AN: I'm really sorry for the delay between updates. Life gets in the way sometimes, which is very rude! :-) Anyway, a long part to make up for my slackness; though this part contains a warning for some sexual content.
Thanks for sticking with this story despite the long wait. I appreciate it!
Cheers.
Part 10
The thing with relaxing is that it's horrifically boring to people who are rehearsed in fourteen hour working days, snippets of sleep and adrenalin fuelled surgeries. When days are filled with patients, who teeter precariously between the chasm of life and death, the notion of doing nothing, is barely short of mundane. Still, Callie and Arizona did well to last three days before the distinct twitchiness set in with half read novels set aside and tabloid magazines discarded. Meeting each others eyes from where they sat outside, they shared a knowing chuckle. "I know," Callie said, groaning dramatically. "I'm as bored as all crap too."
"It's not that I'm bored," Arizona said tactfully, "I'm just needing some kind of change in stimuli."
Callie laughed. "How very academic of you. How do people do this all the time? Not work and just…laze around?"
"I suppose it's something that you adjust to, almost like acclimatising."
"Remind me never to retire."
"Never?"
"Well, never until we decide to pack up and travel around the world indefinitely."
"Not sure what our kids will think of that!"
Smiling, Callie widened her eyes that sparkled at the mere mention of children. "Kids, hey? Hopefully they'll be through college and living their own lives by then."
Arizona shrugged, though she smiled genuinely. The word had really just slipped out of her mouth, a Freudian slip of sorts. She had been thinking, just over the past few days about her level of commitment to Callie, the promise she made, post trauma in the chaos on the outskirts of the hospital grounds. The idea of holding an infant, an odorous, wrinkled and fluid smeared newborn, actually filled her with hope; anticipation for a future that she hadn't quite dared to imagine. The anxiety was still there, simmering below the surface, but it wasn't as overwhelming as it once had been. Those days and weeks when Callie had her back to the wall, ultimatum blanketing her fears – when the only way seemed out. "I promised," Arizona offered softly, eyes drifting out to the vineyard.
"Yeah," Callie agreed, nodding. "You haven't changed your mind?"
"No," she responded clearly. "Now doesn't quite seem like the best time, but one day soon, when everything is settled."
Callie laughed again and nodded eagerly. "Just say the word and my feet will be in those stirrups."
A snort inadvertently escaped Arizona's nose and she clapped a palm over her mouth. "Nice, Calliope!"
"What? It's true." Callie shrugged, a wide smile spread across her face and the corner of her eyes creased. The laugh lines that were so characteristic of her persona, the one she preferred to show the world anyway. "Alright, what do you want to do? We could drive back into town and do some shopping or have lunch at a café. Or, we could actually take one of those walks we've talked about, follow the path and see if we can find that lake?"
"And try out our non-existent boating skills? Didn't I read they have a couple of row boats?"
"Yep, can't quite remember the last time I stepped foot in a boat of any description but I'm sure it'll be entertaining if nothing else. So, is that a vote for a walk?"
Arizona nodded and leant forward, scooping hair off her neck and messily tying it back with an elastic from around her wrist. "Yep, as much as I need a bit of action, not having to actually talk to anyone or interact is pretty good."
Rolling her eyes, Callie stood and held a hand out for Arizona to grip, hoisting her slowly to her feet. They quickly changed into loose jeans and summery tops, thin cardigans tied around their waists. Callie tossed a few items into a small backpack, drinks and various snack items – dried fruit and nuts, some decadent chocolate chip cookies and a couple of yogurt dripped muesli slices. By the time she emerged from the kitchen, Arizona stood just outside, hands by her side and face tilted to the sky with eyes closed behind dark sunglasses. "Suppose we should take that map, hey?" Callie murmured, stepping out the door before swiftly disappearing back inside and returning a few moments later. "I trust my sense of direction," she said, amusingly, "but yours, not so much."
Laughing, Arizona forced a brief look of disgust across her expression. "Not true, I can read a compass."
"Handy," Callie acknowledged, "if we had one."
