake- let alone edible cake- was a stretch; but she knew that Callie had taken on a double shift today and would likely be starving when she got home. She just wanted to have something special for her.
Standing on her tiptoes, Arizona pulled down a large bowl and the mixer from the middle shelf, placing them in the middle of the kitchen counter. Next, she shuffled over with the recipe in her hand toward the refrigerator to gather the ingredients. "2 sticks of butter," she read, dipping her head lower and searching for sticks of butter. Unable to find any, she grabbed the large tub of butter that they commonly used as spread and put it on the small table next to the fridge. "…that'll work," she assured herself, patting the lid of the container as if an animal that had just been potty trained. "1/2 cup of shortening," she continued, crinkling her nose in confusion. "What the hell is shortening?" she mumbled to herself. She looked deeper in the fridge, pushing aside containers full of leftovers from Callie's delicious dinners, condiments, and other various items; no shortening. Arizona bit her lip again, contemplating. "…skip it," she decided aloud, continuing down the list. The blonde finished gathering the remaining ingredients from the fridge and cupboards- sugar, eggs, flour, salt, baking powder, milk and vanilla extract- her perfect curls bouncing as she sauntered back to the table.
Arizona bent over, pulling measuring cups from a drawer beneath the counter. "A half of a pound of butter," she read. "Half a- what? How am I supposed to get that with…" She looked down at the cups, confused. "Um…" Arizona shuffled back and forth on her feet, her blonde curls bouncing as she did so. She opened up the container of butter and looked down into it, as if divine intervention would tell her how much a half a pound of butter was. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the "1 cup" measurer and dug it in, scooping out a cup of butter. Her tongue stuck out in concentration as she pushed off the excess with a knife, then emptied it into the mixing bowl she had previously grabbed. "Is that enough?" she asked aloud, tilting her head slightly. "Maybe I need a little…" she trailed off, filling the measuring cup only half way this time, then emptying it once again. "That…should work?" she said, almost questioningly. She shrugged, returning to the recipe.
"Add 3 cups of sugar. Ok." She washed out the "1 cup" container in the sink, dried it, and began measuring the sugar out. She poured all three into the bowl. Arizona looked down at the open book. "Add 3 cups of sugar…slowly. Damn it." She bit her lower lip before plugging the mixer in and placing it in the bowl. The blonde turned on the machine, not realizing the first setting was actually the highest. She squealed as it moved vigorously around the bowl, almost out of her control. Clumps of butter and sugar plastered onto the table. Arizona turned the mixer to the lowest setting, combining the remaining sugar and butter together. Once it was to her liking, she clicked the "off" button and rested the machine onto a paper towel on the counter. "Add 5 eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition." She opened the top of the carton and pulled out one cool, white egg, gulping; she had never been very good at cracking them. Arizona held her breath, smacking the shell against the side of the bowl and smiling her infamous smile as the egg itself dropped perfectly into the middle of the bowl- no shell, just yolk and white. "Excellent," she cheered, mixing. She repeated this four more times, extremely proud of herself that she had managed to avoid adding any eggshells to the mix.
"Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk, starting with flour and ending with flour," Arizona read aloud, tapping her fingers against the counter as she did so. "Um…ok…" She removed the tops of the containers of milk, flour, salt and baking powder, then began measuring. Realizing she would need another bowl to combine the dry ingredients, she turned on her heels and swiftly grabbed a medium sized bowl from the cabinet. "Three cups of flour, half a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of baking powder," Arizona read. Grabbing the measuring cup, she gathered three cups of white, powder-y flour in the bowl, then moved to the remaining dry ingredients. Unbeknownst to the blonde, she had grabbed a tablespoon rather than a teaspoon, adding double of the required amount of salt and baking powder. Arizona mixed them together cheerily with a wooden spoon and, once they had blended nicely, began pouring some into the mixer. "Add to the mixer alternately with milk," she reminded herself, grabbing the "one cup" measurer and pouring the creamy liquid in. She splashed a third of the cup into the mixer, continuing to so until both the wet and dry ingredients were together in the same bowl. She turned the mixer on, smiling as her concoction began to resemble batter. Glancing back at the recipe, Arizona grabbed the last ingredient- vanilla. Once again grabbing the wrong measurer, the peppy blonde poured a tablespoon – rather than a teaspoon- of the sweet flavoring into the mix. "Time to cook!" she squealed cheerily, turning off the mixer and spinning toward the sink to wash her hands.
