So here is the update I promise to you guys.

I don't really know when I going to update again, but I'll try to do my best.

Enjoy!

Love in the Time of Cholera

Seattle, Washington. 1967

"So ... how long have you been here in Seattle?" I ask as I take a sip of coffee and subtly look at every detail of the blonde's face in front of me. I mean, I knew her face, but I'm just ... amaze ... to face her again after all this time.

"Okay if we're gonna have this conversation, you better stop staring at me like that." She giggles. Maybe I wasn't being so subtle. "And I've been here a little less than three weeks."

"Hmm ... sorry, it's just that-"

"I know, Callie. It is an adjustment. I understand that, don't worry." She said nonchalantly. "Ask me anything, I'm sure you want to know some things." She takes her coffee and leans back in the chair.

We are in a cafe place near the house. I suggested going there and be able to avoid Maddie's prying ears and Addison offered to take care of her while I talk to Arizona. This will be a long conversation for sure.

"When did this happen?" I finally ask. "I mean your makeover. When did that happen?" I rephrase my question when she gives me a blank stare.

"About a year." She looks out the window. "I was going through some things and I needed a change ... an urgent one ... even if I didn't know how to do it, but then I came across this group of black super fun women and then they help me and also gave me a place to stay." She chuckles while tells her story.

"Where was that?" I question softly.

"Detroit." My eyes widened and she lets out a chuckle. "I know, I know."

"A bit far from Elizabeth, don't you think?"

"I haven't been in Elizabeth for three years now." Her smile fades quickly.

"Why is that?"

"Lexie found out my secret." She gives me an impassive look and this information makes me somewhat nervous.

"What happened?"

"She told Mark Sloan about it and then she disowned me and told me I couldn't see Andy anymore and then all hell broke loose." She lowers her head as if she felt embarrassed by her words.

"I'm assuming that Andy is yours and Lexie's son."

"Yes, Andrew." Her eyes light up when she mentions her son and then she digs into her back pocket and pulls out a small picture of what I assume is hers wallet. "That's him. It's the only picture I have of him, I haven't seen him since that night." She passed me the photo.

"Well, he's definitely your son, look at those dimples in her chubby face and his blue eyes are magic. Just like yours." I say with a genuine smile on my face. "I'm sorry you can't see him again." I give her back what appears to be her most precious treasure.

"Yeah, well it's not like I had any choice. I never have a say when it comes about my own children." She stares at me, letting me know that her words also apply to me.

"What happened then? You said that all hell broke loose." I choose to ignore her words for now.

She sighs and then resets to her chair. "Like I said, Lexie forbade me to see Andy and then told Mark. The guy came to our house in the middle of the night with a gun and threatened to kill me." She says while my breath choked in my throat. "He was defending her honor or whatever and said I didn't deserve to live-"

"And who gives him the right to say those things? He isn't God!" I am outraged by now.

"Yeah, well, he kind of thought he had that right. Anyway, he was threatening to kill me and incredibly, Lexie defended me to him." She looks at me before adding more. "Also you were right about them. Lexie cheated on me with Mark, I don't know how long or if she did it all the time, but she also knew about you and me and she reproached me that too." She looks at me expectantly.

"Well that's a lot of things." It's all I can muster. I'm still processing her words.

"That's not even the beginning." She lets out a bitter laugh.

"Sorry, but I have to ask and I don't want to offend you or upset you, but I couldn't get this out of your head since you told me about her pregnancy ..."

"You can ask me whatever you want, Callie." She cut me when I'm obviously digress.

"There's a possibility that Andy is actually Mark's baby and not yours?" I break in a hurry and I can see the flash of pain in her beautiful blue eyes. Crap. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for asking you something like this."

"No, no, it's fine." She looks everywhere but me. "I thought so too when she told me about her affair with Mark. I mean, the thought crossed my mind, but then she always defended the fact that I was the father of her child. She defended me before Mark ... twice ... and she always claimed that I was Andy's father. I don't know, I guess I cling to the idea that he is my son, you know?"

"Yes, I know." I replied, nodding slowly.

"Even if he weren't mine, I don't care. I learned to love him with all that I am. He is my son and it's hard, it is hard being away from him all these years." She lightly clean tear running down her face.

"I know what you mean. If someone ever take Madison away from me, I don't know what would happen." I mentioned quietly.

She bites her lower lip, but in the end she says nothing. Then she takes a deep breath and continued. "Things got ugly and at some point Mark is upon me while hitting me. We fighter on the ground and I remember listening to Lexie asking for him to stop, but he didn't. Anyway, somehow I got control of the gun and suddenly a shot was heard."

