Title: The Dig (10/?)

Author: GreysAddictJ

Pairing: Callie/Arizona

Rating: NC-17/M

Summary: A/U – What happens when a pesky (but hot) blonde journalist shows up at the dig site of world-renowned archaeologist Dr. Calliope Torres?

Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, no infringement intended

A/N: Here's my Christmas present to you – a new and fairly long chapter. Hopefully you'll return the favor and give me lots of reviews/feedback to put under my tree (shameless plea, I know, but they make my day). I think there will be one more chapter to this story, an epilogue of sorts, which I'll try and write in the next few days.

"One thing I have to ask you."

"What's that?" Arizona asked, placing soft kisses along Callie's jaw line, eager to end all conversation and to continue what they'd just started.

"I'd just accused you of a huge betrayal. Yet you came to my defense anyway. Why? Most people would have left me to struggle on my own. I deserved it."

Partially distracted by her rising ardor, Arizona spoke without thinking. "You were hurting and you needed help. I protect the things I love . . ."

It took a minute for Arizona's words to sink in, but once they did, Callie pulled back in surprise.

Finally realizing what she'd just said, Arizona immediately began rambling and cursing. "Crap. I did not just say that out loud. I'm so sorry, Calliope. I'm sure you're freaking out right now. I'm not sure what came over me. You must think I'm some crazy stalker or something."

"Arizona." Callie tried unsuccessfully to interrupt the blonde's rant.

Arizona, not registering that Callie had spoken, continued. "I mean who does that? Who admits that they love someone they've only known for about a month or two? I sure don't. I am not normally that person. Just forget what I said. Please don't pay any attention . . ."

"Arizona!" Callie said more emphatically, shaking her slightly by the shoulders.

"What?" Arizona said, finally realizing Callie was attempting to speak.

"I love you too." Callie gave Arizona the most heart-melting, dazzling smile that she'd ever seen.

"You do?" Arizona responded, slightly incredulously.

"I do. Now shut up so I can kiss you." Callie laughed as she brought her lips down upon Arizona's, crashing their mouths together, conveying the depth of their newly confessed feelings.

There was something new about this kiss – something more –as if the sudden confession of love had given it a deeper meaning. Callie slowly opened her mouth, allowing Arizona access, as their tongues slid against each other in a complicated tango. Arizona reached up and ran a hand roughly through Callie's raven locks, pulling their bodies flush together so that they were touching from thigh to breast. Callie slowly let out a long, passionate moan from deep in her throat as she snaked her arms around the blonde's waist, eager to feel every possible inch of her body. Arizona slowly walked them backwards towards the bed, pushing Callie down onto it before landing on top of her.

Arizona straddled her hips, stray locks of blonde hair tickling and teasing Callie's face as she lowered her head to nip and suck at her neck, leaving small little love marks as she went. Finally, frustrated by the cloth barrier in her way, Arizona slowly began to unbutton Callie's shirt, placing a gentle kiss on each new patch of revealed caramel skin as she made her way down to each button. Finally shedding the shirt and making quick work of Callie's black lace bra, Arizona began her assault on her breasts, taking each engorged nipple in her mouth in turn, eliciting a stream of low moans from her lover as Callie arched her back, anxious to deepen her contact with the blonde's mouth. Arizona continued to make her way south, placing a series of lazy kisses across Callie's abdomen and on the inside of her still-clothed thighs – everywhere except the place that Callie really needed her to be.

Finally deciding that she'd had enough teasing, Callie grabbed Arizona and flipped her over, so that she was now on top and in control. Callie roughly pulled Arizona's shirt over her head, eager to get the object of her desires naked as quickly as possible. With a flick of her fingers, Arizona's front-clasp bra was no longer a barrier and Callie took a rock hard nipple in her mouth, gentling suckling and nipping, attempting to make Arizona feel the same tension and frustration she'd just experienced.

As she did so, Callie began to rock her center against Arizona's leg, trying to find some friction to help bring her some relief. Arizona, sensing the brunette's urgency, pulled her up for a deep, passionate kiss before the two pulled all remaining clothing off one another and laid against each other skin-to-skin.

Arizona, eager to once again be in control, rolled them over so that she was atop her lover. She quickly turned her body so that they were laying head-to-foot and gently pulled Callie's legs apart. As Arizona began to tentatively stroke Callie's twitching clit with her fingertips, she was rewarded with the brunette's hot mouth and tongue teasing her throbbing center, diving in and out.

Arizona let out a sigh of pleasure as she pushed her body back slightly, eager to push Callie's tongue deeper inside her. As she did so, she slid a finger inside Callie and began to suck on her swollen clit, alternating the sensations by teasing her with long, slow strokes of her tongue. This activity was rewarded by a series of stifled moans from her lover. Callie matched Arizona's speed, stroke-for-stroke, as the two journeyed their way toward completion. When Arizona slowed down to tease Callie, the brunette responded in kind, when she sped up, Callie did as well. Finally, unable to take it any longer, with tongues and fingers flying, the two women fell over the edge, bodies shuddering with the force of their climaxes, before finally collapsing against one another. Using her last remaining energy, Arizona turned around and snuggled up in Callie's arms.

