"This is becoming a habit...," Arizona said, peeking through a narrow crack in her door.

"I brought Sofia this time." Callie gave her her most winning smile and shoved her daughter a little closer. Arizona adored Sofia. She wouldn't refuse to let her in.

"I can see that," she said. "Hi, munchkin."

Sofia squealed and reached for her.

"Just a second." The door clicked shut and there was some shuffling behind it. When it opened again, Arizona had a firm hold on the collar of the oldest, saddest–looking basset hound Callie had ever seen.

"Where did you get that?" Callie glanced past Arizona, trying to see if there was anyone else in the house, but it all looked pretty empty to her.

"At the pound today," Arizona replied.

Sofia obviously appreciated the dog more than Callie did. She immediately struggled to get down so she could reach it. "You couldn't have rescued a better dog?" Callie asked. "This one's on its last legs."

Arizona bit her lip and gazed down at the decrepit animal. "You don't know that," she said, her tone slightly indignant. "He's fine. And he has sad eyes."

Callie squatted next to Sofia, who was hugging the dog fiercely. "All basset hounds have sad eyes."

Arizona scowled at her. "I'm sure you didn't come over here just to insult my dog."

"No, I think we have a lot more important things to —"

A knock at the door interrupted.

"— discuss," Callie finished. "Are you expecting someone?"

"It's Addison. I called her to come over and see my dog."

The way Callie's luck was running lately, of course it was Addison. Callie took hold of the dog's collar, so he wouldn't escape when Arizona opened the door, and resisted the urge to duck out the back to Addy's unwanted questions. It was too late for that. She was sure she'd already seen her truck outside.

"Nice dog," Addison said the moment Arizona let her in. Callie was pretty sure she was lying about the dog, but she didn't have much of a chance to call her on it because she turned to her next. "Callie, what are you doing here?"

Callie noted the smug smile on Addison' S face and knew she thought her matchmaking efforts were finally bearing fruit. Callie struggled to come up with a reason for her presence that would convince her to the contrary, but she was out of excuses for contacting Arizona.

"I just stopped by to —" Callie glanced at Arizona, looking for a little help.

Arizona sighed and shook her head. "Now that you're here, Addy, you might as well sit down. We have something we need to tell you."

"No, we don't," Callie said.

Arizona frowned at her. "Yes, we do. There's no need keeping it a secret now. The truth's going to come out eventually."

"It can wait," Callie said.

"Stalling won't make it any easier," Arizona countered.

"Tell me," Addison prompted, her smile widening in expectation. "I want to know."

"Remember when you set us up on that date?" Arizona asked.

Addison nodded, and Arizona gave Callie a look that said Here goes. "Well, we —"

"— had a wonderful time and have decided to start seeing each other," Callie finished. She put her arm around Arizona, pulling her close, and Arizona looked up at her as though she had just grown two heads. "As a matter of fact, we're going to dinner tonight, right, Arizona?"

Arizona looked too shocked to answer. Fortunately, Addison filled the gap. "You know I've wanted you two to get together for a long time," she said, her eyebrows gathering in confusion. "Why would that be any kind of a secret?"

"We just didn't want to tell you in case...in case it doesn't work out," Callie supplied hurriedly.


Arizona shut the door behind Addison, propped her hands on her hips and turned to confront Callie. "What the heck was that all about?"

Callie rubbed the back of her neck in a totally uncharacteristic way and looked down as she fidgeted on her heels "I don't know."

"Now she thinks we're dating!" Arizona was out of her mind mad. Bet this how pregnancy hormones look like.

"What's wrong with that?" Callie asked. "Maybe we should date, be seen together, pretend to fall in love."

Arizona couldn't believe her ears. "Pretend? What's that going to accomplish?"

"If the people we know believe we're a couple, at least for a little while, news of the baby will come as much less of a shock."

Arizona was already having a hard time dealing with the many facets of the situation — the embarrassment of being fool enough to get herself pregnant in this way, the sting of Callie's rejection, the mental and physical preparations necessary to be ready for a baby. She saw no need to complicate matters.

"That might be true," she said, "but I don't think it's a good idea."

"Why not? Surely you're dreading breaking the news to all the people in your life. What about your mother, your stepfather, your younger brother? What about the people at your work? They're conservative, law–and–order types. How are they going to understand you having a baby when you haven't even had a partner?"

"Maybe I have had a boyfriend."

Callie cocked an eyebrow that said she knew better. "What would it hurt to prepare everyone, so the news goes over as smoothly as possible?" She asked. "Addison, at the very least, will be much more understanding if we go this other route. And because of this baby's relationship to Sofia, and the fact Addy's your sister, she definitely has a stake in this."

And there it goes. Addison again. Callie would never get over her. What made it even worse was the fact that Arizona couldn't blame her. She knew her sister was special. "It wouldn't be as easy as it sounds," Arizona said with a dismissive gesture she hoped would put an end to the discussion.

But Callie wasn't ready to let it drop. "Why not?"

Because we would have to be around each other a lot. Because we would have to smile and stand close and use all that other body language so characteristic of lovers…

"No one pretends to have a relationship," Arizona said.

Callie rescued Sofia from the dog, because he'd knocked her down and was busy licking her face. "You never know," she said.


AN - Just couple of more chapters.

AN - Yeah sorry for the long wait. But most of you don't even have the tinest of idea of the kind of abuse I get. I know I write taboo subjects but really it's all fiction for god's sake.