I am at a loss of words. I literally stopped breathing for about 30 seconds. "Please tell me you didn't-"

"No, I didn't. The gun went off and ended up wounding Mark in the abdomen. There was so much blood and Lexie's cries were heard throughout the neighborhood." She looks at her hands as remembering to have them covered with blood.

"Arizona-"

"Lexie told me to leave before the neighbors came to the house, but I didn't want to. I wanted to help her to bring Mark to the hospital, but she practically begged me to get out, so that was what I did." Her voice is about to break.

"So ... Mark is-" I can't even say it. Not because of him, since the guy is a totally jerk, but because what it could mean for her.

"He is alive." She said quickly and I can feel the tension out of my chest. "I looked for it in the newspaper. It was in the front page, but the story was different." She looked at me with obvious fear in her eyes. "Lexie said someone had broken into the house and tried to rob because she was alone in the house because her husband abandoned her. She said that Mark had come to visit her and when he came there he saw the guy in the house, they fought and the man wounded Mark pretty bad and then just took off." She looks at me expectantly, looking for a reaction, but I don't know what to say. This is completely crazy.

"Arizona, this is too much. This is ... unbelievable." I managed to say in the midst of my shock.

"I know. I was surprised myself when I read the story the next day. I thought I would be a fugitive from justice for attempted murder, I mean my fingerprints were on Mark's gun ..."

"Maybe your brother took care of it." I tried to digest her words.

"Callie, my brother was the one who told my secret to Lexie." She spits.

"What? I thought it was imperative that no one knew the truth about you and your real identity." I look confused.

"Well, that deal fell apart when I threw in his face that his boyfriend had left him for another man."

"And why did you do that? You always have to provoke your brother and then things happen like he grind you to death -"

"He provoke me!" She raises her voice and both look at the people around us. Now we call a little attention, but everyone quickly turns back to what they were doing. "Look, he was saying things ... nasty things about you and what you and I had. So I hit him where it hurt the most." She says deadpanned. "And I have no regrets about it." She shrugged.

"Yeah, well by defend my honor you got your brother move away from your son." I cross my arms.

"And why do you care? I mean, you have made quite clear that you give a damn what happens with me"

"Okay I'll stop right there." I say sternly. "There has not been a damn day I hasn't thought about how you were. It hasn't been a day since I left Elizabeth that didn't think about you. But the idea of leaving that town was that I got to have a quiet life with my daughter and that you could get on with your happy life as much as you wanted."

"Our daughter, Callie. And what I wanted was to have my daughter with me too-"

"And how was that supposed to work?" I refute. "You were going to keep Maddie hidden so nobody knew she was part of your dirty little secret?"

"We could have figure that out. Together. Like it should be. You should never run away. You didn't even gave me the chance to have a voice in my daughter's life. You just left and never looked back." She said through gritted teeth and for the first time I see the inflamed vein in her neck while she is talking.

"I don't regret that." She looks at me like I just slap her in the face. "I did what I thought was best for the two-"

"Get me away from my daughter's life it was the best?"

"I never said I was thinking about you." I clarify severely. "I acted selfishly and based on your lack of determination, I decided to leave and take my daughter away from that town. You wanted to get on with your life the way it was and, well, I wanted a better life for my daughter and myself." I said firmly, but inside I feel guilt by looking at her face.

"I can't believe you just said that, Callie." She finally says and looks away.

"Sorry, Arizona. But it would never have worked if I had stayed in Elizabeth. You know that and I know that. The best was leaving."

"Right. Because leaving without even giving me a clue of where you could be with my daughter was the best? Right? It was the best!" She spits sarcastically. "It was the best for whom, exactly?"

"For everyone involved." She snorts in my words. "What's done is done, Arizona."

"Sure and I just have to forget about the last 4 years of my life and get over the fact that I missed Madison's life for the past three years, right?"

"I'm not saying you have to forget. You just gotta let it go."

And we are now at an impasse. We just stared each other, waiting for the other to break away, but neither of us dares.

She is angry with me and with good reason. She hasn't been around Madison and she blames me for that. In which I have 100 percent guilt, but I have no regrets. I did what I had to do and I won't apologize for wanting a life with my daughter away from Elizabeth. A different life. A better life. A new beginning.

Finally she breaks our gaze and stares at her hands, so her blond hair is falling over her face, she takes one of her blond locks behind her ear and then I noticed more than just her beauty. She has something on the wrist.

"It's that a tattoo?" I ask sharper than I thought.

She looks at me confused before realizing what I'm talking about and then poured a fleeting smile on her face. "Umm ... Yeah. The girls I met in Detroit made it. It was like a ritual to be one of them or something." She laughs and I can't help but laugh with her.