They lay like that for some time, savoring the closeness and their newly revealed feelings. Finally, Arizona broke the silence as she turned in Callie's arms to gaze into her eyes.

"So does this mean you're my girlfriend?" She asked tentatively.

"Hell, yeah it does!" Callie responded before placing a sweet kiss on Arizona's lips.

Beaming, Arizona snuggled deeper into Callie's arms, nuzzling into her neck and taking in her unique scent. "Mmm . . . I could get used to this." Arizona mumbled.

After enjoying a few more moments of comfortable silence, Callie pulled back slightly so that she could look Arizona in the eye. She ran a gentle hand down Arizona's cheek. "Thank you." She said quietly.

"For what?" Arizona asked, confused as to what she'd done to deserve thanks.

"For everything, but mostly, for loving me." Callie smiled, before continuing. "And for being too caught up in your own dirty thoughts to choose your words more carefully. I'm glad you let it slip. I've been wanting to say it to you since about 5 minutes after meeting you. I know that sounds clichéd and I never believed in the whole love at first sight thing . . . until I met you. There was just this instant connection . . this burning, electric sensation that I felt right here." As she finished, she gestured towards her heart. Suddenly worried that she'd said too much, she eyed Arizona nervously. "I hope I didn't just scare you off."

Arizona gave her a reassuring smile. "Not at all, sweetie. I felt it too. And I'm not someone who falls in love at the drop of the hat. But that's what I did with you." The two shared a sweet, intimate kiss before lapsing once again into a silent embrace.

A few minutes later, Callie began to fidget and let out a stream of sighs. Arizona looked up at her with question in her eyes. "What is it, Calliope? You look upset."

"It's just . . . everything was going so right in my life . . . for once. I've got this find, I've got you . . . and then Erica shows up to take it all away. Lucky for me, you didn't let me push you away, but she's going to come in here and steal my work, just like last time. It's happening all over again. I don't know what the hell I did to deserve this sort of treatment from her. " She shook her head as a single tear rolled down her face.

Arizona reached up and gently brushed the tear away with her thumb, unused to seeing the normally tough archaeologist in such a vulnerable state. "We're going to fix this – you and me. We'll make the world see her for what she really is – a conniving, back-stabbing bitch. We just need a plan."

Callie raised an eyebrow and chuckled lightly as she dried her eyes. "A plan?"

"Yes, a plan." Arizona smiled. "Lucky for you, you have a super awesome girlfriend, and I've already got one."

"You do?"

"I do. Now let me make a quick call to Teddy and then we'll put Operation: The Bitch is Going Down into action."

Callie laughed at Arizona's absurdity and thanked her lucky stars that some as amazing as Arizona Robbins had somehow ended up in her life.

The next day, after receiving the necessary information from Teddy, Callie and Arizona planned out their course of attack. They wanted to time it perfectly, to attack when Erica was most exposed.

The opportunity came that afternoon. Erica's TV crew had arrived and she was giving them an on-camera tour of the site, explaining the history and legends behind El Dorado. The way she guided them, as if the site were her own, made Callie's skin crawl. She wanted nothing more than to take the bitch down in an all-out brawl right then and there.

Leaning over to Arizona, Callie whispered, "remind me why I don't just deck her in the face and get this over with?"

"Be patient, sweetie. If our plan goes off as we envisioned it, the victory will be so much sweeter."

Callie simply nodded. They watched, waiting for Erica to see them, knowing she wouldn't be able to resist interacting with them. Sure enough, after Erica noticed the two women, she waved them over.

"This is my assistant, Dr. Callie Torres . . . and her friend, a print journalist. I'm sorry. What was your name again? Alaska Roberts?"

Not taking the bait, Arizona simply responded with a correction. "Arizona Robbins."

The TV reporter turned to her. "You're Arizona Robbins? I've read your stuff. It's great! You've got, what two Pulitzers now?"

Arizona nodded, enjoying the obvious discomfort of Erica Hahn, who was currently shooting a venomous glare in her direction.

"Ever thought about switching to TV? Maybe pick up a few Peabodys to add to your trophy case?" The reporter continued, making Erica even more agitated.

"I assume you can edit that part out when you put together the show? Anyway, John, as I was saying . . ." she interrupted, eager to regain the focus on her, "Dr. Torres was very helpful when I was trying to find El Dorado. She did some very important research for me . . ." Erica smirked, believing that there was no way that Callie would or could confront her on camera without any proof.

"Actually, John, if I may. I've got a few questions for Dr. Hahn." Arizona cut in, flashing the reporter her dimples, which, along with the newly discovered admiration of her work, got her what she wanted.

"Of course, Arizona." He replied, smiling brightly.

