AN: Oops! I apologize for being late with this update, but I was having difficulty getting this one out. I hope it was worth the wait. As always, THANK YOU, ANGELA for all of your help. You are truly an inspiration!
Four
While she had walked away as confidently as could be, the closer Arizona got to her hospital room, the more freaked out she became. Not because she had abruptly ended her five year marriage to Lauren, but because she had just pinned her best friend against a wall and kissed her senseless. She could still feel Callie's lips intimately pressed against her own, and reaching up to lay her finger tips against her own bruised lips, she could still feel the tingle that their kiss had created.
"Page Dr. Montgomery for me," Arizona demanded when she reached the nurse's station across the hall from her room for the night.
"Is everything alright, Dr. Robbins?" the nurse behind the desk quickly asked.
Arizona rolled her eyes. "Just page her, please. And tell her it's an emergency."
With that, Arizona disappeared behind the large wooden door of the room. Pacing back and forth, her mind raced. "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God!"
"Arizona?"
The blonde spun around upon hearing her name. "Oh my God, Addison. I'm glad you're here."
"What happened?" the red head asked, taking in the anxious look on Arizona's face. "Is everything alright? Callie texted me earlier, but I was with another patient, and now you're having me paged here. What. . ."
"I kissed her!" Arizona interrupted, her voice rising in tome. "I kissed her, and it was. . .oh my God. . ."
"You already said that."
"Oh my God, Addison. It was amazing and sexy and everything a kiss should be."
Addison quirked an arched eyebrow high into the air. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who did you kiss? Lauren? Because isn't that what a kiss you share with your wife is supposed to feel like?"
A bark of unruly laughter left Arizona's mouth. "I haven't kissed Lauren like that in years. To be honest, I'm not sure I've ever kissed Lauren like that. I-I was talking about. . .Calliope."
"You kissed Callie?" Addison asked, her eyes widening in interest.
"I never thought I'd end up with Callie or even get the chance to kiss her, but oh my God, I kissed her. In the hallway. While Lauren was watching, and it was. . .hot. Really hot." Arizona was rambling and she knew it, but she just couldn't help herself. While she knew that this could potentially cause some tension between her and her best friend, she also hoped that in some way, it would open the lines of communication. She had loved Callie Torres for years, and she wasn't blind. . .she knew that the stunning Latina had feelings for her, as well.
"What the Hell was that all about?" Lauren angrily spat as she came rushing through the door. "You think you can just take off your wedding ring and hand it to me, and that's it? Well, I hate to inform you, Arizona. . ."
"That is it, Lauren. You are a liar and a cheater, and I don't ever want to see you again," Arizona argued, her tone firm and unwavering as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Mark and Callie were at the door in a flash, both gasping for air after sprinting down the hallway and toward the OB unit of the hospital.
"Oh, great," Lauren huffed with a roll of her eyes. "The whole freakin' fucked up family is here. . ."
"You know what, Lauren? I've held my tongue. I've been nice to you. I've been kind, and I've tried to give you the benefit of the doubt, but no more," Mark said, stepping up to stand toe to toe with his best friend's now, he assumed, ex-wife. "You are a miserable human being. You are a jealous person who is incapable of loving. You are a manipulative, manipulative bitch, and Arizona deserves so much better."
"Are you seriously going to let him talk to me like that, Arizona?" Lauren asked in disgust.
Arizona rolled her eyes. Was this woman dense? "Well, I haven't heard anything yet that I disagree with, so if he'd like to carry on, that's fine with me."
A light chuckle fell from Callie's lips, her still dazed brown eyes reaching twinkling blue and causing her to blush. She could still feel Arizona's hands pressed at the sides of her face as their lips engaged in the most sensual kiss she had ever shared with another human being. It was magical; it was miraculous. It was definitely something she wanted to experience over and over again.
Clearing her throat, the Latina decided that perhaps it was her turn to speak. "Lauren, I really think it would be in the best interest of all of us - especially Arizona and the baby - if you would just leave."
Lauren charged toward the Latina and in one swift movement, she was in her face. "And just who the Hell do you think you are? Who gave you the right to speak? Do you think you're just going to step in and replace me? That you're going to be the one to raise my child?"
"Correction, Lauren," Arizona piped in, moving across the room in an attempt to keep her ex away from her best friend. Mark halted her advance, worried for her safety, taking over where she left off. Allowing him to push Lauren away from Callie, she continued. "This is my child. Not yours, and thank God, because I'm not sure the world could handle another one of you."
"Okay, okay. Enough of this," Addison chimed in. "Arizona, I know you're upset, and as your friend, I understand that, but as your doctor, I really think you should rest. You've had a very traumatic day, and we really need to be thinking about the baby right now."