"Surely there's one on our phones, or you know, the GPS might be more useful than a compass granted, but options are good."
Callie giggled childishly. "We really do talk some crap sometimes."
"Something tells me we can just follow the paths and we'll end up somewhere."
Falling into stride, they weaved down towards the rows of vines until they reached a wider space that led them through the vineyard, each plant yielding large bunches of green grapes just starting to ripen. Callie fiddled slightly with the straps on her backpack, pulling it tight against her spine and repositioning her shirt to fall over the waistband of her jeans. Arizona's fingertips lightly brushed at Callie's hip, smoothing the material as they walked. "I like that top, remind me to borrow it sometime."
"Really? I can't even remember when or where I got this."
"You wore it once at the hospital, after your shift. I watched you walk from the lounge and to the elevator, just thinking how amazing you looked." Looking back in front of her, Arizona's voice dropped. "It was when we were…having issues, the day after we randomly kissed."
"Now that, I remember," Callie nodded, slipping her hand into Arizona's and entwining their fingers. "It was so hard, I just wanted to follow you or pull her back. I just stood there staring at you, walking away. It was awful."
"I felt bad, I just saw you and it was all a rush of weirdness and emotion. I think I cried for hours that night, I vaguely recall Teddy sleeping on my sofa. I think she came over to my apartment after I lost it on the phone to her."
"Mmmm," Callie slowly hummed, tugging Arizona's hand to her lips and kissing her fingers. "Cristina threw a box of tissues at me one night, when I wouldn't or couldn't move off the couch."
Arizona laughed inadvertently, sheepishly glancing at Callie. "That's a little harsh, that girl needs to work on her people skills. A great surgeon yes, and a good friend to Meredith I hear but really, a bit more consistency with patients, families and colleagues could go a long way."
"She's alright, just a little intense. She could probably do with learning the art of polite conversation but I've also seen her really stand up when she's had to. Like us all I guess."
Nodding, Arizona allowed silence to fall between them, maintaining a grip on Callie's hand. The uneven ground meant that a tug of pain would randomly curve around her side, depending on the fall of her gait and roll of her hip. Fortunately, it was more of a discomfort now and an inconvenience to the somewhat amorous sex she would like to be having with Callie. But still, frustrating and a constant reminder of the reason they were hiding away in the middle of nowhere.
"Okay?" Callie asked softly after feeling Arizona's hold on her hand tighten and relax a couple of times as they continued to make their way to a path leading into some bushland.
Arizona tilted her head and exhaled heavily. "Yeah, I'm good."
"Ribs hurting?" she asked concernedly.
"Not really. Just a little, nothing bad, I promise."
"You happy to keep going?"
"Absolutely. It's just the ground being a bit rough, that's all."
Callie shrugged. "You know I would be complaining constantly if it were me, don't you? My pain threshold is freakishly low."
"Oh I don't know, you're pretty stubborn Calliope," Arizona said, maintaining a light tone and slight coy smile. There was such a sense of shame that Arizona felt; and for so long she had been forced to keep secrets and create a believable façade that she had reverted quickly. The responsibility that she felt and the blame she placed on herself were difficult to challenge and the idea of complaining, seemed selfish and egotistical.
The injuries had brought back many of the same emotions she had experienced during the time she had been in a relationship with Emily. There were hardly words to describe how complex the shame was, the self-deprecating thoughts that accompanied the idea that she could once have loved someone so violent and unpredictable, and how inadequate she felt at her failure to protect herself. It's such a basic human drive, and she was so poorly equipped.
"With some things," Callie agreed. "Yet, not everything and for an orthopaedic surgeon, I've really had very few injuries. Never even broken a bone in fact, barely had a sprain."
"Wish I could say the same," Arizona responded softly, wincing as her foot caught a thin vine that had fallen loose of the trellis. She stumbled, catching herself easily but receiving the familiar painful pull at her side.
