"Callie!" Arizona called from the kitchen as her wife walked into their apartment. "Come here. I need you to taste this."
"Oh no," Callie said, shutting the door. The apartment was filled with a vaguely familiar spicy aroma. "Don't tell me you and Mark are going through this phase again.
"Come over here," Arizona beckoned.
"Where's Sofia? "Callie asked, as she walked into the kitchen.
"She's asleep. Try this." Arizona said, holding up a large wooden spoon filled with a thick, dark brown sauce.
Callie obediently opened her mouth. From the rich, heavy flavor of chili peppers she instantly knew what it was. Mole poblano. She hadn't tasted it since high school, but the flavor was so distinct it couldn't be mistaken for anything else.
"Wow," Callie said, staring at her wife in disbelief. "That's really good."
"Thank God," Arizona said, stirring the pot of sauce.
"I didn't know you knew how to make mole poblano."
"I don't," Arizona said. "Your mom does. I called your dad and he gave me her recipe."
"What's all this for?" Callie glanced around at the bits of chopped vegetables, mixing bowls, pots and pans scattered around the kitchen. "Please don't tell me you and Mark are cooking together again. He does have a girlfriend now. He should be able to find something better to do than monopolize all of your time with food."
Arizona opened the oven door and pulled out a glass pan of cheesy enchiladas.
"Oh my God," Callie said, eyes wide. "I think I'm in heaven."
She pulled open the drawer full of utensils and grabbed a spoon. She had just inserted the tip of the spoon into a corner of enchilada when Arizona grabbed it from her hand.
"You can't eat that," Arizona said, tossing the spoon into the sink. "First of all it's steaming hot. Second, it's for the dinner party."
"Dinner party?" Callie said, looking longingly at the dish of forbidden enchiladas. "Who's having a dinner party?"
"We are," Arizona said. "Here. Tonight."
"We…as in you and I?"
"Yep."
"Here, like here in our home."
"That's the plan," Arizona answered.
"Tonight, as in this night?"
Arizona ignored the question and continued chopping vegetables.
"Why am I just finding out about this?" Callie asked.
"I left a message on your phone."
"I had to do a million surgeries today. I didn't have time to check my phone. You couldn't have told me this morning?"
"No, because I just found out today that's Teddy's flying out right after she finishes her last day tomorrow. This is more like a going away party for her. So it was tonight or never."
"I still can't believe she's moving to New York."
"Can you blame her? Having to perform surgeries in the same operating room where her husband died. It's just too many bad memories."
Callie watched as her wife chopped up a bell pepper. "When is everyone getting here?"
"In about a half an hour," Arizona said. "Mark's bringing the shrimp tacos and tres leches cake. It was his idea to go with the Mexican cuisine theme. He said you've been nostalgic lately. Do you know why he would say that?"
"Because he's Mark. Who knows." Callie quickly changed the subject, "How many people are coming?
"Not Owen," Arizona said. "Teddy still hates him. I don't know about everyone else. It was so last-minute no one had a chance to RSVP."
"Not even me," Callie said. "I've been on my feet since seven o'clock this morning. I'll probably pass out from exhaustion midway through dinner. It'll be a miracle if -"
"Calliope Torres," Arizona said, putting her knife down and taking her wife by the shoulders. "I love you, but you've got to stop freaking out or get out of my kitchen. Because if you don't, I'm going to get distracted and burn something. Then, there'll be two of us freaking out. And that's not good when you're expecting a bunch of people for dinner."
"Sorry," Callie apologized. "So what can I do to help? Stir?"
"No. First, you can stop neglecting your wife and kiss me," Arizona said, smiling. "This must be a new record. Already home for five minutes and not a single kiss."
"That's not fair. You just told me not to distract you."
"Some distractions are welcome," Arizona said.
Callie pulled her wife close and pressed a soft kiss on her lips. Her eyes wondered to the stovetop, "So does that mean you won't blame me if something burns?"
Arizona pretended to think on it, tapping a finger against her chin. "You'll have to do better than that."
Callie kissed her again, harder this time. Arizona pulled back, eyes closed and breathless.
