A/N: You all seem to be enjoying this so far :) Happy reading!
Stuck With You
Chapter 3
It has been two weeks since Callie and Arizona had been teamed up together and the days have been pretty routine. They go out on patrol, report to 911 calls, and of course, bicker at one another. They have learned to slightly tolerate each other's presence in order to remain professional, but it was not easy.
Today was a big day and the Captain was holding a meeting with his top officers in the department present. Callie and Arizona sat at a table next to each other, intently listening to the Captain give instruction.
Webber changed the projector to the next slide. It displayed a picture of a man in his late-50's, overweight, graying hair and a beard.
"The ring leader of this operation is believed to be Vladimir Petrov. He's an underground Russian arms dealer that has made illegal weapon transactions all around the world. The authorities in other locations have yet to catch him, but we've got a lead that he's currently here in Seattle handling a deal."
"Why would an international arms dealer be in Seattle?" a policewoman asked.
"I believe Petrov considers our city to be low-key and a very unsuspecting place for him to handle his business. He thinks he's being smart, but we're going to catch this son of a bitch. I don't want him leaving Seattle people."
Captain Webber began assigning people different tasks for the case.
"Torres… Robbins… I want you to do surveillance tonight on a warehouse near the South Lake Union Waterfront. It's possible Petrov may be using that location. I want to know what possible activity could be happening there."
Callie and Arizona nod simultaneously.
"Sir?" another policeman in the room asked. "If Petrov and his men show up at any of our stakeout locations, how should we proceed?"
Webber nods his head slightly. "That's what brings me to my next point. If Petrov and his men do arrive at your stakeout, do not, by any means, engage them. I am only sending you out there to watch and observe. I don't want to scare him off. We want to make him think he's in the clear for now."
The Captain's eyes scanned the room. "Any more questions?" The room was silent. "Alright, let's go to work."
Everyone began to clear out of the room.
It was around 7pm when Callie and Arizona arrived at the warehouse. It was a massive building that was right next to a pier. The blonde darkened her headlights and parked in a secluded area across the street. She turned off the engine.
They sat there in awkward silence for about ten minutes. Arizona would peer through her binoculars every once and a while as Callie looked out the window or twiddled her thumbs.
The brunette let out a restless sigh. "I hate stakeouts. There's never anything to do."
"You can help me stakeout and keep your eyes peeled."
"What do you think I've been doing? There's no action here."
"Well, maybe you should have brought one of your titty magazines to read."
Callie chuckled lightly. "Please, you think I have titty magazines?"
"Most pervs do…" the blonde began, without turning to Callie. "…and I consider you a perv."
The brunette raised her chin defiantly. "You know what. I'll take that as a compliment."
"You would…" Arizona mumbled, looking through the binoculars.
Callie shook her head with a small smile on her lips. They were quiet for a few more moments. The brunette ran her fingers through her dark strands and slightly turned her head towards the blonde. Callie's eyes began to examine Arizona's profile. She still thought the blonde was beautiful. From her cute little chin, to her full lips, to her uniquely shaped, yet cute nose, those sky blue eyes… even to the way her eyebrows etched in concentration as she set up the camera in her hands. Callie was lost in her own little world and didn't even realize she was staring.
When those blue eyes looked her way, Callie quickly averted her gaze. It wasn't quick enough. Arizona noticed. "What?" the blonde asked.
"Nothing… What?" The brunette sputtered back, embarrassed for being caught looking.
Arizona sighed heavily and shook her head. The blonde knew she had felt Callie's eyes on her… like she was being watched. Was Callie looking at her? In a way, she kind of liked it.
More silence stretched between them.
Callie shifted restlessly in her seat as she looked at the vacant building across the street. She could not stand the silence. "So… Robbins… are you seeing someone?" Callie asked.
"Why do you care?" Arizona practically snapped back. The blonde did not mean for it to come out so harshly, but it was too late to take it back. Her relationship status was still a tender subject.
Callie looked at Arizona for a moment, wondering why the blonde became so defensive. "Geez… never mind I don't care," Callie shrugged.
"Then why are you asking?"