Callie grimaced in sympathy, reaching her free hand across her body to lightly rub at Arizona's forearm. "Ouch," she acknowledged, when Arizona failed to comment. Earning just the slightest glance of agreement from Arizona, Callie led her slowly towards a carved wooden map. Two large boulders signalled the entrance to the walk and a distinct path was clearly evident. "So, if we stay left the entire way, we'll hit the lake – is that what you get from this?"
"Yeah," Arizona said, trailing her index finger against the indentations in the wood. "It's the quickest way and looks like two miles to me. If we stay to the right, it's five but goes to the other side of the lake."
"Two miles sounds good to me," Callie murmured, releasing Arizona's hand to swing her backpack off her shoulder.
"Me too," Arizona confirmed, accepting a bottle of water when Callie offered it. She drew in a few mouthfuls and handed it back, waiting patiently while Callie did the same and returned the bag to her back. 'Ready?"
"You sure you're up to it?" Callie asked, quickly reading Arizona's frustrated expression. "Okay, I know. I'm being all smothering."
Arizona raised a hand and pushed lightly at Callie's chest, amused rather than particularly annoyed. "I kind of like it when you smother. Sort of."
"Now didn't that seem genuine," Callie said, sniggering. "You know," she said gently as they slowly started to make their way into the coolness of dense foliage, "can I ask if you're feeling any more relaxed or still pretty stressed out…" she trailed off, not entirely sure what it was she was trying to ask; articulation failing her as she attempted to be casual and non-threatening.
Not rushing to answer, Arizona briefly tilted her chin skywards, catching glimpses of blue through the wide spread of thick branches and immense greenery. "There was this time, once, when I was a child and I can't quite remember my age. Maybe around nine or ten, and my father, he was home from work because of an injury. He hurt his back during some yearly proficiency drill. He was home and miserable, just an absolute nightmare to be around. Tim and I would try and stay back at school, add in extra curricular activities, just so that we could come home and inhale some dinner and then disappear into our bedrooms. But there was this one weekend and the Colonel was pissed, he wanted to be at work. He needed to be at work. He got Tim and I out the back of our house and mapped out a ring with some rope and then made us fight…box I suppose, under the premise that he should have taught us how to really fight by then. Because prepubescent kids, who were both fairly quiet and inoffensive, really needed to be drilled on how to throw right hooks and effective abdominal blows. So, we stand in the middle of this makeshift boxing ring and we both manage a few reluctant and I think even apologetic, soft punches. Then he cracks it, starts screaming at us that we will never be anyone or anything if we can't defend ourselves or protect each other. And he makes us have this full on fight, no protective gear, just bare knuckles and t-shirts and shorts. Tim and I, we iced each others bruises, patched up a few scrapes and swollen fingers afterwards. We cried, talked about how much we hated it, how fighting and power just screws people up and we'll never be involved. Never be a part of the school yard brawls or wrestling teams, football, that kind of stuff. It's ironic you know. Tim ended up on the trigger end of rifles and dead, fighting a war that I'm not sure I even understand. And I ended up at the other extreme, powerless. I almost told him, one day, early on; but I stopped because I thought he might really hurt her. Probably would have."
Callie exhaled a breath that she had been holding and she was forced to draw in a few quick inhalations to try and even out her panting. "That's…I don't know what that is. That's full on; I like to think that there're other ways to teach kids how to protect themselves or be assertive even."
"I think it made sense to him, probably still would; parents do the best they can with the world they live in. That was how he was raised, it seemed right."
"Yeah, and I excuse my parents every day with that same logic. But it's not really good enough is it?"
"It is what it is."
"How come you told me that story, Arizona?" Callie asked gently, reluctant to scare away the fluid way Arizona had spoken, the words rolling unfiltered from her mouth.
