Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy
Summary: Sequel to Tomorrow. Callie and Arizona enjoy lunch together.
Author's Note: With all of the recent angst running around I was feeling inspired to write some angst myself. But then the angst got the best of me and turned into some much needed fluff. So I bring you fluff.
The Day After-
-A Story
Calliope Torres was not an impatient person.
No, she was not. But as the morning had worn on Calliope Torres had become the most impatient women she knew.
She stood at the desk in the pit, watching the clock as she clicking and un-clicking a pen. She stared at the clock, willing the next thirty minutes to go by. But the minute hand seemed to be stuck on the twelve. She wondered if it was broken, but double checking her cell phone only confirmed that time seemed to be frozen at 12:00.
She wished for something to do. Anything to make the time go by. But her wishes were for naught. Rounds were done; no patients needed her attention, no trauma. Nothing. Absolutely nothing at all.
No, Callie was not typically an impatient person. But here and now she was. And it was all one Arizona Robbins' fault.
Last night had been amazing, as far as Callie was concerned. She hadn't felt so at ease with any person, so calm and comfortable in a long time; and she might be even so bold to say that she had never felt that at ease ever. She hardly knew the woman; there was still so much to learn on both of their parts, but, God and Arizona willing, Callie was looking forward to learning all that she could.
I'll meet you in the cafeteria at 12:30?
Callie's own words once again echoed through her mind. Why couldn't she have picked an earlier time? The morning was dragging on at a horribly slow rate and she wasn't sure she could take much more of this waiting around.
"What's wrong with your face?"
Callie stopped clicking her pen and turned to see Christina and Mark approaching. Christine kept walking but Mark stopped, leaning against the desk in a way that only he could.
"What is she talking about?" Callie's had quickly shot up to her cheek, prodding gently. Was there something on her face?
"You were looking at the clock like it was the most offending thing in the world," Mark supplied in Christina's absence.
"Maybe it is," Callie responded. She checked the wall again. Five after.
"So…"
"Yes?"
"How was last night?" Mark asked, lowering his voice slightly to make sure they weren't overheard. "I want details, Torres, and they better not be disappointing this time."
Callie couldn't help it and she tried as hell to suppress it, but a grin spread across her features. God, she probably looked like a teenager.
Mark's eyes lit mischievously as he looked at her. "You got laid, didn't you?"
And in an instant, Callie's smile fell, "Mark."
"You did!"
Callie rolled her eyes. "No, I didn't."
"You did."
"I think I would know. But I didn't."
"But you totally have that I-Got-Some-Last-Night-Smile."
Callie's nose scrunched in disgust.
"Details, Torres. And they really better not be as disappointing as last time."
"Mark," Callie said slowly as if talking to a child. "Nothing happened."
"Like hell it didn't."
Callie shrugged. "We went to the drive-in, had dinner, she kissed me goodnight. Happy?"
Mark's eyes lit even more. "You went to the drive-in."
Callie groaned and shook her head. She put her pen in her pocket and checked her cell one more time.
"I have to go," she said and without waiting for a reply from her friend she turned to leave.
"Details Torres!" Mark called after her, his voice ringing through the empty pit.
Without turning around, Callie acknowledged Mark with a wave of her hand.
Twenty minutes.
Callie tried to stop her shaking leg.
But it was no use.
She glanced at the clock above the cafeteria door. Fifteen minutes.
Arizona was fifteen minutes late. Callie's eyes lowered to the doors when they opened. A nurse walked in. She scowled.
Callie knew that there was still much to learn about Arizona but if there was one thing that she had gathered in their short time together it was that Arizona was a woman of promptness. She was never late and chastised those who were.
But here and now, Arizona was late. And Callie was beginning to worry.
Was she being stood up? No, she reasoned, she couldn't be. Callie might have been new to the dating women scene, but she wasn't a dating novice and she knew that Arizona had had as good a time as she had last night. So why hadn't she shown?
She debated going to get food and busy herself while she waited for the blonde's arrival; anything to stop her shaking hands. But she wouldn't eat her food until Arizona joined her and then it would get cold and her lunch would be ruined and then Arizona would wonder why she wasn't eating and—
A vibrating on her hip pulled Callie from her thoughts. She looked down and grabbed her cell phone; seeing Arizona's name flash across the screen. She quickly flipped it open and read the message she had just been sent.
I really can't leave PEDS right now. I'm sorry. Rain check?
Despite her disappointment at Arizona's non-arrival, Callie couldn't help but smile. She clicked her phone closed, not bothering to respond. She turned on her heel and made way for the food line, already knowing what to do.