Arizona sighed, knowing that Addison was right. She may have been skittish at the thought of having a baby when she and Lauren had first approached the issue, but now that it was real, she would never do anything to purposely harm her child. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, she crossed her hands in her lap. "Please just go, Lauren. This conversation is over. Our marriage is over. Everything is just. . .over."
Lauren backed away from Callie, looking as if she was going to leave the room, but before she stepped away, she once again advanced on the Latina. To her surprise, she found herself pinned against the wall. With a sly smirk on her face, she spoke. "Well, well, well, Calliope. I guess you do have it in you. I always took you for a girl who liked it rough, though you weren't this frisky when I kissed you at our anniversary party."
The blonde woman's words immediately caught Arizona's attention. "She. . .you. . .you kissed her? Callie?" she softly asked.
Callie shook her head, disgusted by the woman she held against the wall. "Correction, Arizona," she stated, repeating her best friend's earlier remark. "She kissed me, though I can't remember if it was before. . .or after she slapped me."
Arizona found herself in shock, though she knew she really shouldn't be all that surprised. Of course Lauren would have tried to have sex with her best friend, and why not? "Let her go, Callie," she requested with a shake of her head. "We're finished here."
With only a moment's hesitation, Callie stepped back, releasing Lauren from her grasp. Worried that Arizona believed what she'd said to be true, she needed to defend herself. "Arizona, I. . .I didn't. . ."
Arizona only waved her off, knowing that her best friend would never do anything to betray her. "It's fine, Callie."
The room fell silent as all the inhabitants looked toward the dejected blonde woman sitting on the bed. Stepping up, Addison and Mark each took Lauren by an arm. "Okay, time to go. I think you've done enough damage for one day, don't you?" Mark rhetorically spoke as he and his wife led the brooding woman out the door.
Before they made it to the exit, Lauren shrugged them off before turning back around to face Arizona. "You know what? I'm glad this happened, and I'm thrilled that this is over. I can do so much better than you, anyway."
And with that, she was gone, never looking back at the stunned faces filling the room.
A half hour later, Arizona once again was pacing her room, her movements anxious and on edge. "Please, just let me go home, Addison. I can't even bear the thought of staying in this place when I know she's here. Please. . ."
"I can't let you go, Arizona. How do we know that Lauren won't show up at the house and try something. I don't trust her, and as your doctor. . ."
"I know, I know," Arizona interrupted. "You can't in good conscious release me into a potentially harmful situation," she finished off with a roll of her eyes.
The red head and on the blonde were deadlocked, but the other woman seated on the love seat in the corner of room thought that perhaps she could be the voice of reason; that she could be able to sway Addison to let Arizona go. "You could come with me," Callie quietly offered, causing the other two women in the room to quickly look in her direction. "I mean. . .I still have to unpack, but the furniture was delivered yesterday, right?" Arizona nodded, she had scheduled the delivery herself. "So there are beds, and I'm sure I can find some sheets. That is. . .if you want to," the Latina added as she stood from her seat.
Addison looked between the two women who seemed to be stuck in the staring contest of a lifetime. With a roll of her eyes at their school girl behavior, she sighed. "Okay, Callie. I'll release Arizona on one condition," she stated, wagging her finger in the Latina's direction. "If she has the slightest pain or twinge or anything whatsoever, you are to bring her into the hospital. She is under your care, Callie, and if anything happens to her, it's all your fault."
Callie nodded in understanding, her stomach beginning to knot at the thought of being alone with the beautiful woman who had seductively kissed her in the hospital hallway.
"Nothing's going to happen to me," Arizona scoffed, jumping up from the bed to throw the few belongings she had with her into her bag.
"I'm serious, Arizona. This is serious. . ."
"I know it's serious, Addison. You don't have to tell me that. I just. . .I really need to get out of here right now," Arizona beseeched, her voice dropping as her eyes hardened.
Addison nodded her head as she moved toward the door. "I'll get your discharge paperwork, but you're taking the next two days off, and I want to see you for an exam first thing tomorrow morning."
Arizona smiled a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes before comically saluting the red head as she walked out the door. "Yes, drill sergeant!"
An hour later, Callie anxiously paced between the kitchen and the living area of her new apartment while Arizona lounged on the sofa, her head resting against a large throw pillow and her arm thrown over her face. "I should go to the store. I'm sure you're hungry, but all I have is a pack of gum and a bottle of water from the airport," the Latina stated as she once again opened the refrigerator door as if food and beverage would magically appear. "I'm a terrible host. . ."
"I'm fine, Callie," Arizona interrupted, removing her arm from her eyes as she stared up at the ceiling.
Halting her nervous circuit around the apartment, Callie finally gathered enough bravery to approach the blonde. Standing over the couch, she looked around the room, wondering where she should sit, before gently picking up her best friend's feet to slide beneath them before placing them on her lap. As the Latina stared across the room and out the window to see dusk falling over the city, Arizona's moist blue gaze flicked down from the ceiling to meet the side of a tanned face.