"Forget it," Callie replied. "I try to have a normal conversation with you and you bite my head off."
"You can't have normal conversations, Torres. All that comes out of your mouth is bullshit anyway."
Callie nodded and studied the blonde for a moment. "You're not seeing anyone," she stated, choosing to ignore Arizona's previous statement. "You know how I know?"
"I don't care." Arizona replied, raising the binoculars to her eyes to look out the window.
"You're grumpy… and when someone is as grumpy as you are, they haven't been laid in months."
Arizona lowered the binoculars and looked at Callie. "My sex life is just fine, thank you."
"Yeah? When was the last time you did the dirty?"
"That's none of your business."
Callie chuckled. "Right…" The brunette looked out the passenger side window for a second and then smiled. She could not resist mentioning what popped in her head next. "You know…" she began. "If you want… I can easily take care of that for you."
Arizona scrunched up her face in disgust. "Not in a million years would I ever sleep with you, Torres. You're a horn dog womanizer. Who knows how many STDs are roaming your body."
"Says the frigid cop."
"You know what? I'm done talking to you. No more talking."
"That's fine with me."
Arizona huffed and raised the binoculars to her eyes once again. As she panned the outside of the warehouse, she saw movement. Two dark Sedans and a large white semi-trailer were pulling up to the back of the building.
"Hey, we've got action."
Callie sat up in her seat and peered out the window. They watched as about six men piled out of each Sedan and headed into the warehouse.
"Those must be Petrov's men," Arizona said, handing the binoculars to Callie.
The brunette looked and nodded her head. "Definitely. I recognize some of them from the slides this morning." Callie panned the binoculars and looked at the men even closely. She noticed they all had guns on them. "And they are locked and loaded. They don't want anyone crashing this party."
As Callie was watching through the binoculars, Arizona was snapping away photos. She got as much as she could before the men disappeared into the warehouse.
"It looks like we found Petrov's loading and unloading zone."
"We can't see anything from here," the brunette impatiently stated.
"That doesn't matter right now. All we're supposed to do is surveillance on this warehouse and then report any suspicious activity back to the Captain."
"Ugh…" the brunette grunted, sitting back in her seat.
After a few more minutes, the men were emerging out of the warehouse. Each of them was rolling a dolly with large boxes stacked on top of each other, loading them into the back of the white tractor unit's semi-trailer.
"They're loading boxes in the truck," Arizona commented as she clicked more pictures.
"But we can't see what's inside the boxes. I say we go check it out."
"Torres… the Captain said not to engage. Plus, those guys would blow our heads off." Arizona raised the binoculars once more to her eyes.
About thirty seconds pass.
"I'm going to take a closer look." Callie opened the door and climbed out of the car.
Arizona's eyes widened with alarm. "Torres! Torres, no!" the blonde hissed, as the Latina jogged toward the warehouse. "God damn it!" she cursed, hitting the steering wheel.
Callie quietly made her way to the side of the building, making sure to stay out of sight. She peered around the corner slightly and saw that the men were actually unloading the boxes from a boat that was docked behind the warehouse. She watched one of the men carry a box into the warehouse, followed by a few other guys.
"How the hell can I see what's inside those damn boxes?" she asked herself.
Her eyes scanned along the building and she noticed an affixed ladder which led up the side of the warehouse. It went to an excellent vantage point where she could see inside the building. The brunette stealthy climbed the ladder and reached a window.
She peered through one of the broken glass panes and saw the box be placed on a table in front of another man. The man quickly cut open the box and revealing what was inside. As suspected, it was a case of guns. The man examined each weapon before resealing the box. It was then carried outside to be loaded in the truck. Callie listened as they sputtered Russian back and forth to each other and she could have sworn she heard a couple words of English. A second box was placed in front of the man. He opened it and reached inside. What he pulled out made Callie's eyes widen.
"Holy fuckin' shit…" she whispered.
In the man's hand was a perfectly packaged brick of cocaine. The box was full of them. Callie watched as the man examined the product and tested its quality.
"Petrov is dealing way more than weapons now," she whispered to herself. The brunette quickly whipped out her cell phone and took a few photos. "Money shot motherfuckers…"
Satisfied with her evidence, Callie put away her phone and stealthily climbed back down the ladder. As soon as she hopped off the last step, she heard the cocking of a gun directly behind her.