"A group of black women wants you to be part of their group? Sorry, that's a bit ... random." We share a short laugh again.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. A white blonde woman in the middle of a black neighborhood, what are the chances of making friends, right? But yes. Well, at first everyone saw me weird, you know like a fly in milk, but then things lightened." She explains, her dimpled smile never left her face. "It was a beauty salon, actually." She adds with a laugh.

"Oh really? That had to be an experience." I wiggle my eyebrows comically.

"It was." She laughs louder. "I actually worked with them for about six to seven months. I did men's hair. After all, I always did my own hair when pretended to be Andrew, so I kind of have some experience in that area."

"I'm assuming that they are responsible for making you look as hot as you look now?" Wait a second, did I just said that out loud?

She squints and bites her lower lip. Well, now who has learned to flirt with a glance? I think I taught her that at some point. "I've always been hot, Callie. Just, you know, in another version of myself." She gives me a lopsided grin, exposing one dimple and I can feel my cheeks went warm in the process.

This can't be happening again. She is using her charm on me again and hell, is working.

Stay strong, Torres. Keep it together.

"Umm ..." I clear my throat. "What-What happened to Lexie? You haven't heard from her since then?" Good saved. I need to talk about something else or this - sexual? – Tension will get the better of me.

"No, I actually haven't hear from them. She or my brother or my parents. I really don't care much about their lives. Well, maybe Lexie's. Which is why I established contact with Leah, one of the girls in TAO."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, I used to call her when I had the chance and she gave me small updates about Lexie and Andy, but after a few months she stopped taking my calls and then I didn't know about Lexie anymore. What I managed to know was that Mark moved in my house with Lexie after the incident. So I guess it's he who is raising my son." She gives me a bitter and tense smile.

"Well, that can't be good. The man can't even take care of himself."

"Well, hopefully Lexie is there to do it the right way."

"Yeah."

We fall into a silent, comfortable this time. We ordered another coffee that must now be the third we have since we sat here.

"Tell me about Madison." She asks with extra joy in her voice. Almost like Madison when she wants ice cream at night before bed. I can totally see Maddie in her.

"Madison Robin Torres." I begin, but she interrupted me.

"Robin?"

"Yes, that was for you. I thought that since she wasn't going to take your last name, could at least include you in her name. I wanted her to take a part of you, in addition to genes, I mean." She gives me a gentle smile and then nods, let me know that wants me to continue. "Mmm 3.5 kg with 39 cm when she was born, without any hair on her little head, she was born with gray eyes and but some days after that they turned bright blue." I started talking about my little girl and I can see how the immediate smile emerges from Arizona's lips. "Insightful, incredibly smart and tenacious. That girl is like a little genius or something. That's what Mrs. Bailey said." We laugh together.

"By the time I spent with her yesterday I think I can agree with Mrs. Bailey. Who's Mrs. Bailey anyway?" Arizona rested her cheek on her elbow as she leaned on the table.

"She's our neighbor, she usually help me look after Maddie when I have work. Which it's almost every day, but when Addison has the opposite turn to mine, we took turns to take care of her." I explain.

I see Arizona back up in her chair and crosses her arms. "Hmm ... What about you and Addison?" She asks through jaw clenching. Is she mad or something?

"She's my best friend." I say and copy her defensive posture.

"And it's just that? Are you sure?" She raises an eyebrow in question. Huh had never seen that trick ... Okay forget about that. Focus.

"I don't think that's any of your concern, Arizona." I answer as firm as she asked the question.

"Sure it isn't." She snorts now.

"I honestly don't know what you want me to say, Arizona." I unfolded my arms and sighed heavily.

"I want you to tell me you didn't do the same thing Lexie did and placed another parent in Madison's life? I want you to tell me I wasn't just a fleeting memory in your mind."

"You know that's not who you are, Arizona."

"Then why you never talked to Maddie about who I am?"

"I told you yesterday. I didn't know how to explain the situation. She's just a little girl and I don't care how smart she is, she's still my baby and I will always seek to protect her." I don't give room for discussions in this area of my life. When it comes to Maddie, I'll do anything to protect her.

"You don't need to protect her from me, Callie." Arizona says softly this time.

"I know, it's just ... I don't know, I didn't know how to explain it and I didn't know if I would ever going to see you again, not that I didn't wanted, but all chances were on my mind, one of which was that You never find us, so why bother to find an explanation to a prematurely smarter child, if you weren't going to come after us, right."

"Right." She says blankly. "Well, just so you know, I did looked out for you after you left Elizabeth, in fact that's why I'm sitting here with you." She says emphatically and crosses her leg. So feminine. I'm curious about this new her.