Callie could feel the tension that resided in the muscles of Arizona's legs that were positioned beneath her hands and with a sigh, she subconsciously began to knead the flesh through the material of her best friend's yoga pant. "Are you sure you're okay?" the Latina asked, her brown eyes finally meeting blue. "Because you know you can talk to me, Arizona. Nothing changes that. Nothing. . ."
"I'm sorry you had to get involved in this, Callie. My problems are so insignificant compared to yours. Nick is dead, you just uprooted your life to move all the way across the country, and look how I welcome you. I suck. I'm a terrible friend."
Callie stared at her best friend in disbelief. She wasn't sure she had ever seen her so defeated. . .so crushed. Arizona had put on a good show at the hospital; she had appeared tough and unfazed by Lauren's infidelity, but Callie could tell otherwise. She had known her for too long; she knew her too well. "First of all, you do not suck, and you are not a terrible friend," she insisted, her thumbs digging into the arch of Arizona's left foot. "And secondly, I really hope you know that I didn't reciprocate Lauren's kiss. I didn't. . ."
"I know you didn't, Calliope. I know you would never do anything like that to me," Arizona interrupted, biting her bottom lip as Callie's thumbs hit a particularly sweet spot at the bottom of her foot. "It all makes sense to me now, though. She kissed you, she hit you, and then you pushed her. I get it. . .I just wish you would have told me."
Callie nodded her head. She was glad that Arizona didn't seem mad at her, but she did seem hurt - whether it was because of the fact that she had purposely kept something from her or the fact that she had just witnessed her wife in the arms of another woman - she couldn't be sure. It was probably a little bit of both.
"I think I was just in a little bit of shock," the Latina replied after a moment's silence. "You seemed so happy about the baby, and I-I just didn't want to do anything to rain on your parade. I'd never do anything to hurt you, Arizona."
Callie's words hung in the air, both women's thoughts drifting from the fact that Lauren had kissed Callie to the fact that Arizona had done the same just hours before. Hastily removing her feet from her best friend's lap, the blonde sat up, her eyes trained on the bare wall across the room. "Callie, look. I. . .I shouldn't have kissed you earlier. I let my emotions get the better of me, and I'm sorry. . ."
"I'm not," the Latina firmly stated, her words interrupting Arizona's apology and shocking not only the woman seated beside her, but herself as well.
The blonde slowly turned her head toward the woman seated across the sofa from her, her eyes wide with surprise. "You're not?" she sheepishly asked.
Callie swallowed hard, seriously considering the words that were about to come spewing forth from her mouth. Running her hands up and down her jean clad thighs, she stood from the sofa, beginning to pace in front of it. "Let's face it, Arizona. You and I have been skirting around this issue for. . .forever. We've always had a bond that was unbreakable, but not just as friends. I mean, for me. . .I feel like there's always been more. There's always been something special about you, but I. . .I was always too scared to admit it, too scared to let my true feelings show."
Arizona stared speechless at the woman who was anxiously moving around the room. Was this really happening? Was Callie really admitting her true feelings? After all these years?
"There is little in life that's more frustrating than having deep feelings for someone who you're supposed to be just friends with, and there's nothing more frightening to me than to consider revealing those feelings to. . .that person, because I'm running the risk of jeopardizing that. . .our friendship."
"Callie. . ."
"Please, Arizona. If you don't mind, I'd really like to get this off my chest. It's been building and building for the past twenty-five years, and now that I've opened my mouth, I'd really like to finish," the Latina softly stated, her movement throughout the room finally halting, though she continued to wring her hands together in front of her.
Arizona only nodded her agreement before patting the cushion next to her.
Callie's eyes widened. She felt like she needed to distance herself from Arizona in order to be able to admit all of this, but finally relenting, she slowly crossed the short distance separating them before gently sitting down. Slowly turning her head to gaze into Arizona's bright blue eyes, she cleared her throat before swallowing hard. "I've thought about this long and hard, and I've tried to prepare myself for the ramifications of admitting this to you. I've worried about what might happen to my life if you decide that you don't share my feelings, but then, today. . .you kissed me. You kissed me, Arizona, and God, it was good. . .so good. . ."
"It really was a good kiss, wasn't it?" Arizona teased with a smile.
Callie softly chuckled, her best friend's carefree attitude somewhat calming her nerves. "It was like nothing I've ever before experienced, and then I knew I had to tell you all of this. I knew that I needed to get this all out in the open because I don't want to hide from it anymore," she admitted, her own words tasting so sweet as they rolled off her tongue. "But I don't want you to worry. This isn't some lonely rebound thing because of. . .Nick, and I know things with you and Lauren are. . .whatever, but what I do want you to know is that I don't expect anything from you. I don't expect us to jump in head first into a romantic relationship, because if you don't feel the same - if you don't return my feelings, I would much rather continue to be your best friend than not have you in my life at all."