After cleaning up, Arizona balanced on her tiptoes, searching for a bread pan. She stuck her hand in the top shelf and felt around blindly, grabbing whatever pan she could reach. Calling it luck, the blonde smiled when she realized she had, indeed, grabbed the correct pan. She shuffled back to the counter and poured her batter in, disregarding the last two steps to the recipe- grease and flour the pan. Arizona grinned widely as she opened the door to the oven and placed her snack inside. She hummed to herself as she gathered the dishes and threw them in the sink, then returned to the counter to gather and put away the remaining ingredients. She walked back to the sink and ran the water, adding dish soap to each of the sticky pans and washing happily, proud of herself and hoping that Callie would be as well.
Callie walked into the apartment she shared with her girlfriend, a smile spread across her face. The day was long and stressful, but the thought of sharing an evening together with the love of life made her disregard all her troubles. "Arizona," Callie called as she walked forward, draping her black leather coat over the back of the sofa. "Zona?" She moved from the living area to the kitchen, a strong odor permeating the air. "Oh god," the brunette whispered to herself. She stopped on her heels as she found Arizona huddled on the floor with a baking pan in her hands, her legs curled up slightly against her chest. Thick tears ran down her face, staining her cheeks and neck. "Baby, what's wrong?" Callie gasped, dropping down to her knees so she was on her girlfriend's level.
"I was just tr-trying to make something nice," the blonde whispered, refusing to meet Callie's gaze. "I couldn't e-even make you a c-cake without fucking it up," she sniffed, looking down at the "cake". It was completely black- clearly burnt- and had barely risen, no doubt the fact that she had added double the amount of baking powder. Rather than a sweet, vanilla smell, it was salty and….off.
Callie smiled lovingly, scooting in front of her lover. "Aw Zona, it's great, it's really great. I appreciate that you made it for me." She leaned forward, kissing her girlfriend's nose.
Tears continued to run down Arizona's face. "It's t-terrible Calliope! It's horrible. It's burnt and salty and not sweet and delicious and fantastic and-"
Callie placed a solitary finger on the blonde's lips, chuckling slightly. "Baby its great, its really great." The Latina hesitantly moved her hand toward the cake, breaking off a piece and bringing it to her lips, chewing slightly; it truly was horrible. "See its good…its good," Callie lied, the bread still in her mouth.
"You won't even swallow it," Arizona cried.
Breathing heavily through her nose, Callie swallowed, a shudder running down her spine. Another bite and she just might die. "Yum. Delicious! You did a great job baby," the brunette cooed, smiling.
"Really?" Arizona asked, her eyes sparkling with hope.
"Of course," Callie replied, grinning. "Thank you." She leaned in, kissing Arizona's forehead.
"Its pound cake," the blonde explained, looking up at her with innocent eyes. "You remember that time at work?"
Callie chuckled. "Of course, how could I forget?" She scooted closer to Arizona, wrapping her arm around the blonde's waist and tugging her against her. Her girlfriend rested her head on her shoulder, sighing.
"I figured I could make you pound cake to…," Arizona looked up, her eyes sparkling. She smiled deviously.
"To pound my cake?" the brunette giggled, tickling her girlfriend's side.
"Maybe," Arizona replied with a wink. "Did it work?"
Callie leaned down slightly, capturing her girlfriend's lips in a breathtaking kiss. "I don't know, you tell me," the Latina teased, standing up and reaching for Arizona's hand.