"I don't really think this is appropriate." Erica said warily.

"Why not, Erica? Arizona is one of the best. I'm sure whatever she'll ask will make this TV special even better." John replied, not knowing how true his words were about to become.

Erica nodded and swallowed nervously, suddenly feeling a foreboding sense of unease.

"Here's an easy one, Dr. Hahn. How did you decide that this exact site was the correct place to look for El Dorado?"

"After lots of careful research, I found several factors that pointed to this spot. Also, after reviewing satellite pictures, we saw an anomaly here and thought it might be man-made." Erica began rattling off the various facts that had been contained in Arizona's notebook.

"That still doesn't tell me why you picked this exact spot. Surely those 'landmarks' you talked of could point to any of a number of places in the jungle. Also, we all know that there are hundreds of potential man-made anomalies on satellite photos. So why here? Why this location?"

Struggling to answer Arizona's pointed question, Erica stuttered. "Well . . .uh . . . um."

"At a loss for words, suddenly, Dr. Hahn? Maybe I can help you out. The reason you can't answer my question is because you don't know the answer. Right? Because all that information you just spouted out was actually Dr. Torres's work. Which you stole. And the reason you don't have the defining piece of evidence for this location is because you slipped up. You stole my journal, which contained notes from my conversations with Dr. Torres for my story. Problem is, you moved to soon. Dr. Torres doesn't just give out all of her research to just anyone. She hadn't learned to trust me yet . . . maybe she's a little leery after the last time you stole her work. Anyway, I hadn't written down the crucial piece of evidence in my journal because I didn't know about it then."

"This is absurd. Will someone remove this crazy woman from my sight?" Erica responded, attempting to keep of the façade of disinterest.

"I don't know, Erica. Arizona seems pretty convinced – and knowing her reputation, I don't think she'd make these kinds of accusations without proof." John said, looking at Arizona for confirmation.

"You're right John. You see that young man over there?" She gestured to an uncomfortable-looking intern standing off to the side. "He was struggling to pay for school and Dr. Hahn offered to pay him some money to spy on Dr. Torres. He's see the error of his ways and he's willing to attest that she hired him to be a spy and that he stole my journal, which, if I'm not mistaken, Dr. Hahn keeps in her bag. Why don't you show it to us, Erica?"

"I don't have to stand for this sort of accusation. I'm not on trial here."

"If you don't have anything to hide, just open your bag, Erica." John urged, thanking his lucky stars that this story had fallen into his lap.

Erica reluctantly opened her bag and let John remove the journal. "This doesn't prove anything. They could have planted that."

"Then why don't you just tell us how you knew to look for El Dorado at this exact location?" Arizona piped in. "It's a simple question."

"I don't have to reveal my sources to you." Erica replied harshly, her fury rising.

"How about I do you one better?" Callie offered, finally breaking her silence. "I'll tell you how I discovered El Dorado was here." She shot Erica daggers through her dark brown eyes. "This is what led me here." Callie pulled out her copy of the Spanish missionary's letter from the Vatican Archives, which described the location of the City of Paititi. "This document is what led me here – it's from the Vatican Archives. And I didn't show this to Arizona until after her journal went missing – which is why Dr. Hahn doesn't know about it."

Erica was stunned, but recovered quickly. "Of course I knew about it. With all the arguing and hassling that's been going on, I forgot."

"Really?" Arizona smiled with false sweetness. "If that's the case, then you must also be forgetting that the Vatican keeps meticulous records of anyone who visits their archives. " She pulled out another document, which Teddy had sent her earlier. "I had a colleague do some checking. It seems that your name appears nowhere on this list. And here's Dr. Torres's name – from just a few months ago, showing that she examined that exact document."

The last of her composure finally cracking, Erica flew into a rage. "Why you little bitch . . ." She lunged at Arizona, fists flying. However, the smaller blonde was quicker and ducked out of the way before planting one swift left hook of her own directly into Erica's nose.

As Erica grabbed her nose and began to storm off, Arizona shook her hand and flashed her dimples. She called after Erica in her perkiest, sweetest tone. "It was super to meet you, Dr. Hahn. Now, I suggest you remove yourself from Dr. Torres's dig site as soon as possible. It's for your own safety, after all." She smiled sweetly and gave a little wave as Erica stomped away.

Turning to John, she apologized. "Sorry for all the drama, John. But I really couldn't let her get away with that. Maybe we can work together on a joint print and film story, covering Dr. Torres's find?"

"Of course. And man, can you throw a punch!" He replied, astonished.

"Thanks. I've been wanting to do that for some time now. Luckily, the opportunity to defend myself and Dr. Torres presented itself. We'll talk more later, if that's okay?"

John nodded and Arizona led Callie back to the tent.

As they walked away, Callie turned towards Arizona with a mega-watt grin on her face. "You are fucking amazing, Arizona Robbins."

"I know." The blonde replied perkily, revealing her dimples once more.