Arizona sat in silence. She had no idea how to respond to Callie's impassioned speech, so instead of speaking, she leaned forward, her lips meeting her best friend's in an intimate massage. This kiss was much more gentle, much more reverent than their first, but no less passionate and when the blonde felt the Latina's tongue softly brush against her bottom lip, she couldn't help the moan that escaped her throat as she parted her lips, willingly allowing its entrance.
Callie's hands rested upon her own thighs as if she were afraid to touch her best friend; as if her touch would be a violation of some invisible line that had been drawn, but as the kiss came to its gradual end, the Latina couldn't help the megawatt smile that lit her face. "Wow," she breathed, unable to formulate any other word.
Arizona giggled against her best friend's lips, her body tingling with lust as well as a mix of emotions she couldn't quite describe. Pulling back so that she could better see her best friend, the blonde tugged on Callie's hands to hold them within her own. "I've been waiting a very long time to hear you say those things to me, Calliope," she stated, her own admission causing her to blush. She was a grown woman. A world renowned surgeon, and here she was admitting that she had been pining for her straight best friend for over two decades.
Callie couldn't help but smile at Arizona's reddened cheeks. This woman was adorable. She was miraculous, breathtakingly stunning, and the Latina felt relieved that she had finally mustered up enough courage to admit her feelings. "So, what do we do now?" she asked, immediately biting her lip. "I mean, I'm not pushing. I know that we both are probably feeling a little emotionally exposed right now, but well. . .I was just curious," she sheepishly added.
Arizona smiled. It was rare that she saw Callie so uncertain and so self-conscious, and for some reason, she found it refreshing. "I think we should spend more time developing our relationship. You just moved back, and you start your new job on Monday. Being the head of a department can be stressful business, Calliope, so I think we should just settle in and see how things go."
Callie nodded in agreement as a happy smile curled at the corners of her lips. She could do that. She was content to just be present in Arizona's life and see how things progressed. "I can handle that," she replied, leaning forward to gather the blonde in a warm embrace.
They stayed like that for several long moments, both enjoying the feelings of the other's arms wrapped so tightly around their own bodies. After several long moments and with a peck against Arizona's cheek, Callie pulled back to gaze into gleaming blue eyes. "Can I ask you something?" she softly asked.
Arizona nodded, her brow furrowing at the Latina's apparent shift in mood.
Callie swallowed hard, looking over Arizona's shoulder before once again holding her gaze. "What really happened today, Arizona. Between you and Lauren? Did she. . .hit you?"
The blonde's immediately face fell. She had been on such a high after hearing Callie spill he guts about her true feelings for her that the reality of the day had slipped into the furthest recesses of her mind. Not wanting to cloud this moment, she smiled, tipping her head to one side. "After everything that's happened today. . .with Lauren and with. . .us. . ." she trailed off, her emotions coming though in the choked sound in her voice. "Would you mind if we talk about this in the morning? I'll tell you anything and everything you want to know, but for now. . .I'd really just like to get some sleep."
Callie wanted to protest for fear that she would never get Arizona to admit the truth, but staring into her eyes, she could see the fatigue written across her features, a dullness in her eyes that had reappeared at the mention of her best friend's ex-lover. So with a nod of her head, the Latina relented, standing from her seat and reaching out to take her hand. "Come with me, I'll get you set up in the guest room."
Arizona followed behind, but gathering her nerve, she paused, tugging Callie to a halt. "I. . .umm. . .is there any way. . ." she trailed off, biting her bottom lip.
"Yes?" Callie urged, sensing her best friend's hesitation.
"I was wondering if. . .well, it's okay if you're not comfortable, but I was just wondering if I could. . .sleep with you? It's been so long since I've been able to get a good night's rest, and I. . .I really don't want to be alone tonight."
Callie could see the nerves swirling around in Arizona's eyes. They had done this so many nights over the years; sleepovers as children, dozing together after staying up way too late studying for finals, even falling into bed together after drinking too much at the bar. But now. . .things were different. They were still best friends, but the Latina knew they were well on their way to becoming so much more.
Changing directions, Callie smiled as she pulled Arizona toward the master bedroom, but stopped in the doorway before entering. "You know, this is my first night in my new apartment. . .in a new city. I think I could use a little company tonight, too."
"Yeah?" Arizona questioned, relieved that she hadn't just made things between them too weird.
Callie smiled that huge smile that the blonde had grown to love so many years ago. "Yeah."
AN: I really hope you enjoyed this update, and I look forward to hearing what you think! We will learn more about Arizona's marriage in the next chapter. Reviews and comments always make me happy! ;) Thank again!