"Perfect," she said.
"Good," Callie said with an amused smile. "Because your mole is boiling over."
"Callie!" Arizona exclaimed, jerking away from her wife's arms. She pulled the pot off the burner before turning the knob down. "This better not be ruined."
"Don't worry," Callie said, picking up the wooden spoon and mixing the sauce. "Looks fine to me. Just like my mom's."
Arizona used one hand to grab back the spoon and the other to push Callie out of the kitchen. "You have to go now before anything else burns. Go take a nap. I'll wake you up when everyone gets here."
"Are you sure you don't need any help?"
"You're not really helping me, right now. You're making me fall behind. So go," Arizona said, shooing her away."
"Okay, okay," Callie said as she was shoved out of the room.
She kicked off her shoes at the bedroom door and fell face forward onto the bed. It took her a few minutes of lying there, unmoving, before she gathered up the energy to turn her head to the side and glance down at her watch. The watch face was blurry. She squinted her eyes, but was still too tired to read the hands of the clock. Finally, she gave up, closed her eyes, and prayed she had at least 15 minutes to rest.
Callie was still in a deep sleep when she heard a loud bang. Another thump, this one closer, and she was on the verge of waking.
"Arizona?" she mumbled, turning toward the noise.
"Sorry," Arizona whispered. "I didn't mean to wake you. Go back to sleep."
"What time is it?" Callie asked, her voice deep and rough with sleep.
"It's 11:30. Go back to sleep."
Callie rubbed the sleep from her eyes, squinting in the dark to see her wife rummaging through a dresser.
"Why are you up so late? "
"I had to clean up after the party," Arizona said, pulling a nightgown from the dresser.
Callie's eyes flew open, wide awake now.
"Oh no," she said. "Please don't tell me I slept through that."
"Okay, I won't."
"Arizona! You were supposed to wake me."
"I know." Arizona said as she stripped off her jeans and blouse, and pulled a nightgown over her head. Callie watched as her wife crawled into bed, and cuddled up in front of her. "You just looked so tired; I couldn't bring myself to do it."
Arizona reached out her hand, lightly tracing her fingertips across the curves of her wife's face.
"You're so adorable in your sleep," she said.
Callie smiled. She wasn't sure if Arizona could see it in the dark, but she knew she could hear it in her voice. "So you're telling me I'm not adorable when I'm awake?"
Arizona pulled away so quickly, Callie didn't have time to grab her. She felt the bed dip away from her, then the bright lights of the bedside table lamp flashed on.
"Hey!" Callie exclaimed, covering her eyes with her arm.
"No, not so much," Arizona said, before turning the lights off.
"Now, that's just rude," Callie said, rubbing her throbbing eyes.
"Well, next time learn to take a compliment," Arizona said, kissing her on the nose.
"First of all, adorable stops being a compliment once you hit puberty. Sofia's adorable. I'm sexy, hot, gorgeous…you could even go with badass. But adorable, I'm not."
"Really?" Arizona said, pressing her body against her wife.
Callie gasped when she felt Arizona's fingers under the covers, brushing across the skin of her thigh just below the hem of her nightgown.
"I like adorable," Arizona said.
"You do?" Callie said, her voice surprisingly high. She became more aware of the warmth of her wife's breath against her cheek, and the rising flutter of her own heartbeat.
"Yeah," Arizona said, leaning in so close their lips nearly touched. "I think adorable is hot and sexy."
Callie moved forward to close the space between them, but Arizona pulled back and dropped her hand from her thigh.
"But you don't want to be adorable, so…" Arizona said, turning over to lay on her back.
Callie stared at her, mouth agape. "No, no. I can be adorable."
"What?" Arizona said, pretending confusion. "But you just said –"
"Forget what I said. Adorable is badass."
Callie slid her arms around her wife's waist and pulled her roughly against her.
"You do know you're kind of a tease, right?" she asked.
"No, a tease is someone who doesn't finish what they start. I always had every intention of finishing," Arizona said, pressing their mouths together in a long, slow kiss.