Slow Manoeuvres...by lilscout

A/N - Another A/U story. Arizona's a stranded motorist, and Callie comes to her aid. Let me say, I am not a mechanic, and know only the basics about cars. If there are glaring technical errors, please be kind. About half the story is already written, but I'm not sure which direction to head in now, ie; rating...reviews or suggestions would be appreciated.

Rating - M - not for the first couple of chapters, but for later ones, yeah...M.

Chapter 1

"Please stop! Please stop! Please stop!" Arizona pleaded with the fourth faceless driver to whiz past her broken down car in the last hour. This one pretended he didn't even see her.

"Geez, I'm not some serial killer!" she yelled at his fast disappearing taillights. A heavy silence fell around her. She turned to face south, shielding her eyes with both hands from the bright sun. It was shaping up to be another scorcher, if the mid morning heat was any indication. She checked her cell phone again.

"Yep. Still dead." Arizona tossed it through the open window back onto the passenger seat in disgust, angry with herself for forgetting to charge it at the hotel the night before. She looked south again, then pivoted north. Any traffic at this point would be good. Even if they couldn't give her a ride, maybe they'd at least call a tow truck. But, from the dismal amount of vehicles she'd seen so far, that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

"Scenic route, my butt!" Nothing but empty flat land for as far as she could see, except for the small rise she had just made it over before her car decided to die on her. She walked around the vehicle twice, absently kicking at random stones. Took another long pull from her water bottle, now almost empty. Looked up at the cloudless sky, then back down the road, squinting at the shimmering black asphalt. She glanced at her watch.

10:47am.

Exactly one minute later she saw it. Actually, she heard it first, back over the rise, heading south to north, her direction. At first it was hard to make out any details about the type of vehicle, but as it crested the mild slope she could tell two things. It was big, and painted black, and it was moving fast.

"A truck! A trucker! They have to stop...it's, like, the law or something, isn't it?"

Arizona knew that she had to get this guy's attention, and soon, so she stepped out onto the road and began to wave her arms frantically in the air. A moment later she heard the squeal of brakes and the exhaust of compressed air and the shifting of gears. The truck was stopping.

"Thank god!" she exclaimed, stepping back onto the dirt shoulder beside her car.

The large vehicle rumbled and shimmied to a stop about fifty feet behind her car, kicking up all kinds of dust and small stones with it's giant tires. The driver set the tractor and trailer parking brakes, then killed the engine. It sat half on the road, half on the shoulder. Blocking traffic wasn't really a concern on a rarely used state route, especially on a Sunday morning.

Arizona peered up into the cab to try and see the driver, but the glare from the sun allowed her to make out only a baseball cap and reflective sunglasses, like the ones the State Troopers wear. The driver hadn't moved yet, and seemed to be surveying the scene, maybe deciding if they even wanted to help at all. Suddenly the driver's side door creaked open on rusty hinges, and Arizona could make out legs and feet descending the few steps bolted to the side of the truck. She plastered on the biggest smile she could manage, determined to charm her way into a ride to the next town, if that's what it took.

...

Callie glanced down again at the display on the dashboard. 10:46am. She smiled to herself.

"Hmmm...making great time. Gonna be at Joe's by lunchtime, no problem."

She looked up and to the right out her front windshield at the blinding sun, thankful that she'd had the A/C serviced recently. Not even 11am and the outside temperature was already pushing 70 degrees. Callie loved working on Sundays. Best day of the week to be a truck driver. No traffic to speak of, fewer cops on the road, and she could always get a table for lunch at her favourite diner. Seeing the short hill ahead she shifted smoothly into tenth gear, planning to let momentum carry her up and over. Might as well save a few bucks on gas wherever I can. The trailer she was hauling was fully loaded with home appliances of some sort. She didn't much care what it was, only that it weighed a lot, enough to put her very close to the combined legal weight limit of 80,000 pounds. If she had a big lunch today that might push her over the edge.

As her truck peeked over the top of the slope, she caught site of a person standing in the road up ahead, waving their arms wildly in the air. Noticing the car beside them, it didn't take a genius to figure out they were probably broken down. Callie immediately began to downshift, applying the brakes intermittently. She steered slightly right to align herself behind the car, except she had to straddle both paved asphalt and dirt shoulder due to her size. She looked in her driver's side mirror for safety, and though she wasn't expecting to be a hazard to any other traffic, put her flashers on anyway. She hit the parking brakes, emitting two loud high pitched bursts of air from the compressor, and cut the engine. It shuddered to a stop, reminding her what silence felt like again. She stayed in her seat for a long moment, watching as the woman who had flagged her down was staring up at her, obviously trying to get a look at the driver.

She appeared to be by herself since Callie couldn't see anyone else in the car. She was trim and average height, and blonde. And very cute.

Callie cranked open the door, silently reminding herself for the tenth time to oil the hinges, and climbed down the three steps, hoping lightly onto the blacktop. Coming around the front of the large engine, she was greeted with an impossibly wide smile and shining blue eyes. Blue eyes which, when they got a look at her, grew even bigger.

Yep, there it is, Callie thought. That's the look I was expecting. Nobody ever considered for a second that it might be a female trucker stopping for them. She chuckled a little, but not loud enough for the woman to hear it.

"Car trouble?" Callie asked in a casual tone, pointing towards the royal blue Jaguar XJ. As the woman turned around, reflexively looking in the direction Callie had pointed, Callie took a quick second to check her out. Faded blue jeans, white t-shirt, sage green blouse tied around her waist, sandals and white baseball cap.

"Yeah, thanks so much for...stopping." The woman had spun back around mid sentence, and Callie couldn't be sure, but the hesitation in her response made Callie think she had just been caught looking. Admiring, really. God, Cal, could you not be a perv for one second! Wait, was she smiling back at me just now?

"Umm...so what's the problem, exactly? Flat tire, out of gas, or did it just die on you?" Callie asked, eager to let the woman know she was there to actually help.

"Well, I think it just died, really. The tank is still almost full and it's definitely not a flat, but I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know much about cars beyond just driving them," Arizona responded. Okay, totally not who I was expecting! Hot sexy female truckers were not on the agenda today. She's speaking to you, Arizona, pay attention! Oh, but that beautiful mouth...

Callie tried to be reassuring. "Don't worry about it. Most guys don't know much about cars beyond driving them either. Now, I'm not a mechanic by any means, but I've been forced to learn a thing or two driving that," she gestured over her shoulder towards her truck, "so I can take a look if you want?" She paused, then extended her hand to the blonde and smiled. "I'm Callie, by the way."