Callie carefully balanced the contents on the tray as the elevator slowly moved up.
She had debated about using two trays. But she wouldn't have been able to carry them. So ten minutes after her text from Arizona, Callie was on her way up to the PEDS floor; overflowing cafeteria tray in her hand.
She had decided on a piece of lasagna for Arizona before grabbing one for herself, a salad for the blonde, grapes for her, two bottles of water and an over large piece of chocolate cake (that should be illegal to serve in a place of health and medicine).
The elevator bounced slightly and Callie winced, hoping beyond hope that the tray didn't tip a way she didn't want it to. She did not need to clean up a mess right now.
Finally, the elevator came to a stop, the doors opened, and Callie was met by the vibrant colors of the PEDS wing. She turned the corner, intent on asking whoever was at the nurse's station where she would be able to find Dr. Robbins but, to her delight, she wouldn't have to ask anyone.
For there, standing at the desk, checking her cell phone with a small, frustrated pout was Arizona.
She turned, as if hearing Callie's approach, and immediately spotted the brunette walking towards her. Callie smiled when she saw Arizona's own features light.
"Hey," Arizona pushed away from the desk, wheeling to meet her down the hall. "What's this?" She skipped to a halt just before the tray in Callie's outstretched hands.
"You said you couldn't leave. So I thought I might bring lunch to you," Callie said, speaking the words aloud making her self-conscious of the act for the first time since she had thought of it. "I hope it's okay, I know I should have checked first but I--."
Arizona seemed surprised, if only for a second, before she broke into a face splitting grin, immediately cutting off Callie's blabber. "Come on," she said, walking closer and putting her hand behind Callie's back to guide her to the closest on-call room.
The door clicked closed behind them and Callie watched as Arizona locked the door.
When the blonde turned around, Callie's brow rose.
"I just don't want to be interrupted," she explained, walking over to the bed. She sat and motioned for Callie to hand her the tray before she did as well.
They sat on the bed, backs against the wall, their feet dangling off the edge; the. Callie smiled when Arizona clicked her heels together like a child.
"Thank you for this," Arizona said as she uncapped one of the water bottles and took a long drink.
"I hope you like lasagna."
Arizona nodded and took a fork that Callie offered her before cutting off a large chunk of cake and eating it.
Callie's brow once again rose in amusement. "What happened to eating your meal first?"
Arizona swallowed, probably faster than she should have, and pointed her fork at Callie. "If there is one thing I have learned working with kids it is that dessert should always be eaten first."
Callie laughed and shook her head. Arizona's lit as she cut off another piece of cake. She held it to Callie's mouth. Suppressing a grin, Callie bit into half of the piece, savoring its warm, chocolate taste. Best cake she had ever had; though, she wondered, if maybe that had to do with the person who was feeding it to her.
"See?" Arizona asked as she ate the rest of Callie's cake bite herself.
"You have a point."
"I know," Arizona said as if it were the post obvious thing in the world. She reached across their laps and took one of Callie's grapes, popping it into her mouth.
"Hey now, those were for me," Callie said, defending her lunch from Arizona's wandering hands. "I got the salad for you."
Arizona slipped her hand past Callie's and grabbed another grape. Tossing it into her mouth she picked up her salad bowl and offered it to Callie. Through suspicious eyes Callie reached forward and took a forkful, Arizona's eyes lit with victory.
"So why couldn't you leave the floor?" Callie asked, as they settled into eating; trading grapes for salad and bites of the same lasagna with ease.
"Heather Morowitz," Arizona explained. "She's long term and getting worse; quickly. I didn't want to be too far away incase they needed me. Sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?"
"Because we had plans…?"
Callie shook her head, stopping Arizona from eating when she placed her hand on the blonde's. "You never have to apologize to me for doing what you do best."
Arizona's smiled at her, warm and tender, kind eyes meeting hers. "Thank you," she said, turning her hand up to link their fingers together, squeezing Callie's hand. They let go then, returning to their food. Callie picked up her water bottle.
"But," Arizona continued on after a second, giving Callie a devilish glance. "You should know…that isn't what I do best."
Callie quickly learned that choking on water was not a pleasant feeling.
"Are you sure you're ready?"
Arizona groaned and smacked her forehead. "Callie, I told you I'm a master."
Callie leaned back, resting against the metal support beam of the bunk-beds, Arizona mirroring her position on the opposite end of the bed. Their discarded tray lay between them, empty of all remnants of food except for a few lone grapes and a quarter of their cake.
Callie closed one eye, holding a grape out before her. She aimed and threw. Arizona dodged to the left, mouth wide and open but the grape whizzed past her head.