She smiled slightly, fiddling with the cap she was wearing and sliding some loose strands of blond hair under the brim. "I was thinking about that earlier, I wouldn't have thought about it for ages, years maybe. Tim and I both went back to school on the Monday with bruises on our faces and cuts on our hands. I think I had two fingers strapped together and Tim had this massively swollen knee where I had kicked it out from underneath him. People asked questions and we laughed, smoothed over the injuries like they looked worse than they were. We had this story prepared, where we had fought over a bike or something random. We presented this disguise to the world – I think that's where it started. It doesn't matter what's happening, you just pretend. In the same way Tim whispered to me one night just before his last deployment that he was scared; he didn't want to go back. But he made me promise that I would never tell anyone, ever. And I haven't…until now I guess."
"Protecting his legacy…protecting everyone else from the truth of what he was feeling."
"It's always been more important that other people feel good, if that makes sense. We did it, as kids – we beat each other up because it made my father smile, cheer. He even talked about for months and it came up randomly years later even. How proud he was of his two brave soldiers, who could fight better and withstand pain more, than many of his men. Warped, but again, it is what it is."
Callie nodded slowly, her elbow lightly grazing Arizona's arm as they walked side by side. "And I guess you got a bit more practise…with Emily." In her mind, Callie had depersonalised her and a range of inappropriate terms raced around at will. But lacking a filter in her language was hardly going to be beneficial for Arizona.
Scoffing in response, Arizona nodded. "Just a little," she answered sarcastically before hastily continuing. "Sorry. Just a bit of an understatement really, I became very adept at disguising injuries and bruises."
"Surely some people noticed though; did you ever get asked?"
"Yeah," Arizona responded slowly. "Sometimes, but people never keep asking I suppose or they think it's none of their business. I wasn't close to anyone particularly. A few times I had nurses or Attendings ask how I hurt my arm or got a specific bruise on my face. I always had something ready, an excuse. It's amazing what people believe when you're laughing and being all cheerful." She hesitated momentarily before continuing. "Though maybe they didn't really, I don't know. I probably wouldn't but that doesn't mean I would push hard either; people will ask for help or make changes when they're ready."
"You don't think anything would have helped you to leave earlier?" Callie, despite having an obvious concern and need to protect her partner, also had a genuine interest and keenness to understand what it had been like for Arizona. And she had been reluctant to ask too many questions, knowing that Arizona would likely shut down or bury herself in some distraction strategy. As well as treading a fine line between wanting to understand and wanting to know.
Shrugging, Arizona pondered the question respectfully. "I actually don't think so. Maybe if I met someone who I connected with, developed a really close relationship or even some sort of rapport. Then perhaps. It wasn't like I needed information or financial options, it was the emotional side of things that kept me there. That kind of control and manipulation doesn't just break easily."
"And if you're so focussed on hiding what's really happening, it makes sense that you don't make close friends."
"Exactly, and there were some really nice people that I worked with who in a different time and place, I would have loved to get to know. Even outside of work. I remember going to work one day, and it was after I had been working there for a while, and I had these clear marks on my neck. There wasn't a person that didn't comment on the fact I was wearing a turtleneck sweater under my scrubs in the middle of summer, I just laughed it off as one of my many eccentricities. But one of the scrub nurses, who I worked with heaps, told me this long story about a patient coming into the ER in her early working days and how she eventually died from injuries caused by an assault from her partner. This nurse stared at me, and told me that it was the trigger for her to leave her husband, that after trying to operate on this woman and not being able to save her life made her realise that she didn't want to leave her children without a mother. I remember feeling guilty, that I was clearly transparent. And then I had the rest of the week off work and avoided her from then on. Her name was Laura, I would have liked to have known her better I think."
Callie took a moment to absorb, to process the amount that Arizona was disclosing and the small detail that was so often left absent. There was a sudden rush of birds fleeing from the high branches of trees above them, a kaleidoscope of colour and flapping wings dancing above them. They both watched, slowing their stride to glance upwards and staring for the twenty seconds it took for the surroundings to still again. Callie shook her head, shaking away the distraction though Arizona lips had curled into a distinct smile. "Something scared them away," Callie observed quietly.
"Probably just something on the ground. Once one moves, they all do."
"Weird," Callie confirmed, following Arizona when she started to return to their previous easy pace. "So, she tried to strangle you once," she validated softly, voice barely audible above the cracking of twigs under their feet.