"Shit…" The brunette closed her eyes for a moment, hoping she had just imagined the sound.
A strong Russian accent broke in. "Кто - Вы?"
Callie scrunched her face in confusion, not understanding the man's language. She kept her face forward and slowly raised her hands in the air. When the brunette did this, the Russian spotted her holstered gun.
"пистолет!"
He quickly removed the gun from her holster and Callie silently cursed herself. The man grasped her arm to have her turn and face him. The brunette noticed he had his machine gun strapped over his shoulder while he held a handgun in her face. He looked down at her waistband saw her law enforcement badge clipped to her belt.
"ты коп!"
Callie rolled her eyes. "I don't speak your language asshole!" she hissed.
The Russian did not understand her, but somehow knew he was insulted. He pushed her to turn away from him again.
He pointed the gun to the back of her head. "опустись на колени," he commanded.
Callie kept her hands up but did not budge. Within seconds she felt the barrel of the gun pressed against her head. Her heart was racing as she realized she made a big mistake leaving the stakeout car. "опустись на колени!" he stated more firmly.
Suddenly, Callie heard the man let out a yelp of pain and his body soon collapsed on the ground near her feet. The brunette turned around and saw Arizona standing there.
"He was telling you to get on your knees," the blonde said.
Callie let out a breath of relief, happy to see the blonde. "Good to know," she lightly smiled. The brunette quickly knelt down and grabbed her own gun from the unconscious man's jacket.
Arizona's looked around them before turning back to Callie. "Let's go…" she whispered.
The two of them hurriedly made it back to their hidden vehicle and hopped in the car. Arizona started the engine and sped out of there.
"Torres, what the hell were you trying to pull back there?" Arizona yelled, maneuvering her vehicle through Seattle traffic.
"Oh, don't get on my ass, Robbins…" Callie tiredly replied.
"No! I will get on your ass! We had no plan… no backup. What the fuck were you thinking?"
"I was just doing my job, trying to catch the bad guys. Isn't that what we do?" Callie shot back defensively.
"We're supposed to be a team," Arizona argued, gripping the stirring wheel. "You can't be so reckless."
"Well, sometimes you have to be reckless to get shit done."
Arizona shook her head in disapproval.
"Those were Petrov's men back there, but it wasn't just weapons in those boxes. There was cocaine."
Arizona's eyes widened slightly and she fell silent for a second. "Cocaine?"
"Yeah, monstrous amounts of it wrapped up in pretty little bricks."
The blonde shook her head, trying to wrap her mind around the new information. "That's… that's crazy. Petrov has only been working in the illegal weapons game."
"Well, he's playing a new game now. I also overheard them talking. I didn't understand any of it but I did hear them mention Eagle's Landing."
"Eagle's Landing?" Arizona frowned. "That's an old cargo yard in the city."
"Is it now?" Callie smugly replied. "And what's that called? Oh, that's right, a lead."
"Congratulations, you got us a lead, but that's beside the point. You almost got yourself killed too."
"But we got away."
"Barely. If any of those other goons had seen us, we'd both have bullets in our heads."
The rest of the ride was in silence. Both of them wrapped up in their own thoughts. Arizona pulled up to the front of Callie's apartment building, engine still running.
Callie reached for the door handle but hesitated. Arizona realized the Latina was not exiting the vehicle and she looked at Callie. The brunette was biting her lower lip and looking at her hands. Arizona was about to say something, but the Latina beat her to it.
"Thank you for…uh, saving me back there…" Callie softly spoke.
Arizona was taken aback by the genuinely nice tone that came from the brunette… especially since it was directed at her. When Arizona did not respond, Callie raised her eyes and looked at the blonde. Arizona had never seen such softness in those brown orbs. Well, not since…
"Sure…" the blonde finally replied. No hostility was in her voice.
Arizona could not think of anything else to say as they looked into each other's eyes. For the first time since they've seen each other again, there was calmness between them.