"Some master," Callie snorted.
"You just need to learn how to throw."
"Nope that one was all your fault."
Arizona rolled her eyes and grabbed another grape. "Watch," She said, taking aim.
Callie's mouth instantly opened and Arizona tossed the grape; it landed in Callie's mouth with ease, she barely had to move.
"See," Arizona said, leaning forward again and grabbing a bite of cake. "It's all about the initial throw. If that goes wrong, everything else is off."
"Uh huh." Callie was faintly aware that some sort of response escaped her lips. But she wasn't paying much attention. And she hadn't been since Arizona had removed the fork from her mouth, revealing a smudge of frosting stuck in the crease where her top lip met the bottom.
The sweet treat moved as Arizona's mouth did and it was intoxicating. A single thought soon filled Callie's brain and she was unable to get rid of it.
"Calliope?"
Callie's eyes snapped to Arizona, seeing worry furrowed in her deep blue eyes, before they slowly drifted back to her lips. No, she couldn't. But—suddenly she was moving, carefully picking up the tray and setting it on the ground. When the offending item was out of the way, Callie looked back to Arizona, locking her eyes with the inquisitive one the blonde was sending her.
Slowly, she crawled across the bed until she was on all fours, hovering over Arizona's body; as Arizona leaned back into the corner created by the wall and the bed's metal support beam.
"Calliope?" Arizona breathed and Callie felt her own name whispered against her cheek before she pressed her lips to Arizona.
Callie felt nerves flutter in her chest; a rush of adrenaline. Callie, though she had only had the experience twice, had come to find that kissing a woman was not much different than kissing a man. Each gender was, after all, simply human—and there could be no distinction there. Perhaps woman were softer, but the technique; the actual act? It was all the same.
And yet she couldn't stop the fluttering of nerves as her lips trailed across Arizona's, pushing and pulling slightly as she felt the blonde's hand tangle itself in the hair just behind her neck.
She had a feeling her nerves were due to the fact that when it came to being intimate with Arizona, she had never taken charge. Sure, they had only kissed, and twice before their current moment. But Arizona had always been the initiator. In a dirty bar bathroom; outside her apartment. And taking charge of such situations, like she had done now—well that was nerve wracking in any situation. Especially in the early stages of a relationship when one was just beginning to learn another's boundaries.
Callie pulled back slightly, wringing her bottom lip between her teeth as she stared down at Arizona. "You had frosting, right here," Callie explained by way of her actions as she lightly touched the corner of Arizona's mouth.
She watched as Arizona nodded numbly, blue eyes glued to her own lips. Before she knew what was happening Arizona was tugging at her neck, reconnecting their lips once more with a fire that Callie hadn't expected; though she quickly welcomed it.
Their lips moved in tandem and they fell into a steady rhythm as Callie felt Arizona's other hand run up her side. She shivered and pushed herself forward, moving them both down the bed until they were finally reclining, without breaking contact.
Their legs instantly tangled as they moved together, exploring one another. Somewhere in their mix Arizona kicked off her shoes before running a sock clad foot up the back of Callie's calf.
Oxygen became and issue and Callie tore her lips from Arizona's beginning to make a hasty trail just beneath her jaw and up to her ear. A small, low moan escaped Arizona's lips before Callie felt her hair being tugged.
Tenderly, the blonde placed another slow, sweet kiss on her lips before bringing her forehead to rest against Callie's, their heavy breathing falling in synch. Arizona's hand moved from Callie's hair to her check, gently caressing it with her thumb.
Their quiet moment was interrupted when a shrill beeping sounded through the air. Callie sighed, reluctantly tearing herself from Arizona's grasp, and grabbed her pager.
"Trauma, ER," she said, turning back to the woman beneath her.
"You should go then."
Callie nodded, beginning to extract herself from the other woman when Arizona pulled her back in for one last, albeit steamy, kiss.
"For luck," Arizona explained, her dimples shining as she smiled brightly.
Callie made no attempt to hide her own smile that pulled at her lips. "Dinner tomorrow night?"
"You can pick me up at six."
With one last smile Callie stood and walked to the door; she looked back briefly watching as Arizona struggled to put her shoe back on before leaving the room and making way for the elevator. The doors opened, revealing Mark, whose eyes immediately widened as they took in her grinning face.
"Don't tell me you just did what I think you did with children down the hall."
He stepped aside and allowed Callie to walk in. The doors closed.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You can lie all you want Torres, but I know the truth. I can see it in your eyes."
"Mark?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
Callie looked at the clock on her phone.
Seventeen hours to go.
Fin