Arizona nodded. "Yeah, a few times though I never lost consciousness or anything like that. I don't think anyway." She could hardly comprehend her own lack of anxiety, as they continued to stick to the path and head towards the lake clearing. Where usually her chest would constrict and the words she wanted to share with Callie would catch in her throat, in that moment, she felt relaxed and open. Like there wasn't a question she couldn't answer. Pushing away the reflection quickly, Arizona slipped her hand to the inside of Callie's elbow, sliding her fingers down her forearm until she could curl them around her wrist. She worried that if she pondered her lack of inhibition too much, then the apprehension would come rushing back.
"Were they the worse? Injuries that is, or assaults?"
"Ummm, in some ways," Arizona answered, thumb caressing the tight tendons at the base of Callie's palm. "Like I said to you, I think the last one was the worst, before I left. The idea that my life was actually in danger was my trigger. Each other time, it's strange, but I never actually felt that she might go too far." Callie scowled. "Well," Arizona continued, noticing Callie's disgusted expression, "anything was too far but in terms of actually threatening my life; that was new. And sometimes the other stuff was worse, the things she said, the way she made me feel. That was what often upset me more."
"How she made you feel?" Callie prompted, though her stomach almost somersaulted at the possibility.
Arizona exhaled and repositioned her hand to interlace with Callie's. "It was a long time ago," she murmured, "and I haven't felt that way since and you definitely don't make me feel like that."
"Like you're not good enough?"
"Yep, you…you just somehow make me feel like I'm an equal…like I'm this important part of your life."
"Hmmm, except those moments where I yelled at you."
Arizona chuckled light-heartedly. "Even then, surprisingly enough."
Callie reacted with an incredulous, wide eyed look. "You're insane."
Shaking her head, Arizona squeezed Callie's fingers. "Nope, got the therapy file to prove it too." She earned a laugh in response and a comfortable stillness fell between them, a match for the calm surrounds that they walked through. It was only another few minutes and they appeared at a clearing that suddenly exposed an impressive expanse of water. Arizona's eyes literally lit up at the image, scanning the various picnic tables, hammocks and old wooden rowboats along a grassy embankment, shadowed by grainy sand. "This is beautiful," she murmured, tugging at Callie's arm. "I want to laze in that boat in the middle of the lake for a while, but you might need to actually row."
Laughing, Callie nodded her agreement. "If that's the smile I get, then it's a small price to pay."
"Wonder what I get for this then?" Arizona playfully asked, tipping her chin up and pressing a lingering kiss to Callie's lips. Grinning with the action, Arizona slipped her tongue to tap against Callie's teeth, giggling childishly.
"Come on then," Callie eagerly insisted, pulling back from Arizona's embrace. "There can be more of that when we're bobbing around out there. That's if we don't capsize."
"Oooo, is this not a scene out of some rom com?" Arizona questioned, taking the backpack Callie offered as she started to drag the boat a few metres towards the water.
"I don't know, you're the romantic comedy queen. How does it end?"
"I think we can make up our own ending," Arizona answered, grinning, eyes traversing the length of Callie.
"As long as I don't end up in this water…" Callie trailed off, grunting as she halted the wooden craft at the edge, oars swinging dangerously to the side. Arizona simply shrugged, slipping off her shoes and placing the items in the bow.
A few minutes later and they were slowly easing away from the shore, Arizona's easy mood continuing with a string of observations and comments.
"Where is she?"
"Excuse me?" Teddy asked, spinning around at the sound of a voice behind her. She had just finished a lengthy shift and was escaping with Mark for a drink at Joe's before a few of their colleagues joined them.
"I asked you, where she is." The words were clearly slurred under the deep, harsh tone and despite the limited previous interaction, Teddy and Mark could both clearly identify the woman as Emily. A clearly unkempt Emily, who appeared dishevelled and unclean. She had barely tied her knotted hair back and the fitted shirt she wore over stained jeans was buttoned incorrectly. She was clearly unravelling.