Callie smiled lightly and nodded before lowering her eyes. "I'll see you tomorrow." The brunette opened the car door and quickly exited the vehicle.
When the passenger side door closed, Arizona was finally able to breathe again. Without even realizing it, she had been holding her breath since those deep brown eyes had connected with hers. That look from Callie was so genuine and true. It was the real Calliope. Not that fake asshole that the brunette always sold herself out to be. Arizona hoped to see that Callie more often. The blonde watched the Latina climb the few steps to the apartment complex before disappearing into the building.
The next morning, they were in Captain Webber's office reporting their findings. Webber was currently looking at the photos they had captured from the night before.
"That sneaky son of a bitch. He's got cocaine in my city too?" Webber shook his head in disgust. "So Petrov is using this waterfront warehouse to transport and pickup his goods."
Callie and Arizona sat silently side by side in front of the Captain's desk.
"Which one of you took this photo?" He asked holding it up. It was a photo of one of Petrov's men examining a brick of cocaine.
"I did, Captain," Callie replied.
"How were you able to get this close and not be seen?" he questioned curiously.
"I…" the brunette began, but was at a loss for words. She had been caught and she knew Arizona was about to narc on her. The brunette's eyes shifted towards her partner.
Arizona saw the slight panic in Callie's eyes. "Sergeant Torres and I found an unsecured window and were able to collect photos from there, sir." Arizona turned to Webber and smiled. Her dimples popping. "We just stuck together and watched each other's backs. And personally, Captain Webber…" the blonde leaned forward in her chair. "I think that Sergeant Torres' photos are pretty awesome."
To say Callie was shocked that Arizona covered for her would have been a big ass understatement. Did that really just happen?
"I absolutely agree," the Captain said with a small smile. "Torres, these photos display excellent evidence and they are a big key to help us take down Petrov. Now that we know he's going beyond weaponry, we can put him away for good."
Callie tried to hide her surprise and placed a grin on her face. "Thank you, Captain."
"Alright, Sergeants… keep me in the loop if something else cracks. Good work."
Callie and Arizona exited the office and began to walk through the station side by side. After passing several desk workers, they were walking down the corridor that led to the lobby.
"Wow. I thought for sure you were going to narc on me."
The blonde smiled lightly, but kept looking straight ahead. "Well, one of us had to grow up. I figured it should be me."
Callie laughed lightly and shook her head. "Anyway… thanks, Robbins."
Arizona stopped walking and turned towards Callie with a raised eyebrow. "Huh. Sergeant Torres is thanking me twice in less than 24-hours. What's going on here?"
Callie shrugged with a sheepish smile. "As much as it pains me to say it, I am grateful. You really did have my back out there."
"You're welcome," the blonde nodded.
The Latina teasingly raised an eyebrow. "Am I growing on you yet?"
"Yuck," Arizona deadpanned, but a small smile formed on her lips. "Anyway, it wasn't for you. If I had told the Captain that you were a dipshit and got captured at gunpoint… then I would have looked bad for letting you go in the first place."
Callie let out a small chuckle and nodded. "Well put. But you didn't let me go. I totally blew you off and just bolted," the brunette replied with some regret in her voice.
"No, Torres, believe me…" Arizona's blue eyes held Callie's gaze. "I let you."
Callie studied Arizona's eyes and could have sworn she saw a small glint of playfulness... or possibly a sparkle of a flirt. The blonde was basically saying if she wanted to, she would have stopped Callie from going near that warehouse. The brunette would happily welcome that challenge.
The Latina smiled lightly in return and Arizona felt her heart skip a beat. She abruptly broke eye contact.
"Um," the blonde cleared her throat and rubbed the back of her neck. Callie smiled fully upon seeing a blush form on the blonde's face. "I'll meet you outside."
Callie nodded. "Right, see you outside."
"Okay," Arizona nervously chuckled, never lifting her eyes, before walking away.
Callie watched her go and smiled to herself. She felt warmth spread through her when Arizona gave her that look. She hoped she would see that look again.
A/N: I hope you guys know I want a buildup with this Calzona universe. So, no (Bow-chica-bow-wow) jumping into bed together yet. Sexual tension baby… let's ride it for a while…