Stop it. Stop thinking about it. Stop thinking about her that way. That ship has sailed ... and sank.

"How did you find me, anyway?" I clear my throat and divert my thoughts to the current conversation.

"I've been rolling from state to state, town to town looking for you, Callie. I think I have come to know the whole country in the last three years. Except maybe New York, it costs a fortune to get there and I got to know Miami for a few weeks, but yet." She chuckles. "Let's say the hot weather is not exactly my favorite, but I enjoyed the beach, though. I had never been in the beach before." I smiled at her this time.

"I bet you must have a lot of stories to tell." I can see her visually tense in my words. What I don't know is why. It makes me wonder.

"Yeah, sure." She now avoids my gaze. Now I'm intrigued about what she was doing in the last three years. "So whenever I come to a new town I search the phone book and see if there is someone named Callie Torres or Addison Montgomery, I was in town looking for a temporary job at least for one or two months, winning enough money and went to the next town. When I came here I did the same, but I didn't found your name. The telephone number of the house in which you live is registered under Addison's name. That's how I knew where to go." She elaborates.

"Wow that's good ... a lot of work." I divert my eyes, because I know the next thing she's going to ask.

"Hmm it became more complicated when I started dressing like a woman. Comes to happens that it is easier to get a job if you are man. I think the place in which I spent more time is in Detroit. These women really changed me and not just physically." She leans back and stares at me. "Hey, does Addison live with you?" And there it is. The shoe that I was waiting to fall.

"Most of the time, yes." I can't say anything but the truth.

"Hmm." This time I can't read through her face.

"We've been together since I was 4 months pregnant and we decided it was best for us to live together. We would help each other to keep the house, take care of Maddie-"

"And also warm you up at night." She cuts me off and my jaw just dropped.

"I can't believe you just said that." She just stares at me as if what she said was the dumbest thing in the world. "It's so inappropriate what you said-"

"But it's true, right? She was there for you and then you felt alone and she was in the next room one night and she just went into your room and one thing led to another and when you realized you were naked under her screaming her name, am I close? It was how it happened?"

"This conversation is over." I say as I stand up, I pay for the coffee and leave the place with her hot on my heels.

She takes me by the arm and turns me around to face her. "Could you at least tell me if you get into bed with her before or after you left Elizabeth?"

"What the fuck are you talking about Arizona?" She's about start to say something else, but I stopped her. "You know what, I don't care. What I do or not do with my life is my problem. My sentimental or sex life or whatever is not your concern, not anymore. So you need to back the hell off, because you're going through the line."

I'm about to leave again, but she stopped me. "I don't give a damn who you've slept with."

"Clearly," I snorted.

"I just want to be close to Maddie, I've lost one of my children, I don't want to lose my daughter too." She says calmly this time.

"I won't keep her away from you, Arizona. If you want to be her mother, you can do it. I have no problem with that, but you gotta deal your issues about Addison, because she is also an important figure in Madison's life and I actually give a damn if you have a problem with the type of relationship that I have with Addison. Addie won't leave Maddie's life just because you can't be civil about this and get over the fact that I no longer belong to you. It's that clear?" I give my terms, now only depends on whether if she will grow a pair and do the best for our daughter.

"Yes, loud and clear." She finally answered.

"So glad we're on the same page then." I say a little cheeky. "Now I have to go. I have the afternoon shift at the supermarket and I want to spend some time with my daughter."

"What about us, Callie? We're just going to pretend it never happened? Because it actually happened. There is a daughter to prove it." She comes close to me a little, almost invading my personal space.

"There is no such thing like us, Arizona. There's a Madison and you and then there's a Madison and me. That's all there is." I literally can't take a step back and now she is so close to me that her lush scent invades my senses.

"Is there an Addison and you?" Her voice is hoarse and is only a whisper near me.

You're killing me. Why can't I just turn around and go or maybe stop stare her lips? Oh yes, it's because I never know how to say no to those eyes and those - now red – lips which are inches from mine.

"No. There is not." I say and she smiles. I can almost see the arrogance in her smile, that's what makes me wake up from my dream. I physically pull away from her.

"Can I buy you dinner? Madison, you and I, I mean if you want to." She takes her hands to the back and rocking on her feet. God could this woman be more like my daughter? Maddie's like a little version of Arizona is. I can see that now.

"Today is family day. We have a family dinner, you're invited if you want to come over." I propose.

"Will Addison be there?" She presses her lips.

"She's Madison's cool aunt, so yes, she'll be there." She makes a face of discomfort. "Suck it up." I say as I walk away.

"I'll be there." She screams behind me.

"Good." I hope so.

All mistakes are mine.