"You're not welcome here," Mark stated strongly, crossing his arms over his chest and squaring his shoulders.
"She thinks she can just piss off after what she's done." She stumbled then, short heels unsettling her footing on the grassy alcove.
"How about you get out of here and sober up before you end up a patient," Teddy muttered angrily, revolted by the image in front of her. Emily gritted her teeth and with nostrils flaring, muttered a string of barely comprehensible expletives. "And stay away from her, you hear me. She's not here to protect you right now, so if I were you, I would walk away before you do something you might really regret."
"It's all crap, everything she's saying. You're fools to believe her; Arizona is screwed up. You think you can help her? Fix her? Yeah, so did I and look where it got me. With a fucking court date."
"Enough," Mark bellowed and Emily instinctually stepped back. "Do not go near her, do not touch her. Do not contact her, phone her. Do you understand what I am saying, you imbecile?"
Hesitating only fleetingly, Emily released an awkward laugh. "Shouldn't you want to give Arizona back to me? Wouldn't that leave your little casual relationship with Callie back on again? Your reputation precedes you Dr Sloan."
With his neck flushing crimson with anger, Mark stepped back and shook his head. "You're mad," he stated incredulously. "Stay away from us all or court will be the least of your concerns."
"Tell me where she is." Childlike, she stamped her feet and curled her hands into tight fists. "I've been to her apartment; I've been on the ward. Where is she?"
Turning away, Mark gripped Teddy's bicep before she could open her mouth and harshly comment. "Ignore her," he instructed with a low hushed whisper.
"She's acting like an escalating psych patient, Mark," Teddy responded, hearing the echoes of where is she, being repetitively yelled as they walked away.
Mark nodded. "I know."
"We should check Arizona's apartment."
"Yep, already planning to."
"Should we call Callie?"
"Let's just wait and see what we find first. Let them have a few days of peace, she obviously doesn't know where they are."
"Okay."
"Okay."
"Ow, Arizona. There's something poking in to my back," Callie dramatically whined, pulling her shoulders off the floor of the row boat and blindly fishing around beneath a pile of picnic rugs to locate the offending object. "See, a buckle off a bloody life vest."
"Relax Calliope," Arizona soothed almost sleepily, eyes closed as she absorbed the direct sunlight.
Callie sighed heavily and tried again to lie down, Arizona's fingertips quickly finding her arm to gently caress. "You're going to burn, you know," she added, although she had to admit without any object pressing into her spine, the gentle motion of the water was incredibly relaxing.
"Sunblock. I'm covered in sunblock."
"Good," Callie responded, drawing in a few deep breaths and squirming closer to Arizona. They had spent the last thirty minutes floating aimlessly around and having a drink and some food. Arizona had set a fishing rod out into the water, having cast and wound it in a few times with not a bite to be felt. Just another of her many talents, not to mention a tribute to growing up with a brother and his friends.
"Relax," Arizona instructed again. "You're all tense."
"Well, you did imply there would be some alternative relaxation strategies occurring at this point," Callie teased, rolling her head to the side and pressing her nose into Arizona's messy hair.
Arizona laughed. "And if you would stop complaining for three seconds, I might get a chance!"
"One. Two…" Still chuckling, Arizona quickly turned her face to devour Callie's lips, not hesitating to indulge in a long, deep kiss. "Three," Callie murmured breathlessly when Arizona inched away, mouth open as she drew in her own hasty mouthfuls of air.
"Is that what you had in mind?"
"Mmmm," Callie confirmed, fingertips tracing Arizona's jaw line and coming to rest on the side of her neck. "Definitely relaxing."
"Good," Arizona husked, trailing her knuckles across Callie's stomach until her fingers could teasingly slip under the waist band of her jeans. "I vaguely remember you having a thing about the outdoors."
Callie's stomach tensed as she laughed. "I seem to recall you not having a thing for the outdoors."
"Camping…I don't have a thing for camping. This however, I find very…thing like." Arizona continued her ministrations, pads of her fingers lightly tracing the slight swell of Callie's abdomen and dipping down to her pubic bone.
"Arizona," Callie whispered, feeling Arizona's warm tongue start to nonchalantly explore the sensitive skin behind her earlobe. "Your ribs, we shouldn't…"
"I'm fine Calliope, just don't," she murmured, "throw me against any hard wood."
"Of all the things I thought would ever come out of your mouth," Callie counteracted, pulling away from Arizona to turn and seize her lips. "That is definitely not one of them." Arizona grinned cheekily, snaking her hand underneath Callie's shirt to fill her palm with the swell of Callie's breast. "We have this amazing king size bed you know, a half a dozen pillows, feather duvet…"
"Maybe this is just foreplay, round one."
"Arizona," Callie weakly protested.
"Calllie, I'm getting desperate here; don't make me start having to take long showers and get RSI in my right hand." A slight hint of frustration entered Arizona's voice, pitch faintly catching. She stilled her hand and rested it open against Callie's sternum.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure," Arizona confirmed with a whisper, softening her tone.
"Good," Callie drawled back, reaching to cover Arizona's hand and move it back to her bra-covered breast. Arizona's fingers immediately pushed the material aside and rubbed urgently at her nipple, working it into a symbol of obvious arousal. She moaned after a few minutes, using her own hand to tenderly stroke Arizona's thigh through her jeans, painstakingly slow in working up from the inside of her knee. "Don't forget to invite me to watch next time, for one of those long showers. That thought is very hmmm…hot."
Responding with a groan and an involuntary twitch of her hips, Arizona repositioned herself to rest her ear to Callie's shoulder, freeing her hand to move back to Callie's jeans, this time working the button loose. "The feeling's mutual," she answered, cheeks flushing red at the images flashing through her mind where Callie's fingers disappeared into her folds and she moaned loudly, mouth ajar and head falling backwards. "But right now, I just want to make sure you and I come quickly. Slow and sensual is for later."
"I do like this plan," Callie gasped, whimpering as Arizona's middle finger dipped beneath her underwear and into her centre, gathering thick arousal to spread over her swelling clitoris. Focussing on the nerve filled nub, Arizona intermittently ran her finger in tight, slow circles and quicker, light flicks of the smooth edge of her nail. Each change elicited varying degrees of heightening groans.
Arizona emulated the vocal urging, grateful when Callie hastily sought access to her gathering wetness. "Fuck," Arizona gasped, feeling an immediate surge of stimulation, extremities tingling.
"Is this okay?" Callie asked, though her words were rushed and breathless as Arizona was unrelenting in her perceptive touch, knowing exactly when and how to prolong Callie''s threatening climax.
Arizona whimpered, the sound of her fingers amongst Callie's heavy fluid just detectible, each stroke eliciting incomprehensible syllables from depths of Callie's throat. "You'll make me come," Arizona murmured, panting.
"Oh God, keep saying that. Me too." Callie had her free hand shadowing Arizona's, where it disappeared beneath her open pants and black lace panties. Ready to still her hand to starve off her peak to the last possible moment.
"I've missed this, your fingers," Arizona said quietly, distractedly pausing her attention on Callie as she lost herself in her own approaching orgasm. "Making me come."
Callie dropped her hand on top of Arizona's, encouraging her to resume her focus. "I'm so close," she gasped after a minute, and loudly swore as Arizona's hips tugged in response.
"Don't stop, Calliope. Keep going."
"Arizona," she warned and Arizona's fingers gripped at the skin of her arm, a familiar cry emitted from deep in her throat.
They simultaneously tumbled over the edge in a rush of incomprehensible words and mottled moans that echoed faintly against the sides of the slightly rocking boat. Their hands entangled with each other, lost beneath half removed clothing and trembling bodies.
And above, the cloudless sky filled with a rush of returning birds; wings flailing loudly and squawks in disharmonious of their rainbow splendour.
If only humans held the same innate awareness of impending danger and the instinctive flight response. They even knew when to return; when the risk had passed and safety again, settled their world.
TBC…
